Table of Contents (edited):
1. Waste of Space
2. Haywire
3. Captured By My Class
4. Video Diary Screwup
5. This Story
6. My Missing Half
7. Between the Planes (or This Story p. 2) Idk yet
8. Back to the Future (or This Story p. 2) Idk yet
9. Ghost Nip
...etc...
Chapter 5
My Missing Half
"No one's perfect and you just have to accept your flaws and learn to love every part of yourself."
Outside Casper High
Edward Lancer groaned. The underpaid English teacher understood that ghost attacks were a common occurrence nowadays, but did they really have to happen in the middle of his class? He hadn't even gotten the chance to take attendance yet.
His students let out another sound of awe as the ghost teen Phantom battled an enemy that controls technology. They'd long since abandoned their desks in favor of watching the battle commence, adolescent faces eagerly pressed against the window of the classroom. Paulina's squeals and Dash's gasps of excitement were enough to convince the teacher that Phantom was winning.
Fantastic. At least that meant the fight would be over soon.
Absentmindedly shuffling his lesson plans, Lancer humored himself and glanced out the window. The battle was pretty devastating. The town mayor, Vladimir Masters, would have to put a lot of his own money into restoring the street afterwards- not that the man minded expenses that wouldn't even make a dent in his fortune. A glimpse of black and purple had the teacher taking a closer look at the people who had gathered outside to watch the fight.
Lancer scowled. So Mr. Foley and Ms. Manson thought they could skip out on his class to go see 'the great ghost boy' save the day? Well they'll be in for a surprise when they come back. Searching the crowd again Lancer didn't spot the Fenton boy among the onlookers. Strange, considering the three of them were always together.
If the deafening noise of technology being smashed wasn't loud enough to warrant attention, the blaring alarm of the Fenton Family RV certainly did the trick. Phantom and the other ghost paused for a moment to watch as the vehicle drove beneath them. Lancer could have sworn that the ghost teen groaned as loud as the teacher had moments before. Seeing that the Fenton parents were the only people in town who still believed Phantom was evil, he sympathized with the dead teen.
Guns blazing, Maddie and Jack Fenton came out carrying what looked like a dream catcher. The technology ghost noticed the weapon first and pushed Phantom towards it in order to make his escape. The teen had nowhere to go other than through the green net as Jack Fenton swung the weapon upwards. Phantom looked panicked when he came out the other side, but when nothing happened, the teen dodged an ecto-ray from Maddie Fenton and made to fly in the opposite direction.
Phantom took out his signature thermos- that he probably stole from the Fentons- and swallowed the escaping ghost before Maddie and Jack could. Typical of Jack Fenton, he cursed the ghost boy to oblivion while his wife promised cookies to calm him down. As usual at the end of every typical fight Phantom gets into, he waved goodbye to the cheering citizens and smiled.
Then he started screaming.
When the ghost boy suddenly collapsed in the middle of the street, the essence of Amity Park itself froze. The crowd of small children and adults were angry at the Fentons, but even the husband and wife looked confused. Maddie yelled things for Jack to grab, pointing at the screaming ghost on the road. She was obviously panicked and unsure of what to do.
Lancer's students made noises of distress.
"What did they do to the ghost boy?" Paulina cried in outrage.
"We have to go help!" Dash yelled, running towards the door.
Lancer stood up. "No one is going anywhere. I'm sure Mr. Phantom is perfectly capable of handling himself."
His class grumbled and glared, but the teacher would not budge. It didn't matter what ghost related stuff was going on outside, in here he could keep his students safe. God knows what seemingly heroic acts they would attempt if he let them go. Lancer eyed the audience outside. Phantom's got to be centuries old. He can take care of himself.
The teacher watched as the ghost stumbled into the crowd, lost from view for only a second, before the Fenton's ordered the sea of people to part. In the center lay Phantom, curled into a tight ball next to another boy in the same position. Ms. Manson and Mr. Foley were crouched over the two, eyes wide and worried.
"Hey!" Dash cried. "What the hell are they doing out there?"
"When they get back, they will be punished thoroughly," Lancer answered, stiffly, "but there is little I can do right now."
The Fentons took in the image of their son collapsed next to the ghost and immediately jumped to the conclusion that Phantom purposely hurt their baby. Mr. Lancer didn't have to hear them say it to know what was going on, their expressions said everything. While Phantom was facing away from the direction of the school, Mr. Fenton's face of anguish was in full view of the class. Lancer felt a twist of worry for the boy, but then scowled. They wouldn't be in this mess if they had bothered to show up to class rather than watch a ghost fight up close.
The Fenton parents grabbed the ghost roughly and pulled him to his feet. The teen looked panicked, eyes focusing on the boy still on the floor. Phantom was roughly dragged away from Lancer's three students who had yet to move from their frozen positions. Mr. Foley and Ms. Manson looked as panicked as the ghost. The crowd was angry at the Fentons, demanding that they release their hero. Maddie kindly told all of them that everything would be all right.
But Phantom- while the ghost hunters dragged the teen away, fighting with the crowd the entire way- the ghost began to cry and thrash in his captors grasp. His shouts were so loud that even this far away the teacher and his class could hear them.
"N-no! Stop it! Give him back! You can't!"
Maddie and Jack had never looked so confused and unsure in their life. They clearly didn't understand what was going on with the ghost, but they made sure to get him locked up in the back of their van as soon as possible.
"Missing... gone gone GONE! Where... NO!" he cried, gloved fingers reaching for something no one could see; getting angrier and angrier by the second.
The ghost's voice continued to arouse the crowd into protesting against the capture of Phantom, but they'd have to get the mayor to approve his release first. Maddie and Jack were appointed the head ghost hunters of the city so technically they had ever right to take Phantom if they believed him to be a threat. Lancer sighed as the door to the RV was shut and Phantom disappeared from view.
His students looked horrified. As the last of the crowd outside finally separated- most likely to go complain to Mr. Masters- Kwan found his voice. "T-They can't just do that, right?" he stuttered. "There has to be some sort of law against kidnapping or something!"
Lancer stacked his papers. Ignoring the screaming protestors that were regrouping down the road, he set graded tests on his students' desks. "Unfortunately, Mr. Lawton, ghosts have next to no rights in our world. The Fentons have every right to 'arrest' Phantom for questioning." The teacher motioned for his class to take their seats.
Before they could move from the windows, the door to Lancer's classroom opened to reveal Sam Manson. "That'd be great if they really were going to question him," she remarked, bitterly, dropping her spider backpack in the middle of the floor. The students glared daggers at the goth as she crossed her arms, a furious look on her face.
Lancer was beginning to wish he had called in sick today.
Dash, who finally decided to sit down, gripped the edge of his desk. "What the hell, freak? You can't just skip class and then show up like you own the place."
Seeing the class exhibit hostile intentions, Sam stiffened. "He's correct, Ms. Manson," Lancer spoke up, hoping to ease the tension. "You, Mr. Foley, and Mr. Fenton deliberately disobeyed the rules-"
"I need your help, sir," Sam interrupted, swallowing deeply. Her tone made the teacher pause as his student took a deep breath. The girl looked frustrated yet desperate, an odd combination of emotions to add to her overall hesitance. This was an odd occurrence, Sam Manson was never unsure of herself. She looked out the classroom door and motioned for someone to come in. "Please, we don't know what to do."
The occupants of Mr. Lancer's 1st period English class were suddenly aware of the whimpering coming from outside the classroom.
"Gone. Missing. Taken. Wrong wrong wrong WRONG."
Tucker Foley took hesitant steps inside the classroom, careful not to disturb the murmuring boy on his back. Seeing the crying form of his most mysterious student on the back of another child, the adult present felt as if he had been drenched in ice. For the first time in many years, Edward Lancer didn't know what to do.
His students stood up from their seats to get a better look. "What the hell happened to Fenton?" Dash asked.
Tucker and Sam winced but didn't provide an explanation. "Please," Sam begged, "we just need a place to hide him so his parents won't see."
"Hide him?" Lancer exclaimed, dropping his papers and rushing to his students side. "He needs immediate medical attention."
"NO!" Sam and Tucker cried in unison, shoving their teacher back and hiding their friend from view. The two teens glared at their teacher as if he had just suggested sending Danny to his death.
"THEY TOOK HIM. Missing. Not there, not there, not there," the whimpering teen muttered, scaring the class and terrifying the teacher. Danny curled his hands on Tuckers back and brought them over his chest. His eyes were shut tight.
Lancer looked up. "Samantha-"
"Please!" the goth shouted. She shifted above Danny and placed a hand on his sweating forehead. Her eyes refused to meet her teacher's. "He doesn't need to go to the hospital," Sam continued, bitterly. "We know what's wrong with him so all we need you to do is watch him while we go get something to fix him."
Lancer was backed into a corner.
"We would have left him in an alley or something if we weren't positive he'd try something stupid," Sam continued, "and we could have easily just gone somewhere else, but this was easiest." Sam sent a calculating look to Paulina and Dash. "At least we know you won't hurt him." Her gaze shifted to Valerie. "I hope," she added.
Sam and Tucker were both sweating and looked exhausted, but they carefully shared the weight of their friend between them. Their arms were gentle and secure around him, and their body posture screamed protective, both having stepped slightly in front of Danny while speaking. They both looked lost, but seemed sure they could fix Danny if given the chance to. Standing before Lancer were three students in his class that were always late, always in trouble, and always kept to themselves. His three most secretive students were here before him asking for help. What type of person would he be to deny them it?
"Fine," he decided, "Mrs. Manson, Mr. Foley, I will watch over him-" Their faces lit up.
"Thank-" Sam started.
"But!" Lancer interrupted, tone changing to mimic a parent disciplining a child. "I expect a full explanation of what you were doing outside instead of in my classroom during a ghost fight, and the reason behind his injured state of being." The teacher knelt down next to Danny. "It doesn't matter if he needs to go to the hospital or not, I deserve an explanation."
Sam scowled but Tucker looked like he expected this. The tech geek looked backwards at his suffering friend. "Come on Sam," Tucker said, attempting to grin, "at least neither of them are wearing a bed sheet this time."
The goth growled, "I would have preferred the bed sheet over this." Tucker's smile dropped.
Trying to remain patient- and resisting the urge to phone the hospital- Lancer clenched his fists. "Maybe you would rather have me call his parents?" Tucker and Sam's faces fell so fast that the teacher immediately took it back. "Alright then, one of you stay here and the other will go get whatever you need."
The teens shared a look. Tucker pleaded silently and Sam nodded. "I'll be back as fast as I can," she whispered, removing her hand from Danny's forehead as she stood up.
"Don't forget to grab prints and notes," Tucker reminded, watching the goth run to the door.
"I'll get Jazz, she was there when they modified the damn thing," Sam said, pausing at the door to look back at her frustrated classmates. Lancer was sure they all looked quite comical. The goth smirked at Tucker. "Have fun trying to explain this one," she snorted, steel toed boots echoing across the hall as she ran.
Tucker followed her gaze to the students and cringed. "I always get stuck with the hard stuff," he whined. "Fenton, tell Sam that next time I-" the teen stopped and looked down at his shivering friend. "Oh... right."
Lancer's mouth hardened. Danny was still suffering. It was time to take action. "Ms. Grey, grab that washcloth on the counter and use the fountain outside to wet it. He's burning up," he ordered, feeling the warm skin of his student. Danny felt clammy beneath his hand, and the teen shied away from the touch. These were not good signs. In response to his demand, Valerie moved immediately. If the teacher didn't know better he'd say she flew across the room to grab what he needed.
"Oh man, that's really not good. He's always had a lower than average temperature," Tucker told Lancer, as if reading his thoughts, while moving to place his best friend's head on his lap. "Shit, this is really not good. And this so did not happen last time"
Lancer gave his student a look. "This has happened before?" he asked. Tucker refused to look at him.
Valerie rushed back into the classroom with the washcloth. Hesitantly kneeling by her former crush, the girl placed it on his forehead. "Is he going to be okay?" the girl asked, remaining on the floor. Her eyes refused to stay focused on Danny. It was hard for all of them to watch him in so much pain. "If Phantom did this," she growled.
Danny jerked at the sound of the ghosts's name. "Noooooo," he groaned.
Tucker chuckled and shifted Danny's head to his thigh. "Uh well, sort of, but not in the way you think."
"Phantom would never hurt anyone!" Dash cried, making his presence known by pulling his chair next to the circle. "He's a hero!"
"Believe me, I know. It's just complicated."
Lancer gripped his students shoulder tightly. "Uncomplicate it, Mr. Foley," he demanded. "Please."
The teen bit his lip, looking very much uncomfortable as everyone else in the room felt. Lancer noticed that the students remained in their seats- besides Dash who obviously doesn't like to listen- but were watching intently from their desks. They looked worried, obviously too confused to think about the fact that the school hierarchy was falling apart in front of them. Jocks, nerds, goths, and preps caring about outcasts, who would have thought?
A blonde to the left stood up to get a closer look. "He doesn't look so good," Star muttered. She was right of course, Danny's temperature may have gone down slightly since placing ice cold water on him, but his mumbling ceased to expire.
"It's not there," Danny whimpered, sounding less hysterical than earlier. His eyes cracked open slightly, searching blindly for something he couldn't find. "Please," he choked, sounding so desperate and so broken that it practically shattered everyones' hearts. "Please."
"Danny, don't worry," Lancer reassured, attempting to familiarize himself with his student, "you're going to-"
The teen shrieked, back arching off the tile floor and eyes squeezing shut again. Lancer, Valerie, and Dash jerked back and the class jumped.
"Noooooooo! Not- gone- missing- here-."
Tucker clutched the sides of his friend's head and whispered soothingly in his ear. "Shhhhhh, it's okay. You're fine; we're looking for him, okay? You'll be whole again just shhhhhhhhh."
Danny tensed once more before collapsing. His eyes remained closed. Tucker continued to run his fingers through the raven hair of his best friend, seemingly enjoying the silence that Danny's panic attack had provided. He could definitely feel everyone staring at him, however, because a moment later he sighed and shifted Danny's head onto his lap again. "Okay," he started, tone impossible to decipher, "let me explain it like this." Tucker pointed at the mumbling boy in his lap. "This is Fenton, not the other name, got it?"
The class was obviously confused. "Why can't we say Fenton's name? Not that I want to, he's still Fenturd to me," Dash asked with innocent curiosity.
"Because this isn't him, okay? This is Fenton. Just Fenton."
Danny, or Fenton as he had now been named, whimpered. His hands reached upwards in a grasping motion. Tucker caught the wandering limbs and brought them back to the teen's trembling chest. "Want... need to... whole..." the shivering child whimpered.
"I know, I know," Tucker soothed. "Sam's getting him. You'll be fine, I promise."
"Empty."
"I bet. God, I can't even imagine what you're going through right now. I mean, we only heard a little bit about how your parents modified the machine, but christ, if it does that to a normal person, then you..."
"Mr. Foley," Lancer demanded, voice dangerously low, "are you saying his parents did this to him?"
Tucker's head shot up from where he had been gazing down at his best friend. His mouth twisted and he shook his head. "No, it was definitely an accident, they would never hurt him on purpose, trust me."
The class sighed with relief. Obviously to Lancer, child abuse was something his class didn't feel like they could deal with, especially hearing that one of their classmates might be dealing with it. That would be too much. And besides, the Fenton parents are always going on about how great their kids were. They're so protective of them, it's a little insane.
Lancer reflected on the battle he witnessed outside. He recalled dhow Phantom went down in the crowd after the Fentons hit him with something. What was he missing? "Mr. Foley, was Mr. Fenton hit by that machine from earlier?" Tucker tensed so he'd take that as a yes.
"The dream catcher thing?" Valerie mumbled, "If Phantom was hit by it and he fell on Da- uh, Fenton, then did the effect travel to him too?"
"Sort of...?"
"Dude," a girl from the back of the room interrupted, "you're going to have to tell us anyways. Why is it such a big deal?"
Tucker gripped his friend's arms tightly and looked down at his suffering face. Lancer could tell they were close because if he didn't know better, he'd assume they were both suffering from the same pain. The look on Tucker's face was heartbreaking. "You've got to understand, there's something bigger going on here than just Danny getting hurt," the African American teen replied, bitterly. "I understand that you're going to find out eventually, that's unfortunately inevitable when Sam brings him back, but it's really not our secret to tell." Tucker paused for a moment to glance up at the ceiling as if asking God for answers. "I honestly wish we weren't in this situation right now. It's too soon. You were just starting to like him, but it's still too early," he whispered, but everyone heard him clearly.
The class was quiet. Lancer couldn't help but ponder about what this big 'secret' could be. Their injuries and frequent absences could only lead him to one conclusion. "Mr. Foley, are the three of you ghost hunting?" he asked, hesitant to know the truth.
Dash snorted his disbelief, but Tucker's silence made him pause. "No way," he whispered, wide-eyed and disbelieving, "you must be joking."
It would explain everything. Danny falling asleep in class, the three of them being tardy all the time, their burnt or ruined homework assignments. God, what were his kids getting into? Behind the teacher, his students voiced their concerns.
"You guys are fucking insane."
"Why would you even-?"
"Taking after the family, eh Fentured?"
"Have you met the ghost boy! Do you know the ghost boy?"
"Have you actually captured a ghost?"
"Did the Fenton's train you?"
Tucker laughed and his eyes lit up with the gesture. He looked overly amused by his classmate's ramblings and gazed at them fondly. The kids of Lancer's class suddenly felt very young, and the teacher felt extremely old. "I, well, you're not wrong- and I'm not really sure how to answer any of those questions," he said, grinning. "But, yeah, we've been, uh, ghost hunting."
Valerie gave Tucker a dark look. Lancer couldn't tell if she was worried about them or pissed at them for doing something so stupid. "That," she snapped, "should be left for the professionals."
"I agree with Ms. Grey," Lancer voiced, motioning for Kwan to wet the rag on Fenton's forehead again, "Phantom is more than capable of handling things himself."
"Didn't he just get captured, though?" Mikey mumbled. He was ignored.
Valerie scowled. "That is not what I meant. It should be left to the real ghost hunters."
Tucker received the cloth from Kwan and placed it back on Fenton's head. "Like the Fentons? Or do you mean the Red Huntress?" he asked, casually. The girl stiffened.
"Odd," thought Lancer.
Tucker smiled playfully. "And God, you have no idea how ironic that statement is," he laughed, looking at his teacher.
Lancer reviewed his previous wording. Where in that statement was the irony? For an English major, he wasn't very good at discovering literary devices in his own dialogue. Or was this a case of dramatic irony?
Tucker waved his hand dismissively at the strange look Lancer must have been giving him. "Just drop it."
Fenton whimpered, gathering everyone's attention once more, and reached up to clutch Tucker's yellow shirt between his fingers. His hands were shaking badly, but he seemed thankful to have something to latch onto. "Hurts..." he whispered, squinting his eyes and rubbing his face against Tucker's stomach. "Hurts," he repeated.
The class stared uncertainly. "Isn't there anything we can do?" Paulina asked, uncomfortable with the situation.
"Pray?" Tucker suggested, sarcastically. "There really isn't anything we can do. He's not whole right now. The effect may not be as great, but you'd be like this too if you were hit by that weapon."
"So the weapon splits someone apart?" Valerie asked, cautiously. When Tucker didn't answer she continued her observation. "But, not so much physically right? Something more personality wise?"
"Wait, so you're saying there are two Fenturds running around right now? With, like, different feelings or whatever?" Dash asked, shocked and slightly disturbed.
"Personalities," Valerie corrected.
Paulina gasped and clapped her hands together. "The ghost boy got hit with it too! That must mean there are two of Phantom as well!" she squealed, her and Star sharing a look of excitement.
Fenton suddenly gasped and his eyes flew open. Dark eyelashes brushed his cheeks as his blue eyes searched longingly around the room. "Phan... cold... where?" he whispered, fingers curling into his chest again. The shy look he made caused quite a ripple of distress to go through the room. Fenton may be odd, but he was usually so sarcastic and expressive. The out-of-place look on his face made the students' stomachs clench painfully. The teen shivered and blinked, but when his eyes opened they were no longer a solid blue color.
Dash leaned over his seat. "Woah," he whispered, "are his eyes green?"
The audience observed the flecks of glowing neon green in the teen's eyes with looks of awe and concern. "Is that normal?" Kwan asked, kneeling beside the teen to get a closer look.
Valerie pressed her fingers to Fenton's face and looked deep into his eyes. "He's not... possessed, right?"
Unconsciously, the students took a step back. Tucker shook his head. "No, and actually that's pretty normal for Danny. I'm surprised you haven't noticed how often his eyes change. His emotions fluctuate pretty frequently in school," he explained as if it was the most normal thing in the world for someone eyes to glow.
"I don't think you quite understand the issue here," Lancer tried to elaborate. "People's eyes aren't supposed to glow when their emotions fluctuate."
Tucker smiled fondly at Fenton. "Yeah, I know," he whispered, running his fingers through his friend's hair again. Fenton's eyes followed the movement. Another shiver wracked his body and he abruptly tensed, but this time white smoke whisked its way between his lips.
Valerie jerked back in surprise. "What the...?"
Tucker sat up straight and lifted the shivering body from the floor. "Thank god, she's back," he exclaimed, putting all of Danny's weight over his right shoulder. "You might want to back up because there's probably going to be a light show and a lot of territorial screeching." The class jerked to their feet when Tucker gestured for them to move their desks back. Unsure, they followed his order. "Getting in between them now would not be a good idea either," the teen continued, and Lancer, Valerie, and Kwan rose from the floor and stepped to the sides of the classroom. Tucker remained in the center, attempting to hold Danny in front of him while facing the door.
The moment of silence that followed made the students and teacher question the sanity of more than one person in the room. Why were they doing this again? A scream like no other came from outside the classroom followed by a loud exclamation of "Fuck! The leash!" and they suddenly had their answer.
Inside the classroom Fenton responded with a cry of his own, attempting to shove his best friend off. His arms reached desperately for the door. "Here! Here!" he screamed, smiling despite his awful state of being.
"Well shit," Tucker said, giving the struggling body in his arms an exasperated look. "I'm going to get mauled for touching you, aren't I?"
The class jumped as the door was shoved open and a figure slammed into the side of it. The appearance of the panting form of Danny Phantom made everyone's breath freeze. The ghost pressed a gloved hand against the door and attempted to push himself off of it. His green eyes widened at the sight of Fenton. "Found..." he whispered. "Whole."
"Whole," Fenton cried, finally summoning enough strength to shove Tucker backwards- who landed on the ground and groaned at the rough treatment. "Whole," the teen sniffed, rushing forwards to be enveloped in the ghost's arms as they met halfway. From the ground Tucker mumbled, "Yeah, you're welcome."
The collective thought was: what the fuck?
Fenton's human arms clutched the fabric of Phantom's jumpsuit like he was afraid the ghost would disappear. Meanwhile, Phantom circled one arm around Fenton's back and used the other to press the human's head against his chest. They were both shivering in each other arms and seemed to be glowing. Was this the light show Tucker was talking about? Fenton lifted his head to smile a breathtaking smile at Phantom who responded in a similar fashion. The audience suddenly felt oddly embarrassed to be witnessing such an intimate moment, but they couldn't stop looking because there was just something there that they were missing. And now that they looked closely, weren't their smiles the exact same? And their heights too. The shape of their bodies and everything down to their jawline was exactly the same.
Why did a ghost and a human look like inverse replicas of each other?
A tan hand and a gloved one met between their bodies and the students had a hard time seeing where Fenton ended and Phantom began because everything was suddenly blending together. The flash of light near the center of the mass of bodies made everyone jump back- except Tucker who was watching all of this with a relaxed look on his face. The ring of light traveled up and down the glowing figure? figures? and Lancer shut his eyes to avoid going blind. He hoped his class was doing the same.
Despite all the confusion, Lancer couldn't help but feel like something profound and important was happening before his very eyes.
The light dimmed and when he was able to, Lancer squinted at the center of his classroom. His class groaned and opened their eyes slowly. Phantom was gone and Fenton was standing in the center of the room with his arms wrapped around his stomach. Tucker pushed himself up on his elbows while everyone else held their breath.
"Fuck! I missed it!" Sam Manson cried, jumping in front of the open door to the classroom. Jazz Fenton appeared behind her with a sparking rod with a bunch of clawed arms.
"Danny," the redhead scolded, "you totally recked the Jack-O-Nine tails! How am I going to explain this to Dad and Mom?"
Lancer and the students gasped and waited for the inevitable fit Fenton would throw at the sound of his name, but it never came. Instead, the teen chuckled and gripped the side of his head as if in pain. "Ah, sorry. I'll take credit for it," he said as he winced. Fenton dug his fingers into his scalp. "Agh, damn it!"
Tucker stood up. "You ok there?" he asked.
Fenton sent him an annoyed look. "You try receiving memories from two different points of view at once! Jesus, this time I was a weakling and a psychopath," he muttered, blinking down at his body. "I'm not sure if that's better than a hero and a slacker."
"Oh," Sam laughed, bitterly, "Bed Sheet was better. Trust me. I've got the bite marks to prove it."
Fenton blushed while Tucker laughed. "Ah, sorry 'bout that," the raven haired teen apologized.
"Fuck you, Tucker," was the girls only reply.
Fenton seemed calm and composed, almost like Lancer's student usually was. Taking a step forward, he decided to risk it. "Daniel?" he asked, gingerly. "It's you now, right?"
Danny Fenton seemed to suddenly realize he had an audience. His eyes widened and another blush spread across his cheeks. "Oh god, I'm- fuck. Crybaby me was with you guys, wasn't he?"
"What does that even mean?!" Dash cried, confused beyond belief.
Sam and Jazz stepped inside the classroom to stand beside Tucker and almost in front of Danny. Again, Lancer couldn't help but notice that the three seemed to be extremely protective of the youngest. The goth gave the tech geek an unimpressed look. "You didn't explain it to them?" she asked.
"Well what did you want me to say?" was his genius reply.
Jazz stepped forward. "Maybe I can help," she supplied, pulling out blueprints from her bag. "My parents made an invention a while back that was supposed to be able to filter ecto-energy out of anything. Unfortunately it did a little more than that and consequently split ghosts in half." The pictures she showed Lancer and the class were of a large Dreamcatcher-like weapon he had seen outside.
"No way," Valerie whispered, eyes widening and arms shaking. "Wait so you... Danielle and half... so?"
The four in the center glanced nervously at each other. "Haha," Danny laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, I figured you'd be able to piece it together, Val." The African American girl couldn't seem to be able to form words to reply with.
"Daniel, please," Lancer urged, concerned for his student's safety.
"Right, well, it essentially splits ghosts in half, which is great and all because now you've got two significantly weaker ghosts with disjointed personalities to battle making it much easier, but it's a little different when the ghost who goes through it is already split in half."
"A half of a half now," Sam clarified.
"Right," Danny continued, nodding at the girl. "But they modified it even more from that so if someone who has already been split in half gets halved again, their personalities fluctuate till they settle on one, and not only do they have two physical bodies and two sets of the original's personality traits, their soul is split in half."
"That's why it was so painful for Danny and absolutely imperative that we got him back together before his two halves disintegrated," Tucker explained.
"Two halves of a soul cannot live separate from each other," Jazz added, as if this explained everything. "They needed each other to be whole again."
It was silent for a moment. Then, "Wha...?" Dash asked
"Eloquent," Sam snorted.
Danny looked at his frustrated classmates. "I- there isn't really any other way I can explain it. I got split in half. Thats it," he emphasized.
"But the ghost boy!" Paulina cried, not understanding.
"Is me," Danny answered, silencing everyone in the room. Lancer could practically taste the shock in the air for the tension in the room certainly felt thicker than before. To further emphasize his statement, rings of light appeared around Danny's waist and separated. Now Danny Phantom stood before the class.
Lancer felt incredibly stupid. All he had to do was switch the colors and wow did Lancer feel stupid right now.
"Fenton is me and Phantom is me too, we're the same person," Danny said, trying to smile, "I'm half ghost so I can change between both these forms. I just, uh, got a little mixed up there because of the machine. Thanks for not freaking out?"
Lancer suddenly wasn't too upset that he had decided to come to school.
His class was gaping at the floating teen, and even Dash had nothing to say to this revelation. Lancer was expecting something big, but this? Just ghost hunting his ass! These kids were actively taking care of all he malevolent spirits in Amity Park. What should he do? What would any responsible adult do? Tell them to stop for their own safety? Help? Try to make their lives easier? Inform Danny's parents that their son is half dead and they don't even realize it?
Before a decision could be made, Lancer's train of thought derailed when the sound of doors being slammed open came from outside the classroom. Boots squeaked across the floor at an inhuman speed, and before anyone could even question the noise, two shadows appeared at the open doorway.
"FREEZE, GHOST BOY!"
"YOU WON'T GET AWAY THIS TIME! JACK, GET THE FENTON GHOST CATCHER!"
"ON IT, BABY!"
Everyone looked up just in time to see the Fentons throw a giant dream catcher over their son.
This was going to be fun to explain.
Sam's Story
a.k.a. FUCK YOU, TUCKER!
For the record, bursting into Fenton works and demanding that the Fentons give back Phantom was not the best plan, but Sam was running on adrenaline and not exactly thinking straight. Thankfully Jazz was the only one home. "Quick," the redhead whispered, motioning the goth towards the basement, "my parents were called to town by Vlad, but with how fast my dad drives, they won't be long. We have to hurry."
"Got it," Sam nodded. "Have you tried talking to him yet? What personality does this one have?"
Jazz laughed nervously. "Uh, yeah, no. I'm a little too terrified to try."
Crouched down next to the other teenager, Sam raised an eyebrow at her. Jazz gave her a blank look and cracked the basement door open slightly.
"FUCKING PISSANT CLUCKERFUCKS- took GONE missing missing MISSING- give him back- WHERE-"
The noise abruptly cut off when Jazz slammed the door shut. Sam blinked. "Woah," she whispered.
"Yeah, what exactly would you call that?"
"Insane? Obsessive? Psychotic?"
"Lets go with psychotic. Danny's gonna love this."
Jazz brought out the Jack-O-Nine Tails and pressed the button to turn it on. Sam prepared by readying her fists. "Don't you want anything...?" Jazz trailed off, eying the girl's bare hands.
"Nah, I'll be fine."
20 minutes later with a struggling, screaming ghost boy within the grasp of Jazz's weapon, which was acting as a leash, Sam rubbed the bite marks on her arms with a sour look on her face. Remembering how Tucker had begged her to let him stay, she clenched her teeth and mumbled, "I should have stayed back at the classroom." Phantom took this opportunity to scream in outrage and clamp down on the fingers of her left hand. Sam groaned.
"Fuck you, Tucker."
Me: This one's not as angsty as the last. Enjoy the break before I decide to write the second chapter of "This Story". I swear to god if anyone dares to say this is Pitch Pearl in any form or fashion, I'm going to lose my shit. Phantom is a part of Danny and Fenton is a part of Danny. The new and improved Ghost Extractor literally split apart a 'human' who was already "split in half." Two halves can't live without a whole. The Fenton and Phantom personas in this story are only half of what makes DANNY so thats why they're desperately trying to get back together. It feels like a piece of who they are is missing: they make up one entity and could NEVER live as two. These two halves of Danny's soul belong together- they belong to each other. If you were missing half of yourself, you'd do anything to get it back.
Danny: Yeah, this isn't Pitch Pearl. She'd tag that before making you read it. The author isn't that evil.
Me: What are you doing here? You're only the muse for my other story.
Danny: WELL MAYBE IF YOU'D UPDATE MORE OFTEN I WOULDN'T HAVE TO JUMP AROUND ALL THE TIME.
A/N for SR: Kind of a weak story, but I liked the idea and someone suggested doing it in Lancer's point of view instead of Danny's or just 3rd person omniscient like I always do. It was hard, but at least I updated, right?
A/N for SWMC: Haha yeah... so Stranded With My Class is kind of on hold for now until I have more time. I got a job and have too many AP classes to deal with right now. I have tons of drafts for this story written so that's why it was so easy to update. Maybe by the beginning of January I'll get to SWMC again. Cross your fingers! I promise I won't abandon it.
