As Phantom drifted away from his home the sound of yelling faded away and he was alone again. He hadn't been touched, but he could feel a type of pain building inside himself somewhere in his chest, he briefly recalled a word 'heartbreaking', but he forgot it just as quickly. The next few hours were spent much as he had spent his other days trying to sort through his memories and learning about the living world around him. By the time night rolled around he still hadn't returned home, instead he was lying prone in the sky staring at the stars. He quickly discovered his fascination with space, but knew he'd never be able to reach the stars even with his ability to fly. It was just another thing that was out of his reach something he couldn't quite grasp.

Despite the horrible events that occurred just hours ago he still felt drawn back to his home and chose not to fight his compulsion. He flew slowly spending time to look deep into the night sky hoping for answers of his existence. The stars did nothing but shine, he wondered which stars out there were dead like him simply showing him their bright smiles from millions of years ago. The line of thought faded from his mind and he returned to absently flying.

Eventually he arrived at his former home and floated in to a very tense atmosphere, though he couldn't quite sense it. He did however notice when a blaring ghost alarm went off and his parents stormed into the kitchen decked out in their ghost hunting gear. Jazz trailed after them trying to calm them down, but it seemed a lost cause as they looked for the ghostly intruder.

Their eyes skirted over an invisible Phantom who wasn't entirely sure what he was meant to do. Even though his most complex skills were still redeveloping and he had trouble focusing for too long he wasn't oblivious to the danger surrounding him. The pseudo standoff lasted for a few minutes before Jack started trying to call the ghost out, "Come on ghost face me."

Phantom had gained fairly decent control over his basic powers so he allowed his invisibility to slip away and kept his hands up in a position as if to say he meant no harm. "There you are you ectoplasmic scum," Jack immediately raised his bazooka, but again Jazz stepped in to stop the fight that was bound to break out.

"He doesn't want to fight can't you guys just be calm?" Jazz asked sounding somwhere between angry and desperate. She felt her brother was staring back at her and she couldn't ignore the possibility that he was in there somewhere. If that were true letting him be destroyed wasn't something she could allow without hating herself in the future.

"Sweetie, he's a ghost he's just trying to trick us we can't let our guard down," Maddie answered calmly, her eyes never leaving Phantom as she spoke. Before Jazz could retort Jack finally fired his bazooka letting loose a blast that Phantom barely managed to dodge. Phantom relied almost entirely on instinct as he moved around the house dodging and running without trying to fight back. His memories helped him navigate the home and his intangibility allowed him to slide through any obstacles he encountered.

The blasts destroyed things around him and more than once he was nearly caught in a net, he didn't want to be hurt or dissected so he continued to move not wanting to find out what would happen if he paused for even a moment.

Eventually Jack had to stop out of pure exhaustion, but Maddie continued to hunt Phantom eventually managing to corner him in the basement. Phantom tried to sink down though the floor, but nothing happened giving Maddie the opportunity she needed to finally hit Phantom. He hadn't realized the alarm that had gone off at Phantoms entrance also activated a thin coating in the walls, floors, and roof preventing him from going through them. The blast struck him in the chest and launched him across the room, he landed in a heap in front of the ghost portal in almost the same position the Fentons had recently found their deceased son.

The sight of Phantom looking up at her from the ground his features twisted in fear, features that so resembled her son's, paused her in shock more than anything else. Phantom took advantage of her surprise to fly past her out of the basement, he was able to escape the home, his home, simply because he found an open window in Jazz's room that had been closed earlier. Jack had followed him and shot a few blasts out the window, but it ultimately was to no avail and Phantom escaped without further injury.

Now that he wasn't running for his life, if it could be called that, Phantom could finally feel the physical pain of the ecto-burn on his chest. The pain flared up when he tried to touch it so he chose to let it heal on its own hoping it would get better without aid. With nothing else to do he stared at the stars trying to forget the hatred on the faces of the people he still considered his family. The only mission he had left was trying to regain their acceptance, he wasn't sure what else he could do.

Allowing himself time to heal he closed his eyes and tried to let his mind relax and slip into sleep, something he hadn't yet indulged in. The last thing he saw were the stars and the last thing he thought about was his family before falling into the darkness.

A/N

Okay I basically took off from writing for the summer so I apologize for not posting any chapters over that period of time. This particular chapter was a bit shorter than I hoped, but I wasn't going to drag out the ghost hunt for no reason or try to add filler to lengthen it. All the star references were because of Danny's want to be an astronaut to show that Phantom has some of the same inherent interests though he's looking at things in a different way, simpler, but almost more mature without any dreams of being an astronaut.

I know I keep saying that Phantom is still sorting things out in his mind, but that's because I don't intend for Phantom to become Danny with the only difference being his death. I want him to retain his memories, but view some things from a different perspective.

Thanks for reading and please let me know what you think.