The thud of his door echoed in the quiet house, the other inhabitants long since asleep. It had been a long, stressful day: The beginning of his freshman year, bullies, high expectations from the teachers, his parents' constant blathering on about ghosts and how they would "tear them apart molecule by molecule", and learning to control his newly acquired powers...
Danny sighed, letting the tension seep from his body. At least it was Friday. He'll be able to at least get a decent sleep, at least he hoped he will. So far, his powers only went off when he was awake. It's one thing to accidentally to become invisible or intangible while sitting at the dinner table, for he would catch himself. When asleep, he could end up phasing through the bed and come crashing down onto the lower floor.
Letting himself fall onto the bed, Danny gazed up to his ceiling, the familiar glow-in-the-dark star stickers greeting him like they always had for all these years. His dream of becoming an astronaut stronger than ever: the pure desire to reach beyond the limits, to see the world from high above, to spread his wings... his eyelids slid shut, the calming rustle of the wind outside coaxing him to sleep.
...
The dreams. It has been nearly a week since the dreams has started. Dreams that brought feelings of adrenaline, yet calm; alertness, yet peace; and most of all, happiness and a deep longing that burned right to his... core? Yeah, core seemed the right word. Expertly maneuvering around buildings. The view of his home from up high. Bats fluttering around him. The sensation of being in dense fog. Reaching for the stars... waking up to reality as he fell onto the bed, startling himself awake. At least it felt like he fell... he could never be certain.
...
"...anny... Danny...DANNY!" Sam called her friend, who was staring out a window.
"Huh, what?"
"Are you okay? You've been kinda spacey lately," the goth inquired.
Danny shook his head, bringing himself back to earth, "Yeah, sorry. Just lost in thought..."
"Still thinking about those dreams?" Tucker asked, before taking another bite of his burger. Danny blinked. They were at the Nasty Burger. When had they got there? Man, was he out of it!
"Yeah. I can't help but feel like they mean something..."
"Dreams can often feel real of like they mean something. It's probably your brain telling you to chill out," Sam said.
Danny nodded, "you may be right. So what are our plans for today?"
...
Wind whipped his hair about. The chill of the night caressed his face. The dancing of lights met his eyes from the city down below and from the stars above. A soft tug at his heart urged him to go higher, his soul singing at the increase of altitude. He flew past the school, pivoting on a dime and sped in the direction of his home... speed. Calm. Rush. Unbridled joy. The gleam of the 'FentonWorks' sign. His room. Falling face first onto the bed.
He jolted awake, face on his pillow. Once again feeling alert like in his dream, but... nothing. Heart slowing its tempo, Danny was once again lulled to sleep by the sounds outside his window.
...
"He's spacing out again," Sam nodded to their friend, who was looking up at the sky as they ate their lunches outside.
Tucker gazed at Danny, a thoughtful expression on his face. "If there is anything he needs help with, he'll tell us. Otherwise, we'll just be there for moral support... and to make sure he doesn't bump into anything while we're walking." Both friends snicker at the last part.
"Wow, I can't believe you just said something insightful."
"What? Tucker said something insightful?" Danny said, now fully alert.
Tucker snorted, "C'mon, I can be deep and feel things. Unlike Sam, little miss 'I'm goth and I don't have any emotion whatsoever- OUCH!" Tucker cried out as Sam swatted the backside of his head, while Danny laughed at his friends' antics.
...
He was looking at his ceiling, the stars coming closer into view. His head rolled to the side, allowing him to see his bed below him. He felt perfectly weightless and peaceful, floating upwards to the roof. His eyes fluttered as he felt himself slipping back to sleep, only slightly reacting at the tingling sensation of him phasing through the roof. The cool night air sent a chill down his spine, the breeze tickled his nose. When he went to rub it with his gloved hand, he became fully awake. He was in his ghostly form. Outside. Floating upwards...
"Gah!" Danny flailed in the air as he rose higher, body pivoting. He tried to grab onto anything within reach to anchor himself down, only to phase through.
'Nonononono, don't keep floating up body! Back to the ground, go back to the GROUND!' he thought desperately,'I need to be back to normal and on the ground!'
He was above the OPS center when he reverted back and began to plummet. He landed on the roof of the metal behemoth. Then, to his horror, he began to slide off. Reacting, he grabbed a satellite dish before he fell off, now hanging over the pavement by his home.
Dangling from several stories high above the ground, with nothing except a flimsy satellite dish keeping him from falling to his untimely end-
*CRRREEEAAAAK*
-and now said dish is bending because of the weight.
"This doesn't look good"
Now that's an understatement.
"Please, not now! C'mon powers, kick in! KICK IN! Time to go ghost mode, or whatever it's called," Danny pleaded, desperately trying to will himself to change. The sound of metal cracking reached his ears. "Nononono, change back, CHANGE BACK!"*SNAP!* 'I'm going to become a real ghost! I'm going GHOST! GOING GHOST!' Were his frantic thoughts as he plummeted towards the ground, unable to do anything except scream out "GOING GHOST!" before shutting his eyes.
The two brilliant, white hoops of light swept over him, changing him to his ghostly form. He didn't notice this. He was awaiting the painful contact of concrete meeting face... which hasn't happened. Daring to open an eye, Danny found himself facing the ground, hovering a foot away from the sidewalk. For what seemed like an eternity, he took calming breaths to settle his heart's jackhammer pulse.
Finally calm, he then pivoted to right himself, then once again nearly had a heart attack at the sight of his legs, now a wispy tail. Freaking out, he whipped the tail, forcing them back into legs. Relief flooded his entire being, then curiosity trickled in his mind as he observed his legs. Experimenting, he somehow managed to turn his legs into the tail again. Danny studied it: it looked ethereal, wispy... He could still feel his legs/tail as he wiggled it. Chuckling at the sensation, he forced the tail to loop around so he could grab it. Even though it looked insubstantial, he could still grab it and feel his hands holding on.
He then realized something: he was still floating! He also noticed that there was a certain feeling in his core, in a way like gravity wasn't quite present. He could still feel the gravity of Earth, but there was now a different force at play. Just as he was focusing on the sensation, it completely evaporated, causing him to drop on the ground.
"Okay, that's weird. C'mon Fenton, let's try this again..."
He searched inside himself for what had kept him afloat... There! Finding that spot in his core, he tugged at it a bit. He then began to rise off the ground. A giggle escaped as he floated up a few feet. Upon further experimentation, he found that the way he 'tugged' on his core controles how and where he flew... Flew. OMG he was actually flying! The feelings of giddiness he was experiencing was also affecting his ability to float, making it feel more natural, like breathing or rolling your eyes at your sister's nagging. At first he was floating up and down the sidewalk by his house, not quite over the fact he didn't need to use legs to get around (not that he had legs at the moment).
Danny was ripped from his inner musings as a low flying plane rumbled overhead. He briefly turned his head to glance at the plane, with the intention of returning his attention back to the sidewalk below him, but was drawn to gaze up at the sky above. The majesty of the deep-cobalt sky, with hints of purple, graced with the multitude of stars that danced and shone on the stupendous canvas stretched out before him, ever beckoning him with its wonder. Neon green eyes gaze up, filled with wonder, longing, and joy. Was the sky always this amazing? It looked even more wonderful than before! He reached out a hand, as if to stroke the sky. Wanting to be closer, to discover its secrets- Wait! He can get closer...
It was as if whatever chains holding him down were cast off; physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually... He began to rise, feeling the rise in altitude and his spirits. He looked down, his house shrinking as the distance grew between him and the ground beneath. A laugh escaped past his lips as he admired the view. He took off, the wind whipping his white locks back, tickling his face. He wove around houses, his spectral tail trailing behind. Past the mall. Turned on a dime at the school. Found himself soaring higher and higher. Abruptly, he couldn't see anything. He briefly panicked, before he noticed how humid it had become. He was in a cloud! Laughing some more, because he was high enough to reach clouds and at himself for his temporary freak out, he popped in and out, hopscotching from cloud to cloud. Way up here, where he's meant to be.
Dew drops clung to his face as he sped back down and around his hometown. He dove into a park, lightly skimming the water of the lake with his gloved fingers. Pulling up, he rose to even his flight with a flock of birds. Swans; obvious by the white plumage and long, graceful necks. The white birds seemed to welcome their visitor, nuzzling the teen and ruffling his equally white hair with their beaks and giving cheerful honks. Laughing heartily, Danny sped off, enjoying the freedom of flight. No boundaries. No fear. A dream come true: to see the world from way up here.
...
She awoke at the sound of laughter. Sam recognized the voice of her friend. Leaping out of bed, she crossed to her window, throwing open the curtains. The sight of her friend's flight greeted her. It was a beautiful sight. His glow against the night sky, his ghostly tail trailing after him. Round and round. Up and down. Loops, climbs, dives, barrel rolls! The most elegant looking cursive handwriting to grace the skies. His musical laughter echoed through the night, never ceasing its song of joy. Sam stood in awe, a smile graced her face. His joy of freedom contagious. A comet free of worldly troubles, full of happiness and hope for a better future.
...~~~oOo~~~...
I wanted to write about the experience of a first flight. I got a lot of inspiration from books, movies/TV, and songs. Some of the inspiration includes:
1)How to Train Your Dragon. The movie and most definitely the music when Hiccup and Toothless went flying. Some other movie scenes like Big Hero 6, The iron giant, or Astro Boy (movie) when the main characters first flown.
2)the song 'I Believe I Can Fly' by R. Kelly.
3)Is the main contributor. The song 'World From Way Up Here' by Alison Krauss, which is sung in the Movie Annabelle's Wish: the most beautiful song in the most beautiful movie. If you don't know what I am talking about, stop what you are doing and LOOK IT UP!
"I love that movie! *sniff*"
So do I Crystal. I hope you all enjoy this oneshot.