This story took a lot of time. It's not even generally long. There is a sort of narrator that does pop up in the beginning, although the story is, thank god, in third person. Somethings will appear to be from the characters strict limits of view, other times there will be someone who is telling us what a character might regret later, or something they missed or couldn't possibly know. There are several nods to other DP stories. Not Beta'd but I've read and re-read and had other read and re-read so many times, if there's a mistake I'm sorry. Hope you enjoy.
I find it fun to add in little… tid-bits of information here and there. So, if you come across something maybe a little foreign or very clearly not English, it'd be good to look it up. Most of them are just fun for me at the author, but I hope you readers will get a kick out of it too.
The characters here belong to Nickelodeon and Butch Hartman and I am in no way receiving or gaining any money from this production. This is strictly for the entertainment of myself and other fans.
It was after the first real warm day that spring. 72 degrees out that afternoon and suddenly there were people that hadn't been there before. It wasn't a big flash or suddenly apocalypse. They weren't zombies. In fact they were barely tangible, being able to hold things if they really focused on it. People returned that were familiar, and people also returned that weren't. Someone's grandmother who passed by on the street who was only slightly see through. The clerk at the grocery store who almost dropped the milk carton or the boy at your school who had trouble opening up his locker.
They were ghosts in every sense of the word. They appeared all over the world, but the small town of Amity Park was the biggest. There were recent ones— the lunch lady from a couple of years ago, a construction work who'd died between 35th street and Palm Road.
It was a huge shock, seeing someone who you thought was dead once again in your living room. After they returned from the dead, studies were conducted for years. People just kept returning. They asked what death was like, but the ghosts were confused. Their eyes became glazed over and they all described it as the same thing; "lots of white sand and gold light" and no one knew what the sand was, or where it would be. People still died or moved on— some came back and some didn't. People's hopes were crushed but death was death, and it was expected. Death days and birthdays were celebrated, but not until after a large movement for ghosts rights.
Should they get their jobs back? Could they even have jobs? Could they vote? Could they drive or travel across countries? Many of the ghosts could fly, so what about airspace? Eventually, after several laws and movements to protect ghosts (a noticeable year was 1996, in which the largest protest against a ghost incrimination law took place in the major cities around the US and Canada) became commonplace. Eventually everything died down and it was all normal. Ghosts could work, they could vote, they could own property— they couldn't drive. Intangibility was a finicky thing and a ghost's foot going through the brake at a stoplight wasn't good. They couldn't die, but a human could. Most rode bikes. It wasn't like their bodies could change much anyway. It was understandable. Children attended school again and their parents rejoiced at having their children back. Grandparents, great grandparents, and great great grandparents even returned. The oldest living human was 106. The oldest dead human was 154. That was in 2014.
Amity Park adjusted relatively well to the influx of people. Work places hired ghosts to do evening shifts since they didn't need sleep and ghosts often worked in the places they had before they died. Amity Park was the first place to have a new ghost owned business, founded by Marc Wellington of South Amity, who died in his home in 1936 from a heart attacked. He opened up his restaurant in Downtown Amity in 2004, after he returned in his house. He promptly scared the young woman and her son who then lived there, and she called the Ghost Reintroduction Authority Youths (G.R.A.Y). A volunteer group founded by Valerie Gray's, a student at Casper High, father.
G.R.A.Y and Fenton Works were the largest contributors to Ghost Reintroduction. From Fenton Works, each ghost was fitted with a small bracelet that injected ectoplasm into their system to keep them tangible. It was foolproof, because intangibility fluctuations were still common, but it certainly helped accidents. G.R.A.Y worked to help people return to everyday life, and to tell them what had happened since they died. Fenton Works was the one that first ran experiments on the first ghosts. They had a nasty reputation until they began helping the ghosts. Still, young Danny and Jazz Fenton were left with bitter tastes in their words whenever someone would ask about their family's history. All the ghosts knew about the Fenton's. Aside from regular ectoplasm check in's, the house with the ops center was avoided at all costs.
Danny's friend Sam Manson, whose grandmother was a ghost, thought they were very cool. She did all her projects about ghosts. She became Goth in sixth grade when her grandmother returned after twenty years of having been dead. Sam had, obviously, never met her before. And the only ghost the middle schoolers had seen on a regular basis was their English teacher Mrs. Martin, a young woman who'd died at the age of 24 in a car crash after she was leaving work. The school gladly took the ageless teacher back after she returned.
Now Danny, Sam, and their friend Tucker were entering High School (Casper High, named as a joke after the ghosts returned).
Danny knew how to spot a ghost. They were pale and their eyes were shaded over as if they had some sort shadow constantly there. They were slightly see-through and often their bodies wisped, little smoky puffs would curl around before it returned back to their body. Typically their chest was the most tangible, because that was where the soul was located.
And that is where the story began.
He stumbled through the woods, eyes squinting as the morning sun hit his face. It was morning. He was soaking wet. Okay. That wasn't right; the last thing Danny remembered was it being 5:05 PM when he left his house to go to Sam and Tuckers. Okay. He paused and brushed a twig out of his way. Now he was in the woods. That wasn't right. He paused again. He looked around. He knew he was by the old water basin on the south side of town. That wasn't far from where Sam lived. Okay. He trudged forward and then—.
"Danny?"
He paused. Okay. Okay. Okay. "Mom?"
"Danny! Where are you!?"
He whirled around, trying to spot her red hair through the green leaves. He turned again, blue eyes flinging around the scene for any detail that seemed out of place. "Over here!"
"Danny!"
He heard sticks breaking and crunching leaves. And then there his mom was, looking relieved as her violet eyes landed on his face. He grinned and she burst forward to hug him.
"Oh, sweetheart. We've been looking everywhere for you since Sam and Tucker said you never made it to Sam's house. And that storm last night! Are you alright? What happened?" Madeline Fenton insisted. Her hands were on his shoulders and her eyes bore into his. He stared, unsure of what to say. His mouth couldn't form the words that were screaming in his head to be said. She paused, and then turned away.
"I found him, I found him! He's alright!"
Shouting in the distance. Danny shuddered.
Madeline pulled him away, her hand incredibly warm, in the direction of the voices. A clearing that led to the end of a street. He'd been heading in the wrong direction. A voice in his head reprimanded him for not bothering to really pay attention. His father and a couple of his neighbors and police officers were standing there, varying degrees of relief showing on their faces.
He was brought home. His mother insisted he shower and stay in his room while they talked with the police. She said he needed to relax and gather his thoughts before he reported what had happened. He wasn't allowed visits from Sam or Tucker at all until everything was taken care of. A week later and Danny sat on his bed, half befuddled and half sleeping, as an older police officer with greying hair sat in his desk chair with a police report.
"Daniel."
Danny's hazy eyes met the police officers. "Yes?"
"You left your home at…?"
"5:00," Danny replied. "And I walked down the street toward Sam's."
"Was there anyone else around you?"
Danny paused, racking his brain for some sort of face he may have seen passing him. "No, I was alone."
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah. It's never a busy street at night." Danny was confident in his answer, and his stare didn't waver. The Officer wrote something down.
"Do you remember what happened? Any pain? The EMT, and the doctor, who checked you out didn't notice any abrasions or trauma on the back of your head. No use of drugs such as chloroform were found. No concussion and the only injury you have is a slight cut on your stomach. And your wrists have bruises. Do you remember being dragged?"
Danny thought back to the EMT's findings. Well, lack of findings. Danny didn't appear to have anything wrong with him aside from the cut that they'd just put a band aid over after disinfecting it. The bruises he couldn't explain, but who knew? "I don't remember. I just woke up in the woods. There isn't anything I can think of."
The Officer frowned. He leaned back in the chair. "And Amnesia. Of course, you have that too."
Danny shrugged helplessly. "I'm sorry."
"Nothing you can do. I'll have to talk to your parents. I think this was a failed kidnapping."
Danny blanched. "Seriously?"
"Afraid so. I'll be back. Thanks for all your help kid, we'll be looking into this. Last Street you remember was Wayward Road, correct?"
"Yeah, Wayward and Décès. I was on 49th though."
The Officer wrote that down and thanked Danny for cooperating. He left the room and closed the door silently behind him. Danny scowled. Everyone was walking around on eggshells around him and saying he may have been almost kidnapped wasn't going to help. He fell on his back, arms spread out around him. He wondered when he was going to get to go see his friends and be able to leave the house. If it was a kidnapping, and it'd failed, than that meant the kidnapper was still out there. Why would anyone want to kidnap him anyway, it wasn't like he'd suddenly forget his parents and assimilate.
"Hey, sweetie?"
Danny looked over to find his mom standing there, halfway in his room. She looked worried. As she had for the past few days. His father was quiet, surprisingly, and awkwardly shifted around Danny as if he were some broken figurine. Jazz constantly asked his question, but nothing triggered his memory, even if Danny became irritable and moody afterward. He really just didn't appreciate being questioned like a criminal. Several officers and doctors came and left the house to make sure he was okay, but every one of them came up empty. The case had grown cold, and it would remain so until Danny's memory returned, if it ever did.
After two and a half weeks, Sam and Tucker were finally allowed to visit. They'd all been texting until the time would come to actually see each other. They had a month and a half left of summer, and intended to use up what they could.
So, naturally, they sat around in Danny's room and played Doom. It wasn't until Sam had said they go to her house for a movie that they actually left. Danny knew he'd been putting off telling them what the police and doctors had been saying, and Sam's huge house would be the best place to tell it without his parents overhearing him saying anything. They wanted to keep everything hush hush. They walked down the streets, completely preoccupied with everything Sam and Tucker were telling him about Dash and Paulina, who had, after eighth grade, apparently made out behind the middle school. It was the talk of the incoming freshman.
They made it to Sam's house and entered through the back door, into the kitchen. Danny froze when he made eye contact with Sam's grandmother. He didn't know how he knew it was her. But it was. She didn't look human. Her eyes were a strange glowing purple, and her body was completely white and glowing. The light curled and broke off like it was smoke from a cigarette. Her body, while white and glowing, still looked like an old woman's. The clothes, too, looked wispy and faded.
Sam's grandmother stared at him, and while her eyes were all one color, he could tell she was confused. Sam and Tucker both turned to look at him.
"Danny?" Sam asked.
"I, um… I gotta go back guys, I just forgot I had a ton of chores. I'm gonna… bye," he pushed out in one short breath. He turned around and practically sprinted out of the house and into the street. He heard Sam and Tucker calling after him, but he ignored them and kept on running toward his house. Everywhere were wispy creatures. The barber from down the street. Ghost. A girl walking with her parents. She was ghost. All the wispy creatures. Ghosts. Why hadn't he noticed it before? What happened?
He found himself at his house, tears streaming down his eyes. He turned, slowly, to look at the mirror above the fireplace. White, wispy hair that was smoky like a cloud. His eyes, no whites or pupils, were a glowing bright green. His body was nothing but smoke, and suddenly Danny felt like he was weightless. He wanted to sob, and his face contorted into pain. It didn't look like his face. He didn't have any of his familiar features. Except that he could, without a doubt, tell that it was his own face. The white figure contorted and he swept away.
Ghost. Ghost. He was a ghost.
Danny paused. He was dead.
What had happened when he'd gone missing!?
He ran up the stairs to his room, not realizing that he was really flying. He slammed his door shut and slid down it, covering his eyes as he cried. He hoped, somewhere in the back of his mind, that no one was home. After a few moments, though, no one was there and his crying had halted to shuddering breaths. He wiped his eyes, but found no tears. Slowly he stepped up and opened his door. The hall was empty and slowly he trudged to the bathroom. When he looked in the mirror, he only saw the white creature. As he looked closer, he could see a skeleton, barely. He looked entirely translucent and if he weren't gripping the counter, he wouldn't thought he were intangible.
So this must be what ghosts really look like. He turned his head from side to side. As he did so, his body took a more human shape. Definite hair and facial features. His eyes appeared less round and more of the almond shape they were. Ears. He looked down at his hands. Fingernails. What was happening? He thought back to Sam's grandmother. He had barely gotten to look at her before he bolted, but she hadn't seemed human. He racked his memory, desperate for any sort of clue. She'd had hair. It curled away like smoke. Had she had a nose? What did her eyes look like? She'd just appeared, for that moment as some wispy creature, a collection of fog that surrounded a conscious being. He closed his eyes and left the bathroom, wondering why no one had noticed before that he was a ghost.
His parents especially. Danny sniffled. Okay. His parents. Jazz. He was dead. Their youngest son and brother was dead. Somewhere a corpse lay. It did not breathe. Its heart did not beat. It did not see. Who knew where it was?
How did he die?
Danny was angry. He did not notice the way his "hair" stood up on end and the air smelled of ozone. Electricity cackled around his hands. But he was focused on one thing. Who did this? Danny wanted them to pay.
He breathed. Okay. Where had that come from? He slowly turned to look around his room. It was relatively clean. His laundry had been put away, and while his desk had an array of school papers it didn't look messy. His bad had been half-heartedly made. Books were on the bookshelf and his TV system had a mess of wires. He was ghost. But he'd come back almost immediately. He walked over to his computer and turned it on, brushing off an essay from his keyboard. The thing sputtered to life and he clicked on the family account that their parents had set up on a private network. Ghost files. He knew their parents had done this so that he and Jazz, if they so pleased, could interest themselves in ghosts and had access to the information without having to ask their parents.
Though Danny, and Jazz, were pretty sure their parents could see who accessed the file.
He clicked on the first file. Ghost Biology.
Everything felt awkward and heavy. Danny knew he must look solid and human, because no one questioned him. Sam and Tucker were miffed that he had bailed out on them after he'd been shut away for almost half a month. Currently, Sam wasn't even talking to him. Tucker would play Doomed with Danny, but every chance he got to kill Danny, he'd take it. Eventually, Danny just stopped logging on. Sam said he was being an ass by not telling them the truth, but Danny wasn't even sure what lie he could conjure up to explain why the hell he'd just disappeared and was suddenly homeward bound. He didn't want to tell them the truth— he was dead, a very blunt truth and he didn't want to lie. So he just didn't say anything. Eventually Sam got fed up, and Tucker was the owl between them, delivering messages.
He wandered around trying to figure himself out. Ghosts could tell he was one of them, he'd have several people on the streets who would morbidly ask how he died and since when, they didn't know the Fenton kid had died? And Danny would reply in a panic that no one knew and to shush because he didn't want to be found out. Humans, on the other hand, couldn't tell. It was as if he hadn't died. To them— he hadn't. Danny was alive and breathing and didn't look like a collection of fog over a river in the mirror. Thankfully.
Danny felt incredibly weightless at times, especially with all his newfound abilities. He could fly and turn invisible and intangible at will. Ghosts could all do these. Some could even "shoot ectoplasm" out of their hands. It wasn't harmless, but most ghosts were happy to be alive, and didn't want to be taken to the GIW if they defected. Danny shuddered, and next to him he felt Sam look at him, at the thought of the GIW. What if, because he didn't look dead, they would want to experiment on him? He closed his eyes at the thought.
"Mr. Fenton, do you really thing now is an appropriate time to sleep?"
Danny's eyes snapped open and he made eye contact with his teacher, Mrs. Battista. For a second, he could've sworn she flinched but she adopted her stern look before he could think anything else. He was tempted to say yes, he was dead and wasn't that something dead people did? But figured the middle of US History wouldn't be the best time.
"No," he whispered.
She frowned, but continued on the lesson. Danny looked around the room, his eyes landing on Valerie Grey's. Her dad owned a business that reincorporated Ghosts into their old life. She was staring at him. Her eyes grew wide and she turned abruptly in the seat, her hands clasping behind her neck as she leaned onto her elbows. Danny blinked. What had that been all about?
Class continued until the bell rang. Danny packed his bag up and when he looked up, Valerie was standing in front of him. He'd never talked to her before. She was part of the a-list kids and barely knew he existed, probably. "Uh… hi?"
She frowned. "Can we talk?"
Danny, despite himself, made eye contact with Sam and Tucker. Both were staring at Valerie as if she was a ghost. He looked back at the green eyed girl. "Yeah, sure."
She gave him a ripped piece of lined paper. "Meet me there, don't show anyone." She turned around and glanced at Sam and Tucker before leaving to catch up with a friend. Danny looked at the paper and, before he was tempted to open it, stuck it in his back pocket. He spared a glance at Sam and then grabbed his bag and left.
He walked home in silence, thinking about Valerie and the strange moment he'd had with her in class. Did she know? No, of course not. How could she? He bit his lip and frowned. He approached his home, the door in sight. He reached for the handle. A pause. Slowly he lowered his hand to his back pocket. He felt the paper. It was heavy, a burden in his back pocket, and he'd thought about it the entire way home. He wasn't even sure if he wanted to meet up with Valerie. He'd never talked to her before he died, and he sure as hell wasn't going to start now.
Ah. What the hell?
He turned around and started marching toward the outskirts of the city. His hair blew back in a wind, and he passed several ghosts. They were no longer the glowing white blobs. Of course, they were, but they looked explicitly like their humans self's. He passed by an old woman who lived two blocks over from him, before he'd simply known, now he knew it was her. He reached the end of the sidewalk, where the woods began. There was a small path that led to his and Valerie's meeting place, and he knew that if he followed it he would find her at the end. He didn't know how, but it was the truth.
He walked through the woods, his legs brushing against ferns and leaves as he walked through the darkened woods. He knew it was creepier at night, and the fact that he'd been here not only two months ago wandering around and probably murdered sent a shiver down his spine. Except that, he didn't notice that the air smelled of ozone and the temperature dropped several degrees and he hadn't shivered at all.
He came to a clearing and the wildflowers and colors almost assaulted his eyes. The path winded through the flowers and came to a large rusted fence. It surrounded the old manor that had once owned the land that donated Amity Park Park. Ahead, he could see Valerie's Moped leaned up against to it, chained so that it wouldn't be stolen. He walked over to it and gently touched the vehicle, wondering how she'd managed to not break it on all the rocks in the woods. He touched the fence and scowled at his lack of an ability to climb it. It was chained and the chain was so rusted and old that it was practically a solid piece of metal.
Wait. He was a ghost. Ghost could go intangible, right?
Okay. He paused and closed his eyes. Not solid. Not solid, he thought. Not solid. He took a step forward. He felt a cold sensation all over his body like water. When he opened his eyes, he found himself on the other side of the fence and he was solid again. He looked up to the big house and breathed. The entire thing was solid, beautiful brick. It'd once been white, apparently, but the weather had scraped the place clean of any beauty. Ivy covered most of it and the white windows were cracked and mostly cracked. The entire thing looked like something from a movie. He passed the well, a horrifying stench coming for it, and then found himself at the large doors.
He slowly pushed them open, not willing to use intangibility with the thought of Valerie seeing him. The inside was dark, and glamorous. Painted ceilings and golden crown molding. The floors were gorgeous, if not a little dusty. He blinked. It was dark. And light filtered through almost too yellow.
"You came."
He turned to find Valerie standing in the doorframe of what looked like a drawing room. He breathed, although it was moot. He didn't need to.
"You never talked to me before this," he said, voicing his thoughts from earlier.
"Before you died?"
"I— what?" Shit. Shitshitshit.
She quirked an eyebrow. "You're a ghost."
"No, I'm not! Is that why you brought me here?"
She rolled her eyes, not willing to be dragged in to his argument. "Yes you are, and yeah."
He paused and his face fell. He knew that she wasn't going to let go. Everyone knew that Valerie was stubborn, it was a wonder she was on good terms with all the teachers. Maybe they liked students to challenge them. Danny never got the same response Valerie did though. "Yeah, okay. I am. How do you know? No one else did. It's been almost two months."
She frowned. "I don't know. You looked normal up until today, when Mrs. B called you out. Your eyes… they flashed like, green? And suddenly you weren't human anymore. I can see the ghosts, you know. How they really look. I've done ever since I can remember."
"All white, right?"
She nodded. "Like light. And glowing eyes. Always glowing eyes. I just want to know how you blended in."
He shrugged helplessly. He was just as desperate for an answer as she was. "I don't know. I just stumbled out of the woods. I knew something was wrong, but I wasn't sure. When I was finally allowed to see Sam and Tucker, I went with them to Sam's house. Her grandmother was there. She's a ghost. And she didn't look like she used to, not slightly faded. But… like smoke. Light. I don't know. I flipped and ran back home. Sam is still mad at me. I don't know what to say."
"You clearly died that night," Valerie whispered, clearly sympathetic.
"Yeah," he muttered back. "Yeah, I did." And suddenly he felt so glad he could say it to someone. Of course he hadn't wanted Valerie to know, he still didn't, but now that he had said something it felt so good. Maybe he should go tell Sam and Tucker…
Valerie walked forward and embraced him. "Danny… I'm really sorry."
"I'm dead," he answered hollowly, not really replying to her.
She let go, her eyes watery. "Yeah." She grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it. "I'm sorry."
"S'not your fault," he replied, finally meeting her green eyes.
"I knew you really don't know what happened that night…"
"I died. I guess. Maybe I wasn't supposed to come back so soon. I don't know what happened," Danny said, with a frown. He had died. He'd probably been murdered, and here he was, stumbling around.
"We need to find who did this to you," Valerie insisted.
Danny stared at her. "No offense, Valerie, but we aren't exactly… you know…"
"Friends," she said bluntly, a tired look in her eyes.
He went on. "Or something. Why are you doing this? Why'd even meet? Why even say you know? I don't understand."
She sighed, her shoulders sagged. "I don't know, Danny. Honestly? I just look around and see my classmate I've known but never talked to for years, like… dead. I was just… really shocked. I figured something must've happened to you when you'd gone missing, but I never noticed it before and… how are you doing that?
"Doing what?"
She scrunched up her face. "You look human."
He looked down at his hands. No longer were they glowing and smoke, but they looked like solid human hands. He moved them around. "Feels heavy."
Quickly she grabbed his hand and flipped out a pocket knife, slashing it across his palm.
"Valerie!" he yelped, pulling his hand back. He glared at her, and he could see the neon green light reflecting on her off his eyes. It cast her face in a strange light— a mixture of green from his eyes and yellow from the windows around her. She shivered suddenly, her hair standing on end.
He looked at his hand, realizing that it didn't even hurt. Blood wasn't even pouring out of the wound. It was green, and as it flowed from his hand it turned white and drifted off like smoke. "Ectoplasm," he whispered.
Valerie was staring at him. Their eyes met, and she winced. "Sorry, you just looked so human. That's never happened before. Everyone who is a ghost just looks like light with bones underneath. You don't look like a ghost."
Danny paused, furrowing his brow. What Valerie said didn't make sense. How could he look human to someone who could see the ghosts for what they really were? That surely didn't have any explanation. If he could change himself to look human, than maybe that's why Valerie didn't recognize him for the past two months. She simply couldn't. For all intents and purposes, he had looked like a perfectly normal, human boy. Something he always had been. There was no reason for him to be different. Danny's shoulders fell. In the back of his head he had, of course, known he was a ghost. But the wisping green ectoplasm coming from the wound on his hand was physical proof.
"So what? I can make myself look human to you?"
The girl scrunched up her face. "Yeah, I guess."
Danny frowned and leaned over against the wall. "How much do you know about ghosts, like… really?"
"Not much," Valerie admitted. "I mean, more than most. But my dad is pretty secretive about what he does at work. None of his co-workers ever talk really when I'm around. I do hear my dad on the phone sometimes. Just about new ghosts and stuff." She shook her head. "Most take weeks to come back Danny, even months. But it never happens overnight. That I know for sure is strange." She looked apologetic, as if talking about Danny's death was awkward.
Danny didn't seem perturbed at the thought. Sure he wanted to know how he died and he desperately wanted to find out what had happened. The police hadn't found anything at all, and Danny's memory was about as helpful as a sled in spring. He needed to know more about ghosts. His parents knew a lot about their physiology, but Valerie's dad dealt with who these people were and how they came back. He'd talked with his parents several times about ghosts— they didn't care. They were there and that was it, the important thing was that they didn't screw up society.
"We need to find out more," Danny decided. "We're going to have to do a lot of reading. I'm a ghost, I can turn us intangible, right?"
"Right," Valerie confirmed. "You look like a ghost again."
"I'll have to work on it."
Valerie nodded and looked down at her watch. "It's getting late. We should leave."
Danny agreed, and the two made their way out of the house. The sun was setting, and the air was far too cold to be spring. Valerie smelled the strange smell as she passed the well. Both the teens arched as far from it as they could without getting into the tall, bug infested grass. They reached the fence and walked down the path relatively in silence, occasionally mentioning school. When they came to the sidewalk at the end of the street, they bade each other farewell and disappeared back home.
Danny was eating lunch when Sam slid across from him the next day. "What did Valerie want to talk about?"
Danny looked up with a tired look in his eye. "Seriously?"
Tucker glanced at Sam. He'd slid in next to Danny, the only one who'd actually forgiven Danny. But Tucker mostly had classes with Sam and tagged along with her through the halls. But he and Danny did have Government together and so they suffered.
She scrunched up her face. "What?"
"After something that you want to know about happens, you start talking to me again? It's been what, a month, Sam? No offense, but that's pretty shitty."
The girl huffed, flipping her hair over to the side. She'd shaved off the side of her head in protest for some animal something. It'd been such a mess when they'd gotten home. Sam's mom freaked out, and they'd quickly been ushered back home. Sam had told them about it the next day. Her dad hadn't said anything, and her mom and she had had a screaming match about it. But given that the deed was done, there was nothing they could do. She'd talked about shaving her entire head recently, but Danny and she had stopped talking and thus he hadn't discussed it with her. It'd only been about a week and a half.
"I was being an idiot Danny. It's just not like you to run out on us and then not explain it. You still haven't told us!" she exclaimed with a scowl on her face.
Danny frowned, not even angry. He didn't feel the temperature drop around them. "I don't have to, Sam. Nothing bad, alright? It's just been weird ever since what happened. Okay? I've been talking a lot about it with Jazz—," a lie, but whatever, "and you don't have to worry about it."
Sam gave him a pointed look. "Doesn't explain Valerie?"
"She had to ask me something about my parents work for her dad," Danny huffed, trying to look like they hadn't met at the abandoned Manor and talked about him being kind of dead. Or a lot dead. Either way— dead. "And you know the A-listers, being seen with me in public would have been mortifying."
Sam and Tucker couldn't argue that and settled down to eat lunch. It was awkward, but the familiarity of each other's company soon took hold and they were laughing as if nothing were wrong. Danny felt himself grow heavier and looked down at his hands to find them solidly human. He smiled to himself and turned back to the conversation.
"Hey, Tuck? Mind not killing me on Doomed anymore?" Danny asked.
Tucker grew red. "Oh. Sorry man."
"Petty, Tucker," Sam inserted.
"Petty all the time," Tucker sang to himself, and then took a bite out of his chicken sandwich. Sam and Danny, despite themselves, laughed and the conversation carried on without a thought. When the bell rang for fourth period, they all walked to their lockers together. Danny was beaming, glad that the issue had been solved. Of course, he'd had to lie. But both their parents work had technically, if no indirectly, come up, and thus he hadn't completely lied. That had to count for something.
He and Tucker were headed to the boy's gym locker room for their gym class. Today's rumor was supposedly the mile, and Danny had been dreading it since middle school. There were about two middle schools in Amity Park, not counting a third private school on the West End. There were three high schools, and several elementary school. Every spring, around April, the high schools would run the mile. Best time got bragging rights. In middle school, every kid heard about it. The only ones who were excited were any competitive kid, in any sport, and the Cross Country and Track kids. It was basically an unofficial meet for them.
There had been a "mock" mile in his middle school, Amity Park Middle School (the proud APCMS 'Hawks'), where they ran half a mile and then multiplied the time by two. Danny was supposedly be able to run around a 6 minute mile. However, he'd gone out with Jazz running when she prepared for the mile her sophomore year that winter and ran like 8 minutes. It'd been so embarrassing.
The locker room smelled vaguely of socks and old Gatorade. The boy's gym teachers sat in the office and talked while, behind the glass windows, the students changed into their gym clothes. Danny was among the few who didn't want to change in front of others and made it a point to go change in the bathroom. Anything he put on, especially if his body looked "ghostly", seemed to become smoke. It was only to him and, he assumed, Valerie and anyone else who could 'see' the dead. Still, watching his clothes mimic death was creepy.
He exited the bathroom when the whistle blew for them to line up. Danny and Tucker stood behind a couple of other guys. One of the Cross Country was jittery and was bouncing as if he were preparing for a race. He currently had the school record in the mile and was only a sophomore. Danny slunk down, his face growing red as the teacher shouted at them to "run hard because Central Amity High School has already reported their scores and we need to blah blah blah". It became a blur after that and soon Danny and Tucker were following the line out of the locker room, out of the gym, and to the track.
Sam was in line behind Valerie, already at the track. Danny waved at them both.
The girls would go first and then the boys would go, everyone by grade. Seniors would go first, and then juniors and so on and so forth.
The senior girls, lined up and then… they were off. Meanwhile, Danny stood next to Sam and Tucker. The next moment, Danny wasn't sure what happened. Valerie walked over and said… something, and then Danny found himself facing the sky, a stinging sensation in his stomach. Valerie was over him in an instant, shouting something. Her eyes looked pleading and he swore for a moment that there were tears in her eyes.
Then…
"Vital signs…."
"I don't—."
"—so low—."
"—possibly displaying—."
"…side effect?"
Danny blearily opened his eyes. It was too bright in his room. Voices. He'd heard voices. He craned his neck to the right, where a door with a large window was in a wall. He blinked. The window wasn't normal, with a matte cover on it to keep anyone from seeing in. He could see shadows on the window, of two people discussing. They'd grown quite though, and soon disappeared.
His adjusted to the light sooner than he would have thought, and looked around. Okay. He was clearly in a hospital room. But why? He thought a moment, his memories returning to look up into Valerie's face. Right. Slowly he reached his arm, human and solid, to his neck. He felt a small bump, but that was it. He frowned. Right. The stinging.
"Danny?"
He turned over to look at his mom. She was smiling. "Oh, you're awake! I'll go get the Doctor, you wait right there sweetie!"
He nodded, wondering vaguely why she was here. Wasn't he dead?
Oh wait, no. She didn't know that. And he was kind of still going.
The Doctor entered a moment later. A large dark skinned woman with hair tied up in a neat bun. "Alright, Daniel."
But she didn't finish as she pursed her lips and stared at his charts. "Well, your vitals are a little low. Heart rate is… worryingly low, but we think it's a side effect of what hit you." He'd wondered how far his fake appearance went. Apparently, far enough to fain a heartbeat. He didn't feel anything and Valerie never did either.
"What hit me?"
She looked up, gold eyes meeting an appearing blue, and she nodded. "Oh yes, what hit you. Daniel, you're going to have to remain clam alright? Don't move too much, can you do that for me?"
"Yes."
She blinked and peered into his eyes, as if trying to find proof that he meant what he'd said. Seemingly finding nothing or everything, she nodded and sighed. "We believe that what happened two months ago… isn't over. You see, Daniel, you were found in the woods. No harm, aside from amnesia that you still haven't recovered from, but no obvious trauma. However, whomever kidnapped you, we believe, may have been trying to kill you. In your attempt to escape, you managed to evade capture but whatever happened was… traumatic. It's very likely that the man who was trying to kill you is trying to finish you off. He may know you don't remember, but you could one day and possibly be able to identify him," the Doctor said. She looked tired and Danny figured she'd been talking to police.
"But what hit me?" He didn't want to point out that the man or woman or whomever had finished him off— they just hadn't expected him to come back.
Her eyebrows shot up. "You don't feel it?"
"Um, no."
Now she frowned. "They need to reduce your morphine intake. Daniel, you got shot."
His eyes grew wide. Immediately, he looked toward his stomach. Wondering how he hadn't noticed it before, he slowly eyed the bandage over his torso. It was stained green and it, like his clothes, had adopted a see through appearance. Danny looked at his Doctor. She was worried, clearly, and was looking through the chart at the end of his bed. She looked up suddenly.
"Do you feel that?"
"What?"
She stood up and walked to the window, looking outside. It was sunny. "Feels like a storm."
He shrugged.
She frowned and turned back to him. "I'm going to have them lower your morphine, and then we can see how you feel in the morning. You're lucky, Danny, the bullet went right through you. Nothing vital hit. You could be dead."
She left the room quietly, as if afraid to startle him. He didn't want to laugh at the irony. He settled back down in his bed, hoping everything would pass.
At least he hadn't had to run the mile.
He got out of the hospital a week later. They'd decided that they couldn't explain his vitals, and that he would not be able to do any strenuous activity. He was still permitted to go to school, but since there was technically a murderer after him he was not allowed to stay out after nine, or at least when the lampposts turned on. Any time spent with Sam and Tucker was then severely limited. And Danny and Valerie weren't sure what to do about meeting up at the manor afterward if Danny would be preoccupied trying not to ditch his friends.
Eventually, they resorted to meeting after school. Danny blamed it on a history project, the only class he didn't have with the both of them together, and Valerie would simply meet him in the library in the city center. The met in the back corner in front of the big windows behind the science section and pulled as many books about ghosts as they could. It wasn't until, almost a month afterward, that Danny slammed the book down on the table, causing it to shudder, and groaned.
"None of this is helpful! There's no mention of anything about ghosts changing how they appear!" he snapped, mostly to the book. Valerie looked up from her book, entitled "The Common Misconceptions about Ghosts and How to Avoid them" by Charles Langley and shushed him. He looked over at her and she pointed to the very dead librarian several rows down from them stacking books. Or dropping them and apologizing for her accidents; on her wrist was Fenton Ecto-Bracelet. Danny turned back to Valerie.
"Come on, there's nothing. Have you found anything in that?" he asked.
She lifted Langley's book up and sighed. "No, it's mostly about their abilities and what they can and can't do. Which, of course, doesn't include in either of those sections anything about changing appearance." She paused and opened her backpack to pull out a piece of lined paper.
"Well, we never did establish what it is you can do," she said. "So, let's start there. And we gotta assume you got all the regular powers too."
Danny nodded, thinking back to when he'd intangibly gone through the fence at the manor. "Yeah, okay. So, I am definitely a ghost. I look like a ghost but only to you and other ghosts. I look human to other humans always. And I can change to look human all the time to anyone."
She scribbled it down hastily, nodding along as she wrote. "Right. You've gotten good at it by the way, your mirage barely even flickers."
"And it's like a second skin," he went on, "and thanks. I'm still ghostly underneath. No other ghosts can do that."
Valerie tapped the pen against her chin, staring out at the busy street outside the city library. She seemed to be deep in thought. "It does… beg the question."
He hesitated. "What question?"
"If there are other ghosts. I mean, we call everyone who is a ghost, well, a ghost. But maybe it's more of an umbrella term. Like, all pines are trees but not all trees are pines. You following?"
"Not exactly."
She scowled and drew a Venn-diagram. One circle was labeled "trees" and the other "pines" and the half section in the middle was labeled "pine trees". "Come on, Fenton, think. Maybe everyone else are actually spirits, they're all ghosts, but the spirit would be different than say… a poltergeist. But they're both ghosts"
Danny was still staring at the Venn-diagram when he looked up with a confused expression. "I don't think your diagram matches what you said."
"Forget the Diagram, oh my god, Danny."
"Okay, okay! I understand. But, Val, if I'm not a 'spirit' or whatever… then what am I?" He looked at her, his human figure melting away to the ghostly one with the glowing green eyes and white smoky body. She faltered, eyes flickering back and forth from his face and to the table before she pulled out another sheet. She sat back in her chair.
"Well let's make a list," she said, not looking at him in the eyes. "Let's say ghosts is still the umbrella term. Spirit will apply to what we know of as ghosts." She wrote the words down on the separate sheet. "Do you have the annoying need to throw things and generally wreak havoc?"
He let a small smile appear on his face. "No, don't think so."
She'd written Poltergeist down on the paper and followed it by several other silly names for ghosts, asking him if he suddenly wanted to inhabit a vase or beginning haunting old houses. He laughed and said, no, no, no but eventually they came to nothing. They both paused, thinking, before Valerie began to nod. Neither realized the implications of the written words, nor think about whose wandering eyes could find the page.
"Well, what's the type of ghost that doesn't really do anything I guess?"
"Spirit," he said, nodding in the direction of the ghostly librarian. He looked human again.
"We've already ruled that out, you need a different name for—."
"—whatever I am," he finished. "How about… a phantom."
Valerie thought a moment before writing the word down on the paper.
Phantom.
"Yeah," she said, "that'll work."
"But why am I different? Why did I come back so early?"
Valerie was stumped. She hadn't been able to grab anything from her dad or his work and there was nothing online. "I don't know. I don't know if we'll ever find out."
In the weeks following, with fall settling in, Danny had grown accustomed to his and Valerie's library excursions. There'd been no lead on his murderer, who truly had succeeded the first time but hadn't expected anything so soon, but Danny's mind hadn't even thought about it. In fact, he was quite cheerful. He was never more excited than when school finished and he'd be at the library. Sometimes he flew, he often walked, and occasionally he'd be joined by Tucker and Sam who still had no idea why he was going to the library except that it was for his government class.
It was mid-October and it'd been almost two months since he and Valerie had begun meeting up. And, naturally, Sam was beginning to question the validity of his project. She would casually ask Danny questions about government, but given that it was a class he enjoyed, albeit lacked strong skills in, he managed to answer questions to her disgruntled satisfaction. Tucker never thought anything of it, and naturally thought Sam was ridiculous for questioning Danny for trying not to fail freshman year.
Danny was a bright student, not Jazz admittedly, and his strong suit was astronomy, but he fared well in most of his classes if he paid attention. Of course, being dead had its perks. He was never tired— not that'd he'd ever admit aloud to anyone or himself that being dead even had perks, but it was nice that he constantly had 24 hours to do his homework.
Still, in school he and Valerie rarely spoke. She and him had a good friendship, one that had only grown with something so serious too often discuss, and there was a lot of trust there, but it wasn't risk rising suspicion in Danny's friends or hers. Occasionally, in gym or in the hall, they'd greet each other with a small wave if no one was paying any attention. But it was Monday morning, October 31st and Danny had given Valerie a small wave coming in to the school. He failed to notice two people who had caught the small gesture— one Sam Manson, who'd had a crush on him since they'd met in sixth grade but refused to admit it, and Dash Baxter, who had bullied Danny every day since seventh grade. Both made up their minds in the split second it'd taken for Danny to lower his hand and receive a small smile in return. Sam, to ask Danny where his and Valerie's sudden friendship had come from. Dash, to give the poor dead boy a beating he'd never received before in his life.
Only one would get the chance to do what they planned.
Danny arrived into his English class with Mr. Lancer, five minutes early. Tucker and Sam followed swiftly behind him, Tucker discussing his campaign on Doomed and Flight of the Warbirds the night before.
"I didn't see you get on last night," Tucker asked. "Thought you said you would?"
Danny cringed. He knew the next words out of his mouth were a lie, considering he'd finished the essay the night they'd gotten the assignment three weeks ago. "I had to finish the essay for McMullen, you know she's on my back about taking AP next year. I gotta impress her."
Tucker scoffed while Sam frowned at the obvious lie. "Dude, I finished that essay like a week ago."
Danny blushed. If it could be called that, Valerie said in human form it was red but when he wasn't paying attention and looked like a ghost and didn't hold on to his human form, his skin turned an eerie green.
Sam opened her mouth to ask a question but Lancer began to speak about the ramifications of Mark Twain's controversial writings in the Deep South. She quickly shut, debating on whispering or writing a note. In the end, she settled for neither and listened to Lancer's lecture, her eyes never leaving the bored. She couldn't blame Danny for acting strange after his almost kidnapping— it was entirely fair and it was selfish of her to think otherwise. But his secretive almost strange behavior was beginning to affect her. Tucker thought she was crazy but every day he made an excuse to finish that damn project that she knew didn't exist. She had a friend in that class and at first, Sam had believed that Danny was telling the truth and they did have a big project. Why wouldn't she believe him? But after a month and no mention from her other friends, Sam began to be suspicious.
And why wouldn't she continue to be, after Danny's friendly wave to Valerie this morning. In the end, she realized she should have just said something.
When lunch came around and Danny was nowhere to be found, Sam bitterly began to think he'd snuck off with Valerie. But when she looked to the table the girl normally sat at, she was sitting there with her friends laughing and enjoying a meal. Sam frowned, until she noticed that while Valerie was present, Dash was not.
"Tucker," she hissed. "Tucker, did you see Dash?"
"I wanna know where Danny is," he said. "But no, I haven't seen him since English, I only have gym with him like the rest of us and we don't even have gym with him."
"I'm just… I'm worried about Danny. If he's gone… and Dash."
"I wouldn't worry about it," Tucker said, "he probably just went to talk to McMullen about astrology."
Sam rolled her eyes. "Astronomy."
"Yeah," Tucker piped, "that! I'm sure he's fine. I'm surprised Dash even remembers how to get anywhere in this school anyway. I can barely get my way from English to German with Frau Mueller. And I'm smart!" he exclaimed and then took a large bite out of his turkey sandwich.
"Keep telling yourself that," Sam said, "but you're probably right. Danny is fine."
"You should really tell him about that crush, though."
Sam sighed and slid her tray away from her, leaning into her arms. "I know, I know. But…" she watched Valerie laugh with one of her beautiful, a-list friends. "I just don't think he's interested."
"Listen, fuck-Fenton, you stay in your own goddamn lane." Dash's leg slammed into Danny's stomach. The feeling didn't hurt, in fact the pain barely registered, but Danny couldn't let his secret go. He couldn't let Dash know he was a little less than human.
"You wanna say anything, Fuckton?"
Danny coughed, not noticing the ectoplasm that, for him drifted off into smoke but for Dash landed on the ground with a small splat in the red color. "I think the word fuckton is already being used, Dash."
The older boy growled and grabbed Danny's head and slammed his head into the metal bleachers. It was like whatever kept Danny's pain at bay switched off and a stabbing sensation exploded in his chest. And it kept coming. Dash had apparently seen Danny wave at Valerie. It was beyond him, something as small as a simple wave and it was over. Dash's fist connected with Danny's face. He felt his human appearance fall away but he knew Dash wouldn't be able to tell. No one would. He was saying stuff but all the pain caught up to him, when he looked down at his hand, the small cut that had been healed was, thankfully, still healed but he could feel the knife pulling through his mirage of a skin. Danny's head fell.
"Dash…" Kwan's voice floated in to Danny's hearing but the boys eyes unfocused and suddenly he was in the woods. Dash was standing in front of him, holding his shirt. He was back at school.
"—no one—."
It was pouring rain in the woods. Danny could feel the cold wetness as he ran, pushing dried twigs to the side.
Dash returned, shaking Danny. "—ever notice if you—."
He felt something strike him. There was light everywhere.
"—died, Fenton."
Danny looked all around him. The scene was still. But slowly, he felt an oozing in his shirt. He was looking down. There were ropes on his wrist. A knife was in a gloved hand, red. He tried to lift his head but it felt so heavy, so heavy. The rain kept falling. And then…
He woke up still behind the bleachers. He thought about what'd happened. Not with Dash, but soon the experience would catch up to him. He remembered… something. His last moments of being human. He thought about the interviews with ghosts he'd seen. None of them ever missed being human. One of them had described it, saying that they just didn't remember. They were just ghosts and had been since they'd become ghosts. But Danny, as he was bleeding ectoplasm and being shaken and punched, remembered his final moments of being human. He stood up, not noting the time of day, and began half stumbling and half flying toward the woods, toward the manor.
It had been an hour, Valerie was sitting at their table and there was still no sign of Danny. She'd called and texted him several times before she began to worry. She'd finished her homework and was about to leave.
"Valerie!"
The girl's head shot up, suddenly hoping it was Danny, and found Sam Manson and Tucker Foley. Both looked out of breath and the dead librarian shushed them before she returned to dropping books.
"Um, can I help you?" she tried to keep the annoyance out of her voice.
"Cut the shit, Grey, we know Danny's been seeing you here," Sam snapped, sliding into one of the chairs across from Valerie. Tucker followed suit and took the seat where Danny normally sat. Valerie tried not to show her offense. Instead, she stared straight ahead at Sam.
"Mmhmm. And did he tell you that or you just gonna throw wild accusations around? I'm here to meet Star, well I was. She decided not to show," Valerie snapped. She usually managed to hold her dislike for Sam when she was around Danny, but right now the black hair boy wasn't there. Sam scowled.
Valerie continued. "Whatever problem you have with your little friend group, is not mine."
Tucker looked mildly offended. "We just haven't seen Danny all day and we thought—."
"What?" Valerie asked. "That I would ever associate with him?" She knew Danny would be hurt if he ever heard the words, but she couldn't risk it. Right now, she needed to find him first and figure what was going on and get Sam and Tucker out of there.
Tucker got up and slammed his chair in, walking away. Sam steadily stood up and leaned across the table. Valerie had to admit that the girl looked incredibly intimidating. Her eyes, which Valerie knew to be contacts because she could see the rims in Sam's eyes, were narrowed and her brow was furrowed. Valerie crossed her arms. "I know Danny and you are friends. I don't know if you guys come here to make out or whatever, I don't care. But right now he's missing, and I know he'd be hurt by what you said. You're not good enough for him. There's a murderer after him and you're not even willing to put aside your pride and help us."
Valerie wanted to scream that Sam hadn't even noticed her friend had died because the murderer had succeeded, but the girl slammed in her chair and disappeared behind a bookshelf out of view before Valerie could even think about it. Quickly, Valerie packed up the rest of her stuff and ran out in the direction of the manor. By the time she reached the edge of the wood the sun was beginning to set. She stood there for a minute, just thinking, before she plunged into the darkness. The woods was eerily quiet but she could begin to see the house through the trees. She pushed through and ran up to the fence, jumping it and running straight past the well and its horrid stench.
She came to the door and found ectoplasm on the doorstep, drifting up into the air. She knows to anyone else it would look like blood. Danny is here. She slowly pushes the door in and called his name. The sun has almost completely set and the house is shrouded in dark grey light. From the drawing room where she first met with Danny is an eerie green glow. She crept forward. Standing in the room is a completely white figure. He is surrounded by broken glass and paintings that hadn't been stirred in years. He's staring at the fireplace.
"Danny?"
The figured sighed and she recognized his voice but she doesn't step closer. He looked stranger than normal. She knew the green glow came from his eyes and the cuts of ectoplasm that dripped off him and drifted off into the night.
"Danny, are you alright?"
"You know," he whispered, "I went missing just before lunch. I… stopped in the bathroom by the gym, you know the one that isn't locked usually. Um. Probably not a good idea because I bumped into Dash."
Valerie closed her eyes and bit on her lip.
"He decided… you know, Danny deserves a good beating. For… god, I don't know. I guess he saw that I waved at you. I don't know. He pulled me out behind the bleachers and really gave it his all."
"Danny, I—."
"I wondered, after it happened, if anyone noticed," he went on as if he didn't hear her. Her breathing was heavy and her eyes widened when a strange blue thing began to move across Danny's skin. "But then… no one noticed that I'd died. No one saw a thing. What is it? I look human but I'm not. I'm not human. I didn't even get a chance to mourn myself, Val. I wake up a month after I die and figure out I'm dead and realize that I will be stuck like this. A month of living a lie. I died. And no one saw," he said. The blue thing covered his body now and he began to drip, not ectoplasm, but water.
"Danny…," she whispered, "you're…"
"Why didn't they notice!" he screamed. He punched the marble fireplace with a glowing hand. It shattered and the piece blew around him, smoking.
She jumped back and held onto the door frame.
Outside lightning flashed.
He fell to the floor as lightning cackled around him. The scar itself seemed to flash.
Valerie rushed forward. "Danny, please. I know they might not have noticed that you died, but, hey, listen."
His pupil-less and white-less eyes never moved but his head tilted slightly in her direction.
She continued and grabbed his hand. "Listen, Sam and Tucker came to the library today where I was waiting for you. They were really worried, Sam kinda yelled at me. I didn't want to lead them here and I had to lie and I'm sorry if what I said might make you angry. I'm your friend Danny," she said. She had begun to cry. "Really, please listen to me."
"I remembered something," he said quietly after a moments had passed.
"I don't… I don't know…"
"When Dash was punching me," he went on. "I started to see things. I was in the woods and I was running away from… someone." Danny shuddered and a cackle of lightning split the air between them. Valerie winced and held onto to Danny's smoking body. "And then Dash punched me again and then I was in… there was this really bright light and I looked down and there was this hand holding a knife with… I think with my blood on it. And I tried to look up and see but then…" He held his arms close to his body and fell against Valerie. She held him there for a long time, neither speaking nor moving.
It wasn't until an hour had passed that he sat up.
"We should probably get you home, its way past dark," Valerie said. "Your parents are going to be mad."
"Yeah," he mumbled, staring down at his body. It hadn't changed or looked any different. "I'm remembering though."
Valerie bit her lip and looked away. She didn't want to admit it, but Danny looked terrifying. It wasn't just the white light body with the strange blue network scar or the glowing green eyes. It was the sunken in look of his face, the hallow eyes with nothing but the green, and his hair didn't look like hair, it drifted up like fire. He looked like a ghost. His clothes had disappeared but as they began to move his mirage of a human look came back; his hair quickly turned black and his skin turned opaque and she could see Danny Fenton, and not the phantom he'd become.
"Maybe… maybe we should look into how you died."
"I was stabbed," he replied bluntly.
"No, no I know. But I mean. Where… and who, and where your body is," she finished. His head snapped in her direction, the only thing that hadn't changed yet were his eyes.
"My body?"
"I mean, all ghosts were someone, Danny. They all have graves and bodies that were left behind," she supplied. "Somewhere in those woods, where you died well, that's where your body is." She hated admitting it; because if they found the physical body as proof, physical proof, that Danny had been murdered, than she didn't know what she would do. She'd begun to actually like him, like really like him, and of course he was dead. She'd never say it aloud for fear that he'd accuse her of only taking notice of him just because he'd died. She wouldn't argue though. She had no defense.
"My body," he said. "Right. Let's go."
He stood up and she followed clumsily. "What, now? Danny it's—." She'd intended to do this by herself.
"Late, I know. But I don't think I'll be able to not sleep knowing we can figure this out."
The mirage melts away and they're left with a glowing figure in place of Danny. She wants to cry because she doesn't want to find his body because if they do, if she does… he'll have to leave. "Danny," she cried, "just let me tell you something, please." She reached forward and grabbed his hand only to go right through it. He stopped short and turned to look at her, frowning.
"What?"
"If you find your body… you'll leave. You'll be gone. Ghosts can never visit their graves because if they do—."
"They'll go to Some Other Place."
She paused, confused. The ghosts at her dads work called it that. But it sounded like some other place not like just as a different place, but that it was called Some Other Place. "How do you… know…?"
He looked helpless and seemed to be thinking desperately. He gripped the side of the door frame, his hands burning it. "I don't know. I just knew. Comes with the territory I guess," he laughed and smiled just lightly enough that some of Valerie's stress seemed to melt away.
"I can't risk it Danny," she said, stepping forward. "You can't leave, not yet."
He touched her shoulder and his green eyes never left her face. She wants to scream, her hands are balled into fists but there's nothing she can do to keep him from walking into that door and out of the house. The only light comes from him. "When we find it and I go, take them to my body. Tell them the truth. Tell them I couldn't do it myself and I can't live this way. Not the way I died because… because I remember losing it."
She knows he means his humanity. "You can still think and believe and dream and…" she wants to say love but the words falls from her lips in silence.
He smiled and she knew then he knew what she was going to say. "I can't do this. You have to understand. I can't do it."
"I know," she whispered, "I'm sorry."
"Let's go." He smiled and she returned it before she stood up straight and looked him in the eyes.
"We need flashlights," she said. "And phones. They'll be people looking for you so we'll have to move quietly and swiftly. Is your backpack still at the school?"
"Yeah, grab my hand."
"What?"
"Just grab it."
She did and then he grabbed her entire body completely and jumped up through the ceiling. She never loved the stars more than she did flying over Amity Park, even though it was all about to end in flames.
The school was quiet and Danny and Valerie flew through completely invisible until they came to the bathroom where Dash had dragged Danny away. They'd made a quick pit-stop at a convenience store where she'd picked up flashlights. She checked her phone. No sign from her dad. That meant he hadn't left work yet.
"Hey, hurry up!"
"It's not in here!" Danny popped up through the door, a glowing head. She jumped back. "Oh my god," she snapped, "don't scare me like that!"
He grinned. "Sorry. But let's check behind the bleachers."
She nodded and followed him out. They walked carefully behind them, finding nothing out of the ordinary until the glowing sight of ectoplasm caught Valerie's eye. There was plenty of it everywhere. Oh the bottom of the bleachers, on the concrete, and on a small purple backpack that Dann quickly picked up.
"Is this… yours?" she asked, horrified.
"Yeah, hurt like a bitch," he said, clearly embarrassed. He was floating slightly above the ground, rubbing the back of his neck. "It was like something snapped and I could feel pain again."
"Strange," she whispered, leaning down and look at the ectoplasm. It would fade away completely by morning, as most ectoplasm did. It returned to the air like it had never existed. She wondered if that's what Some Other Place actually was. Just drifting into the air and losing all sense of identity. She knew Danny had wanted to be an astronaut and he certainly had the brains for it but all that was gone now, especially if they found his body.
"Come on, we need to retrace my steps."
"One more thing, we're stopping at my place," she said. "I have something to pick up."
He looked at her curiously but shrugged and held out his hand. The night was clear but in the distance she could barely see the stars and flashes of lightning lit up the sky miles from. Danny flew barely above the highest buildings in Amity, his eyes on straight ahead. His backpack, which had taken on a smoky appearance, was slung across one shoulder. Valerie had stuffed her flashlights inside, wincing at all the crumpled papers. They appeared at her house a few minutes later and Valerie instructed Danny to take them straight in. Danny looked strange in comparison to the nice modern house. She'd never been to his, but everyone knew the Fenton Works and Ops Center on top of it.
"I'll be right back, I'm gonna grab something real fast."
She disappeared down a hallway and Danny heard a door shut. He fidgeted slightly, looking around. The house was nicely decorated and he had always known that the a-list kids were generally richer than most, but Valerie's house looked lived in and hardly lavish like Sam's or Paulina's.
He drifted up to a family portrait of Valerie and her parents. She rarely ever mentioned her mom when they spoke. He wondered what happened to her. Valerie had her green eyes.
A moment later, Valerie returned. Danny's attention snapped from the portrait to the thing in Valerie's hand. "You're bringing a gun!"
She nodded seriously. "Yeah, I am. There's still the question of your murderer Danny and he already killed you once, and then shot you again. If he figures out you're a ghost and…" the both got quiet. Ghosts who didn't comply and assimilate back into society disappeared. Valerie knew there was a combination of ectoplasm and rock salt that could get rid of ghosts, but the exact formula was hid from the public to stop someone who could just go out and end all the ghosts.
Danny nodded. "Okay, fine. Bring it."
She grabbed his hand and they were gone.
"This is the last place I remember being," Danny said. The road lined the woods and a thicket of bushes. They had walked around for ages. "49th street, that's what I told the officer. Sam lives down Wayward and Décès. I was about to turn down the road and then next thing I knew I was waking up in the woods the next morning."
Valerie frowned, turning her flashlight toward the woods. The streets were completely empty and in the distance there were police sirens. Danny seriously hoped that it wasn't for him. She moved toward the bushes, touching a broken branch. "Danny… look at this."
He floated over. "It's broken."
"It looks like someone was dragged through the bushes," she said. "Probably you."
"Yeah, come on."
With one last look down the street, they disappeared into the woods. They followed the trail of slightly broken branches and sticks. Danny had a sinking feeling in his stomach, if he could call it his stomach anymore, as they followed the path. Ten minutes in and no sign of blood or a body, he grabbed her arm. She winced at the cold touch. Above them the stars were gone and a cold wind blew through the trees. "I think I know where I am," he said.
"What?"
"Yeah… I remember waking up and being dragged and then escaping. Come on!" he suddenly moved to the right and, feet solidly on the ground, began to run. All around him he could see where he had snapped the bushes and trees of the thicket. Valerie brushed dead ivy out of her way and tripped over fallen tree trunks following the glowing ghost boy.
"Danny!" she yelled, "stop going so fast!"
It wasn't until she bumped into him that he stopped completely. It had begun to rain, a soft pattering against dry leaves, and Danny was staring at a small clearly. It was dark aside from the white light his body cast but even that was beginning to fade as the mirage of his skin enveloped him. Valerie quickly snapped on her flashlight. Around them everything was burned like it'd been struck by lightning. Valerie's breath hitched.
"This is it," he said, his voice low. "This is where I saw the bright light, where I got stabbed."
"Are you sure?"
"Trust me, I remember. I remember falling and…" he leaned down. "Look, there's blood."
"Why didn't the police find this?" Valerie whispered, too scared to move at the dried blood staining the leaves. It was clear the evidence was moved or tampered with; it was probably the killer.
"I was found a long way from here, and the broken bushes could've been anything. Probably thought it was a deer or something," Danny supplied. "But there's no body here."
Lightning cackled above them.
"Maybe the killer moved it?" Valerie asked. "Hide the evidence. He or see definitely didn't expect you to come back so quickly."
Danny shrugged. The killer definitely hadn't seen that coming. But where would he have taken it? The trail seemed to stop dead there, no pun intended, and neither he nor Valerie had any viable tracking skills. He'd clearly been dead when the killer dragged him away so his memory was pointless until this point on. He turned back to Valerie when a boom sounded through the woods— it was thunder. Valerie fell to the ground with a cry and he rushed over to her. The rain began to fall harder.
"Valerie!" he called.
"Figured you'd return here," said a deep voice. Danny turned away from where he was crouching over Valerie, who was holding her arm. Blood oozed between her fingers. Over them just a few feet away was a man with hunting gear on. His face had a tattoo on it that made it look like a skull. He was holding a shot gun, reloading it. "Didn't think you'd come back so fast, boy. Though, I can still get rid of 'ya before anyone finds out. Too bad you got the girl involved too." He lifted the gun.
"No!" Danny screamed, pulling Valerie up and turning the both of them invisible. She fumbled with the gun in her back pocket before she dropped it when Danny yanked her to the side.
"Run, this way!" she yelled, and the two took off into the woods. Danny heard a shot whiz by his ear.
Lightning snapped above their heads. Danny winced. Why did that hurt? It didn't matter now— they had to get to safety. But they'd run in the opposite direction of the street. Stupid.
Valerie was gripping her arm, blood ruining the jeans she was wearing. "This way, toward the house. If we can get there we can go… ugh… the way we usually get out."
"I can't fly us there without hurting you," he whispered. They were crouching behind a tree. In the distance through the rain they could heard the man. Danny's killer.
She nodded. "I know. He knows you're a ghost. We can't guarantee he doesn't have salt and ectoplasm."
He wanted to scream and cry but he just nodded and they waited before they both left the safety of the tree. Danny heard the yell of the hunter and heard more bullets whizzing through the air. And then he heard sirens, and people calling his name. No! He wanted to scream. It was his parents— they must've gone out searching for him.
"Keep running!" he yelled. They were so close, Danny could see the house on the hill. They were coming up from behind it.
Valerie was stumbling but she hurdled a tree stump and then tripped and slammed into the ground just at the edge of the woods. Above them were the red and blue lights of police cars and Danny could see his mother in the quick flash of blue light as lightning danced across the sky. He swept up Valerie and pulled her forward, behind them he could hear the hunter. "Help!" he screamed through the rain, but no one heard him.
"Help!" he screeched. The sound seemed to break. He knew his mirage had fallen, not that any human would notice, but he hoped by some chance they would be able to see the light he cast.
His mother turned around, Jazz next to her. "Ghost!" she screamed. She held up an ectogun and Danny knew if he didn't say anything he would be gone. "What did you do to that girl?!"
"Help us!" Danny yelled. "She's hurt!"
"Hey!" the police yelled.
"Danny," Valerie whispered. "The well."
"She's hurt! Help her!" Danny yelled. "Help, he's after us!"
The police ran down the hill followed by Danny's parents. Sam and Tucker stood by Jazz, each hold their own flashlights.
"Danny?" His mom looked terrified. He wondered if he looked like a ghost. Like how he looked as a ghost.
The hunter appeared and lifted his gun. Valerie groaned. He screamed. For a second, everything was silent. And then lightning cracked through the air. "The well," Valerie screamed, "the smell! The well, look at the well!"
The hunter was loading a bullet. The police were telling him to lower the weapon. Valerie was dying. Danny's parents were staring at this creature, horrified. So her turned around, charged an ectobolt and slammed it into the chest of the hunter. The man fell and the police hesitated.
"Mom," Danny said, "please."
"Danny… you…"
"Valerie needs help!"
His mom didn't move, but his dad jumped forward and grabbed her. She yelled out in pain. Sam ran down to where they stood at the bottom of the hill. She was holding onto Jazz.
"Danny, I don't understand…"
"I was killed mom. The day I disappeared. I died and came back. I'm… a ghost," he said. Jazz was staring at him, her shoulders slumped and her head held high like she was trying not to cry.
He stared at them for what felt like hours before Jazz reached out her hand, eyes wide with horror and Danny felt something tackle him. It was the hunter. The next thing he knew he was on the ground with the gun pointed to his head. The man's skull tattoo made him look terrifying and the black around his dark eyes only made Danny more scared. He was going to leave. He hadn't said goodbye. He got a second chance and he hadn't said goodbye.
"An eye for an eye," the hunter growled. "You're parents decided my girlfriend wasn't complying. So they got rid of her for a second time. Figured they wouldn't mind if I took their son. And then you came back!" the man screamed. Danny closed his eyes. He was frozen. He couldn't move. "You had to come back like she did and then…. And then," the man cried. Danny watched as he lowered the gun and the police tackled him off ofDanny. He didn't need to breathe, but he couldn't help the relief that took his chest. He could say goodbye. He stood up, slowly, on the slippery dried grass. His mother was staring at him, hand still twitching with the ectogun in her hand.
He stumbled over to Valerie. "Remember what I told you." She left Jack Fenton's arms and grabbed on to Danny.
"I remember. He dragged me into the woods. Told me everything he just told me now. He stabbed me and I… I got struck by lightning." Danny's skin began to crawl with the blue scar from earlier that day. His skin began to drip, just like it had the night when he had been killed. It was raining just like this. "I guess he dragged me…" His eyes were hallow.
"The well," she said. "The well, Danny."
He nodded. When turned back to his mom, she was holding the ectogun. "Mom?"
"You're not my son," she whispered. "My son is alive."
"Mom, please! The well—," Danny pleaded but Maddie Fenton kept shaking her head.
"Whatever ghost… creature you are, you are not my son."
She charged the gun.
"Mom!" Jazz screamed, lurching forward. Jack Fenton was standing staring at Danny, not moving or doing anything. Valerie fell forward, clutching her arm but leaning against Danny to try to shield him. He pushed her out of the way as the shot rang out.
Sam screamed.
Valerie yelled as she hit the ground and watched as the bullet of ectoplasm and salt struck Danny right in the chest. It was bleeding ectoplasm, where he'd been stabbed. His skin dripped and the lightning over it shifted and moved. She watched as he wavered for a moment before he began to fall. But before Danny hit the ground, he turned to smoke and drifted off. The rain dissipated the rest.
She stared at where he had just been. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mrs. Fenton lower the gun, breathing heavily. She scurried up off the ground, mud on her knees and hands and ran to the front of the house where the well was. The police cars were there, empty. She ran to the side, ignoring the stench and shined her flashlight inside.
At the bottom was the bruised and mottled body of Danny Fenton. He was slightly in the water, covered in mud and blood. What she could see of his skin was the scar he got from being struck by lightning. She sobbed and dropped to the side of the stone. Behind her, she could hear the Fenton's and Danny's friends walking up behind her. She quickly stood up and ran to Mrs. Fenton. Quickly, Jack got in the way.
"You killed him!" she screamed.
"The hunter wouldn't have gone after him and he wouldn't have died if you hadn't—," she couldn't finish. Maddie and Jack shared one look with each other before the ran around Valerie and peered over into the well.
Maddie Fenton screamed.
Danny was gone and no one had noticed until it was too late.
Fin.
Danny returned so quickly due to having been around ectoplasm his entire life and the lightning.
Skulker, the hunter, sought revenge against his girlfriend, singer Ember. She died in a house fire and returned, but did not properly assimilate into society. The Fenton's helped send her to Some Other Place.
Danny would not have died from the stab wound if he hadn't been struck by the lightning. He would have died from the drop of the well, striking his head on the stones. Valerie figured out it was the well because of the constant stench and the houses' proximity to their location of Danny's original murder. He was dead before Skulker dumped him into the well and Danny's spirit wandered aimlessly before he fully formed in the woods where his mom found him, not recognizing he was dead. Danny never noticed sooner, of his death, because of the memory loss. His "body" had no reason to assume he was dead.
Thank you!
-E