Another chapter for you all. Enjoy!

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8. Slight Slip-Ups

Danny rubbed his head, tears falling freely onto the ground under him as Sam rubbed his back and began to hum a song under her breath.

Unlike the last time where silence was over the city like a rain cloud, there literally was a rain cloud that moved over the grounds of the funeral. It was suggested by someone to put off the funeral for another day, but the concept was dropped when Masters responded with a strange grin and ordered that today was good. A dreary, Thursday evening with people lined up as far as the eyes could see- you'd think it would have been for some wedding reception and that was the line to get the last remaining piece of cheesecake.

"We will all miss dearest Madeline Fenton, one of the greatest ghost hunters to live in Amity Park," Masters told them, tears seemingly in his eyes. "I had the privilege of seeing the woman I loved…. I mean, we loved, in her dying moments, and all I could do was hold her hand. Whoever did this…" Here, he clenched his fist. "…will pay the price of death. I will personally make sure of that."

A nervous murmuring tone swept throughout the crowds of thousands of people. Danny lifted his head, eyes red. Sam glared at Masters. "He's a creep."

"Don't let him here you," Tucker mumbled. "That might just make this all the worse."

"Guys?"

Valerie Gray had been avoiding Danny and the group since the day of the accident, fearing that her problems with them would intervene with their lifestyle in Amity Park. No one had really seen her since the day of the accident. Having been gone from school for that entire week, everyone thought that a family member or something had died. This came as no surprise to Danny when he heard the news from his once-alive mother. Valerie had him had been pretty close as friends, but they never actually had chemistry going between them. He left that to Tucker.

And given they had stumbled on Damon's plans to kill Vlad, well…

That was another story.

Danny looked up at Valerie and smiled weakly. "Haven't seen you in a week, Valerie," he told her half-jokingly. "You okay?"

She nodded. "Sorry I didn't show up at school or anything. Dad had a bit of a problem with me returning to school for fear of… you know. Spilling about his lab and the little thing we ran into in his lab."

"How mad was he?" Tucker asked, looking interested.

"Pissed, to say the least," she informed him. "Swore that in all his years of trusting us, he never would have thought we could fix a ghost portal for him and discover his plans for taking out the head honcho of the city. Says that if Masters found out that he was planning it, he could get fired from his job and would have to go and live in a shack outside of town."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "Look, we're really sorry we had to pick that room."

Valerie turned to Danny. "So, how've you been after that portal got you?" She looked very upset. "I haven't been able to forgive myself after that happened. I didn't tell Dad anything about it being operative, except for the fact that you were the one who performed the miracle of life on it."

He nodded. "Thanks. Between you and me, things have gotten a little… spookier than normal."

"Anything I can do to help?"

Danny was just about to reply to this when he suddenly heard a strange voice. "Time out."

The entire scene stopped in one fell motion. Sam was frozen in place, her mouth open, as were Tucker and Valerie. He looked around and shook his head. "This is stranger than having flashbacks of being in a field…"

"And it always will be."

Danny turned around and gasped. A strange ghost figure floated in front of him, holding a sort of staff. He was cloaked in mystery as he looked at Danny with a strange gaze- one of triumph and fear. "Time has a way of making the future the present and the past your future," he told him.

Danny morphed into Phantom. "I'm going ghost!"

The spectral figure shook his head. "Some people never learn." He waved his staff and time seemingly moved backwards. Immediately, he waved it again.

Danny morphed into Phantom. "I'm going ghost... Whoa. Déjà vu." He looked at the other figure. "Who are you?"

The ghost raised an eyebrow. "I am the master of all time, Clockwork. You are Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom, and Seraphim, the Angel of Light."

Phantom shook his head and held his hands up. "Whoa, hold on there a second. Angel? Dude, I'm no angel, I'll tell you that. I'm just a kid with these weird powers to turn into a half ghost. No way I'm some angel being. Angels don't even exist."

"So sure are you," Clockwork remarked, suddenly shifting from what appeared to be a young man into a child. "Well, I will tell you a little something that has been hidden from you, young half-ghost.

"There is a land in which angel try to live in harmony with ghosts. They haven't had contact with each other for the past few centuries. With Cherubim having become a Fallen Angel of Darkness, the Council felt it was only a matter of time before he could begin recruiting more ghosts to join him and attack Heaven City. With this, many apologies to each other's leaders, and the rebirth of a new angel, the Ghost Zone and Heaven City broke contact with each other."

Phantom stood there, blinking and failing to comprehend what had just happened. "What?"

Clockwork smiled, becoming a young man again. "All will be understood in time, chosen one. This, I can only promise you." He hit the top of his staff again. "Time in."

With that, time suddenly began again and Clockwork disappeared. Sam glanced at him, confused. "Hey. Earth to Danny. You still alive in there?"

The boy blinked and shook his head. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Just dazed out for a little bit."

He couldn't think of anything else to say besides that. That Clockwork guy had just told him that angels existed, ghosts could be considered good, and a lot of other things that could probably fill a book about how confused he felt.

He looked around, noticing something out of place. "Where's Vlad?"

"He just ran off right before you completely dozed off," Valerie told him. "Don't you remember that?"

Danny shook his head. "No. No, I don't…"

-Archangel-

"NO!" he practically screeched at the top of his lungs in anger, slamming his fist into the wall, a portion of it crumbling into dust at his feet. "NO! He is beginning to get told the tale of Seraphim!" His eyes glowed a dark red as he clenched his fists in anger. The man was terribly tempted to go back to the funeral and kill the boy, but what would that accomplish? Besides, he didn't even know his own power yet.

He took a deep breath and clenched the table. 'Come on, Masters,' he thought. 'Just keep your cool for a little while longer, and all will come together soon enough. Remember, tomorrow you're having that meeting with him. It's been a week since Madeline's death. Surely by now he's gotten over it.'

He forced himself to morph into Plasmius, making his wings appear. They had been on his back for the past hundreds of years he had been alive and waiting for Seraphim to appear. Something felt wrong about that, however. His wings… they were half angel, half demon again. He frowned at himself. Was he really undergoing to fatal transformation he embraced and feared at the same time? Was Cherubim honestly going to…?

Ugh. Too many questions.

He knew about Cherubim. He knew he was in fact the Fallen Angel of Darkness. His only real fear was that Daniel was going to find out sooner than he actually expected. Was that a good thing? Most certainly not. He was going to have to take matters into his own hands, make sure that the boy really was Seraphim.

And if the legend was in fact true…

He shuddered. No need to think about that for now.

-Archangel-

"Hey, Danny?"

He looked up at Sam. They were sitting at Maddie's grave, staring at the tombstone once again. On it, it read:

Here lies Madeline Fenton
An honest woman, a caring mother, and a heroine in Amity Park's eyes.
March 8, 1976- June 15, 2007

He bit his lip. "Sam. I still don't want to believe it."

She nodded, rubbing his back and trying to calm him down. "I know, Danny. But life is like that. One thing is born anew, and death comes by to take it away. It's how we live. Can't you see that? I know she was… killed by a monster, but sometimes, it's for the better. Perhaps this was a blessing in disguise."

Danny gave her a sour look. "Real nice perspective, Sam."

She shrugged helplessly. "What do you want me to do, Danny? Be your comfort pillow as you cry on my shoulder because of your mom's death?"

"Actually, yeah I would!" he finally hollered, his voice cracking. "I've got no one left to cry on because both my parents are dead, Jazz has been in denial this past week, and all that I can think about is the smell of death that still ranks in the carpet at home! It'd be nice if someone actually cared about me!"

"I care," she told him softly. "C'mon, let's get you away from here. Get something to eat at the Nasty Burger or something to that effect."

Danny's eyes welled up. "I don't want Tucker or Valerie coming."

"They won't be," she assured him, taking his hand and helping him up. "They're already going to somewhere else. Something like… I dunno. Damon invited him to eat with Valerie at their house, and Tucker practically drooled at the thought of it. They're kind of a couple now, so… maybe it was all for the better."

He smiled weakly. "You really think so?"

She squeezed his hand. "I know so. Come on, we can go cry over fries in a booth together."

He sniffed and nodded. "I'd like that."

-Archangel-

"We're running out of time," a voice from the shadows spoke desperately. "Sugaru, we must be sure the boy is Seraphim. Cherubim is planning a visit here sooner than we thought, and we can't find him…"

Sugaru sighed and began staring at a crystal orb in the room. "We need to take a deep breath from all of this. I don't know what is going on between the two half-ghosts, but I can tell you that Clockwork has done his duty, Saala. He has told young 'Danny' about Heaven City."

A gasp was heard. "You talked with him?"

"We've been… conversing," the leader of the Fallen Angel Council replied casually. "Sure, it's been… what, nearly a millennia, and we talked about how things are going in the places. It's becoming a hell hole apparently, but still…"

Silence followed this. Finally, Saala asked quietly, "Do they know about the prophecy and story of the brothers?"

Sugaru nodded grimly. "Oh, yes, they know. Apparently, a lot of ghosts are waiting for Seraphim to show up and be their savior. From what I have heard about this, Cherubim is already worse than before we banished him. And that is saying something."

Nothing came after this. Sugaru turned his gaze towards an oblivious Danny Fenton, who sat with a Goth named Sam Manson, crying and trying to speak his mind. He was unaware of how his life was going to change within a matter of twenty-four hours.

Don't worry, friends. I have already written Chapter 9. It is simply a matter of time of when I can type it and when those reviews come in. Much love, friends. Thanks for reading.