Come Back Again
Chapter One: The Girl At The Lake
A/N: Story fever! He he he. I started writing this a LONG time ago-- maybe December-ish and completely forgot about it until I was skimming through my folders and saw this. Then, with the proper encouragement from Pottersparky, I got back to work on it. I almost thought it was a lost cause and there was no plot or explanation for things, but then I decided to combine another story idea with this and TA DA! PLOT! CHARACTERS! PLOT TWISTS!
I haven't forgot about my other stories! I just need a small break from them in order to regain my inspiration!
Maybe I should set up a dead-line for myself again? Like I did for Sleepover where I said I'd update every week? That really kicked me into place for that. Also, then you all would be able to yell at/threaten me if I'm late!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything! Not even Panic! At The Disco, which I recently fell in love with! (And am listening to now!)…. Note that PATD has nothing to do with this story. I'm just listening to them right now.
Flying through the crisp clean air of spring always seemed to calm me down. Everyday I made it apart of my routine to make sure I relaxed in the sky; it was what she always told me to do. She said I got stressed out to much, fighting ghosts.
"You're going to burn yourself out if you keep fighting ghosts every night for hours on end, Danny." She would say when I stopped by at her house afterwards so she could wrap up my wounds. I would go there even if I didn't had wounds sometimes, just to see her sweet smile. One time I even faked a sprained ankle during the winter break so she could take care of me. I felt guilty and confessed it wasn't hurt, she said she thought that much but didn't say anything else afterwards. "Fly through the sky every night during spring to relax yourself out of the stress."
I closed my eyes and felt myself slowly smile, despite the painful remembrance of Sam. It had been years since she disappeared, and since she did I found myself smiling only when I flew.
Flying was Sam's favorite power I had. I often took her flying with me when she was upset, it calmed her down.
I flew in a giant circle, lowering down to the large Lake outside the cities limits to swim against the surface. The wind blowing through my hair also blew my worries away of not being rested for my exam the next day.
I was a student in college now, studying to be an astronaut. Sam always said I would make an excellent astronaut, "I mean, you've already been in space." She would say, and that thought of her kept me motivated. I needed the motivation a lot, seeing as I was struggling in the classes I was taking. Every time I got my mail, I expected a letter from the school telling me I was expelled for horrible grades, but it never came.
One sound broke the silence of the night however; it was that of a loud fight to my left in the woods. Upon hearing this, my ghost sense went off.
I groaned and switched my course to see who was causing the ruckus. There was no need to fly faster than I was, no one was in danger. Who would be out at two in the morning going for a stroll in the woods?
"AAAAAHHHHHH!"
I sighed heavily and sped up. Apparently, a girl would be up at two in the morning for a stroll in the woods.
She ran down the tree covered path, jumping over logs and pushing branches out of her way. The ghost chasing after her had the upper hand however, since he could go intangible and fly straight through the trees that the girl was running through. "Get back here you blasted girl!"
My eyebrows kicked up at the voice, it was Skulker. Skulker never chased humans, he had no need. One look at the girl and I felt something was strange about her though. She wasn't like any normal human, I could tell.
I light up my hand with ecto-energy and shot at Skulker's back. "Hey, don't you know there's a curfew after 11 o'clock? All ghosts need to return to the ghost zone." I said to him sarcastically.
Skulker dodged my blast, swerving to the left to avoid it. "Don't you know I'm busy here?" he snapped at me.
"Gee, you say that like I care."
Skulker glared at me, and held up his left hand. Out of his wrist popped out a small gun, which shot a small net at me. In my surprise I failed to dodge it, and got pinned against a tree. "Damn it…" I cursed, seeing him turn around and chase after the girl again.
I heard her scream once more, and I fazed backwards through the trees to get out of the net. I growled in annoyance at getting hit by the net, and sped forward to release my anger.
Skulker had the girl trapped against the lake. He was standing by her only way out. She glared at him from behind the black cape she was wearing. She had the hood pulled over her face, covering it in shadows, but I could still see her ice cold glare at Skulker. "I'm not going back to him." she said to him. "I'd rather die!"
Skulker grinned and advanced more, pushing her back to the edge of the deep pond. "You'd just be on the express lane back to him that way." he purred, reaching out for her with his hand.
"HEY! Skulker! Leave that girl alone!" There was no time for witty banter. I shot an ecto-blast at his arm that reached for her. Immediately Skulker whipped around, arm pulled back, ready to strike me. I put up my arms, getting ready to block him when we both froze.
Behind Skulker, there was a giant splash, and when we turned to look, the girl was gone in a pool of bubbles. "Damnit!" Skulker and I cursed simultaneously. While Skulker stood there, debating what to do I dove in the icy cold waters.
I squinted my eyes, and looked around under the water until my eyes came upon the girls figure, struggling to swim back to the surface. Her cape was wrapping around her body, trapping her arms, and covering up her outfit underneath even more. It was a wonder she didn't just take off the cape.
I turned intangible so I wouldn't be weighed down by the water, and moved over towards the frantic girl. I briefly turned solid to grab her around the waist, and then back intangible to "swim" acrossed the lake to somewhere Skulker wasn't at. If he was after the girl, the last place I'd want to surface would be by him.
Shooting up from the water, I set the girl down on the grass far away from the area Skulker was at. I stretched her out flat on her back, remaining calm when I saw she wasn't breathing. To make sure I put my ear by her mouth and nose, and when no breath came I tilted her head back, and pinched her nose, then pressed my mouth to hers to perform CPR.
It was times like these I was glad I paid attention in health class back in 8th grade and got the CPR card declaring I had passed and had proof that I was fit to perform CPR if needed. Of course it had expired three years ago…
After pressing her chest 15 times, I pinched her nose once more and breathed into her. Suddenly, I felt her stiffen underneath me, and her arm slipped out from under me to deliver a cold hard slap to my cheek. I stumbled backwards, my eyes wide in shock at her quick reflex. My hand fluttered to my abused cheek.
Before I could get a good look at her face, she turned and her back shook as she coughed up cold lake water. She brought a shaky hand to her lips to wipe away the water dripping to the ground.
I reached a hand out slowly to her back, and as if she sensed it coming, she turned and swung her arm out to knock me off-balance. In the dark of the early morning, I couldn't make out her features, but I could tell she was glaring at me with a ferocious snarl. "BACK OFF!" She snapped at me angrily.
'That's the thanks I get for saving her life?' I thought bitterly. I held up my hands in a way to show I was peaceful. "Look, I just want to help. I can tell you're running from someone so-"
"Shut up!" She hissed at me, struggling to stand up. Her hands fluttered to her side, and I milled over the thought of her being injured. "You ghosts are all the same!" She snapped. Her voice was starting to shake now, as was her body. She was cold from the lake, so was I. The spring wind was not gentle to either of us. She pulled her arm away from her waste and I realized she wasn't injured at all, but she had grabbed a gun. The way it gleamed in the moonlight and light up with a quiet humming noise when she cocked it told me it wasn't a regular gun. This was meant for ghosts.
My eyes widened. "Hey don't-!" but my words were cut off by a crisp shot to my shoulder. The shot had just grazed my shoulder- it was a warning. "Aaahh!" I winced and my hand left my cheek to grab my shoulder in a burning pain that I had never experienced before. My eyes squeezed shut, as the wound sizzled and stung with such an immense power I was glad it only got my shoulder.
When I opened my eyes, the girl was gone.
"Man!" Tucker shook his head slowly at me with a mischievous grin on his face. "You just get your butt kicked by girls all the time, don't you?"
By the time I had gotten home- to my dorm- and had got the injury to calm down, it was well into the morning. I had an exam at 1 o'clock, it was 11 currently. I had thought it was infected or poisonous when I tried to clean it- only to aggravate it more. However, when Tucker had got up, he looked in a file on his computer that he had made of injures I had gotten and how to tend to them and confirmed it wasn't infected at all. "Just a really powerful blast." He had said, and called me a baby when I wouldn't let him go near it with anti-etcoseptic.
I glared at him, the last time I had an injury somewhat close to this, I had a nasty run-in with Kitty after she had a break up with her on-off boyfriend Johnny. I had been scratched by her nails and hit by her purse so much I had the imprint of a buckle on it on my forehead. "Can it, Tuck."
He snickered at me, not even trying to cover up his amusement. "Face it dude, you just have bad luck with women."
He was trying to tease me, to joke around to cheer me up with reminders of girls-I refused-to-date-gone-psycho. However, it only reminded me more of Sam and all the mistakes I made that led up to her disappearance. I looked to the side sadly at a picture of Sam I had set on a nightstand next to my bed. Unconsciously, my hand moved to a scar on my stomach, hidden by my dark blue button up shirt I had on for a job interview after my exam.
I could see Tucker's teasing face soften out of the corner of my eye as he realized what he did. "Oh…" He said gently. "Oh, man, Danny I-, I'm sorry man, I didn't mean-.."
I closed my eyes and shook my head slowly as if to dismiss it. "Forget it," I said, and stood up with a sigh.
"Really man I just meant to remind you of Psycho Shannon--,"
"Psycho Shannon" was a girl Tucker often teased me about. Ever since Sam disappeared, I had refused to even consider dating or becoming friends with any other girl. Not that Sam and I had an intimate relationship or anything. But like many other girls, "Psycho Shannon" tried to break me of that. Her crush turned into an obsession, and the end result was me changing phone numbers, getting a restraining order, and Shannon spending three months in a psycho home. Padded cell and all.
"I said forget it, Tuck." I didn't mean for my voice to sound so harsh. I ran a hand through my hair. "Sorry… I didn't mean to snap." I sighed
He shook his head. A silent no. "It's fine," he said and nudged his thumb towards the door. "Hey, you… wanna get some brunch before your exam?"
I nodded and yawned silently. "I shoulda slept in later," I mumbled as we turned to walk out the door.
I laced my fingers together as I pulled them towards the sky, stretching so much I felt my arms would be pulled off if they weren't connected to my shoulders with muscles, cartilage, and who knows what else. I felt a stronger tug on my arm where I had been shot, but the pain wasn't so bad that I couldn't ignore it.
The sun beat down on me as an angry hammer being wielded by a Supreme Court Judge. I had already felt myself begin to sweat the moment I stepped out of the college building. I unlaced my fingers and wiped my forehead with the back of my hand, smearing sweat along my brow. My shirt felt way to warm for the weather, but I decided to take it off only after my interview.
"Danny!"
I turned around slowly to see a smiling girl running acrossed campus, her black hair bouncing wildly. My heart skipped at beat- she was running straight towards me, her large eyes wide with delight.
"Sam…?" I breathed- was I ready to see her again?
My heart raced, the closer she got the more I panicked. What would I say to her? What would she say to me? I had run over the situation in my head millions of times already but all those conversations disappeared in my head. She was only a few steps away- and with the speed she was running at me--
She ran past me, to a tall guy with dirty blond hair and hazel eyes. She jumped into his arms giggling hysterically as he wrapped his slender arms around her back and kissed her passionately. A cold breeze flew past me from her run, and despite the heat, I shivered.
That wasn't Sam. Looking back, I saw she didn't even look like Sam at all- her hair wasn't even black.
I looked to the ground, and fell to my knees.
I sat on the cold wooden bench outside the office to "Big Productions Studio". I knew I was nervous, and I tried not to show it- however the constant tapping of my left foot blew my calm cover.
When I entered the building I had high hopes that I could get a fun cool job, upon seeing the fabulous decorations about the building. There were exciting colors and sculptors along with fun photos of the workers doing random things to describe their personality. Under each photo was their name, the name of the picture, the photographer, and what their job was. I had tried to imagine what my photo would look like if I got the job. What would my pose be? The background? Would I have a prop to describe my personality?
I had snorted at the thought; sure a Fenton Thermos would be a great prop for that.
Danny Fenton, Secretary and Ghost Fighter.
However, when I walked into the waiting room they had told me to go in- my spirits were more then less dampened. The room was an ugly off-white with outdated magazines they didn't even take pictures for. It reminded me of a hospital emergency waiting room- and I had had way too many visits to a waiting room. Especially in 10th grade, around Sam's disappearance.
It made me feel queasy, and throwing up was NOT something I wanted to do before an interview.
In a matter of minutes I would go in for an interview to be a secretary for a photography studio that had models come in for CD covers and for magazine dolls. I gulped-- I had no grounds what-so-ever. I was blindly reaching out for an interview for something I had no experience with!
Was I supposed to have been an intern before this? Should I lie and say I WAS an intern for another company? Would they call to check if I was legit?
My foot started tapping faster, and I clutched the folder with my resume in it tighter. I was in way over my head, way way way way way way way way--
"Daniel Fenton?"
I jumped, dropping the folder to the ground. Papers went flying acrossed the floor and skidded to the wall on the opposite side of the room. I stood up quickly, standing straight and tall. "I-I'm here!" I said.
An older woman looking around 40 raised her eyebrows at me. The skin above her eyebrow wrinkled up. She was tall and slender with dark brown hair pulled back into a low bun. Her hair looked as if it had been dyed to many times by a woman egger to be rid of grays, and her face had suffered one to many surgeries. "Are you going to get those?" She nodded at the papers.
"Yes!" I piped and jumped for the papers, slipping and sliding around on them, I heard something rip, and I could only hope to God it was a paper and not my pants.
I heard the woman sigh heavily, and I could tell I got off on the wrong foot for this interview.
Let's update what we have so far, shall we?
I wanted to add in some humor first.
I haven't forgotten about Fairy Tales I swear!
ALSO I have a new DxS fluffy deviation up! Link is in my profile!
... Has anyone else notied that all my ew stories are never on the list of stories I plan on writing in my profile? -.-;
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