Tenebrae
"The Chronicles of Narnia, take your seats!" Mr Lancer bellowed, using the voice that he usually reserved for assigning detentions in the large assembly hall. Every conscious student flinched, and surprisingly slipped back to their places behind the benches. The room, which a moment ago had been filled with cries and exclamations, fell silent.
Sam was kneeling beside Danny's crumpled form, trying to untangle his wings from where they had caught between the legs of the table. Lancer shook his head slightly. "Miss Manson, leave him there; those wings look rather fragile."
Sam looked like she as going to argue, but the teacher sent her his best glare. The girl wavered before slumping her shoulders with a sigh of defeat, removing her jacket to place beneath the boy's head. Leaning back on her heels, the teen tilted her head back to meet the teacher's eyes. "I'm going to call the Fentons," she announced.
Lancer nodded again. "Yes, please do. Are they aware of Mr Fenton's condition?"
Sam inclined her head before turning to her pocket and producing a sleek black phone. She dialled the number from memory, holding the device to her ear and praying that someone would answer.
"Fenton residence, Maddie speaking."
Thank goodness. "Maddie, it's Sam," she said a calmly as she could.
"Is everything okay?" The woman's voice was tinged with worry, and Sam realised at that moment that telling his parents his secret had been one of the best things that Danny ever did.
"No, not really. We had Biology class, you see, and we're supposed to be doing dissections of frogs." Maddie's sharp intake of breath had Sam's heart faltering. "Danny freaked out and fainted, and we can't move him 'cause his wings are tangled in the legs of the table and-"
"Shhh," Maddie soothed over the line as Sam's voice broke, "I'm coming now."
The woman hung up with a click, and Sam slowly removed the phone from her ear. "She's coming now," she murmured, feeling tears begin to slip down her cheeks as the gravity of the situation slammed into her.
The teacher moved back to the front of the classroom, holding each of his students with a steely glare. "Some of you may have already figured out the truth," he said quietly. "However, this is Mr Fenton's secret. None of you are to so much as breathe a word about this to anyone, do I make myself clear?"
"B-but he's Phantom…" Dash stuttered, his face far paler than usual.
"Not another word, Mr Baxter!" The teacher roared. "Could you, or anyone else in this room, honestly betray the only secret of the boy to whom we all owe our lives several times over?"
Dash quailed beneath his teacher's furious expression. "N-no, I w-won't say anything," he stammered.
The rest of the class agreed in soft tones. Mr Lancer sighed, slipping out of his white coat. "Everyone, close your cases of scalpels and take off your coats and gloves. I'll pack up the frogs, so please make your way to the library, where I will meet you all as soon as Mr Fenton has been collected."
The class silently did as they were bid, filing from the room in an orderly fashion for what was probably the first time that year.
Sam still refused to budge from Danny's side, holding his hand gently in hers. Mr Lancer knew better than to try to make her leave, and turned to cleaning up the room instead.
...
Maddie slipped out of the house and into the GAV, feeling her gut roil. As she revved the engine, the woman tightened her fingers around the steering wheel and took a deep breath before flooring the gas. Most people who had to jump out of the way or slam on the brakes to avoid the speeding vehicle simply assumed that Jack was chasing a ghost again, and paid the incident no heed.
Maddie arrived at the school after taking a shortcut through the park and running three red traffic lights. Turning invisible, she phased out of the car and walked straight into the school, sneaking past the reception area and heading directly for the Biology lab.
Standing outside the door the huntress became visible once again, taking several deep breaths in order to steady her racing thoughts. It's just a high school classroom, she reassured herself before placing her shaking hand on the handle and stepping over the threshold.
Mr Lancer was in the process of cleaning up un-dissected frog corpses, and it took Maddie a moment to notice two forms on the floor in-between a couple of desks.
"William?" she called.
The teacher's head shot up, his eyes crinkling. "Maddie, thank goodness," he breathed, motioning between the desks. "Daniel… He had a panic attack or something."
The woman was there in a heartbeat, kneeling beside Sam and running gentle hands over her son's tangled wings. The teacher hovered uncertainly behind them, and Maddie turned her head towards him. "William, I guess you want an explanation."
Mr Lancer shook his head. "Not at all. Daniel explained his half-ghost status to me on Friday, and the class has agreed to remain silent regarding the issue."
The woman breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you," she whispered before turning back to her unconscious son.
Sebastian was curled up in the crook of Danny's neck, trying to bring his companion back by nibbling on his ear. Maddie gently moved the trilling creature, placing him on her own shoulder. She took a deep breath and shot the teacher another glance before deciding the hell with it and phasing her son out from between the legs of the bench.
Lancer's breathing hitched, but he otherwise made no sound. Maddie gently took Danny in her arms and stood, carrying the unconscious child from the room, his wings and tail scraping the floor with every step.
...
Dash paced the library, clenching and unclenching his fingers. What have I done?
The rest of the class watched silently from their seats, and the jock continued to turn about the open study space, pacing from one wall to the other. Damn it. How had he been so blind? "Damn it all to hell!" Dash screamed, slamming his fist into the wall.
The class jumped, but the librarian was mercifully nowhere to be seen. Dash turned to his peers. "Did anybody know?" he demanded.
Heads shook in unison, and Kwan sighed. "How could we know, Dash? He tried to keep it a secret."
The jock collapsed into a chair, staring at his shaking hands. "I-I beat him up… And he never said a word, even though…" Shaking his head, the boy screwed his eyes shut as tears began to leak down his cheeks. "How can a kid have so many scars and still take a beating every day?" he screamed, pressing his palms to his eyes. "How many of those injuries did I re-open…? Damn it…" he trailed off, swallowing the sobs that threatened to slip through his lips.
When he opened his eyes, his peers all had tears shining in their eyes and on their cheeks.
"What sick bastard cuts up someone?" Star whispered.
"But, is Fenton really Phantom?" Nathan asked in a quiet voice.
Mr Lancer's answer came from the doorway, making his students start. "That is neither here nor there, Mr Jones. Mr Fenton has the right to keep his extracurricular lifestyle from those he interacts with at school, and I expect you all to respect that."
Nathan nodded. "Yes, sir," he breathed as Sam trudged into the room.
The teacher sighed before directing his students to log on to the library's computers, instructing them to find clips of frog dissections on the school's educational database. As they hurried to do as he bid, Mr Lancer seated himself heavily, pressing his palms against his eyes and trying to calm his tumultuous thoughts.
He had almost accomplished this when Star shrieked that Kwan had hacked the filter and was looking at porn.
...
Danny moaned and opened his eyes to glare at the dragonling that nibbled on his earlobe. "Sebastian?" he slurred, reaching up to rub the sleep from his eyes. The creature trilled at the sound of his companion's voice, squealing delightedly when Danny reached up to rub at ivory scales speckled with azure.
Danny glanced at his clock, confused to note that it read two-thirty even though sunlight streamed through his open window. With a gasp he sat up, eyes widening as the memories of that morning surged to the forefront of his mind.
"Crap," he hissed, transferring the chattering dragon to perch on his left shoulder. Sebastian chirruped, and Danny ventured into the hallway.
He followed his ghost sense downstairs, the tendrils of ice coiling around the halfa's spine leading him towards the kitchen.
Maddie was seated at the table, a steaming mug clasped in her sender fingers as she spoke on the phone. "Yes, I'm sure…" she muttered. "He should be fine… He'll come and go as he needs to, with or without the teacher's permission… I don't care if it's against your policy… Yes… Alright… Goodbye, Principal Ishiyama." With a sigh the woman placed the phone on the table before staring moodily at the contents of her mug.
Danny cleared his throat, descending the final few steps and seating himself beside his mother. "Mum?"
Maddie smiled wanly. "It's alright, Sweetie – Mr Lancer has already sorted everything out."
The teen clenched his fists, forcing himself to breathe through his nose in an effort to keep calm. "I… J-just the lab a-and everyone in white and wearing gloves…" With a strangled cry, Danny buried his face in his folded arms. "Why am I such a coward?!" he screamed into his scarred forearms.
"I don't think you're a coward," Dash's voice came softly from the door.
Danny's head shot up, sapphire eyes growing wide at the sight of his tormentor. Maddie frowned and slowly stood, addressing the uninvited youth. "I'm sorry, but Danny's not really-"
"No, it's okay," the halfa interrupted, not moving his gaze from Dash's own blue eyes, shocked to find them red-rimmed and puffy. He stood, motioning towards the stairs. "Come on, Dash. We'll talk in my room."
Dash sent Danny an unreadable look before following the halfa to the second floor. Danny ushered the teen through his bedroom door, barely catching Sebastian in time to prevent the dragonling from burying sharp little fangs in the passing jock's bicep.
Dash raised an eyebrow at the NASA posters covering the walls and the model spaceships that hung from the ceiling, but refrained from mentioning them. This unnerved the halfa further, as he had been certain that the bully would ridicule him on account of the décor.
Danny seated himself on the edge of the unmade bed, fisting his fingers in dark blue sheets. He kept his eyes averted from his guest, preferring instead to reach for the block of chocolate on his bedside table and break a row into little pieces for his noisy winged companion.
Dash sat in the chair, accepting the offered piece of chocolate with muttered thanks. Once Sebastian had quieted and was contentedly licking a square clasped in Danny's fingers, the smaller boy met his tormentor's eyes. "Why are you here?"
Dash averted his gaze, suddenly finding his shoelaces rather interesting. The halfa huffed, shifting into a more comfortable position. Instead of pressing the jock, Danny chose to wait until Dash was comfortable enough to speak.
After a moment of silence, the halfa felt an itch coil beneath the scales near the tip of his tail. Conscious of Dash's eyes on him, the boy reluctantly reached down to scratch the afflicted spot on the invisible appendage.
"What's with the wings and tail?" the jock enquired, his expression one of genuine curiosity.
Danny shrugged, trying to keep his answer nonchalant. If Dash wasn't going to give him answers, then the guy had better get used to receiving only the bare minimum. "The Guys in White stuffed up my shape shifting. Isn't Lancer pissed at you for skipping?"
"You skip all the time," Dash retorted. However, his voice contained none of the malice that he had reserved for his favourite victim since freshman year. Danny shifted again, coiling his invisible tail around the bedpost as the guest took a shuddering breath.
"But I have reason to," Danny reminded him in a quiet voice.
Dash glanced at the boy's scarred visage before quickly returning his gaze to the carpet. "Yeah," he whispered shakily, folding his hands within his lap.
Danny offered him another piece of chocolate. When Dash simply stared at the large brown chunk, the halfa gave a small grin. "Take this, it'll help."
Dash rolled his eyes. "Are you seriously referencing Harry Potter?"
Danny flashed his guest a genuine grin. "And here I was thinking that you wouldn't notice."
The jock chuckled slightly and took the confection from his peer's outstretched hand. "We like the same chocolate," he mused before breaking the chunk into small squares and popping one into his mouth.
The halfa's eyes widened. "No way!" he exclaimed. "I don't know anyone who likes their chocolate this bitter!"
"Neither do I," Dash conceded, feeling a grin overtake his features.
Danny broke off a square for himself, only to have Sebastian steal it from his fingers. Dash felt the smile seep off his face at the dragon's sudden movements, the reason for his visit hitting him full-force once again.
"May I ask what happened?" the jock murmured. At Danny's quizzical look he elaborated. "You know, back at school…"
The halfa stiffened slightly. "Just PTSD," he answered crisply, "I'll get over it eventually."
Dash shook his head in wonder. "What did those bastards do to you?"
Danny cocked his head to the side, fixing sapphire eyes on Dash's own dark blue. "What bastards?"
"Dammit, don't play dumb with me!" the jock shouted, slamming his fist into his own thigh. "We all know you're Phantom, okay? What did the Guys in White do?"
"Why do you care?" Danny shouted back, his voice shaking.
"Because I'd be a douche not to! How guilty do you think I feel, knowing that every single time I beat you up or shoved you into a locker I was probably aggravating one of the injuries that caused those scars!" Fisting his fingers in his hair, Dash let his head drop so that he didn't have to look at the trembling, pale-faced teen seated in front of him.
For a long moment the only sounds were Sebastian's whimpers and the boys' heavy, rasping breaths.
"Vivisection," Danny mumbled. Dash's head shot up and he stared wide-eyed at his shaking classmate. "They chopped me up, without any sort of anaesthetic."
Dash felt the blood drain from his cheeks, his gut twisting as air caught in his throat. What?
"Urgh, I'm such a damned coward," the sable-haired teen groaned, pressing his hands against closed eyes. "I can't even handle a high school lab…"
The jock felt his own hands begin to shake. "You're the bravest person I've ever met, and I… I'm sorry for everything I've done to you. The class is gunna keep your secret."
Getting to his feet, the fair-haired teen found himself smirking at the astonished look on Danny's face. Without further attempts at conversation, the football star slipped into the hallway and down the stairs, leaving FentonWorks and heading in the direction of school. Football training would begin in about twenty minutes, and he knew now that he could focus fully on the practice without overwhelming guilt welling up with every thought.
However, just because it no longer crushed his mind didn't mean that the guilt hadn't disappeared entirely.
...
Danny didn't sleep well that night. At about three in the morning he gave up on even trying, and tiptoed past a sleeping Tucker and Sebastian. Once out in the hallway, where the light wouldn't wake his slumbering friends, Danny transformed and flew through the wall. Looping over Amity Park, he phased into FentonWorks before creeping down the hall to his bedroom. A light was visible from beneath the door, so he knocked quietly.
At the occupant's quiet "Come in," Danny turned the knob and entered.
Alicia looked up from her book, frowning at the sight of her nephew. "Danny?"
The teen shuffled his feet and ducked his head. "I-I just wanted to come and get my computer, since Tucker'll murder me if I touch his," he mumbled.
The woman sighed, patting the covers beside her. Danny followed her unspoken request, seating himself beside his aunt and allowing her to pull him into her arms. "How are you?" she murmured, running gentle fingers through pitch-black locks.
Danny melted into the embrace. "I don't know," he confessed quietly. "I mean, I thought that I could handle this…" he trailed off with a heavy sigh.
Alicia adjusted her position so that Danny's wings lay as flat as they could go. She continued to stroke his hair, feeling the boy shudder when her nails scraped against imbricate scales.
Alicia adored Maddie's children, and always made certain to provide a listening ear for Jazz – the girl had been particularly distressed upon realising that she was now the only human member of her immediate family, but having her human aunt to speak with had greatly eased that burden.
Danny was a different matter entirely – in the week that he had been home, Alicia had barely clapped eyes on the boy; he was always busy, to the extent where the woman worried that he would one day burn out. A person as young as he was should not have to shoulder such a burden, and if she thought that he would listen at all, Alicia would have tried to talk some sense into her nephew.
It was all Jack's fault.
Although Alicia generally disagreed with her eldest sister on principle, she grudgingly admitted that Will did have a point when placing the blame for Danny's situation. Although the teen blamed himself, it was quite obvious that the people responsible were none other than Jack and Madeline. Alicia personally placed most of the blame on Jack's shoulders – indirectly, it was his fault that Maddie had had her powers bound in the first place. Everything simply stemmed from that small fact.
The woman sighed, glancing down at her silent nephew. Danny had fallen asleep in Alicia's arms with his head resting on her shoulder, his icy breaths playing softly across the skin of her neck. With the arrival of slumber his illusions had melted away, revealing a face that was more scars than skin.
Alicia laid the boy gently beside her before placing the book on the bedside table. His core temperature mingling with her own human warmth reminded the woman of nights spent sneaking into Maddie's bed in the weeks before Alicia had been sent from the Ghost Zone to live with her own kind.
As gently as she could, the woman lay beside her nephew and pulled the covers over them.
She was still awake when he woke at five to beat up the box ghost.
...
Danny stayed home from school on Friday at his parents' insistence. A weekend of flying lessons, training, dealing with extended family, and struggling to complete homework was almost enough to drive any thoughts of school from the halfa's mind.
Almost.
...
Phantom was floating about a foot above the grass, legs crossed in a sitting position and eyes screwed shut in concentration. His glowing hands had been thrust into the air directly in front of him, and as the gelatinous green power wove between his gloved fingers the teen cracked open one eye.
The substance around his hands exploded, sending out a wave of heat and flame which scorched the boy's skin and seared his eyebrows.
Danny gave a frustrated cry, fisting stinging fingers in his hair and back flipping above the grass. He settled once again, blowing on steaming gloves and wiping soot out of his eyes.
"Are you trying to kill yourself or something?" asked a voice from behind him, and Danny fell to the ground with a startled yelp.
He picked himself up, flushing and dusting off his suit. "Are you stalking me or something?" he grouched, sending Star one of his best scowls.
The girl shook her head, flipping blonde hair over her shoulder and spreading her hands wide to gesture at the park around them. "I jog here every evening," she announced, "and you're floating right next to the joggers' track."
The halfa sighed. "I guess I am," he mumbled, dropping his gaze to the ground.
Star seated herself on the grass, tilting her head back and giving a satisfied sigh. "What are you doing, anyway?"
Danny frowned at the strange behaviour before shrugging and sitting next to her. "Trying to make a portal to the Ghost Zone," he muttered, "and failing miserably at it. But why aren't you throwing yourself all over me?" At her disgruntled look he held up his hands with an exclamation. "Not that I don't appreciate it, I was just curious since your group's all obsessed with Phantom." When Danny said his ghost form's name, his voice gained a somewhat bitter edge.
Star rolled her eyes. "That was really Paulina's thing, you know? We sort of had to go along with it, and pretend to be totally in love with you as well." Danny snorted as she continued, "I think that she's really going to back off now that she knows who you are."
Danny felt like he had been stabbed in the gut, every old insecurity rushing back to overwhelm his mind. "What, so I'm a loser in both forms now?" he ground out.
The girl started, her eyes widening as she realised the implications of his words. "Oh, no, Danny – what I meant was that she knows that you really love Sam, and so she's going to give you some space. And you've made it pretty clear that you're not interested in adoring fans proclaiming their love for your… erm… ghost form."
Danny sighed. "I'd tell you to tell her thanks for me, but even that could make her a bit too…"
"Excited?" Star offered.
Danny grinned sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck as he nodded. "What I'm really curious about," he confessed, "is why you guys didn't have the whole search-and-rescue thing going on when my parents and I disappeared."
The girl flushed, fiddling with the hem of her shirt. "Well, everyone just thought that your parents had dragged you off on another of their ghost hunting expeditions without telling anyone. Remember, you guys were gone for three months two years ago."
Danny chuckled, tilting his head back to watch as the first stars of the evening flickered into view. "Yeah, that makes sense," he breathed.
Before he could say anything else, Danny's core radiated a blast of cold, chilling the air in his lungs. Daggers of ice wrapped around his spine and whipped through his brain as a tendril of blue slipped through the teen's lips, and Danny sighed. "If it's Boxy again I'm going to suck him into the thermos and bury it," the halfa grumbled before flashing a smile in Star's direction. "It was good to see you, but I've gotta go."
The girl smiled back, raising her hand in a small wave. "See you later, Danny," she called, watching as his glowing figure sped into the darkening sky.
...
Danny slipped invisibly into the classroom after lunch, taking his seat and blowing a waft of icy air in the direction of his girlfriend. Sam scowled before poking him in the gut, earning a slight gasp from the teen as her finger jabbed the half-healed gash that spanned from his right armpit to his left hip, courtesy of Skulker.
As the bell rang and Lancer rapped his knuckles on the surface of the whiteboard to get the students' attention, Danny reluctantly allowed visibility to melt over his form. The room lapsed into silence and Danny glanced down at his shirt, grimacing when he realised that he looked like an absolute wreck, with a grisly mixture of red and green spotting his torn clothing.
Lancer cleared his throat. "Next time, please clean yourself up before you come to class, Mr Fenton." Danny mumbled in assent and the teacher continued, his tone softening, "Do you need to go and see the nurse?"
The halfa shook his head. "It's already healing, sir, and I bandaged it up as soon as the fight finished."
For a moment the educator looked like he wanted to say something, but instead closed his eyes and visibly swallowed. Turning towards his desk, Lancer marked the roll before launching into a lecture on death and redemption in Hamlet.
The class, for once, remained silent throughout the lesson, the students sending their half ghost peer sympathetic glances as blood and ectoplasm crept steadily across the fabric of his shirt.
Dinner at FentonWorks was never a quiet affair. The majority of the Fenton relatives – including Jazz and Jim – had left town earlier that day, but Jack's parents and Maddie's relatives remained. Danny was simply thankful that Grandma Fenton had kept her husband out of the kitchen – he really wasn't in the mood to battle a horde of undead food for the second time that day, since that morning several boxes of cornflakes had decided to take a stab at world domination thanks to Grandpa Fenton's modified milk.
Escaping the noise and heat of the brightly-lit dining room, Danny stepped out onto the back porch, leaning against the banister and coaxing a quivering Sebastian from his hoodie pocket. The dragonling perched on the banister with a delighted trill, fanning delicate wings. The halfa sighed, hauling his body over the railing and dropping soundlessly to the lawn, where he laid back to watch the stars appear in the inky sky. Sebastian launched himself into the air, flying wobbly circles around the perimeter of the backyard and trilling with delight.
Danny's ghost sense went off, but the teen simply smirked at the familiar ectosignature. He pointed his finger towards the sky and let loose a tiny green spark; it shot upwards, bursting into an emerald firework one hundred feet above the ground. Moments later a glowing blur sped through the fence, roughly colliding with the boy and knocking the wind out of him.
"Danny!" the girl shrieked, wrapping her arms tightly around her 'cousin'.
"Geroff, Danni!" he sputtered, phasing through her grip and glaring at her in the yellow light that filtered through the kitchen windows. "Turn human before someone sees you or the ghost trackers pick you up," Danny ordered, a grin creeping over his face.
Danielle pouted comically before grinning once again, washing the white rings over her slim body. Danny wrapped his arms around her, feeling the girl begin to shudder within his embrace. He pulled away from her, noting with surprise that tears had begun to stream down her face.
"What's wrong?" Danny cried, gripping his distressed clone by the shoulders.
Danni twisted the hem of her blue shirt between her fingers, keeping sapphire eyes on the rectangles of yellow light that the windows stencilled on the grass. "Val called me," she whispered, "right after you passed out at school."
"What?" Danny breathed, reaching out to grasp the girl's chin and force her to look at him. "What did she say?" He demanded when her eyes met his own.
Danielle broke the contact with a jerk, curling her knees into her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "She said that you got caught and hurt by the Guys in White, and that somehow the entire school figured out your secret because you fainted in class after a PTSD attack."
"It was only the class," Danny insisted.
Danielle shook her head. "Nah, apparently the whole school figured it out because some freshman had been hiding from his bullies in the lab's storeroom – apparently there's a little glass window in the door that he could see through – and he told everyone in his class what he saw."
The boy's stomach felt like it had dropped to the centre of the earth. Crap. "Are you sure?" he breathed.
"Yeah, but apparently nobody told the media because before lunch everyone was called into an assembly and told to shut up and leave you alone since it's your secret."
Danny closed his eyes, rubbing at throbbing temples. Thank goodness. "Danni-"
"Don't," the girl interrupted. "That's not my name."
"What?" Danny cried.
Danielle shrugged. "As awesome as you are, I'm not you, and I should stop trying to be. I'm my own person, so please call me Danielle, or Ella." She tilted her head. "Don't you think Ella fits me nicely?"
Danny nodded numbly and his guest sighed. "What is that?" she murmured as Sebastian, exhausted from his flying practice, landed awkwardly on the top of Danny's head.
Danny squawked as small talons dug into his scalp, holding up his arm for Sebastian to clamber onto. "This is Sebastian," he said, transferring the dragonling to his shoulder. "He's my companion."
Danielle giggled. "You always seem to get into unique situations," she muttered, wiping at the tearstains on her cheeks.
"Yeah, well this one's a doozy," Danny announced, turning his wings and tail visible and tangible. "I'm stuck with these until my core matures."
The girl pressed a hand over her mouth in order to contain a shriek.
...
Grandma and Grandpa Fenton insisted that they would continue to stay at the town's motel for another week, as they felt that it was high time for the two of them to take a holiday. Once they had left for their accommodation, Maddie ventured outside in search of her son.
"Danny, you've been out here for three hours!" the woman called, sticking her head out the back door.
Two sets of sapphire eyes swung to face her, and Maddie felt her breathing hitch momentarily. For a moment she could have sworn that there were twins sitting before her…
Danny was on his feet and approaching his mother. "Mum, this is Danielle. She's… Erm, you see…" He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "The Fruitloop cloned me, and Danielle was the only clone to survive. She's really cool, and-"
Maddie swept past her son, pulling the newcomer into an embrace. Ever since Jack's passing comment about a clone, she had waited for Danny to broach the topic and introduce her.
Danielle squawked in surprise but refrained from pulling away, returning the hug a moment later. Once they pulled apart Maddie slung her arms around the girl's shoulders. "We're a little stretched for space at the moment, but if you want you can stay here…"
The teen ducked her head. "I-I don't know how long I'd be staying," she spluttered.
The huntress tightened her arm around Danielle's shoulders. "Forever, if you want."
The girl's hysterical tears and professions of thanks lasted for the next hour and a half, highly amusing her new parents as they set up Jazmine's old room for her.
...
"We'll take you into the Ghost Zone tomorrow to sort everything out," Maddie announced over late hot chocolates. "You'll get a lair and a companion, and we'll adopt you officially."
Wilhelmina primly sipped her chocolate, grimaced, and stirred in two sugars. "Bekah's going to graduate from her apprenticeship in a couple of months. Ella, do you want to be my apprentice?"
Danielle choked on her drink. "Are you serious?" she demanded, grinning like a lunatic as the woman sculled her sweetened beverage.
Will smiled slightly, placing the cup in the sink. "Of course. Now that that's settled, I'm off to bed. Good night, everyone."
...
Danny moaned, pulling the blanket over his head as Tucker's alarm went off.
"Mornin', Dude," Tucker slurred, swinging his feet out of bed and trudging in the direction of the bathroom.
The halfa grumbled noncommittally, rolling over and peeking out from beneath the covers as Sebastian stretched with a whine. Danny reached out and scratched his companion's scales, the teen's eyes flying open and a gasp leaving his lips as several scales dislodged beneath his gentle touch.
Leaping out of bed, the boy threw on his clothes haphazardly and gathered the dragonling into his arms, leaping into the air and teleporting to Fentonworks. The action left him dizzy and disoriented, and Danny fell against the kitchen bench with a cry before sliding to the floor – he had never teleported more than five blocks before, and the distance from Tucker's house to Fentonworks was twelve.
"Danny!" Maddie shrieked, abandoning her coffee and throwing herself down beside her son. "What's wrong? Are you alright?"
The teen took in a shaky breath before motioning to the dragon in his arms. "So-something's wrong wi-with Sebastian," he wheezed. "He l-lost a bunch of scales."
The woman stilled before turning her head away in a bid to hide her smirk.
"What?" Danny demanded, regaining control over his breathing. Maddie began to chuckle, her shoulders shaking slightly as Danny's irritation mounted. "What is it?" the boy cried.
Maddie laughed outright. "Sorry," she chortled, shaking her head slightly. "Nothing's wrong with him."
"But he just lost a bunch of scales!" Danny exclaimed.
Maddie's laughter quieted, and she stared at her son, lilac eyes sparkling with mirth. "He's just going through a growth spurt. It's like losing teeth – the little ones fall out to make way for bigger ones."
Danny blinked, staring down at his preening companion. "You're kidding, right?" the teen breathed.
Maddie shook her head and offered her son a hand up. Danny took it gratefully, his head continuing to spin. He sank into the nearest seat, silently accepting the hot chocolate that Alicia pressed into his hands. Sebastian immediately shoved his snout into the mug, slurping up half of the liquid before settling back into his companion's arms. Danny downed the rest of the beverage, feeling his limbs slowly stop shaking.
"Did you teleport here from Tucker's house?" Maddie asked as she re-seated herself, offering half a biscuit to Eliza as she dozed in the middle of the table.
Danny nodded, feeling heat seep through his cheeks. "Yeah, sorry about that."
The woman shook her head slightly, chuckling as the ferret nipped playfully at her fingers. "Good work, but be careful, okay? Don't try to teleport too far or you'll strain your core and end up with a really bad migraine."
Danny ducked his head. "I'll remember that," he muttered, moving to place his mug in the sink. Snagging an apple, the teen bid his aunt and mother goodbye before changing into Phantom and flying back in the direction of Tucker's house.
...
"Come on, Danny! It's just another school day," Sam coaxed.
Danny shook his head numbly, taking another step back from the bushes that lined the perimeter of Casper High. He knew that his behaviour was attracting attention, but the poor boy just couldn't face the idea of the entire student population knowing his secret.
"Come on," Tucker begged, reaching out to drag Danny by the sleeve. "You've sulked at my place instead of going to school for the past three days!" The halfa visibly flinched, phasing himself out of Tucker's grasp as Sebastian nipped at the geek's fingers. Danny stepped back once more, pressing a hand over his eyes and attempting to slow his breathing.
"What's wrong?" Valerie called, approaching the trio from behind. "Is Danny okay?"
Tucker shook his head slightly, sending the huntress a warning glance. Valerie got the message and nodded in response, backing away and continuing towards the school's front doors.
Sam reached out and grasped Danny's wrist, gently pulling his hand away from his face. "Come on, we've got English first," she soothed. "I'll be with you the whole time."
Shuddering, Danny pressed his lips tightly together and allowed her to pull him in the direction of the school's front steps.
...
He somehow managed to make it to class, sinking gratefully into his chair. Danny kept his eyes downcast, fisting his fingers in his lap as the students filtered into the room. Their chatter soothed him, a sense of normalcy rising from the classroom as Danny tilted his head back. His stomach rumbled, reminding the halfa of his meagre breakfast.
Danny closed his eyes and breathed deeply, sampling the emotions of his classmates. Ignoring the general anxiety and exhaustion that seeped through the room, Danny singled out a burst of joy that emanated from Mikey. With a grateful sigh, the halfa sucked contentedly on the emotion as one would a hardboiled lolly, the sweet tang of the positive emotion fizzing on his tongue and filling his belly with warmth.
His hunger satisfied, the teen turned his attention to the front of the room as Lancer swept through the door and rapped his knuckles against the whiteboard. "Quiet down!" he called to the assembled students.
Nathan raised his hand. "Sir, do you think that Danny could explain to us? I'm still a bit confused."
Danny swallowed, feeling his chest seize up. Crap, I can't do this! He sent the teacher a pleading glance, but Lancer missed it. "Mr Fenton will speak to you when he's ready to," the teacher said quietly. "However, you all have homework to hand me. Leave Daniel alone until he broaches the subject himself."
The class lapsed into quiet murmuring as the teacher walked down the rows of desks, collecting the week's homework. Danny sank low in his seat, shaking his head slightly as Lancer passed him. The teacher sent him a sympathetic glance before moving on down the aisle, and Danny sighed.
His peers continued to shoot looks in his direction.
Danny flushed, his irritation mounting. As Lancer returned to the front of the classroom, Danny got to his feet. "Alright," the halfa groaned, "just stop staring at me. I went inside my parents' portal back in freshman year, and it turned on while I was inside. My ghost powers were activated, and I came out as Phantom. End of story." He sat down once again, ducking his head.
The room was still. "But, what happened with the Guys-"
"Shut it, Nathan," Dash growled. "If he doesn't want to tell us then he doesn't have to." Danny sent the jock a grateful glance before focusing once again on his own shoelaces.
It was a blessing when his ghost sense went off, and Danny practically flew out of the room in pursuit of the Box Ghost.
...
Bright Eyes gulped, watching as Jack Fenton's father erected devices around the perimeter of the school. The fool would never catch a ghost that way, but perhaps the idiot's bumbling attempt would provide the perfect opportunity to implement their plan.
He turned towards the back of the van, keeping his eyes respectfully downcast beneath their dark shades. "Sir, what would you have us do?"
The figure shifted, shadows moving to follow its form. Yellow eyes burned with rage and hunger. "We move when the fool does," it hissed, voice rasping and breath smelling of rotten flesh.
Bright Eyes inclined his head respectfully before turning to his phone and calling his second-in-command. "We move when the fool does," he intoned as soon as they answered before brusquely hanging up.
...
Jack and Maddie led their daughter up the steps of Casper High, heading straight for reception. She fought to contain her excitement, bouncing on the balls of her feet as the receptionist glanced at the trio over the rims of sensible square-framed glasses. "Another ghost crisis?" the woman intoned, her finger hovering over the intercom.
Maddie shook her head. "No, we're here to enrol our youngest daughter."
The woman frowned, tilting her head forwards in order to inspect Danielle over the rim of her spectacles. She raised an eyebrow before turning her attention to Maddie. "Principal Ishiyama is free for the next half an hour. You may proceed to her office."
"Thank you," Maddie murmured, towing her husband and daughter in the direction of the polished door.
...
Grandpa Fenton had been tracking a ghost for the past week, but whenever he followed the tracker, its ectosignature disappeared before he could reach the designated spot. All he had to go by was a flash of white hair and a sleek black costume as the spectre fled the scene of yet another battle, taking the enemy ghost with it in what looked to be a Fenton Thermos.
On Tuesday morning, as the students began to file into the school building, the man lurked in the bushes – Phantom's ectosignature always disappeared in this exact building after ghost fights during school hours.
His Fenton Tracker began to vibrate, and Grandpa Fenton glanced at the small device strapped to his wrist, grinning when he realised that the ghost was approaching the school right on time.
Waiting until the spectre's signal had returned to the building, the hunter depressed a button on his remote. Strategically-placed weapons whined, covering every available surface both inside and outside the school in a frothing, mint-green foam designed to cancel out the powers of any ghost.
Leaping to his feet, Grandpa Fenton let out a whoop, punching the air. Abandoning his victory dance, the man gulped, taking a step back and falling on his rump; a shadow had risen above the building, yellow eyes gleaming wickedly.
...
Danny sighed, slipping into his seat and sending Sam a relieved grin before mouthing Beware. The girl smirked and moved to return Sebastian to him, but Danny groaned as his ghost sense chilled his lungs once again. Rolling his eyes, the teen teleported to the airspace above the school, hovering invisibly as he pinpointed the ghost.
After a moment he sped towards the park, launching an ecto-bomb into Klemper's gut and sucking the irritating ghost into the thermos. The process took less than thirty seconds, but by the time Danny turned around the school was covered in green foam. With a sigh, he breathed out a lungful of freezing tendrils. "Honestly, can't I catch a break?" he muttered, flying in the direction of the building.
Sebastian flew to meet him, covered in green and shrieking shrilly. Danny reached out and caught the dragonling in his gloved hands, feeling the foam slick and cold against the waterproof fabric.
A shadow rose above the school, and Danny gulped as a chilling voice snaked through the air. "Come out and play, little Phantom! Come save your dear friends!"
"Danny, no!" shrieked a voice from behind him, and Kailani threw her arms around the bewildered teen's shoulders. The halfa yelped, falling briefly before pouring strength into his powers and hovering in mid-air once again. Kailani kept her arms around him, trembling slightly. "Don't fight it, it's obviously a trap."
Danny phased through her grasp, leaving the girl to rely upon her own wings once again. "I can't let him hurt anyone!" he cried, speeding in the direction of the school.
"Idiot," Kai hissed. "Kellie's got me babysitting an imbecile…" Taking a breath, she sped off after the determined hero. Before she had travelled ten metres, a net folded over her form, pinning sleek wings against her back.
A ghost swathed in shadows, identical to Daniel's opponent par those glowing crimson eyes, caught her before she could so much as scream.
...
"Oi!" Danny shouted, sending an ectoblast slamming into the shadowed figure. "Leave my friends alone!"
His ghost sense went off once again as ghosts and men in white suits materialised throughout the space below, entering the school with nets and guns in hand. The figure turned to face the irate ghost child, smirking. "Well, well, well," it sneered, "looks like the little halfa came out to play." With a smirk, the creature sent a blast in the direction of the spectators on the ground.
Danny paled, teleporting into the path of the blast. It collided with his stomach, sending pain lancing through his abdomen. The halfa dropped like a stone, landing on top of Lance Thunder's camera crew.
Gasping out an apology, Danny attended to the screeching dragonling in his arms, perching Sebastian on his shoulder. Small amounts of the foam flecked onto his cheeks, and Danny hissed at the burning sensation before launching himself into the air once again. "That was a low move!" he shouted at his opponent, launching a blast in its direction. The burning began to increase, travelling outwards from the specks of foam on his skin and congregating somewhere around his waist. "Now what do you want with me?"
The spectre tilted its head, chuckling as Danny felt a wrench deep in his gut. He gasped, doubling over and clutching at the spot as the foam continued to burn his face. The figure chuckled deeply before sending a ray blasting into the teen's unprotected side. The halfa once again dropped from the sky, this time landing on the foam-covered steps of the school. The stuff was suddenly all over his body, reaching his skin through his hair and sliding down the collar of his suit.
Danny arched his back and shrieked, tearing with slick fingers at the cool foam that had covered his form. The burning tore through his entire body, gathering in his gut. Danny screamed, writhing as a ring of light snapped into place around his waist.
"N-no, s-st-stop," he gasped as it split into two, slowly beginning to wash over his glowing body. "Wait… St… Argh!" Screwing his eyes shut, the halfa gave a cry of pain as his breathing paused and heart faltered, indicating that he had reverted to human form.
As the boy struggled to get to his feet the school's doors were thrown open, and what seemed to be an army of white-suited men and shadowed figures hauled struggling students out of the building in glowing nets. Danny pressed a hand to his swimming head before throwing himself at the nearest man. Rolling his eyes, Bright Eyes kicked the child in the side before depositing the netted, struggling form of Maddie Fenton on the ground.
Danny fell back with a cry, clutching at his freshly-cracked ribs. As he fought to his feet once again the yellow-eyed spectre from above sent a sizzling net down upon the teen's head. The blood drained from Danny's face and he collapsed with a scream, tearing at the knotted ropes as electricity sizzled through his slender frame.
...
As his grandson screamed in utter agony, Grandpa Fenton realised that he had made a massive mistake by covering the school in ecto-nullifying foam. The man leaped to his feet, racing to the terrified child's side as electricity lit up the fibres of the net. Sinking to his knees, he ignored the men dragging netted children into vans – his only priority now was to save his grandson's life.
Danny's screaming had stopped, and Grandpa Fenton turned back towards the boy to see the halfa's mouth open in a vain effort to suck in air, his body contorted as electricity continued to pour into his system. Wide blue eyes began to dim, their lids creeping shut as the teen fell limp.
Grandpa Fenton had cut the net open in a second with his Fenton Machete, tearing the sizzling strands away from his grandson and the tiny white reptile. As soon as the final fibre left his skin, the boy took in a choking breath.
"Thank goodness," the man breathed, gathering the unconscious child and keening dragon into his arms. He turned to face the school, realising with a start that the teachers, along with Maddie and Jack, were lying on the ground wrapped in normal, everyday nets. He swung to face the road, noting that the vans were gone and the cameramen lay imprisoned in a similar manner, their cameras still broadcasting live with their lenses fixed on the foam-covered school steps.
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