Thursday, September 16th, 2004
Day 7: Flight
"Ugh..."
"Danny!"
Sam's voice, usually rather soothing, just made his head pound harder, and he longed to just sink back down into the covers, but the worry in her tone made him open his eyes. "What happened?"
"You passed out," Tucker looked a little bit alarmed. "After you fought the ghost. We were really worried, so we called your parents in case it was a result of the accident."
The state of the house after the fight floated back into his head, "What about the house? It was a wreck, wasn't it?"
"Your parents assumed it was a ghost attack," Tucker laughed nervously. "Funny how they were actually right."
"I-" Danny was cut off by the rather abrupt arrival of his parents in his room.
"Danny!"
"Sweetie, are you alright?!"
"The ghost didn't get you, did it, son?"
"Don't get up, dear! Just rest, I'll get you some soup in a couple minutes."
"Uh..." Danny gazed blankly at them. "What?"
"Those doctors said you would be fine, I can't believe you passed out! I'm going to have a talk with them that they'll never forget!" Maddie scowled darkly, Danny shivered at the anger in her voice.
"I'm fine, really," he said. He knew, from the fact that the more he had used his powers last night the more tired he got, that he had passed out due to overusing his new abilities. He didn't want the doctors blamed for something they didn't do, or couldn't foresee. 'After all, who could guess that my parents were right about ghosts all along?'
"Are you sure, honey?" Maddie brushed his hair back, "I don't think you have a fever, but maybe it's best you stayed home tomorrow."
"Okay... and don't go yelling at the doctors, please?"
"If you insist... I'll go get some soup for you..."
"And I'm going to go install doors on the portal! Can't let those spooks out to break more stuff!" Jack proclaimed before bounding off after his wife.
"Are you sure you're okay, Danny? You were acting kinda weird," Sam said, concerned.
"What? You mean the hysterical laughing? I was tired, so sue me. Still tired, actually... What time is it?"
"About ten," Tucker glanced at his PDA. "We should probably go, Sam. We don't get a day off from school tomorrow. "
"It's not a day off, Tucker," Sam scolded, but followed him out of the door. "Danny's staying home to rest because he passed out!"
"He still doesn't have to go to school tomorrow."
The door slammed shut. Danny closed his eyes and let himself doze.
It was late morning when he awoke again, feeling rested and perhaps a little bit better than he had all week. He felt wonderful, actually, at least until he saw the pile of Homework collecting on his desk that either his sister or Sam oh-so-graciously put there. He flipped through it, finally settling on finishing the English book, since it was his worst class.
He didn't get very far, though.
Danny tried to read his English book, he really did, but he kept thinking back to last night, to when he had changed. It had felt so odd, but at the same time, it felt natural. The cold feeling, after being so angry at the ghost, he'd wanted to fight, to drive it off, away from his friends. He tried to recall that feeling.
There was a glow again, and he watched, half frightened and half intrigued, as the light formed the rings, spreading over his body just like last night and leaving himself glowing and jumpsuit clad in its wake. It took only the merest thought for him to lift off the ground and into the air, and he flew around the room experimentally.
'It's so much easier to control like this,' Danny thought in wonder. He still couldn't maneuver too fast, but he had no problems keeping himself in the air and mobile. He stopped in front of his mirror, looking at himself. "Am I really a ghost?" He asked his reflection.
His own quizzical expression stared back, hair messy and white and eyes glowing softly with curiosity.
'Human. I'm human,' Danny stared at his reflection hard, imagining the same face with black hair and blue eyes. Warmth seemed to tingle in his gut, and the white light spread out again. He watched in fascination as the rings spread over his body, leaving him warm, human, and alive again.
"Definitely not normal," Danny muttered. He kept watching himself in the mirror, summoning the feeling when he turned into the ghostlike form. Again, the rings spread out from his waist.
'So I can change back and forth whenever I want... That's kinda cool,' Danny thought. 'I wonder if the testing equipment will notice me,' he started towards the door, tugging the doornob with more force than was necessary on most doors – his door was old and sticky – and, to his surprise and alarm. The hinges broke.
Danny gaped at the door half-hanging in his hand, and tried to put it back. 'Did the ghost break my door?' Danny wondered. The door felt light as paper, though, when he moved it back into place.
"No way," Danny shook his head disbelievingly. "There is no way I have superstrength."
Despite that, trying to pick up his bed suddenly sounded like a lot of fun.
Ten minutes later, he had confirmed that he did indeed have superstrength as a ghost, and the slamming of his bed back down on the floor made him glad that his parents were at another meeting, showing off the schematics for the ghost portal. He soon got bored of lifting heavy objects, though, and sunlight was falling enticingly through his bedroom window.
"I wonder if I can be invisible and intangible while I fly," Danny muttered. He stared at his reflection, White-haired and green-eyed and eager, and willed himself to disappear. The lightness came first, and then he was transparent, a moment later, he had faded completely. He maintained the thought that he was not there and flew through the ceiling, through the roof, through the op center, until he was in the air above the op center. He stopped to try to get rid of the intangibility without becoming visible. It didn't work, but after two more short tries he managed it.
'Flying has got to be the most amazing thing ever,' Danny mused, a giddy feeling swamping his senses as he rose higher and higher into the air. He watched people and cars turn into little specks, houses into little blocks.
'There's the school!' Danny spotted the large grey building. 'Sam and Tucker should be getting out soon. They've got to see this!'
He flew towards the school, turning himself invisible and waiting in a dark alley that they always passed by on the way home from school. They were the only ones who took that path, so he didn't have to worry about being seen too much.
He waited a few minutes, and then, sure enough, Sam came walking down the sidewalk.
"Hey, Sam!"
He made himself visible.
"Danny?" Sam gasped, startled by his sudden appearance. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be at home? Why do you look like that again?" And then her violet eyes narrowed in suspicion. "What are you up to?"
Danny gave her a silly grin, ignoring her accusation. "I can control my powers easier like this. Where's Tucker?"
"Detention," Sam replied warily. Blue or green, she could always see the mischief in his eyes when he was up to something. "He was late to class again."
"Too bad, I wanted to show you both something," Danny looked a bit disappointed, but not too much. It was okay if it was just the two of them, maybe even more than okay.
"What?"
Danny beamed at her, seized her hand, and pulled her deeper into the alley, away from prying eyes. "I was flying earlier."
"Why-" Sam interrupted herself, eyes wide. "You want to take me flying?"
Danny nodded cheerfully, "It's amazing up there, Sam! It's all nice and breezy and everything looks tiny!" Danny stopped, giving her a pleading look, "Unless you don't want to?"
"It sounds great, but do you really think you can carry me?" Sam asked doubtfully. Seeing as how she was rather small and thin, she wasn't exactly a heavy person, but people are still heavy.
Danny smiled happily again, "No worries! It turns out that I have superstrength!"
"You do?" Sam blinked.
Danny nodded, and then wrapped his arms around her waist. A moment later, they were in the air. Sam yelped and grabbed Danny's shoulders.
"Warn me next time!"
"Sorry!" Danny replied, not sounding sorry at all. "Anyway, Sam, look!"
Sam had been on planes before, but a view through a window was nothing compared to what it was like to fly like this. The air up this high was chilly, not helped by the icy cold that seemed to cling to Danny, but it was breathtakingly beautiful.
"Wow, this is awesome," Sam breathed. "No wonder you were all giddy."
"Not giddy," Danny protested cheerfully. "I would blame the heights and thin air and stuff, but I don't think I need to breath right now, 'cause I went really high earlier and- Hey, wait, the air isn't too thin up here for you, is it?"
"No, it's fine."
"Okay, but let me know if you start to feel bad and we'll go lower... Though it really is more awesome the higher we get."
"So let me get this straight. You flew around, just you and Sam, with her in your arms and you're still saying it wasn't romantic? Man, have you even watched superman?"
Sam had gone home for the night, and Tucker had stopped by Danny's house after detention. They were currently sitting in his room, 'doing homework' which meant they were really just chatting.
"Do I look like a superhero?"
"... Actually, you kinda do. You've got a transformation, you can fly and you have superstrength, you've got a pretty goth girl who you just took flying around the city. Alone. With no adult supervision."
"I take it you don't want to fly?"
"Hey now, don't put words in my mouth," Tucker raised his hands defensively. "Flying sounds awesome. Why did you take so long to get so cheerful about it?"
"Well, it's really hard to fly as a human," Danny frowned thoughtfully. "I mean, it's easy enough to get into the air, but it's like something's resisting me every time I try to move. But I don't have that problem as a ghost. It's... actually really easy, way easier than my other powers."
"That's good, because it's also the most obvious. Imagine if you started floating in the middle of class!"
Danny scowled, "Don't even want to think about it, Tuck. But anyway, what do you think about me going ghost?"
"Going ghost? Is that what you're calling it when you change, now?" Tucker raised an eyebrow and laughed.
"Hey!" Danny protested, scowling. "It sounds cool!"
"To you maybe, but they're your superpowers, you can call your transformation sequence whatever you want," Tucker chuckled. "Anyway, about you 'going ghost' as you put it-" Danny stole his beret, and they had a short but furious struggle over it that Tucker won.
"I think it kind of makes sense, actually. It's almost like you're mostly human like you are now," he nodded to indicate his black-haired, blue-eyed self. "And mostly ghost in the other form. But your powers keep leaking out into your human form, and in your ghost form, you don't really look like the other ghosts."
"I don't? Why not?" Danny blinked, trying to recall exactly how the other ghosts had looked.
"Well, I can't really judge too well, since we've seen... what, two ghosts? But they were glowing green and blue, not white, and they were kinda transparent even while they were solid. But you're totally there unless you're intangible."
"Huh, that's odd."
"Not if you're right about you being half ghost."
"When did I say that?"
"Right before you passed out last night."
"...Oh."
A/N: Sorry for the delay, and the shortness. Not much happens today, but stuff will happen tomorrow, I'm pretty sure!
Anyway, I would kill to be able to fly. How awesome would that be? I would probably be even more crazily happy after flying than Danny! And of course, I would want to show all my friends how awesome being able to fly is... Dangit, Danny, I want to fly too!
So, Danny can change into his ghost form. I think his early accidental changes back are partially due to fear and insecurity, him subconsciously wanting things to go back to normal so that he and his friends can be safe. But of course, while having the time of his life flying around the city, there is no danger of him accidentally wanting to be human again. Because, duh, flying is awesome.
As to Danny being home alone. Jazz is trying to get that guy Spike (who I envision as a sophomore) to have his 'breakthrough' so she's tutoring him and talking to him. Jack and Maddie just invented a ghost portal that works - they are talking to their ghost hunting colleagues, bragging, and showing off blueprints.
Now all they need to do is actually find a ghost.
Once again, thank you for your reviews (and favorites). I love hearing from you all!
Oh, and there might be some (probably low quality) drawings on my deviantart account from this, if you want to look at them. The link should still be on my profile.
