Author's Note: I own nothing.

12 Call Me Phantom

They got Dani calmed down by the time Sam needed to head home to meet his curfew. Tanya did everything she could think of to keep Dani's mind off of Paulina and ghosts all together. It seemed to work up until it was time to leave for school the next day. They met up with Sam on their way to school and Dani borrowed his hoodie which was just a bit too large on her. She used it to hide, pulling the overly large hood as far over her face as it would go. With that method she managed to avoid detection until lunch. As they made their way towards the cafeteria Dani peeked out of the hood.

"Is anyone looking at me weird?" She asked practically under her breath. Sam shook his head. Tanya it seemed had had enough of Dani hiding.

"Yeah, but only because you look like you're trying to disappear into Sam's hoodie. Relax and act natural." Tanya said and Dani huffed.

"How am I supposed to relax! Paulina knows my secret!" Dani hissed and Tanya nodded. Before any of them could say anything though there was a groaning from the pipes in the wall and out of a nearby drinking fountain came Johnny's shadow. Tanya frowned.

"So that's where the town's sewage ends up. That explains so much." She deadpanned as the hall quickly cleared. Dani dove into a locker and Phantom phased out of it snatching up the shadow and flying up through the roof. Their fight didn't last long, Dani managed to dispel the shadow with a bright blast and swooped back into the locker invisibly. She turned back into herself and Sam opened the locker. None of them noticed someone sidle up to them until she spoke.

"Good job Dani!" All three of them jumped. Paulina grinned at them. Sam practically snarled. Paulina rolled her eyes.

"I was gonna make a Nasty Burger run for lunch! Wanna come? My treat!" They blinked dumbly at her for a moment. She rolled her eyes again, leaning in closer. "Look I get that I maybe scared you a bit yesterday but I swear your secret is safe with me Dani. I mean why would I want to rat you out, you do more good for this town then most will admit. Honestly I just want to be friends." Dani blinked at her. She grinned looping her arm in Dani's and leading her off. "I was thinking we could meet up at my place after school. I could do your nails!" Sam shared a look with Tanya as they followed Dani and Paulina off. It was odd to say the least. For the next week or so Paulina showered them in attention. She stopped hanging out with Star and started just hanging with Dani and Tanya. Sam was mistrusting but Dani was just glad to have her secret safe and have someone else to talk to about ghosts. But it was odd, Johnny's shadow persisted cropping up eight times before Friday. They were relaxing out near the edge of town, Dani had just beat up the Box Ghost and was still Phantom. Sam and Tanya had elected not to come stargazing with them, saying they had homework to catch up on. Paulina sighed looking up at the stars, she glanced at Dani.

"You know I'm kinda curious how your nails look like this." Dani frowned. She had yet to remove her gloves. She pulled off one glove, her nails had been painted white when she was Dani Fenton, they were black now. She blinked and pulled off the other glove she blinked. This was the hand she was burned on in human form. But in ghost form things were different. Her circular shaped burn wasn't there, instead only the circle in her hand was unmarked. The whole rest of her arm was covered in Lichtenberg scars, but like her other scar this one was unnatural. Instead of a normal color for a scar this one was bright green as if the ectoplasm under her skin was now visible. Paulina whistled.

"That is a gnarly death scar." Paulina said sitting up. Dani blinked down at her arm and then turned to Paulina.

"A gnarly what?" Dani asked. Paulina shrugged stretching.

"Death scar. Not everyone gets one. But it's like a marker of how you died. Only really powerful ghosts have it." She said like it was completely ordinary to know that Dani tilted her head at Paulina. Or was it? Had Paulina's eyes been that color before? As calmly as possible Dani slipped her gloves back on.

"How do you know that Paulina?" Dani asked. Paulina's eyes widened in surprise as if she just realized what she'd said.

"Fuck." She swore looking up at Dani guiltily. Now that she was looking for it the signs were all there. Though she wasn't sure what color Paulina's eyes had been before she was reasonably certain they hadn't been red, though under the right lighting it could have been a deep brown. The badly hidden bags under her eyes were another tell, that and thinking about it Dani hadn't seen her eat anything since before the water park. She folded her arms.

"Who am I really talking to?" She demanded. Paulina's face grew even guiltier. But Dani's question was answered by another ghost, heralded by a headlight. Johnny Thirteen pulled to a halt in front of them. He frowned as he kicked down his kickstand.

"Kitty please, babe you know I'm sorry." Paulina shuddered and her body fell to the floor as a ghost stepped out of her. She was somewhat familiar to Dani, who leaped forward to catch Paulina.

"Why can't you just leave me alone Johnny! I swear the only reason you even came back here was to check out other girls!" Dani rolled her eyes as she glanced between Johnny and Kitty. Paulina groaned in Dani's arms. Kitty swore and turned as though to dive into Paulina again. Dani raised her free hand letting it glow with power.

"Nope, not gonna let that happen." She looked between Johnny and Kitty. "I don't know what you two have going on, but leave the living out of it! This is my town, you do not fuck with my town, or did throwing back Walker's invasion not teach a lesson?" Dani spoke with more confidence than she felt, but it worked Kitty stopped and Johnny frowned. Dani stood, easily lifting the still unconscious Paulina one handed. She took a risk.

"Sit down, shut up. I'll be right back, wait here." She sang it, and as she hoped both ghosts obeyed, as the skeletons in the Fright Knight's castle had. She took off carrying Paulina with her, she went invisible as soon as she got off the ground, flying as fast as she could to the Amity Hospital. She paused, invisible in the hallway. It wasn't like Phantom could fly into the ER, and Dani Fenton would draw too many questions especially with the way Paulina had been acting around her for the past week. But she did know someone who worked here, and better still where her office was. She flew straight there, walking through the door that read Angelica Foley. She was behind her desk, working on some paperwork.

"Please don't scream." It was a sung order, Dani needed her not to panic. She started but as ordered no scream passed her lips as Dani Phantom and Paulina materialized in her office. She blinked, looking scared, it hurt Dani couldn't lie. She and Tanya had been friends since kindergarten and Angelica had always been like a second mother to her, sometimes more attentive than her own, Maddie tended to get wrapped up in her work.

"What, you're the ghost who attacked the mayor!" Dani shook her head.

"Long story but that wasn't what it looked like, I swear. But I'm not here for me." Dani gestured to the still prone teen hanging off her arm. Angelica leaped from her chair, Dani could practically see the switch flip in her head, from scared bystander to nurse in an instant. She took Paulina from Dani, quickly checking her pulse.

"Her pulse is steady, I need to know what happened." Angelica practically demanded.

"Prolonged possession. Best guess, the ghost forgot she's alive and needs things like food and sleep." Angelica glared, Dani raised her hands. "Wasn't me. Look it doesn't matter if you believe me, can you help her?" Angelica's brow furrowed but they were interrupted when Paulina stirred. She groaned and opened blue eyes.

"What happened?" Dani swooped over Angelica so Paulina would see them both.

"Miss," it felt so weird to call her classmate that, "do you know who I am?" It was sort of a test to see if Paulina remembered anything from her time possessed by Kitty. Paulina blinked at her.

"You're that ghost girl who saved me. Twice apparently. Why do I feel like I haven't eaten in a week?" Angelica helped Paulina upright and glanced at Dani, confusion in her eyes.

"Come on sweetheart, let's get you a bed." She said to Paulina. Turning slightly back to Dani she frowned. "Who are you?" It was a genuine question, Dani had stumped her and that made her want to laugh a little. Angelica was a staunchly logical individual it wasn't often that she was confused.

"You can call me Phantom, Dani Phantom." She sank through the floor, swooping off to confront Kitty and Johnny.