Chapter 21: Must Apologize

In a green flash, Danny and Blackfire find themselves outside Jump City's limits.

Danny blinked his eyes for a moment just to make sure he wasn't seeing things. He wasn't, he was back in her world. He let go of Blackfire's had so that he can take a moment to register his surroundings by turning around. He recognized some of the buildings from the night he came to this world the first time. It was the same place.

Memories of that night came flooding to him. A pretty but overly excited alien girl falling for him and following him. He was afraid of her, yet didn't deny she was very pretty.

His fist clenched and he new he had to find some way to make it up to her for breaking her heart.

First, he had to deal with the other pretty alien, the one he's not interested in making amends with.

"So?" Blackfire asks. "What now? Wanna cause some mayhem for fun?"

Danny looks to her.

"Actually…" Danny walks up to Blackfire. "I gotta better idea." Danny then uses his powers to overshadow Blackfire. Holding the jewel in her hand, Danny makes a command. "Take me to the prison Blackfire escaped from in this world."

In that split second, they end up in the prison she used the jewel to escape from. Danny then leaves her body and takes the jewel with him.

"W-what?!" Blackfire shouts. She realizes where she is and Danny has the jewel. Her eyes glow in rage. "You promised me!"

"I promised you I'd break you free from the cell in the Ghost Zone… I never said I'd keep from another one!" He pointed out with a smile.

Her glow dies down and a brief smile shows up.

"You got me…" Blackfire admits.

"Take me to Jump City!" Danny shouts.

In that brief moment, he disappears in a flash.

Blackfire shakes her head, smiling at where he just was.

"He's lucky he's too cute to maim… at least that much."

Danny finds himself back outside Jump City. From there, he breaks Blackfire's jewel. He figured since he knew a portal he could use to go home, it was better than risking someone using this thing for something bad. Looking out, he sees the ocean, and a certain island with a T-shaped building.

Okay, she's probably there now. Danny takes a breath. What do I say when I get there? "Hi, sorry I never told you what I am sooner and by the time I did I broke your heart?"

Danny shook his head. He realizes he didn't think this through. Still, he had to try.

He floats into the air and heads in the direction of Titans' Tower.

Unfortunately, some local civilians take notice and run away from the flying by they don't recognize.

"Huh, I guess since it's like almost afternoon, there's more people to notice me than last time."

This panic caused someone to be alerted from their island home.

In Titans' Tower, the Titans were in the living room. All except Starfire. They choose to let her have some alone time until she was ready. They were eating pizza when the alarm went off.

"Titans, go!" Robin shouted.

"What about Star?" Beast Boy asks.

"If she's feeling it, she'll join us." Cyborg states. "Let her heal first."

Danny would float towards the tower. He chose to go slow as he thought of how he'd talk to Starfire. He decided, since he was about a city block's length into the air and no one could hear him, he would practice talking to her. He takes a deep breath and places his hands on his hips.

"Hey! Starfire!" He says, trying to sound happy. "How've you been?" His smile drops when he figures what her response was. "Probably crying your eyes out…" His hands leave his hips and cross, though he strokes his chin too. "That won't work." He lowers that hand and tries to make a suave look and tone. "Hey Babe." His smile drops again and he looks disgusted with himself. "And now I'm Tucker and Dash…" He shudders, comparing himself to his dateless best friend and obnoxious bully. "Okay… let me try again." He takes another deep breath and tries to adopt a saddened look. "I'm so sorry that I never told you the truth." He blinks and looks away. He speaks in his normal tone again. "I may need more time to think about this…"

Suddenly, out of nowhere, what appears to be a disk hits him in the shoulder. This causes him to fall onto the ground. Thanks to his powers, he wasn't harmed grievously as if he were a normal human. Getting up, Danny could see four oddly familiar figures facing him. One a kid with green skin, one a girl in a black leotard and bluish cloak, one a cyborg and the other a normal looking guy in a domino mask.

"You'll have plenty of time to think about what you're up to… behind bars!" The domino guy said. "Titans, go!"

The other three make their move.

Danny suddenly remembered where he saw these guys. They're Starfire's friends, the Teen Titans.

"Wait!" Danny said, holding his hands out in defense.

It's too late, Cyborg comes jumping at him, ready to punch him. In response, Danny manages to fly backwards to avoid impact. He then sees the green kid turn into a T-Rex and come charging. In response, Danny braced himself. The T-Rex tackles him, though Danny's superior strength lets him grapple with the dinosaur and knock it to the ground.

"He's stronger than he looks!" Robin shouted.

"Let's see how strong!" Cyborg says.

He runs towards the ghost boy, throwing a punch again. This time, Danny catches the fist in his hand.

"Look, I'm not the enemy!" Danny says.

"Sure, you're not." Cyborg said with sarcasm. He then points his other arm at Danny. "And this isn't a sonic cannon!"

He fires at the ghost boy, sending him skidding down the street.

As Danny gets up, he sees the girl in the leotard floating about him.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She shouted. Suddenly, the ground around Danny turned black and encased him in a gravel bubble. "That should hold him!" She says.

"Or not!" Danny's voice called out. To their surprise, he appears out of nowhere, on top of the bubble.

The Titans all have their jaws drop at this sudden out of nowhere appearance.

"Dude! How did he do that?!" Beast Boy asks.

"Stop him!" Robin shouted.

Danny groans. "This again?!"

"Yes! This again!" Raven says. Now, her dark aura takes the form of the bird she's named after and flies towards Danny.

Though surprised by this, Danny manages to stand his ground and fires a ghost ray. It's strong enough to block the bird-like construct from attacking him. Once it breaks through the blast, Danny phases into the ground. The impact causes a small crater where Danny was. This causes the Titans to stare at where the monochrome boy just was.

"Did he… disintegrate?" Cyborg asks, somewhat concerned they went too far.

Beast Boy looks to Raven, who lands nearby.

"I don't suppose you went too far there?" He asks.

"Unlikely…" She says in her usual deadpan tone. "My magic can't go that far."

"He somehow got out of that trap earlier." Robin points out. "Maybe he'll do it again?"

As they stare at the crater, Danny peek out from behind them using his intangibility.

Whoa, Starfire's friends are pretty tough.

He looks at them briefly, taking the time to examine each member.

The cyborg appears to be the oldest and physically the strongest.

The green kid was a shapeshifter. He saw Beast Boy tun into a dog and started sniffing inside the crater. He figures this boy must do animals.

The only normal looking member appears to be the leader. Danny figured he must be the best fighter, that would explain why he would be the leader.

Then there's the girl. Danny looked up and noticed that she's looking in his direction. She looks down at his exact spot and glares.

Oh no… I forgot she can see me!

"There!" Raven said, pointing at where Danny was.

The boys look in that spot.

"Uh, Raven?" Robin asks.

"There's nothing there." Beast Boy stated.

"I can sense him." She raises a hand and fires a blast of dark energy.

Reacting fast, Danny flew out and regained tangibility before the blast could hit him.

"Wait!" Danny shouted.

Robin took out a staff and started swinging at Danny. In response, Danny manages to react in time with each attack. Each swing, Danny barely had time to avoid the attack.

"I'm on it!" Cyborg shouted as he rushed the ghost boy.

In response, Danny flew up, avoid the larger hero.

Seeing that Cyborg and Robin can't fly, Danny used to his advantage and flew up.

"Raven! Beast Boy! After him!" Robin said, pointing at Danny.

Raven flew to Danny, while Beast Boy turned into a pterodactyl and followed suit.

Looking back, Danny groaned.

"Well, 2 out of 4 is still better."

Danny would fly as fast as he could and finds he can outfly them both once he reached the clouds. Once he looked back and saw them gone, he took a breath and saw Titans Tower. He smiled and decided he can go find Starfire. However, a dark portal appears in front of him. Out comes Raven.

"Going somewhere?" She asks.

"Yes, actually." Danny says. "And I'd appreciate it if you guys didn't get in the way."

"What are you doing?"

"I'm here for Starfire."

Raven looks surprised, but then gets serious.

"She's not taking any visitors at the moment, so whatever you plan to do to her, it's not happening!" She declared.

"Wait! I'm not-"

Before Danny could speak up, she fires another blast of energy. In response, Danny takes a dive downward. Raven follows.

"Come back!" She shouts.

"Great, I ditched one dark babe for another… at least this one isn't kidnapping me." He snarks to himself.

He speeds up as best as he can, but as he does, he sees a school bus going out of control, speeding up. Reacting to this, Danny flew towards it. Once he reaches the front, Danny holds his arms out and braces for the bus. It collides with him as he props his feet to the ground. Within seconds, he's able to make the bus stop.

Seeing this, Raven stops and stares at the boy who just saved a bus full of kids. She loses her original scowl and comes to a realization that he's not a villain.

Danny takes a breath and, once he sees Raven staring at him, phases into the ground and goes away.

Raven lands, noticing the kids and bus driver are safe.

Danny phases out from a nearby street and resumes his flight to Titans' Tower. However, a large green elephant drops in a few feet away from him.

"Boo-ya!" Danny hears someone call out. Looking back, he sees Cyborg, aiming his sonic cannon.

"Seriously?" He asks, annoyed.

"Fraid so! Now Cyborg and Beast Boy are gonna take you down."

Danny makes a bemused face.

"Seriously? Beast Boy is an okay name, I guess, but you're a cyborg called Cyborg?"

Annoyed, Cyborg fires his blast and Danny responds with a ghost ray.

The two blasts collide and the brief explosion knocks both away.

As Danny gets up, he sees the elephant Beast Boy above him. He gets the trunk wrapped around him, picking him up. He finds himself slammed into the ground, though he's not so harmed as to not recognize what is going on. He then manages to plant his feet on the ground after the elephant raises him again to do another slam. Danny phases through and grabs the elephant's trunk. With his strength, Danny pulls the elephant and throws him into a thankfully empty street.

It was then, Danny heard a cry for help. Looking around, he saw a little girl crying.

His heroism kicking in, he flies to her.

"What's wrong?" He asks her.

"My mommy! I can't find her!"

Seeing the Titans getting up, Danny decided to help her.

"Maybe I can help you? Where did you last see her?" The little girl points down the street. "There? How'd you get lost?"

"After people started screaming and ran away from the Titans fighting a bad guy, we got separated." She said.

Danny realizes she must be inadvertently talking about him. Feeling guilty, Danny takes her hand.

"I can help you find her." He says.

Picking her up, Danny flies in the direction she pointed.

Cyborg and Beast Boy witness this and go after him on the ground. However, they stop when they see him land a few blocks away. The little girl gets put on the ground and runs to a woman in front of them.

"Mommy!" She shouted happily.

"Sweetheart! I thought I lost you!" She said as she hugged her daughter tightly. She looked at Danny and smiled. "Thank you for finding my little girl!"

Danny gives her a thumbs up.

"Not a problem!"

As the mother and daughter walk away, Danny nods and flies towards Titans Tower. This did not escape the two Titans who witnessed this, both glancing towards each other.

"Okay… now to find Starfire." Danny reaches the harbor, when a disk hits him and the shock stuns him into falling to the ground. "Seriously?! Again?!"

He sees Robin, walking up to him.

"Where are you going?" Robin asked, sounding threatening.

"I came for Starfire!" Danny says, getting up.

Robin looks angered by the sound of it.

"You're not hurting her!" He declared.

Danny looked away. "I already did, apparently."

Not liking the implication of those words, Robin performed a jump kick.

Danny barely had time to reach as he's kicked onto the ground.

As Robin points his staff at Danny's neck, the ghost boy phases into the ground. This causes Robin to step back in surprise.

"So, you can phase into the ground too? That explains a lot." He says.

Danny comes up from behind.

"And what's your power? Spiky hair?" Danny snarks.

"I've just been trained by some of the best fighters on the planet." Robin turns quickly and aims his staff threateningly. "Now, what do you want with Starfire?!"

"I just wanna talk to her!" Danny says, holding his hands out.

"And why should I believe that?!"

"Because he's not a villain." Raven's voice says.

Looking towards the city, both teens see the other Teen Titans arriving.

"Cool it, Robin!" Cyborg shouts. "He's not a threat like people thought he was when they saw him."

"Yeah, Cyborg and I saw him help a kid find her mom, and Raven says she saw him save a school bus!"

Robin lowers his staff a bit and he loses his intense glare.

"That true?" Danny nods. After a moment of contemplation, Robin puts his staff away. "Why do you need to talk with her?"

Danny has spent the last few minutes explaining who he is. He's Danny Phantom, a superhero from another universe. He accidentally followed one of his villains into this world. Thanks to his coincidental looks, Starfire mistook him for a Tamarnian and the energy from his body affected her emotions, causing her to go lovesick. By the time he revealed what he was, she had become enamored with him and her heart sank. He's come to apologize to her.

"Look…" Danny says, his arms up. "I'm not here to be forgiven… she doesn't have to forgive me. I just want her to know I'm sorry and if there's some way to make up for not telling her the truth sooner. If there isn't, I'll leave and not come back."

The four Titans look to each other.

"We could just tell her for you." Robin says.

"I'd rather do it myself. My sister would say that actions speak louder than words." Danny says.

They four look to each other.

"We're gonna need a moment." Cyborg says.

All four huddle up.

"I don't like him." Robin says bluntly.

"You don't like anyone who gets close to Starfire." Cyborg points out.

"Yeah, besides, he wants to say that he's sorry." Beast Boy says.

"And he said he'd leave if there's no way to make things better." Raven says.

"Plus, you of all people know what it's like to make a huge mistake and want to fix it." Beast Boy points out.

Cyborg and Raven nod, noting the usually dim Teen Titan is right.

Robin takes a breath. On one hand, he doesn't like that this boy made Starfire feel sad, even if it was unintentional. On the other hand, he of all people knows what it's like to want to make amends for mistakes he's made. He once made a mistake that almost destroyed everyone's trust in him when he tried to find the villain Slade.

The four finish and look to Danny.

"You get a few minutes. She's at her room, but she won't open."

"I don't need her to see me, just hear me."

Reluctantly, the other Titans take him to the Tower. Inside, they guide him Starfire's room. Despite their suspicions, they let Danny walk up to the door alone.

After taking a deep breath, he knocks. Unsure of this, Danny looks to the other Titans and points to the door. He's unsure if she's even in there. They nod. Taking another breath, he speaks.

"Starfire? It's me… Phantom." He looks down. "Actually, my real name is Danny. My full superhero name is Danny Phantom. I was just doing a James Bond style introduction when I met you and I realize that maybe-" He stops and shakes his head. "Never mind! I'm here to say… I'm sorry." He clenches his fist. "You don't need to open your door, you don't need to talk to me, I just need you to hear my words. I'm sorry. I never meant to hurt your feelings. I still did. I was afraid you'd attack me, then I was afraid of you getting hurt by learning the truth. Either way is no excuse. I'm not going to ask you to forgive me… but if there is any way I can earn your forgiveness…" Danny chokes up. He looks to his feet, not sure what to say next. "Anyway… I'm going now. Like I said, you don't need to forgive me, I just want you to know I'm sorry and will do whatever you want to be forgiven." Danny stares at the door for a moment. There is no answer. Looking dejected, Danny looks to the other Titans. He notices they actually looks sympathetic to him. He nods with a sad smile. "Nice officially meeting you guys."

Going intangible, he phases through the floor.

Once he leaves, Starfire's door opens. She looks out into the hallway, looking surprised to have heard that voice.

What's Starfire going to do?

What will become of them?

Also, my bad for taking a while. Like I say, life likes to rear its ugly head.

So, Danny met the Titans. How'd it go? Exactly as you hoped? I wondered what to do with Raven, since she's also paired with Danny in fanfiction.

I decided for now she's not interested in him. Might keep it that way.

But Blackfire's defeat... I couldn't think of a better way without them fighting. I wanted to avoid big fights for now.

But Starfire's response is next time.