The sky was gray and cloudy and it appeared it was about to rain. The funeral was short and only Sam's family and close friends attended. Danny's eyes were red and soaked with tears. He tried giving a speech, but was too emotional to compose himself. He just still couldn't believe she was gone. And it was his fault.

His best friend, taken from him in an instant. Even worse, her murderer would get away with the crime. There was no way Danny could prove Vlad had killed Sam without revealing his own identity. Although at this point Danny was close to just saying "fuck it" and doing just that.

Even if it cost him his secret identity, he'd make sure Vlad would pay. If it was the last thing he did, Danny would have his revenge. As if the weather was reflecting his mood, lightning flashed out and thunder roared before it began pouring down raining.

Danny watched stood beside the coffin before it was to be lowered. Pulling out a black rose, he placed it in Sam's hand. Even in death, she was so beautiful. Her hair still vibrant and radiant. Her skin still so soft. It looked as if she were merely in a deep sleep. The lid was then closed and the casket was slowly lowered into the ground before being covered in dirt.

"Danny?" Jazz said, hand on his shoulder.

"Could you just give me a minute alone?" Danny asked.

His family obliged and left him alone. Tucker stood by him, but Danny asked him to leave to. Danny stood motionless for several minutes. Danny was still hoping this was just one bad dream. That maybe Nocturne had trapped him in a nightmare while he was rounding up all the escaped ghosts. Finally he spoke.

"Sam, if you can hear me, I hope you can forgive me" Danny said, his voice filled with sorrow and regret. "I promise I won't let Vlad get away with what he did for you. He will pay"

"Sam, I know I never told you this while you were alive," Danny said, choking back a sob. "But you were my best friend and so much more. Whenever I thought I couldn't go on. Whenever it seemed like things were too much to handle, I thought of you. You're the reason I kept fighting whenever the odds were against me. And truth be told… I love you. I love everything about you. I never got to tell you that and now it's too late."

Danny simply couldn't hold it back and began crying hysterically.

"I know I'm never gonna hold you again and I feel like I've let you down" Danny said. "I never should have dragged you into this, if I hadn't maybe you'd still be alive."

Unknown to Danny, Sam, under her new guise as Jessica, was watching her own funeral (wow, what superhero story hasn't used that before?) from the distance and heard every word. A single tear of joy escaped her eye after she heard everything Danny had to say. She waited until he finally left before she got closer.

"Attending your own funeral?"

Jessica turned around to see Gabriel behind her.

"Oh Gabriel, it's you; please don't scare me like that again" Jessica said. "I just figured I'd say goodbye to my old life… literally"

Jessica walked over to her grave. She knelt by the grave, running a thumb over the chiseled letters that were slick with rain. Samantha Manson, 1998-2014.

The next day.

Danny and Tucker took their seats and waited for class to begin. There was none of the usual wisecracking. How could they crack jokes? Even if they wanted to, it would be missing the snarky sarcasm provided by Sam. Danny just sat with his head down. Tucker didn't even play with his PDA. Lancer walked to the front of the class.

"Class, if I could have your attention please." Lancer said. "I am saddened to announce the passing of Samantha Manson this past Friday. The funeral was held yesterday."

Lancer paused, giving a moment of silence before moving on.

"However, today we have a new student joining us." Lancer said. "Please welcome Jessica Storm"

Jessica walked in and took Sam's former seat right next to Danny. For some reason, she caught Danny's attention. There was just something about her. Several times during class, Danny found himself staring at her. Finally class was over. Danny quickly ran out of the room and hurried to his locker. Suddenly he heard a voice behind him.

"Fenton!" It was Dash along with his A list friends. "I failed my history test because I was too busy kicking your ass and shoving you in your locker to study, you know what that means"

Danny didn't even turn around to face him and simply uttered "Shut… up"

"What did you say to me?" Dash asked, nostrils flaring.

"Let it go Dash," The bully's friend Kwan tried to convince him. "Give him a break, his girlfriend just died."

"I don't care, if this loser thinks he can get a get out of jail card because that bitch got her throat slit he's got another thing coming" Dash said.

"To be honest, good riddance" Paulina said. "That bitch was always a freak with her weird ultra recyclying vegaterian mumbo jumbo. Not to mention her creepy goth bullshit. Probably summoning demons or something. The world's a much better place without her."

"Hey, that's so disrespectful" Star spoke up. "You really shouldn't speak ill of the dead like that"

"What? You know it's true" Paulina said.

Danny's blood boiled until finally he shouted "Shut the fuck up!"

"Who do you think you're talking to?" Dash replied. "Keep talking and you'll be meeting up with your dead girlfriend soon"

Danny had had enough and in the blink of an eye punched Dash in the eye. Dash staggered back. He was about to retaliate when he saw the fury in Danny's eyes. Dash froze, knowing he had gone too far.

Danny threw another punch, knocking out one of Dash's teeth. Dash attempted to throw a punch but Danny caught his arm and twisted it behind his back until he heard a snap. Danny then kneed Dash in the face, knocking him out cold. Jessica saw every minute of it and pulled Danny aside.

"Hey, Tucker; I could use some help here" She said, currently having a bit of trouble holding Danny back.

"H-How do you know my name?" Tucker asked as he helped restrain Danny.

"Uh… lucky guess" Jessica said. "Danny, Danny; snap out of it"

"How do you know my name? This is the first time we've interracted" Danny pointed out, having calmed down.

"Damnit, I have got to remember I'm not Sam anymore" Jessica thought to herself before using quick thinking. "Well you look almost just like Danny Phantom, so I thought I'd just call you Danny"

"Uh... OK" Danny said.

"How about we properly introduce ourselves" Jessica said. "I'm Jessica, Jessica Storm I just moved here"

"I'm Danny, Danny Fenton" Danny introduced himself.

"Naughty Danny, Sam would be rolling in her grave if she found out you were flirting with another girl so soon after her death" Paulina taunted. "Although the new girl's a major improvement over Sam"

"Not funny" said Star as she and Kwan left.

Jessica got angry and was about to unleash a beating like Danny had done to Dash. For virtually no reason, the locker Paulina was standing next to, sprang open, smashing her right in the face.

"Ah!" Paulina screamed, dropping to the ground next to Dash clutching her face.

"Well, I guess that was karmic" Jessica thought.

"What is going on here?!" Mr. Lancer asked, storming out of his classroom.

"Dash and Danny just got into a fight and Danny kicked Dash's butt!" One of the students explained.

"Fenton, report to Principal Ishiyama's office and wait there while I try to revive Dash!" Mr. Lancer ordered.

Ten minutes later, both Danny and Dash were sitting in the principal's office. Dash had a black eye and his arm was in a sling.

"As you two know, fighting on campus is a big deal. One, if not both of you risk being suspended, especially you Mr. Fenton, not to mention that Paulina has suffered a broken nose being caught up in the middle of your scuffle," Principal Ishiyama told them. "Now I'm going to get to the bottom of this so I want each of you to tell your side of the story"

"Okay, here's what happened: I was walking down the hall minding my own business" Dash said. Danny rolled his eyes. "When I heard Fenton talking trash. So I asked him to cut it out and said that just because his friend died doesn't give him an excuse to run his mouth. Then he just sucker punches me out of nowhere. So I try to defend myself but Fenton ended up breaking my arm. Then he goes and attacks Paulina. And that's what happened, I swear"

"Yeah right," Danny muttered.

"Mr. Fenton, would you like to tell your side of the story?" Principal Ishiyama asked.

"Okay. Dash was upset because he failed his history test and blamed me saying and quote unquote "I failed my history test because I was too busy kicking your ass and shoving you in your locker to study, you know what that means". I wasn't in the mood so I told him to shut up. Then he and Paulina started making offensive remarks about Sam. They wouldn't stop so I snapped and beat Dash to a pulp but I swear to God I didn't lay a hand on Paulina" Danny said.

"I expected that there would be two different versions of your stories. Now I would call in each of your peers but both their stories would probably be biased and almost every other student says that they weren't close enough to hear what sparked the fight. However there was one student who says she saw and heard everything and has no reason to lie" Ishiyama said. "Mr. Lancer, send in the new girl"

Jessica walked in on cue.

"Ms. Storm, could you please give your account on the fight between Dash and Danny?" Ishiyama asked.

"Certainly" Jessica said before telling the principal everything, confirming Danny's story and that the he hadn't touched Paulina.

"Well I've heard enough" Principal Ishiyama said. "Dash, since you were the instigator of the fight, I'm suspending you for ten days. Your remarks about Ms. Manson were not only distasteful but disrespectful to her, her friends and her family therefore I'm also ordering you to write an apology letter to Danny and Mr. & Ms. Manson. Tell Paulina that she is to do the same." She then turned her attention to Danny. "However Dash's actions do not excuse yours, Mr. Fenton but seeing as you did not start the fight, I'm only giving you 3 morning detentions. Now if this type of thing happens again, I will expel both of you, have I made myself clear?"

"Yes ma'am" Danny and Dash said simultaneously.

"Mr. Fenton, you report to your next class" Principal Ishiyama ordered.

Danny nodded his head and walked outside the office where both Jessica and Tucker were waiting for him.

"So, dude what happened?" Tucker asked.

"Three days morning detention" Danny said before turning to thank Jessica. "Thanks for helping me out back there"

"No problem" Jessica said.

"What do you say you hang out with us after school?" Tucker asked.

"Sounds great" Jessica replied.

Danny and Tucker spent the rest of the day getting to know Jessica. After school, Danny and Tucker brought Jessica along with them to the Nasty Burger. She was similar to Sam in so many ways yet different at the same time. Problem was, he was trying to forget about Sam for the moment and Jessica was bringing up memories. Danny wished he was as good at masking his emotions as Tucker.

"Are you OK?" Jessica asked, noticing that Danny was trying to fight back tears and failing.

"I'm fine," Danny lied, tears running down his face. "It's nothing"

"It's about this Sam girl, isn't it?" Jessica asked, placing a hand on Danny's shoulder.

Danny nodded, by now unable to control himself by now.

"I'm so sorry for your loss" Jessica said, wrapping her arms around Danny. "Wow, I never thought my death would affect him this much" She thought. She just wished she could tell him who she was and let him know that everything would be alright.

Danny cried for a few more minutes before he got himself together.

"I'm sorry" Danny apologized. "It's just that"

"It's fine, I understand" Jessica said. "I know what it's like to lose someone you care about"

"You do?" Danny asked.

"Yeah, I'm an orphan, I lost my family recently" Jessica said. "I live by myself"

"Really? That sucks" Danny said.

"Yeah, it does," Jessica said before she notice Gabriel standing outside through the window. "Would you excuse me for a minute?" Jessica asked, stepping away. "You really have a tendency to pop up unexpectedly"

"Sorry, it appears I forgot to mention one thing" Gabriel said. "It would appear that during your reincarnation you aquired luck based powers"

"What?" Jessica asked, confused.

"Do you recall the earlier incident when the locker inexplicably slammed into Paulina's face?" Gabriel asked.

Jessica nodded.

"That was the result of your powers" Gabriel revealed. "Your powers respond in accordance to your mood. If you are feeling extreme negative emotions, bad things can happen and if you're feeling extremely positive, good things can happen. If these emotions are directed at a particular person, they can either suffer harm or good luck"

"So you're saying that the mood I'm in could result in someone getting hurt?" Jessica asked.

"Yes, meaning you're going to have to keep your emotions under control" Gabriel advised her.

"Thanks for the info, anything else you want to tell me?" Jessica asked.

"Oh yes, since you have no place to stay, I've arranged for you to stay at a local 4 star hotel" Gabriel said.

"Yeah but what are people going to say when they see a 16 year old girl with no money living by herself at a 4 star hotel?" Sam asked.

"I'm an angel," Gabriel reminded her with a smile. "I remembered to take care of everything"

Gabriel then disappeared and Jessica went back inside.

"Sorry about that," she apologized for leaving so suddenly.

Then Danny's ghost sense went off.

"Would you excuse me for a moment" Danny asked as he ran outside and behind the restaurant. Jessica secretly followed behind him and of course witnessed him change into Danny Phantom.

"Danny?!" Jessica exclaimed, doing her best to act as if she didn't already know and seem surprised.

"Jessica, uh, I can explain!" Danny stammered.

"So you're Amity Park's savior Danny Phantom? That explains the resemblance" Jessica quipped.

"Why did you follow me back here?" Danny asked.

"You forgot your cell phone" Jessica answered, holding up Danny's phone.

"Oh… listen you can't tell anyone about this" Danny said. "The only people who know about me being Danny Phantom are Tucker and my sister Jazz"

"Your secret's safe with me" Jessica assured him.

"Thanks" Danny said before remembering the ghost he was supposed to be taking care of. "I've gotta go"

Danny's foe for today was Penelope Spectra.

"Oh, it's you; could we get this over with?" Danny asked clearly annoyed. "You know, you kick my butt, I have a magical second wind, beat you and then suck you up into this thermos?"

"Geez, what's with you? Why such a buzz kill? Does it have anything to do with your girlfriend being viciously murdered? A murder that you could've prevented" Spectra asked, trying to make Danny guilty so she could feed off his misery.

Danny had nothing to say and was knocked out of the sky by Spectra.

"Can't let her get in my head, can't let her exploit me" Danny thought, throwing two small ecto blasts that Spectra dodged.

"Are you even trying?" Spectra taunted, backhanding Danny sending him flying. Spectra assaulted Danny with a series of explosive ghost rays. "How do you expect to defend this town if you can't even defend the ones you love?"

Danny weakly rose to his feet only to be kicked around like a soccer ball. Spectra was enjoying every minute and growing stronger every minute. Her ploy was working. If she could keep it up, destroying him would be a piece of cake.

"What was it like, holding her corpse in your arms? Having her warm blood on you? Knowing that you couldn't be the knight in shining armor and save the damsel in distress?" Spectra further taunted.

"I've got to do something" Jessica thought before remembering the powers Gabriel had mentioned a few mere minutes ago.

Just as it seemed Spectra was about to kill the great Danny Phantom, a bolt of lightning struck her from out of nowhere.

"Wow, that was… convinient" Danny thought as he took advantage of a momentarily weakened and disoriented Spectra and sucked her into the thermos. Danny reverted to human and dropped to his knees.

"Danny, are you OK?" Jessica asked.

"I'll be fine, I get beat up and thrashed all the time" Danny assured her.

"I don't know, that fight was kind of brutal." Jessica said.

True, he had taken beatings multiple times but Sam had seen very few beatings that were as brutal as the one he had just received. The only other ones who had come that close to killing Danny were Pariah Dark and Dark Danny. Jessica helped Danny to his feet.

"C'mon, let's go to your place so I can treat your injuries" Jessica offered.

"I'm fine, I swear" Danny insisted.

"Alright, if you insist" Jessica said. "See you tomorrow then"

"See you" Danny said.

"First day as Jessica Storm didn't go so bad aside from a couple slip ups. Luckily no one noticed. However helping Danny get over his guilt isn't going to be easy" Jessica thought, reflecting on the first day of her new life.

So that's chapter 2. And I noticed while writing this chapter that Danny's reactions to when people mocked Sam's death seemed conflicting. Why did Danny get angry when Dash taunted him yet go into a pity party when Spectra did the same? Because Dash and Spectra were intentionally trying to get those respective reactions out of Danny. Dash was trying to get Danny angry (which worked a little too much) while Spectra was trying to make Danny feel guilty.

Voice in my head#1, do the honors Disclaimer: Timothy D does not own Danny Phantom.

Voice in my head #2: I have a question. If Sam, er Jessica has powers that depend on her mood, what happens when she's PMSing?

Voice in my head #1:… Maybe it would be best if we didn't think about that.

Was that question even necesarry?

Voice in my head #2: I don't know, technically you came up with the question.

(Sighs) Tilk next time, bye bye!