Danny straightens his bowtie as he stares at his own form in the mirror, his eyes darting between himself and Sam's reflection. "Are you sure this looks okay?"

"You look fine, Danny. Geez. I never took you for someone who was fussy about their appearance."

"I'm not," he replies, immediately turning towards his suitcase. He picks it up off the bed with ease, holding it tightly in one hand. "I just want to look normal."

"Well, it hasn't worked so far," Sam snorts, plopping down in front of him on his bed, lacing his free fingers with hers. She massages the back of his hand with her thumb, working out the tension between his knuckles. "Just one more day, Danny. Maybe we'll stay here for the night, but after that we're gone."

"But what about Skulker? What about Vlad and… and Slade?" Danny tastes the name. He finds he doesn't like it. "This is so much bigger than just saving my identity, Sam. What the heck are they planning?"

Sam meets his gaze. "Danny," she says, standing to meet his height, "your responsibility is protecting Amity Park. Sure, you did save the planet once - I'm not demeaning your efforts or anything," she clarifies with an apologetic look when she sees his frown. "But this is Jump City. This place is for the Teen Titans to protect. You should leave it to them."

"But I - "

"I know," she interrupts. "I know you're involved. And maybe I'm saying this because I don't want you to get hurt, but… until it comes to a point where they physically can't take down Slade or whoever on their own, you stay put."

Danny makes an unintelligent sound from his throat, partly from frustration, partly from defeat. There's a little bit of a strained staring contest that proceeds between the two of them before he sighs, hanging his head.

"Fine," he murmurs.

"Good," Sam says with a smirk, sneaking a quick kiss on his cheek. "Now let's go before your mom gets the wrong idea."

Danny's ears start to burn. "What - Sam!" He cries, following her out of the room.

Starfire waits for them on the bottom floor, all smiles and cheer. "Hello, friends! Are you ready for the convention? I'm sure it will be filled with fun!"

"You seem to be the only one who thinks that," Danny replies with a nervous smile, glancing at Robin. Boy Wonder is currently shoveling Starfire's mush of burned oatmeal into his mouth, too angry and irritable to care about the taste. His gaze flits over to Danny and it stays there.

Danny swallows hard, unsure how to react.

A part of him wonders if it's safer to just tell Robin about his identity. To come clean and ultimately just wash away the bad blood between them. At least that would clear any suspicion the Teen Titans have. They'd be more focused on this… Slade guy if they weren't so caught up with -

Wait.

Danny takes a deep breath (which doesn't go unnoticed by Robin's masked eyes). Maybe that's it. Maybe that's the whole part of Slade's or Vlad's plan - they want the Teen Titans to be distracted by Danny so that this evil plot can carry on without interruptions. So then… if he just…

But the risks are too high. He doesn't know Robin or the others well enough to predict their reaction. And if it ends up with loaded guns and other things, he will definitely regret it. So what's the safest move? Why does this have to be so darn confusing?!

Of course, before he can even ask Sam whether or not it's a good idea, an excited pair of Fentons come waltzing in with a crash, Jazz's rather unamused expression following close behind.

"Hello, kids!" Maddie Fenton shouts. "You ready to roll? The convention starts in just a couple hours! We better head on into the RV in fifteen, so get eating and get going!"

"Whoo hoo!" Cyborg cheers. "Let's go!"

Robin grumbles something incoherent, drops his finished bowl into the sink, and heads out with Starfire in tow.

"This had better not be boring," Raven says quietly. She flashes her eyes at Danny before briskly making her way to the door, grabbing Beast Boy by the collar and dragging him away from the play station. "Hey," Beast Boy protests, but even he seems too interested in the idea of a ghost convention to care about finishing his game.

Danny and Sam decide to just grab a couple energy bars and head out. But before they make it to the main hall, Danny stops.

"Wait. Where's Tucker?"

"You don't have to look so pissed off, Danny."

"I'm not."

"Yeah, clearly, since Robin is currently dancing with your date."

Danny sighs, leaning back against the punch table. "Come on, Tuck, you know he isn't doing that just to be nice. He's trying to leech information off of her. That's all."

"Then you have nothing to worry about," Tucker replies. He straightens his own suit jacket and smiles at Danny. "She's at least better at lying than you are."

Apparently, Tucker was busy hacking Robin's files last night, looking for information about Slade - which is why he didn't show up for breakfast that morning. Danny had to give him his last energy bar just to get the guy to sit up straight. "It was completely unnecessary," Tucker later told him when they both arrived at the convention. "Slade was always the front page of every news website. Guy's a psycho terrorist. Threatened to bomb the city so many times just to mess with the Titans. He's even worse than Masters, dude."

The dad weight inside Danny's stomach grew ever present after that.

Tucker and Danny eyed the whole place wearily. The circular hall that looked reminiscent of a church, the ceiling at least seven stories above them; the twinkling lights, the tables, the platform where people were dancing and socializing; the podium on the stage, where the opening speech was given. There was a huge chandelier about thirty or forty feet above their heads, the crystals bouncing light in all directions. This place was beautifully dressed for trouble, especially with so many ghost hunters involved.

"Wait. Is that the XTreme Ghostbreakers?" Tucker asks, pointing to the man and woman dressed in neon green athletic gear. They've chained in the last couple years; they still have those goofy grins on their faces, but their weaponry looks ten times as threatening. "And that's - "

" - The Groovy Gang. Yeah." Danny snorts. "A recipe for disaster, I know."

"I have no idea how last year's ghost convention went so well," Tucker says. "Are you still planning on solving this whole big issue about Slade, Danny? Because I don't think that'll be easy with all these loaded ghost weapons around - even if they do suck at their job as much as they did before."

"Sam told me to sit this one out," Danny admits, trying to swallow the temptation to complain about her advice. "Even though I'm involved, she says that if I throw myself into the fray I could end up making things worse."

"Yeah…" Tucker shrugs. "I mean, considering you've, like, disappeared for a year, your ghost fighting abilities are probably total crap. She's right."

"I really wish she wasn't so much better at this than I am."

They both watch her dance around with a suited up Robin, a pretty smile on her face. She looks rather nice in her purple gown, and every time she spins Danny's stomach does a flip. He averts his gaze, trying to keep himself from going insane. His eyes land on Starfire, who's rocking out in a glittery pink dress, giggling loudly as Cyborg gently takes her around the room.

"You think Raven would murder me if I ask her for one dance?" Tucker asks. Danny shrugs. "Go for it," he says. "This is a public event, after all. The only person she's obligated to kill for that is Beast Boy."

"True," Tucker says, and with that he walks off.

Danny decides he may as well check out the exhibitions on the second floor, seeing as he looked pretty pathetic standing alone in a crowd of mingling people. He heads up the marble steps, following the signs until he reaches the huge balcony with a bunch of posters and smart looking people explaining their research to equally enthusiastic listeners. Many of the displays are very detailed with information. Some have written journals on the theory of the manifestation of ghosts. Other have full ectoplasm analyses and its usefulness in certain experiments. Danny finds himself rather interested, and before he knows it, an hour has passed when he makes it pretty far into the maze of scientific research. It's funny, how much of this stuff he's seen in real life. Some of the ghosts he has fought are recorded and even interacted with, by the looks of it. Someone's been trying to give the Box Ghost psychological therapy, much to Danny's amusement. There are so many charged ecto guns and other weapons, radiators, ecto filters, even more efficient versions of the Fenton thermos. Prototypes of the Fenton RV have been designed on blueprints. He sees his parents' names on almost every single one of these presentations, and he starts to wonder just how modest his family is when it comes to their fame, despite their eccentricity.

One display almost immediately catches his attention, and he whirls around and stares.

"The Disappearance of the Ghost Boy - Danny Phantom?" Danny reads incredulously. He laughs, reading as much as he can. There are so many pictures of him on his escapades from random public security cameras, paragraphs on all of his abilities, his personality, detailed analyses as to why he is an anomaly compared to other ghost. Even Dani Phantom, his "cousin", is shown flying around in random parts of the world. Danny is almost creeped out by the amount of stalking this person must of done until he reads the contributors.

"Of course, he murmurs. "The Guys in White are the only ones with this much access. But isn't all of this technically illegal?"

He continues to read until he feels someone's eyes on him. Danny turns, and he finds Robin watching him with a leveled stare.

"Oh, uh," Danny says. "Hey."

"Surprised to see you here," Robin says. "I thought you said you weren't interested in ghosts."

"I don't know," Danny vaguely replies. "It's just weird to see my parents' names all over the place. Where's Sam? She was with you earlier, wasn't she?"

"She's with Beast Boy. They got into some weird conversation about being ultra-recycling vegetarianism. I wasn't really…"

"Yeah. I know what you mean."

Danny hopes that it's enough to change the subject, but Robin isn't about to let it go. "Listen, Danny." His expression swiftly changes to something more serious. "I need ask you some questions, and you have to tell me the truth."

"Oh. Okay," Danny says, trying not to look guilty. "Ask away."

"What is your relation with Vlad Masters?"

Danny raises his eyebrows, clearly caught off guard. So Robin knows that Vlad's involved. But does he know about Slade? "He… he was my dad's old friend from college. And I'm sure you know him as Vlad Plasmius, too. Tried to make a profit off of saving the world, and all that. Why?"

"No. I'm not asking who he is." Robin steps forward, cutting into Danny's personal space. "I want to know how you're involved with him. All of those ghosts that you know so much about are somehow, "coincidentally" involved with Plasmius. And I know enough about your history with the man to understand that you two are more than just acquaintances. You're a part of this whole scheme somehow. I'm sure you know something about all of these ghost attacks that are happening. You're hiding something from the rest of us. Now tell me what you know."

Yep. Okay. Coming clean definitely seemed like the best idea right now. Considering Danny couldn't just invisible himself out of this one, there was no turning back. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see a red eye gazing at the two - Cyborg is watching the whole scene. This trap was planned by the looks of it. Robin had wanted to confront Danny from the beginning by separating him from his friends.

Nice one, Boy Wonder.

"Okay. Okay," Danny insists, putting his hands up in surrender. "Fine. I'll tell you everything. But I'm not Vlad's buddy, or anything, if that's what you think." Danny spits the name; it's dredging up bad memories from a long time ago. "Vlad was… he was awful. A, a creep, a fruitloop. He was obsessed with my mother, and when he "lost" the chance to have her because of a failed ectoplasmic experiment, he decided to use his newfound powers to kill my dad." Robin's expression changes to one of complete surprise, and Danny nods. "Yeah. exactly. Psycho nearly got away with it, too, if I hadn't stepped in and tried to stop him as best as I could. Dad was always clueless about it. He thought they were the best of friends. Since I saw through it all I could at least get in the way. After all, mom wouldn't react well if she knew that Vlad was attempting murder."

"Then why didn't you tell them in the first place?" Robin pressed. "What did he have against you? Your parents are ghost hunters. It wouldn't have been so far fetched of a story that they wouldn't believe you. Maybe I can believe that he hated your father, but that doesn't explain why in all of these reports, you were somehow always his target. I've dredged up reports of him kidnapping you, sabotaging your trip with your mother, shooting you during a campaign for becoming the mayor of Amity Park. What made him change his target from your dad to you?"

Danny suddenly becomes very, very quiet. Robin doesn't take it well. "Answer me!" He growls. "Or I swear you're going to regret it. What kept you from telling people from the get go? Did he threaten you? Are you two in some sort of agreement now? Is he forcing you to help him? Tell me!"

It's insane, how well Robin is able to keep his anger at such a low volume where no one could hear. But it still packed just as much force as it would've if he were screaming. Danny flinches, looking at the ground. "It's… It's because… I - "

BOOM.

There's a silence as a huge shockwave shakes the whole hall, and Danny barely keeps himself on his feet. Two seconds later a whole riot begins, with screams and the glow of green filling the air as ectobeams bounce around the walls.

"Impeccable timing," Robin grumbles. "You," he says to Danny, "are coming with me."

They both dash downstairs to the stage - where all hell is breaking loose. It seems that out of nowhere a gigantic dragon has been set loose on the crowd, wreaking havoc on the rather surprised group of guests. Only a handful of people remain in the room, thankfully. Those who have ectoguns on them have already jumped into action; Danny sees his mom and dad trying to take care of the situation with the other fighters while Jazz, Sam, and Tucker usher people out of the doors. The Guys in White have seemingly jumped out of nowhere, attacking the beast with spectacular cannons with little effect.

"TITANS! GO!" Robin bellows over the fray. Raven and Beast Boy fly into action and attack the blue dragon directly, while Starfire and Cyborg support from the ground with beams and blasts of energy.

"I suppose you know this ghost too," Robin spits. Danny smiles and shrugs apologetically.

"The amulet around the dragon's neck," he says. "It turns the wearer into a monster whenever they're furious. She's actually a nice person when she isn't angry. I suppose someone set her off."

Robin scowls at him one last time before getting ready to pounce. "Go for the amulet!" He shouts up at Raven. But before he can join in, there's a shriek as Starfire gets hit by a ricocheting ecto beam. "Star!" Cyborg shouts, reaching towards her, but his momentary distraction causes him to get thrown back by a whip of the dragon's tail.

"Not good," Danny murmurs. "At this rate… She's going to tear down the whole place!"

"Tell me this isn't even slightly your doing," Robin sneers. "Tell me you aren't involved in this. Do you see how many people are in danger right now? Does this mean nothing to you?!"

"I told you - this isn't my fault!" Danny shouts back over the sound of chaos. "I didn't ask for this! I haven't even seen Vlad since he disappeared off of the face of the Earth - literally!" Danny grabs Robin's arm. "There's a reason I've been his target for so long. There's a reason he's back and wants his revenge! There's a reason he's using me as a distraction to turn your suspicion onto me instead of onto him! It's because I - "

He's interrupted by a resounding crack, and Robin and Danny watch in horror as the ginormous chandelier's chain snaps from the force of a GIW ectoblast. Raven tries to jump for it, but she gets swatted like a fly by the dragon's claws.

"Oh, no," Robin breathes, swallowing as it begins to fall.

There's no time to think, no time to care about the consequences. All Danny sees is his parents underneath the shadow of the metal weight, and Danny does the one thing he knows he can do. With a battle cry and some reassurance that no one is watching him, Danny goes ghost and launches himself at the chandelier with all the speed he can muster. The second his hand touches the metal he allows the cold feeling of intangibility take over.

"Please work, please work!" He murmurs, shutting his eyes tight. He can't watch. He can't do it. He just - needs to focus -

He feels the weight of the chandelier disappear, and he pulls it up, suspending it in midair. He cracks an eye open - no one is hurt. His family is safe. He wants to sigh with relief, but it's taking up all of his energy to keep this thing in the air, so he tightens his grip and lifts as much as he can. Once the shock washes over and dissipates, everyone clears out and away from the giant piece of metal. After he's sure no one's underneath, Danny gently places the chandelier onto the ballroom floor, sweat dribbling down his face.

A terrible roar reverberates around the room. Danny tenses, ready to take on the dragon, but Raven is already there, yanking the amulet off of the beast's neck. Slowly, the ghost returns to her normal height, and after taking the amulet from Raven with a grateful, almost teary smile, she disappears in a wisp of green smoke.

Danny's ears are ringing from the adrenaline rush, so he doesn't hear the initial loud gasps and offended shouts. It's only when he hears his name that he freezes, suddenly very aware that he isn't invisible right now.

"That's - it's Phantom!"

"Danny Phantom!"

"Oh my God - Invis-o-bill!"

"He's BACK!"

Danny finds himself turning slowly, making eye contact with Tucker, who has his jaw touching the floor as he gapes like a fish. Sam is busy repeatedly smacking her head against the palm of her hand, mouthing something that looks like "stupid, stupid, stupid" repeatedly. He then whirls over at Robin, who looks like a deer caught in the headlights, unable to figure out how to react to this turn of events.

Oh, crud.

Jesus hell sorry this whole story is total bullshit and it's been so long since I've updated.

I just realized how freaking circumstantial this whole plot is. "Oh, hey, uh, we just so happened to see the Teen Titans at a pizza place, and with no warning or anything they're like, "hey, stay at our place!" 'cause that's normal!" Ehhh, whatever. It's fanfiction, not a published work. I have a right to be a little unrealistic.

Yeah, I don't know when I'll be updating next. Maybe in a year? I want to get this done before graduation, but the hell if that happens. I can't make promises.

Screw it. Review. Favorite. Whatever.

~Blaze