Author's Note: I own nothing.

28 Actual Research

Vince was not happy when he got home. He'd gone out in his new gear and made a bit of a fool of himself. He'd fallen off his hoverboard, missed his shot a few times, and only managed a minor cut to the ghost girl. She'd up and vanished entirely. He'd gotten a bit turned around on his board and when he'd finally been able to give chase he'd found the dog gone and two oblivious teens making out in a bush. Who those teens had been had sort of stung.

Dani Fenton and Sam Manson had been in the bush, lips locked, Dani in Sam's lap. Sam had been very annoyed to be interrupted. Vince grumbled as he got home, sure his father hadn't gotten home yet. He had thought he and Dani had been hitting it off but maybe he'd been reading into it. He pulled off the mask of his new suit and tossed it onto his bed. He'd moved the ghost hunting gear into his room, his dad would not approve. He was most of the way out of his suit when he tripped over something on his floor. He huffed and turned over to see what he'd tripped on. It was the book, the one he'd just tossed aside when he opened the box. He frowned reaching out and tossing the book onto his bed. He didn't need a guide. He finished changing into his pajamas and frowned as he turned to his bed. The book had fallen open on his bed.

'First day with the new weapons?' The ghost girl's snide comment echoed through his head and he huffed out a sigh picking up the book and flipping it to the first page.

'Many people will scoff at the subject matter of this book, as it touches on things that many believe are works of fiction and myth. But others will know the truth of the world, that things are not always what they seem. But first we must define our terms. The concept of a life after death is one that has always plagued humanity. But it has never been quite so simple or straightforward. The concept of a ghost exists in almost every corner of the world. Some see it as a way to comfort those the dead leave behind but the truth of the matter is quite different.' Vince glanced at the photo on the wall. It was him and his parents when he was about four. Not too long after that photo was taken his mother had passed from a sudden illness. It had taken all of them by surprise and now he was wondering if maybe there was a chance he'd see his mother again. He refocused on the book.

'A ghost is comprised of two things. The first is what is most often mentioned in myths. That is the primary component of a ghost can be traced back to the death of a human. The more traumatizing the death is the stronger a ghost will be. Some retain the shapes they had in life, while others will experience a shift in colors, or even drastic mutations depending on their obsessions. But we get ahead of ourselves. The other element that comprises a ghost is ectoplasm. To this day there is some debate as to what ectoplasm is. Some scholars claim that it is a leftover from the ghosts themselves but no one knows for sure. There is another prevalent theory that the substance comes from a separate dimension connected to our own. The evidence of this lies in old tales that surround the supernatural, about humans whisked off to a separate world that often changes its form to match the creature that has whisked it away.'

Vincent stayed up most of the night reading through the book. There were many more theories about what ghosts were and why the spirits of the dead might stick around. The general consensus seemed to be that if a spirit stuck around it was because they felt the hadn't accomplished something. Not necessarily because they had unspecified unfinished business, it seemed to need to be very specific. He ended up falling asleep reading. When he woke up that morning his father was tapping on his door.

"Vince, weren't you supposed to meet that nice girl from your drama class this morning?" Vince swore hopping off the bed to quickly change into fresh clothes.

"Yeah, we're working on our theater class project, down at the little coffee shop." Vincent said pulling on his t shirt. Damon yawned into his hand.

"You need a ride?" He asked and Vincent shook his head.

"Nah, I still have my bike. I'll bike it." Damon frowned but nodded hugging Vince as he headed to bed. He must have just gotten home from the Lab and he looked exhausted Vince didn't want to bother him with taking him to meet up with Dani.

Dani frowned into her coffee. She was supposed to be meeting Vincent here to work on their project for Lancer's Theater class. She really wasn't worried about her grade at present. She was more worried about the fact that Vincent had somehow gained ghost hunting gear and a very large grudge against Dani Phantom. She was still nursing the cut she'd gotten as Phantom last night. He'd managed to ricochet one of his sawblades, slicing her arm as it fell. She had been pretty sure that nothing short of another ghost could actually harm her in her ghost form. How she could possibly have forgotten that some ghost hunting equipment actually worked? Especially after the debacle with Jazz and Spectra. She shuddered slightly and swore as coffee slopped over the side of the cup and onto her gloves. She yanked them off, before the caught hot liquid could burn her hands.

"You ok?" Vince caught her off guard, Sam was right the suit did nothing to change his voice, if it had they might not have figured out who was under the red full body suit so fast. Dani swore again as more coffee spilled from her cup, she'd jumped when she heard his voice. She nodded grabbing a few napkins and setting down her cup.

"Oh, I'm fine. I just spilled my coffee." Vince sat down with a frown.

"You sure? It looks like you burned yourself." He said carefully taking her hand. She winced and tried to tug it back as she realized which hand he'd taken. It was the hand she was burned on. He blinked at the burn on her palm. His grip slacked. She pulled her hand back and pulled on her slightly damp glove.

"Yeah, that's not from the coffee." She said and made sure that the glove was all the way on and looking down at her notes. "Ok so the project."

"Fenton."

"I did a little bit of research into the myth last night."

"Danielle."

"The story goes that Hades saw Persephone in the forest and fell in love with her, not knowing she was the daughter of Demeter and Zeus. He took her back to the underworld and…"

"Dani!" She blinked at him. He'd never called her Dani before, always Fenton or more recently Danielle. "What happened?" Dani shrugged flexing her hand.

"Not much, just a lab accident. I'm fine." Totally not a giant accident that changed her life forever, made her question everything she'd ever known and possibly put her on several hit lists. Vincent frowned.

"Are you sure it looked like it hurt." Dani shook her head.

"Nah not really. We should focus on the project though." Vince nodded and let Dani return to her notes. He was worried about her. Those were Lichtenburg scars, electricity was a serious business. He refocused on the project but worry was nibbling on the back of his mind. Maybe he should keep an eye on Dani from now on.