!Disclaimer: Although I use scenes from the TV show, it is for historical accuracy. I do not own them!

Warning: Part of this chapter will be in Vi's point of view! I do not explicitly warn you then, but you will know what part I am talking about.

Congratulations

As soon as the proceedings and execution had been completed, Clockwork transported all of Team Phantom to his lair, where his thousands of mirrors played and replayed the events that had transpired over the last few days, weeks, and months. It all seemed so surreal to watch the scenes play out, as though they hadn't actually lived through them. Even the execution had felt distant to some of the team members, as they had never experienced the death of any living thing other than a dog—and Cujo didn't really count because he was already dead when the trio originally met him.

The Master of Time allowed a few minutes to pass in silence in order for everyone to finish digesting everything that had happened to them so they wouldn't become traumatized by the events that unfolded. Even he chose to use this time to center his core, because for a while even he had felt unsure about the twists the parade of time had chosen to follow. In fact, he hadn't known what Dan's choice would actually be when the Observants wanted him to kill them all. He had only his faithful trust in what he had done to sway Dan's choices and what he believed Dan would do. It was a risky gamble, but it paid off. Dan had left Vi to take the attack, which is how Vladmius' Phantom half knew it was time to split from the body. Had Dan saved them both, Vladmius would have turned to Danny and the rest of the members, killing them instantly for Dan to witness. It would have been almost an exact replica of the original Nasty Burger explosion, which would have caused Dan to break completely. Vladmius would have won, and what was to come afterwards would not have been pretty.

"Congratulations are in order, I believe," he announced shortly after the few minutes of peace, sharing a smile with each individual team member for their contributions. This caused a short bought of laughter to bubble from the team, the last of their nerves leaving their system. It was over. They could relax and enjoy the victory they earned after the close call towards the ending.

"I'm just glad we're done," Tucker commented with a tired swipe at the sweat lingering on his forehead, much to the agreement of the others as they began cleaning off what little dirt and sweat they could.

"I don't believe I said it was over," Clockwork interrupted, amused at how tense the young adults immediately grew as they looked to him with dread. To calm their nerves he explained after a chuckle at their expense, "Do not worry, there are no more battles or wars to be had anytime soon, if at all, but there are some loose ends to be taken care of."

"Does this mean you're going to explain whatever it was we saw at the end of our attack on Vladmius?" Danny asked, scratching his head in confusion as he thought back to what he had seen. That had been completely unexpected and he wasn't entirely sure he understood why it had seemed so sudden and surprising.

"Ah, yes," Clockwork replied with slight nodding of his head. "As you all know, there is another plane of existence for spirts that are not reincarnated into humans, and this plane is the next passing for ghosts after their obsession has been put to rest. Humans who have spirits that don't turn into ghosts are able to pass straight into this plane if they are deserving. I believe you would call this place 'Heaven.' You also know that Vladmius was created when Phantom morphed with Plasmius. However, in his timeline, the Plasmius half overpowered the Phantom half. This had to be done because in Dan's timeline, the Phantom half overpowered the Plasmius half. A balance had to be created. Tell us, Dan, do you understand how you became 100 percent Phantom?" Clockwork inquired as he turned to said ghost.

With all eyes suddenly on him, Dan couldn't help but blush a light shade of green as he struggled not to stutter. "A-all I remember is changing my goal of existing, I suppose you could say. Instead of ruling and destroying the world I wanted to protect it, even if it had been for selfish reasons in the beginning." No way was this old man going to get him to admit his thirst for revenge was unnecessary when he found Vi alive, meaning he had to reclaim his original obsession—protecting Sam, along with his friends and family—in order to stay in existence. That was way too cheesy and embarrassing. Perhaps he would confide in Vi one day, when they were alone, but this old geezer most certainly didn't need to call him out on it!

"What you described was a switch in obsessions," Clockwork further explained, allowing Dan's tiny white lie to stay, as he addressed the group once more. "Plasmius wanted power solely for selfish reasons, but unlike you, Vladmius understood that two obsessions would constantly be battling for control over his soul, so he set out to rid his Phantom half in order to fall completely to his obsession of power. You experienced these times during your 'weaker moments,' as you had once referred to them as." Dan nodded in recognition as he recalled the inner battles he had struggled against, only becoming more prominent during his stay in the Fenton Thermos.

"However, as it just so happens, Danny's soul—Phantom—had an obsession that completely understood her own obsession. She was able to use that information to control Phantom's obsession."

"Okay, so, we all know Sam is Danny's obsession from Vladmius' little rant," Tucker interrupted, "but what's Sam's obsession then?"

"It's a little more complex than that, but in short Samantha's obsession is Daniel. They are a unique pair that the world has named 'soulmates,'" Clockwork answered with a smile towards the shocked duo—both of them. Though Danny and Sam chose this tender moment to smile and hold each other's hands, Dan and Vi refused to make eye contact as they pleaded with their eyes for the Time Lord to continue with his explanation.

Breaking the embarrassing silence, since Clockwork did not seem inclined to do so, Jazz asked, "But how did this play into what we saw and what happened?"

With eyes twinkling in amusement Clockwork calmly answered, "Samantha quickly learned that her obsession had more depth than displaying and sharing love. It also taught her to respect his morals, which is mostly dominated by his want to do good and be proactive about doing so. Thus, when Vladmius learned that Phantom was obsessed with Samantha and he found a way to put them in touch in hopes of tricking Phantom to pass on with her, she was able to also trick Phantom into believing he would be obeying her hopes and wishes by not joining her. She was able to teach him in her short period of time how to hide inside Vladmius without being caught, providing him with all the power he would need to keep himself grounded to the sidelines until this moment—" he chose this point in his speech to point to one of his mirrors which conveniently showed the last Vladmius duplicate transforming into the Danny they were speaking about, "—came about. He only slipped once, though luckily too much time had passed for Vladmius to catch on."

"So what we observed had been Phantom forfeiting the body of their shared souls to Vladmius, and then his passing on," Maddie thought aloud, correct in her deduction.

"But how were we able to see Sam if she had already passed on?" Red asked only for her alternate self to smugly answer, "Sam never actually passed on because she was waiting for Danny's safe return home, like she always does."

"But didn't she already have Danny Fenton's spirit?" Nate asked in confusion. The explanation was more complicated then their questions for clarification.

When no one was able to puzzle through this question they turned to Clockwork in surrender. "Simple," he shared. "As you have been saying for years, Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom. His soul was split and only when he is whole again can he pass on to the next plane."

"Wait, then what will happen to Dan?" Vi asked, suddenly overcome with worry. "Where is his Fenton half?"

"I destroyed him," Dan immediately answered, but retracted at seeing the questioning look from Clockwork. "...Didn't I?"

"Ultimately, no. In fact, his spirit has been in limbo as it's waiting for his other half to be ready to pass on. However, as Vladmius had taken advantage of so many loopholes for the purpose of evil, I have been required to explore other equal amounts of loopholes for the purpose of maintaining the balance between good and evil."

To Dan this sounded almost too good to be true. Was Clockwork really telling him he was going to become whole again—filling that hole of emptiness he had spoken to Jazz about on multiple occasions? Was that even possible since he had killed his human counterpart? Instead of a verbal answer, Clockwork simply spun around with his staff extended, compelling one of his mirrors forward to show the picture displaying a seemingly comatose individual lying still on a beaten and shredded bed. Red and Nathan couldn't help but smile as the body was suddenly consumed with the same blue light that had trapped Vladmius, raising the person out of his bed and through the portal to join their group.

Dan watched in fascination as his human body came to float before him. He didn't quite know how to describe what he was seeing, as it seemed to be a reflection with one blink of his eye and a blast into his past to his sixteen year old appearance the next. Overall, the body seemed to be both ages, as it had died at sixteen but his half of the soul continued to grow. He wanted to reach out and touch him, but drew his hand back as if it was on fire when he went to do just that. What would happen if he touched himself? Would he disappear? Fall to ashes only for him to wake up and realize he was still stuck in that damn thermos and had imagined this whole thing? Unknowing what to do and afraid to ask, Dan silently looked to Clockwork for instruction.

"By accepting the gift from these...loopholes, you are allowed to bring yourself back from the dead, as you used to do so all the time as a halfa. This means you will no longer be a full ghost until you experience the remainder of your half-death again. If you wish to accept these responsibilities, you can rejoin your human body, though I cannot promise that you will not suffer pain from doing so," Clockwork judicially warned.

The group held their breaths as Dan looked back to his human half in amazement, only taking a few minutes to talk himself into believing that this was worth the risk of finding out he had imagined the whole deal. Lifting himself into the air, he took one look around him at the faces of those he had come to care for, before flying straight into his body as though performing an overshadowing. He could hear himself scream as he watched his body convulse and switch between forms back and forth in the mirrors that recorded this historic seen. He could see the fear and worry in the team's eyes before he was forced to shut his. After seemingly forever, Dan landed from the air into a kneeled position on the ground. Summoning the energy needed to open his eyes he looked down to find the white gloves of his Phantom form, looking up to question if he had done something wrong only for Danny to advise, "Transform."

Standing shakily, Dan recalled the memories of living, trying to will himself into becoming human again. He thought of what connected his spirit to Earth and seemingly everyday activities he wanted to live for. He thought about feeling fresh air enter his lungs. He thought about how warm a human body was. He thought about how it felt to feel a heart pulse against his rib cage. He thought about how he wanted to be human because Vi was human. Once he felt the power he needed he forced it out of his body to engulf him as he transformed into Danny Fenton for the first time in ten years. It was amazing to look down and see flesh, to hear his heart beat in his ears, and fill his lungs with air for the first time in so long.

It also felt sickening as he bent over to throw up whatever contents had been fed into his dead stomach throughout the years, coughing as his body tried to jump-start itself into normal behaviors of living again. He had to remind himself to breathe for the first few minutes, and once he was able to stand fully again, he smiled to show he was okay, stretching his limbs with the slightest worry they would give out from not being used for a decade. They did not, in which he suspected the aide of Clockwork.

"Whoa," he said to the group, pulling them out of their trances as they pulled him forward in order to congratulate him. However, the relief and happiness Dan experienced was short lived as he turned to face Vi, who stood stock still as she seemed to stare through him. "Vi?"

"Garbage fight!" Danny shouted as he lifted the plate of top soil into the air, aiming to throw his plate at any unsuspecting student in the lunch room to form a distraction.

I had ducked beneath the lunch table to avoid being hit but was unable to stay down as I fought for my choice of changing the menu. "It's not garbage, it's—" but I was unable to finish as Danny grabbed the hem of my shirt to pull me down. There were more pressing issues to attend to: namely, the ghost in the back of the kitchen.

"Did someone change the menu?" The ghost didn't look too dangerous. Tucker even commented how she resembled his grandmother. That was, until Tucker told her that I had changed the menu, as a matter of fact. Suddenly her hair was flaming and her red eyes were freaking out as she glared my way with green ecto-fire engulfing her form while she screamed, "You changed the menu?!"

As her power began to manipulate the air around us, Danny shouted for Tucker and I to get behind him, as he is the ghost-fighting and half-ghost superhero now. Yet, even as I jumped behind him I couldn't help but make the sarcastic remark, "Wow, I feel safe." I suppose I should give him more credit though, as we're only fourteen and he meant well by wanting to protect us. Still, this was new to us all.

I have to admit though, Danny's transformation is unlike anything I have ever seen before, even if I'm still temporarily blinded from it. I hope I'll eventually get used to the flash of light as he transforms more and more. It's beautiful, in an angst-y sort of way considering he is switching into a ghost, which means his dead half—though I refuse to think of it as anything other than his acquired ghost powers. I don't think I will ever forget how amazing his powers truly are, and I know I won't ever see anything more incredible than Danny's ring of light traveling over his body to change Fenton into Phantom…

…

"You will remember my name!"

"Ember, so warm and tender!" Tucker horribly sang—if you could even call it that—as he listened to the awful new hit single by Ember McLain. Luckily for me, Danny chose that moment to come back from outside the Specter Speeder, landing between Tucker and I. The flash of power wasn't as bright as it used to be as he switched back to his human form, though I doubt it's due to declining power. If anything, Danny has grown even stronger in the last few months. I've just finally adapted to the flash of bright light. "You will remember my name!"

As Tucker continued to sing along, I noticed that Danny was shivering, teeth clattering and all as he hypothetically asked, "Can a ghost get frostbite?"

What a baby, but being the best friend that I am I offered him my own warmth, as we hadn't brought along any blankets, coats, gloves or mittens. "O here, my hands are warm," I told him with a friendly smile, placing my hands around his to try transferring my body heat.

Of course, I wasn't thinking about the consequences as we both simultaneously realized that we were holding hands. I was mortified, looking away from Danny as quickly as I could before realizing that would only make it more awkward so I looked back. We smiled at each other in mutual understanding and I thought I saw a light dusting of blush spread across his cheeks. I'm not sure though, as I was currently focused on my own heated cheeks before Tucker butt into what could have been a nice moment with his shouting. "Ember! Go Ember! Remember!"

Danny and I both cringed away, and not wanting to hear him Danny took his hands back in order to cover his own ears, since I had to drive and I technically had the Fenton Phones broadcasting Ember's song as a nice cushion between me and Tucker's bad voice. "Uh, I think I'm gunna need my hands for this." Maybe it was only my mind playing cruel tricks on my hormonal self, but I thought he seemed a little sad because of it. But no, I must be seeing things. Danny doesn't like me like that. Heck, I don't even know if I actually like him like that!

"So you don't want to end up together?" Tucker asked me later that day. It turns out Ember is a ghost who controls people using her music, hypnotizing them into slavery. Unfortunately, we found out too late and she had grown strong enough that her music was able to effect Danny, even as a halfa. She put him under some love spell which I barely escaped thanks to the Fenton Phones.

"I don't know! Maybe, but not like this," I honestly answered. But we didn't have time to chat about my feelings—which I wouldn't even want to do anyways with Danny standing right there! We had to get to Ember's concert and stop her evil plan, but since Danny couldn't focus on ghost fighting due to his forced love of me, we ended up captured by her instead of capturing her.

It was hard for me to breathe as Dash held his forearm around my throat, but once he had my arms constricted I was able to breathe again and shout, "Danny, stop her now!"

"I won't leave you Sam," Danny stubbornly replied, firm in his choice as he stood under Kwan's hold beside Dash and I in the tech room for the show's broadcast.

"Forget about me!" I insisted, frustrated that the time fate decided to give me more attention from Danny was also the time we were battling an evil ghost bent on taking over the world.

"I can't. I won't!"

"Hello Amity Park!" I could hear Ember opening up her concert, the crowd cheering her name but I tuned her out as I struggled to figure out a way to break Danny from this spell. Wait, break—break up! "I hate to do this to you, but if I can't break Ember's spell I'm gunna have to break your heart." I really didn't want to kiss Dash, but I rather taste failure for the rest of my life than bow down to Ember. And it worked. Danny was freed and the battle between he and she was epic, I'll admit, and it was quick thinking on Danny's part to throw the mic Tucker's way. His horrible singing saved the day, allowing Danny to suck Ember into the Fenton Thermos.

"Danny that was awesome!" I congratulated him with a huge hug after he transformed back, as this ghost fighting thing is still new to us and I was glad he didn't get hurt...

…

This was big.

We were only fifteen, our sixteenth birthdays just around the corners and yet Danny was taking on the responsibility of saving our town from the King of all ghosts: Pariah Dark. I really didn't want Danny having to go and fight, especially alone in a battle suit that could kill him. Only this time his death wouldn't allow him to be able to transform back because he wouldn't have a human half. He'd be a full ghost.

"I can see you over there, you know," Danny casually called to Tucker and I with a chuckle. We had been hiding, or so we thought, in the shadow of the door that led to the roof of Fenton Works. We wanted to see him off and now was our chance to try changing his mind. The adults should be able to take care of this. Danny shouldn't have to do this alone.

"Danny, please," I begged, hoping to convince him to not be the hero this one time.

"C'mon guys, you didn't think it was always going to be as easy as shoving the Box Ghost into the Fenton Thermos, did you?" Danny joked even with as serious as everything was. That's what I've come to really like about Danny though, that he's always trying to make everyone else feel better—even at his own expense. "I'll be back."

"Your Mom used the word 'fatal' dude," Tucker pointed out. We have always known that fighting ghosts wasn't exactly the safest after-school activity, but none of our former fights had ever been as serious as this one. Death or severe injury was something we could easily shove to the back of our minds in our everyday battles. This super suit drained Danny's life energy in order to power it up. The risk of death was not something that could easily be ignored this time.

"Guys, I'll be back," Danny promised, but I couldn't help but doubt his confidence as worry overwhelmed me. He must have noticed that we wouldn't let him off this easily, as this situation scared even me. I'm not frightened easily; I'm Goth. "But, if there's anything you have to say to me, now might be an excellent time to tell me."

He was looking at me and I couldn't help but panic that this might be my last chance I have to tell him about the confusing feelings I held for him. "I—" was all I could get out before we were interrupted. I don't know exactly what I would have told him, how I could have possibly explained my inner turmoil, but it doesn't matter because I didn't get the chance as suddenly everything began to shake. Pariah Dark was sending a message. Danny didn't have any more time left to waste.

"Well, that's my cue," Danny announced, sending Tucker off to help him escape the ghost shield dome. I couldn't help but share one last longing and sorrowful look with Danny, unable to smile back even temporarily as I decided that I would just have to trust him. I did look back once more as I ran off, before opening the door to the 'safety' of Fenton Works. He flashed to his Phantom half and the powered up suit reflected his new ghostly life source by allowing his ring of power and light to transform its design as well. Had this not been a life altering, possibly life ending circumstance I would have stood to watch in awe at the coolest thing I have ever seen:

My best friend and my hero with a look of complete determination to save those he cares about...

Author's Note

Once again: I do not own the dialogue and scenes I used! They were flashbacks, in case you hadn't caught on. I needed to use them exactly as the show had, though, because this follows the cannon story plot. It was for accuracy!

Yay! Happy, cheesy, fluffy chapter! Rejoice! Yes..? ...No? Yikes. Well—ahem—two more chapters left! See ya tomorrow!