Fudge and Games - Christmas Truce 2016
All alone in the Ghost Zone, the mansion floated along. The nearest neighboring lair was almost an ecto-mile away, and those who passed the mansion usually didn't pay it any attention. It could have been invisible and they would've been none the wiser, it was so silent and alone.
Save for one jarring feature coming from within on a particularly casual day - a young ghost girl's frustrated cry.
"BROTHER I'M BORED!"
Danny sighed as he looked around Ella's playroom, trying to spot a toy or think of a game that would be entertaining enough for her. They'd already played with her dollhouse and tea set, and her teddy bear TJ was hanging so loosely at her side even he looked bored. There was just something about this day that was just so incredibly dull.
"Wanna play with your blocks?" he suggested, nodding over to the corner of the room where they laid strewn across the floor.
"Uh-uh," Ella curtly answered, crossing her arms.
"Mmm…hide-and-seek?"
"We already played that!"
"Yeah, but not in the last hour."
The girl's scrunched-up glare was all the answer Danny needed to start really digging into the recesses of his mind for something fun to do. Seeing as how they'd exhausted all options at her lair, he realized that they might have better luck elsewhere.
"Well…what if we go find something to play at my house? I think my parents are out." Danny watched her carefully, hoping against hope that her response would be positive this time.
Ella contemplated the possibilities before giving a nod of approval. "Okay, Brother, that sounds good."
With a sigh of relief, Danny floated into a standing position and held out his hand for her to grab, which she accepted with a giggle. They flew out of her mansion into the endless void of the Ghost Zone, and Danny automatically adjusted his path for a route he knew by heart.
"Alright, next stop: Fenton Works."
When the duo reached the Fenton Portal, Danny signaled to Ella to wait as he ducked his head through it to double-check that no one was around. Once he deemed the lab to be clear of his parents, he motioned behind himself for Ella to come through as well. She poked her head out next to his, and the two of them phased fully into the lab.
"C'mon, there should be something to play in my room," Danny relayed as they began to fly up to the upper levels of the house. "You ever heard of Mario Kart?"
Ella was about to answer after they phased into the kitchen only to be cut off by Danny halting for a fraction of a second, then suddenly yanking her very quickly up through the ceiling to the second story. He brought them both into his bedroom before either of them talked.
"Ow! What was that for, Brother?" she asked, holding her wrist close to her core after Danny let her go, rubbing at where he had latched onto it.
Danny landed softly on his rug, looking sheepish, and took in a breath before answering. "Sorry. I didn't mean to pull that hard. It's just that my dad was in the kitchen, and I didn't want him to see us."
Ella dropped her wrist as her expression changed to one of concern. "Oh. Do you think he did?"
"Nah," Danny brushed off with a wave of his hand. "His back was turned to us. I think he was just getting some fudge." He clapped his hands together to refocus their attention. "So! Mario Kart. Wanna try it? I think you might like Princess Peach."
Ella's head perked up at the mention of a princess, but she still looked confused and unconvinced. "Maybe. What is…Mario Kart?"
He turned to his bookshelf and started to peruse his video games to find the one in question. "Only the greatest racing ga–" His words fell short as a new idea suddenly popped into his mind. He spun around back to her, eyes glimmering with mischief as he spoke. "On second thought, it might not actually be your speed. But I know what might be. Hang on just a second."
Before Ella could even blink, Danny vanished down through the floor with a wisp of intangibility. He was back a few seconds later, his sneaky grin even larger than before.
"My dad's still down in the kitchen. He's at the table eating his fudge and some ice cream." Danny paused for a second to let the information sink in, then continued. "So my question for you is, are you up for a game of keep-away?"
Ella's red eyes lit up excitedly. "Always!"
He smirked, then kneeled down and wrapped an arm around her shoulders to whisper conspiratorially to her. "Okay, here's what we're gonna do…"
Once Danny finished explaining the game, Ella nodding along the entire time, they silently phased down into the kitchen, invisible but ever-aware of each other's presence. They kept high in the air, watching Jack as he happily chowed down on a bowl of ice cream, alternating bites of fudge with the frozen dessert every so often. The small plastic tub holding the fudge laid wide open in front of him on the table, about half of its contents missing.
The two ghosts waited in anticipation for the right moment, and Danny found himself once again grateful that his dad didn't have any ghost detection devices on or around him at that moment. As obsessed as he was with ghosts, sometimes he knew that his fudge would taste a lot better distraction-free.
Unfortunately for Jack, this would not be one of those times.
Danny watched carefully, observing his pattern of ice cream- and fudge-intake like a cat. Then, just when Jack was about to reach for another piece of the chocolate, Danny pounced. He swooped down, still invisible, and grabbed the container before Jack's hand could get any.
"Hey!" Jack cried, watching the tub fly inexplicably into the air. He pushed his chair back with so much force as he stood up, it bounced with several solid thuds against the kitchen linoleum when it fell over. He felt helpless, as if the tub was sailing away with all his hopes.
Danny and Ella began to telekinetically toss the fudge back and forth between them, doing their best to suppress their giggles over their prank. The task became even funnier when Jack started to reach and jump up for it, chasing it around the kitchen but unable to even graze it with his fingertips. He didn't even notice when he knocked over the table. His bowl of ice cream fell to the floor with a clatter.
When the tub of fudge started to spin around in large, ever-accelerating circles around the perimeter of the room, Jack leaned against his knees to take a breather. "Dang it, Mads…I told you not to put the hot dogs next to the fudge…"
Danny had to cover his mouth with one hand at that, he almost laughed out loud. So Jack didn't even suspect them. He must've thought the ecto-hot dogs Maddie had made had contaminated or even somehow possessed the fudge.
The game continued whole-heartedly for another good minute. Yet the next sound they heard after that wasn't another one of Jack's exasperated pleas, or even an escaped giggle from the pranksters.
It was a strict demand.
"SHOW YOURSELF, SPOOK!"
Everyone's heads immediately whipped around to the entryway between the living room and kitchen. Maddie stood there in a defensive stance, armed with the Fenton Weasel pointed straight ahead and a couple of ecto-guns latched onto her belt. There was that definitive look behind her suit's goggles that meant business.
No one except Jack noticed when the fudge tub fell to the ground. Pieces of the sweet scattered about, earning a tiny whimper from the man.
Danny stared in disbelief at his mom, partly because he didn't know she was even home and partly because she'd snuck up on the scene undetected way too easily.
The good part was that Danny was ninety-eight-percent sure that neither her goggles nor any of her equipment she was currently holding could actually see him or Ella, either through thermal detection or some other means. She was just smart enough to come up with a better conclusion for floating fudge than "ecto-contamination from mutant hot dogs."
This was good. Perhaps he and Ella could just phase out through the ceiling before they were seen. It could wo–
"Ella!"
Danny had turned his head back to the ghost girl away from his mom, only to find that the former had indeed shown herself and was now floating visibly in the air. Her eyes were wide with obedient fear.
What he failed to notice was that when he'd called her name, he also lost grip on his invisibility. Shock and concern had shaken him out of it; the inability to disobey his mom, however, was what did Ella in.
The next few seconds of action nearly made Danny's core stop.
When Maddie saw who exactly was in her kitchen, particularly Phantom, she yelled, "Freeze!" and her hand flashed to her hip so quickly, he wasn't even sure she'd actually moved. But the ecto-gun now staring at his forehead told him otherwise, along with the blast of plasma that sailed just past his ear as he tried to dodge it.
Ella couldn't move as swiftly, or even at all, so it seemed, Maddie's command had such a tight leash on her.
Danny didn't take time to think as he ignored the singed feeling on his earlobe. He dove straight in front of Ella just as Maddie fired off a shot at her. The blast hit him in the thigh and he had to bite back a cry of pain, instead focusing on wrapping his arm around Ella's waist and turning them both intangible. He flew them up through the ceiling and outside into the open air, putting a good amount of distance between them and Fenton Works before he finally stopped on top of a diner.
Ella wriggled free of his grasp as soon as they landed, but immediately turned back to him with awe and admiration filling her eyes. "Brother, you saved me!"
Danny winced despite himself when he put pressure on his leg. He snuck a peek down to see a large gaping hole melted into his suit and skin, and he did his best to cover it all with his hand, angling his body away from Ella so she couldn't see it. He didn't want her to know how badly it stung with pain.
Putting on a brave smile, Danny tried to play off his heroics, saying, "Eh, well I couldn't just let her get to you like that. I'm just sorry she tried to shoot at you. I never should've let it have gotten that far." He dropped his chin toward the ground, sudden shame washing over him.
Ella watched him closely, then floated up to be at eye-level with him. She took his face in her hands and gently forced him to look up at her. "Well, you saved me, so you're my hero. Thank you." She jumped forward onto him, wrapping her arms around him as far as they would go to envelop him in a hug.
Danny's features softened, and he hugged her back with his free arm, chuckling lightly.
When they parted, he nodded down towards his still-covered thigh and said, "Alright, kiddo. I think we need to go pay Brother Tucker a visit. Maybe he'll even let you help him play Doctor on me."
The playful shine from earlier instantly returned to Ella's eyes, and she grabbed Danny's free hand as they began their flight to Tucker's. As they soared high over Amity Park, she asked, "Hey, Brother?"
He kept his vision focused ahead. "Yeah?"
"I think I'll stick with playing Mario Kart next time."
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays ectopuppy (on Tumblr)! I am your Christmas Truce buddy, and I'm so happy I was because Ella is hecka fun and cute to write! I hope you enjoy!