Moonstone

Chapter One:

Jessia Chastain was running. As a citizen of Amity Park this wasn't unusual, but this time it wasn't about ghosts. This time it was about avoiding the raging of her single father. She'd broken curfew again. It wasn't really her fault, she'd lost track of time practicing at the skate park. She had a rollerblading competition in a month after all and she wanted to be in top form. Jessia's father had set a curfew months ago when the ghosts had started appearing in large and terrifying numbers and he got easily angered when she broke it. The logical part of Jessia's brain knew that he really did just want to keep her safe and she didn't blame him after what happened to her mom. Yet the teenage part of Jessia's brain was far more convinced that he was being a hard ass and just didn't want her to have any fun. A lot of the other students at Casper had 10, 11, even 11:30 PM curfews, much later than Jessia's 9:00 curfew. She did know that Danny Fenton shared her curfew (due to his loud complaining), but that was because he never did homework, always failed tests, and never met his curfew. Danny Fenton was a "bad kid". Jessia wasn't. She did her homework, made As and Bs, but she felt like she was being punished for a crime she didn't commit.

Jessia's rollerblades bounced against her shoulder as she rounded a corner, thinking that she could cut through an alleyway to shave a couple minutes off her trip. She jumped on top of an old crate, then a dumpster, then over the wooden fence splitting the alley in half. Jessia turned in the direction of her home, knowing that she was only about five minutes away. She didn't even think as she sped past the forms of Sam Mason and Tucker Foley. She barely even registered that they were there until they started yelling for her to stop and to turn around. She didn't listen, figuring that they were covering for Danny as he bought drugs or whatever it was he was doing.

The teen suddenly ran head first into a much larger body. Jessia fell backward, her duffel bag falling out of her hand, her skates slipping off her shoulder. She looked up with a glare that quickly turned into a look of pure terror. There was a ghostly man bat was leering over her, growling as drool dripped down it's chin. Jessia wanted to scream; She thought if she just screamed loud enough, then Phantom would hear her. Regardless of what she wanted to do, the only sound she managed to produce was a soft squeak.

She was completely frozen. Maybe she wasn't as much of a fighter as she thought. Jessia had never realized the random things that popped in your head at the worst times until now. Suddenly, the beast was hovering over her face; its breath was damp and sweaty, smelling vaguely of dog. Its teeth were as thin and sharp as sewing needles and there seemed to be hundreds of them. Jessia had seen Dracula enough times to know what would happen next, but this ghost seemed like it would do a lot more damage. As if reading her mind, the beast lashed forward quickly, it's long clawed hands wrapping around her sides, scratching her back and torso. Within seconds, it had sunk its teeth into her neck. This time, Jessia managed to scream. As she lost blood to the vampiric ghost, time seemed to slow down. Jessia could feel every cell of her own blood pouring out of her body and into the beast's mouth. Yet, at the same time, it only seemed to be seconds before it was ripped off of her. That hurt far more than the ghost's teeth. Suddenly, Jessia felt far more tired than she ever had in her life. So she did the most logical thing; she closed her eyes and went to sleep.

Danny Phantom had never lost anyone in a battle. No civilian, no enemy, no ally had ever died from his battle with the ghosts that haunted Amity Park since Danny took on hunting them. Tonight he had a sinking feeling in his stomach that he would have his first causality, but he wasn't going to let her die without a fight. As quick as he could, Danny overpowered the ghost and sucked it into the Fenton Thermos. Clicking it to his belt as he flew, Danny rushed back to the girl as quickly as possible. The young halfa landed next to her, not paying any attention to the blood soaking into his suit, staining his boots. A large chunk of her throat had been ripped out (he had probably made it worse by ripping the ghost away from her as harshly as he had) and her body lay rigid in the pool of blood around her. Danny recognized her now, Jessia Chastain. He had history class with her. While Danny didn't know her all that well, it hurt to see someone he saw everyday looking so… still.

She was still warm, that Danny was thankful for. In his heart, that meant there most still be chance, even though his mind told him that dead meant just that. Dead. Danny did something that was probably very stupid, yet it just made sense. Danny placed both of his hands over her heart and started to transfer energy straight from his core into her. It was probably a stupid idea, but he had to try something and this was the only thing he could think of. Danny was so focused on trying to save Jessia that he didn't even notice Sam and Tucker watching him until he felt the full loss of his energy, fell backwards on the sidewalk, and turned back into Fenton.

"Hey guys."

"Danny, what the hell do you think you're doing?!" Sam yelled, grabbing Danny by his and dragging him away from Jessia's body.

"Did it work?"

"Dude, she's dead. Dead. You can't un-dead someone." Tucker said, looking nervously between his friend and his classmate. He bit his lip, "I'm going to call 911. You got this Sam?"

Sam nodded, propping Danny up against a nearby wall, "Danny, that was stupid and you know it. Obsession and all, you couldn't stop what happened."

"I had to try."

"I know. It doesn't change the fact that it was stupid."

"I know…" Danny closed his eyes. Sam could see her friend blaming himself for what happened. Sam had realized long ago, that not everyone could be saved. Sometimes you had to let people die, sometimes a few had to be sacrificed for the good of a larger number, sometimes you just weren't fast enough. Danny on the other hand was convinced that no one would ever die by a ghost under his watch and thought everyone in Amity Park deserved his undivided protection and full power. Was it disturbing to see Jessia dead on the sidewalk? Did Sam want to puke at the sight of her gapping wound? Would Sam mourn the death of her classmate once she was alone? Yes, yes, and yes. Yet, she couldn't do anything for Jessia. She was dead and in oblivion or what ever happened to people who didn't become ghosts. Danny was the one who was alive and he needed her help right now.

Kitty stormed down one of the solid paths in the Ghost Zone. Yeah, she knew this was risky, being in Phantom's Realm, but she need to vent and he was surprisingly good at relationship advice. It was mating season, after nearly three years she finally had another chance to have a child with Johnny, but Johnny was being a brick wall. No one knew when the next mating season would come, the Ghost Zone decided that and then they just knew, so it could be decades before she had another chance. Kitty figured that Phantom would be drawn back to the Zone during mating season, just like every ghost with higher brain function. She figured she'd find him in the small cabin on the side of his realm near Pandora's realm. What she ended up finding was not what she expected.

Phantom wasn't home; that much was obvious once the cabin came into view. He usually kept a fire burning when he retreated to his "place of peace" as he had lamely put it. She was surprised to see a naked teenage ghost girl lying on Phantom's front steps, though. Kitty winced as she kneeled down to check on the girl. She wasn't even fully formed yet, her long blue hair and fingers looking wispy, she must have died pretty recently. Her death also seemed to be fairly violent, judging by her obvious death scars. If Kitty hadn't been here the poor girl would probably have been lost in the craziness of mating season. Kitty couldn't help but feel like something was off though. Something about this girl felt like more than just a newly dead and why would she appear in Phantom's realm?

Kitty decided that it didn't matter and she was probably just imagining whatever was making her uneasy about this girl. She was just a newly dead who needed someone to take her to a ghost who could help her. Besides, all she had to do was get this kid to Pandora and then she could go back to convincing Johnny to create a child with her. Kitty pulled off her jacket, slipped it on the girl's form, and zipped it up, figuring she could at least preserve some of her dignity in case someone was out. Kitty scooped the girl into her arms and flew off. Within ten minutes, Pandora's realm came into view. Kitty landed in front Pandora's castle and managed to shift her weight so she could knock without putting the girl down.

A young Greek maid opened the door. She gave Kitty an odd look, then her eyes landed on the newly dead in the twenty-something-year-old's arms. The maid looked shocked and turned back into the castle, "LADY PANDORA!"

Pandora's tall form walked into view a few seconds later, her flaming purple hair crackling behind her. She looked down at Kitty with narrowed eyes, her harsh features softening once she laid eyes on the newly dead's form, "What is this?"

"I found her in Phantom's realm. I figured this would be the best place to take her."

The Greek ghost looked puzzled. "In Danny's realm? That's impossible, he can't… Well, give her here, child. I'll sort this out. You can return to trying to convince your mate to create an offspring."

"Uh, can I have my jacket back?" Kitty said, crossing her arms. Pandora dropped the piece of red leather on Kitty's head, before slamming the door in her face.