Major shout outs to Yoyo-illuser! Thanks for the inspiration! The next two chapters are dedicated to you! Hope you likey!

Chapter Eight

Jack and Maddie reinforced their shield. They hoped it would hold until they could fly to Vlad's lab. Waiting for the helicopter Vlad called seemed to take forever.

"Maddie," Vlad whined. "I need a cookie! Don't you have any more lovely ginger snaps?"

"Her cookies belong to me!" Jack growled as he grabbed Maddie and held her close. Vlad surveyed Jack's considerable girth and raised his eyebrows.

"I think you married Maddie simply because she makes good cookies!" Vlad accused.

"I married Maddie because she totally rocks!" Jack answered as he narrowed his eyes at Vlad. "And she married me cause I rock" He looked around then leaned forward. "And you don't"

"Please!" Vlad said as he smiled flatly.

"Would you two stop it?" Maddie asked as she pushed away from Jack. "You're both ridiculous!"

"See!" Vlad says. "She thinks you're ridiculous!"

Jack laughed. "But she thinks you're a creep!" Vlad's superior expression turned to one of sadness.

Danny sighed and walked to the window and watched Vlad's helicopter land in the street. Sam went to stand near him. "Are you doing all right?" she asked.

"Which one of us?" Danny returned the question.

"Both of you." Sam answered as she leaned against him and he put her arm around her.

"Neither of us are doing so well," he answered. "I'm feeling weaker and his pain is growing, though he can't feel it yet. Honestly, I don't know how long I can keep this up."

Sam frowned worriedly, "Shouldn't he be getting better? Vlad's getting better."

Danny shrugged. "I guess I..um..he put a lot of himself into me trying to hold on. I don't know Sam. I don't have the answers." Tucker walked up and stood on the other side of Danny.

"So what are we going to do if this doesn't work?" Tucker asked.

"It has to work," Danny said. He really hoped it would. It felt strange to be separated from himself.

Valerie came running into the room carrying one of her ghost fighting weapons. "Vlad!" She said. "Look what Jack did! He made a hybrid."

Vlad's face paled as he looked at Valerie. "He what?"

"He modified one of your plasma rays." Valerie said in excitement. "It should be effective against Dark Dan!"

Danny chuckled slightly. "My Dad seems to be good at making hybrids." Sam and Tucker laughed as well and Vlad scowled.

"Hybrids!" Jack declared as he entered the room. "Are my specialty!" Everyone rolled their eyes.

"I hate to interrupt this laugh fest," Vlad said dryly. "But the helicopter is here. We need to go."

"Who's going to stay and keep the shield stabilized?" Jack asked looking worriedly to the other room.

"I'll stay Mr. Fenton," Valerie volunteered. She looked to Tucker but Tucker knew he needed to be with Danny. She gave him a look that said she understood. The room grew silent.

"Well I'm not staying," Vlad said stubbornly. "I think you'll need me there in case something is calibrated wrong. It's my machine. My lab. I'm going!"

"Danny is my son!" Jack growled. "I will stay and protect him!"

"And," Maddie said. "He's my son too. I'm going!"

"Fine!" Jazz said as she threw her arms in the air. "I'll stay." She walked over to Danny and hugged him. "I expect you to be back to normal when you return, otherwise we'll need a long talk about your fractured psyche."

"I'm scared," Danny said in amusement. Jazz gave him a warning look.

"Lets go!" Maddie yelled as she headed out the door.

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Danny, Sam and Tucker sat in the back of the helicopter and listened as Maddie, Jack and Vlad argued about the piloting of the air craft. Finally and predictably, Maddie won the argument and they were off.

They hadn't been off the ground for five minutes when Danny asked. "How long until we reach Vlad's lab?"

"ETA thirty minutes Sweetie," Was Maddie's reply. Vlad turned around in time to see Phantom exiting from Danny who fell back into an unconscious state.

"I'm sorry," Phantom said weakly. "I couldn't stay in there much longer." He looked vaguely transparent and slightly ill."

"It's all right," Sam said as she laid Danny's head in her lap. "You did the best you could." Phantom watched jealously as Sam looked into Danny's sleeping face. He had to suppress the knot of anger growing inside. He was Danny wasn't he? The other one he was just…not Danny but was right?. He closed his eyes.

"We're both the same." He whispered to himself. "I'm Danny. He's Danny. We are one person."

Tucker frowned as he listened to Phantom and watched as he regarded Sam jealously. He sighed heavily, "Love birds." The sooner Danny was merged with his ghost half the better otherwise there were going to be some issues between Danny and Phantom.

Jack, who had been looking out the window. "Your best needs to start getting better." He boomed. "It looks as though we have company. Evasive maneuvers Maddie!"

Vlad yelled, "For goodness sake Jack, use the weapons on him! I should be sitting in the co-pilot seat. The helicopter rocked as it was hit by Dark Dan. Vlad managed to get over to Jack and move him out of the way. "You're a poor shot!"

Vlad began firing on Dark Dan to at the very least, distract him, then Plasimus began to attack. "Be careful!" Phantom warned. "He's weak right now. One shot will probably destroy him." Vlad paused for a moment then sighed and nodded his head in understanding.

It took a lot of effort on Maddie and Vlad's part but they managed to evade Dark Dan and Plasmius until they reached Vlad's mansion. It was upon landing and disembarking from the air craft that things became a little more complicated.

"Maddie!" Jack called as he threw her his hybrid gun. She began shooting at Dark Dan, knocking him off guard several times. The gun seemed to work on him, but mostly it only made him angrier.

Jack carried Danny out of the helicopter and then Sam, Tucker and Phantom followed. Dark Dan caught sight of Phantom and turned to Plasimus and pointed down at them.

"There he is. Once you over take him, you will become the most powerful ghost in existence. They cannot stop you! Go! Plasimus started toward Phantom. Tucker and Sam fruitlessly tried to stand between them. The ghost growled evilly as he grew closer and closer.

Vlad watched for a moment. He had a choice to make and little time to debate. He took a deep breath and fired. It took only one shot. For him, things seemed to move in slow motion as the blast flew. It hit dead center of the ghost. He managed to look at Vlad with a "how could you" expression then shattered into a million pieces, scattering to the wind. Vlad dropped to his knees in anguish. Maddie took the opportunity to shoot at Dark Dan with the Fenton Bazooka and he was sucked back into the Ghost Zone.

"There isn't much time," She said as she grabbed Vlad's arm and pulled him along with them. "He'll come back through your portal. We need to set up the shield.

Instead of simply setting up the Fenton Ghost Shield, Vlad completely shut down his portal. "Not much use for it now," he said in a defeated tone.

"I'm sorry," Phantom whispered in an effort to comfort Vlad as Jack laid Danny on the table and Maddie took a look at the machine that would merge his two halves together.

"Thank you," Vlad answered coolly. "I had little choice in the matter, but I did save your butt."

"Yes," Phantom said. "And I understand completely the sacrifice you made."

"Oh don't go getting all syrupy all over me," Vlad said sourly. "I would never have been able to capture him to put us back together anyway." Vlad sighed heavily and said wistfully, "Besides he had become too evil…perhaps it's a sign that I need to change myself."

"Maybe," Phantom said sadly. Vlad narrowed his eyes at Phantom. "Don't go expecting too much!" Phantom put up his hands and shook his head.

"Ok!" Sam said as she called the Phantom and Vlad over. "What's next?"

Vlad walked over to the machine and pushed Maddie out of the way. "I simply need to recalibrate it." He spent a few minutes fussing with the machine. Suddenly there was a large thumping from above.

"He's baaaaaack," Tucker said as he shielded his head.

"Oh great!" Sam sighed. "He's going to break through the shield."

"Standing by with the Fenton Bazooka," Maddie said. "He shows his ugly face in here, I'll just blast him back to the Ghost Zone."

"It shouldn't be much longer," Vlad called. He pushed a few buttons and the machine hummed to life. "See," he said then the machine rattled then shut down.

"No!" Vlad said and started kicking at it.

"Let me take a look!" Jack said as he walked over. Jack and Vlad stood talking and working for what seemed like hours, but mostly bickering with each other. In the meantime, Danny grew weaker, Phantom seemed go grow more and more transparent and Dark Dan kept pounding away at the shield.

Sam looked at Tucker and found her same scared expression in his face. What would they do if they lost Danny. Was it possible?

"No!" Tucker finally said. "No way is this going to happen." He walked over to Jack and Vlad and started talking "tech" with them. He entered information on his PDA and showed it to them to prove his points, so they moved aside for him to try his hand at getting the splitter up and running.

Sam stood next to Danny as he lay, still unconscious on the table. She tried to fight the waves of sadness which broke over her as she ran her fingers through his dark locks. Tears misted in her eyes as she looked down at the face of the boy she'd cared about for so long. Would she never again see those beautiful blue eyes smiling mischievously at her? She'd gladly go back in time if she could. Back to before he knew of her feelings and the secret love she had tried so desperately to hide. She'd gladly give him up as long as she knew he would live and be happy and…be Danny. Sam wiped a tear from her eye and looked up and met with a pair of burning bright green eyes. She smiled shakily. Phantom reached over to take Sam's hand, to offer some degree of comfort, but he had no substance and he phased right thorough her. He frowned, even now he was robbed of the ability to comfort her. The girl who loved Danny. He was Danny though. Right? But she seemed to love him, the human half so much more. He had watched jealously as she stroked his hair. It was hard to reconcile that Danny and himself were the same person. "Man I feel so confused," he said. Sam smiled wryly and placed her hand lightly up to his face. She couldn't touch him, it was true, but in that instant it felt as though she could.

Phantom knew that he'd give her up for him, if that's what would make her happy. He wouldn't want to hurt his human half, but it hurt so deeply to think that she preferred him to…himself. He frowned and looked toward Vlad, Jack, Maddie and Tucker as they worked. Hopefully they would get that stupid machine working and all these feelings could be forgotten. Phantom would be Danny. Danny would be Phantom and they both would be loved by Sam. He smiled slightly at the thought then looked back to Sam who was again looking down at his human half. And again, he had to fight back waves of jealousy.

Vlad stepped away from the splitter and flicked on the switch. "All right," he said. "We don't have much time. Let's do this."

"That's an understatement," Maddie said as she checked the equipment. "The shield is about to go down."

Phantom stood in place, floating just over Danny and Vlad started the machine. Sam and Tucker crossed their fingers and Maddie threw Jack a gun and they prepared for Dark Dan to appear when the shield failed.

The Masters Splitter sputtered and hummed then miraculously Danny and Phantom began to merge. It took less than thirty seconds for the Splitter to ding, signaling that transformation was complete. Tucker and Sam ran over to Danny laying on the table.

"Danny!" Sam called trying desperately not to sound as frantic as she felt. "Are you there? Are you okay? Talk to us?" He did not respond.

"Come on Danny!" Tucker said. "If you don't wake up I'm gonna tell Sam about the time you…."

Danny's eyes fluttered open and he turned to Tucker, "Don't you dare!" he said.

"The time he what?" Sam asked as she placed her hands on her hips. Tucker smirked and Danny sat up and gave him a warning look.

"Whoa," Danny said as he put up both hands to hold his head. "Big head ache. Weird memories. Weirder feelings. I don't think I ever want to be split in two again." He jumped off the table. All sensation of pain was gone. He felt one hundred percent better, which was strange considering a moment ago he was split in two and dying in agony.

Danny looked at Jack and Vlad who were still bickering with each other as they were trying to help Maddie keep the shield operational. Vlad restarted the ghost portal hoping it would at least energize the shield.

"We need to figure out how to defeat Dan," Tucker whispered to Danny and Sam.

"He's too strong," Sam said softly as she reached over and took Danny's hand. "Even the gun your dad modified did little damage."

"Every ghost has a weakness." Danny said optimistically as he pulled Sam toward him and put his arm around her waist. "We'll just have to figure out his."

"Oh yeah that's easy," Tucker sighed trying not to smile as he watched Danny and Sam slowly embracing, as if he wouldn't notice as they held each other, their faces showed their happiness and relief. Tucker was happy for them, and happy he hadn't lost one of his best friends.

"Hey I've got an idea!" Tucker said in a move to lighten the mood. "Let's send Jazz to talk to him. She can psychoanalyze him and figure it out for us." Danny and Sam both smiled.

"Well really," Danny said then looked over at his parents and Vlad. He dropped his voice lower. "When you brought up using the ghost catcher. It gave me an idea. Dark Dan is a blend of me and Vlad right?"

"Yeah," Tucker said then laughed. "Hey! It's like if you and Vlad were to have a child you'd end up with Dark Dan."

"That's gross Tucker," Sam said then shuddered. Both Tucker and Danny laughed.

"So anyway," Danny continued. "What would happen if we separated his Phantom half from his Plasimus half?"

"Then we'd get two ghosts?" Sam asked.

"Two extremely weak and vulnerable ghosts," Danny added.

"It's a good idea Danny," Tucker said as he looked over his shoulder. "But I don't see how we're gonna get Dark Dan to go through the Fenton Ghost Catcher. And even then I don't think it would separate the ghost halves."

They didn't get much time to discuss the possibilities of separating Dark Dan's two halves. The shield failed and the time for trying to make plans was over.

"I'm going ghost!" Danny cried as he released Sam. He wasn't sure at first if he could, but he did.

He flew up and around the lab, mostly to test himself. Everything seemed to be working fine. "Everyone hide," He said. "I'm going to have him chase me back through the Ghost Zone. Tucker talk to my dad about the idea."

He flew over to Sam. "I still," He blushed "You know. Even if you…"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Don't be stupid," she laughed. "I love you too." Danny smiled in relief he had some questions for her though, part of him was hurting, as if she had rejected him. Sam shoved something into Danny's hand and said, "For luck!"

Dark Dan burst into the room and she ducked underneath a table. Tucker, having no where to go, pressed himself against the wall.

"So," Dark Dan said. "You destroyed Plasimus and remerged yourself with your ghost half. You are probably thinking you are clever."

"No just smarter than you," Danny said.

"You are a fool!" Dark Dan cried. "If I cannot exist then you cannot exist. I will destroy you."

"You'll have to catch me first," Danny challenged.

Dark Dan laughed. "You think you can run from me Danny? Do you really? Try it. I'll give you a 5 minute head start." Danny knew there would be no head start so he shot though the portal with Dark Dan following close behind.

"That joke is getting really old," Danny said to himself as he flew into the Ghost Zone.

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"Deja vu," Tucker said as he walked to the portal. Sam crawled from under the desk and looked around. Jack and Vlad were still standing by the Splitter. But…where was Maddie?

"Maddie?" Jack called. He walked to where her weapon had fallen.

"He took Maddie?" Vlad asked in confusion. "Why would he take Maddie?"

Tucker pulled out his PDA and began to punch in a bunch of information. Sam sighed and looked at the portal. "Dark Dan," She stared. "A long time ago was once part Danny and part Vlad. What's the one thing they held in common?"

"They love Maddie," Tucker answered in a matter of fact tone, not even bothering to look up from his PDA. Jack and Vlad gave each other looks of disbelief.

"You love Maddie?" Jack asked dumbly. Vlad rolled his eyes and Tucker laughed. Sam shook her head and looked at the portal.

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I hope you don't feel like resolution to the split Danny thing came to quick and easily. I'm sure there were some interesting things to be explored, but I don't think Danny's human half would have held out long enough to do so hehehe