Chapter Fifty-One: Hectic
"This is going to be one hectic week." Dan said to himself, looking out the window at the three approaching the front door together.
"Face it, kid, you brought it on yourself when you invited me." Dark said, leaning back in an armchair. After Dan had said they'd gotten permission, he'd picked up Daniel and carried him over and they'd been living in the castle since.
"Just…try to behave?" Dan pleaded. He'd been chewed out by everyone from Vlad to Danny about inviting Dark into his home so easily and carelessly and was feeling a little tired. And the week had just started!
"As much as I do at Clockwork's." Dark assured him, then looked over at Daniel reading a book in another armchair. "What'cha reading?"
"Moby Dick. I never did finish reading this in school. A ghost tore up my own copy and Mr. Lancer refused to let me borrow one from the library." Daniel replied calmly.
"I better go say hi to my guests." Dan headed for the door, pausing as he opened it. "Stay in here, okay? I'll…introduce them to you one at a time and slowly." He walked out and closed the door.
He made his way downstairs and smiled when he saw them at the door. "Hi, guys!"
"Hey, Phantom!" Tucker grinned, running up and hugging him. "It's been way too long, you never call or write!"
"Ah, sorry. School has me really busy." Dan smiled apologetically.
"There's a school around here?" Sam asked.
"I don't know of any." Jazz walked over to join them, Vlad closing the door behind them.
"Yeah, uhm…I go to school in the Ghost Zone." Dan admitted.
The answers were pretty much unanimous. "What?!" "You've been going in and out of the Ghost Zone every day?" "What if they hurt you? Are you okay?"
"Girls, girls, chill." They heard a voice say. Dan cringed and glared up to the top of the steps. "He's just fine." Dark grinned at them.
"Why can't you just do as you're told and stay where I say to?!" Dan demanded. "For ONCE?!"
"Wait, why did he call me a girl?" Tucker asked, looking offended.
"Works just as well as 'guys' for both girls and guys." Dark shrugged and climbed onto the railing, kneeling in a perch. "Daniel wanted something to drink. What's here?"
"Check the kitchen. You should know where it is by now." Dan waved him off, then glanced at his friends. They were looking upset, but not TOO upset.
Jazz was being suspiciously silent, though. He turned and saw her white as a sheet, and then she grabbed Dan's wrist and pulled him into a side room.
"What is HE doing here?" She hissed.
"Uhm…yeah. That's my ghost-powers teacher." Dan said sheepishly. "He decided that since he was Phantom and I was Phantom that he would be a much better teacher for me than Plasmius, so…"
"But he…he hasn't been attacking anyone?" Jazz looked worried.
"No, he's been just fine. I mean, aside from making vaguely insulting comments he hasn't done any harm. Especially since Daniel came into the picture." Dan explained.
"And who is 'Daniel'?!" Jazz demanded.
"He's…his Danny, Jazz. The one who lost his family and went to live with Vlad? Well, turns out he's not dead." Dan said softly. "He's been alive all this time, and was just beaten up and taken away to give Vlad the illusion of Danny's—Daniel's—death so he wouldn't come after them."
"Oh." Jazz blinked, seeming to relax. "So, this…Daniel…he keeps him in line?"
"Well, he was behaving even before it, but he behaves even better now. He's just an overgrown brat." Dan grinned. "So, you don't have to be afraid of him, Jazz. He's safe."
Jazz nodded. "Okay, then. Wait, you said that 'Daniel' is an older Danny? Oh no…Sam!" Jazz ran out of the room.
"…Crud!" Dan ran out after her, realizing what she meant.
Daniel was on the steps, looking around in confusion at the sight of people that he had been visiting the graves of just two months ago. His best friends, Sam and Tucker, were here in front of him.
Sam likewise couldn't believe what she was saying. He was older, ten years older, but she knew Danny's eyes when she saw them. His face wasn't much different, and the way he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck was so very…
"Danny?" Sam breathed.
"…Hi, Sam." Daniel replied.
"You're…alive?" Sam stepped up onto the steps.
"Uhm…" Daniel tried to think of what she meant. Right. Their Danny was dead, killed by his own father's cruelty. That was a real terror to find out, that his father could be capable of such… "I'm not…the same Danny you know." He said, shaking his head. "I'm…from Phantom's place."
"Sam!" Dan ran over to them. "Geez, you guys are all running about and making it hard for me to introduce you properly! Sam, this is Daniel from the future. Remember? Where the other Dan came from?"
"Yeah, I-I remember." Sam nodded. "I just…he's so much like…"
"Yeah, I know." Dan nodded. "But, this is Daniel. Not Danny."
Tucker hesitated, then held out a hand, "Well, I'm sure this must be very awkward for you! Uhm, I bet you're as glad to see us alive as we are to see you, eh?"
"Smooth, Tucker." Dark flew overhead and landed next to Daniel. "Here, all I could find was ice-water."
"Thanks." Daniel smiled.
Everyone was once again staring at the previously-vicious future Dan Phantom. Dan groaned and pointed upstairs. "That's it! Everyone! To the den! Right now! We're going to talk about all of the stuff you guys missed!"
About fifteen minutes later, they were all sitting on various couches or armchairs in the den, Vlad making sure that no one was on anyone's lap before they could speak.
"Okay, Phantom. You have the floor." Tucker gestured to him.
Dan sighed and decided to just tell them all the truth about the twin thing, no matter how bad Jazz would freak out. He them everything, the visit to Clockwork's, the twin thing, meeting with Dark privately, going to apologize to Ghostwriter, getting both to be his teachers, going to the future to meet and bring back Daniel, the two months of training and studying, and then inviting them to the party. He skipped out on all the adult-content parts and also the Danny-in-the-mirror parts, since they didn't need to know those. All they knew was that he convinced Ghostwriter to teach him and that was it.
By the end of it, nearly everyone who didn't already know about the twin thing were still crying about it. Jazz was silent, tears slipping down her cheeks as she thought of all the times both her brothers had been shot at, and how tragic a story it was. Sam was silent, thinking of how they had regarded them as the same person when, in fact, Danny and Phantom weren't the same person at all.
It was Tucker who finally broke the silence. "Wait….does that mean you're dating your older brother's old girlfriend? Daaaang!"
"Tucker!" Sam threw something at him and Tucker threw something back and then Vlad was telling them to stop it while Jazz was like "Wait, so that means that Plasmius is Vlad's brother?!" as she realized that it worked for both the half-ghosts and by the end of it Daniel had retreated from the room to escape all the noise and Dark and Plasmius were laughing at the hilarity of how everyone was taking it while Dan tried to get everyone to calm down.
After things had finally calmed down, Dan saw Sam sitting on the stairs and walked over to sit next to her. "Hey. What's wrong?"
"Nothing. I just…I feel terrible." Sam said softly. "I was actually jealous of Valerie for dating you because I thought you were just an extension of Danny, but you're so much more. I'm so stupid…" She buried her face in her knees, hugging them close. "He's really gone…"
Dan felt a pang of guilt for hiding the fact that Danny wasn't really gone, but it wasn't not like he could show him to her – only he could see Danny, after all. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. "You're not stupid. I didn't know either, and it was a shock when I found out. I mean…I'm a stillborn twin that never even hatched. That's pretty depressing. I was never alive at all."
"Yeah, that is pretty depressing." Sam sighed, returning the hug. "And with Daniel here…it's like here but not here, y'know?"
"Think of how he's feeling. Because of his stupid cheating mistake, you, Tucker, his parents and his sister were all in the Nasty Burger when it blew." Dan sighed. "He's had a long time to grieve, but it must still be a shock to see you guys alive and well again."
Sam nodded. "Oh, gosh… We came here to celebrate a birthday with you and we've all been yelling and crying since we arrived."
"Well, the party isn't until three days from now. And Dark and Plasmius seemed to get a kick out of what happened in the den." Dan grinned.
Sam smiled a bit, nodding. "Yeah, I guess it was all kind of silly, wasn't it?"
He nodded, then looked at a clock by the stairs. "I gotta go the ghost portal to absorb ecto-energy. Wanna watch?"
"Sure, if only because I have no idea what you just said." Sam laughed, getting up and following him down to the ghost portal.
"Watch." He activated it and then took off his bracelet, setting it to the side. Sam stood back as he started to form ecto-blasts and then he clapped his hands together before slowly pulling them apart. "See the little ball? Watch, it's gonna get bigger." He grinned at her.
"Alright, let me get closer." Sam walked over and looked at it. "Whoa, what's with the green lights going into the ball?"
"That's the ecto-energy. Dark is having me do this four times every day of this week, so I can build up my power enough to make a proper shield in class next week." Dan explained. "Cool, huh?"
"Well, how do you absorb it what's it in the ball?" Sam asked.
"That's the best part. Wait for it…" Dan looked at the ball and then grinned. "Sam, tear at my outfit."
"What?" Sam blinked.
"Just do it, tear at my outfit or cut my cheek. Harm me in some way." Dan looked really excited.
"Are you becoming a masochist?" She grabbed a sharp tool from the table and cut his cheek. "There, happy?"
"Will be in a bit." He brought the ball up to his chest and pushed it in. Sam let out a yell of surprise as he glowed brighter and his wound healed before her eyes. After a bit, he stopped glowing and turned off the portal. "See? Absorbed the ecto-energy."
"That's cool." Sam grinned.
"He taught me that in our first lesson." Dan nodded. "He's been a really big help, even if he can be a little too strict and knocks me around like a rag doll when I screw up. He knows I can heal myself. One time I was too weak to heal myself after coming back from an errand, so he healed me."
"Wow. Is he getting soft?" Sam asked playfully.
"Nah, I just found that there's more interesting things than toying with the hearts of women and destroying property." Sam and Dan both jumped at the sound of Dark's voice and looked over to see him and Daniel by the lab door.
"Checking to see if I'm doing my homework?" Dan asked.
"Actually, we were making sure you weren't making out in the lab." Daniel admitted.
"I would never! I—he's not—" Sam shook her head and ran out with a cry of frustration.
"That was mean." Dan frowned.
"Especially since it was a lie." Dark grinned at Daniel. "Actually, we wanted to talk to you in private."
Dan nodded and then they stepped in, the lab door closing behind them. "What is it?"
"Does Jazz know? About what dad did to you and Danny?" Daniel asked.
Dan shook his head. "Danny made me promise never to tell anyone that dad did it, so I and dad have both been saying it was the Guys in White."
"Which isn't a complete lie." Dark remarked.
"I was just wondering why dad isn't in jail yet if you told her. Thanks for telling me that, though. I'll make sure to keep that secret." Daniel nodded.
"Don't tell them about Danny." Dan said. "I'm the only one who can see or hear him, so it would only hurt them to know he's still here; just in my reflection or shadow."
"Of course." Daniel nodded. "I just wanted to confirm about dad."
"We should go back up." Dark nodded, opening the lab door.
"Yeah." Dan nodded, walking up with the other two.
