The students began to shuffle into the gymnasium not realizing what was about to occur. Finding their seats in the bleachers, they wait patiently for the curtains to unveil what secrets it may have behind them. Soon, the well known therapist of the school Penelope Spectra walks out of the covered stage with her usual cheerful smile on her flawless face.

"WELCOME STUDENTS TO CASPER HIGHS SPIRIT ASSEMBLY!" The gymnasium was filled with a thunderous amount of cheer as the teenagers clapped with anticipation. Teenage boys and some girls could be seen with drool and hearts in their eyes as they examined Spectra's tight body. The rest of the girls were tad bit annoyed that their boyfriends were not paying attention to them, and were instead eyeing Spectra like a new porn video. The rest of the kids, showed no enthusiasm at all, rather finding their phones more amusing.

"I HOPE YOU ALL ARE READY FOR THE SHOW TODAY!" Once again the crowd boomed in agreement, urgently waiting on what was in store for them today.

Spectra looked at the applauding cheers of the teenagers with a smug look. She gains most of her power from misery and fear, but cheerfulness does make her gain a small amount of power. 'It's time.' She nods towards the curtains as if someone was there, which causes them to slowly unveil what was behind them.. She coughed into the microphone which caught the attention of all teens attending, all of them gasped in surprise at the horror their eyeballs have just been given.

At the center of the stage was Jack Fenton with his brutally maimed shoulder. You could see the bone sticking out as blood leaked profusely, seemingly endlessly. His orange jumpsuit now stained with his own blood as he was gagged with a piece of cloth. Tears escaping from his eyes as he looked to the right of him. A chair was sat where a woman of great complexion once stood. Her hair was singed off leaving only a few strands left in its wake. Parts of her jumpsuit were torn and burnt showing the second degree burns underneath. Her eyes seemed almost lifeless and dead, but an endless amount of tears were running down her face, signaling that she was in a excruciatingly amount of pain.

The once cheery atmosphere of the school was now a dead eerie silence. Everyone in the room could feel the fear and dread as they looked at the three people on stage. No one made a sound until one pink top latina decided to scream in shock. This woke everyone up from their stupor as they all attempted to stand up and run, only to see that their ankles have been tied down to the floor by a glowing green chain. They all looked up to see Spectra with an evil look in her eye as she eyed them all like a lion to a gazelle.

"Aweeee what happened to all the cheeriness…?" Spectra said with a cute pout that fooled no one. She was going to kill them all...and there was nothing they could do about it. "Don't worry I'll get you motivated again!" She moved towards the tied up forms of Maddie and Jack Fenton.

She placed her hand on Maddie's burnt shoulder making her cry out in pain. "Shhh shhh don't worry, it'll all be over soon…" She then took her eyes to look at that camera that was at the ceiling. "Enjoying the show Phantom? You're about to like it a whole lot more!" She exclaimed as both Maddie and Spectra glowed a bright green.

"AHHHHHHH!" Maddie screamed in agony as all her burn marks were reignited causing great pain. She slowly felt every last one of her cells exploding like bombs as the energy left her, making her screams quieter...quieter...and….silence

Spectra's body began to look younger than it had before, as the burnt form of the once Maddie Fenton slowly charred up and drained resembling a victim in ash of Pompeii. The students looked on with hysteria now, some even making messes in their pants. It was all going to happen to them, it's just a matter of time...everyone screamed as they struggled to get out of the bindings in their feet in a feeble attempt to survive, but Spectra wouldn't let them go until she absorbed every last one of them.

The ghostly screen showed it all, Spectra just took all the energy from my mom's body leaving. And now...she was dead, and it was all because of me. I can't even blame it on the ghost portal giving me my stupid powers this time. No...this one was on me, everytime I think something good happens to me, something turns up and fucks me over all the time. I've always contemplated death, what would happen if I just left my living family members; but now knowing I'm half ghost, I can now say that it's hell in both ways.

Ever since I was a child, I was always pushed away by my parents in favor of my sister Jazz. She was never spoiled before I was born, but when I was conceived apparently that was the green light to give her everything. Besides my necessities to live, I was only given hand me downs from my sister's stuff. So instead of playing with action figures or video games, I played with barbie dolls with my older sister. She was the only person I trusted in the world with all my secrets, but as Geoffrey Chaucer said "All Good Things Must Come to An End."

As soon as I hit the ripe pubescent age of ten years old, everything came crashing down. Everything fun or good in my life just stopped happening. My parents began to get into their ghost hunting business more seriously, not even giving anytime to their favorite child. They went on business trips separately in order to spread their business out further and gain attraction. That was when of course my dad decided to cheat on my mom with a lady from Chicago. I already explained the bond wasn't there anymore, but I don't think you know what it's like to have two of everything. Two Birthdays, two Thanksgivings, two Christmases, and funny enough, I got none of that. Nope it was all to my spoiled sister that I trusted with my life up till the split. She took it debatably worse than me because she experienced their full love and attention, while I got enough to say that I cared for them more than friends.

When the divorce happened, She was quick to side with mom due to the actions of my dad. And when I chose my dad, well...she revealed everything I have done up to that point. All the pain I felt when my parents ignored me, all the loneliness and isolation I had even during family events, my entire private world was opened up like the portal in the basement. You all can fill in the rest, slicing, hoodies, Emo-niel.

There was one person who was always helping me out through thick and thin, that there was always "a silver lining". I didn't mention him before, because I've never met him in person. He was an old colleague/friend of my mom and dad. Vlad Masters. Ever since I turned ten, he has been sending my envelopes of money every month, what I considered to be my allowance. He also left a letter in each one, explaining how he knows about my situation and how he wished he could do more. His letter...the one I had recieved a week after the split was the only thing going through my mind as it teetered on madness or sanity.

There will be a time when you have to make a decision on whether or not you can do something Daniel. Everyone will be against you: your friends, family, the world. You just need to be strong Daniel, stronger than you ever have and get what needs to be done. Done.

Wiping away tears from my bloodshot eyes, I look out the bars of my cell towards the other occupant in the room. Technus was looking back at me with a smug smirk. He soon began to cackle noticing how much tears I've shed for my now deceased mom.

"This is glorious! I thought Spectra was stupid at letting you live, but NO this was great!." Technus then looked back at the screen where he saw the students begin to panic at being tied down. "Soon your father will experience the same fate." Technaus took one final glance behind. "Then I'm going to kill you."

I didn't even blink twice at his statement, none of them phasing me now as I observed my surroundings. This cage itself could contain two average sized adults, leaving me with enough room to work with. "I'm going ghost." I whispered as I tried again to change, but once again felt the forceful feeling of my white rings going back to my mid-section.

'I can make the rings appear, but they're always forced down.' I look to my waist to see the belt that Spectra attached still there. 'I'm really dumb aren't I?' I feel around my waist looking for the "buckle" of the belt, but found none. 'Damn it…' I look to the side to see some kind of hole. 'Must be a key...mom and dad don't want ghosts just unlocking it.' I looked around and right there on the bench was the key to escaping. 'Wow conveniently outside my cage' I shake my head in disbelief. I grab the key from the bench as I felt a rush of power hit me. It felt as if I was whole again.

"Now, let's try something new." My eyes turning into not red, but their original toxic green color.

BOOOOOOOOOM

"What the he-" Technus's musing was soon broken by a red-ecto charged fist breaking his jaw in the process.

"That was for my mom prick." My eyes flickered to red as I remembered what happened before shaking it off. 'I can't lose control...not yet.' Charging while he was nursing his jaw I punched him in the diaphragm making him cough out blood as I elbowed him in the already broken jaw. Technus flew as he hit the wall near the ghost portal, making him unconscious...

Looking around to find the object which I sought, I turned to see a cylinder shaped object. Grabbing the thermos from a bench and removing the lid, I pointed it at Technus where I activated it. Quickly,the swirling blue vortex came from within and grabbed Technus, dragging him into the thermos. I then lidded the thermos where I attached it to my hip, 'One down...two to go.'

I turned my head upwards to look at the TV to see Spectra draining the kids one by one, while my dad was still bleeding profusely from the shoulder. "I'm coming everyone...don't worry."

"LET ME GO FREAK!" A pink shirt wearing female shrieked as Spectra pulled her hand away from the lifeless body of her blond jock boyfriend. It took her only five minutes to get through all of the students and staff of the school, she was the final one.

"Oh it's always better when they're defiant!" Spectra said out loud gleefully. She proceeded to grab Paulina by the waist and leaned in. "This one is a keeper…" Spectra's eyes glowed scarlet red as she absorbed the energy from Paulina's body, invigorating her with the final essence she needed to obtain her full power. "Now then...one more thing…" Spectra looked towards the stage where a man in agonizing pain sat next to his lifeless husk of a wife.

She began to walk back to the stage her heels clicking as they touched the ground.

Click…

Click…..

Click…

BOOOOOOOM

Spectra stopped her path and looked at the wall to her left. "Bertrand…" The butler ghost soon appeared by her side with a questioning look. "Keep him busy."Spectra then flew to the stage, while Bertrand nodded in confirmation as he morphed into his well known wolf form. Soon a silver blur crashed into the wolf a nasty crunch coming from the collision as Bertrand flew into the wall reverting back into the butler form.

"Ngh…"Bertrand opened his eyes to see toxic green eyes looking at him with hidden fury behind them. Before Bertrand could react, silver gloves grabbed his coat as he was thrown to the floor of the gym. Shaking it off quickly, Bertrand morphed into a giant spider.

"I'm done with your shit!" My eyes seemed to glow even brighter as Bertrand attempted to tangle me with web. I just swatted away the web as I began to run towards Bertrand.

His six eyes widened in response as he attempted to entangle me once again with no effect. He morphed into his wolf form, but this time with a more humanoid form. We clashed in the middle, hands locked as our eyes bore into each other.

"Give up. You're not going to beat me!" I said as his snarling wolf man face changed into a smirk.

"I'm not trying to, only buying time." I finally realized that someone was missing. Looking to my right I see Spectra with her hand on my dad's shoulder. She smiled cruelly back at me as her eyes glowed that evil red. "NO!"

My hands gripped at Bertrand's wolf man hands as they cracked with the pressure. "AH!" He screamed as I flung him to the wall.

I flew towards the stage only to see my dad's form engulfed in green energy as his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Spectra stepped away as I hit the stage floor running towards my parents' forms.

Spectra looked down at me with her smile still on her face. "You failed again. You'll always be a fail." She saw tears fall from my face as I hugged both their lifeless bodies in my arms.

"Please...please..." I pleaded with no one in particular. It seemed time stopped as I thought back to when I was in the cage. Even with my newfound determination, I'm always late. This was the only time I wanted to be on time, to do something right! The only time I wanted to do something for more than myself more than anything. Saving people was just a second thought in my mind, but now it was different.

I felt pain when my mom died, but my dad believed in me. He was my best friend when Jazz left my side. He had taught me what it meant to be a family, to feel love from a parent...His death caused something to spark up something that was repressed. I didn't hear Spectra's laughter or Bertrand joining her, no...I only felt rage...unrelenting rage. "...I'm sorry…"

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

Spectra and Bertrand were both blown back as the stage looked charred after such a devastating explosion, but a figure could be seen still hugging two corpses. 'What the hell?" The two thought in unison.

I stood up from my parents' bodies as I looked towards the two other ghosts in the room. My beady red eyes staring back at their confused faces. I have changed, my hair that was once straight and spiky, is now a raging silver fire. My toxic green eyes were now crimson blood red, and my fangs grew out more.

"Bring them BACK!" I stated as I appeared beside Spectra grabbing her by the throat as I smacked away Bertrand. Her eyes widened, she didn't even see me move. She couldn't breath as she felt the wind escape her ghostly lungs. I reeled my arm back with her on board as I slammed her into the floor.

CRASH

"I *CRASH*SAID *CRASH* BRING *CRASH* THEM *CRASH* BACK!" I held tightly as Spectra had a dazed look on her face, but otherwise was fine despite minor scratching. I was soon bit on the shoulder courtesy of Bertrand who morphed into his wolf form. I reached around and proceeded to choke Bertrand aswell, only to feel something slip from my other hand to see a Spectra has changed her form to a black apparition form.

I knew I needed to take one of them out, so gripping Spectra's ghostly tail as hard as I could, I threw her out the building as I held on to Bertrands form. My hand ignited in silver energy as I shoved my hand through Bertrand's chest, ripping out what I assumed to be his heart before his death.

He coughed out ectoplasm feeling the fist sized hole that was carved into his left breast. His eyes rolled back as his breathing grew shallow as I dropped him without a care. "You'll live, barely." His chest beginning to slowly filling in the hole. I took out my thermos, sucking him into it.

I then narrowed my red eyes as I crouch down and broke through the sound barrier, throwing everything in the gym around as I phased through the roof where Spectra had an irritated look in her eye.

"I don't know what happened to you, and I could care less!" Spectra yelled as she fired a red ectoplasm fireball. My eyes narrowed even more as I closed my eyes and held one hand out towards the fiery energy.

As soon as it touched my hand I began to struggle with the power output, It began to push me back as I felt my suit begin to singe from the heat. "NOT ANYMORE!" I yelled demonically as I grabbed the energy ball with my other hand and putting it over my head, throwing it back at Spectra.

Spectra narrowly dodged, she then looked towards to see I disappeared. My hands were once again ignited, but this time with a familiar red energy. My right hand crashed into her sternum, cracking it slightly as she was blown back further into the sky. I flew towards her not giving her time to rest as I grabbed her by the leg where I flung her the roof. She crashed and as I was about to deliver another hit, I was hit by a red ectoblast, feeling it burn through my ghostly chest.

"ARGH!" I let out a wail of pain as I came crashing down onto the roof where she reverted back to her human looking form. She lifted her foot and slammed the heel deep into my shoulder. I barely even reacted as I grabbed her leg and slammed her into the roof where I got on top of her and hailed a bunch of punches on her face. "RETURN EVERYONE'S ENERGY!"

I grabbed her suit jacket as I brought her up where my other hand was waiting with a green ecto-energy blast. *COUGH* "Never!" She said as her ghost healing was working overtime because of the abuse she was taking.

My eyes began to shift back from red to toxic green as my hair began to revert back to its spiky form. "ARGH!" I let out a human/demon roar as I blasted her into the sky. 'Final attack' I began to think of my next move, my new found power boost lessening every second I wait. I brought both of my hands to the sky as I brought every ounce of my energy I could muster.

Quickly a ball of red energy formed as big as an elephant appeared. Seeing Spectra was still dazed I chucked the ball towards her form where it engulfed her in it. "SPIRIT BOMB!" Her form was struck where it could be seen struggling to compensate with the assault of energy all around her. I soon dropped to my knee as I reverted back to my regular ghost form, before reverting to human.

Spectra was now being peeled from the outside in. Her skin began to redden as the ball of energy was quite literally taking her apart. She felt layers of her skin get torn from her forearm. The only reason was because she didn't complete the ritual. She never injected my DNA to complete the sequence. Meaning…Spectra eyes widened as she felt all the energy in her go haywire.

'I'm not perfect…'

BOOOOOOOOOOOM

An elderly Spectra was thrown from the ball and onto the rooftop where it crashed down next to me. I looked over to her where I see that the bomb had knocked her out clean. I struggled to get the thermos from my side, but soon I was shakily pointing it at Spectra's form where I activated it one last time, as Spectra was pulled inside the space.

I layed down on the roof exhausted, and began thinking back to how all this started; and how it all ended. I began to cry my eyes out. I wept for my parents and the teens who lost their lives. 'This was how it was going to end, this is how Danny Phantom ends…These powers were a curse from the start…' I thought bitterly as tears ran down my face quicker and quicker until…

"EWWW GET OFF ME TUCKER!" One familiar goth voice could be heard coming from within the gym.

My ears not fully registering the noise coming from below me as I continued to ball my eyes out.

"SAM I WASN'T LAYING ON TOP OF YOU ON PURPOSE! STOP HITTING ME!" A geek with glasses I've heard talk in the hall before rung through my ears.

My eyes widened in response, my tears quickly drying as I sat in disbelief before I flew down to check the gym where I had seen everyone die.

Everyone of the students and staff were back to their regular selves. They didn't look like anything happened to them, except the occasion scratch mark where Spectra gripped them. I saw attempting to calm the students down.

...

…

…

I look towards the stage to see my mom and dad back, hugging each other and whispering as they enjoyed the other's company. "MOM, DAD!" I yelled as I struggled to run towards them as I wrapped my arms around them crying. Everything was back, the spirit bomb must have made Spectra release all the energy she got from everybody.

I wiped my face of tears as I looked at my dad's shoulder which was bleeding profusely, only to see that it was burnt to cover the wound. I looked at my mom who was now spotting sunburns, compensating the third degree forms. 'Did I heal them? Spectra only stole their energy…' I pushed the thought away, a thing for another time. I put a smile on my face as hugged my parents who hugged me back.

I did it...I saved everyone.

ANNDDDDDD DONEEEEE! For fuck's sake this was so much effort put into it. I didn't expect to spend so much time on one chapter. Vlad has finally been hinted at, AND I KNOW GUYS YOU WANT EMBER TO SHOW CALM DOWN! Anyways, Danny finally has learnt what it means to be a hero, and the horrors it comes with. I like to think I did a good job, but I need input. What yall think? Leave any comments, suggestions, or concerns you may have about the story. Till the next chapter, PoTF OUT!