Sam, Tucker, Jamie, Jack and Tooth watched as Pitch feel to his knees and pulsed brightly with green and blue energy.
"What is he doing?" Sam whispered fearfully. Jamie turned to the two present guardians. They noticed Jamie looking at them and shrugged.
"Tooth and Jack don't know," Jamie announced. Tucker bit his lip.
"You don't think he's trying to… get rid of Pitch do you?" Tucker asked to no one in particular. Jamie and Sam glanced at each other.
"The Danny we knew would never do something like that. But I've never seen him that angry before. He promised that he wouldn't turn into him and I don't know, this feels like something he'd do," Sam replied. Jamie looked up as Sandy arrived on the scene. Sandy landed beside Jack and number of shapes appeared over his head.
"I'm fine Sandy, just tired. But Danny's inside Pitch. We don't really know what he's doing," Jack answered.
Then a rabbit hole appeared a few feet away and Bunny's head popped out. He spotted Sandy and the others.
"North, I found them!" Bunny shouted down into the tunnel and jumped out, followed by North. The hole closed up and a pink flower appeared in its place.
"What's going on?" North inquired. Jack and Tooth shrugged and nodded to Pitch.
"Danny's doing something, but we don't know what," Tooth replied.
Suddenly there was an explosion of black smoke from Pitch. The shadows around him deepened as the smoke was swallowed up. His shadowy form lessened and took a lighter shape, more humanoid and approachable. His smoothed back hair softened into actual locks of hair. His body changed to a black robe and his feet melted out of the shadows that usually clung to him. His face became lighter and changed from a grey complexion to a pale white one. He was still black and white and varying shades in between, at least all except a new addition. A beautiful golden locket now hung around Pitch's neck. The green and blue pulsing energy stopped and a moment later Danny fell out of him. He looked weak and tired, but unharmed. Pitch opened his eyes and his hand instantly clutched the locket.
Everyone stared in disbelief at Pitch's transformation. Danny slowly crawled to his feet and looked up at the moon.
"There, you happy?" he grumbled. The moon seemed to get a little brighter. Danny snorted.
"Like I said, worse than Clockwork," Danny mumbled and shook his head. He turned to Pitch. He offered the king of nightmares his hand and Pitch took it. Danny helped the tall man to his feet. The guardians, Jamie, Sam and Tucker watched in disbelief as they saw Pitch cry silently. He turned to Danny and wrapped him in a hug.
"I'm so sorry. Thank you. Thank you so much," Pitch sobbed.
Danny squirmed uncomfortably and awkwardly patted Pitch on the back.
"I didn't really do much Pitch. You're the one that faced your fear," Danny muttered softly. Pitch pushed away from Danny gently and nodded. He didn't even look at their audience.
"I'm going to recall all my nightmares. I'm going to return to my previous role as their guardian," Pitch informed him. Danny nodded and gave Pitch an encouraging smile.
"If you have any trouble, you know where to find me," Danny offered. Pitch smiled gratefully and walked into a shadow and melted away, still clinging to the locket around his neck.
Danny turned to the others watching him. He blinked in surprise as he saw Sam and Tucker also watching him.
"Hey," he greeted them, eager to break the silence. Sam and Tucker walked towards him, seemingly in a daze. Danny shifted his feet uncomfortably.
"I guess Dani got you to face your fears. How is she?" Danny muttered nervously. Tucker hesitantly touched Danny's shoulder before his eyes brimmed with tears and hugged his friend tightly. Danny smiled softly and patted Tucker on the back as the twenty year old sobbed. Tucker was now taller than Danny and had to stoop to hug him but neither boy cared. Four years was a long time for best friends to be apart.
After a few minutes Tucker released Danny mumbled something about checking Danielle and wiped the tears off his face and sniffed loudly. Danny turned to Sam, who had stared in disbelief as Tucker and Danny hugged. She closed the distance between them both and looked into his mismatched eyes. They were the same height. Danny nervously rubbed the back of his neck.
"Sam, say something. You usually have something to say," Danny requested anxiously.
Sam gingerly touched his face and kissed him. Danny instantly pulled away and shook his head sadly. Sam bit her lip.
"I'm sorry, did I do something wrong?" Sam quickly apologised. Danny smiled and shook his head.
"No, it's just… you have to move on Sam and if I let you get close to me, you won't. I'm dead Sam and I'm not coming back. You deserve someone… living," Danny explained softly. Sam shook her head and blinked back tears.
"I love you!" she insisted. Danny sighed sadly.
"And I love you Sam but it doesn't matter. You can't be with me because I'm not here anymore. I'm not even Danny Phantom or Danny Fenton. I can hardly remember Fenton's life. It's to do with all this," Danny replied and gestured to his appearance. Sam bit her lip.
"I'm sorry for what happened to you Danny. It was my fault. If I hadn't been so weak, Vlad would never have caught me and you-" Sam began. Danny scowled at her and pulled her into a hug.
"Sam, stop right there. You were not to blame for my death! If anyone was it was me. I should have waited for my parents. I should have gone as Fenton. I knew I wasn't walking away Sam. I'm sorry you had to watch," Danny interrupted firmly. Sam quietly cried into his shoulder as four years of guilt and grief poured out of her. Danny held her and glanced at Jamie and the guardians. He gave them a small smile.
Eventually Sam stopped crying and withdrew from Danny. She wiped her cheeks and caught sight of the amount of black make up on her hands.
"I must look a mess," she muttered with a small laugh. Danny shook his head and smiled.
"Not to me Sam. Give me a minute, I need to have a chat with the guardians," Danny requested. Sam bit her lip and nodded.
"So, they're real?" she ventured. Danny laughed good-naturedly.
"Yeah, they're real," Danny confirmed. Sam smirked.
"Guess your dad won the argument," Sam joked. Danny frowned in confusion.
"Argument? What argument?" he inquired. Sam's eyes widened.
"The argument your parents have every year about Santa Clause being real. It's the reason you hate Christmas," Sam reminded him. Danny shrugged.
"Don't remember that. But like I said, I don't remember much of my human half's life. I think it's because Phantom was already technically dead. Sorry," Danny admitted. Sam watched Danny walked over to an empty space near Jamie, stunned by what he had said.
So, the fallout of what happened begins. Let me know what you think so far.
Until the next chapter.