Fenton and Phantom couldn't see through their tears, the water streaming down their faces obscuring their vision of the world around them. All shades of green, splashes of purple and drab brown rushed past as they flew. Their thoughts screamed with a haunting echo, coming back twice.
Mom….she wasn't...she's not sorry. She can't...can't accept Phantom. She doesn't love me. But…. A sniffle broke through two throats, separated by dimensions yet somehow closer that ever. I can't just pretend to be human for her. I can't just be Fenton! Like the portal didn't... Like nothing happened...I can't...I'm not the same!
Their bodies moved without conscious effort, the need to escape so large. Why did he do this? Why did he always run away?
Two voices that were one muttered. "This was….this was supposed to fix things. But...I messed it up!"
He kept running, kept flying. They didn't know where they were going, just away. Away from all the things that kept hurting him.
Somewhere, far away voices were calling his name. "Danny!"
"Everything's messed up! Why can't anything ever go right for me?!" Hands gripped hair that was black. Or was is white? No, it was both but-
"Danny! What's happening?" Someone called.
"Talking to Mom was supposed to fix things!" He cried.
"Danny! You've gotta look at us, man!"
A whine exited two throats. "But she's never gonna accept me."
"Danny! Fenton! Listen to us." Fenton? Who was-
Hands appeared on their shoulders. No, on just one set of their shoulders but which-
"Fenton, you need to come back to us."
Come back to… "Sam? Tucker?" He recognized the voices.
"Yeah. It's us, dude." "Come back to us."
Come back? He needed to come back to- He blinked. And something snapped. Like a rubber band stretched too far, two components snapped back into place.
"Sam. Tucker." Fenton frowned, clarity entering his vision. Or more like….his vision shifted away from what he'd been seeing before, from the swirling green clouds, floating purple doors, and hunks of rock in the Ghost Zone. His eyes widened. The Ghost Zone?! He was-
"Yeah man." Tucker squeezed his shoulder. "Are you with us now?"
Numbly, Fenton nodded. "Yeah. I'm here." His mouth felt dry.
"What happened?" Sam asked softly.
The boy swallowed. "I-"
Fenton! Something in him cried. Fear lashed out, threatening to pull him back inside himself. Where...where are you? Where am I? What's happening?
"Phantom!" The human called, vision again starting to blur.
Hands gripped him more tightly. "Don't you dare leave us again."
"Sam. Tucker. No I'm…" He sucked in a breath. "Phantom. I'm still here. It's-" Fenton felt pulled in two directions. He needed to be here, with his friends. He needed to tell them what was happening. But... No, he needed to be with Phantom. He-
Cold crashed into him, stealing his breath. "Sam? Tucker?" Why did he sound surprised, like he was just now recognizing? Again, his...their lines blurred but in the wrong way.
"Focus!" Sam shook him. "Fenton! We need you to-"
"Why are you calling me Fenton?" Phantom asked through him...No Fenton asked...No…
Gasping, the human body pulling out of Sam's grip. He leaned over, suddenly nauseous. "Why can't I just be one person?!"
"Danny!" His friend grabbed his jumpsuit free arms again. "Whichever Danny you are, you need to tell us what's happening."
Another deep breath. Human eyes closed and the ghostly vision of the Zone opened up. Both heads shook. They needed to focus on Sam and Tucker but...being exposed in the Zone with their eyes closed would be bad. No, push the vision away, like it's just an imagined day dream.
"My human body's here in the real world with you and Tucker."
Tucker and Sam frowned, but neither commented on the oddity at the beginning of the statement. Instead, the technogeek asked. "And the other you?"
"I'm….He's….We're….we're in the ghost zone."
"The ghost zone!" Sam exclaimed.
A nod. "Phantom tried to talk to Mom. It...uhh...it didn't go well. So we ran off."
Tucker blinked. "You ran off...to another dimension?"
"We panicked, okay! The portal...it was right there. And there was yelling and...I wasn't thinking! Talking to Mom was supposed to help but... but now we're lost somewhere in the freaking land of the dead!" The panic that their friends had managed to briefly calm flared, their breathing increasing into a pant. "I mean….we'd wanted to see the Ghost Zone, but not like this! And now Mom's probably mad at us and I don't know where I am!" Again, hands gripped black and white hair.
"Hey, it's okay. Calm down." Sam pleaded.
"Okay! Okay! I'm lost. I'm-"
"Danny." Tucker interrupted. "Just take a breath, okay? See if you can figure out which direction you came from."
"Yeah." Sam agreed. "Try to go back the way you came. You couldn't have flown that far."
Another breath. "Yeah. Okay." Both heads turned side to side, looking around. The human body stepped away from their friends, turning in a circle like someone looking for a recognizable landmark. "There? No…" He growled in annoyance. "Everything's moving too fast." They turned back towards Sam and Tucker, in the real world. Their breath puffed in front of them. Then blue and green eyes suddenly widened in panic as they flinched back. "Shit!"
Several things happened in quick succession. Their human vision blacked out as a rock the size of a minivan hurdled towards their ghost form. The ghost dodged, rapidly ascending. The human tried to copy the action, but being unable to fly, jumped up and then fell to the ground.
"Danny!" Sam and Tucker's voices again came from far away, the sound traveling through their perception, along with the shock from hitting the ground.
But the feeling passed in a moment as more rocks flew towards them. They dodged and weaved, yelping as a small boulder clipped the edge of their tail. Where were these rocks coming from?!
Below, something growled. They looked down, eyes falling on a large, muscular figure with one eye in the center of its face. Another ghost! That must have been what set off their ghost sense. It roared, yelling something about staying away from its island. They didn't need to be told twice.
Their ghostly form darted away in a blur, just thinking of escaping the attack. After no more than a minute, they slowed, eyes searching for a place to stop. There! A small, bare island, no more than a quarter of a football field. Near the center was a large boulder, leaning towards the side and forming a small sheltered space. They landed, praying it was empty. Whole body shaking with fear, they sunk to the ground, curling up inside the cave and pulling their lower half, which was still in the serpentine form of a ghostly tail to their chest. Their chest heaved with shaking breath as the tears renewed.
It wasn't fair. They were lost and scared and tired. Some ghost just attacked them again and they were stranded on some random rock in the Ghost Zone. They shivered; everything around them was so cold but they were somehow too hot. Everything ached and they were starving because they were missing lunch and their knees hurt from when they fell. And...Wait-
A white haired head whipped up, nose wrinkling in confusion as the slight of their tail. They didn't have knees right now, did they? But…..
Their stomach flopped with sudden nausea. This wasn't right. This wasn't right. Newly recognized sensations spark in their perception: the distant sound of Sam and Tucker's voices, grass under a head, the throb of sore knees.
In the Zone, the ghost leaned forward, feeling sick. Something was wrong. It hurt. Everything hurt so much. Their skin was too tight; the core pulsed too slow and the heart beat too fast.
"Fenton? Phantom? Danny?" They asked, out into the now silent alien environment. Which one...which ones were they? Who were….who was he? He was...they were both or…. all three? Or something in the middle? Ghost or human? One person or two fragments? To his supreme distress, they couldn't tell, mind overcome with confusion.
Danny, or someone who was almost Danny, pinched his eyes closed. This was...this wasn't right. He wasn't supposed to be like this. It wasn't supposed to be like this. He felt...he felt like a half reassembled puzzle, one that had been rapidly put together by randomly pushing the pieces together. Instead of the pieces interlocking and forming a complete picture, they were mismatched, the picture fuzzy, off, and disjointed. He...they hadn't put themselves...himself back together correctly.
He sucked in a breath. He...they couldn't do this, couldn't be this right now. They...he needed Fenton and Phantom, needed to be Phantom and Fenton, but not at the same time. Not yet. They would...he would be back to himself soon but first….before the complete picture could be reformed, they needed to pull apart the mismatched puzzle pieces.
His humanity, the part of himself, themselves, that called himself Fenton pulled away. Tangled threads unraveled, the pain easing. Ghost and human separated, divided but still tethered together, even across dimensions.
Fenton slowly came back to awareness, his consciousness returning to his body. Voices buzzed above him.
"Should we get Jazz? Or call his parents?"
"We can't do that, Tucker! Didn't you hear? He had a fight with his Mom."
"Well, we can't just take him to the nurse, Sam!"
Sam? Tucker? They were fighting, but what about?
"I know that but-"
"You saw what happened! His eyes started glowing and he started muttering to himself and running away from us. We almost got him calm! Then he freaked out and passed out!"
Oh yeah, that. His eyes blinked open, squinting in the sunlight. He groaned.
That got Sam and Tucker's attention. "Danny!" Both cried as they knelt down beside him.
"Are you back with us?" Sam asked, brow furrowed with concern.
Fenton nodded, sluggishly. "Yeah, I'm back." His hands clenched and unclenched, grabbing fists full of grass. So he was on the ground. He glanced towards his feet, eyeing the grass stains on his jeans and his aching knees.
Tucker offered his hand. "Here, let me help you up." The other boy accepted, half pulling, half pushing himself back into a sitting position. "So...which one are you?"
Blinking in confusion, Fenton turned his head to find his friends looking at him warily. After a moment, his mind caught up with the question. "I'm Fenton….just Fenton." He frowned, rubbing his eyes. He pulled his hands away, eyeing the moisture on his fingers. Huh...so he had been crying.
"What was that?" Sam's quiet question drew him out of his thoughts.
The human frowned, biting his lip. "I'm not… I'm not really sure." He looked down at his hands. "It kinda felt like...we almost fused. But...it wasn't right. We were confused and…" His voice quieted. "It hurt."
The boy then glanced up, taking in his friends' stricken looks. "Dude...are you okay?" Tucker asked, with wide, compassionate eyes.
Fenton shrugged. "Yeah...I think it was the whole two body thing but we're sorted now."
His friends traded concerned, skeptical looks and Sam's eyebrow rose. The human Danny had no doubt; she wanted to press him right now for more explanation, to make sure he actually was okay. And the boy was grateful for her concern. In all honesty, he wasn't okay. Between the horrible conversation with Mom, being lost in another dimension, and the confusing partial fusion, he was stressed and tired, to say the least. But they had bigger things to solve than his current emotional state.
Sam clearly recognized the same. "Okay." She sighed, continuing with the conversation. "What was with you eating the dirt?"
The human boy looked down, cheeks reddening in embarrassment. "I..uh...forgot that I can't fly as a human." His friends both blinked bewilderedly. Then Tucker laughed and Sam snorted. Fenton's blush intensified. "We were trying to dodge. Some ghost threw this huge rock at us so ghost me flew up to miss it. This me tried to copy but..." He motioned down his body. "This body can't fly."
With that, his friends' more jovial expressions turned more serious. "I guess that makes sense." Tucker finally said.
Then Sam nodded. "And Phantom, your ghost half? Where is he?"
Fenton's frown deepened, his shoulders hanching as he pulled his knees to his chest. "Still in the Zone. We found an island to hang tight on. He should be safe... for now."
There was a long pause as his friends looked at each other, a silent, worried conversation passing between them. Then Sam's eyes focused back on Fenton's face. "Can we talk to Phantom?"
The human blinked. "Why?"
Tucker's lip turned down in a deepening frown. "We need to figure out how to get the other you home. So...can you let us talk to him?"
"Oh." Fenton looked down, biting his lip. "I'm not sure that's a good idea." His voice quieted. "I don't wanna get lost again."
Sam's expressions softened. "Okay." To the human boy's surprise and relief, she conceded, like she just might understand.
"Can he hear us, at least?" Tucker offered tentatively. "You don't have to respond, just listen."
"I don't know-" Fenton started, equally tentatively, before his reply was interrupted by words in his head.
Fenton? Phantom asked softly.
The human furrowed his brow, eyes losing focus. Yeah? I'm here.
I can hear Sam and Tucker. He said, slightly nervously. I've been watching this whole time.
Fenton blinked in confusion. "You have?"
"Danny!" "Not again!" Again, Sam and Tucker's hands were on his shoulders, eyes wide with concern.
The human boy shook his head. "Sorry. I'm fine. I was just talking to Phantom. Apparently he can hear you. So just...talk to me."
His friends traded somewhat confused, somewhat exacerbated looks before pressing on. "Okay." Tucker took a breath. "You need to try and find the portal."
Fenton started shaking his head but Sam continued. "Just to retrace your steps, okay? Go back the way you came." She squeezed his arms. "You can do this. You can. I believe in you, Danny Phantom."
In the back of his mind, Fenton could feel his ghost self's appreciation of the statement. The corner of his lips turned up in a slight smile. Then his mouth moved of its own volition, his voice echoing. "It's really nice to hear that Sam but-"
"Dude, your eyes are glowing again." Tucker cut in, brow furrowing with worry.
They were? His brow furrowed in thought, focusing on the cool burning feeling in his eyes. "Ah that makes sense." Again, the words came out without his input or rather… "It's me, Phantom." With a slight push from his ghost, Fenton held up his hands. "It's okay, guys. Fenton's just letting me use his mouth."
Sam raised a brow. "Because apparently you can do that?"
"Yeah." He shrugged. "But anyway...I'm really happy you believe in me guys but...I have no idea where I am. We weren't really paying attention after we...uh….ran off. And then that ghost was chucking rocks at us and we got turned around flying away."
"There's gotta be landmarks or something. Can you just figure out the direction you came from at least?" Tucker asked.
Under Phantom's direction, Fenton shook his head. "Maybe?" He pursed his lips. "I really don't want to just go flying off in one direction and just end up farther from the portal."
The technogeek sighed. "Maybe we should get your parents? They might have some way to help you."
In the Ghost Zone, Phantom sat, considering the idea. Fenton could distantly feel the ghost thinking, his own thoughts likely following the same pattern. As much as he didn't want to get his parents' help, that might be the best option. They could have Phantom sit tight where he was and get Mom and Dad's assistance to find him. The human Danny then flinched, feeling his ghost self's anxiety at the thought. Wait….feeling?
The idea hit him like a brick wall. "You don't have to find the portal. You can find me." The human Danny said, feeling the glow of his eyes dim. Across their connection, Fenton felt Phantom's confusion. "Phantom, we're still connected. There's like...a line. A tether between us." He motioned vaguely with his hands.
Understanding dawned as blue eyes again flashed green. "I can follow it back to you!" In the human world, Fenton's voice echoed, his mouth stretching up into a smile. "That just might work."
"It will." The human reassured, mentally poking at the link. He could almost see it in his mind's eyes, a metaphysical cord connecting the two parts of his mind. A cord he'd felt drawing him and his ghost self together, somehow pulling taut as the two moved closer, more in sync.
"Yeah. I'll see you really soon." Phantom replied.
Fenton grinned, his arms wrapping themselves around his chest. He looked down at himself. "Phantom? Are you trying to hug me?"
A blush rose on his face. "Yes." His arms fell to his sides. "It's weird talking to you like this."
"You're telling me." The human said, slightly teasingly. "But seriously...you've got this."
"Tucker and I agree." Sam cut in. Her gaze, level with Fenton's eyes, drew the boys' attention. "You've got this." She playfully punched Fenton's arm. "Hurry up and get back to the land of the living."
"Yeah man. I wanna see your ghostly self, in person." The technogeek leaned forward to hug the boy in front of him. "Be careful, Danny."
Fenton and Phantom both agreed to return the hug. "I will." The ghost replied. "Thanks for calming me down guys...and just being here. I don't know where we'd be if you guys hadn't been with Fenton."
"Of course." Sam reassured. "We're your friends, no matter what weird stuff you're doing."
For once, Fenton, nor his ghost half, shied away from word. They were weird. This situation was weird but they had friends who could roll with the punches.
"I'll see you guys soon." Phantom finally said, as Fenton pulled out of the hug. "I'll let you guys go back to your lunch; I know Fenton's hungry."
As soon as he said that, the human's stomach growled. An echoing laugh exited Fenton's mouth, followed by chuckles from Sam and Tucker. The human shook his head, at his friends' and his other self's reactions.
His laughter stopped after a moment as Phantom's directed his arm to wave. "Bye guys."
With that, the ghostly light blinked out of his eyes, signaling Phantom's retreat. Fenton also felt it, the ghost gently closing a mental door and leaving the human solidly alone in his body.
"Fenton?" Sam asked.
"Yeah. Phantom went off to try and find his way back."
"Man." Tucker shook his head. "So that's what your internal dialogue sounds like."
"Kinda." The human boy shrugged. "Sorry, that was….it's never been that...involved, me and Phantom interacting when we're physically apart…. Being split's done weird things to my mind."
His friends of course looked at him with concern at the statement, but there was understanding and acceptance too. "I guess that would make sense." Sam said.
"Like Sam and I said before, we're here if you ever want to talk about any of that." Tucker offered.
Fenton's lip turned slightly up at the statement, bolstered by the promise of his friends' support. "Maybe later. Right now I want some food."
The technogeek laughed. "All right man." He standed from his kneeling position before offering Fenton a hand up. "Let's eat."
The human boy accepted the help, wincing slightly at his bruised knees; he'd need to look at them later but it didn't feel like they were hurt badly. Sam also stood and the three walked back to the secluded picnic table where they'd been eating lunch before Phantom's argument with their mother drew him away. So it had turned out that eating outside, away from their classmates and teachers had been beneficial. And speaking of his mom….
His heart did clinch painfully at the memory of her words. He passively wondered; what was she doing right now? What was her reaction to what he said, to him running off? Everything had happened so fast and...briefly, a look of shock had flashed on her face, something that might even have been guilt. He hoped it was but...he could't worry about that right now. His most important concern was getting his other half back from the ghost zone. After, they could deal with the situation together, like they should have from the beginning.
"Danny." Sam said his name, capturing the boys' attention. "Aren't you going to eat? We've only got five minutes left."
Fenton frowned. "Yeah. Right." He stuffed a bit of his sandwich in his mouth. He'd worry about that later. For now, he'd eat his lunch, go to study hall, and hope- no trust- he'd trust that Phantom would get back safely.
Note: So this chapter was a little shorter what's typical for me. I ended up splitting it off from the next scene because that was over 6000 words alone and I thought the whole thing would be too long. But the good news is, that means the next chapter is done. I just have to find time to edit it with my beta. And I'm working on what will be chapter 33 now.
This also means this story won't be on hiatus as long. I'm planning on writing at least one story for the Phic Phight and a longer story Inviobang. I may do something for DannyMay was well? I really want to write another part for "It was an Accident, I swear" and the last story in my "Life and Death is all Perspective" series. But IDK. That depends on how fast I finish the other stuff and/or how much self control I have. Well al have to see what happens. Anyway, feel free to leave a comment as always and thank you so much for reading!