Would you look at that! A crossover between Danny Phantom and FMA! I... have no excuses. Have fun!

Chapter One: Tripped up by Reality

Danny hated being away from Amity Park.

Scratch that, he absolutely loathed it. It was the town he'd fought so hard, so desperately to protect for all those years. It was his home, his haunt, the place he'd died without even knowing so, and the place he'd always come back to. His connection to the town was a piece of his obsession, under his protection, undoubtedly and indisputably his after he'd beaten Pariah Dark for it. He could always feel that tether to Amity, aching when he was far away, pulling him back when his haunt was in danger, giving him an awareness over every portal that opened there.

Danny hated being away from Amity Park.

But he hadn't been able to bear it.

He was nineteen. He was nineteen, and still looked like the same scrawny fourteen-year-old kid that came stumbling out of that portal all those years ago.

He was nineteen, but he wasn't human.

The rest of his family -those that belonged to him, his haunt, the ones his obsession made him watch the most -was and were moving on without him.

They would one day die. There was no guarantee any of them would become ghosts -and they wouldn't, not if he had anything to say about it -and he wasn't about to bother them as they lived their lives, lived them in a way he no longer could.

Ghosts rarely age, Daniel. Apology rang in Clockwork's crimson eyes. This isn't something I can change.

Danny had agonized over that, floating around in the Zone, drifting about for days and then weeks before he went back. Time was getting away from him, in more ways than one. But he couldn't stop himself retreating. He told no one of his escapades into solitude, on the fringes of the Zone, where no ghost could bother him.

He couldn't stand the worry his friends and sister directed at him, he couldn't stand being the source of their pain, and his obsession fought itself -a need to be near what was his versus a need to protect others, even from himself. And Amity was safer than it had ever been, now. The ghosts had stopped coming through as often, and the ones that did weren't often likely to pick fights.

So, he'd hidden. Ran away, his mind whispered.

They had their own lives to live. They shouldn't worry about him.

But it was during one of those retreats that he was reminded of another thing he hated, if a bit less viscerally.

Natural portals.

Especially ones that sucked you in, spat you out, and disappeared a moment later, leaving you stranded who-knew-where-ville during the time-is-irrelevant-to-portals century.

This in itself wouldn't have been too much of a problem for Danny. He'd learned how to make his own portals around two years ago. He could get to the Ghost Zone, talk to Clockwork, and get back whenever he wanted.

Except as soon as the portal did spit him out, after swirling and swooshing him around like a nauseating washing machine, he'd felt that tether to his haunt snap.

He didn't realize what had happened at first. No matter how far away he'd been, he'd always been able to feel Amity. Even when he'd once fallen through a portal to ancient China. Distance and time might have faded the connection, knocked the wind out of him when he went too far too quickly, but never had it broken.

He wanted to panic. He wanted to scream, to rage, to get to his home and kick the ass of whatever fates thought it funny to mess with his obsession. He tried to rip open his own leap between dimensions. Nothing happened. He tried again. No portal.

He wanted to cry.

There was a crackle of electricity nearby, a shaky breath. He flinched.

But no. He couldn't. Someone was already doing that. Emotion flooded the room.

Shock, indecision, doubt. Sorrow, anger, self-hatred, fear, fear, fear. A sob and a clanging of metal.

His protectiveness latched on, gave him clarity, shoved aside all his own fear and panic, and he finally opened his senses to where he was.

The scent hit him first. Blood. Blood and burning flesh and below him, he could see in the darkness and faint glow of the dying lamplight a melting corpse surrounded by an ornate circle. It was reaching out, twitchy, a soulless abomination that puttered out and collapsed on itself in moments.

He wanted to vomit. He wanted to float up and out of whatever building he'd managed to land himself in, but there came a banging of metal and the whirl of pain, pain, pain hit him again. His core screamed at him, help them, help them, help them.

So, he swallowed back a gag, sucked in a breath he didn't need, and turned away from the thing on the floor.

Then he seethed.

Two boys. Two kids. One a soul latched, tied and bound, to an armor vessel, and the other missing two limbs and bleeding out.

Secrets be damned, his instincts and obsession bellowed, help them.

He flew down and, true to his thoughts, let the flash of his powers move them back and his human identity come forward. The light caught the armored soul's attention, his vessel shaking and stumbling, whirling around from his attempt at reaching the stairs. The boy's soul, so much smaller than the body of his vessel, opened his mouth to speak. No words came. Danny gathered from the emotion in the air that shock and fear had overtaken the boy.

Which meant he didn't move away until Danny had already reached him, stripped off his shirt, and wrapped the blond child's arm as best he could. He then leveled the soul inside the vessel with eyes that bled green, pushed as much authority into his voice as he could manage, and said, "Where's the hospital?"

The soul flinched, and Danny would scold himself later for being the cause of the tears and fear that once again welled into the other's eyes. But it did the trick, and the boy stuttered, "Granny, Granny's, she's a surgeon, down, down the road."

He nodded, pulling back the power from his eyes, and raced up the stairs, tapping into his powers of flight to not jostle the child in his arms.

"Hey- Hey, wait!" The call followed by the clanging of metal signaled the other child was following, as Danny left through the door -a bit of intangibility may have been involved -and directed himself for the only other house within sight of the one he'd left.

The boy in his arms shivered, gasped short breaths. The soul of the one behind him shivered with every clanging step.

Danny's heart ached.

"Granny, Granny!"

Pinako bolted out of bed, the desperation in her young grandson's voice pushing those old limbs of hers farther than she'd thought herself possible.

"Al, what're you doing here at this time of night-?" She was halfway down the stairs when she heard Winry open the door. Winry screamed. Den began barking his lungs out, adding to the noise.

"W-Wait, Winry, it's me! Where's Granny!?"

Pinako made it to the bottom of the steps and scolded herself for freezing like she did.

Blood coated armor with glowing red eye sockets stood in the doorway. Winry was scrambling up from where she must have fallen on her bum in shock. In the middle of the living room, a shirtless boy, just as bloody, scars traveling down his own figure, was searching the room desperately.

He had a familiar blond haired child in his arms.

"Please, please, you've, you've gotta, help him," sobbed the armor.

Her eyes met the stranger's.

And Pinako knew she'd failed to keep her boys safe.

"You!" she pointed to the teen she didn't know the name of. "This way! Now!"

She caught sight of Winry, her smart, smart granddaughter putting together the pieces before reaching out to the armor, Alphonse, before she grabbed the arm of the stranger and dragged him away, Edward still bleeding, dying, she had to do something, now.

The boy followed behind her, and she directed him to place Edward down before shoving him out of the room.

She had a grandson to save.

Danny slid down the wall, curled into himself to hide his face, and breathed.

His limbs were quivering. There was blood all over him. His scars -including the faded pink lightning bursts that trailed down his arm and across his body, stark against his pale skin -were there for anyone to see. Amity Park was veritably gone, and there were so many emotions in the house, he could barely wade through them all to find his own.

He did, though. He couldn't let himself be overwhelmed. The panic had dulled to an empty ache in his chest, right where he could usually feel home. Outward, he felt with his energy for that thin barrier that always existed between him and his haunt, that had always allowed him to return there before.

It was gone.

And that meant Amity Park, his home, his haunt, did not exist.

He took another breath.

That was… good?

Good. It had to be. Even if Amity had been destroyed, he'd still be able to find it. No, it was still there. His family, Jazz, Sam, Tucker, they were safe.

There are many different worlds out there, Frostbite had told him, many not dissimilar to yours. However, they are not always connected to the Ghost Zone. I would not recommend ever traveling to any of the Outer Worlds, Great One, for that would mean cutting all ties with yours.

This was an Outer World. This was a place that had no association with the Zone. Or, at least, he thought of the armor-bound soul, no direct contact. There were always those fringe-worlds that weren't much more connected as completely outer ones, but instead toed that line. Or so Frostbite had told him. But because of that separation, portals did not open in these Outer worlds. They couldn't. The barrier between them and the Zone was either nonexistent, or too thick to be cut through.

His anger flared.

Natural portals didn't travel dimensions.

Something, someone, had cut him off. Brought him here.

This wasn't an accident, not with his luck. Someone had wanted to cut him off, if not outright get rid of him. Danny would be the first to admit, he wasn't exactly good about not making enemies, but he didn't know of any ones that were capable of this.

He tensed.

Whatever, whoever had done this -they were still in the Zone. Were still capable of touching Amity.

A tiny hand touched his bare shoulder, and he very carefully did not retaliate.

Instead, he lifted his head quite stiffly, his body full of pent-up tension. The blond girl, the one that had answered the door, stood beside him. Her smile was soft, her own worry and fear and helplessness shoved away where others wouldn't see. Except the emotions swirled around her like an angry fit of wind with no breeze.

She held out a bundle of clothing to him. He blinked and stared at it.

"I thought… you might…" she muttered, trying to gain traction with her words. "I thought you might want to clean up. I can show you the bathroom. I can…"

She glanced hesitantly to the wall opposite them, and Danny only now wondered when the two had come to sit there with him, to wait on the other boy. The steam she'd picked up faltered, "You can… clean up, too, Al…"

Danny looked between the two. The conflicted, confused young girl, and the desperate fearful young boy. He sighed softly at the prod of his own protectiveness.

He would worry about these kids, for now. And then he would find a way home.

Because he would. He would get home. No matter what.

No matter what.

So, he smiled back at her. He stood, took the clothes, and stepped up to the armor to give it a tap. It rang hollow in the hallway, though the soul inside jumped and looked to him, face tear-stained and eyes red.

He knelt down to be eye-level with him, "I'll help clean ya up, okay?"

There was something like wariness in the boy's eyes. But there was also a willingness to trust. Danny reached out with a hand, which the vessel took. He hauled the boy to his feet, much to both children's astonishment. Then he looked to the girl once more.

"Lead the way."

Huh. Wonder why this one feels so short. Oh well, I hope you enjoyed, chapter two will be released immediately~.
-Dragon