A/N: I am posting this a few days earlier than my usual time because firstly I have already this written, why should I wait? Second, I have spring break from tomorrow at the university and for me spring break equals with thesis-writing, and once I am starting that, I will forget to upload it, so-
Ladies and gentlemen, here it is, in fine, enjoy… also, that turned out rather long, but I didn't want to cut it, so- and yeah, ending the last two chapters the same way, with the same point was a bit low bow from me, so, now you got a long chapter as a prize for your patience and not cursing my existence to the void (or something)
No. No way. No way. No way he was- that he was- that was not true- shouldn't. Danny felt as his knees became weak, weightless, just as he was feeling his limbs when he was ghost, trying to process the sight in front of him, trying to perceive the impossible. Because there was no way that- no. He didn't suppose to- he wasn't- here.
"Danny?" he got a barely audible whisper from his sister. It sounded as she was attempting to emphasize his – not his future self's – presence in the room. "Danny… he is- he is- here? You-"
"Jazz- Jazz, listen to me, I won't- you don't need to..." Danny caught the man's voice immediately. It almost made an impact that his other version was on to comfort or calm Jazz down, but then the end of the sentence collided with a 'thump'. "...panic." There was a momentary silence, and the dead air within the room was followed by an uncomfortable curse. "Shit."
It took a second until the scene around him slipped into his mind and Danny could see through the shocking realisation that somehow, for some cosmic joke (especially right after the C.A.T.) his future was here, and he could realise what had just happened. As he managed to put the things together, it seemed the ghost just at the same time became aware of the situation that must have been handled. The tall figure took a step ahead, towards his sister, but before anything could have happened – whatever his future alteration planned to do – Danny jumped.
"Keep away from her!" he shouted, moving as fast as he could to reach Jazz firstly, trying to shove the flashing alarm sign in his mind to the back of his thoughts, and on to react with a clear head, not letting the panic take over him. The man jerked back from moving towards his sister by the sudden motion, pausing half-way onto step ahead, as Danny in a split second got to Jazz, embracing her from the back.
"I- what?"
"I said: keep away from Jazz!" Danny repeated, tightening the hold on his sister, flashing his ghostly green eyes towards the other, believing that slight little threat would stop his older self. He hated the look on the ghost's face, like it would have been exactly mirroring his own fear. Danny forced the current outlook behind a closed part of his mind, otherwise he was sure it would fool him too, and he didn't have the luxury to buy an apparent lie.
Danny really had to concentrate to imagine that version behind this momentary appearance. Damn, now, he really couldn't blame Sam and Tucker (not that he would have done that, on the contrary, since that he had to repeat during their every meeting it hadn't been on them, mistaking his act for him) or his family that the ghost could easily mislead them by their nose. Right now, if he wasn't focusing on the picture of his future, it slipped out of his mind and… he started to fall for the human form, especially that he could easily identify the slight movements of the other – he knew those hidden mimics...
"What did you do to her?" Danny snapped at the man, with narrowed eyes, remembering who he was.
The human-disguised ghost marked him, suddenly looking everywhere, but in fact nowhere at the same time. Danny was sure the being was about to figure out a believable lie. He sweared to himself, whatever would let his other version's mouth, he wouldn't believe him, not a word.
"What did you do to her?" Danny asked again, hissing, starting to be sick of the stalling.
The man visibly swallowed and then slowly raised his hands to the air, catching his eye-contact. "Okay, okay, right. First of all, drop the scary eyes, it's disturbing. Second- I didn't do anything to her. But I- I guess, you wouldn't believe me whatever I say, right?"
Danny balled his fists by the words (he'd been certain, his fingers were glowing even in the human form with light green-ness to be ready for any attack). Even without the echoey tone, the other's voice made an instant impact on him, especially that the ghost was speaking to him with calmness, like he- like he would have been on to get him by that, getting his sympathy. Damn, he was good.
"Don't you try to tell me she just fainted!" Danny barked at him, feeling it harder and harder to hold back not to transform to Phantom and attack right away.
His older self visibly winced to the sudden sharp tone, but then closed the eyes and took a deep breath, seemingly trying to behave against the growing impatience (or to act 'nicely'), pinching the bridge of the nose, and then opening the damn same bright blue eyes and gazing at him again. Man, how much better it would have been seeing those damn red eyes, instead of his blue… For a second, Danny remembered a quote, the eyes were the window to the soul. Right, but his (alternate) future version had no soul! The ghost was just mimicking it, stealing his eyes.
"Do you seriously have any idea how stressed Jazz was the whole morning? Of course, she fainted, idiot! Especiallywith you being here, appearing out of nowhere." the man described suddenly with an exaggerated waving with his hands, keeping those still in the air against the sharp gestures in case of Danny would have forgot he didn't want to break the national sign of surrendering, as he spoke. "The least her slight little human brain could do with this fascinating situation to comprehend to just simply give up before overloading and it would damage her brain, not even adding to the likeliness for this unpleasant current outcome of the circumstance, she has a serious tendency to over-analysing things."
Danny really had to concentrate, not blinking confused at the slightly overstated explanation – if it was intended to be at all an explanation for his previous question. He wasn't sure if that was a mocking or a reporting of what had just happened. Either way, it sounded as a lecture, more specifically, it exactly sounded like a lecture from the one and only...
"In English," his future self tilted his head, continuing, obviously reading by his bulging eyes trying to decipher what the other just said. "she just fainted. I wasn't doing anything." the man cleared, and moved to take a step ahead, but Danny stopped him.
"Don't. Move." for whatever unimaginable reason the ghost pulled back his raised leg, returning to his previous position.
"Right. Just-" the being marked Danny, and then lowered his eyes to Jazz. "Is she-" he stared at the unconscious body. Danny didn't like how his older version was examining his sister – yes, that was the right word, he was scanning Jazz. Danny tightened the hold on her. "Is she breathing?" came the question. It was barely audible, but it was enough clear for Danny to identify it.
"What?! How do you mean-"
"Danny! Is she breathing or not?!" the ghost barked at him unexpectedly, this time, accompanied by with the so familiar echoey voice, flickering for a second the known red eyes. Danny flinched for the sudden raised voice. He thought his presence didn't affect him as much as he feared, but this- the voice, and the eyes… his fingers started to tremble. Danny really hoped it wasn't visible, especially for him. Especially how small, and vulnerable he felt himself by that, being nothing else than an ant to be overwhelmed…
For a moment, the all from last week came back, and even worse, the fact that somehow that version of him had managed to escape from the thermos and now, with that, Danny couldn't tell how to defeat the ghost and… no, he didn't really know what to do now. He petrified.
"Shit." the man cursed, while the cold shocking realisation took over Danny, clouding his sane thoughts, just circling around the scene that he was here now, and he couldn't do anything against it or against that nightmare this time, knowing- knowing the container was just useless to capture the manifestation of a world-ruining threat, and... "I didn't- I didn't mean to- I just- I… Shit." the ghost let out a harsh breath. "Just tell me she is breathing, okay? Please."
Danny squeezed his sister tighter; she was breathing yes, he was holding her close enough to feel her breathing and seeing her chest rising and lowering, but he didn't have to know that. He didn't deserve to know that, especially not with this so-good act, using an almost breaking care tone, pretending to- No, he wouldn't fall for this, Danny determined. Because there was no way that version of him was caring. That was human, and the ghost was no human, he had no humanity inside and…
"Why do you even care?!" Danny bite, the sour taste in his mouth was making him almost sick. "You didn't seem to care with anyone last time, but your damn future!" the man lowered his hands to the note.
"Listen…" Danny hated that played patient voice, he wasn't a child!
"I'm not listening to you!"
The ghost let out a frustrated sigh, holding his forehead, seemingly counting in his mind, then he spoke. "Just- just lay her down, and raise her legs, above heart level, okay?" his future version asked still with closed eyes, but then, the being looked at him. "She will wake up sooner, that's what you want, isn't it?"
"If she won't?" Danny retorted, feeling again the scrawling anger in his veins, the held back ectoplasmic energy to break the surface. He could even tell, his eyes were again glowing green – only now, realising the shouting had made him change them back to the human blue, feeling himself tiny and powerless against him. He hated that he had felt himself defenceless, and hated that in a way, he still was feeling it, but tried to act over it, for Jazz. If he freaked out, who was there to protect her? "If she won't?!" Danny repeated, grinding his teeth.
"Then, I guess she will come back haunting us." the man said simply with a soft tone, shrugging nonchalantly. "Believe me, you'd take that better than me. I quite got un-used to her presence, or anyone's actually." Danny raised his head to the last note, but then the sentence what his older self had said reached his mind, his eyes widened. "I was just kidding! Gee, I was trying to joke to break the ice." his future version explained, pointing instead towards the chair, where his sister had been sitting before. "Pillow. I bet you wouldn't let me touch her or help you, so- pillow." he moved his head towards the object meaningfully. "If you bolster up her legs with it, the height of it will induce the blood flow back to her head for better circulation, and…"
"Drop the scientific ranting, will you?" Danny bit and unwillingly, letting out a curse to the Zone and to other unfriendly existence, but then he released his sister and stood up to get the pillow, eyeing constantly his other self the whole time, even realising his future version was watching not him, but only Jazz. The ghost kept his mouth shut, until Danny took Jazz to the described position, and then, the man took a step closer.
"Is she…?"
"Don't you dare to move. Stay. There." Danny said, raising his hand, turning towards the figure, who again lifted his arms to the air. Danny hated him for that, why the hell was he even doing this? For the better act, Danny reminded himself. All was a damn act, making him being the victim of a turned-bad situation.
"Let me check her, I know b-"
"You don't know shit!" Danny yelled back, facing straight with his somehow human-disguised older self. He so hated this current appearance. And Danny so much blamed himself not recognising the man at first, that meant, if he hadn't caught the synched ghost sense, he even would have believed the ghost was nothing else than a simple human being, harmless, and even… "Why do you even care?" Danny throwed at him.
His future version got surprised by the question. "I don't care. I just- listen, it was a mess and awkward even without you. Right now, I just want to handle this" he nodded towards Jazz "outcome, then we can chat, okay? Or anything you want. Just let me handle it."
"I want you to go back to the damn thermos and this time stay inside!"
The man blinked to the immediate reaction. "That's... I'm afraid, that's not an option. But we could discuss that too, later." the ghost enlightened, stepping forward. Danny moved his legs under him, sitting now with pulled up legs on the floor beside his sister.
"Don't- don't move!"
His other version paused. "All right, let me get this straight, do you have any idea how to treat a faint or passing out? Because I know. So, move away and get a glass of water and a muesli bar or something with an enough high fibre content." the man said, moving forward, not hesitating this time, only stopping a feet away from them. Danny kept a breath inside, realising his future self was rising above him, but then the ghost hunkered down. "Move."
"No." Danny whispered, only capable of shaking his head maniacally from the sudden closeness.
"Danny, if she wakes up and sees you, she will again freak out. She almost had a heart attack this morning. What do you think how she will react to both of us?" the question was barely a real question. Danny didn't like that implied his sister would be freaked out from him, not because of the man. "Go, get some water, before…"
"I won't-" Danny started, but stopped as some blurred murmuring was heard. Before he could have checked his sister, something abruptly grabbed his shoulder, inducing him turning invisible against his will or even comprehending. "What?"
"Stay still." his other version ordered in a low voice, turning immediately towards his sister. Danny saw as the man's face in a flash take on a much calmer and kinder facade, as Jazz was slowly opening her eyes, making her words much understandable. "Hey, Jazz, you're okay?"
"Hm? M-hm." was she holding her head. "I just- I just- I thought you said 'Danny' and I- I thought there is no way I would explain to him you are here. And I… you know, that I let you in." she said with an attempt to keep her both eyes opened, or at least on to maintain herself on a conscious level.
"Aha. That wouldn't work out well, huh?" he joked, letting go the tight hold on the Danny's shoulder, releasing the boy from the sudden capture completely. Danny astonished blinked at the man, who probably hoped he wouldn't turn back to visible, or something, especially with Jazz being (more or less) awaken.
It seemed as his older self was on to close out his attendance, only focusing on his sister. Danny was thinking for a moment, but then as he decided to stay on the same spot, the ghost slightly tilted his head towards the kitchen. Danny mentally groaned but then moved, avoiding to make any louder move to be realised by Jazz, opening the refrigerator, getting out a bottle of water, and closing it back without any sound.
His future version either was being aware, and tried to act not knowing that Danny was still there, moving invisible around them or the man seriously wasn't caring about anything, but with his sister howabouts.
"Jazz, try to not move, okay?" was Jazz stopped suddenly from sitting up. "You need to rest first." the ghost stared seriously at his sister, but then looked around, Danny assumed, his older self was trying to catch him, but luckily invisibility meant invisibility for spectres too. The ghost then turned back to his sister. "Jazz, you trust me, right?"
"No…" his sister murmured, barely consciously again.
"Well, thanks, that really helps me now." the man snorted, but then hummed. "Anyway, I'll take you to your room, is it okay?" Danny moved closer to the question, just managing to step at the squeaking part of the floor, the other right away snapped his head towards the spot.
"'kay…" his sister said then, shutting her eyes, holding her head. "e...thing slipp..n… aga...n."
"Yeah, I know." the ghost nodded, turning back to her. "That's why I said don't move. It works like that, if you're rashly moving. It's normal." he said, emphasizing the last word. Danny was sure, the last note was addressed to him only. Before he could do anything, his future version was already holding Jazz within the arms, loosely laying as he stood up. Undoubtedly Jazz again lose her consciousness, or slept back, because he looked at the previous spot where Danny was standing, almost exactly right at him. "If your hands are empty, Danny, go get some muesli bar too." the man added like a side note. "Right now, I am quite occupied to get that too."
"Wait, what? No!" Danny blinked, trying to process the whole, changing back to visible, running after his older self, who with two huge steps was already at the stairs. "Put her down."
The man let out a heavy sigh, slowly turning back to Danny. "Do I seriously look like I am on to hurt anyone?" Danny halted. It was right, but that didn't mean anything. "Right now, Danny?" the ghost asked again. Danny stayed speechless, yeah, that was right, with Jazz within his hands, he was not capable of doing anything. And yeah, Danny reminded himself, the Ghost Shield was on too. He wouldn't just kidnap Jazz. It would have happened already, without his presence, by that he realised it wasn't about Jazz, still- he bit his lips.
"Great." the ghost approved the closure of the mental debate. "Now, if you don't mind, I would take her to her room. As soon as you find something her to eat, join us upstairs." the man cleared, turning back to the stairs, moving without even waiting for the answer.
Danny was just standing there, blankly, confused, and shocked, with the bottle in his hands, watching without any words, as his older self was taking his unconscious/sleeping sister upstairs. He tried to find a logical explanation for that, but he couldn't find any, no matter how hard he tried. He couldn't explain why he was acting like as he was ordered, following the ghost's words without retorts and not attacking the man immediately or- why he was acting like that. But then, as the two figures disappeared from his sight, he let out a curse and ran up to the stairs, only to catch his future version placing Jazz to her bed.
"It was like, what? Five seconds?" came the note to the harsh steps. Danny closed the door. "I hope at least, you managed to get a bar or something, and I don't have to send you back to the kitchen for that."
"Shut up," Danny said, growling and getting out the chocolate bar from his backpack that Jazz had given him on the morning for the test, putting both on the desk. "Here, are you satisfied now? I won't let her alone with you."
"Oh, yeah?" the ghost raised an eyebrow, mockingly, as he turned around. "I think you are already a bit late with that." the man stated, taking a step back from the bed and walking to the other side of the room, seating himself beside a pile of pillows and a folded blanket. Danny didn't like it seemed the older self was familiar with the spot, too familiar, but then, he realised why it looked like that.
"You are…"
The ghost lifted his head, smirking. "Oh, yeah, I almost forget, I'm here since…" he touched his fingertips with one and another slowly, counting. "...since Thursday afternoon. Yeah, since Thursday afternoon. Yesterday was Friday, I asked Jazz why the hell was she studying with you on Friday. Seriously what the hell for you two were studying so late on Friday? Anyways, so by that, today is Saturday and… and I came here a day before that, so it takes Thursday afternoon."
"No way." Danny gasped.
The man looked to him, confused, with a held up palm. "No way, what? That I am here for two days, and you didn't even realise, or that I am here for two days and I didn't kill anyone? You should elaborate a bit that two words." Danny didn't want to answer that obviously rhetorical question, instead he glanced towards Jazz.
"When will she get up?"
The man got a book from beside the pile, taking it into his hands. "She will get up, when she gets up." the explanation came, but then the being rolled his eyes. "It takes time, she is perfectly fine, Danny, calm down, as I said, it is normal, she needs to rest, fifteen minutes tops. She slept back. Till then we can have enough time to arrange this." the ghost waved his hand meaningly between them. "It wouldn't be the best scenario if she wakes up and we are still fighting."
Danny's eyes widened. "You can't be serious. I am not making truce with you. That's ridiculous."
The ghost tsked, putting down the book, and letting out a deep breath. "I wasn't saying truce. I am just saying something like cooperation. As you can see, I am cooperating too. I have a deal with Jazz. Unfortunately, you appeared before she could fulfill her part, now, we have to work this out first, then going back to the original subject. If she remembers at all what about we were talking downstairs." the man added.
Danny clenched his fists, letting them glow again from the ghost energy. "How do you mean, 'if she remembers?'"
"Do you seriously have to take everything as an insult?" the man cried out. "You are acting like a neurotic jumpy cat. If you sit down, calmly, I might answer your questions." the ghost said, raising his eyes at him. "'you think could you do that?"
Danny was staring at his future version, but then dissolved the ghost energy and lowered his arms, counting to ten in his mind, but then muttered under his nose and got Jazz's rolling chair and placing it between the bed and his other self's spot, crossing his arms, as he sat down.
The man waited a little, then spoke. "Slight memory loss can occur in case of fainting or collapsing, I meant like that, paranoid. She might be confused about what happened, also she could wake up just like after a nice nap. The symptoms are unique, depending on many aspects, so that's why I rather brought her back to her room, to a much calmer place to adjust better."
"How do you know even about it?" Danny asked, but in real, he didn't even care, it just annoyed him, the ghost acted just like Jazz, a know-it-all, but much more annoying.
"I attended a few medical and biology courses to understand how I work and what changed during that stupid portal incident your idiot father caused. I learned things, see? I'm not a total fruitloop." the man said automatically, with a rather monotonous tone, but then his eyes widened just as Danny's, realising what was just voiced. "The f-" the ghost breathed out, remaining silent for a second, but then shook his head. "Yeah, sure, why not that too. Great." then his future self turned to him, almost beggingly. "Can we- can we pretend I didn't say anything?"
Danny silently nodded, rather forgetting the whole. For a long minute everything was quiet, and the ghost opened his mouth to say something after the awkward note, but then closed it, seemingly rather waiting out Danny to say something. And he wanted to ask things, yes, thousands, especially about the accidentally slipped out memory, but… he just couldn't believe he was behaving like the man was telling him, taking a seat, trying to be patient and... Danny was telling himself, he was just doing this because Jazz and… yes, surely, his sister would freak out if she would wake up seeing them fight. He clenched his jaw and then told the first things that came to his mind.
"I don't like it." he stated then. The man looked at him.
"Me? Being here? Obviously."
Danny shook his head. "No, this." he waved his hand towards the ghost, roving up and down the taken form. His future self seemed baffled, crossing his eyebrows in confusion, but then he got it.
"Oh, you mean how do I look. Well, yeah… keep yourself the criticism, I like it. I won't change it, either a bit. I might keep it. 'hope I could keep it." the figure observed his hand. "Fitting isn't it? He has- I mean… it's a disguise."
"I know what it is. And I am saying, I don't like it." Danny declared. "It's awful. You are pretending to be…"
"Human?"
"Yes." Danny hissed, annoyed by the interruption. This damn appearance made him remembering the debate that he had had with Sam and Tucker after the events of last week, and after he had confessed them everything and… and they had had a really long discussion about the future, about him and about what that version of him was capable of, to prepare for the worst case, if once that future would appear again (or things would turn out wrong later). Danny didn't like that the occurrence for him coming back was here, now. And he didn't like either, that it seemed as Tucker might have been right.
His tech-geek friend's theory was that his older self could pretend to be him, because he, in the future could shapeshift – in that both of his friends agreed. But Tucker's idea was that he wasn't like Bertrand. Counting in that assumption as a basic point that him, Danny, had a serious lack of imagination (Danny couldn't debate that, it was sadly a well-known fact). The tech-boy described it as his older self could have shapeshifted into him, because either the Plasmius part of the ghost had an imagination or if he had seen the form to copy. Or there was a completely different third scenario, in which case… that easily could be led to an other case.
"You are not him." Danny said then.
The ghost crossed his eyebrows. "I- don't understand?"
Danny wasn't a genius, either Jazz to analyse things, but it fitted. Because there shouldn't have been any serious explanation that the one he had defeated last week, was A) here and B) in a human disguise, chatting with him, instead of simply attacking him. He didn't know what was the situation, but the man wasn't him. And the more he examined it, the more it became obvious. Compared to that, the ghost, now, seemed and behaved like an entirely other person.
"My evil future version from last week." Danny explained, playing in his mind with the idea, that maybe the whole behind it was similar like when he had gone through the Ghost Catcher. Maybe his future self had managed to fly through that too, and maybe this one, here, was just like that other-Danny, mainly human, partly ghost, with an entirely different personality from the original and maybe the manwas here because this half had mainly his (that timeline Danny's) memories without the Plasmius corrupted impact and urge to destroy everything, and he (with that Danny's thinking and connections)came home and... Yeah, that had to be it.
"That was- that was last week?" his older version asked, grabbing Danny out of putting together entirely the conception.
Danny nodded, and opened his mouth to explain the C.A.T. retake, if this version was the Danny-part as he calculated, then surely, the man would be happy, knowing it worked out well, but then the ghost cut him off before he could have said anything.
"Evil? I'm not evil. What's with you, humans, and the titles?" his future self wondered, perplexed. "Anyway, I'm him. That's how you call me? Him?" the ghost chuckled. "Sounds scary. Him. Wow, that's making goosebumps even on my skin." Danny freezed, gasping. The figure turned at him. "What?"
"You are- you are him?"
"Where you lost it?" the man raised an eyebrow. "I told you it's a disguise."
"But-" that didn't fit. Or… he was so stupid, believing that maybe- maybe the ghost was else. No, he had fallen for the act. Damn, this damn appearance was really good! "I hate it." Danny spitted, angry at himself for once slight second he had believed that was about something else.
"Well, neither do I like your outlook. We're even." the being pointed at him. "Could we step over it? I don't criticize your appearance – albeit it'd be worth a few nice words too –, so you shouldn't mine either." the man ran the eyes over him, saying without words the unvoiced notes. Danny could imagine hearing: small, ridiculous, and weak. "So, skip criticizing mine."
"It's your outlook."
"No, it's not. It's his." the man clarified.
"You mean your past self?"
"I mean, Danny's." Danny opened his mouth, closing it and again a few times, but then, left the note without a word. The ghost explained. "He is not me, not entirely at least. The old man told you about me, didn't he? Surely, he did. Taking out a tea, chatting about my messed-up origin story, and stuff, before he sent you back here, changing the past... Well, just because you are assuming something, that doesn't mean, you are right. I'm not him, not you, not Danny. Don't mistake me with that pathe-"
"That's enough!" Danny jumped up from the chair, making it falling to the floor from the sudden movement. "Enough! You are telling me, it's not enough you killed yourself, your human half, you are claiming to be someone else, wearing a skin, a human skin, pretending to be human, after all those things what you did with Danny, with your timeline, with even Vlad and you are saying you are not 'evil'." Danny was speaking through his teeth, losing all patience he had before. "I am telling you who you are, what you are, in case of you wouldn't know. Because I'm exactly knowing what you are. You are nothing, but a monster!"
The ghost gazed straight at him for a long time, jaw tightened, with a flashed up red eyes, that only as it appeared, disappeared. Danny caught as the other squeezed his fists, as hard as those were shaking crazily.
"Tell me," his older version started, with a hardened expression, after a bit of silence. "are you enough pleased with yourself you managed to save them all last week, saving them from their written fate, wasting to complete ashes?" Danny dumbfoundedly blinked from the sudden change of subject. "Congratulations then. You are a hero." the man said with a low voice, with an obviously mocking tone, grabbing his own wrist, trying to control the shaking, unsuccessfully, it just made it more visible. Danny was sure the ghost was aware, he was seeing it too. "You don't know anything, Danny. You can't understand anything about me."
Danny opened his mouth, to say something, but a soft moving from behind him stopped him, the man too raised his head towards the bed.
"In fine." he commented, getting up, walking with hasty steps towards the desk where Danny had left the chocolate bar and the bottle and with both, the man stopped at the bed, placing both on the nightstand. The all was too quick for Danny to follow, but then, as Jazz raised herself up to a sitting position, just to catch the man, standing next to her with the supply, her eyes widened.
"Drink. Eat." the ghost pointed to each. "Oh, and yeah, Danny is here too. I didn't hurt him." was it added, as Jazz immediately turned her head searching in the room for her sibling. "See? Not even a bruise or a scratch. Now, if I remember well, we had an agreement. It's your turn. I'll be downstairs, get yourselves together, we are leaving in fifteen." the man announced, looking around, both to Jazz, and at Danny too, and then nodded. "Fifteen. I had far enough with this shit." he said, grabbing the hold of the door, and slamming behind him, as he left the room.
For a long minute, only the sound of it echoed within the walls, there was nothing beside that, Danny was sure, both him and Jazz had jumped by the sudden noise, and then he heard as his sister was opening the chocolate bar, biting from it, followed by a gulping sound.
"What?" Jazz gazed at him, as she was putting back the cap to the bottle.
"You seriously owe me an explanation. And better that'd be a good one." Danny noted. His sister rolled her eyes.
"Danny, he is okay. On to do no harm. Believe me." she tilted her head, just as every single time when his sister was on to convince him about something. That, now, after the dramatic leaving, it sounded not a bit hypocritical. And that was not the time either to assure him about a bigger good. That, now, was nothing like a little unpleasant nuisance to handle, that would later turn out well, no, quite the reserve was right now.
"No." Danny shook his head. "You don't know him." he stated, watching as Jazz was getting up, moving her neck, testing her head and her vision, but then she straightened herself, walking to her wardrobe, seeking for something, then getting out a pullover and a completely new outfit. "What are you doing?" Danny questioned her movements, as she was clearly preparing for something and stuffing the clothes into a backpack.
"Packing?" Jazz turned to him, grabbing the bag, nibbling on the rest of the chocolate. "Are you coming too, or not? In which case, could you cover me from Mom and Dad?" she bit another from the sweet, holding it between her teeth and getting on the pullover.
"Wait, what? Where?" Jazz stopped at the door, hesitating. Danny could tell, she didn't want to share it with him. "Jazz, you are not going anywhere with him alone."
His sister easily shrugged. "Then I guess, you are coming with me." she claimed just like that, leaving the room. Danny seriously had to be quick to keep the pace with her.
"Jazz! You are not going with him. I mean it!" he shouted, on to transform to Phantom and stop his sister taking the stairs as ghost if that was necessary, but then the sight of his older version at the bottom of the stairs, stopped him, especially with a very familiar Fenton-belt within the man's hand. Then what his other self had said came back to his mind, the ghost had said 'yourselves'. It was either a slip of a tongue, or he was originally calculating both of them.
"Do any of you know how this works?" the ghost raised the Specter Deflector. "I forgot it."
"Put it on, then we'll be fine." Danny explained. His future version paused for a moment, considering it, but then, let out a forced half-smile.
"Nice try, no. It's for Jazz." Danny was on to ask why, but the man continued. "I bet, you are coming with us too, Danny, so- protection. I remember what it does, I just don't know how the clips work. It's like a miniaturised ghost shield, right? If it's on Jazz, I can't even touch her. That would ensure you enough that I'm not here to hurt anyone?" the ghost looked straight to him. "See? Cooperating. You should try too."
"You can't be serious." Danny moaned, partly to the note, partly that he was again acting nicely (Danny was sure, just because Jazz was here too, yeah, winning his sister was easy, but he wouldn't fall for that). He saw as the man observed the belt, measuring each end, seriously on to figure out how it worked. Then Danny got it out from the ghost's hand with a growl, and putting it on his sister. "How could you not remember it, but remember his incident?" Danny asked. "It's magnetic. Not even clips." The belt made a 'click' sound, as the two end got enough close to each other.
"As I said, you don't understand anything." the man explained from behind him.
"I understand enough, knowing not to trust you." Danny cleared, looking up to his sister. "There is a switch somewhere… there. There is it. So, if you turn it on-"
"Danny, I got it." Jazz smiled at him, taking a step back, turning on the switch. "On." she announced, then gazed at firstly to Danny and to the man. "Now, both of you calmed down?"
"No, not really." Danny muttered under his nose, peeking at the man, from his eye corner, as the man went back to upstairs, and returned back soon after within his hands with the book what Danny had seen before him fidgeting with.
For a moment as again all of them was standing on the same place as before, almost waiting for something to happen, there was silence but then the ghost let out a harsh breath, shaking his head unbelievably and dropped the book to Danny's hand. "Take it." his future self explained, taking then some hasty steps towards his sister.
"What are you doing?" Jazz stepped away, as she realised the man was aiming to her. "It's on."
"Yeah, I know, it's on, Jazz. I have to show him I didn't modify it or anything, making it ineffective to me or something. Now, hold my hand." the ghost raised his arm towards his sister.
"No."
"Jazz, hold my hand." the man repeated with a serious tone. "Or would you like me to overshadow you to do that?" Danny took a step closer to the note.
Jazz gazed at the man, eyeing him, and realising that it was technically a check-mate. She couldn't be enough quick, to run away from the ghost, whether she agreed or not, and also from Danny if the man was trying anything. "Could you- could you do that, overshadowing, with this on?"
"I don't know. Let's not figure it out." the man said, lifting his arm again. "Shall we?"
"No. It will hurt you."
"Yeah, that's the point." but then again Jazz took a step back. Danny was on to stop this cat-mouse dance, but the ghost was faster, grabbing Jazz's shoulder before she could have taken an other step back. For a long second, Danny wasn't sure, he was hearing Jazz's scared screaming, the ghost shrieking or his own memory reflecting from the scene with the flashes as the anti-ghost system got activated under the touch and the whole got a very serious feeling like he was watching back his own electrocuting from the Ghost Portal. But any of those was, it died away as the ghost's knees fell to the floor. Danny moved closer, expecting the man would collapse, just as Jazz had done it previously, but then his older self, just put his hand down to the floor, keeping himself steady.
For a second, everything was quiet, Jazz jerked back with wide eyes, unsure what to do, but then before complete silence would have fallen to the room, the ghost slowly moved, exhaling heavily.
"I- definitely felt that." the man reported, sneering, getting up, but then, sat back. "Uh- I said, fifteen, right? Give me some minutes too, okay?" he asked, leaning to the floor with his back, as some remained flashes left his body. "Shit. I swear, this damn skin will kill me." the ghost commented, holding his head, but then after a few seconds, he peeked out from the cover. "Danny, could you pick it up? I ain't got all day, laying here, you know." the man said, and just like that pushed himself up, to a half-sitting position, facing with him. "Chop-chop, will you?"
Danny let out a growl and cursed. "I seriously can't believe you." was he shaking his head, taking the stairs to pack, just because he told that. He couldn't believe it. He seriously couldn't believe it. But still- that it was. He had no word in this situation, then obeying if he wanted to be out of this mess.
A/N: Now, I wish I'd had that many pages for my thesis, then I'd be finished with that – not entirely, but almost. I should concentrate on my studies too, right? Sad thing is poorly writing something as a hobby, and writing something as an obligation is not the same. I really have to force myself to finish my thesis this weekend and the next week (we have spring break, and I also have a take off during that time from work, so the only thing I have is to concentrate… right now, even my sister is at home, not the same place as me, so I have my peace, but damn- that's so hard). Wish me luck! And someone please send me virtual concentration tokens or something like that. Anyways, bye till next time.