Jack stood in front of a softly glowing anti-ecto cage. It was designed to prevent a ghost from using its powers to escape, and right now there was a very powerful ghost within its confines.
But as Jack looked at the data reading from the machines monitoring the cage, he saw that there was still a high level of energy being exerted by the ghost. Which he wouldn't be surprised about except that none of the other ghosts had displayed the same thing.
He looked back at the being kneeling on the floor of its prison. It appeared to be perspiring, which was odd, and it appeared to be growing fatigued.
Why would an undead being show signs of weariness?
Jack ran a tired hand through his hair and began to turn away from the ghost when he saw a flash of light. Looking back, he saw a ring of white light form around its waist and try to spread.
The ghost boy grabbed handfuls of hair in its gloved fists, eyes squeezed shut and brows furrowed in pain. The rings retreated and the ghost opened its weary eyes, and it sent a chill down Jack's spine.
They were a soft blue. Nowhere near the color of Phantom's toxic green gaze, or even the blue of its ice powers.
In fact, they were closer to the color of Danny's eyes.
Jack began studying the ghost boy again, noting the similarities between the thing...boy… And his son. Once you get past the obvious things like the white hair and green eyes, there was a striking resemblance.
To Jack's right, a machine dinged signaling a test was ready to be looked at. He walked over to the Fenton Ghost Analyzer and began studying the results of the ectoplasm taken from the ghost boy.
As he looked over the test, he furrowed his brows in confusion. There were trace amounts of iron and hemoglobin. Ghosts had no need to breath so why…
Another flash of light lit up the wall in front of Jack, and he turned to look at the ghost boy again. This time, the rings traveled further apart and revealed a white tshirt before they came back together.
Jack's breath hitched, and he walked over to the cage, watching as the boy looked at him with apprehension.
He sighed, running a hand over his face before addressing the specter before him.
"You're not a normal ghost, are you?"
The boy's eyebrows shot up into his hairline, eyes going wide as he shook his head.
Jack dragged a chair over before plopping into it.
"It's like you're some anomaly. Or from the twilight zone. You're somewhere between reality and fantasy, because you shouldn't exist and yet here you are with hemoglobin carrying oxygen through your ectoplasm, still displaying a large amount of active ecto-energy while in an anti-ecto cage."
Jack huffed, looking back at the boy who was looking at his own feet somberly, a tinge of what looked like regret dancing across his features.
"And you mimic human emotions well." Jack continued. "Like, really well. So well that I don't think you're faking them.
"So that's why I'm letting you go."
The boy looked up at him in surprise before speaking for the first time since he'd been captured.
"You're just gonna let me out?"
Jack's heart stuttered in his chest once again, finding more and more similarities between this boy and his son. Jack wasn't sure, wasn't sure he could ever be sure, but he believed this was the right decision to make in the long run. For everyone.
"Yep." Jack stated.
The ghost boy began to stand, pulling himself up with the help of the wall. Jack walked over to the door in the cage, unlocking it. He watched as the boy stumbled out through the doorway, taking a deep breath as if he'd been holding his breath inside his prison.
He looked at Jack for a moment, before wrapping a pair of arms around his shoulders. Before Jack could do anything, the ghost flew through the ceiling and away from Fentonworks.
Jack ambled his way up the stairs to the kitchen, taking a container of fudge from the fridge. As he sat at the table eating it, the phone began to ring.
"Fenton residence." He said, holding the phone between his ear and shoulder as he stuffed another piece of chocolate in his mouth.
"Hey dad." Jack choked.
It was Danny.
"Hey Danny-boy! What's up?"
"I'm just calling to let you know I'll be staying at Tucker's house tonight. Is that fine?" Danny asked, sounding unsure.
"Yeah, yeah." Jack rumbled with a full mouth. "Have fun. Tell Tucker hi for me!"
Danny chuckled back at him before speaking again. "I will… Thanks, dad."
Jack paused in putting another piece of fudge in his mouth.
"You're welcome, son."
Danny hung up and Jack could hear the dial tone ringing monotonously into his ear. After a moment or two, he hung the phone back up and dug through the bowl of fudge he was holding.
He was sure he made the right decision.