A mistake. That's probably what anyone can call it. It was simply a mistake. What was a mistake? It's quite simple, you see Vlad Plasmius while searching for more power amongst the Ghost Zone's many, many doors eventually let him to an area where even most ghosts would not dare lurk without good reason.
That journey led Vlad to the Observants section of the Ghost Zone where he came upon a most interesting seal. What it sealed was hard to discern as the seal itself with its huge vine like coverings hid most of the object in question. The seal's black vines made of an unidentifiable substance had glowing cyan markings all across them and at the center of the vines, there was an object that was a circle made out of the same substance as the vines with a single symbol depicting a serpent eating its own tail.
The symbol, Vlad deduced; must be powering the seal and thus must be the only thing standing in the way between him and the possible object the seal was denying him. He gave not even a second of hesitation to blast away the seal, causing the vines which held it to evaporate into nothingness as they shriveled like leaves.
"Now i'll have what you fools are hiding!",Vlad exclaimed.
The joy left his face as quickly as it came when he saw what the seal covered was in fact closed black eyelids. The eyelids opened now that the seal was gone revealing a green eye. The eye's pupil extended to tremendous size and Vlad could see what appeared to be stars within that void of an eye.
'It must be a portal to another part of the Ghost Zone!' ,Vlad thought. A thunderous crash however interrupted his thoughts from furthering as two behemoths entered rather intensely through the walls of the once empty corridor, finally finding their elusive intruder. Vlad recalling his previous encounter with one of these things instantly surmised that trying to fight two of these things would not end well for him. He wasted no time fleeing, becoming intangible as the behemoths shot their immolating rays of energy at the slippery schemer.
In the corridor, as the behemoths left to chase Vlad something quite menacing slowly crept out of the eye. Letting its presence grace the realm it hasn't seen in several, several centuries. What a mistake he caused.
The sun's dying light colors Amity Park's buildings with its warm hues as the once hiding shadows now paint themselves longer over the smaller buildings and concrete. There, coming home from school is a disgruntled Danny Fenton off to meet with Tucker to discuss his thoughts about a certain man by the name of "Gregor" unaware of the curious eyes that are following him, eyes invisible to all.
These eyes belonged to one who learned much in their short visit to the mortal plane. How much time has passed since their stay. How much different the ghosts have become, and how much Fenton has changed it all. It wasn't hard to figure out.
Lurking in the commonly ghost attacked Casper High, the eyes saw it. Saw him. Saw him change. How peculiar the eyes found him. Half ghost, half human this young child was. This young child who is scowling at the thought of another mortal man winning the affections of his desired partner. How hilarious, how sweet, how delicious. The eyes were waiting for someone to use the red fragments they had enchanted on someone. The eyes could not think of a possibly better candidate. Perhaps his familiarity with the broken crystal will give an even better show.
Concluding this thought, the eyes no longer hid and manifested, revealing a tall figure in a long, faded, burgundy cloak looming over Danny. Now finally seeing something that justifies there is a ghost instead of having his ghost sense go off like crazy like it has been for awhile now and darting his eyes around, Danny turns around to find the towering figure behind him. While Danny would usually go ghost at the sight of such a thing, some over encompassing feeling of dread bolted him in place. The atmosphere it gave off was beyond sinister and the sudden flood of it was paralyzing him. It felt horrifying.
The creature made no hesitation in making its eyes known, having the teal glow of its eyes poke out from the darkness of its hood. Danny could hear it make a small huff of satisfaction, possibly from his dismayed reaction. Snapping out of his shock, Danny's eyes caught the lower half of the cloak move and revealed what appeared to be a boneless, black, slimy like clawed arm holding red glowing fragments of some sort of glass or crystal. The arm moved toward Danny as he instinctively moved back, but the arm quickly picked up in speed, becoming intangible and sticking itself inside Danny. The creature whispered unintelligible words and his torso glew red, Danny grunted in pain as he felt something burning in his chest. The creature chuckled most ominously and Danny's eyes met with its own.
"The show begins.",it bellowed. It turned intangible, beginning its escape.
"Hey!", Danny shouted at the creature as he transformed to attempt to catch it. However it went into the ground and as Danny attempted to pursue it, going intangible himself, he went underground only to find no trace of the ghost. Going back up he turned back and made only his arm intangible so Danny could remove the fragments placed in his torso the way he removed his spoon before during a previous lunch. When he tried it though, an intensive burning pain spread across his chest. Danny keels over in pain, giving up and releasing his grip on the fragments and removing his arm from his chest. He let out a sigh.
"Oh great." ,He groaned. "Now i've got a possible time-bomb in my chest AND i've got to deal with the Guys in White! I need to talk to Tucker..."
Without further delay, Danny hurried off to meet up with Tucker Foley. Foley was uncertain of his friend's opinion of Gregor, he seemed like a nice guy and his attire was fairly different from the Guys in White's attire. If Danny's argument was that he could tell Gregor was a spy by the "uniform" he wore then the biggest flaw of that argument was the appearance, and knowing the Guys in White report in "cleanliness breaches" Tucker was fairly certain appearance was a big part of their image. No pun intended.
"Look, i'll give it you that Gregor's transfer and the Guys in White's sudden appearances are weirdly in sync. But Gregor being a spy is a pretty big stretch."
"Look, I am telling you there is seriously something up with that guy! I think something else is up too."
"You mean Gregor hooking up with Sam?"
Danny glared. "No.",He retorted. "I mean earlier today a ghost appeared behind me and stuck these glowing red fragments in me and left. Every time I try to pull them out I just get this burning pain. I can't remove them."
"Some ghost came and put some red fragments in you?"
Danny nodded.
"That can't be good." ,Tucker responded.
"I know, but I can't focus on my own problems. Not when Sam is possibly in danger from the Guys in White." ,Danny said while transforming into a ghost.
"I doubt it.",Tucker retorted.
"Well, if that's the case keeping an invisible eye on her couldn't hurt.", Danny said as he turned invisible.
"What?!", Tucker blurted in surprise as Danny flew into the sky.
Tucker, hearing Gregor and Sam talking hid behind the trash cans. He seriously hoped Danny wouldn't do anything bad while he was spying on them. Burdened with an odd feeling itching at the seams of his mind Danny watched Sam and Gregor. He watched them skip rocks across the pond and giggle. He watched them snuggle up to each other as they watched a movie. He even watched Gregor insist upon paying for dinner while Sam should sit down and wait. The itching feeling grew and grew as time went on, only getting stronger. Which agitated Danny more. He was irritated watching Sam and Gregor get close, the feeling of helplessness certainly didn't help. It was maddening.
Danny couldn't disrupt them, disrupt it. Disrupt the order. There had to be an order to these things, the order was made so everything can go according to plan, but he absolutely loathed the order! He loathed it! He loathed the order, he loathed the peace if only he could turn it into disarray, if only-!
Then Danny's now red eyes went from the crowd of unwitting people below to the brightly lit lights above, and he liked the idea that was forming in his head.
Sam was waiting for Gregor to finish ordering their meal so he could bring it here, she didn't mind it. In fact the time they had together was kind of fun. She enjoyed herself, and she was sure Gregor did too. Sam reflected fondly on what happened during her and Gregor's time together when suddenly the lights started popping off, one by one. It didn't take long before the whole Mall started breaking out into a panic and the it only got worse when the mall's windows started breaking and parking lot lights started going out.
Sam got out of her seat and quickly tried to find Gregor which immediately made itself known it was borderline impossible with all this darkness, people fleeing around, and screaming. Sam tried to move through the fear driven anarchy taking place in the mall attempting to find Gregor, nearly falling over more than a few times thanks to the lack of light and the less than graceful people dashing throughout in rabbid pandemonium. She eventually gave up on shouting Gregor's name along with trying to find him and she changed plans while moving about the mall.
Sam quickly deduced that from hearing the venting and the faint electric humming, there was still power. Maybe there was an emergency phone for the mall to call maintenance or mall staff. Once she called that help would come, hopefully fix the problem, then she'd be able to meet up with Gregor and they'd both walk back home. It was pretty late. Going off of this train of thought Sam carefully made her way to an escalator and into an open hall on the upper floor of the mall. Hearing the screaming fade as she walked farther in and entering the still, dark hallway started to unnerve her. It's one thing to have ghosts front and center announcing their schemes and hurling stuff at you, or watching a horror movie on a screen and mocking the protagonist's choices with friends, but this? Sam's never really had a moment like this. A silent building tension, with no hope for comfort in sight. It's like a waiting room, only you don't know what you're waiting for and you're not allowed to find out what it is until it happens. It was suffocating.
"Enjoying your quiet time?",A voice rang out through the hallway, tearing through the silence. Sam jumped from the sudden noise.
"Who's there?!",Sam shouted. Looking around anxiously, shoulders tense and arms close to her chest.
"Ohh, how jumpy. Did I scare you?", The voice chimed back in a playful tone.
"You don't scare me!", Sam bluffed.
"Then how can I scare you?", Sam heard as a soft voice behind her ear. She whipped her head around to find Danny as he bore his eyes into her own. The red eyes was the first hint that something was wrong. The knowing smile was the second. Sam turned her body to match her head and started backing up slowly and Danny followed, moving toward her, almost as if toying with her. She ended up backing into a wall. Sam's body was up against the wall as Danny stood merely inches from her. He looked at her face in amusement, holding his hands behind his back.
"Danny, what are you doing?", Sam said. Her heart was racing, her head was a mess. 'Why is Danny's eyes glowing red? Is he under the control of something? He caused the blackout didn't he? Why would he do that? Why is he after me? Why is he so close? Why is he smiling?!' Sam's face, whether she knew it or not, was turning scarlet as her mind desperately searched for the answers she couldn't form her mouth to ask.
Danny on the other hand was completely silent, eyeing Sam. He wanted her like this. Obsessively searching for answers, anxiously anticipating what he will do next. Eyes eagerly darting to catch the smallest movement he made. Getting even closer he could tell her breath was warm. Would she punch him if he toyed to much, he wondered. Danny's grin widened. Sam visibly flinched. It was tempting for Danny to chuckle but he didn't want to break the silence. He didn't want to break the magic, the spell of this moment. He slowly moved his head closer to hers as he silently inched his hands to the wall. Sam's eyes slowly lit up with realization, exactly what Danny was hoping for. Her emotions were probably making her squirm inside, uneasy with the lack of escape. She was so shy it was cute. Wanting yet hesitant at the same time as he closed in. Danny and Sam's lips met.
It was so gentle, so soft, and warm...Danny broke away from the kiss and moved in for another. That same soft sensation. Sam could feel herself drowning in some sort of feeling, it was taking over her thoughts. When Danny moved in for a third time, a glint of hunger in his eyes craving for more, Sam leaned into the kiss. The surprise was a welcome one to Danny and he didn't hesitate to wrap his arms around her, holding her close to him. The body contact, the warmth increasing with each breath, it was driving them to go further. Danny was the first to make a move, sliding his tongue across her lower lip briefly as invitation. Sam didn't need another hint as she opened her mouth further with the next kiss. Their tongues collided together, the pace picking up along with the rhythms of their heartbeats. The heat was only building between each gasp for air and the friction was causing them to lose it.
Sam wasn't able to think about the blackout, the panicking people in the mall, or Gregor and their plans. It was miles away in her mind, all her mind would let her focus on was Danny. His comfortable embrace, his warm tongue, his soft lips… Sam badly wanted more of him. She pressed as much of her body as she could against Danny's body causing him to vocalize a groan of pleasure from the back of his throat. Her action taunted him to go further, and for Danny it was very hard to resist.
He slid one of his hands down from between her shoulder blades over to the side of her top. He slipped the tips of his fingers underneath her shirt while caressing the outside of the fabric with his thumb to make sure she caught on to what he was doing. Sam was fast to react, sharply inhaling and stiffened up in surprise she opened her eyes to meet Danny's gaze as he returned the look. Silently Danny stared, asking wordlessly for her consent. Sam took a second to figure out if she wanted to, and it was possible the actual time of this silent moment was in fact only a few brief seconds but it felt like an eternity to her. Just standing there, trying to make up her mind.
Reality though, adheres to no one as Gregor managed to get to the hallway and was likely trying to use the same plan Sam was originally following before her run in with the ghost kid. The sight was a shock to the transfer student. It wasn't hard to see them as Danny himself emits a light from his eyes constantly as a ghost. Gregor was frozen in place. Sam was close against the wall with Danny but their bodies were pressed against each other as they stood, their arms around one another. Gregor's eyes caught a glance of Danny moving his hand away from the bottom rim of Sam's shirt. Did the ghost kid plan to go even further than how far they were already going?! Danny's face had a stare of mild contempt at Gregor, making it apparent what he felt of his untimely presence. Though with Gregor's interrupting arrival who could blame him?
Sam on the other hand just looked surprised and flustered. She couldn't believe where she and Danny were going to go with this before Gregor came! It didn't click in as suddenly as it did till now. They were actually going to... Sam bit the inside of her lower lip in a vain attempt to stop the embarrassment. It only served to make her mind more of an emotional roller coaster when she realized Gregor and Sam were in the middle of getting a bite to eat before all this started.
"What are you doing with Sam?! You better back off!", Gregor exclaimed.
"Back off? How can I back off when we're so close?",Danny said practically with a sneer as he took his other hand that was still pressed between Sam's shoulder blades and formed his fingers into a tracing pose, sliding it down slowly enough to cause Sam to shiver, letting out a sudden gasp and instinctively clinging closer to him.
"You wretched…!", Gregor hissed as he was tensing up out of anger. He was planning to get his relationship closer with Sam tonight, but this ghost kid seemed several steps ahead. It was aggravating, and that smug look on his face wasn't helping.
"Pot. Kettle. Trying to pry one close friend from another is just so low. I could vomit.", Danny quipped.
His taunt of a comment wound up Gregor even further as it looked like his ears could blow steam at any moment. Danny wanted to savor getting under Gregor's skin just a bit more. Unfortunately the second he heard running footsteps nearing as the shouts of voices belonging to the Guys in White also became closer, Danny knew he had to bail.
"Looks like that's all for today. Have a pleasant night.",Danny stated as he and Sam turned intangible and he led the both of them beneath the ground while the Guys in White tried in vain to get close enough to guarantee a clear shot on their target.
"Danny, what are you doing?!", Sam was used to being carried around by Danny, but this time he was being chased and by the Guys in White to boot. Danny rose up from underground and was flying overtop the city, no longer intangible.
This was dangerous for her, probably on more than one level. Danny's actions were strange today, and his eyes are a different color too. Something was up and she wasn't sure if it was good. She hoped her friend would at least explain himself.
"The thrill of a chase isn't enjoyable if I don't get to share it with you.", Danny said in a gentle tone, looking at her lovingly.
"Wh-huh?!", Sam didn't expect the response to be a flirt, but in hindsight she probably should have seen it coming. Before she could word a proper response blue rays of energy shot past Danny and Sam.
"Stop in the name of the law!", One of the men shouted as they started to fire once more, following them via jet-pack. Sam looked at them and then back at Danny.
"Looks like we gotta jet!", Danny said as he started darting around and through buildings, hoping to divert their fire. Hopefully on objects rather than people.
Whipping around corners, diving under billboards, zooming under trees and avoiding civilians Danny persistently tries to shake them off. Moving faster and faster through the city using uncanny but natural routes for the ghost boy Danny had several good yards between him and the Guys in White, if the time between hearing a shot fired and seeing a ray of energy growing wasn't enough indication. Danny however was slowly experiencing another problem. His thoughts were getting harder and harder to keep together, his eyelids getting heavier by the second. It was unusual for that to happen now. Danny was certain. He slept decent hours last night and it wasn't THAT late out, so he shouldn't be that tired. The delayed reaction to seeing an oncoming truck however was the first hint that maybe he was tired, rather than dodging like he would've on a good day he instead was forced to turn intangible because by the time he realized the truck, he knew he was to close to get out of the way. Sam let out a shriek of surprise to the near crash as Danny once again went up overtop the city. Sam worriedly held on to Danny.
"I-it's okay. It's okay. We made it. See? Everything's...", Danny spoke as he began to wobble while flying, and his vision began to blur. Sam's brow furrowed with concern.
"Danny?!", She shouted. He didn't look like he was going to make it.
"Everything's… oh..kay…", Danny managed to mumble out before closing his eyes and going down with Sam shouting in fear.
Danny and Sam managed to crash into the ground of an alleyway, hitting it hard enough to bounce apart and roll a few times from the momentum. Sam got up as she groaned in pain to see Danny on the ground, still in ghost form and unconscious. She ignored what small injuries she had and bolted over to Danny, kneeling down and shaking him a few times.
"Danny, Danny! Hey!", She yelled. Hearing the distant sound of the Guys in White's jet-packs Sam quickly gave up on trying to wake Danny and moved him behind the nearest dumpster, crouching beside him to hide them both. Seeing both men blast past, Sam stood up and watched them fly off as they were attempting to locate Danny.
'If they track ghosts in a similar way Danny's parents do, it won't be long before they find us. I've got to take him back to his house!' Sam thought in resolution. She grabbed one of Danny's arms and put it over her shoulder, then slid her arm to the middle of his back and put her other arm beneath Danny's knees and hoisted him up. She looked around to make sure it was clear and began making her long trek through the back streets of Amity Park to Danny's house.
Sam was lucky, she was sure of it. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were out for the night and Jazz was probably studying in the local library, or whatever that busybody of a sister does for fun when she's out. Once in, Sam tried to give Danny one more shake to wake him up. Nope, out like a light. Sam sighed heavily. She had so many questions for him but he couldn't answer a single one of them like this. 'One thing at a time, Sam.'', She told herself. Danny needed to be put in bed. The Guys in White won't find ghost readings surprising in the Fenton house...right? I mean, they weren't the best ghost hunters but they are STILL ghost hunters. It'd be completely in the norm to see a ghost or two here, right? Since Sam has yet to see the Guys in White blasting the front door down she considered her hypothesis to be at least somewhat correct.
She took Danny up the stairs to his room and propped him by the bed as she removed the blankets, while she was doing so she held the bottom rim of her top with one of her hands. Right where Danny slid the tips of his fingers under. She let go of the blanket for a moment and used her other hand to cover her stomach as if protecting herself. 'When he held it he was going to... take it off...right?', Sam pondered. Her face twisted in embarrassment as she looked down and away with her face blushing red. She recalled that long moment of pause in the hallway. 'He was going to take it further…', She thought as she bit her lip. The thought of it made her antsy, it was hard NOT to think about it. Was he really willing to take their relationship that far, given the chance? Thinking about this she recalled what Danny said.
"Then how can I scare you?"
How? He was trying to scare her? Well it scared her alright. It scared her that she was possibly going to do "the birds and the bees" in a populated area! With a guy who may or may not have feelings for her no less! It would've been a clear sign of "yes, he does." if she knew for a fact it was just Danny. But his actions at the mall, his red eyes, his- forwardness! Danny would never be so- or would he? She groaned in frustration. There was no point thinking about that right now! Point is, there is a catch to all this. Maybe Tucker had answers.
Opening her phone she dialed in Tucker's number and waited for him to pick up, it didn't take him long.
"Sam! What's up?", Tucker said.
"Tucker, hey. Listen, Danny was acting strange earlier tonight and he had this weird red coloring to his eyes. I'm not sure what's up with him but he passed out not long after. Got any ideas as to why?", Sam told Tuck.
"Red coloring to his eyes? Is he okay?", Tucker asked.
"I took him home. I'm getting ready to place him in bed and hide him there.", Sam replied.
"Okay, good. Now, hmm… Danny did say he ran into a ghost who put glowing red fragments in him before he met up with me.", Tucker answered.
"Glowing red fragments?", Sam inquired.
"Yeah, don't ask me about details though. That's all he told me before he went off.", Tucker responded.
"Where did he go off to, do you know?", Sam asked.
"Aah- uuuhhhh….uuummm…", Tucker stammered. He couldn't tell her Danny was spying on her! Sam could practically hear Tucker's eyes darting around nervously.
"Well?", Sam stated impatiently.
"He-uhh...He uhhh- went off to patrol the city again! Yeah! That's it!", Tucker blurted through fumbled words. It was the best lie he could think of on the spot.
"Okay, wish that could help me a bit on figuring out why he was acting so funny…", Sam said. Glancing over at Danny.
"What did he do? Since i'm not seeing too much on the news right now and nothing about Danny he didn't do anything big enough to get the city's attention right? What was it he was doing?", Tucker asked.
"That's-", Sam blurted only to cut herself off as she turned away from her unconscious friend. She didn't want to tell him. She'd probably die of embarrassment if she tried.
"That's not really important is it?! We've both hung around Danny enough to know when he's acting strange, and i'm saying he's acting strange! Isn't that enough?!", She shouted.
"Okay, okay! If you say so then I guess its true. The eyes are definitely weird. For now, keep an eye on him there. I'll try to stop by tomorrow as soon as i'm able. Good luck Sam." Tucker said.
"Thanks. Night Tucker.", Sam said, ending the call. She took a breath. She had to control her emotions, she practically waved a banner labelled "suspicious" above her head with that shouting over the phone. For a guy so smart, Tucker could be so clueless sometimes. Though this time Sam was actually glad he was. She turned to Danny and went over to lift him on the bed. Danny was somewhat heavy, but it wasn't bad. He was a heavy sleeper though, to sleep through her yelling. She laid him flat on his back and pulled the blankets back up to his neck. Grabbing a nearby chair she sat down by him, reflecting on today's events. Tomorrow would probably be eventful enough to wear all of them out. She'd have to brace herself. For now, it was probably be best to relax and wait for morning to come again.
