Chapter 19: A Family Affair
The wind carried dead leaves across the street, swirling around their ankles and scraping against the ground. Danny's arm was solid under Sam, supporting her as she limped towards the vacant lot where Fentonworks once sat. She snuck a glance at him and saw that the aura around him was flickering ever so slightly. He was more wiped out than he was letting on. She frowned, recalling how he had told her that his wail weakened him for days after the first time he used it at Casper High. Sam desperately wanted to tell him that they should wait until he got his strength back, but she knew they didn't have that luxury. It was only a matter of time before the ghosts regrouped and tracked them down.
"Are you sure you're up for this?' She asked him quietly. Danny looked down at her.
"Ready as I'll ever be." He said with an exhausted smile. "I'll drop the duplicate when we're in, that should help." Sam was stunned, she didn't realize he was still holding onto it.
"Wow." She breathed. "What a pair we make." She gestured to her bad leg. Danny gave a quiet laugh, but it sounded nervous. They both continued their walk in silence, footsteps ringing out uncomfortably loud. The sky had blackened considerably in a matter of minutes, already nearly dark enough to be mistaken for night. Perhaps it was, Sam thought. Time was strange in Amity Park, after all. The cracks under their feet grew in size, becoming deeper and wider as they came to a stop. Underneath them was the remainders of Fentonworks.
"How do we get in?" Sam asked, eyeing the ground. Some small craters existed, and broken slabs of cement sat jagged, overlapping one another. None of the gaps were big enough for a person to crawl through though, and she couldn't tell if they even reached all the way to the lab.
"I'll have to phase us in." Danny said grimly. "The moment I do, they'll know we're here. There won't be any sneaking in on them." Sam sent a wary look around, trying to imagine the walls that once enclosed this giant, empty space. Besides the familiar street corner it occupied, she could see no trace of the Fentons and their lives here.
"How far underground is it?" She asked, unnerved by the thought of being trapped in the earth with no way in or out. Ghosts could simply pass through the layers of dirt and cement like it was nothing, but as a human the idea was claustrophobic. Her mind wandered without her permission, imaging a million different scenarios where Danny was harmed, and Sam was left alone with no way out, buried alive.
"Not too much deeper than a normal basement." He reassured her. He wrapped his arm around her waist, hand resting below her elbow. "Stay behind me." He warned. Sam nodded, and she felt the now familiar tingle of intangibility wash over her body. She watched in fascination as they both slipped through the ground, soil and stone passing in a blur right in front of her face.
Their descent only lasted a few seconds before harsh fluorescents assaulted her eyes, and she winced. Her boots- solid again- made a soft thud as she landed gently on tiled floors. She squinted, eyes adjusting to the brightness. A small gasp fell from her lips as she looked around the lab from behind Danny. The ceiling was high, much higher than a normal basement. Every surface gleamed, rows of polished chrome shelves and work tables reflecting the lights. Glittering beakers and test tubes littered the counter space. This was her very first time down in the lab, and it was much bigger than she ever imagined. Something seemed off about it, though she couldn't immediately place what it was.
Embedded in the wall opposite of them was the Fenton Portal, casting a brilliant green glow across the floor. The light danced in her eyes and Sam stared at it, entranced. She tried to picture a younger Danny walking into it, trapped inside as it powered on. The thought sent shivers down her spine as it towered over them both, buzzing rhythmically. Danny stiffened and as she peered around his back, she saw two figures appear out of thin air, standing protectively in front of the portal.
Jack and Maddie Fenton faced them, their eyes blank. Their shadows seemed to stretch too far, cast in the wrong direction. Sam couldn't see any obvious ghostly features between the two of them, but Jack's hulking figure was just larger than what it had been in life and Maddie's eyes were far icier than Sam remembered. She suddenly realized what had been bugging her about the lab as she stared at these pale imitations of Danny's parents. There were no papers strewn about, no coffee rings staining the tables. No personal touches or flairs, no markers of the Fentons and their bright, eccentric personalities. It was too sterile, too lifeless. Dead.
"You are intruding in our home." Maddie's cold voice finally cut out, echoing hollowly through the lab. "You have sixty seconds to vacate the premises before we use lethal force."
"Mom- "Danny began. Maddie flinched at the name, looking as if she had been struck. "Do not call me that, you putrid piece of ectoplasm." She bit out. Jack hovered behind her, unnaturally quiet for the once boisterous man. Danny's shoulders set stubbornly, and he pressed on despite her hateful words.
"I don't want to hurt you guys. We just want to look at the portal." He slowly extended a hand, like he was trying to calm a rabid dog. Sam knew that the gesture could shift into a threat in less than a second, having seen the damage that he could do with that hand. But something inside of her knew that Danny would rather die than raise a hand against his parents. She found herself scared of what they would have to do for him to actually defend himself.
"Thirty seconds, ghost." Jack reminded gruffly. An ecto-gun manifested in his hand, humming threateningly. Sam distantly wondered if it were even real, or just a ghostly illusion unwittingly summoned by a man who didn't even know he was dead.
"Please, just let me look at it for a moment." He urged, fruitlessly trying to reason with the ghosts. "I promise we'll leave everything as we found it." His tone was gentle, but Sam could see in the subtle way that the Fentons seemed to grow tenser as his words only served to anger them. The temperature around them dropped and she felt a light static tingle in the air. Sam quietly grabbed Danny's wrist on the hand still tucked at his side. She squeezed it gently, trying to silently urge him into showing more caution.
"We won't disturb anything, and we'll be right on our way- "Jack suddenly sprang forward, aiming his gun.
"Time's up." He said, pulling the trigger. A whine erupted from gun and Danny roughly grabbed Sam, throwing them both to the ground. The blast just narrowly missed them, sailing over their bodies. Danny grunted, rolling off of her and landing in a defensive crouch. His hands ignited into green flames, arms protectively guarding Sam. Maddie stepped forward.
"You've chosen extermination." She said. A glowing bo staff appeared at her side, her gloved fingers holding it confidently. While Jack's gun looked to be the bigger threat, Sam knew enough about Maddie's combat abilities to fear her more. Maddie lowered her red goggles over her eyes, covering them entirely. The goggles glinted dangerously, resembling an insect's eyes.
"I said I didn't want to hurt you." Danny repeated, desperate. His body looked strong, taut and muscled as he crouched. But his shoulders shook, and his hands trembled. His eyes were wide and betrayed his fear. Sam's heart ached for him from her place on the freezing tile. She couldn't imagine what it was that they did to him the last time he was here, though she knew it must have been terrible. "Please." His voice broke on the word. "Just let us go." He pleaded softly. Jack held the gun, brandishing it as it smoked. Maddie suddenly tensed, her head rearing back as she made a noise of recognition.
"I remember you..." She accused slowly. "You're that same ecto-entity that broke into the lab years ago." Danny startled, as if he hadn't anticipated them remembering their previous encounter.
"You tried to impersonate our son Danny." Jack bellowed, mouth setting into an angry grimace. "You made our Jazz disappear." Maddie's face contorted, and she raised the staff, teeth gnashing.
"Where's our daughter?" She cried out, voice shrill. The lights overhead flickered. Danny recoiled, shoulders sagging.
"I don't know." He replied, voice raw. "I promise, I don't know where she went." The light in his hands dimmed. Sam paled, her limbs growing heavier. She tried to stand back up, but she felt like she was swimming in molasses. Maddie was not pleased with his answers, and she let out a sharp sob.
"Where's our son? Did you take him too? WHERE'S DANNY?" She wailed.
Jack moved fast as lightning, his gun firing at them once again. This time Danny anticipated the shot and a green shield appeared around them. The blast bounced harmlessly off the shield, but Danny was panting, sickly and sweating. Sam knew he was already worn down, but merely being in the lab seemed to be suffocating him, draining him of his will and energy.
Faster than she could blink, Sam watched as Maddie darted across the lab and attacked Danny. She pulled a glowing green knife from somewhere in her jumpsuit and slashed it across his chest. He pulled back in shock, as her knife flung drops of ectoplasm through the air in an arc. Without giving him time to recover, she swept his legs with the staff. He hit the floor in a loud thud, groaning involuntarily. Sam scrambled forward, trying to reach his still body. Before she could touch him, Maddie was on him again. She tossed him across the floor, green smearing and staining the pristine tiles.
"DANNY!" Sam screamed, finally finding her voice. She managed to climb back to her feet. At the sound of her cry, Danny weakly turned towards her, making eye contact. He flipped over and stood, shield back up. It flickered worse now, creating a strobing effect under the increasingly dim lab lights. Jack shot at it in quick succession, once, twice, and on the third time it sliced clean through and hit Danny's thigh. He hissed and dropped the shield entirely, suddenly buckling as his leg crumpled beneath him.
His face was a twisted picture of misery, eyes unguarded and filled with hurt. His body trembled and Sam only saw a child, young and vulnerable in his parent's shadow. She tried to call out to him, plead with him to keep fighting, but it was like the oxygen had been stolen from her lungs. Whatever the portal was, whatever it truly did, the lab around it seemed detached from the rest of the world, another realm entirely. She was insignificant here, a non-entity.
"Mom...Dad..." He whispered, the syllables heavy with longing. "It's me, it's Danny." He begged weakly. Sam's own voice played in her mind.
I don't recognize you. It had said in her dream.
Jack and Maddie's eyes were empty, dark and bottomless voids. The shadows in their faces twisted and bent menacingly.
"No, you're not." Maddie said simply, coldly. As if it were a scientific fact, unchallengeable. At her side, Jack's great size- once endearing and bumbling- made his figure an imposing one as he silently nodded.
"Our boy is alive, not a ghost." He spat, venom laced in his words. "He's fourteen."
"He just started high school." Maddie added. The words were stilted and strange, as if they were meant to be said fondly but came out overly rehearsed. Danny was curling in on himself, growing smaller with each passing moment.
"I'm your son." He insisted desperately. Bright green ectoplasm spilled from his wound, drops echoing in the cavernous lab as they hit the cold tiles. "Please, I'm Danny, I'm Danny..." His name repeated over and over, supernaturally carried in the air. The lights flickered threateningly, and the walls vibrated. The truth was not welcome here, challenging the Fentons and unravelling the fabric of their reality. Their faces morphed into horrible shapes, the shadows thickening and elongating.
"YOU'RE NOT DANNY!" They chanted in unison. Sam's voice felt trapped, smothered in her throat, but she managed to weakly call out.
"Yes, he is!" She protested. "You're supposed to love him no matter what, you're his parents! Can't you recognize him? You love him!" She repeated, praying that they would listen. Jack and Maddie's eyes focused on Sam, finally noticing her presence. She knew immediately that this was dangerous for her.
"You vile little liar..." They approached her as a singular unit, moving in synchronization. Jack painfully grabbed her arm in a solid iron grip, and Maddie went for her throat. Danny weakly scrambled to his feet as her hands stretched towards Sam.
"Stop!" He yelled. His leg dragged behind him, useless. "I'm the one you want, I'm the ghost. She's human!" He begged. Maddie's hands had just barely wrapped around Sam's throat, but she released her to face Danny once more. Jack's hold on her wrist lessened but remained. Sam wanted to cry out at the horrible coldness of it, but she watched hopelessly as Danny limped towards her.
"Let her go, please." He said quietly. "Don't hurt her, hurt me." Sam tried to tell him no, but the air was wrong and too thick. Her voice was forcibly stifled, stolen from her once more. The lab felt like another planet, removed from the world above them entirely. She was useless here. She understood finally why he had been so scared of coming, so terrified to encounter his parents. The weight of his family's deaths, his own half-death, the town's destruction, it stained every inch of this place. The very air was saturated with it. The portal whirred louder, victoriously.
"We don't take orders from a ghost." Jack spat. His grip increased once more, crushing Sam's wrist. She cried out, pulling desperately as the bones ground together. Without even thinking, she flailed her free arm, landing a solid punch on Jack's jaw. Maddie immediately grabbed the arm, twisting it painfully as she pinned it behind Sam's back. As Danny watched, his eyes suddenly flared brighter, harsher.
"DON'T TOUCH HER!" He commanded, voice just barely vibrating with a hint of his wail. He launched himself at his parents, hands ablaze. He sent an ectoblast at Maddie, and she let go of Sam in an effort to dodge the blow. Jack tried to avoid the blast too, but he yanked Sam with him and she tried to keep her balance as her feet were lifted roughly off the floor. Sam watched- suspended by Jack's iron-clad grip- as Danny sent another blast towards his father.
Jack flinched and ducked, awkwardly holding onto Sam as she flailed like a rag doll. She furiously beat at Jack's hands with her free arm, shouting insults and curses at him, voice finally returned to her in her anger. She scowled, tired of being manhandled as she screamed a particularly nasty expletive at him. The ghost seemed to react, shooting her an enraged look as she kept up her verbal onslaught. The distraction was all Danny needed to finally land a solid shot at Jack, and they both went tumbling. Jack finally let her go, and she rolled away.
Maddie had already recovered and was on top of Danny, wrenching him off of Jack. Maddie's knife was out once more, skillfully swiping at her son. The half-ghost had his arms up to defend his face, and Sam winced as she watched the knife repeatedly slice through his sleeves.
"You DARE to attack me and my husband in our home!" Maddie hissed at him. "Ectoplasmic scum." Danny's faced twisted, his movements slowing.
"It's my house too." He said weakly. The challenge seemed to disturb the very air and Maddie's eyes glazed over. "We've lived here my whole life, since before I can remember." His mother went slack for just a moment, and Sam watched as Jack seemed to freeze too. They stuttered for a moment before suddenly moving again, their eyes regaining their furious light.
Maddie lunged, hand gripping and pulling him up by his neck. Danny was taller than Maddie, but she effortlessly held him above herself, until his feet barely brushed the floor. His arms swung, limp at his sides. Ectoplasm poured from the cuts that littered his body, suit torn in multiple places. Jack sauntered over to Maddie, placing himself behind her and training his gun at Danny's head.
"Where are our children?" Maddie hissed, jostling Danny. A stray tear rolled down his exhausted, bruised face.
"Where is Jazz, ghost?" Jack echoed. Danny shook his head.
"I don't know, I don't know." He mumbled. "She disappeared, I haven't felt her in years." Maddie slapped Danny across his face with her free hand, and he recoiled in shock. Sam winced, knowing that the gesture stung in a way that no punch or kick could.
"Where is she?" Maddie repeated, coldly. "She vanished after she helped you escape our lab." Jack stiffened behind her.
"We always told her to never trust ghosts." Jack said mournfully. Danny shook his head, and weakly clawed at the hand around his throat.
"I told you I don't know."
Sam watched, horrified at the scene in front of her. What could she do? The moment she moved to help Danny, she would have the ghosts' attention on her again. She couldn't fight them, couldn't convince them to believe Danny. She found herself imagining the same exact scenario, years prior. Jack and Maddie with a defeated, injured Danny in their clutches. His sister watching in horror, pleading them to let him go. But Jazz was a ghost, she could fight, and Sam couldn't. Why did Jazz help? Why did Tucker, in his own twisted way?
All I want is for this to be over. I want to finally be at peace.
Was it really so simple, Sam wondered? I don't recognize you.
Did Jazz? Had Danny said or done something all those years ago that made her able to see, able to recognize her little brother? She had protected him, and then she vanished. Moved on, Sam realized. Wherever it was that people go when they die, that's what happened to Jazz. She overcame this town's curse because she recognized Danny and protected him.
"Danny!" Sam called out, realizing all at once how they could defeat the Fentons. "You have to make them remember you! No matter what, you have to keep reminding them!"
Danny was in really bad shape, he would never overpower them like this. Whatever front he had before entering the lab, Sam could tell he was never going to win this fight. His trump card- his ghostly wail- would bring the lab down on top of them both and bury them in the ground, if he could even manage to summon it right now. Fighting his parents like this, up close and personal, would only wear him out more until he lost. Danny had to make his parents see sense, just briefly. If Tucker had been able to access just a fraction of his humanity, it must be possible. Jazz had done it.
Danny's face was heartbreaking as he heard her words. She could read it immediately in his eyes- "I've tried already" they seemed to say.
"Trust me." She pleaded. "Remind them." She urged. Some kind of understanding passed between them, just as Jack lumbered towards her. Sam yelped and darted away, instinctually knowing that the best move was to avoid being grabbed again. "Danny!" She called, backing away from Jack's hulking form. "Do it!"
Danny's eyes were dim, but he seemed to resist his mother's hold with more vigor now, trying to twist out of her grasp.
"I don't know where Jazz is, but I'm right here." He said, voice straining. "I'm Daniel James Fenton. I'm your son." Maddie's eyes blazed behind her goggles.
"Stop lying! No tricks!" She said, shaking him. "Danny isn't dead!"
"My birthday is February 25th. My favorite color is red. I've always wanted to be an astronaut." He recited.
Maddie shook her head, mouth twisting into a horrible shaped.
"NO, NO!" She screamed. Jack had stopped pursuing Sam, and now his full attention was on Danny again. His entire body vibrated.
"Danny is a human, not a monster like you." Jack growled. Danny tugged weakly at Maddie's hand, sweat pouring down his face. He hissed in pain as his wounds tugged and pulled.
"My best friends are Sam Manson and Tucker Foley. My older sister is Jazz, she's a pain and a know-it-all, and she never leaves me alone, but I love her. She always watches out for me." His voice was rising with each word, and Sam knew he couldn't stop now even if he wanted.
"You are both my parents. You're overbearing and obsessed with ghosts, and I'm sorry I was ever embarrassed of you guys, I wish you were still alive." His voice caught, heavy with regret. His eyes shone with tears.
"I wish you were with me while I grew up. I did it alone, all alone. I needed you, I needed Jazz! I needed Tucker and Sam, I needed everyone. Please believe me, I'm Danny, I'm Danny!" Sam felt tears roll down her own face as she watched Danny sob, broken down completely. His shoulders shook, and his breath was ragged, uneven. He looked so young in that moment, and so lost.
Maddie and Jack's faces were stunned, both of them eerily silent. Sam couldn't tell if they were moved by Danny's tears, or just simply shocked by the emotional display. Maddie slowly loosened her grip, and Danny collapsed to the floor in a heap. She made no further move.
"What happened to you?" Jack started, his voice confused. It was still unclear if he believed anything that had just been said. Danny looked up at his parents, similarly unsure of this moment, unsure if this shaky peace would last.
"There was an accident." He answered miserably. "I went inside the portal and it turned on." Maddie lifted her goggles off her face, revealing the look of confusion in her eyes.
"The portal is already on." She said matter-of-factly. Her stance was still threatening, but she remained in place. Danny shook his head.
"It didn't work for days." He reminded them gently. "Me and Tucker decided to take a look around, because I knew how disappointed you guys were. It was stupid." He bit out. "I knew I wasn't supposed to be down here without either of you."
"You died in the portal?" Jack asked hesitantly. Danny nodded.
"Yes."
"You are dead." Maddie confirmed, voice hardening. Her knife reappeared in her hand.
"It's complicated." Danny said defensively. Sam took a small step forward.
"Show them." She urged. Danny's eyes found hers, and he looked scared. Vulnerable and lost. "It will be alright." She said. Sam had no proof, the Fentons could very well decide that it was a trick and attack once more. But she knew that this was the right move, just as she had known that the portal was the key to everything.
Danny slowly rose to his feet, swaying under the strain of his injuries. He planted his feet firmly, bracing himself for the change. Those brilliant white rings appeared around his waist, and travelled up and down his body, revealing his human form. Maddie and Jack gasped at the change, both taking an involuntary step back from the flash of light.
Sam wanted to cry at how hurt he looked, his injuries suddenly appearing so much more serious now that bright, red blood poured from them. She didn't know how much longer he would be able to stay conscious like this.
Jack was the first to recover from their shock, and he slowly approached Danny's weak form. Danny looked as if he wanted to run, or even hide in shame. Sam wondered if there was some part of him that wished his parents didn't recognize him as a ghost. But his eyes were still shining from tears, and she knew that he desperately needed this.
"Danny?" Jack asked, voice breaking. "Is that you, son?"
AN: Thank you all for the very kind reviews. We are so close to the end of this journey. Much love to everyone who's been reading!
