Chapter 37
"I owe you big," Danny said, sighing as his body sagged into the couch. After the day he had, he was exhausted and wanted to relax for the rest of the night. He rubbed at his aching shoulder. Dash managed to punch him exactly where Kwan had, only Dash put a lot more strength into his punch. His roommate was not happy about the whole ordeal. If that wasn't enough stress for him, Danny still had another task about which to worry. Gertrude gave him only until the end of December to locate the missing spirit. The task sounded simple, but Danny knew how difficult it could be to locate a spirit that didn't want to be found.
"I still want some answers." Dash stood in front of him with his arms folded as he glared at Danny. The cat weaved their way between his legs, nuzzling their head against Dash's shins.
Danny frowned as he watched Avery. "I don't get it. Why does Avery love you so much but practically bites my hand if I try to pet them?"
"Dash has always been pretty good with animals." Kwan walked back over and handed Danny a cold beer from the refrigerator. Danny accepted it with a thanks of gratitude.
"Don't you dare start ignoring me," Dash growled, and both his roommates winced. "You don't get to race out of school with some vague comment about Fenton vanishing and leave me to deal with covering classes and then act like nothing even happened. You," he pointed at Kwan, who shrank back, "made it sound like he was being tortured or worse. But he looks perfectly fine to me."
"Dash," Kwan cautiously stepped toward his friend, his hands up like he was approaching a wild animal, "I was panicking because I didn't know what happened when Danny disappeared. I may have overreacted, but I had no way of knowing what really happened to him at the time. I'm sorry I made you worry about it. And we really appreciate that you made sure our classes were covered while we were gone."
"Right now, I just want some answers." Dash glared hard, and Danny was a little surprised to see it directed at Kwan. "Just explain to me what happened."
Danny took a sip of his beer. Normally, he didn't like to drink too much on a weekday when he had classes to teach the next day, but today wasn't exactly a normal day, even for him. Then he leaned forward to set him beer on the table. "So this is what happened." He recounted the tale of his experience after he disappeared from Kwan's office. He tried to keep it short, hitting the important points without dragging the story too long. "For now Cameron's fine, but if I don't get this spirit back in time, that might change." He frowned, lowering his gaze. It was a heavy weight pressing down on him. If he failed, his effort to save Cameron would mean nothing. He couldn't fail. He couldn't let Jeremy's family suffer the loss of a family member when he had the power to save Cameron.
"He's doing it again," Dash grumbled.
Danny lifted his head. His brow creased as he glanced between his roommates.
"You're acting like this is all on you," Dash explained with a roll of his eyes. "I know you've done this superhero thing for a long time now, but we," he gestured to Kwan and himself, "can help you if you let us."
"You don't know anything about fighting ghosts." Danny knew it was a lame excuse. He used it with Tucker and Sam when he first got his powers, but they wouldn't hear it. They would charge into a fight with him, despite how much he wanted to protect them from danger.
"Train us," Kwan suggested with a small hunch of his shoulders. "We can carry small weapons, easy to conceal ones, for protection. You can teach us how to use them."
"I don't think-" Danny sighed when he saw the looks on his roommates' faces. "You're not going to drop this, are you?"
"If we're going to be living together, I think it's important that we learn how to defend ourselves," Kwan said.
"What if some ghost comes here looking to fight you?" Dash asked, anger tingeing the seriousness of his question. "It might not just go away because we tell it you're not here. We should know how to defend ourselves in that case."
When Dash started talking sense, it got a bit scary. Danny sighed. "Okay. This is for defense. I don't want either of you trying to take on something too strong for you. And I know you're physically strong." He rolled his eyes when Dash tried to argue. "But we're talking about ghosts and other things that will easily overpower you with something other than physical strength. Being able to punch something really hard doesn't matter if you can't touch it or if they can magically conjure a wall in front of you."
Dash's mouth pursed, and his nose scrunched in clear displeasure. "I get your point. But that's why you should train us to know how to handle these things."
"Yeah, I get it. I dragged you into this craziness the moment I agreed to be your roommate." Danny grabbed his beer and took another gulp. At that point in time, he never imagined things progressing as they had. He never thought he would tell them his biggest secret. But after today, he was glad he did it. Kwan might still have panicked, but at least he was better prepared for seeing Danny vanish right in front of him than if he was completely in the dark about Danny's ghost powers. "Kwan and I are already working on a ghost shield for the school. It shouldn't be too hard to come up with a few ideas for some weapons you can carry around. I probably have some specter deflectors we can modify. Don't give me that look! My parents named their inventions." Both of his roommates wore skeptical looks after hearing the name of the belt his parents created.
"You two can do your nerd thing," Dash said, waving off the annoyed glare Kwan shot him. "When do we get to the fighting?"
"Definitely not tonight." Danny shook his head. "I'm too exhausted today, and I want to make sure I have everything ready for class tomorrow after my little vanishing act. The weekend would probably be the best time to do some training."
The answer didn't seem to please Dash, but Danny wasn't surprised. Dash always struck him more as a man of action who wanted to jump immediately into the fray without thought. He clearly wasn't pleased to be the one left behind after Cameron summoned Danny in the middle of the school day. But Danny knew Dash wasn't a complete meathead, like he once thought back in high school. It wasn't some blind savage desire to attack driving Dash here. He wanted to learn defensive moves, ways to protect himself and probably others. Danny could relate because it was the desire to protect that drove him to act as Phantom. He caught himself before the bottle of beer phased through his hands, a blush threatening to bloom across his cheeks.
"I guess that makes the most sense," Dash grumbled, slightly defeated, as Kwan patted his shoulder. "By the way, what's the deal with this cat?" He pointed down to the cat now curled up between his legs.
"That's Avery. Once we track down this spirit, they'll open the portal back to Gertrude's lair," Danny explained as he stood. "Until then, we're sort of stuck with them. At least Avery likes someone."
"They... aren't dangerous at all?"
Danny shook his head. "As long as you don't do anything to mistreat them, Avery will probably act like just a regular cat. Except for the occasional disappearing or walking through objects." His mouth twitched as he tried to hold back a chuckle. "You should be happy we didn't get stuck with Cujo. I love him, but he can be quite a handful and might wreck the place a bit." From the expression Dash gave him, Danny suspected he was also glad they weren't dog watching the hyperactive puppy ghost.
The spirit, unfortunately, wasn't easily found. Danny hoped he would be able to locate the ghost and return it to Gertrude quickly. Then he could put the whole thing behind him and relax without a deadline looming over him. While he did have a few run ins with ghosts on his patrol, they were mostly quiet ghosts merely haunting whatever location meant something important to them. He questioned them about the spirit he was seeking, but they could give him no information. Despite his disappointment, he was happy to see the ghosts residing in town seemed peaceful, unlike the hostile ghosts that tended to show up in Amity Park via the Ghost Portal. By the weekend, he was no closer to finding the spirit for Gertrude.
"Uh, Mr. Fenton." Jeremy stopped him in the hall after what happened with his brother. "Um, I just wanted-"
"Sorry." Danny lowered his gaze. "I haven't been able to find him yet. Has Cameron doing?"
"Oh." Jeremy deflated. "Well, he seems better. A little lethargic still, but he doesn't sound quite like, uh, well, death." He winced at his choice of wording.
"I promise you I'm doing everything in my power to find that spirit."
"I know! I trust that you are." Jeremy sighed. "I'm just worried about my brother. He acts like this is nothing, but I think on some level he realizes how serious this all is. He keeps asking our mom to let him use the book to locate the ghost for you, but she's keeping it locked up tight until she thinks we're mature enough to use it responsibly."
"That's wise of her. A book like that can be dangerous in the wrong hands. Or hands of someone who doesn't know better as we've learned."
Jeremy nodded. "Yeah, Cameron still has a lot of growing to do before he's ready for that book."
Danny was relieved to hear how Jeremy's mother was handling the situation. There was no guide book for what to do for something like that, but she was doing her best to keep her children safe. "So no," he waved a hand at the side of his head, "more dark aura or anything?"
Jeremy squinted then shook his head. "I don't see that same dark aura. Which was super creepy." He shuddered. "There's still a little," his mouth pursed in thought, "glow or something around you. It's faint. I have to really look to see it. And it's light, not dark like before. I guess maybe you're, uh," he lowered his voice, "ghostly aura sort of bleeds through but not enough to notice if you don't know to look."
Danny sighed, relieved to hear he didn't radiate some giant sign of being half ghost. "How are you dealing with this all?"
"It's a lot to take in." Jeremy rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck. "But I'm talking with my parents about it, and they're helping, though my mom never really experienced anything like this. I guess my grandpa managed to keep it a secret from her. Maybe he just didn't want her getting involved with all of this or something."
"If you need anyone else to talk to, you're welcomed to come to me. Necromancy, though, is something completely new to me." Danny didn't know if he would be an immense help, but he planned to do his best. He knew what it was like to suddenly have abilities he didn't fully understand, and having people to confide in about those powers helped him get through it.
"Thanks, Mr. Fenton. I think I have things under control for now." Jeremy smiled then bit his lip with a nervous look. "But I'm not going to be running into ghosts everyday now, am I?"
"I think you should be all right. Just don't go out looking to fight them, and I think they'll ignore you."
Jeremy looked relieved at that answer. "I should probably get to class," he said, wincing as the bell rang. They parted ways, each needing to get to their next class before they were late.
Jeremy didn't seek him out for help, which Danny took to be a good sign. Danny knew it was entirely possible Jeremy was lying and things weren't fine. After all, he lied through most of high school before getting his act together to balance school and ghost hunting. But Jeremy's mood seemed to improve after the incident with his brother. According to Kwan, Jeremy reduced his work hours to focus more on his school work, and perhaps to pay more attention to his brother. Danny only felt more determined to find the spirit and rid the threat still looming over Cameron.
Danny was ready to relax once the weekend came. His wish to sleep in was short lived after hearing a knock on his door early Saturday morning. He groaned as he rolled out of bed and shuffled over to the door. Dash stood on the other side, and it took Danny's sleepy brain a few minutes to realize why Dash would be waking him up so early on the weekend.
"Oh!" Danny covered his eyes with his hands, his head slightly bowing. "Right. The whole training thing." He rubbed at his eyes. "You didn't want to wait until a little later?" Was that a hint of a blush creeping onto Dash's face?
"Oh, uh," Dash turned his gaze away, scratching the side of his head, "I guess it is a bit early. I tend to do morning workouts." He already dressed in workout pants and a tight shirt. His hair was slightly tousled like he didn't bother to use any hair gel yet.
Danny sighed internally, saying farewell to his chance to sleep in. "Okay. Just let me get changed." He closed the door then walked over to his closet to grab some workout clothes. He dressed quickly in the navy blue pants and white sleeveless top. Once he ready with a bag slung over his shoulder, he stepped out of his room to see Dash filling up some water bottles for them. His mouth pulled into a small smile. Walking over to the sink, he leaned against the counter. "So where do you want to do this? I don't think we want to trash the apartment while we fight."
"And a normal gym is out of the question." Dash capped off both water bottles. "I thought the school gym might be okay. No one is ever there on the weekend, especially this early. And it's a fairly large open area. We don't have to worry about damaging any equipment since it's all stored away."
"Hm," Danny considered, "I guess no ecto blasts for this. We don't want to have to explain any scorch marks to anyone."
"That sounds like a good plan." Dash loaded the water bottles into his own bag. "Let's go." He tossed his bag over his shoulder, and Danny followed him out of the apartment.
"I could always just fly us there," Danny offered as they headed down to the car. "It would be quicker. Just ask Kwan."
Dash halted. Then he spun around, placing a hand on Danny's chest to stop him. "You flew? With Kwan?" His brow furrowed deeply as he glared coldly.
"Um," Danny swallowed, flashing back to all the times Dash would beat him up, "yes?"
"And he," Dash hesitated, his mouth drawing downward, "didn't say anything to you about it?"
"No?" Danny could feel sweat gathering on his palms as a nervous feeling twisted in his gut. What was Dash trying to get at here?
"Hm." Dash dropped his hand away. "I'm surprised he didn't refuse the offer. He's never really done well with heights."
Danny's eyes widened, and it felt like a brick dropped inside him. "He didn't-" He smacked his hand to his forehead. "I'm such a jerk! I didn't even give him the chance to say no. I just grabbed him and flew off. Does he hate me? Why am I so stupid?"
"Whoa!" Dash put his hands on Danny's shoulders. "Calm down a moment! Kwan doesn't hate you. You'd have to do a lot to get him to hate you, and no offense, but you're too much the nice guy to do that." He chuckled, and Danny was glad he still had his face covered with his hands because his cheeks started to feel warm. "All you have to do is apologize, and he'll forgive you."
"I just feel like such a jerk." Danny sighed, lowering his hands away from his face. "I try to think of other people's feelings, and I just didn't even consider Kwan might not like flying."
"Kwan's going to tell you not to beat yourself up about it." Dash bopped him lightly on the head then turned and continued heading for the car. He shook his head, snorting a small laugh. "The two of you are nice practically to a fault. Don't you ever getting mad about anything?"
"Isn't that the secret?" Danny questioned, deepening his voice. "I'm always angry."
"Okay, Hulk." Dash gave him a shove, and Danny laughed.
"I get mad." Danny shrugged. "But I try not to explode on people." His expression fell as he lowered his gaze. He didn't want to risk ever turning into Dan. That was one nightmare he doubted would ever go away, always sitting in the back of his mind.
"That begs, like, a lot of questions." Dash frowned over the top of the car with his door already open.
Danny shook his head, forcing away the thoughts. "It's nothing. I was just remembering something. But it isn't important." He climbed into the car, tucking his bag down at his feet, then buckled up like the click of his seatbelt locking ended the conversation.
Dash followed suit then turned his key in the ignition. "Yeah, I may not be a genius and stuff, but I'm not so stupid that I believe that look on your face meant nothing. But," his jaw set tightly, "I'll take Kwan's advice and not force you to tell me anything you're not ready to talk about."
"I never thought you were stupid."
Dash shot a look, one that said he clearly didn't believe the comment. They drove to the high school. Danny fiddled occasionally with the radio to find decent music to listen to on the drive. The parking lot was practically empty when they pulled in, only a few cars taking up parking spots. They grabbed their bags after parking then headed immediately for the gym. Danny didn't have much occasion to be in the gym, but it seemed bigger than the one they had at Casper High. The floors were nicely polished, and the windows were high up. Danny made a mental note not to fly too high while they trained.
"I think blasters are out." Danny set his bag down on the ground and searched through it.
"You haven't made any plans with Hayley since Thanksgiving?" Dash dropped his bag next to Danny's bag.
Shaking his head, Danny stood with a pair of gloves in his hands. "We talked the other day. I asked her if she wanted to grab dinner or something, but she said she already made plans with Celeste. She was curious if we maybe wanted to have a little get together around Christmas. Nothing too big or fancy."
"Depends on when she wants to hold it." Dash lifted an eyebrow when Danny held the gloves out to him. "Really? That's what you're giving me?"
"I know it seems ridiculous, but just try them out before you judge them." Danny smirked. "Are you ready?"
"Fighting a ghost with some silly gloves? Yeah, totally ready." Dash tugged the gloves on then flexed his fingers. "I know I'm no fashion genius like Paulina. But these aren't normal gloves, huh?"
"You know," Danny transformed then folded his arms as he floated a few inches from the floor, "I really wish you would stop saying you're no genius. You are smart."
Dash eyed him hard like he was searching for some indication that Danny was messing with him. "Okay. Let's get to work." He took a swing at Danny, who almost failed to dodge in time. Dash was, as his name might suggest, fast.
Danny countered with a punch, but Dash blocked it. Their training went on for quite some time. Every time Danny thought he would land a hit, Dash managed to dodge or block it. Danny wondered how many fights Dash took part in. Their past fights were mostly one-sided with Dash doing all the pummeling.
Dash grabbed at him. Danny quickly sank into the floor to avoid capture, but he caught a hint of frustration in Dash's eyes. He almost felt bad, but if Dash was facing off a real threat, the ghost wouldn't go easy on him. Popping out of the floor, Danny landed a punch to Dash's lower back. Dash retaliated by shoving his elbow back into Danny's face. The move surprised him. Danny hit the ground, his nose throbbing from the strike. Dash loomed over him. Danny fought back the instinctual response to fire an ecto energy ball at him. Instead, he immediately rolled away before Dash could get another hit on him. When he got to his feet again, Danny grinned. He always enjoyed a good sparring practice, and Dash was turning out to be a better partner than he imagined.
Danny moved in close and threw a punch. His fist scraped the side of Dash's head, just barely brushing against his left temple. It wouldn't leave a mark, he hoped. Dash caught hold of his arm. Danny turned intangible - or tried to - but the gloves prevented his powers from working. Dash threw him. Danny hit the floor with a gasp. The wind knocked out of his lungs. Before Danny could recover, Dash was on top of him, holding his arms pinned to the floor above his head.
"I guess these gloves aren't that silly after all." Dash smirked smugly.
Danny swallowed when he realized just how close Dash was leaning down toward him. Their faces were inches from each other, and Dash straddled his waist as he held him down. Danny's heart beat a touch faster. Thankfully, the gloves Dash wore kept Danny from accidentally phasing through the floor of the gym. He shifted back to human now that they weren't fighting.
"I - Yeah, they - Um, I modified one of my parents' inventions," Danny fumbled over his words, getting a little tongue tied when he caught himself staring into Dash's eyes. "Big metal gauntlets weren't exactly the most convenient design of everyday use. People would notice them, and they were kind of clunky. These gloves can easily be mistaken for regular gloves, so you can carry them on you without anyone thinking anything of them. They can disrupt a ghost's powers so they can't phase through your grip."
"I get to keep these, right?" Dash frowned in consideration. "But they won't help protect me from long range attacks."
"Yeah, I thought we should leave that for another day." Danny looked away, shifting awkwardly under Dash. "I didn't want to risk leaving any evidence of our activities here. We'll have to look a more suitable place for that."
"Get a picture!"
They both snapped their heads around to the doors of the gym. Three senior students stood there, two of them having pulled out their cell phones. Danny's face burned dark red, and Dash quickly climbed off him, getting to his feet. The young women squeaked when they realized Dash was storming toward them.
"What are you students doing here?" Dash questioned.
"We were just, um," said one of them, but words seemed to fail her as she couldn't come up with an answer.
"I hope you weren't thinking of doing something for a senior prank," Danny said as he walked over to join them. "It wouldn't be wise to get in trouble for something that might go on your record." He folded his arms as he gave the trio a stern stare.
"Oh! We, uh, we had that thing!" one of them spoke up.
"Oh, right! The thing!" the other two agreed with nods. They hurriedly backed out of the gym then walked quickly down the hall.
"Hey, wait!" Danny shouted, but it was too late. The students were long gone. He sighed, rubbing a hand over his face. "I really hope they don't spread that picture around." He had a sinking suspicion that picture would spread like wildfire among the students if the three women decided to share it. He didn't want any rumors going around about him and Dash being in some kind of relationship, even if he did think Dash was an attractive man. How would Dash react to students thinking there might be something more than friendship between them?
"I didn't even think about that." Dash stood with one hand on his hip as he rubbed at his eyes with his other hand.
Danny cast a glance to Dash, something tickling the back of his mind. "Speaking of pictures, do you have any idea why my second to last class keeps asking me to bring in my high school yearbook?"
Dash looked away. "Uh, well, I have no idea why they would want to see that." He bent down and grabbed his bag.
"Dash," Danny said sternly.
"I think it's time we call it a day. Want to grab some food on the way home?"
"Dash!" Danny grabbed his bag then hurried to follow after Dash who already left the gym.
Kimera20: Aw, thank you! Hopefully it won't be too difficult for Danny. XD
Jelloshots99: Aw yeah! 8D I'm glad it was exciting! It probably would have been best for Kwan if he was distracted by being press close to Danny. XD;; Danny changed back to human before he spoke up when he entered. And Kwan was too busy being "oh shit, we're flying" to pay attention to Danny change after being grabbed from behind. XD;
YumiStar: Kwan is not a fan of heights. XD
Tetractys: It could have been worse! XD I think a month grounding was getting off lucky.
LunaSkys: Yay! 8D Thanks~
Kaddy 16: Cujo might be good, but they would need something for him to sniff first before could track down the spirit. Sadly, they don't have anything that would have the spirit's scent on it. =(
Ectolilly: Clinging oh so tightly~ ;) Haha, yeah. But what else could he say? "Oh, yeah, that's so weird that necromancy would be able to summon me... a completely normal human... nothing strange about me. *walks away whistling*" Your lies aren't fooling anyone, Danny!
xXRainbowCleoXx: Well, only a few people know. XD;; At least he didn't reveal himself to the whole world yet.
osa-chan: Thanks! =D
Just Will: I mean, basically, right? XD Just use pens/pencils already, wizards! If I saw it, I don't remember. XD;;; Dash questioning everything in his life. He's having such a crisis. Danny: "Hey, remember that girl you hit on at the bar that one time? Yeah, she was actually a siren. Good thing you didn't let her sing at all." Things are calm again, and that makes Danny happy. But he's still gotta find that spirit. He wants to get it done straight away, but he also knows rushing never helps anything. This is where he would probably wish for a job with more flexible hours. Of all the powers Jeremy probably thought of having if he was a superhero, I doubt necromancy even crossed his mind. XD Poor guy. At least, he should likely have a normal life as long as he doesn't go messing around with summoning the spirits of the dead too often. It really helps to show how much Danny has grown and matured over the years, doesn't it? He can handle these situations in stride and he did his best to talk to Cameron calmly instead of just yelling at the kid for doing something dangerous.