A/N: Longest chapter in this story so far! Can you believe it started off as the shortest, with only two or three short paragraphs? I was going to submit that, but while I was editing I added a sentence to make it flow better, and realized that sentence could play into other things, and it eventually lead to Maddie's whole theory on–

Muse 4: No giving away the story!

Me: Oops, sorry, looks like you'll have to read it to find out! (Muse 4 was always the grumpy one with all that angst, if you need anything, you should talk to 6, she's always laughing. Unfortunately, 4 wrote this chapter... and most of the story).

Maddie's eyes widened at the implications of what Phantom had said. Her mouth flew open, but all that came out was a rather inarticulate,

"Huh?"

He, he did that... to himself!? Maddie questioned with horror while looking over the pale teenager. A teenager, that was really all he was, Maddie realized, and teenagers were emotional, and here was a teenager who was all alone, had no support, and plenty of people who hated him with a passion. He was practically the poster child for things to look for in someone who would attempt, well, suicide. But that couldn't be right! Phantom couldn't have been trying to destroy, or even hurt, himself, because that would require him to really hate himself, or really feel awful enough for physical pain to relieve him, and that required real honest to God emotions. Emotions that couldn't simply come from remains of human life or impressions in his psych, but that came with having actual... feelings. Unless... Maddie's face suddenly fell into a relieved, and a bit cruel, smirk as she made sense of this.

It was perfectly possible that Phantom was imprinting old emotions, that is, if he had felt that way in life. He must have died by suicide. It really was the only explanation. Yes, it was sad, Maddie allowed, but it had happened, for all she knew he had died before she was even born, and so there was no point grieving now. Either way, he was no longer that lost child, now he was nothing but an imprint of that long lost boy's mind, a piece that hadn't really wanted to die... until now.

Maddie only became more elated as she realized how perfectly well that explanation fit. That was why Phantom saved people one minute, and terrorized them the next! He was still just as confused as the day he took his own life. He really did value human life... his own. He didn't want anyone to die the way he did, because he was a small piece of consciousness from the mind of someone who had decided to take their own life, and there was nothing he could do about it.

Maddie had read somewhere once that most teenagers who attempted suicide remembered realizing that they desperately wanted to live as soon as they realized they really were going to die. The same must have been true for the boy Phantom once was, except he had succeeded in his attempt, and this was the result. A ghost who never really had a chance to live, and so was angry at everyone and everything that caused him to give up his own life, but at the same time couldn't bare to see anyone else die because of his own mistakes. Nothing short of tragic, really, and Maddie once again found herself wondering how awful it would be to lose a son the way this child's mother lost hers, especially now that she knew exactly how that was... Poor family, and poor boy. However, that didn't change the fact that this thing lying in front of her was no longer that poor boy, just a rampant and destructive spirit.

It also explained why Phantom would do this to himself, he was still haunted by his life, and his mind was still just as impressionable. That small part of that child that had desperately wanted to live was starting to agree with the part that welcomed death. Short in short, Phantom was starting to want what the rest of him had wanted when he did what he did... death. Even though it was much to late for him.

"Phantom, how did you die?" Maddie was positive she already knew, but wanted confirmation, really just so she could pat herself on the back for a good days work. Unfortunately, her voice came out much more... sympathetic, than she would have hoped.

The ghost was obviously a bit baffled by this response to his previous confession, but that worked in her favor as he was to distracted to be angered or insulted by the blunt question, as Maddie knew most ghosts would be.

"I-I, umm. It was an accident. It hurt," was the only answer he seamed able to dredge up. Or rather the only lie, Maddie amended, noting the way his anger seemed to deflate and his expression became melancholy, he really was rather good at this 'emotions' thing.

"Really? Tell me, what kind of accident?" She asked trying to throw him off. However, apparently Phantom was even better at recognizing emotion than she would have thought. He picked up on her suspicious tone immediately.

"What? Do you have a problem with my death?" He asked defensively. Too defensively, in Maddie's opinion.

"As a matter of fact, I do," she answered. She decided to just get on with it. "I know your death was no 'accident', a mistake, maybe, but no accident," he didn't seem inclined to intervene, so Maddie continued. "I know that you killed yourself, Phantom," to Maddie's credit, she relayed her knowledge as gently as she could. In reverence for the boy who had taken his own life, it wouldn't kill her to be civil to his ghost.

His ghost which, at the moment, seemed rather stunned.

"Kill myself?" He whispered, "I didn't commit suicide," he told her, his voice much stronger, "I didn't," he repeated softly. Maddie saw that he was trembling, he seemed quite shaken by the subject, which she took as trauma at passed actions instead of nervousness those which he might have planned for the future.

"Yes, you did," she pressed on, determined to lift the truth from him,"there's no use lying about it again, I know that's how you died,"

"Are you saying that you know how I died better than I do? Don't you think that's something I would know a bit better than you?" The lab was dead silent. The bright lights caused pitch back shadows to gather anywhere something blocked their path, and as Phantom shifted his head so that he was staring back at the ceiling from his shackled position, and then back at her, his hair momentarily cast one of these looming shadows and blacked out his large eyes. The effect was rather chilling. "You don't know anything about me," the statement was incredulous, his voice sounded threatening and subdued at the same time. As if this were something he just realized, or had just come to terms with, but wasn't happy with.

"So, you're saying you didn't commit suicide?" Maddie asked, still not buying it, but not letting her suspicions creep into her tone this time.

"Not yet I haven't" Danny mumbled darkly under his breath, to low for his mother to hear. Louder he answered with a calm, yet patronizing, "yes, that's exactly what I'm saying. I. Did. Not. Kill. My-Self. Actually, at the time of my death, I probably would have been horrified at the thought," he seemed so sincere and open, and Maddie recognized it as a wonderful opportunity to learn more about the ghost.

"Why?" She asked gently, real curiosity coloring her voice. She figured his lie had to have some origin in truth. She also realized, that if he really did kill himself, he was probably actually very eager to share his 'feelings' with someone just as he had been in life. All she had to do was pretend to care, and he would be like putty in her hands.

Danny was truly taken aback by the question. His mother never bothered to ask human him 'why' anything anymore. What made his ghost form any different? This was an opportunity to maybe, just maybe, get her to understand both sides of him.

"I don't know, I guess... it never would have crossed my mind, you know?" He paused, looking to Maddie for encouragement to continue. She reached behind her and grabbed a chair, spinning it so it was facing him, before sitting down, brimming with curiosity about the tale the ghost was going to spin. Very discreetly, she pressed the record button on her audio notes, which she had clipped to her waist. However, all Danny saw was his mother, looking at him with what he thought was genuine interest and sympathy, willing to listen. Really though, could Maddie be blamed? She had no idea as to the true identity of the specter, and so she had no clue as to the cruel cosmic joke she was playing on him by pretending to care.

"I mean, I wasn't the most confident person on the planet, and I wasn't popular or anything, I really only had two friends," a small smile here, Maddie noted, "but despite the constant bullying, I was... I was happy, I think," his uncertainty coupled with his admittance to being bullied often only further cemented what Maddie thought she knew. "I guess I knew that I would always have my friends, no matter what," he slowed down here, "ya, I knew that my friends would always be there for me, that- that they really cared," Maddie noted that the phantom seemed to realize something rather big here. "They care, they really care," he whispered again, a small smile on his face. Danny was surprised to find he was no longer talking about his life before the accident.

As for Maddie, the more she listened, the more this was sounding a lot like suicide, with Phantom going on about the people he only now realized had cared for him. After a loaded silence in which the lights momentarily flickered, Phantom continued, this time with a small smile.

"I also had my older sister. She was bossy and nosy, but I think, somewhere, I knew she only had my best interest at heart, she cared to," Maddie was quite stunned with this bit on information. Not only that Phantom had a sister, but that he remembered his life vividly enough to know that he did. Interesting in deed.

"And your parents?" Maddie asked, very interested in what else he might remember about his past life. The change was almost instantaneous. His small smile and hopeful stare was gone before she could blink, and his face darkened considerably. Instantly Maddie knew she had stumbled upon the very reason that, despite having so many people that 'cared about him', he had decided to take his own life.

"My parents," he whispered quietly, it might have been her imagination, but Maddie could have sworn the ghost gave her a tortured stare. "I always thought my parents cared about me, but then, then The Accident happened and took all that away," Phantom looked back at the ceiling, his aura brightening and fading like a gentle tide. "It was a horrible accident. It was my own fault to, I was messing with some crap I shouldn't have been, and it put a lot more people than just me in danger," he looked softly at Maddie and gave a small smile. "There was a girl," was all he said. "She was just as curious as I was, and ten times more brave, she's the one who convinced me to check it out. She and my other best friend were there as I screamed, I think I might have begged for my life, I don't know, the whole thing is sorta' foggy. Except the pain, the pain I can remember. I think I was electrocuted to death, but it might have been any number of other things that happened in the accident,"

"Do you know how your parents felt about your death?" It was more of a test, though it did help quell some curiosity on Maddie's part. If he knew, it meant he formed very quickly after his death, which was unusual for a specter of his power, if he didn't, then there was no telling how long ago he could have died, since he could have picked up his modern clothing anytime between his death and being a wandering soul.

"No, but that's because I never checked. Like I said, I always thought they loved me, but... something changed," another dark look, accompanied by a sigh. "In all honestly, it wasn't even them. It was me, I changed, I became someth-one, someone different. They just, they didn't understand anymore. I suppose I should give them some credit, they did try to find out what was wrong... at first. But then... then they just gave up on me, I guess. No matter how bad it got, it just didn't seem to matter to them anymore. Maybe it's my fault, for waiting to long to tell them the truth, but I was afraid. Afraid of how they might react to it, even when I thought they wanted the best for me, I was always scared," Phantom accentuated this desolate speech with small glistening tears and a heartbroken out of focus stare. He looked like a wounded puppy, and Maddie found herself amazed with the ease in which he crafted his lies.

She was disgusted with how many people must have fallen for this ploy, no wonder they saw the ghost as a hero. Of course she realized he must have gotten all this from somewhere, and was most likely a very accurate description of his life, but she also knew the tears and dramatics were rather unnecessary. None of this was anything he would care about anymore.

"Why were you so afraid of them?" She asked gently, barely managing to keep the malice out of her voice. He thought about it for a second before continuing.

"My parents loved their job," he said instead, as if this offered explanation, "they loved their job a lot, so much so, that, sometimes, I think they forgot that they even had kids," another glance thrown at her, and Maddie suddenly wondered if Phantom wasn't trying to tell her something. "Me, how I had changed, to accept me as I then was would have required them to... rethink their line of work. And I was honestly afraid they would choose it over me," he sighed. Even Maddie had to feel bad for the boy. He obviously had negligent parents, and, though Maddie couldn't imagine what it was that had changed him in life that would require his workaholic parents to question their very profession, she could at least understand why he did what he did. All in all, he was lonely. Lonely in a way that couldn't be filled by friends or even a sibling. Phantom broke her out of her musings with a surprising question,

"What would you do if your son was a ghost?" He questioned. Maddie was incredibly surprised.

"What?"

"Well, you're a ghost hunter, so if you were to accept that your son was a ghost, if he was, that is, you would have to reconsider your job as well, right?" Ah, now Maddie saw it, he was trying to put her into his own situation, seemingly to find comfort, but really to pull her deeper into his lies. Despite this, she saw little harm in answering his question truthfully,

"I wouldn't love him any less, if that's what you mean, but if he were really a ghost... ghosts belong in the ghost zone, and that's where he would have to go. Naturally I would try to help him move on, but... ghosts are naturally violent creatures, who knows how long he would be able to grasp onto his humanity," she answered, saddened by the very thought. But if she was sad,then Phantom seemed crushed.

"What- what if he was a good ghost?" He asked desperately, "what if he was still, for the most part, human. Ya, what if he was really just a human with ghost powers? Powers that he used to do good things, like, save people and stuff at the expense of his own safety?" Maddie frowned, he was really reaching at straws now.

"Such a thing isn't even possible, but, I suppose, for the sake of hypothetical situations, I'll go with it. like I said before, I wouldn't love him any less for it, in fact, if he took it upon himself to shoulder that sort of responsibility... Look, Phantom, it wouldn't make a difference to me if my son were ghost, boy, or something in-between, he'd always be safe with me," Phantoms smile was quite literally glowing, and he seemed to be crying of pure joy. This charade was getting old. "Although, lets face it, my son isn't the most responsible person in the world," she laughed lightly. It was like she blew out a candle, the way Phantom reacted to that last comment. Instantly going from tearing up happy, to frustrated.

"The point is, Maddie, I never felt like I could trust them after what happened, but maybe, just maybe, I was wrong," he smiled up at her through his supposed frustration. She rolled her eyes and stood up. Phantom seemed confused at her sudden hostility.

"You really are good, I'll give you that," she said as she interlocked her hands and stretched them above her head.

"What?" Danny was extremely confused, good at what?

"You're a great actor, your emotions were spot on, although it really doesn't back up the fact that you were in an accident. Sounds a lot like suicide to me," she replied.

"You- you," Danny couldn't believe his ears, "I wasn't acting! I was telling the truth! I did not commit suicide!"

"You're lying," Maddie was quick to accuse.

Phantom's broken serenity left him, "you- you still think I'm lying!? After everything I just told you! I just poured my freakn' heart and soul out to you!" Danny was horrified to realize his mother seemed pretty apathetic about it, she didn't believe a word I said, he realized, and for the first time he saw the blinking recording device on her hip, she had no real intention of believing me at all, it was all just a part of her stupid research!. Not to mention she was playing ping pong with his emotions. "Tell me, why couldn't I possibly be telling the truth Dr. Fenton!?" He bit out scathingly, and with more than a little bit of hurt coloring his tone.

"Because, Ectoplasmic scum like yourself don't feel emotion. They function on two things, their obsession, and self preservation, and if you really didn't commit suicide, you hurting yourself, and anything everything else you do, like pretending to be the hero, it wouldn't much make sense, would it?" She shot right back. Phantom stared back at her with a horrified glare,

"Pretending?! I... I nearly killed myself! I hurt myself because I wanted to, and that's really all you can say? That I'm a lying dirty creature with no regard for anyone but it's self? If I was a normal teenager you would be trying to help me, you would do everything in your power, I know you would, because I know you, or at least I thought I did, but, just because I'm a ghost..." Danny was truly baffled, he simply did not understand how his mother could be so... cruel to anything with any semblance of sentience. "Do you really see me as so... low, just because I'm different?" As he said it, Spectra's earlier words bounced in his head, 'Your parents? They're after that part of you that makes you different, they want to destroy you because you're different.'

Maddie showed no hint of emotion, this ghost was obviously playing with her head, trying to throw her off it's lies with this rant meant to appeal to her maternal instinct. The creature was using her humanity against her, what a horrible thing for it to do. She simply pretended to let every word pass over her harmlessly. The ghost stared up at her when she refused to give an answer, or even acknowledge it's serious question. All the hate and anger seemed to suddenly drain out of the phantom's system as it seemed to come to some startling revelation. It slowly locked it's startled eyes with her's, opened it's mouth, and then said ten simple words that completely sent Maddie off edge.

"You, Madeline Fenton, are a horrible person, you know that?"

A/N: Uh, oh, Danny's in trouble now. Man, someone has to tell Maddie that there is a such thing called 'feelings' and it is okay to feel them. While they're at it, they should also add in a bit about irony...

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