A/N: GAHHH. SCHOOL, WHY DO YOU HATE ME? HURRICANE SANDY, WHY DID YOU MAKE SCHOOL CLOSE FOR A WEEK THAT I NOW HAVE TO MAKE UP IN TWO DAYS?!

Ahem. In other news, story. Which was totally supposed to have been up like a week ago.

~\/~

It wasn't fair. It just. Wasn't. FAIR.

Not even three months after rejoining with his mother, the doctors told them that she was dying. DYING. And not from anything that could be easily fixed, or prevented through medication or exercise or something. No, if she wanted to live, she needed a kidney transplant.

So why didn't they just put her on the transplant list and wait for a match? Simple. She had been to rehab not that long ago and was considered at risk for a relapse, so they were a bit more reluctant to push her to the top of the list.

The second reason? Her blood type was O negative. She was a universal donor, but it was nearly impossible to find a viable match for herself. Still, she needed a kidney.

So Danny offered one of his. He had researched transplants after hearing about his mother and knew that he could survive with just the one kidney. His mother could take his extra.

The doctors were willing to do this, provided one thing: they needed to see if Danny's kidney was a viable match. Admittedly, it was highly likely due to their familial relationship, but these things still required some testing to be sure. So, they got a blood test.

It was negative. Not only was Danny not O negative, he wasn't even O. No, Danny was AB, which meant only one thing.

Danny wasn't Shea's son.

~\/~

Jazz, Sam, and Tucker hunted Danny down after hearing about what had happened that morning. They were apparently very concerned, hoping that the boy was alright and that no one was bothering him too much about it.

Dark had taken over when he and Phantom had realized that everyone was still mocking Danny after first period. He'd quickly threatened every offender, warning them off if they so much as looked at Danny wrong. But he couldn't tell that to these three. Instead, he simply shrugged fluidly, once again showing off the grace he possessed and the other two personalities lacked. "I'm okay."

Jazz's brow furrowed in thought, she nibbling on her lower lip. But it was Tucker who spoke. "You sure, dude?" he asked, his own eyebrows knitting together in worry for the small boy.

"I can take care of myself, you know," Dark replied, raising a brow at the sheer amount of anxiety they showed over something so minor. After all, in other schools, he'd had to deal with much worse rumors than being gay.

"Well, yeah, but—" Sam harshly elbowed Tucker in the side to cut him off. Danny and Phantom internally winced in sympathetic pain at the sight. It looked as though she got him right between two ribs.

Sam tossed a glare at Tuck before turning a half-grin on Dark. "We know, we just want to help out any way we can."

Dark scowled at her. "I don't need any help," he snapped back at them, bristling at the mere insinuation that he couldn't protect Danny. Or, as far as they knew, that Danny couldn't protect himself.

Finally Jazz spoke up. "Danny, we really didn't mean to offend you, we just wanted to let you know that you can come to us with any problems you might have." Then, she dragged her two friends off, waving goodbye and announcing that classes were about to start.

Dark rolled his eyes, Great, class…. Then, he smirked. This one's all you, Phantom.

And suddenly the jokester was blinking himself back into control, and being handed a detention slip by the hall monitor for missing class due to the disorientation of Dark's quick change.

~\/~

Esu was scowling for the entirety of the school day because of his ruined plans. The locker prank hadn't worked at all, even though everyone couldn't stop teasing the boy about "coming out" of the locker, as it were. No, instead of the prank allowing Esu to sweep in and be the hero, it had turned Danny against the whole school. Not only had the small teen threatened everyone who dared to make fun of him, he did it in such a way that people were actually more scared of Danny than they were of Esu.

And the king of Casper High just wouldn't stand for it.

"That punk needs to learn his place," Esu growled under his breath as he sat in English class, listening to the overweight, balding teacher ramble on while Esu rested his head on his folded arms. As if school weren't boring enough, they just had to let incompetent losers like Lancer teach.

Esu rolled his eyes, deciding that the class wasn't worth his attention, and instead going back to plotting his next move against the other teen. He needed it to be something subtle, something vague enough that it wouldn't be connected back to Esu but at the same time obvious enough that Danny notices it for what it is, that he doesn't just overlook it.

He needed the perfect ploy, the perfect plan.

And he knew just what to do.

~\/~

Jazz Fenton was well known for wanting to become a psychiatrist. She'd spent years studying psychology, to the point where she had whole textbooks memorized, Hermione Granger style. She could quote any passage from any psychology book a person would name, usually just a paragraph or two, but sometimes full pages or even chapters at a time, all from memory.

So, of course she kept track of all the psychological issues of every student at Casper High. She knew about Sam's overbearing independence caused by her parents' shoving of their own ideals down her throat and Tucker's dependence on technology as a way to combat his own insecurities. She also knew about the issues of all the Walkers' foster kids.

Except that new kid, Danny Whelan. He seemed quiet, shy, which pointed towards an inferiority complex, but at the same time, he'd had no problems terrorizing all those who'd mocked him for the words written on his locker that morning. Then there were times when he'd be joking around with people, usually the other foster kids that stayed with the Walkers, but there always seemed to be something holding him back, like he wasn't able to be himself around them.

She knew there was something she was missing, yet she just couldn't put her finger on it. But she'd find out.

She always found out.

~\/~

Those Fentons are insane!

Phantom smirked a bit at Dark's exclamation. Which ones, the parents or the kids? For they had heard earlier that day about how the Fenton parents were obsessed with ghosts, ghost hunting, and inventing weapons to fight off, you guessed it, ghosts.

Dark rolled his eyes. The kids. The parents are weirdos, but the kids are just plain old crazy! He crossed his arms, glaring at no one in particular. They're gonna get us into a helluva lotta trouble….

Danny was about five seconds away from banging his head repeatedly into his desk. The other two always got this way, having to argue any time there was a moment of silence out in the "real world" outside Danny's head. It was frustrating and often embarrassing for Danny, since the two had no problem arguing aloud, as well. Plus, they didn't seem to consider it cheating to whisper answers (whether they were right or wrong was negligible) to him during tests and quizzes. ...Well, Dark didn't. Phantom, however, was violently against anything even remotely close to cheating, so he always had a lot to say on the subject whenever Dark tried.

The teen shook his head, trying to clear it both of his own thoughts and the argument between his other identities. It only half-worked.

Aw, we get into trouble just fine on our own, Dark, don't go blaming it on others!

Dark huffed at that. I'm not blaming others, I'm saying they'll get us into more trouble! His brow furrowed in confusion. ...When have we ever got into trouble on our own?

Um…. Phantom stumbled over his words in his rush to prove himself right. Well, when we got into that fight with that jock kid back in Omaha—

He pushed Danny down a flight of stairs! Dark screeched, indignant over the bullying attempt from five years ago.

Phantom barreled on, completely ignoring Dark's protests. —And when we snuck out of detention in Chicago—

The teacher tried to grope him!

But again Dark went unheard except by a rapidly reddening Danny. —Or when you poured jello in that one guy's locker in Springfield—

Dark paused a moment, thinking back on that day with a smirk. Okay, yeah, that one was just for laughs.

See! Phantom yelped, pointing an accusing finger at Dark in victory. I told you we get into trouble on our own! He folded his arms across his chest, nose in the air. And you didn't believe me. Ha!

Dark and Danny both stared at him, somehow not as surprised as they should've been that he completely ignored most of what Dark had said. One time, dude, Dark replied, deadpan, out of about fifty.

Phantom shrugged. I'd play those odds.

Dark's eyelids went half-mast. I'd play against you. He held out a hand. Fork over my winnings.

No! Phantom yelled back, pouting.

Danny closed his eyes, wishing the two would just shut up already, but of course that just invited them to be even more crazy.

Psychos.

Awww, is the widdle Phantom pouting? Dark said, putting on a baby voice as he mocked the other. Wook at widdle Phantom, isn't he sooo cuute?

Shut up, Phantom whined, still pouting. It's not funny, and I am not cute!

Baby Phantom wanna bottle?

Cut it out!

Awww, is Phantom-Baby cranky? Does Baby Phantom wanna nap?

And Phantom drop-kicked Dark into the other room, allowing Danny a moment of silence before the two started an all-out brawl in the middle of the classroom.

Thank God he was the only one who could see them.

~\/~

Sam and Tucker gaped at their friend. "You… wanna do what now?" Sam exclaimed.

"I feel like I know that Whelan kid from somewhere," Jazz explained as she rapidly typed on her computer, mostly looking on Google but also setting things up for Tucker to work his technological magic. "I need you to help me look."

Tucker bit his lip. "Jazz, do you really think—?"

"Yes, now help!"

With a sigh, the techno-geek sat down in the chair, spinning into place and setting his fingers over the keys. "Okay, what am I searching for?"

Jazz was quick with a response, as always. "School records, police reports, birth certificate, anything will do."

"Fine." His fingers began flying, lightning-quick over the keyboard, eyes scanning the multitude of pages that cropped up at his command. "Let's see…. Well, he's been to just about every school in the midwest, been in a few fights worthy of contacting the cops, no arrests, though, and got shuffled around to a ton of different foster homes from the ages of three to ten and thirteen to now."

Sam's brow furrowed, her curiosity getting the better of her as she leaned over Tucker's chair. "Where was he from ten to thirteen?" Jazz nodded next to her, about to have asked the same.

"Lemme check." A few more taps at the computer and Tucker was pulling up a couple news articles. The first was talking about a woman leaving rehab, and the second was about someone in need of a transplant. "Looks like he was allowed back with his druggie mom. But she died when he was thirteen of kidney failure."

Sam and Jazz shared a look, obviously not having expected such a tragic past for the seemingly upbeat (if shy) boy. "...Why did they not find a transplant?" Jazz asked quietly.

Tucker shook his head. "They tried, but she had a super-rare blood type."

Sam scowled. "So? She had a kid, right? Danny could've given her a kidney."

Once more, the tech genius pulled up a newspaper article that read "Whelan Son Not Viable Match?" "He tried. His blood type didn't match."

Both girls stared at the image of a sobbing, younger Danny, holding tight to a redheaded woman with vibrant gold eyes. Sam's brow furrowed. "Hey, doesn't she look familiar, too?"

Jazz and Tucker squinted at the picture. "I guess," Tucker said, shrugging as he leaned back, "maybe a little."

But Jazz gasped. "Tucker, pull up where Danny was born!"

With a slight frown, Tucker did so, eyes widening in shock as he read aloud his findings. "Daniel Whelan, born August 16, 1993, at… Amity Park General."

Sam and Jazz's eyes and jaws both popped open at that. "What?" Sam yelped, almost shoving Tucker to the floor in her race to verify what he'd said. Skimming over the document, she gaped. "But—But that would mean—!"

"He was born at the same place, on the exact same day as Esu."

~\/~

"How could this happen?" The question was brought up so innocently by the distraught young boy. He didn't know of affairs and thought of the workers in a hospital (or police department, or school, or any other such public corporation) as perfect, or at least as close to perfect as one could get.

Shea sniffled, pulling the boy—her son, who cares what the tests say—closer to her. "I don't know, Danny. But sometimes, these things just… happen."

The boy's face pulled into a small, determined pout. "Well, I'm gonna find out where your bio—biological son is, and then you'll get the kidney you need!"

She smiled at him. "Thank you, Éiníní."

"I promise, Mommy, I'll make sure you get that transplant!"

~\/~

A/N: UGH SO LATE. And depressing. Oh, well, enjoy.