Hi folks! Here's a head's up to inform you that this chapter is a meaty 6.7k words long! If you need a break partway through this chapter, I would recommend stopping at the second scenebreak/linebreak/horizontal line. Have fun reading!

Danny let loose a barrage of (low powered) ecto-blasts, watched as Jazz' shield wavered but held. His core rumbled in his chest, proud.

Because, sure. His presence here wasn't ideal, and he supposed it wasn't strictly necessary either. Based on what he had seen, Jazz would've managed alright on her own, too. But he was here, wasn't he? So he might as well help.

Plus, there were only so many situations in which he got to help, and he got rewarded by people actually liking him. As Phantom, he saved Amity's people over and over and over, and what did he get? Hatred and vitriol. Even the few that liked him changed their minds on a whim, like when Walker—

Oh.

Like when Walker attacked with Wulf.

Danny had completely forgotten about Wulf in this universe. Jazz never went into the Zone, so she never got in Walker's bad graces. Which meant that the prison ghost never sicced Wulf on her.

Uh. Well. That was… That was something he needed to deal with. This Wulf might not know him, but still. He couldn't leave the ghost in Walker's hands.

"What are you thinking about?" Jazz asked, her voice snapping him out of his thoughts.

"Huh?" he said, eloquently.

She rolled her eyes. "You zoned out on me. What were you thinking of?"

He debated not telling her, but… he would have to go in the Zone to free Wulf. She needed to know if he wasn't around to fight ghosts for her.

Instead he shrugged, a sheepish smile on his face. "I just remembered something I did in my timeline that hasn't happened in this one. So I, uh. Figured I should go do that."

"Why would you do that, instead of me?" she asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow. "It's my universe, isn't it?"

Danny made a face. "I mean, yeah, but it's… complicated. Look, Jazz, it was a really rough confrontation, and one you avoided in this universe."

"Okay, so?" she challenged, crossing her arms and looking every bit the stubborn teenager she was.

"So," he said, "it makes more sense for me to handle it than for you to handle it. Besides, in my timeline I wasn't strong enough to win, and I'm not gonna make you go through the same."

"If you weren't strong enough then, what makes you so certain you are now?" Her eyes were narrowed, bright and set.

He rolled his eyes. "Because I've got two years of additional experience. It'll be fine, Jazz. And even if it won't be, I need you to stay here. In my original timeline I got Sam and Tucker to bail me out when I took too long. I need you to be that backup in this universe, alright?"

She glared at him for a moment, before inclining her head in a nod. "I guess. But I'll need to know where you're going, then."

"Right. In the Ghost Zone, kinda close to the Fenton Portal, there's this huge purple building. That's Walker's prison, and that's where I'm going to free Wulf. If I'm not back for our next training session, I need you to come look for me there."

Her eyes grew wide. "A prison?! You're expecting me to break you out of a prison?"

"Well, yeah. It's a Ghost Zone prison. Regular world stuff, including us in our human forms, can go right through it. Which is why I'm not expecting it to be much trouble, but, well." He shrugged. "You never know with Walker."

Jazz squinted at him, but nodded, slowly. "I guess," she grumbled, low. "Go flail at Walker. And Phantom… Danny?"

"Yeah?" he asked, meeting her eyes. She barely called him Danny anymore, wanted to keep him and her own brother separate. It was saved, now, for the special moments.

"Stay safe," she told him.

He grinned back. "I promise, Jazz. I'll be back before you know it."

"Bye Mom, Dad!" Jazz yelled, and the front door closed. Danny peeked over the edge of the building he'd spent the night on, meeting her eye when she glanced up.

Jazz waved, a friendly gesture. Her eyes were narrowed, however, a warning. A non-verbal "stay safe".

He waited for another moment or two before turning himself invisible. Go time.

Invisible, he left the roof. Phased through the walls and floors of FentonWorks until he reached the lab. It looked like his parents' lab usually did; shiny chrome, with all kinds of half-assembled inventions scattered everywhere, and everything lit with the sharp white light of the ceilings lights, combined with the eerie green of the Portal.

Well, no time to get nostalgic and homesick. He had a job to do!

Determined, he pushed onward and through the Portal. The Ghost Zone was…

It was just like always, really. Maybe it was just because he didn't go there all that often, but the place always looked the same to him. That's kind of why he insisted on making maps, but he would just have to do without those for once. That would be fine, right? It was only one time.

It only took one time without supervision for him to get trapped in a different universe, his traitorous mind whispered to him. He ignored it.

Walker's prison was pretty close to the Portal, but… but Danny didn't want to go directly there. It was selfish, yes, but he wanted to see a little more of the Zone first.

Amity Park was always his home, but this Amity wasn't his. He never felt quite right, quite at home. Always had to hide, stay out of sight. In the Ghost Zone, he could just be. No ghost would be able to tell that he didn't belong, and even if they could, somehow? They wouldn't care.

It was just… freeing. To go where he wanted to, and have no one care, not really. Because in here, the ghosts could tell how strong his core was. Most wouldn't be eager to pick a fight with someone like him.

He flew, directionless and course-less. No destination in mind. Just flying for the sake of doing it.

Which, of course, was the moment he stumbled upon a familiar face.

The brakes of Johnny's bike screeched as he tried to stop before hitting Danny, twisting the handlebars to dodge. Danny jerked himself the other way, but it wasn't quite enough; his foot hooked on Johnny's leg, forcing them both to a sudden stop.

Danny coughed, pushing himself back onto his feet. Johnny hadn't fallen all the way down, but he was clinging onto his bike rather perilously.

"Shoot, sorry," Danny apologized, one hand coming up to rub his neck. "Should've been paying a little more attention to where I was flying."

Johnny squinted at him, a suspicious air about him. "Yeah, man. You lookin' for more fights, or something?"

"No, just too caught up in my thoughts. Sorry." He grinned sheepishly at Johnny, then realized… "Hey, where's Kitty? Aren't you two usually glued to each other's sides?"

"How would you know?" Johnny asked, eyes narrowing even further. Then he scoffed, shook his head, and looked away. "If it matters, we're fighting. Kitty's jealous because I keep looking at other ladies even if we're out together."

"Ah." Danny made a face and dropped his hand back to his side. "That's… unfortunate. Not to get all up in your business or anything, but… have you tried talking it out? Communication is important, y'know."

The biker ghost grumbled. "I don't want relationship advice from a little punk like you. What's it even matter to you? It's not like we're causing trouble in that city you and the girl are protecting."

"You aren't, no." Danny finally placed this moment. If this matched with his universe, and chances were that it did, this was when Kitty overshadowed Paulina to make Johnny jealous. And he really didn't want Jazz to deal with any of that—if she would even fall for it, knowing that it had happened to Danny. "Look, Johnny. I know Specter and I didn't make a great impression when we met, but we're not just fighting ghosts to protect humans. We want to make Amity a good place for everyone, and that includes you and Kitty whenever you come by. I don't want you two to drag innocent humans into your fight, alright? Just talk it out like grownups, yeah?"

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Like grownups? You sound like a kid. How old do you think we are?"

"Not that old." Danny shrugged. "Look, you get what I'm trying to say, don't you? I might not look like it, but I know a thing or two about relationships. Talk with each other, and even if it doesn't work out, at least you'll know what's up. Now you're both agitated and frustrated and neither of you knows what's up."

"Ugh." Johnny grunted. "Yeah, I guess that that makes sense."

He settled back onto the bike properly, then leaned over the handlebars to point at Danny. "But I ain't doing this for you, you hear me? I'm doing this for me, and for Kitty."

"Of course," Danny agreed peaceably. "Wouldn't expect anything else."

"You'd better believe it, punk." Johnny squinted at him for a moment longer, but whatever he saw seemed to satisfy. His bike roared to life as Johnny drove off, following the narrow rocky pathways towards the Portal.

Danny watched him go for a moment, then heaved a steadying sigh. Well, that was one problem less for Jazz to deal with. But enough stalling; he should get going, before he runs into another (un)friendly face.

He made his way to the prison quickly, and then promptly realized that he hadn't actually planned ahead this far. Well, unless you count "break in and free Wulf" as a plan, which… well. Danny might consider it a suitable plan, but Sam, and Tucker, and Jazz all keep telling him it's not, so. Maybe he should plan ahead a little better.

The whine of a siren snapped Danny out of his thoughts and, oops. He probably should've moved a little further away from the prison he was trying to break into.

Some of Walker's guards approached him, clubs raised threateningly. Danny's muscles tensed, fingers balling into fists, energy pouring from his core.

But, no. He forcibly relaxed himself, let the guards drag him into the prison. Who needed to break into a prison, when you could just get brought into it? Sure, it was a little unconventional, but he managed to break free just fine in his own universe. The timing was a little off, but he was sure he could still count on the same ghosts.

Actually, that would explain why he hasn't seen some of his regulars in a while. He had completely forgotten that Walker had arrested them in his timeline, and that they hadn't gotten free until their mutual jailbreak.

Whoops.

Rather than face off against Walker, Danny is brought directly to the regular cells. Huh. Guess that he's considered a regular rule-breaker now. More proof that Danny had so far been successful with hiding his half-ghost nature from the others, which was… good, probably? He wasn't keen on Vlad figuring out that there were two half-ghosts around for him to convince.

It didn't take long for the guards to return to bring Danny to the canteen and, ah. Yep. There were all those ghosts he'd been halfheartedly missing. He felt kind of bad—he should've remember sooner. None of these guys deserve to deal with Walker. Oh well. Live and learn, right? He could deal with the guilt later.

Danny quickly moved over, sitting down at the table with Skulker, Technus, Desiree, and the Lunch Lady. All four look rather confused to see him. Lunch Lady, especially, was squinting at him rather suspiciously.

"Whelp," Skulker said, cautiously. "What are you doing here?"

"Organizing a jailbreak." He shrugged, faux casual. "I could try to break in first, but, well. This was easier."

Skulker nodded thoughtfully, but it was Desiree who spoke up, an odd tone to her voice. "You really are something else, aren't you?"

"I try." Danny grinned at her, then inclined his head towards Lunch Lady, remembering that they hadn't met in this universe. "Hi, sorry, I don't think we've met yet. I'm Phantom, and you're the Lunch Lady, yeah? I heard about you from my sister, Specter."

The suspicious expression faded from her face now that they had finally been introduced. She nodded back, hesitantly. "Yes. The girl, she was most helpful with fixing the menu."

"Yeah, she's good at that." Danny turned back to the group as a whole, where Desiree nodded in agreement. "Anyway, like I was saying. Jailbreak. Any of you guys want to help?"

Skulker's metallic face split in a ferocious grin, and Technus followed suit, baring his oddly angular teeth. Lunch Lady nodded forcefully, and Desiree gave an affirming smile as well.

All things considered, the actual jailbreak was almost laughably easy. Hell, Danny had managed it once while he was fourteen, and on much worse terms with these guys. Doing it now, with much better standings? Piece of cake.

They overwhelmed the guards quickly, storming through the prison's hallways. Danny flew along for most of the way, until he reached the junction where everyone else would head to the exit.

"Skulker," he called out, moving over to the empty pathway. "I'm gonna split. You guys stay safe, and remember Amity's rules, yeah?"

Skulker, still grinning viciously, saluted him. "You have my respect, whelp. Don't disappoint me."

And with that, he turned around and re-joined the stream of escaping ghosts.

"Well, no point in stalling," Danny muttered to himself, twisting towards the special holding cells again. "Let's go, Fenton."

He found Wulf's cell easily enough, the hallways empty and abandoned. All guards must've gone to stop the massive outbreak. A lucky break.

Once Danny had located Wulf, he shifted back to human form. He could break Wulf's cell door, but he was fairly sure that Wulf could escape himself once he was free of the collar and chains. No need to draw unneeded attention.

Danny phased through the door, shivering a little at the weird feeling. It was intangibility, sure, but it wasn't quite right. It felt differently from regular intangibility. The lack of control, maybe?

It was dark in the cell; Danny could barely make out Wulf's cowering shape. The ghost was curled up in the corner, his black fur lit jaggedly by the glowing chains around his wrists. Two bright green eyes peered out at him, but they were narrowed to slits. Wulf didn't trust him.

That was okay, though. He could work with that.

Slowly he crept closer, knowing that Wulf couldn't get away if he wanted to. Danny crouched in front of the ghost, reached out one hand, then paused. He doesn't think he has enough power to break the collar in human form. He'll have to shift, making Wulf the first full ghost in this universe to know that Danny is half ghost.

He swallowed away his hesitation, and backed up a few steps.

Light flashed, the cell lit up bright by his transformation. He tried to make it quick, as if he could coax his shift to do such things, but it wasn't enough. Wulf had balled up even further, his ears flattened to his neck. Scared. Scared of what Danny might do to him.

Danny crept closer again, hands raised placatingly. He wished he knew more Esperanto, wished that he could assure Wulf of his intentions. Instead he had to settle for trying to emit reassurance, his core rumbling soothingly in his chest.

He didn't know if it worked, or if Wulf was just too scared to fight back, but Danny got his hands on Wulf's collar. He swallowed away the hesitation, the worry, and wriggled his fingers in the tight space between the metal and Wulf's soft fur.

And he pulled.

Energy poured from his core, through his arms and his fingers. Sparked bright green, straight into the metal of the collar.

And he pulled.

With a hiss—or a sizzle—the collar released. It clattered onto the stone floor, emitting a shrill beep as it deactivated.

Wulf opened one hesitant eye, flicking it to the collar and then back to Danny. He tried to shoot the ghost a reassuring grin, taking his hands off of Wulf's neck again.

Rather than try to puzzle out the Esperanto, he reached for the chains on Wulf's wrists, pausing before he actually touched them. The wide green eyes followed his movement, and stilled for a moment.

Then Wulf nodded.

With this permission granted, Danny quickly stuck his fingers underneath the metal cuffs. These weren't electronic, but pure ecto-steel. All he would need for these was a bit of pure ghost-powered strength.

The cuff tore open with the groan and creak of metal. Danny quickly moved over to do the same to the other cuff, freeing Wulf entirely.

When the second chain fell away, clanging against the back of the cell, Danny stood up. Backed away from Wulf again.

Wulf hesitantly raised up as well, shoulders drawn high and head held low. His ears were still flattened, and his tail twitched uncertainly.

The ghost licked his lips, then asked, haltingly, in Esperanto, "Why did you help me?"

"It's a long story," Danny answered with a shrug. Even if he wanted to explain, he couldn't. He wasn't that fluent in Esperanto. "But you are free now."

"Free?" Wulf repeated, ears slowly rising up. His eyes seemed extra bright, now, and didn't move away from Danny. His tail twitched more vigorously, like a restrained wag. "I… am free?"

"Well…" Danny shrugged vaguely, unsure of how to make it any more clear. "Uh, yeah."

Realizing that he'd said the last in English, he instead settled for making vague shooing motions at Wulf.

This, at least, had some effect on the ghost. Wulf's muscles coiled, and with a sudden twitch, he unsheathed his claws.

Except the ghost bounded forward, suddenly, lunging towards Danny. He had just a single moment of doubt, had he somehow misjudged this situation?, before Wulf's furry arm wrapped around him, dragging him along. He could hear a tearing noise, and then suddenly the cell was gone.

Oh. Of course. Wulf had grabbed him and taken them outside Walker's prison. That made perfect sense.

Wulf had perked up now that they were outside the prison—and the Ghost Zone as a whole—because he stood tall again, his ears perked up and his tail wagging.

"Tell the story?" Wulf asked, cocking his head at Danny. "Why did you free me?"

Danny hesitated, taking a moment to look around them. They seemed to be in the woods somewhere in the human world, but he didn't know where, exactly. He turned back to Wulf with an apologetic face. "I don't speak very good Esperanto," he explained. "Sorry."

He wished he could explain, though. Wulf already knew about him being half-ghost, and Danny was sure he could trust Wulf. And—

And Wulf could make portals between worlds. Maybe he could even make one home.

Danny's core churned with an unnameable emotion. Pain, regret, guilt. Could he somehow…

With a flash, he shifted back to human form. He patted down his trousers, quickly, ignoring Wulf's confused look.

There! Danny pulled his phone out of his pocket, holding down the power button. He had realized, very quickly after coming here, that his phone was almost completely useless. He could use it for entertainment, sure, but no one could call or text him, and he couldn't charge it regularly enough for it to really be useful. So he had turned it off, intending to save the charge so he could call his friends when he got home.

He opened the internet browser, quickly navigating to Google Translate. His fingers darted over the keyboard, and when he was happy with his message, he clicked the translate button. It wouldn't be perfect, sure, but hopefully it would get the message across.

"It is a weird complicated story," his phone started reciting, and Wulf perked up even further. He crept in a little closer, focus entirely on the phone in Danny's hand as it continued to speak. "I am actually from a different universe. I am half ghost, and I accidentally traveled through a portal to this world. In my own universe, we are friends. Walker tried to have you attack me, but my friends and I took off your collar, and you helped me protect my town. I know that you are not the same Wulf, but I wanted to help you anyway, to repay you for everything you have done for me."

They waited in silence for a moment, then Wulf nodded, a grin appearing on his face. "I am glad," he said, tail wagging energetically, "that in another universe, I have made a friend so good that it carried over to another world entirely."

Danny didn't quite understand that whole thing, but he thought he got the gist anyway. He grinned back. "Well, you're my friend."

"Still, I wish I could help." Wulf flexed his paws, almost experimentally, but his grin faltered. "I wish I could open a portal home for you, but I can't. Only between here and the Ghost Zone."

His core stuttered, churned painfully. That figured. He hadn't thought that Wulf could, not really, but still. It hurt.

"It's not your fault," he assured Wulf anyway, patting his massive furry forearm. "I'll figure something out."

"I still want to do something in return," Wulf insisted, shoving his head against Danny's shoulder. "Anything to help my friend."

Well, now his core heaved for an entirely different reason. Danny moved his hand to Wulf's forehead, thinking it over. With one hand, he tapped out a new message on his phone.

"There is one option," it started, and Wulf's ears twisted towards the phone again. "In this universe, someone else is half ghost in my place. My sister. She is just as young as I was, and has less support. I think she will be okay, but it would be nice to be sure."

Wulf pulled his head away from Danny's shoulder, nodding vigorously. "It would be my pleasure to watch over your sister in your stead."

"Good." Danny rubbed his hand through Wulf's fur, rugged but surprisingly soft, considering the circumstances. "Thank you, Wulf."

It would be good to know that Jazz was safe when he left.

If he ever got to leave.

Harried footsteps echoed through the street as Danny turned down an alley. The heavy footfalls behind him continued; both Sam and Tucker wore boots instead of sneakers.

Light flashed in front of them, pale blue light bouncing off of the alley's walls. Danny stopped, Sam and Tucker right behind him.

He cleared his throat, and the ghost mere feet away startled visibly. Its—his—bright green eyes shot upwards, towards Danny. The expression was so human, far more human than his parents' research suggested. And it was undeniably guilty.

The ghost knew exactly who Danny was.

Slowly, the ghost clipped the Fenton Thermos in his hands back onto his white belt. From this close, Danny could tell that the entire outfit closely resembled the jumpsuit his parents had made for him, with the colors inverted. He wondered, darkly, how often the ghost had spied on them to mimic it so closely.

"Um," the ghost said, then halted, like he hadn't quite thought out what he actually wanted to say. He fidgeted with the cuff of one of his white gloves. His eyes, wide and unnaturally bright green, darted between the three humans opposing him.

"We need to talk," Danny told him, trying to make it sound like a threat. They hadn't brought anything to trap the ghost, and even if he appeared cornered, Danny knew he wasn't. Intangibility was a bitch.

The ghost shifted, like he was strongly contemplating leaving. He grimaced. "Well, um. What about? It's not like we've… met, ha ha."

Really, he could not look any more awkward. It was almost impressive. If only the situation had been, well. Not this.

Danny glared at the ghost, and Phantom made a face. He didn't leave.

"Don't be an idiot," Danny snapped. His nails dug into his palms as he clenched his fists. "I don't know who you are, and quite frankly, I don't give a fuck. You can haunt Amity Park all you want, and I wouldn't give a single damn! But you're messing with my sister, and I can't let that fucking slide."

Phantom shifted guiltily. He opened his mouth, but Danny cut him off before he could speak.

"I don't want to hear it! Whatever dumb excuse you're gonna give, I don't want it. I know Specter is my sister, that she's Jazz. I saw her go from human to ghost, when you two were fighting that shadow-y ghost. She was knocked out, you know that? And when she got up, she just went back out again, and I had to let her! Because I couldn't tell her I know! Because you somehow convinced her that— that you're her brother, or whatever!"

Phantom's mouth tightened into a thin line. His eyes, still luminous and green, narrowed. He waited for several seconds after Danny stopped talking, before asking, caustic, "Are you finished?"

"No!" Danny snapped back. "You're a fucked-up mess of a ghost, and you don't even seem to realize how fucked up any of this is! You fucking modeled yourself after me, like an image of me as a fucking ghost! And somehow you convinced Jazz that you really are me, that you're her actual brother, yet she barely talks to me. She probably spends more time with you than with me, because she doesn't realize there's a difference! And it's your goddamn fault!"

The ghost lunged forward, and Danny's heart stuttered, missed a beat. For a moment, he'd forgotten than he'd been yelling at a being strong enough to eviscerate him with barely any effort.

But Phantom didn't cross the entire distance between them. He landed on the ground with such force that dust blew away, but without a single noise.

Light flashed through the alley again, bright white like lightning. It danced around Phantom, so blinding that Danny was forced to close his eyes. When it faded, when he could see again…

It was like looking in a mirror.

Phantom looked… human. His flesh was visibly warmer, the tone just slightly pinker, and his eyes were as sky blue as Danny's own. His hair, previously white as snow, was now jet black. And his characteristic jumpsuit, the feature he seemed to have stolen right from the adult Fentons, had been replaced by clothes that could've been Danny's own. A little more ragged than he would normally prefer them, sure, but still…

"Wow," Sam breathed behind Danny, barely audible.

And the ghost—human?—smirked, wide and cocky. He threw out his hands demonstratively. "And that's where you're wrong! Because I am her brother, pal."

Danny stepped forward before he really knew it, his hands wrapped up in Phantom's shirt. It was like he was moving on auto-pilot, taking a backseat in the whole process.

His brain supplied, remarkably unhelpfully, that Phantom's shirt felt oddly real. Not cold or slick like ectoplasmic clothing.

"You ain't shit," Danny growled in Phantom's face, in that mirror image of his own. "You think you're a big fucking deal, some kinda big savior, protecting our weak pathetic fleshy people from the ghost invasion, but you're nothing. It's all a fucking cover so no one can see the damage you're really doing."

Phantom's eyes narrowed, the irises briefly flooding with bright green before they faded back to blue. "You don't know what you're talking about," he said, coldly. His hands wrapped around Danny's wrists. They were chilly, too cold. There was no force behind them.

"Don't I? You're out here, pretending to be Jazz' brother, and you don't expect me to be pissed about that? Shouldn't you know better?" He let go of Phantom's shirt. The last thing he needed was for the ghost to break his wrists when it got tired of being held.

"I'm not pretending," Phantom hissed, eyes narrowed. "And I don't give a damn about what you think of me. I've lived through the whole town hating me, through my own parents hating me. You're nothing compared to all that."

Sam scoffed, somewhere behind Danny, and he jerked. He'd almost forgotten that his friends were here, too.

"If you care so little about our opinions, why are you still here?"

Phantom's mouth tightened again, his eyes darting over to Sam. His eyebrows were drawn together. He almost looked pained. "That's… complicated."

"More complicated than pretending to be Danny Fenton, son of avid ghost hunters?" Tucker asked, scathingly. "More complicated than pretending to be, what, half ghost?"

"None of that is pretend," Phantom snarled. His eyes flickered green again as he clenched his fists. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Yeah, because you're not telling us, dude." Tucker huffed, crossing his arms. His eyes were hard.

"I…" Phantom halted, then shook his head. "I can't. I shouldn't." He refused to meet Tucker's eyes. Or Sam's.

He looked uncomfortably human.

"You gotta tell us something," Danny snapped at the ghost. Because that's what Phantom was. Just a ghost. "You're messing with my sister. And even if you're not actively pretending to be me, well. I find it hard to believe that you're missing the implications here."

Phantom snorted. "I'm not an idiot, yeah. Why do you think no one but Jazz has seen me like this yet?"

Some cold burrowed in Danny's chest. No one but Jazz. So that meant that Jazz had seen it. Had seen Phantom pull off a shift so similar to her own, which had made him look just like Danny.

"No one but Jazz, and now us," Sam pointed out. "Why break the pattern for us?"

Phantom shrugged. His eyes had moved over to Sam, but he dragged them back to Danny almost immediately. "I fucked up."

"So now what?" she asked, crossing her arms as well. "Are you finally going to tell us why this is all so complicated? Or are you going to continue pretending Tucker and I don't exist?"

The ghost flushed, suddenly, his shoulders coming up. Somehow, against all logic, it was red.

Ghosts were supposed to flush green, weren't they?

"It's—"

"Complicated?" Tucker finished for him, dryly. "Try something new, man."

"I'm…" Phantom paused again, then sighed. His shoulders sunk down like the weight of the world was on him. He looked so forlorn that Danny almost felt guilty.

Phantom reached into one of his pockets, producing a mobile phone. It looked remarkably modern, if a little scuffed up. Was that stolen?

It was quiet for a few moments as Phantom messed around with the phone. Finally, however, he seemed satisfied. He held it out towards the three of them.

Sam and Tucker leaned in closer, and Danny took the phone from Phantom. On the screen was a photo of… the three of them. But not one they had taken, he was sure. They were in his parents lab, he thought, and they were all smiling.

"Keep scrolling," Phantom said. Danny did.

The next photo was of just Sam and Tucker. They were still in the lab, and both holding ecto-weaponry. In front of them was some sort of shooting range, with shots clustered on two of the targets. They looked like they were arguing, but it was good-natured.

They definitely hadn't taken this photo. How had Phantom gotten it? Were there more shapeshifting ghosts like him?

Danny's stomach squirmed. Sam reached over his hands to click over to the next photo. Sam stood impassively, arms crossed, watching Tucker. Tucker, who seemed to be holding an energetic conversation with an enormous bipedal wolf. A ghost wolf.

"Keep going," Phantom instructed, quietly.

It was the three of them again, except… except Phantom was there, instead of Danny. His green eyes were scrunched up, his smile wide. Sam and Tucker, on either side of him, were grinning equally widely. A smear of green ectoplasm sat on Sam's cheek, but she didn't seem to care.

"You'll know," Phantom told them, and his voice was almost impossible to make out over the rushing sound in Danny's ears. The phone shook with such force that he could barely hit the button to move over to the next picture.

It was a picture of the living room of their house. Jazz sat on the couch, a book held loosely in her hand. She wasn't looking at it, though. No, she was looking at Danny, who seemed to have fallen asleep next to her. He leaned against her, his head on her shoulder. Danny looked about sixteen, the right age, but Jazz…

Jazz looked like she was eighteen.

Phantom took the phone back from Danny's stiff fingers. "Like I said. Complicated."

"What the hell, dude." Tucker blinked at the two of them, at Danny and at Phantom. "What the fuck was that?"

The ghost shrugged loosely. "I'm sure you can figure that out yourself." He pressed the power button on his phone, then stuffed it back in his pocket.

"So you're, what. From another universe?" Sam asked. Her voice was a mixture of disbelief and awe, Danny thought, but it was hard to say for sure.

"Basically." Phantom shrugged. He seemed awkward, now, but no closer to fleeing than he was at the start. "I kind of… accidentally came here. Portals in the Ghost Zone can lead to any point in time, but apparently to different worlds as well. I… didn't realize. Didn't realize I wasn't home until I met… Jazz."

"So you lied to her." Danny frowned at him. It sounded… well, like bullshit, but he supposed it was possible. He couldn't think of a more likely explanation, at least. "You made her believe that you were me."

"No," Phantom denied immediately, shaking his head. "No, never. I told her the truth from the start. She knows I'm not you. I'm just training her, just her mentor."

"Then why does she barely spend time with me anymore? Why does she spend more time with you than with me?"

"You think she enjoys that?" Phantom made a face, lip curled in… disgust? "Fuck, dude. She's been trying to spend time with you for ages. She hates that she's spending more time with me than with you. She doesn't even call me Danny, only Phantom. It's not me, it's you."

Danny's heart felt like it stopped, like it had turned into a clump of ice lodged in his chest.

"So if Jazz isn't trying to use you as a replacement for her brother, why is she spending so much time with you?" Sam asked while Danny was still trying to process this revelation.

Phantom rolled his eyes, then raised a hand. Blue light flashed, and then suddenly he had… something. Was twirling something smooth and shiny between his fingers. Ice? Ice was something Phantom could do, right? "If you suddenly became half-ghost, and ran into a half-ghost version of someone you knew, a half-ghost with two-and-a-half years of experience, wouldn't you spend time with them?"

He clenched his fist, and suddenly the ice was gone. Phantom's hand wasn't even wet. "I offered to teach her while I was around, and I help fight ghosts so she's not as overwhelmed as I was. And the timelines seem pretty similar so far, so I know roughly what's coming up, and I can help her figure out the tougher ghosts."

"You're a source of information," Tucker said, understanding in his voice. Realization dawned on Danny, too. Phantom wasn't a replacement; he was the half-ghost equivalent of a library. Jazz didn't get comfort from him because he was family, but because he knew.

"Yeah, basically." Phantom shrugged, but he didn't seem as tense anymore. "And backup. I had… well, you two. If I ever got in over my head, I was backed up by my Sam and Tucker, and later on, by my older sister Jazz as well. But your Jazz, this Jazz, she doesn't have that."

"But what about your own world?" Sam narrowed her eyes at Phantom, considering. "If you were the only half-ghost there, shouldn't you go back? Don't they miss you?"

Phantom clicked his tongue. "I can't. Portals in the Ghost Zone are unreliable, so I have no way of making sure I get there. It's better if I stick around here, where I have some system in place, and where I can help. Plus, if I stay in one place I'll be easier to find."

"I'm not saying that Sam and Tucker aren't great," Danny said, past the emotions still lodged in his throat, "But are you really expecting those two to find you in a different universe?"

Sam scowled at him, and the itch in his neck made him suspect that Tucker was doing the same from behind him. What? He was just being realistic!

"Them, or Jazz." Phantom shrugged at his incredulous look. "There's this invention that can track me to bizarre extents. Jazz once used it to send me a message while I was ten years in the future. And if that doesn't work, I have a ghost ally who owns an enchanted map, which can find portals to anywhere and anywhen you want, as long as it's in the Ghost Zone."

A heavy silence fell. Apparently Danny wasn't the only one who saw the problem with that.

"So then why aren't they here yet?" Tucker finally asked, conceding defeat. "You've been here for weeks, man."

Phantom's shoulders sunk down even further, his face falling. "Yeah," he agreed. "I know."

"So… now what?" Sam frowned at Phantom. "You're just gonna stay here indefinitely?"

"Might as well." Phantom sighed, heavy and exhausted. "Like I said, there's no point in going looking for a portal back. Wulf can't make a portal like that, and Frostbite only let me use the map because I fought the Ghost King. I haven't done that in this universe, so there's no way he'll trust me with that priceless artifact."

"Sounds rough." Tucker threw a look at Danny, then Sam, then Phantom again. "Can we help? You, or Jazz?"

Phantom shrugged once more. "I mean, I don't know. My Jazz figured out my secret at the same time as you guys figured out Jazz, but she held off with telling me because she figured I could manage with Sam and Tucker. It wasn't until that time traveling thing during the CAT test that she dropped enough of a hint for me."

"Alright, well…" Danny took a deep fortifying breath. "How about this. You keep up your training with Jazz, but stay in touch with us. I want to know what's going on, and I want to keep an eye on you. If she looks like she needs us… needs me, we'll tell her we know. Until then…"

"You want to get closer again." Phantom nodded, and Danny was startled at how understanding he seemed. "Hey, don't give me that look. I grew apart from my older sibling too, when I became half-ghost. Then we suddenly got closer again, after she figured me out."

"Oh." Danny licked his lips. He wasn't sure if it was meant to be comforting, but… it made him feel better anyway. Knowing that even Jazz, perfectly brilliant human being, had made this mistake.

There was still room for things to get better.

"Well, let us know if you need anything," Sam insisted. "As you probably know, I'm rich. I could easily hide you in our mansion if you need to sleep somewhere that isn't a rooftop, or whatever you've been doing so far."

That startled a laugh out of Phantom. "Jazz has been letting me use her bed while she's at school," he admitted, grinning weakly. "But thanks, I might take you up on that. I've gotten seriously nocturnal though, fair warning."

People have been asking for it for ages, and it's finally here! Danny and Phantom meet! Human Danny is a bit of a swearing machine, though, a habit which Phantom dropped to help keep his heroic guise up. Exposed to Danny's swearing, though, Phantom starts too. A lot of fun to write, though, that conversation! Their confrontation (with Sam and Tucker present) was one of the first scenes I planned for Absurdism, but it needed a fair bit of setting up, hence why it had to wait until now.

No matter how badly he wanted to avoid the whole talk, Phantom can't stand lying to his best friends about... all this, basically. He hasn't seen his own Sam and Tucker for forever, and he was already feeling extra homesick with his travel to the Ghost Zone, so he caved.

Next week, chapter 10: Maternal Instinct