So I'm just gonna warn you guys now. The next couple chapters all gonna be pretty short. They're all from certain people's perspectives at different points throughout the carriage ride, just so ya know. That's why they will be pretty short.

But hey, at least they'll be up fast! I know I probably coulda meshed 'em all together into one chapter, but if this were a real book I wouldn't, so I'm not gonna do it here either.

Sophie daughter of Nyx: Thanks!

PhantomFanForever: Oh, so you wanna go? Okay, square up! *raises own knife* Also, yay, quick update!

Potterheads2016: School is so annoying. I think I would describe their relationship as siblingly, because in this fic I kinda picture Danny as thinking of all of his friends and allies as family more so, so I wanted their interactions to reflect on that

Shiikun: Protective Danny is one of my favourite Danny's

Princessbinas: I'm personally not planning on doing a lot of King Danny stuff, but for this story it is very relevant (even though I haven't mentioned it much). I think that it's just awesome seeing Danny in a place of power. For the obsession theory, it's not that humans can't have obsessions, but all ghosts have some kind of major obsession that can end up control their afterlife (in this fic, anyways). I also think Sam is awesome.

ShinyMudkipGal: At the moment, I hate Maddie too

xXMyXBlackXChemicalXBridesXx: I'm not exactly being nice to him, am I? And does this mean that you'll haunt me once you're a ghost? :P

LooneyAces: Oh, soon enough

Readingandstuff: Aw, thanks!

Reptil: Maybe ;)

Enjoy!


As soon as Danny passed fell, Maddie leaped forwards to catch him. He caught himself before she could, and she knelt down beside him as he passed out. Without missing a beat, Maddie pressed her hand to Danny's forehead and felt that it was… normal. He didn't feel hot at all, maybe a little bit warm, but in comparison to how cold his skin had been before, he was now the right temperature. She grabbed his arm and pressed her fingers against his vein, feeling for his pulse.

At first, Maddie didn't feel it and she panicked. She tried his other wrist, then along his neck, before she finally was able to notice the soft beating. Soft and slow.

"Tucker, may I see your PDA?" Maddie asked, holding her hand back towards her son's best friend. Tucker gulped, knowing what she was intending to do, but complied. Maddie flicked through the apps until she found his timer, and started counting out Danny's heartbeat.

Her eyes widened when the minute ended. "…Thirty-two…"

"Told you," Dash muttered.

Maddie turned off the PDA, then held the screen up close to Danny's mouth. It took a painfully long amount of time for his breath to fog up the screen. She pressed a gentle hand to his chest, and counted out the time between breaths. About fifteen seconds. She put down the PDA with a surprising amount of care, then focused on Danny's bandages. They were no longer just speckled and green, but covered in large splotches. Moving quickly, Maddie proceeded to unwrap the dirty bandages, wincing as they pulled on his wound. She tossed them onto the carpet and turned to Jack.

"Water," she said simply, and her husband passed her a canteen they had filled before following Danny into the Ghost Zone. She poured the water on Danny's chest, dabbing at it with her sleeve for lack of anything else to use, and got a good look at his wound. The skin looked flayed almost, thin strips clinging together across a burn larger than her splayed hand. Around it, the skin was black, and in the middle it was tender and pinkish red. A third-degree burn.

Then Maddie noticed something odd. There was a thin layer of liquid over the wound, hardly noticeable, but since Danny was lying flat on his back, it had gathered in the wound. It was a faint red, and seemed to bubble slightly along the edge of the wound, where at the tips of the black skin, it looked almost ectoplasmic green. The BB serum was eating away at the ectoplasm, which almost looked like it was trying to heal Danny. And as it ate at the ectoplasm, it ate Danny as well.

"Tucker, what is Danny's secret?" Maddie asked sternly. She ripped off a portion of her already bloody sleeve and gently laid it across the wound, allowing it to absorb what little of the serum had bubbled to the surface of Danny's skin, before rewrapping his chest with some assistance from Jack.

"Really, Mrs. F, I shouldn't tell you," Tucker said, but Maddie could tell how much he wanted to.

"Yes, you should. The serum that would rid Danny of the ectoplasm in his blood? It's attacking him as well," Maddie said, gently laying Danny back down the floor.

Tucker's eyes widened behind his glances. "I.. I-uh…"

"Tucker, please, what is his secret?" Maddie pleaded.

"Um… the ectoplasm isn't killing him. It's keeping him alive?" Tucker offered.

"Then we…?" Maddie' voice trailed off, and she gasped, pressing a hand against her mouth. They were trying to remove the ectoplasm from his system. If they did that… then Danny would die. Maddie stood, dazed, and lowered herself onto the bench beside he husband. She was so out of it, she didn't even protest when Snowstorm knelt down beside Danny, holding her hands over his chest as a soft blue glow spread from her claws to cover his body. Three words continued to reverberate through her head.

Danny would die.

And would be their fault.

Maddie sat there, practically comatose, as she stared at her son.


Jack Fenton, who wasn't fully aware of how serious his son's injuries were, remained oblivious to his part in Danny's poor physical state. He was, however, extremely worried. While he may not have known how serious it was, he did understand that it was serious.

He had been about to protest when the large yeti, Snowstorm Danny had called her, knelt beside his son. But it had moved so carefully, and he hadn't noticed any malice in the action, that Jack's protests had died on his lips. He had never had as strong negative feelings towards ghosts as Maddie had, instead being more curious about their existence then the insistence that they were evil. Of course, before now he had never considered them good.

Sure, Phantom fought of other ghosts all the time, but Jack viewed that as the ghost boy being territorial. Keeping other ghosts out of his haunt. He still caused a lot of destruction in town. Not to mention that time when he had kidnapped the mayor, and been robbing jewellery stores. During the Disasteroid incident, if Phantom and the other ghosts hadn't helped out, then the Ghost Zone would have been destroyed too. Once the world was safe again, they resumed attacking Amity Park.

But now?

The three ghosts across from them looked as worried as Jack felt. And the way Danny had spoken to that Ember girl, it was just like how he used to talk to Jazz when they were both younger. And when they fought less. That Dorathea ghost had even flat out called Danny her brother.

Jack frowned. He hadn't thought ghost could actually feel things, and now he was actually doubting his original suspicions for Danny's befriending of ghosts. It wasn't so that he could take them out from the inside, it was because they actually were his friends. He truly saw them that way. If Jack had had any doubts about that before (which he had, many) they were immediately thrown out the window when Danny had reacted so harshly to Maddie threatening Ember. For a moment, Jack looked at his son proudly. He had been so ready to defend someone he considered a friend, despite the fact that he knew his parents didn't like ghosts.

He decided that, once Danny was awake, he would have to ask him about ghosts and see just how much his son knew.


Mr. Lancer decided that he didn't know anything about Danny Fenton. Nothing at all. People always assumed that Lancer hated the boy, because of how harsh he was in terms of dolling out punishments, but Lancer knew that in terms of school work, he was quite lenient. He always gave Danny an extra day or two to finish his assignments, and let him retake tests that he missed.

In all honesty, Lancer was never sure why he did this. Danny was consistently late, appeared to put very little effort into his school work, and often fell asleep in class. So, Lancer took the natural course of action. Punish the boy in the hopes that he would learn his lesson and start to do better. But he didn't. Lancer had almost given up, almost, but something had stopped him.

It had been after school, and Danny had just been released from detention, when Lancer caught him lingering in the halls. The boy had been talking to himself, rather harshly, berating himself for his poor school work and something about "not enough vigilance during patrols." Lancer had been impressed with the use of the large word. Ever since then, he had been a little gentler, but still doled out detentions as needed. Although now he used that time to try and help Danny with his homework.

Now, after everything that had been happening in the past week, Lancer didn't know what to think of the boy. It was apparent that, before passing out, he had been in tremendous amounts of pain. But how long had he been in pain for? Had he been forcing himself to stay conscious, to fight through it, so that no one would worry?

The familiarity with ghosts Lancer was only mildly surprised with, what with Danny's parents being ghost hunters. But the fact that his parents didn't know had been a bit of a shock.

For what Lancer assumed was no reason at all, he found himself thinking back on that sheet of paper he had found Danny scribbling on during class. The one covered in Latin. If he had held it a moment longer, Lancer possibly could have translated a sentence or two. But the boy had looked desperate to get it back, so Lancer didn't keep it.

There was, however, the one phrase that he had glimpsed across it several times. At the moment, Lancer couldn't remember exactly what it said, Latin or no, but he thought that it would be important to figuring out the student that he cared so much for. He mulled it over, trying to remember the shape of the letters, the words, even how long they were. So far the only portion he was able to recall, was that the first word was "I", nothing more. Not yet, at least. He assumed that this carriage to wherever they were going would be a long one, which meant that he would be able to think on the phrase for quite a while.

Lancer knew he would figure out what it said, and what it meant.

It was only a matter of time.

So, again, sorry that it's short. Just one or two more, then I swear they'll get back to their normal length! Just keep this in mind, while they're a little shorter, they're going up faster. Huh? Huh? How awesome is that? Super awesome, I know.

'See' you next time!