Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom because Butch Hartman beat me to the Ghost idea. Yeah, but I was thinking about it too, you know. Yup…
(Okay, I'm done being stupid…)
/ ('.' ) ('.') ( '.') twixxytink ('.' ) ('.') ( '.') /
Lost Emotions
Chapter 5: Tricks and Twins
Previously in the last chapter…
Danny and Tucker are taking a little trip to the past, but they're bringing along an unsuspected guest, Sam. Sadly, that's not as bad as what they're about to find out.
They weren't sent back to the day before…
Danny blinked ferociously, trying to blink out the bright dot in the middle of his view. Tucker was doing the same thing, feeling as if he had just taken a dozen pictures all in a row.
"Danny? You there?" Tucker shouted in the microphone, rubbing his eyes. He was still inside the Fenton ship, but was he still in the Ghost Zone? The white spot danced in view, and slowly it started to fade.
"Yeah," Danny flew to the ship and tapped on the window. "You okay?"
"Yeah," Tucker repeated, "Man! We're still in the Ghost Zone!" Danny nodded and looked around the green region feeling like somehow…something was different.
Everything looked the same though, all the floating doors were still there and the Fenton portal was probably not far off. "So, what now? Are we heading back to the portal?" Tuck asked, and Danny nodded once more.
"We have no other choice." Tucker turned the ship around and maneuvered his way towards the portal grumbling, and Danny followed.
Something was different.
But he couldn't place his finger on it…
+Sam+
Sam awoke, slowly opening her eyes to the world. "Hey…you okay kid?" A deep male voice asked. "Yeah…" Sam answered groggily, not aware of where she was, or who was talking to her.
She heard footsteps, as her gaze landed on the familiar baby blue ceiling of Danny's room with the plastic glow-in-the-dark stars glued to the ceiling. 'I'm in Danny's room?' The bright sunlight coming in from the open window made her close her eyes again. She sat up with difficulty, feeling the pounding in her head die down.
"Hey, she woke up!" a girl entered the room with a cup of something that smelled like tea. Sam forced her heavy eyelids open, and the surprise was like a slap to the face. Something dreadful filled her heart, and she almost began to panic. Who were these people? She began to look around the room, almost frantically, without saying a word. Maybe she was wrong, maybe this wasn't Danny's room. But, as her eyes landed on the closet door, she same a familiar name badly scratched in the bottom-left corner of the door. It was Paulina's name! Sure it was chicken-scratch handwriting but Sam could've read that writing from a mile away! Because, that was Danny's crappy chicken-scratch handwriting! The only clue she needed to prove that this was Danny's room.
Then again…didn't Paulina have a lot of admirers? This was probably some other kid's room, yeah, that could be it. Danny wasn't the only boy in Casper High who had a crush on Paulina.
And had glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling?
A scared expression mixed with confusion covered her features, causing the man to speak up.
He stood up from his seat beside the open door. "Kid…kid!" he tried to draw her attention back to him. "Hey!"
Sam's gaze snapped back to him. A scared gaze that resembled a puppy's when it was lost.
"Kevin! Dumbass, you're scaring her," the girl alleged, pushing Kevin away from the bed that Sam was sitting on. Sam stared at his face for a moment, he was probably no older than 27 or something, and he had these eerily familiar cerulean eyes. They were strangely comforting…
Sam's attention shifted to the girl with the cup in her hand. She found herself looking into another pair of cerulean eyes. They were probably siblings, same features. The girl looked about the same age as Kevin.
"I'm just trying to find out some information! Stop being such a control freak, and let me handle this, o.k.? Kandy, are you listening to me? Kandy!"
She ignored him, and handed him the cup she was holding to sit beside Sam.
Sam moved away, inching toward the opposite edge, and at that exact moment she remembered something her mom had said a long time ago.
'Sam honey, don't talk to strangers…'
The universal rule.
"Ha, who's scaring her now?" Kevin asked, a triumphant smile on his face. Kandy rolled her eyes. "Kevin, somebody needs to keep watch outside, so scram!"
"What, why me?"
"Somebody needs to keep watch in case grandma decides to see what we're up to," she answered shooting a glance towards Kevin. Sam kept her mouth shut, as she continued staring at the marking on the closet door. Somebody scratched 'Paulina' on there, and she couldn't find any other explanation except…that this was Danny's room, it had to be! But then, where was he? A weird choking feeling was overtaking her, and she tried to calm down. Her heartbeat raced, but she tried not to show it.
Who were these people, and why were they here? Maybe these were Danny's far-off, distant, relatives from who-knows-where, who just happened to drop by for a visit! Or, maybe Danny moved out! Or, or was this some sort of alternate universe?
Nah, that was too far-fetched for even her to believe. There had to be some explanation…
She could only get more worried by the minute. She was in a familiar home, but with unknown company. Her purple eyes switched from Kevin to Kandy; they didn't seem like the kind of people who would hurt her, besides, she felt too weak to try anything.
Like run away.
'Run.'
But she couldn't, Kevin was blocking her only escape; the door out of the room.
"Well, if anyone should keep watch, it should be you, not me! I wasn't the one who went inside the portal, it was you who insisted on investigating!" he claimed irritably. "I mean, come on, how many times did mom warn us about not going in there? Huh! It must have been about a thousand times!"
"Leave it to you, Kevin, to bring mom into everything!" she said in an angry whisper, almost as if she was afraid of someone overhearing.
Kevin looked cross for a moment, but after seeing the expression on Kandy's face, he backed off. "Hell." He gave up and closed the door as he walked outside to the hallway; apparently Kandy didn't have a good relationship with her mom. Sounded a bit like Sam's situation, making her feel like they had a mutual understanding.
Sam hugged her knees to her chest, just as Kandy turned to face her with a worn-out look. "Hi," she tried.
Sam looked in the direction of the closed door without a response. "Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to know who you are, so I can help you," Kandy continued, but still Sam refused to answer. Kandy sighed dejectedly.
"Where am I?" Sam asked slowly, her narrowed eyes turned to the open window.
"So you do speak, great! For a moment I almost thought you were mute." Kandy smiled, "You're in—"
The door opened in a flash, and Kevin burst in. "Grandma's headed this way. Hide her, quick!"
Kandy grabbed Sam's arm without hesitation and dragged her to the closet. "Hey! Let me go!" Sam cried, trying to break free. Her heartbeat increased in a matter of milliseconds, as Sam eyed the cold look unhidden in Kandy's face. It gave her the chills. She got the weird feeling that Kandy with the soft 'wouldn't-and-couldn't-hurt a-fly' expression, and this Kandy with the 'Fight-back-and-I'll-hurt-you-so-bad-you're-grandkids-will-feel-it' expression were not the same person. But, somehow that warm girl shifted to her Hyde.
Sam felt goose bumps on her arms. Tiny, invisible ants crawling all over her skin.
"We have to hide you, now." Kandy's once warm face quickly took a U-turn.
"What, why? Where are you hiding me? Stop!" Kevin took over and Sam felt herself being shoved into an empty closet by two strong hands. "Ow, wait!"
But before she could process what was happening, total darkness engulfed her. She sat in silence for a second; she had a thought to begin pounding on the doors but forced herself to think twice. Sam would probably regret it later.
She tried to keep herself quiet to hear what was happening in the room, but she soon found herself lost in her thoughts.
'What am I going to do? How will I find Danny…? Why do these people want to know who I am, and why won't they just let me leave? Hold on; what if I'm not in Amity Park anymore! Well, the first thing I have to do is get my ass out of this place, whether this is Danny's house or not. I need to go back to the Ghost Zone. Who knows what these people want with me…'
Though they seemed pleasant enough, (well, not really) someone never knew. There were tons of weirdoes out there. Tons. And everyone knew Amity Park had their fair share of them.
She heard a door close, and her eyes darted to the closet doorknob. Oh no…were they coming back for her? Panic began to creep into her system, her hands touching the floor around her, searching for something to help her out of this! She had to get back to the Ghost Zone! The last place she had seen Danny.
Danny…
'Danny, where are you?'
+Danny and Tucker+
They had been looking for the Fenton portal for, literally, hours on end. It was almost as if the Fenton portal had never existed. They had gone back they way they had come, but there was nothing there. They roamed around for a while; aimlessly thinking that maybe they would find it not far off.
But, that had not been the case.
"Where could it be? If we don't find the portal, Danny, we could be stuck here, forever!" Tucker shouted, dramatically.
"Maybe we just headed in the wrong direction, Tuck. That's most likely what's happening. All we have to do is find the ghost portal, find me, prevent myself from ever making a wish, and then take off these pendants."
"Sounds simple enough," Tucker said sarcastically. Danny sighed and looked around but he didn't have a clue as to which way they should go.
Tucker took a look at his PDA, and found it turned off. Wait a minute; it wasn't turned off. The batteries had run out. That was odd, and the ship was running on emergency, emergency, you-seriously-need-to-get-more-gas-emergency gas.
He was about to point it out to Danny, but he began moving west. Tucker shrugged it off and caught up with Danny.
They were hoping to catch the Fenton portal in view. "It sure is deserted around here…" Tucker commented out of the blue.
Danny nodded, and then halted abruptly. A thought popped into his head. "Wait a minute. The day of the wish and the few days before that, a lot of ghosts were escaping into Amity Park, remember? I would return every hour to the Fenton portal with dozens of ghosts, releasing them back into the Ghost Zone."
"Yeah, we thought that maybe someone was scaring them off. So?"
"Doesn't it seem odd though? Shouldn't this place be a bit more chaotic than normal? Ghosts everywhere trying to escape, and ghosts from my thermos, coming back and then…trying to escape again."
"I guess you're right. Though, it's kind of like we're playing hide-and-seek, but they're really, really good."
"Right. But I don't think they're hiding from us, more like, hiding from someone else." Danny's sharp eyes scanned the open area surrounding them.
Had it been under normal circumstances, Danny would have just called it a slow day. However…it wasn't just any normal situation. They had been sent back to the p—
"Wait a minute…that's it, Tuck." Danny's vague thoughts began taking shape; linking together to form a conclusion. The wheels in his head turned like they had been lately for the past several days. Ever since his emotional makeover, his mind had been working overtime. He was seeing things in a different light; wow, he had a brain.
"What's it?" Tuck asked, raising a questioning eyebrow. Man, he was confused, Danny's mind worked in strange ways.
"That's it…Tuck, I don't think we were sent to the past at all. Actually I think she sent us to a different when, to possibly get rid of us."
"WHAT?" Tucker's eyes widened, "No way, she—she tricked us!" His mind's eye went back to the moment when they first met Emerald. He saw her green eyes shining in his mind, causing him to frown. But, she looked so innocent, o.k., not really all that innocent. Maybe it would be better if he said slightly-not-so-innocent looking than innocent. "But, uh…"
"We have to go back, Tuck." Danny placed his gloved hand on the amulet, ready to pull it off.
"Wait, how sure are you that she tricked us? I mean, it sounds like a hunch to me," he replied, stopping Danny. They couldn't just throw this opportunity away!
"It's more than just a hunch. Think about it, Tuck. Where is the portal? It's almost as if—if…"
"It moved?" Tucker guessed, shrugging.
"Yeah." Danny nodded; he was piecing everything together. "As if it moved."
"But how did it move?"
Danny thought for a moment. Wait…not move…drifted. Like an iceberg, after years pass by, it isn't in the same exact place, or the North Pole, its coordinates change as well. These things happened with…
"Time."
"What, Danny…did you say something?" Tucker strained to hear Danny's whisper, he couldn't hear inside the Fenton ship. Tuck tapped on the glass, "Danny?"
+Sam+
The doorknob twisted, painfully slow, every second…every breath was significant. Sam grabbed something lying on the floor beside her; she could feel the cold steel pressing against her palm. She readied herself for the attack, waiting for the door to open. Sam's puffs of breath sounded extremely loud to her ears, the glint of the doorknob in the dark was exceptionally bright, and the jiggle of the doorknob was especially loud.
And suddenly, the jiggle stopped.
"Wha—" Sam whispered, crawling closer to hear what could be happening on the outside of the closet. She leaned against the door, pressing her ear against the cold wood. The blood pounded in her head.
The door swung open! Sam fell forward, landing face-first in front of someone's feet. Her cheek scraped against the floor, but the carpet softened the fall. 'Oh crap.'
"Are you okay?" Kandy's voice reached Sam's ears. She tried to help her up, but Sam pushed away Kandy's help. She sat up, and then stood. Kandy stepped away, moving towards Kevin who was beside the bed.
Sam's purple eyes shifted to the door, she heard footsteps, but it was too late. Kandy's eyes widened. "Grandma!"
The door opened and an elderly lady walked in. "Kevin, honey, I forgot to tell you that—oh dear, who's this?" the woman turned deep violet eyes on Sam. "Don't I know you…?"
"Grandma, she's um…uh…I can explain!" Kevin tried, waving his hands around in a wild gesticulation.
"Kev, she's running away!" Kandy shouted, pulling the sleeve of Kevin's brown sweatshirt.
Sam scrammed.
She ran as soon as she was sure that her captors were distracted by the appearance of their grandma.
…Man, the grandma was old!
She ran behind the grandma, and scurried down the stairs. This place was familiar…
But she didn't have time to think about it. 'Come on, I'm almost there!' she thought, either willing her legs to run faster or willing the door to move closer.
"Wait!"
Sam heard the call for her to stop behind her, but she wasn't about to give up! She had to get out! Her mind raced, and her breaths became choppy.
'Get out, run faster, run faster!' her heart was beating at a painfully fast rhythm, but she ignored the thud in her chest. The main door was in view.
She was only a few steps away…
The door opened.
"I'm back!"
Sam froze in her steps, she was suddenly aware of her messy hair, and her rumpled clothes. It was Danny with some shopping bags.
He was here!
"Danny?" Sam's voice was filled with hope. Finally this nightmare was over! Sam looked into blue eyes. Danny blinked.
She ran over to him, and wrapped him in a hug. Danny's body stiffened.
"Hey, wait a minute! Get off me! Who are you?" Danny pushed her away suddenly; the bags fell to the ground. A rough frown covered his face with a pair of confused eyes.
"Danny? It's me…" she trailed off, how could he not know her? 'It's me…Danny…your best friend…' she stared at his blue eyes, his face covered with the same messy black hair, his body was as slim as ever.
"Listen," he began slowly, almost as if he was talking to some retard, "I don't know who you are, and I would appreciate it if you stopped calling me 'Danny'. That's not my name."
"What?" Sam stared at him. If this wasn't Danny, it must be his long-lost twin!
Sam shook her head, no, she couldn't believe it.
"But, I—" she felt woozy; everything was closing in on her. Hey, why couldn't she hear anything? His mouth was moving, but nothing was coming out.
He looked concerned now…
She swayed, her grip on consciousness faltering. A final whisper escaped her lips before her mind faded.
"Danny."
/ ('.' ) ('.') ( '.') twixxytink ('.' ) ('.') ( '.') /
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