Time in the Heart
By: Wilona Riva
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.
You sound reasonable...Time to up my medication.
Invisible Stream
Maddie gave a deep sigh, as she examined the culprits. Three otherworldly creatures, two of which she was sure were ghosts, and one who was...did she have a tail? Yep, definitely a tail.
"Danny, would you come here please?" she asked her son politely.
Danny paled and looked quickly at Ember, who grabbed him and turned them invisible.
"Danny!" he heard his adoptive mother cry out.
"Plum!" Plum said defiantly. He didn't like the woman.
"So what do we do now?" Youngblood asked, now that they were safely away from the humans.
"Duh, Danny can come back home," Apricot told him.
"Danny, what is going on?" Sam asked.
"I'm not sure," Danny replied.
"Well, let's get going," Youngblood said. "We've got Danny, so let's go home."
"Hold it, Youngblood, I can't go back to the Ghost Zone," Danny told him.
"Why not, Danny? It's your home as well as ours," Apricot said, a bit confused.
Only Ember understood the ramifications if Danny disobeyed his Master.
"You sure?" she asked him.
"Yes, you know what King Pariah said," he reminded her.
"Said what?" Tucker asked, wondering what they were talking about.
Danny sighed. "Where I come from, every seven years old child is apprenticed to a Master and learns his or her craft. It takes seven years of apprenticeship, three of journeyman status, before he or she can become a Master in his or her own right."
"And?" Sam asked, motioning for him to continue.
"Apricot, Ember, Youngblood, and I were talking with Jorge about my upcoming apprenticeship and the fact that I hadn't chosen a Master yet," Danny said.
"I still think you should have chosen the Dream Master," Youngblood interrupted the story.
"Ick, twerp! Why would he want to go rooting around in someone's heads at night? He really should have chosen the Time Master," Apricot said, hitting him in the shoulder.
"Well, now thanks to Desiree, I'm apprenticed to King Pariah!" Danny snapped at them.
"What? Prove it!" Youngblood challenged him.
Danny held up his right hand, revealing the ring he wore.
"You never told us that part!" Apricot screeched at Ember.
"Oh, cool! So, you're the next King of Ghosts. Oh snap! Ember wasn't joking when she said she had to marry you," Youngblood fell to the ground laughing.
Sam and Tucker were highly amused by the situation, but Sam was beginning to be worried.
"Danny, what if your mother comes looking for us?" she asked him.
"I don't care. She nothing but a blasted ghost hunter and I could care less," he answered recklessly.
"Then I'm going to have to change your opinion of me, Daniel Fenton," Maddie said, using that infuriating tone all mothers had. None of them knew how she had found them.
She cocked her head to one side. "Kids, the school is only a few blocks from here. Why don't you head back?"
"But we want to stay..." Tucker began, only to have Sam cut off his protest.
"Yes, ma'am," Sam said, grabbing Tucker by the collar and dragging him off before he could protest any further.
"Danny, come here and sit on the swings with me," Maddie said.
Danny, wary of her, did as she asked. "You're not mad at me, are you?"
"We haven't gotten off to a great start, have we?" Maddie asked him.
"No," the boy answered, looking down at the ground.
"Plum!" Plum screamed at her.
"Hush," Ember whispered to him.
"Danny, I would like you to come back to the school with me," Maddie told him. "The laws of the human world are strict on this. As for Plum, I'm afraid he has to go."
Danny jerked his head up. "No!"
Plum turned yellow with fear. "Plum, Danny, plum!"
"Plum, you may not have a choice," Apricot told him.
"Jack and I are working on a portal to the world of ghosts so we can better understand them," Maddie explained further. "It will be several years before it is up and running."
"Several years!" Danny yelled.
"How about we make a deal, the five of us?" Maddie said, turning to the three supernatural creatures. "I propose until the time Danny turns 14, he has no or very limited contact with the Ghost Zone."
"No dice," Youngblood told her.
"Let me finish," Maddie told him. "Danny, when the portal is activated, will be allowed to come and go as he wishes to visit and vice versa. Until that time comes, Danny will live as a normal human child."
"Let us discuss this," Ember told her, motioning for Danny to join them.
"Whether we like it or not, she's going to find some excuse to get rid of Plum," Danny told them.
"I agree; I still don't think Father was right to send you here-humans are not to be trusted, especially these ghost hunters," Ember replied.
"We're going to learn the location of every portal that comes near here and visit whenever we want to," Youngblood vowed.
"Or just ask Wulf nicely," Apricot suggested.
"That too," he conceded.
"Mom," Danny said, acting as speaker for the group. "I'm going to stay here as it is stated in the terms of my apprenticeship to my Master. I won't have any contact with ghosts if I can help it, but Plum stays."
"Agreed," she said, thinking about it.
"Stay with Danny, plum," the little pet said.
"If I didn't know any better, I would say Plum is expanding his vocabulary," Apricot whispered toYoungblood.
"I wish the Parrot would do the opposite," Youngblood whispered back.
Both of them giggled at the memory of the cauliflower incident a few nights ago.