THURSDAY 6 AM

Danny woke up discombobulated.

'Discombobulated. That's a funny word.' Danny's thoughts were still mushy in his half-asleep stupor.

He didn't want to get up, but he knew Briar would be knocking at any moment. There was a crick in his back, and Danny stretched until his spine went snap-crackle-pop. He wiped away a bit of drool from his chin. Danny opened his eyes blearily, blinking to clear the sleep gook from them. He felt gross, and could already determine that he didn't sleep very well.

When Danny could finally see his surroundings, they weren't what he expected.

Instead of strange trophies, there were model rockets. Instead of tapestries, there were posters. And instead of candles that stayed strangely lit on their own, his bedside lamp was on. The windows had begun to let in light with the rising sun, but didn't quite illuminate the entire room.

Danny just rolled over in bed, and pulled his star-embroidered quilt up to his chin. His twin sized bed felt tiny in comparison to his other sleeping arrangements. Why had he come home, exactly?

A quiet ding reminded Danny why, exactly, he'd ventured home the night before. Danny's alarm was ringing for 7 AM, he needed to be up and heading back. Briar had seem how dead on his feet he was yesterday (both literally and figuratively) and allowed him an extra hour today. It was the perfect set up for him to come home, too. But he had to be quick. Danny finally sat up in bed, and had to stretch again to relieve tension in his shoulders. He yawned, revealing pointed teeth.

All around the room were his and his friends' various gadgets, plugged in to charge. Every outlet was occupied. Hopefully overnight had been enough time to charge.

Danny looked down at a pair of pajamas that he'd probably pulled out of his dresser in his sleepy daze, because he did not remember packing this particular set. The cheap fabric was scratchy on his skin. He was being spoiled by GZ fabrics.

Danny's alarm rang again. He really needed to get up and going, but he didn't want to.

A quiet sound suddenly came to Danny's attention. It sounded like… rain? Was somebody taking a shower? Accompanied with it was a quiet melody that Danny recognized distinctly. His mom didn't sing in the shower, and it was much too high for his dad. Besides, they wouldn't be home on a Thursday. Jazz-

Jazz.

He'd completely forgotten his promise to Sarah. She was going to spill the beans to Jazz about the whole 'Impromtu Bully Fight Club' that had happened on the last day of school. Unless he told Jazz first, that is. And if Jazz heard about it from someone else, her sucking him into the thermos wouldn't be an accident anymore.

Spurred by intrigue and self-preservation instincts, Danny floated up out of bed. He wouldn't dare chance his ghost form in the house, but small spurts would fly under the radar without the house arming itself against him. After using his powers so freely for the last week, it made Danny a bit sad.

Ever-so-quietly, Danny snuck out into the hall. He just barely tapped into his invisibility, not quite activating it but having it ready at any moment. There would be no way to explain to his parents how he was home early, and then also try to leave afterwards. He didn't think it was one of them, but he couldn't be too careful.

Danny was staring at their door, waiting for any movement from the other end of the hall when suddenly the bathroom door swung open. Out waltzed his dearest sister, Jazz. Who was currently wearing nothing but a towel.

'Ew! Didn't need to see that!' Danny spun around to shield his eyes. It would seem he'd turned invisible and seemingly just in time, as Jazz's gaze slid right over him. He quickly rushed to his room, phasing through his door. As soon as he was behind closed doors Danny let go of his invisibility. He hoped she hadn't seen him.

But alas, Danny couldn't escape that easily. He was pacing, trying to figure out how to sneak all the way down to the lab and through the portal undetected, when there was a knock on his door.

"Danny?" Asked Jazz.

"Are you home? I heard you and your friends were on a road trip." Jazz really was out of the loop, wasn't she. Danny could technically avoid her, but knew he shouldn't. His promise to Sarah was coming back to bite him. He at least had to talk to her about the fight with Dash. But she'd probably still be able to tell something was wrong with him, especially when he tries to leave through the portal. Ugh!

Danny opened the door and behind it stood his sister, dressed in comfy clothes.

"I thought you weren't coming home for the summer." Danny said. Jazz looked surprised to see him.

"One of my professors came down with something, so they canceled their classes for today and tomorrow. I figured I'd come home since I had the time off." She cocked her head to the side.

"I was told when I got here last night that you weren't here, yet you are. What's up with that?" She looked at him inquisitively. Danny made a face. He stepped aside and invited Jazz into his room. She entered and sat on his messy bed.

Jazz didn't say anything, just looked at him. Waiting for him to speak up first.

"I may or may not have had a fight with Dash on the last day of school," he said quickly.

"Sam and Tucker sold popcorn, and gave me part of the profits."

Jazz just looked at him.

"Why'd you fight Dash?"

"He challenged me. And I wanted to." He had wanted to, right? He did remember the catharsis.

"Why are you telling me now?"

"You deserve to know." Danny fiddled with his hands. He messed with a fidget ring that he may or may not have half-stolen from Sam's jewelry box. Maybe.

"There's other stuff too." Danny deflated. He sat on the bed next to Jazz, and pulled his knees to his chest. How did he even start? At the beginning, he supposed.

"A few weeks ago, Clockwork paid me a visit. Told me to meet with him after school the next day." Jazz rubbed soothing circles into Danny's back.

"What'd he want?" She asked. Her tone was soft.

"Pariah's dying."

"Like dying-dying. And the Ghost Zone is suffering for it, because apparently it needs him to work or something?" Danny looked at Jazz to see her reaction. Jazz didn't interject or look anything but passive, and just left Danny the room to talk. It sounded pretty ridiculous now that he put it into words, he had to admit.

"So the Ghost Zone itself picked who it wanted to replace Pariah with, and… it picked me. For whatever reason. Apparently my core is stronger or something, because I'm only half ghost."

"So I'm gonna be the Ghost King. The coronation is on Friday."

"Oh, Danny. Only you." Jazz was obviously concerned, but her voice remained calm.

"So Clockwork just dumped all this on you? Then what?"

"He didn't even have the decency to do that. Just popped in and told me he wanted to meet, then fed us brownies then dumped it on us." Danny said bitterly.

"Sam and Tucker have spent the last week with me in the Ghost Zone, but I've barely been able to see them. I keep getting dragged off to this or that." No matter how he wanted to, Danny couldn't be bitter in that regard. It was no one's fault, he was just a victim of circumstance. But a lot of the blame for the situation could be pretty reliably placed on Clockwork's ever-changing shoulders. And Pariah Dark's. If only the guy hadn't been such a jerk.

"How are you handling that?"

"I kinda broke down in front of Sam and Tucker. But they assured me they'd be with me every step of the way." Danny's breath hitched. He hadn't even realized this part had made him upset. The thought of losing them, of not having them at his side, threatened to suffocate him. But they were also their own people, and couldn't- 'Ugh!' Danny was tired of thinking himself in circles. Sick and tired of it.

"But I spend all day in my lessons, and then I'm exhausted by the end of the day. I barely have time to crawl into bed before I'm out. Then Briar wakes me up first thing and it all starts again."

"There's just so much that people are expecting of me, and I don't know how they want me to do it." Jazz looked puzzled but stayed quiet.

"I haven't been able to have a real conversation with them all week, the most we actually talked was when Tucker and Sam had a fight. Aside from that it just seems to be them trying to comfort me." He loved them, but everytime they cared after him and he couldn't return the favor it just made the guilt keep mounting.

"And even then I was just playing mediator and trying to figure out what they argued about. Then Undergrowth got involved? And I don't even know what's going on there."

"On the one hand I can't wait for this week to be over, because everything will be set in stone. But then I also know that after that Sam and Tucker have to go home, and I'm terrified of being alone. But they have their own families to go back to." And he didn't.

"I have you, but you have school. Mom and Dad don't even seem to care about me. The last time I talked to Mom was when she drove me to school on the last day, and even then we didn't really say anything. It feels like everyone is leaving me."

"The coronation is tomorrow." He added quietly. The room felt heavy with everything he'd just let out. But it did feel good to just say it all.

"You aren't alone, Danny," Jazz piped up.

"Everyone keeps saying that." He replied bitterly.

"That's 'cause it's true." Jazz hooked an arm around him.

"Sam and Tucker can't be there all the time, it's true. And Mom and Dad are… difficult. But they all still love you, Danny. Even when you can't see them, it doesn't change their feelings toward you."

"I'm worried they'll get fed up with me, or it'll all get to be too much. Or maybe they'll forget about me and move on with their lives." Danny curled in on himself. They were his everything, but it wasn't healthy for him to rely on them like that.

"Oh please, you three have been thick as thieves since middle school." Jazz cupped his check in her hand.

"I have no doubt that they feel the same way." Her expression was so open and honest that it made Danny want to cry.

Sam and Tucker really did mean a lot to him, didn't they?