Chapter 14: The Laws of the Universe
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or its characters. Dante and Strike belong to me.
There were hot dogs, and tofu dogs. The little group found Danielle and Jack happily chowing down in the kitchen, Danielle in her human rather than ghost form. Maddie was cooking more hot dogs on the stove while she and Jack had a cheerful argument—around the hot dogs in Jack's mouth—about which of their weapons had worked best in their fight.
"I'm telling you, the Fenton Ghost-Eliminator was—oh, hi kids," Maddie broke off when they entered. Somehow she included Dante in this statement, which was both amusing and weird to Danny. She peered behind the group. "Is Strike all right?"
"Oh, yeah," Danny assured her quickly before Dante could say anything. "She woke up and headed back to the Ghost Zone to finish recuperating."
"That's great, hon. I was sure she'd be fine, but you never know with ghosts, strange things that they are. Although for a ghost she's not so bad."
"She said almost the same thing about you and Dad," said Danny.
"That we're all right for ghosts?" Jack demanded. "We aren't ghosts, we're ghost-hunters! The nerve! And after we helped her, too!"
"No, no," soothed Danny. "She just said for human ghost-hunters you're all right. Apparently most ghosts don't take kindly to being hunted."
"No kidding," murmured Danielle, who had been through her share of being the ghost-prey.
This was lost on Jack and Maddie, however. "Well, why shouldn't we hunt them?" Maddie demanded. "There's a Ghost Zone for a reason! Ghosts that are hostile to humans should stay there!"
"Would make our lives a little easier," Danny admitted. "But then I think we'd be out of a job."
"Hmmm," Maddie agreed thoughtfully. Danny, Sam, Tucker and Jazz, used to short-lived debates like this around meals at the Fenton home, settled down to hot dogs and tofu dogs. Dante stood awkwardly wedged in a corner. Though he didn't take up as much physical room as Danny or Jack, he clearly felt as though he did not fit.
It was Dani who finally did something about it. "Sit," she said in her imperious way, pushing a chair out with her foot. "Even if you don't eat, tell me you can at least sit. Right?" She grinned broadly at him.
It was hard not to be charmed when his "cousin" was being sassy, Danny reflected. At least Dante took the offered chair. He still didn't talk, but he seemed to be listening with genuine interest to Danielle's stories of her exploits since she had last seen the Fentons. Danny didn't believe half of the things the young teen said, but that wasn't the point. Danielle enjoyed being the center of attention, and Danny was perfectly happy to let her have the spotlight. She kept the mood in the kitchen light seemingly without effort. Everyone else appeared nothing but grateful to have her distract them.
No one mentioned the events of the last few days.
The phone rang. They all jumped, including Dante. No one seemed to know what to do. This unexpected wake-up call from the outside world was slowly reminding them that real life had continued to march on without them, completely unaware of how close it had come to destruction. Finally, Maddie, who happened to be closest to the phone, reached up and answered it.
"Hello, FentonWorks. Oh, hi Mr. Lancer!"
"Oh, no, graduation!" Tucker, Sam and Danny all exclaimed simultaneously.
"Tomorrow?" Maddie said, ignoring the sudden commotion around her. "Yes, of course we'll be there! We're all so looking forward to hearing Danny's speech." A pause. "Why would you think we couldn't make it?" A longer pause, during which Danny and Sam looked at each other. "No, no, everything's fine. We'll be there." Another pause. Maddie's face lost a little color. "The Shield?"
"Great galloping ghosts, we forgot!" exclaimed Jack.
"Jazz, did you kids find anything at Vlad's old castle to help us?" Maddie asked with one hand over the phone's receiver.
"No, Mom," Jazz admitted.
"But I don't think we don't have to worry about Plasmius this time, either," Danny said.
Maddie gave him a look, and her son mouthed 'Later.' She nodded. "Yes, don't worry about the Ghost Shield. Right. See you tomorrow!" She hung up.
"All right, young man, why exactly do we not have to worry about Vlad tomorrow?" she demanded.
"I didn't do anything!" Danny protested.
"I did," Dante said, speaking for the first time since coming downstairs. "And unless Clockwork or Strike do something about him before tomorrow, which for your sakes I hope they don't, Plasmius won't be giving you any trouble."
"Strike mentioned something about dinosaurs?" Tucker asked tentatively.
"She wasn't kidding," replied Dante. He looked as though he wasn't sure whether to be proud or embarrassed.
"Really?" Danielle leaned forward eagerly. "Where exactly did you send him? And how?"
"Clockwork has a device that lets him view or visit any place or time he chooses. I sent Plasmius back somewhere in the vicinity of the Jurassic. I couldn't destroy him without endangering the part of me that belongs to him, but I needed him out of my way and out of my hair until I could get rid of him later. It was the most convenient thing at the time."
"Cool!" Dani grinned fiercely. "I hope he stays there for a long, long time. And I hope when he does come back he's got a few teeth marks in him."
Since everyone in the room more or less agreed with this sentiment, no one said anything. At last Dante cleared his throat. "Did I hear something about a speech at this graduation thing?"
Danny felt his cheeks go brick red. Jazz said proudly, "Danny's the elected class speaker."
"Awesome, Danny!" congratulated Danielle. "Now I'm glad I'll actually get to hear this thing!"
"I just hope it doesn't get interrupted again or we'll never be free of Casper High," Danny grumbled.
"I just hope we can get the Ghost Shield up and running again before tomorrow," Maddie said worriedly.
"Don't bother," said Dante with quiet firmness in his voice.
"What?" Everyone but Danny and Danielle looked at him with varying amounts of wariness. Manifestation of good or not, he was still a relatively unknown entity.
Dante ducked his head, looking for a moment like the original Danny at his most shy. "I mean, you can fix it eventually. But don't worry about having it ready by tomorrow." He and Danielle exchanged glances. Dani grinned and nodded slightly; Danny realized that on some strange level the pair of them had reached an unspoken understanding.
"Yeah," Dani agreed with Dante. "We'll make sure nobody unwanted interrupts." The way she said it made Danny actually feel sorry for any hostile ghost that showed up.
Dante now looked straight at Danny. His bright green eyes were steady and determined. Danny recognized the look; it was his own at his most resolved. "It's the least I can do," the older ghost said.
"And afterwards?" Danny heard himself asking. He hadn't even realized he'd had the thought until it popped out of his mouth.
Dante shrugged. His eyes were weary again, and somehow older than the thirty years his appearance gave him. "Who knows?"
-0-0-0-
Considering everything, Mr. Lancer took the news that they were risking going without a Ghost Shield for Graduation Take Two surprisingly well. He only asked Danny if he was sure. Danny nodded. He trusted Danielle and Dante to do what they had promised.
Lancer narrowed his eyes, clearly unsure but to Danny's relief did not argue. Danny had explained to Lancer how the situation with the evil version of himself had been resolved. Lancer had only swallowed it because after three years he knew Danny wouldn't lie to him about something this important. The potbellied teacher mostly seemed relieved that he wasn't in imminent danger anymore, no matter how crazy the story behind it.
Graduation Take Two began for the most part exactly identical to Take One. Danny's stubborn tassel kept smacking him in the face. The Fentons made a great deal of noise when he entered the stadium, compounded this time with whistles from Dani Phantom. Lancer made the exact same opening speech. The only major differences were the lack of glowing green Shield overhead, and that Danny had a Fenton Thermos strapped to his waist under his gown. Just in case.
Neither Dante nor Danielle was in sight for the majority of the ceremony. Neither was there any trace of ghosts trying to interrupt. However, when he stepped up to make his speech, Danny did see Danielle perched atop the tallest tree visible from the stadium. She waved at him. Even from a distance he could see her huge grin. Danny grinned back. Let everyone else think he was smiling at them.
He started his speech. "As most of you know, I'm Danny Fenton…" He continued the speech as originally written. He even managed a few lame jokes, which made his audience chuckle or groan depending on how well they knew their town hero's personality.
In the end, however, he paused. He knew Lancer would frown at him later, but he deviated from his notes.
"As we all go our separate ways and meet people outside of Amity Park, I'd like to make a personal request. Just remember people aren't always how they first appear." He chuckled. "I think I'm living proof of that."
The audience stirred in what might have been a laugh—or an uncomfortable rustle.
"Not that every nerd you pick on will turn out to be a superhero in disguise. But you never know. My point is, give people a chance before you decide you know what they're like just by looking at them."
He paused to let that sink in. Then he grinned and threw his arms wide. "Hey, enough with the serious stuff. Today we get to celebrate that we made it out of high school alive!" With that, he transformed into Danny Phantom, flew out over the crowd, and sent a few ectoplasmic bursts from his fingers in the shape of fireworks.
Everyone erupted into cheers. Although it was premature, many students took off their caps and threw them. The Fentons happily blew their noisemakers. Lancer shouting on the bullhorn couldn't quell the noise. The only ones not happy were Sam's parents, who of course looked scandalized at the unseemly behavior going on around them. Even Tucker's parents, normally as reserved as the Mansons, were cheering with the rest. Danny glimpsed Dani fist pumping the air from her tree.
And off in the shadows of the bleachers, a small smile from Dante, and a wave of a black-gloved hand.
Danny thought he knew what that meant.
It took twenty minutes for everyone to realize that they had to calm down if the graduates actually wanted to get their hands on their diplomas. The rest of the ceremony proceeded from there, if in a haphazard sort of way and not at all the way rehearsal had gone. In the end everyone did get their diplomas. That, as Sam commented later, was all that really counted, Lancer's grousing about tradition aside.
Dani Phantom met them after the ceremony. The Fentons were the last to leave, as everyone seemed to want a picture with famous Danny Phantom. Thus it was early evening by the time only the Fentons, Tucker and Jazz stood by the Family Assault Vehicle.
"Hey, where's Dante?" asked Tucker.
"Oh, he left awhile ago," Dani said, confirming Danny's suspicions.
"He left?" Maddie seemed a little taken aback. "Didn't he want to stay with us for a little while?"
"He said you'd say that," Dani admitted. She shrugged. "He also said to tell you it's very kind of you to offer, but it's too hard for him. He's not Danny Phantom or Vlad Plasmius. He has to figure out his own life."
"Everyone has to find their own place in the world," agreed Jazz. "All he'd do here is wallow in the past, which is not good for anyone's psychological health. Even ghosts. It's my personal theory that that's why so many of them turn bad."
"Well." Maddie looked somewhat affronted, but seemed to accept Jazz's explanation if not the one Dante himself had given. "If that's how he wants it to be."
"Did he say where he was going?" asked Sam.
"Nah. Went all mysterious." Dani grinned. "Which I totally get. Sometimes it's nice to just be out on your own." She floated a few feet above the ground. "Are we going back to your place soon? I can't wait to taste the cake the Mansons ordered. It's got six layers, and—"
"Yep, she's definitely got some Fenton in her," Sam whispered to Danny.
"Not really what I want to think about right now," Danny whispered back. "I just want to celebrate." But he couldn't help glancing behind him at the bleachers where he had last seen Dante.
Sam noticed. She smiled, a little smile that just crooked one corner of her mouth. "Laws of the universe," she said.
"Huh?" Danny looked at her.
"Remember what Clockwork said? His 'guidelines' for the universe?"
"Sure. He said when there's two of one thing in the same universe at the same time, then they'll keep meeting until one of them…" he paused, "…destroys the other. You don't think—"
"No," Sam said. "I don't think you're eventually going to have to kill the other version of you, any more than you've been forced to kill Dani these past three years. But she keeps turning up, doesn't she?"
"She has to, to not melt into ectoplasmic goo," Danny reminded her.
"Yeah, but not this time. She turned up anyway right when we needed her. I think it may be the same with Dante. You share enough, I dunno, stuff, that your paths will just continue to cross. He may not be your future anymore, but I think…he's inevitable."
"And the other version? The evil one?"
"Him, too." Sam looked like she hoped she was wrong about that. Danny agreed with her—he did not want to lay eyes on that twisted version of himself and Plasmius again. Even a brief glimpse was enough. But he had a feeling Sam was right. The laws of the universe would conspire to keep his life intertwined with Dante and Dante's evil opposite no matter how they tried to avoid it. This wasn't all bad—he'd like to occasionally see Dante now that he didn't have to worry about this incarnation of himself going off on a horrible killing spree. But if he got to see Dante, that meant he'd eventually get to see the other side, too. And when that day came, he and his friends and family would have to be ready.
And in the meantime, college. With problems all its own.
"Hey, earth to Danny and Sam!" called Dani's voice. "We're waiting on you two!" The pair turned to find everyone else had piled into the Assault Vehicle to return to FentonWorks and the party all three families were having to honor the graduates.
"All right, all right, we're coming!" Sam yelled back. "C'mon, Danny. You were right today—enough with the serious stuff. Let's go be kids one more time. The laws of the universe can wait."
She grabbed his hand. They held eyes for one more serious moment. Then they both grinned simultaneously. Danny swept Sam up into his arms and took off.
"We're going to eat all the cake before the rest of you get there!" Danny taunted as they sped past the Assault Vehicle.
"Hey, no fair!" Dani went ghost and streaked after them. Danny and Sam just laughed and enjoyed the summer breeze in their hair. What would happen, would happen. Right now was a time to celebrate not only their graduation, but their victory in pulling off another impossible feat and saving the world yet again.
Sam was right. The laws of the universe could wait.
The End
Author's Note: So that's it. What did you think? I'm really pleased with how this story came out. Thanks very much to those of you who read and reviewed. And to Cywyllog, who preread all my chapters even though she's not very familiar with Danny Phantom. I'm relying on my readers to catch any discrepancies with in-universe stuff. And you have. Thank you.
This is the first in a two-part story. Whether the second one will ever get written is up for debate. It's outlined vaguely, but it's not even named at this point. I hope someday I will get to it but that day will not be soon. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this little foray into "what-if" land.
Thanks to everyone who read and reviewed! I really appreciate it.
Over and out,
SamoaPhoenix9