Didn't quite get thirty reviews, but it was very close, so I'm giving you this chapter a week early! :)
I suppose I'll just let you read the chapter before I get on to any explanations...
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Chapter 23: The Keepers
As Danny flew off in a blur of black and white and faster than Sam had ever seen him fly before, she turned around to the others, her face in a mask of shock.
"He didn't," she said numbly.
"He didn't what?" the masked teen asked.
"He didn't promise," Sam whispered. She grabbed a rather white Tucker shakily by the forearms. "He didn't say he'd come back!"
"That doesn't mean anything," the half-robot with them said hastily. "He might not have had time."
"No," Tucker said, shaking his head. He gripped Sam back. "It's…with Danny…a promise is our guarantee that he'll do something. And if he didn't—"
"He's not planning coming back," Sam murmured.
"Don't say that!" Jazz scolded sharply, seeing the stricken faces on her parents. "Don't!"
"Danny wouldn't give up like that!" Dani agreed, her eyes shining. "He wouldn't!"
Sam hid her face in Tucker's sweater, trying to control her rapid breathing. 'Get a grip!' Inhaling sharply, she jerkily pulled away, swallowing thickly. "Okay," she whispered, "I'm okay."
"He's going to be okay!" Dani shouted, grabbing everyone's attention. Her ghostly aura flickered. "Just because he didn't say anything – it doesn't mean he won't come back! He said it! He said he wants to be home, too!"
"There's a difference," the teenage girl in the purple cloak said softly, catching everyone's attention. "He said he wants to be home. But…he didn't say he would." Her eyes were glittering. "What would he do…if he were backed into a corner?"
"He was kicking that ghost's butt!" Jack proclaimed, holding Maddie close. "Danny wouldn't—"
"I took the opportunity to sense that ghost's aura," the teen said slowly, sitting on the ground and folding her legs. "It's almost identical to Danny's. There's just a small difference that shows he isn't identical, but it's alike enough to show they're somewhat the same. And there were traces of Danny's own power laced in it, bolstering it. Danny's power is strengthening the ghost. He said he's solid now because it's feeding off of him. If he didn't have any other choice, what would he do?"
"He'd protect us," Jazz said immediately. "Danny wouldn't think of anything else."
"It's his hero complex," Sam muttered, looking right at Raven. "He'd do anything to protect us."
"He mentioned the staff," the cloaked teen continued evenly, "saying that the dimensions are like neighborhoods to it. I can't be sure, but if Danny had the option, would he isolate the ghost so it couldn't hurt anyone else?"
"Yes," Sam and Tucker answered instantly.
"But can he do that?" the masked black-haired teen asked.
"Not by himself," the other teen said, shaking her head. She closed her eyes and began levitating off the ground.
Sam blinked but then looked at half-robot and the green-skinned boy with pointy ears and figured this wasn't the weirdest thing to happen. It would turn out that her boyfriend would fall in with a group of superheroes, though. Danny just had the weirdest luck.
"What are your names?" Tucker asked the masked boy. "I don't think we ever heard."
"I'm Robin," the boy said. "This is Beast Boy"—he pointed to the green-skinned boy—"Starfire"—the red-haired girl waved—"Cyborg"—the half-robot gave a two-fingered salute—"and Raven's the one floating. We're the Teen Titans."
"Superheroes?" Tucker said, giving a small smile. "You have special powers?"
"I don't and Cyborg's half-robot, but the others do," Robin said.
"I'm half-ghost," Dani said, standing by Beast Boy. "What do you do?"
"I shape shift," Beast Boy said, shifting into a cute kitty with enormous eyes to prove his point. He gave a meow.
"How cute!" Dani crouched down. "How come you're green?"
Beast Boy morphed back, also in a crouching position and sulking now. "I'm green! I can't help it!"
"Nothing wrong with it," Dani said hastily.
Before anyone could say anything else, Raven gave a hiss. "Shh! I'm trying to concentrate."
"What's she doing?" Jazz whispered to Starfire.
"She is likely looking for a way out," Starfire whispered back. "Raven has the power to traverse the dimensions. She was looking for a way home for Danny, but had not succeeded. I think she is trying now."
Raven's eyes snapped open, glowing white under her hood. "Ah… Found it. Azarath…Metrion…Zinthos!"
"Everyone hold on," Robin called out, holding onto Starfire's hand.
Black swirled out from underneath Raven, spreading out to cover the entire dome and rendering everyone sightless if it were not for Dani's ghostly glow.
There was no sound for a moment save for breathing. Then something ripped open in the middle, unleashing a howling wind that nearly uplifted everyone off their feet.
Tucker grabbed hold of Sam and she did the same, both of them clutching each other by the wrists. Jack had taken hold of Maddie and Jazz, who had grabbed Dani and brought her into the middle. Cyborg was holding onto Beast Boy and Robin was crouched over Starfire. Raven was the only one relatively untouched, though her cloak was billowing wildly.
"What's happening?" Sam saw Tucker say, though she couldn't hear him.
She gave him a helpless shake of her head, signaling that she didn't have a clue.
Suddenly, a blinding flash of white light caused her to flinch and shut her eyes reflexively. Then the wind stopped, nearly knocking her over as she abruptly lost the force she was bracing herself against. Only Tucker's grip on her wrists prevented her from falling over.
Cautiously opening her eyes, Sam met Tucker's, who was blinking at her confusedly.
She looked around, seeing nothing but green around her and what looked like a ledge beneath her. In fact, her surroundings looked very familiar.
"Are we in the Ghost Zone?" Jazz exclaimed from behind her.
Sam whirled to see that Jack, Maddie, Jazz, and Dani were also on the ledge with her and Tucker. The only ones who weren't there were the Teen Titans. And that didn't make any sense, as Raven had brought them here.
"Raven wanted to bring Danny home, didn't she?" Tucker said slowly, looking around. "So doesn't it make sense that she'd bring us here?"
Jack was looking over the ledge in fascination. "Ooh, ghosts! And furniture!"
"What?" Sam, Tucker, and Jazz rushed over to look and gazed down.
As they did, what they saw was a virtual ocean of ghosts. In fact, it seemed that all the ghosts that had been missing from the Ghost Zone were floating down there, either dazed or unconscious. And sure enough, there was a bunch of furniture and even pieces of fences floating around.
"Raven didn't do that," Sam pointed out, looking at Tucker.
"So if she didn't," Jazz said, "then who did?"
"I didn't see anything!" Dani proclaimed, shaking her head. "What I did see was a rip right in the middle and there was that wind."
"If we're in the Ghost Zone," Maddie said, looking round in a sort of wonder, "then how are we supposed to get back?" Her face pinched in worry. "What about Danny?"
Sam's breath caught in her throat as she frantically ran over all the reasons why the Titans wouldn't be with them and a virtual ocean of ghosts and furniture was beneath them. "Do you…"—her voice was a whisper—"…do you think that it was because of Danny that we're here?"
"But he's not here!" Dani objected.
Sam agitatedly ran her hands through her hair. "He didn't say he would be!"
"That doesn't mean anything!"
"He didn't promise us!" Sam yelled, startling some of the ghosts that were beginning to float up. "He…sounded sorry! He said he wanted to be home, not that he would be home!"
"Oh God…" Jazz's voice was choked. She stumbled over to the edge of the ledge and abruptly sat down, burying her face in her hands. "Danny…"
Dani looked around frantically, seeing nothing but stricken faces. "Stop it! Stop it!" she shouted desperately. "Danny wouldn't just give up like that!"
"What if he didn't have a choice?" Sam cried, rubbing her face and trying to ignore the prickling in her eyes. Goths didn't cry. "You heard Raven! She laid it out completely logically for us. Danny would do anything to protect us. And if that meant not coming home"—her voice thickened—"then he would do that, too."
"But he wasn't the danger! It was the other ghost!"
"The other ghost was feeding off of Danny!" Sam could feel her composure beginning to crack. "Nothing he did worked, he said that himself! He resorted to the wail because he had to. Then he said he'd go to a different dimension." She rubbed her eyes. "But the wail is completely destructive. It destroys everything it comes into contact with. If he meant to use it to defeat the ghost and it was holding the staff…don't you see? The staff will be destroyed, too."
"And if the staff is the object that travels through dimensions," Tucker realized, his face ashen, "Danny will be trapped."
"But it's all hypothetical!" Dani insisted. "We don't know that it'll happen like that. For all we know, Danny could be on his way right now!"
And it hit Sam like a lightning bolt. "Clockwork…" She looked up from her hands, meeting Tucker's eyes with a sudden hope. "If Danny's alive, Clockwork will know, won't he?"
"We're nowhere near Clockwork's, Sam," Tucker said, rubbing his forehead tiredly. "How are we—"
"We call him. He sees everything, remember?" Sam straightened up, shifting her shoulders back. "He's probably watching us right now. He knows that we're here." She took a breath and shouted, "CLOCKWORK!"
Her yell threatened to deafen the others, who cringed and covered their ears.
"I know you can hear me! You're probably watching us now, aren't you?" Sam continued shouting. "Tell us if Danny's all right!"
Then, hoping like mad, they all waited.
Raven never expected the sudden interference in her spell. The sudden rip in the middle of her spell threatened to throw everything off and it took everything she had to prevent everyone from being flung off into the void.
Even then, she didn't anticipate the blinding white flash of light that occurred that completely disrupted what remained of her spell and ripped it into tatters. When she opened her eyes, she found the Titans and herself on the top of Titan Tower. But there was no sign of Danny's friends and family.
"What the hell was that?" Beast Boy demanded, whipping his head around in shock. "That wasn't you, Raven, was it?"
"No," Raven admitted, standing up. She inhaled deeply and stretched her senses out. For some reason, the easy access she'd had earlier to the other dimension was gone. It was as if a door had closed. She could still sense it, but it was further away. "It wasn't me," she repeated. "And I don't know what it was."
"Where are the others?" Cyborg asked. "I thought they'd be with us."
His comment struck a chord within Raven. "But they shouldn't have been. They're not from here. I meant to go to Danny's dimension, but we all ended up here. If we came here, it stands to reason that they went to their own dimension. In that case, the reason my spell was interrupted is because something happened to the staff."
"What does that mean for Danny?" Robin wondered.
Raven shook her head, worry making her heart heavy. "I don't know, Robin. He might have destroyed the staff either by accident or on purpose – I'm guessing the latter – and that will leave him trapped in whatever dimension he winded up in."
"Can you find him?" Starfire asked.
She hesitated. Theoretically, she could find him. She'd been in his mind; she was intimately familiar with his aura. There was no reason she couldn't. But would she be able to?
There were countless dimensions, and if the staff did what she suspected it did, then Danny could be in any of them. To go rooting around in every single dimension was an almost impossible task to ask of anyone. There was no guarantee she would find the dimension Danny had wound up in, just like there was no guarantee she wouldn't find it.
"I don't know," she finally admitted. "It'd be like looking for a needle in a haystack. If I used a locating spell, it might be easier, but it would need some sort of focus. Even if I focused in on Danny, the locater spell is general and wouldn't tell me the exact dimension he's in. And then there's the question of connecting to the dimension, which I might not be able to do."
"But he is our friend!" Starfire cried. "If he is stuck somewhere with that ghost, we cannot just leave him!"
Raven gritted her teeth. "I know, Starfire! But that doesn't mean I can just pull him out of thin air! He might just have destroyed the staff, and who knows what that did! The backlash might have annihilated the dimension he was in, and you know what that means—"
"Raven!" Robin barked, cutting her off.
Raven reared back, noting the stricken look on Starfire's face, the downturned ears on Beast Boy, and the solemn faces on Robin and Cyborg. She realized she'd gone a bit too far and shook her head.
"I'm sorry," she muttered, stalking to the edge of the roof. "I need to think."
There was utter silence on the roof for several minutes, save for the soft whooshing of the wind.
Eventually, Raven took a final deep breath, bringing her roiling emotions under some control. It would take a lot of meditation for her to sort through everything that had happened today and she didn't know when she could start.
Turning around, Raven started to speak when her jaw dropped open in shock.
In the middle of the air a black vortex was opening, yet it was surrounded by a shimmering blue.
There was nothing but blackness and utter cold. There was no sight, no sound, no smell…there was absolutely nothing.
Was this death?
He'd never been particularly religious, but he hadn't thought that death would be a void of nothingness with him still retaining his sense of self. Maybe it was all messed up because he was half-ghost.
He'd anticipated dying while fighting this ghost, especially during the end. He anticipated dying during every single ghost he fought. But it had never been such a stark reality the way it had been now. He'd stared death in the eye and lost.
His only relief was that his friends and family were all right and that that insane ghost would never harm them again. They'd probably never know what happened to him but at least they were safe. Raven would find a way out of wherever they were and bring them home.
So, he'd accepted himself and he'd made peace with the fact that he was dead. He supposed that all that remained was for him to just lie back and float in the nothingness for eternity.
Just as he'd decided this, a feminine giggle sounded through the space. The sound made him startle and whirl, even though the action was utterly useless.
A voice rang through the blackness, but it was utterly garbled and impossible to make out.
As he figured that maybe he was imagining the sounds and that he was just as insane – if not more so – than the ghost he'd been fighting, something opened up in front of him and he fell through it, falling head over heels onto the ground, coming to a stop with a small "oof".
Realizing that he was most definitely not dead, Danny kept his eyes shut for a moment longer before gathering the courage to open them, only to find himself staring into a large pair of glowing green eyes several inches away from his. "Ah!" He rolled to the side and sprang to his feet, only to wobble as his muscles threatened to give out.
"Careful," an amused voice spoke. "You have just returned from the dead."
"So I was dead?" Danny asked far more calmly than he figured he should. He turned his head to see Clockwork floating several feet away in his adult form.
"Most definitely dead," another voice confirmed.
Danny looked to see a familiar ghost girl. It was the girl with the doll. "It's you!"
The girl tilted her head to the side; the motion gave Danny shivers. "It is," she said calmly. "Were you expecting someone else?"
"To be honest, I wasn't expecting anyone," Danny confessed. "I was…well…expecting to be dead."
"You were," Clockwork said, a small smile on his face, "but as Time Keeper, I interfered."
"Time Keeper?" Danny had never heard that term before.
"There are Keepers," Clockwork continued, "that control various aspects. I am the Time Keeper, or master of time as I have told you. There is also the Space Keeper, keeper of the dimensional spaces. And the Death Keeper – he owed me a favor…" He shifted into an old man.
"Which is why I'm standing here now and not currently dead," Danny finished slowly, not wanting to know what kind of favor Clockwork had done for the Death Keeper to owe the Time Keeper a favor. "Then"—he shot the girl a glance—"who is she?"
"Fatima," the girl said, her green eyes seeming to look straight through Danny. "I am the Fate Keeper."
"You take care of everyone's fates?" Danny guessed. When he received a slight head tilt in confirmation, he turned back to Clockwork. "You've only mentioned a few, but I'm guessing there are more. You've only mentioned these because they're somehow involved, aren't they?" He thought it through. "I'm guessing the Death Keeper has other things to do and he just owed you a favor. You're here because you interfered; she's here because…" He paused, not thinking of anything as to why the Fate Keeper would be here. "I have absolutely no idea," he admitted, "but the Space Keeper? Where is he? That was his staff, wasn't it? The one"—he flushed darkly—"that was destroyed?"
"It would have been destroyed," another familiar but completely unexpected voice broke in. "But I am the Space Keeper. What kind of keeper of space would I be if I could not manipulate it to my own ends?"
"Mr. Robinson?" Danny could scarcely believe his eyes.
But it was true. Mr. Robinson appeared to melt out of the shadows, holding a familiar staff in his hands. "Not quite, Danny," he said, smiling.
Then, before Danny's very eyes, he morphed into a ghost. A black cloak appeared to cover the upper half and black leather gloves covered the hands; the pants he was wearing morphed to be become a beige-colored tunic, with the legs covered by skintight leggings that were white; soft leather boots covered his feet. The face remained the same, though the eyes changed to a ghostly green. Additionally, there was now a ghostly glow surrounding him. An echo permeated his voice as he spoke next, "You see, I like to take on a human guise when I live in the various dimensions."
"So that's how you knew about her!" Danny pointed to Fatima. Then he frowned, realizing something. "Wait"—he looked at Fatima—"he said that you were alive. But ghosts aren't from dead people – at least, my kind of ghosts aren't. So how is it that you're here?"
"I wanted to be alive," Fatima said, shrugging. "So I was. It was nice, to experience life for a short time. But I've always been the Fate Keeper; I just decided to take on a human life for a short time."
"Fatima and Beobachter"—Danny realized that was Mr. Robinson's actual name and that it was pronounced oddly, like "bey" with an "o" and "Bach" with a "ter"—"usually work together," Clockwork said.
"Fate works for everyone, regardless of dimension," Fatima said, smiling.
"But if you're usually in a different dimension, and that ghost came from my dimension, how did he end up with your staff?" Danny couldn't figure it out. "It's incredibly powerful; how did he get his hands on it? He wasn't exactly the straightest tool in the box – if you get my meaning."
Clockwork shared a glance with Beobachter and Fatima. "Do you remember, Danny, what you asked me last time?"
Last time? After he'd rescued his friends and family from that alternate future?
Oh. Oh.
"It was for the best, wasn't it?" Danny said, grinning ruefully. "Did you plan it out?" He glanced between the three ghosts. "I'm guessing you conveniently left it somewhere in your lair, where he could find it?"
He shook his head, giving up on understanding the minds of omniscient ghosts. "I suppose you meant for me to end up in Jump City, too, right? Was it because I'd find someone there – someone who understood?"
"Did you not?" Clockwork asked gently.
"Yes," Danny said softly, thinking of Raven, "yes, I did. And more." He thought of the Titans, and how they understood what it meant to be a superhero while still managing to enjoy life.
"So it was all for the best, was it not?" Beobachter said cheerfully. "And everything turned out just fine. You're not dead"—Danny blinked owlishly—"the staff is back where it belongs, and Clockwork's Observants can go stuff themselves—"
"You are aware that there are countless more than the two that always appear, are you not?" Clockwork interrupted dryly, turning into a very unimpressed looking child.
"Semantics," Beobachter retorted, throwing a baffled Danny a wink.
"This is too weird," Danny muttered, shaking his head.
"Keepers will have their fun," Fatima informed him, smiling serenely. "It's what keeps the job from getting dull."
"What do you see?" Danny asked. "As Fate Keeper, what does that mean?"
"I see everyone's fates," she said simply. "I know what they can do, what potential they can reach. It's my job to make sure that they reach that fate."
Danny saw that Beobachter and Clockwork were watching him. "If you're the Space Keeper," he said to the other ghost, "does that mean you know everything that's going on in every single dimension?"
"Not like Clockwork," Beobachter said; "he's aware of everything, regardless of where and when it is. I don't know how he does it; I have enough on my hands just keeping track of the now when it comes to my responsibility."
"My own power only extends to fates," Fatima said. "It does not apply to their past, or different timelines."
"What does that mean? That alternate timelines aren't as real as the actual one?"
"The timeline you speak of is nonexistent, Danny," Clockwork responded. "The staff has been missing for a long time, long before your former future self escaped and that future was decisively wiped."
Danny looked sharply at him. "So it has been wiped from the time stream? I don't have to worry about it anymore?"
Clockwork simply smiled enigmatically.
Beobachter clapped his hands together, catching Danny's attention. "Well, this has been fun, hasn't it? I think it's about time I return you to your home, Danny. Your friends and family are getting worried."
"Wait." Danny put up a hand. "Before I go, can I see the Titans?"
Beobachter raised an eyebrow. "Who did you think I was talking about?"
Danny gaped. "But…you said family."
"Are they not?" Beobachter tapped his nose knowingly and cupped his hand around his staff.
A swirling black vortex opened up before them, but there was a shimmering blue outline around it.
"And that is how my staff should be used." Beobachter sniffed. He nudged a shocked Danny in the back. "Well, go on."
Taking an anxious breath, Danny stepped through the vortex, and put his foot down on the rooftop of Titan Tower. He met the surprised faces of the Teen Titans.
He felt Clockwork, Beobachter, and Fatima exit the portal after him but didn't turn around. His focus was on his friends.
"Danny?" Starfire's voice was shocked. "Is it really you?"
Danny cracked a grin, throwing his arms out. "Hey, Star."
With a joyful squeal, Starfire pounced on him and promptly began squeezing the life out of him. He was abruptly grateful that he was in ghost form at the moment.
"We thought you were dead!" Starfire exclaimed, talking directly in his ear. "Raven said that the staff had most likely been destroyed, and that the backlash probably destroyed the dimension you were in, and that meant that you were – that you were – oh!" She hugged him even tighter.
"But you're not!" Beast Boy stood next to Starfire, a crooked grin on his face. "You're all right!"
"Mostly," Danny gasped, pulling Starfire off him. He pushed her away, smiling at her even while his ribs smarted. "I'm glad to be alive."
"But you didn't anticipate it, did you?" Raven asked, standing a distance away from the other Titans. Her face was rather blank. "You thought you'd die."
Danny swallowed, recognizing that Raven was on the edge of an emotional cliff. "I…thought I would, Raven. In fact…I did."
The other Titans gasped and made exclamations of shock.
"You look alive to me!" Beast Boy declared, pinching Danny's arm and receiving a wince for his efforts. "Unless you're all ghost now?"
Danny transformed back to prove he was still only half a ghost. "I really did."
"Then how—" Robin started. He broke off when he saw the ghosts floating serenely behind Danny. "Is it because of them?" He blinked when Clockwork abruptly shifted into an adult.
Danny shifted his head, seeing Beobachter make a "go on" motion at him. He turned back to the Titans. "They're my friends," he said. "Clockwork is the master of time, Beobachter is the master of dimensions, and Fatima is the master of fate." He gestured to each one as he introduced them. "And, yeah…Clockwork is the reason I'm standing here right now, decidedly alive."
"The master of time saved you from death?" Cyborg gaped in surprise.
"Well, to put it the way he would probably say it, it wasn't my time," Danny said, shrugging lightly. He wasn't going to mention that Clockwork and Beobachter had planned the whole thing out; he didn't think Raven's temper would stand for that.
"You should talk to Raven," Starfire whispered to Danny, echoing Danny's worried thoughts. "She was very worried."
Exhaling slowly, Danny nodded. He gave the other Titans significant looks and walked past them to approach Raven, who had returned to gazing out over the sea. The sun was setting, creating a magnificent view.
There was short silence for a moment.
"I'm sorry," Danny finally said, keeping his voice low. He ignored the chatting Titans behind him, who were talking to the three Keepers.
"It's not your fault," was Raven's rather blank reply.
"But it was," Danny said, sighing. "I…sort of expected it, toward the end. I couldn't really see a way out of it, other than destroying that staff. I wasn't going to cram him in the thermos because it wasn't empty and I couldn't just destroy him – it isn't in me to do that. Maybe someday…no, not even then," he decided, shaking his head. "With those options out the window, I was only able to think of destroying the staff. I couldn't use it – I didn't know how."
"You don't have to explain, Danny," Raven said softly, closing her eyes. "I get it, I do. I faced that same situation myself one time."
Danny was silent for a moment, realizing she was talking about her father. "I see."
"Yes. And I realize…that's it's awful to be on the other side of that situation." Raven glanced back at her friends. Beast Boy was currently trying to flirt with Fatima, and failing. "I never knew how my friends felt."
"You shouldn't have had to face that situation," Danny disagreed. "And I'm sorry I put you through it."
"It's in your nature," Raven said, smiling as she looked at Danny. "Sam called it your 'hero complex'."
Danny winced. "Yeah…she got that out of Harry Potter and decided it suited me. Especially after the incident with my former future self."
Raven nodded slightly, silent for a moment. "So…who was he?" she asked.
Exhaling heavily, Danny took a seat on the edge of the roof; Raven joined him. "He called me 'father'," he said. "From what I could understand, the same accident happened and my ghost half merged with Plasmius's. But something changed, as he decided he needed to rip out his humanity – or something like that. He kept saying 'you', but I don't think he really meant me, per se. Anyway, the end result was that he was ripped out of my future self. My future self then destabilized because he'd ripped out something essential to him." He grinned self-deprecatingly. "End result: one crazy ghost with a vendetta against me."
"And that's the last of them?"
He couldn't help it: he burst into laughter. "No, I don't think so," he said, laughing. "There's always going to be another one. But hopefully the next one won't be related."
Calming down, he sighed. Smiling rather shyly, he turned to Raven. "So…am I forgiven?"
"Forgiven for causing me to worry and wonder whether you were dead? Yeah, I think so." Raven smiled back, her cheeks tinged pink. "But I'm still going to do this."
"Wh—" Danny broke off as Raven drew him into a crushing hug, burying her face into his neck and inhaling deeply.
It was only a moment later that she broke it, face flushed a dark pink. "Okay, that's—"
Scoffing, Danny drew her into another hug, pressing his face into her hair. The unexpected motion caused Raven to startle and they ended tipping over the ledge with startled exclamations.
Danny transformed in an instant and kept them afloat, a big relieved grin nearly splitting his face in two. "Thank you, Raven. Thank you."
Raven blushed again, acknowledging what he wasn't saying. "You're welcome, Danny."
Danny floated them up to the roof and set her down, landing by her. "So, friends?"
"Always," Raven confirmed.
They were approached by the other Titans, who sensed that their conversation was over.
"You know, that girl really isn't half as cute as your cousin is," Beast Boy informed Danny with an injured scowl.
Danny blinked, digesting that statement. "Okay, eww… That's a bit too much information there."
Beast Boy frowned, perplexed. "What? Why?"
"Technically, she isn't his cousin; she's his clone," Raven said, causing Beast Boy to blush beet red. Danny wondered how that was possible considering his skin was green.
"Wait – so – she – you—" Beast Boy stammered.
"If it helps, she isn't me," Danny said, taking pity on him. "She just has my DNA. She's completely different."
"But that means I like you!" Beast Boy blurted out, before keeling over in a dead faint. Starfire leaned over him, poking his face to see if he really was unconscious.
Robin caught Danny's attention next; he was wearing a smile on his face that Danny hadn't seen on him before. "You know that you're a friend of ours, right?" the boy wonder asked.
"Yes," Danny said slowly.
"We were talking this over a couple days ago," Robin said, his hand rustling at his belt. "And we decided on something."
"Something good, I hope," Danny said blandly.
Grinning, Robin held out a Teen Titan communicator. "Welcome to the Teen Titans, Danny Phantom."
Danny stared at the communicator, not comprehending what it meant. "Wait… You mean you're… You mean I'm…"
"You're officially a Titan, bro!" Cyborg announced, beaming. "And that means you get a hug!" He wrapped his arms around a startled Danny, lifting him right off the ground.
Gasping, Danny phased out Cyborg's grip a moment later, grinning sheepishly as he floated out of reach of a smirking half-robot. "I'll do without, thanks."
"Well?" Robin held the communicator out, his smile still in place.
Danny took it, scarcely able to believe what it meant. "You're…actually serious? Even though I'm not from here?"
"Whether you belong here or not," Robin said, "it doesn't change the fact that you're our friend. It also doesn't change the fact that you're a hero. Believe me, Danny, you wouldn't have gotten it if we didn't think you deserve it."
"You can keep in touch with us," Starfire said, smiling.
"I did something so you can," Raven confirmed before Danny could say anything. "All you have to do is flick it open and decide who you want to comm. It's pretty straightforward."
"And it hooks onto your belt, too," Cyborg said, indicating Danny's belt.
"I also noticed that you have duplicates of whatever weapons you have on your belt, so that they're there regardless of whether you're in ghost form," Raven said. "That communicator doesn't need a duplicate, because it shows up whether you're in ghost form or human form."
Danny clipped the communicator on his belt and transformed back. He lifted his shirt to see that while the belt had changed, the communicator was still there. "Okay…that is seriously cool." He grinned at the Titans, transforming into Phantom again. "I'll keep in touch, yeah?"
"I want to hear everything that's going on!" Beast Boy said. "And don't let the fan girls get to you, all right?"
Danny winced in remembrance. "I'll sic 'em on you if I figure out how."
Starfire's eyes were watering. "Oh, I will miss you!" She jumped on Danny, hugging him fiercely for a moment. Pulling away a moment later, she planted a kiss on his cheek, leaving his cheeks tinged with green as he blushed. "Stay safe," she pleaded.
"Let Wulf know we'll miss him," Cyborg said, shaking Danny's hand. "He was getting to be a great cook."
"Tell him thanks for the Esperanto," Beast Boy said, eyeing Cyborg mischievously.
Danny looked at Robin, who grinned sheepishly. "I've got nothing other than to tell you to kick ghost butt."
"Not a problem," Danny said dryly.
Finally, he turned to Raven, who seemed to be blushing lightly.
"You've become one of my closest friends," she said softly, looking down and to the side, seemingly unable to meet his eyes. "I'm going to miss you."
"I'll miss you, too," Danny said quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder. The action caused her to look up and meet his eyes. "But we'll talk, yeah?" He smiled. "After all, you gave me a working communicator that'll traverse the dimensions."
"Just make sure you're the one holding it," Raven said, placing the same hand that Danny had on his arm. "It runs off your energy."
"I'll make sure," Danny confirmed.
Then, closing her eyes, Raven drew Danny into one last hug that seemed to last a lifetime. When she drew away, she hastily wiped her eyes. She looked up at him out of clear eyes and smiled.
"Good luck, Danny Phantom," she said.
Danny smiled back sadly. "Thanks."
His goodbyes said, Danny turned to the Keepers, who were waiting patiently. "I'd like to go back home now."
"You'll always have a home here, Danny," Beobachter said, placing a hand around the orb in his staff.
A glance back at the Titans confirmed this statement as they were all nodding. Everyone except for Raven and Robin looked rather teary now.
"I know," Danny said softly, looking back at his friends one last time before he stepped through the vortex and back home.
The spot on the collar where Raven had pressed her face was wet with tears.
What did you guys think of it? I'm kind of nervous about your reactions, considering that the entire story has been building up to this.
"Beobachter" is the German word for "watcher". SpartanCommander originally suggested Gatekeeper but that didn't really work for me so I asked my mom and sister and with the word "gatekeeper" in mind I eventually came to "beobachter". Fatima is a name I credit to CyberArcRotarr, who suggested it back when the ghost was originally introduced in The Return.
What did you guys think of the developments? I suppose I should explain that the idea for the enemy came to me in a dream that I had years ago. It stuck with me and I thought he'd make a great villain for this story. His origins didn't come to me until later, though.
Thanks to you ALL for the awesome reviews you submitted the last chapter! Thanks to I 3 BB, Kung-fu Blaziken, ComeHellOrHighWaterBringItOn, HalfafanD, Mak8907, Santara55, seantriana, Vrow, cocoa85715, Totem Prime, kirara the great, Slayer End, lokoforsonic9559, coopt98, Zii Raevyn, ChristinCC, aslan333, Wilona Riva, MaybirdGreen, Brisingrstorm, bug349, SkyHorse32, Brad W, rebecca, hypersreak, Midnayuki, and Danimals221 for reviewing the last chapter!
I 3 BB: I don't really get why the ghost would do that... Sure he's completely bat shit insane but he'd have no reason to start singing some sort of lullaby... Rock-a-bye Baby maybe? (Hey, look, that rhymed! :D)
rebecca: I didn't leave him there. Though it might not have been what you expected.