Disclaimers: I do not own Danny Phantom

Author's Notes: And now we return to Dani who really needs a different name! I mean Danny, DANI Seriously Butch you're killing me, I mean could you imagine the script writing for this? "And then Dani swoops in- No not Danny, Dani you know the girl? Anyway, she swoops in….

You see what I mean so confusing, that's why I just squeezed in their full names. It's so much easier to keep up with a Daniel and a Daniele then Danny, and Dani!

Anyway, now that I'm done ranting on with the chapter.

As always, I thank you for reading and ask that you please review.

ENJOY!

Chapter 7: More Questions than Answers

[Location: Amity Park, Hospital]

She felt as if she was falling…

Falling inside a blackness so deep she couldn't breathe or think. She wanted to scream but she couldn't find the sound. How could this happen?

How could he do this to her?

She could still see it playing out in front her, a ghost knight who knew her every move. She performed her most dangerous move, the ghost vortex. And still she was no match for him.

She never was.

"Danny?" She whispered, finally finding her voice as she falls deeper into the black.

"I think she's waking up." A female voice said in the distance. It sounded so far away…

Too far away to save her now.

"Took you long enough…" The White Knight smirked as he raised his sword for one final bow.

"Where's Danny?" Another voice, it sounds confused. "He should be here by now."

"Mom…" another female's voice, this one was sadder. "There's something I have to tell you…"

"He's gone…Maddie." A man's voice cut in.

"No." Maddie screamed.

Dani's head was spinning, as the voices soon faded into the dark. The monstrous White Knight stood over her. Looking more like a monster than the hero she knew. "Why?" She asked, it was a burning question that made her eyes sting and her heart ache. She was his clone, he's cousin, he's…sister…

WHY!?

""You're smart." He mused, "You'll figure it out."

And with that the sword came down…she was too shocked to move…frozen in place.

"DANI."

"AUNT DANI!"

Dani screamed as she bolted up in her hospital bed. "Danny!"

Jack's eyes widen as he hears Danny's name leave her lips.

"Dani it's okay." Jazz assured her. Their parents, DJ, Lilith and Sam where alongside her.

Tucker was in the next room with Valerie, Abby and Damon. The doctor's managed to save his arm, but he had lost a lot of blood.

Jazz hoped he made it, they had already lost enough today.

Maddie was crying, and had been since she heard the news.

It was then that Dani realized those voices had been her love ones around her taking as she slept. "Danny…" She whispered.

"He's not gone!" DJ insisted. "He'll be back you'll see."

It was then that Dani noticed the twins were also crying. Lilith hugged her brother close, as Sam held them even closer to them. Wrapping them in her warm embrace. She wanted to believe Danny was alive, but to do so would be to admit he had turned against them.

No, that reality was far more painful then him dying…She'd rather remember Danny for what he was.

A hero…a friend…her true love, and father of her children.

Not this!

"It was him." Dani insisted. "He was there!"

Jack remembered the war cry he heard over the Comm link, it was defiantly Danny's. He looked to Maddie her eyes were filled with tears. He watched as they soaked her face, and anger filled him.

No, his son…he would never hurt her like this.

"I'm sorry." He said, taking her in his arms, she would not blame him, but he would blame himself. He was the father, he should have protected his…their son.

"Why?" Jazz dared to ask. "Why side with them."

"She's right Dani." Sam said, finally speaking. "That was trying to psych you out, mess with your head."

"And it worked." Jazz insisted.

Dani wanted to believe her, she really did, but she knew better. She knew Danny…"He must have fused with that Knight guy." She said, grasping at straws. She knew she must sound desperate, but it was the only thing that made since. "Like he did with Vlad's ghost half."

And suddenly it clicked…

Jazz's eyes seem to widen as if the world began to shift out of orbit. Danny became evil not because of some stupid CAT test. Sure, cheating on that exam did lead him down the path of evil, but fussing with Vlad's ghost side was what had corrupted him.

And sure, Danny was strong enough to fight Vlad's ghost half this time around, but what if the Knight overcame him in a moment of weakness? It was possible that the White Knight was Danny…but just like Dan Phantom this White Knight was no longer Danny.

At least not the Danny they knew…

Dani can see it in her sister's eyes she does believe her. "Jazz please tell them…"

Jazz nodded. "I will." She whispered to low for the rest of them to hear. "But Frist." She said grabbing the Fenton Thermos beside her. "We need answers."

'And I'm going to find them.' She said to herself as she left the room. 'No matter what!'

"Jazz?" Maddie cried. "Don't leave me too." But she kept going, and Jack admired her strength.

"Let her go." He told his wife. "You know her…always got to get to the bottom of things."

Maddie nodded, to shaken up to speak.

'Go find him.' Jack thought as he watched their daughter walk out the door and disappear beyond it, and down the hall. 'Find him, and bring him home.'

He doubted the last thing he just thought would be possible, but part of him was still hopeful that they would get some kind of happy ending in all this.

But deep down he knew happy ending or not, this void in his heart. The one he was feeling right now would never be filled.

(Back with Valerie)

Valerie walked out of her father's hospital room…staggering…

She didn't want to leave him, but she couldn't stand seeing him like that.

So weak…so broken…And it was all Vlad's fault!

"He will pay." She vowed out loud stopping as Jazz walked up to her.

"I need your help." She said.

"With what?" Valerie asked. Her voice is strain, and she comes off sounding kind of rude.

"Look I know you're hurting." Jazz said. "I am too." She admitted. "But right now, I need the ghost hunter side of you." She reasoned. "You know the obsessive scary one."

"What for?" Valerie asked crossing her arms.

"Answers." Jazz said holding up the Fenton Thermos boldly.

A small smile slipped on Valerie's face, it was the one she used to have when she just cornered a ghost in one of her traps, back before Danny taught her that not all ghosts were evil. She took the Fenton Thermos in her hand. "Now that I can do."

Jazz gave a sigh of relief as Valerie led them to an empty hospital room.

"This will do." Valerie said as she took a containment cube out of her pocket. Containment cubes were like a reverse ghost shield. Instead of keeping ghost out, it kept them in, and hurt them if they tried to escape. Valerie dropped the cube on the titled floor of the hospital room and it activated.

Jazz watched as the pink shield fell over them, taking the shape of the room. "Here it goes." She said as she goes to hit the release button.

"Wait." Valerie insisted. "Do you even know who or what's in there?"

"Oh, I have a pretty good idea." Jazz said with a smile and pressed the button.

A white mist escaped the thermos, cloking it's captive…for the moment.

It didn't last.

"I am the Box Ghost." The Box Ghost declared. "Beware."

Valerie found her smile. "This will work nicely." She agreed. Pulling out her plasma cannon, and putting it right in The Box Ghost's face. "Start talking."

"You cannot intimidate me with your non-box shaped weapons." The Box Ghost roared. "And now that I am free I will destroy you with. He stops realizing there is no boxes around him, in fact the room is empty. "Clever." He admitted. "But I bet you did not see this coming." He shouted and tried to escape through the wall.

Only to be electrocuted with a voltage so high it throws him back on the floor.

"Okay maybe you were expecting that." The Box Ghost gasped as Valerie placed the business end of her weapon back in his face.

"Talk now ghost!" She declared. "Or all bets are off." She began to charge the weapon, readying to fire.

"Alright, alright." The Box Ghost sighed. "I will tell you."

"What happened!" Valerie demanded. "How is the Ghost King out!"

"Plasmius released him." The Box Ghost answered simply.

"Vlad?" Jazz asked. "But why?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Valerie said. "To get his powers back."

"But how could the ghost king do that?" Jazz asked.

"The old fashion way." The Box Ghost said, moving his thumb across his neck.

"You mean Vlad is full ghost now!" Jazz exclaimed.

The Box Ghost nodded.

Well there was one question answered. Vlad must have escaped jail, found some way into the ghost zone and freed the King.

Still there was one variable they needed to figure out.

"What can you tell us about the white Knight." Jazz demanded.

"The Phantom Knight?" The Box Ghost gasped. "He is the cruelest of ghost, eviler them Plasmius, or any ghost combined."

"We've noticed." Valerie snapped. "We mean where did he come from. Where is Fright Knight."

"Gone." The Box Ghost answered.

"Gone?" Jazz asked.

"The Phantom Knight defeated him, took his sword, and his place by the king's side." The Box Ghost explained.

"How?" Jazz asked.

"No one knows." The Box Ghost answered. "He just appeared."

"Did he kill Danny?" Valerie dared to ask.

The Box Ghost nodded. "Defeater of the Ghost Boy." He confirmed.

"How?" Jazz demanded. "How did my brother die."

"Screaming." The Box Ghost whispered. "At least that's what Vlad brags."

"Vlad?" Jazz asked.

"He was there." The Box Ghost went on. "Says Ghost Boy screamed and begged for mercy, but I know better."

"Of course, you do." Valerie said. "We all do."

"That's all you know isn't it?" Jazz asked.

The Box Ghost suddenly turned fearful as he noticed the thermos in her hand. "Please don't send me back there." He begged. "He'll kill me for taking, send me to my worse nightmare for all eternity."

Jazz remembered how it was the last time The Ghost King got free. How all the ghost feared him so much that they obeyed him. However, Danny showed them that together they were strong, and they won against him.

But now Danny was gone, and their fear had returned.

But their fear was not for the Ghost King…it was for him!

"We need to figure out who this guy is." Jazz said the obvious.

"How this ghost is useless!" Valerie snapped.

"He who knows all." The Box Ghost said. "He could tell you."

Jazz's eyes widen. "Clockwork!" She exclaimed. "Of course! He was moving pieces behind he scenes last time too!"

"You mean the time ghost." Valerie said. "The one who helped Danny change his future?"

"Exactly." Jazz said. "He helped us once, he'll help us again."

"Atlas." The Box Ghost said. "Clockwork is no more, and his replacement serves the King."

"Then there is only one thing we can do." Jazz said as she pulled out the BOOOOmerang, a device that homes in on a ghost ecto-signster and located them in any time, or place.

"How is that going to help us find Clockwork?" Valerie asked. "It only finds Danny."

"Precisely." Jazz said. "Clockwork was there ten Years ago." She reasoned. "When Danny almost cheated on the CAT. If the guy really knows everything then it won't matter that he's from the past. Clockwork will know what to do."

"okay so how do we use it?" Valerie asked.

Jazz pressed a button on her belt and Valerie watched as the Ecto-Skeleton formed around her. Jazz attached the BOOOOmerang to a grappling hook. "Now when I throw it it will lead me to Danny."

"Yeah ten years into the past." Valerie warned.

"So, I'll age backwards." Jazz assured her.

Valerie dawned her suit and used her own grappling hook to attach herself to the BOOOOmerang as well.

"Val." Jazz warned.

"This is time travel." Valerie warned. "If we alter the past even slightly-"

"I know." Jazz told her. "I can handle it."

"We can handle it." Valerie assured her. "Together."

Jazz nodded understanding her meaning. "I'll watch your back and you watch mine."

"Agreed." Valerie said.

"But what about me?" The Box Ghost asked, still looking fearful.

Jazz gave him a kind smile. "You'll be safe here." She told him.

"Really?" He asked looking to Valerie.

Valerie nodded. "You did some good ghost." She said. "Thank you."

The Box Ghost gave her a smile of his own. "The ghost boy may be a pain, but he was fair."

"Well get rid of the ghost King." Jazz assured him. "We just need some answers first."

"Good luck." The Box Ghost said, and they could tell he meant it.

"Alright now to send us into the Ghost Zone." Jazz declared pulling out the Fenton Bazooka. "It'll form a temporary Ghost portal and we can jump in."

"But it will suck him in." Valerie reminded her pointing to the Box Ghost.

"Just hang on to the door knob." Jazz assured him. "We'll be gone in a few seconds."

The Box Ghost nodded and did as he was told.

Jazz fired the Fenton Bazooka and they jumped in.

"Do you really think this will work?" Valerie asked as the portal closed behind them. "If we don't find him we're stuck in the past forever." She warned, just realizing this out now.

"It has to." Jazz said as she pulled out the BOOOOmerang and said. "Find Danny, ten years from now Danny!" and then she threw it.

The BOOOOmerang flew through the sky, and the moment the grappling hook ran out of line it took them for the ride, and before they knew it.

They were traveling backwards in time.

"We're coming Danny." Jazz cried. "Just hang on…"

-To Be Continued