Danny waited that night until everyone had gone, and his family was asleep in bed. Jazz had wanted to talk, but the shock of the fate of his best friend, and the anger and hatred he saw in the eyes of his own parents was too much for him to bear. He excused himself from the dining room, and slipped into bed, pretending to be asleep until he was sure there was no one up but himself.

At nearly the stroke of midnight, Danny rose out of bed, and said his quick catch phrase. Once again there was a flash of light, and two rings of supernatural origin surrounded him, until he was back in ghost form. Like a flash of lightning, he was out of his house, heading straight for the hospital and for Tucker.

"Danny, what are you doing?" he could hear her voice echo up from where he was hovering, just two blocks from the sanatorium. He looked down with a sigh, and glared at Sam, standing there in the dark, her face hidden by a thick black overcoat its hood covering her head and face.

The Halfa floated down and rolled his eyes. "Sam, what are you doing here? And at this hour?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she snapped. Sam removed her hood, and the pale moon light flickered down on her dark raven hair, tied up in a looping pony tail. "How could you be so stupid to come out like this?"

For a moment Danny felt the urge to laugh, but held it in. "This, coming from the girl who just yesterday told me that I shouldn't give up crime fighting," he moaned. The air was cool and strong, with a breeze that belonged to a freezer. Danny would have shivered if he wasn't in a ghost form already.

"That was before you started taking out your best friends," Sam snapped, frowning at him.

"Don't tell me you actually believe that," Danny roared, his eyes flushing with emerald rage.

"No, of course not," she lowered her gaze and bit her lip, "well not intentionally, anyway."

"What does that mean," he howled.

"Danny, you remember what happened when Freakshow took over your mind?"

Guilt burnt through his veins at the name of that pathetic human villain. He had been so brainwashed he had nearly killed one of his best friends at the whim of the lunatic. "But I don't feel like I'm being controlled," Danny said. "Besides, my eyes are still green, when I was under his control; I had red eyes, like Plasmius."

"Danny, someone recorded you attacking Tucker; you did have red eyes when you attacked." She thought for a moment and ran her fingers through hair. "Well, they were more violet red than red, but you get the picture."

Danny's jaw flopped open, and he returned to his normal human form. Now he was shivering, but it was still not because of the frigid air around them. The fourteen year old shook his head and felt his eyes stink with tears. "No . . . I can't believe it." He collapsed onto the curb, his tears becoming more obvious. "But, I know I was looking for both of you, to tell you about Jazz," he said, his voice cracking.

"What about her?" Sam asked. She wanted to bend down and hold him, wanted to tell him how she truly felt about him right there, how she had felt for him for years, even before he became a Halfa. But she couldn't bring herself to do it, it didn't seem right . . . somehow.

"She knows about my powers, and about you guys knowing too," he said, fighting bravely or cowardly depending on your point of view, to keep the tears at bay. He looked at his best friend and told her everything that had happened.

"Whoa," she said in a low whisper. She averted his gaze and ran her fingers through her hair again. "But Danny, I don't think you should go to the hospital, the whole town is looking for you now."

"I still have to see for myself," Danny said, rising to his feet. "I want to be there for him, to let myself know that I wasn't the one who really attacked him." He turned back to Danny Phantom and looked back at the girl.

"And how will going prove it to you?" she asked.

"I – I don't know," he stammered. "But if I don't go, I'll feel like I abandoned him, and that's just as bad as attacking him." He finally shed a tear and looked at her. "See ya later, Sam."

He got to the hospital a few minutes later, and was peering in the window, where his other best friend was lying, battered and bruised in a bed, a life monitor keeping close taps on the young African American boy. He looked as if someone threw a truck at him, and then threw him through the wall of a building. It broke Danny's heart seeing him like this. "Oh, Tuck," he whimpered.

He couldn't believe he could be responsible for this. It was too evil, too malicious. His pulse raced and he shook his head, repeating the word no over and over again. Mentally he begged his friend to wake up, to smile at him, to give him the thumbs up. At least tell him who was really behind this cruelty. Then there was another part that hoped he never woke, at least not yet. What would Danny have done, if Tucker opened his eyes, eyes filled with absolute horror, and accuse him of the attack?

"It's not a very pleasant sight, is it, hero?" a voice hissed from behind him. The last word was laced with such bitterly ironic tone it sent a shiver up his spine. Danny felt his rage build and he spun around to face the other ghost, a tall fifteen year old looking girl with bright blue flaming hair, pale skin, punk rocker make up, and a short torn top with one arm sleeveless. She sat in one of the visiting chairs, watching the two boys her lips pinched as she looked at Danny.

"Did you do this?" Danny roared at the ghost, flinging himself at her. She rose to her feet, and strummed on her guitar, sending Danny whipping back to the wall, near Tucker's bed.

"Haven't you heard the news yet kiddo?" she asked. "You were the one who did it, this and like a thousand other evil things all in the last twenty four hours." Ember Flame jumped into the air and sent him into the hospital hall with a round house kick. Luckily Danny turned invisible, and soared through the wall undamaged . . . and unseen.

"You destroyed our homes, you wrecked the ghost zone, you attacked anyone or anything that got in your way," she howled after him, pinning him to the floor. "Like I really give a damn about humans, but I hate hypocrites." She began pummeling him with her fists, and for a while he took it, as if he felt like he had to.

As he listened to her, his mind raced, the ghost zone destroyed? Skulker's voice echoed in his mind. There is no more ghost zone anymore you maniac. I thought you were a good guy! Ember's words worked him over as she pounded on him, the images of his parents' hateful faces, worry in Jazz's and Sam's eyes, Tucker lying there unconscious.

"No," he roared, pulling the other ghost off of him. "I am a good guy; I wouldn't do the things you say I did."

"I saw you do them," she shouted, throwing another punch. "I saw you, we all did. At first I thought it was kind of cool the way you turned on your friend, but then to go overboard the way you did, that wasn't cool at all," she threw another punch, and then another. Danny dodged them all. "You destroyed my home, all of our homes, and you were laughing while you were doing it!" Now there were tears in her eyes, and her face had turned red with anger.

"I haven't been in the ghost zone for weeks," he snapped, still avoiding the ghost girl's attacks. Her fiery pony tail was loose now, and locks of light blue flames flowed over her shoulders, especially her bare shoulder like a cascade of pure, clean water.

"Stop lying, you were the one who did all of it," she howled in rage.

"So what were you doing by Tuck's bed then?" Danny snarled, ignoring her curses. "How do I know that this isn't some sort of trick?"

"Sue me, I felt sorry for the kid, and I had to see if you would come by and finish the job," she shouted.

"If I wanted to finish him off, wouldn't I have tried it before I knew you were there?" Danny snapped.

Ember hesitated, her eyes wide with shock. She hadn't thought about that, but she knew she had seen Danny destroying everything in his path. Could it have been a duplicate of some kind, one that got out of control? He was right; he had plenty of time to attack the boy without knowing she was there to stop him. Instead he had been grieving. The rocker ghost took a step back and trembled. "You- you're playing some kind of mind game with me," she said, hard of breath. His eyes, they were green, they weren't green when he was attacking.

It was too much for her. "You stay away from me," she screamed, and made a made dash for the wall. She disappeared through it and then there was nothing.

It was also too much for Danny. What was gone on? Who was behind this insane game, and why were they messing with him? Plasmius? Or could it have been Skulker, or maybe even Ember, or all of them? He felt his head spinning and collapsed in a fit of tears, turning back to his human form. The last thing Danny could remember were the sounds of footsteps coming down the basement of the hospital.

Well chapter three is down! Hope it is still an interesting series. Sorry for such short chapters, but I have other series I work on too, and I want to devote enough time to all of them. By the way, Danny is going to go through a little more hell before the evil Halfa reveals himself to the boy, and just as the storm gets to be too much, you'll see Danny number three. Oh and just so you know Ember plays a major role in this series too, seeing as how she's one of my favorite characters. So don't forget to review and let me know how I'm doing !