The Goth and the Ghost
a Danny Phantom fanfiction
by The Cinderninja

Chapter 4: The Ghost Portal

Danny ended up leaving Sam's house at eight, and walked in his own front door a few minutes later. "Hey, Jazz?" He shouted to the house, walking up the stairs to his bedroom. Her head poked out of a doorway down the hall.

"Danny? What is it?"

"Do have like, a cord or something?" He wondered, looking at the pendant in his hands instead of at his sister. When she asked him "for what?" in a confused sounding voice, he held it up for her to see. Walking over to get a better look at it, she grabbed it from him, and he glared at her for taking it without asking.

"Where'd you get this?" She asked.

"Sam gave it to me. Now give it back, it's mine!" He took it back and stuffed it back in his pocket before Jazz could take it away again. She sighed, rolling her eyes at him.

"I don't think so, but I'll go see what I've got." She answered, walking back into her own room. Danny walked into his and put the stone on the desk, sitting down in his chair and resting his chin on his arms, staring at it. He didn't know why he'd found it at Sam's, and something about it frustrated him. Like how he didn't want to put it down, or let other people grab it.

"Here, Danny." He jumped and fell sideways off his chair when Jazz walked in, startling him. Standing up and brushing himself off, he stared at her. In her hand was a thin pale cord. "It's an old shoe lace. Sorry, but that's all I had."

"It's fine." Danny took it from her and sat back down, stringing it through the top of the pendant. Jazz stayed where she was standing behind him for a few minutes, tapping her foot on the floor, before finally rolling her eyes.

"You're welcome." She muttered, leaving.

"Huh?" Danny blinked, looking up. "Oh, thanks, Jazz!" He shouted, tying a knot and holding his makeshift necklace up, before sliding it over his head. He grinned to himself, before walking back downstairs. He'd probably already missed dinner – he usually did when he stayed out late. In those cases, his mom would set something aside for him on the counter.

Finding it was relatively easy, even though the counter was covered in junk. Most of it broken – or working, but it was hard to tell the difference – pieces of machinery. He was about to yell at someone to clean it up before remembering that he was supposed to have done it last night.

Shrugging, he decided he'd do it later. Grabbing his dinner, he had to stop and debate whether or not to microwave it. Eyeing the microwave suspiciously, and remembering what happened last time – and most times – that the ecto-powered appliance was used, he decided that he'd rather just eat his food cold.

Dropping his empty plate in the sink a little while later, he grabbed an empty box from the floor in the corner of the kitchen and started sweeping the junk from the counter inside. Once the box was full and the counter was empty he kicked open the door to the lab. "Mom? Dad? You down there?"

"What is it, sweetie?" His mom called back from downstairs.

"Junk delivery." He announced, dropping the box down on a counter next to his dad.

"That stuff's not junk, Danny!" his dad shouted indignantly.

"Uh, right. What is it then? No, wait! I don't want to know!" He realized his mistake too late, and winced when his father's hand came down on his shoulder, stopping him from escaping back up the stairs.

"These are the parts for the new Fenton Thermos!" he stated proudly.

"A thermos?" Danny stared blankly. "You're making a thermos?"

"Not just any thermos, Danny! A Fenton Thermos!"

"Right. Fenton. So what does a thermos have to do with ghosts?" He asked, doubtfully.

"Well, when it's finished, you should be able to trap ghosts inside of it, without them being able to phase back out." His mom explained, subtly prying him out from under his father's grip.

"In a thermos. Right." Danny shook his head slightly, before turning to leave, but stopped when he caught sight of the Ghost Portal. For once, he actually felt slightly interested in it. "Uh... guys? Are you sure it's a good idea to leave that thing open?" He wondered, taking a few steps closer and peering at it. "I mean, if all that stuff you said about it being a... gateway to the 'Ghost Zone', isn't it a bad idea to just leave it wide open like that?"

"Oh, no, silly." His mom responded cheerfully. "No ghosts are going to come through while we're down here. Besides, we're working on making a door for it." She was still smiling at him when she finished, completely oblivious to the blank look on his face.

"Uh. Right. I'm going to bed now. Night mom, dad!" He shouted, running back up the stairs and shutting the door to the lab behind him. "Why can't I have normal parents?" He wondered aloud, rolling his eyes as he climbed the stairs to his own bedroom.

He changed into his pyjamas and climbed into bed, stopping to take his new shoelace-necklace off. He stopped before he could pull it over his head though and hesitated, before deciding to keep it on overnight.

Danny woke up with a jolt, sitting up in bed. He looked around his room, confused, trying to figure out what woke him up. A quick look at his alarm clock told him it was only 3am. He stood up and walked over to his bedroom door, listening for any noises that might have woken him. He was met with silence. Shrugging it off, Danny turned around to get back into bed.

I need to go downstairs.

Blinking in confusion, Danny stared at his bedroom door. It was wide open, and he was holding the door knob in his hand. "Uh... okay?" He muttered to himself. "I guess I'm going downstairs?"

He walked down the stairs as softly as he could, wincing as the old steps squeaked loudly every time he put weight on them. Making in downstairs and into the kitchen, he frowned, looking around. "Uh, okay... now what?" He wondered. He looked around, still confused, rubbing his eyes. He stopped when his gaze fell on the door to the basement.

Down there. I need to go to the lab...

Danny frowned, but walked forward nonetheless, swinging the heavy metal door open. He left it open behind him as he crept down the steps, staring around at the room wide-eyed. With all of the lights off, the only light in the room came from the wide open Ghost Portal, and lights from a few of the different various machines left on in the lab. "Creepy." He muttered, flinching at the weird shadows cast on the walls and the electric green glow dancing about the room.

The lab creeped him out enough as it was during the day, with his parents down there. He suddenly found himself wondering what on Earth he was doing down here by himself at three in the morning. He was about to turn around and race back up the stairs into his bedroom, but something stopped him. He turned around, until he was facing the Ghost Portal again.

He stared at the glowing hole in the wall doubtfully. Of all the things in the lab, this was what he liked the least. Or rather, disliked the most. At least the other stuff was just machinery. And most of it didn't work anyway. He honestly had no idea how his parents had gotten the Ghost Portal working in the first place. He'd never thought it would work when they started building it.

So, if he hated it so much, why was he suddenly standing down here staring at it? Again, he tried to turn around and leave, but something held him in place. And he started walking slowly towards it, reaching up and lifting his necklace over his head.

"Wait," he moaned as he walked closer. "No way!" As soon as he knew what the Ghost Portal was for, he had decided that he never wanted to see what was on the other side. Thankfully, it didn't look like he was about to find out. He stopped walking just as he came to stand in front of it, and stared at the string in his hands for a moment. Then, lifting it up carefully, he held his hand out and stuck it through the Portal.

He winced slightly at first, but relaxed a bit when he realized it didn't hurt. It just felt like he was sticking his arm through a wall of heavy mist. Still, his heart was racing and he was seriously freaked out. He pulled his hand back abruptly, as soon as he felt like he could, and stumbled a few feet backward away from the Portal before falling into a sitting position in the middle of the lab floor.

Looking down at the pendant in his hands, he realized it had taken on a strange sheen and seemed to be glowing slightly. He wondered if the Ghost Portal had done something to it. Before he had a chance to wonder if it might not be such a good idea, he slipped the rope back over his head and looked up, blinking. Looking around the lab again, he suddenly found himself flinching away from every weird shadow cast by the constantly shifting green light.

Climbing to his feet, he continued backing away until his bare feet hit the bottom step. Turning around he ran up the cold metal stairs, tripping twice, and slammed the door behind him. He stopped once the door was closed and took a breath, looking around the kitchen. It creeped him out to think that such a normal looking house could have a giant swirling door to the Unknown in the basement.

He frowned, still confused as to why he'd been down there in the first place. He couldn't really remember much of it anyway, up until the point where he'd pulled his arm back out of the Portal. It felt like he wasn't entirely in control until then. Shuddering slightly, he turned around only to check that the door was shut properly – and locked, before climbing the stairs back up to his bedroom. He shut that door too, before climbing back under his covers and trying to fall back asleep.

The next day in school, Tucker looked like the only one who'd gotten enough sleep. "Yikes, what's wrong with you two?" He asked the two zombies at their lockers.

"Ugh." Sam groaned. "I stayed up until midnight looking through those books, and still didn't find anything useful. That, and my parents tried to get me up at five again." Danny and Tucker both flinched in sympathy.

"What about you?" Tucker asked, turning to Danny.

"I... I dunno." He hesitated, frowning as he pulled his books out of his locker and slammed it shut. He looked distracted, like his mind was still somewhere else. "I'm not really sure, but I think I woke up in the lab last night."

"Wait, the lab? What were you doing down there? I thought you hated that place." Tucker prodded.

"I do." Danny muttered. "That's the thing. I don't really remember going down there. Just running back upstairs." he hesitated again. "It was probably just a dream."

"Wait, lab? What lab?" Sam asked, leaning into their conversation as they walked down the hall.

"Well you know his parents are ghost hunters. They invent stuff, so they've obviously got a lab."

"Obviously." Eye roll.

"That's where the Ghost Portal is." Tucker added.

Danny stopped walking as more memories of the previous night started coming back to him. "The Ghost Portal..." he murmured, glancing down at the pendant he now wore around his neck. It showed no signs of any weird glowing. That much, he admitted, probably had been part of a dream. But still.

"Uh, Danny?" Sam asked, stopping and turning around when she realized he was falling behind. "You still with us?"

"Huh?" He suddenly blinked and started walking again. "Oh, yeah. Sorry. Just thinking."

"About what?"

"The Portal." He answered automatically.

"Yeah. Sam was saying that is sounds really cool. She wants to see it." Tucker said, grinning. Only because he already knew what Danny's reaction would be.

Danny shook his head, looking put off. "Ew, no. It's not cool. It's creepy."

"Um, Danny, hello?" Sam said, poking his shoulder and pointing to herself. "Goth? Creepy is cool."

Sam and Tucker both noticed that something was off about Danny that day. He kept zoning out and not really paying attention to what they were saying. Three times he got called on in math class and had no idea what the teacher was talking about. In gym he got hit in the head with the volleyball twice because he was just standing around and not paying attention.

By lunch time, they knew something was wrong. So the two of them grabbed him – one on either arm – before he could get to the cafeteria and dragged him outside.

"Uh, guys? What's going on?" He asked suddenly, seemed to snap out of it as they set him down on the picnic table outside.

"That's what were planning on asking you." Sam accused.

"Yeah man. You've been totally out of it!"

"I... have?" Danny asked, looking back and forth between them. "Sorry, I didn't mean to. I'm just distracted is all."

"Yeah, we can tell. But by what?" Sam asked, crossing her arms.

"Nothing, guys! I've just been thinking. It's not a big deal." Danny was starting to get kind of annoyed. Truth be told, he wasn't entirely sure what he'd been thinking about. The whole day had sort of passed in a blur. Everything felt hazy and surreal, like he was still in a dream. He was lightheaded and dizzy. And he kept seeing the Portal when he closed his eyes. In the same creepy light it had been cast it last night. "Hey, I'm not still dreaming, am I?" He asked, suddenly suspicious.

Tucker reached over and pinched him – hard.

"Ow!" Danny slapped his hand away.

"Guess that's a no." Sam commented dryly.

"Okay, okay. Cut it out!" Danny grumbled, standing up. "Sorry if I worried you, but nothing's wrong." He started to walk off, leaving his two friends sitting alone at the table together, completely confused. They both exchanged glances that said 'I've got no idea what's wrong with him' before shrugging and running off after him.

"Danny, we just wanna make sure you're okay!" Sam continued. "You've been really weirding us out."

"Yeah. Can you at least tell us what's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong with me." He snapped, eyes flashing. He suddenly stopped, taking a breath. "I just have a headache. I think I'm going to go to the nurse." He walked off again, and this time his friends didn't follow him.

Instead of going straight to the nurse, he sat down in front of his locker, leaning his back against it. "And I still don't know what on Earth happened last night." He muttered to himself. "Was that even real, or was it just some lame dream? Augh!" He suddenly shouted, annoyed, running his hands through his messy black hair. "Why are you making such a big deal out of this Fenton? It's probably nothing."

What I need to do is go back outside and apologize to my friends for brushing them off like that.

But as he stood to go back and talk to his friends, he suddenly remembered that dizzy, lightheaded feeling he'd had all day, and leaned back against the locker. "On second though, maybe I should go to the nurse."

Sam and Tucker were only a little worried when Danny never showed up for Science last period, and said so to each other.

"We probably shouldn't worry so much. He said he was fine." Tucker said, trying to convince himself as much as Sam.

"Even though he obviously wasn't." Sam countered bitterly.

"True, but he also said he was going to the nurse. He probably just went home early." Tucker shrugged.

"Fine. We'll go check on him after school though, alright?"

"Sounds good."

Sam was surprised to find that Tucker actually still got along with her fairly well, even when Danny wasn't around to mediate. She wondered when that had happened. And seeing as they both agreed not to worry about Danny any more, she figured she may as well bring it up now while he wasn't around.

"So, Tucker." She said slowly, leaning forward over a beaker of water sitting on a hotplate between the two of them on the desk. "What ever happened to 'she's the scary Goth girl who summons ghosts'? I thought you were totally caught up in that stuff."

"Huh?" Tucker looked up, then flushed slightly when he remembered. "Yeah, well. You have to admit, you are kinda spooky– "

"And proud of it."

"Yeah, and the ghost rumour was just sort of, there. I mean, with nothing to really disprove it, I guess I just got caught up in it."

"Danny said that wasn't like you."

"It wasn't! You were just really creepy, okay?" He stopped when he realized what he'd said again. "But, I mean, creepy is a good thing, now! Uh..."

"It's fine, Tucker." Sam sighed, rolling her eyes. She had to admit he wasn't actually that bad now that she knew him. He just said really stupid things sometimes. "I was just wondering what changed your mind."

"Well, hey. We never said I stopped believing it." He started, then paused to explain when she raised an eyebrow at him. "Hey, you saw that Shadow thing! Even it thinks you're in charge, so there's gotta be something to it. As for when I decided that you were cool, well." He paused and frowned, like he was trying to find a way to explain himself without embarrassing himself further.

"Danny talked to me. He told me to stop believing stupid rumours. And he said I should get to know you better before I started judging."

"Wow. And you were just totally okay with it?"

"Well I trust Danny's judgement a lot more then Paulina and Star's. I realized I was kinda being stupid, so yeah. I got to know you better. And Danny was right, you're actually pretty cool. So friends?"

Sam grinned. "Of course. I thought we already were."

"Well yeah, but now it's official." said Tucker, smugly.

"Kids!" Jack Fenton shouted when he flung the front door open to greet the two children standing on his front step.

"Hi, Mr. Fenton!" Tucker called back, grinning broadly.

"Uh, hi." Sam said flatly, still remembering their last encounter, at the school. "Is Danny home?"

"Yes, he's just up in his room sleeping right now." Maddie spoke up from the kitchen table, and Jack moved out of the doorway to let Tucker and Sam by.

"Alright, thanks. We're just, uh, gonna go up and see him, okay?" Sam asked, carefully sidestepping around the man and making her escape to the stairs.

"Yeah, thanks!" Tucker called, chasing after her. He paused on the first step. "Uh... is that a Thermos?" He didn't have to wait for an answer, whether or not he wold have wanted to hear it, because at that moment Sam reached over and grabbed his wrist, dragging him up the stairs and into Danny's room.

"Hey, how'd you know which one was Danny's room?" Tucker asked suspiciously.

Sam pointed at the sign on the door which read 'Danny's Room: No Parents or Sisters Allowed' in red permanent marker.

"Oh."

"Hey guys. What are you doing here?" Danny asked from the bed, sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"Danny? I thought you were sleeping."

"I was." He answered flatly. "Now I'm not."

Sam winced. "Sorry."

He blinked at the both of them. "But... what are you doing here?" He repeated, sounding confused.

"Uh, you were acting weird all day? You went home early? We were worried?" Tucker summed up.

"Oh... yeah. Sorry guys. Especially about how I acted at lunch. I mean, I guess I was kinda rude."

"Yes, you were." Sam said, smiling. "But we accept your apology." She added when she saw him wince at her words. "Are you sure you're okay though?"

"Yeah, I think so." He said sighing. "I've just been feeling weird lately. Everything feels totally unreal." He trailed off.

"And...?" Tucker encouraged.

"And what?" He stared blankly at the two friends sitting at the foot of his bed. Sam facepalmed.

"And there's obviously something else wrong. What's really bothering you?"

Danny gave a small annoyed sound and looked down at his sheets. "And I can't stop thinking about that stupid Ghost Portal. I keep seeing it every time I close my eyes."

"Why would you be thinking about the Portal?" Sam asked, raising an eyebrow inquisitively.

"I don't know! I never thought about it before!" He ran both his hands through his hair. "And now it's like I– " He cut off whatever he was going to say, looking up at the two of them. "I don't know, it's like I just want to look at it again. And I'm worried it'll be like last night."

"Last night?"

"Where I couldn't stop myself." He stopped talking, and frowned, pulling his sheets up around himself.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Tucker asked, looking worried.

Sam frowned thoughtfully. "Danny, I think you need to tell us about this weird 'dream' you had last night."

Danny sighed in defeat, but nodded. "I'm not sure. At first all I could really remember was waking up in the lab and running back to my room, but it kinda came back to me at school today. Something woke me up, and I ended up down in the lab. But it wasn't really... me doing it. Because I didn't want to but I couldn't stop it.

"And then I went down to the lab – I never go to the lab, not really. I hate it down there. But I went down to the lab and stuck my hand in the Portal." He frowned. That wasn't what he wanted to tell them. He wanted to tell them about his necklace, but he couldn't bring himself to mention it. "I... and then... and that was when I sort of, woke up." He finally finished. "After that I just went back to bed."

"Dude, that is weird." Tucker agreed.

"But I'm worried I'll do it again... it's all I've been able to think about today. And I mean, if I couldn't stop myself last time..." He shuddered slightly. "Stupid Portal!" He growled, annoyed. "That stupid thing gives me the creeps!"

Sam and Tucker both laughed, but Danny wasn't trying to be funny. They stayed and talked for a little while longer before Sam and Tucker decided to leave. Danny waved and saw them both down to the front door. His mom and dad were still in the kitchen, working on their stupid Fenton Thermos. He didn't know why they were working in the kitchen instead of the lab, but he didn't really care. In fact, he preferred it the less time they spent down there.

His mom asked if he was going back to bed. He told her he was. She asked if he wanted his dinner brought to him later. He'd said fine. And then he'd climbed the stairs back to his room, shut his door behind him, and sat on his bed. He held his pendant in his hands for a few moments, staring down at it, before finally muttering "Stupid ghosts."

After that he dropped it – but still didn't take it off, and went back to sleep.

Mossmask: Ah, well. When I read over the last chapter I noticed that it was riddled with small errors in grammar, spelling, and just a lot of missed or incorrect keystrokes. *stupid jamming keyboard*

Thanks for all the reviews so far guys~ *gushes* I've never had such a positive response so quickly to a story before. (Mind you, this is my best by a large margin...) In any case, thanks to everyone. I really love you guys.

Alright, so. As I'm writing Chapter 7, I realize it's mostly filler, and things are going really slow. When I read other stories, do I like slow? Not really, no. So I'm probably going to come up with some sort of inciting action/sudden even that forces the story to step it up.

Random Questions (feel free to answer any of them, even if you don't review the rest of the chapter. I think I'm going to start adding random questions to the bottom of each chapter from now on... x3):
How did you come up with you penname?
When/how did you first get into DP fandom?

~Dash