Chapter 14: Revelations

"Well?" Sam asked impatiently. "What is it about the portal that you're so eager to tell me now?"

"Can't we catch up first? We haven't caught up. How's life on the outside?" Tucker asked lightly.

"Good." She said shortly. "I'd like to get back to it. So, what's with the portal?" Tucker began walking in slow circles around her, as if he was stalking prey.

"I'm sure he won't let you get close to it. Or his house for that matter."

"Yeah, what of it?" She said, holding her ground. Her patience was starting to wear thin. He stopped in front of her and inched closer until his face was practically pressed against her own. Sam wondered if she was fast enough to make it back to the property line if he attacked. Probably not.

"Boo!" He suddenly yelled, laughing when she flinched. He thankfully pulled back.

"Tucker, you're starting to piss me off." She said. "If you don't want to tell me just say so. Do whatever it is you're planning." She spat. "Danny's not here."

"He always was such a coward." Tucker bit out. "He hasn't talked to the Fentons in years."

"He's scared. They attacked him when he was just a kid." She said defensively, as if a ghost would understand.

"The others would kill to be able to tread on claimed territory. If any of us could we would rip the Fentons into shreds for what they did to us. Just another privilege that freak has but wastes."

"Don't call him that." Sam said angrily. "He's not a freak. He can't help what happened to him anymore than you can."

"He told you the truth about what he did and you're still defending him. It's pathetic. He was always your favorite friend." Tucker said. Sam realized suddenly that he was jealous.

"That's not true!" She said. "I loved both of you. I still love you, Tucker. I'm sorry that this happened to you, I really am. I don't know how to make it right." She pleaded.

"You could start by not shacking up with the freak who got me killed." His eyes were blazing orange, fiery and vicious. Her regret turned angry and she glared back.

"I found the notes you use to pass to each other, you wanted to see the portal just as much as he did. You were right there goading him into it!" She accused. "You were kids! Nobody could have known what would happen." Tucker became eerily still.

"But he's still alive and I'm dead." He said quietly. "If he was truly sorry, he would die just like the rest of us. And stay dead this time." The words shook Sam to her core.

"He was your best friend. You've known each other since you could talk." She said in disbelief. "How can you hate him so much?"

"Things change when you're a ghost. I'm sure he's been hiding that from you, but it's the truth."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked, disturbed by the implication.

"It means that your precious boyfriend isn't the saint he pretends he is. Sitting alone in his big mansion, feeling sorry for himself." Sam stared at him, trying to make sense of what he was telling her.

"Are you ever going to actually be straight with me or are you going to keep talking in circles?" She asked. "I'm leaving if you don't give me a real answer." She declared.

"What makes you think I'll let you leave?" Tucker asked, his teeth sharpening and his hands forming claws.

"Kill me then." Sam said, tired. Everything was wrong here, every day seemed just a bit more hopeless. She wondered if her family would think she died or if she'd just go missing and no one would care, like the countless victims of the town before her. "You're the big bad ghost and I'm just a weak human. Do it if you really want to." Tucker drew back, visibly surprised by her answer.

"That's what I thought." She said. She turned around and started walking back towards the mansion. She didn't hear him follow. She was just about to cross the property line when-

"Sam." She stopped in her tracks and turned. "There was another portal before this one."

"What?" Sam said, breathless. "Another portal?" Danny had never told her that.

"Yes." He confirmed.

"What happened to it? Wait, when was this?" So many questions were churning inside her mind. Another portal? She couldn't think of anything like the Amity Park Disaster happening before.

"The Fentons built one in college. One of their friends was working on it with them and got injured when they turned it on, landed in the hospital. The Amity portal wasn't the first time those assholes hurt someone."

"Did they survive?" Sam asked, shocked by the revelation. The portal in the Fenton's basement had blown up a whole city block.

"Who knows, they didn't mention it. They just said he got sick."

"Wait, wait, wait...hold on. How did you hear this? They told you?" She asked incredulously.

"When they were still alive, yes. Well, actually they told Danny and he told me. The day before he turned it on, his parents told him that it wasn't the first time a portal had failed." Tucker slowly stepped forward, inching closer to where Sam stood. "Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"No." She replied, shaking her head. "I don't understand, if there was another portal and it turned on, why haven't we heard about it? Wouldn't it have made the news or something."

"No, this first one was much smaller. A proto-type, I guess. It just blew up in their friend's face and then it busted. Don't you get it? The first one might have turned on, but it didn't stay on. You know what portals are supposed to do?" He asked, his voice growing desperate and pressing. This was vital somehow.

"They open a door into the spirit realm." Sam said slowly. "The Fentons wanted to study ghosts, so they needed to be able to access a source of ectoplasm." Tucker shook his head furiously.

"No, no, that's just part of it. More importantly they're supposed to-" he didn't get to finish the sentence as a black and white blur knocked into him.

"Tucker!" Sam yelled. She ran towards him.

"STOP." Danny rose from the ground, facing Sam with his gloved hand outstretched. "Go back inside, Sam." He ordered. She bristled at the command, but before she could respond Tucker slammed into Danny, snarling. She watched in horror as Tucker pinned him to the ground. His features contorted into something awful and scary, not recognizable.

"You fucking freak." He howled. Danny threw him off and immediately blasted a beam of bright green energy at him, knocking the other ghost off his feet.

"Sam. Go. Inside." Danny repeated, gritting his teeth.

"No, I need to talk to him." He looked like he was about to argue with her more, but Tucker launched himself at Danny. His claws raked across Danny's arm, tearing his suit and flesh open like it was merely paper. It made a wet sound. Sam felt sick as glowing green blood immediately spilled from the wound.

"Tucker, Tucker, stop." She pleaded quietly. Tucker slashed Danny's face, ignoring her. He went for his throat and Sam screamed. "TUCKER" He whirled around, his eyes crazed and bright red. His claw hovered over Danny's exposed jugular.

"You traitor." All his teeth were sharpened into deadly points. He leapt towards Sam and she froze in place.

"Don't touch her!" Danny hissed. He was bleeding heavily, but he was still fast. His arms were around Tucker in an instant and he threw him across the ground, away from Sam.

"GO!" He screamed at her. Her legs finally started working again and she fled towards the house, escaping the sound of growls and fighting behind her. She nearly tripped over a root, stumbling as she tried to get a glimpse of the fight. Danny and Tucker were in the air now, too small in the distance for her to make out. She was firmly back on her family's property, slowly backing up until she felt her back hit the door. Red and green lights were visible through the trees. Her hand found the knob behind her and she opened the door, slipping inside.

She was breathing heavily, adrenaline pumping through her. What should she do? She couldn't leap in, guns blazing. She had no weapons nor powers. She steadied herself and took a deep breath. Danny was strong, he would be okay. All he had to do was get Tucker off of him long enough to retreat to the safety of the house. Then again, with the way the two were fighting...Sam wasn't so sure that Danny would retreat. If he were just defending Sam then he should have come back with her. Both of the ghosts were out for blood. They were fighting like animals, more feral that what Sam had witnessed with the other ghosts Danny had fought. It was personal this time.

She felt useless just standing in the hall, but she didn't know else to do. It seemed absurd to sit down while she was keyed up. She thought of Danny and how bloodied he had been. Could ghosts bleed out? She really hoped not. It was dawning on Sam that Danny had not been as honest as he said he'd be. Clearly something else had happened between him and Tucker before, something more than just the resentment between the Amity Park residents and the Fenton family for the accident. He also had never told her about the other portal. Why did Tucker tell her? Sam started walking in a haze, only distantly aware of where her legs were taking her.

She woke up from her fog, hand poised on the door to her grandmother's old room. Danny's room now. She pushed it open and walked inside. The room was fairly tidy, books and items neatly tucked away into shelves. The only mess was a few items of clothing strewn on the floor and the tousled bed sheets. A lamp she didn't recognize sat on the bedside table and when she flicked it on, it projected little stars onto the ceiling.

"Danny..." She whispered to herself. "What aren't you telling me?"

Was it a terrible invasion of his privacy to be in here right now? Of course it was and she felt awful doing it. But what else was she supposed to do? She opened the drawers in the nightstand, but there seemed to be nothing besides some comics and the first-aid kit he had used on her all those nights ago. She slammed the drawer shut in frustration.

"Sam?"

She whirled around to see an exhausted looking Danny standing in the doorway, still in his ghost form. He was pointedly looking at the drawers she had just rummaged through.

"I- I'm sorry." She stammered. "I just thought that, um." She couldn't even finish the statement. She expected anger, or for him to start grilling her about why she was invading his personal belongings. Instead he just walked over to the bed and sat down, wincing.

"Hand me the first aid kit please." He asked quietly. She was still frozen, waiting for him to lash out at her. "Please, Sam. I'm hurting right now." He nodded his head towards the nightstand.

"Okay." She finally said. Sam opened the drawer and brought out the kit, setting it carefully across his lap. He looked awful, cuts still bleeding on his face and a nasty gash across his bicep. "Are you going to be alright?" She asked. He slowly opened the kit and selected a few rolls of bandages and gauze, as well as a bottle of anti-septic.

"Yeah, I've had worse." He replied dismissively. "I just need to stop the bleeding before I switch back, blood is thinner than ectoplasm. It's better to do this now." He handed her a set of small scissors. "Do me a favor and cut right here, please." He gestured to the sleeve of his hazmat suit.

"Are you sure?" She asked, not wanting to ruin it. Not that the sleeve wasn't already in tatters.

"It mends itself." He said. She nodded and gingerly cut around the cut on his arm, pulling the remnants of the sleeve off. She wanted to gag at the sight of his wound. It looked really deep. He must have seen her hands shake and her face go pale.

"I promise I'll be fine. I heal really fast. As long as I get it cleaned and wrapped up it will be a scar in just a few days or so." She stepped back and let him work on his arm, watching in horrified fascination as he quickly and delicately cleaned and wrapped the wound himself. He looked at her watching him. "I told you I'm good at this." He cracked a bitter smile as he said it. He finished up his arm and got to work on the cut above his eye.

"Danny, I'm sorry." She repeated. It felt like she couldn't say it enough. He waved a gloved hand at her.

"No, No. I deserve it for running off on you like that. You might want to look away for a second, I'm about to change back." He warned. She turned her head to avoid the bright flash of light. When she looked back at him he was human again with heavy bags under his eyes.

"Are we going to talk about any of this?" She asked with difficulty. Where to even begin? Apologizing for talking to a homicidal ghost? Apologizing for kissing him? Or angrily demanding answers?

"Which part?" He asked, mirroring her own dilemma. "Why don't you start off with why you decided to put yourself in danger to talk to Tucker?" His look was accusatory, and Sam found herself bristling, already getting defensive even though she knew what she did was stupid.

"He wasn't even trying to hurt me, Danny. Not until you showed up and attacked him."

"Oh, so it's my fault then?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's not what I'm saying." She said, huffing in frustration. "I know it was dumb and dangerous, but I don't know. I just trusted him." Danny studied her face, realizing something.

"Trust him to what? What was he telling you?" He asked. Sam stared at him back, unsure of how to broach the subject.

"He said he had something to tell me about the portal." She replied simply. Danny looked unconvinced.

"And what was that?"

"That it wasn't the first one. And that you knew that." She winced, her tone was starting to become accusatory.

"I see." He said simply. "And now you don't trust me."

"I do, but why wouldn't you tell me about that? Tucker made it sound important. And what was that about someone getting hurt by the first one, is he even still alive?" She added.

"I don't know. Whatever Tucker told you, I don't know anything other than the first portal existing and then not working. But it didn't do what this one did to Amity, so I don't see why it matters." He tried to rise from the bed, but it obviously pained him and he collapsed back into the covers. Sam was torn between asking if he was alright again or yelling at him. She settled on tossing a bottle of painkillers at him, which he caught with ease.

"Take some of those, you're clearly not okay right now." She scolded. He tossed the bottle back, and she was annoyed when she didn't catch it as gracefully as he had. Stupid ghost reflexes.

"Painkillers don't work on me, at least nothing as weak as those. I'll metabolize them almost instantly." He said. As angry as she was, Sam still felt a strong twinge of empathy for him not even being able to dull the pain he was in currently.

"I guess getting wasted is also hard for you, huh?" She asked dryly. He gave a short chuckle and winced.

"The town would be completely dry if I ever developed a penchant for alcoholism."

"That's a shame." She said. "I could use a drink right about now." She sat next to him on the bed.

"Look, I am sorry about scaring you like that. But Tucker honestly wasn't trying to hurt me, at least immediately. He really seemed like he was trying to help, at least in that weirdly threatening ghost way." Sam gave Danny a meaningful look. "There's some part of the old Tucker in there. That's why he hates you so much, you know. The way you two were fighting...there's some real, human emotion there. Not just blind rage." Danny sighed.

"I know. That's why it hurts so much. I know there's some small part of the old Tucker there, but it's not enough. And it's too much at the same time. I wish I couldn't recognize him or anyone else anymore." Sam gently rubbed circles on Danny's back.

"Why did he think it was so important to tell me about the portal?" She asked softly.

"I don't know." Danny replied honestly. "He's brought it up to me before, several years ago. It was between us beating the shit out of each other, but he tried telling me too. Like some kind of warning. I swear that's all I know." He looked at her with pleading eyes. "I'm sorry for not telling you."

"Danny..." Sam began carefully. "Are you sure you have absolutely no idea what the first portal could mean?" He grew quiet.

"You do." She prompted. "I believe that you don't know any more than what Tucker told me. But I don't believe that you think it means nothing."

"My parents only ever mentioned it in passing. I didn't know anything about their research in college. They only brought up the proto-type when they were upset about this portal not turning on." He insisted.

"Why are you so scared to say it out loud?" She asked him. "Something about the portal scares you." He glared at the ground.

"Of course it does, I died inside of it. It killed my whole family and everyone else in Amity Park. It turned me into some half-breed monster." Sam nudged him.

"Stop that. You're not a monster, you're not a freak. We went over this. You're just...different." Danny rolled his eyes.

"Yes Sam, I'm very unique. I'm glad you appreciate that, but the rest of the ghosts aren't as appreciative. I'm sure a bunch of scientists in lab coats with scalpels would though."

"I don't remember you being this much of an ass, Danny." She replied angrily.

"Yeah, well things change when you're a ghost." He grumbled. The phrase immediately struck Sam as important. Tucker had said the exact same thing. It troubled her, but she was beginning to understand.

"You won't tell me." She realized. "Or you can't". Danny stared at her, confused.

"You're cursed just like the others." Sam said, mostly to herself. "Or at least you are as long as you're still here. The town won't let you tell me what the other portal might mean. Because whatever it is, it'd help you finally leave."

"Sam, what are you saying?" He asked warily. She remembered Tucker saying something else important...something about her being too stubborn to leave and Danny being too weak to let her go. Sam had thought he was just trying to turn her against Danny, to stop trusting him. But she was beginning to understand what he meant.

"Oh my god." She whispered to herself. "Danny, you probably can leave. But you're still a ghost. You don't want to." Hadn't Danny warned her himself? Over and over he had reiterated that he was still ghostly, still obsessive despite being partly human. Just another privilege that freak has but wastes. Tucker had been trying to tell her too. He knew that Danny could do something the other ghosts couldn't...but he wouldn't. He was too scared.

"How dare you accuse me like that?" Danny spat, pulling her out of her thoughts. "Of course I want to leave. You think I haven't tried?" His voice was raising with each word. "I didn't choose to rot in this town for eight years."

"No, no I just mean that-"

"I didn't choose to live in a town full of ghosts that want to kill me, that despise everything about me!" He yelled. The shadows in the corners of his room seemed to deepen, stretching towards them and dimming the light streaming in from the window. A chill spread throughout the room.

"Danny, listen to me. Calm down. I'm not saying it's your fault or your intention, but the town is messing with you. It's been coercing you to give up, to not tell me whatever it is that you suspect about the portal." She insisted, trying to get the words out quickly before he got angrier.

"Get out." He said, voice low and threatening. The air buzzed with static.

"Danny, please stop. You're starting to scare me." She said carefully, like you would speak to a frightening animal.

"GET OUT!" His voice echoed with just a hint of that power she had witnessed him use on the football field. The bed shook and the frames on the wall rattled. Sam stood up quickly and backed up towards the door.

"I'm going to let you calm down and come to your senses." She said, trying to hide how scared she was. "I'm going to leave now." He stared at her, his eyes glowing green and cold. She quickly exited the room and jumped as she heard the door slam behind her. She ran to the stairs, taking them two at a time. She stumbled into her room and shut the door, locking it behind her before collapsing to the floor and covering her face. Hot, frustrated tears escaped her eyes. What was she going to do now?