Edit3: 5/20/18: Next wave of grammar fixes and wording tweaks or some scenes altered to avoid cliches.

Edited: 7/9/16: Removed irrelevant ANs and answers to questions sections, fixed a few tiny plot-holes and inconsistencies, tried to improve characterization, went through wave one of grammar fixes, tried to ease up on some clichés I didn't know about when I'd started writing this, and made somethings a bit clearer.

zzz- normal separation

ooo- dream or vision separation (could be a past event of some kind)

Mental thoughts, past speech, or distant speaking unless indicated otherwise

"Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured." ~ Mark Twain

zzz

"I can't believe it."

"Jazz."

"I mean I seriously… wow."

"Jazz come on, geez. It was going to happen sooner or later," Danny muttered and rubbed his chin out of self-consciousness.

"But awww… My little brother is getting so old now…" Jazz cooed.

Danny scowled and scratched his chin again and flinched. "Ouch. I guess I need to shave soon. That sounds weird to say."

"Don't worry Danny-boy! Shaving's a synch!" Jack suddenly bellowed as he wandered into the kitchen that early morning. Danny was attacking his omelet again when he and Jazz heard their father's voice.

"Oh uh, yeah. Thanks dad. I probably need to head to school soon though. Maybe you can show me later or tomorrow or never, whichever works for you," Danny replied nervously.

Jazz laughed and shook her head as Jack rummaged through the fridge.

"You don't think I can shave right?" Jack grunted.

"Well…" Danny replied nervously.

"You see this?" Jack spoke and pulled his head out of the fridge and gestured to his chin, "A Fenton knows how to keep himself clean cut and smooth like a baby's bottom!"

Danny facepalmed.

"And you'll join that tradition of success, son!"

Danny sighed and gave a half smile. "Sure dad."

"Thata boy." Jack grinned, "Danny get off to school! Jazz you have a good time at the library again! Me and your mother's in the lab today. Have a good one!" Jack fished out the plate of fudge he'd been searching for and left the kitchen.

Jazz giggled again.

"Oh, be quiet," Danny muttered half-jokingly. He then stood up and put his dishes in the sink. "I'm flying to Sam's house to meet her and Tucker. They wanted to walk with me today to talk about Valerie."

Jazz nodded and stood up, grabbing her keys. "So, she knows and she's joining the team eventually, right?"

"Seems that way. See ya later." Danny pulled his red sweatshirt from the back of his chair and put it on. It had just turned October that day and with the new month had come a cold front. While most were putting on heavy coats, Danny was in a thin sweatshirt. He waved and threw his backpack over his shoulder before going through the front door.

"You too, little brother."

As soon as Danny got a couple blocks away, he slipped into an alleyway and transformed. He turned invisible with his backpack and shot off towards Sam's house. Once he arrived, he returned to his human form. He walked out to the front door with his backpack over one shoulder and rung the bell when he saw Tucker wasn't there yet.

Pamela Manson answered the door. She frowned as soon as she saw him, but turned after walking inside a bit and shouted, "Samanthaaaaaa! Your acquaintance, the Fenton boy, is here!"

Danny had to repress a chuckle when Sam shouted back from her room upstairs.

"Mother! It's Sam not Samantha and his name is Danny! DAN-NY!"

"Whatever darling." Pamela sighed and gave Danny one last glare before turning and disappearing inside the house. Danny grumbled slightly and scratched the back of his head in nervousness. A few minutes later he could hear Sam thumping down the stairs. She came to the door and Danny smiled.

"Morning," Danny greeted.

"Morning, is Tucker here yet?" Sam asked and put her spider backpack on her back and shut the door behind her.

"Right here, dudes!" Tucker grinned and jogged the rest of the way to catch up to them. The three then turned and started their walk to school.

"So, Valerie knows now, huh?" Tucker asked and addressed the topic of the day, first.

"Yeah. She wants to help us. I tried to warn her against it-"

"Like you did us?" Sam asked and cocked her eyebrow.

"Yeah yeah, like you guys. Anyways she said she's going to slowly join us, so Vlad or anyone else doesn't get too suspicious." Danny expressed.

"I guess…" Sam replied.

Danny looked over at her in worry. Because he was looking at her and they were talking about Valerie, he was suddenly reminded of what Valerie had said to him the night before. He quickly averted his eyes towards his feet and suddenly found his shoes to be very interesting.

Tucker watched his friend and noticed Danny act nervous for seemingly no reason; however, the techno-geek had seen that particular behavior from Danny a few times in the past. Tucker had talked to both Danny and Sam separately about their growing feelings for each other and unfortunately had been sworn to secrecy by both of them. It was getting more and more painful and frustrating to watch them dance around each other and many times Tucker had been tempted to blurt everything out for both of their benefits, consequences be damned. More recently he'd started to develop some ways to possibly force them together to talk but had been a bit too scared to attempt some of those plans. He had sworn to himself that he would help get Danny and Sam together, since he wanted to see his two best friends happy. He would figure something out, eventually. He snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed Sam and Danny staring at him with disturbed looks on their faces.

"What!?" Tucker questioned.

"You seriously had a creepy look on your face," Sam muttered.

Danny laughed.

"I was just thinking about something, that's all…" Tucker chuckled.

"Weirdo," Sam grumbled.

"Hey, I resent that!"

The trio made their way to school and walked up the steps of Casper High with some of the early students, which was weird and quite the rarity.

"Huh, it's-" Danny started before Sam clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Don't jinx it. Don't say a word Danny. No one mention anything about what's weird here, okay?" Sam spoke.

Tucker nodded, not wanting to renew his title of Bad Luck Tuck anytime soon. Danny nodded slowly.

"Mmmph?"

"Oh right, sorry," Sam blushed and pulled her hand away. She then mumbled, "You have stubble."

Danny chuckled nervously, "Yeah I uh… It's new, huh? Guess even I had to grow some at some point."

"Ah man. I still only have some peach fuzz still, but you'll see! It'll come and it'll be magnificent," Tucker boasted as the trio reached their lockers.

Sam closed her hand and dropped it as she got to her locker. For some odd reason she couldn't stop thinking about the feel of his stubble underneath her fingers.

"Valerie?"

"I'll see ya later Star. I needed to talk with Danny, Sam, and Tucker."

Danny glanced over his shoulder with Sam and Tucker to see Star looking at Valerie and then them before shrugging. "Alright then, see ya. Later guys." Star waved briefly and walked off.

"Huh, she actually noticed we existed," Tucker mumbled.

Valerie walked up after hearing Tucker's words. "Star's actually not too bad. Not as bad as some of the others anyways."

"Morning," Sam said a bit awkwardly and Danny nodded and smiled.

Valerie smiled back. "Morning guys."

"Welcome to our happy and completely crazy little family I guess," Danny chuckled and shut his locker.

"Ah I knew it! We had to be brothers in another life time." Tucker grinned and clapped a hand on Danny's shoulder.

"Destiny, Tuck. Destiny." Danny grinned back.

"You two are complete goofs." Sam sighed but couldn't hold back a short laugh.

"First period today is Lancer and English, right?" Valerie asked.

"Yep, we had an assignment for reading Hamlet, I think?" Tucker questioned as the four friends turned and started walking towards Lancer's classroom.

"Yep, still don't think I'll ever get used to Old English though. Even when ghosts speak it sometimes," Danny laughed.

"Hey, can't be any worse than Esperanto, hm?" Tucker pressed.

"Esperanto?" Valerie questioned.

"It's an artificial language from the 1800s. It's the only language one of our friendly ghost pals speaks, except some extremely broken English phrases. I learned it and taught Danny and Sam taught herself some so we could talk to our friend better when he pops up." Tucker explained.

"His name's Wulf," Danny nodded.

Valerie looked at the ground. "There are good ghosts?"

Danny sighed in exasperation.

"I meant other than you," Valerie mumbled in slight irritation.

"Yes, Valerie. We have allies in the Ghost Zone. Most non-malevolent ghosts don't wish to leave the Zone." Danny smiled and then seemed to remember something. He looked at Sam and Tucker.

"Oh! We need go see Hakan sometime. He invited me to see his Lair. I'd imagine you guys would be welcome. He kinda is a bit blunt about me being caught in limbo and being not 'natural' but he's still pretty neat and of course he's a pretty great teacher for Pyrokinesis." Danny grinned.

"Wait, whoa. Pyrokinesis?" Valerie asked, "Since when?"

"Remember Skulker the other day?" Danny asked.

"Wait that comet-like move you did?"

"I kinda didn't know what was happening at that point. I saw him aim at Sam and Tucker and I saw red… or well orange."

"Oh. So, what exactly can you do?" Valerie asked.

"I'll tell you or show you some time." Danny nodded. Suddenly he slammed into a wall of person. "Uuf!-"

"Hey there, Fentonia."

"Uugh," Danny groaned in annoyance, "Hey Dash."

Valerie looked like she was going to have an embolism until Tucker placed a hand on her shoulder and shook his head sadly. Another wave of harsh reality smothered her. He can't fight back or they would know something was different.

"I have a test later today in Math."

"Yeah?"

"And I'm mad about it and I'll probably be mad afterwards too, so I thought about it and realized I had two big reasons to give you some trouble, hm?" Dash grinned mockingly.

"Good for you, Dash," Danny growled. His face adopted a look of brief shock when Dash slammed him into the lockers behind him. A small crowd started to form. Kwan and Paulina were among the people there, seeing as they had been talking to Dash before.

"Was that sarcasm, Fenton?" Dash hissed.

Danny frowned. "Wow, didn't know you knew that word, Dash. I'm actually impressed for once."

A chorus of Ooos echoed through the hall.

"Do you have a death-wish, Fentoad?" Dash growled.

Tucker had to slap his hands over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud at the irony.

"You have no idea, Dash." Danny shook his head. "Just get to it, will ya?" Danny didn't expect the punch he got to the gut. "Hunmph-" Danny wheezed mostly in surprise rather than pain like most would expect, but Dash and most everyone else didn't notice the difference.

"Watch yourself Fenton. I'm getting tired of you stepping out of bounds." Dash smirked.

"I'm so so sorry that I've finally grown too tall to fit conveniently into lockers anymore Dash, but you should blame puberty not me," Danny replied.

Dash frowned. "A swirly is always an option." A smirk returned to his face.

Danny didn't reply.

"Just drop Danny and let's go to Lancer's, Dash. God, don't you have something better to do with your life?" Sam growled. Dash whipped around and glared at Sam before looking back over at Danny sideways.

"Must stink having to have a girl stand up for you. I mean, what kind of man are you?" "HAHaaahhheee!" Dash suddenly screamed like a girl when Sam kicked him in the privates, as subtly as she possibly could.

"Not a stupid one to say something like that with Sam nearby?" Danny questioned and rose a brow. He then grimaced and looked at Sam. "Was that really necessary?"

"He brought it on himself," Sam shrugged and a few people started to snicker in the crowd.

"War and Peace! People, control yourselves!"

Everyone in the hallway turned and saw Mr. Lancer standing there with his hands on his hips.

"Uh…" Sam and Danny paused and glanced at each other nervously.

"All of you need to get to class! Those that should be in my room, come on!" Lancer spoke, turning slightly to lead his wayward students to class.

Dash tried to speak but was still having difficulties taking in air.

Lancer sighed. "No buts, Mr. Baxter."

Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie walked away whistling and Dash, Kwan, and Paulina eventually followed, though Dash was limping and quite angry.

zzz

"So, what does Yorick actually represent in Hamlet?" Lancer asked and turned back to look at his students from the board. Most of them were obviously tuning most of what he was saying out, with the exceptions of Sam, Mikey, and maybe Valerie. He glanced over and saw Danny looking out the window in what seemed to be thought.

"Your thoughts, Mr. Fenton?" Lancer droned and raised a brow at the look of surprise on Danny's face.

"Uh… huh?"

A few people snickered and this made Danny shift a bit in his seat.

"Yorick? What does he represent, Daniel?"

Danny looked into Lancer's eyes for a brief moment and something Lancer saw there seemed to surprise him, though he couldn't say what it was he saw. Danny turned to look back out the window.

"It's the moment that Hamlet realizes that death comes to us all. He looks death in the face and realizes he needs to do what he can while he has the chance. He also realizes that the things he chooses to do don't need to be about wealth or vanity, because he reflects on the idea that someone like Yorick and Alexander the Great both became bones and dust eventually no matter what they'd been in life."

Lancer blinked in surprise and then smiled and nodded, "Very good Mr. Fenton. Indeed-" He turned around and started writing on the board again, "Yorick is the turning point in the play as well. The moment Hamlet realizes death is very very common…"

Danny clutched his desk when a wisp of blue fled from his mouth. He raised his hand; Mr. Lancer was still talking and writing on the board and didn't notice. Danny waved it more dramatically and tried to lean a bit before he fell out into the space between rows of desks, making a clatter. Lancer whipped around as some people, namely the A-listers, started to laugh.

Sam, Tucker, and Valerie were looking at Danny and Lancer frowned. "Tom Sawyer, Daniel. What on earth are you doing?"

"Uhh…" Danny blinked. "I… Can I go to the bathroom?"

Lancer sighed with impatience. "Go ahead, Mr. Fenton."

Danny leapt up and ran out of the door. Valerie glanced at Sam and Tucker and they shook their heads. She tightened her hand around her pencil and tried to relax.

zzz

Danny ran out of the classroom and glanced one way and then the other before running into the boy's restroom and locking himself in a stall. He transformed and then flew out of the building to look around. He barely had the chance to dodge some sort of liquid from striking him. He whipped around after ducking and saw the Ghost Snake he'd fought a few times before. Its hood was spread wide and it hissed before spitting what was most likely ghost snake venom of some sort at Danny. He shot to the side to avoid it again.

"Whoa, that's a new trick."

The snake then rose itself to his level by using more of its body to stand higher off the ground.

"You're really like one of those spitting cobras. I better remember how far you can strike, huh?" Danny smirked and vanished before appearing behind the snake and blasting it with a few Ecto-blast shots. A few people on the streets next to the school, stopped to watch their hero fight the snake. A small-time news-reporter, tasked with keeping up with his exploits until something happened different from the norm, got to the street with her camera man and started filming and narrating what was going on. Danny ignored them as he focused on freezing the snake's head solid. and then flew down to grab his tail. He started to swing the monster of a reptile and then released him into the sky.

"Ally-oop!" Danny grinned and shot into the air after the snake to punch the ice block, causing it to shatter. The snake seemed to be dropping to the earth limply, but the tip of its tail grabbed Danny's leg before it struck the ground. "Aah!" The tail fell and then slammed him into the earth beside the serpent. Danny recovered quickly and jumped back into a back-hand spring to dodge an open-mouthed lunge from the snake. He then shot several small blasts of Ecto-energy from his index fingers and the snake, wounded further, crashed to the ground on its belly. Danny whipped out the Fenton Thermos and spun it before uncapping it and sucking the unconscious snake inside. "Gotta be faster at the quick draw, pal."

A few cheers came from the small amount of people on the street and Danny waved and smiled modestly before disappearing and flying back towards the school. He landed in the restroom and in the same stall. He transformed, flushed and then washed his hands and ran back to class to catch the last few minutes of Lancer's lecture. His hair was a bit disheveled and he was pretty sure his elbow and knee were a bit bloody, but they had both started to scab up by the time he returned inside.

"So, no Kwan, Hamlet and the Lion King, though they have some similarities, do NOT have the same exact story. There are some large differences if you know where to look," Lancer grumbled and then the bell rang. As everyone rose to leave, Lancer spoke up, "A want a two-page paper on your reactions to Hamlet. Involve imagery, symbolism or themes in some way."

A few people groaned in annoyance, but everyone eventually left for second period. Lancer noticed Danny and his friends leave and took note that yet again, the young Fenton looked like he'd been mugged in the restroom. Lancer frowned. Does he get ambushed by bullies from other classes? It seemed to be unlikely that someone was there every time he went to the bathroom. What was it about those three, Danny, Sam, and Tucker, and why in the world was Valerie acting so close to them and walking with them? Lancer had known that Daniel and Valerie had dated for a time, but this had seemed to happen overnight. Finally, the teacher reflected on how Daniel had answered the question about Yorick. Daniel was always a puzzle to Lancer; though he did poorly on tests and homework, any discussion questions Daniel answered in class were almost always insightful.

It was their class's Senior year, after the school year ended, Danny, Sam, Tucker, and Valerie would be out of his reach. Lancer wanted to know, he wanted to understand, and he wanted to help.

If only he knew how.

zzz

The group's second and third period were normal if boring. They found each other at Lunch and went outside to sit at their bench.

"So what ghost was it, Danny?" Tucker asked as he bit into some of his sandwich.

"Oh, just the Ghost Snake. Did you guys know it can spit venom? It can totally do that now," Danny rambled and took a bite of his own sandwich.

Sam pulled out her lunchbox and started on an orange. Danny leaned over and took a bite out of her orange after placing a slice of his apple next to her lunch bag.

"What you need some Vitamin C?"

"Naw, just variety."

Tucker snuck a bit of ham out of Danny's sandwich while his friend was looking away, before Danny snatched one of the sausages in Tucker's bag by turning his hand intangible.

"Darn, thought I got you that time."

"I've got eyes in the back of my head, Tuck."

"What, you mess up duplication again?"

Sam started to laugh a bit at Tucker's actually decent jab and Danny laughed sarcastically. "Ha, ha, ha."

Valerie pulled her tray to its position in front of her and shook her head at her friends' behaviors. It would take a while before she knew them like they knew each other.

"You need to add that snake venom thing to your files," Sam replied and then glanced at Valerie's tray of lunch food, "Uh, you sure you wanna eat that?"

Valerie blinked and then frowned in slight confusion. "It's what I always eat, why?"

Danny and Tucker glanced at each other and Danny sighed before telling a very interesting story about what was actually in the school refrigerators. By the end of it, Valerie looked as though she would be sick and slid the tray of 'food' away from her.

"I will never look at that stuff the same way again." She sighed. "Guess no Lunch for me today." She was shocked when after Danny, Sam, and Tucker glanced at each other, she found a half a sandwich, a pear, and a water bottle in front of her. Tucker, who always brought two sandwiches, gave her one of his halves since he'd already finished the first and started on the other half. Sam had offered a pear and Danny had a spare bottle of water on him. She glanced up at them all gratefully and also in confusion. "Just… just like that?"

Danny smiled. "Just like that." Sam and Tucker were smiling as well.

Valerie nodded. "Thanks." She noticed Sam glancing at Danny's elbow. Danny followed Valerie's gaze and saw Sam.

"What?" Danny asked his friend.

"You got injured from that snake," Sam grunted.

"Yeah his tail snagged me and sent me into the ground once," Danny answered.

"Is that all you got from it?" Sam asked.

"I think my knee's a bit scuffed up, but it's not really that big a deal. You know I've seen much worse," Danny replied. "What's the matter?"

"Love that's what," Tucker and Valerie answered at the same time and glanced at each other in surprise and then slight embarrassment. Danny and Sam's cheeks turned red.

"We aren't lovebirds!" They both shouted. They happened to glance at each other at that same moment and then they both hurriedly turned away. Danny seemed to realize they were mirroring each other like they did so often. His brow furrowed in thought and opened his mouth to say something to Sam, making Tucker lean a bit over the table in excitement…

Then a wisp of blue came from Danny's mouth.

"I am the Box Ghost! BEWARE!"

Everyone in the courtyard screamed and ran away except for Danny's group. Danny growled and looked around before Sam and Valerie gave him cover to transform. He shot into the air with a scowl on his face. The Box Ghost seemed spooked by the anger on Danny's face and shot off screaming with Danny on his tail.

Tucker growled after Danny was gone and threw his beret to the ground and shouted, "Of all the crummy luck!"

Sam raised her brow in confusion, not realizing what had maybe almost happened, while Valerie just shook her head.

zzz

A couple hours later, school was over for the day. Danny, Tucker, and Sam said goodbye to Valerie at school before taking their walk home. They promised to plan something fun for Saturday since tomorrow they were planning to visit Hakan in the Ghost Zone. They hoped to take Valerie and Jazz with them and let Danny train with the fire master.

Tucker was the first to say goodbye and turned down the block to his home. That left Danny and Sam walking towards her mansion.

There was an odd silence between the two friends as they walked. Danny took a glance over at Sam when she wasn't looking and looked her over. She was very pretty. Her hair was a lovely ebony that was probably really soft and her eyes seemed to always captivate him. He began to feel a bit flushed and glanced away, not wanting to get too interested in his thoughts on her appearance. She was such a loyal person, practical and determined. The thing though that he loved most about her was her strong sense of character and independence. How could he explain his feelings to her just suddenly? How? He was her friend and, by his track record so far, he was pretty certain he didn't know how to attract girls to him for long. In his mind, he stood no chance.

Sam glanced over and caught that Danny had just looked at her. She blushed faintly and looked at him from the corner of her eyes. She was curious what it would be like to be in a relationship with him. Looking at him now, she couldn't help but briefly toy with the idea of what it would be like to kiss him. She felt he probably had nice lips. Then of course, there was other things that she wondered about too. What would it be like for him to hold her, or something? She had a better idea than most seeing as his hazmat suit didn't leave much for the imagination. She cut herself off, trying to reel in her train of thought. She loathed herself for a moment, just because of how typical it all sounded. She wanted to know how it was to be held by him? What on earth was she thinking? She directed herself into safer territory and thought about the single thing that she valued most about Danny, his heart. She'd known early on that he had a very kind heart, especially since he'd become friends with and excepting of someone like her. It wasn't that Tucker wasn't the same in that respect, but Danny just had a part of him that wanted desperately to believe in the best of everyone. This was also one of the reasons she would never abandon him for being what he was and it was maybe that part of him that made him a hero in the first place. Anyone else might have come up with their own idea of justice with the power of ghost abilities at their disposal, but Danny, minus a few pranks and irresponsible moments, had never done that, unless you counted the timeline that never happened with Dark Danny. She wondered if, ultimately, he deserved better than her.

They finally reached Sam's mansion. The two were still quiet and then both tried to speak at the same time.

"Sam/Danny I-"

They both stalled a bit before glancing away or at the ground. Danny looked back up and opened his mouth.

"Sam?"

"Yes, Danny?" Sam asked quietly and with a bit of hope.

"I…" Danny suddenly felt his courage disappear. He swallowed dryly and took a shaking breath. "I'll see ya tomorrow." He felt like kicking himself when he saw her face fall a bit.

"Oh… oh okay, yeah. I guess I'll see you then." Sam smiled, even if it wasn't heartfelt. She disappeared into her home before Danny could even reply. He turned around and started walking towards his home, smacking himself in the head and cursing himself for his cowardice.

"Nice going Fenton. You let the girl you really like slip out of your grasp again."

Danny eventually got home and had a nice meal with his family, that for once didn't have ectoplasm in it or was trying to eat them. He told Jazz about their plans for tomorrow and did some homework before having to go out and hunt ghosts.

zzz

The next day at school wasn't near as good as the two previous for Danny. Because he'd had to battle ghosts until four in the morning, he'd not gotten enough sleep nor finished his homework for History or Math. Valerie had appeared around two o' clock in the morning to help with Klemper and Skulker. She'd left afterwards and so had Danny, thinking they were done, only for Johnny Thirteen to find Danny on the way back home and mess with him. The biker ghost had driven off after Danny had asked him to go back to the Zone. It had taken an extra hour to convince Johnny to go back to talk it out with Kitty and as said before, Danny had made it back to bed at four. After getting grief from his teachers and then being ambushed with Tucker by Dash and Kwan and two other jocks Tyson, a dark-skinned football player and Alroy, a red-headed green-eyed boy, and given swirlies, Danny was in a grumpy mood. He was relieved to find himself walking towards his home, after school, at the beginning of a weekend, with his friends.

"I'm really excited to see what you guys think of Hakan. He's kinda wise like Clockwork," Danny spoke.

"So, Clockwork is really a ghost that can control time?" Valerie asked.

"Yep, he's what everyone calls Father Time," Tucker replied as he typed something on his PDA.

"All this time, a ghost like that. I guess it really does mean a portion of ghosts-" Valerie started.

"Are good and just want to be left alone." Danny nodded, finishing her thought.

The conversation came to a close when the four friends reached FentonWorks. Danny pulled out his house key and let everyone inside.

"Hey mom, dad, Jazz! I'm home! I've got my friends with me!" Danny called out.

There was a crash from the lab and after a couple moments, Jack was at the top of the stairs to the lab, grinning.

"Hey there, Danny-boy! Sam, Tucker, and uh…"

"Valerie." Valerie nodded.

"Valerie! Jazzy-pants, you too!" Jack grinned.

The others noticed that Jazz had come down from her room and was standing next to them.

"This is great! Mads and I just completed a new invention! Now we've got some people to see it first hand," Jack bellowed and started pushing the whole group gleefully towards the lab steps.

"Uh uh dad? I don't know if they wanna see-" Danny started but his father interrupted him.

"Nonsense Danny-boy!" Jack smiled. "Who wouldn't want to see how they're being protected from ghost scum?"

Valerie saw Danny flinch at the term even if only subconsciously.

They finally found themselves in the lab. Maddie was holding something that looked like the Ghost Gloves.

"See everyone? The Ghost Gloves are really powerful but seem to only be useful for punching and holding weaker ghosts, so we thought it would be a good idea to give them a bit of an upgrade! Now they can pull overshadowing ghosts right out of people and if used right they can rip a ghost right in two!" Jack blabbered.

Maddie gave a bright smile and pressed a button, making sharp claws extend from the gloves' ten finger tips. Sam was certain that Danny had stopped breathing. She could see Danny's face losing all color. Thank God for Jazz.

"Um, that's great mom, dad, but we need to go and study for something, so we'll have to learn more about it later!" Jazz said, trying to keep her voice from getting too high as she ushered everyone up the stairs, out of the lab, and upstairs again into her room, leaving her parents to look at each other in slight confusion before shrugging and returning to their work.

In Jazz's room everyone was trying to get Danny to breathe again.

"It's okay Danny. It's just another weapon," Jazz soothed.

"Yeah dude, just relax and breathe! You need oxygen eventually," Tucker pressed. Danny could hold his breath much longer than normal humans. Because at least half of the material in his blood was ectoplasm, he didn't need as much oxygen to run his body's systems; his ectoplasm did the rest. He could hold his breath and speak underwater for long periods of time because of this as well.

Sam frowned and slapped Danny's back, forcing him into inhaling a large gulp of air. The color flushed back into his cheeks and he started breathing rapidly. His eyes seemed to snap from their glazed look and his pupils went from greatly dilated to normal. He leapt to his feet from his sitting position on Jazz's bed, surprising everyone.

"It's not just some other weapon, Jazz! And I can't relax, Tuck! That thing, that weapon, it's what helped create Him!" Danny growled out angrily, but everyone in the room knew it was to hide the pure terror inside him at that moment.

Valerie watched in obvious confusion but was worried that her friend was upset.

"Danny, notice the difference though? You told us Vlad was supposed to be the one to have that weapon, not your parents," Sam replied and grabbed his wrists to make him pay more attention to her. She needed to give him contact so he could at least start to calm down.

"What's to say Vlad won't steal it though!? Or worse- what if- what if my parents- on accident- or even on- purpose-" Jazz saw Danny visibly gag once and clap a hand over his mouth.

"Sam take him to the bathroom, he's over exciting himself. This anxiety is going to make him sick," Jazz spoke and helped her direct Danny to the restroom. Tucker and Valerie heard a gag and then a sign that Danny had puked once. Jazz came back into the room and sighed.

Valerie turned to Tucker, "Does he act like this every time his parents make a new weapon? I mean I understand his obvious anxiety, but… surely he can't be living like this in constant fear like that."

Tucker shook his head, "No. Most of the time, Danny tries to laugh about most of the inventions his parents make. He takes note of what they're making and such and usually can exploit a flaw or two from anything they have." Tucker's face grew dark. "It's just that particular weapon with claws coming out of it is linked to a particular fear of Danny's."

"Oh, what's that?" Valerie asked.

Tucker shook his head. "This particular one, Danny hasn't even told us all the details. He hasn't said he hasn't told, but we know he hasn't. For now, just know it has something to do with Clockwork."

Valerie nodded and remained silent. Danny eventually came back in with Sam helping him; she had her arm around his back and her hand touching his waist as a comfort and even Tucker didn't tease her for it for now.

"Sorry guys… I didn't mean to flip out like that," Danny mumbled.

"No worries, dude. I mean I hate the H word I certainly would be afraid of something tearing into me." Tucker nodded.

"That's not helping Tuck," Danny grumbled.

"H word?" Valerie asked.

"Hospital," Sam replied with a tiny cruel smile on her face.

"Sam!" Tucker whined and pulled his legs up onto Jazz's bed and hugged them.

Jazz interrupted their talking. "We'll if we're still visiting Hakan, we need to figure out how to get into the Ghost Zone even though our parents basically guarding it at the moment."

Danny smiled. "I'd guess they'd want a chance to use their new weapon."

Tucker calmed himself and then grinned. "I gotcha. How about I send a completely anonymous hint to the news station that Technus was spotted somewhere."

"Sounds good, I'll tell mom and dad to look at the news when we know it's on." Jazz nodded.

"Okay…" Tucker murmured and started typing furiously on his PDA, "Alright and sent! You can go to your parents now, Jazz."

Jazz nodded and ran downstairs. After a moment, the other four heard Jack's shout of "GHOST!". A bit of noise and other loud talk indicated Jack and Maddie had run out the front door. During the time Tucker and Jazz had been setting their plan into action, Danny had tried to meditate if only briefly to get over some of the stress he'd experienced that day.

Jazz ran up the stairs and grinned. "Let's go!"

And so, they did. They left a note saying that they were going to the Nasty Burger and to hang out a while, and then took off into the lab and boarded the Spector Speeder.

zzz

Danny clicked a few more buttons as Tucker got prepared to drive. Danny was acting as co-pilot at the moment and the girls were in the back. They had discovered over time that it was often best not to have Danny drive, not because he couldn't, but because he might need to fly out to fight a ghost at any time. Jazz was sitting between Sam and Valerie and noticed Valerie's unease when Danny finished setting things up and went to press the button that would open the portal.

"What's wrong?" Jazz asked calmly.

Valerie looked at her and sighed. "I've only been in the Ghost Zone once before and it wasn't a pleasant experience. I guess I'm just nervous about it."

"Don't worry about it. It's a bit odd at first but once you've been in it enough times, it's really not that bad, even a little beautiful in some places, emphasis on some." Jazz nodded.

Valerie let out a calming breath and nodded back. "Okay, I'm ready."

The Speeder jerked a bit and they soon were slipping through the portal. Valerie took the time to really look around at the green sky and floating islands. Tucker increased their speed and they started moving quickly in the direction that would take them near Clockwork's. On the way, Danny pointed out Frostbite's domain, Pandora's, and Dora's, telling Valerie a little about them and how they were allies. Danny eventually got the opportunity to point at Clockwork's tower and then Tucker waited for Danny to direct them towards Hakan's lair, which they'd never visited before. Danny leaned up and motioned to a set of mountains.

"He said just at the other side of the those," Danny spoke.

Tucker nodded and the Speeder darted that direction. Before long they could see a rocky gorge and a single Teepee in an odd place on a ledge. They landed and found a place to park the Speeder before gathering some necessities and making their way towards the Teepee.

"This must be his Lair entrance," Danny noted as they got into place and looked over the small home.

"So, what do we do? Go in?" Valerie asked.

Danny shook his head. "We have to be invited." He walked forward and called inside, "Hakan! It's me, Danny. I brought some friends to visit! We can leave though if this isn't a good time."

"Ah… child. Come in all of you. Welcome."

Danny nodded to everyone and ducked to move through the opening in the Teepee. Sam followed then Jazz with Valerie and Tucker brought up the rear.

zzz

Everyone paused in wonder at the scene around them. The inside of Hakan's lair was a visage of a great green valley. A waterfall fell from a canyon behind the Teepee and a second Teepee was resting not too far away. Hakan was sitting on the grass; his legs were crossed instead of having his ghost tail like Danny had seen him with, as he inhaled a breath of smoke from his pipe.

"Greetings, children."

"Hello."

"Hi."

"What's up?"

"Nice to meet you."

"Hey again, Hakan," Danny smiled.

Hakan gestured towards the valley as a large bird of prey took flight from a nearby tree and a snort of a Buffalo could be heard from someplace. "What do you think?"

Sam walked up and was smiling. "It's gorgeous."

"You are one that appreciates nature and the balance, correct child?" Hakan asked with a smile.

Sam nodded. "Absolutely."

Hakan chuckled, "That's a bit better than I can say for your friend here." He glanced at Danny and Sam's face immediately fell. "He mocks the balance by simply being…"

"Harsh." Tucker grimaced. Valerie seemed frustrated and Jazz was frowning.

Danny shrugged. "It wasn't my choice."

Hakan smiled at Danny and shook his head. "Perhaps…"

Danny was going to ask what he meant by that, but Hakan interrupted.

"Let us go to the mountains up there. Would be a shame to burn anything up, hm?"

Everyone agreed and Danny transformed before helping everyone up in pairs. They found themselves on a rocky plateau.

"Make sure your friends stay far enough away. Though these flames are not normal flames, they can burn just as badly and even more than normal fire; they can also leave spiritual wounds that medicine cannot easily heal." Hakan warned.

Danny gulped slightly and asked everyone to step back further. He nodded to Hakan once he was facing him again.

"Okay let's start with making sure you have complete control of your core changing. Go from cold to hot as evenly and as repetitively as you can. Go." Hakan spoke before exhaling a puff of smoke.

Danny focused and soon his friends could feel an extra bit of heat radiating towards them, then as soon as it was there, it was gone. Danny switched from his cold core to his hot core several times.

"Okay, that's good, enough," Hakan commanded and Danny stopped. "So, to start with, you remember that anger and the eternal fire are linked. Most unrighteous ghosts use anger or fury from injustices done against them or from anger at their life ending too soon. For the righteous though it is important to use something else as the fuel for the flames. You must look deep inside for ambition or your fighting spirit. Most see fire as purely destructive, purely evil, but spirits like me and people as I once was, know that fire can also create new life and do good. Daniel, after you switch to your hot core, I need you to look deep inside and find something to fuel the fire."

Danny nodded and switched to his heat core.

"First pull the heat inside. Your flames will be weaker if you're losing so much heat through the air around you." Hakan instructed.

Danny nodded and took in a breath which helped him pull the heat closer to himself. The others could no longer feel the heat around them anymore.

"Good… now you must ignite those flames inside with something. Over time you'll be able to conjure those emotions without having to completely imagine something, but until that comes, think about what your fuel will be."

Danny closed his eyes and started to think.

ooo

He started trying to think about something ambitious, like his dreams of wanting to be an astronaut. Then when that seemed to not be enough, he thought about his desire to protect Amity Park. He could feel the fire inside start to burn stronger and he thought for certain he had it until suddenly the fire halted. He could feel something else; a feeling curling around his chest. A single dreaded word echoed in his head.

Why?

He heard it again with more clarity.

Why should I do this anymore?

Suddenly he couldn't stop the wave of emotions flooding into him. He could remember the look of disgust on his parents' faces when they shot at him, the hate on Valerie's before she knew, Vlad's mocking voice and smirk after doing something to make Danny's life a bit more difficult, he could see the students at Casper High laughing at him after falling to the floor, the Mansons shouting out hate about ghosts, Lancer giving him a poor grade, the GiW looking at him as though he had done some horrible thing by simply taking a breath, and even Hakan… saying he was a disturbance.

Why should I care? They don't…

He lost all sense of control when the flames burst out from his form in his mind.

ooo

Danny was pretty silent from his friends' point of view before he started to tremble and then growl.

"Danny?" Sam questioned in worry and took a step closer.

Hakan simply continued to watch silently and took another intake of smoke from his pipe. Danny suddenly roared in rage and white fire ignited on the very tips of his hair and pale orange fire across his shoulders before he aimed and fired a stream of them into the sky from his hands.

"Why!? WHY SHOULD I!? WHY!?" Danny raged and pulled his arms back closer to himself again, trembling.

"Danny!" Jazz yelped in surprise, being the only one not shocked enough to speak. He turned slowly to face them and they gasped. His irises were glowing a dark orange and the light from his eyes and the shadows they created, played across his scowling face.

Hakan finally moved forward. Danny actually growled at him and Sam thought for a brief moment she saw his canines were slightly longer than normal, but she shook her head and didn't see it anymore. Hakan swiftly, almost faster than the eye could follow, phased his pipe halfway into Danny's chest, causing his friends to cry out in alarm.

"What the heck!?" Tucker yelped.

"What's wrong with you!?" Sam shouted.

Hakan remained silent and tapped the pipe twice as Danny tried in vain to pull it out. Danny shuttered and soon he started to revert to his normal ghost form as smoke poured out from Hakan's pipe and spiraled into the sky. Danny fell to his knees and Hakan removed the pipe from Danny.

"Very sad. I'm not sure you'll ever amount to much of a fire user. You have too much rage and I refuse to teach one who can find no drive except rage. You completely lost control. Why Clockwork keeps harboring something like you is beyond my understanding," Hakan grumbled.

Danny was looking up at him at first before he bowed his head in shame. "I… I thought… I thought I almost had it. I was so close-"

"Good intentions are worthless and only become lies," Hakan snapped.

"Stop it!" Sam shouted and jumped in front of Danny. Jazz, Tucker, and Valerie soon followed.

"And I thought you were going to be fun to meet, after all the good things Danny said about you! I've changed my mind!" Jazz shouted.

Hakan seemed to ignore them and shook his head, "Such rage…"

"Shut-up!" Sam yelled in anger.

"Yeah, leave Danny alone! You don't know what he's been through, what we've been through!" Tucker argued.

Danny was listening to them speaking and suddenly he was brought inside himself again.

ooo

Why?

He could hear his friends arguing with Hakan as the ghost calmly answered their responses and didn't seem troubled.

Why?

He could see Sam waving her arms in aggravation and shouting in his defense.

Why?

He could feel two great powers of some sort swirling inside him. He felt anger inside and then… A flash of calm flooded him. He could see the smiles on his parents faces even when they had invented something meant to try and unknowingly destroy him with, he could see Lancer praising him or worrying about him, he could see his friends, family, concerned for him, the citizens concerned when he got hurt fighting, but most importantly he remembered the feeling of doing something kind even when he used to be the most despised ghost in Amity. He remembered the drive and the desire to protect as soon as he realized what he could do with these powers he'd been given.

Because… I want to protect.

Because… I want to love.

Because… I got a second chance to live. I want to give everyone that chance too.

He felt a new kind of warmth now. It wrapped around his hot core and floated like light.

ooo

"So, don't berate him for being a bit angry!" Sam shouted, finishing her rant towards Hakan, who was still just as stone-faced as he'd been before. Everyone's attention was turned back to Danny when Jazz gasped.

Danny was kneeling and his eyes were no longer glazed over from being 'not present' and his irises were a bright orange; in his cupped hands was a bright ball of orangish fire with white ascents. He slowly rose his face to look at Hakan.

"They aren't intentions to be broken. It's what I've always wanted from the start. It's my promise I made."

Hakan glanced over the determined look on Danny's face and looked at the fire in Danny's hands before shaking his head. "I simply don't understand it. Two elements like the earth and the heavens… The body and spirit should cause chaos when so closely forced together. How you defy that-"

Danny continued to look up at him.

"You have found your reason. It shall be your fuel. You will meditate when needed to keep that other rage under control." Hakan paused and took a deep exhale, letting smoke flow from his mouth, nose, and even ears. "Now, let's practice how you can use the fire. Anything else afterwards, will be your own practice and of your own creation. I've always believed that every individual should master something in their own way. Are you ready?"

Danny rose to his feet and willed the fireball to fizzle out. He then looked at each of his friends with a grateful glance and then nodded to Hakan, "Let's get started."

zzz

For several hours after that, Danny learned to make fireballs, streams of fire, and blasts of heat from his body. At the very end, Danny surprised even Hakan by using his flames to make himself into a comet like he'd done for Skulker. Hakan reasoned that he was already adding his own twist to using the eternal fire. After a few last bits of advice about meditation methods and limitations to ghostly flame, Hakan said goodbye to Danny and his friends.

With that, Team Phantom made their way through the Ghost Zone and back to Fenton Works. They talked briefly about Hakan and his general personality. While Danny still felt the ghost to be wise if a bit blunt and harsh, his friends were still mad at Hakan for the things he said to Danny. After Danny told them he probably needed that though, they started to see Hakan as mostly good, even if they were still sore about his treatment of Danny in general. Soon they found themselves in the Fenton home, watching the news. Danny and Jazz's parents had returned soon after Team Phantom and were back in the lab.

Danny was gathering everyone's attention though because he had formed a tiny ember of flame in his hand and was playing with it.

"That is just too cool," Tucker grinned excitedly and bounced a bit on the couch.

"It is pretty." Jazz smiled.

Danny smirked. "I was kinda wondering if I could somehow mix the ice and fire together. I don't know if it's possible though since I have to switch cores in order to use my ice powers. The ghost fire, unlike normal fire, melts my ice."

"Yeah, that would be interesting to say the least. I say to wait a bit first though. You still need a good deal of practice before you start experimenting." Sam added.

Danny chuckled and made the ember dance between his palms. "Very true."

Valerie suddenly stood up when the alarm went off on her watch. At the same time, a wisp of orange came from Danny's mouth. The news flicked on with an alert.

"This just in! A dragon ghost has started to attack the downtown area near the mall! As of right now, no hunters or Danny Phantom have arrived on the scene. There are no casualties or major injuries as of yet-"

Danny nodded. "Looks like I get to practice right now. Ready Team Phantom?"

"Ready." Valerie nodded as her suit sprung up around her. Sam, Tucker and Jazz agreed after they grabbed some Wrist Rays, Thermoses, and Jazz grabbed up the Fenton Peeler. Danny transformed as another wisp of orange fled his mouth. His ghost sense's range had gotten wider in recent months.

"Huh, your ghost sense must be orange when you're using your hot core," Jazz pointed out.

"Yeah, must be. Let's go," Danny replied and took off. Valerie darted off right behind him after getting through the door. Tucker was the one to close the door on the way out. Sam, Tucker, and Jazz jumped on their scooters to go after the other two faster members of their team.

So, we get a little bit of Valerie getting used to Team Phantom and Danny learns the building blocks of his Pyrokinesis. Then the ghost gauntlets make an appearance.

Ultimately this tale will extend over the duration of their Senior year (excluding Jazz since she's in college), so now we're in October. I'm going to try my best to make any jumps in time as smooth as possible, but I feel like with how jumbled the actual show was with time and such, I'll be fine saying when a couple weeks or a few weeks have passed without anything important happening.

7/9/16: Removed irrelevant ANs and answers to questions sections, fixed a few tiny plot-holes and inconsistencies, tried to improve characterization, went through wave one of grammar fixes, tried to ease up on some clichés I didn't know about when I'd started writing this, and made somethings a bit clearer.

5/20/18: Next wave of grammar fixes and wording tweaks or some scenes altered to avoid cliches.