Chapter Three

Kauffman Apartments, April 19, 2006

A blue ring appeared at his waist, and slowly split in two, moving upward and downward, until all that was left of Danny was . . .

Phantom.

"You . . . you . . . you're . . ." Valerie stuttered.

"A ghost?" Danny said, smirking mischievously.

"Valerie, the doctors will be here shortly - holy crud . . ." Damon exclaimed. "Val . . . what did you tell Danny to do? You know he's not supposed to become a ghost or else . . ."

"I'm dangerous. I know. Shut up," Danny said. "You may have broken in my weaker half, but I'm still here."

Valerie couldn't help it. She grinned. "You're normal!" she yelped. "This world isn't as messed up as I thought it was!"

Turning towards Valerie, he gave her a confused look. "You're not . . . afraid of me?"

"No. Should I be, ghost?" The way she addressed him came due to habit.

He flew in close to her face. "You should be," he hissed. "You should be."

Valerie smirked, closed her eyes, reaching deep inside herself and pulling out her new ghost fighting suit. "No. You should be. Danny or no, you're still the Phantom and . . ."

Danny held up a hand and interrupted her. "The Phantom? Ooh, I like that one. I didn't have a name before . . ."

"I think I liked meek Danny better than you . . . heck . . . I think I like any Danny better than you."

Valerie didn't notice the added malevolence in his voice, as she'd always imagined it was there, anyway.

Damon jumped in between the ghost and the huntress. "Valerie, what's going on?"

Valerie rolled her eyes. "I'm kind of saving your butt here, so . . ."

Grinning sheepishly, her father stepped out of the way. Then his look turned reprimanding. "Just don't let this become a repeat of the anti-creep stick incident, Val."

Valerie nodded. "Erm . . . Dad . . ."

"Right. Shutting up now."

Turning back to the newly-named Phantom, Valerie peered at her opponent, for once not sure that she could bring him down if she got the chance.

Yeah, this was either a dream or a creepy alternate reality she'd gotten stuck in for some reason (probably ghost related), and in her world Danny wasn't her arch-enemy (that wasn't a thought she would think of entertaining), still . . . other-Danny was meek and servile and . . . not Phantom. Neither was her Danny, of course, but hurting that boy would be like killing Sayonara Pussycat.

Grinning maliciously, Phantom charged at her, ready to strike. Valerie dodged out of the way just in time, and activated her jet sled.

Damon just watched, petrified. When had this all happened, and how had he not noticed?

She pulled an ecto-pistol from her utility belt and held it up, perfect aim. Still, she couldn't shoot.

"Yeah, I have that effect on people," the ghost whispered in her ear, suddenly right next to her.

"Wha . . . how?"

Ignoring the question, Phantom scooped her up by the waist, effectively removing her from the hover board. "Let's go for a little ride, shall we?"

It took her a while to realize it, but she finally noticed the dark quality his voice dripped. The Phantom from her world . . . or the real world . . . was satirical, but not this venomous.

As they left the house, Valerie heard her father curse. "Why did I forget to turn on the ghost shield?"

High above the clouds, now, Phantom and Val gazed down onto the town. She felt his grip on her loosen, and she peered up at him fearfully. But his gaze seemed to have softened, actually, and the look in his neon green eyes was wistful. "I loved this town . . . when I was human . . ."

Suddenly feeling the need to comfort the ghost, Valerie put an arm around Phantom's neck. "You are human . . . Danny." Then a wave of inspiration struck. "Can I tell you what it's like where I . . . remember?"

Shrugging, Phantom stopped his flight. "Why not? Just don't take too long . . . I can't hold the transformation for too long."

"Yeah . . . okay . . . Before I start, why'd you suddenly start being so . . . nice?"

"I haven't been outdoors in two years. Well . . . for like, five minutes, but that was just moving from the transport truck to inside another building . . . I guess . . . it just . . ."

Valerie nodded. "I get it. In my world, if I'm really in an alternate dimension, ghosts aren't slaves to humans. They pretty much go where they please . . . They're evil . . . like you . . ."

Phantom laughed. "Evil?" he asked rhetorically, though not angrily. "I'm just a bit angry at the girl who's owned me for two years."

"I don't remember a bit of it, honestly!"

She didn't notice it, but he gave her a long, hard stare. "I believe you, somehow."

Suddenly tensing, Valerie scratched the back of her suit. "This moment was certainly . . . sudden. One moment you're kidnapping me and the next we're talking as if we're friends."

"We're not friends."

"I know . . . Hey, if I find a way to go back to my world, would you like to come? You'd have to do something about the . . . anger . . . but that shouldn't be hard."

Shrugging, Phantom turned his gaze away from the ghost hunter. "Why not?"

"You have to stop saying that . . ."

"You're not the boss of me . . . Well technically, ah, who cares?"

Suddenly the ring of light appeared at his waist again, turning Phantom back into Fenton. Valerie blinked as she and Danny began to fall, and kicked her feet together. The extra jet sled.

"Thank you, milady . . ." Danny said, apparently very nervous.

"Don't. Really. Stop calling me milady. It's Valerie."

"Yes, mil - Valerie." He just replaced 'milady' with 'Valerie' in his head. Valerie sighed mentally.

"Do you remember the conversation we just had? Do you remember what it's like to be Phantom?" Valerie asked. How could he just switch personalities like that, so easily?

His eyes fogging for a moment, Danny failed to answer abruptly. "Yes, Valerie."