Okay, I updated really quick. But the Intro was short, so, I had to work on Chapter One. So to all of my lovely readers, I present it to you now.

Chapter One

Are You Happy Now?

Danny Fenton watched as the headlights of Tucker's baby blue truck faded from sight down the long road. In reluctance to go in, he stayed outside, bouncing on his heels to keep warm in the below freezing weather.

However, the inside came to him. The door opened, and the dim light of the front entrance illuminated a girl with long red hair, whose blue-green eyes were staring down at him in disapproval, and even though he was waiting for a lecture, Danny couldn't help but notice that their was dark purple circles underneath his sister's eyes.

"Jazz," he began.

"Just come in," she snapped, holding the door open. He walked in and she started ranting. "You said you would be home by eleven. Well, guess what? It's one.

"I tried-"

"Don't give me that crap Danny, I've gotten used to your lies."

"Fine. The honest truth, I was having fun. I'm seventeen, I deserve to," Danny snapped, crossing his arms over his chest in defense. Before his sister opened his mouth, he cut her off. They'd had this conversation so many times, that he knew what she was about to say. "And just because I'm three months away from officially becoming an adult, doesn't mean, I don't have a life."

"Maybe you do have a life. But you are no where near becoming an adult. You can't even manage a curfew anymore."

"Who cares? You're not the boss of me."

"Danny, listen. I don't care that you're late, but I would like a reasonable excuse this time, other than your bike broke down," she said.

They had unintentionally ended up in the kitchen and were now standing on opposite sides of the room.

"I can't."

"Why won't you tell me what you do?!" she exclaimed, more to herself than him. "You are constantly coming home with bruises and cuts, you're always exhausted, you never talk to me anymore!"

"Why should I? Every time I try to, you act like you're some sort of psychologist," he replied, getting angrier.

"Someone needs to be around here," she said.

"Oh, here we go again," he said, exasperated. He shook his head. "Are we finished here? Cause, I'm tired."

"Why do you insist on being such a pain in the ass?"

"Why do you insist on treating me like I'm a kid? I'm not fourteen anymore, Jazz," he said.

"Danny. Look at you. You're about to fail your junior year, you barely have any friends besides Tucker, and not to offend, but you don't have a girlfriend, and you are so secretive constantly."

"Thank you for that. It's not like I don't have a reason."

"Danny, I didn't mean it," Jazz said, a little more gentler. "Please, tell me what's going on, and I'll leave you alone."

"Promise?" he asked.

"Promise."

"Okay….I'm half ghost and save the world everyday by fighting off ghosts that want to kill us," he replied.

There was a pause.

"Are you making up excuses to make yourself look insane?" she asked.

He groaned, tilting back his head. "I give up."

"You don't seriously believe in that ghost stuff do you?" she asked.

"I have to," he muttered, looking down at the ground to make sure he didn't look into her eyes.

"You sound just like Dad and--" she started.

Danny snapped his head up angrily. "Sound like who Jazz? Say it, I know who you're going to say anyway."

"I didn't mean to say that," she cried, putting a hand to her chin.

"Yeah, well you did. Once again, your mouth has brought up something it shouldn't have."

She turned around to face him, a new anger burning inside of her. "You think this has been easy for me? To grow up without her, to not have someone like her to help, to not go to college because she had to take care of her family?"

"No one asked you to stay!" he said.

"I chose to! You have no idea!"

"Oh, I don't huh? Were you there in the car? I think that you have no idea," he said, a memory poking its rearing head through.

"Danny, I wanted to say I'm proud of you."

"For what mom?"

"You're almost fifteen, and a sophomore. Your grades have improved. And I'm proud of the way you're deciding to take your NASA career higher."

"Maybe I don't. So why don't you tell me?" she asked, again more gently.

"How about not?"

"They're not that good. I'm still having problems with Algebra."

"And your personality has improved. You're handsome, and smart, and humble, too," she added.

They were coming up to an intersection. He was blushing mildly. His mother was picking him up from school and they were about to pick up Jazz from the library.

"Why are you like this? If you would only tell me what's going on in your life, do you know how much it builds up inside of you?"

"I don't want to talk about it," Danny said again. "Why do you have to pry into other people's lives? Not everybody likes to express their feelings."

"Should we get ice cream tonight?" she asked.

"A banana split sounds really good." Danny turned around in the passenger seat as his mom pulled across the road and looked out the window.

A horn filled the silence.

"Danny?" Jazz asked. Why was her brother zoning out? She didn't realize he was caught in a horrifying memory.

"Mom, watch out!" he yelled. There wasn't enough time for his mother to steer the car out of the way. Danny closed his eyes and grabbed for her arm, trying to go ghost, just as the truck neared the passenger side.

But his mom pulled away, trying to get them out of the way. His hand slipped….then there was a crash….

The next thing he knew, he was lying in the middle of the road, his head burning with pain…..And he closed his eyes. The last thing his green eyes saw were two flashes of light.

"Danny?"

Danny snapped out of it to see his sister standing beside him, looking at him with concerned eyes. His knees wouldn't support his weight any longer and he crashed to the floor.

"Danny, are you okay?" she asked, leaning over him. Just as she was reaching for his arm, he pulled away and sat up.

"Danny, what's wrong?"

He remained silent and then with slow, somber words, admitted the one thing he'd been keeping from her so long.

"I could have saved her."

"What?"

"I could have saved her."

"Who?"

"Mom. I could have used my powers, I did use my powers. I should have been quicker, I could have grabbed something else besides her hand."

"Danny, you're not making sense," Jazz cried.

"I don't make sense."

"What do you mean? You're scaring me," she said.

He closed his eyes and felt the tingling inside of him and let it out, changing himself from normal Danny to Danny Phantom.

She gasped, then breathed heavily as if she were hyperventilating.

"What are you?"

"I told you, I'm half ghost." He changed back instantly and her blue-green eyes narrowed.

"This is some kind of half baked joke that you and Tucker made up and I'll admit, it was good. Now where's the camera?" She looked around the kitchen, searching for it.

"Jazz, this is not a joke," he said.

"You did get me for a minute. I thought you were serious. Cool special effects. No doubt helped put on by Tucker the Technical. Seriously, where's the camera?"

"I'm serious," he said.

She stared at him and then backed away. "This isn't funny."

"I'm not laughing either."

"Why are you telling me this?" she asked.

"You said you wanted to know the truth."

"So you really could have saved her huh/" she asked, not up to her usual nosy questions.

"Yeah," he said, feeling a burning in his eyes.

Then something happened that neither of them had expected. Jazz jumped onto of him and they crashed to the ground, fighting.

"Jazz, what are you doing?" he managed to ask.

"Killer, killer, killer!" she shouted over and over again, beating her fists onto his chest. "You should have died, not her, not her!"

She finally stopped and he rolled over, jumping to his feet.

She sat on the ground, trembling, tears covering her pale face. When she looked up, her eyes became a vision of disbelief.

"I didn't mean to do that. I don't know what I was thinking. I'm sorry-"

He couldn't bear her words anymore. Without a backwards glance, he took off running, upstairs to his room, vaulting the stairs three at a time.

"Danny! Wait!" Jazz cried.

"As we say goodbye to our loved one. Maddie Fenton will rest in our hearts forever….to rest in peace," the priest said.

Flashbacks corrupted Danny's mind, and his thoughts didn't make sense anymore. All he knew was that he needed to get away.

He rushed into his room and slammed the door as hard as he could, clutching his head, hoping to make everything go away. He took a quick look around and saw his ghost weapon filled, green duffel bag lying on the ground next to his bed. He threw it onto his bed and began piling all of his clothes into it. The last thing he shoved inside was a glass framed picture of his mother, before he zipped it up.

He didn't have much time. He heard footsteps on the stairs and knew instantly they were Jazz's.

Concentrating hard, he went ghost and disappeared by going invisible.

Jazz shoved open his bedroom door, desperately and then cried out in sadness and frustration at the empty room.

Her brother had gone.

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"No."

Sam Manson felt herself fall inside. Okay, first try hadn't been so bad. But she was just warming up. She really wanted to go to this thing. 3 Doors Down was her only obsession.

"Karissa's mom is going to be there. So it's not like we're going to the concert alone or anything," she tried.

"Good point, but still no."

"Mom, this is huge. I don't ask you for much," Sam pleaded.

Her raven haired mother stared at her in disbelief with matching violet eyes.

"Okay, okay. Maybe I do. But it's not like we can't afford it," she pointed out.

"That was very low on your part," her mother said, sadly.

Sam hung her head. Why couldn't she learn to think before she talked? "I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

"Yes, you did. And apology not accepted, and your answer is still no," her mother said, looking down at her book again.

"And why not?" she asked, not caring that she was whining.

"Number One: I said so, Number Two: 3 Doors Down cusses in their songs."

"They say damn. Everybody else does," Sam smarted off.

"Samantha Vanessa Manson. Did you just cuss in this house? You are Catholic, not some street girl," her mother said severely.

Sam whistled.

"What?"

"Nothing," Sam said, rolling her eyes.

"What?"

"Maybe I don't want to be Catholic. Have you not heard of that awesome religion called Neutrality? I want believe, who I want to believe in."

"Sam. We've had this discussion before. You were raised Catholic, you will always be Catholic. End of story."

"In that case, mom, please let me go. This concert is once in a lifetime. Especially for Amity Park. Our town is like a pinprick on the map. Do you know how big this is that they're coming here?"

"I don't really care. I don't like them, quit badgering me."

"Dad would have let me go," Sam muttered.

With that, her mom slammed her book closed and stood up angrily.

"Mom, I'm sorry," she said.

"Where is your father? Probably out drinking or having sex with some of his other women?" her mother said furiously.

Sam had never heard this story. "What?"

"You heard me."

"But, Dad, would never…." Sam refused to believe it. Her father wasn't some man whore. He was a lawyer, a good person. Someone who accepted who she was with no question. Someone she could relate to where with her mother was like freezing ice.

"You put too much trust in other people Samantha. Your father isn't who you think he is. I'm sorry, but you're not fourteen anymore. You have the choice to mature, but it seems like you're having problems with it."

Something inside Sam snapped. "That's a lie! The only reason he's gone is because you're never home! You never cared about us! You are the one to blame!"

With tears pouring down her cheeks, Sam ran as fast as she could up the stairs to her bedroom. The Gothic designed interior decoration greeted her, but nothing could calm her.

Her thoughts rushed around and finally settled on one decision. She would run away. Get away from all of this. She had enough money to go to her concert.

She pulled out a black suitcase from underneath her bed and started filling it with her clothes, her black and green striped skirt, her trademark purple and black shirt and black boots.

She wiped a tear off of her cheek angrily and zipped up the bag. She couldn't possibly face her mother downstairs. Her only chance of escape was through her second story window.

Sure, she'd seen it in movies, but would it work now? She pulled her sheets from her bed and tied them together in knots and then through it out the window. She latched it onto her bed and then through her dresser on top of it.

The noise was deafening and soon she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She took one last glance at her ragged self.

Hoping she was right, she threw down her suitcase and began to climb down the rope. To her amazement, it actually worked and she landed on the ground.

Without a backwards glance, Sam left her house.

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His motorcycle's engine roaring through the silent, dark night, Danny kicked the gas hard, going so fast he thought someone was bound to catch him, and most likely that would be the police.

Thoughts swirled inside his mind, thinking of possible places to stay. Tucker's house was first; his friend would welcome him without question. But it was too obvious. His sister would find him too easily.

Jazz had been right about several things that night. One had been was that he didn't have any friends besides Tucker.

Now he didn't have any place to go.

At the end of the road, a blue and red neon light's sign glowed ahead, spelling out the sign, Holiday Inn Hotel.

Danny didn't have enough money to spend even one night there. He passed it quickly, watching as the traffic began to get heavier as he made his way into the center of the small town of Amity Park.

That's when it happened.

There was a large hiss and Danny's bike swerved out of control and he crashed onto the side of the road.

Coughing, he climbed away slowly, his jacket soaked with the just rained grass. He didn't seem to be hurt other than his arm, which had large scratches from the road rocks and his cheek, where when he ran his fingers on it, was a large cut.

"Damn it," he yelled to himself.

He looked at his blue and white bike, his "Crotch Rocket" as Tucker so naively nicknamed it. The front wheel had busted, and his small windshield was broken.

"Damn it," he said again. It'd taken years to pay for. Now, it'd be extremely expensive. And the fact that he didn't have money, wasn't helping.

He stood up, still a little shaken with his little accident, and walked over to it, and lifted it up. Looking around him, the only thing he saw was the same Holiday Inn.

Guess it would have to be the hotel. He could call Tucker, and maybe he could help him pay for it. Tucker always seemed to lately have some spare change.

Reluctantly making up his mind, he began dragging his bike across the road and over to the parking lot.

And even though his bike was broken, he knew people. Closing his eyes again, he touched the seat with both hands and focused on making it intangible. When his hands fell through it, he stood up straight again.

If there was one thing left that he prided himself on, it was how much his powers had grown. He had received them at the age of fourteen, and even then he had several. But now, instead of his intangibility gifts fading instantly, they could last for twenty four hours if he wished it to. Smiling weakly, he looked up at the glass doors of the hotel.

But first he had a couple of words to say to someone he knew would never hear him. "Are you happy now?" he asked, speaking to an invisible sister. "I'm no longer in your life."

And taking a deep breath, he walked in.

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Crying softly to herself, she hit the gas pedal with a little more harder than she meant to, sending her black Mustang shooting forward.

She had just crept out of downtown and was now heading towards the rural areas of Amity Park. A large building ahead caught her eye for a millisecond. The Holiday Inn Hotel.

While driving, Sam had tried milling over possible ideas on where to stay, and of course, Karissa, who'd been her best bud since kindergarten, place had been her first thought. But her mother knew she'd automatically go there.

She needed a place to escape, somewhere no one could find her. Especially not her liar mother.

A small sob wracked her, and she held in the coming others, biting her lip to think about something else.

The hotel would do for one night….she had enough money.

Before she turned into the parking lot, she saw a skid mark that started in the road and then lead onto the grass, which was now muddy.

"Damn gunners," she yelled, emotions getting the best of her. She muttered a couple of choice words as she parked her Mustang.

She shut off the engine and looked at herself in the review mirror. Black bangs fell in her face and she brushed them away.

"Mom, look at me. I hope you're happy now. Now that I'm running away, and I'm out of your way," she cried.

Taking a deep breath, she climbed out of the car and began walking towards the brass outlined, glass doors.

She began to reach for the handle, when someone else reached for it at the same time, and their hands closed on each other.

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Oooh…..kind of cliffhangy. I made Jazz and Sam seem really witchy. But I like seeing Danny on a motorcycle, so love that visual. Check out the next chapter, "Find My Way Back To You", coming soon.

Lateraina Wolf