Nylah updated hers after lots of bugging... so I felt kinda obligated too... It's kinda rough, but I'm tired of messing with it and the upcoming stuff is much better. So here you go - obligatory 'everyone gets a POV section' chapter so we can start wrapping this story up.

Thanks to starr1095, Starburstia, Appropriate Exclamation, everwild34, dannahfenton, Nano Phantom, Random Flyer, Anne Camp aka Obi-Quiet, Completely Different, Captain Deadpool, Cloudcrossing, super-simple, Blue Wolf Moon, Writer's-BlockDP, YumeTakato, Pii, BlackRoseDecending, xXxMartelxXx, irezel, Kat-lady04, dragondancer123, Angelus-alvus, PinkPanther123, Amazing Bluie, stick fight3, POG, Shay Durrow, Kitty Ghost, TheLonelyApparition, Invader Johnny, Night's Fire, AnneriaWings, Donteatacowman, and PhantomMouse1115 for the reviews!

I'm Still Here
A Danny Phantom Fanfiction by Cordria

Chapter Ten

Dark Dan Phantom settled onto the ground, staring up at the sign that had momentarily captured his attention. "Amity Park," it read, "founded 1908. Still a great place to live!"

"Not for long," Dark Dan snorted, a small, feral grin slipping onto his face. He raised a hand, energy swirling into existence around him. The ectoblast sparked and jumped away from him, sizzled through the air, and left a smoking hole in the center of the large billboard. "Amity Park, I'm coming for you."

Danny slipped a bit of his supper into his mouth, ignoring the evening news playing in the background with just as much efficiency as he used to ignore school. Sam seemed much more interested, her chat hesitating now and then to focus on the holographic screen. "…Sanchez has officially announced her candidacy for Mayor of Amity Park…" the tiny newscasters bubbled happily.

As surreptitiously as possible, he reached down to pick a few more of the vegetables off his slice of pizza. He wasn't entire sure what Sam had thought piling them on as thick as she had and she'd definitely crossed the line at some point. Olives weren't that great all by themselves, much less when buried underneath layers of onions, peppers, and this strange blackish vegetable. He already had a stack of picked-off vegetables on his plate, but now it seemed doomed to grow.

"So, Danny," Sam said, turning her attention back to him once the show swirled to a commercial break, "do you have any ideas?"

"Ideas?" Danny parroted before his brain caught up with him. He'd been so focused on his pizza he'd forgotten what she had been talking to him about. "Oh, yeah. No."

She sighed. "Focus just a bit, Danny. This is important."

"Doesn't seem like it," he muttered, finally deeming his pizza worthy of eating. He took another bite and nodded to himself. That was more like it.

Sam blinked and sat up a bit straighter. "We're talking about the rest of your life, Danny. How can that not be important?"

Focusing on his pizza rather than his old friend, Danny shrugged. The honest answer to her question circled in his mind, but Danny wasn't nearly brave enough to say it out loud. Sam had done a lot for him these past few days and he didn't want to hurt her feelings.

It doesn't matter what I think, Danny's brain whispered mutinously, despite his better wishes. You guys keep making the decisions for me that you think are 'best' without caring what I say and I don't see any reason why you won't just continue doing it. Danny did his best to shove that thought into the back corner of his mind and tried to remind himself that Sam was doing her best to help. He didn't need to make it difficult by acting like a moody teenager.

When she huffed and scowled, he peeked up at her from underneath his bangs. She seemed hurt by his silence and Danny let out a slow breath, looking for something to say to make her feel better. She was... used to be his best friend, after all. He didn't want to see her hurt. "I've got to go to school, right?" he said. "It's not much of a choice."

"High school?"

"I'm sixteen," he said, taking another bite of his pizza. "That's where I fit."

"There's lots of alternative programs now," Sam said, watching him closely. "You could really do anything. Traditional high school, some sort of home program, vocational school, fast track programs…"

Danny silently chewed his pizza, tamping down a trickle of frustration. "I just… I don't know, Sam." He knew school was important, but it was one of the last things he wanted to think about right then. "I don't really want to go to school yet. Besides, it's July, isn't it? Can't I decide later?"

"I suppose," she answered softly, her attention momentarily being distracted by the news again, pictures of some far-off war flashing behind the lady reading the news.

Picking off one last vegetable – one of those slices of that black thing that had been missed on his earlier inspection – Danny took a huge bite of his pizza. I really don't want to talk about this stuff, he said to himself. He knew he wasn't going to get to go home and he knew that he couldn't spend forever sitting here, pretending it was still seventy years in the past. He had to deal with all of this stuff and he knew it.

But every step he took away from his old life felt like he was throwing away everything he had.

"We could set you up in an apartment, if you want," Sam said once her news segment switched to something less interesting. "I… You can feel free to live here as long as you want, but there are lots of apartments out there if..." Something quivered in her voice when she spoke, but it was back to normal before Danny could quite identify what it was. "You could really live in any town in the world, and I guess I could understand if you'd want to move, but I'd like you to stay in Amity Park. At least for awhile."

Danny blinked and looked up from his pizza. "Move?" he asked in surprise. It hadn't ever crossed his mind. "Why would I want to move?"

He watched her relax. "I don't know. I thought maybe you'd want to get away from here."

Snorting, he shook his head. "This is my home." A smile flickered onto his face in response to the one that appeared on Sam's. The thought of just leaving, of starting over, of getting rid of every tie he had to the past caused his stomach to churn. Terror was a large part of it, followed by a tiny bit of quiet realization. Would he ever really be able to have a new life if he held onto the ties of his past one?

He wasn't so sure he could.

Something must have crossed his face at the thought, because Sam leaned over and nudged his arm. "It'll be okay, Danny. We'll get this all figured out."

"Yeah," he said, forcing the lapsed smile back onto his face. Sam seemed to accept it, grinning at him and looking more like her old self than she had in awhile, but Danny just turned his attention back to his supper. He popped the last pieces into his mouth.

"I guess we can talk about it later," Sam finally said. "Until then, you can feel free to stay in that guest room as long as you want. It can be your room – it's not like I have many visitors. We could even paint it, if you want."

Danny nodded and let his eyes drift over to the holographic television. Decisions about his future were stacking up around him and Danny was busy resisting making them. He was sixteen; all he should need to do is go home and crawl into bed after listening to his parents ramble on about some new theory. Nowhere in his mind did he think it was fair that he needed to think about and make decisions on all of these things.

And yes, a tiny voice in his brain was pointing out that only a few minutes earlier he had been grumbling about Sam and Jazz making all of his decisions for him. Danny shook his head to clear the thought and "…reports in of a flying man over Amity Park..." trickled into his ears.

He focused on the TV, watching the newswoman excitedly take a piece of paper from off-screen and read it. "There have been numerous flipped vehicles and there are reports of minor injuries. Authorities are urging citizens to stay away from the northeast region of Amity Park until this is figured out. We're trying to get the live feed to work to show you-"

"We could get you a job. That might take your mind off things," Sam cut in, not listening to what was happening on the news.

Danny shot her a glance and shook his head before turning his attention back to the small TV. "This man is reported to have white hair, glowing eyes, and is wearing a black-and-white jumpsuit. If anyone has any information on this matter, they are urged to find a safe location and call us at…"

"What the…?" Danny breathed, picking up the remote and turning up the volume to drown out whatever Sam was saying. "That sounds like me!"

Jazz had just sunk into her favorite chair, a book sitting on the armrest next to her, when the phone rang. Her eyebrows furrowed in annoyance as she reached out and grabbed the headset. "Hello?"

"Mom!"

Instantly focused on the sound of her daughter's sharp voice, Jazz glanced down at the phone. "What's up, Sweetheart?"

"Are you watching the news?" The car's engine was audible in the background, Sarah's voice breathy and awed as the younger woman swerved through traffic.

"No…" Jazz reached for the remote to flip on the TV, but Sarah didn't wait.

"There's a flying man in Amity Park – just like Grandpa used to talk about." The normal doubt-laced derision in her voice Sarah usually had when talking about ghosts was back, but it was tempered with fascination. "I've never seen anything like it. There's no jetpack or strings or anything. He can just… hang there."

Jazz arched an eyebrow. "Is it a ghost?"

"I've never seen a ghost," Sarah answered, then swore slightly as the sound of screeching wheels filled the phone. "Nobody knows how to drive around here. Idiot almost crashed right into me."

"What's he look like?"

There was a beat of silence before Sarah spoke. "He's got white hair, black and silver clothes, a cape…" she trailed off for a second. "Glowing like a nightlight. How's he doing that?"

Jazz's forehead wrinkled. "That sounds like Danny," she mused softly. "Sarah, is it my brother?"

"I don't-" her voice cut off, the sound of her taking a sharp breath echoing through the line. The terrified scream that filled the room lasted only a moment before the phone simply cut out.

"Sarah?" Jazz asked, looking down at the phone with wide eyes, her heart beating loudly in her chest as worry crashed through her mind. "Sarah!"

When there was no answer, Jazz pushed herself out of her chair and raced down the steps. Her feet caught at one point and she almost tripped, but she steadied herself and reached for the front door. "Grandma?" one of her grand kids asked, poking his head around the kitchen door. "What was that?"

"Stay here," she ordered, watching the boy blink in surprise at her gruff tone. "Keep everyone in this house, got me?"

The boy nodded faintly as Jazz pushed open the front door and vanished into the street. She took one look up at the empty sky – her eyes catching the smoke rising from the far corner of Amity Park – and grabbed the phone to call Sam's place.

Daniel Madel nearly fell out of his chair in surprise when screams echoed into the little pharmacy where he was working. His head jerked up, gazing out the large window. "What's going on?" an old man, the sole customer in the store, asked. "It's not ghosts, is it? I hated ghosts when I was a kid. Have I ever told you-"

"Why don't you have a seat, Kwan, sir, and I'll go have a look," Daniel interrupted, slipping out from behind the counter and heading towards the door. "I'm sure it's not ghosts. Maybe there's been some sort of accident…"

The door jingled merrily when he pushed it open and stepped out onto the street, his eyes widening at the sight outside his pharmacy. A ghost – an actual ghost – was hovering about a block away. People were starting to abandon cars (many of which were on fire or flipped over) and were running, the fastest starting to push past him. Daniel forced his eyes away from the familiar-looking ghost and scanned the cars, wondering if anyone was trapped inside.

His sweeping gaze caught movement and Daniel hurried over, crouched down to avoid being seen by the ghost. "Sarah?" he whispered in surprise, gazing at the terrifying amount of blood covering the woman's head. She was moving rather feebly, her eyes unfocused, and she didn't respond to her name. "Sarah!"

She looked up at him this time, obviously confused. "Help," she rasped, her hands coming up to paw clumsily at the seatbelt.

"Come on," he said, trying to stay calm. He glanced up at the ghost, who was laughing loudly enough for the sound to send shivers down his spine, and crawled in through the broken window of the car. He reached out to cradle Sarah's head and shoulders. "I'm going to release the seatbelt on three, okay?"

A huge flash of green light washed through the car, sending the truck next to them flying through the air with a horrendous roar of flame. Daniel flinched and swallowed heavily. "One, two, three," he said, his voice trembling, and he clicked the button for the seatbelt. Sarah dropped into his arms, her body twisting painfully as she fell to the car's roof. She let out a groan of pain and then passed out.

"Great," Daniel hissed, taking a second to look out the window. The ghost was still hovering there, taking pot shots at cars and people. It was just a matter of time before this car was a ball of fire. He turned back to Sarah and grabbed her shoulders, backing as quickly as he could out of the car, dragging her along behind. Staying as crouched as he could, he managed to get her into his arms and – with one last fearful glance at the ghost – he hurried towards the pharmacy.

"Danny Phantom!" the ghost suddenly called out. "Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

The old man held open the door as Daniel hurried inside, setting Sarah down beside the counter. "Danny Phantom," Kwan whispered, shaking his head and coming over to sit down next to the unconscious woman. "He's been gone for decades."

"Yeah?" Daniel said, grabbing his first aid kit and trying to stop the flow of blood from Sarah's head with shaking hands. "He'd better hurry back. That ghost is doing some serious damage."

"The ghost looks a whole lot like Phantom used to," Kwan grumbled. "Give me that." He grabbed the thick piece of gauze from Daniel and held it firmly in place.

A car outside exploded, the force of it causing cracks in the pharmacy's front window. Both the men flinched a bit, staring outside. "Danny Phantom!" the ghost yelled, laughter echoing in its voice. "My esteemed effendi – I'm waiting for you. I know you're back!"

"Phantom's back?" Kwan said in surprise, but Daniel wasn't listening. His mind was far away, the familiar sounds clicking into a memory almost as old as he was. That laughter… it was the same he'd heard that night. That horrible night his mother had died almost forty years previously.

"Did you think" the remembered voice hissed, "you could sneak away from me? I'm not going to let some clone of mine…"

His mother's scream of pain washed out whatever the voice had said next. "No! Get away from my son!"

Glowing, hate-filled eyes stared down at him, listening to him cry, and then came the horrible laughter. "Is this my son?"

"No! DANNY!"

A brilliant flash of green light burned through the pharmacy, snapping Daniel back to reality, and he shivered, staring over his shoulder. "No," he whispered. "No, no, no, it can't be…"

Sam had rescued him – Sam had destroyed the ghost that night. It had been too late for his mother, but Sam had been quick enough to save him. The ghost from his nightmares was gone. Dead. It couldn't be back.

His mother's murderer hadn't lived all of these years when she hadn't. That wasn't possible. That wasn't fair!

"What do you think you're doing?" Kwan asked.

Daniel hesitated. He'd gotten to his feet and was halfway around the counter, his hands curled up into tight fists. He was still shaking, but it wasn't from nerves anymore. "I'm…" he trailed off, shaking his head at the fury that was welling up inside of him. "I'm not waiting for some seventy-year-gone ghost to show up and save me."

It took only a moment to drag out the key that opened up a special cupboard and he pulled out an ancient-looking ectogun. He'd laughed when Sam had ordered him to have it with him – the ghosts were constantly reforming, who knew when they'd come back – and he'd almost tossed it into a garbage can long ago. Now he was glad he didn't.

He pressed a button, noting the almost-dead charge on the gun before getting to his feet. The ectogun whined in his hands. "Stay here."

Sam finally followed Danny's confused gaze, turning to watch the news. "…got the live feed going from a local traffic camera." The newscaster was gone from the screen, replaced by a picture of smoke and tangled cars.

"Oh my," Sam whispered, leaning forwards. "What's going on?"

A cold breeze rippled down her spine, but Sam was too focused on the panning video to notice. The camera panned over the destruction and then up into the sky where a tiny figure was floating. "We'll zoom in as much as we can," a man's voice prompted, "but this isn't a very good camera. I'm not sure how good of quality we'll get."

"It's a ghost," Sam breathed.

The camera started to narrow in on the figure, slowly bringing it – him – into focus. "Our latest reports say this is might be a ghost. We've got a few phone calls in from locals stating that he looks a lot like the old pictures of Danny Phantom from seventy years ago. If this really is our local hero come back, it looks like he went through a bit of a personality change."

The fork fell out of Sam's hands. "Phantom?" she muttered as the image stabilized enough for her to make out the picture. "No…" She squinted, noting the flaming hair and the odd-looking cape. It struck a chord inside of her, but she couldn't remember where she'd seen it before. Something, seventy years ago, that meant a lot to Danny.

"Danny-" she turned to ask her young friend – surely he remembered who this ghost impersonator was – but there was nobody there.

She was still staring at the empty seat when the phone rang, Jazz's terrified voice on the other end.

To be continued...