Marisa's note: it did NOT help that I wrote this while listening to 'Holding Out for a Hero' from Shrek 2. Seriously, don't get it stuck in your head when reading this. I mean it!

And sorry this is so late. I went out with my friends to play in a park (sadly, I'm not joking) and forgot to upload before I left my room...blegh. Anyway, next chapter will be out on May 19th, 8 pm PST!

- - -

Chapter Nine

"Your doubt. Your misery. It's delicious!"

- - -

Danny hovered next to Valerie impatiently as she swallowed a mouthful of cereal.

"Can't you hurry?" he complained. "I want to get this over with."

Valerie took another leisurely bite and raised an eyebrow. "Why are you in such a rush? You've been spending the last two days playing Doomed."

It's just not the same without Tucker and Sam, Danny thought to himself, but he didn't dare tell her that.

"I'm bored," he said instead, flying out of the room to find her backpack. "I need to go out there and fight ghosts."

Valerie rolled her eyes. "And Dad thinks I'm obsessive."

"I heard that!"

"You were supposed to." She sighed as Danny returned, holding the backpack to her hopefully, looking rather like a puppy holding its leash for a walk.

Valerie tried to hide a smile at the thought. "Look," she said, "the more time I spend listening to you complain the more time it takes me to eat breakfast."

Danny backed off a few feet. "Okay," he sighed. "But remember, the deal is I stay with you at school today and then I'm off on my own until I need to rest again." He glared at her. "So don't get detention! I've had enough detentions to last me twenty lifetimes."

"Don't worry, the new teacher's not as bad as Lancer."

"No one could be as bad as Lancer."

Valerie nodded and spooned up the last of her cereal. "Okay, let's go."

"Finally!" Danny glanced at the clock. "Uh, you missed the bus."

"Who needs the bus when you've got a hoverboard? You used to fly to school too." She walked outside.

"Yeah, and you used to shoot at me. I ended up being late anyway. Can we get going?"

"Ha!" she yelled, click her heels together. "Let's see if you can keep up with me, punk!"

Danny's eyes glowed brighter at the challenge. "My friends clocked me at a hundred and twelve miles an hour. Don't feel bad when you lose!" They both took off.

About five minutes later Danny landed behind the bleachers in the football field, panting heavily as Valerie shot down beside him a moment later.

"Gotcha," he gasped, managing to smirk. Valerie glared at him and recalled her armor.

"I'll get you next time, Fenton." She jerked her head towards the school. "Now go invisible and follow me."

Danny sighed. "Fine."

- - -

Danny leaned against the classroom wall and stifled a yawn. Somehow this new teacher managed to be even more boring than Lancer, which was quite a feat. Danny wished he could go ghost hunting instead, but he didn't want to break his promise.

He'd never break a promise again.

Anyway, Valerie could talk to him at any time and if he didn't respond she'd get really mad. And he had to admit, he did need a safer place to stay. If Skulker had found him while he slept, he'd probably be a pelt right now, and he didn't want to think about the other ghosts…

As the teacher rambled Danny's mind wandered. He had to get Valerie to give up ghost hunting somehow, that much was obvious. Valerie was a ghost hunter in the awful future. If he could make her stop being a ghost hunter…well, that'd be one more thing that wasn't how it should have been. Plus ghost hunting got her hurt all the time, and he couldn't stand seeing her get injured…but he had to do it in a way that wouldn't get her mad. She was scary when she got angry—and he definitely didn't want to provoke her into trying to destroy him again.

Then the bell rang, cutting the teacher off mid lecture. Thank goodness! Danny quickly went intangible and followed her to her next class.

But she didn't do anything interesting during the next hour either. It was a little annoying. Why on Earth had she asked him to come to school with her? Was she honestly trying to make him get an education? He really couldn't see the point of it now, especially with math. Ugh. He rubbed his head and turned through the wall, deciding that even Valerie's wrath wasn't worth trying to comprehend calculus.

He flew around the school, practicing his intangibility and invisibility, pleased. His powers were just about back to when he was alive, though he still felt weak, like how he felt when he first got his powers from the accident. Funny, that…he'd thought that being a full ghost would have made him more powerful, but it seemed to be the reverse. Oh, well—Mr. Gray said he'd go back to normal soon enough, and that he was weak because he had just died. Now it seemed the annoying slur—ghost child—was a lot more appropriate. He shook his head and sighed.

Finally the lunch bell rang and Danny followed Valerie out to the quad, where she sat at Paulina's table.

"Hi, Valerie," Kwan greeted her, smiling.

"Hey, Kwan," she answered, and for some reason Danny felt a slight twinge of jealousy. He didn't like the way Kwan was looking at Valerie.

Don't be stupid, he told himself. They're friends, for crying out loud. Of course he's glad to see her.

Wrapped in his thoughts, Danny didn't notice the awkward silence until Kwan broke it.

"What's the matter?" he asked Valerie worriedly. "You look a little down."

Valerie sighed. "I was thinking about Danny."

Wait, what?

Dash sighed too. "Yeah, I miss wailing on Fenton. He took wedgies like a man." Danny didn't quite know what to make of that.

"His friend took me to that bookstore when he was popular," said Kwan helpfully, looking at Valerie.

"The Goth girl?" Paulina giggled. "It was fun to steal him from her. She was so in denial." She pouted. "He so had a crush on me, but he still didn't tell me what happened to his family."

"Yeah, you even visited the wimp," Dash agreed. "He owed you."

Why that…Danny's hands curled into fists, but he managed to keep himself in check. He couldn't beat up Dash.

Wait a minute, no secret to keep, no more real consequences to getting a little payback…

Valerie twitched. "You don't miss Danny at all?" she asked, trying to mask her anger as surprise. This was not going the way she had planned.

Paulina sighed. "I am sorry he's dead. The ghost boy used to show up when he was around. I've seen him so little recently!" She sighed again, saddened.

"Yeah, Danny Phantom's cool." Dash grinned. "Remember when he helped us save our families from that weird ghost ship?"

"I was out of town," Valerie answered. "But didn't Fenton organize that?"

"Yeah, but then he ran away."

"Actually," Kwan interrupted, "the pirates made him walk the plank. I saw it with Sam from the blimp."

"Yeah, the ghost boy said he saved him," Paulina added. "Lucky… I got to grab hold of the ghost boy too, but so did all these other people! I wanted him all to myself."

Danny sighed. Paulina still liked the wrong him—not that it mattered now. A ghost and a human together? Impossible. He was dead, after all, and the dead didn't make out with the living.

Kwan blinked. "Did you hear something? I thought I just heard a sigh…"

"I didn't hear anything," Valerie said, laughing nervously. "Well, I need to go… brush my hair. See you guys in class!"

"See you, Valerie!" called Kwan, waving as she walked away. Star looked a little annoyed.

Once inside the school Valerie went into a deserted classroom.

"Danny?" she called.

"Yeah?" He appeared in midair. "Was that why you wanted me to come to school?"

She grimaced. "Yeah. Those shallow…but they like the ghost you."

"The ghost me is me. It has been ever since the accident."

She looked away.

He sighed. "Look, I know you hated 'Danny Phantom,' but I didn't mean to wreck your life. I was just trying to stop the dog, but Sam was right—I made a horrible dog catcher."

Before Valerie could answer someone screamed. Instantly Valerie recalled her armor and Danny phased outside, looking for the source. The screaming became louder as other voices joined, and Danny watched as kids scrambled everywhere to get away from—

"Spectra!" he yelped involuntarily. Spectra paid no heed to him, focusing on her current prey—Paulina. The poor girl was clutching her face and screaming.

"Yes, that's it," Spectra crowed. "Your flawless skin is ruined. You'll never be beautiful again and without your beauty you're nothing." Spectra held up a bloodied claw as Paulina collapsed, sobbing.

"SPECTRA!" Danny roared, and fired one ghost ray after the other, which the therapist easily dodged.

"My, your aim isn't the only part of you that's gotten worse," she mocked. "Bertrand!"

Suddenly a huge green puma slammed down on Danny's chest, smashing both of them into the ground, but Danny sank down below before Bertrand's claws could do any damage. As he resurfaced he saw Valerie shooting furiously and Bertrand attempting to dodge.

Good. Valerie could keep the stupid cat busy. Meanwhile, he had to get Paulina to a doctor, or at least call an ambulance! Paulina's face was bleeding and she was still crying.

"Paulina, calm down!" he called, and tried to reach her, but Spectra blasted him away, laughing.

"You think you can save her?" she cackled. "You couldn't even save your family! All those useless heroics and you couldn't even do a thing to keep all those people from dying. My, there isn't anyone left who cares about a worthless thing like you at all!"

"Shut up!" both Danny and Valerie screamed, and the two shot at her. She managed to dodge and Bertrand jumped Valerie, knocking her to the ground even as her armor shocked him.

"You're not even half human anymore," Spectra scoffed as she and Danny circled each other in the air. "You're just a ghost, and a worthless one at that. Why, if only your parents could see you now! You've become the thing they hated. No, that's right; they always hated you, didn't they? I've heard all about how they hunted you down like an animal."

"Shut up!" he screamed, firing more shots, but they missed Spectra by a mile. Great. Now he was wasting energy and showing just how lousy a ghost fighter he was.

"You couldn't even save a little human girl from a few cuts," Spectra mocked. "And you let your family die! I know all about it."

No. She couldn't. He hadn't told anyone, except for Vlad…

It's just Spectra's spell! cried a tiny, ignored part of him. Break it!

But he knew he couldn't, because…because she was right. He had let them die. If he had just tried a little harder, beaten Phantom sooner, hadn't been so useless…

"You know it's true, don't you?" Spectra smirked just before she blasted him into the school's wall. Danny barely felt it. He was too caught up in his thoughts, too deep in to notice her hovering above him, unable to hear her laugh as her wrinkles disappeared and her hair became more vibrant than ever…

He was worthless. He'd let everyone die, and he should have died completely instead of running the risk of becoming Phantom, who had been so sure Danny would become him, who existed even after Danny swore he wouldn't, whose evil laughter and terrifying words haunted his nightmares, and all of it would still happen no matter what he did, because he was as worthless and weak as Spectra said so sweetly and he should never have been born…

Memories swirled in his head, memories of all the times he messed up, of all the people who got hurt because he failed. And the explosion played in his head over and over, the one time he could have proven he wasn't a stupid mess-up but instead he let them die…

He curled against the wall, trying to hide from Spectra's mental and physical attacks. He couldn't take it. He couldn't.

And the worst of it was that she really was right. He had tried his hardest and he still failed, they had still died. She was right, she was right! Even Valerie would die, and it was all hopeless.

"You're toast, you stupid cat!" he heard someone yell, and heard Bertrand scream as he was sucked into a thermos. However, the knowledge didn't affect him. He just hoped Spectra would go away.

But she only continued to hover over him, seeming to prefer picking him apart rather than physically attacking him.

"You're just a buffet of misery," she gloated. "Do you think that suffering is penance? I'm so sorry, Danny, but nothing you do is going to make up for killing your family, including your sister. You were such a bad brother, thinking that she called you a loser when she cared about you so much. Even though you really are one."

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" he cried, to whom he didn't know. "I—I—"

"They're gone. They couldn't forgive you even if you were worth forgiving."

Danny curled into a tighter ball, whimpering.

"Get away from him, you sick old hag!"

And suddenly Spectra was blasted into the wall above him and smashed into the ground.

"So you're the amateur ghost hunter who can't even catch this loser?" Spectra began, shoving herself upright and back into the air. "Please. You're a joke."

"Shut up, witch! You couldn't hope to beat him in an honest fight, so who's weak?" And with that Valerie shot a barrage of missiles, most of which Spectra dodged—and some of which hit Danny.

"Danny!" Valerie cried, landing next to him. He didn't look at her. He deserved the shots anyway—it wasn't like he could help her. He should have just died…

"Even your aim is horrible." Spectra scoffed. "I love teenagers, because you can't do anything. Your failures… why, I could just eat you all up!"

"Eat this, you witch!" Valerie screamed, forming her shoulder gun and hitting Spectra square in the chest. Spectra smashed into a tree across the yard with a groan, and Valerie fired a second time, a third, pounding her further into the tree. Then she whipped out the thermos, activated it, and Spectra disappeared with a scream.

Danny didn't move. There was no point. Even with Spectra and her influence gone, he knew he was a complete failure. He'd been so worried about protecting people, protecting Valerie, and it turned out she was the one who had to save him. He couldn't even protect himself! What did he think he was doing here, anyway?

"Why couldn't I have just died?" he asked the sky, opening his eyes.

Valerie landed next to him and gave him a kick. Danny grunted, surprised, and looked up at her. That hurt!

"You shut up too!" she growled angrily. "If you're only going to say stupid stuff then just be quiet and come back home!" She grabbed his arm. "Get up!"

He let her drag him to his feet. She jumped back on her hoverboard and flew into the air, dragging him with her by his arm. He didn't fight.

"You can't listen to anything she says!" Valerie fumed, shaking him. "You're smarter than that, Danny! If you hadn't folded up like that you would have kicked her butt. You're not worthless!" She grimaced. "That witch…"

He was silent.

"But she's right," he said finally, his voice small and weak. "I'm just a ghost. I am worthless."

Valerie snorted. "Yeah, you're a ghost, but you're still Danny! And you're not worthless!"

"I'm not?"

"Yeah. You're not."

"How do you know that?"

'Because I say so!" She shook his arm violently. He gave up and started flying next to her, but she didn't let go. "You can't listen to her. She's the only one who thinks that!"

"Thirty percent of the town thinks I'm a menace," Danny pointed out.

"Well, that's only because they don't know better. You shouldn't suffer because people are idiots! Why are you so hard on yourself?"

"My family died because of me!" he cried, yanking his arm away. "I couldn't beat my… the ghost fast enough to save them! And then I was out of power and I had to watch them blow up! I failed! I let them die!"

The hoverboard stopped, and Valerie grabbed him again. "A ghost killed them? Who?"

"He's gone."

"Who was it?"

Danny was silent. She shook him. "Who?"

"Me. I did it, okay?" He tried half-heartedly to break loose. She would hate him now. He deserved her hatred. It would even be a relief. If she locked him up in a thermos then everyone would be safe, right? Maybe that would prevent that future.

"You'd better explain right now, Danny Fenton, or so help me…"

Danny sighed, already regretting his words. "Fine. My evil alternate future self was trying to make me turn into him." He studied her face, looking for the hate. "We got sent to the future by this ghost called Clockwork and met Phantom—the evil me. Future-you was fighting him. I said I'd never turn into him but he came back in time to make sure the explosion happened anyway, since the explosion made me let Vlad take away my human emotions and that made me turn into Phantom." He took a ragged breath. "I couldn't stop him!" he cried. "I tried, I caught him, but it was too late! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"

Valerie stared at him in shock.

"Wait, Mr. Masters took away your human emotions?" she asked finally.

"Not…not this time around. But the alternate me…after the explosion, I couldn't take the hurt." He turned his eyes away for a moment, then looked back at Valerie's face. She only looked confused.

"Well… you're not going to turn into some evil ghost," she said finally. "I'm not going to let you." She shook him.

"Ow!"

"Swear you won't turn into him!"

"I already swore to my family!"

She dropped him. He hovered, trying to read her. "What?"

Her face was carefully neutral. "So you tried to destroy your ghost half so you couldn't become an evil ghost."

He sighed and hung his head. "Yeah. And it didn't work."

She shook her head and pulled his head up, staring straight into his eyes. "Danny, you were willing to go so far you tried to kill your ghost half to keep that promise! If you've got the guts to do that then you definitely shouldn't listen to Spectra. You're not going to turn into Phantom because you're doing everything you can to not. You've proven it. You've got guts! So act like it! Don't you want your family to be proud of you?"

"How could they be proud of me? I failed them! I'm a ghost!" He gestured wildly, pulling himself out of her grasp. "Don't you see?"

"I see you, Danny Fenton. Phantom. Whatever. You're still Danny. Danny's not a bad guy. Danny's not a loser. You heard all those kids at school. They think you rock."

Danny gave her a blank look, and looked down. Then he blinked as he saw someone running down the street after them.

"Ghost boy!" Paulina called, waving frantically. "Wait up!"

Danny looked at her. Thin white steri-strips stretched across her face, but she only seemed pleased. "Thank you for saving me!" she called. "The nurse says my face will be fine!"

"See?" Valerie said, pointing at her. "You saved the day. Well, I saved the day, but we're a team now."

"A team?" Danny echoed.

"Yeah. The Red Hunter and Danny Phantom, Amity Park's resident superheroes." She paused and looked him straight in the eye. "You're a hero, Danny."

"I'm a hero?"

"Yes, you are. You gave your life to save Amity Park. You're a hero."

Him? A hero?

Danny looked down at Paulina, who was still waving ecstatically. He saw other kids behind her, all of them cheering when they saw him.

"Well, maybe," he said finally, giving a weak wave back.

Valerie smiled.