Memories Make Us Chapter 3
Disclaimer: I still don't own it. Nothing has changed so far.
Welcome to chapter three and thank you all so much for reading, and especially those who reviewed! I'm sorry for the long wait. I am trying to lengthen my chapters and be timely with updates. Wow, I really dropped off of the map for a while there. I'm really sorry to everyone. I really want to write more, but I've just been so busy and when I get home I end up just watching something brainlessly. I'm back again though, and I intend to start updating at at least a decent pace now. I'll try to update more quickly next time.
A note: This story takes place before season 3 and any plot points that happened in that season.
Here is where the plot thickens!
Danny stood with his back to the dining hall doors. A wisp of cold slipped through his lips, and he noticed that a green-tinged maid was industriously vacuuming the room next door. Somewhere nearby he could hear the deep, steady ticking of what was likely a very valuable grandfather clock.
After a moment, he noticed that the ghost maid was watching him curiously, her vacuum idly sucking at one square of carpet, and he raised a hand uncomfortably and waggled his fingers at her. What else was he supposed to do? The ghost bobbed her head respectfully and returned to her work.
Great, ghost servants. And they probably thought he was Vlad's son too. Because he was. Apparently. Part of him wanted to corner Vlad and confront him. He had to have had something to do with this. However, part of him wasn't so certain. He knew Vlad was always trying to pull some new scheme off, but he didn't usually try to pull the wool over Danny's eyes as well. It generally seemed to be impossible for him to resist the temptation to gloat. At any rate, Danny had yet to encounter Vlad since the reunion where the man didn't slip him some kind of exultant smirk. Yet the concern in Vlad's face had seemed genuine.
Danny sighed and dragged one hand down his face as though it might rub away his confusion. When he looked up he found the same ghost maid watching him again, although she was still moving the vacuum back and fourth this time. Danny pretended not to notice. He had to think about this, and he obviously couldn't think here. Nosy green servants aside, he didn't want to see Vlad again until he had figured out how to react to him.
Calling his ghost half forth again, Danny willed himself intangible and flew upward, passing through the ceiling. He continued rising until he phased through tile and found himself on the roof of the mansion. He touched down on the smooth, gold tiles and sat, leaning back against the curve of the roof.
This was definitely Vlad's mansion. From where he sat, he could look over the large football field on one side of the house, and an extensive stretch of hedge-bordered gardens on the other. A warm breeze touched his face, and Danny inhaled deeply. He needed to figure out what to do. Likely talking to his mum without evidence wouldn't do any good. She was far too focused on facts and logic. Still, he needed to find someone who would listen to him. If he could find his dad, or Sam and Tucker, he might be able to convince them that something was wrong and enlist their help, even supposing that the whole world had changed and Vlad didn't just have his mum under some kind of mind control.
In any case, heading for Amity Park seemed to be his best bet right now. Resolved, Danny stood and braced himself to leap from the roof.
"Going somewhere, son?"
Danny started at the familiar voice, and turned to find that he was no longer alone on the roof. Vlad Plasmius stood calmly at the apex of the sloping tile, his fanged mouth cocked in a mocking smile.
Initial suspicions instantly returning, Danny's shoulder's squared defensively. "I'm not your son," he retorted automatically.
"Oh, but I think you'll find that you are, Daniel." The warmth from earlier was completely gone, and Danny took a wary step backward on the rooftop.
"What did you do to my mum Vlad?" he demanded, anger creeping back into his voice. Fruitloop.
"Look around you Daniel," Vlad said expansively. He swept an arm out as though offering Danny a gift. "I think you'll find that it is a little more widespread than my darling Maddie."
Danny's fists clenched at the man's tone, but then he glanced out in the direction Vlad had gestured, then back at the man suspiciously.
"You're not gonna try and stop me?"
"Of course not Daniel," Vlad responded mildly. He was straitening his cuffs and jacket as though he were returning to a fancy gathering instead of standing on a roof facing his arch nemesis. "Go wherever you like," he continued. "All the way to Amity Park if you want to. Just be certain to be back for Dinner. We don't want your mother to worry, now do we?"
He sunk through the roof without waiting for a reply, which was just was well, as Danny was currently in the process of choking on his own tongue and couldn't respond right away. He settled for glaring at the tiles Vlad had recently occupied for a moment before pushing himself into the air.
Panic was rising, but he pushed it forcefully back down. Vlad had basically dared him to go to Amity Park, but that was still probably his best option. He had to find out what Vlad had changed. Was this some kind of hypnosis, or another world altogether? Amity Park was the best place to start, and if he was lucky, he might be able to convince his Friends of what was going on.
He was already flying toward his hometown, spectral tail streaming behind him like a wisp of smoke. To drive to Amity Park from Vlad's mansion in Wisconsin took approximately nine hours. Danny could make it in two if he pushed himself. He was pushing himself now. For all he knew, he had very little time to waste before Vlad decided to do something worse. Danny's only advantage was that Vlad seemed more interested in gloating than in doing anything horrible to him, at least for the moment.
The weather was perfect; crisp and clear with the early sun warming his back and the sweet smells of summer wafting up from the greenery below him. Unfortunately Danny had no time to enjoy his flight. He pushed himself to the fastest pace that he could safely maintain and pointed himself towards his town.
Vlad's words were still running through his mind, and he felt a chill that had nothing to do with the air rushing past him. Part of him wanted to fly back and try to beat some answers out of the froot loop, even though logically that wasn't likely to work. Anyway, it would probably be better to see for himself if anything else had changed before he confronted Vlad. At least then he would have an idea of what he was up against.
Danny sighed into the wind, vision straying down to the blur of trees below him. He wouldn't let the man get to him; he couldn't. Whatever Vlad had done, it was up to him to stop it, and that's exactly what he intended to do. Danny clenched his white gloved fists and put on more speed toward home.
It must have been close to lunch time when the familiar welcome sign appeared on the horizon. Amity Park: A Nice Place to Live. Panicked as he was, Danny found that he had to pause at the sign to catch his breath. His heart was going a mile a minute in his thin chest, and his face was stinging a little from the wind. He perched on the top of the sign, letting one leg dangle over the edge and resting his chin on his other knee, and sat there for a few minutes until he felt more or less normal again.
Everything looked pretty normal from here. There didn't appear to be any rampaging ghosts or smoking craters in the middle of town. Still, that didn't mean that nothing had changed. Vlad could certainly be sneaky when he wanted to be. Danny would just have to search for them.
He opted to head for Fentonworks first. The largest change would probably be there, particularly as he already knew his mother wasn't home. Still, he went intangible before taking off again. He was not in the mood to tangle with Valerie or his dad. He zipped around and over buildings, at ease in the familiar territory, then suddenly pulled up short, hovering in midair. Well, that was certainly a change.
Fentonworks was gone. There was no building at all on the familiar corner, just an empty lot, weed grown and studded with old chunks of concrete.
Danny perched on a nearby building and surveyed the scene. He was getting worried now. Vlad had more than once expressed the desire for Jack's demise. Was that what had happened in this world? Was his father…no. Danny shook off the mental image with difficulty. He flew to the ground and landed, changing back behind an old, board fence. A woman was walking her dog and she shot him a startled glance when he emerged from behind the fence.
Danny glanced down at himself and winced inwardly. Of course. He was still wearing the pyjamas from Vlad's house, and no shoes either.
"Um…hi," Danny said awkwardly. He felt like slinking back behind the fence, but this was important. "I'm…uh…looking for Jack Fenton?"
The woman had been about to hurry on, but she paused, looking doubtful. Her small, brown dog, forgotten, tugged at his lead.
"The garbage man?" she asked.
"Yes!" Danny exclaimed excitedly. 'Garbage man' meant alive.
"Why are you looking for him?"
"Uh…." Stuck, Danny fell back on technical truth. "I'm his son."
"I didn't know he had any kids."
Wow, this was an uncomfortable conversation. Danny coloured slightly.
"Well, he does, and I'm it, so…." He trailed off hopefully.
"He's at work I guess." The woman shrugged. Her dyed red curls bobbed. She seemed less ill at ease now. "Sorry I can't tell you the rout." She glanced down at his bare feet again and Danny did his best to smile carelessly, trying to pretend it was normal to be standing in an empty lot in your pyjamas. "You should at least get some shoes on before you go out to play," she continued, more gently. "You're going to get tetanus or something, okay kid?"
"Uh, sure," Danny replied brightly. He wished she would look away or something so he could vanish.
He got his wish a moment later. The small dog, impatient, suddenly leaped sideways in a glorious bid for freedom and the woman stumbled, thrown off balance. When she recovered herself, and turned once more toward the empty lot, it was just that; empty.
It took Danny about twenty minutes for searching to find his dad. Jack was actually on break, apparently; having lunch with some coworkers. The garbage truck sat idle nearby, and the smell of old food and rusting metal hung in the surrounding air.
Danny had been planning to talk to his dad and try to convince him of what was going on, but now he hesitated, invisibly watching. Jack was alive, and seemed to be doing okay. This was obviously Vlad's special brand of being a jerk, but it was far better than most of the alternatives he could think of. Furthermore, Jack never listened to anything Danny said as a regular rule, and there was no reason for that to change now. Danny was resolved to reverse whatever this was anyway, and his dad probably wouldn't be much help in the fight against Vlad, even if he believed him.
Making his decision, the ghost boy lifted off and headed in the direction of Casper High. On the way, he stopped at a used clothing store and hooked a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt that was slightly too big. He managed to find some used sneakers as well, and changed hurriedly, and invisibly, in the employee washroom. He felt a little guilty, but he didn't have time to go all the way back to Wisconsin for some clothes, and he hadn't thought to bring any money. Danny shrugged off the feeling. He would either pay them back later, or he wouldn't need to once the world was fixed.
Getting to the school was a relief. No longer standing out like a sore thumb, Danny morphed back to human and walked up to the doors confidently, like any other teenager unlucky enough to be roped into summer school.
It was a good bet that both of his friends would be there. Sam was almost constantly in trouble for being too dismal, and her parents could generally be counted on to enrol her in the summer sewing and home economics classes, while Tucker often took extra science or math courses in the summer.
It was lunch time here as well fortunately, and Danny passed groups of familiar students, eating and chatting together. No one seemed to recognize him, which wasn't really a surprise at this point. At least there was no Dash waiting to beat him up. He kept his head down and kept an eye out for Tucker or Sam.
It was the former that he spotted first. Tucker was sitting with some of his fellow geeks from other classes, absolutely raving about some sci fi show he had seen last night. It was now that Danny realized he had no idea what to say. It was pretty evident by now that Tucker wouldn't know who he was. How could he convince his friends that…well, that they were his friends.
Perhaps feeling Danny's eyes on him, Tucker looked up from his conversation and saw him. Caught out, Danny nodded uncertainly at his friend. Tucker raised an eyebrow and nodded back before turning back to his friends.
Probably thinks I'm from one of his classes, Danny mused.
It now occurred to him that he had no idea what to say to convince his friends. His mind was a complete blank. Uncertainly, Danny looked away and let his eyes rove around and spotted Sam this time. She was sitting alone under a tree, reading a huge black book and eating a salad. She seemed a little easier to approach, given that she wasn't eating with friends, so Danny sidled over, trying to appear as casual as he could.
"Uh…hey Sam, how's it going?" he started. Sam held up one slender finger, eyes still fixed on her book.
"Tell me," she said in a quiet monotone.
"Tell you what?" Danny asked.
"I sit here alone every lunch hour," Sam said, still in that quiet, emotionless voice. "My clothes and make-up scream 'Goth', and I constantly have my nose in a book, so tell me: what else do I need to do to communicate to you idiot boys that I am not interested?"
This was not going well. Stuck for an answer, Danny fell back on a quip.
"Buy a cattle-prod?" he suggested.
Sam snorted at that, and then stopped in surprise. For the first time she lowered her book and violet eyes met Danny's forget-me-not ones. One eyebrow arched as she looked him up and down.
Then, "I've seen you somewhere before, haven't I?"
Hope shot through Danny's heart.
"Yes, you have," he affirmed excitedly. "Do you remember me?"
"I'm not sure…" Sam began, then her eyes narrowed and she stood up abruptly, her book forgotten in the grass. Danny's hope faltered as she jabbed an accusing finger toward him. "You're that Masters kid aren't you? Daniel, right? I had to go to a tedious party with you and your smug parents."
Danny's heart plummeted.
"What? No way! That's not what I…"
"What are you doing here?" Sam demanded. "Don't you go to some snooty private school in Wisconsin? Or was my obvious disgust so alluring that you had to come down here just to find me?" The sarcasm was even worse than the anger.
"No!" Danny tried again. "I'm not that…" he stopped. It wasn't going to do any good. He could see from her face that she wasn't going to listen to anything he said at the moment. Worse, they were being much too loud now, and other kids were starting to look in their direction. Some of them had obviously heard what she said and were staring at him curiously. Danny coloured. He wasn't giving up, but it was obvious that he needed to retreat, at least for now.
"You're right," he said with as much dignity as he could muster. "I'm sorry I bothered you. Enjoy your lunch." Then he strode quickly around the tree Sam had been sitting against, turning invisible as soon as he was fully behind it. Then he ran, trying not to speculate on what they were saying about him.
He ran until he found some cover, in this case a large wooden fence, where he could morph. Calling on his ghost powers while in human form was always exhausting, and he barely made it. He would come back, but for now what he needed was more information about what had happened, and there was only one person who could give it to him.
With a sigh, Danny pushed himself off the ground and began the long flight back to Wisconsin. It was time for another talk with Vladdy dearest.
Thanks for reading everyone!
How do you like Sam? I figured she and Tucker wouldn't be friends without Danny, as they constantly argue and share zero interests.
I am slightly out of writing practice and this story could use a rework. I will get to it as soon as possible, but I am going to post it for now.
Once we get into this story I promise it will be very good. I have so many great ideas for it. Next update will be up sooner. I will likely do an update for "Shades of Self" first, and then another one for this story.
I forget if I mentioned this, but this story takes place during season 2 of the show, and will ignore season 3 and the movie entirely, although Danny may still get his ice powers.
Feedback is appreciated.
Next chapter is going to be a doozy.
See you all soon!