Here's the next chapter only a day after the last one - enjoy!

He got out of the hospital another hour later and found, with annoyance, that he didn't have his car with him – he'd have to walk, which he really didn't want to do right now. Ugh.

On the way home, his leg got stuck in the pavement a total of seven times, each one getting him more and more riled up. When he sunk torso deep into the concrete, Edward was at his wits end. He had no idea how no one saw him, but he was stuck there for over five minutes, both unable and unwilling to get himself out. Danny Phantom turned out to be a lifesaver.

He appeared suddenly over Edward's head, smirking slightly, but sympathetic. He yanked him out of the pavement, explaining that he had somehow managed to go invisible as well, then offered Edward a lift home, which resulted in him discovering the absolutely petrifying experience that was flying. He had nearly gone through his entire repertoire of book curses before they got to his house and Phantom set him down on the ground, shaking and pale. He staggered into his house, fumbling with the lock, then sat down on his chair – the comfy one with the excess of pillows – and a book.

Edward honestly couldn't remember the last time he had been unable to finish the first chapter of a book, but today he couldn't. he picked it up, skimmed the first few pages and then put it down, open page, on the table. His head was bursting with thoughts and feelings, each one more worrying than the next. Was he dead? Phantom had said no, but he had also said that the whole thing was a theory. Edward wondered if it had ever happened before. His arm fell through the armchair and he growled. He really had to learn to get a grip on his… whatever they were. Powers? That seemed silly. He was a grown forty year old man for goodness sakes. Magic powers weren't real.

Then Edward remembered he lived in Amity Park. A few years ago, he'd thought that ghosts weren't real.

He sunk further back into the armchair.

The next day dawned with rain, and Edward groaned as he woke up. Everything ached. He stretched, reaching up and then out for the book on his bedside table. He stared in horror for a second at the state he had left it in last night – Edward was a firm believer that the worst thing you could do to a book was leave it open page down, right along with folding the corner to keep your page – and then startled when his hand went through it. Right. Ghost powers. Ok.

He lay in bed for another ten minutes, too emotionally drained to even think of getting up. In those ten minutes he made a decision.

Fumbling around his table for his phone, Edward picked it up and dialled the school's office number.

"Hello? Yes. It's Edward. Yes. I'm calling in sick. What? No, I'm not alright! Otherwise I wouldn't be calling! Yes, I'm really taking a sick day. Ok. Thank you, bye." He collapsed down into his bed, already regretting it. He had never missed a day of work in all the time he had been teaching and was well known for it too. He just could not deal with people today, students or teachers. What if he went intangible during a class, or what if some other power exhibited itself? There would be chaos. Edward did not like chaos.

He spent most of the day in bed but got up around lunch time to have a sandwich. It was there that he nearly destroyed his kitchen with a green blast coming from his finger. He glared at the smoking remains of his stove with confusion and dreaded having to replace it; a teacher's salary was not exactly high.

At exactly three forty two, Danny Phantom appeared in the kitchen. He took one look at the rubble and burst out laughing. Edward was not amused.

"So I'm guessing you discovered ectoblasts then?" Phantom wheezed. "Brilliant."

"it's not brilliant." Edward growled. "I'm going to have to pay for this."

The ghost winced. "Yeah, yeah, I know. Trust me, I get enough bills for all the property damage I do around here, even though it's not my fault!"

"You pay bills?" Edward was intrigued. Phantom had said he was a teenager, and besides, how could a ghost get a job?

"Nah. The mayor does."

"Vlad Masters?"

"Well yeah, he's a billionaire. It's not like he can't afford to give some up. Heck, he could afford to pay every teen's collage debt and get every person in this town a luxury apartment, but he doesn't. he mostly spends it on rebuilding his creepy castle whenever it gets blown up or on equally creepy plots to destroy me."

Edward could help but be incredulous. "Mayor Masters wants to destroy you?"

"Uh, duh? Oh wait. Yeah. Probably should have told you this. You know I said you were a halfa?" he waited for Edward's confused nod before continuing, "He's one too. Except, he didn't have anyone as awesome as me to help him and he became a creepy fruitloop."

Edward tried to wrap his head around that one for a second, and failed miserably. This was much more than just him getting superpowers, wasn't it. He decided to concentrate on something else Phantom had said. "you're going to help me?"

"Well obviously! I can't exactly leave you with ghost powers, can I? that's why I came here. I was wondering if you wanted me to train you. I mean, you're gonna have to learn to use your powers even if it's just to control them. I can help you learn to transform into your ghost form and control those ectoblasts and so on. I mean, it's not like I know anything about having a human form," he added quickly. Too quickly. "but I can be more help than you would get on your own. Am I talking too much? Oh god, I'm talking too much. I'll just shut up."

"No!" Edward's hands came up to his chest in a surrendering motion. "No, it's fine. I think that would be a… good idea. Yes. Training. When would that be?"

"I was thinking, well, right now? We can work out a schedule after today, but you're looking better now and you're off work so?"

Edward wondered how on earth he knew he hadn't been in work today. Did Phantom stalk him? Instead, he just said, "That would be fine. Let's get started."

Phantom took him to one of the old warehouses across town – the ones that were rumoured to be haunted. Edward supposed that they were.

Lucid eyes surveyed him, white hair rippling despite the lack of wind. Was that a ghost thing, or was that just Phantom trying to act the part of a stereotypical hero? The Fenton's had the theory that a ghost's outer appearance reflected how they saw themselves, so maybe it was because Phantom saw himself as a hero.

"Lesson number one." He said, voice soft but commanding. It was far from the panic and self-consciousness from earlier, and Edward figured he should probably listen. "You can pretty much do intangibility in human form, but we're going to try and get you to transform."

Edward gulped. "How do I do that?" he asked, throat dry.

Phantom laughed and floated nearer to him. "A ghost is made up of ectoplasm, for the most part. They are essentially, to use the Fenton's wording, a blob of it. However, we have these things called cores. The best comparison would be to a human heart, I guess. It's the powerhouse of a ghost. It's what keeps them going and contains all that they are. If your core is damaged, you are too, and destroying a core is the only way to truly destroy a ghost. Our core is also where all our 'powers' come from, and each ghost's core is different. For instance," his eyes glowed a beautiful frosty blue and a shard of ice appeared in his hand, "I have an ice core. That means I have a special affinity for ice, and I can use loads of ice based attacks. My core also supports all the other powers I have, like the ectoblasts and so on. You now have one of these cores too, which means you'll be able to use the same powers and, judging by Vlad masters, you'll be able to change to a ghost form." He paused for a second to let that information sink in.

"So do I have an ice core as well, or is it some other kind of element?" Edward asked. He was fascinated by the whole business and wanted to learn as much as possible. And possibly stall for time.

"We don't know yet." Phantom answered. "My core didn't develop the elemental powers until about three years after I died, and it's still not fully mature. You'll probably have a while until anything like that shows itself."

"Oh. well then."

"Yeah. Anyway, what I want you to do is try and feel your core. Reach down deep inside your body and feel it. You should be able to feel it pulsing or beating like a heart. I guess since you actually have a heart as well, you'll have two different pulses. Not that I would know of course, being fully dead and all."

Edward thought he was all too quick to tell that fact. Interesting.

He tried to do as Phantom said and was a little terrified when he did in fact feel two separate pulses on his wrist. It felt irregular and wrong. His mind tried to imagine his heart beating inside his chest, then off to the side, another foreign entity. His core. He felt himself gasp out loud but didn't register Phantom's grin. He could feel it. There was something else inside of him, something new and powerful. Power thrashed around him, and he could feel it rippling through his veins. Edward took a deep breath and pulled.

The first thing that he noticed was that he was floating. About four feet off the ground. Edward gave a yelp and landed firmly on his behind. Rubbing his poor aching back and thinking that he was way too old for this, he noticed his hands. His hands were blue.

Edward definitely did not scream.

They weren't completely blue per se, but there was a definite tinge to them, as if his skin was so thin that he could see the veins through it. He was already pale, but now he was white as… a ghost.

"You look good." Phantom said from his corner. Edward had almost forgotten he was there. "Very ghostly." Somehow, he had gotten hold of a mirror, and he held it up for Edward to inspect. He examined his reflection obediently.

White hair. He wasn't supposed to go grey for another ten years at least! He wasn't even supposed to have hair! "Portrait of Dorian Grey!" he exclaimed. "Where did that come from?"

"The hair?" phantom asked, "Your guess is as good as mine. Gotta say though, it suits you. You look good with hair. Different, but good."

"Thank you, I think." Edward replied, thoroughly confused. It wasn't just his hands that were tinged blue now, it was his whole face. His beard had inverted from its usual silky black too, and Edward wasn't sure if he liked it.

"You might want to do something about the clothes." Phantom pointed out, gesturing at Edward's bright orange shirt and tie. "Those were the clothes you were in when it happened, and it pretty much inverted everything for you. You do not suit orange."

"Again, thank you."

"No problem." Phantom grinned. "Next time, just bring the clothes you want to wear in your ghost form and you can work on making them stay when you transform. And, for the love of Clockwork, please don't bring anything blue."

"Nothing blue, right. That might be a problem."

"Oh for f… let me guess, you just have that one shirt?"

Edward shrugged. "Pretty much. It's not like I have anywhere to go but work."

The ghost groaned. "Alright then. You're going shopping. I'll send someone to make sure you make sensible choices. Anyway, now we're going to work on your ectoblasts. They're good in a fight and can be useful when you want to get out of a trap. Intangibility is good too, so we'll work on that too. That'll be enough for today."

"Phantom?"

"You need to try and pull at your core again, and feel the energy building up on your fingertips. I get a little tingle but…"

"Phantom."

"You might get something else. I don't know."

"Phantom."

"What?"

"Will I be in fights?"

"What do you mean, of course you will. You want to help protect the city, don't you?"

"Well, yes." Edward admitted, "But does that have to be done through violence. I've seen the way the Fentons run in with guns blazing, and they don't even think about what the ghost is doing. They've shot at you multiple times and you weren't doing anything wrong. What if not all ghosts are malevolent?"

Phantom's face was quietly thoughtful. "Not all of them are." He said. "But most are. Most of them don't care about humans or the damage they're doing." Edward's eyes narrowed and his forehead scrunched in thought.

"Isn't that what the Fentons say about you?"

His reaction was immediate and downright scary. "Are you comparing me to the Fentons?" phantom asked. His voice was just as low as it had been before, but much more threatening now. His eyes glowed bright and eerie. Inhuman. For the first time since he had become a halfa, Edward saw Phantom as a real threat and was reminded of just how strong he really was. "they hunt my kind. They hunt me. I just take the ghosts peacefully back to the ghost zone. Yes I fight them. Can you blame me? It's a ghost thing! It's what we do!"

"But why do I have to?" Edward asked. "You said it yourself: a halfa isn't dead, isn't a real ghost. Why should I follow the same rules as full ghosts do?"

"I think that's enough for today." Was all Phantom said. "I'll see you next Saturday at the same place, eight o clock."

"Phantom, wait!" Edward called after him. "I didn't mean to offend you…" but Phantom was gone.

So there you have it. I think Mr Lancer was always going to be a pacifist to some degree - I just can't imagine him enjoying fighting in the way that Danny does.