Danny was walking through the park, a warm summer breeze blowing through the trees. It was a nice day out and there had been a, quite frankly, suspicious lack of ghostly activity. It was relaxing and allowed Danny to get some sleep.
Suddenly, he heard some swishing in the foliage around him. Taking a fighting stance, he glanced around. He couldn't see anything, but his ghost sense hadn't gone off yet either.
After a few more moments of waiting, Danny shrugged it off and continued walking down the path. Was probably just some kid passing through.
The pebbles in the path crunched under his feet, and he looked at the ground as he stepped on the crunchy leaves that had gotten blown off the trees. As he was looking at his feet, he slammed into something and lost his balance, nearly falling to the ground.
He tilted his head back, looking up into the eyes of Dash Baxter.
Danny smiled, excited to see Dash. He's been busy with football so they haven't had much time to spend together lately.
"What a surprise, Dash." Danny said, grabbing one of Dash's hands.
The other boy has still not uttered a single sound. Though his fingers did interlace with Danny's and he held a tight grip on his hand.
As Danny looked at Dash, a heavy feeling was filling his stomach. It felt as if he'd swallowed lead and it was resting in his abdomen.
"Hey Dash, are you-"
As Danny started speaking, Dash jolted at his name and his head turned. That's when Danny saw it.
Dash's eyes reflected light, much like a cat.
Or a ghost.
Danny started to pull away, but that was when Dash's grip tightened to a painful degree. Danny yelped at the sensation, and started going intangible.
But something happened and Danny was screaming.
Something, some power or magic, was emanating from Dash's hand, coursing through his body. It was attacking his core, weakening it.
Suddenly, it all stopped, and Danny fell limp in Dash's grip. He looked at the taller boy through his hair and lidded eyes, gasping for breath. Dash still had that blank expression on his face, staring straight into Danny's gaze. A chill went down his spine. It wasn't his ghost sense though.
He didn't know how to fix this.
Danny gathered a small ectoblast in his hand, shooting it at Dash's arm. Dash didn't move at all, letting the blast singe his letterman jacket. But he did put Danny down only to grab him by the front of his shirt and throw him to the ground.
This felt distinctly Dash. The grip, the position. But Danny didn't see him anywhere in that blank gaze. He was acting on muscle memory.
Danny grabbed Dash's hands, which were still gripping his shirt. He saw the boy twitch at the contact, though he still maintained his position. Lifting his hands to Dash's face, he placed them on his cheeks and rubbed small circles into the skin there. Dash leaned into the contact, blank stare still intact, before closing his eyes.
Danny pulled Dash's head down, resting their foreheads together and closing his own eyes. He felt Dash's grip on his shirt loosen slightly as he came back. Danny opened his eyes to see Dash looking at him in confusion and fear, a slight sheen still in his eyes.
Danny didn't know if what he was doing was working, or if it would keep this thing at bay.
He didn't know if this thing was just toying with him either.
Danny pulled Dash's head down the rest of the way and their lips met. It was soft and tender, but filled with fear. Dash's grip has loosened the rest of the way and one of his hands was resting in Danny's hair.
They pulled apart starting at one another before Dash's eyes squeezed shut.
"Dash? What's happening?"
Dash pulled away before opening his eyes again, the sheen back.
"Run."
Then Dash's expression fell into that blank stare again and Danny began to scoot backwards, pulling at his core for his ghost half.
His core gave a puttering sensation before giving up on him. He looked down at his chest.
"No!"
He tried again, but still nothing was happening. Dash was advancing towards him, crawling along the ground.
Danny was about halfway up off the ground before Dash tackled him. He pushed against him, but without his ghost powers Dash was too heavy.
A burning sensation was placed against Danny's stomach, tearing screams from his throat once again.
"Dash… Dash you need to fight it!" Danny said, gasping for air. "Dash-"
The hand on his stomach was moved to his chest, above his core, and the pain started again but much, much worse.
There was a pause and Danny looked to see Dash's hand halfway into his chest. It was a nauseating thing to see, considering he couldn't use his powers and Dash shouldn't have any in the first place.
Danny reached a shaking hand up and wrapped it around the back of Dash's neck, pulling his head down.
"Dash." He whispered.
"Please."
The was a moment of silence, where everything was still. No screams, no pain. Just them.
But it still wasn't enough.
Dash's hand continued to plunge it's way through Danny's chest, and he was blinded by pain.
The next thing he knew, Dash was standing above him holding something. It appeared to be a glowing orb, and that was when Danny noticed the emptiness inside of him. The missing spot where his powers were supposed to be.
The last thing Danny saw before his eyes fell shut was Dash walking away with his ghostly core.