Disclaimer: I don't own "Danny Phantom". That's it.
The cold wind bit at the young man's features and tousled his dark hair. He huddled his coat to keep himself warm. His blue eyes threatened to burn a hole in the headstone before him. Its contents caused him to choke up:
"Jasmine Elizabeth Fenton
1991-2007
A good student
a loving daughter".
He wished with all he was that it also read 'a caring sister'. To him, she was most certainly that.
He produced a white rose from within his coat and gently laid it on the dirt.
Tears welled up in his eyes. He wiped them away.
"Goodbye, Jazz. I'll miss you."
A few feet behind him stood what looked to be a pale specter of a teenaged girl. If one were to get personal, the girl would be about sixteen years of age. Her arms were folded and her pretty face was twisted into a derisive pattern.
"Geez, Danny, could you be more melodramatic?"
The boy turned toward the ghost. "I'm not allowed to say goodbye to my sister? They wouldn't even let me attend the funeral."
"That's very flattering, Danny", the spirit offered, "but this is the third time this week you've been here!"
Danny shook his head. "What's your point?"
"My point is that Mom and Dad are worried about you. I was killed. Spectra was punished for it. Period. It's time to move on."
Danny turned to her, ready to contest her words. His harsh expression softened and he looked down.
"You're right, Jazz."
"Sure, I am. Now, come on. Let's go home."
Danny took her hand, his solid fingers passing right through her transparent ones. He slipped his hand away. "Sorry. Force of habit."
Jazz smiled at her brother. He walked off and she floated beside him.
XxXxXxXxX
"Does it hurt, switching between human and ghost?" The woman standing over Danny looked at him with wide, purple eyes.
He laid on a table with several pads on his body, all of which were all attached to machines. "Well, I'm more used to it, now, so…not really."
The blue suit-clad woman and the large man in orange had run a number of tests on Danny over the last few days. The young man reluctantly agreed to them; all he wanted after leaving juvenile hall was to continue his life as it was before entering it.
The man read the papers as they exited the machine. "It looks like everything is normal on this end."
Danny took a breath. "Mom, Dad…I know that you two are looking out for me, but do we really need to continue with these tests? It's like I told you: I'm fine."
"Danny…", the woman started. "…we're just concerned about you. I just wish we had been before, or this might never have happened."
"Mom, I don't want this to not happen. Ghosts have been invading Amity Park. This clearly happened to me for a reason. I have to fight them."
The woman banged her hand on a nearby table. "Danny! You don't have to do anything. No one is forcing you to fight ghosts. That's why your father and I are here." She started to break down in tears. "If you left one day and didn't come back…if your human half didn't come back…"
The man rushed to his wife's side. "Maddie, it's all right." His tone had the proper soothing effect on her. "It's all right."
Maddie cried into her husband's chest. "Oh, Jack…"
Danny sat up. "I'm sorry, Mom."
Jack looked over at his son. "I think that's enough testing for now. You can go, Danny."
The boy exhaled as he removed the pads from his body. He reached over to the table and as he grabbed his shirt, he hurried up the stairs.
Maddie wiped her eyes. Jack hugged her. "Are you all right, honey?"
"I'm all right", she stated before feeling a sudden pain in her right hand. "…though I could use a bandage for this hand." She rubbed it, hoping to ease the pain.
The couple laughed a little.
XxXxXxXxX
Danny lied on his bed, staring at the ceiling. A knock at the door broke him from his reverie.
"Can I come in?"
"Sure, Mom."
The door opened. Maddie walked over to Danny's bed and sat at the edge.
"Are you feeling all right?"
The boy took a breath. "I am now that I'm here, in my room. I cannot begin to tell you how much I missed this place."
"And I can't begin to tell you how much I like talking to you without two inches of glass between us."
Danny chuckled.
"Did you call Sam and Tucker and tell them the good news?"
"I want to, but they're grounded. Apparently, sneaking off to talk to a resident of juvie is something of a no-no in their parents' eyes. I think it'll be better if I tell them in school."
Maddie blanched at the word 'school'. Between her and Jack, there lingered some doubts about sending Danny back. She cleared her throat. "It would be a shame if you didn't see them. The three of you practically came out of the womb socializing."
Another chuckle from the young man. "I can't wait to go back to school." Danny's eyes widened. "Whoa. I never thought those words could come out of my mouth."
Maddie let out a small moan. Her son picked up on it almost immediately.
"Mom, what does that mean?"
"What does what mean?"
"That little--" He tried to imitate it, but his lowering voice wouldn't let him anywhere near the pitch. "Well, that sound. I am going back, aren't I?"
"Danny, this may sound like an overprotective mother, but I'm worried about you out there."
"Mom", Danny started, sitting up in bed. "I can take care of myself. I've managed to do a good job all these months. And, I still don't believe I'm saying this…I need an education."
He met her worried gaze. He wasn't going to back down.
She hugged him tightly. "You can go back to school."
"Thanks, Mom."
Maddie let him go and stood up from the bed. She opened the door and disappeared behind it.
XxXxXxXxX
The sounds of the high school were quite distinctive: the opening and slamming of the metal lockers, the inane chatter of the less intellectually gifted, the scuffling of rubber shoes on marble tiles.
In one of the strangest ways, Danny missed it.
An African-American boy grabbed a couple of books from his locker. His attire was peculiar: boots, green cargo pants and a long-sleeved yellow shirt topped off by a red beret.
Danny put a hand to his mouth as he yelled out. "Tucker!"
The boy turned toward the voice. His ears perked up; only one voice sounded like that, but it couldn't have been…
"Danny!"
Caring very little for their social standing (and how much lower could it get, right?), the young men rushed toward each other and hugged. After a moment, they looked in each other's eyes and quickly let go. A couple of awkward coughs and muttered statements later, Tucker moved his lips to speak.
"It's…good to see you, Danny."
Unwilling to give up on the physical showing of emotion, Danny patted his friend on the back. "Let me tell you, it's good to be seen." He looked around; something seemed to be missing. "So, where's Sam?"
Tucker walked toward a room. Danny met his stride. "I'm really sorry about not visiting for a while. My parents grounded me and pretty much cut me off from anything technological."
"That's too bad. Where's Sam?"
The African-American turned to face Danny. "It was such a nightmare. I can't even begin to tell you--"
Having had enough of Tucker's now-obvious waffling, Danny grabbed his arms. "Tucker, where is Sam?!"
Tucker groaned. "I really didn't want to be the one to tell you. I knew I would be, but I really didn't want to be."
Danny's grip tightened. "Tell me what?"
"I'm gonna need my arms back, first." Getting the hint, the angered boy let go of his friend's arms. Tucker adjusted his glasses.
"Now, what happened to her?" Danny leaned in close. "Did a…you-know-what get her?"
Tucker shook his head. "No, no. Sam's fine…as far as I know."
A look of confusion. "What do you mean, 'as far as you know'?"
"Remember when we told you about sneaking out of school that day? When we came back, Lancer gave us detention."
"Yeah, you mentioned that."
"Well, did I mention that Sam's parents were mad enough with the 'bad influence'…" Tucker motioned to Danny. "…to pull her out of Casper?"
Danny slid to the floor and knocked his head against the wall. Tucker looked down at his friend.
"I guess I shouldn't bother asking if you're all right."
Danny shot a glare at Tucker. Clearly, it was a lost cause.
XxXxXxXxX
The rest of Danny's day had managed to improve from that point. His schedule had been very much the same as before. The main difference was that he was able to focus on the work and, much to his surprise, answer some of the questions asked by the teachers. This was a big difference from when he tried to remain as invisible and unnoticeable as possible.
Another issue (though one that, with Tucker's help, he managed to distract himself away from) was the constant whisperings of his classmates. They'd heard any number of things about Danny: from 'he killed a guy who glanced at his sister' to 'he pushed his sister in front of a train'. And yet, they were all present for Jazz's unexpected public execution. It was almost as if, since Spectra's disappearance, they had no real recollection of what happened over a month ago.
Before Danny knew it, the school day was over. Before he could've walked out of the door, a somewhat paunchy middle-aged man hurried to stop him.
"Mr. Fenton?"
"Mr. Lancer?"
"I would like to talk to you for a moment."
Danny shrugged. "Okay."
XxXxXxXxX
The boy took a seat in front of the man's desk. He rubbed his arm; Danny almost never talked to the educator outside of class except for when he was in trouble. Wouldn't this have fit on his first day back.
"I heard about what happened at your trial. I feel just sick about the whole thing. I should've known that you would never bring any harm to your sister. I hope you can accept my deepest apologies."
"I do. I'm just happy that the truth came out."
By now, Danny noticed Mr. Lancer opening one of his desk drawers. "As you know, your sister Jasmine was one of our finest students. I figured that you would want to be the first to see it." The man pulled something out of the drawer and placed it on the desk. It was a wooden plaque with gold plates. The top one had an embossed picture of Jazz, while the bottom read:
"Jasmine Fenton
'Never stop trying'"
The boy's blue eyes watered at the plaque. "This is very nice." He wiped his eyes.
"It will be placed in the school's trophy case. Now, if there's anything you may need: free periods, leniency on class projects…"
Danny put his hand up. "No. I don't want any special treatment. I just want to get an education on my own merits."
Mr. Lancer smiled. "Jasmine would be so proud."
"I know." Danny glanced wistfully out of the window. "I know."
XxXxXxXxX
Danny kicked a rock down the street as he walked, his head barely raised past his shoulders. Tucker's bad news lingered in his brain like a poison. He was upset at the prospect of never seeing Sam again. He hadn't wanted to admit it to himself for a long time, but there were feelings for the girl that ran deeper than mere friendship.
Another kick sent the rock halfway across the street. Sometimes, he didn't know his own strength. He glanced up at the imposing structure next to him. It was the Manson Family home.
All of a sudden, his eyes widened, as if in a fit of realization. He knew that Sam was pulled out of Casper High…but no one ever said that Sam wasn't still at home.
Danny quickly ducked into an alleyway. As the coast was clear, he assumed ghost form and flew into the house.
XxXxXxXxX
No sooner was he inside the Manson home than he turned invisible. He flew down a long hallway, carefully dodging several servants and priceless vases placed in the corridor.
Danny peeked his head in what felt like fifty rooms (though it couldn't have been more than 42) before finding what he sought.
XxXxXxXxX
The predominant motif was black: the inside of the door, the walls, the plush carpet. The Rolling Stones song started up in his head as he took it all in.
Just then, the door opened.
Danny pressed himself flat against the wall.
The girl that walked in looked somewhat familiar to him, but it couldn't have been. For one thing, the girl he knew wore black. This girl wore a white blouse, a plaid skirt, knee high socks and Mary Janes, size 2. The top two buttons of the blouse were undone, which allowed a look at the black bra she had worn underneath. There were but the beginnings of a womanly bust, but this was enough to hold the young man's attention.
She dropped her backpack to the floor and sat on her bed.
"'Oh, new girl. How goes it? New girl, get out of the way'", she muttered as she kicked off her shoes. "I swear, girls can be such bit…" She stopped. Danny froze; could she somehow sense him in the room.
The girl pulled at her socks and yanked them off. She wiggled her petite toes and ran them along the carpet. "Oh, that's so terrific."
She stood up and bent over to massage her feet. This gave Danny a clear view of her rear end.
"That's a side of you I've never seen."
The girl stood up and turned toward the direction of the voice. She reached over to her backpack and tossed it at the voice. It seemed to hang in the air before Danny faded into view, holding it.
"Danny!" She ran over to him and hugged him. "I missed you so much." She let go.
"I missed you too, Sam." He glanced down at her uniform. "And clearly, I missed something else."
"Oh, this. They make us wear them at that stupid school for 'Wicked, Wayward Girls'."
Danny raised an eyebrow. "So, there's a whole school of girls your age wearing this outfit?"
"Yeah. About half of them are older. It's a nightma--" Sam caught onto the edge in her friend's voice. "Don't even think about it, Danny Fenton."
"Think about what?"
Sam shook her head. "Oh, no. I'm not putting thoughts into your head."
"Well, it is pretty crowded in there, already. Besides, all I've had to look at in the last month was Spectra. A guy can have trouble readjusting to women on the outside.
Sam snickered and rolled her eyes as she went into her closet. "By the way, what happened to her?"
Danny walked over and sat on her bed. "It's a long story. Jazz helped me catch her, but then it turned out that Spectra's lapdog was pretending to be Jazz. Then the real Jazz shows up to help."
"Sounds crazy."
"It was crazy."
Sam reappeared from her closet dressed in her black top and skirt. "That's better."
"I wouldn't call that better."
Having walked to her bed, Sam tossed a pillow at him. "Oh, grow up." Danny turned invisible, allowing the pillow to fly through him.
"Samantha, who are you talking to?"
The girl blanched. She turned her head to the door. "Nobody, Mom."
"Time for me to go?"
"Time for you to go. Tell Tucker I said 'hi'."
"You can tell him yourself. I'm coming back tomorrow." Sam stood up and looked ready to protest. "And before you say it's too risky, I'm not going to let a little something like this break up our friendship."
"That's nice, Danny, but I was about to say that you should wait a few minutes before bringing Tucker over. If you reacted to my school uniform like that, I can only imagine what he's gonna look like if he sees it."
Danny let out a nervous chuckle. "Good point." He shifted to ghost mode and flew from Sam's window. She followed him as he soared through the sky.