A/N: Alright, this chapter provides a lot more insight into the public's view on Danny's disappearance and just Danny and his friends and family in general. But of course after this chapter we'll begin to enter the realm of what really happened. Oh, I'm so excited! And I even know what happened!

Again, thanks so much for all the reviews! You guys are amazing!

Chapter Six
Danny Fenton

"Are you sure your parents aren't going to freak out Kimberly?" Noelle asked as they walked out the front door.

"Relax, I left a note with Sylvia telling her what happened. She's going to tell my parents that we stayed up really late watching movies and we're just sleeping in. Besides, we should be okay. I mean, it's not going to take us that late into the day to get there and back, right?" Kimberly had every intention of flying them home once they saw Danny safely to his house.

"Good, because I don't want to get in trouble with my parents. If they knew I was sneaking out this late they'd never – ahh!" Noelle yelled as she tripped over something and fell to the floor. Kimberly looked down and saw two people lying on the ground in front of them.

"Tucker, Sam!" Danny yelled as he bent over them, making sure they were all right.

"You know these two?" Kimberly asked.

"Yeah, they're my best friends," Danny explained as he started trying to wake them up. Kimberly looked at them closely and saw that there was a boy and a girl lying there. The girl was dressed all in black and purple and had short black hair with some pulled into a pony-tail in the back. The boy was African American and wore a yellow shirt, glasses, and a red beret.

"So wait, what are your friends doing here?" Jacob asked, confusion and suspicion coloring his voice.

"If I don't know how I got here, how am I supposed to know how they did? They must've gotten here the same way I did. We were…having a sleep over at my place."

"Oh," he answered, obviously not believing him. "And how, do you figure, they got here? I doubt they decided to sleep walk with you and end up outside."

"What are you suggesting?" Danny asked defensively.

"I'm suggesting that you three planned this somehow. For some reason the three of you wanted to get into the house."

"Hey, we are not burglars!"

"I never said you were burglars. You probably are just a bunch of jealous losers who wanted to get back at the most popular girl in school by playing some dumb prank on her house!"

"Jacob," Kimberly warned, not wanting to accuse the boy without proof of anything.

"Wait, the most popular…never mind. I did not come here to play a prank on her! I didn't even come here at all, at least not on purpose. I swear, I don't know how I got here!"

"You've got to admit, it is a little coincidental that the three of you happen to all end up at the same house," Noelle added.

"Did you maybe have a few drinks? That could do it," Kimberly suggested.

"Maybe, I don't know," Danny replied quietly.

Finally the boy stirred and started taking in his surroundings.

"Weird, when did we get outside?" Tucker asked.

"I don't know," Danny answered. "I ended up inside the house. The last thing I remember was nodding off during our CSI marathon."

"Oh…yeah…me too. Last thing I remember is something about this bratty chick blowing up a lab or something. Man, we must've done some major sleepwalking or something."

"Yeah, I guess," Danny stated as he continued to try to wake up his other friend.

"Oh, I don't believe we've met. I'm…" the boy began to introduce.

"This is my friend Tucker," Danny interrupted quickly. "Watch out, he's going to try and hit on you. That's what he always does when he meets new girls."

"I wasn't going to hit on them," Tucker argued back. "I was simply introducing myself. And to what do I have the honor of meeting such fine ladies?"

"Tucker, stop," Danny warned. "This is Kimberly, she lives in this house."

"You live here?" Tucker asked in amazement as he looked at the large mansion in front of him. Kimberly nodded, a blush creeping up her cheeks. Tucker whistled. "Somebody's got it made! And I thought Sam was rich!"

"And those are her two friends Noelle and Jacob," Danny continued to introduce. "They were just going to walk me home because they didn't think it would be safe for me to go alone."

"Oh, that's very nice of you. But, Sam and I can handle it from here, once she wakes up of course," Tucker informed them.

"No, we'd like to come along. We want to make sure he got back okay since we were the ones who found him."

Tucker looked over at Danny who Kimberly noticed gave a slight nod. Obviously Danny was the ringleader of the group, that or this was his idea, so it was by default his job to make the decisions.

"Well, the more the merrier! I just didn't want to force you to walk all that way if we could just walk him there."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Noelle reasoned.

"Tucker, come help me wake up Sam," Danny requested as Tucker ran over to help their friend. Kimberly took a few casual steps back until they were out of whispering range. Noelle and Jacob followed her, getting the hint that they wanted to talk.

"What's up?" Jacob whispered.

"There's something weird going on here," Kimberly stated.

"Tell me about it," Jacob agreed as Noelle nodded her head in agreement.

"It's just, I keep getting this feeling that he's not being completely truthful, at least in most circumstances. He's still hiding something, something big. Notice how he always gets really defensive and nervous when the topic comes to him or how he got into the house. I think he knows the answer and just doesn't want to tell us."

"But why would he do that?" Noelle asked.

"I don't know. But whatever the reason, I don't think he wanted to end up here."

"Hey guys, she's up!" Tucker yelled to them. They walked closer, Sam eyeing them suspiciously.

"Who are you?" the Goth girl asked.

"I'm Kimberly and these are my friends Noelle and Jacob. We found Danny inside my house after he fell down the stairs and we brought him upstairs."

Sam still looked at the two of them suspiciously. Kimberly got the strange feeling that Sam was awake well before they told the two of them and that they had been talking between themselves. Although, Kimberly couldn't really blame them because she and her friends had done the same thing.

As they started walking towards Danny's house Kimberly, Noelle, and Jacob walked ahead, guiding the group, as Danny, Sam, and Tucker held back beyond hearing distance. Kimberly could tell they were still whispering comments to each other, but she didn't care. She actually appreciated the gap because that meant she could whisper to Jacob and Noelle.

"I really wish I knew what was going on," Jacob moaned. Kimberly nodded in agreement. The two of them hated it when things were hidden from them, which is why being popular appealed to them so much; whenever something happened, they always knew about it.

"It's weird. It all seems so strange, and yet so familiar. It's like I've met the three of them before, but I can't place where."

"Maybe you saw them at school?" Noelle suggested.

"I don't think so. I can't recall ever seeing them before."

"I'm starting to believe they don't go to the school," Jacob remarked. "I mean, Danny seemed shocked to find out that you were the most popular girl in school, and anyone who goes to that school would know about that."

"But they're sixteen! If they don't go to Phantom High then where do they go? There's no other high school even close, especially if they live near Danny Fenton's old house."

Before they could get an answer Tucker walked up next to them, ending their conversation.

"Sorry to interrupt you, but I just wanted to apologize for our earlier actions. We're just a little disoriented and I just wanted to let you know that we appreciate your help, even if our actions don't really convey that."

"Oh, that's perfectly alright."

"That's good. I figure that through this we can form a beautiful friendship, don't you?" he asked, directed towards Noelle.

"I guess…" Noelle answered while looking over at a smiling Kimberly. Tucker was hitting on her. Just the thought of it was hilarious.

"So, tell me about yourself. Where were you born? How long have you been living here?"

Noelle looked over at Kimberly with a pleading look but Kimberly gestured for her to go along. She might be able to find something out through Tucker who seemed more open than Danny and definitely more open than Sam, who hadn't given them anything but an evil look since she woke up.

"Oh I can't believe he's hitting on her," Jacob muttered bitterly. Kimberly had long since believed that Jacob and Noelle were unofficially going out. They were really close and anyone who spent enough time with them could tell that they liked each other, even if they were too afraid to admit it.

"I'm going to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid," Jacob told Kimberly as he walked ahead to catch up with the two of them. Kimberly could see that Noelle looked quite relieved to see him there.

Kimberly started to trail behind so she could catch some of Danny and Sam's conversation. She wasn't quite sure whether they had sent Tucker forward to distract them so they couldn't conspire together or whether he had just done it out of his own free will. She preferred to think the latter, but she wouldn't put it past them, especially with the way Sam looked at them. She definitely seemed the devious type.

"I can't believe it, Tucker's flirting with her," Kimberly heard Sam say.

"Well, you know Tucker, he never passes up an opportunity to get a girlfriend."

"But doesn't he know it's not possible?"

"Truthfully, I don't think he cares."

"What about that Kimberly girl? She looks so much like you!"

"I know. It's actually kinda scary."

"What do you think it means?"

"I don't know, but I know it means something. It has to. It can't be just a coincidence, given the circumstances."

Then they stopped talking, obviously noticing that Kimberly was trailing behind the group and well within hearing distance. She heard the two of them pick up their pace and stride even with her.

"So, what's up with this Danny Fenton guy?" Danny asked as they passed a poster left over from the memorial service.

"You mean you don't know? I thought everyone in this city knew." Now she was really suspicious. Everyone knew about Danny Fenton, everyone.

"Well, I know about him, but I really don't know any details. My parents don't really like to talk about him."

Kimberly still didn't quite believe him. If he was this curious, he could have asked almost anyone, since everyone knew about Danny Fenton.

"Didn't you go to the memorial service a few days ago?" Kimberly asked.

Danny and Sam stopped dead. "M-memorial service?" he stuttered.

The others noticed they'd stopped and turned around and walked back, wanting to see what the fuss was about.

"Yeah. Are you guys out from out of state or something?" Kimberly asked.

"Um…well see…I haven't been exactly truthful with you guys. My parents aren't actually my parents. My real parents…died a few weeks ago and now I'm…living with my aunt and uncle who live here. So I just moved here and I really don't know anything about this place."

Well, that made a little more sense. It explained why she hadn't seen him in school since he was new and why he didn't really know anything. But still things seemed suspicious.

"Why didn't you tell us before?"

"Well, I didn't really think it was important. Plus, I'm not that comfortable talking about it; I'm trying to forget about it."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it."

"And what about Sam and Tucker?" Kimberly asked.

"They're my friends from California, where I used to live. They're spending the weekend here, which is why we really need to get home. Otherwise my parents, my aunt and uncle, won't let them come out here again."

"Alright that makes sense."

"Now, what did you mean by 'memorial service'?" Sam asked with trepidation, as if she was afraid to ask.

"The memorial service for Danny Fenton and his family and Danny Phantom. There's one held every year in their honor to commemorate the day they went missing."

"Missing?" Danny asked curiously.

"Yeah. About fifteen years ago Danny, his wife Sam, and their daughter Victoria were found missing in their mansion." Danny and Sam looked shocked to hear this information. "After a year of searching no one found anything and they were officially pronounced dead."

"But why hold a city-wide memorial service for them?" Tucker asked as Danny and Sam seemed lost for words.

"Well, Danny had done a lot of good for the city. He built FentonWorks and found a way to make really cheap energy out of ghost ectoplasm. He used a lot of his money to build up Amity and the people loved him. When he went missing he was running for Mayor."

"Do you have any clue as to why or how they went missing?" Danny asked in a very business-like manner, finally finding his voice.

"Nothing. The police don't have any leads, they never have. No one really hated him enough to do anything bad to him on purpose and it wasn't political since there really wasn't any opposition to him running for mayor. Even the other candidate wanted Danny to win. The most logical thought was ghosts, but Danny Phantom had rid the city of ghosts a few years prior and they hadn't been seen since. Of course, I probably sound really silly talking about ghosts."

"No, not at all. My aunt and uncle actually like ghosts strangely enough. They've told me a lot about them, especially about this Danny Phantom character. What do you know about him?"

"Well, he was a good ghost that saved the city from other ghosts that wanted to take over the world. There were ghosts constantly attacking the city from 2005 to 2014. Then after the defeat of Plasmius, the ghost attacks practically stopped. Danny Phantom still lingered around though, even though it was unnecessary. But still, my parents said that it felt comforting to know that Danny Phantom was still out there, patrolling the city, just in case.

"Then, after the Fentons disappeared, people began to notice that Danny Phantom had disappeared as well. People started to think that Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom were the same person since there were so many similarities and they seemed so close, but his family denied it and said that they believed Danny Phantom left to go find Danny Fenton and never came back."

"What happened to Danny's family?" Danny asked, somewhat sad and yet fearful at the same time, like he didn't really want to know the answer.

"Well his parents decided to go off and look for him, but they never came back. No one knows what happened to them either." As Kimberly said this, she thought she heard a slightly audible gasp and saw a tear forming in Danny's eyes.

"His sister, Jazz, was heartbroken, but she moved on and got a Ph.D. in psychology and got married to a really nice man named Michael Henderson. She now has twins and lives somewhere in Chicago. She comes out to visit every year for the service."

"She's alive?" Danny asked, sounding somewhat hopeful.

"Yeah," Kimberly answered slowly, intrigued by his hopeful tone. "Anyways, Danny and Sam's best friend, Tucker Foley, also survived the tragedy of the Fenton family and created a new operating program for computers named Foley which quickly replaced Windows."

"Yes!" Tucker yelled in joy. "Sorry, big fan."

"Anyways he's extremely successful and is the Bill Gates of this century. I really don't know where he lives, since he has houses all over the planet, but he comes out here to visit for the memorial service every year as well."

After she finished her story, the three of them looked extremely depressed and Danny looked like he was fighting back tears.

"Um, I need to go to the bathroom. Do you think there's a store open somewhere?" Danny asked as he looked around.

"Yeah, there's one right over there," Kimberly answered as she pointed to a gas station across the street.

"Thanks." He walked off rather quickly, Tucker and Sam following him.

"Well, that was certainly interesting," Noelle commented.

"I'll say," Jacob agreed.

"I've never seen anyone react that way to the story about Danny Fenton unless they knew him personally. I mean, I know it's a sad story, but still, generally people don't care that much," Noelle pointed out.

"And after hearing about Danny's parents he had tears in his eyes," Jacob remarked.

"He looked like he had tears in his eyes the whole time," Kimberly added. "There's definitely something more going on. He knows more about the Fentons than he claims, and I've got this suspicion that he didn't run off to the bathroom just to pee."

"Me neither," Jacob agreed.

"You guys stay here; I'm going to see what's up," Kimberly ordered as she turned invisible and flew off towards the gas station.

It wasn't that she usually spied on people when they wanted to have a private conversation, but she was curious. She had this strange feeling that she should be involved in this too, like whatever they were hiding had something to do with her. It might have something to do with that strange connection she'd always felt to Danny Fenton. Based on the way they reacted to hearing the tale of the heroic philanthropist, it seemed like they knew Danny Fenton and his family personally but knew nothing of their history. But how could three sixteen year olds know someone who was pronounced missing the year they were born?

She checked in the bathroom and noticed that no one was there. Had they given them the slip? Had they gotten the history on Danny Fenton that they seemed to be missing and then decided to run off before they got even more suspicious?

She continued to fly around and finally heard voiced coming from the alley behind the gas station. She flew closer and found Danny sitting on a trash can, his eyes red from crying. Sam and Tucker were on either side comforting him.

"I mean, this isn't what I thought it would be like at all! I mean, isn't this future supposed to be better than my other one? It seems like to me that everyone's dead in both of them, including me!"

"Well, at least Jazz and Tucker are still alive," Sam comforted, still looking somewhat shocked.

"Lucky," Danny commented with a sniffle.

"Hey, I don't think it's any better. With the two of you dead, there's nothing really good about life any more, except the whole Windows thing which is totally awesome."

"But Danny, isn't that why we're here, to fix it? That means that there's still hope."

"But Clockwork was talking about saving me, he didn't say anything about you or my parents or my daughter…wow that's weird to think about." He shook his head. "What if I may still be alive, but you're dead? That still doesn't bode for a very good future."

"Listen Danny, I'm just as shocked to find out about this as you are, but Clockwork sent us to this time for a reason. Trust me, if I was really dead right now, Clockwork would have sent you back further to save me because that's just the way he is."

"Yeah, he's always bending the rules for you Danny," Tucker added with a smile.

"Don't worry Danny, we'll figure this out. Clockwork wouldn't have sent us if we couldn't do anything to help."

"I know. It's just a shock, to hear that not only will you grow up to be one of the richest men on the planet, a hero twice over, and that they commemorate your death every year, but that you might possibly be dead, and I mean really dead. And then, to add icing to the cake, your parents could be dead because they went off to look for you and your sister and best friend are left alone because you couldn't fight some stupid ghost. It's just a lot to take in."

"We understand Danny," Sam soothed.

"But think of it this way, it can't be as bad as the last time you went to the future," Tucker added.

"Yeah, I guess that's true." He took a deep sigh and stood up. "Well, I think we've been in the bathroom long enough. Shall we go?"

"Yeah, but what do we do once we reach our neighborhood? Clockwork hinted that we were supposed to go to your house, at least I'm pretty sure that's what his hint referred to, but I don't think it would be a good thing to tell them that we're going into Danny Fenton's old house."

"So pretty much how are we going to give them the slip?" Danny asked. Tucker and Sam nodded. "Well, I was thinking of just going to some random house, sneaking in, and then once they go away going back to my house."

"That works," Sam agreed.

They started to walk back to the rest of them and Kimberly quickly flew out, not believing what she'd just overheard. She landed next to the others, still trying to regain her bearings and put together the pieces in her head.

"What did you find out?" Noelle asked as the other three walked out towards them.

Kimberly ignored her and stared at Danny and his friends as they walked towards them.

"Hey guys. Sorry it took so…"

"You're Danny Fenton."

A/N: Wow, this is just my week for evil cliffies. First A Secret Uncovered and now this one...