Dash was walking through the hallways of the high school. He forgot one of his textbooks in his last class and he had to run and get it before it got lost and misplaced before he could get back to it on Monday.
Everyone else had already left the school for today and the hallways were quiet. Dash was hoping that his teacher would still be inside the classroom so Dash could get his book back, but there weren't even that many teachers left inside the school either. He supposed he could ask Lancer for help getting his textbook back. That man seemed like he lived at the school nowadays, but Dash didn't really want to talk to Lancer.
He finally saw the door to his classroom coming up down the hallway. The sooner he got his book back, the sooner he'd be able to go home and enjoy his weekend.
He reached the door and was praying, hoping, pleading that it was unlocked. When the door handle didn't budge, Dash groaned. So much for that.
Dash was about to turn around when he saw something weird. Something looked like it was coming through the door? Dash was about to bolt when whatever it was pushed the rest of the way through the door. Dash's eyes widened and he couldn't do anything but stare.
Danny Fenton's head was phased through the door that was between them.
"What the hell?" Dash whispered.
Danny just looked at him for a moment. "Oops."
Dash took a step back. "What the fuck? How are you doing that, Fenton?"
"It's just… uh, some ectoplasmic contamination. Yeah. That sounds like a good excuse."
"We all have some minor ectoplasmic contamination by now!" Dash shouted. "Most of us can't do that, though!"
Danny shrugged and walked the rest of the way through the door. "I don't know what to tell you, Dash. I just have more than the average person, living with my parents and all."
"But-" Dash watched as Danny started walking away before he remembered what he came here for. "Wait!"
Danny turned back around. "Yeah?"
Dash pointed back at the door Danny had just walked through. "Can you go get my textbook for me? I left it in there when I left that class earlier and I need to get it back. My dad said I can't lose another textbook."
Danny groaned. "I guess. You just can't tell anyone about this."
Dash watched him walk through the door again. A few moments passed before Danny walked back out.
"Is this it?" He asked.
"Yeah, thanks!" Dash took the book and started shoving it into his backpack. He looked back up at Danny as he zipped it back up. "Why can't I tell anyone about this though if it's just regular ecto-contamination?"
Danny started walking away again. "Because I said so."
Dash rolled his eyes and hurried to keep up with Danny. "That's the lamest reason ever. We're not five anymore."
"It's none of your business why you can't tell anyone." Danny snapped.
Dash's anger was starting to rise with Danny's attitude. "Oh yeah? What are you gonna do if I tell someone? You're a wimp. You can't do anything."
"Wanna bet?"
Dash's heart stopped when he saw Danny's eyes flash green. Then they went back to normal a moment later as Danny turned to walk away from Dash again.
"What the fuck!" Dash started walking again. "You know that only raises more questions, right? You're not doing yourself any favors, Fenton."
"Why don't you just leave me alone, Dash?" Danny sped up. "You're acting all buddy buddy with me like you deserve to know all my secrets but you don't even know the half of it. So just leave me-"
Danny was interrupted by a big crash coming from down the hallway. They both shielded their faces and when they looked up Dash saw a giant ghost standing where the front doors of the school used to be.
"Get down!" Danny jumped at Dash and sent them both crashing to the ground right as the ghost sent an ectoblast at them.
"Shit!" All Dash wanted was his textbook.
Another ectoblast was being sent their way and Danny managed to roll them both out of the way across the floor. Danny was tiny, how was he able to move Dash so easily?
Danny stood up and pulled Dash up behind him. Dash watched as puny Danny Fenton took a defensive stance between him and the ghost.
"What are you going to do against this thing?!" Dash yelled at him.
"You better keep my secrets to yourself or you're definitely going to get your ass kicked!"
"What does that have to do with-"
Dash stopped talking when a bright ring of light appeared around Danny's waist. It separated and traveled along his body and disappeared once it passed his head and feet. Once his regular clothes disappeared, left behind was Phantom's black and white jumpsuit. Danny was now engulfed by an otherworldly glow and all Dash could do was stare.
Danny jumped up into the air and flew towards the ghost. He punched it in the face, sending it back out into the grass in front of the school. Dash ran to keep up with them, still pulled by his desire to watch Phantom's ghost fights whenever possible. How had Danny been Phantom this whole time? Danny wasn't dead. Or at least, Dash was pretty sure he wasn't dead.
If he was dead, how did he die? Was it his parents? Did he get in some kind of accident on the way home from school? Dash's eyes opened wide.
Was it his fault?
Did Danny somehow get stuck in his locker for three days with no food and water? Did Dash beat him too hard one time that Danny bled out internally? What if-
"Dash!"
Dash's head snapped back up to the air at the sound of Danny calling his name.
The ghost was speeding towards Dash and all he could do was stare. Then Danny was suddenly barreling into him again, pushing him out of the way of the ghost. Danny wrapped an arm around Dash and pulled the thermos off of his belt.
He caught the ghost by surprise and pulled it into the thermos. Danny slowly lowered Dash to the grass and Dash turned to face him.
"I'm so sorry!" He wailed.
Danny furrowed his brows at him. "For what? The ghost wasn't your fault."
"No! Not that!" Dash wiped his nose. "I'm the one who must've killed you!"
"What?" Danny shouted. He looked confused. Maybe he didn't remember what happened.
"You must've died in your locker, right? Or from one of those times I beat you so hard you couldn't walk right? I didn't mean to! I'm so sorry!"
Danny patted him on the shoulder awkwardly. "I appreciate the sentiment, but you're not the reason I died."
Dash sniffled. "I'm not?"
"No." Danny looked away from him. "It's not something I really like to talk about a lot. But if it helps, I'm not actually dead. Or not fully at least."
"How does that even work?" Dash asked.
Danny shrugged. "I don't know. And you can't tell anyone else either because they'll also want to know."
"Like who?"
"The GIW. They're always kidnapping all sorts of ghosts to do experiments on them. I can't imagine what they'd do to a half human half ghost hybrid." Danny shuddered. "And then there's also my parents. They're always talking about how they want to tear me apart molecule by molecule. I'd like for that to not happen."
Dash's eyes bulged out of his head. "Oh my god. Your parents."
"That's how my sister felt too."
Dash groaned and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. "I'm still sorry, though. I've been bullying my hero this whole time."
"You should be sorry whether or not I'm your hero. Bullying people isn't cool."
Dash winced. "Yeah."
Danny looked around them before he stepped behind a tree. Those same transformation rings appeared around his waist again and he was back in his tshirt and jeans.
"Anyways, I gotta get home. I'm technically grounded right now and my parents were expecting me to be home twenty minutes ago."
Dash waved him away as he started walking towards his own house. "Have fun with that. I'm gonna go think about every wrong thing I've ever done."