I was born to walk in the Rain
A Danny Phantom Fan fic
Chapter 1
Water
Danny ran, but he couldn't seem to run fast enough. He never could, even if he was in his ghost form, he would never out run him. Danny's legs burned with pain as he ran down the hallways of Casper high. He knew that if he stopped, he would pay the price. He heard a voice behind him echo trough the halls "FENTON!"
Dash Baxter was thoroughly pissed off. He had received yet another bad grade on another test. As usual he planned on releasing his anger on Danny. Of course, he used any excuse to attack Danny. He found it enjoyable. He wasn't quite sure why but it gave him power, and Dash liked power.
Danny had to act fast if he was going to evade Dash. He quickly ran around a corner and out of panic he turned himself intangible. He lost his balance though and fell right through the locker. He was now face first at the bottom of three lockers feeling rather stuck. The blond jock ran right by Danny without even looking in Danny's general direction. When Dash disappeared from view Danny pushed himself out of the locker, still invisible to the human eye but no longer stuck in a mess of metal.
He was about to become visible again when suddenly a silvery fog seeped out of his mouth. That only meant one thing with Danny, a ghost was nearby. He looked around to see what ghost was it this time, half-expecting Skulker or the box ghost to appear. Whenever this happened the ghost was usually crazed and caused lots of damage. Skulker and the box ghost where known to do those kinds of things. However, he did not see either of them, heck he didn't even see a little glowing green ghost. Instead all Danny saw was a rather wet looking boy that looked only marginally older than himself. However, Danny knew it hadn't been raining outside and there was no large body of water anywhere near the school so he didn't understand how this boy could look wet.
What really shocked Danny though was that the boy was looking right at him. This sent chills down his spine. This was mostly because of the boy's eyes. They looked dead. The eyes where light blue but they had no pupils. The stare sort of reminded Danny of Vlad Plasmas.
"Why are you trying to hide?" The dead eyed boy said. His voice was soft and almost girl like but somehow still sounded like a guy if you listened closely. Danny wasn't sure what to make of him. He seemed harmless, but when dealing with a ghost it's impossible to judge anything by their looks. Danny knew this for a fact after misjudging so many other ghosts.
The boy tilted hid head slightly letting his mid length hair drape across his face. It wasn't necessarily long, but it was by no stretch short. Danny thought it sort of looked like his own, but the boy in front of him styled his a slightly different way. It was also not completely black like Danny's hair was. The boys hair was red brown, but it looked like he had died his hair black at one point and it had began to grow out. Only the tips of his hair were black. "Did you hear me?"
Danny then decided to become visible again. Somehow this boy did not seem that much of a threat. "I , I was hiding from a bully." Danny managed to spit out. He was still a bit wary of the boy, expecting him to attack at any second.
"But why?" He seemed to Danny that the ghost was a little foolish. Danny looked over the ghost, wondering why he would ask such a question. Danny was unsure of when the boy died. He was wearing what looked like a school uniform. A white shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. A red tie lined his white shirt. He had a green sweater vest with a plaid print on it and a pocket that held a fancy looking letter 'L' on it. Everything on the boy looked wet. Even the boys skin, which looked blue in color looked like it had been in water for far too long.
"Well, mostly because if I don't then Dash will beat me to a bloody pulp." Danny said coldly. He couldn't believe that the ghost in front of him didn't know that bullies where bad. The way the boy looked made Danny think that the Ghost MUST have been bullied himself when he was younger. He somehow looked even thinner than Danny, but Danny decided it had to be because the ghost had been dead. The ghost wasn't that tall earthier, by comparison he was only taller than Danny by about an inch. He was no where need the body build needed for a jock, or a chick magnet.
"You're a halfa though. Couldn't you just attack him with your powers." Then Danny saw where this was going. It wasn't that the boy didn't know about bullies, it was that he thought Danny could DO something about them.
This also caused Danny to flashback to when he had done just that. It didn't really help much. In fact, it made things a lot worse because of the ghost Poindexter. Danny just shook his head at the ghost. "I'd be as bad as them if I did that."
The boy just turned as if he was going to leave then. "Then…maybe you should consider disappearing for a much longer time then. I don't see any point in having powers if your not going to use them!"
"What? What are you talking about!" Danny called out as the ghost lifted himself of the ground and began flying towards the roof. "Who are you!"
The ghost looked back and said, "I'm Liam McMillan. It was a pleasure meeting you Danny Phantom."
Danny paused as he watched the ghost Liam float through the ceiling and out of sight. He sort of hated the fact that every ghost he meet seemed to know his name before he knew theirs. He didn't spend too much time dwelling on it though, he had school so he couldn't run after Liam right now.
Liam floated away from Caper high with a smile on his lips. He was pleased that his first meeting with Danny had been a success. He had not expected the boy to trust him right away, after all Danny had many encounters with villainous ghosts in his short time being a half ghost super hero. He had hoped it might have been a little easier to gain Danny's trust, but that can't be helped right now. He was tired, yes even ghosts get tired, so he began to head back in the general direction of where he was staying.
He landed in an abandoned warehouse near the docks. It was quite and dark and that's all Liam really wanted at the moment. He was about to settle down and relax for a little while when he heard a cold voice. "Did you find him?" This made Liam stop in his tracks. Liam did not face the direction of the voice because he knew that his face had a look of shock on it. He dared not show anybody what he was really feeling. He never did when he was alive, and he never would now that he's dead.
He gave himself a second to put on a calm face before turning to look in the direction of the voice. "Yes I did. He seems like an interesting fellow that halfa." Liam put on a fake smile as he spoke. It was one of those that you could never tell that it was fake unless you read the person's mind. It seemed so sincere to anybody who would be looking at it.
"Well, do you think you can do it?" The voice spoke again. Liam had to fight the urge to shiver. The voice was enough to even make a ghost cold. That was certainly saying something, especially seeing as Liam died in freezing cold waters.
Liam did fight the urge to show any weakness though. His warm fake smile morphed slowly into a dark one that looked out of place on the boy's soft face. "Of course I can. You wouldn't have come to me if I couldn't." Liam then sat down on a ripped up chair that was placed in the warehouse. He interlocked his fingers and let his chin rest on them. "He'll be begging to go back with you before the end of the week."
"You certainly have a way with your work." The voice said again. "Are you sure you don't want to be paid for your services?" The voice seemed weary of the deal. It was as if Liam would never get his work done if he didn't pay him.
"I'm dead, what would I possibly use money for? Besides, this kind of work is more like paying a game than actual work. I don't think it's fair for you to pay me for having fun." The words didn't seem to belong coming out of the boys mouth, like venom coming out of a piece of chocolate. "As long as I get to rip somebody to shreds. That would be payment enough."
The voice gave a chuckle that sounded like knifes to Liam's ears. "You can have one of his friends, I'm sure they'll cut up nicely. Just as long as you remember boy, your not to hurt Danny, OR his mother."
Liam sighed inwardly but didn't show any reaction on the outside. He had half hoped his employer hadn't have said that. He had so wanted to see what color of blood Danny had. Liam knew better than to argue though. Half of the reason why Liam had chosen to take this job was because the man in front of him was a very dangerous and powerful being. If Liam had refused, his afterlife may have become, to use the word, hell. Liam may have been powerful by human standards, but if he would have to rate himself he would probably only classify as being a medium level ghost. An average ghost with average powers with average status and below average fighting skills. He knew when to shut up and take orders.
"You can count on me…Mr. Masters." Liam said with his fake smile once again on his face.
The tall figure with pale green skin and black hair made his way across the room and looked Liam square in the eyes. "Please, call me Vlad my boy." Vlad looked down at Liam in his hair with his dead red eyes. They both had similar eyes, no pupils. Though it wasn't that big a deal to Liam. It may look creepy to humans but after all his years of stumbling around the ghost zone, he found that lots of ghost had eyes like him.
"All right, Vald. I'll bring Danny Phantom to you." Liam said the name again. Just testing the name on his tongue, Danny Phantom, his next victim.
Vlad smirked and exited through a wall. Giving a sigh of relief that he didn't have to deal with Vlad breathing down his neck Liam looked over to the window. He gave a deep sigh as the sky began to form dark clouds over head. Rain smacked against his window. "Cursed forever…must you always follow me?" He said as if he could stop the rain from falling.
"It was weird." Danny said looking out the window of his room. It had started to rain so suddenly so he and his friends where all pretty wet looking. Sam was sitting across from Danny on the computer Chair while Tucker was lying on Danny's bed playing with his PDA. "He was a ghost but he didn't seem to want to hurt me." Danny had now placed his hand on the freezing window pain.
"A ghost that doesn't hurt people? I wouldn't believe it unless I saw it." Tucker said with suspicion in his voice. Tucker had almost as much luck with ghosts as he did with trying to get girls to go out with him.
"I don't think you should Trust this….Liam did you say his name was? You can't just expect one ghost to be good just because it didn't try to kill you off the bat." Sam said with annoyance in her voice. Tapped her foot against the floor to shake some of the water off her big clunky goth boots.
"I know, but.." Danny Started then turned to face his two soaking wet friends. He had remembered the Dairy King for a second, realizing that that ghost didn't hurt him either. What was it that the king had said? Not all ghosts are evil, some of us just want to be left alone…or something like that. "There was just something about him that made me feel like I could trust him." Danny sighed and sat on his bed next to Tucker. He was about to say something else when he noticed that there was the silvery fog again, rising from his mouth.
"My ears are burning." Said a soft voice that filled the room. Danny looked up immediately and looked around, recognizing the voice immediately. Liam floated down from the ceiling and landed in Danny's room. "You wouldn't happen to be talking about me would you?"
The three friends stared at Liam as he entered the room. Sam didn't know what to say, neither did Tucker so Danny was the first to speak. "Liam, how did you find where I live?" Liam smiled as he looked over Tucker and Sam. He quickly pointed out whom he liked better of the two. He did not like the looks of Tucker. He looked like the kind of person who would scream easily. Liam didn't like that, so he crossed the African American off his victim list. However, Sam looked like a much better target. Not only was she a girl, Liam's favorite type of target, but she seemed like the type of person to place all trust in her friends. Liam smirked inwardly at the idea of ripping that trust apart piece by piece. "Hey, Liam, you listing to me?"
Liam just smiled again. "Oh…yeah I'm listing, and I found your house because it's rather easy to spot." Giving a little chuckle the ghost tilted his head towards the window. It was true that it was fairly easy to spot…what with the giant sign that read 'Fenten Works' out front. Danny had just been surprised that Liam knew his last name. However, he must have overhead Dash yelling his name earlier. "I was actually just stopping by to apologize. I had spoken without thinking again. I should have known that you can't really defeat those bullies without getting in trouble."
Danny smiled. "Hey, it's okay. Don't worry about it." Tucker and Sam looked at each other as Liam smiled happily at Danny's remark.
"So, your Liam." Tucker said walking up to Liam. "You're the ghost that Danny said didn't want to attack him." Tucker seemed to be examining Liam. Liam didn't feel threatened at all and just gave Tucker a slightly puzzled look. Tucker almost shivered as Liam stared at him with his empty eyes. Liam could see a hint of fear behind Tuckers green eyes…and he loved that. He however didn't have any look but the puzzled one on his face. He was almost like a bird, the kind that could just stare at one single thing for hours. Tucker had to look away after about a minute of staring at Liam.
"No, why would I want to attack Danny? He hasn't done anything to hurt me." Liam sighed and his confused expression turned to slight Sadness. "He hasn't…tried to throw me into a lake or anything. Not like they did." Liam had then crossed his arms and slightly turned so that they couldn't quite see his face. Silence fell across the room.
"What do you mean by that?" Sam said with a suspicious look on her face. Something wasn't right about Liam and she was going to figure out what it is.
Liam looked sadly back at them. "You three…seem like really good friends. I thought I had good friends when I was alive." He sighed deeply looking over the faces of Sam, Tucker and Danny out of the corner of his eye. "However, I guess I was wrong because my friends where the ones that killed me." In all respects this was partially true. Though not fully. However, it was enough for all three of the friends sitting across from him to stop with a horrified look on their faces.
"Dude! They did WHAT?" Tucker nearly yelled. "That's just not cool! How could they kill you?" Tuckers suspicion of Liam had faded. All Tucker seemed to care about is how friends could possible do something like that.
Liam smirked inwardly at Tuckers reaction. He was equally happy with Sam and Danny's reaction. Though they didn't say anything, the look on their faces had told him all he needed to know. "I'm not sure why they did it, but they chased me to a cliff and told me that I was never there friend. They pushed me, I lost my balance and then I hit the water." Liam said with a choke to his voice. It was as if he was trying to hold back tears. Tears that of course would never come, he wasn't really sad of course.
Danny walked over to Liam. "Hey, sorry, we didn't know." Liam would have laughed out load if he hadn't been trying to act at the time. Danny was buying it, he believed him! He even felt sorry for him. Of course, Liam thought to himself, he would never feel this way if Danny REALLY knew what had happened.
"It's…it's okay. I just hope…your friendship doesn't break apart like mine did." With that, Liam lifted himself off the ground and began flying out of the house.
The Three friends stood there for a second. "Well, At least that explains why the guy looks soaking wet!" Tucker said stupidly.
Both Sam and Danny said at the same time "Shut up Tucker."
To be continued….
