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Danny was among the stars, where he had always felt the best, yet he didn’t feel much at all.
Vlad had moved on today.
His soul had grown weary of his slow descent into ghosthood, he never was a true halfa, so when his lifeforce ran out he was gone. Not a man and not a ghost. Just gone. Wherever Vlad went he hopes it goes well for him, if he went anywhere at all.
Not even Clockwork knew what came of the souls who don’t stay as ghosts, or the ones who moved on- afterall, they don’t come back and share. Vlad was the last one of his family. Despite the man starting out so strongly as an enemy all those years ago, he grew to be better, realized the mistakes he made and truly became a better man. He lived for a while too, 257 years, it wasn’t until around 5 years ago, he believes (time moves strange when you no longer age), when Vlad’s forms started slowing, showing he wouldn’t stay for good.
Jazz was next. She died far sooner than she should’ve, she had such a bright life ahead of her. Doing what she loved, helping others. She passed at 40, but her health started leaving her at around 38. She got cancer. The doctors were able to tell that it hadn’t formed due to completely natural causes, yet weren’t able to tell what caused it. That didn’t matter though, he knew what caused it, all the people who mattered did. It was the exposure to ectoplasm they had growing up. Danny was the only one by her side as she passed in the hospital bed, their parents were too ashamed to show their faces, after all it was their fault that she was going to be gone.
He felt her life leave her as her hand went limp in his, yet he never felt her enter his realms. Despite the thin hope he had that- regardless of the poor effects ectoplasm had on her, she’d return as a ghost… he’d never see her again.
Jack and Maddie were the next to go, his mom and dad. How strange it was to see their frail bodies as they died of old age when he was there looking the same he did when he was 14 and died in the basement. His form never did age after the portal, he was luckily able to utilize an object that made it seem so- for the most part at least. His parents had learned of Phantom when he was 18 and they supported him. He doesn’t think he can ever truly forgive them for how they treated him when they didn’t know it was him, yet they’re gone now so it doesn’t matter.
He doesn’t know why they didn’t form as ghosts, perhaps their original hatred ran so deep that despite being so contaminated by ectoplasm their souls refused ghosthood…
It was Dani next that left him. Despite being biologically just a clone she was more than that to him. He didn’t care that her existence was a representation of Vlad’s villainy, she was one his people. Danny could feel her slowly die, he knew both her, Vlad, and all the other ghosts did too but they never mentioned it. She never let it show though, despite her ectoplasm slowly corrupting her from the inside out due to how she came into existence, she still ran around happy as a blob ghost. That was until 3 years after the death of his parents. Dani, Vlad, and him were flying through an empty field, one where humans rarely went, when she collapsed. Vlad caught her when she fell. Despite how slowly gone-ness crept up on her, her ending was quick. One second she was flying, trying to tag Danny back, and the next she was in Vlad’s arms as he knelt on the ground.
There was no body. As Danny raced to Vlad’s side, kneeling beside him, she slowly disappeared. The corrupt ectoplasm had nowhere to go without a host to sustain it, so it left.
Ten years later brought him the death of his closest companions, they left him together. The two people who watched him die, who held him as his entire existence was changed, Sam and Tucker. Oh how he missed them. He knew one day he’d get over it, yet how could he when it was his fault? They didn’t die of old age or a peaceful alternative. No. They died harshly and cruelly at the hands of an organization that no longer should’ve existed. The GIW had somehow tracked down all the still living residents of Amity Park when the Ghost Outbreak happened. They decided that they were to be the perfect candidates for their new experiments. They had killed 5 before they succeeded, and ended the rest. The GIW had figured out how to kill people without them having the ability to become ghosts- which all the Amity Parkers would’ve become from their ectoplasm exposure.
What the GIW did was worse than just ending though, they destroyed their souls. The souls of his best friends, who should’ve been by his side even in death were destroyed, even if there was something after being a ghost they wouldn’t have a chance.
Everyone he had loved and cared about is gone.
Danny was still here, still among the stars that are his domain.
Danny was alone.
Danny might’ve looked the same as he did when he left that portal as a terrified 14 year old, but he was so much older now.
Danny looked back at the beauty of earth for the last time as he ripped open a portal, he would reside in the realms for the rest of time– except for extenuating circumstances.
There was nothing left for him on the blue and green planet– yet as he left it behind he still felt grief, perhaps for the life he could have tried to live.