A/N: Okay, so, I know I haven't updated in like... 4 months... SORRY! But I'm back and hopefully my readers are still out there if you guys are still interested. I would like to thank my original reviewers: TheFeralCandyCane, Youre-not-so-big, hollagirl, TPcrazy, and SamZ. Thank you guys so much and sorry for the wait. Anyway, this next part isn't as intense as the first but it does sorta explain what's going on a little more. It may be a little fluffy with some cuteness thrown in but I promise that the next chapter I post won't disappoint. Okay... I think that's it. With that said, enjoy!
Disclaimer: Yeah, I know, I don't own the Danny Phantom characters or setting, yada-yada-yada...
I woke up screaming, feeling unnaturally hot. I was sweating. My breathing was erratic. I clutched my chest, trying to get a grip of myself. I heard my door open and a familiar figure rushed to bed.
"Liz? Elizabeth, what happened? What's wrong?" he asked, sitting on my bed, pulling my hyperventilating body into his.
"I- I almost died today," I said, realization finally kicking in. "I'm so sorry dad. About everything. I shouldn't have been so rude to you this morning, and I should try harder in my classes!" I noticed that I was sobbing. I imagined how stupid I must've looked, acting out so irrationally. I'd known all this. I tried to stop, but I couldn't help it.
"Shh... its okay. Don't worry about that. Don't worry about any of that. You're okay. You're safe now."
"No, dad. I just stood there! I saw him walking towards me and I just stood there like an idiot."
"You couldn't help it. You would have ran if you could," he told me. I thought about it, remembering how my legs had frozen at his very sight. I managed to compose myself a little. I felt like a moron, sobbing the way I was, over something that had happened hours ago. You'd think a 15-year-old could handle it.
"Dad, stop acting like this is all okay. Its not! What if you had lost me today just as fast as we lost m-" I stopped, realizing where my sentence had been about to go.
"Do you think I'm not worried about this? Do you think I enjoyed watching my daughter fall thousands of feet through the air?"
"How did you see it?" I asked, knowing that he wouldn't have been anywhere close to where I had fallen.
"It was on TV," he answered quickly.
"When did you get home?" I asked. I had finally retained some of my composure, my breathing had settled and my voice was a calmer tone. I casually pulled myself away from him.
"A few hours ago."
"Why didn't you come up earlier?"
"You had a long day. You needed some rest."
"Yeah, but I was worried. What if-"
"You don't need to worry about me. I promise," he said. What an unrealistic thing to promise. Who does he think he is? Superman? Anything could have happened to him today. It gave me chills just to think about how many things could have happened to him today.
"Why did you lie to me? Why didn't you tell me that ghosts were real?"
"Liz, no one has seen a ghost in over 20 years."
"But they exist! And apparently, grandma and grandpa are the Ghostbusters! What would have changed if you had told me, "Yeah Liz, ghosts were real" or "Yeah, Danny Phantom was a real super hero." Why keep this from me?"
"What do you think your classmates would have thought of you if you were the only person in school who believed in ghosts?" he asked. I was about to reply immediately, but I stopped myself. I thought about it for a moment. As far as I knew, no one in school believed in ghosts or even hinted at the existence of ghosts. If I had been going out and spreading the word, I probably would have become a social outcast.
"Well, don't you think you should tell me everything now? Shouldn't I learn how to use the weapons we have incase this happens again?" His mood changed quickly.
"No."
"But dad-"
"No. It's too dangerous.
"But it's not dangerous for two old people?"
"That's different, Liz. Your grandparents have years of practice. They can handle themselves. I don't want you, under any circumstances, using any of their equipment or going downstairs into the basement," he said. That caught my attention. The basement? Four seconds ago, I just thought that the basement was where they kept all of the different holiday decorations. At least, that's all that I've ever seen down there.
"What's in the basement?" I asked. My dad mumbled under his breath. I guess he shouldn't have let the whole basement thing slip out.
"Elizabeth Fenton, if you step one toe in that basement, I'll- Look, its... its just dangerous down there. Okay?"
"Yeah, fine. I won't go in the basement," I said. He sighed.
"Well, try to get some rest."
"Yeah, whatever," I said, lying down on my bed. He got up, kissed my cheek, and left without another word, shutting the door behind him. I closed my eyes and tried to go to sleep, but I must have just laid there for hours. All I could think about was the basement. And what was so dangerous that I couldn't go down there? The next thing I knew, my dad was knocking on my door, telling me to get ready for school.
Despite the events that occurred yesterday, school was still scheduled, but only for half of the day. I argued with my dad, to try to get out of going, but it was no use. He finally decided that he would drive me to school, to be sure that I went. I sulked into the front seat of his car and we were off. I noticed my eyelids were drooping. I must've been more tired than I thought.
"You okay?" my dad asked. I pulled out of my thoughts.
"Didn't get much sleep," I answered shortly.
"Liz, you don't need to worry about that ghost, okay? No one has seen him since yesterday," my dad replied. If only the ghost had been what I was thinking about last night. If my dad knew I was busy thinking about the basement, I have a feeling this conversation would make an abrupt turn that I didn't feel like taking. I played along.
"He's a ghost, dad. I'm pretty sure that it's not that hard for him to keep a low profile." When we pulled up to school, I noticed that many more parents decided to drive their kids to school today. And the kids took no time in getting into school as soon as they shut the doors to the cars. I guess this whole ghost thing has everyone shaken up. Dad pulled up to the front of the school and I opened the door to get out.
"Have a safe day. Oh, and don't get mad."
"Mad? Mad at what?"
"I'll see you later," my dad said, and drove off.
"Mad?" I asked myself. My thoughts were broken when the intercom began to buzz.
"All students are to report immediately to the auditorium for a mandatory assembly. I repeat, all students are to report immediately to the auditorium for a mandatory assembly." I began making my way towards the school, but it wasn't long until I heard my name being called from behind me.
"Liz? Liz! Wait up!" I turned around, and to my joy I saw Mike quickly getting out of his mom's car and then running to catch up with me. Catching me off guard, as soon he was close enough to me, I found myself locked in his arms and off the ground. Mike was a pretty tall, muscular guy. I always thought that we looked weird together, being that the top of my head came to his shoulders. His dad pressured him to be the "Wanna-Be" guy at school and the star football player. But Mike told me one day that he made a promise to himself to never be the jerk that his dad was in high school. Once Mike put me down on my feet I took in a huge breath.
"Sorry… but I'm just so happy to see you here, alive, and okay. Did you wake up in the middle of the night screaming?"
"I actually did. It was pretty ugly."
"Really? I'm sorry. I didn't really mean that literally when I told to wake up screaming, you know?"
"Yeah, but I had it coming to me," I said, wrapping my arms around him, giving him my little hug. "I'm happy to see you too."
"There will be plenty of time for PDA after the assembly, Mr. Baxter and Miss. Fenton! Report to the auditorium! Now!" Mr. Lancer yelled at us into his megaphone. Mike smiled and we both made our way into school. The auditorium was crowded.
"Hey! Guys! Over here!" I looked to my right and saw my friend Taylor waving at the both of us. She was my second best friend. We've known each other forever, mainly for the fact that her dad is my dad's best friend. Sadly, I can't say that my dad shares the same feelings for Mike's dad. He's tried, I'll give him that, but Mike's dad is a hard guy to try to be friends with.
As Mike and I made our way through the crowd, I noticed that mostly every conversation was the same.
"Do you think the ghost is going to come back?"
"My dad said that it's just some government conspiracy."
"Is your dad a hippy?"
"My mom said that ghost attacks happened before in Amity Park."
"That's crazy, everyone knows that ghosts don't exist."
"Where were you yesterday?"
I finally made it to my seat. Taylor was to my right and Mike was at my left. "Liz! I'm so happy to see you! I thought you were going do die yesterday!" she said, throwing her arms around me.
"Yeah, I thought that too," I replied.
"So… I mean, what was it like? Terrifying, of course, but what about when that other ghost saved you?"
Danny Phantom. I really hadn't given him much thought. It all happened so quickly. But I remembered his eyes and the way he looked at me. Not in the frightening way that Vlad's eyes seemed to burn into me, but concerned and maybe even friendly. It almost feels to me that I may have seen them before. I got so caught up in my thoughts that I almost forgot to answer Taylor's question.
"It all happened pretty fast, Tay," I said, coming up with something quick, not really wanting to go into my whole experience. She nodded sympathetically. Just then, the lights in the auditorium began to go on and off to get the students to quiet down.
"Hey Liz, is that your grandparents?" I heard Mike ask, who had his head turned to the back of the auditorium. I turned to look in the same direction. My jaw dropped and my eyes widened. Sure enough, in the back of the auditorium, my grandparents were standing in their blue and orange jumpsuits talking to the principle.
"Oh my god… what are they doing here?" I asked, to no one in particular. That's when I remembered what my dad had said earlier before I got out of the car.
"Why are they wearing jumpsuits?" Taylor asked. The principle, Mr. Foley, and my grandparents began walking down the middle aisle of the auditorium towards the stage. I maneuvered Mike's torso to block myself from my grandparent's view and avoid being called out, which I knew they would do in a heartbeat. The lights dimmed in the auditorium and brightened on the stage. Mr. Foley stepped up to the microphone first.
"Good morning students. As you all know, there was an incident yesterday afternoon. A very frightening incident, which nearly took the life of one of our students." I saw several heads turn in my direction. I slumped in my seat. "During this assembly, we will share with you the history of ghosts in Amity Park and safety procedures to follow in the event that we have another ghost attack."
"Another?" I heard several people murmur around me.
"Without further hesitation, I would like to present Mr. and Mrs. Fenton, professional ghost hunters." The auditorium was quiet. I'm sure this wasn't what they were expecting. Hell, it wasn't what I was expecting.
"Hello children. I'm Maddie Fenton. And this is my husband, Jack."
"And we are the grandparents of Elizabeth Fenton," my grandfather added in loudly and unnecessarily. Just about every head turned towards me. I wanted to sink into my seat but found that I was already as far as I could go. My grandmother continued.
"Jack, I said that I would do the talking, okay?" My grandfather slumped and walked back, taking a seat next to Mr. Foley. "Yes, right. Well, you see, about 20 or 25 years ago, ghost attacks were very common here in Amity Park. In fact, if your parents grew up here it would be safe to say that they've seen more than one ghost—"
"If our parents have known that ghosts exist, how come they've never told us?" a student asked.
"I was getting to that. You see, after the biggest and final ghost attack, that we call the Phantom Planet incident, no one saw any signs of ghosts for three years, so we decided to put everything ghost-like behind us. We didn't need our next generation to grow up with the fear that one day ghosts would come back and attack. The government got rid of all evidence pertaining to anything ghost-related."
"So, is the ghost that came yesterday going to come back?" a girl asked, a hint of fear lining her voice.
"We hope not, but we were not able to capture Vlad Plasmius. He escaped before Danny Phantom—"
"Danny Phantom? He was that other ghost, right? How do we know that we can trust him? Look at what Plasmius did to this city in a hour or two. What makes you so confident to believe that Danny Phantom wouldn't—"
"Stop!" Mr. Foley said sternly, standing up from his seat and walking towards the microphone. "You all aren't old enough to remember, But Danny Phantom is this town's hero. He's gotten us out of too many ruts to count. If you trust no one, trust Danny Phantom. Was it not enough for you when he saved one of your own yesterday? He deserves your respect. I will not tolerate Danny Phantom being disrespected in this school."
The auditorium was silent. I looked at Taylor. She shrugged. She knew as much about he father's past with ghosts as I did. Mr. Foley continued as normal. "In the event of another ghost attack on school grounds, faculty and students are to follow the procedures of a lockdown and treat it as such. I believe Ms. Fenton has a few more announcements and you are all dismissed." He turned around and walked back to his seat.
"Right, well, with the help of Danny Phantom, my husband, my daughter and my son, we are hoping to return Amity Park to its lately ghost-free state. On your way out, please pickup an "All You Need to Know About Ghosts" handbook. It includes the history of ghosts in Amity Park, a protocol to follow if you are caught in a ghost attack or confronted by a ghost, a field guide that includes a picture and a short profile of every ghost we've ever recorded, and much, much more. A quiz on this material will be given in a week." A groan of annoyance sounded throughout the auditorium as everyone got up to leave.
"So, your family hunts ghosts for a living?" Mike asked.
"You've known for as long as I have," I replied.
"Elizabeth Fenton, please report to the stage. Daddy told us we had to bring you home," my grandfather announced over the microphone. I froze and every ounce of blood in my system rushed to my face.
"Who you gonna call?" someone snickered as they passed me.
"Ghostbusters!" their friends chimed in. Mike laughed behind me, then immediately coughed afterwards to cover it up. I trudged toward the stage and picked up a ghost handbook.
"Don't worry about picking one of those up dear, we have plenty at the house," my grandmother said.
"Of course we do," I said to myself. "You wanna hang out? That is, if you still wanna be seen with me?" I asked Mike, jokingly.
"I don't know. I mean, now that I know that your family hunts ghosts for a living... I'm not so sure that I wanna be friends anymore," he said, then breaking out into a smile.
"Shut up..."
"I'd love to. I've actually been meaning to talk to you about something. I just gotta go home for a little while first. Let's say... in two hours."
"Fine. See you then," I replied. Mike turned around and headed for the exit. I turned around and saw my grandfather walking off the stage, carrying a box of leftover handbooks.
"Coming sweetie?" he asked. Do I have a choice? My grandmother followed him promptly.
"Yeah... coming," I replied as I followed them. I though the day couldn't get worse until we walked out the doors. Sure enough, my grandparents couldn't have driven their normal car. Parked right up front was the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle 2. A few kids were huddled around it, while others just stared at it from their own cars.
"Hey! You kids get away from her! You'll get fingerprints on her," my grandfather scolded. I moaned, keeping my eyes straight ahead. My only focus was getting in that RV and getting home. Away from all the people I've known since first grade. I grabbed the door handle, got in, and shut the door as fast as I could. It made me smile, knowing that the windows were tinted. Not that it wouldn't do much good for long. My grandmother got in the driver's seat, which eased me a little bit. My grandfather climbed into the passenger's seat grumbling.
"I don't understand why I can't drive..." he mumbled.
"We talked about this. We don't make enough money to have to pay for other people's hospital bills," she replied as she started the RV and pulled out of school.
I couldn't believe my dad didn't tell me about this whole arrangement. I've gone through too much in the past two days to have to deal with this. Just then, there was a loud booming loud and the RV shook. I spun around in my seat and saw a cloud of smoke and dust rising above the buildings. Though I couldn't see its cause, I was pretty sure I already knew. My grandmother slammed on the gas, which turned me around and had me clutching to the seat.
"What are you doing? The ghost is back there!" my grandfather exclaimed.
"Well, we can't take Elizabeth!" she replied. Luckily, we were close to home. When we pulled up, the ghost shield was already on. I quickly got out and made my way towards the door. When I got inside I was surprised to see that Aunt Jazz and my dad were both home. Even more surprised to see Aunt Jazz in a jumpsuit that matched grandma's.
"Okay Lizzie, I'm not sure how long we'll be, but there's food in the fridge. And just remember to stay inside, the ghost shield will protect everyone and everything inside it. Okay? Love you sweetie," she said, giving me a hug before she went out the door. "Hurry up Danny." I froze. No.
"You're going too?!" I asked my dad, my voice shooting up an octave.
"It's fine Liz. Okay? We're only going to be gone for a little while," he said. I shook my head. My eyes found the T.V. which was showing live footage of what was happening. Vlad Plasmius, hoovering over a pile of rubble. Then an inset of the events from yesterday, which included a clip of me, falling to my death. My stomach twisted. The horror that struck me last night was coming back and apparently it showed in my face.
"Hey!" he said to me, snapping off the T.V. He hurried over to me, coming down to my level and holding my face in his hands. "Don't be watching that, okay? Everything is fine. We're all going to be fine."
"No," I managed to choke out. "No, dad. I don't want you to go," I said still shaking my head.
"It gonna be fin–"
"Fine?! That's what mom said right before she–" I didn't dare finish that sentence.
"I have to go–"
"No."
"Now. You're going to be fine. I'm going to be okay. I promise."
"You're not Superman! You can't win against that–"
"Elizabeth, I have to go! I'm sorry that you don't understand now but maybe one day you will," he said, but was interrupted my another booming crash. "I'll see you later," he said, getting up and kissing my forehead.
"No dad, I don't wanna lose you too!"
"It'll be fine! I promise!" he said, but before I could get anything else out, he shut the door behind him.
Why would he do this to me?! Why would he leave me here so he could go fight a battle that he's already lost?! I don't care how advance their weapons are or how much help they can manage to get from Danny Phantom! It's too dangerous for him! It's too dangerous for all of them... Vlad Plasmius managed to level a building in seconds.
I was angry. Much too angry to do much else than to just pace around angrily. Though in my angry pacing, something caught my eye. Something that wouldn't have caught my eye before. But it was standing out now, like a dot of black in the middle of a sea of white. It was the basement door. And it was open.
A/N: Okay, I know what you're thinking, but I promise you that she will never, ever, EVER turn into a ghost! I'm writing this because I'm sick of Danny/daughter stories where the girl become a ghost. Okay, I'm done with rambling. Read & Review