Prelude: 4 months until the Apocalypse

CyberActors15: Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to A Phantom and his Broken World. Before we can begin however we need a brief recap just to make sure that you guys are caught up.

Dani: Okay so last time Danny was elected as the student body president and Paulina was elected as the vice president. Danny ran into a problem that was titled Ember McLain and he was forced to fight her but she got away. The Guys in White tried to keep it secret that the world was ending and when Danny and Ember were fighting Clockwork revealed to the whole world that the world was ending. And then there was chaos.

CyberActors15: Yeah that's about everything that happened. You forgot that Paulina has plans for the upcoming school year though.

Dani: It didn't seem relevant enough, what with the whole world on death's row. Also last chapter it was 5 months. And now its 4 months. Why are you skipping months? Isn't this story about trying to prevent the end of the world?

CyberActors15: First of all everything is relevant… until I decide to retcon things later. Secondly… I'm not going to say anything further about that. Well Onto the story.

Danny, Sam and Tucker walked through the school taking note of how much more empty the school felt. It had been approximately one month since Clockwork dropped the bomb that was the world ending and it was safe to say that there wasn't a welcome reception to the news.

At first there was chaos, everyone started freaking out. Danny remembered counting many people being reduced to frightened children in how they acted. Some people were vandalizing things and creating mass panic, others took to religion trying to repent for their sins and be guaranteed trips into Heaven or the specific cultural representation of the afterlife. Some took to the bottle trying to drown the fear of dying in alcohol. It was really a stressful time. The suicide, crime and death rates had increased drastically during that brief period

It was about a week later that populations started to calm down slightly. It seemed that large portions of people decided on lifestyle changes. As far as they were concerned they weren't happy with how their lives were and they were making changes to their lifestyles as long as they had lives left to live. That was actually the explanation for a large portion of the student body and even some of the teachers having vanished. At least that was the explanation for the majority of people who had left. Those who stayed either didn't have enough money for a drastic change to their lifestyle or thought they might as well continue with school with everything else seeming so hopeless.

"The place really is empty isn't it?" Tucker commented.

"It's not that empty." Sam responded. "We still have at least half of the school here."

"Okay admittedly that's true but still there is usually more people here." Tucker said. "I wonder if the teachers are going to continue teaching with more and more people leaving."

"Well some of them really like their teaching jobs so they probably will." Sam said. "However I did hear that Lancer is forgoing classes in favour of screening every single Disney, Pixar and animated film that he can find. Apparently he said something about educating the youth about the quality of animated story telling."

"Remind me not to miss any Lancer classes. I can't wait to learn about the complexities of developing ice powers and freezing a whole city." Danny said earning a chuckle from his two friends.

As the trio walked they came across the remnants of the A-List group and immediately their amusement left. All that was left from the group of popular students were Paulina and Dash, Kwan was one of the students who had left the school with the hope of changing his lifestyle before the end came. A lot of the other sports jocks had abandoned the school as well leaving very few. Dash was actually the only football jock left in their school. A good number of the cheerleaders and rich girls which Paulina interacted with had also left leaving very few, but that wasn't the reason for Paulina's mood.

The stress of the world ending was too much for some and the other less significant reason why some of the students weren't hear was because they had failed to handle that stress. Star, Paulina's best friend, was reported as one of the first casualties of suicide. The entire student body council, at least what was left of it, were the first to hear the news and then it spread to some of the other students.

Danny, Sam and Tucker, were still admittedly not friends with Paulina, especially Sam, but even then they understood that the vice president of the student body was hurting and as they passed her they did stop to comfort her. They also comforted Dash as well since Star was his friend.

Although the five didn't along well the two popular kids thanked the three for their compassion. Paulina, now that she had found Danny actually took the time to talk to him. Despite the recent hindrances such as the world ending soon and the loss of her dear friend Paulina was still determined to make these last four months of school the best ones ever. Both she and Danny were motivated to have all their planned events and even more than that they, Paulina, were determined to make her proposed Casper Festival and Ball an amazing event before the world ended. It was something along the lines of proof that humanity wouldn't just give up even though the world was ending.

The two began discussing what they would need to do first as well as how to motivate students and teachers to stick around until the festival.

~00000~

It's safe to say that in the Ghost Zone life… or afterlife wasn't much better than it was in the human world. There were a lot of ghosts who had a sudden existential crisis and were trying to attain their obsessions before the end came. There were other ghosts who weren't worried at all. What was dying a second time? The ghosts with these views were few and far between. Similarly to the humans, there were also ghosts who were in the process of trying to change their lifestyles so that they could enjoy themselves before the end.

Skulker walked through his island looking at every trophy that he had acquired since becoming the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter. He had a great many trophies and if he was going to die then he wanted one last one. The pelt of a halfa. He didn't know if he or anyone would survive the apocalypse to remember his legacy but while there was still life for the next four months he intended to be known as the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter. Everyone would view that as true when he brought in the pelt of a Halfa.

~00000~

"Amity Park. Home of Danny Phantom." Danielle read as she looked at the sign.

The young Halfa stared at the sign hesitantly while deciding if this was a good idea. Ever since Clockwork appeared in front of her warning about the end of the world she had been doing her best to get back to Amity Park. Okay that was a lie. The reason it took her a whole month even though it reasonably should have taken about a week and a half was because the girl kept on second guessing herself.

The reason she was back was because she wanted to ask Danny for a favour before the world ended. A little something that would make her the happiest little halfa in the world while there was still a world. However Dani always hesitated because she found herself wondering if what she wanted to ask wasn't selfish. Looking at the sign that lead to the city made her worry again. Her levels of courage were receding and she immediately turned around.

"No I can't ask him." Dani squealed.

She almost flew away, almost being the key word. Before she made it far and stopped and looked back at the sign. The name Danny Phantom seemed so inviting with so many promises for a good future.

"You deserve to be happy too Danielle." Dani whispered lightly to herself.

Dani floated up slightly and began floating towards the city. She started slowly her heart beating more and more as she inched closer to the city. She needed to do this and the longer she waited the more the clock ticked down. Dani began to increase in speed as she reminded herself that the world would be ending soon and that she wanted some kind of life fulfilment before the end. As the city neared her speed increased and she became more focused on what she wanted. She was flying incredibly fast once her worries were forgotten and her intent had been revealed.

Dani decided that she wouldn't be the scared little girl anymore. Whatever Danny's response was would be his response but as long as Dani asked. It might not go the way she expected it to. It might not even go the way she wanted at all, but she would still ask. She may not have been raised by the family but she remembered what she was. Biologically she was a Fenton… or at least a Phantom and her time in Amity Park before told her that Fentons weren't cowards. She didn't know anything about biology but she was pretty sure courage was heredity.

As she flew she wasn't aware of the pair of eyes watching her fly through the air.

"I didn't expect there to be another Halfa." Skulker noted. "She looks just like the whelp, perhaps a relative."

The hunter grinned perhaps not the prey that he was expecting but still Prey none the less. Skulker's jetpack appeared on his back before he rocketed towards the Halfa.

The hunt had begun.

As he got close to the Halfa, he noticed her ghost sense, interesting her ghost sense wasn't as advanced as Phantom's. Actually as he paid attention he took note that her flight speed wasn't nearly as fast as Phantoms. Overall his scanners showed that the girl had a weaker ghost signature than Phantom did when he started out. The girl certainly didn't appear to be as strong as the whelp based on his readings. Skulker presumed that that was a result of either the girl being younger or being a newer halfa, maybe a combination of the two explanations.

Skulker slowed his flight as he noticed the girl looking around. It seemed her ghost sense had yet to develop the same 3-dimentional awareness that the whelp had. Definitely weaker than the Whelp, but how much weaker was the question. Skulker decided to put the hunt on hold and turned himself invisible in order to observe the girl. The girl was staying still looking around and Skulker could now get a good look at her, she looked around 10 years old, making her around 7 years younger than his usual prey. She also looked exactly like Phantom even her jumpsuit seemed to be modelled after his. It was almost as if someone had de-aged the whelp and turned him into a female.

"Hello." She called out. "Is there anyone there?"

As she looked around her eyes passed over Skulker's invisible form, once again her ghost sense activated but she continued to look around and that solidified Skulker's thoughts. A common trend among stronger ghosts was that they had the ability to almost notice ghosts who were invisible. That's not to say that they could see invisible ghosts but they were more attuned to notice the shimmering of the ghostly aura or even sense the ecto energy, those who perfected the technique essentially had infrared vision and could see invisible ghosts clearly if the temperature around the ghost was right. Phantom had the ability to find ghosts even when they were invisible. As far as Skulker knew he didn't have the infrared sight but he was strong enough to find invisible ghosts. The child in front of him didn't have that sight. Additionally she didn't notice her ghost sense pointing directly in his direction when she looked towards him.

Skulker put the machete that he was holding away, this girl wouldn't be worth the Hunt. She wasn't as strong as Phantom. Additionally it wasn't every day that he encountered such a young child with ghostly abilities. That wasn't to say that they didn't exist but they were rarer than other ghosts.

"Seriously this isn't funny." The girl called out. "I know you're here."

Skulker decided to humour the girl, maybe he could use this to learn more about his true prey.

"Calm down whelp, I'm floating right here." Skulker said as he faded into the visibility spectrum. He hesitated for a second, calling her whelp was strange.

The girl took note of his robotic appearance as if wondering if he were a threat or not.

"Calm down girl, I'm not a threat to you." Skulker said. "I am Skulker the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter and I have no interest in hunting you."

The girl hesitated for a second. "I'm Dani Phantom. Dani with an 'I'" She introduced herself. Skulker could detect a childlike wonder and naiveté from the girl.

"Phantom?" Skulker mused. "What is your relation to Danny Phantom?"

"You know Danny? He's my… uh it's complicated." Dani said while rubbing the back of her neck nervously. Skulker took note of that action but didn't comment on it. "I am actually on my way to see him now."

"If you are then you are heading in the wrong direction." Skulker said causing confusion from the girl. "Usually at this time of day the whelp is at school. It's Thursday and he has student council meetings until 5 o clock. If you continued this way you would end up at his house and the only person you'd find there are his mother and sister."

Dani gave Skulker a strange look.

"What are you a stalker?" She asked.

"Of course not." Skulker stammered. "I run into the whelp there at those times and I have an excellent memory so I remember whenever I meet him."

Dani chuckled. "Don't worry Mr Skulker I was just joking." Dani said before regaining her composure. "The problem is that I don't know where Casper High is from here. I know how to get to Fenton Works however."

Skulker wasn't sure what it was but something compelled him to help the girl. Maybe it was the childlike wonder that compelled him to help her or maybe he was devising a way to use her as bait. Regardless he decided to show her the way to Casper High.

"Follow me I'll take you to the Whelp." Skulker said before leading the way.

Dani smiled and followed after him. Skulker was honestly surprised by how naïve the girl was. True he didn't have any malicious intent but regardless he was a complete stranger to her and she was blindly following him to a location. It was certainly strange.

"So why do you call Danny whelp?" Dani asked attempting to engage with conversation with her guide.

Skulker answered this question carefully. "The whelp can be annoying at times, when we spar or have… disagreements. When I first met him I didn't view him as anything more than a minor annoyance that happened to be very unique." Skulker answered. Most of that wasn't a lie. "Why are you looking for him so badly?"

Dani chuckled nervously, seemingly not knowing how to answer that question. She appeared to be considering her answer to the question before she finally decided to answer the question.

"I guess I don't have much of a family." Dani responded. "It's actually safe to say that Danny is my only family, at least I think he is." Skulker raised an eyebrow at that but didn't interrupt. "And I wasn't really born the normal way so I've never really had parents or family to take care of me. With the world ending, I was thinking that it might be nice to have a family before the end came. I wanted to ask Danny if he could… if he could be my family… if he could be my dad." The last part was barely a whisper but Skulker heard it loud and clear. In all honesty he was surprised to say the least.

"The whelp your father?" Skulker asked for confirmation.

"Yeah, I know sounds strange. But I never really had parents before and when I was traveling I saw a cartoon about a girl and her dad. I learned that dads are supposed to care about their daughters and protect them and raise them and love them. The only person who has done any of those things or treated me like family was Danny." Dani said quietly.

Skulker remained silent at that revelation. This was one of the last things that he had expected to hear. Hearing this memories surfaced in his mind of a young human boy with no parents. A human boy who lived on the streets. A human boy who met a wildlife huntsman. A human boy who was lucky enough to be given food by that huntsman and be taken in by him as well. A human boy who trained to be as good a huntsman as the huntsman.

That was a different time, when Scott Hunter was still alive, claiming himself to be the greatest hunter before his life came to an unfortunate end.

Skulker sighed. The plan had originally been to find the whelp and make him his last trophy on his wall before the apocalypse came to pass, that way he would be remember as the Ghost Zone's Greatest Hunter up until the end of everything. But now he was faced with another dream that clashed directly with his.

The ghost shrugged as he felt a major release of a three year long desire. Unless he could hunt down Plasmius then he wouldn't be looking to hang the pelt of a halfa on his wall anytime soon. Instead he would let the girl have her time with her family for as long as she had time.

They approached Casper High and Skulker knew that he would be within the range of the whelp's ghost sense soon. Dani's eye literally lit up as she saw the building and she began whispering words of encouragement to herself to calm her rising nerves. Skulker slowed his flight before coming to a halt causing Dani to do the same.

"No need for that cub." Skulker said, while finally coming up with a fitting nickname for the girl. "I have known the whelp for three years and I can guarantee you that he will not hesitate to accept you as his own."

Dani beamed at the ghost and gave him a big hug. "Thanks for the encouragement Uncle Skulker." Dani said.

"Uncle?" Skulker was taken back.

Dani immediately became flushed and floated back. "Sorry, in the cartoon I saw, the girl called friends of her dad uncle." Dani replied sheepishly. "If you don't want me to call you that then I will stop."

Skulker shook his head. This girl was too precious for her own good. If anyone saw this they would think that he were going soft. Her words then resonated with him, technically speaking he was still Phantom's enemy but he assumed that in the eyes of the girl he looked like a friend of the whelp. That would be interesting.

"Go ahead and call me what you like cub." Skulker said before a smile appeared on his face. "I am not opposed to the name."

Dani smiled giving her 'uncle' a big hug again. If Skulker were human his bones would probably be crushed. But he was in an exoskeleton so… some of the machinery surrounding his body started to bend inward. Dani may not be as strong as her father, but that didn't mean she wasn't as unnaturally strong as all Halfas were.

Skulker then led the girl towards the school, not before activating his ecto signature masking technology. He may not be hunting the whelp anymore but didn't mean he would pass up the opportunity to test out his technology.

~00000~

Today had been an interesting day overall for Danny. His conversations with Paulina had provided fruitful in preparation for the upcoming events. He had had another fight with Ember. She seemed to be showing up a whole lot since Clockwork announced the end of the world. Naturally she caused some havoc and the two had their usual banter and fighting. Turns out the rumour was also true and Mr Lancer's class was about watching animated movies so that was fun. So overall Danny had to say that today was a good day save for some moments of emotion here and there. It seemed that day wasn't over yet.

He was retrieving stuff from his locker at the end of the day, before he would head to the student council meeting. It was when he opened his locker did he detect ecto energy. It wasn't his ghostly sense which occurred when there was a full ghost around but the detection of energy that he picked up when there was a halfa around. At this point in time Danny had long since grown accustomed to Vlad's energy so he knew immediately that this wasn't his. A grin formed on Danny's face as he immediately realised whose ecto signature was around.

"Danielle." Danny exclaimed before he was suddenly tackled by the younger halfa. "I haven't seen you since you dramatically flew off."

Dani beamed at Danny, glad that he was happy to see her. She hopped off and transformed back into her human form. Luckily there was no one around so she wasn't worried.

"Hey Danny…" She said all of a sudden becoming nervous again. "I wanted to ask for a favour."

"A favour? Vlad isn't hunting you again is he?" Danny asked, concern evident in his voice.

"No. It's nothing like that." Dani responded calming Danny's nerves. "It's more like I… well… it's hard to explain… you see…"

The 10 year old girl began tripping over her words trying to find the best way to describe what she wanted.

"Don't be nervous. Just tell me what's on your mind." Danny spoke softly as he knelt down to her size.

"I… since I heard that the world was going to end. I realised that I wasn't happy with my life. I realised that I wanted more than what I had." Dani spoke softly. "I want a family."

There was a moment of silence before Danny surged forward and wrapped Dani around in his arms.

"I'm sorry, it never occurred to me how alone you must feel." Danny said to his clone. "If I realised, I never would have let you leave in the first place. Don't worry I'll be your family."

Dani was surprised. She didn't expect this to be this easy. With a gulp she decided to take the leap of faith.

"I also wanted to ask. I want you to be more than family. Danny. I know it sounds selfish but I want to be taken care of and to be a little princess. I…" Dani hesitated trying to find the words, "I want you to be my dad."

Out of the list of things that Danny expected to hear, that was the absolute last thing that he expected to hear. Danny froze for a moment, trying to come to grips with what Dani had said. She was asking him to take responsibility for her and become her dad. Danny looked the girl and felt his heart melting at looking at her. She wanted her family before the end came to take her life and that family included Danny as the dad. Danny couldn't say he was ready for that responsibility being only 17 years old but…

"Yes." Danny responded.

Tears immediately began to well in Dani's eyes. She was happier than he had ever seen.

"Thanks daddy." She said hugging Danny tighter.

It was weird for him to hear but it was natural for her to say. Danny decided that he would get used to it as time went on.

"Though I need to warn you, I may not be the best dad out there." Danny said a bit of his usual snarky humour coming out to cope with the new development. "You know I am only 17, and don't get me started on the half ghost work and the student council stuff, you might be better off with a robot rather than me."

Dani shook her head.

"No thanks. I would rather have you dad." Dani said gleefully.

"Well then I guess it's time to find all the dad jokes then." Danny quipped causing Dani to laugh.

"Please no, anything but that." Dani said through her laughter.

Danny smiled alongside his daughter until realisation hit him. He still had the student council meeting and he was pretty sure Dani was going to want to stay with him… and his parents would want to know why Danny was all of a sudden the father of a 10 year old girl. Oh boy this was going to get interesting real quick.

Skulker in the meanwhile watched from nearby. He had to admit it, even his iron core melted at the scene.

Dani: Okay I admit it. This is my favourite chapter.

CyberActors15: Its chapter 2. There will be more.

Dani: I don't care this is my favourite chapter. Also I'm surprised how did Skulker end up with the longest POV?

CyberActors15: That was purely accidental. I assure you.

Dani: Really. That's interesting. So what will happen next? Read, Review, Favourite and Follow to find out.