hee hee hoo hoo I'm weak for a character that doesn't exist

Warning in this chapter for blood and grievous injury. I tried to tone it down as much as I could without undermining how serious it is, but the rest of the story won't be nearly this bad.

This is also my first work in the fandom, so I haven't quite pinned down the speech patterns. That'll come with time.


It wasn't supposed to be like this.

It was just another routine battle with Skulker, the same as any other. A game of cat and mouse, a little witty banter, some destruction of public property. The same song and dance as always.

But no one had ever gotten hurt like this before.

Nobody ever stuck around for fights like these. Too many stray lasers, too much flying debris. Sometimes even trees and buildings collapsed. It would be foolish to do anything besides flee the second a ghost appeared. It was better to let Phantom handle such matters. Nobody got hurt that way.

But when Danny touched down after a predictable victory, searching for cover so that he could change back, he heard something he hadn't heard before. It was hard to describe, sounding like wet, shallow bubbling. Something about it made Danny's gut wrench.

The Halfa followed the source of the sound, muscles tensed. For all he knew, this could be one of Skulker's traps. Still, he strained his ears, walking until he had reached a fallen tree. The noise originated from beneath it. It struck Danny, then, that someone, a person, was underneath the tree.

Fighting the urge to panic, Danny dug his fingers under the splintered trunk, lifting with all his might. But the second the tree moved, the person— a boy, this was just a boy— cried out in pain. But it sounded wet, hollow. Somehow, that was worse than if he had screamed.

Growing more frantic by the second, Danny circled around the branches, trying to get a better look at what he was dealing with. He almost wished he hadn't. Even the cover provided by the leaves couldn't hide the fact that the boy— whoever it was, it was hard to tell like this— had been impaled by a particularly sturdy branch, entering through his back and coming out the front a short ways. Danny couldn't stand to study the wound too closely. It didn't take him much longer to puzzle out that the noise he had heard before was the boy... the teen, struggling to breathe through a mouthful of blood. There was no way the branch hadn't pierced something vital. He needed to hurry.

"Don't worry, citizen," Danny said, sounding much calmer than he felt. "I'm going to get you out of there." But how, exactly, did one free somebody who had gotten impaled by a tree? If he pulled it up, the guy would bleed out long before he could get medical attention. But he couldn't just leave him down there, either. Was there even anything anyone could do? He didn't know if it was even possible to patch up something like this. Not soon enough, at least.

Well, he had one idea. A really stupid one, to be sure, but it was something.

"Listen," Danny told the teen, not sure if he was in any state to listen. "I'm going to pull the tree up, and it's going to hurt. A lot. So, uh. Brace yourself." He waited a couple seconds, but got no response besides garbled panting. Grimacing, he grabbed the trunk, lifting yet again. In a matter of seconds, the branch was out, making a horrifying squelching noise as it went. Danny immediately tossed the tree aside, kneeling and putting an ice cold hand over the wound to keep it from bleeding out.

As Danny knelt, freezing the ragged hole in the teen's back over, he realized that he recognized this boy. Went to school with him, even. The name Wesley briefly popped into his head at the sight of red hair and a white jersey, a bit different from what he typically wore at games... not that it was really white anymore.

Once the injury was sealed shut, Danny carefully but quickly rolled Wes over, doing the same to the one on the front. But there was nothing he could do about the blood escaping his lips, and his efforts would hardly matter anyway if he didn't act quickly. Wes was already far too pale.

The Halfa scooped up the frail jock, cradling him close to his chest and taking to the sky. Wes was barely conscious, his eyelids fluttering as he struggled to take in air. He was shivering, too; even without taking blood loss into consideration, there was a very real possibility that he would freeze to death if Danny couldn't get him help in time.

But they weren't going to a hospital. No, Wes was already well beyond the point where that would do him any good.

The two touched down at FentonWorks, phasing through the wall and directly into the lab. Danny wasn't too worried about getting caught. He knew his parents would be busy investigating the remains of the battle with Skulker for some time. Still, he hoped this wouldn't all be in vain. Nobody had ever died on his watch, and he had no intention of that starting now.

Danny looked at the various dials for the portal, making absolutely sure it was deactivated before opening it up, setting Wes down somewhere in the middle. He was far too still, the faint bubbles near his nose the only real indicator that he was still alive. He had minutes left, if that.

The Halfa pulled out his phone, scrolling through his gallery until he saw the picture he was looking for, one depicting the portal and the gauges near it. He'd asked Sam for the picture after the whole fiasco with Desiree, just in case it ever came in handy again. He just hadn't expected to need it for something like this.

Shooting anxious glances at Wes, Danny adjusted the gauges until the settings matched those of the photo on his screen. He went to the main controls, hands hovering over the control panel. He took in a deep breath to steady himself. "Man, I really hope this works."

He slammed his hand down over the ON button.

The portal slowly hummed to life, starting at a low whine and increasing in pitch and intensity with every passing second. And then the whole room lit up with bright, swirling green light. This time, when Wes cried out, it was clear as day, a piercing scream that carried even over the roar of the portal. Distantly, Danny wondered if that's what he'd sounded like, when it was him inside the portal and not his dying classmate.

After a few seconds that felt more like hours, there was a spark, and then an explosion, knocking Danny clear off his feet. The portal powered down on its own, the low thrum fading to nothing, sparks flying from the chasm. It definitely wouldn't be turning on again any time soon.

Once he was sure that the last dregs of the portal had faded away, Danny approached the cavern, steps slow and cautious. He couldn't see into it very well, but he was sure that the heap at the edge of the darkness was Wes. He was very still, and very quiet. Swallowing the lump in his throat, Danny made his way inside, kneeling next to Wes.

At least, he was fairly certain it was Wes he was looking at. Even if he didn't look familiar, his features were largely the same. His hair, previously a deep red, had lightened to a fiery orange. His jersey colors had inverted, which was to be expected, with a black top and neon green accents throughout. The wound... didn't look as bad as before, at least. The bleeding had stopped, which had to be a good sign. Or, should have been.

But he wasn't breathing.

"No," Danny whispered. "No, oh no..." He was too late. What had he been thinking? Shoving his stalker into a ghost dimension and hoping that half killing him would save his life? That was probably the dumbest idea he'd ever had. Why couldn't he have just taken the guy to a hospital? They could have at least done something. Maybe not save him, but something. But now, because he had to go and be a hero, a hero who had no idea what he was supposed to be doing, he... he...

Suddenly, Wes sat bolt upright, sucking in an enormous breath. A glow sparked to life beneath his skin, a light blue similar to Danny's. Startled by the sudden motion, the Halfa took Wes's appearance in. He seemed different, like this, and not just in the sense that he was looking at a ghost. With eyes that managed to look both too dark and too vibrant, with freckles that were practically luminescent in the darkness of the portal, he was, all at once, both strikingly familiar and remarkably uncanny. It was like looking at a complete stranger, someone you may have once seen in a crowd but for the life of you couldn't remember. It was off-putting in a way Danny couldn't describe.

But he was alive.

Wes hissed in pain as his quick movement tugged at his wounds, clutching at his chest. Then, he gasped, patting up and down his front with a baffled fascination. "I'm... I'm alive? But I... how?" He only then seemed to realize that he wasn't in the park from earlier. His gaze traveled around the interior of the portal, brows furrowed. "...Where-?"

"Wes?" Danny's uncertain voice drew the jock's attention. Danny... Fenton, Phantom, it didn't matter... had this odd look on his face, like he didn't know whether to smile, run, or cry. Maybe all three. "...Are you... Are you okay? Did it actually work?"

"Did what work?" Wes demanded. "Where am I? Where did you take me? What did you do?"

It took Phantom a second to answer him. "...We're in my parents' lab." Wes's nose wrinkled. Danny never did hide anything from him, not after he knew Wes had him figured out. It was infuriating how blasé he was about it, how open he could be and still have everyone be so blind to him. "You... A tree fell on you, and a branch went right through you. You were dying, but I knew that doctors wouldn't be able to patch you up, and so I..."

Wes looked at himself, then, really looked at himself. His clothes, they were the wrong color. He was glowing, amazed that he'd somehow missed that before. Heck, he was scabbing green, when he moved the torn fabric out of the way. "...What did you do to me?"

Phantom cringed, averting his eyes. "I... I made you like me. I thought that, maybe, you would be able to regenerate. That you would live."

"You made me a ghost!" Wes exclaimed, rising on unsteady feet. Recovering though he was, he was still far from healthy. "You're saying you... that you killed me! To keep me from dying?!"

"This isn't the same," Phantom told him, getting to his feet as well, hands itching to reach out and steady him on instinct. "Being a ghost isn't like being dead. It's something else entirely. If you had died... you wouldn't have come back as a ghost. You would have been gone. This was the only way I could think of to keep you alive."

Wes looked at him incredulously. Then, his eyes lit up with a realization. Actually lit up, his pupils brightening to a lime green shade. "Wait a minute... If you made me a ghost... then that means people will have to stop calling me Phantom! Ha!"

"I...What?!" Danny spluttered. "Why is this what you're worried about right now?! You have a hole in your chest!"

"Once people see me looking like this," Wes said with a grin, "they're gonna realize that I'm not the same ghost boy! Even better than that, they're gonna have to listen to me when I tell them that Fenton and Phantom are one and the same!"

"...Wes, you have to understand why that's a horrible idea."

"I bet you think you can do whatever you want when no one knows it's you," seethed Wes. "You think you're hot stuff, don't you? Well, wait until everyone finds out that the local specter terrorizing the town is actually one of the biggest losers in school!"

"I don't terrorize anyone," Danny huffed. He didn't bother refuting the last comment.

"Right, right. Like that time you threatened the mayor wasn't terrorizing." Danny opened his mouth, but Wes cut him off. "No, don't you dare try to justify that. Man, just wait until everyone finally finds out. How long do you think you're gonna be grounded for? A month? A year? All the way through college?"

"Wes. Wes, listen to me. My parents are ghost hunters. Do you really think spilling my secret is a good idea?"

At that, Wes's cocky smirk faltered. "...Dude. These are your parents we're talking about. They won't do any worse than yell at you, and probably ground you."

Once again, Danny looked away. "I don't know, I just... I would feel a lot better if they didn't find out. At least, not until I figure out a good way to tell them."

There was a moment of awkward, contemplative silence. "...Fine. Okay. I won't tell anyone you're Phantom. But I can at least show everyone that I'm not Phantom, right?"

Danny quirked a brow at that. "Hey, if you want to paint a huge target on your back, that's no business of mine. If having my parents and a whole government agency actively trying to take you out even in human form is what you want to do, then who am I to stop you?"

"...Government agency?"

"Uh, remember the Guys In White?" Danny pointed out. "Do you think, if they knew who you were, that they would ever stop hunting you down, just because you look human sometimes? I don't exactly hide my identity just for the novelty of it. It's bad enough already with Fenton and Phantom being separate people, as far as Amity Park is concerned. But if everyone knew that Danny Fenton was secretly a ghost, I would never get them off my tail. It wouldn't be any different for you. You wouldn't be able to hide in plain sight if anyone knew what you were."

"And you thought it was a good idea to turn me into something like you?" To his satisfaction, the other Halfa looked rather sheepish at that. He mercifully dropped the matter. "...You said something about regenerating?"

"I... Yeah," Danny replied. "Ghosts can reform their ectoplasmic structures faster than humans can form scabs or scars. For us, that basically means we heal a lot faster."

"You always come to class covered in bruises," Wes said. "But they always fade by the time school ends."

"Exactly! I mean, something like this will take a lot longer. Maybe... a week, if you don't aggravate it. Speaking of that, you might want to avoid basketball for a few days."

Wes pulled a face. "Ugh, fine. I'll... I'll say a ghost hit me or something. Does that work?"

"That should be fine," Danny replied. "But, uh, you should probably change back now. I don't know when my parents will be back, but if they see a couple of ghosts in their lab, they're gonna freak."

The redhead raised his brows. "Change back? How the heck do I change back?"

"I dunno, just... picture it?" Phantom supposed. "There's like, a feeling, I guess. It'll take some time to get the hang of it, but at the very least, it's way easier to look human than ghost."

Wes gave him a dubious look, then closed his eyes, concentrating. And then, there was a bright light. Not the bisecting of glowing rings, as with Danny and Vlad. Rather, Wes simply flashed. It only lasted a second, and when the glow faded, there stood the jock, looking as human as he had ten minutes before. Though Danny was happy to note that a lot of the color was already returning to his cheeks. Unfortunately, his jersey was caked in blood. It had been harder to notice when his jersey was black, but like this, it was impossible to miss it.

"Yeah, perfect. Just like that," Danny said, reverting to human form himself. "But, um. You should probably stay the night or something. You're still really hurt. And covered in blood."

Wes looked down at himself, relieved to see that he at least looked normal again. But he grimaced at the sight of the dark red caked into his clothes. "Right... Um, I should call my dad, then. He can bring me a change of clothes."

"Great, you do that. And come on, I'll show you where the guest bedroom is."

Danny led Wes out of the lab, who called his dad as they walked, letting him know he was staying with a friend for the night. Danny snickered at Wes's expression at using the word "friend," as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. The jock's injury throbbed as they moved, but overall, it wasn't nearly as painful as he would have expected.

Pretty soon they reached their destination, Danny ushering Wes into the room. "I'll answer the door when your dad gets here, so he doesn't see all..." he gestured at Wes in general, "...this. Uh, if you're hungry, let me know and I'll order out. Trust me, you don't want anything in the fridge. I've got games in my room down the hall if you get bored or whatever, bathroom is downstairs, and, uh. Try not to phase through the floor in your sleep, alright?"

Wes nodded to show that he'd heard, and Danny went towards his room, presumably calling his own parents to let them know he had someone over. There were a few blissful moments where Wes simply skimmed his social media pages. And then the last thing Danny said registered in his mind. "Wait, I can just phase through floors on accident?!"


Well, there's chapter one! I don't expect future chapters to be very gory or anything, but I'm still gonna keep the T rating. I might feel like including some mild swears or something as I go, you never know.

Obviously this is gonna be super self indulgent. Still, I hope the rest of you enjoy the ride, too! There seems to be a real lack of Halfa Wes content, and I intend to add to it. If you have any questions, feel free to send me a message! Though I won't answer anything that might be a spoiler, haha.