Written for Day 2 of Ectober Week 2021: Autopsy!

"Daniel. Daniel, listen to me."

Plasmius floated behind him, reaching out to grab Danny's shoulder. Danny kept walking, accelerating his pace so that he was just out of Vlad's reach.

He had to get to class. Vlad's nonsense could wait until after he failed his physics exam.

"You can't let them do this to me! You of all people should understand what will happen."

Danny scoffed, not bothering to look behind him. "Maybe you should've thought of that before you got yourself killed. I mean, really. One of your little projects was bound to blow up in your face sooner or later. Don't expect me to feel sorry for you."
Especially since said project had been human experimentation, vivisection. It hurt enough that the subjects had been Danny's clones, but all things considered, at least Vlad had paid the price.

Jazz didn't quite see it that way, and it was hell to see his parents so devastated over their dear friend's untimely death. But Valerie knew. She'd been the one to tell him the details of what happened, of how she'd found Vlad elbows-deep in a boy that resembled Danny Fenton. Of how she'd panicked and shot an ectoblast that just grazed Vlad's shoulder, which hit one of the cloning tanks and detonated a chain explosion. How the poor clone on the table had reacted with a final ghostly wail, decimating everything in a ten-foot radius and slamming an unsuspecting Vlad against the ceiling. Which then caved in.

Valerie's suit was the only thing that saved her from being buried alive in the lab.

Vlad, on the other hand, was dead even before the mansion collapsed.

"This isn't about your fondness for me, Daniel! If they do this, we're all in danger!"

"I don't know, sounds like a you-problem."

Danny ducked into his classroom, slamming the door in Plasmius's face. Of course, the bastard phased right through and followed him to his desk.

Ugh, what would it take to get him to leave?

He'd already tried the thermos, but Plasmius knew too well how to evade it. He wouldn't budge without a fight first, a fight that Danny didn't have the time for.

This exam was one-third of his grade, after all.

"Daniel," Plasmius hissed again. "Daniel, we don't have time for this."

Mr. Falluca was beginning to hand out the exams. Besides the soft rustling of paper and scratching of graphite, the room was silent. Dammit. Was Vlad going to torment him during the entire exam?

"You have to fly to the morgue, now. The autopsy is this afternoon. They're going to scan my body for ecto-contamination and it'll all be over. They'll know about half-ghosts."

… what.

Why should Vlad care about half-ghosts? It wasn't like he was one anymore. Hell, he'd died experimenting on their kind! If anything, all Vlad cared about was protecting his reputation and estate!

Fuck him.

Once he was out of this room, Vlad was getting the pummeling of his afterlife. He'd see to it.

"Everything alright, Mr. Fenton?" Mr. Falluca asked.

Danny's pencil was broken. He wasn't sure when it had snapped—when he'd snapped it. Mr. Falluca looked concerned though, concerned enough to ask about it.

Danny brushed it off.

"Nerves."

He expected Dash, who was only a couple seats away, to laugh as always. Instead, Dash rolled his eyes and kept to himself. There'd been talk around school about Vlad's death and it wasn't a secret he was a Fenton family friend. Huh. Guess Dash did have a heart, albeit a small one.

"You've got this, Mr. Fenton," Mr. Falluca assured.

Maybe if there wasn't a self-centered ghost leaning over his shoulder. He felt like that added a lot of unnecessary pressure.

"You're wasting your time!" Plasmius snapped. "There will be other exams, Daniel."

The first question was simple. On a stationary object, there are two forces. Draw these forces.

"Once they know about half-ghosts, they know! That can't be taken back!"

Free body diagrams are child's play.

"Why aren't you listening to me?"

He drew a box on a line, two arrows jutting out of the top and bottom of the box.

Just… keep working.

"I shouldn't have to explain the severity of this!"

Normal force and gravitational force. Mr. Falluca would count off points if they weren't labeled right.

Plasmius flew forward, his torso now in Danny's desk. He couldn't see his paper now.

"This is in your best interest, Daniel!"

Goddammit. His best interest?

Forgetting himself, Danny grabbed a fistful of Plamius's cape and pulled him to the side. "And since when did you care about me!"

The scratching of pencils stopped.

Chairs creaked as people turned back to stare at Danny. Who was clutching onto nothing but dead air.

Fuck Vlad.

He would kill Vlad twice, no, thrice?

Again. He'd kill Vlad again.

Mr. Falluca groaned. "What now, Mr. Fenton?"

Danny released Plasmius and cleared his throat. "Uh, I'm good. Just… was confused?"

"Solid excuse," Plasmius informed him.

"... shut up," he muttered.

Mr. Falluca raised a brow. "Excuse me?"

"Nothing! Nothing, I swear. I'll be quiet now."

No one looked convinced. Danny felt his cheeks rush with cold, and not-so-subtly covered them with both hands. The rush of cold meant ectoplasm, ectoplasm meant green blush. That wasn't right. He couldn't let them see.

"You're a mess," Plasmius retorted. "If you let them find out that I was a half-ghost, it will only be a matter of time before they connect the dots. Once they know it's possible, both of your identities will be on the line. Only a matter of time until they try to replicate what happened to us. You have to stop the autopsy."

He didn't want to admit that Vlad sort of had a point.

People finding out that Vlad was a half-ghost wouldn't bode well for Danny at all. Chances were his parents would be among some of the first few consulted about it… and if the GIW got wind of it then who knows what twisted experiments they'd dream up.

But why did it need to be him? If Vlad felt so strongly about it, he could do it himself.

He could sabotage his own damn autopsy.

Danny turned over his exam packet to the back. There was a blank page.

do it yourself? he wrote.

Plasmius scoffed. "If I could, I would! Your mother and father caught me last time I was in the morgue and set up a ghost shield."

… of course they did.

and you want me to go thru? then what?

"Well, my entire body is imbued with ectoplasm. It's not like there's a way to undo that. Ideally, just steal my body and phase it deep into the ground somewhere."

Oh, Mom and Dad would be pissed about that. They'd taken on the funeral preparations. If they found out that Phantom stole their best friend's body…

Well, actually, them thinking that Phantom was a body snatcher was better than them finding out about half-ghosts.

He'd take it.

after the exam. just this one class.

Plasmius groaned. "We don't have much time, Daniel."

buy some time. haunt the doctor until I'm done. I'll be there.

Before Plasmius could protest, Danny flipped his exam back over and resumed with question two.

"If you don't show up, I will make your life miserable," he threatened.

Danny rolled his eyes. Like he wasn't doing that now.

Plasmius, with one last flourish of his cape, flew through Danny and out through the nearest wall. That bastard—!

At least he was gone. That's all that mattered.

Now, he was able to focus on his exam.

"I AM THE BOX GHOST, MASTER OF ALL THING CUBICAL AND—!"

Danny slammed his pencil down on his desk once again. "For fuck's sake!"