Soul Savior

A/N: Those who follow me on Tumblr knew this was coming ^_~

Danny knew a little bit about getting bullied. Okay, more than a little bit. He also knew more than a little bit about being on the outside of the high school pecking order. It only made sense he introduced himself to the new kid in an effort to make him feel welcome and extend an invitation to hang out with some people who wouldn't tease him.

Except he got a good look at Allen Walker during their time in the cafeteria line and Danny learned a few things. One was that Allen didn't need the scar over his eye to look tough, there was a hardened edge in his eyes that reminded Danny of his own sometimes when he looked into a mirror as Phantom. If the kid wore that expression on his face all the time, it would explain while Dash hadn't stuffed Allen in a locker yet and kept himself to names Allen seemed well-equipped to brush off.

The second thing that Danny learned was that Allen's scared face, white hair, and prosthetic arm didn't make him feel insecure enough to accept an offer of friendship. The other teen had looked him up and down and then plastered a grin on his face while he said "thanks for the offer, but I don't like who you associate with."

Danny could feel Sam's anger growing behind him, but he noticed Allen hadn't given his friends so much as a glance.

"And who would that be?" Danny turned and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Ghosts," Allen responded.

Before Danny could over come his shock Allen had picked up his try and skipped over the freshman in front of him to continue getting lunch.

Danny turned to his friends, mouth moving but no words coming out.

"Apparently your parent's ghost hunting habits are so uncool they had to tell the new kid right away as a warning." Sam shook her head. "I can't wait for high school to be over."

Tucker pushed Danny's tray down the line to get his own meatloaf. "Either that, or it's not just Amity Park who knows about the Fentons."

"I'm note sure which is worse."

It had been a weird two weeks. Danny's ghost sense had gone off three times, but the ghosts he had gone to trap had simply joked with him before compliantly returning to the Ghost Zone. He would have put it down as actually making friends with the other ghosts, or their realization that they would never beat and him and decided to stop harassing Amity Park, if it hadn't been for Skulker giggling so hard it was hard for him to speak.

And then Vlad had randomly shown up last night, five tickets to a monster truck rally the next town over and had proceeded to spend a night with the Fentons where everyone (aside from a creeped out Danny) had a good time. Vlad hadn't insulted his dad. Hadn't hit on his mom. And he actually drew Jazz into a conversation about something called the 'spiral of silence'.

"I'm telling you guys, there's something going on! Something's got to be affecting the ghosts in town." Danny stuffed five fries in his mouth and angrily chewed.

"Then why haven't you been affected?" Sam asked.

"Maybe Danny's immune?" Tucker shrugged.

"Yeah, maybe. But immune to what?"

"Does it really matter?" Sam asked. "You haven't had a real fight in month. We've caught up on all the TV episodes we've missed this past month and you got a B on that pop quiz on Monday. Just let it go, this is good for you."

"Yeah, I guess." Danny played with his straw. "I mean, it's been nice not to have my parents on my back this week. But it feels wrong."

Sam rolled her eyes but Tucker was nodding along. "I get it. It's a manly quest for knowledge. And fighting. What's a superhero with no villains to fight?"

A flash of white caught Danny's eye and he looked up to see Allen walk into Nasty Burger. The other teen caught his eye, sniffed, and then quickly turned around. Danny rolled his eyes. Sam and Tucker turned around to see what caught his attention.

"Allen still bothering you man?"

"Not exactly. He keeps acting like I'm beneath him, which is annoying." As was the way Allen had managed to get close to Paulina's group but still attract Dash's animosity. Though the jock's insults had been pretty weak as of late.

"He hasn't done anything yet about saying you hang out with Phantom?"

"I've gotten a few looks the day after fights, but nothing else. He's another weird thing. Hey, you don't think he's affecting the ghosts?"

Sam shook her head. "I doubt it. We've never seen him near any of them. And I don't think there's anything could send a ghost into a giggle fit other than another ghost."

"Yeah, probably," Danny muttered as he watched the cashier hand Allen seven Nasty Burgers, two milkshakes, and a full bag of fries.

He turned his attention to his friends. "Maybe we should patrol tonight. It is a Friday. If it is a ghost giving others happy attacks, we should find it."

"Sounds good to me. I tinkered with the engine of my moped and want to try it out." Tucker took a bit of his burger while Sam rolled her eyes.

"Your house at 8?" She turned to Danny.

"Yup, I'll meet you by the opposite corner of the block."

The night wasn't a patrol so much as a joy flight over his friends' heads. No ghost meant no trouble and Danny found himself joining a peaceful night in the company of his friends while the wind brushed through his hair.

That was, until his ghost sense went off.

Danny jerked to a stop, Sam and Tucker turning to back track as Danny flew down a side street. The light posts here had a slight dusting of frost, unusual for a September evening and Danny mentally called up his ice core. If he was going to fight a ghost with ice powers, it would be best if he responded with the same.

He flew up to a rooftop and spotted the ghost. He hadn't seemed to notice Danny yet, perched on the edge of a roof with his back to Danny and looking down. This ghost was relatively human looking, no ghost tail or flaming hair, dressed in leather pants and a blue sweatshirt. Danny guessed he was young, the frost around his feet and on his clothes seemed to have formed without a thought and made Danny guess this ghost didn't have good control over his ghost powers yet.

Danny looked down at Sam and Tucker below, gestured to the other side of the building, and slowly floated forward. The other ghost didn't move, still looking down, and when Danny got close enough he could see a field where a handful of middle-schoolers were finishing up a soccer game.

"Wish you could join?" Danny asked and the ghost next to him jumped. Before he could say anything, there was a snowball in his face and laughter built up in Danny's chest.

"You got me!" he grinned as he wiped the snow off his face, it amused him to note it didn't melt.

Once the snow was out of his eyes Danny got a look at the ghost who had thrown it. A young face filled with bright blue eyes under white hair and a mischievous smirk.

"Is this how you treat everyone who sneaks up on you?"

The other ghost shrugged. "Pretty much. It gets the fun going."

The ghost grinned and things clicked. "Your snowball. It makes ghosts happy!"

"Yup." The ghost rocked back on his heels and jumped off the roof's edge. Using his feet, he kicked up a staff Danny had missed before.

"So you're the reason the other ghosts have been acting strange."

The ghost hunched in on himself and Danny tripped over his next words in his haste to brighten the teen up. He found that as this ghost's mood dropped, his own did too.

"Not that I'm complaining. You making them happy meant I didn't have to fight them."

"Why would you fight them?"

Danny gave the other ghost a once over. He didn't seem to be a willing to cause trouble. Having fun could cause it's own batch of havoc, but nothing of the sort had happened the two weeks this ghost had been in town.

"Not all ghosts are content making people happy. A lot of them try to hurt the people here and I stop them."

"Well, that's good I guess."

"Yup. Danny Phantom, by the way." Danny stuck his hand out and the other ghost reached out to shake it.

"Jack Frost."

"What brings you to Amity Park, Jack?"

"Fun!" The other ghost grinned. "The Ghost Zone got boring after awhile, so when I saw a portal I flew through it. I'm been traveling, seeing the world, for about a year now. It's changed since I died."

"Oh yeah, how long ago was that?"

"Mmm, early 1700s. Forgot the exact date."

Yeah, the world would have changed since them.

"So, you've just been traveling the world throwing snowballs at other ghosts. Could have been worse."

"Not just ghosts, humans too. Watch."

Jack called a snowball into his hand, jumped back up on the roof's edge, looked down, and dropped the snowball.

It landed in the center of Tucker's face as he looked up that them. The boy spluttered at first, then turned to Sam and laughed. Sam just raised an eyebrow, but Jack laughed too. Danny found himself giggling, Tucker had tears in his eyes, and Sam finally let out a snort.

"That was awesome!" Danny turned to look at Jack, who smiled back at him. "Come on, those two are my friends."

He dived off the roof, Jack flying down after him.

"You're friends with humans?" Jack asked and Danny looked at the other ghost. He had always thought he had been called a 'halfa' because something about his ectoplamic signature radiated that to other ghosts, but maybe it was just a case of neighborhood gossip making the local rounds.

"Well, he protects the town from other ghosts." Sam tried to bring her face back to it's normal stern look but the edge of her mouth kept quirking up. "Hard not to like someone who saves you all the time."

"Man, you are awesome! That was a great throw! Tucker, by the way."

Jack gave a mock bow, dipping his staff with him. "Jack. Glad I could amuse you."

"You've been the one making all the ghosts happy?"

Jack twirled his staff and then planted it before answering. "Other ghosts don't like me much cuz I don't have a haunt, but hitting them with a snowball before they can attack has saved me a lot of pain."

"I can imagine," Danny said. If he could have fixed all his problems with a snowball, life would be a lot easier.

Danny turned to face Jack fully, about to ask for a race, when he noticed another head of white hair out of the corner of his eye. Allen had just stepped into view on the other side of the street. After getting used to the sticky sweet smiles he pulled on Paulina and the teachers, it was nice to see the hard looked he had gotten that first day in the cafeteria.

But that smug feeling of seeing the real Allen quickly morphed into fear as Allen marched across the street without bothering to look for cars. He looked murderous. Danny was still deciding to stand and fight or flee when Allen ripped off the black jacket he always wore.

The entire school knew Allen had a prosthetic left arm, the fingers were visible poking from the sleeve and it usually hung, unable to grasp things. But when Allen tossed away his jacket to land on the windshield of a parked car the arm didn't look useless anymore.

It was glowing with a sickly green light and even as Danny watched the fingers molded together to form the barrel of a gun. Allen lifted his arm up as he came forward and Danny just heard the words "I'll send your soul to heaven" before a whine signaled an energy discharge.

Danny dropped, pulling Jack with him, and the pink bolt whizzed through the air their heads had been to hit the front steps behind them.

"Allen, what gives!" Tucker yelled, but the teen didn't answer.

He was still coming forward, eyes on Jack and Danny.

"Jack, quick, hit him with a snowball before he can fire again!"

Jack did as asked, snow appearing in his hand. He tried throwing while still pressed against the sidewalk, but it was a bad throw and Allen easily stepped aside. He shot his arm again, causing Danny and Jack to roll away.

"Sam, Tucker, get out of here!" Danny wanted them retreat to the other side of the street and down a few houses before turning back to the fight.

Jack had sent a stream of ice towards Allen, who was now struggling to keep his footing. He had a surprising amount of balance, Danny had to give him credit. Jack took the time to fly up and Danny joined him.

"You protect humans from ghosts, huh? What about the other way around?"

"That happens very rarely. But once or twice, yeah."

Allen was off the ice and glaring up at them. His arm wasn't pointed at either of the ghost, but it wasn't simply lying along Allen's side either. If anything, the glow seemed to intensify.

"Jack, I don't want to hurt him if possible. A lot of humans just don't understand ghosts. Hurry, hit him with a snowball. Let's see if we can get him to calm down and talk to us."

"If you say so."

Jack formed a snowball in each hand and threw them both. One, Allen dodged, but Jack had expected that and tossed the second ball lower. It hit Allen in his ear. Whereas Danny had burst into laughs almost immediately, Allen's changes were more subtle. His face didn't look as hard, but he didn't look remotely close to even smiling.

Either Allen was immune to ghost powers, or he really hated ghosts and was determined to end the pair of them.

"You might want to make another one."

"Ye~ah."

Allen wasn't firing at them, which was strange, but his arm was glowing bright, the aura wider. Almost as if-

"Danny! He's charging!" Tucker yelled.

"Dang it!"

Allen snapped it his hand up and fired. It obliterated the snowball arching toward him and hit Jack in the chest. The ghost dropped. Worse then that, Jack disintegrated as he fell. It was as if his body turned into green fireflies, the ecto-energy heading towards the clouds. When Jack hit the ground, the impact turned his entire body in the bits of energy that soon dispersed.

Danny had never seen a weapon capable of such damage. This weapon of Allen's didn't just stop or hurt ghosts, it disintegrated them from the edges in. No way Allen had hooked up with Valerie and Vlad. Vald would never have supplied lethal weapons to use against Danny.

He was leaning towards undercover agent for the GIW.

Danny was so preoccupied with watching Jack die a final death and figuring Allen out he almost got hit by another blast. Sam's scream of "DANNY!" had him distort his middle just in time to avoid the pink beam. He rolled to the side and quickly shot further up into the sky.

It didn't seem to deter Allen. He shot a blast into the sky, coming awfully close to hitting Danny despite being invisible.

Vaguely, he heard Sam and Tucker arguing with Allen to stop shooting and a look over his shoulder showed his friends had decided to cross the street and try to stop Allen themselves. Tucker was trying to pull down Allen's arm gun while Sam kept putting her hands in his face to block his view. As he watched, Allen shoved Sam to the side and then turned to punch Tucker in the face with his right hand.

That would not do.

Danny turned around and came back to the ground, becoming visible as he did. Allen wasn't paying attention. Sam was yelling at him as she crouched over a knocked out Tucker, but Allen seemed to only be halfway paying attention as he checked his glowing arm for damages.

He called up an ice beam and aimed it at Allen's arm. That snapped Allen's head towards him and Danny hovered just out of arm's reach with crossed arms. He glanced towards Sam, her nod sent relief for Tucker flooding through his system, and then turned his attention to Allen.

"What gives?! You can't just go around attacking people! And what's up with the glowing arm?"

Allen scowled at him. "How long have you been inside that body, ghost?"

Danny instantly floated back a few inches. "I'm not overshadowing anyone. This is me."

"It wasn't originally." Allen used his right arm to gestured to his left eye, the tattooed one that had gotten him appreciative looks from Sam and some of the other school goths. Now that Danny looked at it, the ink was giving off a soft glow.

"I can tell when a human is possessed, I can see their soul struggling for control. That body may be yours now but I'm willing to bet you killed the boy it belongs to before overshadowing it."

If he were human, Danny would have paled. That was still a question that haunted him, was he dead or not? Half the time his heart beat and half the time it was frozen still so it was hard to say. What was he really, a ghost keeping a boy alive or a boy tethering a ghost to this side of the portal? Most of the time he could ignore such questions, he was too busy with fighting and school, but Allen's words were a jolt.

"You're wrong." Sam was helping a woozy Tucker stand. "Danny Phantom owns that body. And he didn't kill anyone for it."

"I don't believe you, but it hardly matters." Allen raised his arm and pointed it at Danny. "Any ghost that spends too much time in this realm will go crazy and hurt people. It's my job to stop that. This ghost is dying."

Allen shot an energy beam and Danny turned intangible to avoid it. It went through his chest alright, but it stilled connected with something. Danny screamed, falling to the sidewalk as he convulsed. Through his tears he could see his finger tips. They weren't disintegrating like Jack's had been, but then again ghostly weapons always effected him a little differently.

There was the vague sound of screaming, the whine of a weapon powering up, and Danny felt his body jolt as a second shot hit him. He felt the tingle in his belly that indicated a change, saw the light through his clenched eyes, and took a strange comfort in the fact he would die as a human and not a ghost.

"Danny!"

The black haired girl, Sam, had dropped her friend and rushed to place herself between Allen and the ghost for a second time. Allen glared at her.

He crouched and quickly fired a second shot at the fallen ghost from under her arm and for his troubles got a steel toed boot in his groin. Allen dropped with a high pitched sound and Sam whirled around to the still form on the sidewalk. There was another presence at his side, the other student, the black kid whose name Allen thought was Tuck, poking at his arm.

"There's gotta be a power button somewhere!"

While Tuck poked at seams and twisted the prosthetic this way and that, Allen regained his senses. He was used to getting hurt in a fight, just not quite like this. He swung his arm up, catching Tuck's chin, and then pulled it towards his chest as he stood. Allen ignored the boy on his rump to give his weapon a quick glance. Tuck had scratched it, but his arm was undamaged.

Say what you wanted of the Vatican, but when they built something they built it to last.

Allen ignored him and switched his attention to Sam and the boy she was not so gently tapping on the cheek.

Danny Fenton.

Allen had known, of course, ever since he had first seen Danny that the boy was possessed. His eye didn't itch when looking at normal humans and when Allen had covertly activated his eye his suspicions had been confirmed.

It was a strange possession, to be sure. Usually the body would glow and there'd be a faded image of the person behind and a few inches above, floating on a tether to the soul's body. Danny hadn't looked like that, which had been odd. The body hadn't glowed, but there had been a shifting mass of smoke in a vague human outline behind him. And it had been the smoke that gave off a soft glow.

Oh well, a ghost possessing a human was a ghost possessing a human. It didn't matter how odd it looked. Allen suspected it had something to do with age; he rarely came across long possessions and so didn't know what they looked like. He had taken it upon himself to make the ghosts in the world forcibly move on.

He knew what they would do to people if they didn't, if their obsessions over took their minds. It was better to just shoot them when he could.

But this was strange. Danny Fenton was lying on the ground, still, and that wasn't supposed to happen. Allen was no newbie to the Vatican's forces. A shot ghost would move on to the next plane. And if they were in the body of a human, well, they would still move on and the body with it's original soul would be left unharmed.

Danny Fenton would have fallen to the sidewalk because the ghost inside him was gone and he couldn't fly on his own. The ghost wasn't supposed to have fallen itself. Looking at Danny now, he wasn't supposed to see the glowing outline of smoke.

Allen approached the teen and the girl crying as she tried to calm herself down to take an accurate pulse reading. Her head shot up as Allen's boots came into her vision and Sam snarled at him.

"Don't you come one step closer!"

Allen ignored her to crouch down on the other side of Danny.

"I'm sorry you had to see that. But you see, your friend was being possessed by a ghost. I had to save him and the ghost."

Sam waved a finger in his face, eyes narrowed, but when she didn't speak Allen ignored her. Instead, he looked down at Danny. The boy was alive, even if he was breathing shallow. Strange. He fell, yes, but not more than a foot and a half. Not enough to do a lot of damage.

He'd worry about that later, for now he had to get rid of the ghost he was still seeing. Maybe because it was in a technically dead boy, he had to destroy the body too?

Allen stood and took a step over Danny's body so that he had a foot on either side of his hip. Taking aim with his arm, Allen positioned the barrel in line with Danny's heart.

Sam instantly was up too and shoving his arm away. "I don't care if you hunt ghosts, that doesn't give you the right to shoot humans!"

"My gun doesn't harm them, only ghosts."

"Well, Danny's hurt."

"And that's because the ghost is tied too closely to his body. Danny hasn't simply been possessed, his soul has been replaced by ghost's. It's not fair to him to let this continue."

"I'm pretty sure he wouldn't mind." Tuck was back, his hand over the barrel of Allen's finger formed gun, and something clicked in Allen's head.

"You two knew he was possessed. Knew he had died, and you became friends with the ghost?" He reeled back, shocked, and wrenched his hand free. "Even if this ghost had acted like Danny, it wasn't, and I'm really sorry, but your friend is gone. This ghost needs to move on."

Again he aimed and again a teenager got in his way.

"It's not like that," Tuck insisted.

"You weren't aware there was a ghost in your friend?"

"It's not a possession. Not really."

"Doesn't matter, the ghost has to go-"

"It stays!" Sam's cry had Allen taking a step back and he stumbled over Danny's still inert body. Tuck reached over and steadied him.

"It stays," Sam repeated, "because right now that ghost is a part of Danny. You can't hurt it without hurting him."

Considering Danny's current state, Allen was inclined to agree. Dead body or no, Danny should not be lying still on the sidewalk taking shallow breathes. He should either be dead or grumpily rubbing a bump on the back of his head.

"There's something you're not telling me."

"And we're not going to."

Allen looked from Sam to Tuck. No, Tucker, now that he thought about it.

"Will he?"

"Depends on who you're working for and why you hunt ghosts."

Allen looked between them again and then deactivated his arm. The barrel of the gun broke up in to five fingers, the glow disappeared, and it once again hung limply by his side.

"I'll swing by Danny's house for dessert."

He hurt, worse than anything he had ever experienced before. What ever Allen had hit him with, Danny would feel it for at least a week. And with every slight movement he made sending pain up his sides, it would be hard hiding from his family.

Thankfully, tonight his parents were doing something with an ectopus in the basement and Jazz was out with friends. Danny was in no mood for eating, but Sam and Tucker had insisted so there was a carton of Chinese carry out on the table in front of him.

"Dude, you really should eat."

"I told you guys, I don't feel hungry. I'm just beyond sore and would love a hot bath and a chance to sleep. But you said Allen was coming. I need to be awake for that."

"Pain meds still not kicking in?" Sam asked.

Danny slowly shook his head, fast movements made his body twinge. "I don't think they're going to. What every Allen hit me with, it was meant to hurt ghosts. And that's I think what's hurting right now. Human medicine isn't gonna cut it." He gave her a thin smile. "I'll live. Fast healer, remember?"

He threw his head back and stared at the ceiling. "I think it more important to figure out what to say to Allen."

"That you're not a ghost possessing a dead body?"

Sam punched Tucker and Danny dropped his head to rub his hand over his face. "Well, we never ruled that out entirely."

"Danny, I'm pretty sure you're not."

"Yeah? And what makes you say that?"

"Allen. He seemed pretty surprised to how that gun of his affected you. If you were just...just Phantom possessing Fenton, I don't think what would have happened was what happened. "

Danny looked to Tucker for clarification, Danny had been unconscious for their talk with Allen, and the technogeek simply shrugged. "She's right. At the very least, he seems to know things about ghosts we haven't picked up from fighting them or reading your parents' research."

"Yeah. Do you think I should tell him?"

Sam rolled her eyes. "I don't know Danny. You've asked three times and the answer is still the same. He seemed willing to listen and doesn't seem to think ghosts are inherently evil like your parents do. He also has a weapon built into his arm more effective than anything your parents built."

Danny frowned at the tabletop. There were too many pros and cons to this situation, all extreme and dangerous, and nothing to tip the scales towards one side or another. He needed more information.

"Get Allen to talk first," Tucker suggested. "Have him explain himself. He attacked first after all."

Danny shrugged. Good idea as any.

They say around the table, picking at their food nervously for the next thirty minutes before a knock sounded at the door. Danny jerked his head up, that had to be Allen, but he couldn't quite bring himself to stand and answer the knock. Sam stood up and did it for him.

Sam returned to the kitchen with Allen Walker in tow, a box of cookies under his arm. Sam took her previous seat. Allen smiled at them, set the cookies on the table, and then pulled out the last chair at the table so he was facing Danny.

"I'm glad we're getting the chance to talk."

"Me too," Danny said, glaring daggers at the other boy. It was a bit unnerving, how he came with a host gift and a sweet smile when a few hours ago he had tried to kill Danny. Half of him wanted to go another around. The other half reminded him that he had lost, lost badly and quickly.

"Earlier, when fighting," Allen had seen Danny change from ghost to human, there was no denying that connection, but that didn't mean Danny had to explain the details. "You said you could see the souls of humans struggling against possession. What did you mean?"

"Exactly that. What did your friends mean when they said you were connected to the ghost?"

"That I'm connected to the ghost."

Danny sat with his arms crossed, leaning against the chair back while he stared at Allen. Allen started eating cookies while he glared back.

Sam said something that sounded like 'boys' under her breath. In another situation, Danny would and had responded with a wounded retort. Tonight, he kept staring at Allen. Who turned to look at Sam fully and strangely give her a little nod.

"You're right, we are being silly and that does nothing to help my mission. Gah, I feel so much like Kanda right now." He ran a hand through his hair, his prosthetic hand Danny noted, that never so much as twitched during school.

"Kanda?" Tucker asked but Allen ignored him to turn his attention back to Danny.

"I'm the stranger here, and while in most places I've traveled to my way of seeing things is accepted it seems that here in Amity Park that's not the case."

Allen was being all sweet and polite and it ground Danny's nerves. It was like Dash being kind in the presence of teachers but a bully once they walked away. Granted, there was no one here to be sweet for because they all knew Allen's more violent side. That almost made it seem worse, as if he was trying to hide himself from the world. Not that Danny having a secret identity wasn't doing the same thing, but it felt more ethical than this...deception to their faces.

"Can you stop that?" Danny bit out.

"Stop what?" Allen looked generally confused.

"That!" Danny waved an arm to encompass of Allen he could see. "You brought cookies like a good little house guest, and now are sitting there with a fake smile on your face and talking like a customer service rep trying to cover up a mistake. We all know you're a fighter and not a smooth talker."

"I happened to learn manners as a child."

"Maybe, but when you're not worried about appearances you do away with the politeness. I've seen you do that a couple of times and that feels more real to me then this. So stop it."

Allen looked quickly to Sam and Tucker to gauge their opinion. Tucker just shrugged and Sam didn't look like she cared either way. Actually, Sam was now looking at Danny like she was wondering what was going on in that crazy brain of his. Did she not see it? And then Allen was looking at Danny again, a calculating look in his eyes that looked much more natural on his face. He didn't say anything, but he subtly leaned back in his chair and his tone was less practiced.

"Here's the thing." Allen took another cookie and stuffed it in his mouth. "Amity Park has the largest concentration of ghosts I have ever seen. I'm surprised the Vatican didn't send me here sooner. That ghost I saved today wasn't the first, and it wasn't the last."

"Saved? You killed Jack!"

"No. I saved him. Have you ever seen what happens when a ghost is old enough it looses its sense of self? Where the only thing left is the obsession that bound it to this plane and forbade it from moving on? Judging by your faces, I'm going to say no. But let me tell you, it's not pretty. They go mad and don't care what they do to fulfill their obsession. And since it is an obsession it never ends."

"What'd you see?" Sam asked softly and Allen flinched.

"I'm not talking about that. What I am talking about is my job. I work for the Vatican, the Church, and it's the job of me and my co-workers to travel the world and put to rest the souls I come across. It's not a painless process, I'll admit that."

Danny recalled the feeling of electricity crawling through his body, the way Jack screamed when he fell and started to disintegrate. No, it wasn't painless at all.

"What makes me one of the best is that I can see it when there are two souls in a body, the result of a ghost possessing someone. Looking at you Danny, I see something strange. Where's there's normally a glow around the body thanks to the ghost and a tethered human soul behind it, you have a tethered glowing soul and that's it."

"Which you took to mean Danny was a corpse possessed by a ghost."

Allen shrugged. "I saw only one soul, and it belonged to a ghost. What was I supposed to think?"

Danny exchanged a look with Sam and Tucker. This talk of souls was creeping him out a little. To see one floating along behind his body, did that mean Danny didn't have one in his body? Or that it was associated with Phantom and not Fenton? Meaning he was dead? He didn't like any of these thoughts. Which is why he had actively avoid thinking about questions related to him being alive or not.

Sam raised an eyebrow at him. She saw something positive here and was willing to back up Danny if he went for it, but was leaving the choice up to him. Tucker just had a thoughtful look on his face. They both knew this conversation was treading onto a touchy subject for Danny.

"When I'm evaluating a new piece of technology, I usually like yes or no answers. Does it work, does it have these features?" Tucker said. Having a definite answer would be better than months of debating.

Danny didn't have to look at Sam to know she was agreeing; she had been a strong supporter of not addressing the question, but only because there was no way to properly answer it. Allen, well Allen probably could. If he didn't want to kill Danny first.

Danny turned back to Allen. "Do you still want to 'save' the ghost you see in me?"

Allen nodded. "It has to be saved, or it will go crazy and take you with it. If you two even are separate. But it's obvious my usual method doesn't work."

Allen really wanted to know why that was and Danny was tempted to tell him. He liked the idea of having his own questions asked. However, Allen had essentially admitted to still wanting to kill him.

"Tell me about the ghost in you."

Danny blinked, startled by the change in thought process. "He's...new I guess. Just a year old."

Allen nodded. "And do you know his obsession?"

Danny shared another look with his friends. This had also been the subject of multiple conversations. Did Phantom even have an obsession, being half ghost? Or did he not feel it very strongly? And what was it?

"Maybe," Tucker answered. "It's hard to tell in such a new ghost don't you think?"

"It's usually pretty obvious-"

"Yeah, well Phantom's not your normal ghost." Tucker countered.

"No," Allen said, eyeing Danny. "No, he's not."

Danny wished he had more than his arms to cover himself with.

"Phantom hasn't shown any destructive behavior," Sam insisted. "He works to protect the town, stopping bad ghosts."

"There' a lot of obsessions related to that. Wanting the admiration or worship of others-"

"With all the bad press Phantom gets?" Danny snorted. "No one likes what he's doing, so he doesn't care about what people think of him."

"He could keep doing it hoping something will change in the future."

"No."

"Violence then."

"He doesn't go around fighting everyone he can. Jack and him were just talking earlier today."

"Saving people," Sam said.

Danny glared at her and Allen looked doubtful.

"I've never meet a ghost with an obsession that was related to others. It always relates to them."

"What does it matter?" Danny threw up his hands in frustration. "Phantom has never had any negative inclinations towards Amity Park. He wants to help it."

"And does he help you?" Allen asked.

"Help me what?"

"Ghosts have power. Has he ever used them to help you as individual?"

"Once or twice. Avoiding bullies."

"And you two," Allen gestured to Sam and Tucker, "Have you ever seen Danny act out of character? Did his behavior change a year ago? Are there events he can't remember, or remembers wrongly?"

"Nope." "None at all."

Allen went back to staring at Danny.

Danny was still in no way willing to tell Allen he was in fact Danny Phantom, not unless the other teen was willing to not hurt him. Which didn't seem to be happen.

After a minute, Allen sighed.

"I know you're still holding out on me, but I'm guessing you have more at stake than I do. The facts are, Danny, I can't save the ghost you're sharing that body with. All I can do is cause you pain and I have no desire to do that. I won't attack you again."

"What about the other ghosts here? They might be a little crazy, and some of them focused on their own gain at the expense of others, but not all of them are evil."

"I'll concede that Amity Park has...rules that are different then the rest of the world. And if it really was that big of an issue I think the Vatican would have actually sent me here instead of on a wondering mission through the state. If this place hasn't attracted the Vatican's attention, it is most likely doing okay on its own. So again, I won't go randomly attacking ghosts here. But I would like a list of ghost you think could use saving."

Danny thought about that. There were a few ghosts he would like to never deal with again, and if Allen was right he was sending them beyond and preventing future harm done by an obsession crazed ghost. Ember. Spectra. Skulker maybe. The hunter hadn't gotten third parties involved in their chase and Danny was surprised to realize that if Allen did smoke him Danny would miss Skulker.

"I can give you a list."

Allen nodded. "I'm also going to come back and check up on you. Make sure that ghost doesn't start taking over you completely. You two," he swung a cookie from Sam to Tucker, "look out for strange behavior and let me know if I should come back."

Tucker looked like there was no way that was going to happen and Sam was giving little head jerks towards Allen. No doubt she wanted Danny to offer up his side of the story, reveal himself as a halfa to clear himself in Allen's mind, but Danny wasn't ready for that yet. Maybe when Allen came back to 'check on him' and followed what he said he'd do.

He wanted answers to his questions, Tucker was probably right that a mind at rest was the best thing, but he still wasn't sure what Allen would do with the information. He could wait.

Danny reached over to take a cookie from the box Allen had brought, was there really only two left? "Sounds like a plan."

Allen looked liked he wanted to say something else, but shook his head. He stuffed the last cookie in his mouth and then stood up. "Give me that list in school tomorrow and by the end of the week I'll be gone."

"Amity Park's an interesting place, sure you don't want to stay a bit longer and learn?" Sam leaned forward onto the table and Danny had to roll his eyes. She had always been into the metaphysical and Allen was most likely a treasure trove of information she wouldn't get from the Skulk and Lurk.

"Amity Park isn't the only place with souls that need saving. You guys have Phantom, other towns have nothing."

Danny stood up, slowly and pushing himself up with hands on the table, and walked around the table. "I'll see you out."

"Thanks. And I apologize for hitting you with my weapon. You look like you're still in pain."

Danny didn't bother responding to that.

At the door, Danny hesitated to open it. "You're not going to tell us about where you got your arm, or why you can see ghosts, or more about this Vatican and your history with ghosts are you?"

Allen gave one of those polite smiles again. "Now Danny, I gave you much more information than you did. And I understand why. But I'm not giving away all of my secrets."

"Fair enough. But no one else from the Vatican is gonna come through here and try shooting me are they?"

"I can't promise no one will walk through, but I'll do nothing to encourage it and make a note in my report that this town is taken care off. Best I can do."

"Thanks."

"This only works of course if your ghost and the others around her behave. You know that right?"

"Yes. So I'll make sure that happens."

"Do that. See you in school Danny."

"See ya." Danny didn't even wait for Allen to finish going down the stairs before closing the front door behind him.

He felt unsettled and the brief walk had taken more out if him then it should have. And a little sad for the changes coming. But by the end of the week his ghost fights would probably be less and he could study for his next text. And while they stood on opposite sides of an issue, something about Allen resonated with Danny. In different circumstances he'd imagine them as allies if not friends. Sorta how he wanted to be with Valerie.

Maybe that would come in time, as Allen came through Amity Park to check up on him and the other ghosts. And he'd learn for sure how to categorize himself. But that was for later and right now Danny just wanted to fall asleep on the couch while watching TV with a friend on either side of him. He deserved it after a day like today.

Because it's not mentioned in the story here's Allen's back story:

Neah died and became a ghost with the obsession of every big brother - protect his younger brother. So he took to haunting Mana but didn't reveal himself because he wanted Mana to move on. But it sorta backfired. Ghostly shenanigans picked at Mana's mind and lost him a variety of jobs. Shortly after joining the circus, Mana was attacked by another clown and Neah overshadowed Mana to force his brother to defend himself. And then realized that was the best way to protect him. Neah stayed in Mana all the time after that.

Allen was abandoned because of a disfigured arm, shrunken with a deformed hand that was at his elbow. He was left on the local church's steps. When he was three, a new priest came who had the idea that Allen needed to be exorcised and his arm would be normal. He left the church cuz he was scared, found Mana, and lived with him for a few years before crossing paths with the priest again. The priest kidnapped Allen, drew on his face with holy water and began his spell.

It'd didn't go quite as expected. For one, Neah's obsession had expanded to include Allen and so when the kid went missing he forced Mana's body to find him. The other issue was the spell was supposed to bring the Holy Spirit into Allen's body to kick out the devil, but since there was no devil Allen just got a holy super power. Namely, seeing the souls of ghosts when they are tied to a person. (Allen can't use his eye to see normal ghosts just floating around. They have to be overshadowing someone.)

Allen gained this ability watching Mana fight the priest, only he suddenly realized that Mana's wasn't just Mana anymore. Neah knocked the priest out, grabbed Allen, and ran.

Neah then did his best to explain ghosts and spirits to Allen, helped him understand what he was seeing. Allen was a bit confused, but went along with it. But as time went by Neah started seeing threats everywhere, becoming overly aggressive and preventing Allen from doing things. After a few months, Neah had decided the best way to protect Allen and Neah was to live in an isolated house with boarded windows.

Allen knew this was bad news, caused a commotion in town to try to prevent it, but was eventually dragged away by Neah/Mana. This was, of course, spotted by Cross who came looking for them. Knowing Mana, and that this was not how he was supposed to be, Cross shot him. Allen made a comment about watching Neah smile and he and Cross had a long talk. Allen joined the Vatican, where they cut off his arm and fitted him with the fake - Crown Clown.