A/N: I'm back! Sorry school started last week and it's been a drag. How can teachers give homework the first week, let alone the first day? Oh well, here you guys go.

Chapter Twenty-One

The Aftermath

Chapter Song: Set Fire To The Rain

A cool air radiated around me. The iciness brought a feeling of safety and comfort. Usually that would make sense to a person if you said a warm feeling gave you that, but not for me. A sweet melody tingled in my ear. I was the softest sound of music quietly playing from a stereo or an iPod. I had just come out of a heavy sleep having a terrible dream. I was surrounded by fire and I was sitting there helplessly. And when it swallowed me up, I woke up. That's why the cool air felt so safe. It was just a dream. A terrible, terrible dream. Before I opened my eyes I could tell I wasn't in my room. This wasn't my bed I was lying in. Slowly, I inched open my eyes trying to focus on whatever and wherever I was. My head was placed on a throw pillow and I was laid on a couch, with a soft mohair blanket over me pulled all the way up to my chest. Before a moan escaped my lips, I closed my mouth and kept silent. Confused of to where I was, I lifted my head off the pillow and propped myself up on my elbow. My blurred eyes focused on two bodies, one sitting on the bed, the other leaning against a dresser with its arms crossed over it's chest. Eventually, my mind and eyes focused in. The person on the bed was Elliot, and the other was my brother. There was music coming from one headphone placed in his ear. There was a body on the bed, but he was laid on top of the covers and was facing me with his eyes closed. Danny. And I was in Elliot's room. And why was everyone else wearing the same clothes? And more importantly, why was my brother here? Elliot nudged my brother with his foot and he made a head motion towards me. Yanking the headphones out of his ear and placing the iPod on the tall dresser, Jeremy walked over.

"Alexa." He kneeled down to me.

"Jer…" I slowly spoke, my voice cracking. Why was my throat so horse?

"Are you okay? Listen to me, can you see me?" He waved a hand in front of my face.

"Ye-yeah. What's going on? Where are you here?" I blinked a few times. Did I by mistakenly fall asleep at Elliot's last night? I don't even remember being over here. How did I get here?

"You and ghost boy over there past out yesterday once you got out of the building." Jeremy threw a thumb over his back, pointing to Danny. The memories of the fire last night all flooded back, along with the pain. My eyes widened, I looked over to Elliot to figure out what to say. He just nodded, assuring me it was all right.

"You know?"

"That's not the point. How are you feeling."

"Uh, better." I lied. My hand was throbbing and my head hurt from the light coming through the windows. Looking at my left hand that was in pain, it was all bandaged up.

"Your hand had a ton of glass in it, it was all cut up. And it got burned a little. But it's okay, Dr. Elliot was on the case." Elliot proudly walked over and sat down on the edge of the couch.

"I understand getting burned but the glass in your hand? How'd you manage that?" Both boys eyed the bandages.

"Um, I had to jump out of a window…that I broke...with a chair." I awkwardly added.

"What!" Both boys freaked, Jeremy added a small laugh at the end.

"After Danny got caught the mayor took me to city hall and locked me in his office. So I threw his chair so the window would brake and jumped out two stories. It wasn't exactly the safest activity."

"You jumped out a building?" Jeremy said, not bothering to feigning his shock. He always knew me as Alexa, his little sister who was terrified of going on the jungle gym since it was far off the ground and the girl who had to take a Xanax almost every time she went on a plane, not the girl who jumped out of a two story building.

"Badass." Elliot laughed, "oh, and this belongs to you." He slid my phone out of his pocket.

"My phone! How'd you find it?"

"Since after a half hour of you not coming back, I went to where you said you were meeting Danny. I found your phone on the ground so I knew something was up. When I was walking back to the carnival I saw a few guards carrying Danny so I watched them put him in there and I hid behind another building till I eventually saw Vlad walk out the front door. I smelled smoke and then it was on fire and when you came I was trying to figure out a plan."

"You idiot you should have done something."

"I was thinking of a plan! I would have thought of one if you hadn't ran in there."

"Yeah well who got Danny out?"

"Hey, hey, hey!" Jeremy broke it up, "Alexa you're an idiot for going into a burning building but it's good you saved him. Elliot, you're an idiot for not thinking of a faster plan."

"Whatever." I rolled my eyes.

"So, now tell your side of the story now." Elliot raised a brow.

"I just did."

"With more detail."

"Fine. After I left you I walked to where Danny told me. We talked for a few minutes and then Danny started screaming and holding his head. Then they came and they shot him up with chloroform and took him away and then literally dragged me, kicking and screaming, to City Hall where a guard put me in Vlad's office, he talked to me, I jumped out a window, and that's where you came in, Elliot."

"What about when you went in?"

"We had a few fire complications. Danny couldn't um, go ghost." I felt uncomfortable talking about this in front of my brother.

"How many ghosts were in there?"

"A lot." I said, lying back down, "so where did you come in?" I pointed to Jeremy, wanting to change the subject.

"I kept calling you because I wanted to leave so I went to look for you. I past Elliot and I heard your phone go off but he wouldn't tell me where you were then you came out."

"How did you find out about Danny being, you know…"

" Because while I was driving you home there was a flash of light in the back and your little boyfriend as the ghost boy. And I pulled it out of techo freak over here."

"Hey!" Elliot frowned.

"May I repeat you're an idiot," I smiled, my right cheek pressing against the pillow, "When you do think he's going to wake up?"

It could be hours, could be minutes." Elliot looked at the alarm clock on his nightstand. Jeremy got up from his crouched position and stood up, stretching his back.

"Aren't your parents wondering why were here and let alone why we were passed out when you brought us in?"

"They're at a board meeting in Chicago for the next two days. Got the house to myself." Elliot smirked.

"Oh yeah, definite party animal," I rolled my eyes, "oh my God, Jeremy, dad and Shylee! They're gonna think we got kidnapped or something!" I sat up.

"You really think I didn't cover that? I called them saying you slept over a friends house and that I was too."

"Will they believe that?"

"I told them your phone ran out of battery, they didn't even try calling. They also said they'd be out all day so don't miss them."

"Thank you." I breathed, resting my head on the pillow once again.

"Dude, you got any food?" Jeremy asked Elliot. I looked at Elliot's digital clock; it was eleven fifteen Saturday morning.

"Yeah, I'm pretty hungry too. Alexa, want anything?" Elliot asked.

"I'm fine, I think I'll go back to sleep."

"Fine. We'll be down stairs." He dragged Jeremy with him down to the kitchen. Five minutes later, I could already hear the boys attempting to cook. Closing my eyes seemed useless after a few minutes, I wasn't able to fall back to sleep. My hand was burning in pain and there was to much on my mind to fall asleep. Eventually, I did force myself to close my eyes and try to get comfortable. That was until I heard a few groans. My eyes flew open as I watched Danny uncomfortable shift positions and roll onto his back, and then back to his original position. That went on for a few minutes. I even changed my position, I rolled onto my back and bent my left leg and kept my right one straight. I put my hands together and rested them on my stomach. Keeping the blanket over me, I finally felt comfortable. Danny grumbled again and then I saw his eyes flutter open. I felt relieve seeing him okay again. He blinked, confused, and I spoke up.

"How are you feeling?" His eyes shot over to me.

"Whaa—why are we in Elliot's room?" He asked. I sat up, leaning my back against the pillow and crossed my legs with the blanket over me.

"Apparently we passed out after we got out of the building." I fiddled my hands together.

"Ugh, right. God everything seems so blurry."

"I understand I felt the same when I woke up, you'll be able to see better in a few minutes probably. Do you remember anything?"

"Yeah, only a little though. Just when we were talking and my head started hurting and then guards came, and then waking up in a fire then you eventually came. What happened?" He sat up in Elliots bed. I took my blanket off and walked over to Danny.

"Vlad was planning on getting rid of all the ghosts in town and apparently he saw me with you one of the last attacks. He shot you up with chloroform and took you away and locked me in his office and told me it was for the better and he would let me out when the burning was done." I sat down next to him on the bed.

"But the burning wasn't done when you got to me…how'd you get out?"

"I forgot to mention I jumped out his second story window and trashed his window with a really expensive chair. But that's a different story for another time. Anyways, Elliot tried to convince me not to get you once I got to the building but I did it anyways. And the we got out, apparently we passed out, and now we're here."

"Elliot was right, you shouldn't have gone in." He said in a serious tone. Well, that was a different response than I thought I was going to get. I laughed once in disbelieve. Did the smoke get to his brain a little to much?

"What? Since when is Elliot right about something?" My brows furrowed, my smile was stiff.

"I don't know, I've been thinking. After everything you've gotten into you need to stay away from me. I've done this."

"I think you've inhaled a little to much smoke."

"This is the third time I almost gotten you killed."

"Well, no friendships perfect." I smiled.

"Come on, look at you. You just risked your own life to go get me, look at your hand."

"I did that to myself all on my own by jumping out that window. And these are all my decisions that I made, whether it was to save you or not. You're supposed to say 'gee Alexa, thanks so much for saving me. And I'm not sorry I almost got you killed because that what my fault.' Just shut up and be happy you're alive." I chuckled, embracing Danny. He wrapped his arms around me.

"Thanks Alexa, so much for saving me."

"You're welcome. And you've saved my life a few times so you can call this a repayment." I winked, pulling back.

"Very funny. Where's Elliot?"

"Downstairs with…oh um," I paused biting my lip again.

"What?" Danny curiously asked.

"Are you ready for one more thing of bad news today?"

"Better get it over with."

"Um, my brother knows about…" I pointed my finger to him.

"What? How?"

"Apparently you changed into your ghost form in the car. And Elliot slipped up."

"Great."

"I promise he won't tell. I would personally kill him myself."

"It's fine, it was bound to happen again some day that someone else found out. At least it wasn't Vlad."

"Glad you're thinking on the bright side. Come on, let's go get something to eat."

Three cities outside of town covered the fire. Headline after headline stated 'Carnival Gone Wrong- Firework mishap burns building'. The articles, they were all the same, it was one repeat after another. They were alleged that no one was in the building at the time of the fire since the place has been abandoned for years, but if there were people in it they were lucky to be alive. Police were still searching for where the firework hit and if there were remains of bodies in the building. Little did they know their own mayor was the cause of it, not a firework mishap. And he thought I was the only one who knew besides his guards, since ghost boy Danny Phantom was claimed to be dead to him, well, 100% dead now. I slammed the paper down on my kitchen table, Danny was sitting across from me. We left Elliot's a few hours ago, and my brother dropped us off here at my house. Jeremy went out with some friends and Elliot stayed behind at his place, so the two friends who were in the fire stayed together throughout the day. My parents were still out, so we had the house to ourselves. Thankfully for us, we both changed into fresh clothes and didn't have to stay in the ones that were a day old.

"They are so unbelievable." I handed the paper over to Danny.

"It's what everyone was supposed to believe, what do you except."

"Nothing other than that." I shook my head. Danny got up to go get another drink to help his throat, and I continued to sip on my tea. The kitchen got quiet.

"You didn't tell me your birthday was in a couple of weeks." Danny spoke up. I turned towards him; he was looking at Shylee's calender.

"Sorry, didn't mean to spy or anything. Just it caught my eye since it was all brightly colored." He laughed. Shylee always decorated the days of the birthdays on the calendar with balloon drawings and stuff like that. She was cute.

"It's fine. And yup, seventeenth birthday." I pursed my lips, Danny sat down again.

"You don't seem to happy about it."

"Don't get me wrong, I am, I've basically dreamed of it since I was like seven. Stupid, right? It's just sad that I always spent it with my friends back home doing traditions and stuff like that. That and I'm terrified of growing up. I feel like life's just racing by."

"I know what you mean. But don't worry, you're still a teenager it's not like you're thirty or something. I know you miss your old friends but we'll do something fun."

"Thank you. It'll be fun, I'm sure."

"So what do you want for a gift?"

"Absolutely nothing." I smiled.

"That's what everybody says to be nice, seriously what do you want?" He smirked, I looked at him shocked but with a wide smile on my face.

"Nothing!" I giggled.

"Right, you're going to make this harder on me."

"Fine, you know what I want? A day where we can pretend like we're normal, no ghost stuff."

"That's not a gift and we already tried that." He cocked his head, the door bell rang.

"Shut up." I laughed, getting up from my seat and walking to the door. I opened it only for my laugh and smile to be swept away and replaced by a low gasp.

"Hello Alexa." Vlad smirked, his hands held together. As always, he was dressed professionally in a clean cut black suit. I gulped, but it felt like there was a hard lump in my throat. A long black limo sat outside my driveway, Vlad's limo of course.

"Alexa, you okay?" Danny called from hearing me gasp.

"What do you want?" I asked with a straight face, not showing any emotion.

"Are your parents home?"

"No."

"Are you lying to me?"

"No." I hissed.

"Whose her—" Danny came up behind me and stopped talking once he saw Vlad.

"Well, I wanted to talk to them about our little event yesterday, along with my broken window and chair."

"What are you going to tell them? You locked me in your closet so you can go burn down a building? I'm sure that would sit well with everyone. Or how about how you dragged me against my will with your body guards? I'm sure someone might find that strange, or even take away your position. Get my parents involved and I'll tell him and everyone I know." I pointed to Danny.

"Don't test me little girl."

"Don't try me." I threatened back crossing my arms over my chest.

"You know that chair was expensive, as was the window."

"Well looks like you're going to have to replace it."

"Give me the money and I'll be out of your hair."

"Not happening, and if my parents were here, I'm sure that they would agree with me."

"I can have you in juvenile detention for such things."

"And I can have you in court, and I'm sure later jail. But I don't think you want that, do you?"

"No one will believe you when they hear about what I did."

"Oh I'm sure they're would be some evidence. Like, maybe, the burning building, or your lack of appearance and obsession the past few days over this. So if you tell, I tell."

"Fine! Now if you agree to not tell anyone about our little event last night, I'll drop the charges."

"Agreed. Now you have a good day and get the hell out of my house."

"Don't say what may come back to bite you Miss Pennington. Oh, and nice hand, does it have some of my imported window glass in it? Nice touch. Have a wonderful day." He turned on his heel and walked towards his limo. I shut the door and looked at Danny and let out a big breath.

"We're staying away from Vlad for now on." I bit my lip, nodding my head basically agreeing with myself.