FENTON FAMILY FEUD
PART SIX
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom; Butch Hartman does. This story was written just for fun, so enjoy!
The ghost-girl hovered just outside the Fenton Portal, listening. She heard the boy argue with his father. He sounded really angry.
If anything bad happens to my Aunt Danielle, I will never forgive you!
She smiled at the venom in the boy's voice. This was working out better than she'd ever expected.
"I'll never underestimate Plasmius ever again," she mumbled to herself. "He sure knows how to get revenge on his enemies! I'd better make sure I never get on his bad side!"
Turning her attention back to the lab, the ghost realized Danny and his friends had left, leaving Fenton and his wife alone in the room.
"Jack? What was that all about?" Jack's wife asked him. "What did Danny mean about your sister? What has that woman done now?"
"Oh, Maddie!" Jack sighed. He pulled the photograph out of his breast pocket and handed it to his wife. "The ghost who kidnapped Danny, it looked like this."
Maddie took the picture and gasped. "Oh, no!"
Jack nodded.
"But, it can't be! Jack, you and I both know that!"
"I know that, Maddie, but, it was . . . it was very convincing. And, we never did tell Danny everything . . ."
Behind the swirling curtain of the portal, the ghost-girl frowned. "Hmm. I wonder what he meant by that?"
Driven by curiosity, she decided to confront Jack Fenton. While she had gathered more than enough information concerning Jack and Danny's fight to take back to Plasmius, she just had to know: did Jack Fenton really believe she was his sister? And if not, why not? She closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. She willed up the Danielle character again; willed up the emotions of loss and sorrow, pasted a look of sadness, longing and desperation on her face. When she was ready, she stepped through the portal.
"Jack! Behind you!" Maddie pointed behind her husband.
Jack turned to see a ghost had suddenly materialized in his lab; the ghost who wore the youthful face of his sister. Her hair was disheveled and her clothes dirty and tattered from her battle with the other ghost. Her face was stained with dry, crusty ectoplasmic tears, and her eyes were wide and sad. He tried to will up some warm, brotherly feelings toward the creature, but he couldn't. The thing standing before him wasn't his sister; it was a ghost. The ghost who abducted his son.
"Stand back, Jack!" Maddie exclaimed leveling a large bazooka-type weapon at the ghost. "I've got this . . ."
"No, Maddie," Jack said as he gently lowered the barrel of the bazooka. "I will speak to it."
Maddie opened her mouth to protest, but Jack held up a hand to silence her. She nodded, and reluctantly stepped aside.
"Jacky," the ghost-girl began. "I . . . "
Jack raised his hand towards the ghost. "Don't you dare call me that," he said through clenched teeth. "Only my sister can call me that."
"But, I am your sister!" The ghost insisted plaintively.
Jack took a deep breath and forced himself to remain calm. "No, you're not. You're just . . . a ghost."
"I'm her ghost."
"No, you're not."
"How can you be so sure?" The ghost asked. "I look like she . . . like I did, don't I? Just like I did the night I was taken into the Ghost Zone!"
"Yes," Jack reluctantly agreed. "Yes, you do look like my sister did that night."
"Then, why can't you just accept that I am your sister?"
Jack clenched his jaw tighter. "Because . . ."
"I'm a ghost, right?" The ghost finished. "I can't possibly be your sister, because I'm just a ghost now, is that it?"
"Well, yes!"
"Well, if that's the case, Jacky, what if something bad happened to Danny?"
"Are you threatening my son again?" Jack growled clenching his hands into tight fists at his side. Maddie leveled the bazooka at the ghost again, poised to fire if necessary.
"No, no, not at all!" The girl-ghost held her hands up defensively in front of her. Maddie lowered the bazooka slightly, but kept an angry eye on the specter. "I'm just saying, what if? Like, what if something happened to Danny and he became . . . like me? Would he stop being your son, then, Jack? Would you stop loving him?"
"Of course not! Danny is my flesh and blood! I will love him and the rest of my family 'till my dying day! I've done everything in my power to protect them against abominations like you."
The girl sucked in a breath. While the insult stung, she thought she might be on to something. "So, Danny becoming a ghost would be acceptable. But, me, your own sister, being a ghost isn't?"
"That is not what I said! And whether you're a ghost or not means nothing to me!"
"But, why?" The ghost pleaded. "Why won't you just accept me that I'm your sister?"
Jack Fenton leaned down till he was fact-to-face the ghost-girl, and smirked evily: "Because . . ."