Hello! So sorry about the wait - had a few personal things happen in the family but we should, hopefully, be back on track. I had really hoped this would be finished by the end of this year, but it looks like I'm going into 2020 with this one! Please forgive me if it's a tad dull, hoping to get back into the action soon!

Ethelwulf started to pace as he watched the humans and the halfas discuss their next steps. "I hate sitting here," he growled. He made his wings disappear and paced at a faster speed. He stopped pacing abruptly. "Clockwork!" he roared, yellow eyes searching for the Time Master. Clockwork appeared beside Frostbite, who watched his counterparts with mild interest. "Why am I here? Am I supposed to help them? Understand them? Destroy them?"

Clockwork said nothing, shifting forms from an adult to a child. Ethelwulf growled in response. "What's the point of us watching this? Let us help them! Let the boy keep his secret! None of us wants Plasmius to win!"

"No," Clockwork said, his calm eerie voice echoed through his lair.

Ethelwulf looked at him, shocked. "No!?" he asked incredulously. "Why do you want us to watch this? You had me help him before? Why is this different?"

Clockwork shifted forms into his elderly self. "Everything is as it should be," he replied.

Ethelwulf huffed. He closed his eyes and did a summersault in the air. He landed on his two back legs, front paws turned more humanoid and his long wolf like face became a little smaller. "Fine," he said bitterly, "But I am not letting this child die."

"Nor will I," Frostbite added, turning to Clockwork determined. "The Great One has done too much for our kind for Plasmius to ruin him."

Clockwork's form shifted again, his face still betraying no sense of emotion. "While a possibility, Danny Phantom will not die." Ethelwulf scoffed.

"Yes, the infinite timelines, nothing set in stone," the ghost growled. "So why do you still interfere with this one? Why are you so set on protecting the Halfling?"

Clockwork turned to the screen, ignoring Ethelwulf's questions and watched the time glass. Danny was clearly using too much energy to maintain his shields, but was still trying to hide his secret. He heard Ethelwulf huff in response. "Everything," Clockwork said, "Is as it should be."

:-=-:

"These shields need to go," Maddie said, looking around their cell, brow furrowed. "Phantom's blast seemed to break the ghost shield, but we need to get through those bars."

Danny's eyes closed, taking inventory of the shield and hummed in response. "Phantom's shield isn't the problem," he replied, opening his eyes tiredly to look at his Mom. "Plasmius couldn't get back into the cell; I think that's keeping him out. But Plasmius is smart; those bars are meant to keep us in here. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a human shield installed in them."

"Ugh, I forgot how ahead he can be sometimes," Tucker said with a hint of jealousy and awe. "The amount of code to create a human and ghost shield is surely a thing of beauty."

"Deranged beauty," Danielle said wryly, raising an eyebrow. She turned to Danny. "If that's the case, my intangibility won't work."

Sam shot her a look. "You mean, even if your powers didn't cause you to destabilize into ectoplasm it wouldn't work." Danielle made a face.

"Well… yeah."

Danny sighed, closing his eyes in exhaustion. The shield was holding up was strong, but keeping it outside his ghost form was draining. He vaguely remembered the amount of abuse his ghost powers had over the last day and inwardly groaned at the thought of continuing the charade. "I don't think ghost powers would work no matter what we use," he said, panting slightly as he did so. "The last time I was in one, we needed the remote to get out."

Maddie looked at Jack, unspoken questions dying between them. She looked over her son with concern, noticing his furrowed brow of exhaustion. "Danny, are you sure you're alright?" Danny ignored the question, instead continuing his train of thought.

"There might be a way to destroying the bars. If we can find a weak point and hit it with enough force-"

"We could get out of this," Sam finished with a small smile. She picked up one of the discarded bands that littered the floor. "It's not much of a weapon, but it might help us get the force we need to destroy the bars."

Danny's eyes opened wearily. He put one hand on the wall behind him and tried to hoist himself up; ignoring the worried and concerned looks his companions gave him.

"Sweetie," Maddie started gently, "Maybe you should take it easy."

"Yeah, you've had quite a day," Tucker said worriedly.

Danny simply shook his head and continued to try and pull himself up. "Weak points…" he murmured between grunts, his breathing a little erratic. He managed to stand, leaning heavily against the wall.

"Son," Jack said tentatively, "You should rest. Your body isn't used to that much strain."

"Corners…" Danny said, not giving any indication that he heard the pleas. His eyes scanned the cell for any hint of a weak spot. "Corners and middle…should…be…weaker…" he trailed off, eyes rolling backwards as he pitched forward.

"Danny!" everyone yelled, rushing to the falling teen. Sam caught him first, Danielle supporting her. Sam brought him to the ground gently, turning him onto his back. She sighed in relief and annoyance as she assessed her fallen friend.

"He's just unconscious," Sam said, looking up to the stunned Fentons. "He should be fine with some rest." She frowned worriedly, looking over at Tucker. "Remind me when this is all over to give him another lecture about pushing himself."

Tucker shrugged. "Fourth time's the charm."

Jack and Maddie watched the teens banter with each other, before turning eyes to their son. "This… happens often then?" Maddie asked worriedly, finally realizing how much she's missed in the past year.

Sam and Tucker looked at each other, then to Danielle, before all three teens shrugged. "Frequent enough."

Jack closed his eyes, before opening them with determination. "Corners and middle," he repeated, tearing his gaze from Danny to the bars around them. He picked up one of the bands on the floor and walked over to the far corner of the cell. "Corners."

"Jack?" Maddie asked quizzically.

"Danny said the corners of the barrier and middle should be the weakest points," Jack replied, staring at the bottom corner of the bars. "We might as well try it out." Maddie frowned at him disapprovingly. "Mads, this is the kids' world – we need to work together to get out of this mess. Besides, if we have a shot of getting out of here, it's best if Danny rests. He got the most of that ghost's wrath."

Maddie looked down at Danny again, and then sighed. "Danielle, you stay with Danny. Sam and Tucker, try the other corner of bars," she directed. She then turned Danielle. "If he gets any worse, let us know."

:-=-:

"Fenton… Earth to Fenton…."

Danny scrunched his eyes at the noise before finding the strength to open them. He let out a gasp of surprise; he was surrounded in a dark room, the only thing lighting it up was his ghost half staring down at him. Danny sat up with a start and scrambled upright. Phantom smiled wryly.

"Took you long enough," the young ghost said, "Didn't know what to do with myself."

Danny frowned. "Where are we? Where is everyone?"

Phantom sighed. "Everyone's fine, I think. This isn't really a place…" he trailed off, looking sheepish. "I don't really know what it is. What do you remember before coming here?"

"Talking to our parents, trying to break Vlad's human/ghost shield, trying not to pass out," Danny replied. "Fat lot of good that did."

Phantom nodded understandingly. "Same here. Then I got brought here to stare at you. No offence, but humans are so boring when they sleep, especially when that human is you." Danny scowled at the joke. "Oh come on, there are a ton of untapped 'I'm talking to myself' jokes that we haven't even tried yet. You gotta admit, they're catchy!"

Danny tilted his head in acceptance, before scanning the room again. There seemed to be no end to the darkness, only lit up by his ghost half's aura and himself in human form. It was completely empty. "You said this isn't really a place…" he said, curiosity lacing his voice. "Could this be in our mind?"

Phantom looked at his human half. "But why do both of us need to be here? Usually when we pass out, we don't have a party in our mind space. Mind block? I dunno what to call this."

Danny shrugged in response. "New power?"

Phantom looked down in thought before responding. "No, at least… it doesn't seem new." He sighed in frustration. "Why can't we have one day without something weird happening?!" He exclaimed into the darkness. "Just one!"

Suddenly, the room sizzled with electricity, making both boys jump in response. Phantom raised his guard and moved to attack while Danny chose to observe, trying to gage whatever was happening. It didn't take long; a large bluish white orb appeared in front of them, pulsing in rhythm. Danny saw his breath as the temperature dipped, but the orb seemed to warm him slightly.

"What," he started with wide eyes, "Is that?" His ghost half stood up straighter, relaxing his stance and turned to the orb with curious eyes. He held his hands out and before Danny could make a noise in warning, the orb floated down towards them.

"It's okay," Phantom said with a smile as the light settled into his hands, "It's just our ghost core."

Danny blinked. "Just our… like that's helpful!" he exclaimed sarcastically. "Maybe I should rephrase; why are you holding our ghost core in our mindscape?"

Phantom shrugged. "Like anything in our life makes sense?" He frowned slightly as he looked down at the orb in his gloved hands. It was both light and heavy; warm and cold. "Although… I think… there's something wrong."

Danny swallowed the sarcastic rebuttal in his throat as he looked at Phantom in concern. "What do you mean?"

"Ghost cores, I think, are basically hearts for ghosts," Phantom started, gently rubbing the orb. A slight hum was its response. "It's also the source of our powers. Now, when we use our powers, it takes from the core, but never enough to hurt us or it. This… feels wrong."

Danny walked over to his ghost half, staring at the orb intently. He felt a warmth of familiarity as he got closer, almost like it was calling to him. "We have been using an awful lot of powers outside of ghost form," Danny started. "Could it be too much for our core?"

As if to answer, the orb shot out of Phantom's hands and set out a strong wave of ecto-energy. Both teens looked in awe as the darkened room lit up with images of Amity Park covered by a shield, the cell they were currently stuck in, and the small altercation of Phantom and Vlad. As the wave finally settled, Danny let out a yell of pain and suddenly collapsed to his knees, grabbing his chest as he did so.

"Fenton!" His ghost half knelt beside him in an instant. Danny opened his blue eyes to meet worried green.

"I can feel it," he said, scrunching his eyes closed again and sinking closer to the ground.

"Feel what?" Phantom watched worriedly as his human half let out more grunts of pain. "Why can't I feel any of this?! Darn it, Danny, talk to me!"

"Our core." Danny opened his eyes again. The human of the pair looked up at the orb, still pulsing. He recognized vaguely that it was similar to a heartbeat. "I think… I can feel what's wrong. We're not just using too much ecto-energy… we're using too much raw energy."

Phantom swallowed. Turning away from his human half, he observed the images around them. "I won't let you hurt them," Phantom muttered in remembrance, widening in alarm and understanding as his eyes went to the image of Amity. He turned back to the crumpled figure on the ground. "Danny listen to me," he said, putting his hands on Fenton's shoulders, all carelessness from before gone from his voice. "When we put a shield around the cell, we also put one around Amity. If both of those are using raw energy… then this is not going to end well for us. Can we drop one of the shields?" Danny shook his head, sinking lower into Phantoms arms. "Okay… then… I think we need to transform because you can't handle this!" Danny shook his head again. "What to do you mean no!?"

"Mom and Dad," Danny grunted out. "Besides, I don't think you can handle this on your own either."

Phantom growled in frustration, looking at the orb above him. "Okay." He turned back to his human self, resolve in his eyes. "Okay, then we do this together."

Danny opened an eye to glare at his ghost half in annoyance. "How?"

Phantom rolled his eyes. "I don't know! But Jazz said all of this separate being stuff is mind over matter. What if you tried to transfer half of whatever you're feeling to me? Ready? Just try? One."

Danny sat up a little straighter, still gripping his chest. "Two," he grunted out, eyes locking with Phantom.

"Three," both Danny and Phantom said together. The white ring of light appeared around their waists, splitting slightly, before coming back down towards the middle and disappeared. Phantom fell sideways, gripping his chest with a shout and Danny panted slightly, eyeing his fallen ghost half worriedly while rubbing his chest. Neither spoke for a moment, just tried to get a handle on the pain while the ghost core floated down, humming contently.

"You okay?" Danny asked after a while.

"Peachy," Phantom replied, echoing their previous exchange. Both teens watched the ghost core apprehensively as it danced about in front of them. "I think it worked."

"Yeah, think so too," Danny replied. He frowned a bit in thought. "Though I don't think we can handle another split while both of these shields are up. Our core is too preoccupied with those shields. So there goes my idea of getting out of here."

Phantom sat up, putting one arm around his knee and gave a meaningful look to his human half. "I know you want to keep this a secret but…"

Danny sighed. "I know," he said sadly. "I think so too. But we can't just yet. Especially since we just pretended that we were different people. It's going to be confusing."

"Agreed." Both teens sat in silence for a few minutes before Phantom smiled. "Though I think I have an idea…"

:-=-:

"Any luck?" Sam turned her head at Tucker's question. With a small shake of her head, she then glanced back at Danny and Danielle.

"Is he still out?"

"Yep, been about an hour I think." Tucker sat on the ground beside Sam as she inspected more of the bars to the left of the cell. "For only accidentally finding this power a few hours ago, Danny sure managed to pull off being two different people pretty well."

Sam got up from her crouched position and gave Tucker a small glare. "I'm sure there's some prize out there for 'Most Lucky in Stupid Plans' that he can win," she said darkly.

Her glare relaxed as Tucker frowned in disapproval. "Sam," he started.

The goth girl sighed. "I know… I know," she said resigned. She looked at Tucker worriedly. "Regardless of how everything turned out, this is pretty bad Tucker. His powers shouldn't be affecting him this way."

Tucker nodded. "That's not our only problem," he said, glancing to the adults across the cell from them. "There is no way out of this without Danny fighting at full strength. And you know there's no way he'll risk that if his parents are around." He turned back to Sam's concerned face. "He's going to try to do this again."

Sam scowled slightly at the situation. "Not to mention, Vlad knowing about Danny's new powers would mean a whole new kind of awful." She threw the bracelet that she was using at the bars in frustration. "We need to get out of here!" she exclaimed. The bracelet hit the metal on the bars and bounced off with a clang, the bracelet clattered away. The shield around the cell shimmered slightly with a hum, almost as if it was trying to reassure the girl that everything would be okay. She smiled slightly before turning back to Tucker. "Let's get back to it – hopefully we can think of something to help."

:-=-:

"Jack, this is insane," Maddie told the man as he continued to hit random spots of the bars with the bracelet. They had been trying for at least an hour and a half to get out of the cell with no avail. "We have no idea what is on the other sign on that cell, and even if we did, what are we going to do about the kids?"

Jack stopped his insistent hammering to look at his wife. "I don't know," he said honestly, a slight frown on his face. "But we can't stay here."

"I know," Maddie said, also frowning. They turned their gaze to Danny and Danielle, the latter shaking her head at the unanswered question. "Did Plasmius take all your weapons?" Jack nodded. "Mine too."

The couple sat in silence for a few moments, each unsure of what else to say. Maddie broke it first. "How far do you think we'd get with Danny the way he is?"

Jack thought about the question for a few moments before answering. "Depends," he said thoughtfully, "We have no idea how hurt he is, and how much he'd slow us down. Or if he can figure out how to get out of here better than we can."

Maddie sighed and looked over at Sam and Tucker, towards Danny and Danielle and then back to Jack. "Can you believe any of this?" she asked, wonder and sadness laced in her voice. "Danny has been doing this on his own for months and we had no idea. None. He's been passing out, I'm sure ghost hunting is why he was injured a couple months back. We almost lost him and he lied."

"He still is Maddie," Jack said, going back to the bars. He fiddled with a couple sections, in hopes that he finally found a weak point. It clanked loudly against the metal and Phantom's shield shimmered above him. "Danny's asked us to reserve judgement; stop asking so many questions and he'll explain later. You know he hasn't been completely truthful with us – he knew exactly what that ghost wanted, the consequences. Heck, Danny even knew where we are!" He turned back to Maddie's worried face. "Danny knows way more than he's letting on and Plasmius is using it to his advantage."

Maddie growled in frustration at the mention of their captor. "New plan," she said with determination, "Get out of this cell, grab as many ghost weapons as we possibly can and kick ghost butt without Plasmius hurting any of the kids again."

"Darn right we will!" Jack exclaimed, beaming. His smile faltered a bit. "And Phantom? Danielle, it seems, we can rely on... but the ghost kid?"

Maddie pondered the question for a moment. She ran her hand through her hair tiredly and sighed, knowing she wouldn't like what she was about to say. "We need to trust the kids," she said. "You were right earlier – this is their world. If they say we can trust Phantom, then we do. We need to get everyone out of this mess."

That's it for me! Happy New Year fam! I'll see you in Chapter 7.

Review?

MATW