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Going Ghost! (Young Justice) Chapter 120: Not Alone
🕑 Added 2025-09-22 22:51:00 +0000 UTC[Third Person POV]
“I know that us being gone from your life must have been incredibly painful,” Maddie said at last, her voice trembling despite the firm edge she tried to maintain. Her eyes shimmered as she reached for Danny’s arm, gripping it like a lifeline. “I can’t imagine the kind of fear, the loneliness, the loss you had to endure while we were… while we were gone. But I want you to know, Danny, that none of it—none of it—was ever your fault. Not a single moment of it.”
“But it is, you don’t understand!” Danny snapped before she could even take another breath. His voice cracked under the strain, frantic and raw as his hands shot forward and gripped her arm as if she might vanish again. Tears streaked down his face in uneven trails, splashing onto his trembling fingers. “I was the one that turned on the portal! I caused the explosion! Everything started because of me. It’s all my fault that you were supposed to be dead!”
“No,” Jack interrupted, his voice booming with a steady, fatherly authority that left no room for doubt. He stepped closer, laying a heavy but reassuring hand on Danny’s trembling shoulder. “No, son. Absolutely not.” His eyes softened even as his tone stayed resolute. “We’re your parents, Danny. We’re the ones who should have been watching over you, making sure the lab was safe. I’ll be the first to admit—we’ve always been a little reckless. Careless, even. This isn’t the first time an accident has happened because we were too caught up in our own experiments to pay attention. We should have locked things down, made sure there was no way for you to wander in unsupervised. Instead… you were left to face something catastrophic, completely alone. And that is on us.”
Jack’s voice wavered, cracking as his chest tightened with guilt. “You should never have had to carry that kind of burden. We failed to protect you when it mattered most. And for that… I am so, so sorry, Danny. I’m sorry for every sleepless night you’ve endured, for every moment you thought you had to shoulder this by yourself. I’m sorry for failing you as your father.” With that, he pulled Danny into a crushing hug.
“Stop it!” Danny shouted suddenly, his voice breaking as he shoved weakly against Jack’s chest. “You didn’t fail at anything!” His words tumbled out in a frantic rush, each one louder than the last. “Yeah, you make mistakes—who doesn’t? But you try your best! Maybe other people don’t see you as perfect, but you’re perfect to me! You don’t get to take the blame for everything, you don’t get to make yourself sound like you failed me, because you didn’t! You never did!”
Before Danny could spiral further, Jazz stepped in, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and holding on with quiet strength. “Danny, please…” she whispered, her voice a fragile plea.
“Jazz…” Danny choked out her name, the fight draining from his body as he buried his face into her shoulder. His tears soaked into her shirt, his small frame trembling. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered, his eyes squeezing shut as if he could block out the pain with sheer will.
Jazz cradled the back of his head, gently rocking him as though he were still the little boy she used to tuck in at night. “Stop apologizing,” she murmured, her tone soft but unyielding. “Stop carrying a blame none of us place on you. Mom and Dad don’t blame you. I don’t blame you. What happened was a terrible accident—an accident, Danny. Nothing more. It wasn’t intentional, it wasn’t a choice you made. You don’t need punishment, and you don’t need forgiveness. You already have it. All I need—what we all need—is for you to promise that you’ll stop thinking this is all your fault.”
Danny’s grip tightened around her arm, pulling himself back just enough that his hair shadowed his eyes. His gaze fell to the floor, shoulders quivering. “But… what about now?” he whispered hoarsely. “Maybe the first time it was an accident. Maybe I didn’t have a choice. But this time… this time it’s different.”
“What are you talking about—” Jazz began, but Danny cut her off, his voice rising like a tidal wave.
“Look around us, Jazz!” he shouted, his words sharp and desperate. He gestured wildly at the chaotic swirl of energy around them, the flickering lights and ominous green glow that bled through the cracks in reality. “The world is unraveling! The Ghost Zone is spilling into our reality, and we all know it’s Desiree’s magic causing it. If I want to stop her, I have to fight her. And if I fight her… if I win… undoing her spell means undoing everything. All of this. Including you!”
His tears fell faster now, dripping from his chin to the cold floor below. Each drop landed with a soft, cruel finality. “I have to make a choice,” he said, voice breaking into a sob. “A choice I never wanted. I either save the world, or I save you. If I save you, I doom everyone else. If I save the world, I kill you all over again. And I can’t—I can’t do that! I’m not strong enough! Between you and the world… the world can go to hell for all I care. Just—just don’t make me choose. Please. I can’t make the right choice. I’m not the hero everyone thinks I am.”
“Then don’t,” the three of them said together, their voices overlapping in perfect, determined harmony.
Maddie stepped forward first, her eyes blazing with a fierce, maternal resolve. She cupped Danny’s tear-streaked face in both hands, forcing him to meet her gaze. “Then don’t choose,” she said firmly, her tone leaving no room for argument. “If a choice has to be made, let us make it. Let us decide, together, as a family. You are not alone in this, Danny. Not anymore.”
Danny opened his mouth, looking ready to protest, but Maddie leapt in before he could even form a single word, cutting off his argument with a sudden burst of fierce energy.
“You know,” she began, her voice trembling with urgency, “when I first heard the truth about what you really are—about the powers you’ve been carrying all this time—the very first emotion I felt was fear. Fear for you, fear of what it all meant, fear of things I can’t even begin to name. My mind went wild with questions: Was my son safe? Was he still my little boy? What kind of danger was he living with every single day?” Her chest rose and fell quickly, the memories flashing behind her eyes. Then her tone shifted, brightening with sudden conviction. “But you want to know what came after that fear? Pride. Pure, unstoppable pride!”
Maddie’s eyes gleamed as she stepped closer to him, her hand pressing firmly over his heart. “My son—a superhero! Can you believe that? I couldn’t, not at first. But when it sank in… when I truly understood what you were doing with those incredible powers, I was overwhelmed. Jack and I—” her voice cracked slightly, but she kept going, stronger than before, “—we were proud. So unbelievably proud to know the kind of person you’ve chosen to be. For the first time in a long time, we felt like maybe we were doing something right as parents. That maybe we weren’t the helpless fools everyone believed us to be.”
“You are an incredible kid, Danny,” Jack said, stepping up beside her, his chest swelling with visible pride. “One I am proud—proud—to call my son. You are a Fenton through and through. Stronger than you give yourself credit for. Someone who chooses, every single day, to help others and put your own life on the line for people who need you. Someone who refuses to back down even when the odds are impossible. That isn’t weakness, Danny. That’s strength. That’s heroism.” Jack’s voice deepened with a steady, fatherly warmth. “It’s clear your heart is in the right place. To do what you do, you need conviction stronger than anything most people will ever understand. And as your parents, it’s our job to make sure that heart stays true, to remind you of who you are—so you never forget what matters most.”
Jazz stepped forward now, her eyes shimmering with both love and determination. “Danny,” she said softly but firmly, “it’s clear we’ve already come to terms with what’s supposed to happen to us. We’ve accepted it. And it’s time you start accepting it too. This is something the three of us have… mauled over for some time now. We’ve had countless talks about it, preparing ourselves for this exact day, this exact choice.” Her small smile trembled but grew steadier as she spoke. “We already decided—we would make this decision for you. So that you wouldn’t have to. You don’t need to carry that weight. Not anymore. So don’t worry about us, Danny.”
Maddie’s eyes sharpened with resolve. “Go,” she said, her voice almost like a command, though filled with love. “Go do what needs to be done.”
Jack flexed his arm in a proud, almost comical show of strength and added, “And make the Fenton name proud while you’re at it.”
“Go,” Jazz echoed with a growing grin. “Go and be the hero you were always meant to be.”
All three of them shared a single, united smile—proud, fearless, and unwavering.
Danny lowered his head, his black hair swaying in the cold wind. The tears running down his face, falling one by one as he stood frozen in silence. His shoulders shook with the force of everything he wanted to say but couldn’t.
“Danny!!”
The sudden shout split the moment like a lightning strike. All four of them turned sharply toward the sound.
Sam and Tucker spun around first, eyes widening as Ember and Klemper came streaking out of the Ghost Zone, spectral light trailing behind them like glowing comets. Ember’s boots skidded across the cracked pavement as she landed hard in front of Sam and Tucker, her electric blue flames flickering wildly with urgency.
“Where’s Danny?” she demanded, glancing around frantically.
Without a word, Sam and Tucker pointed behind them, toward Danny’s back—where he still stood embracing his parents and sister.
“What?!” Ember’s eyes widened. “Why does he look like that?” She shook her head before either of them could answer, her voice tightening with frustration. “Never mind. The Ghost Zone—the dimensional barrier—it’s breaking apart. Desiree’s magic is tearing it open. Everything’s coming undone out there. I thought you’d want to know before it’s too late. It’s chaos right now.”
Danny finally turned toward her, wiping his nose with the back of his hand. His eyes, though still red from crying, burned with a sharp focus. “I’m aware,” he said quietly, his voice steadier than before. “Thanks for the heads-up. Don’t worry… I anticipated this day might come. I already came up with a few contingency plan for how to deal with it if it ever happened.” He stepped forward, meeting her gaze with a small, determined smile. “And you’re exactly the person I need for this to work. So—what do you say? Ready to team up one more time?”
Ember blinked, momentarily caught off guard. Then she smirked, flicking a strand of fiery hair over her shoulder. “Wow. You really are hopeless without me, huh?” She let out a dramatic sigh. “I mean, if you need me that badly, I guess I can’t turn down my very first fan.”
Sam crossed her arms, her eyes narrowing as a faint tick mark pulsed on her forehead. She looked ready to fire back with a biting remark, but the urgency of the moment kept her silent. Tucker, meanwhile, scratched the back of his neck and offered an awkward smile, wisely staying out of the tension.
“Perfect…” Danny muttered under his breath. He turned back toward his family, taking one last look at the people who meant everything to him. His chest rose as he drew in a deep breath, steadying his heart. Then he closed his eyes, exhaling slowly before facing forward.
When his eyes opened again, they were alight with purpose. “I’m going ghost!” he declared.
A glowing transformation ring ignited around him, but unlike the usual vertical flash, this one spun horizontally—like a spinning halo of energy cutting through the air. The ring sliced across his body in slow, deliberate motion. His arm passed through the light first, the black fabric of his sleeve dissolving into the sleek black-and-white of his Phantom suit. His hair bled from deep raven black to a blazing, snow-white cascade, strands lifting as if alive in the charged wind.
His eyes snapped open with a brilliant neon-green blaze. Power surged through him like a thunderclap. The wind howled around his transformed figure as he clenched his fists, the weight of doubt falling away.
“Let’s go,” Danny said, his voice ringing with ironclad resolve. “We’ve got a world to save.”
Comments
KingSpy25i .
Thank you for the amazing chapter 🙏 But fuck you for making me cry.... 🥲🖕
Mario Johnson
Loved this chapter really pulled the emotions to the fore front and showed depth of character for Maddie and jack
Vrati
He has contingency plan. Batdad would be proud.
Rogue_Eagle99
Has to put the emotional shit right after the son of hades with “that” song… went for the double whammy on the emotions there
