Chapter Twelve: One Fateful Day (Part 3)
Friday, November 1st, 2003 (Flashback)
"You have to go," those were Sam's first words after Clockwork left. He had been gone for nearly an hour before she spoke.
"But we… and you…" Danny tried.
"It doesn't matter, or more, it's the only thing that matters… if what he says is true and you don't go, you and Dani might end up fully dead… and the baby…" Sam sighed. "I'd rather live knowing you're in the ghost zone, alive and well, then live knowing you could have been saved and wondering if someday I'll lose this one too," Sam said, her hand resting on her belly.
"But… I don't know the first thing about being a king… running a country, no, a whole world? What good would I be doing that?" Danny tried asking.
"You would be the perfect choice Danny. After everything you've done? You've saved the world multiple times already. You helped Dora when you were only fourteen-"
"I didn't have a clue what I was doing back then, I just winged it every time something happened. Half that stuff I wouldn't have survived without you and Tucker…" Danny said, cutting her off.
"You would have survived, it just would have taken you longer to get the job done," Sam corrected him.
He gave a half laugh at her reasoning, but also gave her a weak smile, "Thanks." The smile fell from his face quickly though. "I won't be able to be here for you and the baby… I can't help you from the Ghost Zone, I doubt any money in there will work in the living plane…"
"Danny, I'm okay with money, I have my job and plenty of investments to keep us well off," Sam reminded him.
"How are you taking this so calmly? I'm freaking out inside over here," Danny murmured.
"Maybe I am too?" Sam suggested, "But… maybe a part of me always wondered if you wouldn't leave for the Ghost Zone sooner or later…"
"What?! What made you think that?!" Danny cried, hurt in his eyes.
"I thought it more when we were younger, that being Danny Phantom was so important to you maybe you would one day want to stay there. You had friends there, Frostbite, Dora, even Pandora. How could I not notice you were happy as a super human ghost boy?"
"I didn't always want to-"
"There were days you wanted to be normal, yeah, but each and every time that happened… you fought to return to being Phantom. Ghost is a part of you Danny. Just like technology is with Tucker and campaigning is with me. You don't like being a plumber no matter what you try and make me believe."
"Doesn't mean I want to be a ghost king instead…"
"Well… no, but can you honestly say you wouldn't be happy to be Phantom more often? I know you love your late-night flights, I can see it in your eyes when you leave and when you come back. That's a bigger part of who you are then you are letting it be."
"Sounds like your trying to get rid of me," Dany grumbled.
"No… I just don't want to be the one to hold you back from something that could be amazing. Besides, who's to say I can't come visit you every day? Maybe I can live in the castle with you, I've been in there plenty of times before,"
"Walker won't see it that way,"
"You will be walker's new king, you can boss him around instead of him bossing you around. Maybe he'll finally stop calling you 'Punk'.
"I doubt that, he's too fond of that term to stop using it. I broke out of his prison one too many times," Danny smiled.
"See, you enjoy reliving your old days as a super human ghost boy."
"Would you stop that," Danny laughed. "Super Human Ghost Boy? That's worse than Inviso-Bill."
"Nothing's worse than 'Inviso-Bill'" Sam replied.
"Okay, maybe not, but still, it sounds so… silly," Danny sighed.
"You're right, King Phantom sounds much cooler," Sam smiled.
"King- oh wow… what…what am I going to tell Jazz and Tucker? Your parents? What am I going to tell MY PARENTS?"
DP DP DP
Friday, November 1st, 2003 (Flashback)
"King of the Ghost Zone!? DANNY? You've got to be joking me!" Tucker laughed, bending forwards and clutching his middle as he laughed at what he assumed was a bad joke.
"And now I have to leave here and live in the Ghost Zone or it will vanish and every ghost in existence, including half ghosts, will vanish forever," Danny said sadly, knowing Tucker would calm down to listen soon enough, once he figured out it wasn't a joke.
"Leave? Like leave forever and never come back?" Jazz asked, her face paling even more then after Danny's first announcement.
"King of the Ghost Zone, that's rich, ha! Is this some set up for a big 21st birthday bash you and Sam are planning?" Tucker asked, his laughs reduced to giggles he still couldn't control.
"That's what Clockwork said…" Danny hung his head and his shoulders slumped forwards until his elbows rested on his knees to support his upper body.
The three of them were in the living room of Danny and Sam's house. Danny had invited the two over after they were off work for some 'news'. Jazz was convinced it would be about the gender of the baby or who the godparents would be. You know, something less life changing.
"Danny… what about the baby? And Sam? What does she think about all this? Where is she?" Jazz asked, both ignoring Tucker still.
"She's laying down upstairs, she didn't get to sleep too long last night because of the little monster," Danny said with a hint of fondness in his saddened tone. "She said I have to go, she'd rather… live knowing I was alive and well then… the other options…"
"Haha, King, that's a good one," Tucker finally relaxed enough to listen to the conversation. He gazed, smiling, at the two siblings in front of him. The smile slowly sliding off his face. "You are joking… right? This is a joke."
Danny shook his head. "It's not a joke Tuck."
"Not… but, Sam… and us? Your life here?" Tuck rebutted, sounding just as Danny had earlier that day and Jazz had earlier that moment.
"I don't have a choice Tucker…" Danny answered.
Tucker only gazed at Danny with sadness in his eyes. "No choice…? There's… no way for you to stay in the child's life… is there?"
"Clockwork… even he doesn't know of a way around this and he only just found out I was inheriting the throne," Danny explained. Tucker nodded slowly in understanding.
"Inheriting? But- what?" Jazz gaped.
"Something about me taking the crown from Pariah Dark personally combined with me being only half ghost and very young at the time, the Ghost Zone is 'acting' as if I am inheriting the throne rather than overthrowing the king and taking it," Danny continued. "I still don't quite understand it myself. And apparently my castle is developing in the Zone as we speak."
"That's kinda freaky, man," Tucker replied.
"Yeah, I know."
"But dude, what are you going to tell your parents about this? They still don't even know you're Phantom. They still think Phantom is the scum of the Ghost Zone…" Tucker asked.
"I know, somehow I have to come up with a story to explain…"
"No."
The three turned to see Sam standing in the door way.
"What?"
"I said, no. Danny," Sam walked further into the room before sitting down beside her husband. "It's time you came clean, it's time we all came clean. Maddie and Jack have been in the dark long enough. It's time we trusted them with the truth. They accepted you before, they will again."
Danny gazed into Sam's eyes, worried and unsure.
"She's right Danny," Jazz added, standing up to stand beside her brother, and rested a hand on his shoulder. "It's time they joined Team Phantom, even if we don't do any ghost hunting anymore."
"But-"
"Come on, what's the worst that can happen?" Jazz asked, trying to lighten the mood.
"I can think of a few things…" Tucker mumbled to himself, but his warning went unheard by his friends.
Posted 11/5/18
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Morning Bleach
