Sorry about the really long wait. I was at home with dial-up and no way to plug in my flash drive. GAAH! I hate my parent's computer.
Anyway, I'll have another chapter up shortly. I'm typing it up now.
It may be a while before chapter 9 is up, though. I've got some issues to work through in it and I've got a summer job that starts at 3 a.m. (mountain time) this Friday.
On with the show!
Chapter Seven-Changes
Alex had a disturbing dream that night. It started normally enough with Alex getting ready for school. She had looked in the mirror and thought she saw her reflection flicker and disappear. When she looked again, her reflection was the same.
The dream shifted suddenly and she found herself at school. Alex was sitting in Mr. Lancer's English class. The teacher was calling roll and when he got to Alex's name, Alex raised her hand but he kept calling her name, finally saying that she was absent. Alex went to shout but she couldn't say anything.
Suddenly, the entire class turned to look at her. Some whispered, some sat stunned, and some students even ran screaming from the room. The blonde shifted in her seat, turning to her friends. Sam was smug, Tucker looked forlorn, and Danny merely shook his head.
Tucker started screaming. "How could you? How could you keep something like this a secret from us? We were your friends! We trusted you!" Alex tried to say something but still nothing came out. She started to cry and Sam contorted her face into a mask of fury.
"Oh, so now the Demon wench has feelings, does she? Maybe you should have thought of that before siding with Plasmius!" Sam stood up and stormed out of the classroom, pulling a sobbing and heartbroken Tucker with her.
Danny stood to face Alex. "Why, Alex? I thought you were against Plasmius. Why did you betray us?" Danny scowled at her. "I think you need to leave town. You've endangered us all." Then, Danny Phantom stood before her, hands glowing.
Alex shrank back and darted out of the room. As she sped though the halls, it seemed like an endless maze. Everywhere she turned, people stared at her, not bothering to talk in whispers.
"There goes the demon who sold us out." "We should never have trusted her." "Being half a demon was only the beginning of her deceit." "Did you hear how she betrayed her friends?" Numerous voices started to blend together and began to chant a single word, "Traitor!"
Alex sat straight up in bed, panting heavily. She hugged her knees to her chest and took deep breaths. There was a quiet knock on her door, and at her whispered, "Come in," her little brother poked his head in.
"Are you all right? I thought I heard something." Adrian stepped all the way into the room, a worried look on his face.
Alex wiped her eyes and smiled, sitting cross-legged on the bed. "I'm fine. Just a bad dream. Go back to bed."
Adrian's worry changed to shock when his eyes had fully adjusted to the darkness. "Umm…Alex? I think that 'bad dream' affected you more than you think." He crossed the room to his sister's dresser and picked up a hand mirror.
"What are you talking about? I'm f-" Alex stared into the mirror her brother had handed her. "…But I haven't lost control like this since I first got my powers." The reflection that stared back at Alex was not her own. Instead of Alex's tan skin, bright green eyes, and blonde hair, the face in the mirror was her alter-ego Demonica with bright red hair, red eyes, and pale skin. "You were right, little bro. At least it was you and not Mom or Dad."
Adrian turned smug. "Yeah. You owe me one now. You could let me help you-"
Alex turned swiftly to glare at her brother and he gulped. "No. I already told you. You're too young to help right now. Besides, you're too easily recognized as my brother. If someone saw us together as Alex and Adrian and then Demonica and Adrian, we'd be screwed. I don't want to be exposed, get in trouble with Mom and Dad, and have you all in danger."
The redhead slumped, defeated. "Fine." He shuffled out the door, nearly slamming it behind him.
Alex shook her head. 'He just doesn't understand.' She turned back to the mirror in her hand and studied her reflection. As she stared, she noticed something strange. 'Why is my reflection fading?' Sure enough, right before her eyes, Alex's, or rather Demonica's, reflection disappeared from the mirror.
'What the…? Demons can't go invisible.' Alex gasped, both mentally and physically. This broke her concentration and her image came back into view. 'That was weird. I think I need to talk to Dad and Danny tomorrow.'
Alex yawned and set the mirror on her bedside table. She pulled the covers up to her chin, and rolled onto her side, shivering slightly. She was asleep almost instantly and didn't see the light blue mist that escaped her mouth.
Across town, the Fenton household was silent. Well, almost silent. Jack's snoring was reverberating through the house. Maddie couldn't hear it because she had put in the Fenton Ear Plugs. Jazz couldn't hear it because she had her music turned way up and had headphones on.
The only person who did hear it didn't care. Danny was pacing in his room, too restless to sleep. He looked at his clock again. It glowed 2:45 a.m. Danny grimaced as he resumed pacing. 'This is ridiculous. I have all this energy and my room is too hot to sleep in. Maybe flying will help.' Danny changed to Phantom and checked his door, making sure it was locked so no one would come busting in in the middle of the night and wonder why he wasn't there. He placed one half of the Fenton Phones by the door so he would hear everything, opened his window and flew off, staying invisible.
Danny flew aimlessly for a few minutes then decided to go see what his friends were doing at this time of day. He first flew to Tucker's house. When he got there, he looked in the window and nearly fell to the ground trying not to laugh.
Tucker had fallen asleep at his computer. His head was resting on the keyboard and he was drooling slightly. On the screen was a picture but Danny couldn't tell who it was. Danny snickered some more and left, still imagining Tucker as he drooled on his precious equipment.
Danny flew towards Sam's house. He was a little surprised to see her light on so he went intangible and floated into her room. Sam was sitting on her bed, back to the window, head down. Danny floated around to look at her but what he saw nearly shocked him into visibility. He still couldn't see her face but instead of the black hair he was used to, he saw that Sam's hair was strawberry blonde and slightly longer than her shoulders. He reached out to touch it and see if it was real when Sam looked up.
He was still invisible but she seemed to look straight at him. She got up and set down the book she had been reading. As she went over to her closet, Danny followed, wondering. Sam went to the back of her closet and reached behind her combat boots.
Suddenly, part of the closet slid away to reveal a bright yellow room. Sam went in and Danny followed, now intensely curious. Sam walked all the way into the room and put her hand flat on the wall. This time, instead of revealing another room, the walls flipped, revealing yards and yards of fabric. Up from the floor came three dressmakers' dummies. One had a finished outfit on, one had a work in progress and one was bare.
This time, Danny was so shocked that he actually stopped hovering for a second and fell to the ground. He hit with a loud thump and Sam whirled around, looking for the source of the noise. Danny panicked and froze, praying that he would stay invisible and intangible. Sam narrowed her eyes in Danny's general direction and Danny gulped. Loudly. After he realized it, Danny's eyes grew wide and he jumped up from the floor. Sam heard both the gulp and the clump from his boots on the floor. She knew it had to be Danny. She sighed and headed back into her room.
Danny stopped next to Sam's bed. He didn't know where to run to and he could hear Sam coming back. He turned around and became visible just as Sam left her closet. Danny put on a fake grin and hoped he could lie his way out of this.
"Hi, Sam. What are you doing up so late…I mean early?" Danny's grin faltered a little as Sam looked him straight in the eyes.
"Don't bother with the niceties, Danny. I know you saw it. You probably think I'm a freak, right? I understand if-"
"Whoa, whoa. Where did that came from? You think I'd call you a freak because you have a secret that nobody knows? Come on, Sam. If you think that way, then we might as well all be freaks," Danny scoffed.
"What do you mean?" Sam sounded confused and turned to her bed, away from Danny.
"Think about it. Everyone's got secrets that they don't tell anybody. You're no different. Look at me or Tucker. Heck, even Paulina's gotta have something she hides from the world."
Sam smiled a little and then a thought crossed her mind. "But what about my hair?"
"What about it?" Danny cocked his head to look at her.
"Well, now that you know I'm blonde, will you really want to be with me anymore? I'm a carbon copy, just like Paulina." Sam sighed and twisted her hands in worry.
"Sam! How could you think like that? You're not like Paulina at all! Don't ever think you are just because of your hair color." Danny narrowed his eyes and his temper began to rise. "You are not a carbon copy. You are unique, smart, funny, and beautiful. I love you, no matter what your hair color is."
Sam turned back to him to thank him but when she looked at his face, she stopped. Her eyes widened in surprise, but then they narrowed in confusion and she raised an eyebrow. "Uh, Danny? Are you all right?"
Danny nodded quickly. "I'm fine, Sam. Why do you ask?"
"Cause you don't look fine." Sam walked over to her desk and picked up a mirror. "Take a look." She handed the mirror to Danny.
Danny looked and nearly dropped the mirror. He was still in Ghost form but he now looked very different. His eyes were red and his ears had become pointed. He raised a hand to his face to make sure it was real and saw that his hand was smoking slightly. His normally white hair now had red streaks all through it.
"What the hell! What happened to me?" Danny started to scream but Sam clapped a hand over his mouth.
The girl lowered Danny's hand and the mirror it held. "Just calm down, Danny. Take deep breaths." He did so and his appearance began to change. "There you go. Your eyes are back to green and your hand stopped smoking. Sam failed to mention that his ears and hair were still the same.
Danny sighed and Sam dropped her hand. He sat down heavily on his girlfriend's bed, his head in his hands. When he spoke, it was slightly muffled. "What's wrong with me? This has never happened before. I hope I'm not turning into Dan."
Sam sat down next to him and gave him a hug. "It's ok, Danny. Evil you is safely locked away in Clockwork's castle. We can check on him tomorrow, if it'll make you feel better. Right now, though, we need to get some sleep."
"Can I stay here, Sam?" Danny changed from Phantom to Fenton and gave Sam a pitiful look.
"The puppy dog eyes. You know I can't say no to that face. Alright, let me just lock the door so my parents don't decide to barge in and get the wrong idea." Sam stood up as Danny grinned and then yawned. Sam smiled and went to lock her door. When she turned back, Danny had curled up into a little ball and gone to sleep. He looked vulnerable like that, not like the 16-year-old protector Sam knew.
"Good night, my hero," Sam whispered and laid down next to Danny. She wrapped an arm around his shoulder and hugged him close. She drifted off to sleep, seeming to protect her boyfriend and savior.
Well, what did you think? Leave me a review and tell me what you think! I'll give you cookies!
And watch the new DP epi on June 9th! SAVE DANNY!