The Accident With a Twist

Main Characters: Clockwork, Danny, Vlad

Genre: drama/adventure

Flying invisibly through the air, Phantom felt frustration go through him as he scanned the area. His mentor had told him that he was to find a human boy and save his life, because the boy was apparently going to be important for the future. Phantom didn't understand but it was Clockwork; even Phantom's father didn't understand the Master of Time.

However, the only help Clockwork gave Phantom was to find the only half-ghost in existence. He seemed to think that if Phantom found the half-ghost then he would be able to find the boy he was supposed to save the life of. The only problem was Phantom had no idea where to start looking for the half-ghost, other than in his human lair in Wisconsin.

Unfortunately, Plasmius was not home so now Phantom was at a loss of where to continue looking. He was also running out of time; the longer he remained in the human realm, the more likely his father would figure out and then both he and Clockwork would be in trouble. Granted, the Master of Time would probably already know if Phantom's father would find out about his excursion into the human realm and would figure out something to placate the Ghost King but Phantom didn't want to be confined to the palace.

It was boring.

Phantom sighed; he didn't even know where he was.

He paused when he spotted a sign and flew toward it. It read Amity Park and, beneath it, read A Nice Place to Live. Beyond the sign was a city; Phantom tilted his head to one side. He's never seen a city before. When he first came to the human realm, he had used Plasmius's manmade portal and so arrived directly in Plasmius's home.

He shrugged and decided to look through the city. He really didn't have that much of a choice since he didn't have any lead on where the halfa was.

Flying invisibly through the streets of Amity Park, Phantom examined the humans curiously. There were so many of them. Phantom has never seen so many humans before; in truth, he has never met a human before. His father was protective of him, which is one of the reasons why his father would not be happy if he found out Phantom was in the human realm.

He kept above the humans, flying around the skyscrapers and over a park still looking around for the halfa. He knew what the halfa looked like in human form only because Clockwork had showed him.

He stopped when he spotted a human that looked exactly like the image Clockwork had shown him. A tall man with white hair—turned that way after he became half-ghost—tied back in a ponytail dressed in a business suit was sitting on the bench in the park. There was no one around him but Phantom still slowed hesitating as he drew nearer to the halfa.

"I can sense you, you know," the man said; his voice was calm and smooth but with a hint of steel that suggested Phantom was probably a breath away from being blasted.

The Ghost Prince looked around unsure but, when he spotted no one watching him, he landed next to the bench before becoming visible. Plasmius glanced toward him raising an eyebrow.

"And what brings you here, Prince Phantom?" he asked. "Does your father know you're in the human realm?"

Phantom snorted. "If he did then I wouldn't be here," he said. "I swear he's so protective!" He sighed before adding, "I actually came here looking for you, Plasmius."

"Oh? And what would the Prince of All Ghosts want with me?"

Phantom bristled at the snide tone but wasn't exactly surprised; he knew Plasmius cared little, if at all, about the Ghost King, his rule and anyone related to him. "I'm looking for someone," he said. "A human."

"And why would you be seeking out a human, Phantom?" Plasmius asked. He was the only one out there, with the exception of Clockwork, who could get away with not referring to Phantom as 'prince' or calling him 'your highness' all the time.

"Clockwork told me that I needed to find and save a human boy because, for some reason, that boy's going to play an important part in the future," Phantom said.

"Do you know what he meant by that?"

"It's Clockwork, Plasmius. I never know what he means."

"Point. However, I am unsure how I am supposed to help you. I don't know who this boy is unless I have more details about who he could be."

"Clockwork only said that if I found you then I could find the boy," Phantom said.

Plasmius stood up curling his lips into a sneer. "I remain in the human realm to remain beneath your father's radar. The last thing I wish is to get on your father's bad side. What I should do is escort you back to the Ghost Zone."

"I'm not going back until I finish Clockwork's mission. He wouldn't have asked me to do this if it wasn't really important," Phantom said shortly. "Are you going to help me or not?"

"As I have already told you, dear boy, how can I help you when I don't know who this human boy is?"

Phantom growled folding his arms across his chest. "Well, Clockwork seems to think that I'll find him if I find you. Maybe it has something to do with why you're in Amity Park rather than in Wisconsin," he said.

"Perhaps so. I am simply visiting some friends, Phantom. It would be in your best interests to not go near them though. I would rather not explain to your father how you were destroyed because you went into the lair of ghost hunters," Plasmius sneered.

"And why are you going into the lair of ghost hunters?"

"I am only half-ghost, Phantom. I can pass easily for human."

Phantom ran a hand through his snowy white hair frustration crawling through him. "Do these friends of yours have a son?"

"I believe they do, why?"

Phantom was silent for a long moment as he thought about that and connected it with what Clockwork told him. "I'm not sure if I'm right, Plasmius, but I think that boy's the one that I need to save."

"And how do you know that?"

"I don't. That's the problem," Phantom said. "But what if it is him?"

"You wish to trek into the lair of ghost hunters because you think the boy is the one Clockwork asked you to save? Dear boy, that is the stupidest idea you've ever come up with and I was there when you thought it would be funny to get Desiree to turn Nightmare pink."

Phantom's cheeks went pale green in a blush at the memory of that. "I need to know," he said finally.

Plasmius growled in frustration; even when he wasn't in ghost form, he still was intimidating. "Fine but if they so much as look at you wrong, get out of there," he said finally.

Phantom nodded in agreement.

\/\/\/\/\/

"Why would anyone want to announce where they live like that?" Phantom said wonderingly looking at the large neon green sign hanging in front of the townhome in front of him.

"It's Jack. I'm not surprised," Plasmius said walking over to the stairs as Phantom floated invisibly behind him. "You better hope they don't have any safeguards in place since they appear to not be home." Without waiting for Phantom to reply, he lifted a hand and knocked on the door.

There was a moment of silence before the door opened to reveal a black-haired boy around Phantom's age with ice-blue eyes. Gazing at the boy, Phantom knew in an instant that this was the boy that Clockwork wanted him to save.

"Hello, you must be Daniel," Plasmius said in greeting.

"It's Danny. Who're you?" the boy, Danny, asked.

"I am Vlad Masters. I told your parents that I would be coming by to see their newest invention but I suppose I missed them."

"Yeah, they left 'cause they weren't able to get their newest invention working," Danny admitted. "Come on in, Mr. Masters."

"Danny! Are you going to come down or not?!" A shout sounded.

"I'll be there in a minute. Someone was at the door," Danny shouted back as he stepped aside and Plasmius, with Phantom floating behind him, made his way into the living room.

"We're in the lab," Danny said.

"Isn't that a bit dangerous, dear boy?" Plasmius asked.

Danny shrugged. "Mom just said that as long as we stay away from the portal to avoid getting shocked, we'll be fine. Mom and dad should be home soon though if you want to wait for them."

"Very well."

Danny turned and dashed out of the living room.

Phantom watched him go. "Portal?" He echoed.

"I believe that was what Jack was talking about when I last spoke to him," Plasmius said walking over to the couch and sitting down. "So, did you figure out if that boy is the one you're supposed to save?"

"I'm almost sure of it," Phantom said. "There's just something about him…I really don't know how to explain it but I feel connected to him and I don't know why."

"Bonds like that usually form between mates."

"I am not that way!"

"I never said you were. However, those bonds also form between family members and, though this is rarer, between a ghost and a human—this is more of a sibling bond—though those don't last long."

"Why not?"

Plasmius, who was dialing something on his phone, looked up. "Bonds like that usually lead to the death of the human."

Phantom shivered though he didn't get cold. "I don't get it. If this bond usually leads to the death of the human then how am I going to save him?"

"How should I know, dear boy? You should have asked Clockwork."

"Maybe I will next time I see him."

Phantom glanced toward the lab. "Something's not right," he said softly before he floated over to the door at the back of the kitchen and floated downward into the lab. He spotted Danny standing there dressed in a white and black jumpsuit talking with a black-haired girl dressed entirely in black and a dark-skinned boy with unique turquoise colored eyes.

"…so sure about this, Sam? I mean, mom did say to stay away from it," Danny was saying eyeing the yawning tunnel of technology he was standing beside.

"Ah come on, Danny. It doesn't work anyway and just think about it. A portal leading to another dimension? Surely you're curious," the girl, Sam, said.

"Well, yeah, I mean who knows what could be on the other side of this thing?" Danny said eyeing the tunnel with curiosity in his eyes.

Phantom frowned. What was he supposed to do? If the portal really was not functional then Danny wouldn't be in danger if he decided to explore it. Funny thing is if Phantom had been in Danny's position, he would have done it.

"I'm going to do it," Danny said finishing zipping up the jumpsuit.

"Hold on. You don't want to go around with that on your chest," Sam said ripping of an image of a black-haired man's face.

"Okay, well, here goes," Danny said before he made his way into the portal. Phantom immediately floated after him still unsure of what to do until he spotted the switch. It was situated on the inside of the wall, an on switch and Danny's hand was about to hit it.

Phantom shot toward Danny hoping to push him out of the way in time but he was too slow. Almost as soon as he cannoned into Danny, the switch was flipped on.

\/\/\/\/\/

Vlad Masters was talking with Maddie, he was thankful it was Maddie that had picked up and not Jack, when he heard the bloodcurdling scream.

"What was that?!" Maddie cried.

"I'm going to check it out," Vlad said before he hung up and dashed into the lab. He skidded to a halt staring at the swirling green vortex of a ghost portal. Standing around it, crying out "Danny!" were Daniel's two friends.

"What happened?" he demanded icily all the while also looking around for his prince but he couldn't sense anyone.

Sugar cookies. King Pariah is going to kill me, Vlad thought.

"I…we…it wasn't supposed to be functional," the Goth girl cried amethyst eyes wide with fear and sadness.

"Where's Daniel?" Vlad asked.

With a shaky hand, the boy with the red beret on his head pointed to the portal and Vlad felt a jolt. The son of his beloved Maddie was dead?

Vlad shakily moved forward only to pause when a groan of pain sounded.

"Danny!" The Goth girl cried as a very familiar yet slightly different figure crawled out of the portal. The shock of white hair, the glowing emerald green eyes; it was Phantom.

Vlad moved past the Goth girl and knelt beside the boy and helping him get away from the portal. He turned the boy over in time to see those glowing green eyes fix on him and a small smile cross his face.

"Guess Clockwork was right," Phantom's familiar voice said through the boy's lips before he closed his eyes. He passed out and twin rings of brilliant white light appeared around the boy's waist separating and leaving Daniel Fenton unconscious in Phantom's place.

Vlad was in shock for Phantom had done what no other ghost would dare to do. He merged with a human.

"Danny?" The Goth girl whispered breaking Vlad out of his stupor.

"Come, we need to get him to his room," Vlad said. "He needs to rest and I don't think it would be a good idea if his parents knew what happened here. They would think that the portal killed Danny, which is obviously not true."

"But how?" the boy asked confused.

"I don't know." It was a lie but the last thing Vlad was going to do was tell two full humans that their friend was now permanently united with the Prince of All Ghosts.

He gently picked Daniel up before making his way out of the lab with the Goth girl and the boy just behind him.

\/\/\/\/\/

Danny Fenton woke up lying in a meadow.

He was confused. He didn't know how he got there; the last thing he remembered was walking down the portal and then someone pushing him and then a lot of pain and then nothing. To find himself in a meadow who knew where took him by surprise.

"You're awake."

Danny's head snapped around so fast he was surprised he didn't give himself whiplash. Sitting cross-legged in front of him, but also a few inches off the ground, was a boy around his age; he was dressed entirely in black with a silver-lined black cloak around his neck and a small scabbard with the hilt of a weapon poking out of it strapped to his side. His eyes glowed neon green and his hair was the color of freshly fallen snow; there was also a faint white glow surrounding him.

"Who…what are you? Where are we?" Danny asked looking around fearfully.

"My name is Phantom," the boy said. "I'm a ghost and this…well, we're in your, or rather our, subconscious."

"A ghost?! But ghosts don't exist," Danny protested.

Phantom chuckled. "Well, I guess being accused of not existing is better than you running away screaming bloody murder at the sight of me," he said. He grew serious before adding, "But yeah, I'm a ghost."

Danny blinked; his parents always told him that ghosts were evil—well, when he paid attention to them—and yet this ghost didn't seem overly threatening. His fear faded and he was now curious.

"What did you mean by we're in our subconscious? I don't understand," Danny said puzzlement clear in his voice.

"The on switch on that portal you stepped into was inside it. I was in your parents' lab and tried to get to you before you flipped that switch on but I was too late. In order to save your life, because the kind of electricity that thing was generating would've killed you, I merged us."

"Merged?"

"Yes, we are essentially one; two entities in one body so to speak. We now share thoughts and emotions."

"Whoa, talk about a split personality," Danny said.

Phantom chuckled. "Yes, I suppose you can call it that but our personalities are separate from each other. My personality, emotions and thoughts will be overwhelmed and hidden by yours when we're in human form and vice versa for when we're in ghost form."

Danny was silent for a long moment clearly still uncertain but he knew there was no point in worrying about it. It wasn't as if this could change at all. "I guess I don't really have a choice. You saved my life though so thanks for that," he said.

Phantom smiled. "You're welcome," he said. He grimaced before adding, "My biggest problem is going to be explaining this to my father."

He pressed his lips together and his glowing green eyes lit up with mischief. "I'll just blame Clockwork. It really is his fault anyway," he said.

"Who's Clockwork?"

"Our thoughts haven't finished merging. You'll find out when that happens. Now, you should probably wake up. Your friends are worried about you." Phantom faded away and everything around him went dark as Danny was slowly pulled from his sleep.

A/n what do you think?

Blaze: the ending is open-ended for a reason. I'm actually thinking of continuing this but, with how many stories I have out there right now, I don't think it's a good idea to post another one. And yeah, the title's pretty lame but I couldn't think of anything else.

Darth: you've got that right

Blaze: well, I hope you liked it and reviews, as always, are much appreciated.