#nekithajamere

[star-chlld]

This is my Christmas Truce for @nekithamajere. I hope you like it. Merry Christmas! Warning: major character death

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Danny loved the feeling of the air - free flying, the wind whipping his hair as he pushed himself to go faster and faster. That was part of why being half dead scared him so much. The Dead laid underneath the ground, suffocating in the dirt. Danny hated thinking about him being one of them. With so many people out to kill him, he needed a plan to survive.

It started with the ghosts. Danny started to take a different approach to keeping them in the Ghost Zone. He gave the Box Ghost all his extra cardboard boxes, and set up dates in the human world for the couples who wanted them. The bribery satisfied most ghosts. There was the occasional low level ghost that couldn't be contained. Sometimes the usual enemies got bored and decided to run Danny around, of course.

Next in his plan was his parents. Frankly, they needed a hobby other than shooting him. Which should’ve been easier to do, except they were really into shooting him. He took them golfing, signed them up for dance classes, and taught them how to fly a plane. Nothing really stuck. Obviously, that step needed some work.

Of course, there was one ghost who refused to listen. Vlad Masters was Danny’s complete opposite. Vlad controlled fire, Danny mastered over ice. Vlad was a villain through and through, and Danny would give his half-life to save his city. Danny could keep an eye on the Ghost Zone. He couldn’t monitor Vlad.

Which Vlad Masters was very happy about, because if Danny knew what he was working on, then he would just come and wreck it - again. The research he had gathered to make a clone was easily salvaged from the wreckage that Danny left behind. The technology was not. It took months of building the stasis pods, and thousands of dollars to buy the proper equipment to make them work. Of course, he would be working without an AI this time.

Vlad had gotten to formula perfect this time. He had the DNA, taken from a pillow from the last time Danny had slept in his mansion; the transition from ghost to human, taken from himself; and enough ecto-energy to sustain the ghost half until he was awake. Yes, the perfect formula to create the perfect son.

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Danny was “enjoying” his extra free time by catching up on homework. On the up side, he was passing his classes. On the down side, it was incredibly boring.

As he walked home, Tucker stood on one side, chatting about something. Sam stood on the other, angrily countering him. The argueing was non-stop, and it made Danny almost miss the ghosts.

Something across the street caught his eye. It looked like him. The doppelganger stared at him from a bus stop in a suit and tie, but as a truck raced past he disappeared. “Danny, you there?” Sam asked. He looked at her, stunned.

“You okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost, man.” Tucker chuckled at his own joke. Danny shook his head a little.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” He unlocked his front door and let his friends in. “It’s just, I thought I saw myself. Like not myself, his eyes looked a little red? I don’t know forget it.” Sam and Tucker shrugged and Headed up to Danny’s room to play video games. They trusted Danny. If it was a big deal he would do something about it. So they did forget it, until the next time Danny saw the doppelganger.

It was during school this time. Danny and his friends sat alone at a lunch table. They always got one near the door, just in case they needed to run out. Danny looked up from talking to Sam and Tucker and spotted the doppelganger standing in the entrance to the cafeteria. They met eyes. Danny stood up so fast his food fell on the ground, but that didn’t matter. he needed to find out who that was, and why they looked just like him.

Danny must’ve been really unlucky, because the bell rang as he was walking towards the doppleganger. Danny pushed through the sudden crowd of people, but his look alike was gone. Danny couldn't stop thinking about it. The last time something like this had happened Vlad had been behind it. It should be impossible, because Danny destroyed his lab, but did he create another clone?

On they're way out of the school Danny voiced his worries to his friends. “Wait,” Tucker injected, “you’ve been seeing somebody who looks exactly like you?”

“Yeah! And he was in the - oof!” Danny couldn’t finish his sentence because something had thrown him across the courtyard. In front of him stood Danny Phantom. “You have everything! A family, friends. What do I get? A crazy father in an empty house!” Danny, looking very confused, stood up.

“What are you talking about? Who are you?” Danny yelled. Danny Phantom grimaced.

“Haven’t you figured it out by now?” He sneered. “I’m you.” Danny ran forward, reaching out to grab him, but his fingers only grabbed the air and Danny fell over again. The doppelganger had flown away. Ignoring the crowd of students that had gathered around, Danny stood and turned to his friends.

“I have a feeling I know who did this. We need to go talk to Vlad.”

The drive there was silent. They took the specter speeder through the Ghost Zone, the shortest way to Vlad’s mansion. When the trio came out of the portal, they immediately knew something was off. The lab was covered with scattered, half-built technology. In the middle of it all was a few computers and a pod, the same type that Vlad had used to make clones with the first time. Danny floated them through the ceiling. The house was dark and quiet.  Facing them on the other side of the floor was the clone. His eyes glowed red, lighting up his smirk. “Father isn’t home. Or was it me you were looking for?”

Sam spoke first. “You’re Danny’s clone? Are you stable?” The clone gave a sharp laugh.

“Mentally? Father says no, I’m not sure. Physically, I am the perfect son. Better than Danny ever could be.”

“So why did you try to kill me, yelling about how I have the perfect life?”

“Because you do. You see, I’m bored here. No friends, and father can hardly be considered family. So I’ve decided that it would be better if I just, how do I put this, take your life. In more ways than one.”

Danny stepped back in shock. Tucker launched himself at the clone, screaming something about not killing his best friend you sad rip off of a ghost, but the clone turned intangible and sent Tucker into the wall. Danny narrowed his eyes. Transforming into his alter-ego, he put an arm in front of Sam, trying to keep her away from the clone. She took a gun out of her belt and aimed it at him, ready to fire on command.

The standoff didn’t last long. The clone lunged forward, and both Danny and Sam fired at him at the same time. The clone growled and drew back when he didn’t turn intangible in time. His sneer turned into a grin.

The clone stood there, laughing. “You thought you could kill me with a pathetic gun?” At the last word he shot the gun out of Sam’s hand. She hissed as it burned her. He stepped forward. Sam took a step back to counter it. “Get away!” Danny yelled. His plan didn’t have a section on evil, bloodthirsty clones. He’d never fought an evil, bloodthirsty, sentinant clone. Where to start?

The clone let out a quick, barking laugh. As he walked forward, Danny pulled Sam behind even more. He blasted the clone with an ice blast, and his feet froze to the floor. Without missing a beat, Danny turned and ran.

“What about Tucker?” Sam called out as she followed him. “We can’t just leave him!”

“He’ll be okay, the clone will chase us.”

They stopped at a door, and after glancing at each other they ran inside. It was a simple guest bedroom. There was a bed, a table, and a lamp, but the rest of the room was bare. Sam locked the door behind them. “Did you see his eyes?” Danny whispered, “He probably has a fire core like Vlad. If I ice him enough, maybe it will freeze his core. Kill him.”

There was shouting down the hall. Doors banged open and slammed shut. Finally, the door handle rattled. Danny put his hands up, ready to fire. The door burst in. Ice flew across the room. Steam rose up from the clone’s skin as the ice hit it. He held his hands together, forming a green, ectoplasmic ball. Danny made a shield before the clone threw it but the clone wasn’t aiming for him. The ecto-goop hit Sam and exploded, sticking her to the wall. Danny turned and rushed over to her, pulling at the goop. “Can you move?” he asked her. Sam shook her head. She looked at him, then over his head. Her eyes widened.

“Danny, look out!” The clone smashed Danny on the side of the head with his fist. Danny stumbled and fell to his knees. The clone kicked him in the side, sending Danny sprawling on the floor. He groaned and stood up. He was now face to face with his clone.

The clone turned around. His movements were rigid as he grabbed the bedpost and blasted it point blank. It shattered, leaving a jagged piece of wood in his hand. He faced Danny again, who at this point was looking very confused. “Look, man, let’s talk.” Danny said with a nervous chuckle. The clone advanced, brandishing the wood.

“Talk?” The clone sneered. “I prefer to stab first, talk later. For your sake, I hope you get to come back as a ghost.” He stabbed Danny in the gut.

“Danny! No, you snake! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!” Sam shouted.

The Clone walked out of the room, throwing a “Goodbye, Danny.” over his shoulder.

Danny doubled over, clawing at the wood, although taking it out almost hurt more that it going in. He tossed it on the floor, and he quickly followed. Sam was talking in the background. She was asking him to stay alive. He wanted to tell her that he was trying, but the words stuck in his throat. His plan didn’t cover this. He had to stay awake, for his friends. For his family.

He may have passed out, things were blurring together. Usually Danny felt cold, but now he felt hot and sticky and wet. It was the blood, he realized.  Suddenly a second voice joined in with Sam’s, and a face appeared above Danny’s. It was Vlad. “Come on, little badger, breath.” He huffed. Danny didn’t realize he wasn’t breathing. He had stopped breathing before, but it never scared him so much as now.

Vlad put pressure on Danny’s stomach, and a wave of nausea washed over him. His eyelids felt so heavy, and before he knew it Vlad was shaking him awake. “Stay awake,” Sam called out, “It’s okay. You - You’re going to be okay, Danny.” Her voice crack told him the opposite. Danny looked up at her and smiled, and then he fell asleep for the last time.

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Maddie and Jack Fenton had never expected there to be so many ghosts at their son’s funeral. In fact, the ghosts, outnumbered the humans. It was hard enough believing that he was one of them, but these ghosts - they actually looked sad. They cried like they had lost a friend. It went against any of the studies that the Fenton’s had done, but then again, so did their son. Maddie looked up. An abominable snowman was approaching. “My people are greatly saddened by the great one’s - Danny’s death. We are looking to see if he has formed in the ghost zone, but it is too early to know for sure.” Maddie wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but it was obviously a kindness.

“Um- thank you. Will you keep me updated?” The ghost smiled sadly.

“For sure.” As he shuffled away, Maddie looked for her husband. She hoped he hadn’t gone off to get more alcohol. Finally she spotted Jack. He was talking to two ghosts, a woman with fire for hair (which couldn’t be safe) and a robot. Maddie quietly joined them.

“-fought with him, but he never hurt us much. Phantom actually has helped us quite a bit.” The flame-haired woman said.

“His loss impacts the Zone greatly. This makes finding a king so much more difficult..”

“”King?” Maddie questioned. The flame-haired ghost answered her question.”

“Phantom was, rightfully, our next king. We’ve never had a halfa as a king before. I don’t know what the observants will decide.”

Maddie looked over at the freshly dug grave, holding her son. She smiled sadly, feeling a swelling sense of pride. Maybe she hadn’t gotten to see him much, but he had helped people. Danny had been a hero. He had died saving lives. Her son was a king.