I Ain't Afraid of No Ghosts
Chapter 10
Bonding Part 1
Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art, like the universe itself (for God did not need to create). It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things which give value to survival.
-C. S. Lewis
oOo
The next week constituted a dry spell, where no calls came in for the Ghostbusters. So, understandably, everyone was itching for action.
The phone rang suddenly, and Roland and Garrett raced for it. Janine reached out for the phone. Suddenly, it disappeared.
"What the-" said Janine, but another voice interrupted her.
"Ghostbusters. Point us to the spooks, and consider them gone," said Danny to the phone pleasantly, "Oh? Okay, calm down, sir, we'll be right there."
"That's my job, you know," said Janine as Danny hung up.
"Sorry, just antsy."
Janine rolled her eyes and hit the alarm. While she didn't think it was fair for him to have used his powers like that, she didn't exactly blame him.
oOo
"Okay, sir, just calm down. We'll be careful with your synagogue," said Eduardo before closing the door on the trembling old rabbi.
"That guy looked like he was ready to fall apart," said Garrett, "Pardon the pun, but something must have really spooked him. He couldn't even tell us what we were dealing with."
"And that's different than our usual busts, how?" asked Kylie, fiddling with her PKE Meter, "Okay, I'm getting a reading. It's really power—wait…"
Danny faded back into the visible spectrum, a foot from the PKE Meter.
"Forgot to compensate it for my-"
"I see that now!"
As Kylie fiddled with the meter, Roland asked why Danny stuck to invisibility while they had been talking to the rabbi.
"Well, I'm technically supposed to be in hiding, remember? If I openly help you, and the wrong person sees the right picture or reads the right description, things could get dangerous for all of us. Spectra was a lightweight compared to some of the other ghosts I've fought. Besides, I didn't want to put that rabbi any closer to a heart attack than he already was."
"Okay, fixed," said Kylie, "I'm picking up high Class Fours, and there's a LOT of them. Actually, I'm not sure about the class. Usually, we have to establish an identity on the ghost before-"
"They're surrounding us," said Danny suddenly.
Multiple solider-like ghosts surrounded them, creeping out from the shadows or fading into visibility. The five of them blinked in slight shock, recognizing the manner of dress. It wasn't hard to. Eduardo spoke first.
"I think we can call this established identity."
Danny grinned and charged up some energy.
"I'm going to enjoy this. A LOT."
oOo
"Well, Egon, you can add this to the annals of Ghostbuster history," said Eduardo, stepping out of the Ecto-1 with a swagger, "Another standard villain type faced."
"Could you elaborate on that?"
"We fought Nazis," said Danny, returning to visibility and hopping down from his position atop Ecto-1. He returned to human form with a feral grin before continuing.
"Big fun."
"Fun for you!" said Garrett, "You pounded the most! Those guys will definitely think twice before trying to attack a synagogue."
"Even if you didn't get any credit," said Kylie, "You kept invisible the entire time we were talking with those people who called us."
"What can I say? I'm shy," replied Danny.
Egon is silent for a moment before answering.
"I'll put Eduardo's comment in the file supplement. Danny, the Fenton Thermos adaptor for the Containment Unit is ready."
"Good, I have a shipment of bigots to offload," said Danny, giving his thermos a vigorous shake. Muffled curses in German emanated from the device.
"Question," said Roland, "You seemed to take a lot of pleasure in beating those guys. Any reason?"
"Sam's Jewish."
"Ah," went all present.
"She real afraid of the stories, then?" asked Eduardo.
"As much as anyone who had a grandfather from the Holocaust," said Danny, "And I'd watch your mouth about fear."
"Why's that?"
"Kylie told me about the 'Fear Itself' incident. A zombie of you? REALLY? The big bad ghost hunter is afraid of death? IRONY!"
There were a few chuckles as the group descended into the basement where the Containment Unit was.
"Oh? And I suppose she told you about her scream fest because of some maggots?"
"Actually, she didn't mention that…"
"HA!" said Eduardo, "Figures Little Ms. Darkness wouldn't admit it."
"Yeah," said Garrett, "At least I'm honest."
"Claustrophobic," Kylie coughed as she emptied her trap into the massive machine.
"She's got you there," said Roland, "We had to practically drag it out of you, Mr. 'I have no fear!'"
"Why don't you go fix the Ecto-1, or your Proton Pack," Garrett snapped back, "You know, in case they BREAK."
Roland twitched, and Danny tried to hold back a laugh as he emptied the thermos.
"Okay, so let me see if I got this: Kylie's afraid of maggots, Garrett's claustrophobic, Roland's afraid of the equipment breaking down, and Eduardo's afraid of death, especially his own. Am I right?"
The looks on their faces were all he needed to know.
"Okay, ghost boy," said Kylie, "What's YOUR fear? What made you afraid of losing control…"
Danny's expression darkened, and a pair of red eyes swam to the surface of this mind. Red eyes filled with a bloodlust that would terrify anyone who gazed too deep. A cruel laugh that sent shivers down his spine, resistance to cold or not.
"Trust me…you're better off not knowing…"
A tense feeling entered the room, until Egon decided to break the ice, something he rarely did, but this was an emergency.
"Slimer's afraid of broccoli. Especially steamed broccoli."
It took a second for Danny to process this. Then, he burst out laughing.
Back upstairs, Janine was laughing too.
"You mean to tell me that manager actually hired you?"
"Guy was probably half-blind, but he seemed happy for the help," replied the Box Ghost, "You're looking at the new worker for the Pandora Storage Company. Mr. Dussel said I was the most organized worker he had ever seen. Course, I've had a lot of practice being organized."
"Given telekinetic control over boxes, I don't doubt it. Think you can help me with some of these old files?"
"Let me at 'em…"
"Quick question, though…why are you still hanging around New York?"
Boxy shrugged.
"Beats me."
oOo
A regular pattern of life seemed to evolve. Danny accompanied the Ghostbusters on several busts, becoming a valued member of the team. Since he had to steer clear of any proton streams to avoid painful friendly fire, his preferred tactic was to concentrate on long-range attacks, driving a ghost into proton stream range. But sometimes, when there were multiple ghosts, Danny could sock one or two into the open trap, or concentrate on his own enemies. However, when things got tough, he could get his teammates out of danger, provide aerial cover, or add his ecto-blasts to the weakening of a ghost.
From a domestic viewpoint, Danny still hurt some from what had happened to him, but the others were trying their best to help him. Danny felt relatively confident that he could get through most of this, but still clung to the hope that Plasmius could be defeated so he could at least talk to his loved ones again.
The Box Ghost split his time between the firehouse and his new job. While it wasn't clear exactly why he stuck around, Danny was glad for a familiar face, even if he didn't quite understand why.
The others were happy to have the two aboard, even if Box Ghost didn't do much more than help Janine or Egon. However, two weeks before Christmas, Roland saw Danny and Boxy talking in hushed tones. He found out why weeks later, after coming back from Christmas vacation.
Janine, Eduardo, Garrett, and Roland were each going out of town for the holidays, leaving Egon, Slimer, Danny, Box Ghost, and Kylie to spend Christmas at the firehouse. It was a bit of a surprise when Kylie showed up on Christmas Eve with Pagan in a cat carrier, but there was a reason for this, a reason revealed that night over mugs of hot chocolate.
"So why are you here?" asked Box Ghost.
"Divorced parents, myself living alone. If I can come here, you REALLY think I'm going to spend Christmas in that big apartment by myself?"
"With only the cat for company?" Danny deadpanned, while petting said animal, "Although, I kind of agree with Boxy. Your parents-"
"Can't be within three feet of each other without dueling. Not a pleasant Christmas. No way in heck am I going through ANOTHER one."
"Lousy Christmas history, huh?" asked Danny, an understanding look on his face.
"That sounds resembling!" shouted the Box Ghost.
"Pardon?" asked Kylie.
"I sense a story in this," said Egon.
Slimer guzzled some hot cocoa and bade Danny to continue.
And so, Danny told the story of his own lousy Christmas history, from being peed on by a dog on his first, to fighting off a demon turkey when he was five. Finally, Danny finished with the story of when the Ghost Writer, angry that Danny had accidently destroyed a long-labored-over book, had trapped Danny in a Christmas tale, complete with greeting card-style rhyming. This soon evolved into a nice share session.
"And to this day, I have never been able to look at wrapping paper the same way," Egon finished to the tune of collected winces.
After that, Kylie excused herself to grab some more marshmallows. As she was plunking a few into her mug, she heard a voice behind her.
"Something you want to get off your chest?"
She turned and saw Danny, his blue eyes boring holes into her skull. For a second, she considered lying to him, but he spoke again.
"Don't bother lying. I'd be able to tell. And don't say I wouldn't understand. My mom's in a coma, my dad's dead, and I can't talk to my sister, best friend, or girlfriend because I'm supposed to be dead too. I can understand."
Kylie sighed.
"That story about how my mom got drunk on Christmas and hit me? It's just the tip of the iceberg. Dad often traveled, his job demanded it. That left me with my scumbag mother and my great-grandmother. Grandma Rose was my only real friend. She died awhile back. As for my parents, they divorced when I was twelve. I've barely seen my mom since. She didn't even have the guts to tell Dad to his face until she had the papers in her hand. Whenever she's mentioned, Dad goes pretty stony, and it just gets worse around the holidays. Grandma Rose kept the three of us together out of respect for the holiday, if nothing else. After she died, it was an unspoken agreement between the two of us not to spend anymore holidays together. That's the real reason I was alone for Christmas. Happy?"
Danny was silent for a moment before continuing.
"You don't have to live your life alone, you know. If you'd just let someone in-"
"Whenever I do that, they go away eventually. I don't think I could stand it again. It's easier not to let anyone too close."
"Not even Eduardo?"
Kylie gave him a stink-eye.
"Don't lie to me, sister. I can see there's something there, but neither of you know what."
"And I suppose you do?"
"If I tried to tell you, you'd ignore it."
"Probably."
Danny sighed.
"Not to start spouting Jazz's psychobabble, but shutting yourself from everyone is NEVER healthy. I've seen what loneliness can do to a person. It can twist them, turn them into something pretty ugly, especially when combined with other factors, like regret and rage."
"I'm not an angry person."
"Not on the outside. Look, you've become like a sister to me. I don't want to see you turn out like…"
"Who?"
"Plasmius. He let loneliness and bitter regret twist itself into rage, then lust and delusion. He's a monster, and he doesn't even realize it. I don't want to see that happen to you. Or anyone. Open up."
"How…how bad could it get?"
"If you're asking yourself that, then you're in denial."
A few moments of silence drew out before Kylie spoke.
"I'll…think about it."
"That's all I ask. Now, how about we get back to the others?"
Danny stopped suddenly.
"Do you realize that our positions were just reversed? A few weeks ago, you were the one trying to get me to open up."
"Hardee-har-har."
After a little while, Danny urged Kylie to open her Secret Santa present. Grudgingly, she did. It turned out to be a leather-bound book, a really nice one, black with silver trim on the pages and red picture and words on the cover. Kylie traced the title, feeling the slightly recessed words before reading it out loud.
"Dracula. Now how do I know this is from you, Danny?"
"Because I can find Bram Stoker's ghost to sign it?"
"Wait, WHAT?"
Kylie opened the book. Sure enough, there it was, just below the title.
"It's…it's…"
"Bram Stoker's John Hancock?" Box Ghost offered.
"How did you get this?"
"Wasn't easy, let me tell you," said Danny, "But it turns out, Ghost Writer's a friend of Stoker's ghost. I talked to the Writer, and he helped get me the book. Stoker was actually pretty happy to hear that his book did so well. Gave him a lot of stress in life apparently."
"Didn't realize Bram Stoker had become a ghost," Egon said offhandedly.
"He didn't exactly die a happy man."
"How did you even get to the Ghost Zone to get this?" asked Kylie, her voice still squeaking with shock.
"Boxy helped. He has his ways."
"Yes," said Box Ghost, nodding and smiling a devious smile, "Yes I do."
Danny reached over and gave Kylie a small hug.
"Merry Christmas, Kylie."
That 'Fear Itself' incident is actually the title of the episode, and oddly enough, the ghost that featured in it. Just clarifying.