AN: The first version of this chapter posted a few minutes ago was for some reason glitched and garbled, so ignore the notification you might have received and read this instead.

Sam Manson and Tucker Foley prided themselves in reading their best friend's expressions and behaviors. If he was feeling sad or frustrated, they would instantly know despite how hard the teen tried to hide it. They knew him well enough. They would then eventually get their best friend to open up and tell them what was troubling him, and help him get through whatever it was he was struggling with.

Now, however, they couldn't for the life of them get Danny to tell them what was wrong this time.

It started after Danny got back from Clockwork's place the day before. he didn't say a word to them as he exited the Ghost Portal, only looked at them with red-rimmed eyes devoid of emotion. He stood there for a few minutes as Tucker asked what was wrong. After a moment, Danny finally just shook his head and said that he was tired and they should all go home and sleep so they'd be ready for school the next day. With that, he silently walked out of the lab while his friends stared after him in concern.

The next morning, he was the same. At the bus stop they always met at, Danny was unresponsive and gloomy. He only gave mumbled replies or a dejected shrug to their questions and concerns. With each prod, Danny became more and more withdrawn, until finally, he disappeared.

Tapping into his invisibility, Danny made his escape from the pressure and worry, ignoring his friend's calls and the tears gathering in his eyes as he fled. He ran with one all-encompassing thought:

'They can't know the truth.'

School was also much the same. Sam and Tucker couldn't even find Danny in the halls, only in their classes where he stayed just as silent as before. His depressed disposition seemed to bleed out into the room, affecting other students and making the atmosphere distinctly gloomy. Everyone avoided him. Even Dash could tell something was seriously wrong and left him alone for the day.

Sam and Tucker, however, pursued him and tried to get him to talk. To say something. They had no idea what was wrong, and they had a feeling it wasn't just anxiety about juggling school and ghosts, or worrying about what would happen if someone found out. This was something serious. Something they feared might be his breaking point. By the end of the day when Danny vanished again, they were certain on one thing; they needed help.

Around the same time Sam and Tucker were walking toward their friend's house while planning to prevent Danny from breaking down, the boy was having said breakdown. Locked in the upstairs bathroom of Fentonworks after he had flown there from school, obliterating his past speed record, Danny stared at himself in the mirror. He studied his face, trying to find some flaw, some evidence that he was truly a ghost that just looked human.

He couldn't find any. He could see the small freckles across the bridge of his nose that he'd had ever since he was little and alive. He could see the veins in his eyelids, full of what he'd always thought was blood. He could see the start of wrinkles he'd never noticed before, probably borne from stress. His eyes didn't glow. They were the same baby blue they'd always been. His hair was black; not blue, or white, or purple, or any other odd hair color ghosts tended to have. His skin was pale, yes, but aside from that it looked human. He is human... He hoped he was human.

But Clockwork told him he wasn't. Back at the citadel, back when he was sure he was alive and real and corporeal.

"I'm sorry to have to tell you this, Daniel." Clockwork had said. "But you are not what you thought you were. You are not a halfa. You are not human. You are not alive."

Danny closed his eyes tight at the memory, grimacing. He could remember that fateful conversation perfectly.

"When you stepped into that portal, you sealed your fate. The moment it turned on, you died. Your original body was vaporized by the raw electrified ectoplasm, and the energy surrounding you forced your ghost to form immediately. Then, when the energy simply continued to grow instead of dissipate, you absorbed it. As a result, your ghost was fully formed in a matter of seconds, and it only got stronger. To cope with the huge amounts of power, your body created a way to store it and use it in a way most other ghosts don't. It created multiple forms to take on. One of those forms is your 'human half'"

Danny opened his eyes and looked back up at his reflection.

"Most ghosts would give anything to be able to blend in with humans, to live among them and draw energy from them in secret. You have met one ghost that can do it: Penelope Spectra. But she needed a constant energy source to keep up her façade, and even then it wasn't perfect. You're different. Your human camouflage is perfect, and you don't rely on negative energy, but positive energy. When you're around your friends or saving lives, you absorb more energy than you use. As a result, you've been growing in power and your abilities continue to develop. However, your second form is not your primary one..."

Danny stared into his reflection as he let the cold rings of light wash over him. He now stared into eerily glowing green eyes.

"Considering the mass amount you absorbed upon forming in the portal, and how much you absorb daily with each act of heroism, your primary form has been growing in power steadily. You've only been using your abilities in your second form, which originally had no other purpose other than to create a barrier between your 'human' half and your primary one to prevent too much energy from destroying the much weaker and perfectly formed human disguise. It wasn't meant to be used in combat, which is why you had such a hard time controlling your powers at first, but soon you adapted, and your body began to balance out and allow you to siphon more power from your primary form into your second form. However, it hasn't been enough to counter how much energy you receive... If you continue only using your second form, the energy you have stored will reach dangerous levels. If not released properly... you and likely countless others will not survive the backlash."

Danny's now green eyes roamed over his new reflection, familiar and alien in its own way. He wondered how he could have possibly missed a third form. Shouldn't he have felt it? Though, now that he was thinking about it, he could feel the hum of energy just beyond his reach. It was an odd purring, steadily growing, almost becoming audible as he acknowledged its presence, as if it was excited to be recognized after so long.

Danny closed his eyes tight again and hesitantly reached out in his mind to cross that line, to touch the freezing orb of energy residing in the center of his chest.

"I must warn you, Daniel. Although this third and final form is you in all but body, due to the buildup of unused energy, it has become distorted, almost corrupted, and quite... unsightly."

The wave of cold energy washed over Danny once again, this time it was almost violent. It surged forward like a viper strike, and felt almost unbearably cold compared to his normal transformation. The sudden surge of raw power that crashed into him like a sledgehammer would have forced the breath from his lungs, if he had any. It felt like getting zapped by the portal all over again. It was unbearable. He was in complete agony for what felt like an eternity, but was really only a split second. Then, as suddenly as it came, it stopped.

Danny slowly opened his eyes, and found himself staring sideways at the bottom of the bathroom door. He was curled up on the cold tile, though the temperature didn't bother him because his body felt a thousand times colder, yet he felt fine. The humming was a constant thing, hanging in the background. It was almost soothing, if it wasn't for the itchy, pins-and-needles feeling of the built-up energy crackling just under his skin.

With a few jerky movements, Danny tried to get up. A horribly dizzy sensation overcame him and he had to close his eyes again, but he continued to try. Eventually, his groping hand caught the edge of the sink counter, and he gripped it for dear life as he hauled himself up unsteadily. Danny held onto the marble edges with clenched fists as he waited for his head to stop spinning.

Once it did, he slowly opened his eyes and looked into the mirror once again...

"I'm sorry, Daniel."

And screamed.

AN: don't forget to review!