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Last Day
A Danny Phantom Fanfic by Cordria

Chapter 4
Would You Call Old Friends You Never See?

-11:56 am-

The thick branch clattered to the ground at my feet. I'd flinched backwards a half-second too late, but fortunately my ghost powers had kicked in. I was intangible and invisible. Staring stupidly at the thing that nearly killed me, my heart raced in my chest and my stomach did a few flips flips.

Was it just my imagination, or was that two near-death experiences in just one morning?

"Hey!" the guy in the orange vest stood next to the fallen branch. He looked as pale as I felt as he looked around - no doubt in search of me. "Kid?"

I took a few steps backwards, my knees limp and watery, before turning around and heading back into a denser grove of trees. I made sure I was well out of sight before letting my ghost powers fade away - hopefully the man would chalk up seeing me disappear to too much sun. Sinking to the ground behind a tree, I buried my head in my hands. I could feel my body trembling. "Okay," I whispered.

This changed things. The falling down the stairs could have been an accident. But the tree branch? This was the second time I almost died in less than two hours. This was no accident, not anymore. Something out there was actively trying to kill me.

My hands were shaking as I ran them through my hair, looking around at the trees. I couldn't help the suspicious bend to my thoughts, thinking that a murderer hid behind every tree and shadow. I'd had more than enough of this. It was one thing to know I was going to die today; I'd made a strange sort of peace with that. But it was something completely different to know that I was being hunted and toyed with. To know that I would, likely, have to suffer through multiple attempts on my life today. To know that one of them would eventually kill me.

A helpless giggle worked out of my mouth and I pressed my back against the tree. I didn't want to move. There was something comforting about having a giant tree right behind me.

I didn't want to die today. But I really didn't want to be killed today.

It took several long minutes before my brain stopped running around in empty circles and started to focus on the problem. I was being hunted. But what was hunting me? It wasn't a ghost - unless it was one I couldn't sense. It couldn't be a human. What force could be out there other than humans and ghosts?

Which brought a new thought: if someone was trying to kill me, that someone could possibly be stopped. Convinced. Bribed, perhaps. I paused, my hand on the back of my neck, thinking that through.

Clockwork had said my death today was inevitable. Had to happen. But, now that I thought about it, he'd said the same thing about that strange future he'd thrown me into all those years ago: inevitable. That hadn't actually come to pass.

What if this was something similar? What if the only way to prevent my death was for Clockwork to tell me I couldn't stop it? What if the only series of events that would lead to my survival was one that started by him telling me I was going to die?

I felt a strange flurry of hope bubble up in my chest. It was a long-shot, to be sure, but it was one I had to hold on to with all my might. There was a chance I could survive this - if only I could figure out how.

I scrambled to my feet and started to pace, wandering in and around the trees as I tried to think through what to do. Planning had never been my strong suit. That had always been more Sam and Tucker's job. Sam was trapped in class - and I wasn't going to tell her about this anyways - and Tucker... Tucker was halfway across the country. And he couldn't be counted on to not call Sam right after I hung up talking with him.

"Tucker," I muttered, pulling out my phone and staring at the empty screen. "I had been about to call him, before the tree fell..."

My eyes narrowed as I stared at my faint reflection. I stopped walking. Clockwork had set me on this path. While I didn't trust the old time ghost as far as I could throw him, I figured he probably had my best interests at heart at the moment. By unwittingly following the events he'd set into play this morning, I'd survived my first two brushes with death.

Maybe if I kept going, I'd keep surviving. Perhaps even long enough to figure out where this path lead. But what did Clockwork want me to do next?

I gazed down at the phone, then let out a short laugh. Call Tucker. How obvious could the ancient ghost get? I'd been about to call him before the branch fell, then my thoughts turned towards calling him afterwards...

I found him in my contacts with an easy swipe. It rang. "Yo," came the voice.

"Hey, Tuck," I said. "What's new?"

"Aren't you in class right now?" he answered. "Girls or ghosts get you out of class?"

I thought about that for a second. "Both," I said honestly.

"Girl ghost?"

"No," I said with a snort. "I don't date the dead ones, no matter how pretty they are."

"Probably for the best," he said. I could almost hear his shrug as he leaned back in his chair and put his feet up. "Need something?"

I started to wander again, letting my feet take me towards the college where Sam would be getting out of class soon. "What makes you think I need something?"

"You never call to just talk. You always need something."

"That's not true," I said defensively, although it probably was. Sam often complained about the same thing. "I just wanted to say hi."

Tucker was quiet. "You okay?"

I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Why does everyone thing there's something wrong with me today?"

"Because you're acting weird," he muttered. "You don't call to just talk, for one thing. For two, you sound freaked."

"I'm fine!" I stalked past a couple of trees, ignoring his disbelieving snort. "Just... What would you be if you weren't a human or a ghost?"

He paused. "You?"

"Other than me," I muttered. "Like, not at all a ghost, and not at all a human."

"Theoretically impossible. But so were ghosts before your parents turned on that portal of theirs."

I scowled. "Vlad got his going first, you know."

He laughed. "If we're going to split hairs, I believe Vlad got your parents' portal working first, only the version in Wisconsin. You got it working second. Only then did your parents get one going."

"Whatever. So what would you be?"

"Dude, I don't know," Tucker said. "Why do you need to know?"

I hesitated, pausing and looking around the trees. I hesitated too long.

"Yeah, I thought so," he said triumphantly. "You're in deep trouble and don't want Sam to know."

I scowled and kicked at a stick on the ground, not bothering to deny it. Tucker had known me longer than just about anyone alive. "So don't tell her."

"Not a chance. I can still feel her boots from all the way over here." He chuckled. "Hang on." His voice became slightly muffled. "Val? What would you call something that's not a ghost and not a human?"

Val and Tucker had ended up getting accepted at the same college. Tucker into an advanced biotechnology course, Val on a scholarship for a diplomatic and government degree. To nobody's surprise, the two had hooked up only a month into the experience. While there were bets on how short the relationship would be, they'd stuck it out this far.

There was some sort of noise in the background - probably Val's voice - and then Tucker said, "Her first thought was God."

I was going to snort and roll my eyes, but I stopped. The trail of thoughts made me shake my head. Clockwork had wanted me to call Tucker, Val just happened to be there, and Val just happened to have an answer to my question. "God?" I muttered.

After a long beat of silence, he said uncertainly, "Dude, if you're going toe-to-toe with God, you should get some backup."

"I'm not," I said. "It's just normal ghost stuff." But in my head, I felt really off balance. Could Val be right? Could I have bumped onto the wrong side of a god - or perhaps the God?

"You know I don't believe you."

"Yeah," I said softly, pulling the phone away from my ear long enough to glance at the time. I'd ended up standing next to a little pond. Ducks floated a ways out, quacking softly. "Look, I gotta meet up with Sam at noon for lunch. Call you later?"

"You'd better," Tucker said. "Standard rules apply if you don't."

I laughed. "Say hey to Val for me, alright?" I paused, shifting my weight from foot to foot as I thought about what I wanted to say. "You know, I wish we could see more of each other."

"Life goes like that. Summer'll be here soon and we'll all be back in Amity Park."

"You could sound a bit more enthusiastic," I told him sourly.

"About Amity Park? How does anyone sound happy about going back there?"

"True," I said. I wondered if I was going to get to see Amity Park again. My house, or my family, or some of my friends... "See ya."

"Bye Danny. And Val says to stay safe."

I turned the phone off and scowled at it, then glanced down at my reflection in the pond water. Black hair and dismal blue eyes gazed back at me. Could Val possibly be right? Could I have gotten on the bad side of some god? Was I doomed to die from some power greater than humans and ghosts?

The phone slipped from my hand and dropped into the muck at my feet. "God damnit," I muttered as I crouched down to scoop it up. I flipped it over and popped the battery, hoping I hadn't fried the thing. Mud caked the front of the phone, but the back looked relatively dry. My finger poked at the charging device my mom had made, trying to find out if it was still working. I felt a sharp shock race up my hand. "Ow," I muttered.

Frowning down at the little circuits, unable to figure out if anything was wrong, I heard a strange little huffing-purr sound. I paused and glanced over to my left. Sitting on the beach not ten feet away, playing with a dead fish, was a small black bear cub. I froze, confused, and stared at it. There was no way there could be bears in this little park in the middle of a city as big as this one.

Then, from my right, I heard a much deeper huffing-growl. I whirled around, eyes wide, as I remembered the cardinal rule of dealing with bear cubs: never get between a mother bear and her cub. Momma bear was much bigger than I thought black bears could get, and she was standing on her hind legs. Neon-green eyes focused on me.

Regardless of whether or not the bears should be in this little park, I wasn't going to hang around and take my chances. Two brushes with death were enough - a third, and one as ludicrous as death by bears - wasn't going to happen. I pushed into the air...

I wanted to fly...

I wasn't flying. My breath catching in my throat, I glanced down at my hand. It wouldn't go invisible. Or intangible. Or anything.

The cell phone caught my eye. The little charging device that had shocked me just a few seconds earlier - it must have done something to my powers. "Crud," I whispered. I looked up at the mother bear just as she dropped to all fours and rushed at me, roaring loudly. I knew better than to try to run.