(Originally posted 8/9/2023)

Yeahhhh

This is probably not my best chapter so this will definitely get rewritten once I finish the fic..

Anyways enjoy this so far.

Chapter XIV:

ok ok?

Just when he came to that conclusion, Danny's ghost powers decided to go crazy for the days following. He would end up randomly floating in the air, turning invisible, or phasing through the floor mid step. And while they don't count as powers, he has bitten his cheek and tongue numerous times with his newly acquired fangs (that he didn't even know were still there when he wasn't Phantom). The whole problem was very annoying to say the least.

Sadly, the powers randomly coming on wasn't the only problem he was dealing with. They had gone haywire. Some days he would randomly float, other days he'd shoot up to the ceiling. His intangibility would stop working while phasing through something. He would flicker between being visible or invisible. And he was no longer allowed to use any kind of ecto-blasts after accidentally shooting a (very big) hole in the door. In other words, they were fully out of control. The only ones that he hadn't had a problem with were his ghostly wail and his ice powers. But the former won't last long if his random dropping temperatures mean anything.

However, there was no time for him to try to fix his ghostly dilemma. During those days, he was busy building the portal. With Jazz helping him calculate his own touches and Valerie gathering material the task was going well. They found a perfect spot for their project hidden in Axiom Labs. Despite the stakes, Danny found it enjoyable… maybe he just needed something to do after a year's worth of nothing. It would explain why he spent as much time working on it as possible. Yet, the more his powers acted up, the harder the task was to complete. Luckily Jazz, Val, and Ellie helped whenever they could. Jazz was mostly held up by college work and Valerie was doing a project with Paulina. (He gave her his regards.) So, Ellie ended up helping out the most since not only did she have the least to do, but her own (working) ghost powers helped whenever his went crazy. By the end week, they were putting on the final pieces of the base of the portal.

Danny doesn't consider himself a fool, nor does he consider himself a genius. Though it was clear as day to him that something was wrong with Ellie. Nothing bad, which was good.

But they were together everyday and barely either of them struck up a conversation. The silence between them wasn't awkward like the ones with Valerie, instead it was tense and complex. He spent each day trying to decipher his project partner.

Now, he finally understood.

The way she would turn and fidget under his gaze. How she would be the first to offer her help with anything. The way he'd have to reassure her that he'd still be here when she went to deal with Ghost attacks (that he strangely missed).

Danny muttered a thanks as she handed him a wrench and they fell into an off silence once more as he put the piece together with the others. Until finally,

"Danielle."

He didn't need to turn to know that she flinched. Hell, he almost winced at his hard tone.

"Y-yeah?" He heard her stutter.

Danny sighed to himself and lowered the tool as he turned to face her. He tried to keep calm when he saw her nervous expression. So, he gave her a soft smile and said to her in a softer voice than before, "it wasn't your fault."

Ellie's eyes widened.

"It's okay." He told her.

Ellie's lip poked out into a pout as her eyes lowered. "But if I weren't there you could've- you wouldn't have gotten captured. I should've been more on guard so I could've done something to help you!"

Danny frowned a bit. "You couldn't have known what was going to happen, El."

"But-"

Danny raised a hand up. "You didn't know what was going to happen. I didn't either."

"...But I would've been fine," Ellie insisted. "Besides I'm just a clon-"

"Don't." Danny's voice was firm and calm. "We both know that's not true."

Ellie looked at him in surprise before looking down. Danny didn't miss the tears that were welling up in her eyes. He lowered down to her and wrapped his arms around her. Her arms quickly wrapped around him in return. They stayed like that for a while until one of them eventually spoke.

"If..if I can't blame me," Ellie spoke through her sniffles. "Then who should I blame?"

"No one." He glanced down at her before he took a breath. "I get how you feel like you should blame yourself. But it's not worth it. Trust me, I did it a lot the past year. I blamed basically everyone I could think of out of anger. But no one was actually doing anything wrong. The GIW and The Fenton's were just doing their job. Sam and Tucker," Danny sighed. "They did what they thought was right. But if you need someone to blame.."

Danny met the girl's eyes as he gave her a weak smile, "blame me."

Ellie's eyes widened. "W-what? I can't do that!"

Danny partly doubted that statement.

"If it wasn't my fault, it definitely wasn't yours!"

He stared at her determined (pouty) face. Part of him wanted to rebuttal. To say that everything was his fault. A chain reaction. If he didn't home or decided not to go down to the lab. 'What would've happened to Jazz?' Or if he didn't go straight to Sam's place. What would've happened to— He took in a sharp breath.

"..maybe not." He ended up saying as a response.

He supposed it was the right choice after seeing how Ellie seemed to relax at it. But not as much as he wanted..

"So," Danny started. "Has Box Ghost got any better?"

That stirred up an upbeat conversation between the two. The older letting the other ramble about fights that she hated and enjoyed over the past year.

From what he learned, Box Ghost actually was getting better by bringing the Lunch Lady along. Johnny and Kitty missed him, apparently. (He had no idea why, but it was nice to know.) Ellie was quite the Ember McLain fan.. they spent a while talking about her. Lastly..

Skulker hasn't made an appearance all year, according to Ellie.

Which was.. weird.

Danny was sure he'd be one of the ones going nuts while Phantom was gone. Then again he was basically a goal for the Hunter.

…

He puts Skulker aside for now.

Danny glanced down at Ellie, who was now smiling while putting something together for him, he was pleased by how she was now compared to how she was weeks ago. Perfect time to ask the most important question.

"Daddy, huh? You want to explain that?"

Pause.

Clank!

Danny fully turned to Ellie to see what happened.

She had dropped a screwdriver. Her face was nothing less than horrified.

"You- I- But you," She stammered. Then, as if she rebooted somehow, her face went blank. "I don't know what you're talking about. I think you're confused."

Danny hummed. "I'm confused? So you're saying that wasn't you?"

Ellie nodded.

"So, if I go ask Jazz or Val if they heard it then-"

"Don't you dare!"

Danny raised an eyebrow at the reaction.

"…alright fine. It was me." Ellie sighed. "I didn't mean to call you that, though! It just slipped out! You looked so hurt an- and tired and I was… scared. I meant to say Danny-"

"Did you?"

Ellie blinked. "Huh?"

"Did you mean to say 'Danny'?" Danny repeated.

The preteen seemed to pause, thinking to herself for a moment or two. A firm frown spread across her face. To his relief surprise, she shook her head.

Danny tried not to show his surprise. Tried being the keyword. He had failed.

And he knew he failed when he saw Ellie's nervous expression.

"Was that wrong?" She asked before he could fix his expression.

"What? No! No. It's not. I was just making sure I wasn't hearing things. Or- er— seeing things technically.. Just," Danny took a breath before meeting Danielle's eyes. "It wasn't wrong. You were scared. It's easy for things to slip out." He added.

"So…" Ellie drew the word out. "What's the plan now?"

Danny paused.

It was a good question. And every good question deserves a good answer…

"Wait until one of them asks about it?"

The two pairs of blue eyes met as they stared silently at each other. With a firm nod, they went back to working on the portal. The tense atmosphere between them was officially lighter. Something Danny was thankful for. A comfortable workspace was a lot better than a tense one. But he was mostly glad they were finally able to talk about everything that happened. Now he felt dumb for thinking their relationship strained.

"I bet Jazz will ask first." Danielle suddenly said after watching Danny work for a minute or two.

Danny muttered a 'damn it' under his breath before turning to Ellie. "Why?"

"Because I always lose when you bet on her!"

Seeing her confident grin, Danny sighed. "Fine," he said. "I would've said Val, anyways." He made sure he had a smugness in his tone that made Ellie falter slightly.

"What? Wh-"

Before another word was said, a chill ran up his spin causing him to release a frosty breath. By Danielle's reaction, she had a similar experience.

"Right on cue," Danny muttered before he raised it once again for Ellie to hear. "You should go check that out."

Danielle stared at him in shock. "But- you-!" She let out an aggravated growl, then huffed. "You'll still be here?"

He gave her a nod and for once, she just went ghost and flew off with a nod of her own. No fuss. No debate. No big outlandish worries.

"Huh.."

Now that it was over, he kinda missed it. It gave him something to keep his mind on until she came back.

But since he has nothing, it was just him. Just him and the whispers.

I rewrote this late at night this Monday after being finished with the first version-

So, I don't have much to say with this sadly.. I'm still processing the change.

Like I said earlier, there's a good chance this will get rewritten, but for now I hope it was enjoyable.

I just wanted Danny and El to talk at some point and with the.. 30-something (well 40ish with me wondering on dragging the portal building out at least another chapter or two) chapters I planned months ago. It's needed. Car sick me had some ideas (and expectations) that I'm second guessing

Anyways, the first chapter to Valerie's adventure thing is done. i just need my laptop to work for me to put it on here. If you don't want to wait, its already on AO3 (my beta was rushing me)

One more thing, I officially switched from posting new chapters every week ti every two weeks. Writer's block sucks, but im doing my best to push through bc I genuinely enjoy writing this.

Thats all for now

Hope you all have a wonderful day/night! Remember to eat and hydrate yourselves!

Next up: Danny continues working on the portal with a.. problem of his own