10/15/2024: I just finished chapter 8 and just posted chapter 7. I'm officially only one chapter ahead for this story. -_-

10/19/24: Just four days later…I didn't expect to post this chapter so soon after the previous one, but in 4 days I've managed to write through chapter 12. (I had most of chapter 12 written already, but I digress). Now that I've started chapter 13, I'll go ahead and post this one.

Another time jump for this one. Some heavy stuff as we delve into Danny's thoughts and a tiny bit more plot development.

Not every chapter has a song theme, but I like to mention them if they had a part in helping me with the chapter. For this one, it's "Fight Inside" by Red. The lyrics helped me get into Danny's mindset.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

–

Chapter 9: Fight Inside

–

Danny had successfully kept his secret for the last ten weeks. It had not been easy, as Sam knew something was off when he'd returned after seeing Mira (darn his habit of rubbing his neck when nervous). He knew he wouldn't be able to keep it all from her because she was just too suspicious, so he relented and admitted it was Mira he'd seen.

The very mention of the woman who was obsessed with him sparked fire in the goth's eyes, and her glare hardened when he also admitted she'd gotten away. But in the weeks following, her fiery annoyance had begun to die down, especially as the woman hadn't shown her face again.

The ghost knew he wasn't completely in the clear, however. He was extremely observant–a skill he'd picked up in the service of the Headmaster– and noticed the concerned glances she'd throw his way when she spotted him lost in his thoughts. He'd tried to only do that when she wasn't around, but she was very quiet, and often walked in on him deep in thought.

That was the case now. He, Sam, Jazz, Tucker, Chase, Vlad and Dash were at the park hanging out. The general group had shifted from the swings over to the play area, but Danny had stayed on a swing, brows drawn down in thought.

Sam watched him silently, the worry for him clear on her face and DJ at her feet. Her attention shifted when Tucker walked up to her. "He okay?"

She sighed, glancing back at the seemingly distraught ghost. "He's been like this ever since he saw Mira. I think she may have said something that's really getting to him."

"He won't tell you?" he asked.

She shook her head. "He just says there's nothing to worry about." She turned her gaze back to Tucker. "If she really didn't say anything, then maybe he's just unsettled by seeing someone from that time?"

He shrugged, but nodded. "It is possible. That wasn't a pleasant time for him. He's been doing so much better since his rebirth, but maybe seeing her brought back all those memories and now it's haunting him."

Tucker had no idea how right he was.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

She gave him a kind smile. "Yeah. I hope he comes out of whatever this is soon. Perhaps when the twins are born, that will bring him out of it."

He grinned. "Babies make everyone happy!" he exclaimed before heading back to Chase on the playset.

The goth watched them play a bit, before she started fanning herself. It was early September, but it was still very warm, and at thirty weeks pregnant, she was dying in this heat.

Finally, when she couldn't take it anymore, she decided to disturb her boyfriend. "Danny!" He looked up, almost dazed, gaze going to her. "Come here, I'm hot."

He raised a brow at her. "What?"

Sam sighed. "What's the point of having my own personal AC unit, if you're all the way over there?"

That got him out of his thoughts and the ghost chuckled before floating up and to her, wrapping his cool arms around her from behind and pressing his body against her back. She sighed again, this time happily, as she snuggled back into him. His body was at least forty degrees cooler than the outside air, giving her much needed reprieve.

"It really sucks being heavily pregnant in summer," she grumbled.

"I'm sure," he responded with a hint of amusement.

They stood like that for a short time, her enjoying how cool he felt, and him still marveling at how his core seemed to respond to, and soak up, her warmth. At the same time, it made him feel guilty. They had slowed down quite a bit on their intimacy, mostly due to how awkward it was getting with her growing belly, and the fact that her hormones had once again changed and calmed that side of her down, but also because Danny struggled with how it made him feel. Of course, he didn't tell her that.

Touching her at all, even in this small way, filled him with disgust and self-hatred. He swallowed hard against the sudden feeling, doing his best to remain there for her. It's not that he didn't enjoy the closeness, just that he felt as though he didn't deserve it. His guilt was tearing him up inside, an emotion-turned-malevolent-creature that clawed at him from within, reminding him of his past transgressions.

The goth looked up at his face, noticing he was once again in his own little world–a world that seemed to torment him, if his facial expression was anything to go by. She hated that it made her feel like he was hiding something from her.

She wanted to trust him completely, and up until his run-in with Mira, she had. But since that encounter, he was not himself at all, and often seemed avoidant and distant. She could only hope that whatever it was, he would one day feel secure enough to talk about it.

"Hey," she said softly, getting his attention. She didn't miss the almost guilty look that briefly passed his face before he schooled it. "You know you can tell me anything, right?"

The ghost looked almost sad before he smiled lightly. "I know."

"Heads up!"

Sam and Danny quickly turned their attention towards the voice and saw a basketball coming towards them. The goth reached up and caught it out of instinct, giving a raised brow to the blonde jock who had yelled.

"Sorry!" he apologized. "It got away from me," he added sheepishly.

Sam handed it back. "You gave me a warning, so you're good."

Vlad ran over then. "That counts as a foul!"

"Aw, come on, man! It slipped!" Dash pleaded.

The billionaire wagged his finger. "A foul is a foul. My turn!" He eagerly took the ball from Dash.

"You're playing basketball?" Danny asked, surprise evident in his tone.

Vlad grinned. "I feel like a kid again!" he exclaimed before dashing off, the jock hot on his heels.

Danny looked down when he felt his arms bouncing to find a chuckling Sam. "I know we asked him to come along in case more half ghost's showed up, but I didn't expect him to join in on the games."

A soft smile spread slowly across his face. "Yeah. I guess under that evil exterior is a big softy."

"More like a big kid," his girlfriend added.

Sam was distracted when she heard "Auntie, auntie!" and looked towards the playset to see Chase pointing at her. "Guess that's my cue to play," she said, turning and giving Danny a kiss. He smiled at her as she walked over, animatedly waving her arms about to get the small kid excited.

He felt it then, the pull of his ghost sense, and scowled. There had been another four half ghosts in the previous ten weeks and, as he suspected, they had been getting stronger as his enemy seemingly perfected their craft.

This time, however, he was not going to find the half ghost. He was beginning to realize that each time they triggered his sense, while it was always hollow and twisted, there was a distinct pattern to each one. Because of that, he'd come to recognize her distinct signature.

She'd come and hung around every few days, taunting him. She wanted him to come to her, and the first few times, he almost did. He'd flown out to meet the threat, only to spot her and quickly leave. That's when he realized there was a difference between the signatures and committed hers to memory.

But as he felt her signature move around, she settled into a spot much closer than normal. It was a message: come to me, or I'll come to you.

He clenched his fists and set his jaw in frustration. The last thing he wanted was to go to her and face his memories, but if he didn't, his instincts told him she would come to him and then the cat would be out of the bag.

With a low growl he went to the others. The look on his face was enough for them to know what was going on.

Vlad paused in his game with Dash and the pair joined the others at the play set. "Do you want me to go with you this time?" he offered.

Danny quickly shook his head. "I'll handle it. You stay here in case another shows up." The billionaire nodded.

The young ghost looked to Sam and again, she caught a hint of guilt in his eyes. She decided it was a conversation for another time and kissed him. "Be careful," she said softly.

He nodded before taking off, his body nearly tingling with nervousness and annoyance. How dare she keep showing up? How dare she taunt him? He'll watch the light go out from her eyes if it's the last thing he does.

Once again, he landed in the general area his sense was pointing to, a little abandoned courtyard, and waited. He didn't have to wait long before he heard the tell tale clack of heels on the cement.

He turned to her, hard glare and blazing eyes not hiding his disdain. She simply smirked before wagging her eyebrows, the action infuriating the ghost.

"Nice to see you understood the assignment," she started, walking around him in a circle, looking him up and down. "I guess you don't want your dirty little secret out." She paused in her ogling. "And if I must say, your ass looks damn fine in those jeans."

He growled low, which only served to make her fake shiver. It made him sneer and he quickly turned around, reaching for her neck but missed when she deftly pulled out of his reach.

"Don't get it wrong, cowboy, I'm not like the trash we've been throwing at you. I'm the real deal, and you won't get your hands on me unless I allow it," she said, voice uncharacteristically dark.

"You still feel like filth," he snarled, talking about his ghost sense.

"Danny-boy, you know how I feel," she said while running a hand down the side of her breast, stomach and to her hip. "And it ain't filthy."

He glared, knowing she was being purposefully obtuse. When he refused to take the bait, she shrugged. "I may have been made like them, but I was made by my mother. She took a lot of her secrets to the grave, thanks to you, and we've been working to play catch-up. We're slowly getting there, creating a more powerful half ghost each time we try."

She tilted her head, face now serious for a change. "While you stay in your cozy little house playing pretend with your whore girlfriend, the world is changing. You can't ignore us forever, sugar. One day, you'll find you can't protect your precious little family anymore."

The ghost knew a threat when he heard one and lost it. He launched at her, but she was expecting it. She quickly dodged to the side, slipping into intangibility to avoid his fist. At the same time, her own hand came up, encased in red energy, and she punched him in the side, his shirt burning away, leaving a searing hot burn on his skin.

Danny grunted, twisting around quickly, only to be thrown back by her entire body. She grabbed the front of his shirt and tore it while slamming him against a wall. The ghost's ears rang as his head bounced off the bricks.

She stepped back then, raising a brow. "You done with your little fit?"

He watched her warily now, willing his vision to clear. She was fast, faster than most things he'd faced in his life. She wasn't kidding when she said she wasn't like the rest.

Not one to stay serious for long, the brown-haired halfa now roamed her eyes over Danny, his shirt ripped and open. He was clearly defined, with washboard abs and well developed pecs. "Dying did you a service, didn't it?"

Danny scowled again. "I'm not yours!" he growled.

"But you could be." Her blue eyes met his, and the smirk she gave him sent chills down his spine. Flashes of memory crossed his mind unbidden, and he clenched his fist against it.

Suddenly he shouted and clapped his hands together, pulling them slowly apart. As he did, a sword made of pure ecto-plasm formed between his palms. As soon as it was complete, he grabbed the hilt and swung on her.

Mira leapt back and landed gently on her toes as if she weighed no more than a feather. With a devilish grin, she formed her own sword before swinging at him. Their swords met with a clang and they held them there, Danny trying to hide his shock over the fact that she was matching his strength.

With a roar, he pushed her away, floating back before charging up his sword. This time, when he swung, it wasn't with the intention to cut her. Instead, an arc of ecto-plasmic energy fired from the blade as it swung, shooting towards her at a speed most wouldn't have been able to dodge.

Danny blinked, lip curling in a sneer as she easily dodged.

"Neat trick!" she said. Then her look darkened. "I can do it, too." She swung, her own red energy flying towards Danny. He was not fast enough to dodge, and instead relied on erecting a shield. The shield slowed down and absorbed most of the energy before it shattered, allowing the back half of the arc to land along Danny's chest.

He gasped and nearly buckled over, feeling the pain jolt his core. Ecto-plasm leaked from the wound, dripping down his stomach.

Mira scoffed. "Oh come, now, it's not that bad. I have no intention of killing you, only making you mine."

"Oh yeah, this is the perfect way of doing that," he said sarcastically, the pain making his voice hoarse.

"Didn't say I wouldn't break you. I'll do it if it's the only way to bring you to your senses," she paused. "Sometimes you need to break before you can become whole."

Danny's thoughts stopped and his mind suddenly transported him to the past, to a woman who once told him the same thing many times. It made him sick.

"Oops," she said, hand to her lips. "I can see I struck a nerve. Maybe that's enough for today." She grinned wickedly. "Until next time, sugar."

She disappeared from sight and Danny waited until he could no longer feel her ecto-signature before he went to his knees, hand holding his chest. He let his sword dissipate and panted, willing the pain to the back of his mind. The wound was deep, but not debilitating.

But the wounds of his mind were.

Sadness, disgust, guilt and rage swirled in his head and core. He felt them all at once, and the tempest he'd tried to keep caged these past ten weeks came to the forefront. He shouted in fury, fist, encircled in glowing energy, hitting the cement with enough power to shatter it.

Enemy…familiar friend…

He thought that part of his life was over, and had started to feel like his tormented soul had begun to heal. Now that was shattered and the peace he'd found was gone.

My beginning and my end…

Even with Vlad he doubted they'd have an easy time stopping Mira. He didn't even know where to begin; he had no clue where she was hiding.

Why? Why did this have to start again? Why couldn't his past just leave him alone?

Knowing truth…whispering lies…

These memories he tried to keep suppressed wouldn't leave him alone. They were already bad, showing up in his dreams–until he saw her again. Now they were at the forefront of his mind once again, flashes and snippets whirling through his consciousness without his permission. He put his hands on either side of his head and screamed.

And it hurts again…

He knew he needed to calm himself, that his reaction was deep, but he'd truly started to heal. Now it felt like his core was shattering all over again. The thought of going through all this again was suffocating. And now, with babies in the mix…

What I fear, and what I try…

And Sam…oh God he felt like he'd betrayed her in the worst way, even though Mira was before her. He knew she'd not only be devastated and angry, but also disgusted with him, though not as disgusted as he was with himself. Hiding it was killing him, especially because he knew she knew something was wrong. Every time he saw that look in her eyes, he wanted to shrink away and cower into himself.

The words I say and what I hide…

He clenched his fists now, pulling at his hair and forcing himself to feel the pain in order to ground himself.

All the pain, I want it to end…

He cried now, the tears streaming down his face. He needed to let it all out, to release the tempest raging inside, so that he could go back and try to face her again; try to look her in the eyes.

And it finds me…

The fight inside is coursing through my veins…

Instinctively he knew she was his soul, but he felt like that was slipping away, like the future with her and the life they were only just beginning to plan were slipping away and falling through his fingers like sand.

But he also knew that he had to do everything in his power to protect her and the twins, even if she discovered his sordid past with Mira. His priority now was their safety, even if it cost him his sanity, and his family.

He unclenched his fists and sniffed, right hand slamming into the wall next to him.

And it's raging…

The fight inside is breaking me again…

He forced himself to calm, to settle the storm brewing in his core, and then opened his eyes, the green orbs blazing brightly in his determination and resolve.

–

Danny returned to the park cloaked in invisibility. He touched down several yards from his family before he dropped it, stumbling before hitting his knees.

"Danny!" Sam yelled upon seeing the state of him. The group dropped what they were doing and ran to the panting ghost.

He had begun to realize on the flight that something was wrong. The pain from his wounds were steadily increasing and he was starting to feel dizzy.

The goth looked him over, distraught at the wounds on his chest and side, swallowing hard at the familiar placement of them.

Vlad kneeled next to him and immediately started to look at the chest wound. "What in the world happened?"

Danny gritted his teeth. "Mira," he ground out, voice gravelly.

He noticed the moment Sam's mood darkened.

The billionaire tsked. "I should've gone with you," he said, worried eyes roaming over the wound that seemed to be foaming.

Danny shook his head. "They've all been…so weak. I didn't expect her to be…this strong." He grunted as the pain continued to intensify.

"What's wrong with him?" Jazz asked, standing back a little with Chase to prevent him from seeing the scene.

"I'm not sure, but I think there's a toxin in whatever she hit him with," Vlad explained, carefully examining the burn on Danny's side. "What did she hit you with?"

"Her powers," Danny answered through clenched teeth.

"That doesn't make any sense," Tucker commented.

Vlad shook his head. "It's possible her very powers are toxic."

"It is?" Dash asked incredulously.

"I've seen a ghost or two in my time with that ability. We need to get him to my place, I have the ghostly compounds needed to negate it." He looked at Sam. "Teleporting him there is the fastest route. Will you all meet us there?"

At everyone's nod, Vlad grabbed a hold of Danny and, in a magenta cloud of smoke, teleported away.

–

Sam's feet were painful and swollen from pacing, her thumb raw from her manic chewing. Vlad had ushered everyone from the room as a precaution to avoid possible contamination to anyone else. The billionaire had been in there for an hour now, and Sam was slowly going crazy.

Finally, Tucker went to the goth and grabbed her shoulders, a move that startled her out of her spiraling thoughts. She focused on him, eyes wide. "Other than being careful about the poison in Danny's blood spreading to everyone else, Vlad didn't seem to be that worried. You should take comfort in that."

Sam sighed, knowing he was right. But even knowing it, it was difficult to calm her nerves. Danny had come close to death so many times now that it was like a trauma response. She knew his core was intact, and that destroying it was the only true way to destroy a ghost, but they had no idea what that toxin was, or if it could affect his core.

Finally, they heard the door open and close, Vlad floating down the hallway to the waiting group. He could see Sam's nervous shuffling and placed a hand on her upper arm, squeezing it lightly in reassurance. "He is fine," he said in a comforting tone.

He could see Sam deflate into a more comfortable state of mind.

"The wounds look bad, but they are really not. And I've tested the toxin. It seems to be designed to incapacitate by causing as much as pain and disorientation as possible, but it doesn't seem capable of actually killing him."

"Oh, thank goodness," Jazz said from her spot on the couch.

"Indeed," Vlad responded. "I was able to neutralize the toxin. He's resting, but now that he's a full ghost, he should recover swiftly. Any of you may go see him now."

Sam surprised the billionaire by giving him a quick hug before waddling off to the bedroom, determined to get at least some answers from Danny.

–

10/15/2024: Shockingly I wrote this in a single day. Chapter 7 took me 16 days, this one took just one…but at least I'm not only one chapter ahead now!

I know this whole Mira history thing is a bit of a plot twist, and kinda out of left field, but please trust the process!