"I mean, it makes sense," Sam said slowly. Tucker crossed his arms, smug.
"Of course it does. I always make sense," Tucker chided. Sam merely rolled her eyes.
"Sure you do," She said, dragging out each syllable. Tucker sputtered, opening his mouth to retort.
"Guys, focus. Friend with possible-uncontrolled-time-power-induced-headaches over here," Danny said.
"That's a mouthful. Maybe we should have Jazz come up with a better term-" Tucker mused.
"Focus," Danny ordered.
"Well, the best way to know is to try it out, Danny," Sam said. "See if you can get the day to restart on your own terms."
"You want me to try and live this day again?" Danny asked. "I literally think I haven't gotten past my homeroom so far, and you want me to try to restart it again."
"I mean, yeah. How else are you going to find out if you are the one doing it?"Sam asked.
Danny didn't have an answer to that, which was just as well. Cold air escaped his lips and the sound of screams came from the direction of the school. Danny peered through Sam's window to see the ectopus that were causing the chaos.
"Huh, two ectopus. One more and it would have been an even thirty," Tucker said, looking out the window as well. Two ectopus were fighting over a misplaced hoodie on the school grounds. Danny's heart beat in his head.
"Let me go take care of this first, then we will see if I am, once again, the source of my own problems," Danny said, quickly turning into Phantom.
"You do get in your own way a lot," Tucker laughed. Danny didn't respond before shooting off into the sky, heading invisibly toward the two ectopus. In only moments, the two offending ghosts were safely stored away in the thermos. Phantom hovered over the school a moment, watching the students come back out to gather their things. Some waved at the now visible floating hero, calling their thanks.
Phantom waved back at them, before turning invisible and making his way back inside Sam's van. Sam and Tucker were already heading up the sidewalk to the school building, so Danny needed to change back and catch up. Except, he paused for a moment.
When the cool chill of his transformation had raced over his limbs, he had been so focused on getting rid of the invading ghosts that he didn't pay much attention to the now familiar feeling of deja vu. But now that the threat had been dealt with, he felt at ease. The looming sense of dread that had hovered over him the entire morning had vanished. His head, which had become a painful distraction, didn't hurt anymore. Well, not anymore than a sleep-deprived head should. He hesitated, watching his friends move up the path without him. He picked up the notepad he had been writing on and once more read over the contents. Feeling as he did now, the entire thing felt more than silly. He must have just been having a dream. Even so, he wasn't going to take the chance. Memorizing as much of the note he could, he took a deep breath. Quickly changing his form back into Fenton in case he was wrong, Danny focused on earlier in the morning and opened the van door.
Danny groaned when his alarm clock went off at seven am. He had only gotten a little more than forty-five minutes of sleep-
"It worked?" Danny asked himself, sitting up immediately. He grabbed the notepad quickly and began to rewrite everything he could remember. As soon as he put pen to paper he could feel the knowledge slipping away from him. When he finished, he stared down at the paper with a frown. He couldn't remember some important details. However, he had remembered the exact wording of others.
"I need to focus on what is important, I think," He murmured.
"Danny, come down for breakfast!"
Robotically, Danny went about his morning routine as quickly as he could. Rushing down the stairs, he entered the kitchen out of breath. Jack sat with a smile on his face, blackboard in hand. Maddie smiled as she added more food to the already overfilled table.
"It's time for another Fenton Family Funtime. We are going to answer pancakes and eat trivia," Jack Fenton said with a smile. "Wait."
Danny didn't have to glance at the notepad, as he had remembered rewriting that just recently. Still, the sense of deja vu settled in his stomach and the drumming beat in his ears grew.
"Neat," Danny said, sitting down at the table. As he sat, the feeling lessened, but did not disappear.
"You and Jazz used to love this game when you were kids. It's just so nice to spend time with you. You're going into your Junior year! After this it's all college applications and state tests and-" Maddie Fenton wavered. She cleared her throat and sat primly in her chair. She pulled out a small stack of notecards and began to read from them. Danny glanced at his notepad, filled with a lot of details about this very event.
"First question! What scientist was also the sixth abbot of Brno's Abbey of Saint Thomas?" Maddie asked, her eyes alight with glee. Danny watched as his father flailed his arm in the air.
"Oh oh! Pick me!" Jack Fenton said. Danny could feel the constant beating of his heart in his ears, though his headache was still very mild.
"Alright, Jack," Maddie said.
"Gregor Mendel," Jack said.
"That's correct," Maddie said, watching as Jack tallied a mark under his name on the blackboard."Next question, what is the more common name for a Hallux?"
Danny watched once more as his Dad attempted to be called on.
"Alright Jack, your turn again,"
"The big toe!" Jack said. Maddie smiled at her husband. He once more tallied the score. Danny watched, but did not participate.
Danny listened to the beating in his ears, trying to figure out some way for it to lessen. He had been able to jump backwards in time, right? So, he should be able to stop the unnerving feeling. That is, if he was really able to jump backwards like he was speculating. It still could have been a coincidence. Just a really uncanny coincidence. The whole trivia questions at breakfast could technically be a coincidence as well, just a really unlikely one. Also, why is it that he kept coming back to this morning? Maybe he should look up the winning lottery numbers on his phone...
"Now, Jack. Why don't we give Danny a turn to answer this?" Maddie said. Danny jumped when he heard his mom say his name. She looked at him with disappointment.
"Aww," Jack pouted.
"Well, Danny?" Maddie asked.
"Uh..." Danny said eloquently, rubbing his hand on his neck. He spared a glance at the notepad.
"Did you hear the question?" Maddie asked, put out.
"'What scientist created a famous thought experiment about quantum superposition?, right?" Danny said, a side glance at the notepad once more.
"Well, yes," Maddie said, relaxing.
"I don't know," Danny said. The pounding in his ears had lessened. It was still there, the gentle thud of his heart causing everything to sound slightly muted. No pain. Yet.
"Come on, Danny-boy. You know this one,"Jack encouraged.
Danny glanced once more at the notepad. He didn't have this answer written down. Another detail forgotten. Damn. His heartbeat in his ears grew louder, even though it had just started behaving. He looked up at his parents expectant faces.
"Uh, actually. I think I just heard Sam's van outside. I don't want her to be waiting on me," He said in a rush, grabbing his things and heading for the door. He heard his Dad call after him, but he didn't hear the words. He was already racing into the heat of the morning. Glancing at his notepad, he walked backward down the sidewalk.
Sure enough, he could already see Sam's purple van approaching. Its gothic details sticking out against the street plastered with pale blue and yellow election posters, evidence of Tucker's successful campaign management. Danny waved as the van came closer, barely noticing the custom decal calling for the destruction of Monsanto.
"Need a lift?" Sam called through the window. Danny's grin turned into grimace as his headache spiked for a second. He quickly walked around to get into the passenger seat. Sam leaned in for a kiss. Danny gave her a quick peck on the lips, ignoring her dissatisfied expression.
"Can you two lovebirds get a room? I just wanted a ride, not to barf up my breakfast," Tucker said with feeling. The heartbeat in Danny's ears quickened.
"Guys, I think I got a new power," Danny said as Sam pulled back on the road.
His two friends paused at the sudden subject change.
"Sweet, what is it?" Tucker recovered first, already pulling up the ghost files he kept on his PDA, the name he had given his smartphone.
"I don't know exactly, but it has something to do with time," Danny said resolutely. His headache was already beginning to form.
"What makes you say that?" Sam asked with a frown. She kept her eyes firmly on the road.
"I have been in a time loop. I have experienced this day at least...three times? I think three times. However, I can only remember vague details about what happened before. Sort of like when you wake up from a dream and you just remember the really important stuff. I wrote everything down I can remember on this," Danny said quickly. He pointed to the notepad in his hand.
"So, that's what's up with the notepad," Tucker stated.
"Why do you think it's a new power? Sounds more like someone is messing with you," Sam said.
"No ghost sense. Plus I keep having this really painful headache and a strong sense of deja vu," Danny said, he glanced at his notepad. "It was actually Tucker who said it might be a new power, apparently. At least that's what I wrote down. Though I don't know much more than that. Some of the details are hazy and I don't remember them as well."
"Of course it was me. It must be a new power, then," Tucker said, blissfully typing away into Phantom's ghost file.
"Did you say headache?" Sam asked, looking at Danny with concern.
"Yeah, but it comes and goes. One second it feels like my head is going to split apart, the next it is just like I can hear my heartbeat in my head," Danny said. He thought a moment longer. "Actually, I keep hearing my heartbeat in my head the whole time. It just gets louder or softer. But it just stays there."
"Even now?" Sam asked. Danny listened to the crescendo of the beat in his ears.
"Yep, it's starting to get a bit louder, honestly," Danny said. Sam frowned even further, glaring at the road.
"Ghost tinnitus, adding that in," Tucker said.
"Thanks." Danny rolled his eyes.
"So, what makes you so certain that it is a power?" Sam asked again. "It could have been a dream. I have dreams like that sometimes. Usually if I am stressed about having to do something the next day. Like Debutante. It's like you are going about the day as normal but then you wake up in your bed."
"Yeah, I have had dreams like that before," Tucker added. Danny shook his head, half in denial of the statements and half to clear his head. The everpresent thudding of his heart had begun to ache at the words of his friends. He glanced at the notepad, but didn't see it as important enough to write down.
"I just intentionally tried to go back. At least, that's what I wrote down. And sure, it could have been a coincidence. But it should be proven soon. I had written down about a ghost attack. That has to count for something," Danny answered.
"I mean, if we are talking the scientific method, we should probably consider going back-" Tucker said
"No. Not right now. I am not going to try it again. If I have to go through another Fenton Trivia morning, I might scream," Danny said. "If it is me that's doing it, I just want to focus on trying to get through today."
"Hey, maybe you can catch the winning lottery numbers and-" Tucker mused. Sam slammed her brakes, causing the seatbelts to stall and cut off Tucker's words.
"Danny is not going to use his powers for that, Tucker. That's not what they are for," Sam chided. She glared in the rearview mirror to the technogeek.
"I mean," Danny said, rubbing his chest where the seat belt had dug in. "It wouldn't be so bad…"
Even though Sam had only looked away from the road for a few seconds, the glare was more than enough to shut him up completely.
"Let me see that notepad," Tucker said, leaning up to the front seat. Danny handed it backwards. Tucker squinted at the sloppy writing. "Damn, your handwriting is terrible, dude."
"I was half-awake when I wrote it," Danny protested. Heat rushed to his cheeks.
"Still, how can you even read this? Now I feel sorry for Lancer, it's really bad," Tucker continued.
"If your just going to nitpick my handwriting-"
"I mean, I am absolutely going to continue to make fun of your second grade chicken scratch, because this is just next level terrible. But I was more wondering if there was something I could use for the election," Tucker said, scanning the notepad.
"I'm not sure my Dad really needs anymore help," Sam said, as she pulled into the school parking lot. Everywhere you looked were the pale blue and yellow campaign posters with the smiling face of Jeremy Manson. "All the polls have him at like a 98% of winning this thing. It's like Vlad isn't even trying to get re-elected as mayor."
"Yeah, and he seemed really pissed when Danny threw that in his face, too," Tucker said. "I thought we were going to have to set up some kind of ghostly secret service on Jeremy for a while there."
"Please don't call my dad Jeremy," Sam groaned.
"What can I say? Being his campaign manager has really brought us together," Tucker said.
"And I am more than happy to tear it apart. Physically," Sam growled.
"I doubt Vlad has just given up on that, unfortunately," Danny sighed. "And if he has, it just means that he has found a new way to make my life miserable."
"All the more reason to use any advantage you can get," Tucker said, passing the notepad to Sam once the van was parked. "So what better way to use these developing time loop powers? If Vlad tries anything, just undo that and prepare for it. And let me know about any political plays he may be going for. Or if he tries to file legal action against FoleyFinds again. I thought the "MasterBaits" shirt with him in the fishing gear your dad made him wear on that fishing trip was hilarious."
"Can do, Tuck," Danny said, smiling at the memory. Danny still had three of those shirts in his closet. The heartbeat in his ears thudded louder as a wisp of cold air escaped his lips. "Just in time."
"Huh, two ectopus. One more and it would have been an even thirty," Tucker gazed out the window at the ghosts. Two small ectopus were dive bombing the crowd of students, locking on to a cast off hoodie. Danny's eyebrow twitched as pain shot through his temple.
"'Two ectopus attack the school in the morning'. Yep, right on the mark," Sam read off the notepad."Though, to be fair, we probably all could have predicted a ghost attack."
"I am going to get this taken care of as quickly as possible. I really want to avoid whatever situation is going to get me soaked," Danny said as he changed into Phantom. He lept into the air, allowing the cool sensation of invisibility and intangibility to follow him into the sky. With little more than a flick of his wrist, he was able to capture both of the smaller ghosts inside the thermos in only a few moments.
Sam and Tucker had not even waited for their friend to finish before they made their way up to the school. Danny quickly changed back into Fenton. He scrambled to grab his things, keeping the notepad handy, and rushed up the sidewalk to catch up with his friends. He didn't notice the dirty look he got from Wes, who was cradling his wrecked sweatshirt.
Danny reached his friends right before they entered the school building. He let out a weary sigh, trying to expel the sense of dread he had been feeling. Tucker looked at him, a twinkle in his eye.
"Damn, Danny. You really do look a wreck," Tucker said.
"Thanks, Tuck. Appreciated," Danny said, rolling his eyes. He interlocked his fingers with Sam's, looking over the notepad in the other. Sam looked over his shoulder, curious.
"I need to find myself a girlfriend, another semester of third wheeling with you two. Thanks but no thanks," Tucker said, glancing around the hall. Danny closed his eyes as the thrumming in his ears increased. He let go of Sam's hand to scribble on the notepad.
"'Tucker moans about his love life in line'," Sam read. "That's not even useful. He does that like every day."
"Hey, it's not my fault that people can't handle all of this," Tucker argued.
"Are you three going to grab your schedules, or are you just going to hold up the line all morning?" A girl interrupted. Danny shook his head at the familiarity. His head was beginning to hurt near constantly. The three of them grabbed their schedules from the pick-up and wandered to the side to read them. Danny looked at the schedule, noting Mr. Falluca's class being his homeroom. And noticed a gut wrenching absence in the schedule. The three friends morosely looked at the schedules.
"Well, we knew that it was going to be slightly off this year," Tucker started, trying to lighten the tension. When neither of his friends responded, he continued with a frown. "I am only in like one class with you, dude. And Sam is only in two. And look at next semester! Sam doesn't even have a class with you. And I only have one. Our lunch blocks aren't even the same!"
"It's fine, guys. I can manage. I've gotten a ton better about managing my time," Danny said, the beating in his head stopped completely, startling him. The constant hammering had completely silenced for just a moment. The moment passed, however, and the beat continued its constant rhythm.
"Danny, it's not too late for us to change our schedules. I can drop Environmental Science," Sam said. Danny was already shaking his head before Tucker could speak.
"I do not want you guys to miss out on those classes. I will be fine. I promise. Just take the classes that you want," Danny said. "Please."
Sam squeezed Danny's hand, looking at him with sympathy. Definitely not pity, Danny told himself. He didn't need pity. He squeezed her hand back.
"We should probably head to our lockers. At least we were able to score some that were close to each other," Tucker said. Danny was already nodding along.
"Let me just write this schedule down in the notepad really quick. Then head that way," Danny said.
"Sounds like a plan," Sam said, waiting as Danny scribbled on the notepad. She glanced over at the note.
Schedules are all mixed up. Did not get into Astronomy
Sam didn't comment on that, just guided Danny in the direction of their lockers. Danny's headache had been increasing, but he had a thought before he opened his locker. He handed the notepad to Sam, who only looked at him questioningly.
"Maybe the person who is somehow going to get soaked shouldn't be the one holding the paper notepad?" He said with a smirk. He flinched at the pain of his head, the sound of his heartbeat getting so loud he couldn't hear the noise of the hallway. Sam said something, but he couldn't hear her. Instead, he turned to his locker, opening the slightly dented door.
He organized his supplies into the locker. There wasn't much to put in the locker on the first day, as they hadn't been assigned their textbooks yet. However, focusing on doing the mindless task let the pain in his head lessen. Soon, the beating of his heart quieted enough that he could hear the crowd of people and the friends at his side. With a sigh, he closed the locker door, before flinching when cold water poured down his face. An instinctual step back found him on the linoleum floor. He saw the gleeful look of Dash.
"That makes sense," Danny sighed to himself.
"Welcome back, Fenturd," Dash said, taking pleasure in tossing the plastic bottle at Danny's chest. They didn't exchange another word as Dash poured his remaining two water bottles on the prone boy. Dash laughed as he walked away, Danny standing in his puddle. Sam looked ready to explode.
"Well, I guess that should have been obvious," Danny said wryly.
"Don't you dare say it's no big deal. We are not going through another semester of Dash's bullying," Sam hissed. Danny just shook his dripping hair out of his face
"I'm not really sure how it's going to change now, Sam. Danny has been dealing with Dash's crap for years. The teachers don't care-" Tucker said.
"But they will care about a kid dripping all over the hallway, and probably make them wear a really ugly scrub top," Danny said, pointing at the notepad. "So, I am going to rush to the bathroom and get all of this wet off before I get sent to the office. Because no way am I going to actually choose to wear one of those awful outfits."
"Yeah, you better hurry. Just your luck that Lancer would show up or something," Tucker said, shooing his friend away. With a snarky salute, Danny turned to hurry down the hallway. As he dodged students, the pounding in his ears was mirrored by the pounding in his head. He only rushed faster down the hallway, maybe pushing past freshmen a bit more haphazardly than he had attended. By the time he reached the bathroom door, his head felt ready to split. He forced the door open and rushed into the nearest stall.
Danny turned intangible, letting the water splash onto the floor. Danny sighed in relief as the headache disappeared instantly. The beating of his heart was completely gone. Revelling in the feeling he ran his gloved hand through his hair.
Glove? Danny paused, looking at his hand. He saw the familiar glowing white glove. With a start, he pulled his hair down into his eyes. It was glowing white as well. Instead of merely turning intangible for a moment, he had completely changed into his Phantom form. Danny paused, not even daring to breathe. He listened to see if anyone in the bathroom made a comment about the unavoidably bright light that accompanied his transformation.
When no comment was made, Danny realized he must be the only person in the bathroom. He let out a slow breath that he didn't realize that he had been holding. He leaned his head against the side of the metal stall, enjoying the quiet. It was hard to tell how distracting the constant beating in his ears had been until it was gone. He was already tired of the constant noise. And it had only been around for a couple hours.
But that did lead to the question. Why did he only hear it in his human form? Before he could ponder that question for very long, the school bell rang loudly. Cursing, Danny quickly changed back into Fenton and-
Danny groaned when his alarm clock went off at seven am. He had only gotten a little more than forty-five minutes of sleep-
He sprang up, blinking in confusion as he scrambled for the notepad. Seeing it blank, he cursed colorfully. He began scribbling frantically, trying to rewrite everything he remembered. But it was escaping so quickly. Danny groaned in frustration, trying to think past the pounding in his ears for any details he may have forgotten. He slapped the notepad against his forehead, frustrated. He racked his brain for some way to get the irritating noise to die down.
"Danny, come down for breakfast!" his mom called. Danny glared at the door to his bedroom.
"Maybe I should just pretend to be sick?" Danny asked out loud. Though Danny knew he wouldn't. It was tempting. If he pretended to be sick, he might be able to sneak down into the Zone and find Clockwork to tell him how to control this. But the Master of Time was never very upfront in his explanations. Danny took a deep steadying breath, trying to focus on nothing. Maybe if he just didn't focus on anything, the sound would disappear.
It didn't, so he went ahead and started getting ready for this day. Again. He trudged down the stairs, frowning at the irritating noise. He looked over at the stacks of food his mom had set up. Both of his parents were smiling at him, his father holding up a small blackboard.
"It's a little much, don't you think?" Danny asked.
"Nonsense! It's time for another Fenton Family Funtime. We are going to answer pancakes and eat trivia," Jack Fenton said. "Wait."
Danny sighed, trying very hard not to roll his eyes. Maddie watched his reaction, her forehead pinching together in worry.
"Come on Danny, we know you enjoy trivia. You and Jazz used to love this game when you were kids," Maddie Fenton said.
"Fine. Let's just get this over with," Danny said, slumping into his chair. He winced at the flash of pain in his head.
"Danny. We just want to spend time with you-" Maddie Fenton said, her eyes misty.
"I know, Mom," He said, a little too harshly. He softened. "I know. I am just not excited about school. Can we get this started?"
"Okay, sweetie. If that's what you want," Maddie said, sitting down a little bit hesitantly. She held notecards. "First question! What scientist was also the sixth abbot of Brno's Abbey of Saint Thomas?"
The trivia questions and answers had been one of the first things that he had remembered. Making a snap decision as he rewrote his notes earlier, he decided to do a little memory testing. He was testing himself to see if he could remember those answers when (inevitably) this happened again. If he could start to remember everything without constantly having to rewrite it, then he may finally be able to figure out how to stop doing it completely. Or at least be able to recognize why he keeps accidentally sending himself back. Danny listened half-heartedly to the game, noting the rhythm of his heart. As he sat there, the beating did not grow or disappear. At least it wasn't hurting.
"Now, Jack. Why don't we give Danny a turn to answer this?" Maddie said.
"Aww," Jack pouted.
"I don't know," Danny said automatically.
"Did you hear the question?" Maddie asked, trying to encourage her son.
"'What scientist created a famous thought experiment about quantum superposition?'" Danny said with a shrug.
"Come on, Danny-boy," Jack encouraged, a slight frown on his face.
"Sorry guys. Just not all up to speed on this. I need to get to school," Danny said, heading to the door. He ignored his mom calling after him as he stepped out into the daylight.
He had expected it to be hotter, they had been in a heatwave for a while now. But the briefest respite from the suffocating heat was welcome. He walked in the shade of a cloud for a few moments, keeping a lookout for Sam's Van. He saw it turn onto his street and waved her down. She still beeped her horn at him, pulling up to the curb with a grin. The Monsanto sign all the more prominent.
"Need a lift?" She said, grinning like a cheshire cat.
"Yep, and I got just the story to give you as payment," Danny said, rushing around to the passenger side.
"Well, I was hoping for a kiss, but I will take a story as well," Sam said as he buckled up.
"Can you two lovebirds get a room? I just wanted a ride, not to barf up my breakfast," Tucker said. Danny winced slightly before taking a deep.
"Okay, so I am stuck in a time-loop of my own creation that I can't stop accidentally restarting to this morning. I am using this notepad to try and rewrite everything I find significant so I can remember it because apparently this time loop doesn't want me to remember everything that happens on the previous loop. And I have this constant beating sound in my ears that keeps getting so loud I can't even hear and my head feels like it will burst in pain," Danny said all in one breathe. He gasped for air as his friends looked on in shock.
"Time Loop?" Tucker asked.
"Guys, I really don't want to have to spend another car-ride trying to convince you guys that I am not crazy or it was just a weird dream. I would much rather like to focus on actually solving the problem. So if you guys could just go with it, I would really appreciate it," Danny said.
"We trust you dude," Tucker defended. "After everything we have been through, Groundhog day would not be the weirdest. We just want to know the details."
"So, what do you remember about these time-loops?" Sam asked.
Danny sighed deeply, his head starting to ache. And he once again told them everything he could remember. His two friends sat in silence. Sam focussing on driving why Tucker was typing away on his PDA, adding to the ghost files.
"...so the easiest way for me to prove it to you is when we get to the school," Danny said, looking over his notepad. "There are going to be two ectopus that attack the front lawn."
"Huh, two ectopus. One more and it would have been an even thirty," Tucker mused. Danny winced before adding that on the rewrite list.
"I'm trying to just write down everything that I think is important, like big events that cause a problem. But maybe it would be good to remember a few things that you guys say on the ride to school so that I can just quote them at you to convince you," Danny mused. "That way I can just convince you as quickly as possible."
"It would be creepy," Sam said with relish. Danny smiled at his girlfriend as she pulled into the lot of the school. He opened his mouth to respond when he felt the cold breath of his ghost sense. He looked out his window at the front of the school, eyes wide.
"Dude, when you said two ectopus, you should have made it more clear that they were huge," Tucker said, taking a picture of the two ectopus half as tall as the school.
Danny made a note.