Danny's POV

Even at a slow pace, it took me all of an hour and a half to get to the portal, my stalling doing nothing more than building the weight of dread in my stomach, like sand being poured into a bucket.

The closer I got to the portal, the more it felt like bricks were being piled onto my chest. By the time I stopped in front of the swirling green of the Fenton Portal, I was about ready to turn around and fly away. Fly away from all of my fears. Dissapear for a while. But I couldn't do that, I wouldn't do that. Not to Sam. Not to Tuck. Not to Jazz. 'Besides,' I reasoned. 'I need to check to see if everyone's okay or I'll never be able to live with myself.'

I held out my hand as it started to glow blue, different little ice sculptures forming and melting in my hand. A great way to relieve stress, I find. When I finally gather the courage to fly through the portal, the lab is, mercifully, empty. I let out a long breath I didn't know I was holding and took a moment to take in my surroundings. Familiar and yet so new. I started to climb the steps, my feet and legs feeling like two lead bricks attatched to my body, getting heavier and more stiff as I climbed.

I winced as the door creaked open, the sound of the protesting hinges sounding like a gunshot in an empty room. Three figures appeared in front of me almost instantly, the familiar sound of combat boots against the floor calming me almost immediately.

"Danny! Oh, God! Danny you look horrible!" One of them gasped as she examined the burns, the other two hovering akwardly behind her.

"Thanks, Sam. Real self-esteem booster right there." I replied sarcastically, staring at the floor as to avoid eye contact with anyone in the room. "I'm fine. The burns will heal." I could feel their stares burning and boring holes into the side of my head, acutely aware of the sound of their rapid heartbeats and breathing from across the room.

"Danny, the burns are everywhere! Look at yourself!" Sam said as she pulled out her phone, opening the camera on selfie mode and handing it to me.

I slowly, hesitantly, lifted the phone to my eyes, inhaling sharply as I took in my charred face, my cheek burned almost down to the bone, the white just peaking through strings of red and black. I sighed, handing the phone back. "But I'm alive, aren't I? I'll heal."

"Daniel... is this why you're never in school?" I looked up and to my left, Mr. Lancer holding back a gasp as he took in my, admittedly frightening, appearence. I remembered back to what Clockwork told me about the power of illusions, and focused on my appearence. I knew it had worked when Lancer let out a suprised squeak. "Did you just... heal?" I shook my head.

"Illusion. I figured you'd be more comfortable with normal looking Danny Fenton instead of a half burnt Danny Phantom." I murmured. "But, yes. This is why I'm always missing school, this is why I knew the ghost zone so well, this is why I could stand up to walker and his goons and not die, and this is why I have all the scars." Maddie suddenly appeared in front of me, curiosity and poorly disguised distaste overwhelming her features.

"Danny, we're so sorry-" She started, her voice sickeningly sweet,very much to the point of obnoxious.

"No," I cut her off. "you're not sorry. You still despise phantom, and I'm not so sure me being Danny Fenton helps all that much."

"We didn't know-"

"No, you just didn't care enough to ask. Shoot first and ask questions while you're in the middle of my vivisection. That's the only way your mind works."

"We would never-!"

"Really?" I asked her as I dropped the illusion. "Because I'm pretty sure I got this from somewhere." I said accusingly, as I made the chest part of my suit intangible, revealing a feint 'Y' shaped scar hidden amung all the others that littered my torso. "And I could be wrong, but I do vividly remember crying out for you to stop as you started to rip open my chest!

"I begged and pleaded because I couldn't do anything else because you drugged me! But did you listen? No. Because to you I'm just a putrid blob of ectoplasm. Right, Madeline?" I could feel the fear radiating off of nearly everyone in the room as my anger rose, Maddie saying nothing as she calmly walked up the stairs, my father still nowhere in sight.

I sighed, letting my burnt face fall into my open palms, ignoring any twinges of pain as I did so. I sat were I stood, floating about three feet in the air as I rested my hands on my knees and closed my eyes, focusing all of my power on healing myself- my face at the very least.

I could feel my muscle and tissues mending together as the charred skin dissapeared, leaving now-flawless glowing skin in its wake.

Exhausted- even though I had only healed my face- I fell to the floor, reverting to Danny Fenton as my side and arm landed on the floor with a loud 'thump!' I sighed as I flipped onto my back, not even bothering to stand as I rested my arm across my eyes, attempting to forget the last few days. I could feel everyone's eyes on me, curiosity and uncertainty rolling off them in waves.

"Ask." I grumbled suddenly, feeling the surprise and sudden fear pour over the group, making my jaw clench and my throat tighten.

They were afraid because of me.

And I hated it.

Dash's POV

"Ask." All of our eyes widened, my heart rate increasing. Fear suddenly enveloped my senses, sitting heavily above my heart. "You have questions. Go on, I don't bite."

'Are you sure about that?' I shook my head, squashing that little voice in the back.

'Of course he wouldn't! He's still Danny Phantom! Still the hero!' I heard my own voice echo inside my head, so focused on my inner turmoil that the person stepping forward and the voices were nothing but static in the back of my brain.

'And you're his bully. Have been for a while. Do you think he won't have even the slightest bit of anger towards you?' I mentally whimpered at this. 'While he was out saving your sorry ass from ghosts, you were shoving him into lockers and down toilets. And judging by all those scars, it's almost impossible for you to not have aggrivated a wound or two doing so.'

"Where will you go?" Mr. Lancers voice cut through my thoughts like a knife through butter, severing my train of thought and bringing my brain to a hault.

I was so busy worrying about what he thought of me, I never thought about him. "You clearly can't stay here, not now, and you're not old enough to buy a house or an apartment."

"I'll stay in my castle in the Ghost Zone." I blinked, remembering the fire-covered crown he had atop his head during his fight with whats-his-face. "I have duties there anyway, and the ghosts are just waiting for me to move there. Easier to get a hold of me if they can roam in the open, instead of hiding from humans."

"But, Daniel, what about your schooling?"

"It doesn't take me long to get from school to my castle, and it won't take me long to get back, either." Danny told him. "I'm still going to come to school, just don't expect me to stay all day. I might have things to do, people to see, and the like."

"I'm so sorry, Daniel. You don't deserve this." Mr Lancer said as he hung his head, guilt so laced into his features, I honestly couldn't picture him any other way. "We have all placed the world upon your shoulders and then yelled at you for it."

"Yeah, but no one else deserves it either, so I shoulder it and shut up." He said nonchalantly, shrugging. "Besides, I'm more equipped than most to handle it."

"Maybe physically but, mentally, you shouldn't be going through any of this. All the detentions, suspensions, essays, and extra work you get in all your classes. All of your teachers berating you for something you can't help! It's inexcusable!" Everyone stared at Mr. Lancer in confusion as his anger and guilt made its presence known in the form of tears running down his cheeks.

"Mr. Lancer. You didn't know, none of you did. You can't be held responsible for things you didn't technically do."

"Like we did to you?" He countered. "All those things we said about you, ghost and human, if we aren't responsible for the things we actually did, then why are we holding you accountable for actions you didn't do?"

"Because sometimes you get the short end of the stick. It just happens more to me because I'm a ghost, and not human. Not really."

"But that shouldn't matter! Its-"

"It shouldn't, but it does. Please, Mr. Lancer, just leave it."

"But-!"

"Lenard Lancer, if you don't drop this right now, I will purposely fail my next English test." A sad smile graced it's way upon his lips as he looked at- no- scanned Danny, his eyes trailing up and down his scarred form until finally settling on his eyes.

"You can stay with me or come to me for help any time, Danny. I'll help you as best I can." Danny's head shot up in suprise, his eyes widening to an almost comedic size as he stared at Mr. Lancer. "Its the least I can do, after what we've all done, and after all you've done for us, even without our knowledge."

"I- You-" Danny was quiet for a few moments, and I briefly wondered how many humans tend to offer him help, other than the few that want to, but can not. "Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Lancer. You have no idea how much that means to me." Mr. Lancers gaze quickly flickered over to the steps leading to the second floor.

"I think I have some idea." He breathed. "In the meantime, we will say nothing. Agreed?" He suddenly turned, his eyebrows raised and chin up. Everyone around me immediately nodded, I doing so almost automatically. "Then I suppose we are all needing to be on our way. Thank you, Daniel, for getting us all home as unharmed as we could be."

"Just doing my job Mr. Lancer. I'll see you all on Monday, I guess." He muttered, the entire class, me included, huddling at the door. All I wanted desparately was to go home and sleep in my own bed, forgetting all of this. I rushed out the door, not even bothering to say bye to anyone, and sprinted down the street and back to my house, throwing open the front door before slamming it shut. I ran up my stairs, yelling hello to my parents before running into my room and closing my bedroom door, collapsing behind it. My thoughts were swirling in my brain, clouding my mind. My hands were shaking and my breaths shallow. We were back. I'm home. I'm safe. Sure, Fenton turned out to be Phantom, but that didn't change much, not really. Not outside of my head, at least. Everything is back to normal. So why does it feel like everything is so different?

A/N: Well, it's not as long as I would like, but I figured it's been long enough since the last update. This was going to be postponed for another few days, but you lovely commenters out there motivated me to write! Especially bellakitty2003 and annabug823. (Those one hundred and fifty some odd comments weren't for nought!) Also, I'm thinking about editing all the chapters to try and get rid of some- preferably all- of the typos and incorrect autocorrects in the story. Does editing a chapter notify people on here? I doubt it, but it would still be nice to know how notifications work on here. See you next time! ~HellsArchangel