Danny felt like he was underwater. He was floating, and there was an ambient coolness, despite his body burning from the portal. He subconsciously noticed that he wasn't breathing, like he didn't need to. Energy buzzed softly in his ears, and he struggled to flutter his eyes open. He caught glimpses of swirling green, but his eyelids were too heavy to keep open.

When Danny finally woke, he was struck with panic. Did he die? Was he dead? Where was he anyway? All green and swirly. Was this the Ghost Zone? Did the portal work? Danny ran a hand through his hair. As it fell back in front of his eyes, he noticed that it was white. His hands were white too, covered him hazmat gloves. He was still wearing the hazmat suit that he entered the portal in.

"Oh my g—" Danny clutched his chest. He put his fingers to his jaw. He felt no throbbing pulse. "I-I'm dead…"

"You're not all dead, there, doncha know."

Danny looked up to see a short fat green man wearing a cheese hat hovering above him.

"What?" Danny asked, "Who are you?" Danny balled his hands into fists in case he needed to fight this… this ghost. Danny had never believed in ghosts before now.

"I'm the Dairy King!" the man smiled, "I never caught your name, eh?"

"Danny" he said. Was this actually happening?

"Nice ta meecha, Danny," he said.

Danny furrowed his brows and shook his head. "Wait, what did you mean when you said that I'm 'not all dead?'" Danny asked.

"Simple!" He gestured to himself with his ice cream scepter, "we're all dead. But it's not all bad, doncha know." He gestured to Danny with his ice cream scepter. "You are only half dead. A halfa, we say. Pretty lucky eh?"

Danny tilted his head. "Half dead? What do you me—"

"Well, maybe not, depending how you look at it, I guess," he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I guess I'm more of a 'glass half alive' kind 'a guy than a 'glass half dead' kind 'a guy. Anyway, it was nice 'ta meecha. Good luck, Danny," he said, before flying off.

"Wait!" Danny called after him, but he either didn't hear or didn't care because he certainly didn't wait. Danny rubbed his temples. "So exactly how much of this am I hallucinating?" he said, exasperated.

As Danny floated through the Zone, he met several different people. Some were good, like Dora, and Frostbite, who had helped him with his newly discovered ice powers. Some were a bit more unsavory, like Skulker, and Walker, who had put him in prison for "wandering the Zone for the space of six months without a lair," whatever that meant. Danny was surprised to hear that he had been here for six months already. The Ghost Zone felt so timeless.

He walked out of his cell after discovering that he had a human form, which would let him pass through objects in the Ghost Zone.

That had been both a shock and a relief. He had grown used to seeing the hazmat suit and the white hair in his eyes, but it was oddly comforting to see jeans and black hair again, not to mention a pulse. It was nice to know that he was still human, even if only half.

Danny was exploring a small island when a small tear split the usual green just in front of him. His heart skipped a beat. Or, it would have, if he had been in human form. It was a portal. He had seen a few in his days wandering the Zone, but they were always too far for him to enter before they would close.

They lead to the Human Realm. His fingers twitched. He itched to go back, back where he belonged, back home. Without a second thought, he leapt through the portal.

He landed on a balcony, very high up on some sort of skyscraper. The weight threw him off a little bit. He was used to the constant lack of gravity in the Zone. He stared up at the sky. It was a grayish blue, but after nothing but Ghost Zone green for so long, it looked absolutely beautiful. He transformed back into his human half and took a deep breath. Fresh Earth air. He could smell so many different things. The smog of the cars below, the flowers and the soil in the pot next to him, the rain that must have stopped a few hours ago, the lingering cigarette smoke from the ashtray on the table to his left, everything. He smiled and spread his arms, enjoying the warmth of the sun on his skin.

"Who the hell are you?" came a rough voice from behind. Danny turned. It was another human. Another human. Danny was practically giddy. How long had it been since he had seen someone with a normal skin color? The man had messy hair and was wearing an open robe, boxers, and a wife-beater shirt.

"I'm Danny, who are you?" he said, still smiling.

The man stared at him quizzically. "You on drugs?"

Danny laughed. "Nope."

The man pulled out a small device. It looked like one of Tucker's PDAs, but without a keyboard. "If you don't get off my balcony I'm gonna call the cops."

Oh. Right. He was trespassing. "Okay, I'll leave. Sorry," Danny said. He got up on the railing.

"Wait, stop!" The man yelled as Danny dropped off the balcony.

Danny had a brief moment of panic as he continued to fall. "Oh right, you don't float in the Human Realm." He went ghost and safely landed on the ground, invisible.

The man ran to the edge of the balcony and looked over, expecting to see a kid-shaped splat on the ground. Oddly, he saw nothing but clean sidewalk. Well, clean for New York at least. He scratched his head.

Danny hid behind a dumpster and transformed into his human half again with a flash of bright light. He needed to find out where he was and he needed to find a payphone so he could call home. His heart ached. Home. He thought of Sam and Tucker. Jazz, Dad, Mom. He hadn't seen them in forever. Were they okay? Did they know that he was okay? He couldn't wait to hear their voices.

He watched as a few people walked by. He saw one woman who looked like she might be nice. "Excuse me, do you have any change for a payphone?" He asked. She eyed him warily, but nevertheless reached into her purse and handed him fifty cents.

He thanked her and then tried to think of where to find a payphone. The airport? A bus station? He didn't even know what state he was in, let alone where the nearest airport or bus station was, so Danny started walking. He figured that he would eventually find something. Wandering worked well enough in the Ghost Zone, at least.

"Psst!" Danny turned to the alleyway to his left. There was a scraggly looking young man just in the shadows. "I think I dropped my wallet behind the dumpster, could you help me get it? I'm not strong enough to move it," he said. Danny nodded. He always had time to help someone in need.

He walked toward the man, who led him further into the alley. Danny looked around. "I don't see any dumpsters…" Danny said warily.

"That's because I lied," The man said, smiling. Danny stiffened as he felt the cold metal of a gun press against his neck. "Phone and wallet," the man said, holding out his hand expectantly.

Danny slowly put his hands up. "I don't have any," he said. The man behind him cocked the gun. "Really," he said, "I don't, I am absolutely broke."

The man in front of him smiled and looked down at his feet and then back up at Danny. "Last chance, man. Phone. Wallet."

Danny took a deep breath. These guys weren't going to let him off the hook. After all, how many people walked around the city without a phone or wallet?

Danny shot a ghost ray at the man in front of him, purposely missing his head by mere inches. He went intangible as the gun went off behind him. He put his hands on his ears. "Dang! That's loud!" he yelled.

"What the heck?!" said the one with the gun.

"How did you miss?! He was right there!" said the other.

"I don't know!" He shot again at Danny, who was still intangible. Danny clutched his ears again.

"Seriously, you guys are gonna make me deaf!" Danny said. He walked toward the one with the gun, who shot at him again and again, backing up until he hit the alley wall. Danny grabbed the gun and threw it several feet away. Danny dropped his intangibility. "This isn't the first time you've done this before, is it?"

The man behind Danny grabbed him in a kind of headlock and Danny grabbed the man's arms. He couldn't breathe. He was so used to not needing to breathe in ghost form that he forgot the panic that came with suffocation. The man by the wall punched him in the gut and Danny was filled with pain. He charged up his hands with ecto-energy and smelled the bitter stench of chemically burned skin.

The man yelled and let go, staggering back. Danny heard a crunch as he delivered a punch in the jaw to the man who hit him. He winced. He forgot that humans were more fragile than ghosts. Still, both were injured and afraid, so he might as well use that fear to keep them from hurting anyone else.

He glared down at them in a manner that he hoped was threatening. "If I ever see you mugging someone again… well, let's just say you'll really wish you were dead." He flashed his eyes green for good measure and then turned invisible, vanishing from sight. The two whimpered and Danny left. He felt kind of bad about it, but if it meant that other people were saved from them, he supposed that it was a good thing.

He walked back onto the street and dropped his invisibility, continuing his journey. It wasn't long before he found a shopping mall. Some malls have payphones, right?

Danny walked inside. It was bright and clean and busy. He found a map of the mall on a sign in the entrance hallway and found a phone symbol. Danny started to get excited. He was finally going to go home. After all that time, he was sure he would never see his friends and family again.

Danny got to the payphones, walking past the food court, which smelled amazing and a cologne kiosk which smelled significantly less amazing. Danny realized that he hadn't eaten almost the entire time he was in the Zone. Did he just not need to eat anymore?

He got to the payphones and picked one up. There were a couple of girls standing near the last one, one with blonde hair and a green hoodie, the other with frizzy black hair and glasses. One of them had their purse on the ledge underneath, but neither of them were using the phone. In fact, Danny was the only one. Danny put in a quarter and dialed his house.

"Hello?" It was his mom. He hadn't heard his mom since… "Hello?" she repeated.

"Hi Mom. It's me, Danny. I'm alright," he said. She was quiet for a long time.

"Who is this?" she asked coldly. Danny was taken sort of aback. Did she not hear him.

"I-it's me, Danny," he said.

"I don't know who this is," she said, her throat sounding tight, "but this really isn't funny. If you call again I'm going to call the police. Get help."

Danny heard a click and them the dial tone. He stared at the phone in disbelief. What just happened?

He put his last quarter in, about to dial again when he stopped. It was his last quarter. He decided instead to call Sam.

"Hello?" She answered.

"Sam! It's so good to hear your voice," he said. There was silence for a moment.

"W-who is this?" She asked. Danny really hoped that this wouldn't go the same way the last call did.

"Danny," he answered.

"Danny?" She asked, as if she wasn't sure which Danny she was talking to. He was fairly certain there weren't any other kids called Danny at Casper High. At least, none that Sam would know.

"Danny Fenton. I'm okay," he told her.

"You're disgusting," she said. Danny was taken aback. "Danny is dead and you're calling his-his friend and pretending to be him!? Do you think you're being funny? Are you trying to—" her voice hitched in her throat and Danny's heart dropped into his stomach.

"I'm not pretending," he pleaded, "I really—"

"If I ever find out who this is," she said, her voice shaking with anger, "I will kick your ass. Please, try calling again. I'll track you down." He heard a loud snap and was met with the dial tone. He pulled the phone slowly from his ear and slowly put it back on the rack, his hand lingering on it for a moment. He felt cold lines on his cheeks. He gently touched them with his fingertips.

"Hey, are you okay?" One of the girls next to him asked. He slowly turned to look at her. The two noticed the tears on his cheeks.

"Hey, everything is going to be okay," the black haired one said, coming up to him. She put her hand on his shoulder. "I'm Jayda, what's your name?"

"Danny," he told her, wiping his eyes. He was sort of embarrassed to be caught crying, but the phone calls had left him too distraught to care as much as he normally would.

"We were just going to go get something to eat, do you want to come?" she asked. Danny thought of the smell of the food court and his stomach growled.

"I don't have any money," he told them. He realized in that moment that he was homeless, broke, and dead to his friends and family. He had nowhere to go.

The blonde girl bit her lip. "I'll pay for you," she said. Danny rubbed his neck. He didn't want to take advantage of her offer, but he really was hungry. She must have seen the conflict on his face. "I'd be happy to," she said. "I've been there before."

Danny took a breath. He could really use a friend right now. "Okay," he said.

They ended up getting nachos, enough for everyone to share. Danny took his first bite and moaned. The cheese was so flavorful, the crunch of the chip, slightly salty, the salsa was cool and nicely spiced with a hint of garlic. It was all warm and wonderful.

One of the girls, Elise, laughed. Danny blushed. "Sorry," he said, "it's just been a while since I've had food, er, since I've had good food," he amended. Telling them that it had been a long time since he'd eaten would worry them unnecessarily. He wondered how he had gone so long without food. Perhaps the ambient energy of the Ghost Zone gave him everything he needed.

"If food court nachos are that good I fear the food you normally eat," said Jayda. Danny laughed, thinking of the ghost hotdogs in his refrigerator.

"So where are you from?" asked Elise.

"Um, Illinois," Danny said, taking another nacho.

"Yeah? What brings you to New York?" She asked. He was in New York? Good to know.

Danny shrugged. "Just where fate dropped me, I guess," he said.

"So, I suppose that means you do a lot of travelling?" Jayda asked.

"More like wandering, but yeah, I guess so."

Jayda hummed. "You don't look very old. I would say seventeen at the oldest," she said.

Elise nodded. "Yeah. How old are you?"

Danny thought for a moment. He knew from Walker that he had been in the Ghost Zone for at least six months, though he had guessed it was probably longer than that. Whether it was months or years, he had no idea. "What year is it?" Danny asked.

The two girls stared at him. "Seriously?" asked Jayda. Danny shrugged again. "I guess you've been 'wandering' for a while then. It's 2012," she said.

Danny blinked. The portal incident happened in 2007. Five years ago? That meant he was 19. He shook his head. No, time was different in the Ghost Zone. Five years in the Human Realm didn't necessarily equal five years in the Ghost Zone. "Wow, you're spot on," Danny lied. "I am seventeen." He decided to just go with what was plausible. His real age was more complicated.

"Oh, okay." said Elise. "Jayda and I are 19." So that meant they would have been born the same year as Danny. Danny realized that Sam and Tucker must also be 19, probably starting college. And Jazz would be 21. Crazy. "So are you homeschooled?" She asked.

Danny shook his head. "No, my parents would be too busy," he said. He wondered if they still did all the inventing and experimenting that they used to. Probably more, now that the portal was working.

"Oh, what school do you go to?" Elise asked, taking a nacho.

He was about to respond with Casper High, but he hadn't gone there in… however long he had been in the Zone. "I don't go to school," he said. "I...dropped out. Extenuating circumstances."

"I get it," Jayda said. "My brother had to drop out to help my parents when he was younger."

They chatted for a little while, and eventually one of the girls remarked that it was getting late.

"We'd be glad to walk you home," Jayda said. Danny shook his head. He had no home to walk to, after all. "No, that's fine," he said. Jayda and Elise looked at each other as if expecting an answer like this, but didn't argue. They bid him farewell and good luck, and left. Soon after, Danny left, too.

Danny stared at the sky in awe as he walked outside. The blue was a bit of a darker color than it had been when he arrived, and the horizon glowed with yellowish white light. It wasn't quite sunset yet, but Danny had completely forgotten that the sky changed colors over time, and he still found it incredible.

Standing near the street, a question came to mind. What now?

And now he's homeless and broke. What a fun chapter! Soon he'll have to deal with all the trouble homelessness brings. Just FYI I like to think Danny was in the Zone for about a year and a half, so I guess he's nearly 16, although I doubt he'll ever figure that out. If there's anything you want to see, Danny getting into shenanigans, using his powers when he shouldn't, forgetting he's not in the GZ anymore, anything, just holla at ya boi.