A Means to an End, Beginning of Another
Episode 02: Second Chances, Part 2
"I'm home!" he called as he pushed through the door, taking his key with him as he entered his home. Practically empty, his brain supplied with some melancholy when no one answered in return; till he looked down near the door, and found two more pairs of shoes.
Alex peeked over his shoulder a bit, eyes half closing, "My parents." she recognized her mother's converse and her father's loafers; they were pretty easy to spot.
Wrinkling his nose, Dan brushed himself off a bit before moving away from Alex as they entered his house with Harold following after the two. Closing the door behind them, he locked the bolts and headed towards the kitchen.
"Probably doing parent stuff," Dan mused, opening the door to the 'fridge, peering inside, and spying the contents. Alex, who already knew her way around the house, wandered over to the cabinets to find food as Harold headed off to the bathroom. Apparently lunch wasn't agreeing with him.
Finding a large carton of Goldfish crackers, Alex reached up and plucked them from the shelf, a glance thrown in her direction by Dan, whom merely wrinkled his nose, "Not in the mood for that stuff," he said.
Looking towards him as the box fell into her hands quietly, she smiled, sticking out her tongue at him. "Then you don't need to eat it," she sang. Shrugging lightly, Dan grabbed himself some lunchmeat and a few cans of soda, setting the sodas on the table while he went back to his quest for bread.
Alex opened the carton and begun eating a few of the small, fish shaped crackers, watching Dan's movements as they awaited her cousin. She could hear the toilet flush as he made his way back into the kitchen, letting out a relieved sigh in the process.
"That tuna casserole wasn't going down right..."
Momentarily peeking over his shoulder, Dan replied, "Then you shoulda stuck with the meatloaf."
It wasn't that bad in comparison to some of the other lunches he had. He remembered the macaroni and cheese incident, and shuddered internally. It wouldn't have been so bad if it didn't weaken his immune system to have him catch the flu that following day.
Harold reached into the goldfish box, grabbing a few of the tiny crackers and begun eating them one by one. "So I heard Alex let you out today."
Nodding a bit as he found the bread, Dan untied the knot in the bag while taking a couple of slices out and spreading them in front of him. "Yeah, thankfully Flash doesn't do anything to girls."
He had a sickening thought of Alex getting shoved into a locker; the very thought didn't sit well with him, after all he didn't want anything bad happening to her.
Her voice cut through his thoughts as she sounded rueful, "If he did, I'd expect he wouldn't be reproducing his spawn anytime in this lifetime."
Dan winced, it felt like a kick in the junk, and he wasn't even the intended target. Apparently Harold felt the same as he replied, "That's pretty harsh."
Violet eyes turning to him, the tanned young woman's face remained neutral, her cynicism poking through, "So's throwing anyone into a locker." She set the box of goldfish up and folded her arms over her stomach, a habit she got from her mother.
Dan waved a hand, his back still turned to them as he made his sandwich, "Hey no fighting here, I don't want my mother coming down like the wrath of God."
Both his compatriots winced. Jasmine Fenton was no one to mess with; she ran her household like a tight ship. When she was angry, she was full blown furious, her always right answers scaring many into being her obedient servants. Take Dan's dad for instance, they never fought.
Probably got all that out in college while they were dating, Alex thought bemused at the thought of Mrs. Fenton arguing tooth and nail with her husband.
Harold finished his handful of the crackers, and begun to search the fridge as well. "Got anything meaty? I'm hungry for some actual food."
Harold, like his uncle and possibly their whole family line, were carnivores, which slightly disturbed Dan and Alex; Dan for wondering how any one person much less a whole family could eat nothing but meat and Alex for simply being related to him. When the boy had a burger, it mostly consisted of two meat patties in the middle, and two chicken patties for buns. At their local burger place called the Burger Stop, they even named the dish after Harold. Harold was quite proud of his accomplishment, even his uncle was a little proud. He'd never done it in his time.
"Uh yeah," begun Dan who was used to his friend's habits as he picked up his sandwich and motioned towards the top shelf. His sandwich seemed to have a healthy helping of lunchmeat and lettuce, while he quietly took a seat at the table behind Alex. "We have quite a bit of left over steak if you want near the top. I'm thinking my mother was thinking of either you or Alex's dad when she was cooking."
Dan's mother cooked quite a bit from time to time, mostly when Alex's father came over or when Harold was coming around. Weekdays she kept quite a store of meat handy, as Harold came to his house quite often. Alex leaned back a bit, taking a deep breath and lightly popped a few of the goldfish crackers into her mouth; she felt quite comfortable relaxing in the seat. "Man, been only gone a month and already I'm getting those looks."
She'd gotten them all through her school life. Those looks that told her she was strange, an outsider, unaccepted. They had spread quite a few rumors about her in only a few short hours, saying some people from the previous school had caught her smoking. Or that she the daughter of a crime cartel. Or the one that said that she was from the poor side of town and had killed her family. She crossed her eyes, sighing; all those could be farther from the truth.
She glanced to her shoulder when she felt Dan's hand lightly against her skin his palm gently patting against her, "Hey don't worry about it. We'll get through it."
He smiled this reassuring smile that made her feel at ease. She wasn't sure how he did it but it always seemed to work.
Harold's voice jumped in while warming the cutlets of steak, "Yeah, who knows, this year might be different from all the other ones and we might actually be accepted." He sounded hopeful and sarcastic at the same time.
All three paused briefly, before replying in unison, "Nah."
Laughter soon filled the room as the three friends went about eating.
Blinking, Dan noticed something a bit out of the ordinary when the house shook very slightly. It had been for the most part unnoticeable and could probably be overlooked if not for Harold turning his head to look around.
"Earthquake?"
Alex, noticed as well and blinked, looking around. "Maybe a mild tremor?" she ventured.
He'd never heard of getting an earthquake here of all places. "I think it came from the lab," said the resident of the house.
A blue light began shining from the floor, immediately shooting up in a rapidly ascending speed and clocked Dan right between the eyes in the face. Apparently the force from impact sent him up into the air and flipped. He landed on his back in the middle of the kitchen, slowly sliding across the linoleum floor to the opposite end of the kitchen.
"Dan!" they shouted in unison.
Both his compatriots stopped what they were doing, Harold flipping the gas off from the stove as Alex knelt down beside Dan and cradled his head in her arms. She checked for signs, something, anything that could be the cause of his mysterious fall with Harold frantically looking around for whatever object hit him.
"Did you see what that weird light was?" he asked, the question pointed to her.
Shaking her head slowly, she blinked, "I didn't even hear of anything coming loose to hit him."
Harold made a motion with his finger, pointing down at the tile, "Some light just flashed from the floor and hit him." He had seen, or thought he had seen what went on. It was still a mystery to him and now, he wasn't sure if Dan didn't just jump out of his seat and hit his head.
"Any bumps?" he asked as she ran her fingers carefully through Dan's hair, checking his head for lumps.
Worry was etched on her face when she discovered none, her eyes half closing while she inspected him tenderly. "Dan? Daniel, wake up." she uttered quietly, lightly poking at his boyish face. The poking seemed to do the trick as a groan escaped his lips, and the breath she didn't know she was holding escaped.
"Dan, Dan! Man you scared us both half to death!" said the carnivore, his voice seeming to carry more meaning than he thought.
"Death?" Dan bolted up straight while his eyes snapped opening immediately. Instead of the normally brown irises everyone was used to seeing, a deep, soulful blue projected out, his hair trailed over his eyes a bit as he looked about frantically. "Crap," he growled then turned onto his knee, "I'm in the kitchen!"
Confused, Alex and Harold exchanged glances between each other, before seeing Dan sprint off full speed towards the stairway that led to the basement.
"Dan?" Harold called after him as Alex made a motion.
Gathering herself up from the floor, she called for her cousin, "C'mon he's acting incredibly weird."
They both bolted after him, watching his retreating form gathering momentum as he pulled away from them easily. As they finally reached the door and caught up with him, Dan threw the door open and noticed a large metal plate in front of him. Growling, he brought his fist back, cocking it into position, and let loose a wild punch upon it. He dented the metal deeply with his fist, much to Alex and Harold's surprise.
"Dan...?" she ventured as she watched him curse then leaned his ear against the door.
Faintly he could hear the sounds of battle, his blue eyes narrowing as he tried very hard to listen. "Skulker isn't doing too good..." he muttered to himself, straining harder as he listened in.
Alex glanced over to Harold, who merely shrugged in reply. "He's your best friend." he said to her as she scowled slightly.
"He's your best friend too, stupid!"
They were about to argue again but before it even started; two blue eyes turned to them in annoyance, and narrowed briefly. "I'm trying to listen here?"
The amount of anger and urgency in his voice shut the two up as Alex leaned in towards Harold with realization and whispered, "Hey... did you notice?"
Harold blinked, his voice becoming low, "Notice what?" It was obvious even to him that he wasn't the most observant person in the world.
"His eyes... they're blue..." she whispered.
Harold blinked. She was right, instead of the normal brown he saw every day, his eyes were now this sort of luminescent azure, both of which were currently narrowed and glaring at the metal door. It was then that they heard it, it wasn't as faint but it seemed to echo in the ventilation, a voice only her mother could have as she heard her scream at the top of her lungs. "DANNYYYYYYY!" she cried, the voice echoing into the hallway around them.
"Sam!" Dan's eyes widened as desperation set in. His body seemed to go into a transparent version of himself, much to the surprise of his friends while his hand started glowing in an eerie green light. He ran through the metal plate, leaving his two friends bewildered. Dumbfounded, Alex's worried eyes showed a touch of fear as her best friend ran right through the metal door, calling for her mother with an air of familiarity that wasn't there before. Harold shared a similar expression, before looking at the console next to the door.
"C'mon," he said, getting his wits about him, "We'll worry later; we have to get this door open. Something is definitely up."
Nodding numbly, she began helping Harold with his infiltration of the facility.
"I'm goin' ghost!"
The words seemed to reverberate against the walls of the lab, energy beginning to generate in a circular pattern around his abdomen as he felt the cold overtaking him once more. His eyes shut, the light began to split into two rings as they ran down along his body; the rearrangement of molecules covering him in a black hazmat suit and that all familiar white trim. His hands gloved in white, as well as boots, he stood once more in their service, the ring going up along his body bleached out his hair to a snow white, his eyes snapped open as familiar bright emerald eyes shone, glowing eerily. His eyebrows knitted together briefly before coming down in an angered expression, his fingers closing into his palms and balled them into fists. Where once stood fourteen year old Daniel Fenton, the ghost from the past returned, bringing back...
"Danny Phantom..." whispered Sam, watching as the young boy who was once her first love, stand before them again, unaged because of the body he now inhabited.
Tucker's smile stretched, and in that smile he grew younger and younger inside. He could feel it welling inside of him as his mouth opened up, "Go get 'em Danny!"
Tears welling in her eyes, Sam smiled as well, nodding a bit as Danny turned his gaze towards them, that confident boyish smile stretched across his features. Snapping his attention back at his doppelganger, he ground out, "Spectre, for picking on my friends, alive and dead, I'm going to make you pay." As cheesy as it sounded, the tone of voice he used was deadly serious.
Laughing, Spectre folded his arms over his chest and grinned, the red outlining of his eyes seeming to shine. "Phantom, you forget, I have a body too now. Your body."
Forcing his foot against the floor, Danny shot forward with an alarming speed as his voice pulled up to catch him, "Not for long you're not!"
The motion was fluid as Danny's hand reeled back, leaving behind several afterimages of his arm behind, then threw his punch towards his doppelganger. The afterimages of the fist pummeled down upon Spectre as if each was as real as his actual fist. The speed in which he was moving was alarming; it seemed as if Danny had augmented his spiritual abilities inside of Dan's body.
Spectre reeled, but seemed almost unphased, at least, not as phased as he should have been. Bringing both hands back, Spectre channeled red ectoplasm into his fingertips, then begun releasing spiritual bullets, and fired them towards him with a speed that could barely be caught by his two best friends.
Jazz moved closer and seemed to examine Skulker; checking him over. He looked wounded, but she couldn't tell, seeing as how ghosts and spirits weren't her expertise. Reaching up towards a pair of red glassed goggles her mother usually wore, she slid them over her eyes to get a better look at the ghost.
"I'm not sure how to handle this guys..." she uttered as Tucker turned his head towards her.
"Do the best you can," Tucker replied.
She nodded as Sam continued watching the battle, her eyes glued to it. They were moving incredibly fast, but because they were using bodies now, it was a little easier to catch their movements… though not by much. Danny's control over his powers seemed to have gotten stronger, much stronger since that time so long ago. She should've guessed as much, it had been twenty years.
But Danny didn't age at all... her mind prodded. She felt a little self conscious now and cast her head down a bit. Tucker gently slid his hand over her shoulder in a gently squeeze of reassurance.
"Shh... it's fine..." he whispered to try to soothe her fears.
With a little bit of a smile, she nodded turning her vision back to the battle.
In the bodies they now inhabited, they seemed evenly matched; however, Spectre was waning in power, for what reason, he couldn't figure out.
"Slowing down?!" shouted the previous owner of the body.
Spectre raised his arm up to block the blow meant for his face and skidded backwards from the force, a great majority of it channeled through his arm and through his leg, sending a massive shockwave against the floor. Spectre grimaced; this wasn't going well for him. He could only watch Danny as he brought his fist back, he saw green energy manifest around his fist; a rumble of unrestrained force which caused the air in front of him to distort before his very eyes. Spectre's eyes widened briefly; he knew this attack. He pulled his hands into tight fists while drawing his forearms up in front of him and projected the energy out from his body, constructing a shield of a crimson color before him.
"DaiReiHou!" shouted the green eyed savior.
He thrust his fist forward; the sphere of energy lashed out from Danny's fist and expanded rapidly into a massive ball of pure hurt. The large sphere collided with Spectre and sent him skidding backwards, his figure crashing into the wall from the concentrated force being pushed upon him. The orb continued pushing against the shield, before shattering it like a piñata, and crashed against Spectre's form, sending him back and deeper into the wall. Danny's outstretched hand closed immediately as the sphere detonated, sending a shockwave of spiritual force throughout the room as the explosion rocked the laboratory. Danny snapped his fingers downward, his fingertips smoking from the recent release of energy, electric green eyes glowing now.
"Give it up Spectre." he said sternly, he wasn't about to give mercy to this ghoul, not in the least; not after everything that had happened.
The metal door slid up noisily, averting their attention for just a brief moment. Spectre noticed his chance in this and took it. In a desperate attempt, he targeted the two standing in the doorway by bringing his hand out; red energy crackled at his fingertips as he manifested the necessary force behind it quickly into his hand. Danny, turned his eyes back just in time to see Spectre let loose a sphere of spiritual force. Danny dashed off in the direction of the blast; his form momentarily disappeared from view by the sheer force of speed he was exerting.
He shifted back into existence almost immediately, seeming to appear out of nowhere in front of Harold and Alex; before they could even scream he brought his hands back while spiritual force gathered at his fingertips. He threw his hands forward and coated them with ectoplasma. The blast gathered at his fingertips, rolling about into his palm as it crashed against him, sending him skidding back a couple of inches. His hands moved into the center of the blast, his fingers digging into the energy before him before he ripped it down the center, sending shards of the energy all around him like cheap confetti, harmlessly falling to the ground.
Breathing heavily, Danny turned to where Spectre had once been, finding him gone and no where to be seen or felt. Growling, he brought his fist over to his chest then slammed it against the frame of the door, sending an echo throughout the lab. His snowy white hair hung over his eyes as he growled out, "Dammit..."
Alex stared at the back of their savior, quietly venturing out, "D...Dan-"
Her call out to him is quickly cut off when she noticed her mother and father rush the boy, both sets of arms wrapped tightly around him. The trio spun around a couple of times leaving the young girl stumped.
"Danny!" she heard her mother uncharacteristically squeal, Alex's violet eyes widened as the vision of her best friend seemed not to protest in the least, but merely smiled in return.
"M...mom?" Alex blinked, watching her crying mother and father hug onto her best friend for dear life, as if he would somehow disappear if they had not. Confusion filled her expression as she looked between her best friend then to her parents.
They didn't seem to take notice, her father's deep voice seeming joyous as he patted Dan on the shoulder, "Danny, it's so good to see you!"
He saw Dan this morning, what the hell was going on?
Dan, who seemed to have aged before her eyes, at least, mentally, only waved a hand a bit, smiling at the two of them tiredly and meekly, "It is... I missed you two so very much..."
Confusion over the situation was getting bigger; confusion quickly turned to frustration, which quickly assumed the guise of anger as she closed her eyes and screamed at the top of her lungs to garner their attention, "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!"
Startled a bit out of their reunion, the white haired boy blinked at her, seeming to notice something about the violet eyed girl staring angrily at the three of them. He blinked twice, leaned forward, before lurching back suddenly as if he had been punched and pointed at her accusingly, "YOUR DAUGHTER?!"
She was the one to blink now, watching as her parents began to laugh heartily, and her mother flushed while her father wrapped his arms around Dan from the neck and leaned over his smaller frame while he said, "A lot of things happen in twenty years Danny."
He made a face, casting a sideways glance at each of his best friends, "Apparently." He looked rather... cute pouting like that. As if he'd missed out on something big; this was, in his case, the last twenty years…
She gathered her form up from the floor and pointed at Dan with a shaky finger, growling out at him while her violet eyes burned like embers of coal, "You, Mister. Explain yourself."
He blinked at her fingertip and slowly shifted his gaze towards her mother, looking for the most part, a little lost by the girl's anger at him but also teasingly cynical, "I can tell she got that from you."
A blush stained the cheeks of both Foley women as Sam brought her hands up defensively.
Alex blinked a bit then pointed at her mother, then the rest of the wasted scene around them, "What's going on here mom?"
Sam smiled a little, blushing a bit before nudging her daughter, "I guess we should tell you and Harold everything too."
Harold hadn't moved she noticed. Alex brought her hand up and waved her hand in front of his eyes, his face plastered in the same expression he had just as the door opened and that speeding ball of light came hurdling at them. Sighing, Alex rubbed her temples in annoyance; it felt like it was going to be a long, long afternoon.
Jazz came up from behind, wearing a pair of these really weird red goggles, and... she was holding up what looked to her to be the faint shape of a man; a fairly large man in fact. For some reason her eyes couldn't seem to focus on the being Jazz held up, though Dan turned to look over the entity.
"Skulker, damn I almost forgot," voiced the white haired boy.
Jazz seemed to smile as he took what looked to be a blur from Alex's point of view, and set it down on the floor. He brought his hands out, green light began to emit from his hands, spreading the light over the body of the blur, and faintly, she could make out a clearer image of what it was when she was looking through the light coming from his hands that was now flooding the room in its luminescence.
Groaning, all Skulker knew as he regained consciousness, was pain. Opening his eyes painfully, he looked up through the green light to see Danny's smiling face down upon him. "...I see I'm not non-existant yet..." he muttered.
Danny's voice seemed to have a tinge of amusement, "Seems so… Thanks for keeping him occupied for me Skulker."
Nodding wearily, he asked, "Did you get the body back?"
Looking downcast, Danny shook his head, "No, no I didn't."
Sighing a little Skulker peered through the light at him with a puzzled expression. "Then how are you...?" his voice trailed off as Danny smiled in return.
"Borrowing someone's. When he wakes up he might be cross with me."
Snickering quietly, Skulker nodded a bit. The healing effect was working as well as it could and all he needed was time now. Danny gathered himself up, wandered past the group and to the portal. He poked his head into the portal, his voice seemed to float in the air as he called in, "Hey Desiree, come get Skulker."
He pulled himself back from the portal and what looked to be another apparition quietly made her way from the green vortex. The green skin toned womanly figure that stepped out of the vortex was no less beautiful than a goddess like art sculpture. Her long, silky black hair hung down near the back around where what would be considered her thighs were, the raven hair wisped like a cloak behind her. Wearing East Indian garments, her bracelets, despite being ghostly and not made out of any physical substance, lightly clicked together as she brushed her fingertips by her eyes, tucking some of her loose hair behind her ear seductively. The females within the room felt a small tinge of jealousy despite better intentions.
Her womanly figure was undeniable and her sultry smile seemed to light up the room as she floated silently behind Danny, who slid his hands behind his head nonchalantly, peering towards his fallen comrade. "I know this is a little much, but could you take him back to base?"
Smiling quietly towards the green eyed boy, she nodded a bit, "No problem Danny."
Skulker sighed slightly through his nose as she brought his arm around her neck while hefting him up and floated with him in tow.
"Come back soon, okay boss?" said the one time bounty hunter.
Nodding a bit, he smiled reassuringly, "Keep the fort for me guys."
Nodding in unison, the two specters soon floated through the vortex, the rip in dimensional space winding down like a timer, then closed behind them. Sighing slightly, Danny brought his hand up to his hair, pushed it back tiredly, and turned to face bewildered looks from his friends, new and old.
Jazz was the first to find her voice, "Uh... what just happened?"
It seemed to go for all of them as Danny smiled gently, just a little elated to be in the real world again. "I guess I should start at the beginning... but the boy's about to wake up, so let's take this into the kitchen, and finish there." They all nodded slowly, save for Harold whom kept the same position, leaving his uncle to gather him up, and follow as Danny led the troop back into the kitchen.
"So," Alex began, sitting in front of the knees of Dan, who had just become unpossessed and occupied the chair behind her, "you're saying, you're Daniel Fenton, Dan's uncle?"
Nodding, the specter of one Danny Fenton smiled while in the air, sitting in an Indian style position. Despite being in the Ghost Zone for so long, and even not having his body, his complexion didn't change to that sickly green everyone was used to; he simply looked like a more transparent version of himself. His blue eyes seemed to glow a bit as he sat there, he wore baggy blue jeans and a simple white shirt with red trim along the collar and arms completed with an oval pattern over the chest. His messy black hair seemed to have been a family trait, which Alex noted in a small glance at the boy sitting behind her.
Dan had his head in his hand, taking all this in was giving him an extreme headache the likes of which no one should ever feel; the fact he could see and hear his dead uncle better than some of those gathered was also a little disturbing. Tucker made coffee for all those that needed it, Jazz took her seat at the table with Sam sitting beside her. Harold was still a little petrified, but was slowly warming with the story telling.
Alex looked critically at Danny, whom looked a little nervous under her scrutiny. "So why did you take Dan's body?"
Danny had already explained about how he first became Danny Phantom, their fights and trials, the last battle he and his friends saw each other, his time in Ghost Zone, and even about the little war going on now. Danny thought for a moment as he sat there in mid-air, scratching his cheek lightly.
"Actually, it wasn't all that planned. It seemed pretty natural when I collided with him but at the time I wasn't really thinking. See, when Sam distracted me for a moment," he couldn't help but notice her flush in embarrassment, momentarily stopping to whisper towards her, "It's fine, I'm not blaming you." she nodded quietly in reply as he smiled a bit and turned back to Alex, "As I was saying, when I got distracted, Spectre was able to get control of the body from me, enough so that it launched me out and pretty much catapulted me."
He paused briefly, as if considering, "I guess my consciousness was looking for a similar form, so when it sensed Dan I guess that's how I ended up in his body." Dan groaned quietly as Danny laughed a bit nervously, "Sorry about that, it was kind of urgent I commandeer your body."
Dan nodded a bit, keeping his head in his palm; his head hurt with all this ghost stuff. He had heard his grandparents were big ghost hunters but never heard of, or knew anyone who'd been possessed. Though it was a first hand experience, he felt like he just ran a marathon.
Silence afterwards floated in the air before Danny's voice came out unexpectedly cheerfully, "I'm glad you two got together for some happiness."
Alex blinked as she glanced towards her parents, watching her father smile a little sadly with her mother sharing a similar expression. Confusion crossed her face as Danny floated down, and slid his hands into his pockets, much in the way Dan did. He smiled up towards her father, and then turned his gaze to her mother, whom merely blushed under his eyes and continued smiling.
"I'm really glad you're still protecting her Tuck. I know it's been hard. Hard for you both," he said while fiddling with the edge of his pocket.
Her father smiled a sad little smile, his eyes sympathizing with the spectral boy, "Not as hard as it has been for you it seems."
Danny's eyes seemed to be downcast briefly, his hair trailing over those two luminescent sapphires but he brightened up quickly. "Maybe. But I can see your daughter's already a handful."
Alex looked lost for a moment, still looking at her mother who seemed to smile sadly as Danny continued on with the playful banter with her father. What was going on between her parents and this phantasm of their old friend?
Dan sighed a bit, looking to his mother, "Mom," his voice turning the attention of the room towards him, "is this why you didn't tell me anything about my uncle?"
Danny smiled a bit as Jazz began to laugh quietly, "Something like that," she said and continued, "it'd be hard for you to believe your uncle was a wannabe superhero."
Danny's face scrunched up, as he looked at her indignantly. "Wannabe? I am a superhero." he stated with that all knowing air Jazz projected much of the time.
Jazz smiled softly towards her younger sibling, reaching out to mess up his hair. Her fingers made contact, his hair messing a bit as he had become a little more solid for a few brief moments. He wrinkled his nose a bit in a bit of feigned distaste as he went about fixing his hair.
Laughter rung out cheerfully through the room as Dan waved a hand tiredly. "Please don't be so loud..." he muttered as Alex leaned back against his legs to peer up at him.
Poor guy, he went through a lot today... she thought silently. Turning her attention to the ghost, she tipped her head slightly, "One more question," Danny's head turned in her direction, seeming serious, "why do you need that body? Or a body at all for that matter when you're already a ghost?"
He paused for a moment of silence, a thoughtful expression crossing his features as he took a deep breath, bringing his hands up and pushing the raven black hair from his eyes, "Well, you see, it was found out that when in possession of a body through the kind of bonding I had, it made said ghost that much more powerful. Seeing as how my body was the only halfa body in Ghost Zone as well as its unique construction, Spectre and I had been fighting for control of it over the course of years."
"Since we were trapped together for quite a while I forced us to stay in Ghost form so he couldn't escape, which also meant I couldn't escape either. Eventually, he booted me out simply because he was trained better. A war broke out and I joined up with my former enemies as a resistance group." he paused to catch a breath that wasn't even there, "I'd trained with a ghost master in my separation from my body, a martial arts master who taught me Reiki Hadouken. Sort of like the Ghost Zone's version of a zen master. He showed me how to become stronger spiritually, and up till a few moments ago, we were winning."
He scratched his forehead idly while he floated before them, "Before I came through the portal, Skulker, Desiree, Box Ghost, and I had infiltrated the stronghold. Technus was being held prisoner to create a machine like the Ghost Portal so Spectre could come into this world. Technus couldn't get it to work; I guess until you turned on the power, it couldn't get a signal." He paused again, smiling a little, before frowning as his story continued, "Anyway, Skulker and I took the point while Desiree and Box went to free Technus. We cornered Spectre and I leapt back into the body. Skulker was trying to disable it when the portal opened up. Spectre took control and threw Skulker through, and followed. Then I got control briefly, and the rest you already know."
Silence came as he finished, Danny looking between the faces as he scratched his cheek, and looked to try putting up a cheerful front. "Everything'll turn out alright. Seeing as how we now have exclusive access to the portal, he can't call his goons nor can he return to the Ghost Zone."
Blinking, Tucker leaned forward curiously, "Goons?"
Blinking in return, Danny laughed nervously and brought his hand behind his head, "Guess I must have skipped over it. But the reason why there's a war in the Ghost Zone, besides Spectre and my little vendetta, is because Spectre freed several demons. We closed the gate before any more got out but we're having trouble rounding them up."
Wide eyes turned to him as Danny rubbed his forehead, "Okay, okay! I know it was a big deal but look; I just need to get Spectre, get my body away from him, return back to Ghost Zone and clean up the rest. It'll be a piece of cake." Really, Alex could hardly surmise where this baseless confidence came from.
Nodding slowly, the room seemed to acknowledge it anyway as Sam picked her eyes from the table and peered at him, "So... what are you going to do now?"
Danny rubbed the back of his head slightly, thinking it over for a moment before replying, "I guess I'll just stay here for a while. I don't exactly want to go back, it's a little hectic being the leader and all. Skulker's pretty capable so we should be fine until I take care of the whole Spectre mess." He paused as he thought it over, "Is my room still..."
Jazz smiled a bit, "Sort of. Daniel is the current occupant."
Danny glanced at what would possibly be his double in this lifetime, nodding a little. "I see... um... Dan..?"
Dan peered past his fingers, looking at his blue eyed mirror image, still feeling a little weird that his dead uncle came back from the land of the dead to save the world.
"If it wouldn't be too much trouble, I'd like to stay with you," the specter asked earnestly.
Did ghosts even sleep? He looked to his mother for an answer, only to find her eyes telling him that it was his decision. He groaned into his fingers, burying his face into the palm of his hand. Why did he have to make all the weird decisions? This wasn't exactly like a friend sleeping over, this was his dead uncle. …haunting his room for lack of a better term.
Still… he'd feel bad if he said no, after all, despite all things, he was flesh and blood. ...in spirit at least. His namesake, but he was a little creeped out about having a spirit inside of his body; he didn't know how he'd take sleeping with a ghost looking after him. He peered past his fingers into the soft violet eyes Alex projected towards him while she leaned back against his shins. He gazed briefly into the violet pools within her eyes as if searching for an answer within them. Sighing lightly before shutting his eyes, he took a deep breath. "Alright, it's okay with me. But don't ever take my body without asking again."
Danny nodded a bit in understanding while Jazz let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. The tension in the room died quickly as Sam and Tucker gathered themselves to their feet, smiling. "Come on Alex, its time to go home," voiced Tucker as he picked up the dazed Harold and set him under his arm as if carrying a pillow.
Alex blinked, a little awestruck at how calmly her parents took to their life threatening experience; as if the whole ordeal wasn't that big of a deal. She looked lost for the moment as Tucker brought his hand over Sam's shoulder, hugged her lightly and waved for Danny. "You wouldn't mind walking with old friends, would you Danny?"
The ghost smiled softly, his blue eyes softening as he flashed them a large, if not comical grin, "Define walking."
The trio burst into laughter, getting the corny joke as if it were the funniest thing in the world. Alex could only stare at her parents, shaking her head slowly as they headed towards the door, spirit in tow.
Danny glanced over his shoulder, smiling brightly, "I'll be back home later sis. We have a lot of catching up to do!" he said cheerfully. Jazz nodded slowly, smiling after the spirit of her younger brother.
Danny's spirit hung onto her father's back as he lugged Harold beneath one arm, her mother standing beside them. Alex trailed behind as she watched, randomly hearing comments from the phantom boy such as, 'Hey, you're pretty tall' and 'Wow, I can see the world from here'. Apparently her father had been as tall as he was when they were in high school. Not that that was very long. Her mother's eyes seemed happy and sad at the same time, she had been quiet for the most part and that had made her feel a little uneasy. After all, her mother was known for her cynicism, her sarcasm, and wit. She'd reply with an answer anytime Danny would ask a question or make a comment, but for the most part she was quiet.
Alex was lost in thoughts of her own and was pretty quiet as well. She kept her eyes fixated on the ghost of her parents' best friend, before soulful blue eyes turned to meet hers. The little gesture jolted her out of her staring; she turned her head away quickly, found the apparition as he swung himself from her father's shoulders, and landed right next to her. Hands diving into his pockets, he walked side by side with her. ...well walk wouldn't be the appropriate word; more like floated but looked like he was walking. A few moments of silence thickened between them before Danny broke the silence with a smile, "Nice night huh?"
She blinked, "Huh?"
That was totally unexpected. She glanced back to her parents whom didn't even turn back to see them, and continued walking at their own pace, lugging Harold. She surmised Harold would be sleeping at their place tonight.
Danny repeated, smiling still, "It's a nice night." The voice she had always associated with Dan came from the ghost's mouth, though the playfulness and unexpected cheer despite his situation was definitely pinned to this apparition. She nodded dumbly for the moment, before he made a side glance to her while tipping his head ever so slightly, "So what's with you and my nephew?"
...that was weird; hearing that sort of phrase come out from someone that looked like a transparent version of the person in question was just plain strange. Even worse, she thought he looked pretty serious.
"We're just friends," she said, almost too quickly she realized as it came out from her lips, "We've been best friends since pre-school. Harold and Dan have been best friends since they were in diapers."
She smirked, almost laughing at the idea of Dan and Harold in diapers getting into trouble. Something like a Rugrats episode plugged into her mind. Danny leaned forward a bit, eyeballing her, in turn; her head moved back a bit, a little creeped out and a little intrigued by the ghost boy as violet eyes watched him curiously.
"What?" she asked while crimson began to stain her cheeks, her eyes fixated on and through him.
The ghost boy pulled back, and merely smiled, a Cheshire-like grin that spread across his features that wasn't anything like the smile Spectre had projected. No, this was more mischief than anything like malice or hatred.
Her parents glanced back as Danny replied, "Nothing, just déjà vu."
A heated blush crossed her mother's face in turn as Sam lightly swatted at Danny, "You're terrible."
The hand moved right through his body but he and her mother kept going as if it were normal and nothing was out of the ordinary. "I know." He said and beamed them a smile.
He looked around briefly. "Hey..." he began before his infectious smile became a lot bigger, "You live in the same place?"
Tucker nodded a bit, smiling over his shoulder, "Sam's mother and father gave us the place. It's a lot simpler for our needs than any of their other homes."
Danny nodded a bit, Alex noted the awed expression in his features, before he continued with his questioning, "So what do you do now Tuck?"
She couldn't help but find it weird that her parents made Dan call them by their first names like this because of him, but their conversations were never with this level of familiarity. Maybe it was what was missing and why her mother couldn't face Dan in recent years.
"Oh, well, I majored in electronics and right now," her father explained, "I run Manson's electronics firm. It was my idea to expand into that field and we've grown a certain level of success from it."
Danny nodded, bringing his finger up and pointing to her mother, "How 'bout you Sam?"
She turned around, walking backwards to face the ghost, thinking for the moment before finding her answer, "I'm a master of the artistic caliber."
He looked lost for a moment, grinned wickedly, and then replied, "So you're a janitor?"
She made an obviously indignant face and folded her arms over her stomach, "No."
He laughed softly, nodding a little, "I always knew you'd be a great artist Sammy…" She blushed in the darkness and watched his gentle blue eyes glance between them. "Twenty years... wow... you guys have done a lot." he made a small, almost sad glance in Alex's direction, one she caught but her parents hadn't, "Even have a beautiful daughter to boot."
She felt a little weird with him looking at her like that, it wasn't unpleasant, but it just made her feel uneasy. Though being a ghost, the fact he looked like a mirror image of Dan made it a little weird and her insides a little uneasy. Sam turned back and continued walking with Tucker, nodding a bit to their ghostly friend and sighed with a small smile, "It has been a good life..." though all three had wished they'd had spent those twenty years together, forever.
Alex noticed the mood changing a bit before Danny threw his arms around the necks of the two friends he had in life, lightly hugging them, "I told you it wasn't goodbye." he smiled, "Now you have to deal with me all over again."
Tucker smiled, adjusting his glasses as a bit of the 'charm' he had as a boy came out, "Not like we'd ever want to."
Sam grinned, peering at the two males in her life, "I'm thinking we're going to be the ones fixing that thermos."
Danny snorted a bit, if that was possible, "No kidding, without my dad around, our technical wizard here is going to have to pick up the slack."
Tucker nodded, easing a little as he patted Danny's arm, feeling the cold of his form and sighed melodramatically. "I see long nights ahead of me."
A moment of pause lingered in the air as all three burst into laughter. It felt like old times, Sam had thought, just the three of them goofing around like children. It was... refreshing, comforting, like an old blanket that she could wrap herself around in. It made her and Tucker feel alive, more so than the two of them had in the last twenty years. Not that having a family and raising a daughter was all that bad, but having just that little bit missing from their lives was enough to change everything.
They blinked as Danny slid back from them; they turned, watched him pass right through Alex, whom gave a small shudder as the cold went through her, and all blinked at him. He laughed a bit, "We almost passed your place. But since I've walked you guys here, I'll be seeing you tomorrow. Need to get my quarters in order."
Both Sam and Tucker, lost in their memories only now noticed they were at their home. Alex had been busy watching the soulful blue eyes of the ghost and wondered what mystery they held inside of them. She could see a strange little sadness behind that mask of cheer and for some strange, unexplainable reason, she wanted to know more.
Danny smiled again, looking as if he were about to leave, then bolted back to the two, hugging them tightly in his arms. His form momentarily became solid with concentration and his eyes shut tightly as he smiled largely, "I love you guys. I've missed you so much..." he felt their arms hugging him as well as they whispered the same. The little reunion of the trio lasted for a few moments more before Danny broke away from the two tearful friends he had in life.
Alex watched as he waved, then took off into the sky, and heading back in the direction of Dan's house. The wisp of vapor from his take off still lingered in the air as she looked after him, violet eyes watching the departure with a sort of sympathy and something else she couldn't place.
Samantha lightly wrapped her arms around her daughter, quietly tugged her back to her and sighed softly. "He's something else isn't he?" she said while resting her head on top of her offspring's.
Alex continued looking after, her eyes half opened as she turned her head a bit to her mother, "Mom... did you and he...?"
Sam smiled a sort of sad little smile, shaking her head as she held her daughter quietly. "No, no… it never even got a chance to blossom before it ended."
Alex felt a little sad, maybe sorry for the ghost who apparently left a lasting mark on both her mother and father. She wondered if she was just born out of convenience but as her mother held her, she whispered, as if hearing her daughter's thoughts, "Your father and I love each other, but Danny, was and always will be part of my heart. Your father understands that as well."
Alex nodded quietly, sighing helplessly in her mother's arms, bringing her own up to hug her forearms. It felt a little comforting with all the craziness of the day, like it was keeping her sanity grounded. A soft kiss along her temple alerted her to her mother slowly sliding away and heading into their home. Her father was already inside setting Harold up with a room she could only assume. She stood out there a few more moments, watching the sky quietly, almost seeing two blue eyes in the darkness. Two beautiful, sad eyes that shared a face with her best friend and for that Alex felt a small tugging at the strings of her heart.
To Be Continued...