Danny had all kinds of secrets. He was used to it by now, he easily became comfortable with the lies falling from his lips day after day after day.

Okay, that sounded bad. But it really was for the good of Amity, his friends, his family, everyone, pretty much. He had to make certain sacrifices to keep people safe. The fact was, he was okay with that. He understood those sacrifices.

Nope, those didn't bother him.

(Although he would still apologize profusely when his parents inevitably found out)

There were only two secrets he ever kept from his friends, however. After all, they had a right to know about most things. They were there when the accident happened, and as much as he didn't want to rope them into it, they were locked in with chains, and they won't have it any other way.

(Despite Danny's furious protesting)

(He had such amazing friends)

But there were two things he kept from them. Two things he avoided talking about.

The first one, was the exact nature of how his anatomy worked.

In the times when he was working with Vlad on the side (they knew about that, but didn't approve) to help discern more halfa traits, he had learned more… unsettling things about their biology. He had a hunch. Blind, unscientific theories about how they worked, but Vlad, in his very Vlad way, quickly snuffed those out and replaced them with the truth.

Not that they the truth was very far off from his suspicions. He had assumed he still had his… he avoided calling it his old body, but it's not like there was an extra lying around somewhere, and he knew he didn't have a heartbeat anymore. He knew his blood was tainted with ectoplasm, and he knew it ran cold. He knew that he didn't have to breathe anymore, and sleeping was somewhat optional, to an extent. (If he was in a place that satisfied his obsession, or in a place with a lot of ambient ectoplasm, he could go into a trance to fast-track his rest.)

But yes, those were things that he could deduce on his own. Learning- solidifying the idea that he was basically possessing his own corpse? Let's just say that wasn't something that he needed to know, let alone his friends.

(It's a symbiotic relationship, Vlad had said. Not possession. Whatever. It didn't change the reality of the situation no matter how many eloquent words he weaved it in.)

But they, of course, figured that out eventually. A quick glance at the previously edited ghost files that contained details on Danny's anatomy had cleared that up. It was mentioned, by Sam and Tucker, briefly, and Danny had gone white as a sheet, a million what if's running through his mind.

Will they still think I'm me?

Will they shy away from my touch?

What are the implications of something like this? What are the conclusions they'll draw?

But after a brief reassurance session, they had convinced Danny that, no, they don't think of him any differently, and no, they aren't weirded out by it.

It's not like you're rotting or anything dude, it's basically the same- except you feel really nice to hang around in the summer, so don't sweat it. Literally.

Yeah Danny, you're still the same to us.

It was a load off his shoulders, it really was. At least, through all these crazy changes and developments, he always had his friends. They were his pillars of strength in these trying times.

But, the second secret? He couldn't bear to tell anyone, even Vlad, and it kind of pertained to him, too.

No, Dan was something he had to keep to himself. Wanted to keep to himself.

The thing about his biology, he couldn't help it. It was part of the accident. Not really his fault, just a consequence of a sequence of events that was, honestly, probably for the better in the end. (If his parents turned that thing on and there wasn't someone to stop the ghosts, where would we be now?)

Just another sacrifice.
But Dan was something that Danny chose, albeit in an alternate timeline and with a variety of… conditions met, it was something that he played a part in, willingly. He knew it wasn't all him, part of it was Vlad, but he had already resolved that neither him or Vlad, and neither of their respective ghostly sides, were by default evil just by being a ghost. Vlad was an ass because Vlad chose to be an ass, but his schemes never meant to end in someone getting seriously injured. He was self-serving, not a monster.
Which is why it was baffling that, when Danny and Vlad's ghostly sides mixed, it got Dan. The being who was destined to destroy worlds, the being who tried to destroy multiple worlds, even outside of his own timeline. His entire existence was purely maleficent, and as much as it pained him to say it, he knew that Dan- or part of Dan- existed inside of him, somehow. Clearly, his personality took prevalence over Vlad's in the fusion, and it even seemed like he only took Vlad over to fuse their cores, to gain power- not to merge their personalities.

And based on the windows of that timeline's past that Clockwork had (reluctantly) showed him, it was his side that wanted to fuse. His side that overshadowed Vlad's. His side that tried to wipe out both human Vlad and human Danny. (And succeeded in one.)

Vlad was the victim, there.

So, the conclusion?

It really was Danny.

And he can't ever shake off the feeling that Dan is a constant potential, no matter how good he thinks he is.

After the whole time traveling thing with Clockwork and the Infinimap, Danny actually got more curious about the more scientific theories behind jumping into the past and future. And while Clockwork is the Master of Time, he would only tell Danny so much. After a while, you just ended up getting in this loop with him about 'If I tell you, it could disrupt the timeline". So, he did his own research.

The most troubling thing he found, however, was a theory about time being concrete, set in stone, unchangeable. The theory is called the "Novikov self-consistency principle", and it helps solve the paradoxes caused by 'killing your own grandfather'.

The answer? You can't kill him, you fail, or the events you cause to attempt to kill him end up guiding him to marry your grandmother and have children. (So technically, if you didn't go back in time, you would have never been born because he would have never married your grandmother.) This theory goes by a bunch of names, a causal loop, a predestination paradox, a self-fulfilling prophesy, etc. Danny lost count of what it could all be called, but the principle was locked in his mind.

Essentially, without Clockwork's guidance (and a few other stray threads) this would have been the case. Danny would have cheated on the C.A.T., which would make him believe that his friends and family died (when in reality, it was Dan that killed them) and then he would go on to live with Vlad and the events in the alternate timeline would take place. Dan would have been inevitable.

Now, that should have been fixed by Clockwork. After all, Dan exists outside of time now, and Clockwork stresses that 'the damage has been repaired', although any questions about a possible evil still residing inside him are left with only cryptic answers, nothing solidifying or rejecting that dystopian future simply happening at a later date. And based on the way he acted- avoiding his gaze, shifting his cloak, the slight hesitation before his answers...

It really didn't help Danny's skeptical view of the situation. He was convinced Clockwork was hiding something.

He doesn't suppose that he should be surprised. As much as the ancient spectre was fond of Danny, he still had a job to uphold. Maintaining the timeline came first, ultimately. If that ended up in a negative outcome for Danny, then his ghostly hands would be tied.

That didn't make him feel much better, however. 'The good of the timeline' could mean anything. It could mean the end of this world to plant the seeds for the next. It could mean the untimely deaths of everyone he loved. And, call him selfish, but he'd fight against that future until his last breath.

Well, metaphorically.

Would that be the evil inside of him? Was he willing to prevent the birth of a new, better world for the sake of his own obsessive priorities? Could the power go to his head and turn him into the 'inevitable' Dan Phantom? He was already growing fangs and displaying more ghostly traits. Could he just… snap, after being pushed too far towards the edge? Go on a destructive rampage? Be possessed?

There were many sleepless nights had that pondered these very questions. There were endless possibilities.

And still, no answers.

The best he could do is trust himself, really. And you know, now that he thinks about it, it's not like that's much different than what he does every other day.

So, he'll keep this secret to himself. As long as it takes.

After all, whatever's to come?

It's… inevitable.