Hellooooo everyone! I'm a little hyper right now, I think I've had too much sugar! But anyways, new chapter! Yay! Everyone read it, everyone love it, and everyone review!

But what a fast update, right? I started writing as soon as I posted the last chapter, so eager to get this one done, and now it is! They normally won't come out this fast, but I just couldn't stop writing, which I guess is actually a great thing.

ICHeart: Yeah, that's basically what he thinks. I know it's a little cliché, but it is a logical thing to think when you're in denial

Sophia the daughter of Nyx: Thanks!

Argus Drax: As long as you're still alive to read this chapter, and all the ones after it!

Looney Aces: I wasn't totally planning on her finding out first, but it kind of fits who Danny is, and it wasn't without purpose

PhantomFanForever: Is this soon enough for you? :) Be sure to tell me when you get it posted, just in case I don't see it once it goes up

ShinyMudkipGal: Yeah, it was a little weird, but Danny wanted to be sure that, if he got rejected and everything and she hated him after, then he would have at least gotten to kiss her once. A little sad, but seems kinda Danny

DerDrachen: I absolutely did. It was just too tempting

TheL3monTart: I love a good ramble, and it's great to know that the dynamic trio is staying dynamic. It was really hard for him to keep his secret, and yay, you don't even have to wait until tomorrow! (Unless it is tomorrow when you read this)

xXmyXBlackXChemicalXBridesXx: That seriously makes me so happy to hear! Thank you so much!


Sam winced at the bright flash and opened her eyes. Danny did to, but his eyes weren't their normal icy blue. They were a bright electric green. Sam yelped and jumped back, pushing herself away from Danny. Hurt flickered in his eyes as she did.

In his bright, green eyes. Sam had seen them back at Fenton Works only hours ago. And she realized that she had seen them in Ghost Zone to. But that didn't mean it was any less shocking.

Sam stepped back once more, so that she could get a better look at Danny. Even though it was late at night (or early in the morning, depending on your interpretation) the stars and moon were bright. The silver light reflected off of his snow white hair, and illuminated Danny's black and white jumpsuit. Her gaze was drawn to the stylized DP in the middle.

"Um… Sam?" Danny asked quietly, and Sam realized that she had been staring. She also realized that Danny had just kissed her. She raised a hand to cover her mouth, feeling her cheeks redden.

"Oh, geez, Sam. Just… um… just forget I ever did anything, okay?" Danny said suddenly, raising his hands defensively. White rings formed around his waist, spreading across his body until he was no longer Phantom, but Fenton again. "Forget that I told you, forget that I kissed you. I know, we're friends, and… and you probably hate me for lying and this wasn't supposed to happen. Clockwork!"

Sam jumped as Danny suddenly started yelled up at the stars.

"You're supposed to stop be from doing stupid stuff like this! Aren't you? What kinda lousy guardian are you?" Danny said.

Finally, it dawned on Sam that Danny was panicking, and she smiled. When Danny turned around to face her, she was standing right next to him, and it was his turn to jump back. He saw that Sam was smiling, and let a goofy grin slide onto his face, but it quickly vanished when Sam slapped him. It wasn't hard or anything, but unexpected.

"Why didn't you tell me?" Sam said, her voice low. Danny, who for a moment had thought she slapped him because of the kiss, recovered quickly to defend himself.

"I've already told you why, several times! Because it's dangerous," Danny said.

"Does your family know? What about Tucker?"

"No! Nobody knows, nobody was supposed to know but… big things are happening and I don't think it would stay secret for much longer anyways," Danny nervously ran his fingers through his raven locks.

"If you can tell us now, why couldn't you tell us before?" Sam asked, her eyes narrowing.

"Because now it's more dangerous if you don't know. Stuff is going down in the Ghost Zone, stuff I don't honestly really know that much about, and I'm worried, and something big is coming. And I don't know if I can do something about it, but I kind of have to, considering I'm responsible for everyone and, oh Clockwork, I'm responsible for everyone. This isn't going to-"

"Danny!" Sam snapped, cutting of Danny's rant.

"Yeah?" Danny asked sheepishly.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Sam asked again.

"Because you guys would have gotten hurt," Danny whispered.

"You don't know that, Danny! We seem to be handling ourselves pretty well with the Ghostketeers, so you. Don't. Know. That."

"But I do, Sam!" Danny started shouting again. "I know exactly what would happen if you guys did know. Sure, I'm always worse off, but you guys do get hurt. And you start doing poorly in your classes too. And you have your scars, like mine, but you guys shouldn't because I'm supposed to stop you guys from getting hurt. Heck, it goes against my very being to let you guys get hurt!"

"Danny, calm down!" Sam said, almost snapping again.

Danny took a deep breath and his eyes, which had slowly been changing green throughout his tirade, changed back to blue.

"What do you mean you know exactly what would happen?" Sam grabbed Danny's hand, which he was raising to once again drag through his dark hair. She didn't react to how cold it was.

"There were… situations, with ghosts. And you guys knew that I was Phantom, and you helped me. And… you guys kept getting hurt," Danny said. "But at the end, everything always went back to the way that it was supposed to be."

"I guess I forgive you, then," Sam said, but she was still frowning a little.

"What?" Danny asked, his turn to be confused.

"You… uhm…" Sam's cheeks flushed light pink. "You kissed me."

"Oh. You can just forget that happened, okay? I know, we're friends, we've known each other for years now, it was weird, and… just forget it, okay?"

"What if I don't want to?" Sam asked.

"Then I guess, you don't forget?" Danny said, smiling a little.

"Good. Now, everyone is worried about you. We should probably get you home," Sam said, turning around to leave the clearing.

"About that. I don't really want my parents to know, and after that episode, they're going to ask questions. Plus, since you know, I should probably tell Tucker. He might start to feel left out otherwise," Danny said.

"You guys can stay at my place, then. My parents are out of state for an undetermined amount of time. Something about visiting friends in Europe."

"Okay, good." Sam turned to leave again. "Flying is faster you know."

Sam froze and looked back at Danny as the rings spread from his waist, changing him into Danny Phantom. She couldn't help but let a nervous grin slip onto her face as Danny offered his hand, which she gladly took. He pulled her close, told her to hold on tight, then shot up into the sky. Sam shrieked for a moment at the sudden increase in altitude, then looked down over Amity Park. At night, it was beautiful.

Being a small town, there were no large downtown buildings to obscure your view or cast bright, obnoxious light into the sky. Streetlamps cast their rounded pools of golden light onto the dark street, the occasional headlight casting long shadows. Most building lights were out, and behind them was the glow of Fenton Works.

Sam craned her neck back to look at it and found that, at night, the sign wasn't so garish from a distance. It instead cast the street in a warm green and orange glow.

She was a little disappointed when Danny brought them lower down and phased through her mansion into her bedroom.

"I'll call Tucker," she said after a breathless moment, and Danny nodded while he returned to his human form.

"Hey, Tuck."

"Hey, Sam, any luck?"

"Yeah, I found him."

"Oh, great! You headed back to Fenton Works?"

"No, we're at my place. You guys are staying over tonight."

"What? You don't even ask me, I just am?"

"Trust me, you want to be here Danny has something to show you."

"Sam, if you're getting excited, I don't know if I wanna know. I'd rather not be around you two love birds late at night."

"What? No! Don't be gross."

"You didn't deny the love birds thing."

"No, it would appear that I didn't."

"Did something happen?"

"Maybe."

"Did… did he kiss you?"

"Yes he did, now shut up and get over here!" Sam quickly hung up, cutting off Tucker's laugh.

"What was that about?" Danny asked from his seat on Sam's bed. She noticed that he was floating about an inch of the bed and raised an eyebrow. Danny blushed and dropped down, bouncing slightly.

"Sorry, it's a habit."

"It's fine. And it was nothing. Just Tucker being a jerk."

Danny accepted the explanation and waited patiently while Sam called his parents to inform them that he and Tucker would be staying with her tonight. By the time that phone call was done, which involved a lot of questions on Maddie and Jack's part, and a lot more fabricated answers on Sam's, Tucker had arrived.

"Sorry, Mrs. Fenton. Danny's already asleep, so you'll have to wait until tomorrow to talk to him," Sam said the same time that Tucker burst into her bedroom shouting.

"You KISSED!"

Tucker!" Sam gaped.

"Sam!" Danny yelled. Sam and Danny, who had been sitting very, very close together, jumped apart. "You told him?"

"He sorta guessed," Sam said, then glanced at the cell phone in her hand. "Sorry, Mrs. Fenton. Tucker just got here. Danny will see you tomorrow!"

She quickly hung up and tossed the phone onto her bed.

"I think they heard that," Sam cast a fierce glare at Tucker.

"Good, then they know that they owe me twenty bucks. I'm gonna get rich tomorrow!" Tucker shouted cheerfully.

"Excuse me?" Sam's gaze turned murderous.

"I may have bet half the student body that you guys would be dating before Halloween this year," Tucker grinned. He practically shrieked when Sam suddenly lunged at him, and he quickly ran out the door.

"You didn't deny it!" Danny heard Tucker shouting as he fled down the stairs with a furious Sam chasing after him.

"Danny, help!" A muffled shout came from below, and Danny assumed they were now in the basement. He chuckled and got up to follow, then a mischievous grin split his face and he phased through the floor. Sam saw him float down through the ceiling but Tucker, who had his back to Danny, was none the wiser until he suddenly found himself being lifted into the air.

Tucker shrieked again as his feet suddenly left the ground.

"Ghost attack! Sam, help! Call Danny! Get Phantom!"

"Danny, stop it, that's not fair," Sam huffed.

Tucker finally noticed that whatever held him captive was shaking from laughter, and the laugh sounded very familiar.

"D-Danny?" Tucker asked, craning his neck to see. He caught a glimpse of black hair before he found himself falling. "What the hell!" He yelled in surprise as he thudded into one of the plush, movie chairs in the Manson's basement.

He looked up and a saw Danny (as Fenton) floating above him. Tucker scrambled back and fell onto the floor. "What the hell?!"

Danny touched down on the floor, and glanced at a smirking Sam.

"Should I?" Danny asked, swinging out an arm at Tucker.

"Do it," Sam nodded. Danny felt his cold core rise in his chest, and the cool, white rings formed around his waist.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Tucker crawled back until he bumped into Sam's legs, staring wide eyed at Danny. Danny Phantom.

"You're really Danny? Like, you Danny, are not overshadowing our Danny, but you are just… Danny?" Tucker asked as Sam helped him to his feet.

"Yes, Tuck. It's really me. No overshadowing, no possession. I'm just Danny," the halfa changed back, settling comfortably in one of the black chairs.

"Dude, that is so cool! How did you tell Sam?" Tucker practically squealed the first sentence.

Danny felt the blood rush to his cheeks as he explained.

"What? So Sam gets a kiss when she finds out, and you drop me from ten feet in the air?" Tucker whined.

"You want a kiss too, Tuck?" Danny asked, and Sam snorted.

"Sorry, dude. I know we're close, but not that close. I'm fairly certain you're already spoken for anyways," Tucker said, looking at Sam. "But… why didn't you tell us sooner?"

Danny winced, and looked at Sam before answering. "Like I told Sam, you guys already know this. I didn't want you to get hurt."

"But dude, we're your best friends! We could have helped you," Tucker started, but Danny raised a hand to end the already familiar, and justified, rant.

"I know, Tuck. I really do, but I thought it would be better if you didn't know."

"Why not now?"

"There's… there's some bad stuff going on. There's this bad ghost gaining power somewhere in the Zone, no one knows what exactly he's up to yet, but he's gathering an army. And it's going to be dangerous. Really dangerous. Honestly, I wasn't going to tell you guys anything, but he… he showed me something, and now I'm certain you guys will be a lot safer knowing," Danny said, nodding his head gently as if satisfied with the explanation.

"So, if this ghost hadn't appeared, you never would have told us?" Tucker asked, sounding hurt. And he was, and Danny knew that he was. He had every right to be, but Danny also had every right to keep his secret to himself.

"Not yet, anyways. I may have told you guys eventually. Maybe once we were out of high school and stuff." Danny plucked at the sleeve of his shirt, which he realized he had never rolled back down after everything that happened. He stared at the scars along his arms, intently focused on them so he wouldn't have to see his friends' expressions.

He took note of each and every scar, and how he had gotten them. A burn here from Skulker, a gash there from Technus, a few strange, red rings which were the result of Ember's sound wave attacks from when they were still enemies. He also had a rather heavy looking scar that Sam would hopefully never remember giving him during the Undergrowth incident. It was that scar that he was focused on now. He rubbed a thumb over it, remember how scared he was for Sam. How she had still gotten involved despite not knowing anything, either before or after. How she would be getting involved from now on, because, in his eyes, he was too weak to continue on his own.

"So… what kind of stuff can you do?" Tucker asked, dropping down in the seat beside Danny. Surprised, Danny looked up from his arms. He could still see hints of the hurt he had caused in Tucker's eyes, but his friend was smiling, and Danny knew that he had been forgiven.

"I can do all the basic things. Flight, invisibility, intangibility. Some stuff like that, then there's the ecto powers, which low level ghosts typically don't have. And then there's the duplication and ice powers, both of which you have to be pretty powerful to do," Danny mused.

"Duplication? Please, elaborate," Sam said, sliding onto the armrest of Danny's chair. Danny closed his eyes and felt the strange, sharp pull that came whenever he split himself. When he opened his eyes, there was a second Danny standing beside Sam.

"Hey, guys," the duplicate said with a shy wave.

"Whoa! That is so cool, you can clone yourself!" Tucker leaned forwards and prodded the duplicate, testing to see if it were real.

"They're not clones, they're duplicates," Danny hissed. He blinked when he realized exactly how much venom there was in that sentence. "Sorry, guys. I just have a bit of an issue with clones."

Sam and Tucker nodded, knowing they wouldn't fully understand unless Danny explained it to them. The duplicate moved back to Danny and they merged back together, his eyes flashing green as they did so.

"You know, the eye thing is kind of a giveaway," Tucker point out.

"And yet, you still only found out because I told you," Danny smirked. "And the eye thing only happens if I get really emotional or distressed."

"Like back at your house?" Sam guessed. "What happened there?"

"Well, you know that big, bad ghost I was telling you about? He was kind of speaking to me. I'm supposed to meet him at Sable in three days. I guess two days now," Danny said, glancing at the clock. It was past two.

"Why three days?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know, ghosts are weird, with weird obsessions that tie in to basically everything they do, and they…" Danny frowned. "Three days. Tucker, what day is it today?"

"It's Monday. No, Tuesday now. Oh! You meant the date, then it's the twenty-fourth today, I guess," Tucker said, eyes on his PDA.

"So… I'm meeting him on the twenty-sixth," Danny said, his eyes widening.

"Yeah. But I don't get why that's important. Danny? What's wrong?" Sam asked.

Danny had started breathing deeply, and while for others it would appear that he was breathing at a normal rate, for someone that typically breathed only around every thirty seconds or so, he was basically hyperventilating. Danny's arms curled protectively around his shoulders as he continued to pant. They weren't there in his human form, but Danny knew that if he went ghost, the lightning scars would appear on his back. Jagged lines reminiscent of a lightning strike would cover his back. He started to remember the pain.

Oh, god, it had hurt so much and it just didn't stop and he had been twitching and screaming and he could smell his flesh burning and there was so much pain as his skin split open and

"Danny!"

The halfa blinked, looking up at a very worried Sam and Tucker. When had they moved?

"I'm fine," he said, but his voice was weak.

"Dude, no you're not. What was all that about?"

"The… the twenty-sixth," Danny explained lamely. Sam and Tucker looked puzzled for a moment, then realized dawned on both their faces.

"The day of your accident," Sam said. "That's when… that's when you…"

"I died, Sammy," Danny whispered, using the nickname that only she let him use, and not that often. "I am dead, or half-dead, or whatever. But it happened on that day."

"Do you want to tell us?" Sam asked carefully, placing a gentle hand on Danny's shoulder. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and shook his head.

"Not today. Our death, it's a really sensitive subject for ghosts. We don't exactly like to talk about it. My parents told you how we all have obsessions? We also have death stories, and those stories are usually tied to some of our biggest fears," Danny's voice was quiet, hardly even a whisper.

"We're sorry, Danny. We shouldn't have asked," Tucker said.

"No, you guys didn't know. Just, keep that in mind next time you talk to a ghost," Danny said. "Or a halfa, but I guess there's only two more of those. That's what we're called, the people like me. Not ghost, not human. A little bit of both, but something else entirely."

"You said that the stories are tied to some of your biggest fears?" Tucker asked.

"Yeah. For most ghosts, it is their biggest fear. But me? Honestly, there are worse things to worry about." Danny pulled his knees to his chest, remembering the sentence he had been writing in Latin that day in English. It felt like it had been so long ago, but Danny knew it had only been around a week since then. Sam and Tucker shared a look as Danny spoke.

What could he be more afraid of then reliving the experience of his own death?


The trio had fallen asleep sometime around three, just crashing in Sam's basement instead of going up to any of the numerous bedrooms. Or at least, Sam and Tucker fell asleep. Danny had to leave a couple times to fight more ghosts, and Sam had awoken around six that morning to see a bleeding Danny trying to stitch up his leg in her bathroom. Suffice to say, Sam was furious that Danny hadn't woken either of them, but understood that she didn't really have experience in that area. An hour later, Tucker had reluctantly awoken and, after Danny did a quick morning patrol, they headed to school, not looking forward to the day at all.

But apparently a lot of people were eager for them to arrive. Or, more specifically, Danny. When the got to school, a lot of people in the halls were turning and staring at the halfa, not bothering to hide their whispers.

"Please tell me you guys know what's going on," Danny said when they reached his locker.

"Sorry, dude. For once, I'm as clueless as you," Tucker shrugged. Danny hung his head in resignation as he pulled grabbed his stuff from his locker. They moved on to Tucker's, then Sam's. Just as the Goth was closing her locker, a certain jade-eyed redhead stormed up to the group.

"Danny, what is this?" Jazz asked, shoving her phone in the trio's face. They all leaned back so that they could actually see the small screen properly, then Sam snatched device out of Jazz's hands.

"What the hell?" She hissed, almost a perfect imitation of Tucker's shouts from last night. Danny leaned over her shoulder and his face blanched. Filling the screen was a picture of him during gym yesterday, with his shirt off, muscles and scars (and very strange bruise) on display for all to see. The picture was good quality, but Danny himself was a little blurred, and the one eye that could be seen from this angle appeared to be glowing a bright green.

"Oh, shit," Danny groaned, his uncharacteristic swearing surprising all present. "At gym, yesterday, I heard the click of a camera. I knew they had taken a photo, and I was going to get rid of it later, but I totally forgot!"

"I know this website. Some senior started it up a couple years ago, and it's sort of been passed down through friends ever since then," Sam scrolled to the top of the page, revealing the name of the sight.

Casper High Hotties

Tucker took one look at the name, then burst out laughing.

"Oh, man, dude! You are on the ultimate cheerleader sight! You know what they do on there? They post photos of the most attractive people of Casper High and just… just…" Tucker couldn't continue because he was laughing too hard at the look of horror on Danny's face, which was no longer just because his eyes were green in the photo.

"I'll have to set those girls straight," Sam growled.

"So you're gonna tell them you don't think Danny's hot?" Tucker asked, still snickering at Danny's expression.

"Oh, no. But I'm going to have to give them a little incentive not to go around taking shirtless pictures of my boyfriend," Sam said, her fist curling tighter around the phone. Several freshmen girls, who had been eaves dropping close by, quickly walked away whispering amongst themselves.

"I'm just going to take that back," Jazz said, slipping the phone from Sam's grip, then raising an eyebrow at the apparently knew couple. "Also, since when?"

"Since last night," Danny said.

"About time, little brother," Jazz beamed, before looking down at the picture again. "But Danny, what are all of those scars from?"

"Okay, we went over this last night with Mom, Dad, and Lancer already! I didn't give them to myself, okay? And it's not really any of your business where I got them," Danny said, frustrated.

"Danny, if you've been-"

"Ghost fighting," Tucker squeaked.

Jazz's gaze slid from Tucker, then back to Danny. "Ghost fighting?"

Both Sam and Danny elbowed the self-proclaimed techno-geek in the ribs, hard, for his slip of the tongue.

"Yes, ghost fighting."

"But that's dangerous, Danny!" Jazz scolded as she slipped her phone back into her pocket.

"I know, Jazz. But, I'm gonna be late for class, I have to go, okay?" Danny stormed past his sister, Sam and Tucker rushing after him.

"I had really hoped that this could have stayed secret a little while longer," Danny said, casting a glare Tucker's way.

"Sorry, dude. It just kinda happened. And really, I was more offering Jazz and example than an explanation," Tucker said.

"It's fine, Tuck. Jazz will just call home and tell my parents and, oh Clockwork, my Dad is going to be all over me about training me to fight when I could easily take him down myself. This is going to be a nightmare," Danny groaned as they reached their classroom. Tucker, who had a different class first period today, gave Danny a sympathetic smile before rushing off.

"And then there's that picture," Sam said as they took their seats.

"Don't remind me. And I've been so careful. A year, Sam, I've avoided cameras for a full year! Or at least I've avoided having my eyes open during the picture. But now this new ghost comes and I've just been so stressed, and I can hardly remember the last time I actually got to sleep when it should have only been a couple weeks ago, and then the day is coming up, and tonight I have to face my parents after last night. This is all a mess," Danny groaned as he dropped his head onto his desk. "I need to feed."

"You need to what?" Sam asked.

"Oh, I didn't tell you guys that, did I? Ghosts typically eat ecto-enhanced food from the Ghost Zone, but as an alternate, and more effective food source, they can feed off of human emotions. Particularly negative ones. I may not eat human food as often, but I need ghost food as well to supplement my powers. A few months ago, it became necessary for me to feed off emotions once in a while if I became really drained." Danny's voice was muffled by the crook of his elbow.

"It doesn't hurt the humans, if that's what you want to know," Danny answered before Sam could ask. "I mean, it could. There was this whole thing with the school counselor. It can leave a human feeling depressed and horrible about themselves, but I don't take enough to do that. I only take enough to sustain myself.

"Okay," Sam nodded. "Do you need to do anything to feed?"

"Not really. I just need to sit here, undisturbed, and focus on the emotions around us," Danny's voice was accompanied by the bell signalling the start of class. "If I'm still fidgeting, I'm still awake, which means I'm still kin of listening, so you don't need to worry about poking me or anything."

Sam nodded and, despite the fact that Danny couldn't actually see her, she was she he knew what she did. Danny kept his head down, and his knee started bouncing under his desk, as he focused on the tumult of teenage hormones, anxiety, and low self-esteem swirling in the air around him.

He stubbornly ignored the emotions he could only describe as fluffy and pink that were all directed his way.


So Danny has a little bit of trouble brewing for him. Do you think everyone will find out his secret? Or will the majority of people remain oblivious when all is said and done?

'See' you next time!