Yes, this chapter is shorter. But that's only because not too much happened in this chapter. Okay, so I totally got the biggest break through last night when I fell asleep, and I totally have this whole story planned out and I am so excited. Because yay, I have the story planned out. And I like what's going to happen. It's going to be fun to write! But...

Look. I can tell people are reading this story. I have a little record of the hits, and I only just put it up yesterday but there are more hits to this story than to most of my other stories for the whole month. So why are you guys being so SLACK? I'm writing you at least one chapter per day here, and none of you people can even bother to submit a review? I'm so disappointed.

Please, I'm begging. Review. Tell me what you think. Tell me if you think the chapters should be longer, or there should be more or less detail, or if I should do more of the peoples emotions, or something else? Tell me how YOU'D like this story to go.

I want your opinions here, guys.

Review me! Now

Here is the chapter. And if I get no reviews... no next chapter for you.

Changing Fate

Chapter Two

Discovery

Valerie collapsed onto her couch, exhausted. She hadn't expected that the death of Danny Phantom would result in heightened ghost activities. She had expected that all of Amity Park's ghost problems would just magically vanish. But despite the amount of work she had to do – and it was only two hours after she had killed Danny Phantom – she could not say that she regretted her act. Finally she had rid Amity Park of the ghost terror that was Danny Phantom.

She rolled over to face her small television set and pressed the on button. It automatically switched to the news, where Danny Phantoms face could be seen. They were still playing the same news broadcast as they had been when she had first checked the news. She hadn't been named as the killer because no one knew that she was the red-clad hunter. If they did know who she was, she'd be famous. But she didn't want that.

All she wanted was her normal life back. And to get that life back, she'd have to eliminate all the ghosts that were escaping from the Fenton's Ghost Portal. And the simple solution to that problem was to destroy the portal herself. But what was to stop the Fenton's from creating a new portal. She knew that their son, and the boy that she had had a major crush on since she'd gotten to know him, Danny Fenton, would agree with her on this. He was always expressing his opinion on ghosts – he hated them. He was also embarrassed that his parents knew themselves as 'professional ghost hunters' when in reality, they sucked. Well, Jack Fenton sucked at it. Maddie Fenton was a pretty amazing ghost hunter.

"Maybe I could call Danny." She had spotted Danny in the park talking with Sam just before she'd sensed Danny Phantom's presence. It was funny how two people so completely different could share the same name.

But she hesitated when she reached for the phone. She had been within hearing distance of Danny and Sam when she had passed unnoticed. It had seemed like he was confessing his feelings for the Goth girl. Of course, Valerie knew that Danny Fenton harboured feelings for Sam Manson – practically everyone in the entire world knew. But Valerie hoped with a passion that it wasn't anything serious – not like he was in love with her, or anything.

Because what Valerie felt for Danny, well, she would call that love. He was constantly on her mind. She wasn't sure if Sam liked Danny the way that she liked him but she didn't think so. Sam seemed to be playing Danny along, though she had been mysteriously distant for the past month or so. It had given Valerie a chance to swoop in and try to steal Danny's heart. It had seemed to work for a while, but Danny had obviously gone back to Sam.

She hesitated no longer – she needed to talk to Danny about this, to hear his opinion and most of all, to hear his voice. She picked up the phone and dialled the number for his house. Someone picked up on the fifth ring.

"Hello, Fenton Works, this is Maddie Fenton speaking."

Valerie smiled – she liked Danny's mother. She was Valerie's role model. "Hi, Mrs Fenton, this is Valerie, Valerie Gray." She greeted the older ghost hunter. "I was wondering if I may speak to Danny, please?"

"Oh, Valerie, how nice it is to hear your voice. We've had news reporters calling the house every fifteen minutes and it's getting exhausting," Maddie informed her wearily. "But I'm afraid Danny's not home at the moment. Would you like me to leave a message for him?"

"Oh, okay. Umm, can you tell him that Val called, and ask him if it's possible, could he ring me back?" Valerie asked.

"Sure," Maddie replied warmly. "Well, someone else is trying to get through, so I'd better go. It was nice talking to you, Valerie."

"You too, Mrs Fenton."

Valerie put the phone down. So Danny hadn't returned from the park, then. She knew his mobile phone number off by heart but what if she called and Sam answered? What if she called and they were together. What is she was interrupting something? Her stomach flipped over. She didn't like the possibility, but she was curious. She had to know how it had turned out.

But when she dialled the number, it went straight to voicemail. Danny wasn't the sort of person to turn his phone straight to voice mail. Normally, he'd let it ring. He always said that he always wanted to be able to answer his phone in case of an emergency. But he could've turned it onto voicemail because he and Sam were… doing stuff.

"No," Valerie told herself firmly. "I mustn't think like that. I'll just ring Sam's phone and ask if she's seen Danny."

Sam's mobile phone number she didn't know off by heart. But she had it written down near the phone – she had destroyed her mobile a few weeks ago when she had been hunting some pesky ghosts. She hadn't bothered to buy a new one yet, but she was considering it. The only problem was that it could easily be destroyed by ghosts once again and would be a waste of money.

She rang Sam. Thankfully, Sam's mobile actually rang, and didn't skip straight to voice mail. "Hello?"

The voice was male, and definitely did not belong to Danny. "Uh, hi, this is Valerie? Is this Sam Manson's phone?"

"Yes it is, but Sam can't come to the phone right at this moment. Would you like me to give her a message?"

Valerie thought it over for a second. "Yeah. Tell her that Valerie called, and that's she's wondering where Danny might be. Valerie needs to talk to him."

"Okay, so Valerie, is it? And you want to know where Danny may be because you need to talk to him… Got cha, okay, thanks Va-"

He was interrupting by a shriek, and Valerie heard the phone being snatched away from him. "I'll kill you," it was Sam, and she was hysterical. "I'll kill you if it's the last thing I do you stupid son of a –"

The phone went dead. Valerie stared at her phone in confusion. What was wrong with Sam?

Jazz didn't believe in news reports over the radio. She had learnt to keep her radio switched off – many times in the past she had been fooled into believing that there was a ghost attack that she and her little brother needed to deal with. So of course, she had no idea that Danny Phantom had been murdered by one red-clad ghost hunter.

In fact, she was in a pretty good mood. She had convinced Danny to go and talk to Sam about his feelings this morning – he had been a wreck for the past few weeks and she knew that Sam would be able to cheer him up. After all, the two were practically made for each other. They had 'secretly' grown fond of each other in the past five years. Jazz knew that this would help Danny deal with the other problems in his life.

Jazz was able to get into her house without notifying her parents of her arrival. They seemed extremely excited about something – probably something to do with ghosts – and Jazz didn't want to get involved. She could hear them talking in the kitchen and the phone was ringing. Jazz went straight up to her bedroom and checked her emails. She hadn't gotten any new emails since she'd checked them this morning.

She changed out of her usual black shirt and teal three-quarter-length shorts and into a pair of blue denim jeans and a long sleeved red shirt. She was going out for dinner with some guy she'd met earlier the week. He too was being accepted early into a good college and seemed to be perfect for her. They shared so many interests and one of the only differences about them was that Jazz was a girl and he was a guy. His name was Kurt.

There was still an hour until she was due to meet him at his house but Jazz didn't like being late. She had to make sure she was ready as soon beforehand as possible. She pulled a brush through her hair before groaning in annoyance. That damn phone won't stop ringing! She opened her door and jogged down the steps, her good mood ruined. Why wouldn't her parents answer it?

"Hello, Fenton Works, this is Maddie Fenton speaking." Her mother had finally answered the phone. Jazz was about to return to her bedroom when she heard her mother respond to whatever it was that the person on the other end of the phone had said.

"Oh, Valerie, how nice it is to hear your voice. We've had news reporters calling the house every fifteen minutes and it's getting exhausting," Her mother paused. "But I'm afraid Danny's not home at the moment. Would you like me to leave a message for him?"

Jazz raised an eyebrow at that. Why would her parents be run up by news reporters so often? The only reason would be if there was something going on to do with a ghost, like they'd miraculously discovered that ghosts could be humans at the same time, or something. But they couldn't know that – they wouldn't do such a thing to Danny; they wouldn't let the whole word know his secret.

Jazz entered the kitchen and sat down. Her mother smiled at her in greeting as she spoke to Valerie. Jazz picked up an apple from the centre of the table and waited for her mother to finish speaking on the phone. Her father had obviously gone down to the lab or something – he didn't have enough patience to remain in the kitchen while her mother answered phone calls from news reporters.

"Well, someone else is trying to get through, so I'd better go. It was nice talking to you, Valerie." Her mother hung up and pressed the receive button.

"Hello, Fenton Works, this is Maddie Fenton speaking." Jazz hadn't noticed it earlier, but her mother seemed worn out. Whatever it was that had happened, it was sure taking its toll on Maddie.

"No, I am sorry, I do not know how to retrieve the body for examination." Maddie paused. "Good day, sir… I said, good day!" she hung up angrily.

Jazz raised her eyebrows. Her mother was definitely exhausted.

"What's up, mum? Why are you getting all these phone calls?" Jazz asked curiously as she tossed the apple core into the trash can. "It must be something big."

Maddie looked at Jazz strangely. "Haven't you heard the news?" Maddie asked her daughter. When Jazz replied with a shake of her head, Maddie smiled. "Well it's official. Just under three hours ago, the legendary ghost, Danny Phantom, was killed."

Jazz stared at her mother, unable to take in her words. She laughed nervously. "No. No that… it can't be true. Stop messing with me mum."

Maddie stared at her daughter, still smiling. "I'm being a hundred percent serious. It was that mysterious ghost hunter that they call the 'red-clad hunter'. She shot him off the top of a ten storey building, and his body faded away. Our ghost research has concluded that this is what happens when ghosts pass onto the next world. It's quite unique. Jasmine? Jazz? Are you okay? You look a little green. This is good news."

Jazz stood up, knocking her chair over. She remained standing for a few moments before her knees grew weak and she collapsed. She could feel her eyes fill up with tears but she did not reach up to stop them from falling. She couldn't meet her mother's face.

"Jazz, what's wrong?" Maddie was truly concerned now. Why would her teenage daughter react that way to the death of an evil ghost that had been terrorizing her town for over a year? Unless she had had feelings for that ghost, but that was impossible. "Jazz, he was just a ghost." Maddie whispered uncertainly.

"Mum," Jazz whispered in a tiny voice that made Maddie want to cuddle her daughter close to her chest. "You don't understand."

"What?"

Jazz looked into Maddie's eyes hopelessly. Maddie couldn't stand to see the emotion she found in those eyes – despair. "Jasmine, honey, you're scaring me. What is it, darling?"

"Danny Phantom," Jazz whispered slowly. "Is your son. He was only… only half ghost," Jazz erupted in sobs before giving her mother her conclusion. "Your son… is dead."

Yes. I ended that badly. I couldn't think of how Jazz was going to tell Maddie and oh it was hard. So I just did it that way :) So. Looking forward to the next chapter? You might... might find out what is happening with Danny, because as you must've read in the description, he isn't as dead as he seems to be... Dun dun dun.

BUT.

I will not put up the chapter if I don't get any REVIEWS.

I know I only just put up this story yesterday, but there have been plenty of hits. One of you could have AT LEAST hit the review button. Come on.

I'll do you something, and you do me something.

If you review, I'll write another chapter.

But if you don't review, I'll take that as a "No, we don't particularly like this story, so please don't update it".
So be dearies and review the story :)

I am unappreciated here, people. Vortex of Deception comes next.

Love from the unloved Kirstyn.