"I can't do it," Danny announced the next day on Casper High's front steps. "I won't!"

"Big distinction between can't and won't," Sam pointed out. "You're perfectly capable of it. You just don't want to."

"What am I even supposed to say to him? 'Hey, this might sound weird but I'm actually your idol and your family comes from an ancient line of crazy dragon hunters. Could you take off my girly necklace, please?'" Danny said in a nasally tone. If he was in dragon form, his tail would have been twitching back and forth in agitation. "On the list of people I've thought of revealing my secret to, Dash is near the- no, he's not even on the list. He's not even going to believe me!"

"Luckily, your story is pretty easy to prove," Tucker said. Danny glared at him. "Just sayin'."

"I just… Argh. I don't know how to do this. He might not even be from that family," Danny said, running a hand through his hair.

Sam wasn't sure whether to say what she was about to say. She did it anyways. "Danny, are you sure you even want Dash to take the amulet off?"

Danny's head whipped around and he looked at her, eyes wide. "Sam, why would you even ask whether I-" He stopped suddenly and dropped his head to look at the concrete steps. Lifting a hand to his chest, his fingers started to move and Sam realized that he was toying with the invisible amulet. "I… I don't know," he admitted quietly. "I've gotten so used to it. I mean, it's not without its problems, but I'm getting the hang of it. I'm not sure if I want to go back to who I was without it."

"You're no different than you were before," Sam said, placing a hand gently on his shoulder.

Danny scoffed. "I mean, there are a few differences."

"You know what I mean. You are not your powers. Your powers are… sure, they're just a part of you. This borrowed power… was it really ever here to stay?"

"What if I want it to?" Danny met her gaze, challenging.

"Then that's your choice. But maybe you should talk it over with Dora. Pay her a visit after school. See what she has to say."

"It is her father's amulet," Tucker agreed.

Danny let out a breath and nodded. "You guys are right. I'll drop by her castle later."

"Good," Sam said.

Several hours later, Danny was nearing Dora's castle. His thoughts were in turmoil, distracting him in his flight. He'd almost run into several rocks and islands on his way to the medieval realm. He touched down in front of the moat and waved at the gatekeeper. The semi-transparent man smiled and waved back, releasing the mechanism to allow the drawbridge to fall and the portcullis to rise. Danny shouted his thanks and crossed into the castle.

Word of his arrival had already spread quickly. The small boy who'd delivered Dora's message the first time he'd visited was waiting in the grand hall. "Her Majesty begs you excuse her as she is unprepared for your visit. She will be available shortly if it would please you to wait in her study," the page announced in his high, reedy voice.

"Thank you for delivering her message. You must be the queen's most trusted messenger," Danny praised. Over the course of his weekly visits he'd learned that flattering the child was the best way to learn all of the castle gossip. True to form, the boy lifted his shoulders and stood at attention. He would have looked quite professional if not for the berry-stained teeth showing through his lips as he grinned.

"Has Cook been making pies, then?" Danny asked conspiratorially. "I thought she didn't let anyone at them until at least supper."

The page looked back and forth, checking the hall for listeners. He leaned forward conspiratorially, whispering. "I can bring a slice by Her Majesty's study, sir, if you'd like."

"If it's not too much trouble," Danny whispered back. The boy saluted and scampered off in the direction of the kitchens.

Danny made his way up to Dora's study to await his pie and the queen. He often met Dora in her study, so he knew the way well. He knocked twice at the heavy wooden door. No response. He turned the heavy iron doorknob and opened the door with a creak. As the page had said, Dora was absent. He settled in his usual overstuffed chair by the fireplace and settled in to wait.

A few minutes later he heard a quiet tap at the door. Suppressing a smile, he stood and crossed the room to open it. There stood the page holding a plate bearing a steaming slice of berry pie with the tips of his fingers. Looking up and down the hall to make sure no one saw him, the boy raised the plate for Danny to take. "Not a word to Cook, sir? She'll have my hide if she knows I've been nickin' pie," the boy said.

"Of course not. We can't have the castle's greatest page caught, can we? Thank you," Danny replied. The page saluted him again and ran off down the hall, skipping as he went.

Danny closed the door and sank back into his chair, pie in hand. Snagging a fork from the dinner service on Dora's desk, he dug into the pie with gusto. Sam was really missing out wit Undergrowth's gardeners; they sure knew how to grow blueberries, even if they were dark green instead of blue. The greenness of the berries had thrown him off the first time the page had stolen him pie, but he'd figured he should eat it if only to be polite. One bite and flavor had exploded into his mouth. They may have looked underripe, but they were the best blueberries he'd ever tasted.

He'd just finished the pie and had placed the plate and fork on a tray by the door for a servant to take when Dora entered from a side door. She looked from him to the empty plate with a knowing smile and took her own seat across from Danny's own. She regarded the boy who'd become her pupil and then friend for a few moments. "It is a pleasure as always to see you, Daniel. But pray tell, why the unexpected visit? Not that I don't enjoy your visits, but I can tell something bears heavily upon your mind," she said. Perhaps not friend, she thought. She had never had anyone to teach the ways of her family to before; the young half-ghost was like the little brother she'd never had.

"Something… we've found something. About the brotherhood," Danny began. At the mention of the ones who'd slaughtered her family, Dora's face grew harder. "We think we've found a descendant. He's a kid who goes to my school, actually.." He laughed nervously and fell silent.

Dora felt strange at Danny's revelation. She was somehow happy and sad at once. She tried her best to project happiness when she spoke. "That is excellent news! Perhaps he can finally rid you of my father's curse," she said. Danny failed to meet her eyes or return her smile, causing hers to falter. "Why are you so unhappy, Daniel? Is this not what you have wanted for these past months?"

"I thought so, too, but now I'm not so sure," Danny replied. "I thought I would be excited to finally be free of this amulet, but the longer I've had it on the more I've come to like it. It's like nothing else I've ever felt and I never thought I'd be able to say that after becoming half-ghost."

Dora sensed that Danny had more to say and kept quiet. Danny continued a few moments later. "Coming here, learning from you… I love it. I never thought I would, but… I don't know if I want to let it all go."

Dora tilted her head to the side slightly. "If you felt so conflicted, why come here and inform me of your discovery? You could have kept the amulet on and I never would have known otherwise. Things could have continued as they were."

"I understand now better than I did what this amulet means to you and your family. I feel terrible that my first instinct isn't to take it off and give it back to you so that you can lay your father to rest properly. If you want me to return it, say the word and I'll go to Dash now and get him to take the necklace off. You… you have my word." By the time he'd finished speaking, his head was down and he'd leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.

Understanding filled Dora's chest and she almost wanted to hug the boy. "Chin up, Daniel. I can't tell you how happy I am to hear you speak those words, as much as it pains you to voice them." Danny looked up at her in surprise. "When you first came to me, I admit that my goals very much aligned with yours. I wanted my father's amulet back, and you wanted to be rid of it. I did not know you well, either; you had helped me to take back my kingdom so I knew you had a good heart, but we had spoken little so I did not know your mind. I was saddened for you for you were not born to this life of kingdoms and dragons.

"Since then, however, you have exceeded my wildest hopes for you. You have adapted to the way of the dragon almost as if you were born to it in truth. I have grown to look forward to our meetings so much that I dare say you are the first true friend I have had in a very long time. I still wish to lay my father's amulet to rest, but I do not wish to lose your friendship. I therefore leave this decision up to you. Should you decide to keep the amulet, I will respect your decision we may continue as we did before. Should you decide to remove and return it, you will always be welcome here, be it for training or for other teaching."

Dora had had an idea that she'd been been mulling over for some time and decided to put it into play. "Daniel, I would like to make you an offer. You can make your decision now or you may wait to answer me as long as you wish. I will leave the offer open. The people of my queendom love you and would be sad to see you gone forever, Daniel. I would be remiss if I did not say that I would miss you, as well. You still have much to learn, but I speak truly when I say that you have become my finest pupil and a dear friend. Being mortal as you are, you may consider this offer impolite. There is a good chance that you have not even thought this far ahead but as a ghost, it is impossible for me not to. Should you choose, I would like to take you on as my heir upon your death." She looked up at Danny, eager to see his reaction. She was not disappointed.

Danny was staring at her incredulously, his jaw working up and down as he tried to figure out what to say. Dora smiled a little nervously. "It's quite alright if you do not wish to; I will understand. Regardless of what you decide, I pledge to you that my opinion of you will not change."

"I- I- Dora, I can't believe you would- Me?" Danny finally choked out. "Why would you-"

"I think I've made my case quite well," Dora interrupted. "As I said, don't feel you have to answer me now. I felt the offer had to be made."

"I just- I don't think I know how to answer that. You're right, I haven't thought that far ahead. I don't even know what will happen when I die. Will I become a ghost? Will I go to heaven or something? I've tried not to think of it, to be honest." He scratched his head shakily. "I think of all the things I expected you to say when I came here, that wasn't even on my radar."

Dora smiled. "I'm glad I can still offer some surprises, after all I've taught you." Danny worried at his lip and Dora knew she wasn't going to get an answer anytime soon. "Do not let this decision weigh too heavily on your mind, Daniel. You have decades to think about it. Think more on the choices you must make in the immediate future. I am interested to see which path you choose," she said, standing and laying a hand on his shoulder. "Go back to your realm. I will see you at the end of this sevenday, correct?"

"Right," Danny said, standing shakily. He looked to be in a daze. "...Thank you, Dora," he finally added, opening the aged wooden door and leaving her study. Dora settled back into her chair and sipped at the tea a servant had brought as she and Danny had spoken. She added a small spoonful of sugar and stirred it in thoughtfully before sipping again. "What will you choose, Daniel?" She asked the crackling fire. "What will you choose…"

Sam wondered what had gotten into Danny when she saw him the next morning. He seemed distracted by something; the entire walk to school he didn't hear half of what she or Tucker said and he dropped his backpack twice when his shoulders went intangible without warning. He hadn't done anything like this since right after the accident. At least he's not sinking into the concrete, she thought. Or losing his pants. Upon entering the school, it took some careful maneuvering by Sam and Tucker to make sure Danny didn't run into anyone that might give them trouble for it.

"What's gotten into you, dude?" Tucker hissed, pulling books out of his locker. "Dora yell at you or something?" When Danny didn't answer, Tucker took Danny's wrist and used it to slap Danny in the face lightly with his own hand. "Earth to space cadet. Are you okay?"

Danny blinked and stared at where Tucker was holding his wrist, confused. "Sorry, what?" Danny asked. "Umm, no, she wasn't mad or anything. She was actually pretty chill about it all. She said it's my choice, with the amulet and all."

"Then what has you out orbiting with the ISS, Hubble?" Sam asked, attempting to continue the space jokes.

"The Hubble Space Telescope and the ISS aren't orbiting at even close to the same radius around the earth. Gravity was a neat movie but it got that part way wrong," Danny started.

"We know. You've told us," Sam and Tucker said in unison.

Danny sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Sorry. Something Dora said… I'll tell you guys another time. Right now… I'm still not sure whether I want to keep this thing and the fact that the only way to get it off is telling Dash my secret isn't helping."

"We could try to come up with another reason for him to take it off," Tucker said. "Continue the thing with the bet. Say we dared you to ask him to take it off."

"That's… humiliating," Danny said, dropping his hand back to his side.

"More humiliating than the time that he hung you on the top the flagpole by your underwear?" Tucker asked.

"Or the time he-" Sam started.

"Okay guys, one instance is more than enough. I don't need to relive that," Danny said, holding up a hand in surrender. "I can just hear it now… 'Still stuck with the girly necklace, Fentina? What do you want me to do, paint you like one of my French girls?'"

Sam sputtered. "I'm not sure he's seen Titanic," she said, laughing.

"Oh, you bet he has," Danny said, "whether he watched it on his own or Paulina made him watch it with her. Fifty/fifty, could be either one."

"Danny," Tucker said, chuckling a little at the notion of Dash watching romantic movies. "Back to the point. You should probably figure this out by the end of the week if you want to do this anytime soon."

"Wait, why?" Danny asked.

"You don't remember? Dash won some college camp thing. He gets to miss school and go spend the week at Notre Dame training with their football team. I mean, you could wait another week…"

"Nah, I should figure it out now. I'm seeing Dora this weekend. I'd like to be able to tell her I've made my decision," Danny said.

"She'll be proud of you either way, right?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, but I still feel like this is some sort of test," Danny said.

"Why would you think it's a test?" Tucker asked. Danny went tight-lipped and Tucker sighed. "I dunno what else she said, dude, but if you don't wanna tell us, that's fine. As curious as I am…"

"Thanks, Tuck. I just think I need to figure it out myself before I go talking to anyone about it."

The warning bell rang. They had two minutes to get to their first class. "Shit," Sam said. "Talk about this at lunch?"

"Definitely."

Tucker and Sam were near as distracted as Danny for the first few classes of the day. The art teacher scolded Sam twice for her sloppy use of color and Tucker almost deleted half of the school's student records during his computer science course (he may not have been doing the current assignment, but then again he never really did). By lunch, all three teenagers were more than ready to sit down and chat.

"So," Sam said, digging a fork into her salad. "Are you gonna do it or not?"

Danny choked on his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Tucker smacked him hard on the back a few times and Danny managed to swallow, peanut butter seeming to stick more than usual on its way down his throat. "Do what? I can't make that kind of decision in a couple hours, it's huge- Oh, the amulet. Not sure," he said almost too nonchalantly after he recovered, taking a long swig out of his water bottle.

"What other decision would I be talking about?" Sam asked suspiciously. "I know Tucker said take your time, but you've been really weird about something and I'd like to know why."

"You guys deserve to know," Danny said after a long silence. "DoraofferedtotakemeonasherheirafterIdie," he said, dumping a pile of words in front of his friends without stopping to breathe.

Sam's mouth dropped open. "Did you just say-"

"Wait, what did you say?" Tucker asked at the same time.

"Dora asked you to be her heir?" Sam couldn't help her voice from rising and several heads turned their way briefly.

Danny looked over the schoolyard nervously and shook his head. "Keep it down, will you? Please?"

"That's not huge, that's- that's enormous! That's dragon-sized!" Tucker said. "Holy shit, bro. That's pretty awesome."

Sam nodded in agreement. "She must think really highly of you. I doubt she's ever made that offer."

"Of course she hasn't, she's only been queen a few months," Danny said. "Why are you guys so chill about this? This isn't like someone's offered me a job for when I graduate college. This is offering me a job after I die. I don't even know what's going to happen whenever I die!" This time, his voice rose and the heads dutifully turned again to see what was the matter. Danny stopped talking and the other students turned back around, disappointed at the lack of gossip.

"It's just…" Sam sighed. "Do you ever think about it? What will happen?"

"No. Yes. It's kind of a morbid train of thought," Danny said. "Do you guys think about that stuff?"

"A little. I mean, the Torah tells me a fair bit. But it's a little different here, isn't it? We fight what are essentially dead people all the time. I know you don't like to think about this, but you are half dead. Who knows what'll-"

"Sam, please stop. I don't want to talk about this now, I don't want to talk about this ten years from now. I'll give it a thought when I'm ninety-five years old looking to pass away in my sleep, but until then, it's not a thing and I am not making it one. Dora said she'd give me decades to think about it and that's what I intend to do," Danny said irritably.

"Fine, fine. It's your life. Afterlife," she corrected herself. Danny shot her a look. She shot one right back. Tucker took a big bite of his meatloaf sandwich.

"A bit heavy for lunchtime, don't you guys think?" He asked, chewing noisily.

"Maybe," Sam said, picking through her salad to get one of each type of berry and leaf on her fork for a perfect bite. "Doesn't mean it's something we shouldn't talk about, though. It's interesting to speculate."

"This is what we get for being friends with a goth. Doom and gloom," Tucker said dramatically.

"I've got black nail polish in my locker if you want some, Tuck."

Danny walked home from school with Sam and Tucker as usual. He went straight up to his room once he'd gotten to FentonWorks and closed the door behind him. Letting his backpack fall off his shoulders to rest on the floor next to his bed, he flopped down on the bed with a huff.

He let his mind relax and let the amulet fade into visibility. The gold glinted dully in the sunlight streaming in through his window and the emerald reflected spots of green onto the ceiling above him. He tilted the pendant this way and that absentmindedly, watching the verdant flecks travel back and forth.

As powerful as it made him, he knew he had to give it back to Dora. As powerful as it made him? That struck him as a particularly Vladdish thing to think. Maybe more of the Dragon King was rubbing off on him than he'd thought. No, he thought. He wasn't hesitant to give up the amulet because of the power. Was it the freedom? Being half-ghost allowed a certain freedom already. There was something about being a dragon that struck him the right way but he was unable to really put his finger on it.

All the positives he could come up with didn't overlook the fact that he was essentially carrying the shade of Dora's dead father around his neck. He'd learned a lot more about the spirituality of the amulets and the meaning they held for Dora's family. The amulets held something not unlike the soul of a dragon ghost; it was their emotional core, their instincts. Danny hadn't really considered souls and ghosts as being separate before, but perhaps a soul was a little more spiritual and a ghost was a little more worldly. Strange that ghosts could come to be so much more than his parents believed.

Dora may have given her blessing, but that didn't excuse that he may as well have been wearing a necklace made out of her father's bones.

I need to stop thinking of you as mine, he thought at the amulet. As good as I am at this, you aren't my power. The emerald flickered and he could swear the flash of annoyance that swept through him wasn't his. Curious, he lifted the amulet and held it over his face, peering into the gem. I'm sorry, he thought. You deserve better than being stuck with me. You deserve to be put to rest.

"Excuse me, umm, citizen! I have a favor to ask," Danny Phantom announced, landing in front of Dash and his posse after school.

"Danny Phantom!" Dash went from high and mighty football jock to blubbering fanboy in about two seconds. "What- What could- I- I-"

"Oh, my love! You've finally come to ask me to be your girlfriend! Yes, the answer is yes!" Paulina cried, throwing herself at the ghost boy.

"My fourteen year old self would kill me for this," Danny mumbled to himself, trying to find a way to politely untangle himself from her arms.

"What was that, my darling?" Paulina asked, wrapping her arms more tightly around him.

"Nothing!" Danny yelped as one of her hands found his butt and squeezed. He went intangible reflexively and Paulina fell through him, landing hard in the dirt with a little scream.

Danny stepped to the side so he wouldn't be on top of Paulina once he became tangible again. He looked at Dash again."Mr. Baxter, was it?" He asked, feigning ignorance.

"You know my name? Guys, Danny Phantom knows my name!" Dash exclaimed, eyes shining. "Please, call me Dash!"

"Dash? Okay. Yeah, well…" Danny was unable to come up with a suitable response. "I could use your help, Dash. Would you mind coming with me?"

"Of course, anything!"

"Alright, then. Try not to move too much, okay? I'd hate to drop you," Danny said, drifting a foot or so off of the ground. He floated behind Dash and grabbed him under the shoulders. Turning them both invisible and intangible, he flew towards the park nearby where Sam and Tucker were waiting.

Dash surprisingly kept very still the entire way, though whether out of fear or excitement Danny didn't know. Danny slowed down as he reached the tops of the trees. Dash stumbled a bit when Danny let go of his shoulders a few inches above the leaves and dropped to the ground beside him. Dash looked around the small clearing, becoming noticeably confused when he spotted Tucker and Sam.

"Mr. Phantom, what are these two… people doing here?" Dash asked, squinting at the other teens.

"Surely you've seen them out fighting ghosts with me. They're my friends," Danny said flatly.

"Oh, right, if course!" Dash recovered admirably. "So… what did you need my help with if you already have sidekicks?"

"Not sidekicks," Sam said, bristling.

"Friends," Danny repeated. "My best friends, actually."

"Danny," Tucker said in a warning tone.

"It's alright, Tucker. I've thought a lot about this," Danny replied.

"What about Fenton? I don't usually see these two without him," Dash said.

Danny sighed. "Dash, I asked you here because of this," he said, allowing the amulet on his chest to become visible.

Dash stared at it blankly. "A necklace? Why would you need my help with a necklace?"

"It's sorta complicated," Danny began. "You know how I've been, umm, different lately?"

Realization dawned on Dash's face. "Is this what lets you turn into a dragon? That's so cool!"

"Yeah, that's what it is. Problem is, I can't get it off," Danny said.

"Why'd you want to take it off?" Dash was confused.

"Even more complicated," Danny said. "It'd take too long to explain, but to make a long story short-"

"You come from a long line of dragon-hunting psychos and you're the only one who can take it off," Sam interrupted. "Sorry, Danny. I can only stand being around this testosterone-addled idiot for so long."

"You hang out with two dudes," Tucker pointed out.

"That's different."

"I'm not sure whether I should be offended by that," Tucker said with a frown.

"Wait a second…" The trio turned back to Dash. "That necklace.. That's the same girly necklace Fenton was wearing! The one that's goth girl's grandmother's. What are you doing with…"

"Let's get this over with," Danny muttered, mentally reaching into his core and tugging at the warm thread within. He closed his eyes, letting the bright rings wash over him. He gasped a little as he always did when his heart, quiet and sluggish in his ghost form, suddenly pulsed to new life, thudding loudly in his chest.

This gasp was echoed in the football star in front of him. "F-f-Fenturd?" Dash sputtered. "You're Danny Phantom?!"

"This is going swimmingly," Sam commented sarcastically. "This all could have been avoided if we'd just-"

"Lied to him? He'd probably have figured it out eventually with the amulet and all," Tucker said.

"This is Dash Baxter we're talking about. I highly doubt it," Sam replied.

"FENTON IS DANNY PHANTOM?" Dash shouted out incredulously. "What- What the… Holy shiiiiit."

"Yep," Danny replied, rubbing his face with one hand.

"How the fuck are you Danny Phantom?"

"Accident with my parents' equipment when I was 14, badda bing, badda boom, ghost powers."

Dash blubbered for several more minutes, requiring Danny to provide several demonstrations of his abilities to make the realization stick. Finally, Dash ran out of steam and quieted, holding his face in his hands. "All this time, you've been a hero… and I've been beating you up every day after school," he whispered. "Why haven't you kicked my ass already?"

Danny was taken aback. Was Dash actually sorry? "Believe me, it was tempting. But after a while, my friends helped me to realize that it wasn't the right thing to do."

"You can do so much crazy shit.. And you let me shove you in lockers? Hang you from the flagpole?"

"No need to remind me." Danny could swear he heard sniggers from his friends behind him. He flipped them off behind his back.

"I'm sorry!" Dash blurted out. "I'm so, so, so sorry!"

Danny wasn't sure what he had expected, but this just made him uncomfortable. "You don't… I don't know if I forgive you, not yet. But maybe we can talk about it sometime. Right now, I'm still asking for your help."

Dash blinked a few times. "Oh. The necklace, right? Why do you think I can take it off, again?"

"You.. This necklace was tampered with by an ancient brotherhood of dragon hunters. A brotherhood with the name 'Baxter'. We think one of their descendants can take it off," Danny explained.

"...Dragon hunters? Actually... My granddaddy used to tell me stories about knights and dragons when I was a kid. Didn't think they were true, though," Dash said slowly.

"Interesting," Sam mused. "Guess your grandfather still remembers some of your heritage."

"So, do I need to do anything special?" Dash asked, taking a hesitant step towards Danny.

"Not that we know of. Just try to lift it over my head," Danny said.

"Alright. Here goes," Dash said, fingers curling around the golden chain. He closed his eyes and jerked the chain upwards, catching the amulet on Danny's nose and ears.

"Ow! Why did you close your eyes?" Danny yelped.

"I thought something, I dunno, ghostly might happen!"

"Just watch where you're yanking that thing, okay?"

"Sorry, sorry," Dash said, carefully maneuvering the amulet around Danny's face and over his head. He withdrew his arms and looked down at the amulet in his hands curiously.

Danny thought he'd feel something when the amulet came off. Some sort of loss or withdrawal. Some sort of energy leaving him. But instead all he felt was the heavy weight of the gold coming off of his neck and shoulders.

"I guess this.. belongs to you?" Dash gently placed the amulet into Danny's hands, the gold chain settling into serpentine spirals until the emerald pendant rested on top.

"No, it doesn't," Danny said quietly. "But I know where it does belong."

Danny touched down in front of the castle moat just as he had a few days ago. A nod to the guardsman and the drawbridge was lowered. Danny walked across the drawbridge as the portcullis began to rise with a series of creaks and groans. Despite the fact that he'd gone through the Ghost Portal mid-morning, a huge green moon shone brightly overhead, casting Danny's shadow over the side of the bridge and onto the water below.

The page met him in the main hall and informed him that the queen awaited Danny in her study. Danny thanked the boy and passed him a snack-sized pack of Oreos he'd grabbed from the pantry at home. The boy looked at it in confusion, the foil package crackling in his hands. Danny held out his hand for the boy to pass it back and he cracked the package open at a corner. He gave it back to the page, who quickly figured out how to open the foil the rest of the way. He gasped in delight at the smell of the cookies within and stuffed one into his mouth, crunching happily. Danny ruffled the boy's hair and the boy ran off to enjoy his treat away from prying eyes.

Danny climbed the well-worn steps to Dora's study. Once he reached the heavy wooden door, he knocked twice. "Come in," came the voice on the other side of the door, muffled by the aged timber. Danny turned the door handle and entered the room. Dora sat in her usual chair, sipping the tea she was so fond of. She smiled and rose to greet him, placing the teacup and saucer on a side table.

Danny reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out her father's amulet, offering it to her. Dora stopped and her eyes danced from Danny's face to his hands, her mouth falling open slightly. Tears glistened in her eyes as she ran forward and her arms encircled Danny in a tight embrace, trapping Danny's hands and the amulet between them. Danny managed to pull his arms out to return the hug. Her shoulders shook slightly and Danny realized she was speaking something.

"Thank you," Dora whispered. "Thank you, thank you, thank you."

A/N:

Thank you everyone who's followed Danny and the crew on his dragon adventures - I had a lot of fun writing them! Special thanks goes to LunaGaleMaster for suggesting this AU and the DP Slack fam for encouragement and camaraderie during this summer's Camp Nano. While this story made up only half of my Camp writings, one does not write 50k in a bubble.

As always, please let me know what you think! I'm always open to opinions on what I did right, what I could have done better, and what I did completely wrong. See you guys in the next tale!

-attu