LES: Sorry for the long wait, everyone. I had family visiting from out of town this weekend and let's just say that I'm the only introvert in the family, and things got rowdy. Over three days, I probably only got about eight hours of sleep and was too mentally frazzled to write anything. There is some language in this chapter.


Chapter XI: Back In The Human World


For a while, Danny could only stare around in shock. After six years of being exclusively in the Ghost Zone, it was strange to be back in the human world. He realized it was the middle of the day, which was good for his needs. It would have been useless to come to the human world in the middle of the night. After all, this time, he wanted to be seen.

That ended up not being a problem. Almost as soon as he appeared in the skies over Amity Park, he could hear several ecto-sensors pick up on him and start an alarm.

He started to float closer to the ground so that people would see him, but then he stopped in his tracks. He hadn't even realized that someone had shot at him. In fact, the only thing that tipped him off about being shot at was that he was suddenly in the middle of an explosion. The explosion didn't even faze him, he was just too powerful for whatever weapon had been fired at him.

All of his old instincts to protect the town kicked in and he stopped descending. Instead, he shot higher into the sky, drawing the fire of whatever was shooting at him up into the sky instead of risking the buildings or the people.

Once he was well above the city, he stopped and hovered in the air, waiting for whatever had ambushed him. He was not too shocked to see that it was Valerie Gray, also known as the Red Huntress. After all, he never did get the chance to tell her the truth. He was shocked, however, to see that while she was older now (more closely resembling the Valerie he had seen in the alternate future), she still wore the same look of absolute loathing on her face as she glared at him.

"I knew you would return one day, Phantom!" She growled, aiming a ecto-bazooka right at his face. There was a bright flash of green light and powerful ectoplasm beam hit on target right between his eyes. Danny had to admit, unlike the first blast, he actually felt the impact. But it was not nearly strong enough to hurt him.

When the smoke cleared, Valerie was left staring at him in shock, her mouth hanging open. "Okay, what the fuck is going on with you?" She demanded. "That blast would have seriously hurt even a ghost ranked level 10 on the ectoplasm scale! I guessed you retreated back into the Ghost Zone to gain more power, but this is impossible!"

For a while, Danny didn't answer. "Are you going to let me answer, or would you rather keep shooting me?" He asked.

Valerie glared at him, her face twisted with hatred. "God damn you!" She growled, stowing the bazooka away.

For a few moments, the two old enemies said nothing to each other. And then Danny slowly approached her. Valerie grew tense as he drew near, but didn't bother reaching for any of her weapons. If Phantom was powerful enough to survive a point-blank shot from her charged up bazooka, there was nothing in her arsenal that could stop him.

"Don't! Don't come any closer!" Valerie yelled, and Danny stopped in his tracks.

"Valerie. I have never once physically hurt you. I'm not about to start now." Danny told her.

"But you have hurt me, you monster!" Valerie yelled.

"Yes, emotionally. I don't deny it." Danny replied. "But that was almost ten years ago. In that time, I've gone through more changes than just my power and my appearance. I'm not going to hurt you. Just listen to me."

To Danny's shock, Valerie suddenly seemed to give out. Her knees collapsed and she fell down on her sled, screaming as tears ran down her face. "Don't you do this to me! Don't pretend that you've done nothing else to me for the past ten years!" She screamed at him.

"Valerie, what are you…?" Danny began to ask.

"Where's Danny Fenton?" She screamed at him. "What the fuck have you done with him? And Sam too! No one in this damn town knows for sure what has happened, and every time I ask their parents, I always receive the same bullshit answers! Abroad? Took off for the mountains?! Neither of them would have just up and left like that! You were so-called 'friends' with both of them! I know you had something to do with their disappearance!" She pulled out her bazooka again and began to blast him, over and over and over.

Danny made no attempt at dodging or shielding himself. He wordlessly took every blast without complaint. It didn't hurt him, and he could feel from her raging emotions that she needed to get this out.

After several minutes of non-stop blasts, the bazooka itself gave out. It overheated and refused to fire anymore. She glared up at him, saw that he was non-the-worse for wear for the blasting she just gave him, and burst into tears anew.

"Valerie. Danny and Sam are safe." He said. "I know that you feel no reason to trust me, but I swear on every dimension that they are safe."

Valerie continued to glare at him. "Prove it!"

Danny sighed. "I can prove to you that Danny Fenton is safe. And then perhaps you'll believe me about Sam."

"Not likely, spook." Valerie growled.

"At least hear my story." Danny said. "You'll need to know why I've been gone these past six years to understand what happened to Danny Fenton." When she didn't respond, Danny took that as a sign to continue. "Six years ago, the old Ghost King Pariah Dark faded away into oblivion. The Ghost Zone was on the verge of collapse, and the Infinite Realms needed a new Ghost King. As it turned out, since I was the one who defeated Pariah Dark, I was the front runner to become the new Ghost King."

"So you..." Valerie gasped when she noticed that he was wearing the Crown of Fire upon his head.

"Yes, I became the new Ghost King six years ago." Danny said. "That's why I haven't returned to Amity Park in six years. I've been in the Ghost Zone this whole time being its ruler."

"I suppose that's a little interesting." Valerie admitted. "But I don't see what this has to do with Danny."

"I'll get to that, but I won't say here." Danny said, looking around. He got his wish, and news helicopters were starting to converge on his position. "Listen, Valerie, I'm going to make you invisible so that we can get away from the news helicopters. I swear that's all." He slowly floated towards her, and as soon as he was in range, he transferred his invisibility over to her. Thank God he had learned how to do this without being in physical contact with the object he was transferring power to, as he knew Valerie would never tolerate him touching her.

Down below was what looked like an abandoned building. Good enough. Danny thought to himself. He motioned for Valerie to follow him, and he phased them both inside the building.

"Wait here." He said, turning intangible and quickly checking every single room of the building to make sure they were alone. He also allowed his ectoplasm spread out a little from his body. A little-known property of ectoplasm is that it could react to electromagnetism, so by extending his ectoplasm, he could search the building for electronic listening equipment. But the only equipment he found was Valerie's. Sorry, Val. Danny thought to himself, using his ectoplasm to latch onto the battery that feed Valerie's recording equipment and drain the battery of its energy completely. He would return the power once they were done talking.

Before Valerie could realize that her recording equipment was no longer working, Danny phased back into the room and landed on the floor. "So, why all the secrecy?" Valerie asked.

"Why all the secrecy surrounding one of the most important secrets in either realm?" Danny corrected.

"Danny is a good person, but I can hardly see him being involved with a secret like that." Valerie commented.

"Not on purpose, but life has a way of surprising you." Danny said. "I will tell you where Danny Fenton is, but first I have to have your word that you will never tell anyone what I'm about to tell you."

Valerie glared at him for a minute. "Please. Just look at me. I know the value of keeping a secret."

Not that she would have any proof with her recording equipment drained of energy. Danny sighed. "There was a reason that I had to tell you about my becoming the Ghost King. You were always very smart, Val, so I'm sure that the reason you connected me to Danny Fenton's disappearance is because we disappeared at the same time. To be honest, I'm a little shocked that very few people seemed to realize it. But Danny Fenton had to disappear. Before that moment, he could still hide the truth in the human world, but after that moment, hiding became impossible."

"I don't… understand what you are trying to say." Valerie said.

"When I put on the Crown of Fire, it filled my body with so much ectoplasm that I could no longer hide it in my human form." Phantom said. Valerie noticed the change. Previously, he had been referring to Danny Fenton in the third person, but now he had changed to the first person.

Combined with her knowledge of Vlad Master's true identity and knowing the Phantom's cousin was half-human, that was all she needed to piece it together. "Oh my God, no! Please tell me that the truth isn't what I think it is..." Valerie gasped, horrified.

Phantom lowered his eyes and a bright iridescent ring of light formed around his waist, sweeping over his body and changing him in the process. His outfit stayed the same, due to having long outgrown his old human clothes. To Valerie's eyes, the only real change was in Phantom's hair and skin tone. Besides the outfit, the ghostly glow, and the green eyes, she knew that Danny Fenton stood in front of her.

"This is as human as I can appear. I hope you can see why I couldn't remain in the human world like this."

For the second time, Valerie's legs gave out and she fell to the floor. "I can't believe this… I can't believe this..." She gasped, on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Valerie?" Danny asked, approaching her slowly, concerned for her.

"I'm such an idiot." She seemed to be on the verge of laughing hysterically, or crying. Danny was not sure which. "I broke up with you… to hunt you… to protect you from yourself. I am such an idiot!"

"I'm so sorry, Valerie." Danny said, changing back into his ghost form.

"Who else knows?" Valerie asked. "Tucker and Sam, obviously."

Danny nodded. "My sister knows, and so does William Lancer. They found out on their own. I told my parents just before I left."

"Not even your parents knew…?" Valerie gasped. "Why did you let your parents and I hunt you like that? I told you when I helped you rescue Dani, I won't take part in destroying a human. And your parents..."

"They've forgiven me for keeping my condition a secret." Danny said. "Now they make regular trips to my castle in the Ghost Zone to study ghosts and our culture. By now they probably know more about ghosts than any ghost researcher in the world."

"Sam?" Valerie asked. "I believe you that she's safe, but where is she?"

Danny sighed. "I got married to Sam several years ago. At first, she traveled back and forth between the human world and Ghost Zone regularly. Now she has decided to stay in the Ghost Zone with me." Danny didn't want to tell Valerie that Sam was a full ghost now, but the Huntress was too smart for that.

"So… she's dead?" Valerie asked.

Danny froze and fixed a glare on Valerie. "Yes… she's a full ghost now. But for the sake of our friendship I'll warn you to not think about coming after her. I will protect her from anyone, even you." Valerie stared in shock at his now glowing eyes.

"I won't seek her out, but if she starts to cause trouble..." Valerie began.

"She won't." Danny said firmly. "She is all ready on her way to transcending above being an average ghost. She'll be a spirit."

"What's the difference?" Valerie asked.

"An average ghost is either a being created directly out of the ectoplasm of the Ghost Zone or the imprint of a recently-deceased human in ectoplasm. Ghosts are self-aware, and are capable of intelligence, but are hindered in the fact that they are ruled by an obsession. The obsession is sometimes so strong that it can lead to the ghost turning aggressive in the pursuit of its obsession. But when a ghost is created from a substantial amount of ectoplasm or the person who left the imprint has a particularly strong inner spirit, they become a spirit instead. Spirits are like ghosts for the most part, however, they tend to be far stronger and the strength of their personality overrides the normal need for an obsession. Of course, spirits can be aggressive as well, but they tend towards non-aggression. And in the case of humans becoming spirits upon their deaths, they always keep the temperament they had before death. You remember Sam. She might have had a small temper, but she wasn't violent or aggressive."

"If you say so." Valerie said. "So what brings you to the human world. I assume it has to do with Vlad Masters?"

"So… you know?" Danny asked.

Valerie nodded. "After Dani left, after we rescued her, I went back to check on Masters. I saw him transform."

"Does he know that you know?" Danny asked.

Valerie shook her head. "I don't think so. He still occasionally sends me ghost weaponry, but not nearly as often as before. And he hasn't contacted me with any sort of task for years."

"And speaking of that whole incident, could you answer a question of mine?" Danny asked, and Valerie nodded. "Do you know where Dani is?"

"You don't know?" Valerie asked.

"If she came into the Ghost Zone, I would know in an instant. But she has chosen to stay in the human realm. As you've probably guessed I'm a little out-of-touch with goings on in the human realm. I haven't seen Dani in years. She might not even know that I'm the king."

"I'm sorry, but I haven't heard anything about her." Valerie said. "She's obviously keeping a much lower profile than you ever could."

"Jazz calls it my hero complex."

"So… when are we going after Plasmius?" Valerie asked.

Danny sighed. "I'm afraid it's not that simple. "Even if I were not the Ghost King, I couldn't attack a man running for the highest office in America. And I can't expose him to the world because he'll go completely insane if I do."

Valerie sighed. "I guess that makes sense. So what are you doing here?"

"Getting a head-start on Vlad." Danny said. "I can't oppose him directly, but I can oppose him indirectly. I'm here to start opening diplomatic relations between the human world and Ghost Zone."

"And what will that accomplish?" Valerie asked.

Danny met her eyes. "Hopefully, showing humanity that ghosts are not monsters." He could hear news helicopters circling overhead, looking for him. "Listen, Valerie, I have to go. But can you do me one favor before I leave?"

"Sure."

"I highly doubt that my… cousin has stayed in America after Vlad's announcement. If I were her, I would be as far away from America as I can. I don't know the full extent of your ability to track ghosts, but if you wouldn't mind keeping an eye out for her…?"

"My ghost hunting equipment is not that good. I don't think anyone's is." Valerie said. "But if she comes into the state, I'll know."

"Well, if you find her, just tell her that she can come into the Ghost Zone with me. I'll keep her safe there. It doesn't matter how she gets into the Ghost Zone, either a natural portal or through the Fenton Portal, I'll know as soon as she enters and will find her."

"Of course, I'll let her know." Valerie said. "But, one more small question before you go…?"

"Of course."

"Is she really your cousin?" Valerie asked.

Danny sighed. "Technically she's a failed clone of me. Vlad made her and several other clones in an attempt to create a perfect clone of me."

"If she's a clone of you, why is she female?" Valerie asked, confused.

"I have no idea. Only Vlad would know that." Danny said. "I'm sorry, Valerie, but I have to go now." Just before he left, he returned the energy to Valerie's battery pack, getting it back up to one hundred percent as a gift, and then phased up through the ceiling.

Once again, he hovered in the air, and the helicopters were on him almost instantly. As soon as they got close, he began flying towards city hall. In the middle of the air was not the best place to talk to the cameras, so he was heading to a place where they could safely land and they could talk. He would occasionally pause and wait for the helicopters to catch up before taking off again. He could fly much faster than they could, after all.


(Casper High, Mr. Lancer's English Classroom)

As per usual in Mr. Lancer's English class, half of the classroom was asleep and the other half was well on their way. After all, only the most resilient of students could resist being bored from Shakespeare. However, even Mr. Lancer noticed when his students suddenly became more attentive. Just not on him.

The teacher sighed. Despite school rules forbidding the use of cellphones in classrooms, it could never be completely enforced. Pretty much every student was now glancing at their phones and around at each other in shock.

"And may I ask what has everyone staring at their cellphones?" Mr. Lancer asked, shocking his students.

"Sir… it's just…" One of the students spoke, holding up her phone which was open on Twitter. "The local news Twitter feed says that Phantom has been spotted over Amity Park again."

"Danny Phantom? Really?" Mr. Lancer asked. In the past six years, his former student was never far from his mind. He had kept his promise that he'd made to Danny Fenton when the young man told him his secret. He'd never spoken about it with anyone, even the boy's parents even though he was ninety-nine percent sure the Fentons knew about their son. Unfortunately, that also cut him off from everyone who knew of Danny's fate. For years he had no idea if he'd become the Ghost King or if he failed and the ghosts had to find someone else. But if he were really still 'alive'…

Mr. Lancer glanced at the television that was in his classroom. It was a glance that was not missed by any of his students. They all leaned forward with excitement. The teacher couldn't help but chuckle to himself. These students had all been in elementary school when Danny was actively protecting Amity Park. To them, he was probably little more than a real-life superhero who had disappeared for several years. He sighed. "I'll turn on the news..." He said, and the students let out a cheer. "If you all agree to write a thousand word essay on this act of Romeo and Juliet." The cheers quieted down, but then every single student nodded in agreement. Anything was worth the chance to see Phantom again.

Mr. Lancer walked over to the television and turned it on, flipping the channel to the local news station. Sure enough, they were brought to a feed of a news helicopter chasing after the form of a ghost. It had been six years since he'd last seen Danny, but he knew immediately it was him.

"The cape is new." One student commented.

"Actually, there was that one time when he was spotted wearing a cape." Another replied.

"I'm, like, ninety percent sure that was a bed sheet." Another said.

"Well, this one looks real." The first student said.

But Lancer's thoughts were more on why Danny was revealing himself in the human world after all these years rather than the changes to his clothes. He had told him personally that he would no longer be able to hide among humans anymore, so why had he come back? Judging by the way he kept stopping to wait for the news helicopters to catch up to him, he wanted to make some sort of announcement to the news, and was leading them somewhere they could safely land.


(Amity Park City Hall)

Danny Phantom landed on the steps of City Hall and patiently waited for the news helicopters to land. The first couple settled down and the reports practically tripped over themselves in their rush to get to the long-missing ghost.

With the sort of speed that Danny would have never believed, their cameras had been set up and several microphones were shoved in his face. He floated backwards, giving himself a little space.

"Phantom! Where have you been all this time?" One reporter yelled.

"Are you returning to Amity Park?"

"Can you comment on the lowered severity of ghost attacks in the last few years?"

For the moment, Danny remained quiet while the rest of the helicopters were landing. The reporters seemed to understand that he wasn't going to speak until they were joined by their compatriots, so they quieted down and waited for their fellows to get set up.

It only took a few more minutes, and not only were the reporters getting set up, but several city officials had come rushing out of city hall, not to mention the crowd of civilians that had gathered.

Before the reporters could start asking questions again, Danny spoke up. "People of Amity Park and all of humanity, shortly before I disappeared from the human world six years ago, the former Ghost King, Pariah Dark, faded into oblivion. The Ghost Zone was in need of a new king, and as the ghost who had defeated Pariah Dark in single combat, I was asked to become the King of all Ghosts. It was a responsibility that I accepted."

He noticed when all the reporter's eyes moved up to the Crown of Fire on his head.

"Yes, I have become the King of Ghosts, and as such I have been in the Ghost Zone for the past six years ruling over my domain." Danny paused and reminded himself that he couldn't say anything about the upcoming presidential election. "Now that the situation in the Ghost Zone has stabilized, I have decided that both our peoples can benefit from the other. It is with the hope that humans and ghosts can work together that I have come to formally extend the hand of friendship to humanity. It is my hope that the leaders of the world will accept and we can face the future together."

As soon as the reporters sensed that the speech was over, they began yelling for his attention with more questions. Danny took the time to answer a few of the questions, such as the change to his appearance and the drop in ghost attacks in Amity Park.

"I am sorry, no more questions." Danny said, beginning to float away. "I will return in a few weeks. If any human wishes to contact me with more questions, you may inquire through Jack and Maddie Fenton. They have been allies of mine for several years now and continue to be in contact with me." And, with that, Danny ripped open a hole to the Ghost Zone and stepped back through his his own dimension.


(Casper High, Mr. Lancer's English Classroom)

Most of the class was staring in shock at the television as Phantom calmly opened up a portal and went back into the Ghost Zone. Lancer, however, was not that shocked at his new power. What sort of ghost king would he be if he couldn't return to his own domain anytime he wanted.

"Wow, Phantom really became the king of ghosts?" One of the kids asked in shock.

"That is way cool!"

"Mr. Lancer?" One of his brighter students raised his hand. Lancer nodded towards him. "Why would Phan… King Phantom want humans and ghosts to work together? It seems kind of odd considering a vast majority of the ghosts that came to Amity Park were violent."

Mr. Lancer knew one answer off the top of his head. As far as he could guess, Danny was still half-human. Of course he would want his two peoples to be able to work together. But it had to go deeper than that. He'd specifically mentioned all the world leaders instead of just the leadership of Amity Park. If he just wanted Amity Park's attention, he could have just phased right into City Hall. In fact, he hadn't even waited around for the mayor to come out of her office.

So Lancer changed his perspective to the American government, and that is when he realized the answer. Just recently the UN has to step in a few times and stop the American government from passing anti-ghost laws that were on the verge of violating basic human rights. Of course, the debate was still going on strong if ghosts deserved the same rights as humans, but that just left the situation more precarious. Danny must've heard through his friends or family about the laws and was taking what steps he could to show that ghosts were intelligent.

"I suspect it has something to do with the anti-ghost laws that the government tried to pass." Mr. Lancer answered. "Those laws work on the assumed basis that ghosts are not human and therefore do not deserve the same rights as a human being. The opposition claims that ghosts are human, specifically former humans, and have retained their intelligence, sentience, and personality; so they deserve to be protected under basic human rights. King Phantom probably wants to protect his people by showing that they are not violent masses of barely-conscious ectoplasm."

"Do you think the governments would accept King Phantom's offer?" The student asked.

Lancer tried to remember which UN countries had blocked the United States from enacting the anti-ghost laws, but he couldn't remember. He hadn't paid much attention to it at the time. "I know that there are some countries that believe that ghosts deserve to be treated as former humans. They will probably accept Phantom's request. As for our own government, I cannot be too sure. The President will probably be willing to meet with King Phantom, but he does not have much time left in his last term in office."

"Do you think we can trust King Phantom?" One of the students asked nervously.

Mr. Lancer smiled. "Yes, I think we can trust him."