Well, that was disappointing, I must say. I was hoping for a much bigger reaction to Dan Phantom than the single review I got for it. Was it really that obvious? I only had one person take a stab at it so I figured no one else knew. Well, whatever, I guess I'll just let it go and keep writing…! Yeah…!

Seven: Don't Know What to Think

"No? What do you mean by no?" Clockwork seemed genuinely startled by the angry glare he was getting from Danny.

"I mean, no." Danny snapped, standing up, fists clenched, "I'm not going to be Danny Phantom anymore!" He let out a burst of insane laughter, looking happy, angry, and upset all at the same time, "I was so happy to get rid of them!"

"Danny-."

"Don't 'Danny' me, Clockwork!" The Fenton boy's features contorted strangely, his eyes shining brightly, "It's my turn to lecture! When I first got my ghost powers, I was absolutely terrified of them!" In the background, Dan Phantom nodded slowly, his features blank, "I didn't know what to think! I just fought off the ghosts coming through the active Fenton Portal as a reflex, I didn't really think about it. But then, as time passed, I started to think that maybe it was my lot in life, the one thing I was actually meant to do."

Dan's eyes narrowed slightly, he knew exactly what his younger self was talking about. The rush of being the hero, of protecting those you cared about and even those you didn't, was intoxicating. It made you feel powerful, like you could do anything.

And then it would explode in your face like super-heated Nasty Burger sauce.

"And you know what, I liked it." A shiver ran through Danny as the horrible memories he'd been trying to repress surfaced once again, bringing tears to his eyes, "I thought it was cool, fun, the best thing that had ever happened to me; besides making friends with Sam and Tucker." He furiously wiped the back of his hand across his watery blue eyes, "Dang it all, Clockwork, I thought we'd solved the problem of me losing people I want to protect! I thought that once you'd stopped the Nasty Burger from exploding I wouldn't have to worry about things like that anymore! I thought all of it would be better!" He took a deep, shaky breath, steadying himself, lowering his voice, "But then, all of a sudden, I get mixed up in this mess with thousands of kids I don't even know and make friends with two of them…only to be…only to watch them…only to let their lives slip through my fingers because I couldn't see what was happening…!"

And Danny Fenton broke down into tears. It was too much for a fifteen year old boy to take. He sank down to his knees on the stone floor of Clockwork's lair, face buried in his hands, sobbing, shoulders shaking uncontrollably. Clockwork made as if to talk to him but Dan Phantom brushed him aside, again with the blank expression, and, after a moment of hesitation, unclasped his dark violet cloak and tossed it over Danny's shoulders. Then he turned, and floated away. Clockwork watched him go, looked down at Danny who was still crying, and sighed.

"Danny, if you must protest so greatly against your ghost half, at least let me explain why, without them, it is a danger on your life." The Time Ghost continued to speak over Danny's cries, "The Observers had no clue what they were doing when they separated you two. In the process, it tore your DNA; both of yours. If you continue to remain as separate beings, your ruined DNA will break down and you will fade from existence. In other words, Danny, you will die a most painfully slow death." Clockwork turned his back on Danny, "Now ask yourself, is that what you really want?" And he too vanished from view into one of his other rooms.

Danny moaned, still crying, and curled over himself, wrapping the cloak tighter around him. It was like being submerged in snow.

Phantom tumbled head-over-heels out of the Fenton Ghost Portal and tensed, ready to get blasted by an ecto-gun. But the lab was empty; Fenton's—no, his—parents were no where around.

Confused by the lack of Jack and Maddie-ness, Phantom trailed up the stairs, his white boots centimeters above the floor, and into the kitchen, glowing green eyes flickering around. It seemed to be about six or seven on a Sunday morning which meant that either Jazz or Maddie would be waking up sometime soon. Phantom blinked in the dim light filtering in through the windows and turned invisible.

Footsteps on the stairs to the second floor.

He remained perfectly still, hovering on the threshold to the basement lab, confident that no one would see him.

Jazz rounded the corner, still in her pajamas, and yelped in surprise.

It's okay, she can't see me.

"Danny!?"

Oh no…

Dan peered slowly around the edge of the wall, invisible, well out of Danny's line of sight anyway. The boy was curled back up on the make-shift bed in the corner, his eyes starring without seeing, unblinking, at the floor, the cloak still around his shoulders. There were dried streaks of salty tears on his cheeks and a puffy, red quality under his dull blue eyes. It was like a spark had gone out inside him. Again.

Clockwork had showed Dan the events that had lead up to Fenton and Phantom being separated and then explained exactly why they had to be together again. Dan didn't know who to place the blame on. In his own time, when he'd first lost his family and friends, he'd blamed himself but as time wore on and he became more and more evil, he'd come to realize that it was not himself he should be blaming but the world. It was the fault of the world and everyone in it. So they had to go. And that's why he'd started to destroy everything. Because he hated it.

And now Danny had gone through practically the same thing; losing people he wanted to protect, realizing he was not "all powerful", and locking himself up inside. Dan sneered. At this rate, Danny would end up just like him. The sneer dropped. Maybe he'd wanted that to happen back then but now…

Now Clockwork's got me on a leash. He traced one finger over the mark on his eye, But then again, I agreed to this, didn't I? He'd let me out of the Fenton Thermos if I agreed to help and in return he'd send me back to my own time with no problems from the Observers. His invisible fangs were bared in an invisible grin, Almost three years in that blasted thermos…priorities change, don't they. Had I been let out two years earlier, I probably would have shot down everything. Now, though…

Dan's gaze refocused on Danny. He was helping himself, not the selfish little brat he used to be. Still, what had compelled him to do such a sentimental gesture as wrapping his cloak around the shoulders of a sobbing teenager? He had no humanity. He was entirely ghost.

Grunting to himself, he passed it off as the notion of "I'm helping Clockwork" and returned to invisibility. Time to see if Danny was willing and ready to become Phantom again. If he wasn't going to listen to Clockwork on the matter, he sure wasn't going to listen to his evil future self. Then again, Dan was on orders. Orders he couldn't reject.

"Jazz, I'm not Danny! At least, not Danny Fenton!" Phantom dropped to the floor, waving his hands in the air as soon as he realized he hadn't actually turned invisible.

Jazz gave him a quizzical look, tense, like she was ready for anything which she probably was knowing the Fenton household. Phantom himself was amazed that the alarm system hadn't gone off as soon as he'd stepped into the house. After a moment or two of sizing him up, Jazz straightened, walked over to the table and swept up a piece of paper before walking over and shoving it in his face.

"Did you write this?"

Phantom quickly scanned it.

"No."

"It has Danny's ecto-signature on it. Which it shouldn't have because he doesn't have his ghost powers anymore!" She waved it in his face a little, looking angry and upset at the same time, "So tell me, how come you look like him!?"

"I…I…I am…I'm Phantom." He muttered lamely, "Really Jazz, I'm Danny's ghost half." He cringed back from the cold, disbelieving look she was giving him, "You know how Danny lost his ghost powers? Well, he didn't exactly lose them…it was more like…we were separated. Like the whole incident with the dream catcher…thing." He twirled his hand around lamely, "Look, can you tell me where he is?"

"You know what," Jazz stepped back, looking him up and down, "I don't believe you."

Poor Dan, he's so confused. But we love him anyway, despite his evilness. So, what's Jazz gonna do about Phantom?

Please leave me a review and thanks for reading!