Measure for Measure
After I finished rewriting "All's Well That Ends Well," I took a look at the rest of the Spirit Series and chatted with a few friends about it, and I came to the following conclusions.
"Measure for Measure" and "Much Ado About Nothing" were in need of rewrites as well, though not as much as for AWTEW.
"The Comedy of Errors" needed a little fixing, but minor.
By the time I finished all that, "The Tempest" would need some changes too.
There were some things that I needed to expand on in general and would make for a more entertaining story.
So, after taking all that into account, I rewrote MFM and MAAN and they're ready to start being posted now. And look, here's the first chapter of MFM now… Updates should be fairly regular, and I'd appreciated reviews to let me know if you like the changes, or the story in general, or whatever, as per usual. There'll be a brief pause in updates around Christmas, because I'm going home to a wonderful dial-up connection, but yeah, new and improved fics coming your way…
Chapter 1: HeroesI don't own Danny Phantom, and to make it clear: not owing DP means I don't own any lines from the show either.
The Friday after Skulker's auction, Danny's classmates were still talking about how Will Spirit had rescued them from the Ghost Zone. Danny Phantom had been there too, of course, but it had been Will Spirit who had conjured up the portal just long enough for everyone to get back safely. Everyone had been interviewed by the local media, fussed over by parents, and interrogated by friends so many times that they were growing sick of the attention. Everyone, that is, except Paulina Sanchez, who was still wearing her best clothes to school in case there was a camera crew nearby.
William Lancer was having a very difficult time keeping everything under control. They hadn't let him (or the class) come back to school the next day, which had given him and Danny time to nurse themselves back to health. But now he had to keep the entire school in line, since he was vice-principal, and hold his classes' attention long enough for them to learn something. That was hard even at the best of times, and this week all they wanted to do was talk about Spirit and Phantom. Mostly Spirit. The worst of it all was that Lancer had to pretend to have seen Will Spirit and been helped through the portal by him. He had to be constantly on his guard not to give away his secret. He was just thankful that there hadn't been any ghost attacks on top of everything else. Probably because most of the ghosts were still handcuffed to each other on Skulker's island.
To make matters even worse for the two halfas, the town had decided that the classes' rescue merited a party in celebration of the two ghostly heroes. They were holding it tonight, in the Casper High gymnasium. Lancer had decided that he and Danny had to show up as Spirit and Phantom to maintain and boost their public images, even if neither was really comfortable with the idea. Unfortunately, they both had to attend as their human halves as well because they had been "rescued," and neither had come up with a decent excuse for getting out of the party. As a result, they were both standing in the gym, dressed in their best clothes, waiting for themselves to appear.
Eventually, Danny started fidgeting and slipped out to the "washroom." Several minutes later, Lancer "heard a noise" and went to "investigate." Several more minutes later, and Danny Phantom and Will Spirit descended through the ceiling to wild applause. They paused for a moment, looking worried, then descended to the stage, where Mayor Montez and Danny's parents were waiting. There was a minute of silence, as everyone took in the scene, and then the mayor stepped forward, hesitantly, and began speaking in a formal tone.
"Danny Phantom and Will Spirit, it is my honour and my duty as mayor to thank you for your continuing efforts to protect Amity Park from malicious ghosts. On behalf of the town, I would like to take this opportunity to apologize for the misunderstandings and mistreatment that have gone on for the last year. Please accept these medals on behalf of the town, as a thank you and an apology."
Jack and Maddie Fenton stepped forward with the medals, and placed them around the halfas' necks. They both whispered personal apologies as well, and Danny and Lancer accepted them. Once the Fentons had stepped back and there was another round of applause and cheering, the mingling began.
The first person to accost Danny was, of course, Paulina, his self-declared Biggest Fan and One True Love. She threw her arms around his neck, flipped her hair aside with a jerk of her head, and batted two heavily made-up eyes seductively.
"Oh, Phantom, I'm so glad you came! I want to thank you for saving me all those times. You know, you're very cute," she cooed, twirling a strand of his white hair around an index finger. Danny shifted uncomfortably and gently removed her other hand, which was winding itself further and further around his waist.
"Um, you're welcome, I guess. I think you're very pretty too, but it can't work out between us, okay? I'm really not your type."
Danny disentangled himself the rest of the way from the hispanic teen, and quickly moved away, praying she wouldn't follow. He moved from cluster to cluster and talked to what seemed like half the town before he found himself face to face with Valerie, the amateur ghost hunter who'd been plaguing him for the past year. He quickly scanned her for weapons. The black girl crossed her arms casually when she noticed his agitation.
"Relax, ghost boy," she said drily, "I came unarmed tonight. Figured I owed ya that much. And I wanna say sorry too, okay? You never tried to hurt me seriously during our fights, when I know you could have. And I just kept chasing you. Can you forgive me?"
"Of course I can, Valerie," Danny replied awkwardly. "On my part, that thing with the ghost dog really wasn't my fault. I was trying to catch it. And exposing you in front of your dad was just to ..."
"I know." Valerie blushed. "This doesn't mean I'm going to stop hunting ghosts, though. I'm just going to stop hunting you." Danny nodded. He wouldn't have expected less.
"Understood. Want a heads-up sometimes?"
"Sure," agreed Val, as someone approached her from behind. She noticed his shadow and turned slightly to face the newcomer.
"Oh, hi, Dad," she said smoothly, "this is Danny Phantom." Danny stayed to chat with Val and her father for a while, and then they moved on. Danny turned to move on and ran into his mother. His feet automatically began moving in the opposite direction again.
"H-hello. Uh, I think I see ..." Maddie grabbed his arm.
"Not this time, Phantom," she told him threateningly. "You're going to stay right here and listen to a full apology from both of us." She intercepted Jack, who was on his way back to the punch bowl, and dragged him and her son over to a secluded corner, where she looked at him with a motherly eye.
"My, my, you were no older than my Danny, now were you? And taking on all those ghosts by yourself ..." Maddie shook her head sadly. "Jack and I just want you to know that we really are sorry for hunting you. We're both a little obsessive about ghosts, and I guess we still have a lot to learn. We're behind you if you need us, though you certainly do a better job fighting most of the time than we can. Right, honey?"
"Of course!" Jack boomed. "And Phantom, if you need weapons, come to us from now on. You don't need to steal them anymore."
"Thanks. I appreciate it. Can I go now?" Dad knows that was me? How does Dad know that was me?
"All right, but don't be a stranger!" Maddie chided. "And we would really like to talk again, about other ghosts and things."
"Not making any promises. Bye!" Danny practically ran away from them. His parents could be embarrassing even when they weren't technically being his parents. And they were getting closer to figuring him out too, by the sounds of it.
Not good, he said to himself. Definitely not good.
While Danny was doing his best to avoid people, Lancer, or rather the white-skinned Will Spirit, was trying to say as few words as possible to the mob of parents pressing him for details on his life and the rescue. He was beginning to wonder if it was actually possible to have his pointed ears talked off.
"No, it wasn't any trouble. Yes, I am good friends with Phantom. No, I did not die recently. No, I didn't know him when I was alive. WHAT?! No, I was not a teacher, whatever gave you that idea? No, um, it didn't happen like that... Yes, but I'm not looking." He mentally rolled his solid blue eyes. Why does Will Spirit get all the girls?
Much to Danny and Lancer's relief, their ghost senses went off before things got any more awkward and embarrassing, and they made a hasty exit through the ceiling. Lancer popped his head back in as an afterthought.
"Thanks for the party," he said to the people staring up at him. "We probably won't be coming back, so you might as well all go home now."
He turned to follow Danny, and found the boy already capping his Thermos with a bored expression on his face.
"Box Ghost again."
Lancer smiled slightly. "Probably the only time I'll ever be glad he showed up."
"Yeah. Know what you mean. We'd better get back in there before anyone realizes we're missing. My parents will flip."
And thus it was that ten minutes later, Danny walked out of the gym with his friends and family while the vice-principal locked up the doors behind them. Danny fell back a little to distance himself from his parents, and spend a little time with his friends before they had to part ways for the night.
"And another successful night of everyone being blind to the truth is over," said Sam. "I think that went pretty well, actually. Who was it this time?"
Danny raised his arms above his head in an almost threatening manner, and his friends laughed. Danny returned to his normal posture and slouched still further.
"I think my parents are starting to clue in, though."
"Because of tonight?" Tucker asked. Danny shook his head.
"They know Phantom's been stealing their stuff. But they say he only has to ask from now on."
"Well, that's good," Sam said gleefully. "It means we can use some of the bigger things now."
"Yeah, I guess it does." Danny's mind began to think of the possibilities. Most of them involved Vlad.
"Guys," interjected Tucker, "I see my folks. We still on for tomorrow?" Danny and Sam nodded, and Tucker ran off. Then Sam's parents appeared, and her mother placed her gloved hands on Sam's shoulders.
"Samantha, darling, let's go home. We don't need to be around these people any more than we have to. Why can't you be friends with a nice boy like that Danny Phantom? He might be interested, especially if you started dressing in bright, primary colours."
"Mo-om!" Sam shot an amused look at Danny as she was dragged off. With nothing left to use as an excuse, Danny caught up with his parents and climbed into the Ghost Assault Vehicle (sorry, the Fenton RV), and they went home.