Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters (up until the introduction of Alex, Harold, Dan, etc). These characters belong to Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon, I just wanted to write a story. Uh so, don't sue me, I'm pretty poor.

A Means to an End, Beginning of Another

Prologue

It feels like so long since that day... That day he left us, left everything behind. The last day a real hero that decided to risk it all and did. It was a day like any other practically, save for one drastic change; his sister got involved. It was the first time she'd seen him change and though we'd seen it hundreds on thousands of times before, we were still in awe. It would also be the last time we'd see him, that half ghost and one of my best friends in the whole world, my first love. Even remembering it now, it makes me feel a little queasy. In times like these, like all the other times over the years, Tuck and I remember, wishing, wondering, 'what if I did something different'. It almost feels like a pipedream and even felt like our friend, the one whom which we spent practically our whole lives with, was never there to begin with. But that's getting a little ahead of myself, it all began...

"I'm goin' ghost!" he shouted.

Over the months that spanned into a year, it had become pretty much his phrase. Everyone who was in the loop knew what it meant; Daniel Fenton was performing his transformation. The lanky adolescent felt the cold that came with the transformation, his deep sapphire eyes shutting as his molecules began that same old dance. Light began to expand from his abdomen, spanning out into a circular shape around his waist, then split into two, with one traveling upward upon his form and while the other traveled down. The light changed him, making him sort of negative version of himself as if he were caught on film. As the light passed his clothing, it rearranged itself against him, transformed into a black jumpsuit of some sort, with white circular trim around the neck and part of his chest; white gloves appeared upon his hands and covered his forearms; white boots adorning his legs and a white belt flashed into appearance around his waist. His hair bleached out as the light ran its course over his body while his eyes snapped open showing the electric green inside of his irises. Bringing his closed hand into his open one, he slammed his fist into his palm, and grinned confidently.

The scream which echoed inside of the laboratory of one Jack Fenton continued as Danny completed his transformation. The young woman cowered back over the towering ghoul, looking on in horror as it edged closer. The ghoul itself wasn't that terrifying, however what ability it did possess was.

Currently the ghoul occupied the body of one of Danny's less likable associates, one Dash Baxter. Danny, whose legs decided to dissolve into vapor, sped towards the older Fenton sibling and proceeded to tackle the larger Spectre-Dash.

"What's going on here?!" screamed the older individual. She had just seen her younger brother transform into... something and she couldn't figure out what.

"Just another thing," came a rather spry, sarcastic tone from somewhere to Jazz Fenton's left.

Her head craned over to see two of Danny's friends, his best friends actually. The shorter of the two (only SLIGHTLY), folded her arms right over her stomach, looking a little annoyed. "You'd think they'd give him a day off."

Her hand rose up towards her face, brushing away the stray locks of raven black hair from her cheek and lightly tucked it behind her ear. Samantha Manson had seen her share of strange things, ever since Danny had confided in her and Tucker about his little... abilities; it seemed to become routine. She scrunched her nose slightly, making a face as the last of their trio appeared, holding what looked to be a ... thermos.

"No kidding, they've been at it nonstop for days now," voiced the third, looking rather tired.

The third of the trio was like Danny himself, lanky and a little dorky looking. He raised an ebon finger to his forehead and adjusted his cap, seeming as if he was in thought or especially thoughtful, of which one couldn't be certain. It looked pretty stupid in the mind of Sam though, especially with his glasses.

"But I guess you can't blame them, he beats them time and again," he grinned. Tucker Foley placed his hand on top of the lid of the thermos, looked towards the apparent fighter of the group and shouted out, "Danny! Just say when!"

Spectre-Dash didn't seem to be letting up; apparently when he was assimilated he took in Dash's seeming limitless stamina and augmented it. Danny's punches were doing very little in terms of damage; the augmentation through spiritual means was making it tough.

"Get out of his body Spectre!" Danny shouted while his head snapped back from the punch that sent him careening backwards and into the wall; effectively creating a Danny sized dent in the metal.

"Halfa, do you really expect me to just come out to you? So long as I have this body, your little... toy over there can do nothing to me," the entity hissed, his smile twisting Dash's face like something out of a nightmare.

He growled, the green eyed ghostly avenger pulled himself from the wall and clenched a fist, "If you won't come out, I'll make you!"

He leapt forward, his legs dissolved away to vapor, and his speeding form became transparent which signaled the use of his powers. He charged forward and literally smashed right through Dash's body while he grabbed the ghoul around the waist as both came crashing out through the back. The jock hit the floor audibly, groaning in disarray; meanwhile Danny began pummeling the Spectre repeatedly, his fists rapidly struck the ghost's form with authority.

He made a glance back towards his friend, "Get ready Tuck!"

Tucker had begun unscrewing the top from the thermos that rested comfortably in his hands. Sliding from beneath him, the Spectre looked about, dazed and obviously very much disoriented. Danny turned, growling out while Tucker pulled open the lid of the thermos. "Get him Tuck!"

"Already on it!" his brown skinned compatriot shouted.

An alarm seemed to ring in the Spectre's brain as he looked about for a host. The ghoul noticed the still petrified sister, and made a desperate leap for her corporal form.

"Shit! Tucker, no time!" Without any other thought in mind, Danny shot forward towards his sister, speeding to get in front of her. One last desperate little gamble.

As Jazz screamed as she watched Danny switched from his ghost mode to his human form with the Spectre colliding into him through his back; effectively having shielded her using his own body. Danny's body careened helplessly towards the wall from the spectral collision and crashed into a shelf of beakers then fell to the floor with an audible thud. Glass tubes dropped and fell around his still form, the trio still conscious of all that went on began to rush toward his fallen form. They called his name desperately; alarm and worry etched upon each of their faces. Even Jazz's fear is forgotten, replaced by a worry that knew not any boundaries; she started running towards him with the other two following along closely.

He brought an arm over himself, slowly drawing his hand towards his shoulder as he gripped his arm while the other moved out towards them with his palm facing out. "Stay back!" he ground out through clenched teeth, holding himself a little tighter at his shoulder.

It burned his very soul, he never tried something even close to being anything like this and he could already feel it ebbing away at him; control of his own body slowly slipping through his fingers like grains of sand. He growled and felt his teeth ache from the force he was applying to them; he pushed himself to remain in control, his eyes shifted eerily as he looked to them. Instead of the normally blue eyes they were used to seeing, his irises held a neon green that was electric and almost mystifying; a bit of shock ran through his friends' eyes as well as that of his sister's.

He gathered himself up unsteadily, "I don't have that much time." His voice was shaky though he tried to appear strong for those in attendance.

Spectre had, earlier in the day, possessed several people, and while it wouldn't be serious, he nearly got them killed. Even the large number of ghosts he faced on a nearly daily basis didn't reap this much destruction. This had to stop; even it meant doing this...

"He's still not in control just yet, a little weakened from when I hit him while he was in Dash." Danny's fingers ran up to his forehead, clutching at his skull as if it would help him remain in control. He shivered, feeling that disgusting, negative feeling brewing within him. He gritted his teeth, gnashing harshly before he attempted to take a calming breath.

Concern ran across Sam's face as Tucker, for once in his life, had nothing to say. No quips, no jokes, no stupid puns... nothing. Danny began walking towards the control console for the portal to the Ghost Zone, and had begun to type a few things in.

"...wh... what are you doing?" Jazz had finally asked, finding her voice after watching the incredible display before her.

Danny didn't seem to be paying too much attention; his face became chiseled to his task and seemed to age rapidly before her very eyes.

"I'm sending him to the Ghost Zone." he replied simply, his eyes never deviated from the console before him.

Sam blinked, looking to Tucker who held the same expression, then back at Danny, "What do you mean, 'take him back'?" She looked at her best friend with scrutiny, before realization dawned upon her.

"No," she said, "NO!" repeating as if to reinforce her stance on the matter; she brought her foot up and stomped down onto the cold metal floor as if to accentuate her point and drive it home.

His green eyes glanced over a shaking shoulder, his raven dark hair partially hung over his face as he offered her a slightly sad expression in return. Really, he wondered if he could do anything right...

"Sammy, I can't exactly force him out of my body like this. This is the only way to get rid of him, to get rid of all this craziness, I realize..." he sounded so very small that Sam could hardly believe this shell of a person was the same confident young man mere minutes before.

Tucker looked lost and peered between his friends, then turned back to Sam, "What the hell is he thinking about doing?"

He didn't seem to understand the depth as Sam did, while she simply replied, "He's going to go. He's going to go into Ghost Zone, and take Spectre with him."

Eyes widened, Tucker turned back to the young man who had been his best friend for as long as he could remember, "Danny, Danny, wait, whoa hold your horses. It can't so bad that you have to do something like this! You have your whole life ahead of you! Man, Danny, we haven't eve-" he began to ramble before being cut off by the sharp look in Danny's eyes. He was losing control.

Gritting his teeth, Danny looked to them, and spoke as seriously as he possibly could muster, "Don't you realize it? If he has full control of my body, he gets my powers too. I can't risk you guys getting hurt over trying to find a better answer. Right now, this is the only reasonable answer."

Sam's eyes had begun to sting, water threatened to burst over her eyes, "But Danny..."

Jazz jumped into the conversation suddenly and reached out to touch him, "Danny, you haven't even-"

She was cut off quickly as he swatted her hand from him, his eyes narrowed, the green slightly ebbed with red, "Don't TOUCH me!"

He closed his eyes tightly, wrested control back, and sighed tiredly. His green eyes opened and softened upon her while he finished the last button presses to the console.

"Jazz, listen... I know we haven't been on the best of terms in the matters of truth and all that... but I want you to understand... this is the best for everyone. It's all I can do right now..."

He raised his hand, swinging his fist down on the button for the portal. The extreme force came down on the console as if he had swung a hammer down upon it and effectively smashed it in while a vortex ripped up behind him. Suction begun to pull at them and the vortex beckoned for him to come to it.

He smiled sadly as he waved his two friends over, his black hair hanging over his eyes a bit. He peered past his bangs to them, shaking visibly before their eyes, and at that moment they realized that he seemed so fragile that if you touched him he might have shattered before their very eyes...

"You two, you've been great. The greatest in fact. You've been with me through thick and thin, through all the hard times and good. I'll never forget you guys..."

The young girl, unable to hold herself back any longer, threw her arms around his neck desperately and squeezed tightly. Tears drained down her face as she squeezed and sobbed, unable to believe or fathom that something like this was happening, that he'd be gone from her life forever.

"Danny, DANNY! " she croaked, her body beginning to shake uncontrollably against his form, "I... I need to tell you somethin-"

A smile crossed his features as his fingers came over her lips; he lightly caressed her mouth with all the care he could muster, all the feeling he could pull together. He shook his head softly as he shivered against her embrace, oh how he wished he realized so much sooner... "You... don't need to tell me; it'll just be harder on me... just… I know, Sam. I know... in some depth inside of me, I've always known..."

He shut his eyes, pushing back the tears that he knew would come if he let it. His forced cheerful smile caused her tears to come out even stronger, the hot tears burning her face as she practically screamed at him in panic, "Then don't GO!"

He looked a bit sad as he wiped her eyes with the back of his hand, his hand softly, gently caressing her cheek while he momentarily indulged in the small things he denied himself of for so long. Lovingly, gently, he quietly nudged her back towards Tucker, whose hands descended on her shoulders to keep her steady as well as keep her from doing anything stupid.

"You know…I realized just now, I always wanted to kiss you..." he whispered and shook his head a bit at his rapidly dwindling time limit, "Too late for that now I guess..." He winced, control was getting harder. "Tucker," he strained, his voice becoming serious as his friend had become incredibly attentive. Tucker shifted all his attention to his barely audible friend, "I want you to protect her, for me, for always."

His eyes narrowed upon the boy in front of him while Tucker simply nodded, grinding out between clenched teeth, "You should be the one to do that Danny..."

The sad expression on Danny's face seemed to have him regret saying such a harsh truth but all he could head his best friend reply with was a weak, "Yeah..." Moments passed like eternity and he said nothing else as he gathered his thoughts while he turned to his older sister.

She looked speechless. Her family's ghost hunting equipment, their little portal, their crusade had all been true?! And her brother, what was he now? Did she even know him as well as she thought? She was practically ignoring him the way their parents ignored them. She mentally kicked herself for not realizing it sooner, not realizing the weird and strange things going on around Danny. For not protecting him.

"Danny..." whispered the older of the Fenton siblings.

He shook his head just slightly, slid his hands into his pockets, and hunched over, trying to appear as his normal self. His glowing green eyes weren't helping the matter at all nor ease the uncertainty from anyone's mind. Including his own.

"Sis, I know I haven't been all that great in recent years, nor have I been any less difficult than mom and dad," he said while he smiled partially, shaking his head from reverie before he continued, "I just want you to know, you have been great and you've been the biggest support in keeping me sane."

She couldn't help but smile at that last bit, though the tears that came out from her eyes betrayed any notion of that. She held out her arms quietly as Danny moved towards her a bit, and gave a final hug.

He winced once more and felt the red on the edges of his eyes, threatening to take over. He pulled himself away quickly and clenched his fist, "Alright guys... I'll be seeing you at some point, so don't think of this as goodbye."

He smiled before taking a deep breath and a couple steps back towards the ghost portal. Making a once over around the lab, looking over his two friends and his sister, he braced himself one last time.

"I'm goin' ghost!" His body lit up one last time as he threw himself backwards towards the portal that seemed to reach for his presence. A scream echoed through the lab as Sam reached out for the boy now leaving her, leaving her life forever. It was surreal, he couldn't be leaving and never coming back... he was a superhero after all, right? He was her best friend... he was her...

Tucker grabbed her hard as she had made a move towards the portal, pulling her back from the scene while she struggled weakly against his hands, "Tucker! TUCKER LET ME GO! LET ME GO DAMMIT! WE HAVE TO GO AFTER HIM! PLEASE! TUCKER!"

The portal began to close as Tucker turned his head away from both her and the scene, eyeglasses fogged up as her nails dug into his skin while she tried in vain to make it over to him. She watched in horror as he dissolved through the portal, as if he were falling into a pool of water, her eyes burning as the tears refused to stop their assault. As the portal disappeared into absolute nothingness, her struggle weakened from the effort, and her eyes overflowed with tears unrestrained. Tucker continued looking away, his arms bled from the nails that had been so desperately dug into his flesh. A few moments of silence filled the room before the unthinkable realization of reality hit her. Her mouth dropped as her small figure collapsed to the floor on her knees, seconds passed before she found her voice, but when she did, everyone knew he was gone:

"DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNY!"

It was really hard the first few months, hell, the few years after that. Everyone felt the hurt of Danny's loss, even Dash who didn't even seem so... energetic afterwards. He didn't even know why. Since that day, ghosts had stopped coming out from that portal. It didn't mean they stopped altogether, but they stopped coming from out of Danny's house. Jazz seemed to be hit just as hard as I was, she seemed in a daze most of the time for those first few painful months. Even his parents seemed to go crazier, if that's possible. Hell, they even went as far as to pretend they didn't even have a son. I guess that was just their way of coping with it. No one had been near Danny's room since the incident except for me and Tucker. We went over every once in a while to clean it up a bit, but eventually we stopped going altogether.

High School came and went, and so did college. We hardly talked about Danny; it was too painful for the both of us. Eventually though, we married each other and came back to this town to raise our beautiful daughter. Tucker has been a computer science geek and eventually majored in electronics. He owns one of our electronics firms and my parents are very happy with the work he does. I'm more of a stay at home mom, but I do artwork for galleries from time to time. Our daughter, Alexandria, originally looked more like her father when she was younger, but with her growing up, she looks more like me, just tanned. We still find it a little amusing. Sometimes, she doesn't even look as if she could be our daughter.

When we moved back, we found out that Jazz had taken up to living in the Fenton home, her parents moved off to Sweden or Norway to acquire more funding for their experiments. Workaholics I tell you. She even had her own little bundle of joy; I think I almost cried when I first saw him. He even looked like a spitting image of him. I guess Jazz's genes took over everything but the boy's eyes, they were a deep brown. She even named him after him. Daniel. It was amusing seeing him grow up with Tuck's cousin's son, and our own daughter. It was like a little flashback of us in a more innocent time. Even now I can tell he'll be a lady killer, once all those girls get over themselves and notice him for what he truly is.

Though it's a little early saying, it seems Alex has taken a shine to him. As corny as that sounds... Maybe this time around it'll be a little different. Maybe this time around, things will be normal, for the boy who shares the same name as the boy I fell in love with all those years ago. Sure, I love Tucker, I always will, but there will always be a spot in my heart for Danny Fenton. Our Danny Phantom.

End Prologue