And oof here is chapter 4! It's a bit choppy, but hey this is basically the last backstory driven chapter. Yup the next one will be focused in the perspective of everyone's favorite: Not-Danny! whew.

Anyways, hope you enjoy-I don't own anything sigh.


Part Two-

Jazz stared ahead at the pavement in anger and confusion, "What do you mean, you just stood there and watched him go in there?!" She placed her head in between both of her arms in exasperation. "Why'd you even make him go in there in the first place?! Besides, going towards the freaky noise is a bad idea! Haven't you seen any horror movie?"

Tucker winced, but waved her questions off, his face paling as he did so. She was right, it was dumb. What the three of them had done was rather rash and idiotic in hindsight- but hey, it was 20-20 after all. "Uh. Well, neither me or Sam heard it, just-"

Jazz knit her eyebrows together and lifted her head slightly from her arms to give them a stressed and confused expression. "No, wait..." A low gust of wind swept the strands of hair out of her face and made them shiver, "what does this have to do with what you told me earlier? About that," She motioned behind them at her house where most of the faint crashing and yelling noises had ceased. "not being Danny?"

"We're getting to that," Sam stressed pointedly. She felt guilty, and she hated the fact that she was guilty. Just simply going home to ignore the problem sounded blissful at the moment. Avoiding issues would only stress the future, but it would alleviate the current situation as tempting as that sounded. Only the dread of what the next school day would ensure and the nagging thoughts of their friend's wellbeing kept her grudgingly sharing the truth to Jazz.

A slight chill was beginning to breeze about, alongside the slightly darkening sky. It cast orange and pink hues around the three, stressing the somber mood swimming around them. It was getting late, and their respective parents were bound to be wondering whereabouts and cordiality. Well, especially in the case of Sam. The Manson's were rather- imposing when it came to their daughter's life as it would seem and had a rather unfortunate dislike to her choice in friends and her choice in outward appearance.

Tucker slumped himself against Sam, the two leaning against each other as they braced for the finale of their eventful Friday afternoon and the inevitable following day. As it was, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton had already come to the decision to send Danny to school the following day, regardless of the fact that said teen had only just been released from the hospital a day before. This was apparently due to his 'behaviors' and the general act of seeming animated enough to not spend a day at home resting. Though, the two younger teens suspected it had more to do with the parents not wanting to deal with his attitude for another full day. Not that they could blame them...the sheer difference was hard to ignore and hard to tolerate for long.

There was also a chance that he had simply either agreed to it not aware of what the school day would bring or had said nothing against it. It was likely he was unwilling to spend more time with the Fenton parents than he had to.

"After...after the screams died down... All I could do was watch, like my eyes were glued to the portal." Her fists clenched empty air, stiffening against Tucker. "It was like I couldn't move or do anything but...watch the swirling green. Even when he finally got himself out of it...I just couldn't move." She hesitated, the breeze blowing strands of her hair into her glistening eyes. "I-I just can't imagine how it was for...him. We only watched and listened." She choked on her final words and pulled away from Tucker to wrap herself in her own shaky arms. Tucker himself had hunched over and uselessly hovered his hands above her back.

It had been paralyzing- Sam and Tucker stared at the hole their friend had gone into, eyes wide, mouths held open. Sam's operating phone camera held limply in her hand, where the two had gotten as close as they dared to the hole that was only spluttering and radiating cold sparks of power.

Simply thinking about it, and mostly brushing it off had numbed the emotions regarding the event where they lost their best friend. It had made the whole situation feel numb in a way, less impactful. Aside from the ghost's behaviors, her brain had subconsciously shut out the worst of the event from her mind. In an odd sort of defense mechanism.

But now...reliving it directly- sharing it out loud...the bluntness of the situation finally hit Sam like a wall. Or probably more appropriately the Fenton RV, appearing out of nowhere and obnoxiously sailing its way through anything in its path.

Sam let out a dry chuckle that stiffened the dry air, "Jazz, it was a mistake. We know that." She straightened up in a forced maneuver, knocking Tucker's suspended arms away in the process. "I-I got a video of it on my phone. Because we were about to follow him in, I wanted a video of it...so. I can send it to you if you want to watch it, but the last thing I want to do is watch that right now." She gestured limply to the cell phone that was resting on her lap, pulling it out when she straightened up into a proper position.

Jazz hesitated, searching both of the other teen's features, then the ground. Slowly she nodded and took the device out of her hand. She unlocked the device, as it had no password and silently went about opening the messaging app and sending it to her own number. She didn't exactly blame Sam for not even wanting to spare a glance at the video yet, it must have been bad enough to see the first time in person. Jazz was, however, upset at the two, and still confused. It was childlike to examine something so potentially dangerous alone! Even if ghosts weren't real, which she wasn't sure about herself, it was still a large electrical machine that hadn't even been working in the first place! That's dangerous in itself, but when you add in the potential other-wordly probably toxic components...well it was a disaster waiting to happen. Surely Danny had gotten that enough from all the lectures the two got from their parents. Even if he did mostly ignore them as she did herself.

Her phone broke the silent prodding once more with a harsh blip of sound as the video had been delivered. Jazz ignored it to be viewed later, she'd have to watch it alone...if it was one thing she trusted about this conversation, it was that it would be a bad idea to let her parents know just yet. Once she got a better hand on the situation, maybe breaking that trust might be more optimal...if it helped, then screw trust and secrecy.

By the time Jazz worked up the courage to ignore the frustration and enter a level-headed mindset much like she used for counseling practice, the air had flitted into darkness. The crisp early fall wind biting at their bare arms, nearby street lamps casting them in their yellow glow.

She never managed to get her words out before yelling reached the ears of the three teens sitting in the dark driveway. It...it was Danny again. It had startled her more than she was willing to admit, as she had slipped back into the normalcy of everything, regardless of the heavy conversation. She sighed and glanced at the lights shining through the windows of her home. "Look, you two should get home. There's school tomorrow, and I won't pressure you to more answers until later. I'm not heartless, I get that this is a heavy topic. What kind of psychologist to-be would it make me if I didn't respect your wishes?" The two younger teens agreed hastily and quickly stood up from the stone stairs.

Tucker awkwardly chuckled once more, "Uh, well be careful with Dan- uh I mean with the ghost!" and quickly made his way down the driveway and on the sidewalk with Sam only a few feet ahead.

The ghost...? First, they tell her that her brother isn't who she thought he was, then they tell her that the three had messed around with dangerous machinery, and now there's a ghost!?

Unless they expected her to believe that her 'brother' was the ghost.

She swallowed uneasily, it didn't seem improbable given the circumstances...but nah. They obviously have some pent up emotional pain from the event and are covering it up with a lie that their minds would like as to protect their own emotions. Surely. So ghosts it was then.

When the two distant shapes of her brother's best friends finally faded from the glow of the furthest street light, Jazz slid open the door to her house. Immediately the noises she had heard from outside had ceased. It would seem that her presence interrupted the verbal argument between her brother and her mother. Curious, she made her way into the kitchen. At once Danny's eyes were locked onto her, seemingly contemplating her.

"You," he pointed at her demandingly. "Yes, could you get her to grant access to the downstairs? Because for some reason I am being denied entry?" He glared at Maddie, who was effectively blocking the entryway to the basement lab, a growing expression of annoyance plastered on her face.

She rested her hands on his shoulders, making the boy flinch and momentarily try to break free from her grasp. She did not budge, so he stopped trying to fight it and turned his gaze back to Jazz as to reason with her to fix his situation. "Come now, Danny, honey." She started in a gentle voice, "I know you've been laying in a bed for a while at the hospital, but you just got back...you should really be up in your room resting. Now."

Their mother had begun to usher the boy away from the door, where god knows what he wanted to do. Jazz watched as the boy groaned frustratedly, but complied anyway. It was almost comical and saddening to look at simultaneously. "Fine, fine. I will leave the door alone." She suppressed a shudder as he brushed by Jazz's shoulder, Maddie following after.

"And?"

"Ergh, and I will stay in the bed. I understand." He grumbled up the staircase, Maddie settling beside Jazz at the bottom of the stairs. They stood and watched, listening to the sounds of him trudging to his room, and clicking the door shut.

Maddie let out a long exhale of air that she had been holding in and turned to her daughter. "I know this may be a lot to ask of you, but I'm going down to the lab with your father." She reached out and grabbed her daughter into a small hug before continuing. "Jazz, could you keep an eye on your brother and make sure he keeps resting?" Maddie drew out of the hug and held onto her shoulders to look into her face. "It seems like he took the whole thing badly, mentally at least, so I want to keep him monitored...for now. But I really have to go downstairs and deal with the...recent development of the portal." She glanced back towards the kitchen solemnly, before turning back to her daughter. "Think you can do that for me, sweetie?"

Jazz stared at her for a moment. As far as her parents were concerned, as she was before Sam and Tucker had explained what had actually happened, the portal had opened...but Danny was not inside. It was thought that he had simply been near it enough to be shocked by the electrical currents created when it had started up. The faint electrical burns etched into his skin surely supported the concept. Overall, however, it was unknown how the portal even got started in the first place, even to the boy's best friends. It seemed everyone was at a loss...and they had yet to confront Danny with the question due to his injuries.

She blinked and gently reached up to her own shoulders and brushed her mother's hands away. "Relax mom, I'll poke my head in every once in a while to check on him." She told her mother reassuringly, she herself glancing into the kitchen and towards the basement door. She noticed the woman's hesitation. "Maybe you should just head downstairs, dad might raid all of the fudge down there again without supervision soon," Jazz watched her expression fall comically for a moment before rolling her eyes, and turning away from her daughter. "And about Danny? Don't worry about him, I can handle anything he throws, just focus on...that." Maddie visibly relaxed at Jazz's final words, and rest her hand on the cold door handle that led to the flickering basement.

"Thanks, sweetie." Jazz simply shrugged as she stood onlooking while her mother excitedly swung open the creaky door and rush down the stairs. In her haste, she had left the door open...based on Danny's intent on getting himself down there, she approached the door with an audible chuckle and clicked the door shut firmly. It was likely that their parents would probably be up all night figuring out the swirling portal. Personally, she aimed to stay as far away from the wicked device as was possible with it being underneath her own house.

The teen stepped away from the door and trudged through her dimly lit home in silence. For once, Jazz was actually dreading the idea of waking up the next morning and making her way through a whole day of school. It would inevitably be full of her checking up on her brother, due to his current mental state. She silently rued the reasoning for actually letting the boy go to school...he had just gotten out of the hospital after an electrical accident for crying out loud!

She mulled over the idea to persuade their parents in the morning to let him stay home (again) as she was making her way through the upstairs hallway towards her own bedroom. It was doubtful her parents would even be willing to discuss the concept, as they would most likely still be in their lab.

A sudden chill overtook Jazz and made the hair on the nape of her neck rise in apprehension, causing her to halt her movement. She froze. It felt like something was watching her, or rather looking through her. Slowly she turned her head to swivel it around her in attempts to catch (or hopefully not catch) awaiting eyes staring at her. Upon doing so, she realizing she was standing right outside her brother's door which was cracked open leaving a small visible gap to his bed.

There Danny sat, looking straight at Jazz with a dead somber expression. "Danny? You alright?" She gently pushed the door aside and leaned against the doorway.

He didn't respond for a moment, only opting to stare at her.

When he did finally speak, it spooked Jazz into a slight flinch against the doorframe, "...J-azz" he started unsure like he struggled to get the first word out before speaking smoothly. "Why do you not let me get down to the entry? Either way, I do not think I would even get anywhere with it anyway, maybe it is better I stay up here?" He sounded more to be having his own debate rather than talking to her.

"Why do you want to go down to the lab so badly? Didn't you learn your lesson from last time?" Jazz sent the accusation a bit harsher than she had meant to, but he didn't seem to mind.

Danny simply opened his mouth at a loss, "Uh," He closed it suddenly and finally looked away towards the window on the side of the room. Instantly the chill that had been plaguing Jazz lifted, leaving her with a faint shiver. "Just- I wish to be alone. Goodnight- right?" He continued to stare at the window, blocking his expression from her.

This wasn't like her brother, but maybe a few more days may do him good, already he was a bit less intense. Maybe this was a good sign? Perhaps going to school would actually help him too, though it was uncertain. Either way, Jazz smiled dimly and turned away from the door. "Goodnight, little brother." She pulled the door further towards herself effectively sealing it, the chill leaving with it. She simply played the temperature off as it coming from Danny's open window...it had been pretty chilly outside as the three had discussed.

Feeling slightly better than before, she finally made her way into her room, flopping onto her bed without bothering to change first. She lay there a moment, grasping her phone to her chest...perhaps she would wait to watch the video Sam had taken. To be honest, she was nervous about what she may see.

Jazz flopped over to her side, facing her wall and braced herself. It was unlikely she would be able to fall asleep as it was, it wouldn't exactly hurt to play the video anyways, regardless of the content. Her mind was too active.

She slowly pulled her phone in front of her face, holding it above her, bathing her face in its light. Bracing, she tapped on the video file and held her breath as the grainy video started to run.

Even with the grainy footage and bad angle due to the phone being dropped surely from shock, Jazz felt goosebumps cover her arms as she watched on. Luckily it seemed the phone landed against something, leaving the camera still facing the suddenly explosively light portal.

The video seemed to fly by, her breath finally hitched out of her throat when it had ceased.

Locking the phone, she haphazardly tossed it to the side and lie face up and gazing unseeing at the ceiling. Only one thing through her mind.

The image of a creature dripping in green, smoke spewing off of it. Looking so scared, so hurt, and so unlike her brother before collapsing terrifyingly in a heap. His glowing eyes fading and closing. The smoke continuing to stream off less and less, the dripping green goo dissipating.

Lastly, the figure looking exactly like her brother, lying in a broken heap. Clearly hurt, and covered in small burns.


OkayOkay I'm sorry about that. Next chapter will finally lighten up a bit! Wooooop.

Feel free to review with any feedback, it really helps guys! Thanks for the support again :)

-CardboardBox