WoM- Aaack! You have no idea how late I was getting this up! I've been really busy with projects and finals, so I really had to cut back in this chapter. I already pulled an all-nighter to get it done (No big deal for a certified insomniac like me.) Oh, and thanks to Stella Gold for agreeing to beta for me. Like I said, I was really, reeeeeeally late getting this chapter up, so I couldn't send it to you early like I planned, but I swear you'll get the next one!
"The wicked can have only accomplices, the voluptuous have companions in debauchery, self-seekers have associates, the politic assemble the factions, the typical idler has connections, princes have courtiers. Only the virtuous have friends."
-Voltaire
Scene 10
Sam couldn't breathe.
Never in her life did she ever think such panic could consume her, but right now her hands were trembling and her pulse pounding loudly in her ears, her face draining of all color.
"You're insane," She hissed. "How can Danny be the ghost boy? He isn't dead!"
"Exactly," Electra said smugly, "Thus proving this whole Phantom thing is a complete hoax by three troublemaking teens. I wouldn't be surprised if you were responsible for the whole Phantom thing to begin with." Sam fumed at her. Not only because Electra was accusing them of deceiving the entire town (Which actually wouldn't be that hard, considering Walker had done so. The people of Amity practically needed things spelled out for them…) but also because she couldn't deny it. She WAS the reason Danny had become Phantom.
'I hate irony,' She thought bitterly to herself.
"We aren't lying about anything!" Sam said heatedly, "And anyways, I thought you were smarter then that,"
"What?" Electra asked, frowning.
"Check the papers, Electra, Danny is Phantom's surname." Sam's courage grew as an idea came to her, "What makes you think I don't know both of them?" Electra's frown deepened, uncertainty working it's way into her eyes. "And anyways, the Fentons have some security footage at their house of Phantom and Danny standing side by side." Hey, Electra didn't need to know about the Ghost Catcher… "Ask them for it, they'll let you see." Electra's eyes narrowed.
"You're hiding something," She announced.
"And like I'd tell you if I was?" Sam snapped. Electra smiled coldly at her.
"It doesn't matter, you know," She told Sam, "I'll find out sooner or later anyways. Why not save yourself the stress of worrying about it?"
"Because unlike some people," Sam said in an icy tone, "I don't desert my friends." Electra's smile turned into a scowl.
"I was seven!" She snapped, "What was I supposed to do?"
"How about staying to help?" Sam said, "And I wouldn't be at all surprised if you were still that kind of coward!"
"Oh, like you know ANYTHING about me!" Electra snapped, "I mean, look at the two of us now! I'm the pretty, rich and famous TV star and you're a little no body in a little nothing town!"
"Maybe you think that, Electra," Sam said, smirking, "But I know I'm someone special."
"Because you dress like a freak?" Electra asked cruelly.
"No," Sam answered, glaring, "Because I've got to of the best friends a girl can ask for. I don't care about fame or money or anything like that, but I would give up everything for Danny and Tucker, and I know they'd do the same. Do you have any friends like that, Electra?"
The star winced, and Sam knew that she didn't. For a fleeting moment, Sam almost felt sorry for her, then she reminded herself that the girl had brought it upon herself.
"Friends are cheap," Electra said, "Knowing how to take care of yourself is what's important, and I've always looked after myself first."
"How noble," Sam sneered. Electra looked like she was about to retort when an idea struck her.
"We'll see who's laughing when I convince Mr. Lamburg to include Danny as a main character in the next new season of 'Spirits,'" Electra said, smirking. "It wouldn't take much. Your friends good-looking, talented with the sort of toys we use in the series, and he's even got that whole so-sweet-you-gotta-hug-him thing going on for him," Sam rolled her eyes.
"Well even if Lamburg wanted him, Danny wouldn't do that," She said confidently. "He hates being on camera."
"Maybe," Electra grinned slyly, "But when I threaten to slip about how you just are all involved with Phantom on TV, I think he'll get a new incentive." Sam stiffened, knowing that even that little threat would be enough to make Danny compliant.
If someone suggested a connection between Phantom and Fenton, other people would begin seeing the similarities and it wouldn't take long for it to be all over. The ghosts would be the least of Danny's problems…
"Maybe I can even convince the writers to work it in that Danny's character and mine fall madly in love," Electra continued, delighting in torturing Sam, "Or at the very least work in a few kissing scenes…"
'Easy, Sam,' The Goth told herself as red seeped into her vision, 'Don't stoop to her level…'
"Why do you have to drag Danny into this at all?" Sam asked out loud, "I'm the one you're mad at! Danny's innocent here!"
"Maybe," Electra shrugged, "But did you ever think that maybe your precious friendship is a double-edged sword? It's your strength, yes, but it's also your weakness. Especially when someone else can crush it with a kiss."
"I don't like Danny like that!" Sam protested at once.
"Has anyone ever told you that you sound like a broken record?" Electra asked, smirking. "It's so obvious it's sickening, yet you still try to deny it. Danny's the only one you're actually fooling, if even him,"
"Danny doesn't know," Sam said before she could stop herself. She cursed in her mind when she realized what she'd said, willing herself to take the words back as Electra's smirked widened into a predatory grin.
"Well, at least we got you to admit it," Electra said in feigned friendliness. "And think about it, Sammy, everyone else knows how you feel, why wouldn't Danny? Ever think maybe he's just sparing your feelings. I mean, like you said before, he's a nice guy. Why would he break his best friend's heart before he needs to?"
"Danny isn't like that," Sam said, her tone cold enough to freeze fire. "Not that you'd know," And, before Electra could say anything else, Sam walked away so as not to be tempted to hit the girl. She didn't approve of violence, but Electra was pushing her luck. Electra was stubborn, though, persisting with one last shout to the goth.
"It would never work out anyways, you know," She taunted, "You and Danny would never be able to keep up a relationship between your parents and the whole ghost thing…"
Sam just kept on walking, never looking back.
Not too far off, Sparks grinned down at the girls as she watched the scene from above, hidden from sight so the two humans and thoroughly enjoying the show she was being treated to.
"This is even more fun then I thought it'd be," Sparks laughed, her grin widening.
"Behave yourself," a voice behind her growled. "We can't take any chances now, especially where your childish games are involved." Sparked rolled her eyes.
"Relax, Flint," Sparks said casually, not turning to face the hooded ghost. "You don't understand teenagers the way I do. Give 'em doubt and there are sure to be some serious fireworks sooner or later."
"You say that as if you aren't a teenager," Flint noted. Sparks shrugged.
"We ghosts aren't anything," She reminded him, bitterness coloring her tone, "Nothing but the leftovers no one else wanted. The ones with nowhere else to be." Sparks laughed again, though this one sounded bitter. "You know, I think we ghosts have it harder then the souls that get sent to Hell or whatever," Flint frowned at her curiously.
"How so?" He asked, not bothering to hide his interest.
"In hell, everyone is tortured," Sparks said with an empty smile, "and your own constant, terrible pain keeps you from seeing how evil the world has become. Ghosts, on the other hand, are reminded every day of how they are still a part of the world, but aren't. We can't eat, or swim, or even feel the sunlight, but we see the humans doing those things every day and not even noticing, too caught up in themselves to care about the world they're slowly killing." Sparks closed her eyes, letting out a slow breath, "An empty existence is worse then any sort of pain could ever be,"
The two pyros sat in silence after that, reflecting on their pasts and the changes they were going to create in the world the humans didn't deserve.
"Let's go," Sparks said at last, standing up.
"Where to, Princess?" Flint asked his charge. Sparks smiled slyly.
"Actually," She said coyly, "I'm up for a trip to the Zoo…"
Danny sighed in relief as he collapsed on his bed, burying his face in his pillow.
'that was way too close,' he told himself dryly, groaning into the cotton pillowcase. He felt the bed shift slightly under the weight of Sable as she jumped up to join him, stalking up the bed silently to sit by his shoulders.
"So, you can really help me, huh?" He asked wryly, petting the cat's ears. This earned loud, happy purrs from the animal, "How can I get you to lead me to the answers to all my problems?" Instead of any sort of answer the ghost-boy was expecting, the cat suddenly started to his violently, her fur standing on end. Danny sat up quickly, glancing around for any dangers. "Sable?"
Then, with lighting fast feline speed, the cat raced out of the room and down the stairs, and Danny didn't take three seconds to follow, his heart pounding in anticipation.
'What happened to make Sable act like this?' He wondered, concern. After all, if she really did have some kind of special powers… After glancing around to make sure the coast was clear and camera-free, Danny triggered his transformation, and hastily went from running to flying, which took far less energy for him.
He followed the black streak below him to the city zoo, his unease growing when the smell of fire reached him yet again. Mentally, he cursed himself for getting so relaxed. He should've known the pyros would strike again soon…
The unease he felt before turned into sheer terror when the source of the smell came into view, his eyes widened and he never even felt the waves of heat curling around his face, though below him Sable hissed in irritation, not daring to come any closer.
"Oh, no…"
"Hurry! Get the firemen here before it spreads! And where's my rescue team?" One of the men who was desperately trying to douse the fire shouted over the dull roar of the flames.
"They can't make it, sir!" Another man shouted, "There's a couple of ghosts fighting on Elm Street, it has traffic back up all the way to Main!"
"Then there's nothing we can do to save her," A man sighed mournfully. Danny snapped out of his shock, rage consuming him as he dived into the flames, ignoring the men on the ground as they yelled. He only had one person on his mind right now…
"Delilah?" He yelled out, toning the fire out a little at a time "DELILAH?" Alarmed grunts and screeches drew his attention to the purple-back gorilla, who was crouching fearfully under her tree.
Breathing a sigh or relief that she was okay, Danny flew over to her and picked her up, turning them both intangible and flying them to safety. Danny couldn't suppress a smile as he set his old friend down, knowing that Sam was going to be glowing about this one for a month.
"Is she alright?" One scientist asked, wary of getting too close to 400 lbs of animal fat and muscle.
"Fine," Danny answered, turning back to the fire. "Sorry. I can't stop it." A few faces fell in disappointment at his words, but the head man smiled weakly.
"It's fine," he said, "Thanks to you, the only thing we couldn't replace is safe and sound." Danny felt his face heat up.
"It was nothing." He said modestly.
"But this isn't," A familiar female voice sang out before an ecto-blast hit Danny, knocking him into a wall. Danny scowled as he turned to face a smiling Sparks.
"Should've known…" he said dryly. Without glancing away from the ghost, Danny lowered his voice to say something to the zookeepers. "You guys need to get gotta here now. Take as many of the animals as you can and run." The leader glanced uncertainly at Sparks and the ghost with her.
"They the ones making all the fires?" He asked Danny in a low voice.
"Along with about twenty others," Danny answered. He didn't see the man's flinch, his attention still trained on Sparks.
"Right," The leader said, urging Delilah and his men away, "We'll get outta your way. Good luck, kid."
"Still gonna waste your time playing Shepard dog for the weaker race?" Sparks asked. Under her taunting was a genuine hurt tone.
"Ghost or human, I'm not going to ignore someone who's being hurt for another person's pleasure," Danny said coldly.
"So you're an avenging spirit now?" Sparks grinned, "Excellent. You'll fit in just fine…"
"I already said that I wasn't interested," Danny said in exasperation. "And anyways, I don't even have a pyro thing,"
"But you will," Sparks grinned slyly, "You'll have that and so much more, Danny… All you've gotta do is agree to help,"
"Help what?" Danny asked, bewildered.
"Ah ah ah!" Sparks waggled her finger. "It's not gonna be that easy, cutie. Now then, be a good boy and let Flint here crush you," Danny scowled, growing more and more annoyed as another pyro stepped out of the shadows. He sighed when he heard all the news vans pulling up, their crews spilling out with cameras trained on the three of them.
'Greeeat…' He though sarcastically.
"You're sure she'd really that suspicious?" Jazz asked, frowning.
"Positive," Sam sighed, nodding. She had contacted both Jazz and Tucker via web cam as soon as she got home, wanting to fill everyone in on what had taken place. Unfortunately neither of them had a clue where Danny was.
"Maybe she just got lucky?" Tucker offered hopefully.
"I wouldn't count on that," Sam scowled, "She's this close to figuring it all out and blackmailing Danny."
"Derris is catching on, too," Jazz frowned, "And I think Mandy already knows." Sam groaned.
"Uh, shouldn't you be watching what you say, Jazz?" Tucker asked cautiously
"I'm in the lab," Jazz said rolling her eyes. "Dad won't let cameras down here, remember?"
"You're sure you can't get a hold of Danny, Jazz?" Sam asked again.
"I told you before," The girl said, sounding annoyed, "He left without his cell phone or even the thermos!"
"Must've been in a hurry." Tucker frowned thoughtfully. Suddenly there was a ping on his side, and his face paled. "Uh, guys? You really outta see this…" Sam frowned as Tucker sent her a link, clinking on it as soon as it finished loading.
"We're here live at Amity Zoo," A reporter said loudly, flames and the distinct sounds of a ghost battle going off in the background, "Where ghostly teen hero Danny Phantom has just saved the rare purple back gorilla from a fiery death." (Sam's face lit up at that) "The cause of the fire seems to be the same ghost that attacked Amity Mall earlier today. The two ghosts, along with a third unknown spirit, began fighting only moments ago."
The camera panned in on Danny, locked in battle with a cloaked ghost who shot fireballs wildly around him. Danny would always hastily counteract the fire with an ecto-blast, but this burdened the half ghost even more. On the sidelines, Sparks grinned, looking very entertained.
Sam found herself forcing back a growl of rage when she noticed the look the ghost was giving Danny.
Her attention was drawn back to the battle when a well-aimed ecto-blast brought Danny's unnamed opponent down, and the half ghost reached absently for the thermos.
The look on his face when his hand met air would've been comical in any other situation.
"BEHIND YOU!" Someone in the crowd of reported screamed. Sam gasped when she realized Sparks had snuck up behind Danny when he was distracted, a mischievous grin on her face. Tensing, Danny wheeled around and prepared to shield himself from an attack…
"Dude!" Tucker said, his jaw dropping.
"Well I've never seen someone use THAT one on him before…" Jazz said, blinking in shock.
Sparks had taken advantage of Danny's predicament, and leaned up to kissed him full on the lips when he was least expecting it, not seeing the way his eyes widened in shock, or how Sam's narrowed dangerously.
"You win!" Sparks said cheerfully when she finally backed off, "Just don't get too cocky, cutie. This will be the last time you defend the humans, you can count on that," and, with a slight giggle, the ghost disappeared, her companion fading with her. Danny blinked in shock a few times, before blushing brilliantly.
"Okay, I definitely prefer the ghosts that don't hit on me," He grumbled, his blush darkening even more when he turned and save the cameras again. "Uhh…" There was a barrage of questions from the crowd, making the young hero just slightly. Finally, though, he got tired of it all and just disappeared altogether.
"That was different," Tucker said with a nervous cough. Sam scowled.
'That Sparks is SO gonna pay!' She vowed in her head, slouching into her chair as she tried to think of exactly how one went about murdering a ghost…
WoM- It was supposed to be shorter then that, and I was really lucky to get it up today. Apparently mom hasn't told dad yet, so I've still got a few more hours to live…
Thanks to;
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Next update; January 19th
See you then!