Pain.

Pain that seared through his very soul.

Pain was all he felt as his consciousness came in and out of focus. His throat was raw from the scream that left his throat, his body was burning and aching with the energy flowing through him. It ripped him apart and yet held him together.

His ears rang and his throat ached with the scream he released. The screaming wouldn't stop, he was screaming and yet he couldn't stop it. His body reacted to the reality of dying in the only way it knew how, with the scream, the endless scream. His head pounded and ached and it felt like his blood was boiling in his veins, his heart pounding hard as it struggled. Electricity crackled around him, burning though him, and still he screamed.

His body arched, every muscle contracting, forcing him to stay upright as the energy tormented him, his body constantly clenched against his will. Just as he couldn't stop screaming, he couldn't control his body and relax his muscles. He felt like they might rip apart with the force, causing him to spontaneously combust. Was it seconds or was it hours he spent like this, rigid and scream and unable to do anything but feel pain.

The world was too bright around him, burning his retinas even though he was certain his eyes were closed. He wanted to cover his eyes, but his body was still painfully out of his control so he could only endure the burning of the green light around him. He was certain he was going to die, he felt like this was the end, his humanity burning away leaving nothing behind.

In a detached sort of way he remembered the portal accident, the pain he was feeling now could only be compared to the first time he'd died. He remembered the pain starting in his hand and burning through the rest of his body back then, completely rewriting his molecular structure and filling his body with ectoplasm, changing his life forever. He wondered how he had time to think of such things while his screams still echoed around him and his heart beat faster as if racing towards its own end.

It felt like an eternity before the burning subsided enough for him to catch his breath, or he would be catching his breath if he needed to breathe anymore. His heart had finally stopped, the annoying drum of it falling silent as he converted to ectoplasm, nothing more than a vessel to hold his core. His body still ached as he slumped to the ground, his vision was filled with spots as he groaned softly and tried to focus on the world around him. The bright green light was still around him, but he was beginning to focus again, noticing the metal surface beneath him, alight with glowing green energy.

Little shocks of electricity continued to spark through the surface beneath him, it didn't hurt as much as he expected, but then again, pain had always been diminished when he was a ghost. He coughed, his throat still raw from the screaming, he covered his mouth only to find a small glob of ectoplasm in his hand as he pulled it away. He tried to speak but he couldn't, his vocal chords destroyed from his own screams.

He shuddered, he felt so weak. Weaker than he had felt in years, his body felt unstable and he looked down at his hand and the glob of ectoplasm he'd coughed up. The ectoplasm was evaporating in the swirl of ecto-energy around him. The swirl of energy seemed awfully familiar, and his body felt strangely wrong. He held his head and tried to focus, his mind and body felt fractured and he couldn't focus, his body was still buzzing with the energy from the portal… the portal?

He heard something vaguely that sounded like his name being called. He couldn't focus entirely but he saw silhouettes beyond the veil of green energy.

"The… ghost portal?" he asked, his voice hoarse and barely above a whisper. Just the few words he had spoken made his throat feel like it was on fire and he coughed again.

He glanced around the space he was in, his eyes focusing a bit more now that his ghostly healing factor had begun to work. He had somehow made it to the inside of the portal, he wasn't sure how he'd managed to get here. His memories were a mess, he closed his eyes and leaned against the side of the portal taking a moment, using the energy vortex of the portal to help regain a bit of strength before forcing himself to his feet and stumbling forward.

His hand broke the surface of the portal and he tripped as he left, tumbling to the ground and groaning. He had tried to catch himself but his body was so terribly weak, he had collapsed entirely. He closed his eyes and let the cool floor of the lab soothe him.

"Danny?!" The voices were clearer now, familiar and yet strange all at the same time. He slowly opened his eyes and tried to focus on the people in front of him. His vision was still slightly blurry and the room seemed to spin. He rolled back and looked at the two figures above him, blinking slowly as if that would help him focus. It took a bit of time but slowly his two best friends came into focus.

"Sam… Tucker?" he asked, using his voice caused another coughing fit and he rolled back over onto his stomach so he could push himself up into more of a sitting position. He looked back up at his friends once he was upright, they stared at him as if they were looking at a ghost. He stared back, his brow furrowing as he realized they were much younger than they should be.

"Guys?" He said softly and reached out a hand to ask for help standing. Sam took his hand while Tucker looped an arm under his and began to haul him to his feet. He shuddered as his ghost core fluctuated in power and caused him to phase through their hands, dropping to the floor once more.

"Danny? Is… is that really you?" Sam asked while Tucker looked down at him, clearly spooked by his intangibility. Danny coughed again, covering his mouth and then looked up at them.

"Who… else would… I be?" he asked, his voice was still hoarse but recovering quickly thanks to his ghostly healing factor.

"Don't know… bizzaro Danny? You… you don't exactly look like yourself dude." Tucker informed, trying to be light-hearted even though Danny could tell he was anxious and somewhat suspicious. Danny frowned and tried to stand up, this time not phasing through Sam's hands as she helped him to his feet.

"Not myself?" he asked before going to the nearby sink and mirror, he touched his face, his eyes going wide with surprise. He was fourteen again? His mind swirled with his confusion as he stared at his reflection before turning around to look at Sam and Tucker then back down at his body again. They were young again, his mind swirled with possibilities as to what that meant exactly, but also, they had just snuck down here to see the portal while his parents were out running errands.

"What?" he gasped in shock as he touched his chest, closing his eyes and focusing on his ghost core. It was unstable, which explained why he couldn't control his powers, but more concerning was the weakness, like a strong enough wind could snuff him out entirely. He hadn't felt weakness like this since the portal accident, and that had been years ago… except it had also just happened. He didn't understand, his body fizzled in and out of visibility as he held his head and tried to keep himself stable.

"Danny?" Tucker asked as he and Sam approached, each putting a hand on one of Danny's shoulders. "Talk to us dude. Tell us how we can help." Tucker prompted. Danny shivered and looked up at his two friends.

"I… I don't know… This is… I… I'm so confused." he put a hand to his head and closed his eyes, focusing on his core once more and trying to figure out why he felt so weak. His core pulsed softly beneath his hand, the energy still too weak. He opened his eyes and looked over at Sam and Tucker, opening his mouth to speak before he felt his knees give out and he fell to the ground, barely catching himself. His core pulsed with energy and the transformation washed over him against his will, changing his body back to that of a human and his brow furrowed as he saw the black gloves of the white jumpsuit. He was definitely back to the day of the accident.

"At… least I'm not dead… just… weak." He mumbled and lowered himself to the ground slowly, the room beginning to spin again now that he'd transformed back into his human half. He reached for the ghostly core to try and transform back to his ghostly self and recover faster, yet it remained out of his grasp. The room seemed to darken, his eyes drifted closed and he lost consciousness. Sam and Tucker exchanged looks, Danny looked worse for wear, his body smoked slightly and his jumpsuit was burned through the palm of his left hand glove.

"What do we do?" Sam asked Tucker as she sat next to Danny and took his pulse, gently touching the side of his neck. He still had a pulse, but his skin was cold and clammy to the touch.

"He's alive, right?" Tucker asked, Sam nodded but winced.

"He… he has a pulse, but he feels so cold Tuck, I don't know… should we call for help?" She wondered. Tucker opened his mouth to answer but was cut off by the sound of the front door slamming and Maddie calling out to Danny.

"We're home Danny!" she said from the front door, "We brought pizza!"

"Do you think his parent's will know what to do? Do you think this will get Danny in trouble?" Sam asked in a panic, Tucker's answer was cut off by the sound of Jack pounding down the stairs, he paused as he saw the kids.

"Hey kids! What are you doing down here?" he asked, looking at them in the green light of the portal. He paused and looked up at the portal.

"It worked? IT WORKED!" he cheered, doing a small victory dance while Sam and Tucker exchanged looks before both looking down at Danny. Jack paused in his victory dance to ask if they knew how it had it turned on, but that's when he noticed Danny and the question died in his throat.

"Danny?!" Jack gasped as he rushed forward to check on him, "What happened? You two better start explaining! Mads! Call an ambulance!" Jack said, pulling Danny into his arms. The unconscious boy groaned and his head lolled to the side, the smell of burned flesh came from him causing Jack to furrow his brow and panic.

"Jack? What happened? I called…" she paused as she saw her son unconscious in her husband's arms. "Danny! Set him down here Jack." she said, instructing Jack to put him onto a table before she checked Danny's pulse. She frowned as she took in his state, from the damaged jumpsuit to the pallor of his skin.

"His pulse is slow, his breathing shallow, he's cold, pale, we need to get him to the hospital quickly." She said as she inspected his arm and hand where most of the damage seemed to be, electric burns running up his arm from his hand and across his body. She could only tell because of the corresponding burns on the jumpsuit. Her brow furrowed as she looked between her son and the portal, noticing that it was now operational.

"What happened? Was Danny near the portal when it activated?" She asked looking over to Sam and Tucker while Jack hurried upstairs to let the EMS workers in.

"We just wanted to check it out… then it suddenly turned on and Danny was inside and screaming and…" Sam rambled, less worried about getting into trouble and more worried about Danny's condition. Maddie nodded and turned back to Danny wiping the cold sweat from his brow and gently caressing his cheek, worry etched over her face.

"You three are going to be in big trouble." Maddie warned, then softened as she looked at Danny's shivering form. "But first we need to get him to a hospital. This kind of accident could have permanent consequences."

"We didn't think it was working! We weren't trying to get him hurt!" Tucker protested, Sam pushed him to the side, looking up at Maddie hopefully.

"Is Danny going to be okay?" Sam asked as she looked at Danny's body on the table.

"I don't know." Maddie admitted as she put her fingers back to Danny's neck, feeling his slow pulse and cold skin. It frightened her how cold he was, how slow his heartbeat… but he was still breathing and his heart was still pumping. As long as he was breathing there was hope.

She didn't know what sort of side effects being inside the portal when it turned on would have, but at least he hadn't contracted ecto-acne like Vlad had when their prototype failed. If there was any bright side here it was that Danny was ecto-acne free. Though she still worried that he may be contaminated with ecto-energy for a while, who knew what sort of effect that would have on a human. She made a mental note to reach out to Vlad and ask if she had some helpful advice on how to deal with this particular kind of ecto-contamination.

Danny groaned softly and twitched, before his eyes opened slightly to look at his mom, this broke Maddie off from her chain of thought as she focused on him.

"Danny, you're awake." She said, "How do you feel?"

"Mom?" he asked softly, "Sore… painful… tired." He answered, his brow furrowed slightly before he groaned again and tried to sit up.

"Don't move Danny, help is coming, just rest." She said as she pushed the hair from his face. Danny whimpered softly but let his body relax, before focusing on his mom again.

"What… what's happening?" he asked. "You look… younger." he mumbled. His mind was a blur, he couldn't focus, his body was too unstable. He remembered the portal, but before that was something else, some sort of danger.

"Mom… where-" he broke off mid question as his ghost sense activated, making him shiver, "Ghost." He tried to warn her, she should know what he meant and be able to stop it, but she just looked at him with concern and pity. She hadn't seen a ghost, and Danny wasn't acting like himself, but maybe he had seen something in the portal that changed his opinion, perhaps he had even seen a ghost. That was a line of inquiry to consider at another time.

"It's going to be okay Danny. You just had a little accident with the ghost portal, help is coming, you're going to be okay sweetie." she promised as she took his un-injured hand. Danny gave her hand a small squeeze and then sighed before closing his eyes again.

"It hurts…" he whispered. "It hurts… I'm confused… mom…" he mumbled. Once his healing factor finished fixing his body he was certain he could figure out what was going on. He didn't know why he was here, but he needed more rest so he could figure it out, he just hoped he had enough time. He mumbled softly as he drifted back into a state of semi-unconsciousness.

"They're here Maddie!" Jack said, leading the EMS workers down the stairs and to Danny. The two workers exchanged worried looks before focusing on Danny, taking his vitals, their concern growing as they realized how cold he was and how slow his heart rate was. They asked some questions about what had happened and Maddie did her best to answer, leaving Jack to the side with the kids. They didn't want to get Sam and Tucker involved if they didn't have to.

Danny's eyes opened a crack as he groaned and a small whimper left him as one of the worker's began to cut open the jumpsuit, Sam and Tucker gasping softly as they saw the Lichtenberg scars running across his chest and up his neck more clearly. The red fern like patterns angry and welted up were quite disturbing to look at.

The two EMS workers were efficient as they attached various leeds to his chest to monitor his heart rate which was dangerously slow, they cut off the jumpsuit from his arms and started an IV and fluids before transferring him to the gurney. Danny whimpered again when they moved him and Maddie followed closely, pausing to talk to Jack.

"Get Jazz and the kids and meet us at the hospital, I'll ride with Danny." she said before kissing his cheek. "Call Jazz and let her know what happened."

"Will do, keep us updated." Jack said with a nod. Maddie left, following Danny and the EMS workers out to the ambulance, Jack turned to Sam and Tucker, "I'll get Jazz, you kids get upstairs and wait by the Fenton Family Assault Vehicle." He said before running off, wanting to move quickly in order to get to the hospital faster.

"I'll go with the Fentons, you can go home. I know how you hate hospitals." Sam said nodding in Tucker's direction, he was already sweating at the mention of hospitals.

"Thanks Sam… just… Keep me updated with what's going on with Danny." Tucker said as they walked upstairs, shuddering slightly at the thought of going to the hospital, but relieved he wouldn't have to, even if he wanted to know Danny was okay.

"Of course." She promised and gave Tucker a quick hug before pulling back. Tucker nodded before running off as they got outside, if he stuck around he was sure Jack would throw him into the Assault Vehicle against his will. Jack frowned as he came out of the house, Jazz right behind him, Jack looked around for Tucker.

"What happened to the other one?" He asked Sam.

"His parents called, he had to go, he says that he's wishing Danny a quick recovery." Sam explained, Jazz pushed past her to get into the RV, clearly worried about Danny's accident.

"Danny was in an accident.. Did you see what happened?" Jazz asked, looking over at Sam as she climbed in behind her.

"The portal… it kinda turned on, but he was checking out the inside of it… when it turned on." Sam said, biting her thumb for a moment before looking away. "I don't know if he's going to be okay… especially after…"

"Of course he's going to be okay! He's a Fenton!" Jack said, cutting her off as he got behind the wheel and turned on the RV. He couldn't bear to think of any other outcome than Danny being alright.

They drove the rest of the way to the hospital in nervous silence pulling up to the hospital, the group hurrying into the Emergency waiting room.

"You kids stay here, I'll talk to the nurse and see what's going on." Jack said before hurrying up to the desk and explaining who he was and that his son had just come into the ER via ambulance.

The nurse looked him up before explaining to the man that he could only have one visitor at a time and that Maddie was already with him. Jack accepted this, but immediately turned to his phone to message Maddie for any updates on Danny's condition.

They ended up waiting in the Emergency waiting room for a few hours as tests were run and conclusions were come to. The doctor decided to have Danny transferred to a bed on the hospital floor, which was when they were finally able to go visit him.

Sam and Jazz entered hesitantly behind Jack when they got to the room. Jack immediately went to Danny's side, putting his hand against Danny's forehead to check his temperature.

"He's still cold." He was worried about the cool temperature of Danny's skin. Danny himself barely stirred, having once again lost the fight to stay conscious.

"They've got him back up to 97, and they're slowly warming him with warm blankets." Maddie said, her

"Danny…" Jazz said softly as she approached and held onto the railing around the bed, looking at the different monitors and wires he was hooked up to. Her little brother looked smaller and younger than he actually was. The hospital bed seemed far too big for him, and he looked far too pale as he laid there, breathing slowly. The monitor beside him beeped slowly but his heart rate was slow, but not enough to be cause for concern. That gave her hope as she glanced at her mom and then back to Danny.

Sam took Danny's un-bandaged hand, a lump rising in her throat as she watched him breathe. He was alive, the heart monitor and the sound of his breaths evidence enough of that. She wasn't sure if she should tell the Fentons about the strange things that happened when Danny came out of the portal. Would telling them even help them fix him or get him to wake up faster? Danny had looked like a ghost when he'd come out of the portal, and she didn't trust Jack or Maddie not to freak out if they thought Danny was a ghost. Danny needed rest, having his parent's run tests and experiments on him to check if he was a ghost wasn't going to help him recover.

Jack finally spoke, putting an arm around Maddie as they all crowded Danny's bedside.

"How is he Mads?" He asked, Maddie swallowed, sighing softly before answering.

"He's not in danger, but they did give him some pain medicine for the electric burns… They said he's stable, but the doctors want to monitor him for a while to make sure he's safe. Apparently electrocution accidents can cause a variety of problems, not to mention they're worried about how he managed to get into such a state to begin with." Maddie rambled a bit before sighing and leaning into Jack. "He's alive though, they may be worried, but they're certain he'll survive."

"Of course he's alive, he's strong, he's a Fenton." Jack said as he wrapped an arm around Maddie.

"There isn't much to do until he wakes up." Maddie sighed. "You can take the kids home for now, there isn't too much to do here until Danny wakes up and the doctors aren't sure when that will be." She said,

"Uh, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, if you don't mind, I'd like to stay and look after Danny for a bit longer." Sam said as she held onto Danny's hand, her expression was defiant as if she expected them to deny her, Maddie only sighed then nodded.

"I'm not going to stop you but… well, they say he'll be asleep for a while, you probably won't be able to speak to him before visiting hours end." Maddie shrugged.

"He's my best friend, I need to be here… especially since Tucker had to go home." Sam said and gave Danny's hand a small squeeze. Maddie nodded and they fell into an uncomfortable silence while the heart rate monitor beeped slowly in time with his heart beat, each beep reminding them that Danny had survived.

It had started to grow dark outside when a nurse came in and told them that visiting hours were ending and that they would need to go home. Maddie was allowed to stay with Danny, so Jack went home with Jazz and Sam, dropping Sam off at her house before heading home with Jazz.

"He's going to wake up… right?" Jazz asked softly as they entered the house from the back door.

"He's a strong kid, he'll wake up." Jack nodded. "He'll be okay."

"Yeah… of course… he's going to be okay… he's got to be." Jazz nodded, the two exchanged a look before they headed to bed, though neither of them would get much sleep that night, both lying awake in bed worrying about Danny, who lay injured in the hospital, with no idea when he would wake.

Danny opened his eyes slowly, looking at the standard tiled ceiling of the hospital room and then slowly looking over at his mom, who was sleeping in the chair next to him. He felt tired and shaky, but his head was a bit clearer than it had been before, his body felt less battered, his healing factor must have kicked in.

He sat up slowly and held his head before looking around the room once more, his brow furrowing as he tried to figure out why he was in the hospital, but more importantly why he was fourteen again.

"Okay Fenton… What happened and what is going on?" he said to himself. He recognized the local hospital and even the room, he was truly back in the past, just after the portal accident. He frowned and tapped a finger against his chin as he tried to sort through his memories to give himself an indication of what had happened to cause this.

"Okay… think… I was home for spring break… Sam and Tucker were there and we were going out to see a movie…" His head hurt as he tried to force himself to remember. "Ugh… brain pain." he mumbled. "Why can't I remember?" he mumbled. He looked down at his hand and then back over at his mom, she looked a lot younger than he remembered, there weren't any gray streaks in her hair, less wrinkles across her face, it was more proof he had traveled back in time, not that he particularly needed more proof.

"Something tells me Clockworks is involved with this." he sighed as he pushed himself into a sitting position. His brow furrowed as he looked around, this didn't feel like a dream, the pain from the portal accident was as real as it had been the first time, as was the stinging in his arm from the IV. If this was some sort of dream or illusion it was really convincing, but somewhere in his soul he knew this was reality and that he had returned to the past.

"But… why did I come back to the past… and why the day of the accident… why now and why me?" he frowned. "I guess… it might not just be me… did anyone else come back to the past? Sam or Tucker… Jazz maybe?" he mused aloud before a small groan next to him caused him to pause. Maddie stirred and looked up blinking the sleep out of her eyes before focusing on Danny.

"Oh… Danny, you're awake." She said softly as she reached out and put her hand on top of Danny's. Danny smiled and flipped his hand over to give her hand a small squeeze of reassurance.

"Yeah… I'm okay mom." He said with a small smile.

"Do you remember the portal accident?" Maddie asked worried about him, Danny laughed bitterly and put his free hand to his chest, bandages across body and arm. Everything was just as he remembered.

"I remember… it's a bit hard to forget, even after nearly eight years." he sighed then shook his head, focusing on his ghost core, his hand remaining on his chest as he checked. It had stabilized more and he didn't feel like he could be blown out like a candle, however, that didn't mean it was completely stable yet. The contrast between now and his future was dramatic, his core's power fluctuated, up and down and he closed his eyes as he focused on trying to keep his powers from activating.

"You sure you're okay sweetie? You're acting a bit strange." Maddie said as she put a hand to his forehead. Danny opened his eyes and smiled softly at her, pulling her hand away from his forehead, knowing that he ran cooler than most humans, something that would only get worse with time.

"I'm fine mom… just thinking..." He said as he covered her hand with his bandaged one, a move which unintentionally made her feel guilty.

"Well… as long as you're safe and alive… you will need to tell me what you were doing in the lab and what happened with the portal eventually though." Maddie said as she pulled away and adjusted his blankets, busying herself with the task so she wouldn't have to look at his bandages. Danny picked up the remote and began to raise his bed slightly so he could relax against the bed.

"Yeah… about that… Sam and Tucker were curious about the portal, even though it didn't work. I was curious too so we decided to check it out… except… Dad put the on switch on the inside and… I… well… I kinda bumped it while I was still inside." Danny sighed. "You might want to consider that when you build the next one." he joked with a small smile.

"This is serious, you could have died." Maddie said, looking at him clearly worried about what had happened and what he had been through. "That much electricity and ecto-energy could have easily-" she cut herself off, her eyes filling with tears as she covered her mouth to stop the sob that came with the thought of her child dying.

"Mom, I'm fine, really." He reassured her. "It didn't completely kill me, and I'm here, not completely dead." he said as he took her hand. "I'm just… really tired." he said as he took her hand with a gentle squeeze again.

"Yes… you survived, if you're sure you're fine, I'll just have to trust you." she said and patted his hand.

"I am… let's just get some rest Mom, I'll probably be well enough to get discharged tomorrow." he said as he relaxed against the pillow and sighed softly. His body still tingled with the remaining portal energy and he had to make an effort to keep his powers under control. While his powers weren't strong, his body wasn't used to it and they raged beneath his skin. He took a deep breath to calm the ghost inside him and keep himself from flickering in and out of visibility. Maddie hesitated then nodded, sitting in the chair next to him once more and reclining.

Danny smiled softly at her before looking back at the ceiling. He had a choice to make, he had so many choices still to make. He wondered if it would be easier if he could remember what had happened before he had come back to the past, but it was a bit of a blur right around the middle of spring break. Something must have happened, something serious if Clockwork got involved, but what exactly he couldn't remember.

His brow furrowed as he considered what to do next, should he tell his parents about him being half ghost? With his powers unstable it might be wise, it would also make his life a little easier going forward if he didn't have to hide. Over the many different timelines and realities, he knew for sure that they'd accept and love him despite being part ghost, but he wasn't sure if that would hold true with his mind being that of his older self. They may think he was overshadowed, but then again, he didn't have to tell them about the time travel right away, just the ghost powers.

Being back in the past also posed a conundrum of having to go through high school again. He had barely graduated the first time, and he spent more time that he wanted in a locker thanks to Dash Baxter. Dash ended up growing up a bit, but that wasn't until their senior year, Danny knew that the football star would continue to be a major asshole in his new present. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before looking back over at his mom, who was still looking at him with concern on her face.

"I'm fine." he tried to reassure her, Maddie nodded but continued to stare at him, not completely convinced by his words. Danny smiled before sighing and looking back up at the ceiling. If he was trapped in the past, there were at least a few things he could change to make the future better, powers he could develop faster, and enemies that he could turn into allies, or at least make a truce with.

Danny looked out of the window as thoughts and scenarios ran through his head. There were definitely things he could improve and change, but he didn't remember everything, nor could he predict if his actions would make things worse. He would have to go visit Clockwork when he got a chance and when his powers were more stable. He wasn't sure how long it would take for him to be stable enough for a trip to the Ghost Zone to get answers. In the meantime he would try and keep from altering the timeline too much, which unfortunately included not telling his parents.

He slowly closed his eyes, the portal accident was still affecting him, draining him while his ghost half tried to stabilize and process the portal energy. He began to drift back to sleep, his thoughts still filled with how he was going to survive his adolescence again. His body slowly relaxed as he slept, his mind filling with dreams instead of plans for the future.