Disclaimer: I am not the owner of Danny Phantom or Fairy Tail

Despite his words, Danny still felt uneasy about his plan concerning Zeref. The guy was insane, not only running into fights with ghosts but also incredibly secretive. He was a puzzle to be figured out, and with what little Danny had heard from the guy, he figured it would be best to keep a close eye on the new student. After the fight with Natsu, Zeref had left with his supposed brother, stating that he would inform Danny if his assistance would actually be needed. It was a start, at least, but Danny knew he had a long way to go before getting that guy to tell him anything.

If that wasn't bad enough, hearing about what was going on in the ghost zone made him even more on edge. Ghosts were becoming more powerful, just by sitting around and waiting. He needed to get stronger, if he was going to face them again. However, that wouldn't work if he had no ghosts to practice his abilities on. Instead, he found himself sitting on the stairs in front of the school, waiting for Sam and Tucker. With his friends, he knew he'd figure something out to deal with all of this, before it was too late. Maybe then, he'd also understand what Zeref's obsession with ghosts was all about. Sure, ghosts were the spirits of dead people, but Danny had grown used to it after so much time seeing and fighting them. There was no reason for anyone else to be interested in just studying them, and not actually stopping them from interfering with the world.

Danny supposed the most alarming prospect of what he had overheard were the comments about war. While it had been brief, Natsu's comment about how Zeref had started a war was what really drove Danny to try and deceive the guy into telling him more about his past. The guy was way too young to be involved in anything like that. Granted, Danny was dealing with his own battles, but he was half-ghost. It kinda came with the territory, but Zeref didn't have any excuse. So, what was he up to instead?

When the bell rang, Danny remained where he was as students began leaving. Normally, he would have returned to class after fighting a ghost. This time, he couldn't bring himself to do that. Too many things were running through his head, and he could care less about knowing the year the civil war's first battle began. Later, he'd find time for studying, but right now, he had to deal with this mystery kid trying to eliminate someone supposedly making ghosts. Oddly, Danny had never once considered someone was responsible for their existence. Always, he had just assumed it was natural for them to be around. After all, he had grown up with ghost hunters for parents, in a town where ghosts seemed to lurk around every corner. It seemed even weirder to imagine a world without ghosts at this point.

Tucker and Sam walked by, stopping and waiting for Danny to get back up as the crowd began dispersing. "Hey, what happened? Did the ghost get away?" Sam's question was reasonable, as it was unusual for a fight to take him away from class for this long.

Leaning his cheek on his palm, Danny frowned. "You could say that, I guess. Did you know that ghosts actually come from people that died when they were alive?" It was a random comment, one which made Sam cross her arms over her chest. As she did so, Tucker reached out, giving him a hand to pull him to his feet. "Well, I apparently just fought Zeref's brother…not to mention something I said managed to reveal my secret to the guy. I just don't get it! I've managed to keep this secret for over a year now, and in just one day of meeting the new kid…he figures it out instantly."

"Wait, the new guy knows your secret?" Tucker's eyes were wide as his voice grew louder, while Sam's arms dropped to her sides. Giving Tucker a slight glare, the self-proclaimed tech geek gave a nervous laugh before lowering his volume. "Sorry about that. It's just…what are you going to do, dude? Telling us is one thing, you know we'd never rat you out. But that new guy…he's crazy, there's no telling what he'll do!"

Running a hand through his hair, Danny began walking away from the school, with his friends following after. Sam narrowed her eyes at Tucker, rolling her eyes at his comment. "I highly doubt he's crazy. You two are so quick to judge, try and see things from his perspective from once. I have a feeling he's just tragically misunderstood, like so many of us these days. See, this is why I stay out of your crazy plans involving people. Your theories about them are just rude, especially when you can't actually get to know a person after talking to them for five minutes."

"It was seven minutes and he started talking about how impossible it was to resurrect the dead!" Tucker sounded angry, crossing his arms over his chest and huffing in response. "Tell her, Danny. You stuck around longer than I did, so what's really going on with the new kid?"

Biting his lip, Danny glanced around as he turned down a new street, walking along the side of the road. A car drove by, providing a slight breeze that blew his hair for a moment. "I don't know, Tuck. The guy…I think I have to agree with Sam. He isn't insane…but he isn't exactly stable either. At lunch, he seemed okay…though he was a bit weird. Hey, that reminds me, do you think you could look something up for me?" Danny's trail of thought wandered back to his comment about being punished for creating ghosts. "He mentioned two names, one at lunch and another during the encounter with that new ghost. Ankhseram and Chronos…I want to know what is going on with this kid. He seems pretty calm in class, but when he ran into Natsu…for a moment, I thought he was going to try and destroy the world."

"Isn't that a bit extreme?" Sam eyed Danny closely, looking doubtful as Tucker nodded in agreement with his words.

Glancing away, Danny couldn't help but feel that same instinctive warning in his gut about the guy. "I don't know, maybe? The guy basically told me he's considered destroying the world in the past, then asked me to make sure he doesn't do it again. This was before he knew I was half-ghost, too!" Throwing his hands in the air, Danny realized it was pointless to try and explain it away. Sam did have a point, he had hardly taken the time to get to know the new kid. Sighing, he let his hand drop to his sides, kicking away a rock that rested on the sidewalk as he moved forward. "Heck, maybe Tucker was right in the first place and he's just insane. Either way, there's something about him that keeps making me feel like he's dangerous. It's like my ghost sense going off, but it isn't quite the same…it's hard to explain."

Patting his shoulder, Tucker gave Danny a supportive smile. "We've got your back, so don't worry about it. Operation spy on the new kid is a go, and if you need any tech, I've got you covered. My new PDA is now compatible with these high-resolution video cameras I got at a discount online. If we place them right, I'm sure we'll catch Zeref in the midst of his villainous acts!"

"Or, we'll bore ourselves out of our minds watching a poor, innocent kid doing nothing." Sam shook her head, sighing at them. "Look, I know your instincts have been right in the past, Danny, but just…be careful, okay? Things like this, they can hurt people if they figure out the truth. Zeref is already anti-social enough, he doesn't need anyone throwing harsh words his way to add to his problems."

Snorting, Danny began moving closer to his home. They were nearing the corner where it resided, the single building on the street with red bricks for walls and a massive op station attached to the roof. "I highly doubt a few words will hurt his feelings. The guy took a punch from his brother and shrugged it off with a smile. Heck, he didn't even seem phased by the fact that I hid my ghost half from him…speaking of which, if you guys hear any rumors going around…"

"We know the drill, Danny. Keeping your secret has been our job ever since that accident occurred, so I doubt we'll fail to brush aside a few stray rumors now." Sam gave him a slight smile, walking passed him and up to the door of his house. Pulling it open, she walked inside with Danny following after her.

"What are you doing about all this, anyway?" Tucker began moving towards the stairs, trying to avoid catching the attention of Danny's parents. They had a lot more to discuss, and he didn't want to deal with hearing about his parents' latest invention.

Following after them, Danny gave a slightly nervous laugh. "Uh…I kinda agreed to help with his research?" That made them pause, both turning towards him with wide eyes.

"You did what?" Their unison shout told him that he hadn't quite made the right choice.

Pushing past them, Danny moved towards the hall to head into his room. "It was kinda a spur of the moment thing. He was asking his own brother to be a part of whatever experiments he had in mind…so I volunteered myself too. I figured it was the best way to keep an eye on what he's up to, if he is really up to anything anyway." With that, Danny plopped down on his bed, flopping on his back and resting his arm over his forehead.

"Congratulations, you've now entered a whole new level of impulsive, unheard of until this very moment." Sam's sarcasm made Danny grimace, already understanding. Who knew what kind of experiments Zeref had planned? Likely, it would be painful, and Danny didn't even want to know what would happen if one failed. Was he looking at disfigurement? Losing his powers? Death? He had no idea, but right now, he wasn't eager to rush into finding out.

Sitting down in the chair by Danny's computer, Tucker frowned. "That sucks, man. Not only do you have to deal with your parents' crazy inventions going haywire, now you've also got to live with intentionally subjecting yourself to tests by some stranger."

"At least we know he isn't planning on killing Danny. So, the tests should be a bit more exploratory, right?" Sam's suggestion didn't make Danny feel any better. Her phrasing made it feel like he was about to be dissected by a sullen teenager that spoke in riddles. "Who knows, maybe the kid wants to help ghosts? Did you guys ever consider that?"

Turning towards the computer, Tucker shrugged. "Whatever. All I know is that I'm not letting some kid at our school torment my best friend. We've gotta get to the bottom of what he actually wants before this goes bad." Turning the computer on, Tucker's focus began to pull away from the conversation.

Leaning forward to watch him, Danny couldn't help but smirk at his friend's antics. "I see, and playing video games will tell us everything, right Tuck?"

Spinning around, Tucker glared at Danny. "Hey! For your information, I was doing research. There has to be something in here about those stupid names he mentioned. The internet has answers to everything!" His reliance on technology never ceased to amuse Danny, and with a sigh, the half-ghost leaned back on his bed.

"While he does that, I probably should be heading home. My parents are expecting me for dinner…" Shuddering slightly, Sam began moving towards the door. "Just be glad you two don't have to join me. Have fun researching an innocent kid, tell me if you find any actual proof of your suspicions."

With a slight wave, Sam walked out. The door shut behind her, leaving Danny staring up at the ceiling while Tucker searched. Really, he probably should be studying to make up for lost time, but he still couldn't get his mind off of the new kid. The way he spoke…it wasn't like a normal high-schooler. He acted like he knew everything, and something about him just seemed off. Those black eyes of his were disturbing enough, without him becoming angry. When he did get angry, they looked like they were on fire, ready to burn the world around him to ash. Then, there were the times when he was thoughtful. That would make his eyes distant, and in a way, that was even more disturbing than his anger. His eyes would look like they were lost, yet so full of information that Danny couldn't comprehend what the kid had actually seen.

"I've got it! And here I was, thinking it would take some time to figure out who the heck Ankhseram was supposed to be." Tucker grinned at Danny, who sat up and blinked at his friend. "Who's the best friend in the world? Who found out exactly what is making Zeref so crazy?"

Rolling his eyes, Danny rested his hands on the mattress behind him. "Just spit it out, Tucker. Who the heck was he talking about?"

"Brace yourself, because you aren't going to believe this." Moving away from the screen, Tucker smiled widely. "Our new student…is a cultist nut! Ankhseram is some old deity, once worshiped as the god of life and death. As for Chronos…he is the god of time. Basically…Zeref believes in mythology and worships multiple gods at once."

Frowning, Danny jumped to his feet and moved towards the screen. "That can't be right…Zeref didn't sound like he worshipped god."

"Gods. Plural, Danny, not singular." Tucker's correction really wasn't necessary as Danny scrolled through the page. There wasn't much on Ankhseram, to be honest. A few sites with basic info on the god confirmed exactly what Tucker had stated. He could see a little bit more on Chronos, though. The god of time, overseeing the past, present, and future. That god wasn't meant to interfere unless the situation was dire…as Danny read more, he couldn't help but chuckle and think of Clockwork. This god sounded a heck of a lot like the ghost he ran into on occasion.

Running a hand through his hair, Danny sighed. "This isn't really helping. Knowing that Zeref was afraid of a god trying to punish someone…it just sounds a bit too weird to be useful, Tuck. Thanks, anyway. At least we know his reason for wanting to look into ghosts is because of some creepy religion of his." Still, it didn't ease the feeling in his gut. Something still didn't feel right about this explanation. Zeref's comments about Ankhseram had been given with a bitter voice, as if he greatly disliked the deity. Maybe he had lost a lot of his family to death, but even then, it wouldn't lead to a misguided conception of the god going around punishing people for trying to bring back the dead. Either way, he wouldn't figure it out tonight. He needed more information, and for that, he'd have to wait to talk to Zeref again and learn more about exactly what the guy was planning to do with ghosts.

Sorry for the delay on the chapter! I finished Karma of Contradictions...but then a family member of mine passed away. I haven't really been focusing much on writing as a result, but since this one is the new lead story on my poll, I figured I'd at least revise the next chapter I had drafted out and get it posted. Reviews will help me figure out where I want to take this story and ideas are more than welcome! Please offer feedback on where this story should go!