Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is property of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon.

Guess who's back!!!!

Chapter 9: Dark Days Ahead

Ghost 101 was the most theoretical requirement class Danny ever took. He hoped it would be the last one too since Sam, Tucker, Valerie and him would all be getting a mysterious scholarship from a far away, unheard of college. For a moment, Danny consider opening a college in the ghost zone, something that could be used as another diplomatic bargaining chip. He projected his thoughts to Sam. She gave a considering hum.

Ghost 101 had to be the worst class Danny had ever taken and the fact that his parents taught it just made the class all that much worse. He had been called out in class so many time now he wanted to scream, he had been stuffed into his locker for not knowing test answers and he had watched as almost everyone flocked to his daughter's side in an attempt to make good grades, become popular, or get close to him. At least he was doing well in this class. How can you even pretend to fail a class your parents teach? Speaking of parents teaching, Danny zones back into reality as his parents began talking.

"We've already talked about what is expected academically of you in order to take the mid year ghost zone field trip and leading up to that trip we will discuss everything you need to have a firm grasp on to prepare you for the zone. All of our information is provided by chaperoned visits into the ghost zone and the Ghost King himself who will be escorting us, so you have nothing to worry about in terms of the relative safety of this trip."

Danny hadn't like having a conversation with his parents in ghost form, yet it was a necessary evil as one of the agreements in the neutrality contract was a supervised trip into the ghost zone for any school who wanted it. Each trip would be a week long journey; Castor High seniors mixed with a few nearby towns' senior classes would be the test trip. If all went well, or at least if every student returned relatively unharmed then it would become a permanent arrangement. It would be hard to accomplish, but Danny was hopeful.

The bell rang and Danny gave a sigh of relief. He hurried out of the class and strode over to his locker, waiting for Dash's usually Fenton torment of shoving Danny into a locker. Danny felt someone push his back, coincidentally causing him to be shoved into his open locker. Right on time he thought. The door closed and Danny heard Dash laughing with his friends about it. He waited patiently for them to walk away and as soon as he stopped hearing their voices, he phased his hand through the locker door to unlock it. He pushed the door open and saw Sam waiting for him.

"You could have opened if you know."

"Yeah but I knew you had it."

Danny rolled his eyes at her. Before he had his powers, Sam used to open the lockers for him after Dash and friends left and he'd complain every single time and every single time she'd threaten to leave him there next time. Obviously she never did, but once he got his powers she got her revenge by watching him open the locker or phase out of it every time.

They walked until they were the only people in the hall, then slowed in their walking to wait for Dani; Dani joined them a few seconds later. They changed forms.

"Can we go visit Auntie Dora and Granny Dora this weekend."

Danny turned to Sam for her opinion.

"I say we go, it's been awhile since we've visited and we have that three day weekend coming up because the school is doing renovations."

Danny smiled, "I guess we're going."

They phased out of the building and flew to the abandoned warehouse Danny had convinced Vlad to sale to him under the agreement that so long as Vlad didn't try to destroy the world, reveal his secret, or mess with his family (he was sure to include cloning), Danny wouldn't interfere with anything he did. Last time Danny checked in, he found Vlad had decided to clone himself a son. Jazz helped him with the project whenever she wasn't in the ghost zone or in the middle of an online course. She explained that one day Valerie, Ember, and her would want a child of their own, and the ability to call in a favor from Vlad would be useful to that endeavor.

Inside, Ember, Jazz, and Valerie were waiting cuddled on a couch, watching over Tucker's shoulder as the people in Amity Park went about their day.

"School was hell today," Danny commented lightly.

Sam shook her head at him and took a dollar out of his wallet to add to the swear jar.

"Hey! That's not a swear word."

Then he realised something, "How did you even get my wallet."

"It fell out of your pocket when Dash shoved you in your locker. I knew you wouldn't notice it was missing so I picked it up."

"Well can I have it back."

"Hmmm? No."

"What!!!!! Why!!!! I'm a man, I can keep up with it."

"Danny this is the fourth time you've lost it."

"And!!!"

"This week."

"Yeah!?!?!"

Danny's voice had gotten higher and Tucker, Valerie, and Jazz were suppressing their laughter while Ember just shook her head at her king.

"It's Tuesday," Sam deadpanned.

Danny hung his head having no defense to her words and Dani patted him on his head from where she floated above him.

"It's okay dad we all knew mom was going to win that one."

Danny pouted and slumped down on a nearby couch. Sam laughed and kissed him.

Tucker cleared his throat, "So as we all know, Valerie and I have been putting up cameras while patrolling in our suits, and I am happy to say the last one went up yesterday evening. We now have eyes on every part of the city, so we don't have to rely on our personal ghost sensor to tell us when a ghost escapes the ghost zone or is created. Did you get the agreement I asked for from the president so we can piggyback on the cameras that are everywhere else in the U.S."

Danny patted his pockets only for Sam to pull the neat, crisp, signed, document from her notebook.

Tucker smiled, "I have no clue what Danny would do without you."

Danny joked, "Nothing."

Sam and Danny felt like they needed each other to live, they loved one another and protected one another. Danny was forgetful and careless toward his safety, but he protected his family. While Sam, sometimes forgot that she had a family now, or got lost in her obsession. Danny always pulled her back though and when Dani had joined them, he found the need for him to pull her back lessening to the point where it was rare Danny ever had to. They respected each other as equals and did everything they could to make sure the other knew and if they joked about each other's flaws, well that was all it was a joke.

Danny startled as the ghost portal in the corner cut on. He felt a little worried, as the only people who had a key to this portal were his allies and they had all agreed to only open the portal if it was a situation requiring the King's interference. It did not relax him to see Clockwork floating through the portal.

"Young Daniel," Clockwork greeted, "There is something in the timeline you need to see."

Danny felt a sudden fear as tension replaced the once jovial mood of the room. The last time Clockwork had felt the need to intervene in the timeline, Evil Daniel had been close to creation. Danny rose from the couch and Sam followed him, nervously. Both were equally as curious and worried about a situation that was so dire Clockwork felt the need to intervene.

They arrived at Clockwork's tower within seconds of walking into the portal.

"I suggest, Daniel that you leave your young one out here. She does not need to see these events."

Danny and Sam turned to Dani and with the link the was tentatively beginning to allow her to join, told her to go back through the portal and work on her homework. They weren't sure they wouldn't sound every bit as afraid as they felt if they talked. Dani, with one last worried glance at her parents, walked back through the portal.

The portal closed and Danny and Sam trailed behind Clockwork. They walked into Clockwork's tower and looked around. Danny took note of the fenton thermos with the dented sides back where it was meant to be.

"The timeline is intact, but it's intact in two different directions. It has split at one event, traveling away from itself into two completely different futures. This happens often, however usually it either meets back, showing that that choice while effecting the immediate future does not affect the farther future, or it evens out within days. However this split has not evened out and one of the futures has a very undesirable outcome. As such I have decided an intervention is necessary."

Danny took this all into consideration, then Sam summed it up, "One of the futures is so bad that the fact that neither path has been decided on worries you so much, you feel you need to warn us."

"Yes, Samatha, the split happens during the first ghost zone field trip. In the undesirable future, Daniel is forced to reveal his true identity as Daniel Fenton, and if you'd simply look upon the screen, you will understand."

Danny and Sam looked at the screen that split in half. One showed a peaceful future where humans and ghost were peacefully coexisting. They both understood this was the prefered future. The other half of the screen showed war and destruction. Danny flinched backwards to see his future self fighting alongside Dark Dan. They looked almost identical, except one was obviously younger. Danny saw what looked like a Dark Sam, he looked for a future Dani, expecting to find her either fighting too, or well protected and hidden, but he found nothing.

"No." Danny stated quietly, coldly.

Sam keep searching, at this point she would be relieved to see a Dark Dani. She considered that they might have left Dani at the castle, but she could see everyone they trusted with her fighting beside them with as much fury as they were.

Clockwork waved his hand and the images vanished, "This future is a much worse one than the one that came about with Dark Daniel's existence. The world is destroyed from the war, and the ghost zone with it."

Danny closed his eyes and took a deep meditative breath, calming himself, "I swore to protect the zone from destruction when I agreed to take the mantle of king. I will ensure this future never happens."

Sam stood beside him, her green, pupil less eyes had a look in them Danny was familiar with, except this time, he felt no need to pull her back, "Dani is my child, and anyone who strives to harm her will die by my hands."

Danny touched Sam's shoulder, gently drawing her humanity back. Sam closed her eyes and breathed.

"This future will not happen Clockwork, you have nothing to worry about," Sam affirmed to the ghost in front of her.

Clockwork nodded, looking at her worriedly, Clockwork had once seen a glimpse of a future where Samantha was the one to go dark, it was not a pretty future, for anyone involved.

"We need a plan, we need to ensure that future has no way of coming into existence, Clockwork I need you to signal our allies, we have five months to prevent a war."

Sam pointed out, "To ensure nothing happens during the trip, we're going to need a signed agreement from all of our enemies that they won't attack, of course that won't protect from challenges to the throne, but it removes one possible screw up."

Danny agreed, "Dani's going to have to agree to guards for once. It'll have to be someone we know won't let any harm come to her, won't let her out of their sight, and is strong enough to take on any threat."

Sam grimaced, only one person fit that bill

Danny sighed, "Clockwork, I'm going to need to talk to Dark Dan."