And, of course, I would be remiss if I did not thank the amazingly incredible Laora for looking everything over helping me smooth some things out. :)
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Danny was almost expecting the headaches now, but the first wave of pain was so intense as it vibrated through his skull that he dropped his pencil where it clattered on the floor and rolled under Tucker's desk. He buried his face in his hands, test page in front of him forgotten as the rush of images flashed so intensely in his brain that they threatened to overwhelm him.
Lancer looked up disapprovingly at the noise, warning him with a glare that went unseen to keep from disturbing the rest of his classmates.
Tucker held out the pencil, waiting for Danny to feel better enough to notice it, while Sam looked on from the other side of the desk, concerned.
"Are you okay?" Tucker whispered. "Who is it now? Ghost?" He flicked eyes nervously toward the window to see if anything was coming, although he already knew that Danny's early warning system normally gave them more time that than. But he nudged his backpack, filled with various ghost hunting weapons, closer to him with his foot as he waited for Danny to recover.
"No," Danny mumbled into his arm. "Not a ghost."
"Well good. Because this is coming at a bad time, dude. We only have twenty more minutes in the period to finish this test and we both need to pass. I don't want that all nighter helping you study to have been a waste of time."
"Not like I can turn it off you know," Danny muttered.
"I know, man, but…" he broke off suddenly as Lancer looked up again, narrowing in on the two habitual troublemakers of the year. Danny and Tucker both immediately went back to their papers, trying to write out the rest of the answers in the few precious minutes they had left.
After the bell rang, the three of them shuffled out into the hall with their classmates. They'd barely made it to their lockers when Danny doubled over, not falling only because of the quick hands Sam put out to keep him from face planting into the floor.
"Whoa there," she said as she and Tucker both pulled him upright. "Another one?" she frowned.
"Yellow Eyes?" Tucker asked with a grimace.
"No," Danny picked his head up, relief visible in his still pain-etched features. "Not him. There were two guys last time," he said, suddenly remembering what had thrown him for such a loop that he didn't even know if he put down an answer for the last seven questions.
"Did you recognize them?"
"I don't know who they were. I don't know why I saw them," Danny whispered with his eyes squeezed shut.
"But it was a ghost this time," Danny said, confused and frustrated at the lack of knowledge he was left with after most of his scattered visions.
Sam and Tucker both reached for their pocket blasters, making sure they were on hand. "Someone we know?"
"Box Ghost."
"Dang. Again?" Tucker groaned.
"Hey," Danny said, standing up on his weight as he put out a hand to steady himself on his locker. "I don't know why you're complaining. It's not like you have to have your head split open every single time he's about to show up."
"I know," Tucker said, quietly. "I'm sorry. It's just… I don't know how he keeps getting out!"
"Me either," Danny sighed, switching out books for his next period and handing them off to Tucker. "Okay, I'm gonna… go change… in the bathroom… I'll see you guys in class."
"Alright, Danny," Sam said as she added her books on top of Danny's pile. "Good luck."
Tucker shifted all of the books he was carrying to try to find a good position. "But why do I have to carry all of the heavy textbooks?" he whined once Danny had gone. "Why can't you take some of them, Sam?"
"Because one of us has to have their hands free to shoot the ghosts."
"But why can't I ever be the one who gets to shoot the ghosts? Why is it always you?"
Sam smirked. "Because I'm the better shot. Plus," she added, "If you're actually serious about finding a girlfriend, you need to show all the girls that you're willing to carry their books for them."
"Ooooh!" Tucker exclaimed brightly as they walked past a couple groups of girls that he flashed with his most winning smile. "I get it now. Okay," he agreed happily to the arrangement.
Sam laughed. "Yeah, you're welcome."
They made it to class and claimed their seats as Danny patrolled the school grounds invisibly. It didn't take him long to find the ghost he already knew was coming. Not when he announced to an empty football field that they needed to "BEWARE!"
"Beware yourself!" Danny shouted as he flew over to where the Box Ghost was floating with glowing fists.
"I AM THE BOX GHOST!"
"I know that!" Danny shouted. "But why are you here? Who sent you?" He asked as he threw ectoblasts at him.
"How dare you attack me! I shall bring about your dooooom!"
"Yeah, yeah," Danny said as he flew in circles around the ghost. "You've said that every time, but come on, why do you keep coming back? Is it the Yellow Eyed Man? Did he send you?"
Like every other time Danny had asked, the Box Ghost faltered. "I do not know of whom you speak. I know no 'yellow eyed man' but I DO KNOW HOW TO WEILD BOXES AND I WILL—!"
His tirade was cut short as Danny pulled out his thermos and pressed the button that drew the ghost into the container with a blast of light.
"Well, if you still don't know, then I still don't care," Danny muttered to himself as he turned around only to pull up short when a fine blue mist pooled out of his mouth. "What? More of them?"
When he caught sight of the two green blobs heading toward him, he huffed and landed on the ground in a firm stance. "Well, at least you guys I can keep from coming back," he said, not that they could understand him.
Closing his eyes, he blasted outward with power from his hand. The blast caught the two low level ghosts and froze them in place as he screwed his eyes shut and focused all of his energy on making them go back to where they were supposed to be.
The shapes screamed and writhed as they were held in place by the initial beam before flickering in and out of sight. With one final push of strength, they disappeared entirely and Danny collapsed onto the grass at the ten yard line, breathing heavily and willing himself not to pass out.
"Please," he groaned as he laid spread eagle with an arm flung across his eyes. "No more. That's enough for today."
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While Danny hoped and prayed with all of his might that there would be no more ghosts and no more visions and no more weirdness in his life, Dean urged his brother, perhaps for the first time in his hunting career, to have a vision so that they could get a lead on the kid they needed to trace.
Sam huffed softly and told him, as he had many times before, that he had no control over what he did and did not see.
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