Author's Note:

Wow…Chapter seven? Really? O: I'm seriously shocked that I've made it this long. I usually get an idea, write some of it, then just forget all about it. But this one is extremely fun to write, and I just adore getting all the feedback I do. =3 You guys rock out loud!

Okay, to point out in advance, there is a timeskip in this chapter. I have to tie up the last chapter's cliffhanger, but then I'll allow myself to be lazy and not write an entire month's worth of stuff. XD I mean it's been six chapters and I've covered what, three days? So yeah. Timeskip. Watch for it. ^^

All my readers are wonderful and grand, and this chapter is for YOU! (As opposed to being for, you know, that rock over there. -points-)


There was a silence, then Tucker cleared his throat.

"It's just that…well, you don't seem to be breathing."

Danny stared at his friend, then glanced down at his chest. Even after that statement, he expected to see the rise and fall that was normal…but there was no movement. One hand shot to the bottom of his throat and he inhaled deeply. It was still possible to breathe…but if he didn't force himself to, his lungs just seemed to quit. Staggering back, the boy pressed himself into the counter, though he didn't really know what he was retreating from. Once again, he felt the cold in his chest try to spread, and he fought to keep it down. He had no idea what would happen if it managed to make it through the rest of his body, but he was willing to bet it wouldn't be an outcome he enjoyed. His hand still at his collarbone, there was a moment when he couldn't quite place what was off. Something was missing, other than the oxygen making its way through his lungs. Danny nearly cried out as he realized what it was; there was no pulse, no slight twitch beneath his fingers where it should be. He slid down the side of the counter onto the floor, hands clutching at his hair. It was still black, luckily, and everything was visible…but it seemed that other than the hair and lack of a hazmat suit, he was in the same condition he had been the moment he came out of the Portal.

"Danny…?" Sam's voice seemed distant, and he didn't bother to raise his head to look at her. "Danny, what's happening?" As she knelt down beside him, the boy managed to keep her in his peripheral vision, but he didn't turn. He knew what his eyes looked like, and there was no need to freak his friends even more.

"I would ask you the same thing," he finally croaked, resisting the urge to pull at his hair. "What's happening to me, Sam? I'm some kind of freak show recently, and just to add to the fact that a ghost came in here asking for boxes, now I can't get my lungs to do what they're supposed to." He saw her glance at Tucker who immediately joined them on the floor, still tactfully keeping his mouth closed. "How am I still conscious? People who aren't breathing aren't supposed to be sitting up and talking, are they?"

"It'll be fine," the girl told him hesitantly, one hand going to his shoulder. "We'll…we'll figure this out -"

"Figure what out?" Danny snapped suddenly, turning to look at her. "Figure out why I should be dead? Figure out how it is I can suddenly pass through floors and make my arms disappear? This isn't natural, Sam!" He pointed at his eyes which were stubbornly green and now faintly glowing. "This is far from natural, it's just…scary. Yeah," he added as they were silent. "Yeah, I'm scared. I'm scared of what's going to happen if my body suddenly realizes it shouldn't be functioning in this condition. I'm scared of what my parents would do if they found out about it." The boy paused once more, then shook his head with a very forced laugh. "I'm scared of myself. Just like you two are." The others exchanged a glance and Tucker leaned in with a worried frown.

"We're not scared of you, dude-" He cut off as Danny turned to him with what was almost a glare.

"Really, Tuck? Can you honestly tell me that?" Tucker blinked, opening his mouth to reply, then hesitated and glanced away. With a weary sigh, Danny let his head sink onto his knees. They sat in silence for another minute or so before Sam suddenly stood, glancing at a clock on the far wall.

"We'd better head upstairs, your parents might be coming home soon…" She offered hand to her friend, who paused slightly before taking it, allowing the girl to pull him to his feet. To her credit, she didn't mention how cold his hand still was, instead choosing to point out the positive; "You're eyes are blue again, at least."

"That's supposed to be a comfort?" he muttered, hands going into his pockets as they made their way up into the living room. Sam gave him a rather weary grin, ignoring Tucker's protests as she flipped out the light while he was still a few feet away from the stairs.

"Touché. Alright, so it doesn't help, but you can't blame me for trying."

"Just watch me," the boy countered, pushing the door open as they reached the top. "I'm a master at pinning the blame on anyone." He paused, listening for any signs of life in the house before allowing the other two to pass him, pulling the basement door closed as he followed. His parents hadn't returned yet, and from the information Sam had fed them, they may not be back for another hour.

The trio sat, the shock of the basement excursion slowly being replaced by the strange sense of hilarity that followed such events. Tucker threw himself onto the couch, letting his feet dangle over one side casually and managing a grin.

"Alright, well despite everything…You guys gotta admit, that was pretty cool."

"Cool?" Danny demanded, actually laughing weakly. "There's something wrong with you, Tuck, and that's saying a lot coming from me."

"Hey, no taunting," the techie scolded. "Think about it though; if we didn't have everything else going on right now, it would have been completely awesome to see a ghost." The other two laughed, vaguely recognizing the fact that it wasn't actually that funny. "And hey," Tucker continued with a grin. "I bet he only ran because he was afraid of Danny here."

"Afraid of me?" the boy repeated, now nearly doubled over with laughter. "You are crazy!" He distantly noticed the fact that his lungs were operating the way they should again, and he could feel his heart beating steadily. It was easier to notice after the feeling had be absent for a while. He failed to mention the fact to his friends, however, as all three of them were struggling for breath.

"Well yeah," Tucker was saying. "I mean, you did have green eyes after all. That box ghost seemed like a total wimp to tell the truth. What can anyone do to someone with a bunch of cardboard boxes?"

"Who would be scared by green though?" Danny questioned. "What was I going to do, fire my lazers at him?" Sam shook her head, attempting to speak as she concentrated on breathing.

"He probably thought you were a ghost too," she laughed, then suddenly sat up, mimicking the spirit's voice. "He has green eyes, he must be some ghost trying to eat me!" They doubled over in fits of renewed laughter having now reached the point where anything could be funny, whether it made sense or not.

"If that's the case, we have an infestation of ghosts at school!" Danny exclaimed, throwing up his hands in mock fear. "So many people with green eyes, we're sure to be killed!"

"Ah, but you have an advantage over them, Danny," Tucker pointed out, now laying almost sideways on the couch. "You're already dead, after all!" The other boy let out a scoff, shaking his head.

"Hey, do I look dead to you?" He poked himself in the chest with an attempt at a face of concentration. "Nah, still solid as far as I can tell. I'll give you half-dead, how's that work out?" The three friends glanced at each other in silence for a moment before nearly guffawing, Tucker finally rolling onto the floor with a grunt.

"Oh yes, Danny Fenton, the half-dead ghost-boy," Sam gasped, punching her friend on the shoulder. It wasn't an impressive hit at all, as she was still trying to get enough oxygen to her lungs.

"Well then, old chap," Tucker began in a terrible attempt at a British accent, sitting up as best he could. "No work today, would you like to go haunt some old building?"

"Delighted, I'm sure," Danny responded, holding out one hand as if grasping an invisible teacup. "We could grab a snack of ecto-scones on the way, of course!" They had to quit at that, as all three were now laughing too hard to get any words out. It took a few minutes for the hilarity to die down, and the trio sat in silence, attempting to get their breath back. It was Sam that finally broke it, stating what seemed to be a gross understatement;

"Wow, our lives are weird…" The other two shook their heads in a rather bemused way. Danny let his arm rest on the side of the couch, leaning his head against it. The silence stretched on until there was the sudden sound of the door being opened. With a stifled yelp, Danny felt his arm sink through the couch, glancing around quickly before putting it behind his back. His friends looked at him with wide eyes and then shifted closer in an attempt to hide the abnormality from view. As Jack and Maddie entered, the freshmen attempted to look natural, looking up as if a conversation had been interrupted.

"Hey Mr. and Mrs. F.," Tucker greeted, shooting them a grin. "Any luck with that ghost?"

"Neither hide nor ectoplasmic-hair of him," Jack muttered, leaning his gun against the wall. "There were some odd readings once we started to head home, but nothing showed up." Maddie patted her husband's arm consolingly, instinctively handing the man a cookie from a pouch on her belt. His face brightened instantly, and he darted out of the room with his prize.

"Were you kids alright while we were gone?" the woman asked, glancing the three over. "We had to leave so quickly…"

"DID YOU SEE A GHOST?" Jack's voice demanded from the next room, accompanied by a loud crash that seemed to be some plate falling to its demise. The three friends glanced at each other, Tucker fighting away a laugh and Danny attempting to get his usual 'they're talking about ghosts again' expression firmly in place.

"No ghosts here," Sam told them, her arms going behind her head casually. "We've been alright. Didn't burn the house down today, at least." Maddie grinned, tugging the hood of her hazmat suit back down around her neck.

"Well you're welcome to stay for dinner tonight," she told them, her 'hunter' demeanor dropping into the more common motherly attitude. "We're just ordering pizza. It's probably less of a risk." She strode out of the room, the kitchen door swinging shut behind her. As soon as the room was silent again, Sam and Tucker glanced over at the other boy warily. He gave a rather weary grin.

"I'm good," he muttered, holding up his arm as evidence. "Normal again…for now." There was a slightly awkward silence as each looked away, all considering one thing or another.

"Maybe…" Sam started hesitantly with a glance at Danny. "Maybe if we just wait it out, it'll go away. I mean, it can't just stay around forever, can it?" The boys blinked, then shrugged in near unison.

"It could be strange effects of the blast," Tucker put in hopefully. "You know, just a bunch of random responses from your immune system or whatever. They're a bit weird, but maybe that's just due to the weirdness of the whole accident. It doesn't have to be something extremely abnormal." Danny chuckled, shooting a glance at the door through which his parents had exited.

"'Abnormal' describes my life, Tuck. Whatever…this is," he gestured vaguely at his arm, indicating the previous oddity it had undergone. "it isn't normal. But…it can't be too weird, right? I mean, no one but us have noticed anything's off, so it's not serious enough to be setting off any major alarms, you know?" They fell silent again for a moment, the only noises coming from Jack's dropping something - again - further into the house. Sam finally spoke up, her gaze locked on some point to the left of the window.

"So…we'll wait it out?" The black-haired boy sighed slightly, letting his head fall onto the back of the couch.

"Yeah, we'll wait it out. Things can't turn out much weirder, can they?"

The often-used phrase 'famous last words' passed through Danny's head, and he groaned inwardly, eyes closing just as they flicked back to green.


Famous last words indeed…Danny repressed a groan, staring down at the broken glass with resigned annoyance. He spun around quickly, grabbing the dustpan that had been permanently assigned to his station and began sweeping up the shards of what used to be a beaker. Mr. Wolfe shot the boy a rather weary glance as he passed, and the freshman dumped the glass into the 'pointy box' with a bit more force than was necessary. He had been getting looks like that all week and they were starting to annoy him. As he leaned against the lab table again, Danny let his head fall onto the hard surface with a muffled grunt. All of the teachers seemed to note that something was off about the Fenton boy. (More so than the obvious, at least.) Though his marks had never been wonderful before, they had dropped considerably since the accident. The staff blamed it on stress, but it was only partly true.

It seemed the universe had fun messing with Danny, and ever since he had decided to let things wear themselves out, things had only gotten weirder. The phasing was the worst; it wasn't only his arm now, though that was still the most common. Occasionally, he would find himself unintentionally falling through a wall he had been leaning on or even sinking through the floor, like he had almost managed when Sam and Tucker had been over. It explained him ending up in the kitchen in the middle of the night, though solving that mystery was a small comfort. As a result, Danny had barely slept all week. The worry of falling through his bed combined with general stress was enough to keep him up, often pacing the room incessantly while willing his eyes to look normal again. The color change was happening even more frequently, though it wasn't exactly surprising. Every time he began stressing over something, it triggered the 'scary eyes', as Tucker called them. The three had quickly set up a signal to alert the boy of it, as he could never notice unless he checked a mirror or something similar. Sam managed to be very subtle, narrowing her own eyes and tapping whatever surface was nearest. Tucker, however, tended to look slightly deranged as he squinted and pounded one fist against a desk. Despite the weird looks his friend got, however, the warning helped. Danny could then concentrate on keeping everything visible and solid, though it was still difficult to manage both at the same time. Though it was possible to control these 'symptoms' to an extent, he still couldn't get the eyes…it was difficult to tell what it was that should be focused on, considering he never felt any different.

The bell rang suddenly, jolting Danny out of his lull. As the class began hurrying to the door, their teacher stood in the front, raising his voice to be heard over the babble.

"Papers are due in Monday," he reminded them. Raising one hand at the groans that accompanied this announcement, Mr. Wolfe shook his head slightly. "I know no one likes weekend assignments, but if you used the time wisely, most of you should be done by now and need not worry. Off to lunch then, have a good weekend." The students streamed out into the hall, joining the mob that was headed to the cafeteria. Danny, who was just swinging his backpack on, stopped as he heard the older man add "If I could have a moment, Daniel?" With a sigh, the boy turned around again, crossing the room to stand in front of the desk. Mr. Wolfe sat again, realizing that it was always much easier for students if they were able to look down at a teacher. Call it what you will, but he hated making them uncomfortable, unless it was for a good reason.

"You seem…frayed recently, Daniel," the man began, absently straightening a few pencils that lay to one side of the desk. As the boy gave no reply, he continued. "I realize freshmen year is difficult, at best, but students don't usually drop 28 different pieces of equipment in two weeks." He glanced up, brown eyes twinkling at the attempt at humor. As the joke remained unsuccessful, Mr. Wolfe cleared his throat, taking back his rather serious manner. "Not only am I worried about your grades, which are far from wonderful as you know, but you're not yourself recently." He inwardly winced at the next phrase, knowing it was always ones the students despised hearing. "Is there…anything you'd like to talk about?" There it was, as usual; that automatic distrustful look, followed by an almost cold indifference.

"I'm fine, Mr. Wolfe," Danny muttered, arms crossing over his chest. "Things have just been a little…hectic lately. I'm sure I just need to get some sleep this weekend and it'll work out." He added something in a low mutter, though the teacher could only catch 'fall into the kitchen again…' Blinking, the older man sighed slightly and leaned back in his chair.

"Alright, well…I don't want to keep Samantha and Tucker waiting. You're free to go." The boy nodded quickly with a hurried thanks and turned, striding out into the lessening crowd.


(Pardon the sudden POV switch here, as well as earlier. I think it's sorta necessary at the moment.)

The classroom fell silent as the door swung shut, and Winston Wolfe sat in the welcome quiet for a moment, his eyes closing in an attempt to lessen the headache that had formed. After a few seconds, he rose from his chair, striding around the lab in the customary after-class sweep. His fourth hour usually did a decent job at cleaning up, but there were always the occasional burners left on or beakers sitting on the counters. It was ironic that the class who gave him the least to clean also was before the only period in the day he really had any time. Scooping up an abandoned test tube and returning it to it's cupboard, the man ran one hand through graying brown hair. They were decent kids at Casper High…if it weren't for the fact that he needed all the money he could get, he wouldn't have considered the other job. He almost regretted the transfer, but…Casper could get another teacher, and the position in Oakland paid enough to start saving for a real house.

Winston sighed slightly, glancing down as his foot stepped on something that crunched under the weight. There were a few pieces of glass still lying on the floor, presumably from Danny's latest slip. He had become so accustomed to them, there were times that the boy rushed in the cleaning. He would have to mention that on Monday…crouching down, the teacher brushed the remaining shards into one hand with practiced ease, leaning over the lab table and dumping them into the glass disposal box. Despite what Daniel said, there was something not quite right going on. All teenagers had issues, but something about the sudden change in the boy's attitude worried him. He had been such a lively kid the beginning of the year; rather nervous, of course, as any freshman would be, but there was plenty of spirit. Though there were some issues with the other students - namely one troublesome jock - Daniel had his friends, and nothing seemed terribly amiss.

It was last Wednesday when it started, the man realized. The boy had been jumpy, almost paranoid, and ended up dropping four of the beakers in one class period. It hadn't gotten any better after that, as today's filling of the 'pointy box' would verify. If anything, he was more on-edge, far more defensive. It was almost like there was something he was trying to hide, but he knew he wasn't doing a very good job of it. Winston's frown deepened as he returned to his desk, absently pulling his lunch from the bottom drawer. What could a boy as young as that be hiding? As he bit into the sandwich extracted from a paper bag, the teacher shook his head. There was something up with Daniel, that was for sure…he just hoped he could figure it out before his transfer.

And were the boy's eyes always green…?


Alright, sorry for the wait on this one, as well as the shortness…I really did want to get it up tonight, and that seemed like a decent place to stop. =3 It's a birthday present from me to all of my wonderful readers! A bit backwards, to tell the truth, but…Is Waggy's birthday today! -confetti- I feel rather old, at 16 now. XD So…as a reverse present, HAVE THIS CHAPTER!

I might be going a little AU with Mr. Wolfe, but I like him. =3 He might come in a little more later, but don't worry; the guy won't interfere with the correct ending of the story. He's getting transferred, after all, as Casper High didn't have a Winston Wolfe when we came in!

Again, sorry this one's shorter…I'll try to make the next chapter a good length! I have to plan it first, of course. x3 Waggy's discovered the joy of outlines. I've got one all set up for these first 7 chapters. It helps find all the usefulness of information that I'd otherwise have to search for. I might post it after the whole thing's done, so you can see my random thought process. =3

Reviews are SO LOVED. ^^ Thank you, all my wonderful readers!

Kudos!

~Waggy