Forever
By KisameHoshigaki257
Author's note:
In the history of fanfiction, there have been many crossover stories, some of which have worked, most of which in my opinion haven't for various reasons. This story is a result of an hour, too many (or not enough) Raven/Danny Phantom stories, and Papa Roach. My this count as one of the good ones, and open your eyes to something rarely seen, but much needed.
Raven was never sure how he came to haunt the tower, nor why she was the only one who could see him, but after the first few times they talked she didn't care. It had been weird, first because she didn't know him, and then because she found he tended to hang around her for the most part. Eventually she got used to it, he was silent most of the time and only talked to her when they were in her room.
Perhaps it was his silence, floating from room to room either following her or just wandering around alone, that finally drew her to ask him about himself. His face, which was normally forlorn, suddenly blossomed into a handsome smile at her question. He'd only told her his name, Danny, and thanked her for her interest. Further questions didn't get answered, at least not then, but she noticed he tended to look happier as he floated about.
The next few months passed and he opened up slowly, telling her about what his life had been like before he was a ghost. Raven in turn would tell him little bits about herself while they were sitting in the dark, her on the bed and him floating around in various positions in the air. He was everything she wasn't, his shaggy white hair and black jumpsuit, with its white gloves, boots, and collar, bumbling about merrily as he watched her.
She on the other hand, was dark and moody, and not at all comfortable with a strange guy following her around, even if he was dead and lonely. Not to mention somewhat horny at times, but Raven guessed that was normal for someone who'd died in their teens. She'd gotten several strange looks from her friends when she'd apparently been screaming at empty air to get out of her room while she changed, and had merely explained that there was an invisible ghost floating around her. They'd shrugged and put it off to her being weird or it being that time of the month, but didn't mention it again.
There were a couple of times when she thought about exorcising him, letting him move on to the afterlife, but when she'd mentioned it he'd gotten so upset that her room literally froze for a few moments. She never mentioned it again, but Danny had kept his distance for a few days. Raven apologized on the third day, after feeling so lonely it surprised her, and he'd happily come back.
Then one night, Raven awoke crying from a nightmare, to find Danny floating over her looking concerned. Are you alright? He asked, floating closer to her as she sat up against the wall. She watched as her rotated be floating upside down, his face level with hers and just a foot and a half away from hers. "I'm fine, Danny, it was just a dream," she replied softly, closing her eyes and drawing a ragged breath.
I wish I was still alive, then I could do more to help you, he said softly, looking downtrodden, his eyes locked on the ceiling. Raven reached up and brushed his face with her finger tips, wondering why she could touch him now when she'd never been able to before. "If you were alive, we'd have never met Danny," she whispered, her eyes gazing down at the sheet that had pooled around her small waist.
I used to be a half-ghost, so we might have been able to meet, Danny said, maybe then you could have fallen in love with me and I could have made you happy.
Raven looked at him in shock, wondering if that was why he was always around her when she was in the tower. "You're in love with me, aren't you? That's why you don't want to leave this place," she whispered, her eyes wide with shock as she felt her emotions start rioting.
I think, if I were still alive that would describe what I feel, Danny said, looking away from her with a light blush on his cheeks. But that doesn't really matter anymore does it? I'm dead, without ever having been truly in love or having been loved like that. I never worried about it that much when I was alive, but after I died and was drawn here by your magic I guess it was something that became important.
Raven reached out and kissed him, for a split second before he turned intangible again an the feeling of his cold lips on her lingered only in her mind. That moment was a turning point for the two of them, Raven decided that the least she could do for the strange ghost was at least show a little more caring towards him. she started leaving the TV on something he'd like when she was in the living room, causing her friends to wonder why on earth she was watching shows like COPS or Family Guy, but they didn't say anything.
She even let him stay in the room with her when she changed, although she made him turn around, and there were a couple of times when the water turned cold in her shower, even though she couldn't see him. Part of her enjoyed the attention, another part the teasing as she carefully hinted at her treasures without letting him see to much. His reactions were wonderful to her attention starved life, even they were about the unfairness of being lone with an incredibly hot chick and not being able to touch her.
But after two weeks of teasing, bemoaning of cruel fates, and one shower where he just popped his head in without asking, which resulted in a lot of screams and busted items, Raven decided enough was enough. She'd found her own emotions growing wilder with each tease, or ghostly whisper of a touch as he floated around her, and decided that she was going to find a way to restore his life.
Danny hadn't looked to excited when she'd mentioned her decision. "But you could be alive again, you could touch and breath and be with…" Raven said, catching herself before she admitted just what it was she wanted to truly happen. I know, but there's no way to cheat death and come back, not without a heavy price and I don't want you to pay any price like that. If I have to spend the rest of eternity simply staring at your beauty and settling for the occasional brush of your skin then I'll gladly take that over you dying, or worse. in some attempt to bring me back that will most likely end in failure, Danny had replied, his hand laying on her cheek, even if she couldn't feel it.
Tears had flooded her eyes and she'd collapsed bawling on her bedroom floor, touch by his caring and upset because she knew he was right. Those who came back from the dead were changed, sometimes it was just a shift in personality, others as things like zombies or other undead. "What if I just make you half alive, like you were? If you told me how you died, maybe I could figure something out!" she'd cried, tears falling down her face.
I can't tell you that Rae, you know that, Danny said softly, cupping her face in his hands as best he could. But it hadn't mattered to her, she'd spent hours looking for him in records, which wasn't easy since she only knew his first name and a few details, like which school he'd gone to, but not when. He could have died just before they'd met, or a hundred years ago. It didn't stop her, despite his pleas for her to just enjoy what they had.
Finally, a year after they'd met, she'd found out everything. The accident that had turned him into a half-ghost, who his family was, and how he'd died saving those he loved. For a moment, she thought about stopping,and she asked Danny if he really wanted her to stop. When he nodded, Raven found the fight leaving her. She packed away everything she'd bought and drawn up to bring him back and slid the box under her bed in case he ever changed his mind.
Then, she decided, she could at least enjoy what little she could have and worry about having more later. Slipping of her leotard and finally letting Danny see everything, blushing like crazy as she made her way to the bed and lay down. Glancing up at his slack jawed face floating just a couple of feet away as she lay there. "Would you at least do something for me, Danny?" she asked, reaching up a hand to him. Anything, he whispered in return, wrapping his intangible hand around hers. "Could you at least agree to be by boyfriend until I can find a way to bring you back without endangering either of us?" she asked in a whimper, her body aching for his touch to the point of pain. Yes, I'll gladly be your boyfriend, he replied softly, before letting his body slid into hers.
"What are you doing?" she whimpered as a cold feeling flooded her body, only to be followed by a heat that started to swell from her belly to the rest of her as she started moving without meaning to. I'm using your body do to the one thing I can't, show you just how much I love you, Danny smirked from inside her. Tears welled up in her eyes as her hands started to move over her body. "Thank you, Danny, ," Raven whispered, "thank you."