Ok, a little plot bunny of mine. Posted by popular demand. :P Oh well, lets get on with the story.
Burning buildings, a verifiable hell. Everywhere you turned there was danger, and there was more coming, more and more pure overwhelming terror. The screams were horrible, to hear so many people dying without need, or reason, screaming for their lives, women children, men, elderly folk. Amidst the chaos no one noticed a lean pale-faced boy with raven's black hair and beautiful baby blue eyes running toward the oncoming threat. No one noticed but a young African male, and a Goth girl with tears in her eyes. No one caught the boy's last word to the two teens.
"I'll be back… it's ok, just leave for now, I'll be back." He had smiled what he hoped was an encouraging smiled before he ran away from his best friends. The two teens were drug away by their parents, another jump suited couple looking for a boy named Danny, their sister in tears as she watched a white-haired green-eyed boy glowing and flying up to face a threat. But no one noticed all this, they were too busy running from the threat that the white-haired super powered teenager was headed toward.
"COME ON!" the boy said taking a fighting stance in front of the threat. A blue flame haired ghost joined him along with several others. The people of Amity Park fled, or died, and they didn't return, not for nearly ten years.
(Line break thingy that I do… yeah… so what do you think, remember to review!)
Sam looked up from her book as a group of teenagers wandered into her store. Sam smiled and waved to them they wandered through the aisles looking for merchandise. A few minutes later they left their bags full of stuff from Sam's store, and Sam's register full of their parents hard-earned money.
Sam was twenty-eight now, she had her own franchise and ran her own business, a powerful CEO of an expanding company already. Extremely successful and still beautiful, Sam finished the chapter she was on then marked the spot cleaning and straightening up the store for the next girl who would come in. The girl who came in shared Sam's sense of style and took over for the next shift, Sam left to her apartment a couple blocks away. Sam may have been rich, but because of the twenty years she'd spent in her parents grotesquely overpriced house (she'd stayed two extra years to save money on a house while in college) she had enough of mansions and riches to last her a lifetime. Sam had moved away from Amity Park just after graduation when the town went up in flames, she tried to block out her memories of the place, tired to ignore the ache she felt in her heart whenever she remembered the place or the boy she left behind. Sam didn't want to think about it, not ever again if she could help it. Sam never wanted to return to Amity Park, but as she said so very long ago, never was karma's doorbell, this time, it was for her.
Sam got to her apartment dropping her stuff down on the bed and pulling out the mail she'd checked on her way over. A card labeled invite surprised her. Sam opened it not in the least expecting what was inside.
"You are invited to attend Casper High School's reunion for the graduating class of…" Sam glared at the note, reading where it was, when, at what time. Angry and suddenly sad she threw the letter across the room where it flipped very ungraciously onto the table. Why would they do this, most of the others that graduated with her didn't even know her, they never looked at her, never said hi, or anything. Why should she go, and why of all places were they having the graduation in Amity, the place was a ghost town in nearly ever sense of the word. Sam didn't want to go, didn't want to see the burned out shells of the city she called home for eighteen years of her life.
Sam walked away from the card without looking back; she fixed herself some dinner then took a shower.
"I'll be back…" echoed through her mind. Tears started streaming down her face mixing with the shower water. She couldn't do it, couldn't… but what if he was still there, what if… Sam shook her head and beads of water hit the shower curtain.
"I'll go to see Tucker…" Sam told herself, "I'm only there to see Tucker." She promised, but she knew she was lying. Sam turned the showerhead off and pulled her towel around her. Sam dried off and returned to the table glaring at the little table stand, as she got dressed. Finally unable to put it off much longer she went over and pulled the card off the bed stand and read over the information.
(So… you like? I don't know… I both love it and hate it.)
Tucker rubbed his eyes taking his glasses off as he read through the mail. Normally he would have let Jeremy (his electronic butler and house) take care of it. But the words on the card swam in front of him. The corn rose braids down to Tucker's shoulders clinking together as he reread the invite again, the soft glow from the lamp over the desk reminding him what time it was. Tucker had been staring at the card for almost three hours now. On the bed behind him a figure stirred.
"Babe?" a sleepy voice asked. Tucker turned to the sleepy figure.
"Yeah?" Tucker asked. The African American woman in the bed sat up.
"What are you doing up at this hour?" she asked.
"Checking the mail." Tucker said. The woman rubbed her eyes.
"Let Jeremy take care of it and come back to bed." The woman said, when Tucker didn't move she frowned.
"What's wrong babe?" she asked stepping out of bed her silky nightgown rippling in the breeze from the air conditioner. She came over and put her arms around Tucker looking down over his shoulder at the invite.
"High school reunion." Tucker mumbled still looking at the invite. Where they were having the reunion still evaded him, he was still sure it was a mistype.
"Amity Park?" Tucker's wife asked, "isn't that the infamous ghost town?" she asked.
"Yeah…" Tucker said looking at the invite.
"Are you going?" his wife asked.
"I'm not sure." Tucker admitted still reading the place, why, of all places why? He looked up at his wife. "Do you want to go?" he asked her.
"I think it would be fun." His wife said thinking.
"I'm just not sure about this." Tucker said.
"Well while you were busy worrying, I was going to give you a present." Tucker's wife smiled.
"Really, where is it?" Tucker asked, his wife kissed him for a while.
"It's in the bed."
(Yeah… I need to give Tucker's wife a name, do you have any ideas? I need some ideas.)
Paulina smiled at the camera both excited and scared about a certain piece of mail she'd been looking at all night. She couldn't wait to show her peers how successful and beautiful she's become. Paulina would flirt with everyone even if they were married, she was excited to do that, but the thing that disturbed her was the location. The camera flashed, and Paulina let her smile fall. Why would they have the reunion in the town most people had hoped to forget? Paulina wanted to know if it was still haunted. A face flashed in her mined, snow-white hair and neon green eyes. Paulina smiled again as the camera flashed. Yes, she'd flirt with everyone, including the ghost boy provide he was still there.
(Ok… um… I don't know, line break thing, and WALNUTS)
Valerie pointedly ignored the invitation on the table causing her boyfriend to pick it up and read it over. Valerie finished pulling of her suit and put on a towel getting ready to get in the shower.
"Hey, babe?" Derek asked looking over at Val, "Is this the same Amity Park that was a living hell almost a decade ago?" he asked the invite open and in his hands.
"Yes, the very same one I lived in for nearly all of my life through high school." Val said turning on the shower.
"'So this is the Amity Park that became a living hell for a day, while in the midst of the chaos a lone gh…"
"Ghost stood between the humans and the gates of hell sacrificing it's self for the lives of the humans." Val finished the quote from the famous article. She knew it by heart; she'd lost one of her only true friends in that fire. "Well, Phantom didn't save everyone." Val snapped, "He didn't save Danny." She said her hair getting wet and curly as she stepped into the shower.
"Hmmm…" Derek came into the bathroom leaning on the doorframe and looking at his showering girlfriend, "Danny," he said thoughtfully, "Should I be jealous." He joked; Val however wasn't in the mood.
"Of course not." Val said monotonously, "He's dead."
(Yeah, yeah, I really don't know what else to do, Val still doesn't know he's secret so…)
I looked up at my old high school. It was in mint condition, perfect, exactly how it had been before it had been burned down. After graduation, after my eighteenth birthday, the town had gone to hell. Almost everything had burned down; I was left, abandoned in an empty skeleton town for ten years. I looked up at the blue grey sky, clouds gathering quickly. I closed my eyes summoning the new power's I'd discovered over the past ten years.
"Danny?" I opened my eyes, she was perfect, my replica of my best friend, she was flawless.
"Are you ok dude?" Tucker asked coming up next to Sam. I smiled sadly.
"I'm great." I filled the streets with people; somewhere in the town there would be replicas of my parents, and sister, even Dash and Mr. Lancer. I'd discovered this ability not to long after I'd realized I'd been abandoned. I figured it was residue from the reality gauntlet, like the gems were just a vessel but the power had to go somewhere and it went into me. It was just a theory, but it sounded solid. I followed my friends to an arcade where they played, I just watched sinking into my fantasy as if it were real.
(Yeah… so… Danny's side will be from his point of view, mostly because it's easier to write)
Dash looked across the table at his wife. She knew he was cheating on her, but she didn't say anything, they had to be the perfect family, their four-year-old son depended on them. Dash didn't want to go to the reunion, but his wife insisted, saying it would be good for their son, and though the romance was gone from their relationship Dash still had a paternal side, so his son came first. His wife smiled a tight smile. Dash smiled back, remembering Paulina on the cover of one of the model magazines his wife read. Then he broke out into a real smile. At least one other good thing would come out of this.
(Ok…. I don't know, just a line break… and onward!)
Kwan pulled open the fridge looking at the scant food in the fridge. Ah… a teachers salary. He frowned and pulled out some ham and bread, he'd have to go shopping soon, he'd gotten his check in the mail today so he'd be good. Kwan ate the sandwich with a beer sitting down on the couch with mail and student's papers. He looked through the mail the invite surprising him as he opened it and read, his face became a mask of confusion. If nothing else Kwan would get away from his high school students.
(Yeah, these are getting kindda small, but hey, they're minor characters.)
Star groaned, she hated her office job, and hated her second job even more. She pulled a salad out of the fridge and ate it while looking at the mail. Star took one look at the invite and chucked it in the trash, not even wanting to think about that place. Later that night Star dug it out of the trash and read it before sighing and calling her boss.
"Yeah… it's me, yes… I'm gonna need some time off." She said then waited as her boss made up his mind and whether he knew it or not determined her fate.
(Yeah, another one of these things, I would say something creative and funny in each one but I really want to get on with it.)
I sat on the school clock tower looking out over my town. No living things stirred, nothing moved, no one breathed. I closed my eyes wandering the town mentally when I felt a presence, a human presence, and then another. I opened my eyes waiting and watching as two cars pulled up in front of the school. Curious and admittedly excited for some action, something to do I landed behind a tree and turned human. The thrill of being caught the most exciting thing that had happened to me in about a decade. To my surprise Lancer stepped out of one car, ex-principal Ishiyama out of the other. I watched my heart beating with tension, watching. Lancer surveyed the school.
"Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, I can't imagine why you'd want to have the high school reunion here!" Lancer looked up at the building Ishiyama looked at him.
"It's the last place that all the students were together, the last place they saw each other." Ishiyama answered. Reunion? I wondered. Lancer and Ishiyama went inside, I followed stealthily.
"I'm not sure of cobwebs and creepy violin music would make this place scarier." Said Lancer, "It's like it froze in time the morning the town burned down… come to think of it I didn't see that many burned buildings on the way in." Of course he hadn't, I'd been fixing it, I felt obligated to. I supposed this was my obsession.
"I wonder if my coffee cup is still on my desk." Ishiyama said the two humans looked at each other and went to the principal's office. Sure enough the coffee cup was there. Ishiyama picked it up in wonder, I watched from the door.
"There isn't even dust." She observed. I watched, "Like I just set it down and the bell is about to ring."
"Are you sure you still want to have the reunion here?" Lancer asked looking around clearly creeped out.
"Are you joking, if the rest of the school is in the same condition as what we've seen, why shouldn't we have it here?" Ishiyama looked determined.
"I was afraid you'd say that." Lancer said, he looked out the door, I froze. He looked at me his eyes growing wide, "HEY YOU!" he yelled running toward the door, I unfroze turning and running down the hall and turning around the corner my heart beating with fear and excitement at being discovered. I was laughing almost, it was a strange thing, I'd been seen, seen by a human, a human who knew me.
I jumped down the stairs that led outside and took a running leap into the air.
"Goin' ghost" I shouted then two white rings formed changing me into Phantom, I took of into the air turning invisible as I flew away. That… was the most incredible rush I'd had for a long, long time.
(Line break, XP)
Lancer nearly screamed as he saw the boy peeking through the doorway, his eyes taking in the scene.
"HEY YOU!" Lancer said, the boy at the door froze, Lancer started toward him and the boy turned and ran. Lancer was out of shape not even coming close to catching up. The boy was around the corner and toward the front doors Lancer barely catching the smile on his face as the boy turned the corner.
How many times had he see those eyes, that messy raven black hair, the simple white shirt and blue jeans running away from him to god knows where. Then the look on his face the determination, how many times had he seen that boy… but that was ten years ago, he couldn't possibly be alive now… could he? Lancer slowed making it to the door and opening it only to see the ghost boy turning invisible as he flew away. Lancer tried to catch is breath, winded from the run and completely overwhelmed by what he just saw. Lancer recalled to his mind the half crazy smile the boy had on as he turned the corner looking at him with a look of fear and excitement.
"Daniel Fenton." Lancer said to the air.
(Ok, TACOS3 now that's done, this is a line break)
I felt alive, more than I ever had for ten years, so alive. I laughed out loud, after years of being stagnant, living in a ghost town, I'd met another human, it'd been years, but finally someone had come back. And from the sound of it more were coming. I laughed again running on the side of a building before taking off into the sky letting my sell fall the doing a back flip and flying straight. People were coming, people I knew. I landed in my room changing back. My excitement quickly gave way to dread. People I knew were coming, I looked in the mirror remembering how old Lancer looked. I hadn't aged a millisecond, never mind ten years since the portal accident. People were coming, people like Sam and Tucker, who no doubt had moved on with their lives and were successful like my sister. I'd seen her on TV a successful brain surgeon and therapist. Jazz had written a book, she'd aged and she was living her life. Jazz even wrote an autobiography, while she'd talked about it on TV she talked about her amazing brother who'd died in the Amity Park Horror (it was such a cliché title they'd given the event) and had been brave and amazing.
I don't know if Jazz knew I was alive and just put that in the book so she wouldn't have to explain my situation, or if she thought I'd really died. I guess she thought that I'd follow them out, but for some reason I couldn't. Whether I couldn't bring myself to or I was bound to the city like a haunting ground I wasn't sure, I just didn't leave.
When all those people came back I'd be facing friend who had aged, grown old, gotten jobs, everything, without me. I was still fourteen, I defiantly acted like it, and they… if my math was correct were all twenty-eight or older. So how would I face a future like that, when I couldn't forget the past I looked out the curtain, Lancer was outside.
(This is a line break, do not question it.)
Lancer drummed his fingers on his steering wheel looking up at Fenton Works. Like everything else in the town it was a creepy good condition. Lancer thought he saw someone in a room, but couldn't be sure. He looked at the front door and debated going and knocking, but what good would that do. If everyone were dead, who would open the door?
Lancer looked up to see a curtain ruffle in the wind, or maybe someone had looked out the window. Lancer didn't want to find out he decided. He put the car in gear rolling down the street then going in the direction of the park. The retired teacher needed some air. It took about ten minutes to get to the park; Lancer closed the door and got out letting the car idle. A soft note hung in the air followed by the semblance of a song. Lancer bet he knew where it was coming from but didn't dare go back.
(Doom di doom, doom di doom, doom.)
I played the guitar Ember had given me. She'd thought it was a good idea to teach me to play guitar, and since Ember could be persuasive (cough, cough, violent) I had agreed, it wasn't like I didn't have any time to learn it anyway. I stared down an eternity as a fourteen year old. I had time. The song was a sad one, at least in my eyes. It had been popular a while back and at the moment I felt it applied to me. I played out "Forever Young" and closed my eyes feeling the music. Ember said I was getting good and she'd told me she'd teach me how to sing if I was interested. I had nothing better to do, but I wasn't sure what I'd sing… I really hadn't tired before, except in soft tones sung lightly at midnight while sitting in a tree thinking about my life, or in the shower when it didn't matter. Ember told me every musician needs to use their naturally born instrument, their voice. My voice could take out tanks though so when I pointed this out Ember laughed at me and said it was true.
I closed my eyes tighter fighting back a lump in my throat as I thought of Sam. I wondered how old she had gotten, if she'd gotten married, or had kids. I opened my eyes, the sun setting. I wished I could go back, go age and grow old with my friends. I wished the town hadn't been attacked, that I hadn't been left alone. I didn't know what I was anymore, a human in a ghost town, or a ghost in a human town. The last note lingered in the air as it vibrated through the town.
Ok, tell me what you think! I've got to get some feedback here don't I? Anyway. Thanks to those of you who thought this story would be a good idea. And please review. Um… I don't know when this or any of my other stories will be up or updated I can't seem to post any new chapters or stories on and it's started to piss me off. So until then, I have a few questions.
How soon do you want me to have Danny meet the grown up Sam and Tucker?
Do you want Danny to go to the reunion?
Do you want Val to meet still fourteen-year-old Danny?
Do you want anyone else to meet forever-young Danny?
Do you like this story?
And, will you please review! *falls on floor and begs for reviews.