Disclaimer: I don't not own Danny Phantom or Sword Art Online. They belong to their respective owners.

It was December and everyone was in the Christmas spirit, except Phantom, who was brooding as they walked across a snow covered forest. Ema ran around, smiling and playing like a little child, but Phantom had his head down, his hair covering his eyes as they weaved around the trees. They saw a few other players, but those players fled when they saw the Phantom. After another group ran, Ema was fed up with his attitude.

"What's wrong with you?" Phantom looked up, and his eyes were as sharp as a knife."Do you like winter?"

"Yes." He answered, his voice cold.

"Do you like December?"

"Yes."

"Then what is wrong with you? Do you like Christmas?"

"No." Ema gasped.

"How can you not like Christmas, even the grumpiest of people at least tolerate it." She said, waving her hands.

"I have bad experiences with Christmas." Phantom said.

"It couldn't have been that bad."

"My parents argue over if Santa is real or not, and most of the time, it's publicly in a mall."

"That's not that bad."

"They forget to set up Christmas decorations, and they haven't stopped arguing since before I was born, which led to a lot of things, with reindeer, and Alaskan hounds, and even living reindeer statues." Phantom coldly said.

"Okay, that's bad, but there must've been one good thing about Christmas that you know. What about you friends in the real world?"

"One of my friends' parents hate me and my family, so their house is on lock down for a week, and the other locks himself in his house with his computers, and they both stopped talking to me anyway before I got on." Phantom said. His arm was suddenly yanked and he was being dragged along."Where are we going?"

"To show you a real Christmas." Ema said, dragging him along. Phantom said nothing and let himself be dragged to wherever his friend wanted to drag him.

Ema dragged him to several places. A trip that lasted for a week on different floors. A village to see the sights, a field to hunt, a small dungeon, the Town of Beginnings to check on the kids and gave them some presents. Each place made Phantom's mood lighten ever so slightly. A small shack that was out in the woods was the last place they came to on Christmas Eve. Phantom wasn't irritated anymore, but he still wasn't smiling. They arrived, with Phantom using his two legs to walk instead of an arm and Ema. He looked at the snow covered shack.

"How did you find this?"

"It's boring when you go into a village on business. This is where I go to have fun." Ema said, opening the door. The inside looked like it was completely natural. The floors and walls were made of wood. The living room had a soft sofa in front of a circular carpet and a fireplace. There was a window with a great view of a lake The kitchen was right next to the living room, and had a sink and dishwasher right by each other with the stove and oven on the other wall.

"This is nice." Phantom said, nodding his head in approval.

"Glad you liked it." Ema said, walking into the living room. Phantom followed and looked out the window. Past the lake was a nice hill that probably had a great view of the forest. It was white, signaling that it was covered in snow."Are you hungry?" He quickly turned around at Ema's voice. She was wearing an apron instead of her pink shirt and steel chestplate. Phantom could see a blue T-shirt under the apron with her blue jeans. She was very close to him, practically leaning on him. Phantom blushed at the close proximity, but Ema didn't notice.

"Y-yeah. I could go for some food." Phantom said, feeling exposed.

"I made something. You might like it." She said, exiting his personal bubble and walking into the kitchen. Phantom took one last look out the window, and followed her. When he walked through the door, he sweatdropped.

"Cookies as dessert and milk as the drink?" He deadpanned. Ema glared at him, cheeks puffed.

"You didn't even look at the main course!" She said, crossing her arms. Phantom looked at the food surrounding the cookies. There was a lot of it, some fish, with turkey, and mashed potatoes, and salad.

"It looks good." He commented.

"Thanks, I maxed out my cooking skill to get this without burning it." Phantom stared in shock.

"It's only been a few months! How?!"

"I practiced overnight." Ema said, proud of herself. Phantom stared at her and shrugged. They both ate in silence, enjoying the peace and quiet. After their meal, Phantom stood up walked toward the door.

"You're going to the hill across the lake, aren't you?"

"How do you know?" He asked.

"I saw one when I first came here?" She said.

"Maybe. They give me a great view of my surroundings, and I can hear my thoughts. It's peaceful." Phantom said, turning away from Ema. She smiled, and grabbed his hand."Where are we going?"

"To the hill that you love so much." Ema said, walking to the door, Phantom's wrist in her hand.

"You're going in an apron?" Ema stopped and took a look at herself. Her face turned a bright red. There was smoke leading to the kitchen after a second, which Phantom guessed where Ema was. After a minute, Ema stepped out, in her pink shirt and steel chestplate with blue jeans. Her cheeks were still pink. Phantom followed her outside. The walk there was quiet and Phantom all but passed out when they reached the top of the hill. Ema giggled when his back hit the ground.

"We just got here." She commented.

"And I'm just about to sleep." Something cold hit his face, making him shoot up. He wiped his face clean of snow, and was glaring at Ema, who was looking too innocent for someone with a snowball in her hands. She giggled and threw the ball of white. Phantom held up his hand and caught the snowball without it shattering against his hand. He threw it back and Ema moved her head. The snowball flew past her. She giggled and threw another, which Phantom dodged. He made two more and saw Ema, with a whole stack of them.

"How did you make those so fast?"

"Lots of practice with my friend. She always loved the cold, even in summer." Ema said, throwing another snowball. Phantom rolled away, but was hit in the face, sending him to the ground."Give up?" Ema stood over him, a smirk on her lips. Phantom moved his feet and tripped her, bringing her down to the ground with him. He jumped up and threw a snowball at her, covering her face with virtual snow.

"Do you?" Ema wiped the snow from her face and glared at him. He moved back as she did a handstand and pushed herself to her feet. She made a snowball.

"This. Means. War." She said. Phantom smirked as he held two snowballs in each hand.

"Bring. It. On." He said, throwing his snow.

After an hour, they stopped, with Ema holding her arms, shivering. Phantom sighed, walking with his hands behind his head.

"Rule number four of SAO." He said. Ema sighed and stopped shivering. Her arms dropped.

"Temperature doesn't apply." She said, drawling the sentence out.

"But it's fun to simulate." Phantom said with a smile. Ema smiled back at him, but didn't bother shivering again. The two stepped into the wooden home, and Phantom sat down on the sofa, asleep in seconds. Ema stared at his sleeping form, giggling. She knelt by the fireplace and lit it. The glow wasn't doing anything to warm them up, but it looked natural in its surroundings. She crawled over to the sofa and sat down on the other end, away from Phantom. She leaned her head against the arm and cast a glance back at him. His hair became white, and she wanted to run a hand through it, wanting to know if it felt like how it looked. Like snow. Her eyes closed and she tried to fight the sudden fatigue, wanting to watch the white hair a little longer, but that was a battle she quickly loss and darkness enveloped her vision.

Her eyes snapped open with a gasp. Ema shot up and looked around. The fire was still going, but Phantom was gone. There was a panel in front of her face. A message from Anonymous. She opened it.

Phantom has left your party.

Your party has been disbanded.

She sighed when it showed that message, but then noticed Phantom's HP bar not under hers. She gasped and looked around. Phantom wasn't anywhere and there were no sounds around the house, or room. Another panel opened up. Another message. She opened it.

Hey, sorry I left, but I had to get something. I'll be back sometime tonight. Don't freak out about me leaving the party, but I needed to leave to do this. I'll be back.

It was from Phantom, and it made Ema relax. She closed the panel and looked around. 'How long was I out?' She thought to herself. She looked around, and decided to head out. Phantom was coming back, and it was boring without him.

Phantom was walking through the woods, smiling and whistling. He had gotten something for Ema, and it had cost him time and money, but it was worth it for the girl who made him smile during the season of giving. He made it to the wooden house and opened the door. It was dark. The fire was out, and no lights were on. "Ema?" He asked. He walked around, his guard up and a hand on his sword hilt, ready to strike. He walked around and his hair turned white, but he didn't notice. "Ema?" He called. He drew his sword and got into a stance. His sword glowed blue, providing a bit of light to his surroundings. He looked around. He heard movement to his left and turned. Something moved, fast away from the glow of his sword. He tried o follow the shadow, but his eye sight wasn't as good as it was in the real world. The shadow vanished and Phantom moved to where it had been. He kneeled to inspect the carpet. More movement and when he turned, he was tackled to the ground, causing him and his attacker to roll along the carpet for a second. His attacker shifted as they were rolling and found arms on his neck with a body in front of him instead of behind him. When they stopped rolling, Phantom was pinned to the ground by a weight on top of him. He tried to move his hands, but found that they were pinned behind his back. He stared in front of him, his eyes green. "I don't know who you are, but if you don't get off of me and get out of this-"

"Shut up. It's only me." Ema said, interrupting his threat. Phantom was still glaring, though for some unknown reason.

"Prove it." He said. If he could see, he would see Ema glaring at him.

"How? I can't prove that when the lights are out."

"Okay, you're Ema." Phantom said, trying to push the girl off him, but her grip around his neck was strong, very strong.

"How did you know?" She asked, her voice had gotten softer.

"You voice is like a soft bell, alarming, but comforting." Phantom said. He felt her nod, but she wasn't saying anything more."Is something wrong?"

"How can you stand it?" She asked, her voice shaking.

"Huh?"

"When you left me, I went out into the forest, to do something. After a while, I found something that I wanted to give you from a wandering vendor. I got it, but some players found me and saw that I had it. They wanted it, but I didn't want to give it to them. I had gotten it for you. When I told them, they got mad and tried to attack me. I was confused. I didn't want to hurt them, but I didn't want them to take your gift. So I fought them, but I saw something in their eyes. They wanted-wanted..." Phantom rubbed her back as a few tears leaked from her eyes."They wanted to kill me. They didn't care that I had your gift, they just wanted to kill me. They were, cold. Heartless, mean, and I was able to beat them, but I knew that they would try and attack me again, and I didn't want you to get involved, so I...I..." Phantom waited, rubbing small circles in her back. Her arms tightened around his neck.

"You did what?" He asked, knowing the answer.

"I... I killed them!" She screamed."I didn't want to, but I had to. So I killed them, to make sure that they never came after me again. I-I" She hiccuped as she sobbed over her actions. Phantom did nothing but let her cry on his shoulder. He remembered when he had to destroy a ghost that was far too dangerous to put back in the Ghost Zone. Even though it was necessary, and it felt like the right thing to do, he couldn't get the sick feeling of ending something's life, even if it was already dead.

"I understand." He said. Her sobs were too loud for her to hear him, but they stayed like that until Ema had cried herself to sleep. Phantom carefully picked him and the sleeping girl up from the ground. Ema's head was buried in his chest with her arms in a death grip around his neck. He held her and walked up the stairs to the bedroom. He worked extra hard to get Ema's arms from his neck without waking her, and succeeded, but she kept a solid grip on his hand. Phantom tried to get her to let go, but each time he tried, her grip strengthened. He eventually gave up and laid down on the floor next to her. He looked back up ans saw Ema sleeping peacefully. Phantom smiled and closed his eyes.

The next morning was Christmas day. Phantom woke up and instead of hearing the shouts of his mother and father, he woke to the wood creaking as he moved along it.'That's right. Stuck in a death game.' He thought to himself. He looked at the bed to find that it was empty, with the blankets scattered everywhere. Phantom stood up and walked out of the room. The smell of food entered his nose when he stepped out, and he followed it to the kitchen. On the table was a plate of waffles and some bacon, but no Ema. A panel opened up in front of him. He opened the message.

Went out. Try to stay in the cabin.

He closed the panel and ate in silence, looking out the window every five minutes. When he was done, he explored the house since he wasn't allowed to go outside. After making a mental map of the house, he sat down on the couch and waited for Ema to return. He stared at the fire in the fireplace. After a moment of silence, an idea came to him. He suddenly stood up and looked around, making sure that Ema wasn't near. After confirming that she wasn't nearby, he spread his arms.

"Going ghost." He said. A ring of light appeared at his waist and split, one going up and one going down. When they were gone, he looked at himself in the window, his reflection had white hair, and his eyes were green. Other than those changes, he was still the same. His name and clothes hadn't changed, but his stealth skill was suddenly maxed out. He saw Ema in the window and stepped back, his rings illuminated the windows and Ema stared at the flash of white. She picked up her pace and was through the door in seconds.

"Hey, what's the rush?" Phantom asked, slouched on the small sofa. Ema stared, but relaxed.

"How was it while I was out?" She said, closing the door.

"Boring." He said, groaning.

"Now you see how I feel whenever you go off on your own." She said, crossing her arms.

"Okay, so I'll just take you with me wherever I go." Phantom said, Ema stared at him.

"Really?" She asked,.

"Yeah, I can't have anyone try and kill my friend, and I don't want you to have to kill again." Phantom said, his tone low. Ema looked down and tears sparked in her eyes again. Phantom noticed."Think about it like this. If they were left alive, they probably would've killed a lot more players. A few lives sacrificed for the safety of many." Ema nodded, but didn't show any signs of her mood changing, until Phantom said his next words,"Want to see what I got you?" She picked her head up with wonder in her eyes.

"You got me something?" She asked.

"You made Christmas nice for me this year, so I wanted to thank you." Danny said. A small hair clip appeared in his hands. The hairclips had SAO on it with a white sword going through the letters.

"What's that?"

"It's a hairclip, celebrating SAO's initial launch." The item was transferred to her inventory, and she smiled, and Phantom rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry I couldn't get you something more special. There was this Christmas quest, but someone already cleared it before me." He said, sheepishly.

"It's perfect." Ema said, putting the clip in her hair. She held out her hands as a blue glow covered them.

"Here's my gift." A 27 inch scabbard appeared in her hands and Danny stared at it. The hilt resembled an arrowhead and was a neon green color with a black gem in the middle. The handle was a black rod with a red segment at the bottom, and the scabbard was completely black with white Japanese characters which the game translated as 'Phantom'. The sword was transferred into his inventory and appeared on his back with the scabbard concealing it. He drew it and saw that the sword was a double-edged broadsword without the curves at the bottom. The steel was a pearl white and connected at the tip where a gleam of light shined. He could see his white hair and green eyes clearly in the blade. He looked at her with a shocked expression.

"How?" He asked.

"I went on a special quest while I was out looking for something to give you. You always hung around blacksmiths whenever we went into a village. So a sword was perfect for you. After the quest, I earned this, and I named it after you." She blushed a little."Do you like it?"

"Definitely." Phantom said. He gave it a few swings and found that it was a light as a feather and didn't make a sound. "It's quiet." He commented, swinging the sword a few more times. Ema watched as he tested his new sword.

"I'm glad you liked it, it came from a high floor." She said.

"Which one?" He asked, charging a move. His sword glowed white.

"Floor 67." She said, Phantom stopped his swinging to stare at her.

"But how, I haven't even gotten to that floor yet." He asked, eyes wide.

"I told you, a special quest." Phantom narrowed his eyes, but relented. He trusted her, so there was no need to question her. He sheathed the sword across his back.

"Thanks." He said, wrapping his arms around her. She hugged him back, but fell through him when his form started to fizz and glitch. She turned around and saw Phantom stuck in his previous pose, just like before. The word 'Offline' was on top of his head. Ema tried to touch him, but her hand went through his form. She pulled her hand back. 'Why is he offline? That phase passed after the first two months.' Ema thought. She opened the menu and hit 'International News' She chose America. Illinois. Amity Park. She saw a video of a small family packing. It had a mother and Father with a daughter, and one unconscious son with a helmet on his head. They were taking him out of the hospital and into a tank of some sort. There was a headline.

"#1 ghost researchers moving?!" She closed the video and opened the article. She read the article.

"As of this day, December 25, 2026, marks the fifth month resident hero, Danny Phantom, has disappeared from Amity Park." Ema looked at the picture of said hero and the Phantom in front of her. They were one and the same. She held her giggles and moved on in the article."The first month without our hero was a hard one that made most families move out of Amity Park. The ghost attacks were too much, and even the best ghost hunters were defeated, and humiliated with the ghost always making a remark about how this Phantom was better than them. All too soon, the ghost hunters had begun giving up hope for this town. Most packed and left, but one pair stayed. Jack and Maddie Fenton. Father and Mother of Jasmine Fenton and Daniel Fenton who has slipped into a coma with a NerveGear on his head. Reports say that his sister was given a warning about it would be lethal to remove the headset from the developer Akihika Kayaba, and that he should be let alone. She followed his wish neither parent knowing what was going on with their son. Jasmine moved her brother to the local hospital and left him in the care of the EMTs. Back to the parents of said child, they kept hunting, but eventually gave up when the ghost started to come less and less, and eventually vanishing all together. The family was forced to take Daniel out of the hospital due to low funds and have decided to move to keep their family from poverty. Where the small family will be going is a mystery, and they haven't disclosed any information to the police, but there has been one message left to Danny Phantom from Amity Park and the surrounding areas, including the ghost hunters of the world, excluding the GIW organization, which was disbanded." There was a picture with people holding a sign over their heads. It read,"We're sorry. Please come back Danny Phantom." Then there was a little scribble near the corner."I'll give you a kiss if you do - Paulina." Ema closed the menu and looked at Phantom, who was still glitched. She sighed and sat down by him.

"You're going to be very shocked when we clear the game, and happy. Your town finally recognized you as a hero, and now you can't see them again." She sighed, but a panel opened up in front of Phantom's face. She stared at it, and pressed the view button.

You will never know how long it took to hack the headset without the doctors freaking out or the set about to microwave your brain. The most I could do was send this message. Listen man, I'm sorry, me and Sam. We're both sorry. Turns out that Gregor was a fake, and that you were right. Sam was so upset about it, but when she heard you were in a coma, she practically broke down. We never got to tell you that we were sorry, maybe you wouldn't be trapped in a game, which is awesome by the way, when you're inside of it. I know we promised to never be mushy to each other, but I miss you bro. Sam misses you, Jazz misses you, even the ghost miss you man! Sam moved out of town. The ghosts were too much for her parents, now she's in France or something. You're moving right now. I don't know where you're going, but I know that you won't be coming back. I'm going to miss you, you and Sam. Here's some things you might want to know. You being in a coma ignited lots of rumors around school, and one of the kids managed to get a picture of your body. They saw- they saw the scars. They saw all of your bruises, and cuts and scars. The staff found out and saw the pictures. They were sick after that. One of the many rumors that everyone thought was true was that you attempted suicide, and those scars and bruises and cuts helped prove that. Dash and his cronies just laughed and brushed it off, but when they were allowed to see you, somehow the headset turned invisible and checked your body to see if the rumors were true. When the saw your scars they thought they had pushed you to your breaking point and apologized to you, and us. Dude, they were so scared that they led you to suicide that they stopped bullying the weak and nerdy. Kwan was the one who was most affected by your coma. He just cried in front of your bed, and the doctors had to escort him out. Paulina came in and started talking in Spanish or something, then apologized and came out crying. Valerie was next. She saw you and apologized for breaking your heart. She told you that she was the Red Huntress, so we showed her that you were Danny Phantom. She broke down like Sam and couldn't stop apologizing to you. She, Sam, Jazz, Kwan, and me always visited you in the hospital, Sam had to drag me in, but I started coming in on my own, and we just made sure the doctors were doing the right thing with you. Your parents were more affected than Sam or Valerie or Kwan. Your mom was by your side when she found out you were in a coma after two months had passed. Better late than never, right? Anyway, your dad actually lost weight, not a lot but some, and he stopped attacking innocent snicker doodle cookies. They even kept their annual Christmas argument at bay because of you. You may have seen the news or not, but the ghosts have stopped coming. Not really; they just stopped attacking. A few ghosts came to see you and pay their respects. From the Box Ghost to the Fright Knight. You're popular, but you're not awake to enjoy it. ope your Christmas is well, and here's something I managed to hack in. It was hard to make it code and then I had to bypass so many everchanging firewalls and antivirus software, and I don't think I can do that again. Hope you like the gift, and I placed a present in your Headset Bye, buddy.

There was one attachment. Ema opened it. It was a necklace with Phantom's DP insignia. She sighed, and worked her magic from where she could, and soon, the same necklace appeared on her's and Phantom's necks. She closed the message and left her friend. Danny Fenton was a great person, and a great gamer. He taught her things that she hadn't known were about games, but she hadn't been fair. He was giving her knowledge and protection, and she only gave him a bit of comfort and happiness. She sent out a message and clicked it for him. His health bar reappeared under hers, and she smiled. She would offer her services, both inside and outside of the game. She would repay his help with hers.

Review Reply:

Ghost Getter 1: Aye aye!

suntan140: Not exactly, but I guess this is a glimpse of what is happening to them.

Michael: Thanks!

Guest 3(Can I call you that?): I agree with you. Not my favorite characters. I see them more as people who use Danny than help him.

Ninuhuju: His powers are limited, for now.*Grinchy Smirk*

Guest: he will stop glitching after a while when the game finds a way to cope with his dual personas. Next, I will do something about that. There's always Facetime, and he probably can't reconcile if he's moving to an unknown location.

Alliebelikov21: I will continue this story, and don't worry, there's more awesomeness in the next chapter.

Slenderbrine: If you want, write it. I'll be one of the first people to read it.

Richard1081: Yeah, Danny's going to be busy after this.

dudesman: I didn't think about the GIW, but he's moving somewhere. Where is he going? I don't know. (Danny: Yes you do. Dark: Shut up!)

F&F&R. Follow, Favorite, and Review.

See ya later