Okay so this one needs some explaining. A while ago, on my Tumblr, I posted about how the entire storyline of Disinterred could've been prevented if Danny (+ Sam and Tucker) had just dumped the body into the Ghost Zone instead of burying it. Which somehow led to the thought of making a one-shot that was like Disinterred, but different in every way. Which is also where the title comes from - a 'dead ringer' refers to an identical copy. Which wasn't 100% what I was going for, but the pun couldn't be denied.
While this is related to Disinterred (which I would link to but FFnet doesn't have that option, I don't think?), it's not mandatory reading in either direction. Dead Ringer can be read as a stand-alone piece (although I believe it's better if you can compare it to the original), and similarly you don't need to read Dead Ringer to understand Disinterred.
Danny shot another ecto-ray in the direction of the huge specter hovering over Amity Park. The ghost in question, dressed as always in an impeccable white suit, dodged just before the ray hit him.
"What're you doing here, Walker?" Danny questioned, trying to distract the ghost. If he could just catch Walker off-guard, he could finally capture the ghost. He had already gotten the minions in his Thermos, but their leader continued to evade him.
Walker snorted, a curious sound considering that he didn't have a nose. "Arresting you, of course. You're a rule-breaker Phantom, always have been."
Danny rolled his eyes. "Yeah? What kind of rule did I even break?"
The ghost stopped, eyeing him. Danny suddenly got the feeling that he had asked the wrong thing. Ah well, better roll with it, right?
"Why do you ask?" Walker finally asked, his empty green eyes watching him.
Merging his legs into a ghostly tail, Danny took in the ghost in turn. Then he shrugged. "I figured that if I can make up for whatever crime you've pinned on me, hopefully we can get over it?"
Walker crossed his arms, but didn't answer. The silence lingered for a few long moments.
Then, finally, Walked grunted out an answer. "Littering."
"Excuse me?" Danny's tail twitched, and he automatically moved a little closer to Walker. Did he just say littering? What did that even mean? Was this still about the present?
Walker cocked his head, looking like he would've rolled his eyes if it had been, y'know, visible. Then he repeated, "Littering."
"You're joking… Seriously? You've tried to arrest me, multiple times, because I littered?" Danny's voice cracked, but he didn't care. Was this ghost for real? "Is this about that present? Still?"
"No." Walker's eyes narrowed into something of a glare. "You cleaned that up."
Quickly, Danny ran through all the times he had been in the Ghost Zone. He couldn't think of anything that he had left behind on those visits. But Walker seemed convinced enough… Maybe one of the other ghosts blamed him for something he didn't do?
"So then what did I forget? And if I take it out of the Zone, you'll leave me alone?" That would be good. If Walker agreed to leave him alone, that would be one enemy less to fight him. That, and Walker was one of the more powerful ghosts who regularly targeted him.
But the grin that started spreading on Walker's face was… unnerving. Danny was starting to feel like he had misstepped. Again.
He backed away again, but before he had put any real distance between them, Walker had moved in closer.
Then, with a flourish, Walker suddenly dropped something into Danny's arms. He must've been carrying it the whole time, but kept it invisible or inside his coat.
Danny caught it by reflex. Curled his arms around the moderately heavy object, ignoring the strange crisping noises it made as he held it.
And then he looked down. And promptly blanched.
Laughter, cold and harsh, came from Walker. Danny looked back over at him to see the ghost smile. "Now we're good," the ghost remarked before fading from visibility.
Briefly, Danny considered giving chase. Then he remembered the corpse in his arms and gave up on that idea.
He repressed the involuntary shiver that came from thinking about the thing in his arms. Now that he had seen it, he had realized what, exactly, Walker had been talking about.
When he had his accident and became half-ghost, his old body had been left behind. Burned beyond recognition, but undeniably his. Once he, and Sam and Tucker, had figured out what had happened, they had decided to dump the body. Back then they hadn't even realized that Danny was still half human. Danny just… hadn't been ready to be dead. He didn't want anybody to find out.
And, well. What better way to hide a dead body than to dump it into an unknown dimension? The Portal had been the thing to cause all of that mess, anyway. It might as well be used to hide it, too.
So they had dumped the body through the Portal. And then promptly forgotten about it. Even the few times they had visited the dimension afterwards, they had never come across it. As a result, it had slipped their mind entirely. Or, well, his mind at least. And neither Sam nor Tucker ever brought it up, so it made sense that they had forgotten about it as well.
And Danny didn't think that it unreasonable for them to have forgotten about it. It was just an old body, after all. Like a snake that had shed its skin, or a caterpillar that had become a butterfly. No one ever cared about what happened to their leftovers. And they weren't lesser for growing out of their old bodies.
Just like Danny hadn't become lesser for growing out of his body. Even if it had been caused by becoming half-ghost. By going through a fatal experience. No biggie.
But now it was back to, well, haunt him. Walker had literally dumped it into his arms. And how fucked up was that? Dumping someones corpse into their arms without warning?
Although, Danny supposed, he had kind of asked for it. Maybe he should think before speaking, next time.
Anyway. Now Danny was hovering over a street with a very crispy corpse in his arms and a crowd gathering below him. Wow, would you look at how few people flee from ghost fights. That's irresponsible as heck. Seriously, that'll get them killed, sooner or later.
The crowd started getting louder and louder. Why were they-?
Oh, duh. Their ghostly protector was literally floating over them with a corpse in his arms. They're probably worried and stuff.
He should… probably fly off and dump the body. His body.
But… the media was already prone to turning on him. If he left now, without explaining himself, he could lose his hard-earned reputation. Probably would. No, he needed to calm down the citizens first. Explain himself, somehow.
Danny eyed the corpse in his arms, then slung it over his shoulder in a fireman's carry. The body made an awful crisping noise as he did so, apparently being considerably stiffer than Danny had thought.
He grimaced and turned it invisible. The crowds didn't need to see this thing up-close. Hell, he wished he hadn't seen it from this close. The ectoplasm of the Zone had apparently preserved it over the years, but it already hadn't looked appealing back when the Accident had first happened.
Finally Danny lowered himself to the ground, right hand firmly pinning down the invisible body. He didn't quite land, but floated low enough for people to easily talk to him.
Several phones were already out and pointed at him. No doubt that they were recording his every move and word.
"Mr. Phantom!" one of the faceless citizens crowed, "Why'd you turn the body invisible?"
Danny's grimace grew, and then he made a disgusted face. "Trust me, you don't want to see it."
But apparently this answer just fired up the rest of the crowd, as they all started shouting out their own questions. They were loud and unrelenting, and Danny flinched back from the sheer noise of them. He couldn't even try to answer them, because he couldn't hear what any of them were asking!
"Shut up!" he shouted, eyes flashing a little brighter. He clenched his hands, and promptly grimaced again as he felt his fingers dig deeper into the corpse. Yuck.
The crowd immediately quietened. Then, as one, they started repeating the same question, over and over and over again. "Whose body is that?"
And they all looked at him. Their gazes were so disappointed, so expectant, so… so many things. And Danny couldn't handle it, he didn't know what to say or what to do. He had never been very good in crowds.
"It's my own!" he blurted out.
The crowd fell silent immediately. Suddenly it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.
"It's my own body," Danny repeated, voice quiet and shaky. The topic unnerved him, as it should, really. He didn't like to think of himself as dead, or half-dead or whatever. He was just… different. A little ghostly.
His empty hand clenched, the fingers digging into his thigh. He focused on his breathing. Made sure to take even breaths, deep breaths. He couldn't panic. He had to carefully guide this into a good direction.
Establishing that it was his own body was a good first step. A little morbid maybe, but at least they didn't think he killed somebody. Besides, as far as they knew, he was a ghost! He must've died at some point, right?
Just as Danny was contemplating leaving anyway, an older man in a police uniform pushed his way through the crowd. Trailing after him were a younger man and a woman, both also in police uniforms. The older man cleared his throat, and Danny's attention immediately snapped to him.
"Mr… Phantom. We need to speak to you."
Danny glanced at the still-invisible corpse he carried on his shoulder. "About, uh…"
"Yes," the cop confirmed, his face hard and stern. His voice equally so. "Please follow us to the station."
And then he turned back around, the other cops wordlessly following him. Danny rolled his eyes but winked out of visibility, following them to their car.
"Do you really think he'll come?" the younger male officer asked as he got into the back of the vehicle.
The female officer shrugged, already seated in the passenger seat. "Phantom is unpredictable."
"He will," the older officer grunted as he started the car. "He cares about his reputation. He can't go lugging around a dead body, whether it's his own or not."
Danny phased himself the rest of the way into the car, plopping down into the empty seat in the back. Remaining invisible, he joined the conversation. "What he said."
The cop in the backseat started, hitting his elbow on the door in the process. "Jesus, you scared me."
"Staying invisible?" the female officer questioned, quirking an eyebrow into his general direction via the mirror.
"Yeah." Danny would've shrugged, but, well, invisible. "I don't want to see pictures of myself in the back of a cop car spread around."
The younger officer snorted, and the lady nodded, apparently agreeing. The older man remained silent.
Apparently getting tired of the silence, the younger man leaned forward and stuck out a hand in Danny's general direction. "I'm officer Milligan, but you can call me Mike if you want."
Danny eyed the hand hesitantly. Then he eyed the officer himself. "Sorry," he said, sounding apologetic. "I can offer you my left hand, but I can't recommend shaking my right."
The officer – Mike – blanched, and withdrew his hand. "Right. Please don't."
This, in turn, made the female officer crack up in laughter. When she was done laughing she wiped away a tear and introduced herself as well. "I'm officer Carver. If you're gonna call Mike by his first name, call me Rosie."
The man in the driver seat sighed deeply. Then, with a voice heavy with regret, he piped in. "I'm detective Payton. Don't use my first name even if you learn it."
"The medical examiner insists on calling him Matthias," Rosie said with a conspiring tone. She grinned a little cheekily, looking at Danny via the rear-view mirror.
Danny shrugged. Then realized that no one could see that he shrugged, and flushed bright green. Eventually he stammered out his reply. "I'm, uh. Danny Phantom. But I always go by Phantom."
"Is Danny your actual name?" Rosie questioned, having turned the right way again – but still looking backwards via the mirror. "Because I'm guessing that Phantom is not."
He huffed in answer, blowing a few hairs out of his face. "I mean, Daniel is. But I don't like going by that."
"Family members you don't like keep calling you that?" Payton asked from the front, having apparently followed the entire conversation. He didn't look at Danny at all, but then to be fair, Danny was still invisible.
He was also surprisingly close to the truth. "Something like that. Plus people keep using it when I'm in trouble."
"You get into trouble a lot?" Payton didn't sound curious, or interested. But he kept asking. Why?
"Not really." Danny shifted a little, grimacing as the corpse made another uncomfortable crisping noise. "Well, I didn't use to. Nowadays people keep blaming me for everything and nothing."
"Is trouble related to the body that ghost dumped on you?" Mike quirked an eyebrow at him. Or, well, at his general direction.
"Uhm." Danny tightened his grip on the corpse. "Sort of. It is actually mine, and I did dump it into the Ghost Zone."
"Why?" Payton asked, a single sharp word. He sounded kind of mean, but well-meaning. Probably.
Plus, they had a pretty good reason to be suspicious of him. He was a ghost lugging around a dead body after all. And it was their job to deal with crime, including dead bodies.
Not that he could allow them to properly do their job. If they ID the body they would link Phantom with Fenton and, well, bye-bye secret!
Apparently he had stayed silent too long, because Rosie piped up as well. "You do realize that when the body is never recovered, it is much harder for family and friends to move on from a death?"
"I know." Jazz had talked about it at some point. He couldn't remember why anymore, but the information had stuck with him. "I just…"
He wasn't sure where he was going, but thankfully, he didn't have to figure it out. The car stopped at the police station before he had a chance to finish his sentence.
The cops must've figured out that he wasn't planning on finishing the sentence, because they sighed and got out of the car.
"Follow us," Payton instructed, leading the group again. Danny nodded, even though no one could see, and trailed after them.
Once inside, the three cops made their way through the station and into an elevator. A short ride later and they were… oh, in the morgue. Duh. They wanted to investigate the body. Where else would they have gone?
"Hey Matthias," a woman greeted as she approached the group, quirking an eyebrow. Unlike the others, she wasn't dressed in a police uniform, but instead she wore a lab coat. "Don't you usually wait until I have a body to come visit me?"
"We do have a corpse, though." Mike grinned a little, but seemed somewhat uncertain.
Danny took the cue for what it was though, and dropped his invisibility.
The doctor (?) visibly started at his sudden appearance, but immediately relaxed again. Then she spotted the body (his body) and cocked her brow again, this time at him.
"Where'd you get that?" she asked, already whirling around to clear a space. "Because it doesn't look great."
"Supposedly it's his own," Payton responded before Danny had a chance to.
Rolling his eyes, he hovered closer to the doctor. "It is my own, and I can confirm that it didn't feel great either."
The doctor shook her head but didn't comment. Finally the table was cleared, and Danny gently put down the body on it. Once more he grimaced at the sounds it made while unfolding, but he was glad to finally be rid of it.
Unfortunately, his fun wasn't over yet. Now he had to somehow get through this police investigation without anyone figuring out who he was.
"What did you even do?" Rosie asked, sounding a little incredulous.
Oh yeah, the cops hadn't gotten a good look at the body either. Whoops.
He turned to look at them, ignoring the doctor who was already pouring over the corpse. He shrugged, putting on a sheepish expression. "I, uh. Electrocution. Wasn't nice."
Mike opened his mouth to comment, but the doctor cut in. "This looks too fresh to be yours though. You've been around Amity for 2 years already, and while I can't date this corpse, there's no signs of decomposition."
"Uh, yeah." Danny rolled his eyes, turning back to her. "It's been in the Ghost Zone the whole time. The ectoplasm preserved it, I guess."
"You never answered our question on why you dumped it there, either." Payton sounded gruff as ever, expression stern.
"I know! I just…" He sighed. "I didn't really think about it, okay? So maybe it wasn't a good decision! Would you have been any better if you had been in my shoes?" He crossed his arms, glaring down the various cops. "I mean, I was fourteen and I had just died. I think that making a stupid decision can be excused considering the circumstances."
The cops remained silent for a few long moments. Then, finally, Payton was the one to break it.
"Jesus, kid."
Danny's shoulders sagged as the anger drained from him again. His ghostly tail flicked, a last lingering sign of his agitation. "Sorry, I shouldn't have yelled at you. It's just… a sore subject."
Then he straightened out somewhat, the corners of his mouth quirking up a little. "Literally."
Rosie immediately groaned, but Mike grinned back. Payton still looked pained, but now maybe for a different reason.
The doctor was still bent over the body. As far as Danny knew, she might as well have missed the entire conversation. A belief that was strengthened when she spoke up.
"Even if it is yours, we'll need to confirm it somehow."
"Excuse me?" He blinked, caught off-guard by the sudden switch in topic.
"We'll need to ID the body. Even if you say it's yours, we'll need to prove it somehow," she explained, finally looking at him instead of the corpse. "The obvious way of facial recognition is out, and I doubt we'll be able to pull fingerprints either – from you or the body."
Danny huffed, pulling at the edge of one of his gloves. "These come off, you know? And I'm pretty sure my fingerprints are still the same, although I haven't tested it." Then he looked at the body with a grimace. "Although I guess it doesn't matter since you can't get any from that anyway."
"I thought that ghosts didn't do layers to their appearance?" Mike asked, pointedly looking away from the body. He looked a little nauseous. "According to the Fentons, at least."
"Pretty sure that I know more about ghosts than the Fentons," Danny grumbled, rolling his eyes.
The doctor cut off their potential bickering before it could start. "Doesn't matter anyway, since we can't get prints from the body." Then she started eyeing Danny speculatively. "How're your teeth?"
"My… teeth?" Danny ran his tongue over them, unthinkingly. Sure, he hadn't been to a dentist since the Accident, but he was sure that they were fine. He brushed his teeth almost every day – he only skipped it sometimes if a ghost attack prevented it.
"She wants to compare the dental records," Payton supplied. "The teeth are by far the sturdiest part of the body. They are often used to identify victims when the bodies are too burned for regular identification."
"Oh." Danny frowned, then shrugged. "I mean, I can't imagine that they're any different. But it's not like I've checked or anything."
The doctor nodded, moving away from the body and towards a free table with some kind of tube hanging over it. When she noticed that Danny wasn't following, she impatiently waved him over.
Still frowning a little, Danny followed her to the table and sat down on its edge.
"You'll have to lie down," she instructed, patting the surface of the table. "I'll take one of you first, to make sure it works on ghosts. If we can get a good x-ray of your teeth, we'll take one of the corpse as well. Got it?"
"Uh, yeah." Danny shifted to lie down on the table, ignoring how it would usually be used for corpses. He was, after all, a dead person. Sort of. As far as they knew, at least. So it wouldn't make sense for him to complain. Besides, it would be better to get this over with as soon as possible.
Luckily, it didn't take very long to the take the x-rays. The doctor was quick to wave Danny off again as the digital files loaded onto a big screen where they could all see them.
"Well, these look like regular x-rays to me," the doctor declared, frowning a little. "Not sure how that's supposed to work, but I'm not complaining."
Then she turned towards the group of cops (and Danny). "Matthias, can you take your gaggle of officers and Phantom away? I'll let you know what I figure out."
Payton nodded. "Will do, Olympia." He started walking off, the other two cops following him.
Danny hesitated for a moment longer. Then he floated after them as well. He wanted to keep an eye on the doctor, but he couldn't go against them without causing a scene.
That, and he didn't have any brilliant ideas for excuses to use, anyway.
His discomfort was easily noticed, however. The cops shared glances, but Mike ended up being the one to speak up. "Phantom, are you… okay?"
Danny huffed, splitting his tail back into legs and sitting down on the corner of a desk. "Yeah. Just… a little overwhelmed, I guess."
Then he frowned, looking in the direction of the morgue. "What's gonna happen to the body after you've ID'd it as mine?"
"Well," Rosie spoke up, brow creased in thought. "Normally we would arrange a funeral as soon as possible once the investigation is done."
"But we don't know your family," Payton supplied, crossing his arms. "And usually the victim isn't around to decide what happens to their body, either."
Well that was nice and all, but that still didn't answer Danny's question. "Okay, so what about mine, then? Can I get rid of it my way?"
"No." Payton glared at Danny. "Because last time you got rid of it your way, you dumped it into an alternate dimension. And it's illegal to dump bodies."
Danny rolled his eyes but nodded in agreement. "Alright, fine. Can I ask for it to be cremated instead, then?"
"Why?" Rosie asked, frowning a little. "Why does it matter so much to you what happens to it?"
"Well, it's just…" He shrugged. "It's hard to explain. I just… don't want it hanging around. Besides, what are you going to do otherwise? Bury it under 'Danny Phantom'?"
"You could just tell us your actual name," Payton suggested, face blank. "I'm sure your family and friends would like to know what happened to you. Especially considering that you stole your own body, probably before anyone else knew about your death."
"Yeah, no." Danny rolled his eyes, shifting on the desk he was sitting on. "My friends and family are fine, thanks. Besides, it's not like I'm really gone, am I?"
"Not the same, kid." Payton's eyes darkened a little, not quite a glare but close to it.
"Either way, I still say that if it's my body, I get to decide what happens with it." He crossed his arms, eyeing the three cops. "And I want it cremated as soon as possible. That, or confirmation that you'll give it back to me so I can take care of it."
"You're a minor, though." Rosie quirked an eyebrow at him. "Family always gets the last say if a case involves a minor, dead or not."
"You don't know that," Danny countered. "I'm a ghost, and ghosts don't do age. I know a teenage ghost who's been around for 50 years, and he hasn't changed at all."
"But we already know you're, like, 16." Mike also raised a brow at Danny. "You said you died when you were 14, that you dumped your body in the Ghost Zone, and that it has been about 2 years since. So you're 16, maybe 17."
Whoops. He forgot that he had mentioned that. Stupid math, tripping up his lies.
"I still think I should be able to decide what happens with the body." Danny huffed. "Since it is my body and all that."
"You know what? Fine." Payton flapped his hand impatiently. "Once doctor Beckett is done with it we'll cremate it. Is that good enough for you?"
Danny frowned, thoughtful. Really, he would've preferred getting the corpse himself, or… being able to watch as it was immediately destroyed. But it would be weird to ask if he could stay to watch, right? But maybe… "Can I… get the ashes, afterwards?"
"Why?" Rosie asked. "If you dumped it into the Ghost Zone, you obviously don't care about it that much."
"That's different," Danny insisted, crossing his arms.
"It doesn't matter anyway." Payton shuffled through some files on his desk, looking like he was barely paying attention to the conversation. "Yes, Phantom, you can take the ashes. Since you refuse to tell us anybody else to release the body to, I suppose you will have to do."
"Thanks." That was one problem solved, at least. If they linked the body to himself, well, his Phantom self, he might even get away with all of this without being off any worse. Well, the cops would know that Phantom was only a teenager, but that was a small loss. And, if his body gets cremated, no one else will be able to find it or link it to Danny Fenton.
Although it does make him wish that they had burned it in the first place. Or dealt with it in a more human way. Maybe burying it would've stopped anybody from finding it?
But before he could continue this line of thought, the doctor came in. Seeing him sitting among the cops, she nodded, seemingly pleased. "Good, you're all here."
"Doctor Beckett," Payton greeted her with a small nod. "You got the results for us, then?"
"Yep." She wrung her hands together excitedly, glancing over at Danny. "Turns out that Phantom was telling us the truth. The teeth are an exact match."
Well, that was good news at least. Also a little unnerving. And hopefully they wouldn't try tracking down his human identity using these records… but as far as he knew they had no database for that, unlike facial recognition. They would need to know his identity before they could check it.
"So… Does that mean we can burn it and I can go?" Danny lifted off of the desk, hovering a few inches above it.
"Never knew that the protector of Amity was such an impatient teenager," Payton grumbled under his breath. He likely didn't mean for anyone to hear it, but Danny, as a ghost, had better hearing than most people. He decided to let the comment slip, though.
"Burn it?" Beckett questioned, letting go of her own hands. "We're cremating the body?"
"Yep," Rosie confirmed as she pushed herself out of her seat as well. "Phantom refuses to tell us who his family is, and instead decided that since it's his body, he gets the final say, minor or not."
"I guess he's got a point." Beckett turned around to start leading them towards the morgue again. Mike stayed behind – Danny was about to question him when he remembered the man's nauseous expression last time. "If he had a will we would've followed that, too. It gets a little more complicated when ghosts get involved, I guess."
"Everything gets more complicated when ghosts get involved," Payton countered.
"Welcome to my life," Danny grumbled, floating beside the three. "Or, well, afterlife. You know what I mean."
None of them answered. Danny huffed, but let it go. It didn't matter anyway.
In the end, the cops were true to their words. Danny's corpse was immediately cremated, the ashes collected in a simple urn and handed off to him. He briefly considered asking for them to delete his dental records, but he couldn't think of a good way to ask.
Instead he had taken his leave, intending to ask Tucker to delete the files later. First, he had an urn to hide.
Not even a week later, the doorbell rang. Now, normally this wouldn't be very notable. But almost everyone knew not to ring the doorbell to FentonWorks, lest they be greeted by a very enthusiastic Jack Fenton wielding an ecto-gun.
Danny sped down the stairs, making it to the door before his dad could. "I've got it!" he yelled, hearing the thundering footsteps coming from the lab. They quietened immediately, confirmation that his parents would stay downstairs.
The door swung open, and standing there were… cops. Not just any cops, but the three officers he had met as Phantom. That was… a little too coincidental, right? No matter what their reason for visiting FentonWorks was, surely there were enough policemen in Amity that someone else could've been send here?
Unless this was a continuation from the case surrounding Phantom's corpse? Maybe they wanted his parents' ghost expertise. Maybe they weren't here for him.
"Uh, hi?" he greeted the cops, a fake smile plastered on his face. "How can I help you?"
Payton, at the head of the group, frowned at him. He didn't sound any more disgruntled than usual, however. "We need to speak with you."
"Me?" he questioned, stepping aside to let them in. That… probably wasn't good. Did they link him with Phantom, somehow? "About what, exactly?"
The four of them entered the living room, and Payton turned to frown at Danny. "Look kid, the secret is out, alright? We've figured out that you somehow died and are playing superhero around the town."
Damn. Very much not good. Still, Danny quirked an eyebrow at the cops and crossed his arms, the picture of disbelief. "You think that I'm a ghost? Me, the kid of Amity's best known ghost hunters?"
Rosie and Mike seemed to be caught off-guard by this statement, exchanging uncertain glances with each other. Payton remained as unreadable as always, but maybe… maybe he could guide this into safety still.
"Look, I don't know what brought this on," Danny said as he moved closer to the couch, "But I can assure you that I'm no ghost."
Suddenly a faint beeping came from the cushions of the couch, before a feminine voice repeated him. "But I can assure you that I'm no ghost. I am a ghost. Fear me."
Danny groaned, palming his face with his hand. Of course his dad had left the Ghost Gabber hanging around the living room. Heavens forbid that their inventions stay in the lab for once.
"Right," Payton drawled. "Very convincing. If you're done, could we please get to the point, Mr. Fenton. Or do you prefer Phantom?"
Shooting the man a short glare, Danny quickly stepped away from the couch again in the hopes of avoiding the Gabber. If it was lost in the sea of cushions, there was no way he would find it and turn it off. "So my parents' invention malfunctioned. They do that all the time, that's no proof of anything."
"No, but the proof we gathered thanks to you is." Payton quirked a challenging eyebrow. "We know when you died, and how old you were. From there, we could figure out your birth year. Add to that the fact that we knew your full first name, and it was easy to find matching teenage boys. Throw in the dental records for confirmation, and there you have it."
"But I'm alive," Danny countered, crossing his arms. "Even if I somehow match the records of some ghost, that doesn't matter. Because I can't be him. I'm not dead, or a ghost."
"I'm not dead, or a ghost. Fear me," the Ghost Gabber repeated, as Mike pulled it out of the couch cushions. Apparently he had been looking for it while Danny was distracted.
"Funny, because this invention seems to think otherwise." Rosie made a thoughtful face. "And it's not just malfunctioning, because it's not picking up anyone else. Strange, huh?"
"So I'm tainted with ectoplasm from being in the lab without safety gear. Whatever. Still doesn't mean that I'm a ghost." Maybe he was being too stubborn. He probably wouldn't be able to talk his way out of this. But still, had to try, right?
Payton sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look, you're not talking your way out of this. No matter how convincingly you can play being alive, no matter how well you still blend in."
"Besides," Mike pitched in, looking at the Ghost Gabber instead of Danny. "You're kind of following a superhero stereotype. Phantom is your hero alter-ego, and Danny Fenton is your 'secret identity'. You're following a theme, just like every other ghost."
Danny glared more angrily this time. A rush of cold energy from his core suggested that his eyes glowed green – and the shocked expressions of the cops confirmed it. "Fine. Whatever." He forced the energy back down again, and his eyes blinked back to blue. "So what if I am Phantom? Why does it matter?"
"It matters because you're dead, kid." Payton shook off the surprise quickly. "You can't keep playing pretend forever. Your parents don't even know, do they?"
"Of course not." Danny flapped a dismissive hand. "They're ghost hunters, and they hate Phantom. Those are two very good reasons not to tell them."
"Does anybody know?" Rosie asked, her voice soft with… concern, maybe? Or worry? "Or does everybody who cares about you think you're still alive?"
Danny sighed, his shoulders slumping down. He really didn't want to talk about this. "My friends and my sister know. My friends were there when it happened, and my sister saw me transform not long after."
"So what happened, then? You've mentioned electrocution before, and your outfit as Phantom seems to match your parents' jumpsuits, but if they don't know they mustn't have been around for it."
Putting off the urge to glare at Payton again, Danny shrugged loosely. "That's basically it. A big invention that my parents built failed to work. They left, together with Jazz. My friends and I decided to take a look, and I accidentally turned it on while I was checking it out. Next thing I knew I woke up with white hair and green eyes."
"So your friends saw you die and kept quiet?" Payton sounded vaguely amazed. Or very very upset.
Danny wasn't sure which one he preferred.
"I, uh. Yeah, I guess so." Danny shrugged again. "I asked them not to tell anyone, and they agreed."
"That's… unbelievable." Rosie stared at him, blankly. "Your 14 year old friends watched you die and didn't mind keeping quiet so you could continue to live life like nothing happened? And if you woke up as Phantom, then they must know that you are the one fighting ghosts all hours of the day. That your own parents are hunting you." She groaned. "Why haven't they spoken up about this?"
"They're just really good friends," Danny countered, frowning. Sam and Tucker hadn't told anyone because he asked them not to. Hell, they actively helped him keep his secret. "And yeah, they know about my hero work. Heck, they even encouraged me, and often help me patrol. Sometimes they help me fight too, but I try to keep them out of that."
"Look, as nice as their loyalty is, that isn't the point." Payton held up a hand to stop Danny's protest before he even opened his mouth. "You died, kid. And apparently it was even caused by one of your parents' inventions. Even if it isn't their fault, which is arguable, they need to know. Especially since they hunt Phantom. They hunt you. That can't continue."
"Okay, fine." It wasn't that bad. He had been thinking about telling his parents for a while, anyway. He had done it before, and that had gone alright. The only reason he hadn't yet in this timeline was because he was hoping to change their opinion on ghosts first. Wanted them to believe in the goodness of ghosts without getting skewed by the knowledge that their own son was one.
"There's more. You'll also need to take responsibility for what you've done as Phantom." Payton straightened himself out, standing up taller. "While you do a lot of good, and we understand that most of the damage is a result of your fighting, there are other things. In the past, Phantom has caused trouble – things like taking the mayor hostage and robberies. We'll need to know about these things, and if the circumstances call for it, you will receive due punishment."
That… wasn't too bad either. He would get a chance to clear his reputation, assuming that they believed him. That, and they didn't even blame him for the property damage! Which was better than most adults, at least.
Danny nodded his approval. But Payton wasn't done yet.
"And, last but not least, you need to pick. You can't continue this split life forever, and you can't play pretend forever." He sighed, some of his stern exterior melting away. "You can either choose to stick around as Danny Fenton, with the authority figures informed about your… condition. Or you can go Phantom full-time, without shifting to a less notable 'human' form."
"No." There was no question about it. He couldn't just pick one or the other. He was half-ghost, and both of his identities were part of him. He couldn't just repress one of the two. Besides, Amity Park needed Phantom, but he couldn't stay in ghost form permanently.
He would have to explain his half-ghost status. He didn't want to, but it was unavoidable. They had to understand.
Payton seemed surprised by his immediate answer. "Daniel, you can't-"
"No," he repeated, cutting off the detective. "I'll tell my parents, and I would love a chance to explain the events that tarnish my reputation. But I can't pick between my human life and my ghost life."
"Why not?" Rosie asked, skeptical. She crossed her arms. "Even if the choice is difficult, surely you understand that you can't live a split life forever? That you can't play pretend forever?"
"No, you don't understand!" Danny felt his ectoplasmic energy surge again, his eyes lighting up green. "It's not playing pretend! I'm not actually dead, and I'm not a real ghost! My accident turned me half ghost. I'm still alive. I can just shift into a more ghostly form." His voice gradually quietened as he spoke, his anger fading again. After a few long seconds, the glow faded from his eyes, too.
"Can you… prove that?" Payton asked, finally. "Can you prove that you're still alive, still somewhat human?"
Danny nodded, and offered his wrist to the police. To Payton specifically. "I still have a heartbeat. I don't know how much you guys know about ghosts, but… that is one of the tells for hunters. No matter how convincing a ghost is, they can't fake a heartbeat." He shrugged with one shoulder. "Well, that, and the bleeding red. Ghosts are made exclusively out of ectoplasm – they only bleed in ecto-green."
Payton accepted the hand, pressing his own fingers against Danny's wrist. He frowned in concentration. The silence lingered for a few long moments. Then, finally…
"He's got a heartbeat."
"Told you so," Danny muttered, rolling his eyes when Rosie stepped forward to try too. "You want to look at my blood too, or was this enough?"
Payton sighed, stepping away to give Danny some room again. "No. This was enough. Still…" he fell silent, apparently lost in thought.
Rosie nodded to herself, and then to Mike, and released Danny's arm. He took his hand back, rubbing the wrist a little. They waited, quietly, as Payton was thinking.
"You'll tell your parents and explain your previous actions?" he asked eventually, finally breaking the silence. When Danny nodded his confirmation, Payton nodded back. "Then I suppose I can amend the third term a little. You will be allowed to carry on, both as Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom. We won't register you as dead, however… we will be keeping an eye on you."
Danny nodded again, opening his mouth to speak up. Payton was faster, though. "And because of this, the police will be working with Phantom, of course. If we're keeping an eye on you, we might as well give you direct support. You'll no longer be a vigilante – that should help with your reputation as well."
Eyes growing wide, Danny blinked at Payton. "I… Really? You'll do that for me?"
"It's the least we can do," Payton said with a shrug. "You've been keeping this town safe for years, and keeping up with your own life in the meantime. With… less than spectacular results, but still. No matter how much the town opposed you, you went above and beyond the call of duty to help your fellow people. That is something else, kid."
Having caught up with Payton's train of thought, Rosie and Mike nodded their agreement as well.
"For most of your first year, the people of this town hated you. I don't think that I could've fought through that to protect them regardless," Mike admitted. "And yet you, at a mere 14 years old, struggling with powers no one knew about, did it anyway. That's… pretty incredible. That shows some unbelievable strength of personality, man."
"Let us help you," Rosie agreed. "You talk to your parents, and we'll look into arranging ways to help you with your schooling and such."
Danny nodded, forcing down the tears that threatened to come up. "I- Holy shit, thank you. I don't have the words for this. Just… Thank you, so much."
Payton clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry about it, kid. We'll take care of you."
You wouldn't believe the kind of research I did for this fic. I really thought that I had moved past sketchy Google searches when I finished writing Disinterred, but alas. Also x-ray machines for corpses are weird.
On a not-at-all related note, I'm participating in the Phic Pight during all of April! All the fics I write for said event will be posted on Tumblr, and then afterwards I'll see how, exactly, I'll upload them to AO3 and FFnet. I'll keep updating Disinterred as usual, but if you're interested in reading more, go follow my DP tumblr (inky-interest) for more fics.