Danny's first thought, as the blinding headache faded, was simply to be grateful it was so brief. His second thought was that he remembered everything, but his joy was quickly extinguished by the sudden realization that he was staring down the barrel of a ghost bazooka.

He slowly lifted his hands and said, "I didn't do it."

"Where's Danny?" Jack asked dangerously while his wife got everyone away.

"Um…the ghost…took him…?"

There was a pause, then Maddie yelled, "Jack, forget the ghost kid and come help me!"

Danny breathed a sigh of relief as the weapon reluctantly left his view. It was easier to deal with his parents of late, but they still had a tendency to assume the worst of him. At least, they hadn't actively tried to hunt him down in quite a while. He dove below the stage before either of them could change their minds.

He never knew there was anything below the school, and he wasn't entirely certain it was actually there. Real or not, however, the only light came from his ghostly glow. The tunnel had been designed for Raoul, who didn't have ghost powers and would have a hard time getting passed the all the traps. Danny simply went intangible and flew straight through.

Suddenly, he was blinded by a flash of light. He heard Sam call his name as a noose dropped around his neck. "Let go of me!" he choked out as the ectoplasmic construct tightened painfully.

"Order your fine horses, now!" Erik laughed. "Raise up your hand to the level of eyes!"

"Dude, that's getting really old."

"Let him go!" Sam called angrily. Her tone seemed to startle the ghost, but he recovered quickly enough to grin evilly.

"Start a new life with me," he sang, still quoting the musical. "Buy his freedom with your love. Refuse me and you send your lover to his-"

"He's not my boyfriend!" Sam yelled at almost the same time Danny exclaimed, "She's not my girlfriend!"

Again, Erik seemed nonplussed. That was not how the scene was supposed to go. There should have been a long trio during which he and Raoul tried to convince Christine…

And suddenly, he realized his mistake. It wasn't Raoul who had come chasing after him. It was another Phantom, one who had used the description from the book for his character. In Erik's mind, he was fighting another version of himself, but one that was more evil and unpredictable. It was, perhaps, a very good thing for everyone that Danny was not under his spell.

He looked at Sam, standing a good distance away so as not to provoke him. He looked at Danny, fingers locked around the noose lest it tighten anymore. He considered letting it fall and walking away while he still had the chance. It would have been the intelligent thing to do, but even alive, he'd been impulsive and foolhardy.

Danny gagged and tried to pull the noose away, but his enemy was too strong. It would take some time before Erik's power faded again, and he fully intended to lay the competition to rest before that happened. He noticed the boy's eyes lock on something behind him moments before a rock hit him across the back of the head.

Erik may have been a ghost, but the Phantom was human. While the rock didn't do any actual damage, he thought he could feel the pain. He dropped the end of the rope and staggered around to face his attacker, finally understanding his second mistake.

Sam was not Christine. As much as he may have wanted her to be, she was not. She would not stand idly by while her best friend was in danger. She threw a second rock, then glanced at Danny. "Are you okay?" He nodded vaguely, rubbing his abused throat.

Erik shook his head and took an uncertain step forward. "Christine…" he whispered. "Why?"

"My name is Sam," she informed him.

He fell to his knees with a wail of pure despair that quickly degenerated into wracking sobs. All his illusions were shattered; his power was gone. The great cavern became a simple basement, and his form and voice slowly faded away until he was just a shade once more.

Danny and Sam rushed to reassure themselves that the other was alright. "Hey, you beat the ghost!" the boy exclaimed, smiling.

Sam turned a shade of red more usually found on tomatoes. "Yeah, I guess so." Somewhere in the back of her head, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Tucker's yelled, "Tell him!"

Unaware of their silent watcher, they continued to stare at each other for several seconds. At last, Danny ducked his head shyly and drifted around to pick her up. "We should head back before Mom and Dad freak."

She could have strangled him.

Erik looked around in mild confusion and wondered where he was. He watched the two strangers fly through the far wall and followed them for simple lack of anything else to do. Did he know them? The longer he followed them, the more familiar they seemed.

After some time, they led him back to the place he knew as the Opera House. He looked around again and smiled. He remembered.

Danny thrashed around a bit in his usual nightmare of late until something woke him up. At first, his sense of reality was a bit confused, then he remembered where he was. He looked over to see that it was just before five and wondered why it was so cold in his room.

"Oh, not again…" he groaned, switching to his ghost form, and lunged forward just as an ectoplasmic noose dropped around where his neck should have been. He started to say something, then changed his mind and said, "Dude! Get out of Rick!"

"You took her from me," Erik unnecessarily informed him. "You took everything from me."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Danny yawned. "And now you're here for revenge. Can we get this over with? I'd like to go back to bed while it's still dark."

Erik snarled and lunged for his throat, knocking them both to the floor. Danny grabbed his opponent's wrists and tried to pull him off. When that didn't work, he tried to use a weak blast of ectoplasmic energy, but that failed as well. He couldn't use a stronger blast without hurting Rick, but he couldn't seem to get Erik off of him.

They rolled around the floor, wrestling for the upper hand, and succeeded in knocking over a dresser and smashing everything on top of it. He winced as the sound of pounding footsteps reached his ears. Not much wanting to deal with parents right then, he went intangible and dragged Erik through the floor.

"Get…off!" he gasped. Erik was too far gone into mania to hear.

The kitchen collapsed as they landed on it; it wasn't the first time. Fortunately, the fall had the added benefit of knocking Erik away. He staggered to his feet and lunged forward again, but Danny expected it. He twisted out of the way and managed to wrap his arms around the ghost's chest, then pulled him further down to the lab.

"Now," he panted as he shoved away the struggling body. "Time for you to go back where you belong!" As Erik lunged for him yet again, he went intangible, reached through Rick, and yanked the ghost back out. Barely missing a beat, he threw open the Ghost Portal and shoved his captive into the Ghost Zone before slamming it closed again.

"You okay?" he asked, turning back to a very dazed and confused Rick.

"Huh?" He glanced around, then jumped as a voice yelled something upstairs accompanied by the sound of footsteps thundering down the stairs.

Danny grinned slightly. "Why don't I just take you home?"

Rick was completely unresisting as he was carried through a house and into the sky. "You're Danny Phantom," he said in quiet wonderment. "This is such an honor to be rescued by you. I have such a crush on you."

It took a second for that to register; it was so very unexpected. Once it did, Danny found himself at a loss for words.

"I know, I know. I've seen the fan girls. I just had to say it, or I would've regretted it forever."

"Um…thanks?"

The boy just laughed.