Author's Note: Did I cry while writing this chapter too... yes... yes I did.

White lilies… He lay on a bed of white lilies. It was ironic in some respects, though perhaps the people of Amity Parker were going for hope rather than irony. White lilies seemed to cushion him as he lay in the casket, there were so many. They filled the casket and spilled over onto the stand and ground around him, showing the overwhelming support from the town in the form of florals.

The casket was open, his face looked peaceful, like he was merely sleeping. The mortician had done an immaculate job with the makeup, the sickly green parlor his face was covered well, giving him a more natural look, even if he was still pale in death. The white of the lilies around him gave his face more color, making him look less like the corpse he was.

White lilies.

White lilies symbolize purity and rebirth, was it that they hoped the boy would come back or that they hoped he would move on and live a new easier life. It was hard to tell. Purity was ironic considering that many had prosecuted him just for existing, perhaps this was their way of exonerating him in death. Purity in death, showing that he hadn't been evil, just misunderstood.

Purity and rebirth.

Phantom was dressed in a reproduction of his typical hazmat jumpsuit. The original had been toasted when he'd been shot down by the promethean gun, but it had been replaced, completely replicated down to the stylized DP on his chest. His hand rested over his stomach, crossed over one another, and made him look like he was resting. He wasn't resting, but dead, even if he was seen again after the funeral, he would be dead.

The promethean gun had been outlawed.

It seemed fitting, the aftermath of the resurrection had been a failure, the symptoms of life given by the gun were too cruel to a being that had already experienced death once. Phantom had died twice over now, while a legal case hadn't been brought against the Fentons for their invention, but there were whispers. Whispers that the Fentons should be charged with manslaughter for raising the dead only to let them die again. The situation was unprecedented, there wasn't exactly a law against restoring life to the dead only to have them die since such a life was unsustainable, at least not in this way. It was questionable and unexplored ground, it was something of an open secret that the authorities were waiting to see if Phantom came back as a ghost once more. If Phantom returned as a ghost, they would consult the spirit about his second death and if charges should be brought up against his resurrectionists. Yet so far, Phantom's ghost had not appeared, he had not returned in the following days and even now he was absent from his own funeral.

White lilies.

Purity in death.

Rebirth after death.

And Irony.

Sam and Tucker sat silently in the front row, they might have had to fight off the A-lister's and other Phanatics if it weren't for Danny's final wishes being recorded. Knowing he would die he spoke about how he wanted the humans who had been closest to him to have the front row, to stay close with him for as long as they could tolerate. He named them specifically, Maddie and Jack of course, then Jazz, Sam, Tucker and Valerie. Sam didn't look at the corpse in the casket, avoiding the body as she talked with Tucker in hushed voices to keep from being overheard by overzealous fans or reporters.

"It's only been a few days, his ghost probably just needs time to recharge." Sam whispered. "I mean… if it's a month more… then maybe we'll have a problem. It took him about a month or two for his powers to stabilize the first time. I'd suspect it's the same even if he's… if he's a… a full ghost." She said softly. Tucker considered this and nodded.

"I'm sure he'd come to see us as soon as he's able to." Tucker nodded. "But… it was his ghost half that turned human… if his ghost was human and died… does that mean his ghost died… so… what if he doesn't come back?" Tucker whispered.

"He's Danny, he always bounces back." Sam said, fighting back another wave of tears. She didn't want to cry in public, she had cried enough at home and over Danny's limp body. She shivered and wrapped her arms around herself as her mind traveled back to that afternoon, back to Danny saying his goodbyes. She was crying so hard she couldn't even see him clearly by the end. She felt him lean into the hug as they all had held him close, hugging him as if that would create a miracle and keep him with them. He had felt so cold, ectoplasm was leaking from his eyes, nose and mouth by the end, even as he kept speaking, telling them all how much he appreciated them, asking them to move on when he'd died, speaking around the ectoplasm that had been created from his corrupted body.

He had been cold, so cold, cold as his ghost form, it was a cold that felt like it may burn her the way pure ectoplasm could. His right eye had begun glowing halfway through his goodbye speech and despite her grief, it gave her hope that he'd come back to them, even if he was just a ghost now. She had hoped for a miracle up until the very end. She hoped Danny was wrong about dying, that his dreams of Clockwork and his inevitable death were just dreams, not prophecy. Perhaps the Fentons would find a way to fix absolutely everything by the end, perhaps he would live still. Sam shivered and a warm hand gently pulled her back to the present, the present where there was no miracle, only Danny's corpse.

"If he's out there, he'll let us know." Tucker reassured with a small smile, Sam swallowed and nodded, leaning into him, hiding her face in his shoulder so no one could see her tears.

Tucker gently rubbed her back as he looked toward his friend's corpse. He'd known Danny for forever, and while he'd been warned that Danny was dying, knowing he would die and watching him die had been two entirely different things. Granted he'd watched Danny die in the portal accident, but it had been quick and violent and Danny's human half had returned shortly after. While it had been traumatic at the time, this was traumatic in a different way. He was pretty sure that the smell of ectoplasm would forever remind him of Danny's body, the ectoplasm leaking from his body after he'd died had stained his jeans. He'd gotten ectoplasm on his clothes before, but something about Danny's ectoplasm had been different, he'd been unable to scrub the stains out despite the fact that the rest of his family told him his clothes were clean. Maybe he was overthinking it, maybe he'd only imagined it, maybe the stains were on his soul now, not just his jeans. His best friend had died in front of him, not once but twice. He wasn't sure which was more traumatic, the death screams coming from the portal, or the quiet goodbyes as Danny's body failed him.

Tucker swallowed back tears, he wanted to honor Danny's wishes, remember the good times and the laughter, but all he could feel was this hollowness in his chest. Danny was dead and he couldn't imagine a life without him, even as the rest of his life stretched out before him, Danny was still there in his mind. It would take ages for him to reframe things, to realize that they wouldn't go get their driver's licenses together, or see the new Cyber Zombie Commando movie together, they wouldn't graduate together and certainly wouldn't go to college together. Danny would forever be absent in his life, even if his ghost came back. They wouldn't age together nor celebrate their 21st birthdays with drinks and parties. Danny was dead and his ghost… even if it lingered wouldn't grow old with them.

Tucker wanted to see Danny again, he really did, he hoped Phantom would return and they could keep hanging out… but even if he did… it would be hard to grow up while Danny stayed 15 forever. He supposed ghosts could age if they wanted, it was more about changing themselves than it was truly growing and aging, it just wasn't the same as having his best friend. Even if Phantom returned, he wouldn't go back to school, he wouldn't have a life left to live.

The whole thing was depressing and he didn't want to face it, but unlike Sam, he wasn't convinced that Danny would even come back. He didn't want to give up on his friend, but he didn't want to hang onto him if he was truly gone. It would only make things harder for him in the long run, making it harder for him to mourn, heal, and move on.

Tucker rubbed Sam's back some more as he heard her sniffling, trying to keep from crying in front of others. He knew how she felt, he didn't like crying either, especially crying in public. It was embarrassing and like signaling his weakness to their enemies. He didn't want to give the A-listers anymore reasons to make fun of them. He looked toward the casket and sighed heavily, bowing his head slightly as he avoided looking at Danny's body. One day he'd be able to face his best friend's grave, but not today.

Jazz took a moment, looking over the familiar and yet unfamiliar form of her little brother. She had seen him transform hundreds of times in the past year, whether it was to fight ghosts or to make doing chores easier. It was a miracle that their parents had noticed, or perhaps it was more telling about how indifferent Maddie and Jack had been toward their children since the portal had opened.

She gently set down a flower, nestling it among the others that filled his casket, smiling softly as he stared down at his face.

"Rest easy little brother." She whispered and kissed her finger tips before gently pressing her fingers against his cold forehead. She shivered as she felt the strange texture of his dead flesh and she pulled away, going to sit next to her parents. She didn't speak to them, she didn't look at them, she wouldn't even be sitting next to them if it weren't her "assigned" seat. This was the second time one of their inventions had killed Danny and she couldn't bring herself to talk to them. Danny claimed he forgave them after they'd figured out his secret, but that didn't mean she had to. She wasn't convinced he actually forgave them, but that he had been trying to save their parents from guilt. She knew how frustrated he was with being stuck as a human, not to mention how he felt about them not noticing who he was. Even before they had trapped him as a human. She had nursed so many of his wounds, wounds he'd gotten from their parents.

Her mind drifted back to a mere week before he'd been trapped as a human Phantom, he had sat on his bed wincing as she gently cleaned the large burn across his back from where Maddie had shot him. The burn had oozed and wept while Danny muttered, tears streaming down his face.

"They've seen me face to face… I know I'm a ghost when they see Phantom but… I'm still me… right?" He winced as she dabbed at the oozing wound with gauze. "I mean… I still look like me don't I? Obviously my hair is different, and so are my eyes… my voice is strange… but… I still look like me." He sighed as he looked down and examined his finger nails. Jazz knew better than to say anything or speak about their parents, Danny just needed time to rant, he'd immediately jump to defend their parents if she said anything bad about them. She would just remain quiet and let him vent his feelings.

"I mean the shape of my face is the same! You knew it when you saw me… not to mention that my name is literally Danny both in and out of ghost form… the amount of times I've slipped up around them is obscene… how do they not know." He sighed and slumped forward.

No matter the times Jazz tried to prompt her parents to think about ghosts as more than just post human remains or putrid protoplasm, they hadn't listened, hadn't seen Danny until it was far too late to save him. Jazz wiped the tears from her cheeks, both sorrow and rage inside her as she listened to the dull organ music at her brother's funeral. Her brother was dead, her younger brother was dead. She remembered the feeling of his body in her arms, his eyes open but no longer seeing. He had felt so cold, even before he had succumbed to death. She had sobbed and held his hand, her little brother had died in front of her.

Words could not describe the pain she felt. He was her baby brother, she had basically raised him, her parents too obsessed with ghosts and absent to be there for him the way he needed. She was there to make sure he was well dressed on picture day, to clean the scrapes and bruises that came with being a rambunctious child, and later to help patch the wounds from his ghost fighting. She'd felt like the only one concerned for Danny when his ghost powers started making him miss class, when he withdrew from everyone except Sam and Tucker, when he'd grown angry and depressed after the accident. She'd covered for him in front of their parents, scared for how they might react when they found out Danny was half ghost. She'd done her best to shield him from them, maybe that had been her mistake.

Jazz wiped tears from her cheeks again. Her brother was dead. He was gone and she didn't know what to do. She hoped Danny would make it back to them, but a small vindictive part hoped that their parents would feel his absence if he never did. She knew they felt guilty over Danny's death, but there was no way they could fully understand how badly they had hurt him.

Jazz clasped her hands together as they trembled with her emotions and she looked back to the body in the casket. Poor Danny wouldn't even have his own funeral because he had died in his ghost form, this wasn't a funeral for Danny Fenton, but for Phantom. Danny wouldn't even get his own name on his headstone. She wondered what happened to his human half, she wondered if it had died along with his ghost half. She buried her face in her hands and sobbed, it was all too much, she was only 17 after all.

Lancer quietly made his way to the casket, looking down at his student. It wasn't the first time he'd attended a funeral for one of his students, but it was different this time. The boy had bared his emotions to Lancer, even going so far as telling him that he could still use his powers, but at the cost of his life. He had told Lancer using his ghost powers would kill him faster, and just moments later he'd used those powers to save him.

If he could have gotten to the drawer faster, if he hadn't panicked and fumbled with the latch, if he'd been able to get to the ecto-weapon and fire it… would the child still be alive? If the boy hadn't saved him, would Danny have gotten enough time for the Fentons to fix this mess. He looked at the familiar face, both the ghost boy who had saved the town time and time again, then past the superficial appearance changes to the sarcastic teen who'd nearly failed his classes freshman year.

"Rest well young Daniel." He said softly. "Thank you… for saving me."

He laid the flower in the casket and turned. Yes, he'd attended funerals for his students before, but not a student who'd died because they'd saved him. It was going to take some time for him to work past the guilt that weighed on his soul. He took one last look at the boy before taking a seat.

Jack hadn't expected to bury one of his children, he had expected both of his kids to outlive him by decades, not die before him. He certainly hadn't expected Danny to already have been half dead, and die because of one of their inventions. Danny had changed after the portal accident that was for sure, and he had noticed he was acting strangely but had chalked it up to puberty. If he had paid more attention to his son instead of chasing ghosts… would Danny have told them? If he had considered Jazz's suggestions that ghosts weren't evil and had a form of sentience… would they have used the promethean gun on Phantom?

He could drive himself crazy with what ifs and what could have been, he could contemplate for years what could have been if Danny had shared his secret with them… but it what ifs and could have beens wouldn't bring Danny back. Danny had died… and it was possible he wouldn't make it back to them, not even as a ghost.

It didn't seem like it could be true, his son couldn't be dead, the corpse was Phantom's not Danny's. Danny was Phantom though, and he hadn't told them, he hadn't trusted them enough to share that information. Jack couldn't blame him, not when they'd shot at him and discussed in detail how'd they destroy Phantom in front of their son. If he had paid more attention, would they have noticed if Danny flinched around them, would they have noticed the scars and bruises.

He felt like a terrible father, he wanted to ask if he was, but he was scared of the answer. Mostly he was scared that the answer would be yes. He glanced at Maddie, she had always been the more intuitive one of the two, and she hadn't noticed. Were they terrible parents? He looked back at the boy in the casket. He didn't know what to do, how to feel, he was wrapped up in guilt. The portal had done this to his boy, had changed him beyond recognition… and yet… it was Danny's face there in that casket, despite the white hair and jumpsuit, it was Danny's face.

Jack swallowed back his tears, looking back down at his hands, unable to face his own dead child, unable to face his mistakes.

Maddie was numb, she had spent so much time crying she couldn't cry anymore, she couldn't feel anymore, she had basically killed her son. She had been so wrapped up in making scientific discoveries and researching ghosts that she hadn't even noticed her son had died, and she had brought him back just to kill him again, likely for good this time. She had spent days in bed, crying over this fact and now that she was at the funeral, she couldn't cry anymore.

She'd done this. She was the one who came up with the idea of changing ecto-entities into living ones, she was the one who had fired the shot transforming Phantom into a human. She'd spent the most time with Phantom over the past two months and hadn't put it together that he was Danny until the DNA test. She had considered it sure, but it seemed too far-fetched and ridiculous, it had seemed more likely that Danny's accident had influenced Phantom's formation, not that Danny was somehow both a ghost and a human. Even when she had considered that Phantom might be Danny, or have something to do with Danny, she had dismissed it immediately, it seemed scientifically impossible for them to be the same person. Or perhaps she didn't want to confront what that might mean, refused to realize that meant her son had been dead for over a year.

She had held her child's lifeless body as it leaked ectoplasm onto their living room floor, she had cried as she watched the light fade from his eyes, in the case of the glowing right eye, she had literally watched the light fade away. Danny was gone, even if Phantom returned, Danny was gone. Her beautiful blue eyed boy would forever be missing, even if his ghost came back he would be Phantom. She wouldn't see his blue eyes again, wouldn't ruffle his black hair, even if his ghost returned he wouldn't quite be her son.

She looked back to the boy in the coffin, wishing that she could go back in time and fix things, wishing that she could go back and stop them from making the portal that had killed him the first time. He had died a year ago in the portal accident, even if he'd only half died, their invention had killed him. They had killed that boy, changing him into something strange and unnatural. It was all because of the portal.

Maddies eyes narrowed and she swallowed back the threat of tears. The portal had caused all of this, maybe it was finally time to shut it down.

She wrapped her arms around herself, she couldn't do it. She couldn't shut the portal down, because even if he wasn't quite Danny… she would wait for his Phantom to come back.

Dash wished there were less people here, but the funeral was open to the public and so the funeral hall was crowded. He resolved to visit Phantom in the cemetery eventually, there was still so much he had to say, but he couldn't today. Despite being annoyed that he couldn't spend too long with Phantom because of the funeral being public, he was also able to attend because he was part of the public. He gently laid down yet another lilly in the casket with the corpse of the hero he looked up to.

"I hope you rest well man… uh… or not… I'd like to see your ghost again." He mumbled awkwardly before shuffling off to his seat. He wanted to let his hero know that he and the others had seriously considered what he'd said about bullying and respect. Phantom's death had been unexpected and heartbreaking, it made him rethink everything. He had been considering Phantom's words before he'd died, but the death made Dash think even more on it.

Dash watched as his classmates made it through the line, saying goodbye to Phantom. He wanted to tell his idol how he felt, but it would destroy his reputation if anyone knew. If he stopped bullying others, he might become a person that Phantom would actually like, someone who Phantom would be friends with… or maybe one day… more.

He would try to be a better person, maybe one day he would manage to be a good guy. He wondered if his motivation was wrong, he wanted to be good merely because Phantom would approve of him more if he was good. Even if his motivation began wrong, perhaps he could grow to be a better person for the sake of being a better person one day. A hero like Phantom wouldn't begrudge him that, he'd be happy Dash was making an effort right? Dash nodded to himself and looked down at his hands.

Why was bullying those weaker than him even fun in the first place? He couldn't even remember why now. Phantom had come into his life and turned his world upside down so many times now. It had started when ghosts had shown up for the first time, it had thrown his world view into chaos, then the hero appeared and feelings he didn't understand had bubbled up inside him when he saw the hero rimmed in light of his own. It was an abrupt and somewhat distressing sexual awakening, he had confided his feelings in Kwan who had accepted it without batting an eye, saying he'd expected Dash was at least a little bi-sexual, much to Dash's embarrassment.

Dash's father was conservative, while he didn't have a tragic backstory where his father beat him while drunk or called him derogatory names, but Dash still wasn't confident in exploring his sexuality, especially around his father. His father had grown as a person recently, but that didn't mean Dash felt safe admitting his crush on Phantom. He had been mortified when he'd realized he'd had feelings for a guy, it had been hard to admit it even to Kwan, and Kwan was bi-sexual, not that many people knew that about the other boy. Dash shook his head and looked down at his hands, they trembled slightly as he thought about how his father would react to finding out Dash wasn't as straight as he seemed.

Dash glanced toward the sky, he half expected to see Phantom out there, hovering outside of a window and checking to see who had turned up to his funeral, but the sky was empty, slightly overcast, no sign of the ghost boy anywhere. Dash turned his attention back to the funeral, it would likely be a long event, but they did have a schedule to keep, there was a hole waiting for the boy and his casket. Dash's heart clenched with pain as he glanced back at the body. Phantom was gone, his hero, his idol, his first love… and he was gone. He buried his face in his hands so no one could see him cry.

The wind had a distinct chill to it as they stood in front of the open grave, the casket had been lowered to the bottom and people came by, dropping fistfulls of grave dirt. Each handful of dirt hit the coffin with a strange thudding noise, each time a few words were whispered to the teen in the casket before each person moved on. The sound of the dirt hitting the casket echoed in the ears of his friends, they huddled closer for warmth, looking down into the hole, tears stains on their cheeks.

Eventually they moved on, as did the others, leaving the gravediggers to finish the job as the gray of the sky began to darken. Before too long, the gravediggers moved on too, as did the seasons, and the weather. Weeks turned into months and the grave soon grew over with grass. People came and went, dropping off flowers and letters, offerings for the dead teenage hero.

Time passed, the landscape changed, trees blooming into fiery colors as the leaves began to die. The ground became covered in a carpet of colorful foliage and the flowers still came and went, visitors stopped by leaving little offerings of food which were inevitably eaten by wild animals. Friends came, visiting and talking to the headstone, hoping beyond hope that somehow their friend would hear them, would be able to listen, would know that they thought of him.

Months wore on, and the simple headstone remained.

Here Lies Danny Phantom.

A new visitor came, his foot falls made no noise despite the crunchy leaves beneath his feet. The crisp autumn air didn't affect him as he approached with a small bouquet of flowers. His eyes read the words on the headstone, tracing over the outline of the familiar DP symbol etched into the stone. He leaned down and pulled the old flowers from the vase-like hole in the base, brushing away the leaves and sliding the new bouquet into place. He adjusted the bouquet and then sat back, admiring his work, folding his legs underneath him and sitting on the ground in front of the grave.

He leaned back, white hair glowing slightly in the gloom of the overcast day, a small smile played on his lips as he studied the headstone.

"Well… this is grave." he said with a small laugh, his voice echoing in the gloom, leaves crunched behind him and he smiled, leaning back and looking up at Sam and Tucker looked down at him, his green eyes glowing brighter as he beamed.

"You guys look like you've seen a ghost." He said he didn't get a chance to make another joke before the two had him wrapped tightly in their arms, holding him close and sobbing. He hugged them back, leaning into their warmth, listening to their breathing and heartbeats.

"I'm home." He said softly.