Thank you so much to everyone who read and reviewed! Your words of encouragement are the best part of my day. Also, a big thank you to everyone who helped me with my line break problem. It sounds ridiculous that I've been writing fanfiction for several years and only just learned how to do proper line breaks, but at least I know how to do them now.
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or Star Trek. I do however own Adrian Whipstaf (kudos to anyone who can guess how I got her last name).
Ensign Adrian Whipstaf was confused. Confused and frightened. One minute she had been doing a routine maintenance check on one of the plasma coils, and the next minute everything turned into chaos. There had been sparks and electricity she remembered, someone had screamed, and then she was lying flat on her back, looking up at the engineering room ceiling. People had crowded around as she picked herself up and she tried to reassure them that she was fine; she felt a little strange, but she was fine. It was the weirdest thing though. She couldn't seem to get their attention. Even Commander LaForge was ignoring her. She reached out to tap her friend Simon on the shoulder, but her hand went right through. Simon had shivered a bit, but it was like she wasn't even there. She wasn't even on the ground, she noticed, she was floating several inches off the deck plating.
What in the world? Adrian thought, utterly baffled. What happened? She looked at the faces of her shipmates around her. All showed shock and fear and more than a little worry, and all were fixated on something behind her.
What are they all looking at? She wondered. She turned around to see her own face. Her body was still laying on the floor, a fellow officer desperately trying to perform CPR.
It was at that point that she started to freak out. She yelled. She screamed. She waved her arms in front of their faces and got no response. The medical team arrived. She followed as they took her still form to the infirmary; she watched as they tried in vain to revive her. She was sobbing, shaking her head in denial when Dr. Crusher announced the time of death. It couldn't be; it just couldn't; it was impossible. But as much as she denied it, as much as the rational side of her dismissed the idea, the truth was right in front of her face.
She was dead.
The day had started out pretty normally for Danny. He got up, ate breakfast, and reported for work on time. The training room incident a few weeks past had resulted in no negative effects that he could see. The councilor had no new interest in him beyond what she already had, and no uncomfortable questions had been asked about him assaulting a superior officer. For once it seemed Danny's luck had held. William Riker obviously had either forgotten the incident, or wanted to pretend it never happened, and Danny more than happy to do the same. After weeks of no action, Danny had relaxed and unpacked. He had indeed prepared for a quick run into the Zone, should his secret have been discovered.
Work had been passing much as it had any other shift when, about halfway through, electricity filled the air, turning everyone's hair on end. Red lights and alarms blared for an instant before a panel on the other side of the room went up, taking a nearby ensign with it in the explosion.
"Adrian!" Someone yelled, rushing to the girl's side.
All around, there were cries for a medical team, demands for status reports, and the tapping of keys while diagnostic programs went up; all systems were shut down until they could figure out what was wrong. Danny wasn't listening. His eyes were glued on the one person in the room that no one else could see.
His heart bled for the girl, it really did. Watching one's own death was one of the most traumatizing experiences imaginable, there was a reason that most ghosts blocked the memory out. It was plainly obvious that the girl was confused and scared (not that he blamed her) and Danny desperately wanted to help. If it weren't for all the witnesses, or the fact that he had a whole lot of diagnostics to run, he would've taken the new specter to his quarters straight away and explained things. The transition from living to dead was painful at the best of times, but it helped if there was someone to help you through it. Unfortunately for both of them, duplication was one trick he had yet to master in his human form. As soon as he got off, he resolved to have a heart to heart with the newbie.
She wasn't hard to find, young ghosts rarely left their body until the funeral. Sure enough, there she was, translucent tears streaming down her face as she floated. Danny considered her, invisible, from across the room, trying to figure out the best method of approach. This was always a delicate operation, one that Danny hated with all of his heart. He mentally braced himself, and then let go of his invisibility.
Her eyes locked on him instantly, full of shock and befuddlement. Slowly, as not to startle her, Phantom floated over, stopping a good distance away yet still within speaking distance. He spoke softly, trying to put as much compassion into his voice as possible.
"Hey."
The girl gaped at him, lost for words. After a moment, she began to stammer "You can…but I'm…and you're.."
"Floating?" His eyes lit up with amusement. Pale lips turned upwards in a soft smile. "Yeah. I'm Phantom by the way, Danny Phantom."
He held his hand out for her to take, but she ignored it. "Adrian Whipstaf, Ensign. Normally I would shake you hand, but considering circumstances..."
"Of course." Danny assured. He had offered the hand on purpose, knowing she wouldn't be able to shake it. He had wanted to assess her acceptance of her new situation.
Silence ruled for a long moment. Internally, Danny relaxed a bit; the initial moments were always the hardest. Surprisingly, it was Adrian who broke the quiet. "Soo, Phantom huh? So you're…?"
"A ghost?" Danny completed helpfully. "Yeah, I am. Just like you, in case you haven't noticed."
Her face fell. "I was kind of hoping that it wasn't true. That there was some other explanation."
"Afraid not." Danny said softly, putting his hand on her shoulder (or where her shoulder would've been if she weren't intangible). "The shock you took could've killed an elephant. Come on, let's go somewhere a bit more comfortable so I can explain things."
Guiding her gently out of the room, he navigated several decks and corridors before they reached his door. "What are you doing?" Adrian demanded. "Those are Lieutenant Fenton's quarters."
A smile broke over Danny's face. "I know," He assured her. "Just trust me."
Without further chance for argument, he led her through the wall and into the room beyond. Once safely inside, Danny dropped back and willed himself to become human. The ensign was far too busy looking around to notice the light of his transformation. "What if the Lieutenant...?" The question faded away as she turned around and took in his appearance. The look of shock on her face was comical.
"I don't think we have to worry about that." Danny chuckled. "I highly doubt that Fenton will mind."
"But the Liuetenant...you...are human!" She stammered. "You're in Starfleet. Someone would've noticed."
"They would," Danny agreed. "If I was fully dead, which I'm not. But that's a long story that will just confuse you more if you don't have the background info." He smiled up at her. "Make yourself comfortable while I get a drink. I would offer you one, but that could prove to be difficult, considering. I wouldn't worry though, you only died a few hours ago. Tangibility will come with age."
He walked over to the replicator as he spoke. Adrian hadn't moved; she was staring at him. His eyebrows lifted in inquiry as he retrieved his drink.
"You're different." She finally managed.
Danny actually laughed at that. "I thought that was already established, but yeah. Different is an excellent word to describe me."
Adrian was shaking her head. "No, I mean you're different than at work. You're not stiff, or calling me by my rank or acting like…" She trailed off, obviously mortified.
"A complete and utter jerk?" Danny laughed. "I know. That person you work with? That's not me, not even close. I'm actually a really laid back guy, I just act stuffy out there."
"Why?" The girl sounded thoroughly perplexed. "Why wouldn't you want people to like you?"
Danny shrugged. "That's part of the story that I was going to get to later. Just suffice it to say that I've learned from experience, extremely long experience, that it's easier this way for everyone involved."
With a heavy sigh he sank into a chair, a heavy silence permeated the air. "I'm not going to bite you know; you can come closer."
Adrian felt herself blushing profusely as she glided over, settling her self above a chair facing him. "There, that's better." He said. "We may as well be comfortable, I have a feeling we're going to be here for a while. I mean, I'm sure you're bursting with questions."
There were so many, but she supposed the most obvious was best to begin with. "What am I? I mean, I know I'm a ghost, but I'm not really sure what that means. I'm not some soulless remnant of who I used to be am I?"
"Of course not!" Danny scoffed. "You're no remnant, although there are ghosts like that. You're exactly who you think you are, Adrian Whipstaf, Ensign serving on board the Enterprise. You're still who you were before you died, you just work differently now. For the most part, ghosts aren't the horrible things that most people seem to think. We float, yes, we can pass through solid matter and shoot ectobeams as destructive as any phaser, but unless we choose to forget, we are still who we used to be." He smiled up at her. "That's actually one of the reason's I'm trying to help you here. All spirits are distraught right after their death, and too many loose themselves in that misery. They become consumed by their bitterness and hate because there was no one to support them, teach them, or explain things. Too many ghosts have become irrevocably malevolent simply because there was no one there for them when they died. I don't want that to happen to you."
Adrian looked down at her hands, eyes inexplicably filled with tears. "I'm thankful." She whispered. "So what now? What comes next?"
"Well," Danny said thoughtfully. "That depends a lot on you. I can only tell you the options. You'll obviously want to stick around here until after the funeral. Trust me when I say it helps bring some closure to the situation. After that? I don't know, there are several things you could do. Number 1, I guess you could stick around the ship for a bit, a lot of spirits stay to make sure their loved ones are safe and what-not, but I wouldn't stay for too long. After a while your friends and family move on and you'll have to as well. Then again, you may want to head into the Ghost Zone right away. It's a sort of pocket dimension where ghosts live." He explained, seeing her questioning look. "You're made out of ectoplasm now, so you'll have to head into the Zone eventually if you want your strength to grow. I have a lot of friends there, so I'm sure I can hook you up with someone to show you the ropes, at least until you're comfortable enough to go out on your own. I have to warn you, it can be pretty rough in there at first if you don't have someone looking out for you."
Adrian bit her lip, unsure. "Don't worry about it." Danny assured. "The funeral isn't for a few days and you don't have to make a decision right away anyway. Even if you decide to stick around, I'm not going anywhere. When you're ready to move on, you come find me."
Adrian nodded slowly. "Thank you." She looked at him consideringly. "So what are you, if you don't me asking? I mean, you've already said you're not completely dead, but I'm a bit confused on how that's possible."
Danny waved it off. "Don't worry about it, I don't blame you. Before it happened to me, I would've had trouble believing it myself. I'm what is commonly known as a halfa, a ghost-human hybrid. None of us really know for sure how that works. All we do know is that our genetic structure is completely human, but has ectoplasm bonded with it. We have all of the powers of the ghosts, but we have a human side as well. In fact, of the three of us in existence, only Dani was never completely human to begin with. She was born a halfa; Vlad and I got our powers in a lab accident.
My parents were ghost hunters you see. Back when I was fully alive, they built a portal into the Zone, but it didn't work. Like the stupid kid I was, I went inside hoping to fix it for my parents. Cliff notes version? I tripped on a power cord, my hand touched something on the wall, and the portal turned on with me inside. I woke up like this."
Adrian winced. "Ouch."
Danny grinned. "Believe me when I tell you, you have no idea. It has to be one of the more painful ways to go."
"So how long has it been since you….died?" She had no idea what else to call it. "You seem to be pretty experienced with this sort of thing, but you can't be any older than 25."
Phantom looked her straight in the eye. "That's the other reason you might want go to the Ghost Zone as soon as possible. Ghosts don't age Adrian. You might be happy out here for a while; you might even reveal yourself to your friends and continue relationships as if you were never gone, but eventually they'll get older and you won't. They'll die and you won't, and most of them won't become ghosts. In the Zone, you'll make friends that'll last as long as you will; you won't have to watch them fade away. You asked why I don't want to be liked out here? That's why. I'm reluctant to start any kind of personal relationship with mortals because I've had to say goodbye too many times." His expression turned melancholy. "I've been here a long time Adrian, so long that I've lost count of the years. I've seen and done things that you've only read about in history class. The third world war? I fought in it. First contact with the Vulcans? I was there. It's been centuries Adrian."
The former Starfleet officer looked down at her clasped hands. "I don't know, I just…" She stopped, unable to put her feelings into words.
Danny nodded sympathetically, "Don't worry about it," He repeated. "Like I said, you don't have to decide anything yet. You're a ghost now. You have all the time in the world."
It was a very nice funeral, exactly like I would've wanted if I had any say in the matter. Adrian thought to herself. She had stopped thinking of herself as 'Ensign' a while ago; military ranks were for the living. It had hurt at first, but it was becoming more comfortable, and Danny seemed to approve of her attitude. He saw it as a sign that she was accepting the truth and letting go, like he had advised. He really is a sweet guy. She thought. I can't believe no one's seen through the façade. Seeing his stiff form beside her though, she reconsidered. One the other hand, he's a phenomenal actor. Has a lot of practice I guess.
Over the last few days, Phantom and she had spent a lot of time together. Sometimes he was helping her master her barely existent powers; sometimes they just talked. She talked about her life, her parents and friends, and he did the same. Those conversations usually ended up with him talking a lot more than she did, except to ask questions, not so surprising considering the sheer volume of his experience. He spent hours telling her about his many adventures, ghost fights, and hilarious family stories. Danny had never told her exactly how old he was, and part of her really didn't want to know.
He had taught her how to be tangible for short periods of time, but she couldn't hold it for long. She still couldn't get anyone but Danny to see her, but for right now, that was ok. He had positioned himself a little to the side of everyone else, giving her room to stand beside him. To anyone else, he was being his usual antisocial self (in fact, many were surprised that he actually came at all), but no one saw the specter beside him, nor noticed the invisible hand in Fenton's grasp. As much as she hated herself for her weakness, Adrian couldn't help it. She clung onto Danny's shoulder and sobbed. He couldn't show any external sign of comfort to her of course, except to give her hand an extra squeeze.
The obituary was very nice, if a little predictable, the usual 'she was a fine officer and a good friend' blah blah blah. It was so cliché that she could have laughed if she had been able to stop crying. Danny was right though, attending her own funeral brought a definite feeling of closure.
He stood there with her long after the coffin had been ejected into space and everyone else had gone. It probably wasn't good for his image, and Adrian appreciated the gesture. She was intangible again, unable to hold onto her solid form, but Danny could still see her even if he couldn't touch her. They might have stood there for hours if Councilor Troi hadn't interrupted them. "I was a little surprised to see you here Lieutenant. I wasn't aware you and Ensign Whipstaf were friends."
"We weren't." Danny replied shortly. "But we worked together and respected each other. I felt like I should be here." He took in her raised eyebrow. "I prefer to keep my relationships professional Councilor. That doesn't mean I have no empathy."
With that, he turned sharply and left. Adrian could've stayed for as long as she wanted, but decided there was little point. Staring helplessly out at her coffin wasn't going to get her anywhere. Besides, the Councilor was still there. Deanna Troi was half-betazoid, if anyone on board could sense her, it was the ship's councilor, and she wasn't ready to be exposed just yet, or maybe ever. With one last glance out the window, Adrian followed Phantom.
By the time Adrian caught up with him, Danny had already reached his quarters and was perusing his bookshelf, looking for a little light reading.
"I think you're the first person I've ever met who takes books shipside with him instead of data pads." She commented, needing to be able to focus on something, anything, other than the coffin floating off slowly into space. "Most people don't want to cut that much into their weight allowance."
Danny spared her a quick glance before turning back to the shelf. "True enough," He admitted easily. "But I figure that if anyone on this ship has the right to be nostalgic and old fashioned it's me."
Adrian bit her lip at the reminder of how old Danny really was. As silence fell over the two, she didn't enter any farther into the living space, but stood there looking at her host and seemingly gathering her courage. "Will you take me into the Ghost Zone?" She finally blurted.
Danny turned fully to regard her. "Now?"
Adrian nodded, still biting her lip. "If you don't mind."
"There's no pressure." Danny reminded. "My feelings on what you should do aside, I don't want to push you if you don't feel ready for this."
"I know," Adrian murmured. "But you're right, I'm a ghost now and that's not going to change, no matter how long I try to deny it. Besides, even if I choose to stay on the Enterprise, I should know something about this Ghost Zone. Better to do it now while I still have the nerve."
After looking at her for a long moment, Danny nodded and opened a portal. "Make sure you stay close to me." At her assenting response, he turned and plunged into the Ghost Zone, Adrian right behind him.
She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, but it wasn't what greeted her. Swirling green surrounded her in every direction, a vast field of ectoplasm stretching before her like the reaches of space. Every once in a while, a floating island or the many floating purple doors would interrupt the omnipresent green. There was little order to the place; gravity seemed to have no bearing here, doors were scattered without apparent rule or design. Up, down, right, and left seemed to be meaningless to this place. The sight was infinitely strange to the linearly accustomed mind of Adrian Whipstaf. Still, there was something about it; perhaps it was because she was a ghost, but she was inexplicably drawn to this place. Danny's voice interrupted her thoughts. "It's a bit odd at first sight I'll admit, but you soon get used to it. Come on, I want you to meet some people."
With that, he took off. She made sure to stay right behind him. All of her directional sense was worse than useless in the Zone. It was a good thing that Phantom apparently knew where he was going, because she would've likely wondered forever and never gotten anywhere. She shuddered at the thought of trying to find her way around without Danny's help. No wonder most new ghosts lose it. She thought, once again thanking whatever deity had placed Phantom on the Enterprise at the time of her death.
With a few exceptions, all the doors looked the same to her, but, after a few minutes of flying, Danny stopped at a particular door and knocked. Adrian tried desperately to cow the butterflies in her stomach. Besides Phantom, she had never spoken to a ghost before.
"Hold on." She heard from the other side of the door. "I'll be there in just a minute."
Several crashes and curses later, the door was flung open and a rather stocky blue ghost in overalls was forcefully evicted. An apparently young woman appeared at the door, wearing a housecoat and looking rather rumpled and very irritated. "I don't care what you thought you were doing!" She yelled at the figure. "If I catch you in my lair uninvited again, I swear I'll stuff you into one of your precious boxes and send you to Skulker, gift-wrapped!"
Not waiting for a reply, the female apparition extended her hand and shot a green beam at the object of her annoyance. With a pained yelp, he was sent tumbling away into the distance. It took Adrian a moment to recover from the shock, but Phantom was apparently unfazed. He and the female ghost looked very similar, Adrian noticed, white hair, green eyes, even their facial structures looked the same.
"Box Ghost is as annoying as ever I see." Danny was supremely amused. "Why was he in your lair?"
"Looking for boxes, what else?" The girl Phantom waved her hand irritably. "I don't know why he's singled me out, but this is the third time this month." For the first time, the woman looked past Danny and noticed Adrian. "You've brought company I see."
Danny smiled. "Adrian Whipstaf, this is my cousin, Dani Phantom…Dani with an i…Dani, this is the newest addition to the ghostly population." His cousin's eyes demanded a more thorough explanation. "She was an officer on my ship." He obliged. "There was an unfortunate accident a few days ago."
Her face immediately softened. "I'm sorry. The funeral just happened?" Adrian nodded her head numbly. "You poor thing, come on in."
Dani closed the door behind them as they entered. "So, cousin dearest volunteered to show you the ropes?" Adrian nodded again. "Good idea. The first little while can be disorienting if you don't have someone to guide you through it."
She bustled past them. "Can you hold yourself tangible long enough to have a cup of tea?" Adrian answered in the negative, she was tired from being tangible for most of the service that day. "No problem, we can just talk. Are you just showing her around Danny? Or is there some other reason?"
"Actually," Phantom said. "I was hoping that I could count on you to mentor her a bit once she's ready to move into the Zone for good. We both know it can get a bit rough in here, especially before her powers manifest a bit more."
Dani looked over to her and smiled. "Of course, I'm sure we'll get along great."
"I don't know if I'm ready to do that just yet…" Adrian tried to explain, but Dani cut her off.
"That's ok, my door's open whenever you feel you are."
The former Starfleet officer relaxed. There was something about these two that put her at ease. "So you're cousins?"
"In a matter of speaking." Danny answered. "Dani's the third halfa I was telling you about earlier. See, Vlad always wanted a half-ghost child to raise as his own…"
The rest of the night was spent in pleasant conversation. Pleasant, in fact, to the point where Adrian almost forgot the circumstances that brought her here. Which was of course what the two Phantoms were going for. When the time came for Danny to head back, Adrian decided to stay with Dani a bit more and work on her powers while Danny worked. With a promise to come back right after his shift, Danny disappeared into the Zone. As the door closed, Dani turned back to her. "So, what has Danny been having you work on?"
A/N: Wow! I think this is my longest yet. I honestly don't know where the idea for Adrian came from. It just occurred to me and I started writing. Actually, I think that this might be my favorite chapter yet. It seemed to flow a lot more naturally and I'm really happy with how it turned out. Hopefully, everyone reading this feels the same way. As always, if you have any suggestions or constructive criticisms I will gladly listen and try to reply where I can. Thank you for reading!