So! Chapter 50! I figure that this is a good time to remind you guys that I don't own Danny Phantom. I believe that Nickelodeon owns all the rights to it.

In other news, I recently submitted my original fiction manuscript to a publisher. Wish me luck!

I really enjoy receiving your feedback, in reviews, favorites and follows. Thank you so much for sticking with me.

Guest: The word 'mortify' has a few different meanings. The most common modern one is something along the lines of making someone feel totally embarrassed or humiliated. Danny actually makes a pun about this in one of the earlier chapters. But it can also mean to deny or subdue the body in favor of the spirit, as in 'mortification of the flesh,' or to be affected by gangrene or necrosis. I picked it because of the etymology (mort = death), because the weapon causes Danny to experience death, and because one of the themes is Danny's conflict with his parents, and how they interact with him (often mortifying him in the process).

Blahblahblah789: Thank you for the feedback, that's exactly what I'm trying to go for. You haven't been ranting. :)

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Chapter 50: A Demonstration

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A chill ran up Danny's spine. "I don't know if that's a good idea."

"It isn't," said Fractal. He blinked slowly behind his glasses.

"But it could be fun," said Echo in a singsong voice. He had gone back to hanging off of Danny, but he hadn't taken his eyes off of Jack and Maddie.

"Danny, don't listen to them, they're talking you into something dangerous," said Maddie, urgently. "Come to us."

"I can't," said Danny. "Not while you still think that I'm sick or something. This isn't a disease. They aren't superpowers, either, not really. This is just me. What you want to do, separating me, it's like saying you want to lobotomize me. Do you not realize that?"

"This is ectocontamination, Danny. We aren't talking about cutting off part of you, we're talking about removing something foreign."

Danny tsked and looked away.

"You aren't going to understand unless you're forced to, are you?"

"Demo time?"

"Ancients, you sound like a science teacher."

"Sparkly."

"Sparkly?"

"Demo?"

"Demo.

"Yes, demo."

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Maddie watched with apprehension as the two shadows separated from Danny, each taking two steps back. Echo, the more dangerous-looking of the two, sent a sly look at her, that slowly shifted to Jack, who tensed.

"Jack," she whispered, "I'm going to make a run for Danny."

"Don't bother," said Echo. He smiled, more than wicked. "These ears aren't just for show."

"Alright," said Fractal. "Imagine that I'm someone who is, as you suggest, falsifying a connection to the lair." He tilted his head. "I guess that's a bit weird, because I do have a connection." He blinked slowly. "Danny, are you sure about this?"

"Yeah," said Danny, clearly hesitant. "I want to do this."

"Okay," said Fractal. "So, we have a connection to the lair, and, therefore, to Danny," said Fractal. "Which means, you see, Danny doesn't have any real defenses against us. He can't have any defenses against us."

"So we can do whatever we want with him."

It was hard to tell, behind his luminous glasses, but Maddie thought he might be rolling his eyes. He certainly took on the same stance that Danny did when he was rolling his eyes. "Of course, what we want is what he wants. But, the point of this is what might happen if we didn't."

"Didn't I bite you that one time, though?" said Danny. "Sorry about that, by the way."

"I let you bite me," dismissed Echo.

"Anyway," said Fractal, "we can walk up to Danny, and-"

"Just do this!"

A figure appeared from nowhere, as the shadows were wont to do, directly behind Danny. Maddie started forward, but there was Fractal again, stopping her and Jack. Danny crumpled, and the two, Danny, and what Maddie assumed was a third shadow, rolled around on the floor. There were shouts, thuds, frustrated squeaks, and giggles as they thrashed cartoonishly. Finally, they went still both panting.

"I don't think that was a very good demonstration," said one of them, and Maddie found, to her horror, that she couldn't tell which one was Danny. They were identical, from their ruffled black hair and tear-stained pellucid blue eyes to their scuffed sneakers.

"It isn't like we can cause any actual damage," said Fractal.

"I don't think it worked," said the second boy on the floor. They even sounded the same, with no trace of the odd reverberations that made Echo's voice so unique.

"Nope," said Echo, popping the 'p.' "Looks like they hate us just as much as ever."

"Do you hate us?" asked one of the boys on the floor, eyes wide.

"Danny?" asked Jack hesitantly.

The two boys blinked and looked at each other, before looking back up, and propping themselves into sitting positions. "You can't tell?" asked one of them.

"I don't think they can," said the other.

"Which should maybe tell them something in itself," said Fractal, folding his arms. "The point we're were trying to make, though, is that Danny couldn't effectively defend against Mirror- or, wait, are you the other one?"

"Nah, Mirage is off doing his own thing," said one of the sitting boys, smiling. That must be Mirror, then. Danny was the other one.

"Oh. Good. Anyway," said Fractal, as the new shadow reached over and started to rub Danny's back, "the point is, once you get a connection like this, you're a massive blind spot."

Danny, who was leaning into what seemed to be turning into a full on massage, said something completely unintelligible.

"Yeah," said Fractal, "that's a connection, too, and I suppose that's different, but I'm not sure how that would translate."

Danny sighed, and looked back at Maddie and Jack. "You really can't tell the difference between me and Mirror?" he asked sadly.

"I..."

Danny made a face. "It doesn't matter. I guess there isn't much of a real difference to begin with. Mhm," he said, leaning into Mirror. "That feels nice. There are lots of things that are connections. Metaphysical links. But they're all different, they're all important. I don't know if they're all Taboo to mess with, though. The lair one was given to me as a specific example. But they're... I don't think that blind spot is the right word. This isn't really what you're worried about, either." He bit his lip. "I- I think we've gotten distracted, with technicalities and, just, the logistics and schematics of the whole thing, and I'm sitting here trying to find the right words, and I have no idea what they are. And I'm scared."

This time, Fractal let Maddie walk by him.

"Danny, we love you, you don't need to be scared of us."

"Don't I?"

Maddie sat down next to Danny. "It's just- I'm thinking back over everything you've said, and everything I've seen, of Phantom, of you, and it- it hasn't quite set in yet. We've shot at you, we've hurt you, I've seen you thrown into buildings, Danny, and it hasn't quite caught up to me that that's what I've seen."

"I guess this is a lot of information to take in," said Danny, drawing up his legs so he could rest his folded arms on his knees.

"I'm just worried. Worried about how this is affecting you, how it's affecting your mind, your health, everything. How it's going to affect you."

"There are people here, in the Realms that are helping me, with the health side of things."

"Ghosts?"

"Yeah."

"But you're still human, Danny."

"You think that there's never been a doctor that became a ghost?" Danny rubbed one of his eyes, sniffling. "There are lots, and other ghosts can learn. They aren't static. And Clockwork would tell me if there was anything really bad that was going to happen, health-wise."

Maddie nodded. She was trying to understand. She really was. But she had decades of research behind her, telling her that, no matter what Danny was saying, this was a bad thing. She couldn't even begin to imagine what that much ectoplasm in his system was doing to his body, his brain. A small amount was harmless, but she couldn't help but think of this as analogous to possession. It was enough ectoplasm to bleach his hair and turn his eyes green, for goodness sake. He was certain that he was half-ghost, or something, and Maddie wasn't convinced of that at all. Then there was what Danny had said about having an obsession, of all things.

"Clockwork. You mentioned him earlier."

"Ipse avus meus," said Danny. "He's a friend. He's helped me a lot."

"You trust him."

"Absolutely."

Maddie sighed. "Danny," said Maddie, "I want you to trust us. I don't want you to feel like you have to be afraid."

"But?" said Danny, eyes narrowed suspiciously.

"But I'm worried, we're worried. You understand that, don't you?"

"Yeah," said Danny, still hesitant.

"Can you at least let us, your father and I, confirm that? Independently make sure that this isn't hurting you, isn't making you sick."

Danny shifted to hug his legs. "I don't know..."

"Danny, you at least have to admit that this... That your 'liminality' has been making you do strange things."

Danny scowled. "What do you mean?"

"This obsession that you've been talking about, can't you at least see that it's been making you run into fights, getting you into trouble, into these- these situations?"

Danny let out a long, shuddering sigh. "That isn't how obsessions work, Mom. You get to choose how you're going to do it, what you're going to focus on. I could probably get by volunteering at the community center or something, if Amity wasn't under attack all the time. If you really want to know about what's happening in me head, though, you should talk to Jazz."

"Honey, Jazz isn't a psychologist."

"I know," said Danny. "But she's been keeping notes on me since I was, like, ten. If you want to talk about obsessions..." Danny rolled his eyes. "They're not exactly unique to ghosts." He sighed again. "I think that most of the things you're worried about, I've made sure they won't happen, that they're never going to happen."

Maddie frowned a little bit. "Danny, you keep using those words, what-?"

"Okay," said Echo, suddenly, loudly. "I think that's enough. Unlike us, you three have bodies that need sleep."

"Echo," said Danny, reprovingly.

"What, you really want to drag that out, on top of all this?"

"No, of course not," said Danny, "but this isn't your conversation, and sometimes things need to be said even if I don't want to say them."

"It wouldn't be good to let this fester in the dark, either," said the newest shadow, arm easily slung around Danny's shoulder. "As long as we're telling secrets..."

"Might as well get through as many as possible," finished Danny. "Then we can start to try to trust each other again. Because I can tell that you don't trust me anymore. I've lied to you too often."

"We trust you, Danny," protested Jack.

"Halfway," said Danny, "which is just as good as not at all." Danny was staring at the floor beside Maddie with such intensity that she wouldn't be surprised if it melted. "So I'm going to tell you about the time I caused the end of the world as we know it."