Warning: angst and blood and depressing stuff! You have been aptly warned!

More bits from a part of MIR 2 that will never be posted. Clockwork showed Danny an alternate future where things would have been very different had the Observers not interfered.

Chapter title origin comes from the FullMetal Alchemist art book I own. It means "unbreakable bonds" and here I quote: "Friends, comrades in arms, family, etc….There are certain bonds between people that can't be expressed in words." –Hiromu Arakawa. I just thought it fit in so well with the concept of "Spirit of the Group."

Fifteen: Yuruginai Shinrai

Danny Fenton was not asleep. He was lying stiffly on his soft, comfortable bed in the room he had to share with Phantom and Dan, starring at the wall with half-closed, dull blue eyes.

Sam and Tucker knew everything.

How cliché that it would rain.

His DNA was falling apart at the seams, even though he hated to admit it.

How cliché it was, like a scene from a movie. Everyone was dressed in black and there were a lot of muffled sobs coming from the crowd that surrounded the medium, mahogany casket.

Clockwork was breathing down his neck, trying to put him back together again.

"He was…everything a best friend could be,"

Dan was hovering, ever present, like a watchdog. Like a watchdog whose only reason for not attacking its owner was the shock collar around its neck and the heavy metal chain holding it back.

Choked words, harsh from crying, glasses speckled from the rain, his red beret gone for once, "And so much more than that. There just aren't…there isn't any way to say how much he met to me. To us."

Jazz wasn't speaking to him anymore.

His fists clenched as he fought back the tears, "And I could have done something but by the time I realized it was too late and my best friend in the whole world wasn't there anymore to laugh, or protect, or play."

Vlad wouldn't even so much as shoot a glance in his direction.

Shoulders shook, "But I won't give in, I'll live out my life because I know that's what he'd want…because he was the center…the center of m-my universe, of o-o-our universe, a-and h-he d-d-didn't d-deserve th-this…!" He burst into tears and his parents gently led him away from the stand.

And Phantom was a crying bunch of ectoplasmic goo.

Sam balked. She couldn't do it. She just couldn't.

The world was collapsing around his ears.

She couldn't say everything she wanted to because; like Tucker had said; there were no words for it, she couldn't cry anymore, she didn't have any tears left, and she couldn't, she just couldn't, believe that he was really gone. She had never gotten the chance to…

It bothered him that the future Clockwork had shown him; and it seemed ages ago now; was not that far from what was probably going to happen to him anyway.

"I…I d-don't know…" She shook herself and started over, "Danny was plenty of things to a lot of different people. To some of us, he was a loser who represented a punching bag," Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Dash Baxter flinch and wipe his eyes furiously, "To others he was an almost friend, someone we could turn to if we needed help," Valeria stifled a sob behind her hand, burying her face in her father's arms, "He was a son," She glanced at Jack and Maddie; Jack was starring blankly at the casket with empty eyes and Maddie hadn't stopped crying, "A brother," Jazz was shaking so hard she looked about ready to fall to pieces, "And a very dear and true friend." Tucker gulped, coughed, and sagged against his mother, "But he was something else…he was…he was the one who p-protected us, guarded us, and helped us through the darkness. He was Danny Phantom, the ghost boy, the one we didn't know what to think of."

Except this time there would be no body to put in the casket.

Her vision blurred with tears and a rush of cold fire swept over her, she jumped off the stand and ran to the casket, flinging herself upon it, "Why did you go and do that to yourself!?" She screamed pounding a fist on the wooden top, "Why did you do that, Danny, why!? We loved you, we all did, we were there for you! Why'd you do it!?"

There would be no mention of Danny Phantom.

Tears streamed down her face, her screams echoed across the graveyard, tearing from her throat, "I loved you! Why, Danny, why!? Why!? Why!? WHY!?"

There would be nothing left of him this time.

She kept screaming and Tucker tried to pry her away, "No!" She flung an arm out, pushing him away, sinking to her knees, leaning against the casket, still hitting it, "You have to come back, Danny, we need you! WHY DID YOU GO AND LEAVE US LIKE THAT!? WHY!?"

Danny squeezed his eyes shut but that only made the images in his mind's eye all the more clearer. He opened them again, finding nothing but a black stretch of wall that he could just barely make out in the darkness.

I watched the whole thing. What a load of lies. They didn't need me, no one needed me, I was a failure, a loser, a selfish moron who couldn't save anyone. They were all lying.

Of course, the funeral hadn't been as half as bad as what Clockwork had showed him next.

I hadn't changed much from my death. From my suicide. My hair was still black but it stuck up a little more eccentrically, my eyes were red, and I still had the thin slashes on my wrists…and the huge bloody gash on my neck. Oh, and I was dead. That was different.

And of course, that wouldn't happen either. There'd be nothing left to make that happen.

Loathing, foolish, lying, stupid, humans. Anger bubbled inside me. They were all the freaking same and I was so glad I wasn't one of them anymore. Killing myself had been the best decision of my life. Amity Park could protect itself, it didn't need dumb old Danny Phantom there to save it. Stupid. It was because of Danny Phantom that over a thousand people had died…! All because of the stupid, stupid ghost boy!

And Danny Phantom was stupid. How he hated himself for being such a failure, how he hated every moment that dumb ghost half of himself existed, how he hated himself in general for doing something that could easily have been stopped.

Man, I hated myself. Why couldn't I just have died and not have to deal with it anymore!? Why couldn't she have just shown up and taken me away like last time!? Only this time, I wouldn't have wanted to come back. Why was I stuck as a stupid, stupid ghost!?

Danny rolled onto his back, starring upwards but unable to find a ceiling in the darkness. Even the dim, green glow given off by Phantom and Dan was not enough to light the room.

The anger and hate and blackness that was boiling up inside me simmered down as I focused on her. She was probably the only one I actually still cared about. The rest of them could burn for all I cared. My parents had paid more attention to ghosts than they had to me, my sister was to much of a screwball to care, he'd been to obsessed with his stupid technology to notice, but she had noticed. And I had scorned her.

Dan snorted in his sleep and Danny jolted, sitting upright, but the muscular ghost just slouched further down in his armchair, arms still over his chest. Danny lay back, rolled onto his side again, and pulled the covers as far over his head as they would go.

She had loved me? Me? The clumsy, selfish, loser, moron, idiot, failure, halfa of Amity Park? I watched her scream and cry, throwing herself on the casket containing my body. Maybe she, of all the people there, was worth sparring. Perhaps she would still love me even after I had taken over the world…

The ache in his chest grew and Danny felt his eyes burn, even though they were squeezed shut. He was hurting in more ways than one.

Yes, that was it, take over it all, cause destruction and pain to everyone to get rid of my own, venting upon those who hadn't bothered to try and help save the others, leaving me to be a failure. It was all their fault. I'd take away everything they loved and cared about and then see how they liked it.

Clockwork had told him that was how Dan had thought. Dan had hated himself…and then blamed the world. In Dan's mind, the solution to his pain was to destroy it all. Destroy everything that had hurt him and could still hurt him. He'd become blinded by rage and hatred and lashed out, obliterating everything he'd once fought so hard to protect.

But she would be mine. That black rose that was crying for me would definitely be mine.

But Danny didn't want to destroy everything.

"Don't worry, Sam," I whispered even though no one would hear me, "As soon as I take what I need from Plasmius everything will be the way it should be…"

Danny shivered underneath the blankets. There'd be no body in that casket, there'd be no ghost to haunt the Ghost Zone or destroy everything, and there'd be no one left to protect Amity Park.

No one to protect Amity Park.

That's what had always hit home before but now it seemed like a dead idea. A rotted corpse in rose bush, so to speak.

Amity Park could protect itself. The only reason it'd been in any real danger in the first place was because he'd gotten his ghost powers. Sure, every so often a ghost would pop out and rain some terror for a couple of hours but then his parents would blast it apart and all would be well and good again.

No reason for Danny Phantom to butt in again.

His parents didn't even like Danny Phantom.

And that made Danny all the more stubborn.

He'd once told Plasmius that his parents would accept him, no matter what, because he was their son. Now he wasn't so sure. Could they still accept a boy who'd allowed thousands of other kids to die when he could have done something to stop it?

"Reality bites with a variety of sizes of teeth." He whispered hoarsely, remembering that afternoon walk that seemed so long ago, "And I still can't remember who said it…" He closed his eyes, trying fall asleep, "And this time there isn't a shovel in the world that could dig me out of this crap."

"Danny, you look like you didn't get any sleep last night." Sam told him.

She and Tucker had dropped by as promised, Sam with a heavy black plastic bag that she refused to let anyone get a look at. At the moment, the trio was in Vlad's home theater, watching The Matrix on the big screen.

"I don't sleep as much anymore." Danny muttered in reply, his eyes glazed as he starred without really seeing at the screen where Neo was learning to fight, "Nightmares. I thought they'd go away once Phantom was gone but they only got worse."

Sam put her hand on his arm, her fingertips light on the bandages that were covering the destruction of his right limb, "Danny, why don't you just…merge with Phantom again? You don't have to go ghost or anything. But it's better than the alternative. I—you can't die. We still need you."

Danny felt a cold sensation seep through his chest, like his ghost sense going off. His limbs went dumb but his eyes felt like they were on fire. In his mind, he could see the horrible future Clockwork had shown him. The one that had haunted his nightmares.

Sam knew how to push all the right buttons.

"I can't." He whispered and it was barely audible over the movie, "It'd hurt too much." He leaned back against the cushioned theater seat, tilting his so that it was facing towards the ceiling, and closed his eyes, "Almost every night I can see them, all those faces, all those people I never even knew, screaming at me. Hating me. And ZeE and Alex are at the front. And they hate me. And you and Tucker are there. And you hate me." He shuddered, voice shaking. Even Tucker's attention was no longer on the movie, "I didn't know how to make them stop hating me. I thought they hated Phantom so when Phantom was gone I thought they'd stop hating me. But they didn't You didn't. At first, it was just them, the kids and you, glaring at me, screaming, hating, but now I…I can see that horrible future that would have been."

"You mean with Dan Phantom?" Tucker asked but Danny shook his head.

"No. I…" His voice caught and he swallowed thickly, brow furrowing, "I…killed myself."

Silence except for the movie playing.

"Dude…" Tucker said in a low voice, his eyes wide, "You seriously would have done that?"

"According to Clockwork, yeah." Danny straightened up, digging the heels of his hands into his eyes, "He showed me that future not long after the…accident at Ed's School. Told me I could probably stop myself from doing that if I quit feeling sorry for myself. I told him to shove it and that he didn't care how I felt and he got mad and kicked me out of his lair. It wasn't long after that when the Observers grabbed me."

"Did it…hurt when they…pulled you apart?" Tucker asked slowly. It was some time before Danny answered.

"Yeah. Like nothing I'd ever felt before." He snorted in a soft laugh and half-smiled, "I thought for a second it was my heart breaking."

"Why would you think that?" It was Sam who asked this time.

Danny's face darkened but not with anger, with pain, "Because…I thought no one was going to come for me. I thought you'd leave me there to the Observers because you hated me."

"You're so clueless." Sam snapped, hitting him lightly on the back of the head, "We don't hate you. We've been trying to help you but if you're going to keep brooding and pushing us away then we'll stay away."

"No, uh, I didn't mean it!" Danny said quickly and Tucker chuckled as the boy's face flushed crimson, "I'm sorry, guys, really, it's just been…really hard."

"Well here," Sam rolled her eyes, reaching into the black bag she'd been hauling around all day, "Maybe this'll help." She pulled out a dark purple backpack with black butterflies printed on it and pressed it into Danny's hands. By the pale light from the theater screen, she saw his eyes widen and glisten with tears.

It was ZeE's laptop.

Then the memories came flooding back…

"You forgot, didn't you?" Alex crossed his arms, ZeE snickering in the background, "We have cleaning duty tonight! I told you that yesterday! Geez, Danny, don't you listen?"

"No." Danny smirked, leaning against the door frame, "Well, sometimes. When did you tell me?"

"Lunch time."

"Then I was definitely not listening. List3ning is n0t l33t."

"ZeE, darn it all, have you been teaching him l33t!?"

"M3?" The hacker chuckled, ducking a swing from the brown-haired boy, "N3v3r!" He laughed again and dodged to Danny's side, making a stupid face, "Ph34r m3!"

His vision blurred and he wiped his eyes with the back of his hand. The noise form the movie was like a low buzz of static, he barely heard it at all.

"You've been acting weird since last night, man," ZeE said in a low voice, spearing a piece of egg on his fork and putting it in his mouth, speaking past it, "I mean, we're all a little weird and I dunno if this is some sort of halfa thing you have once a month or something but your moodiness is really bugging me."

The memories hurt now, hurt physically, burning at his heart. He'd let them down.

"Why're you doing this!? Let me GO! I don't want to go back there! Let GO!"

He'd let Alex down…

"Enjoying yourself?" Alex smirked and Danny punched his arm, shoving the other boy to the side and knocking his glasses askew, "Jerk!"

"Nah!" Danny blocked a swing from Alex and high fived him instead, "I'm totally bored! Dying with boredom here!"

"That's what I thought."

He'd let ZeE down…

ZeE smirked and pulled the puck out, balancing it on the tip of his pinky finger before setting it on the table again. But he didn't hit it; it looked like he was remembering something that was hurting him.

"I was misunderstood." He finally said, his accent thicker now that he'd lowered his voice, "People called me…names that they had no right to, judging me by my appearance and looks alone. I didn't have any friends."

"Uh-oh," Alex was suddenly at ZeE's side, tapping a thick book on the other boy's spiky orange hair, "Looks like you made the ever buoyant Zachary deflate. Come on, man, perk up." He poked ZeE in the side a couple times and the boy squirmed, a grin splitting his features.

"Cut it out, Alex!" He unexpectedly whipped the puck across the table at Danny who, not ready for the move, flung his arm out and nicked it but not enough to make it not go into his goal.

"Darn!" He tossed the paddle down on the table, smiling, "You beat me! Not even my best friends can beat me at Air Hockey!"

He'd let all those kids down and it hurt him so much. He felt Sam wrap an arm around his shoulders and pull him close. He didn't react, just kept starring at the computer on his lap.

"Danny, what happened was not your fault! It was Yulcifer! You know that!"

"I swear, the two of you are like four year olds! You sleep like four year olds, you eat like four year olds, you act like four year olds, and you leave messes everywhere like four year olds!" Alex's voice spliced reality and hazy nightmares into one before yanking Danny from the depths of sleep with a groan to rival a zombies', "Hey, sleepy head, nice to see you awake! You missed breakfast."

"Errggghhh…breakfast…?" Danny moaned and rubbed the sleep from his blue eyes, blinking in the light and sitting up, "Wh-what time is it?"

"You did your best, dude, that's what really counts. Yulcifer started the whole thing and you finished it the best you could! No one holds it against you. I bet ZeE and Alex think you're really awesome."

"Come on, ZeE, quit messing around! We won! Get up! Let's get outta here!" Nothing, "ZeE!? ZeE, wake up!" Still no response, "ZeE? ZeE, come on, man, wake up!" Danny shook the boy's shoulders again as his friends approached but ZeE's eyes wouldn't open and he wasn't breathing, "ZEE!"

"But…guys…I failed them. I was…supposed to protect them. What good is it for me to have powers if I can't use them to protect people?"

"No…no way…!" Danny moaned, feeling his eyes burn, his fists clenching on the cool earth, sagging to his knees, "I…I hate this…! I have powers…and I can't even save the people I care about!"

"Danny…" Sam crouched beside him, putting a gentle hand on his shoulder, "Danny, it'll be okay…"

"No it won't!" Danny screamed, squeezing his eyes shut, his white hair changing back to black as tears rolled down his cheeks unchecked, "It won't be okay! You don't get it!" He slammed his fists into the ground, "I'm supposed to save them all! All of them! THEY WEREN'T SUPPOSED TO DIE!!"

"Danny, you did protect people! You protected us! You protected Amity Park! You saved the world!" Sam's voice was right in his ear, "And if that isn't clear enough for you, I only know one thing that's going to clear it all up!"

"IT WASN'T SUPPOSED TO END THIS WAY!!" Danny screamed, still crying, "EVERYONE'S SUPPOSED TO COME OUT ALIVE JUST LIKE ALWAYS!! HOW CAN I BE A HERO IF I CAN'T SAVE EVERYONE!? IT'S NOT FAIR! It's not fair! It's not…fair…!"

She cupped his face in her hands, turning it so he was looking at her, leaned forward, and kissed him.

Things came into a sudden sharp focus and Danny jerked away without realizing what he was doing. Thoughts churned in his head as he starred at Sam's shocked expression. He knew what he had to do. It all made sense now. He got to his feet and, after a moment or two of struggling, slung the laptop over his shoulder and dashed out of the room.

"Um, shouldn't we go after him?" Tucker asked, looking back at the swinging doors where his best friend had vanished, "He had a scary, insane glint in his eye." He looked back at Sam, "I don't think you should kiss him anymore."

"Shut up, Tucker." Sam growled, turning her attention back to the screen, "He's just finally figured out what he wants to do. What he has to do."

And it was at that moment that everything came into horribly clear focus. This had been the last straw. Danny wasn't going to get better, he wasn't going to go back to the old Danny they'd all loved. He was gone. Completely.

Forever.

Forever Phantom?

Not likely.

Forever Fenton?

No. Fenton was dead too.

Then forever…what?

A whole chapter of nothing but "cuts-and-pastes" I'm so cheap! (laughs) But, no, I think this chapter turned out rather well considering most of it was from previous stuff (an un-posted OS and Melody in Red 2: Conspiracy of Crimson).

So, what's Danny figured out that had has to do? Dunno guess we'll have to wait for the next chapter. Oh yeah, and I guarantee someone's going to go flying off their rocker in the next one. It's gonna be NUTS and I'm going to love every minute of it…! Mwahahaha!