Danny Fenton dreams of a world where his friends and family are still alive. But he doesn't know that. He lives at home in Amity Park and everything is perfect. He goes to school, hangs out with his friends, goes on vacation with his family, annoys his sister, and listens to his parents rant about their work on the Fenton Portal. It's like it was before the accident, no ghost powers, no ghosts. Just a normal, human life. And for years, Danny is happy.

That is until he starts to realize something is wrong. Time's not passing as it should. Why is it still August? And shouldn't his birthday already come? And then there's the nightmares, weird flashes of memory - seeing his friends and family die in an explosion, buildings crumbling and on fire, screaming and crying people, or fighting a red clad woman on a hoverboard. He doesn't know it, but he's trying to wake up.

And Danny does wake up, during a fight with the woman. Horrified by the destruction around him and how brutally he's hurting her, Danny mentally screams at his body to stop but he has no control. His limbs move without his permission, straggling the Huntress. Then his arms release.

"I'll deal with you later, Valerie." Danny hears his own voice say, though he didn't command his vocal cords to say that.

Then he's moving, flying away. Danny hears an ominous chuckle in his head and then he feels like he's being pushed underwater. Everything goes black and he's back in his bedroom in Amity Park. And then Danny forgets.

But what just happened doesn't stay forgotten. Over and over again, Danny rises to the surface. Over and over again, he's horrified by the images he sees, by what his hands are doing. Everytime he mentally begs his body to stop. He screams and pushes. And the other voice, the one that chuckled earlier just laughs at his distress.

Until, one time, Danny does gain control. He's floating above a little girl who weeps in terror. His hand is raised, lit with green fire and aimed at the girl. He wrestles control his hand away and the shot goes wide, away from the child. Then his body collapses onto the ground. And Danny feels his mental self being dragged deeper and deeper back into his mind, past happy dreams he's normally caught in and to a dark, deep mental place. Danny feels that he's just a scrap of consciousness here, with no physical awareness of what his body is doing. So he fights, mentally pounding against the walls of his tiny mental cage all the while screaming.

Then another voice echoes through the space. "I've had enough of you." It sounds like Danny's own voice but slightly deeper, older.

Danny turns to find the speaker. And it's...him. but not him. The ghost looks like a grotesque, twisted version of Danny Phantom, though a few years older than Danny remembers being. Blood red eyes, corpse blue skin, flaming white hair, fangs. His ghost half, Danny thinks as he remembers. He's half ghost, or he should be.

The ghost continues, cutting of Danny's thoughts. "I've tried to be kind. Let you live in a pleasant dream while I perform my work." He stalked forward until he's in Danny's face. He sneers. "But you keep interfering. So, you will be staying here."

Danny swallows fearfully. "Where is here?"

"The subconscious. You're so deep, you'll never so the light of day again." The ghost turns away. "Maybe if you behave, I'll let you return to your dream."

Danny blinks and the ghost is gone. His fear is replaced by disgust. He feels sick. How.. what happened to his ghost half? He briefly searches his memories but can't remember how this happened, how his other half turned into this... monster, abomination, this horrible corrupted thing. No, that isn't his ghost half. Whatever that thing is it may have been born from a part of Danny. But IT IS NOT DANNY.

The human then continues fighting, pounding at the mental walls. He needs to escape, to get his life, his body back. But after what could be ten seconds or ten years, nothing works. So Danny tries to remember what happened, sifting through his memories of before all...this. And Danny finds something interesting. The space he's in isn't his own subconscious or even the monster's. It's something in between, a communal space. And here he can see the ghost's memories too, as if they were his own. Danny searches, seeing images of the carnage the ghost has produced, all the fights with Valerie and his old ghostly enemies. He searches back farther seeing the death of his own family and friends. He sees going to live with Vlad. And it wrecks him, all of it. They are gone and never coming back. No wonder his ghost half went crazy. He curls up and cries.

And then Danny feels something brushing up against him in the darkness and without searching for them, more images come to his mind.

Vlad knocking him out and drugging him. The man is cackling like a mad man about making the pain go away. He adorns his hands with wicked looking gauntlets and plunges the gloves into Danny's abdomen. While human Danny is asleep, ghost Danny is awake. He writhes in agony, clinging to his other half. No, no! He doesn't want this! He doesn't want to be separated! But he's pulled out of himself anyway. Ghost Danny pulls the claws out of his stomach. But then Vlad transforms, pouncing on him. In pain, Danny blindly lashes out with the gauntlets in his hands. He hears a thud and opens his eyes, staring in horror as he realizes he just split Vlad like Vlad did to him. He drops the gloves in shock, stammering an apology. But before Danny can act, Plasmius leaps at him. His red eyes blaze with fury as the ghost dives inside his chest. Danny feels the mental onslaught as Plasmius tries to dominate him, rip him apart, destroy him from the inside and absorb his power. His mind and body are on fire. It hurts so much! He's mentally coming apart, fragmenting. What's...what's happening? Why? Why does it hurt?! Then everything goes white.

Back in the subconscious, the human Danny weeps as a final image, an image he's suppressed for far too long, flashes across his mind. The newly transformed ghost loaming over the human Danny. The monster dives into his chest, overshadowing him. No...trying to absorb him, to sequester his body for later use. The monster mentaly lashes out at him, trying to destroy him mind. But it can't. It wants a still living body, which needs a still living human mind. So the ghost pushes Danny deep within himself, forcing him to sleep and dream.

In the mental space, Danny continues to weep, hopelessly. He was right earlier. That monster isn't his ghost half. It's Plasmuis using his image, his powers. Danny's ghost half, the other half of his soul, the real Phantom, is gone. Plasmius destroyed him, tearing him apart from the inside. And now Danny was alone, half a person without his powers and tortures by a monster wearing his face that he's much too weak to fight.

The human then feels something brushes up against him again, something cold. Danny tenses, praying the monster hasn't returned. The cold thing brushes him again and Danny wrinkles his eyebrows in confusion. It's small, absolutely tiny, and cold. Something neon green flashes in the darkness. Danny then sits up, still so confused, as he realized something. The memory, from earlier, where had it come from? He had been unconscious when it happened…..and it had been from the perspective of his ghost self. But Phantom was gone. The cold thing brushes him again and a very faint feeling of comfort, affection even comes through the contact. Danny's eyes widen as the tiny neon green light flashes in front of his eyes again. He brushes the light with his hand and an image of looking at himself in ghost form in the mirror flashes through his mind.

And then Danny knows, he knows what..no who this is. Tears well. Phantom, his ghost self, the other half of him isn't gone. He's here. Danny mentally scans the darkness of the subconscious, felting more coldness, more sparkles, fragments of memories and emotions. Plasmius didn't destroy his ghost half. He had torn him apart, fragmented him. But the pieces, the fragments are still there. But ...something that's been destroyed can be reformed, if you can find all of the pieces and know how to reassemble them.

Before Danny can think about that, the green light blinks out. Red eyes lit in the darkness and he heard a sinister laugh.

"Are you behaving, my dear human half?"

Danny bares his teeth. "You aren't my ghost half."

The ghost tilts his head. "Of course I am." He smiles, too white teeth shining. "I'm Danny Phantom."

"No you're not." Danny growls. "You're Plasmius. You destroyed the real Phantom. Now you're just using his form!"

The monster frowns. "You don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes I do! You're not him!" The human shouts. Then he sees neon green light swirling behind the ghost and one eyebrow raises. "But…" He points at the ghost's chest, very deliberately.. "He's still here. Isn't he?"

The ghost's red eyes briefly flash green before returning to red. One hand goes to his head and the ghost growls. "No. You were right before. Phantom's gone and you're all alone."

Then the ghost disappeared. But for the first time in ...Danny actually has no idea how long….he smiles. Danny knows he is right. Phantom, his other half is still here, fragments of him in the subconscious and the consciousness of the ghost imprisoning him. And if anyone can bring him back, Danny can. Because at some level, Danny is still Phantom. Before all this, he, the human Danny, was just as much a part of Phantom as Phantom was of him. And that's still true. All he needs to do is find those other parts of his soul and draw them together.

Danny mentally stretches out, feeling for the swirling bits of memories and consciousness that belong to himself. He smiles, sensing the now obvious parts. Sparkes of green and white light flash and swirl aimlessly with no direction. But not for long. With a consciousness now reaching out to direct them, the pieces coalesce, drawn together like pieces of asteroid drawn together by gravity to form a planet. And Danny is the center of gravity.

Soon a golf ball sized ball of light coalesces in Danny's hands. The human cries with joy. It's parts of his ghost self, part of his soul. There's no consciousness yet. But there will be.

So Danny keeps going, joyfully watching the light grow and grow over an unknown amount of time. He debates re-fusing with his still forming ghost half but decides to wait until he's back fully. He and Phantom has been split when Plasmius shredded him so Danny think waiting would be best.

Hiding what he's doing from the monster is difficult. But the ghost seems...different since Danny's confrontation with him. He seems distracted, mentally and emotionally unstable. His eyes turn green sporadically, the flickering of his hair quieting. It's almost like ...the more conscious parts of Phantom are also fighting.

And so the monster makes a mistake (or is it?). He hadn't let Danny anywhere near the surface of consciousness for week but one day practically drags the human to the surface. It's disorienting. For the last few weeks, Danny had been trapped in the dark recesses of his mind then suddenly he sees light, looking out of his eyes as if a visitor in his own body. A beaten and tied-up Valerie sits in front of him.

What did you do? Why am I here?! Danny demands of the ghost.

You think you can spit me?! I know what you're doing. I am going to make you watch as I torture her! And then you'll see how much of a monster we are! The crazed answer came.

I'm not you! This is crazy!

The ghost ignores him as he floated down. Danny feels his arm slap the woman awake. "Wake up Valerie, dear." The ghost's voice says.

The woman startles awake. "Let me go!"

The ghost chuckles. "I'm afraid I can't do that. Besides, I have something important to show you."

"That's why you kidnapped me!" She snaps.

"I couldn't have use interrupted, now could I? Can't have anyone else learn this little secret." The ghost floats in front of her, stroking her face. "I've waited a long time to show you this Valerie. But it's time you knew the truth, who I really am."

If Danny could he would pale, understanding the ghost's meaning. NO! Don't you dare!

At the same time, Valerie yells. "What kind of bullshit are you on now?"

The ghost mentally smirks at the human but continues addressing the hunteress. "I went to Casper High. Did you know that? We were in the same class but you never paid attention to me except when we had the stupid flour sack project."

"What the hell are you talking about?" She demands.

The ghost rolls his eyes. "We worked on a health class project together. It's really not that complicated."

"No. I worked on the project with Danny Fenton, who ditched me with the sack and then you and me go captured by Skuller."

The ghost scoffs. "Danny Fenton, Danny Phantom. You never noticed the resemblance?" Valerie just stares as the ghost continues. "I'll just show you then."

What are you doing?! Ignoring the distressed yell, the ghost touches down and summons a white figure of light. Danny can barely see it out of the ghost's peripheral vision but feels it pass over him.

Then with a start, Danny the human feels himself being thrown forward. His knees crumple and he falls on his hands. Wait...he can feel that. He feels his hands touching the ground, the sensation much more vivid and real than before. And...he feels his heart beating out of his chest. Danny slowly moves his hand over the organ; he hadn't realized how much he missed the sensation. And….he...he moved his hand. Danny moves the fingers again with no resistance. He, Danny, is in control. He exhales, mentally searching for the presence of the ghost but by some miracle, Danny can't feel him.

"Danny?" Finally remembering he's not alone, Danny looks up.

"Valerie?" He breathes. He stands up, staring at him.

Her mouth opens and closes, speechless. Finally she shakes her head. "No this is a trick."

He walked forward. "No, it's me. Valerie, it's Danny."

"No! NO! You're just Phantom! Mr. Masters told me you killed Danny. You're just tricking me!" His eyes widen as the woman starts trembling. With barely a thought, he nettle down and starting trying to untie her bond. "What...what are you doing?"

"Letting you go." He struggles with the ropes. "I don't know how long I have until...Phantom tries to take control of me again." He stumbles over the word, not wanting Valerie to think that his own ghost half is controlling him but not knowing how else to explain.

"So..Phantom's been possessing you?" He nods. "Then...why do you still look 14?"

He pauses looking down at his hands. They are definitely smaller than they had been while in ghost form. "Ummmm" And his voice is young and high, like a young teenagers. "I think it's the possession. The ghost hasn't used my human form since….it started possessing me. So I haven't aged."

"I still don't believe you." She responds crossly.

He continues untying her once all the ropes are off, she stands. The boy notices with a start that she's taller than him. Sighing, he holds out his arm. "Check my pulse. Ghosts can't fake a heartbeat."

Warrily, she feels the wrist and her eyes lit up. "It...it's there."

Just then, as she touches him, Danny hears an angry growl in his head. He pales. "You need to run."

"What?" The hunteress steps back and unholsters her weapon, dangerously.

"The ghost possessing me!" He clutches head. "He's still here. You need to get away from me!"

An unintelligible yell sounds in his head as he feels the ghost struggling to over take him.

"What about you?" The woman asks desperately.

"Don't worry about me! He needs me alive!" Danny backs away, feeling his fist ball without his permission. He stares in horror as the fist lits with a green ectoblast. "Please! I don't want to hurt you!"

The shoot goes off but Danny manages to move his arm so it doesn't hit her. The ghost in his head screams in rage.

"I'll figure out how to save you! I promise!" Valerie yells as she turns and runs, too injured to fight an enraged ghost.

Then with another yell from the ghost, Danny's body crumples onto the ground as his consciousness is thrown back into the dark subconscious.

The human comes back to awareness to the monster hovering over him. "I am in control! Not you!" The ghost slaps him.

Then out of nowhere, the small ball of light that is Danny's forming ghost self slams into the ghost, knocking him away. The human Danny shoot up, slamming into the ghost also. He punches him. "This is my body! My mind!"

He feels the still reforming Phantom hum in agreement. Then the little ball of light slams into Danny's chest, phasing inside of him. With a start, he feels his eyes glow green as the ectoplasmic energy flows through his veins. We need to pull the rest of us out of him. Phantom's thought brushes the human Danny's mind. He instantly agrees, feeling the line between him- the human Danny- and his ghost self blur and then disappear. Danny feels...more than before, greater, better, more complete. He hadn't even realized how empty he had felt before.

Danny then grabs the monster's arm and mentally pulls, drawing on the feeling of overshadowing to search for and draw out the parts of the ghost that were once parts of him. He pins the ghost on the ground with his knees as he wraiths, screaming. Memories, emotions, and power surge into Danny and it burns, like the accident all over again. But on some level, it feels good, right, the pieces of his soul coming back together. Under him, the ghost kicks and screams, mentally trying to hold on to that power. But he doesn't stand a chance, his body smoking.

Then with a flash of neon green and white light, it's done. Danny Fenton-Phantom, Danny the halfa, his whole, complete self, growls at a pathetic looking Plasmius. "Get out of my body!"