Section 9: Dani's POV

Ghost Zone

"I think it's safe to say you're no illusion, huh?"

Sometimes I wondered how I could be a clone of someone who's skull was as thick as Danny's. "You're still on about that?"

We had just escaped from Walker's Prison using our human halves' abilities to walk through Ghost Zone matter. We were flying through the Ghost Zone in search of a portal into the human world. Danny had also mentioned there being a Ghost of Time that could send us back to where we needed to be, but immediately dismissed the idea. Apparently, Danny had given him a pet ghost owl as a Halloween present and didn't want to bother him as he had his fun.

Anyway, moving on to the Ghost Zone. It was my first time being in here. It was a lot warmer than the Human World, though all the spectral noise did give me a slight headache. Danny said that would go away as I got used to it. I also noticed my ghost powers were stronger in the Ghost Zone. I'm not much of a scientist, but I figured it was because the ectoplasm in my body built up faster here than in the Human World.

Moving back to my conversation with Danny.

"It's been a long week," replied Danny defensively. "So, how did you even get into the Ghost Zone?"

I'll be honest. I originally thought I was dreaming. I was about to be hit by an anti-ghost blast, and the first thing I saw after opening my eyes from flinching was the green cesspool of ghost matter we were currently flying in.

I shook my head. "I don't know. One minute I was about to be blasted to bits by Valerie, then the next, I was watching you hallucinate."

"Valerie was attacking you?"

"Yeah. Something was off about her. She had ghost powers. And she seemed a little lost."

"Yeah, I bet." Danny's eyebrows were etched with confusion. He seemed to be a bit lost, as well, and not just in the literal sense.

"What's wrong," I asked.

Danny looked at me, then turned away. "I can't help but think it's all my fault. If I had just been more conscious of my surroundings, maybe Valerie's life would've never been in danger. And now, even I don't know what's happening to me with these sharp pains in my chest."

Ever since Danny and Valerie saved me all those months ago, I've been emotionally linked to Danny. Sometimes, I could feel what he felt. What he felt right now was genuine remorse. He truly thought everything that had happened over the last two days were his fault.

I stopped flying kept floating, with Danny following suit. I couldn't say anything to make him feel better about Valerie; only Valerie herself could do that. I could, however, give him some insight about his 'illness'.

"Actually, I've seen it before. I saw it in one of Vlad's clones. There was too much ectoplasm for your human half to handle. I think letting out your echo-y ghost power fixed it, though."

Danny had just realized that he hadn't felt any sharp pains in his chest since then. "Or maybe it was getting half of Technus' core."

That could've been it. I wasn't entirely focusing on what Danny was saying because there was some other noise that was bothering me. Besides the purring Danny said everything in the Ghost Zone does.

Wait, do you hear that?

I wasn't sure if this noise was friendly or hostile so I telepathically communicated with Danny to avoid the unknown party hearing us.

"Hear what?" Danny didn't seem to realize I had asked him telepathically and spoke out loud.

Shhh.

It was then that a sort of space ship had blazed in beside us. I remembered it from the first time Danny and I fought Vlad with each other. It meant it was a friendly! Sorry, I just got really excited at that moment.

"The Spector Speeder?"

There were two people in the spaceship: Valerie, who had tears streaming down her face for some reason, and a buff Asian guy in a red-and-white letterman jacket and black shirt, who seemed oddly familiar. He looked to be around Danny's and Valerie's age.

"Fenton-Meister! Looking good!"

Danny looked down at his clothes to make sure he was still in his ghost form. I assumed this new guy wasn't supposed to know Danny was half-ghost.

"I call shotgun," Danny exclaimed as he took off and phased through the ghost cruiser. He probably assumed that Valerie had told him and considering the Asian dude's persona towards him, he presumed, like I did, that he was okay with it, even idolizing him.

"Hey, no fair!"

The Asian guy was sitting in the front, piloting the Spector Speeder, while Valerie was sitting beside him, but had moved into the back seat right when they arrived, as if they had planned who would be sitting where. That meant I had to sit next to Valerie. I wasn't particularly upset about that.

The moment we got into the Spector Speeder, Valerie turned to me and hugged me.

"Hey, Dani? I just wanted to say sorry for being so antagonistic earlier. I had a lot going on and wasn't thinking straight, to say the least."

I understood where she was coming from. I felt the same way when the man I thought cared about me turned around and revealed I was nothing more than a puppet to him, or as he put it, "existed to serve him." I was apologetic towards Danny for double-crossing him. Now, Valerie was in the same place.

"It's okay," I said. "I get where you're coming from."

I then turned my attention towards my half-ghost original sitting in the seat in front of me.

Such a romantic date for you and Valerie: The Ghost Zone.

Danny turned his head slightly towards me, enough so he could see me through his peripheral vision.

I'd rather be in the Ghost Zone than the Friend Zone.

I let out a light chuckle, which was more than I should've done.

My chuckle grabbed the attention of a sound-sensitive Valerie. "What's up?"

"Hmm? Nothing!"

Valerie noticed Danny and I were staring at each other but wasn't sure why, which was fine by me. I'm no social expert, but I figured it would've been best to keep her in the dark about this.

Valerie gave us the rundown of what had happened in Fenton Works.

"My folks are gonna kill me when I get back," Danny complained, talking about his parents knowing he's half-ghost.

"Actually," the Asian guy retorted, "They seemed pretty chill about it. A couple of concerns about your safety, but all in all, I think they're proud of you."

"Thanks, Kwan."

The rest of the ride was in silence, though it wasn't for very long as a few minutes later, we were at the Fenton Ghost Portal.

I could sense Danny's stiffness about the whole situation.

There were three people in the room besides us four. Danny's mom, his sister, and the Asian guy from before that looked like an older version of Kwan; he was probably his dad.

Mrs. Fenton ran up to Danny and gave him a big hug. "Danny, I'm so glad you're okay!"

Danny welcomed the embrace. "You're… you're not upset with me? I mean, I kept a crucial part of my life a secret from you guys for all these years."

"Sweetie." Danny's mom pulled away keeping her hands on his shoulders and looked him in the eyes. "Yeah, you're a ghost, but from what Tucker and Sam told me, you've been a pain in the butt to all the evil ghosts out there in your own unique way!"

"Thanks, mom."

Danny's mom then moved over and bent her knees down making eye contact with me. "And who might you be?"

I was tempted to use the speech I used when I first met Danny, but I figured this time around I'd be truthful.

"I'm Danielle. I'm a clone of Danny made by Vlad."

Mrs. Fenton's eyes willed with disdain. "Vlad. Why am I not surprised?"

"Is that… okay?" I was afraid her hatred towards Vlad would extent to me. The last thing I wanted was for a potential parental figure to hate me. Especially after what Vlad put me through.

Her eyes reverted back to joy. "Oh, of course, sweetie! If you need a place to stay, you're more than welcome to come live with us."

Danny walked up to me from behind and put his hands on my shoulders. "You'll be the sister I always wanted!"

Jazz was hurt by that comment. "Hey," she pouted.

"Oh, you know I'm kidding," Danny said with a grin.

Jazz walked up to him and vigorously rubbed his hair. "I know."

"I guess," Kwan's dad started, "Valerie is a capable young girl. And Danny? Both of you. You both are prime examples of ghosts that are also humane."

Kwan's dad turned to his son. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you sooner about Phantom being a good ghost. I hope you can forgive me."

Kwan fought back tears as he mustered his next words. "Who you really need forgiveness from," he started, "is Mom."

Kwan's dad let out a smile. "You're right. How would you like to come with me to meet your mother?"

"I'd love to, dad."

Kwan and his father left the Fenton Lab, the latter's arm around the former. I imagined they had a lot of catching up to do with Kwan's mom.

After that, Mrs. Fenton grabbed my shoulder in one hand, then Jazz's in another and pushed me out of the room. "Come, you two. I feel Danny and Valerie have some talking to do."

I happened so fast, but I did see out of the corner of my eye that Danny and Valerie were uncomfortably standing near each other. And, although they were uncomfortable, I picked up another feeling from Danny.

All his friends and family knew about his ghost powers and supported the work he did. He felt really relaxed about it. He felt like he was finally at peace.