The most alarming thing when Danny regained consciousness was that he couldn't feel anything. He couldn't feel his body, it was almost like the nerves just weren't there. From what he could barely tell, it also seemed like he was paralyzed, so maybe he had been drugged and the drug was making him numb? It wouldn't be the first time, unfortunately. Danny had been on the receiving end of Skulker's darts much more than he liked to admit.

When he opened his eyes, all he could see was white. It took him a moment to realize that he was looking at a ceiling, thankfully he hadn't gone blind or anything. But the fact that he was indoors changed things; it that meant that he hadn't been captured by one of his ghostly enemies, a human had taken him.

What had he been doing before he passed out? Danny wracked his thoughts for any semblance of explanation and found little. He'd been patrolling… and then the GIW had shown up? The… GIW….

Oh Ancients, the GIW must've caught him and drugged him. Shit.

"Danny?" a soft voice implored. She was somewhere in front of him. "Are you… awake?"

Well, that definitely didn't sound like the GIW. He looked around frantically but since he couldn't move, all he could see was the ceiling.

"Wh - who's there?" he asked. "Where'd you bring me?"

"It's, uh, Valerie," she answered. "You're in my room."

Valerie. But which Valerie? The enemy or the friend? She had called him Danny instead of Phantom and had brought him to her room, so from that context alone he could figure out that she had found Fenton. He'd probably detransformed to get away from the GIW and she had probably found him wounded. So this was the good Valerie, the one that didn't try to kill him all the time. Thank Clockwork.

"Do you know what happened?" Danny asked her. If Valerie had been the one to find Fenton, that didn't explain why he was paralyzed.

"I… think," she wavered. "You're not going to take this well, though. It was the GIW. They really… got you."

Now he was doubting if he was Fenton. If she was talking about the GIW doing something to him….

"Try me," he suggested. Faking confidence in lieu of panic was becoming a talent at this point. "I've been through a lot."

He could hear her choke for a moment. He wondered what that meant. "I'm so sorry Danny… Danny, they decapitated you."

Mentally, he tried to pull on his body. Command himself to move, anything - and nothing happened. That couldn't be right. He was just confused, she must be too. He laughed, "I'm sorry? What?"

"This isn't funny," she hissed. He still couldn't see her. He was also wondering what she had done to him to make him unable to move. "They - they cut off your head. I think I saw them take your body. I don't know how… how you're still alive." She lowered her voice to a whisper, "If you were even alive in the first place."

This was getting awfully frustrating. He still didn't even know who he was right now: Fenton or Phantom. If he knew that, then he might be able to figure out what Valerie was talking about.

"Val," he said questioningly, "what do you mean if I was alive?"

She huffed in annoyance. "Danny, just…" something moved in his peripheral vision. For a moment, he could see Valerie looming over him - and then warm hands wrapped around his face. The next thing he knew, he was moving upward and everything was disorienting. He wasn't used to moving around like this; from what he could tell he was being carried. He could see Valerie's room, but it wasn't from a perspective he'd ever seen before, it was like he was two feet shorter than normal.

Valerie shifted her grip on his face (how was she carrying his face?) and opened the door to her bathroom. She slipped inside the room and stopped in front of the mirror.

When he looked in the mirror he expected to see himself (as one tends to expect in a mirror) but instead… he was met with the sight of Valerie's body cradling... cradling his head. Only his head. He was Fenton and his neck was just a stump, heavily and thoroughly bandaged, peppered with spots of red and green.

Where had his body… how had… how was he breathing? No, fuck that, how was he alive? No no no nonono. This was wrong, this wasn't right. This was some sort of fever nightmare. A hallucination. He couldn't actually be-

As he started hyperventilating (he didn't have lungs), Valerie turned him away from the mirror, sensing his panic. She carefully carried him back to her bedroom, sat on the bed, and rocked him soothingly in her arms. She positioned him so he could look up at her. He appreciated her efforts, but he was still very freaking out.

"You're okay," she tried, weakly.

"I'm a head," Danny realized. Ancients, I'm only a head what the actual fuck - "How is that 'okay'?"

She pursed her lips, "Well, you're still… alive? Existing?" her voice cracked.

Wait, Danny realized, does she know my secret too? She has to if she bandaged up my severed fucking head. Clockwork no no no, could this situation actually get any worse?

"I don't even know if I'm that," Danny protested, feeling tears slowly stream down his face. "Why are you acting like this is okay? Besides, you have to know I'm Phantom at this point…."

Admitting it felt dangerous, but it was true. There's no way she couldn't already know.

She looked at him sadly, moving her hand to wipe away some of his stray tears. "I don't care that you're Phantom, Danny. You - you're... like Danielle. You're good, and you've been trying and doing good. I was just blinded - by revenge. And what happened to you, this, I never wanted anything like this to happen to you. Goddamnit, I never wanted anything like…" she trailed off, "this."

"I-" he didn't know how to respond. He was still freaking out over the first atomic bomb that he was decapitated. But at least Valerie didn't hate him still? At least that's what it sounded like, he couldn't really be sure.

Valerie caught the look in his eye and continued, "This is scary for me, Danny," she confessed, "and I know it has to be downright terrifying for you. But… the GIW took your body, and I'm trying to convince myself that I can get it back. No, I will get it back. So yeah, everything will be okay once I do that for you. That's why I'm acting like everything will be fine because I know it will be."

His voice was hoarse. He was still crying, but Valerie's words worked some sort of calming magic over him. Instantly, he felt just a little bit better, even though he was still reeling over the severity of everything.

"Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you so much, Val."

"This is the least I can do," she reassured him. A tear ran down her own face, falling onto Danny's. "...I really care about you."

"I know, I do too."