I know I promised all of you that this was the last chapter and I made it so it is. But I can't help but feel that it should still be separated into two so it doesn't feel so rushed. But I guess I'll let you guys decide that. Anyway. The last chapter of Clash of All Time. Hope you enjoy it.
Chapter 37: The Life of a Half-Ghost Hero
By the time Danny's mind started to become wary again, he still felt too weak to even lift his eyelids. In fact his whole body felt so heavy on the soft surface he was evidently laid on with something light and warm covering him from the chest down.
After what seemed like a very long time, Danny finally began to register what sounds he was hearing. A steady beeping noise was coming from off to his right. Then he could hear the sound of a paper ruffling. Or was it a page turning?
"Wha…where am I?" He asked aloud with a moan.
A voice startled him as it unexpectedly answered, sounding relieved, "Danny. You're awake!"
"Finally." Another voice added with a sigh.
Surprised in hearing the voices at all, but still feeling very tired, Danny's eyes slowly opened and he found himself staring straight up at a florescent light on a ceiling of a large, well-lit room. His eyes then shifted around towards where he thought he heard footsteps approaching.
Tucker was coming up to Danny's right while Sam was sitting in a chair alongside the wall near the far left corner with an open book in her lap.
"Guys." Danny gave them both a confused expression before taking another look around the room he was in. He was in his human state and apparently he was laying in a reclining bed, wearing hospital sweats, surrounded by electronic equipment. The thing that was making that annoying beeping noise was an electronic cardio spectrum that was constantly monitoring his heart rate.
"I'm in…a hospital?" He said with that same look of wonder on his face. Then a thought suddenly struck him and he looked at Tucker, surprised. "You're in a hospital!"
To Danny's further amazement, Tucker didn't even flinch at the word hospital like he always did, though it was a well known fact, particularly by the three of them that the techno-geek was scared to death of being around anything having to do with medical purposes: especially hypodermic needles.
Tucker simply rolled his eyes. "My best friend gets wheeled in here looking like he's already been through a fate worse than death. What could a hospital possibly do to me that could be worse than what we've all seen you going through all month?" Tucker reasoned, folding his arms before adding rather smugly, "Besides. I'm the mayor. I can order whoever works here to keep certain things away from me." Then he eyed the opposite side of the room, across Danny's bed. "Or you for that matter."
Danny turned his head to the left on his pillow to lazily follow Tucker's gaze where he saw a door that he hadn't noticed Sam was sitting close to. Next to which was a window that had a view of the hallway where a darkly uniformed man was pacing by the outside before going out of sight again.
"When you were first admitted here, there was a whole mob of fans and news reporters that had to be threatened with court-martial in order to get them to leave." Sam explained. "They'd probably still be trying to get in if a guard wasn't posted here."
Danny smiled thankfully up at Tucker. He really wasn't in any mood for such a big audience right now. Being a celebrity may have been a pain sometimes when it came to the general public, but having the mayor as a best friend sure had its benefits sometimes.
After a moment of silence, Danny then asked in a somewhat raspy voice, "So, how long was I out?"
"Four days." Tucker replied.
Danny's eyes nearly popped in hearing this answer, but then he scoffed, closing his eyes as he relaxed his head on the pillow again, "Very funny." He said skeptically, remembering when Tucker tricked him by saying that same thing back when he had woken up from his first encounter with the Lunch Lady.
"No, he's serious this time." Sam said, sounding concerned.
That's when Danny looked at both of his friends in disbelief, actually seeing the sincerity in Tucker's face to back up his words. He really wasn't kidding this time. But…four days?
"What happened?" Danny asked, finally finding the strength he needed to just lift his arm to rub his still aching forehead, finding by the touch that there were bandages wrapped around it.
Tucker and Sam looked at each other nervously for a second before Sam began hesitantly, "We were about to ask you that. We were on patrol like you asked us when both your tracking signals came up on your parents' radar, indicating you had finally come out of the Ghost Zone."
Danny was beginning to wonder for a second what she meant by both. He struggled to remember what exactly he was doing before he had blacked out when Sam continued.
"A couple of people passing by said they saw you and Danielle come through a glowing green hole out of nowhere before you collapsed in the middle of the road and they called 911. The ambulance had already brought you here by the time we and your family arrived."
In hearing the name of his cousin, Danny's memory suddenly flooded back, filling his head with the horrifying images of his previous endeavors. The Ghost King's Castle. The battle with his evil self. Dark Phantom's malicious, blood-red eyes as he was ready to bring down the final blow on him just after the Time Medallion was removed. But most importantly, Danielle being stabbed by the ghost gauntlet before that happened.
"Oh my gosh! Danielle!" Danny instantly bolted upright in a panic, only to feel several his side, his shoulder and the nape of his neck suddenly sear in pain that that made him cringe. This was instantly followed by lightheadedness, making it even worse.
"Danny! Don't!" Sam anxiously bolted from her chair, letting the book in her lap fall to the floor in seeing this reaction of her friend's as she instinctively rushed to his side.
"Easy there, dude!" Tucker said urgently as he gently pushed Danny back down by the shoulder. Danny's dizziness gave him no choice but to follow the prompt. "Danielle's right over there."
To this, Danny's head turned to the other side, where he could see just passed Tucker that there was another bed that Danielle currently occupied. She seemed to be unconscious still with a blanket draped over her whole body and tucked under her chin. All Danny had to see was her hair to clearly notice that it was still doing those weird shifts from her human ebony to ghostly white colors. (If her eyes were open, they would probably be going through the same reaction between blue and green shades.) Her face held a pained expression as this was happening to her whole body.
"She's still hurting." Danny said, struggling to sit up again, realizing just then that his whole body was tingling slightly in reaction to the pain he sensed she was still in. "After four days, her body's still going berserk!"
"And freaking out the way you are isn't going to help anything." Sam said strictly with a serious expression as she forced him to lay back down. "Or anyone. Let alone her."
After a silent, reflective moment, Danny sighed heavily, moaning miserably as he rubbed his face with his evidently bandaged hands, knowing that she was right.
Tucker gave Danny a pitiful look in seeing the helplessness the countenance of his friend was reflecting. "Sheesh. And we had them put in the same room so he wouldn't get so hyped up." He said to Sam, though he sounded like he was saying it more to himself.
Sam took on the same expression as Tucker, and after feeling sure that Danny wasn't going to try anything else that would get him in even worse shape, she went to pick up the book she had dropped. "Well, at least it still helped with making it easier for security to guard them from the over-ecstatic fans and press outside."
Tucker shrugged in agreement, pulling up a chair to seat himself at Danny's bedside. "But now that you're finally awake, Danny, do you think you can tell us what happened while you were in the Ghost Zone?"
Danny sighed, staring up at the ceiling, not really feeling in any mood to reflect on that incident that felt like had happened just a few hours ago rather than days. Let alone tell the whole story out load.
"It might help us to figure out how to help Danielle and reverse whatever's happening to her body." Sam suggested gently as she moved her chair around Danny's bed to find a place beside Tucker.
Danny looked over to where his poor cousin laid motionless, except for the constant and evidently painful shifts between her human and ghostly forms. Then, in looking out the window where the security guard was posted outside his door, he was reminded of the photographers and news reporters he had been told had surrounded him while he was still unconscious on his first day here. He supposed he should be grateful that it wasn't all of them he had to deal with right now. Thank goodness.
Danny was still feeling quite worn out, even after four whole days of being in bed already, so he spoke rather softly as he began to explain what had happened after he had entered the Ghost Zone in pursuit of his evil self.
Tucker and Sam had to lean in a bit in order to hear him clearly, but they still hung on every word. They were amazed right from the start that Danny had figured out how to use Danielle's while-blind-technique in using the other's sight to find out she had been carried off to the Ghost King's castle. After he had arrived within telepathic range, he had warned her ahead of time that he was going to distract his evil self long enough for her to break loose from the column she was tied to.
Their ability to pass through solid objects as humans in the Ghost Zone ended up giving them a huge advantage over Dark Phantom, who no longer had his human side to do that with. They had proven to him that dragging Danielle to that world was a big mistake on his part.
Danny finished in saying that even after Danielle had been stabbed with the gauntlet in trying to get it back (after the other was destroyed and Danny's was stolen), she was somehow still in the right mind to think to give Danny a telepathic heads-up before changing back to her human form and phasing right through Dark Phantom's body, forcing him to stab himself and leave a wide enough opening for Danny to finish the extraction of the Time Medallion.
Tucker whistled in awe, glancing over at Danielle's bed. "Gutsy move."
Sam smiled with pride in her voice as she stated, "We found the Time Medallion on you soon after you got here, so we assumed you beat him. Another one for the famed Ghost Hero, huh."
"Hero?" Danny scoffed, staring up at the ceiling, looking sad. "I'm some hero. Can't even keep my own cousin from having to go through torture I should have been the one to have to take."
"Oh, Danny, will you stop trying to put everything on yourself?" Tucker said with a shake of his head. "It's not healthy, you know."
"You're one to talk about healthy." Sam said with a small chuckle.
Tucker gave her a daring look. "And what does that mean?" He challenged.
As the Goth and techno-geek continued their argument, Danny smiled, already feeling more cheerful in recalling all the old days when Sam and Tucker would get into verbal wars like this. Especially when it came down to their completely contrasting eating habits. That's also when Danny remembered something and he looked around the room before turning back to his friends, halting their banter to ask, "Hey. Where is the Time Medallion?"
"Oh yeah." Sam said as she recalled the subject they were just on before she started picking that fight with Tucker. "Clockwork came by to pick it up almost right after we found it."
Danny chuckled. He would have shaken his head if not for the pillow limiting that sort of movement. That was Clockwork for you. Always thinking of everything down to the last detail. Letting him keep the medallion long enough for his friends to see it as proof of his success against his evil self and still for not enough time for anyone else curious enough to want to explore its technology and powers.
"What about Valerie?" Danny asked when it came to mind.
"She looked pretty beat up when she was brought here after you went into the Ghost Zone, but she was released just yesterday. She'll be fine." Sam replied casually, waving it off as if it was no big deal.
So she was all right now. Danny had a feeling Jazz must have been proud of herself for having helped with the young ghost-hunter's situation. But that's not all he was concerned about concerning Valerie.
"Did she find out anything while fighting the Dark Me, though?" Danny asked, looking at his friends. Both of which looked at each other uncertainly after he had asked this, making him lift an eyebrow in getting the feeling something had slipped.
After a bit of a pause, Sam was the one to answer. "While we were visiting her, she said that your evil self had said something strange to her about…well…the future."
Tucker scratched the back of his head nervously before he built on this, talking rather fast and grimacing as if afraid Danny would blow up at him once he found out, "We ended up having to explain the whole 'alternate future' thing to her."
Sam cleared her throat, nudging Tucker with a glare. "We?"
From this gesture, it was certainly obvious to Danny that Sam had absolutely nothing to do with telling Valerie anything.
Tucker rolled his eyes in guilt. "I couldn't help it! She just kept on persisting." He tried to justify defensively.
"Or flirting?" Danny asked with a teasing smile that caught Tucker off guard. Everyone in that room remembered how Tucker was once so infatuated with Valerie even after they found out she had become a ghost-hunter bent on destroying Danny Phantom.
After Danny and Sam exchanged giggles in reaction to Tucker's blushing, the techno-geek shook it off and changed the subject after clearing his throat. "Uh, but…but at least Valerie knowing is the only thing worse of it. The good news is that after she agreed to keep it quiet, accept to her dad, who also promised to keep it a secret, Lance Thunder and the media are just taking your evil self as a delusional wannabe-imposter who was trying to use your name to get attention."
Danny scoffed. Getting a scoop on the media's perspective of some of his battles could be so amusing at times. In fact, it was still quite the kick for all of them in remembering when Danielle first came to town. If Danny ended up being interviewed by the press about his latest endeavors later, the Loony Identity Thief seemed to be a good cover story to use to do just that. Technically, it wasn't even lying either: Simply leaving out a few background details that the public wouldn't need to know.
At the same time as the scoff, Danny breathed out a sigh of relief. He had wondered what kinds of questions he would be faced with once that whole thing with the future was over with. If it had gotten out that it was his future evil self that was wreaking havoc, who knew what the citizens' impression of him would have become in knowing he could have turned into that beast? On top of which, in finding out that time-travel was really possible through certain ghostly abilities, things would definitely get out of hand in the scientific research field. In hearing about this story the press had practically invented for themselves, Danny was glad that whatever interviews that awaited him on recovery won't be as bad as he had previously feared.
Danny really wasn't worried or even surprised about Valerie. She may have been stubborn and jumped to the wrong conclusions at times, but she was still a smart girl. She and her dad had suspected from the beginning and the Fenton family trusted the Grays enough to know that they understood and would keep it quiet.
Another hour or so passed in which more conversing took place to fill each other in on the events that had happened since Danny ventured to the Ghost Zone after Danielle. It was already pretty late into the night by the time Tucker and Sam decided they should probably leave and let Danny get his rest. Tucker said that he still had to make some calls before the night was up anyway. Danny concluded it to be some sort of mayor business with the press or something.
As the young mayor was heading out the door though, he turned to tell Danny one last thing. "Now Danny, I know you get kind of claustrophobic sometimes, but as mayor, you're hereby ordered to not go anywhere without the doctor's say-so."
Danny blinked at Tucker's frankness. "But what if an incident occurs during the night?" Danny argued. "Now that my evil self is gone, the other ghosts will be wanting to get back to their own haunting schedules and…"
Tucker gave Danny a look that made him stop in his tracks. He then folded his arms, still standing in the doorframe. "Additionally, as your friend," The techno-geek went on, "I'll add that right now, you should worry more about yourself. Getting as fidgety as you do in times like this won't help yours, or anyone else's condition for that matter." He glanced over at Danielle in saying this.
Danny got the hint from this gesture but he was already starting to think of ways he could simply sneak off during the night with his ghost powers and…
"And don't get any ideas." Sam said, instantly recognizing the shifty look in Danny's eyes that he always got whenever he was planning something. "There's a ghost-shield installed in the walls of this room to prevent ghosts from wanting to take advantage of you while you're recovering but it's also effective in keeping you from going anywhere. And the nurses have been equipped with and permitted to use your parents' portable ecto-depleter if needed."
Danny slumped into his pillow with a grunt of frustration, remembering the device that sapped away ghost powers unless the device reversed the process. It was times like this where he wished his friends didn't know him quite as well as they did. He had a feeling this was payback for making them stay in hiding for a month.
"Isn't there ever a time where you don't think of everything?" He asked bitterly under his breath.
Sam rolled her eyes, but sighed, shaking her head as she stood up from her chair, packing up the book she was reading. "I know you don't like it, Danny, but it's for your own good." Then she added with a wink, "Besides. If anything does happen while you two are here, you know we've got it covered."
Danny thought this over for a moment, already knowing he was defeated in this argument. He and Danielle may have been the ones with ghost powers, but the others had all proven on several occasions that they were more than capable of making up for their absence. Valerie would be able to help them out too, now that she was recovered and Dark Phantom was now a thing of the past. Figuratively.
As much as he was so not used to being left out of the action, it all still made sense. "Fine." Danny said, letting out a breath, relaxing his head on his pillow.
Sam tucked her book under her arm with a somewhat victorious smile in winning the argument. In still noticing the look of a reluctant teen, she shook her head again with that smile. In the next instant, she was leaning over the ghost-boy, catching him completely by surprise as she planted a quick kiss on him.
"Welcome back, Danny." Sam said, blushing as she turned to leave, walking passed a wide-eyed Tucker.
Danny's mind was still trying to catch up to what had just happened by the time she was already out the door, so all he could manage in response was a quiet, "yeah…thanks."
Tucker was still staring after Sam before looking towards Danny when his eyes shifted upwards and he turned on his heal to leave, whistling a random tune as if pretending to be minding his own business.
Danny still caught a glimpse of a smile as the young mayor was leaving though. After Tucker was out of sight, he rolled his eyes at the techno-geek's way of increasing the awkwardness of the situation before he found himself putting his hands behind his head in a relaxing pose as he let a wide smile spread across his face. I should wake up in the hospital more often. He thought to himself as the idea of having to stay here overnight suddenly didn't seem so bad.
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The next morning, Danny didn't wake up until well passed noon, finding that he was starving. Needless to say he was glad to see that a tray of food one of the nurses must have left for him was at his bedside by that time. Sam and Tucker had come to visit him again a while after he had finished eating. By then, he was feeling much better than he had the day before and was strong enough to sit up on his own without hurting himself so much this time.
The same could not be said about Danielle in the bed next to his, though. She still hadn't woken up. In fact she hadn't even moved and the constant shifting between morphs was still apparent.
No sooner than Danny started to express his concerns about this than his mother, father and sister suddenly rushed into the room to pay their youngest family members an unannounced visit of their own.
"Danny! Good to see you in a position other than laying down for once." Jazz commented as she rushed over to give her brother a hug that her parents joined in.
"We were at the edge of our seats all night when Tucker called us and said you had finally woken up." His mother explained, looking like she was on the verge of tears of joy.
So that's what Tucker meant in needing to make calls before the night was up. Danny could just imagine they must have been worried sick about him and Danielle since they had been taken to the hospital.
"Well, I'm feeling a lot better now." Danny reassured them.
Jack was the first to break away from the hug before making his way over to Danielle's bed, lugging a huge, bulky sack. "And you're going to be feeling even better once you find out the news we have." He announced.
When Danny gave them a curious expression, Maddie followed her husband to help him unload the contents of the bag that Danny thought looked kind of familiar. "We think we may have come up with a solution on how to make Danielle better."
"Really?" Danny leaned forward, anxiously when Jazz nodded reassuringly.
"Along with the announcement you were on the mend, Tucker told us about what you said happened to you two in the Ghost Zone." The college girl said, putting her hands on her hips as she watched her parents unload the rest of the contents of the sack. "It seems all they needed to know was that the ghost gauntlet your evil self used on Danielle had severed the bond between her ghost and human halves to come up with a reasonable antidote; So to speak."
"What are they gonna do? Put her through the merge side of the Ghost Catcher?" Sam joked with a shrug.
Jazz seated herself in a chair and leaned back in it, crossing her legs and folding her arms with a smile while her parents were getting to work on assembling the pieces that were now laid on the floor.
"That's exactly what we're going to do actually." Jack was the one to answer as he continued working with a smile.
Danny and Sam blinked and Tucker turned from a call he was still in the middle of in the corner to stare at the other Fentons, flabbergasted.
Maddie continued. "This is the net part of the device we're setting up right now. If all goes well, Danielle will be her old self again very soon."
A silence fell over the room, save for the sounds of the pieces of the Fenton Ghost Catcher coming together. "Could it really be that simple?" Danny asked quietly, looking over at Danielle's immobile body in disbelief.
"That's mom and dad's theory." Jazz said with a shrug. "The doctors had done all they could about her physical injuries. They said on day one that, with time, she should be able to recover even from that big gash that's in her stomach. The random mixing of morphs was the only part they couldn't figure out."
"Wow." Sam concluded with a laugh. "How often are we ever able to come up with such a simple solution to a complicated problem like that?"
"Yeah." Tucker stated with a smile at Danny. "Guess fate decided to cut the Ghost Hero some slack for a change." That was before a muffled, angry, voice coming from Tucker's cell phone startled him to hurriedly resume his conversation over it; Probably an impatience news reporter on the other side of the line.
Even after checking and rechecking to make sure everything was put together correctly, it wasn't long before Mr. and Mrs. Fenton had the net of the Ghost Catcher all assembled and laid flat on the floor space between the two patients' beds. Jazz and Maddie stood on either side of it while Jack pulled the covers off of young Danielle, carefully scooped up her seemingly fragile body to gently lay her down on top of the merge side of the glowing green net.
Danny shifted his slightly aching body to his hands and knees to look over the edge of his bed and watched anxiously as his father then hurried away from the net and his mother and sister bent down to grasp opposite sides of its frame.
"All right. Cross your fingers everyone." Jazz said, taking a deep breath.
"Hey. Wait a minute." Danny suddenly blurted urgently, not liking the sound of Jazz's voice. "You mean there's a chance this might not work?"
Maddie sighed before giving her son a meaningful look. "As often as we try to minimize those kinds of factors, sweetie, there's always going to be the possibility of failure in every scientific aspect." She explained gravely.
Danny sighed, understanding his mother's point in this. Maddie then turned to her daughter. "You ready, Jazz?"
Jazz nodded and Danny and his friends tensed up, watching unblinkingly as Maddie counted to three. She and her daughter then slowly lifted the frame of the Ghost Catcher net, letting Danielle's body pass right through it.
From Danny's perspective, it looked like she was being submerged in a glowing green pool of that was covered over with intangible and yet opaque, woven string. He couldn't see Danielle's body through to the other side of the net before Jazz and Maddie carefully carried it off to the side and set it against the wall.
Now that Danielle was within everyone's full view, her body was now completely still. She was staying in her silver-and-white-outfitted ghost form with that now bandaged gash in her stomach still looking pretty severe. Everyone just stared for a few seconds before a sudden flash of white light morphed her down to her human state.
This came as a surprise to everyone so they stood quietly. Waiting for several minutes to see if she was still going to keep morphing back and forth, only with the flashes this time. Nothing happened. Danny put a hand over his chest in noticing that he felt a bit different, though.
Sam noticed this gesture and was already guessing what it entailed. "Danny? Everything all right?"
Danny just stared down at the floor where his cousin laid, seeming to be more exhausted than pained now as he felt at his chest more.
"I…she…" Danny hesitantly began. "I don't think she's in pain anymore." He said, theorizing that perhaps he had gotten so used to the constant tingle in his body overnight that it felt weird to have it suddenly stop. "I think it worked." He concluded, leaning back on his knees.
No sooner than he said this than Danielle let out a soft moan, stirring slightly on the floor. Everyone's heart skipped a beat as this happened.
"That's the most we've seen her move all week!" Tucker announced, gaping.
"Then…it did work?" Sam asked, looking around at everyone.
"I guess we'll know eventually." Jack said with a hopeful shrug as he picked Danielle up in his arms and tucked her back in her bed. "For now, I think the best thing to do would be to let her sleep."
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That whole day went by in which only Tucker left occasionally to take care of some random mayor business he was called out to every now and then. Now that the whole crisis with Danny's evil self was over, he was back to his busy government schedule. Figures.
Everyone else stayed in the hospital room with Danny to keep him company that he was very grateful for. Even though the medical monitors were saying that Danielle's vital signs were slowly improving, he was always afraid something unexpected might happen to indicate the worsening of her condition again. He would rather not have been left alone in that room by himself to wonder when or even if Danielle would ever wake up.
Jazz was the last to leave the room that evening, and it was only after she was sure Danny had fallen asleep for the night. When he woke up the next morning, she was already sitting in a chair by the wall and had brought some summer homework with her to pass the time.
"Morning little brother." Jazz greeted with a smile when she saw that Danny had opened his eyes.
Barely a moment after he had smiled in a returned greeting, they become aware of a stirring coming form Danielle's bed.
Danny sat up with some effort as every one of Jazz's senses perked up to so much as the slightest movement Danielle made. Their previously limp cousin's fingers were now grasping the sheets that were covering her. And if Danny was seeing right, a tear was starting to leave a barely visible streak down the side of her face. Was she dreaming?
In noticing this, his instincts were urging him to pull the blankets off his person to go to her side, as if just being next to her would be of some comfort, but Jazz had already snapped her textbook shut, put it down, and made her way around Danny's bed to get to Danielle's, just in time to see her eyelids begin to flicker.
"Danielle?" Jazz asked, leaning over her cousin's bed with anticipation in seeing this. "Danielle, you okay?"
Danny's whole body tensed as he watched Danielle closely from his own bed.
With a soft moan, the blue color of Danielle's eyes finally became visible from his point-of-view. She seemed to be squinting at first, as if the brightness of the room was a little much for her. After having woken up to nothing but darkness for the past month, Danny wasn't surprised.
Soon after Danielle seemed to have adjusted to the light in the room, her gaze rested on Jazz's relieved face. The ghost girl smiled weakly up at her adopted older sister before she started eyeing all the medical equipment and the monitors that were around her and she started to get a wary look on her face. "Where am I?" She asked hesitantly. "What's with all these machines?"
Jazz probably could have started laughing in realizing what the gadgetry was probably making her think of. "Relax, Dani. You're in the hospital." She said casually, but reassuringly.
"Hospital?" Danielle repeated with a confused look as if she had never even heard of the word before.
"Yeah." Jazz said with a smile as she seated herself in a chair by her cousin's bedside. "You know. The place where they help people who are sick or injured? Like you currently are?"
"In other words: Not a ghost-dissecting, research lab." Danny decided to put in.
Danielle must not have realized that Danny was even in the same room, because she instantly turned her head at the sound of his voice to see him there. Danny simply smiled realizing the surprised look he was receiving was probably the same one he had as she was going through the same phase of the flooding back of the memories of those horrifying but thankfully passed experiences; Only from a slightly different perspective.
Danielle felt at her side where the bandages she was wrapped in led her hand to the healing wound that she then remembered the stab from the Ghost Gauntlet had left her with. Once that whole recollection was over, she allowed herself to smile. "Danny." She said, almost in a whisper, looking like she was absolutely relieved to see that he was all right.
"Hey there." Danny replied, barely keeping himself from shaking his head at the way she was being so concerned about him when she was in the worst shape out of the both of them.
Danielle looked him up and down before closing her eyes to relax on her pillow. "I knew you'd beat him." She said with a smug grin.
"You already know?" Danny asked with a small laugh.
Danielle scoffed. "Even after nearly being ripped in half, it's hard not to hear the way a defeated futuristic enemy screams in protest after having the Time Medallion ripped out of him."
Jazz let out a sigh, looking up at Danny, who could only look grateful before saying to his cousin, "You're the one who made that possible, Dani. Thank you."
Danielle simply replied with a smile, "That's what family's for."
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Within minutes, Jazz had called up her parents, Sam and Tucker and they all came straight over to the hospital to see that Danielle had arisen. By late in the afternoon, joyous greetings had been given, relief of now passed worries were expressed and stories had been exchanged. Including the one of Danny's final victory against his evil self with the help of the Master of Time, whom Danielle was surprised to have heard of his interference at all.
"Either way, I'm glad he stepped in when he did." Jazz commented after Danny had finished that part of the story.
"Yeah. Me too." Danny agreed with a definite nod. "If he hadn't, whether my evil self was trying to finish me off or just take back the Time Medallion, the battle probably would have gone on for longer than I would have been able to handle." His gaze turned downward as he continued thoughtfully, "Even if I miraculously got the medallion back from him on my own in the condition I was in, Danielle probably wouldn't have made it." He looked at Danielle, who smiled before he went on. "And I doubt I would have had enough energy to make that portal to bring us back here. If so, there's a chance Walker or Bullet or some other ghost could have found us while unconscious and hauled us back to their lair. And since Walker's jail, I know I'm not up for another adventure like that any time soon."
As the Fenton family and friends continued to converse, Danielle was still just looking distracted and tracing her finger over the blanket on her knees with confusion. Especially about Clockwork. Didn't he say that he had made a deal with the Observants? And he still stepped in at the last second? Why?
Dani? something on your mind? Danielle heard Danny's voice say in her head.
Danielle took a moment to look around at everyone, trying to make sure no one noticed she and Danny were secretly communicating, the end of that telepathic conversation, Tucker saw both the teenage hybrids smiling mischievously.
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The news that the Phantom cousins had finally arisen had spread throughout the whole town like wildfire before the day was up. Several ecstatic fans and news reporters were fighting to get inside the hospital all over again to try to get a glimpse of their heroes.
After the wall of security guards was placed in front of the hospital entrance to keep them from flooding the halls, Paullina had come up to them, demanding, "Excuse me! I am obligated to see my own boyfriend." She was trying to pompously say after several other girls had already claimed the same thing.
Because of the noise the excited crowd was making, she didn't hear the snorts of laughter being made by a doctor and a nurse coming out of the hospital and that had overheard her.
While certain other members of the crowd waited for daydreamed approval from the mayor to pass and see the young celebrities, the two hospital officials were allowed to pass the security, exiting the premises without any trouble.
Shortly after the doctor and nurse were out of sight, Mayor Foley came into view, followed by the Fenton's and, Samantha Manson, who was rumored to have really been the one romantically involved with Danny Phantom.
When Paullina saw the Goth girl on the other side of the line she herself was forbidden to cross, she glared daggers at the Goth. "What is the meaning of this?" She pointed accusingly at Sam, outraged. "What's that loser Goth doing here?"
"Visiting her boyfriend. What else?" Sam answered smugly with a shrug that made Paullina growl.
Meanwhile, as Sam was taking great pleasure in taunting the preppy cheerleader, Tucker couldn't help but pose with a smile as the photographer's cameras flashed and the reporters began to blurt out questions, reaching out their microphones to be the first one the mayor would answer. As a result, Paullina was involuntarily forced towards the back of the crowd.
"Mr. Mayor!"
"Where are the Phantom cousins?"
"I hear they were in a fight with that ghost that was rampaging the town this last month."
"Do you have anything to say in the matter?"
"Are they all right?"
"Were they victorious?"
"When will they be released?"
"When will they be available for an interview?"
To this sudden bombardment of question, the young mayor simply shrugged, adjusting his glasses, saying into the nearest microphone, "Don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know? You're Mr. Phantom's best friend, aren't you?" One of the reporters asked.
Jack stepped up, not minding the attention at all any more than Tucker was, as he stood tall for pictures. "They were on their way out of their room when the doctor and nurse came in, saying that they couldn't leave."
Maddie shrugged, casually adding, "Evidently, they got frustrated in hearing that, so they overshadowed them and walked out of the room in their skins."
000000
Danny and Danielle were already flying through the Ghost Zone together in the Specter Speeder they had retrieved from the underground Fenton Works, feeling quite proud of themselves for having been able to escape from both the hospital and the overbearing crowd of people that were waiting just outside and were probably ready to start crawling through the windows if the security didn't let them pass.
Thankfully, Tucker, Sam and the family were so understanding of them wanting to escape from the public. Sam particularly was still skeptical, but after convincing her and the others that they were both able to stand on their own, they were tolerant in letting them pull this escape act. Good thing being half ghost allowed them to heal much faster than the average human.
There was another reason they wanted to get out though, which was why they were in the Ghost Zone at this time, even despite Danielle's most severe wound not being quite healed enough for such a venture. But that was why they took the Specter Speeder as an extra precaution.
Danielle was feeling a bit uncertain about this visit, but there was just something she (and technically Danny as well) wanted to know that only one person could answer.
Soon, the both of them could see the minefield of floating gears, through which loomed their destination: Clockwork's tower. The cousins parked the Specter Speeder in almost the same place as they did for their last visit, hoping that they wouldn't find Clockwork being scolded by the Observants again. Or worse. They entered the tower and glided up to the trap door, past which where Clockwork usually dwelled. Danny was the one to peak in first before swinging the door open and finding the purple robed ghost floating idly in front of his glowing time-windows.
"Clockwork." Danny greeted as politely as possible, seeing to his relief that the Observants were nowhere in sight.
"How nice of the two of you to come and check up on me." Clockwork sounded cheerful as he said this, without even turning to see who it was.
Neither of the teens were surprised by him knowing of their intention of coming.
"Uh…sorry to intrude, sir." Danielle could only say awkwardly as Danny was helping her up through the trapdoor.
Clockwork chuckled as he turned to face them, his body shrinking down to his infant form as he did so. "Not like you to be so formal to one you would accuse of sending you and your metaphorical brother into a trap by sending you to the old mansion of your creator."
Danielle felt a slight twinge of guilt in hearing this, even despite the playful way he had said it. Clockwork must have read her expression (or could it have been the future…or her mind) because he responded reassuringly to the girl afterwards, "Please. Think nothing of it. People generally do things like that when they don't feel ready to face their worst fears." His gaze shifted proudly between the two teens at that point. "Something the both of you handled beautifully, I might add. You have my congratulations."
Danny and Danielle looked at each other with smiles. Danielle's was a bit sheepish, but she was the first to speak after a short silence. After all. She was the one who wanted to come here the most.
"You knew. Didn't you." She asked directly. Clockwork simply stared at her. "You knew that future ghost would try to get me to distrust Danny after he dragged me to the Ghost King's castle. That's the real reason you had us go to the mansion."
Danny had already heard this story back at the hospital, but he was still appalled his future self had even tried such a devious tactic.
Clockwork smiled rather smugly as his body faded into the elongated and hunched-over, elderly and bearded stage. "If you must know." He shrugged. "Along with a few other things you eventually found to be helpful."
This was true. The both of the cousins remembered clearly how it was there at the mansion that they were able to think of destroying that lab. The conversation they also had in the lounge there was probably what strengthened their bond to the point that they could figure out the telepathy that indeed became very handy throughout the confrontation with Dark Phantom.
But that still didn't answer one other thing. "But Clockwork, there's still something I don't get." Danny stepped forward taking his turn on the question both he and Danielle had been wondering about. "What about the Observants?" Clockwork looked to the side with a mischievous and confident smile before Danny went on. "I thought they told you not to interfere with time for my sake. Aren't you gonna get in trouble?"
"You said that. Not me. Or the Observants for that matter." Clockwork said, pointing at Danny, who shared a confused look with Danielle. The sage specter then turned and glided towards the only tower window. "The deal was that I wasn't allowed to let you travel to alternate timelines. That didn't mean I couldn't use my power to help you in any other way." He said with a hidden grin as he was rubbing his thumb on the back of his staff in pride.
Danny inserted his hands to his belt with a skeptical smile, "You mean like stopping time for me to move out of the way of an enraged psychopathic entity?"
Clockwork shrugged innocently, "Honestly. What's wrong with a simple ghost helping someone in need with the talents he has at his disposal? I suspect the Observants had learned their lesson when your future self was released."
Danielle folded her arms, shaking her head. This specter certainly had a way with eluding questions they would rather have been answered directly. On top of which, he also had his own way of doing things, which was quite different from the Observants. Which was probably a good thing, based on the way The Master of Time and Danny always talked about them.
"You are quite the puzzle. You know that?" She couldn't help but comment.
Clockwork folded his arms smugly replying, "Not unlike yourself to the general public, young lady."
Danielle rolled her eyes with a smile. "Yeah, yeah, I get your point." She admitted.
Then she looked down at the floor, "And…I guess I also see why Danny has such faith in you."
Danny looked at Danielle in hearing her say this and smiled.
Clockwork did the same as he glided towards the two teens, reverting to his middle-aged form. "The both of you had done all you could, and more, in order to protect what you valued most. It was only fair you had help the rest of the way." He specified wisely before stopping only a yard in front of them to look down at the two of them. He looked directly at Danny for his next statement. "It may seem like the entirety of the Ghost Zone, or even your own world, is against you at times, but know that there are always those who are looking out for you and want to help you up whenever you fall down." To this, he smiled down at Danielle, who blushed, looking to the side again before Clockwork looked back at Danny. "Know this."
Danny put an arm around his cousin's shoulder, giving her a playful side-squeeze and a smile that she returned. "I think I already knew." He said. "Maybe I just needed a friendly reminder."
"You and me both." Danielle said with a nod.
"Speaking of friendly reminders," Clockwork began, setting a new tone, turning back to his time windows. "Though, I understand you wouldn't want to go back to the hospital, I'm sure your family wouldn't mind seeing you at home soon, where you can also be within safe walls to continue your recovery. Though in what I imagine would be a much more comfortable setting."
The cousin's looked at each other agreeing that it was about time to go. Danny bobbed his head at Danielle towards the doorway and was the first to start his decent through it.
Danielle stopped to turn back to the Master of Time. "Thanks." She said to him before jumping down the hole to follow Danny.
Clockwork didn't need to ask what for. He simply smiled after the two young prodigies, unable to remember a time where he felt more proud of the both of them for accomplishing such a terrific feat.
It was a silent trip back to the new Fenton Works in the Specter Speeder for the two young heroes. The two just took the time to reflect on everything that had happened in the last month. Dark Phantom's return, Danielle going blind, the Far Frozen being attacked, the both of them doing time in Walker's custody…
The list of all the hardships they, their family, and all of Amity Park had gone through could go on and on and on. But so could all the ways they had overcome all those hardships. Such as the endless fortune to have been able to be there for each other during those times. Something for which these two teenage hybrids were and would forever be grateful for. This was especially after passing through the Fenton Portal and being welcomed home by the rest of their equally supportive and loving family with open arms.
"Welcome home." Mr. and Mrs. Fenton and Jazz all said to them as they warmly embraced the two teens: The two heroic family members who had finally returned home after once again returning the long-awaited peace to all of Amity Park.
THE END?
Okay. Lame ending or not? Too rushed or not? Please review to tell me what you think. In any case, I hope you've all enjoyed the story as a whole.
However, notice that there's a question mark after "THE END." I feel like there is still something missing that needs to be wrapped up before this story can really end. For that, I think I may end up adding one last chapter. I've already added in a few things with the dialog of the first part from the first draft I had originally posted. If you have any thoughts on what needs to be included to make the story feel more complete like the last one, send me a PM with your advice and I'll do what I can to incorporate it.
Oh! I should probably also mention that I'm going to post one other thing as a side-story soon. As a preview, its supposed to be a sort of epilogue of a little conversation that Danielle has with the others after she and Danny get back home from Clockwork's with a little extra surprise in store. After that, I'm afraid that I'll be finished with fanfiction for a good while. I've got so much going on right now with school and I've been wanting to get back to work on a Science Fiction Novel I had started putting together before I started this whole DP fanfiction streak. I WILL miss doing the fanfiction though.
Thank you all for your encouragement and support as i was writing. It made it far more enjoyable than I ever thought possible and I'll miss getting all of your comments. (Once I've fully concluded this thing. )^_^