I must begin by apologizing for the exceedingly long delay in posting this chapter.

I was taking a challenging course this past semester that took up most of my time, and today I finally finished my finals for the fall. (Talk about alliteration.)

The story will continue on with Lancer and Danielle's side of the story, and we will work our towards the remaining chapters from there.

And, now, after a brief and unintended hiatus, Chapter 12.

… ~ : ~ …

12. Together

… ~ : ~ …

Lancer re-entered his office carrying the enormously large bag of McDonald's.

He hadn't been sure whether purchasing such a ridiculous amount of food was necessary. After all, Danielle had disappeared during the fourth period, having found—or so Lancer presumed since he hadn't heard from her recently—Phantom's contacts.

He hadn't found her before lunch, but he'd decided to go out and retrieve some food anyway, making sure to buy enough for her, although he wasn't sure he'd even see her again.

He set the bag on the table and sank into his seat.

He hadn't minded having spent extra on what could potentially be wasted food. He was more than happy to go beyond above and beyond to maintain the child in good health.

Even so, he was already feeling the sadness weighing on him. Danielle had more than likely taken off with her friends or her cousin without so much as a glance back.

It was not unusual, he thought, for children to forget about the educators as time went by.

But this one was an unusual and special case.

He'd become endeared with the young hybrid girl whose attitude about life utterly reminded him so much of the daughter he'd lost so long ago.

The girl was chirpy and loud and simultaneously silent and reserved, an unusual personality juxtaposition that his daughter Emily had also possessed.

"Mr. Lancer!"

The shout was unexpected, and the appearance of his guest startled the man out of his musings.

Danielle appeared at the doorway, panting from exhaustion, cheeks rosy from running.

"I was looking for you all over the place!" She sighed in that exaggerated way teenagers often did and plopped into one of the two seats across from his desk.

"I found one of Danny's friends." She grinned brilliantly. "She got a hold of him and he's on his way over here. We're gonna meet by the Janitor's closet after the assembly. I came back to say goodbye."

"That's excellent, Danielle." Lancer responded with a smile that was as sad as it was happy.

"You brought McDonald's?" Danielle queried, eyeing the food.

"Enough for both of us," Lancer proudly responded with a smile.

"Awesome!" Danielle cheered as she began pulling out the boxed foods.

"So," she briefly gestured at a photograph of Lancer dressed as a woman. "Are you going to explain that picture to me?"

Lancer chuckled, fishing his own burger out from the bag. "That story is a good one. It happened about a year before my wife passed." He paused to munch on his burger, then continued. "My wife, as I've told you, was a very spontaneous woman who enjoyed challenging my male ego." He chuckled at the memory. "We made this bet…."

And so they talked. The rest of the hour was spent in conversation alternating between the two.

Danielle spoke of her adventures in the Ghost Zone and Lancer would offer her some stories of his more mundane past.

He hadn't understood her fascination with his dull stories until then, but he nevertheless told them, more than happy to verbally reminisce with a starry-eyed listener.

The meal ended soon and the time came to part ways. The two walked out into the hall as the last of the students made their way towards the gymnasium.

Danielle surprised him with a hug. "Thanks, Mr. Lancer. For everything."

"No," Lancer replied, returning the embrace. "Thank you for bringing a little joy back into my life."

Danielle stepped back and smiled up at him. "Don't forget to call your daughter. If there's anything I've learned from traveling is that nothing is more important than family."

"I will," Lancer vowed.

"Goodbye, Mr. Lancer." Danielle smiled and they paused for one more hug.

And with a wave, the girl took off down the hall.

Lancer remained standing there for some time after she left. He stood there for such a long time, that when he finally brought himself to head back to the gymnasium, the classrooms and halls were completely empty.

As expected, he was one of the last people to arrive. Students were already sitting on bleachers and seats. Announcers were standing on the makeshift podium that had been set up in the center of the basketball court.

Lancer took his place in the back, standing near the Exit, beside Anna Price, a fellow faculty member and close friend of his.

"Your late," Anna poked at him, smiling. "How unusual for mister Always-On-Time."

"I had something to do," Lancer replied, vaguely. He pulled a smile to his face. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing. Just Principal Ishiyama giving the usual speech." Anna crossed her arms. "She was looking for you earlier. I told her you had some important business with a student."

"Really?" Lancer blinked. "What did she need me for?"

"Nothing important. She just wanted someone to do an introduction for the mayor at the Seniors' assembly."

"Wait, what?" Lancer blinked at her, worried that he'd heard her correctly.

Anna smiled up at him, reassuringly. "Don't worry, Jonathon. Reynolds offered to do the speech. Like I said, it wasn't really all that important."

"The mayor? I thought Senator Kenneth was going to provide the speech."

"So did we." Anna shrugged. "It seems the senator called to cancel at the last minute, and the mayor called her over soon after to set up a last minute speech. Coincidence, huh?" The woman nodded to herself, oblivious to her friend's growing horror. "The man's a gajillionaire. So, of course the principal said yes." Anna laughed but Lancer could feel his heart picking up its pace.

"You should've seen his body guards," the woman continued. "They were pale as ghosts and, trust me, just as scary-looking. They didn't even do their job right. I heard they bailed as soon as the mayor began his speech. You'd think someone with that much money could afford better employees."

"They..." Lancer swallowed, unable to finish his sentence.

"John, are you okay?" Anna queried, finally taking notice of his change in character.

"I'll be back," Lancer called over his shoulder as he took off running.

"Lancer?" The woman queried behind him.

But there was no time to offer excuses or explanations.

He had to find Danielle and warn her.

:~:~:~:~:~:~:

Danielle jogged, keeping as quiet as she could.

The janitor's closet was, if she remembered correctly, near the back of the school, a good distance away from the gymnasium.

It was a good meeting place. There was less of a chance for a staff member to catch her sneaking around.

Not that she had any reason to fear getting caught. After all, Lancer assured her that there would be no teachers wandering the halls during the assembly.

Plus, Sam and Tucker were patrolling the building to keep an eye out for the security guard.

Worst case scenario, she had invisibility at her disposal.

Danielle was still a couple halls away from the intended meeting place when she saw him.

For a moment, she was so stunned she jerked to an abrupt stop, her legs unable to move forward.

Danny slowed down his own pace the moment his gaze found hers. He was equally as stunned to see her.

And then a huge smile broke across his face. His blue eyes twinkled brilliantly with joy.

In a flash, Danny was by her, swooping her up into his arms and spinning her around.

Danielle, in turn, tossed her arms around Danny, clinging tightly to him.

She felt her chest squeeze tightly with emotion.

"Danielle," Danny cheered happily. "My god! I missed you so much! I was so worried about you!"

"I missed you, too, Danny." Danielle laughed, pulling away from him.

"Where have you been? What have you been up to?" Danny demanded excitedly.

"I-" Dani paused. So much had happened over the course of her absence, and there was so much she wanted to say. She didn't know where begin or how to explain.

Unfortunately, her mouth did all the talking, rambling, before her brain could come up with a better method for relaying her recent experiences.

"Well, you know, I wanted to travel the world but I didn't like it very much, so I went to the Ghost Zone. I ran into Frostbite and he taught me about my ghost powers and stuff, then told me that I should look for you so you could talk to me about my human side and puberty."

"Wait, what?" Danny blinked, a look of dread on his face.

"So I came back to look for you but Vlad caught me before I got to your house. He ran some tests and did this weird experiment on me that de-stabilized my powers."

"What?" Danny echoed, his voice taking on a different tone.

Danielle continued prattling on. She wanted Danny to hear everything and know everything. She couldn't pause or wait for him to process the information.

Everything that had been laying heavily on her chest came pouring out in a single breath. "I escaped before he could do anything else to me, but he chased me down and attacked me, and then I passed out. Mr. Lancer found me and took me into his home. I stayed there the whole weekend and then he brought me here to the school to help me find someone to help me find you."

"Wait, what?" Danny repeated, as confused as he was incredulous. "Mr. Lancer?"

Danielle nodded. "He found out I was half-ghost-half-human, and he figured out Vlad—well, Vlad Masters—was the one who was hunting me down because he ran into us at the mall and tried to kidnap me-"

"You went to the mall?" Danny interrupted. He rubbed his temples. "He tried to kidnap you?"

"It's a long story," Dani explained.

She paused. Danny seemed overwhelmed and befuddled.

She sighed. "The point is that Lancer saved me from Vlad. Mr. Lancer…he doesn't know anything else except that Vlad is looking for me and that I'm looking for you." She paused. "I mean, the Danny Phantom you, not the Danny Fenton you."

Danny frowned. "You said your powers were de-stabilized?"

"Well," Dani began. "They were. But I think I'm fine now. I guess his experiment's effects didn't last very long. I can control my powers now, but I've been staying in human form to save my energy." She paused, adding. "And, you know, to blend in with the rest of the humans."

"Okay?" Danny began, concernedly. He sighed and took her hand in his. His concerned eyes looked deeply into hers. "Danielle, I want to take you home, so my mom can take a look at you and make sure you're okay."

"Your mom?" Dani blinked. "I thought I couldn't meet her. Won't she find out about you?"

"No." Danny smiled. "She knows."

"She knows you're Danny Phantom?"

"Yeah." He nodded, gently squeezing her hand. "But we gotta hurry. My clone is dying, and mom thinks the cure might still be in your blood."

"Whoa, whoa whoa!" Danielle yanked her hand back. "You have another clone?"

A flurry of emotions struck her. Dismay, shock, disbelief.

Hope.

There was another clone—someone just like her—and a clone who was under Danny's protection, no less.

Could that mean the other clone was a friend and not a foe?

Was the clone a boy? A girl?

Was this good news? Or bad news?

Danny must've noticed the question in her eyes. He sighed and reached for her hand again. "Look. Whether or not you help my clone is up to you. There's a lot going on, but we can catch up on the way home. I can-"

A sudden white mist that erupted from both their mouths cut Danny off.

"What the-" Danny blinked, confused.

"Danielle!" Danny and Dani's gaze snapped to the person running towards.

"Mr. Lancer?" Danny and Dani queried simultaneously.

Sure enough, it was the older teacher.

He put his hands on his knees, stopping just a few short feet away from them, pausing for a moment to catch his breath before finally looking up at the pair.

The three stood there for a long time, each too stunned to speak.

Lancer's shout was the first reaction. "What in the Mirror Image's name is going on here?"

"Mr. Lancer! What are you doing here?" Danielle demanded.

"Oh!" The man snapped out of his stupor. The words hurriedly flew out of his mouth. "Danielle, Mayor Masters is here. And I think it's no coincidence that he came here to the school shortly after our run-in with him. I have reason to believe that he brought ghosts to the school and ordered them to go after you while he's giving his speech! I told him you were a student of mine. He must've assumed you'd be here today."

No sooner had the teacher managed to deliver his message than a green glow was cast over the hall.

Three hulking green ghosts appeared at each end of the hallway.

They were humanoid with big bodies, matching haircuts, and faces bedecked with scars.

"Lancer!" Danny turned and barked orders at Lancer. "Tell all the students to evacuate or to get some place safe. Find Sam and Tucker and tell them to call my parents. We're gonna need back up."

"I'm not leaving you two here!" Lancer shouted, defiantly.

Two rings appeared at Danny's middle. They split apart and travelled across his body to transform his appearance. "Go!" Danny shouted, turning his back to Lancer to face their enemies. Two globes of glowing green energy appeared around Danny's fists.

Danielle mirrored Danny's actions, the spark of ectoplasmic energy expanding through her body.

"We can handle ourselves," Danielle added, briefly glancing back at the educator.

Lancer hesitated, clearly reluctant to leave, but he nodded and took off running in the opposite direction.

Danielle turned and conjured up her ecto energy.

She grit her teeth and shoved down the fear that crawled through her, focusing instead on the present battle.

:~:~:~:~:~:~:

Ishiyama and Lancer agreed to transfer the rest of the undergraduates to the gymnasium to join the seniors. There were plenty of exits in the area and it was far enough away from the fight that the students wouldn't be vulnerable to any immediate danger and still far enough away to remain safe, if only for a few moments longer.

It took some convincing, but Ishiyama agreed to continue on with the school day, so as to not worry the students or faculty.

After all, the only targets, Lancer was certain, were the two Phantoms who were currently locked in battle.

Lancer promised Ishiyama to call for help, and he believed he was doing just that as he sought out Daniel's two friends.

Daniel had ordered him to find Sam and Tucker to call the older Fentons, but the two younger teenagers were nowhere to be found.

Lancer's head was buzzing with a million questions, but he managed to push them aside and save them for later.

Just before he rounded the corner, an ectoblast shot out, nearly singing him.

Lancer skidded to a sudden stop then dropped to his knees.

He carefully craned his head around a locker and looked into the next hallway, careful to remain out of sight.

Danielle and Daniel were no longer battling the same three bulky ghosts that Lancer had left them with.

Rather, the two were standing at a distance from a frightening-looking ghost that very much resembled a vampire.

The kids were covered from head to toe in cuts and bruises. Danielle's sleeve had burned off. Her arm had a third-degree burn on it.

"Face it, children." The man laughed. His cheek was red and part of his suit was torn but, otherwise, he looked relatively unharmed. He kicked away a Thermos that rested at his feet. "You're no match for me." Glowing red eyes narrowed on Danny.

"Daniel, my boy. Your persistence is admirable but, you see, it is Danielle is the one that I need. After the loss of the last clone, she is the only one left, and, therefore, rather important to me. I'm sorry to have to cut our meeting short but-"

He pulled out a device from his pocket and pushed a button.

Lancer's jaw dropped.

The sound—a loud wail that echoed through the halls—was certainly far from pleasant.

The scream was high-pitched and earpiercing; however, it seemed to affect the eerily identical Phantoms in a much different way.

Their reaction to the sound terrified Lancer.

Both children dropped to their knees, hands flying to their ears.

"What is that?" Danielle cried out, though her male opposite was incapable of responding.

The sound seemed to grow louder.

Danielle crumpled to the ground first, unconscious.

The vampiric creature sauntered over to the two ghosts on the ground.

Lancer rose to his feet, frantically trying to conjure up some way to help.

Before he could, a brilliant green ray shot out from Danny's two hands.

The blast sent the older ghost flying past Lancer and into a trophy case.

The glass shattered upon impact and the ghost fell into a heap, body half hanging out of the case.

Dark rings shot out from the man's waist and transformed him.

There was no further movement from the ghost.

Lancer immediately jumped out from his spot and ran to the pair of hybrids.

Danny swayed, unsteady on his feet.

Lancer caught him before he could hit the ground.

To his horror, Lancer caught sight of blood trickling out of the boy's ears, gliding down to his neck.

"The noise..." Danny managed to utter out.

Lancer needed no other explanation.

He ran over to the ghost—pausing when he saw the body of a familiar billionaire laying beneath a stack of academic trophies.

Lancer pushed his shock away and crushed the device that had fallen to the ground.

The horrendous screaming instantly ceased.

The man hooked an arm around Danielle's torso and looped Daniel's arm around his shoulder.

He hoped the mayor, or ghost whatever it was to begin with, didn't have another device in hand. Likely the evil hybrid wouldn't waste any time in activating another one when he woke up.

Lancer moved as fast as he could, stumbling towards the one place he hoped another device—if it did indeed exist—wouldn't affect them: the choir room.

:~:~:~:~:~:~:

The migraine was pounding in Danny's skull. His brain felt as though it was going to explode from the pressure.

"Sam, Tucker..." Danny blinked, struggling to chase away the black spots that jumped into his line of vision.

"I couldn't find them," Lancer informed him.

Danny pulled away from Lancer's support and, with trembling hands reached, into his pockets and pulled out his phone.

He handed it to Lancer. "Call my parents," he muttered, weakly.

The black quickly consumed his vision. He felt the world teeter.

Something cold and hard slammed against his side.

Lancer's frightened shout of fear was the last thing he heard before unconsciousness reigned. "Daniel!"

:~:~:~:~:~:~:

The feeling of touch was the first sense the clone registered as he slowly ascended to consciousness.

He could feel the outline of the oxygen mask against his face and the weight of a blanket draped over him.

There was an uncomfortable pressure in his chest that was accompanied by an and an unpleasant buzz humming through his body.

Noises soon broke through the silence. At first, the sounds were faint and muffled, but, slowly, they became more distinct until, at last, they were clear and audible.

He heard his own pained groan as each of the sensations intensified.

He pried open his eyes. Light filtered in, momentarily blinding him.

The light took on colors that soon became blurred images that quickly took on recognizable shapes.

He was in the lab.

His vision cleared enough for him to recognize the face hovering over him—Maddie's face.

The woman's clear eyes gazed at him with concern. The indigo eyes briefly moved away from him as she shouted to another presence in the room.

"Jack! He's awake." Her voice resonated with what he couldn't believe was genuine relief and joy .When she looked back down to him, he was met with more concern. "Sweetheart, are you okay?"

He blinked. He was surprised and not just because he'd never been called by such a term of endearment, but because he knew the woman reserved "sweetheart" for only the people closest to her in her life.

He'd overheard enough of her conversations and phone calls to recognize that.

The boy summoned some of his feeble strength to look up at the man standing behind a computer positioned a little aways from him.

Jack Fenton.

The boy grimaced at the sight of the man.

The last time he'd seen Jack Fenton the man had wanted to apologize for all his past behavior.

David hadn't responded with a straightforward answer, but had made it clear that he wasn't going to forgive the Fenton patriarch.

He jerked his gaze away from Jack and looked upon the kindhearted woman who'd been caring for him the last couple weeks.

The clone sat up and reached for the mask on his face.

"Oh, no. Don't do that." Maddie stopped him from taking it off, sandwiching his hands between hers. "It's pumping you with a vaporized variant of the original Ecto-Dejecto. It's giving you some strength to fight off the de-stabilization."

The clone looked at her hands, which still held his, and blinked up at her. She reluctantly pulled her hands away. "You gave us all quite a scare."

"Wh-" He breathed. His voice sounded slightly muffled by the oxygen mask. "What happened?"

"You had an episode." Maddie informed him. She took on a tone of solemnity, hoping to convey the severity of the truth to him. "A side effect from all the chemicals Vlad gave you. If you have another one, there's a chance you may not survive. You need to rest and relax, okay? You get even a little it worked up, you may not make it through the night." Maddie's eyes revealed her fear. "Do you understand?"

The clone nodded slowly. He understood. He was running out of time and his days of semi-living were rapidly coming to an end.

He looked up at her, his voice betraying foolish hope. "D-Danny. He said his friend found his other clone."

"You mean Danielle?" Maddie blinked. "Yeah. He found her. If he brings her back in time, we can take a sample of her blood and isolate the ecto-dejecto syrum that's in her system and figure out how to recreate it. There's a chance that you'll survive just long enough for us to re-make it but only, only if you stay here. No powers, no emotional outbursts, just rest." The woman placed a hand on his shoulder.

He looked into her kind, maternal eyes.

"Okay." She smiled at him. "Go back to sleep. The more you sleep, the better off we'll be."

The clone nodded and carefully lay back down. The exhaustion was still weighing on him, and a few hours of shut eye definitely sounded inviting.

A buzzing sound caused him to stop and look up at the mother.

She blinked and looked down at her phone.

"It's Danny," she told Jack, then answered.

"Hello? Danny?" She paused, eyes widening in surprise. "Mr. Lancer? What are you-"

She blinked, stopped, and listened.

"Danielle? What-? Is she-?"

Another pause.

Maddie's face took on an expression of horror. "Vlad?"

The clone winced at the name.

"Are they okay?"

Maddie seemed to almost physically crumple. Whatever the response had been was not a good one. Her eyes welled with tears. "Okay. Okay. We'll be right there."

Jack looked at her with equal dismay. "Maddie, what's wrong?"

She pushed her phone back into her pocket. "Jack! The kids are at the school, and they're being attacked."

The clone's heart picked up speed.

"I'll go," Jack nodded, already making a beeline for the door. "You stay with our patient."

Maddie turned to the clone and started when she noticed him rising from their makeshift hospital bed.

"Hey! What are you doing?" She demanded.

"I'm going to help," he responded, simply.

"But you won't make it!" She cried out.

"Listen to Maddie," Jack warned.

"No, you listen," the clone began, addressing them both. "I spoke to your daughter, and she talked to me about a lot of things."

He quickly ripped the mask off, slowly backing away from the woman. He explained, although he doubted she understood what he was talking about.

"I've decided this is who I want to be." He grit his teeth. "At least I know I'll have done something before I died."

H felt the ground pull away from him.

Maddie made an attempt to grab at his ankle, but he pulled away.

This time, when he spoke, he spoke to her.

"I don't know if I'll see you again, so I want to thank you for showing me what it means to have family."

The woman froze, dumbstruck.

He was gone before she had a chance to recover.

A.N: Many thanks to everyone for your patience! Let me know what you think. I will have the next chapters posted in about a week or two.

~nycorrall