You may not have noticed, but the story wasn't labelled as complete until I posted this chapter. 👀

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Gravity Falls. All rights to Butch Hartman and Alex Hirsch.

Unexpected

Epilogue -

1 year later (2013)

It was a surprisingly hot day in Summer, Dani could feel the sun beating down on her back as she walked closer to her destination. The itchy feeling it gave her almost felt like a sign to not be there, but fortunately, she was determined enough of her goal that she wouldn't let something as small as the heat get her to chicken out and back down...Even if she'd already gone the wrong way and had to walk even further. Another potential omen she'd shoved from her mind.

She chalked it up to nerves about where she was going. Nerves about what she was doing.

But she was Dani Phantom! As Mabel had exclaimed in indignation, this was nothing compared to everything else she had handled in her life.

And yes that was a perfectly reasonable point, but she had definitely acquired a minor form of impostor syndrome after her experiences with Vlad that liked to show up every now and again. Very much aware of this, she was however, doing what she could to combat that.

Staying with the Pines the previous Summer had been a good step in the right direction, especially after having to leave people behind quickly as she'd moved from state to state before hitting Gravity Falls. It had felt like home in a way but it wasn't her home. No she knew that was somewhere else; like how the Twins had Piedmont back in Cali (which she had made sure to visit as soon as she was in the area and had promptly had phone numbers shoved in her face, cries of, can I finally see your camera? and was forced into promising, yes, I will call you as soon as I get a phone (It had been months, she hoped they weren't mad)).

Dani was just coming over a slope in the road when she saw the place she was looking for.

Amity Park, Home of Danny Phantom - as the billboard advertised.

'And Dani Phantom', she added in her mind, a large smile threatening to split her face, then she finally entered the town for the first time in over a year.

She'd been convinced eventually to return, even though that niggling feeling of not belonging had wormed it's way back into her brain. Honestly, she wouldn't have minded just staying in Gravity Falls after her travels, helping out in the Gift Shop; and could've dealt with the constant reminder that there was another place she could go since it was comfortable enough living there. But the twins had gone home, Stan and Ford had apparently gone away and as much as she got along with Soos and Wendy, and Melody too, it just wasn't truly the same when they weren't all there. They could reunite some other time.

And it was with these sentiments that the Pines twins had all but forced Dani to go home when she'd met them in California. Not right away of course but they'd insisted that as soon as she'd finished her travels she had to (Mabel had even threatened to withhold Waddles). Practically nagging her until she'd felt confident enough to agree, realising that she needed somewhere with people who knew her struggles in full and could easily help her if she needed it (That had already been proven when she'd nearly de-stabilised).

There were, however, some obvious issues for her that meant she couldn't necessarily live in Amity Park such as not wanting to barge in and take liberties, thus putting her original's secret at risk, so instead, Dani was going to spend most of her time in the city, where she could hang out with Danny and 'shape her future' as Dipper had put it, but sleep and 'live' in the Ghost Zone.

She might've accumulated money from the Gift Shop (and a surprisingly generous bonus when she left) but it wasn't enough to cover living arrangements and it wasn't like a fourteen year old could even live on their own anyway on Earth (At least with certain people in the know of it). So the Ghost Zone it was until she'd gotten a little older.

This was only possible due to a string of events that had transpired over the course of the past year. Before hitting Gravity Falls, there had been a time when the Halfa had encountered a rare portal to the Ghost Zone and she'd entered looking for any trouble only to run into Johnny 13 and Kitty. At first the three had been unsure of how to react to each other, Dani not knowing about their past encounters with Danny and them not knowing if she was allied with the boy or not.

'She's literally wearing his insignia Johnny!' Kitty had cried out.

Eventually, they'd started up a conversation, the two older ghosts were creeped out by Vlad's cloning schemes and Dani was a little apprehensive when she realised they'd previously battled her original.

'Yeah but it's like, pretty much water under the bridge at this point. We don't hate each other or anything, there's just sometimes some drama between us.'

The three formed a sort of friendship thing, at least a better relationship than the other ghosts had with Danny, and upon finding out about Dani's travels, they'd inquired about her sleeping and eating habits among other questions. The Halfa felt that despite the bickering they often devolved into, they might've made good parents one day.

They'd, much to the girl's surprise, even stated that if needed, she could crash in their corner of the Ghost Zone and she'd had to remind them of the fact that she didn't have immediate access to a portal to even be able to get there. Kitty blew a raspberry and said they could take her to the Far Frozen where she'd heard gossip that some big bear looking guys, who pretty much worshiped her original, held the legendary infi-map that could help her out.

Dani asked why they hadn't just taken it for themselves and found out that Johnny had a portal making device attached to the front of his motorbike which she couldn't help but feel a little envious of. She didn't comment on the fact that it was clearly Fenton tech based on the logo stuck on it's side.

So with no more queries, they'd all squeezed onto the motorbike and raced off towards the icy area.

Upon arrival, Kitty and Johnny had whined about the cold being irritating and then Frostbite, the leader, had proudly welcomed the "cousin" of their hero Danny Phantom.

Frostbite had lamented that the last time the map had been given to Danny, things hadn't necessarily gone so well, but he felt this time no such issues would occur. Dani felt this was a little too optimistic but nevertheless gratefully took the powerful artefact and was informed on how to use it.

She'd also been educated on the fact that she apparently had ice powers to come, which nearly made her choke on the complimentary cocoa she'd been given. Frostbite made sure to let her know that she could train said powers in their realm.

Considering her plans for after travelling and the massive size of the Far Frozen combined with their hospitality, Dani inquired if she could potentially rest there if need be. Unfortunately, it was pointed out that despite her ice core, the cold would still become an issue eventually, if only less so than for most other ghosts, meaning staying there for an extended period of time wouldn't be the greatest idea. So, like with Kitty and Johnny, it had been suggested that she could crash there occasionally, but for something more long term, there was a much more suitable place in the Ghost Zone lead by another ally of Danny which she was given details of.

Saying her goodbyes and 'thank you's to the ghosts and filing away that information for later, Dani had requested the map take her to her next destination and had been promptly whisked off in the direction of a portal.

For the rest of her travels until Oregon, Dani had used the map sparingly if she had to (there'd also been a time when a portal closed behind her and she couldn't find one that lead anywhere near where she'd been in Wyoming, even with the use of the infi-map. It had taken three days before one came back, albeit a few towns over and in the middle of mountains which had, understandably, put her way off from using it for a while) and kept it hidden in a back pocket inside of her bag for extra protection. She mostly opted for camping or discretely hiding in hotels and motels until that fateful lightning storm. Following Gravity Falls, she'd alternated between Earth and the Ghost Zone much more frequently, yet still not particularly often, as she had more money this time to bring supplies like more food into the latter area meaning she could stay longer.

Then, after the talk with the twins in California, Dani had formulated her plan of action and figured it was time to go to that other realm. She'd realised there was a big social and intellectual aspect missing from her life and she knew Danny would be able to assist in fixing that and allowing her to broaden her horizons and find her real place in the world, but first, she had to set up somewhere to sleep and clean herself up that she could go to everyday.

The Kingdom of Dora was rather large and actually able to house non-climate specific ghosts. Recognising her aesthetic, the princess (queen? she wasn't sure) had agreed to let her set up permanent residence if needed. So yeah, she had somewhere to go, multiple places in fact (but the first two were more for hanging out) and that meant that she could spend time with Danny without stepping on his toes too much.

Fenton Works wasn't her home, she reminded herself that enough times, but the town felt like it. Maybe that was just because Danny was her original but that's just how it felt to her. Gravity Falls sure came close but she knew that was because of the people. Yeah, she felt the same with Danny but Amity Park itself had this certain pull to her, which honestly could've just been the portal pulling a weird hive mind thing that she shuddered to consider. Deep down, she wanted to be a part of the society there and given enough time, she may actually be able to move into the town completely.

In the present, walking through Amity Park, there was a sense of familiarity as all the usual places stood out to her, like the Nasty Burger, shopping mall and city hall. It didn't look like anything had changed, as if things had been frozen in time between her departure and return.

The most familiar place though, was drawing nearer by the second and she felt a rush of overwhelming excitement and overwhelming anxiety.

The real home of Danny Phantom.

The one that wasn't hers.

Dani briefly stopped just outside the building and had to take a moment to calm herself down. She'd been mentally psyching herself up for this for a long time. Dipper and Mabel's words had really helped her get to here but they weren't with her now so she had to face it herself alone.

She steeled herself by inhaling and exhaling deeply a few times and finally rapped her knuckles against the door.

In the twenty seconds it took for the door to open, Dani ran through what she wanted to talk about in her head and how she would approach the situation. She'd greet her 'cousin' ask to go somewhere to talk (hopefully the Nasty Burger) and then they could find out what each other had been up to and she could ask for help. Easy.

But what if it wasn't Danny who opened the door.

There was a split second of panic, but it was too late to do anything as the door suddenly opened in front of her.

Her heart constricted in her chest only to plummet all the way to her feet as although not Danny, it was Sam who was standing in the doorway.

The older girl appeared taken aback for a moment but quickly schooled her expression, "Danielle?"

"Uh, hi Sam?" She began with an awkward grin, the pair hadn't really interacted much before so she didn't really know what to say, "And it's Dani actually, although I can see how that would be confusing for you so, El maybe?"

The goth shrugged her shoulders, "Sure."

"Sam? Who is it?" Another voice called out from within the house and Dani felt anticipation again. It was Danny, she knew it was, and it felt great to hear him again.

"I think you should come and see." The teen beside her responded with a slight smirk on her face.

The Halfa girl rocked back and forth on the balls of her feet, holding her breath to not let her excitement and nerves come out vocally and then the one and only Danny Fenton appeared in the doorway behind Sam.

Peering over her shoulder, the boy's eyes suddenly lit up as though he'd just heard all the ghosts in the Ghost Zone were giving him a week off or some other similarly surprising but nice thing.

"Dani!" He called out happily, maneuvering around Sam to get to her.

"Hey Danny-"

He was quick to swoop down and envelop her in an all encompassing hug before she could finish her greeting.

She blinked a couple of times in shock before relaxing into his arms. She felt safe and comforted but also overwhelmingly sad. She'd missed him after all, so she naturally wound her arms around him tighter and clung onto him for dear life.

Eventually the two separated and Dani hoped she wasn't crying. If there were tears in her eyes, the elder Halfa didn't comment on it.

"So what are you doing here?" He asked instead, and then his brows knit in concern, "Wait, there's nothing wrong right?"

Dani was quick to reassure him, "No, no everything's fine I swear. I'm here because I wanted to talk to you about something."

Clearly a lot more comfortable, the boy directed a thumb to the doorway behind him,"Sure, you can come in. We'll talk in the living room."

"What about your parents?" Dani questioned, tilting her head. From what she remembered, the Fentons had no clue about Danny, that was the whole point of her finding her own living arrangements aside from not wanting to ask for too much.

"Oh they're out right now." He responded, waving a hand dismissively and heading back inside after Sam, "Doubt they'd mind anyway."

"Huh?"

"I'll explain later."

She shrugged unsurely, "Um, okay." And then Dani followed as the two older teens went inside.

Entering the living room, she spied the other third of the group at one end of the sofa, tapping away with a straight face at his PDA.

It became clear that the three had been playing some video game before she'd arrived if the discarded controllers were anything to go by.

"Hi Tucker." She greeted.

The teen looked up, clearly confused by the new voice, but a wide smile, rivaling that of Danny's, threatened to split his cheeks and he threw his hands in the air as he recognised the younger teen. "Hey, it's mini Danny!"

Dani frowned unamused and Sam face-palmed, mumbling the new nickname they were gonna address the former by to her friend as she sat down.

"Heh, sorry El." He shrunk down a bit.

"Better."

Danny wedged himself in between his friends and tilted his head, "Not to sound like a broken record, but what'cha doing here then Dani? Or El I guess we're calling you now."

She decided to get straight to the point.

"I'd like to enroll at Casper High."

The three teens blinked at her in silence and Dani felt her face heat up in embarrassment. She was about to take it back when Danny leant forward grinning.

"Wait for real? Dani-uh El that's great!"

"It's not really that big of a deal." She mumbled bashfully.

"Slight problem about that plan though," Tucker interjected, "she doesn't have any birth records. However," He raised a finger and smirked, "pretty sure I can solve that."

"You can?" She was aware that Danny's friend was pretty technologically talented but this was unexpected. Assuming they would appear legitimate. "Whoa Tucker thank you!"

She got a finger gun in return, "Happy to help."

"Is there anything else?" Danny questioned with a smile suggesting it was okay to ask for more.

She thought back to the numbers she'd received, "Uh, I kinda need a phone..."

"I can handle that too." Tucker grinned coolly.

Before Dani could thank him once more, Sam shook her head and waved her arms,"No Tucker. Don't worry," She turned to the other girl, "I can buy you one instead."

"Ah, thank you Sam." She thought about mentioning paying the girl back but from what she'd gathered, Sam was rich so maybe she didn't care too much...She pushed the guilt that nagged at her thinking that way to the back of her mind.

Regardless, in her made up mental tally, their generous behaviour earned Danny's friends extra points.

"We'll be going into our junior year" Danny pointed out, circling back to the original point, "so you'll have two years of high school with us."

"Well that's reassuring at least." She sighed out a breath of relief, at least she didn't have to adjust to going to school for the first time completely alone.

"Now all we gotta do is introduce you to mom, dad and Jazz. Jazz especially since she's going to uni next year." Danny said in a nonchalant manner.

"Huh?"

"Well, you're staying here right?" He asked as more of statement as if it was obvious, "We have a spare room that hasn't been used in years. I think dad wanted to convert it into some other gadget room so we can stop him before he does."

And just like that, months of planning were thrown out the window.

"Wha-But, but you-" She sputtered in pure astonishment. That was the complete opposite of what she'd been expecting. She figured Danny might've asked where she'd stay when she went 'home' from school not ask her to stay.

And that's when it clicked.

"They know." That was the only possible explanation that he'd put their secrets at risk like that, if there was no secret in the first place.

"About me being Phantom?" He rubbed his neck awkwardly, "Yeah they do. Jazz knew before I even met you but mom and dad, they became aware more recently."

To say she was shocked was an understatement. Danny had always been adamant about keeping his identity hidden as much as herself.

But then an oddly mellow feeling settled in as one of his biggest concerns seemingly hadn't turned out so bad after all which meant something she'd similarly stressed about was a little meaningless. At least to an extent.

"Did you tell them about Vlad?" She then thought to ask, albeit with more hesitance.

The boy rubbed his neck again, "Mom knows, we're still figuring out how to break it to dad honestly."

"And me?" Her words were almost a whisper.

"Honestly, I've mentioned you briefly to them. They know how you were made, not necessarily who by in dad's case, but yeah. They were a little worried when I mentioned you'd gone off exploring though and kinda gave me a lecture for letting you go like that." He chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck for a third time and Sam pulled his hand away and squeezed it before letting go. Clearly that was a habit he hadn't managed to drop, Dani herself had noticed she too did it on occasion.

"Oh wow." She whispered in response to what he'd said. She felt surprised by the care the family had shown to her well-being given they didn't know her, "And you're really sure they'll be okay with me staying here?"

Danny smiled in understanding, "Don't worry, if they love me, they'll love you."

"Wow, way to remove her individuality." Sam remarked, lightly shoving his shoulder.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that!"

Dani smiled at their reactions, "Don't worry Danny, I get what you mean."

"Thank you."

"So where are your parents by the way?" She asked after a moment.

"They're out walking my ghost dog Cujo."

Her jaw dropped, "You have a ghost dog!?"

"Yeah he does, and as cute as he is, he can grow to ten times his original size." The goth in the room pointed out.

"Ya know what, I'm not even gonna ask anymore." She huffed out a breath of air and sat on the carpet, "I really can't believe how casual all of this is. I was totally expecting to not be able to stay here."

"Where would you have gone otherwise then?"

"Yeah about that," She brought her knees to her chest, "I was planning on residing or whatever in Dora's kingdom."

Sam quirked a brow, "How'd you know Dora?"

"Frostbite."

Danny stared at her incredulously, "How'd you know Frostbite!?"

"Kitty and Johnny 13."

The other Halfa sighed, "And as you said, I'm not even gonna ask anymore..."

Dani scrunched up her nose at him with a chuckle.

"Speaking of your time away, what exactly have you been up to for the past year and a half anyway? Aside from apparently running into our past." Tucker asked.

"Yeah, Danny said you were travelling across the world, not the Ghost Zone." Sam pointed out with raised brows.

"Well, I didn't go around the world. Not yet at least. Just the states so far," The younger teen rubbed her neck, "Ah, there's a lot to go over honestly."

"Well, what was the best part?" Her original asked, listening intently with an encouraging smile.

That was an easy one.

Dani beamed wide and pulled her camera out of her bag.

"Have you ever heard of a town named Gravity Falls?"

End Epilogue

End of Part 2

So here's the actual end to this. Kinda. It's more like a little extra thing that I'd planned years ago because of people asking for Danny.

For clarity, this is set in a universe where Phantom Planet was a dream caused by Nocturn while there was chaos in the real world. What felt like months to Danny was really about a day and Sam and Tucker, with the help of Jazz and Valerie, deal with the ghost and wake up him up. It takes an obvious toll on Danny that none of it was real but it eventually leads to him deciding to tell his parents and Valerie about his powers (the latter revealing her knowledge of Vlad in turn and joking almost hysterically that she should have seen it coming) and confess to Sam about his feelings. 👍

And if anyone wants to do something with that, go ahead.

Also, I'd like to point out that the reverse!Pines story I was gonna write some time ago is cancelled. I'm sorry but there's no plot for it aside from the initial chapter, so if anyone else wants to use that too, you can do that, I don't mind.

If you enjoyed my story, you can review or favourite it. Can't follow it anymore because it's finished 🎊 🎉... unless you want to for some reason.

We ended with 77 reviews, 19,661 viewers, 122 followers and 103 favourites! I'm really proud of the result considering this is a crossover and eternally grateful to all who interacted with my story.

And on a sadder note...This is actually the last time I'm going to be using this account. I will no longer be writing fics here so this is the last of my work you will see. I'm sorry to go but I just don't have as much interest in these shows to write for them as I once did, but I wanted to make sure I finished 'Unexpected' at the least.

A story idea from before:
-I had an idea of Sam and Dani actually not getting along that well initially as Dani views the elder as a little too stubborn and brash at times while Sam sees Dani as too much of a trouble maker. When Dani decides to go to Gravity Falls again for Summer in 2015, Danny gets them to go together to work things out. The twins apparently aren't able to show up til mid Summer so Dani goes off with Pacifica instead while Sam hangs out with Wendy and her crew. Speaking with Paz actually gives her more insight on the goth due to their backgrounds and slight bossiness, but also insight on herself too. The blonde mentions feeling trapped in her new life and Dani decides to come clean about her powers (Weirdmaggedon was probably more shocking anyway) and opens up about their shared trauma of abusive parental figures. Sam on the other hand, similarly gets more insight on Dani from Wendy who reminds the goth that the Halfa is probably just a stressed out kid in the end and being playful relieves some of that. She also considers the times when she'd done much more chaotic things. The two talk more, becoming closer because of it and when they get back to Amity at the end of Summer, they pretend not to see the smug expressions of Danny.

So yeah, pretty much if you wanna do anything with this little universe I've set up, you are more than welcome to.

Goodbye and thank you so much for your continued support. ✌️

~Cartoonical

Bonus (hope these links work...):

https:(slash)(slash)
cartoonical.
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.com(slash)private(slash)187189374095(slash)tumblr_oYkDWPf8PnMQ7R86q

https:(slash)(slash)
cartoonical.
tumblr
.com(slash)private(slash)187196670985(slash)tumblr_ueKCEj1GwwUoowTyI

https:(slash)(slash)
cartoonical.
tumblr
.com(slash)private(slash)187189367550(slash)tumblr_xnMqUG109GDUcV8kb - we'll call this one a parting gift :)