Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait, I hope it's worth it. Everything should resume back to normal as far as the schedule. Thank you for all the positivity!
"Ah yes, thousand's of people living under a dome of fear and self-doubt... I could feast for ages and not have to lift a single finger."
Spectra strolled down the abandoned midnight streets of Amity, feeling all the fear seeping from those too terrified to sleep. The thoughts of parents helpless to protect their children electrified the air as the ravage of time reversed itself on the predator specter. She smile with a toothy grin when she heard the hard footsteps clapping against the concrete pavement behind her.
Spectera twisted her torso, trying to get a peak at the hidden stranger. "Hello there, sweetie. I can't wait to find out what your damage is."
Spectra's face went numb as she hit the ground, ecto leaking from her nose. "Why you little! Do you know how long it takes me to look presentable!"
The spectral world went black as the last thing her conscious mind saw was a somewhat familiar face, clad in a black leather jacket and short fiery red hair.
"No amount of insecurity can fix your ugly heart."
Spectra came to, tied to a desk chair in ecto proof chains in a pitch black room. "You know, you feel familiar in a way, do I know you?"
The room was silent, a pin could be heard if dropped. Yet, Spectra could feel the anguish the room carried and at the heart of it was coming from the figure standing in the corner of the room, veiled in shadow and misery. It swam in the air and electrified every current that the stuffy air flowed through.
"Come on, I know we've met before. Oh, I know who you are! You're that ghost brats sister! Oh, you were so filled with doubt back then and now? Oh, I don't know why I didn't sense you before. Oh, my sweet who has hurt you so?"
The tone of her voice was that of a child being handed their favorite treat. It soured the air in the room just to be in her presence. "Just being around you brings a smile to my face, I honestly don't think I have had anything as decadent as you."
A spark flashed, illuminating the hate in her darkened glassed crystal blue eyes for a single moment as the hum of the ghost portal powered up behind spectra.
As the severity of the situation finally hit, Spectra knew to start begging for her afterlife. Fear rattled her core. "Sweetie, um, there's no need to get drastic... I can help you. I can help all of you."
The figure made not a sound in response to her pleas, only a small smirk starting to tugging at the edges of her lips.
Spectra's chest started to heave in heavy pants as her fiery green eyes widened almost twice the size of her face. "Please, you can't! I feed off of negative emotion and he feeds off of ecto energy! If you send me in there, I won't last a minute with how much I've fed!"
A smile spread across her face. "Everything has its price... even beauty. Don't worry, though."
Jazz walked out of the shadows as the green glow of the ghost portal reflected the rage-filled smile on her face as she placed her foot on the arm of the chair. "It sounds like you two were made for each other."
Without remorse, Jazz kicked out her leg out, sending Spectra into the ghost portal as the echoes of her screams filled the room.
Her fist slammed against the control panel as the portal dissipated out of existence. "Eat up asshole, I want you at full confident when I send you to hell."
The morning had a strange feel to it. After spending the past two nights without sleep, Danielle had finally crashed. The air was stale, even with the shields air filtration system. Without notice, Jack came crashing into Danielle's room, startling her awake once more as she jumped from her bed, arms slicing through the air as if ready to attack an intruder that may be near.
"Get up! I can't find Jazz anywhere!"
Danielle quickly transformed and began searching the house.
It wasn't just the two searching, the entire Fenton family was spread across the house in a panic looking for Jazz. A few minutes passed and all panic was relieved when they heard the strange sound of a cheerful giggle coming from Jazz's room.
The sound seemed almost unnatural due to the events of the past three days. Jack was the first to enter and as Danielle followed, she could hear her grandfather's breath taken from him. Looking past the giant of a man she saw Jazz where one of her classic pink tops, legs crisscross in front of her, dressed in plush cartoon pajamas as she giggled at a cat video on her phone.
Jack slowly crawled towards his daughter, keeping caution in his steps as to not to spook her. This wasn't what he had expected to see when he opened the door. "Sweetie... Um... What's going on?"
Jazz looked to her father with what Danielle could only describe as genuine happiness. "Yeah, Dad. I'm fine now. Do you wanna watch this with me? It's pretty great."
Her grandfather wasn't sure how to respond. So, he just gave a silent nod.
The scene in front of Danielle seemed like an illusion. There was no way— even with her knowledge of psychiatry— that Jazz moved on that fast. But the strangest thing out of everything wrong was... her hair. It was the right shade of auburn and even the right length, but the way it shone in the light just seemed off.
Both her parent's ran up the stairs together, only to have the exact same reaction as her and her grandfather. Nothing about this was right and as much as they would like to buy into this delusion, they just couldn't. She had to have known that what she was doing wasn't healthy for her but perhaps the feeling of something normal trumped her rational thinking.
"Danielle?"
She turned around to see her mom and dad looking at her, wearing their heart's on their sleeves. Danielle knew what this was, it was the third day of Vlad's ultimatum and this was the day he gave them to make up her mind on becoming his puppet. She hated that they were even doing this nonsense and following the whim of a monster but with time a precious commodity they didn't have a choice. None of them liked it, but the bastard was nothing if not clever.
Her parents knew it was her choice and her choice alone, even if they begged her not to. "I know. I knew this was coming and... I'm gonna do it. I can't let him hurt anyone else and if I go with him, I know he'll never keep his word but it'll at least buy you all time to figure this mess out. And before you say anything, I know I'm your daughter but I'm Phantom and more importantly, a Fenton and Fenton's don't let good people suffer for their sake."
Danny took a deep breath and looked at Sam. "You're not going to change your mind, are you?"
Danielle put her head down in shame.
"No."
Danny sighed. "Then I guess we just try to make the most out of the next two days then."
Danielle looked at the two in shock. "I thought you two would have tried to stop me or force me to stay in the house or I don't know something!"
Tears bloomed in both of her parent's eyes, but they blinked them away as they pulled her into them. "You're our child, no matter what that monster says and whether it's me or your Mom, we both know that once our minds are made up, there's no changing them. You are an adult now whether any of us are ready for it. You can make your own choices and it doesn't matter what we would do to stop you, you would always find a way out. So instead of spending the next two days at each other's throats trying to force our wills onto the other, I would much rather spend time together before whatever happens happens."
"Thanks, Dad."
Danny wrapped his arms tighter around his girls and they walked to the main upstairs family room. Grandpa Jack still watching cat Videos with Jazz.
Something about Jazz still felt off to Danielle as she left the room. Not the childlike cloak she was wearing but there just seemed to be something... more.
As lunchtime rolled around, Danielle was helping her Dad outside on the grill, when she noticed something peculiar sticking out of the outside garbage bin. Walking over to it, she signaled her Dad to continue without her and upon further inspections, she saw strands of auburn hair.
Turning back to her dad, she called out, "Dad, I'll be right back. Make sure the Cujo twins don't get at the meat."
He gave a nod of his head and she made her way up the steps.
Entering Jazz's room she gave a quick knock, so not to startle her.
"It's open, sweetie," She said with a playful giggle as she watched a rerun of whatever cartoon was still playing.
Creaking the door open, Danielle peaked her head through the small crack before swinging the door fully open and entering the room. "Aunt Jazz, I found what looks to be some of your hair in the trash outside. Is there something going on?"
Jazz simply smiled upon hearing the discovery. "Yeah sweetie, I cut my bangs, don't you think they look great?"
Danielle hadn't noticed with all the chaos that had happened recently. Still, this didn't put her mind at ease.
Moving across the small space of the room, Danielle sat on the bed next to her aunt. "Aunt Jazz... Nobody blames anyone for what happened and what happened well it... It's okay to be sad. You shouldn't have to feel like you need to hide your true feelings from us. We're your family and we love you."
Jazz placed a hand on Danielle's. "I know. What happened, happened and there's no changing it. So why should I bother letting it affect me?"
That still didn't seem right. Danielle shook her head, trying to gain a coherent argument on her aunt. "Jazz, you can't just hide from something like that you have to-"
A cry of help from Danny echoed through the house, reaching Jazz's bedroom. "Danielle! Cujo's got one of the steaks and another Cujo's growling at him! I don't think he know's he's growling at himself and I'm not sure whether I should laugh or be concerned!"
Jazz pointed at the doorway where they could hear Danny trying to calm the bewildered ghost dogs and his cries of defeat when it didn't work. "You should probably go help him before it escalates."
"But Jazz. Please, just-"
"Now the big Cujo is dragging the little one by the steak their biting. Oh gosh, not the tool shed!"
Danielle looked back to her aunt, before heading back down. For a single moment, Danielle thought she saw a single tear leave her aunts eye.
"Ah yes, the cool night air. Even under this shield, I can feel the pain that dwells even in the sanctity of dreams. He has made my life so much more interesting and easy. So much wonderful energy. Never ending nightmares of a world going to ruin. Never ending food."
Nocturn quickly jolted into the shadows as he noticed there were two figures stalking the night instead of just one. "Nice try, nightwalker, but it is I who holds the night." He backed into the dark alley when he heard a spark of electricity behind him. He quickly dodged the strike when Danielle jumped in front of the assailant.
Danielle spread her arms out in front of herself, trying to ward off the person haunting Nocturne. "I don't know who you are but I have some idea and if it's true, please, just hear me out."
There was a moment of silence before the electric rod swung at the young halfa.
Danielle swiped left, barely dodging the swing of the weapon. "Hey!"
The electricity was extinguished as the figure and crept in the shadows, the figure slowly fading from view as the only thing that could be seen from the night was pitch darkness.
"Wait, I just wanna talk!" Danielle bolted into the darkness as she followed the sound of heavy footsteps. But no matter how fast she ran, Danielle couldn't keep up. "Just wait, I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help."
Danielle was eventually met with a solid metal wall and ignited a plasma flame to see the hard obstruction."Really Jazz! A dumpster?!" Hearing the rusted metal of a nearby fire escape, Danielle took to the air and moved the flame in her hand to see a broken Fenton thermos lying on the bottom stair.
"Of course, the valedictorian wouldn't be that stupid." Danielle muttered to herself as she looked above to see the blue tint of the shielded night sky.
For some reason, his daughter's eyes looked well... Blue than normal. It was like the life had been returned to her and as much as he knew it wasn't right Jack couldn't help but feel slightly relieved. The family all sat together at the three tables necessary to fit the entirety of their family.
Tucker looked at Danielle, seeing her constantly steel glances at Jazz. He placed his hand on hers and to his surprise, she wrapped her fingers in his. It had been only four days, but it felt like an eternity.
Even with whatever she had going on in her head the fact that she still made the little effort went a great distance for him. With her being one of the three main ghost, time together had been short yet, she had always found the time, even if not for very long, to show how much he still meant to her. The first night they really opened up to each other over their battle scars of all things and now there might be a chance that he would never see her again. Lost to a nightmare from their past. Yet somehow there was something in her eyes that told him it was going to be alright.
They had faith in each other even when times were hard and while she sat next to her sister at the funeral, Tucker sat on the other side, making sure that when the time came she could stand on her feet once again. He never knew how much he could love another person. Through his whole life, he had always had a device by his side, was obsessed over the latest game, and tried to hit on any girl that moved but now... nothing else mattered except waking up in a bed where she was the first thing he'd see.
He didn't care what it took or how much he needed to sacrifice. He was never going to let her go. He knew she had already made up her mind and he was not going to change it. He respected her choice and knew no matter what it took, they would be free of this nightmare.
The light outside began to dim as twilight took over Amity once again. It was the final night before she had to confront Vlad and leave her family to survive and find a way to end this. It was her job to buy them as much time as possible but until then she knew it was... she hoped it was best to leave things silent with what Jazz had been up to.
Everybody had already been through so much and now was not the time to through another wrench into the mix. She only wished she had more time with Tucker tonight. Running after her aunt wasn't ideal in any scenario but tonight was just cruel. Still, she knew that in her mindset she would be reckless and the last thing anybody needed was another loss.
Tucker wrapped his arms around her as they stood out on the balcony once more. It might not be the same as when they first stood there but in a way, it was fitting. Both of them had changed so much. He stopped trying to play the macho man so much while she opened up to him in ways she had never even opened up to her father.
For two people who were always talkative, they both stood there in silence enjoying the sunset as the took comfort in each other's embrace. Danielle turned around to look into his soft turquoise eyes. The way he looked back. She knew she had to make it back and no matter what that monster did, she could never give into his hate.
Below her, Danielle could see Nocturn trying to be hidden. However, ironically he was not one who could hide easily in the night. If she could track him, then Jazz could just as easily. Now, where the hell was she? Danielle could see the entire scene from her perch atop the building yet there was no sign of her.
Looking down, Danielle felt something secure itself around her foot. As she was turning to see what it was she felt a hand push her off the edge falling fast to the ground however before she could come close she felt a harsh tug on her ankle as she hung by it and the rope tied to her.
"Gosh, she's good." Danielle quickly made herself intangible and landed on the ground. She could see Nocturn begin to phase through one of the buildings when she activated the Fenton Thermos and captured the nightly specter. "See? All taken care of, no leather required."
Out of the darkness, one of the massive boots hit Danielle's hand, knocking the thermos to the ground as the leather-clad blur picked it up before she could react.
"Come on!" Danielle yelled into the darkness.
Whatever she was preparing for, that night she had forgotten to turn off her phone as the light shone brightly, even from within her pocket. Danielle took quick notice and began pursuit, this time make sure not to fall for her tricks. As the shadows of the buildings overshadowed them Danielle noticed a familiar shape, the sign to the rust ghost.
Thinking fast, Danielle fired a plasma blast at Jazz making sure to miss but also to cut off her path forcing her to go down the nearby ally. She easily avoided the shot and fell right into Danielle's trap. She looked around to make sure it was how she remembered. No fences, no fire escapes, just brick wall. Finally, Danielle had her cornered when Jazz took out her staff and cranked up the electricity.
Danielle stood straight at the implications of her aunt's predatory stance. She looked as if she was a caged animal, and she was about to devour her captor. "What're you gonna do? Shock your own family? Come on, Jazz. This is insane! Dad and I have powers and 've been doing this for years. We don't need you out in the streets, we need you with us where we can figure a way out of this mess. Please..."
The figure stepped forward, electricity still surging through the staff.
"Please, Jazz. Don't!"
She swung the staff-wide, easy for Danielle to avoid.
"I know you don't want to hurt me. So, please, don't!"
Jazz swung again, this time, making impact on her outer thigh. Danielle dropped to the gravel on one knee and clutched the open wound— blood and ecto seeping out from it— as pain trickled into her leg and ignited a burning pathway that blazed through every nerve ending up her mid thigh.
Danielle's jaw locked as she bites the words out, "Stop. This isn't you!"
She made another strike on her upper caff, forcing Danielle completely onto the ground as pain scratched and clawed through her, almost numbing the world around her.
The figure finally spoke. "Just stay out of my way."
Fighting through the pain that coursed through her, Danielle somehow managed to stumble to her feet, nothing but determination and sheer willpower being her only foundation to stand on at this point. "No."
Jazz swung again, with Danielle instinctively catching the staff. "I won't let you go down this path."
Jazz activated the electricity, Danielle's grasp still firm. Danielle let out a yell of extreme pain as she forced her hand closed shattering the end of the staff.
Jazz quickly adjusted her stance ready to strike with the now jagged rod when the sparks from the broken device illuminated Danielle's eyes in the darkness.
Crystal blue.
Not electrical green.
Not the eyes she had expected to see when she looked to her niece.
The entire time Jazz had been attacking her, not once was Danielle in her ghost form. The sound of the staff hitting the hard ground echoed through the alley as she fell to her knees, tears streaming down her face as her niece held her tightly in her arms.
Realization dawned on Danielle as she held the broken woman in her arms, the empty sobs were that racked her were weak, tired and just empty. Her aunt was empty. It doesn't matter how short or how long he sits on his throne. If Vlad can do this to someone like Jazz, then nothing I say or do will ever stop his rampage. We have to stop him. No matter the cost.
Again, sorry for the wait. Hopefully, this makes up for it! Please read and review, and with luck, we might just be back on our normal schedule