Author's Note: Thanks for the warm response, guys. For that, I wrote both this chapter and Eternal as fast as I could. However, at a certain part I hit a stump where I couldn't figure out how to flow into the next scene. Also,if you'll go to my profile, please, you'll see in the news section a little dilemma I need your help with. Now, let's get on with it, shall we? A little something from CAI, in fact, is begun here. I'll give credits to anyone who can pinpoint specific things in chapters that are important in the second part. Of course they might be obvious, but hey... Okay, NOW let's get on with it.
Blind
"Sam, this movie hasn't even left the movie theaters yet," Tucker said surprised, staring up at the theatrical screen Sam had in one of the many levels of her basement.
Sam took a large slice of mushroom pizza from the box and settled the greasy thing on her paper plate. She had to admit, it was a strange site to see; rebellious Goth vegetarian munching on some of the unhealthiest food in a mini-theater fit for royalty with a computer nerd and a messy looking phantom. Instead, its purpose was to keep her and a bored pair of boys entertained on one of those rare dull days they had had that summer so far. Onlyone, meesely weekinto the vacation and Tucker was already dying to go back to school, or at least do something riveting like ghost hunting.
Surprisingly, ghost activity was at a relatively low level. There were simple attacks here and there, but nothing that put her friends in any immediate danger.Which was definitely good news for Danny, she thought, as he came up behind her to pick out both a slice of triple meat supreme (of which Sam couldn't help but wince at) and the mushroom she'd gotten for herself, suspecting neither of the boys would care for any.He made his way back to where Tucker was planted in his chair, waiting for Sam to start the movie.
She paused for a moment at the serving table, pretending to decide on which soda she wanted to pour into her cup. The incident with Clockwork and Phantom had taken place nearly a month and a half ago, and for the most part, Danny had recovered from the wounds he'd received. Not the physical ones; seeing as how Clockwork had allowed him to go back in time to before Phantom cheated on the test, those hadn't technically happened anywhere other than inhis memory and, though he was too proud to admit it, his nightmares. She had no solid way of knowing this, being too hesitant to ask bluntly, but the wounds he recieved had to be deeper than flesh.
Oh yes, she remembered what Danny hadsounded like when he replayed the scene for them later that veryday once she and Tucker had finished the exam.
"Jazz knows?" Tucker had cried that day in front of the school. Telling his friends that his sister had been in on his secret identity was among first things he had decided to say.
Danny smiled crookedly, a characteristic Sam had taken notice of long ago. "Uh, yeah," he replied. "Ever since the firstfight with Dr. Spectra. From what she told me, she saw me go ghost and you two gave a weak excuse."
Tucker instantly receded his surprised expression. Sam, on the other hand, tried tothink ofan explanation without success. They smiled innocently at their smirking friend.
"So anyway," Sam said, being the first to get back on topic, "you said Clockwork took you back a few hours to when you confessed that you cheated." The question ate at her insides, no matter how wary she wasof speaking it."What happened before time repaired itself?"
A strange look flashed momentarily over Danny's eyes, as though he were looking distantly at something very troubling. He blinked and it was gone, replaced with a solemnly serious face. Sam had noticed it, though. In the brief seconds that he'd let it slip, she saw that whatDanny alonehad seen had terrified him.
"Phantom had been pretending to be mefor a few days," he began. "He cheated on the C.A.T. and Lancer found out. He and my whole family, including you two, were for some reason or another at the Nasty Burger. I don't know how, I was in the future for most of the time. There's a whole other story to go with that," he added. "When I'd gotten there, Jazz had peeled Phantom's disguise awayand revealed him for who he was. I'm guessing that what happened right before I showed up was, he told you all that I was the ghost boy and he was my future self.I came back to the present and fought him. I won… but I almost lost, too." He sighed and sat down on the stairs leading to the doors. "I got the power Phantom used on us. The Ghostly Wail."
"Are you serious?" Tucker interrupted, looking excited. "I thought you weren't supposed to get that for ten years."
"I wasn't," said Danny. "I have no clue how I got it so quick, but itexhausts meof most of my energy. I couldn't go ghost afterwards,and all of you were still bound to the Nasty Sauce container." His voice cracked,his face showing nothing."It exploded before I got there."
Sam gasped and Tucker raised his eyebrows. Was it possible that Danny had actually seen them die? They knew they might in some timeline, but to witness it...
She didn't want to think about it.
"Don't worry," Danny said, smiling to reassure them. "You hadn't died. Clockwork froze time and saved you all. You were just... suspended in the air."
He went on to fill them in on everything that had happened after Sam and Tucker removed their medallions and escaped to the present. He told them everything from his medallion being lodged inside of him, being trapped and beatenin the Ghost Zone, the Boo-merang hitting his head with a ten year old note from Jazz, meeting a completely human and very wornVlad Masters, and, most attention catching, learning just how Phantom became a full ghost.
Tucker had shivered as Danny recollected that tale. "That's just… whoa. Disturbing."
"Disturbing?" Sam asked incredulously. "Tucker, I'm disturbing. That is... it'shorrifying." She turned to Danny and placed her hand on his. He looked down at it quietly. "But you ended up defeating him, Danny," she reminded him. "You beat him, a supposedly more powerful, but twisted version of yourself, as a half ghost. Everything that happened hasn't even really happened. It's all like some nightmare now."
Danny looked up and gave both of them convincing smiles. "I know, Sam. Don't worry, it shook me a little, but I'll be okay."
Liar.
"Sam, come on, I've been dying to see this movie," said Danny from behind her in the present. She snapped out of her reverie and walked to where the two boys sat, holding up a small black remote with so many buttons it looked like some might be pushed off for room. The room grew dark and Sam sat between Danny and Tucker as the beginning credits and haunting soundtrack began to play.
Of course, she'd already seen this movie, but the other two hadn't. It was a new horror flick, something that would usually captivate her, but instead she was busy pretending to watch and think instead.
If it had been ages since the battles with Phantom, it had been eons since Pariah Dark. That one was two or so months ago. When Danny was about to leave to fight impossible odds, she had been forced to accept a part of herself that she normally didn't enjoy facing. Something she hadn't faced since Ember or Desiree.
For some reason, she had feelings for Danny beyond those of just a truly strong relationship.
After Ember's near takeover of the world, she'd made a point to prove to herself that she, a girl, could be a good friend with Danny, a boy, without it being anything closer. And, as far as she could remember, Danny never showed many signed of returning any feelings while in a same state of mind. He was kind of crazy about her dressed in pink when Desiree made it to where they'd never met, but then again, he didn't remember anything about her.
It frustrated her. She was fifteen and wasn't considering love or relationships too seriously yet, as opposed to most fifteen-year-old minds. Paullina, for example, the annoying prep thatDanny, for some strange reason, was still completely infatuated with. It was superficial, though, which caused her not to feel as much jealousy as she did anger at Danny. Not to mention Valerie…
Somehow Sam had gotten off track in her thinking and moved back to the main point. Danny, whom she knew better than anyone else probably did, even Tucker, was a credible liar sometimes. He'd been walking around, his usual, normal, teenage boyself, for the last few weeks. Never had he tried to confide in either her or Tucker more than he had that day. Thus far, she'd respected that. But he didn't seem to be getting much better.
Danny drained his plastic cup of soda, a few half melted ice cubes left. He dug it out with two fingers and tossed it into the air, lazily pointing a finger at it and disintegrating it with a small ball of ghost energy.
"Show off," muttered Tucker from her other side. She smirked at their immaturity. Neither of them were paying much attention to the movie they'd previously been dying to see, but instead, Tucker began to throw Skittles into the air as Danny practiced his already nearly perfect aim. Sam sighed, but she threw a mushroom up as well for Danny to have his fun with. That was the whole point, though, wasn't it? They all knew these moments of being regular teenagers were short-lived, and that at any moment they could be broken.
After all, Danny was a super-hero.
"No way," Tucker said, stopping the game and staring at the darkening screen. The familiar white words began to scroll up it. "The movie's over?"
"Well, you two geniuses were too busy goofing off to enjoy the complete awesomeness of it," Sam explained calmly, getting up to throw away her paper plate.
"Oh, come on, Sam," whined Danny, standing up after her. "Can we play it again?"
Sam rolled her eyes playfully. "I had to sit through it twice now. It's your own fault you weren't paying attention."
From behind Danny Tucker smirked. "He just wants an excuse to stare at you without you paying attention, you know." His feet were promptly pelted with bright green spheres. Jumping up, he cried, "What? It's true!"
Danny shook his head and chuckled a little. After Pariah Dark, it seemed as if Tucker was even more incessent on Danny about his maybe-or-maybe-not feelings about Sam. Sam was pretty certain it was because he'd rather have Danny with her and not Valerie, now that it was open to them that she liked him. They weren't stupid enough to tell Danny, but somehow, he knew. Seeing as how he still had that thing for Paullina...
You know, she was just going to stop thinking about it.
"Sorry," Danny said to Sam once he finished torturing Tucker. "I still don't get it. I mean, if we liked each other, we'd be dating by this point wouldn't we?"
Sam smiled and nodded. "If we liked each other, that's usually what happens." Keywords: each other.
"So, are we going to watch any movies? It's not even ten yet." Danny cleared his throat and stood straight as though giving a speech. "Summer Rules 101 states that fun must not end until approximately 2:28 A.M."
Sam mosied over to the rack of films sitting on the shelf. She had her own personal shelf so that it wouldn't get confused with her mother's romantic comedies and her father's documentaries. She pulled one out and flashed it in front of the two. "Underworld good for anyone?"
"That's the one with Selene, right?" asked Tucker, pulling out a packet of beef jerkey from his pocket. "She is hot."
"I'll take that as a yes," Sam said dryly, rolling her eyes. She made her way to the projector before she heard Danny moan angrilybehind her. Turning to face him, he had a pained look on his face as he stared at the light blue mist escaping from his mouth as he exhaled.
They had searched for nearly ten minutes in Sam's entire neighborhood, but he couldn't find the source of any ghost activity. He even looked in the alleys and trash bins to see if it was just a harmless, wandering soul, but there was no sign of anything. His ghost sense hadn't even activated again once they had left Sam's basement.
It was more than just a little frustrating. Not only was his night with his friends being interrupted, but so far it was for no important reason.
"Maybe it was just a good ghost," offered Tucker, trying to be helpful. "Nothing seems to be wrong, so we can just go back to Sam's house and watch the movie now, right?"
"Don't use your idol worship of an actress as an excuse, Tuck," Sam said, holding back a smirk. Danny couldn't stop her usual style of humor from uplifting his surly mood. Despite his curiosity, there was clearly no havoc being wrought and no supernatural disasters taking place on thesparsely occupied street.
Nodding, he turned back in the direction of Sam's cleverly compact mansion, making sure he had a tight grip on their arms. He began to go intangible --
"Don't. Even. Move."
Danny froze in midair, holding his breath. He recognized the voice. He hadn't heard it very recently, but it had heard it enough to know that he probably should heed its commands. At least, with his friends in his arms. Valerie was, of course, a worthy opponent.
"Put the humans down," said the female behind him. "Don't you dare hurt them."
"Okay," he said calmy. He sank down to the ground, exchanging meaningful looks with Sam and Tucker. This was the first time Valerie had ever seen him as Danny Phantom with both of them. He could only pray that the clever hunter wouldn't be able to put two and two together very quickly.
"Act scared," he hissed under his breath as he released their arms. They ran away, false looks of fright on their faces, backing away to the sidewalk. They remained there, unnoticed by Valerie, watching carefully in case Danny got into too much trouble.
He was finally able to face Valerie; at least, as well as he could with her mask on. He could practically feel the glare he knew she was giving him.
"What were you doing with them, huh?" she interrogated, one of her very, very large canons erected on her shoulder. "Answer me now."
Resisting the urge to ask why she had suddenly decided to talk before shooting, he answered, "The humanswere helping me look for something." It was, techincally, the truth, but he had to make sure it was vague enough.
"Oh yeah? What were you going to do to them once you found it?"
"Let them go back to their homes," he answered, again, honestly. "I take it you didn't buy that I might actually be an okay ghost after we got sucked into the Ghost Zone, or after we were hunted by Skulker, or--"
"Don't talk back to me," she growled, her weapon charging up with the familiar sounds. Completely ignoring most of his comments, she nodded at the gun. "New weapons. You like? I must say, they pack a big punch, but I haven't fully tested this babyout yet."
Danny smiled. "I have something new up my sleeve, too," he said. He by no means meant to use it out here, with buildings and sleeping people inside. It was just nice to be able to feel intimidating, too. Because that gun was veryintimidating. "Well, I don't have sleeves, but you get the general idea."
"Wait!"
In one moment, a lot of things happened. First, Valerie pressed against her trigger. Second, Tucker and Sam had yelled in warning. Danny thought it was to the ghost hunter's assault, but he had also created a shining sheild to absorb most of the impact. Then, a loud beeping sound came from a device on Valerie's wristimmediately after Danny suddenly felt a cold chill encase the area.
In the next moment, Sam and Tucker were standing in the middle of the street, Valerie's weapon had hit his sheild and it crumbled, throwing Danny backward to the ground, and Valerie had turned to face a figure behind her.
Lifting himself on his elbows, blue air leaking from his slack jaw, he saw what his friends had truly been warning him of.
He was tall, and clothed in long robes that suggested a time period of a few hundred years in the past. His body beneath the folds of clothing was lean though muscular. He was bald and his face appeared very childlike, save for the air of knowledge that surrounded him.
Lifting his head up, Danny saw the bluish veins in his temples that were so large they pushed against his pale green skin. He flashed a smile at the three complete humans in front of him, particular the one with the large canon aimed for his chest.
"Human young lady," he said with a strange dignity, "I advise you to put down your little gun before I must take it from you."
Valerie didn't listen to his warning. Danny hadn't expected anything less from her, and as he rose to the air to face the ghost as well, she fired.
Author's Notes: Yawn My, my, look at the time. Nearly eleven. And I have a whole chapter to summarize by the end of tomorrow. I really should prioritize better. Then again, how many of you even honestly want me to have good grades if it means waiting two weeks for chapters? I've written four in the last week and a half, huzzah! Speaking of which, check out Eternal, my friends. It's about a very different romance, or at least, the beginning of it.
See you in the afterlife,
Saramis