So the vibe I'm trying to go for here is that Jack and Maddie aren't outright evil, they're just prejudiced, ill-informed, and oblivious. They genuinely care for Danny and Jazz, but they lack understanding, and they're convinced ghosts are evil. From their perspective, they have good reason to believe that. Just like in canon. The only difference here is that they've taken that belief too far.

Is that coming across?

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Chapter 17: Conditions

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With Dash and Kwan added to their party (Jazz would kill Tucker for adding that phrase to her vocabulary. Why did he have to show her that video game? Why did it have to be so good?) Jazz was no longer the only one who could climb the trees. This meant that Danny (Danny?) stopped talking to her. It also meant that she couldn't fib about what she saw anymore.

Maddie and Mr Lancer decided that Jazz had probably been seeing Dash and Kwan the whole time, and that Danny, Valerie, Sam, Mikey, and Ricky had probably been lost in another direction entirely. So, they concluded, the logical thing to do was return to the larger group. This was somewhat easier than just looking for people, because they knew that as long as they went uphill, they would eventually break free of the trees. Uphill might be difficult to find on the ground, with all the bumps caused by tree roots, and the way trees obscured one's line of sight, but once up in the crowns of the trees, above the leaves, the hill was easy to see.

So up they went.

Mr Lancer was hoping that the others would do, or had already done, the same. He kept mentioning how bright they all were, and how, surely, they would see the simple solution. Maddie, meanwhile, kept trying to disabuse him of the notion that they had already left the forest, and were waiting with the larger group. She clearly believed that they were being held hostage by ghosts.

Finally, Jazz snapped. "What would the point of that even be?" she demanded irately.

"Excuse me?"

"What would the point of that even be?" repeated Jazz. "I mean, we're clearly in some ghost's lair to begin with. They could do whatever they wanted to us. You saw what happened to you with that apple tree. What would be the point of taking hostages? And Danny- The ghost that possessed Danny," Jazz corrected herself, "healed you. If he just wanted to trap us, why not do it then?"

"Oh, Jazz," said Maddie. "You can't think of Phantom as a logical creature. It isn't human. It isn't alive. It doesn't think. It just wants to feed on our emotions. It's trying to drive us to emotional highs, especially fear, so that it can feed. It can't do that if we're dead, and judging by it's past actions, it thinks that it can get more of those highs by lulling us into a false sense of security, trapping or attacking us, and then 'fixing' the problem. That's the only reason it 'healed' me," she finished, flexing her wrist uncomfortably.

"You just said that he doesn't think."

"It's a metaphor, Jasmine. I suppose that it's like saying that a bacteria thinks, or a virus thinks. Or perhaps a computer. They don't, but sometimes we talk about them as if they do."

Jasmine stared at her mother. "Sometimes I can't believe you," she said finally. "Don't you have any empathy?"

Maddie took a step back, as if she had been slapped.

"If ghost really were just what you say," continued Jazz, "obsession, hunger, self-preservation, stolen faces, and an echo of what once was, we'd all be dead now. Especially if this is Phantom. You hurt him, and we are so far from his only 'food source' that it isn't even funny. He could just kill us, and go back to Amity."

"It kidnapped your brother! Why are you defending it?"

Jazz let her breath hiss out from between her teeth. That was a question that she couldn't easily answer. Or, more precisely, she knew the answer, but couldn't say it. Phantom was her brother. Danny was Phantom.

Jazz huffed and turned on her heel. "Whatever. Let's hurry up."

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Danny's group was on the move again. They had decided in a three to two vote to try and make their way uphill to rejoin the larger group. Danny had been less than pleased with this decision. Sam had picked up on his unease, and had joined him in dissenting. (He didn't deserve to have a friend as good as she was.)

He wasn't sure why he felt this way. Normally, he liked being near, if not necessarily in, the group when there was danger near. It meant that he could help them faster if they were attacked, or if a problem came up. Now, though, he really just wanted to be alone with Tucker, Sam, and Jazz.

His mind drifted to a sleepover they'd had a couple of weeks ago. It had been an almost perfect day. Only two ghost attacks, lots of video games, sunny, but not hot, with a cool, clear night. He had fallen asleep sandwiched between his two friends while they watched a movie. He sighed. Why couldn't every day be like that? With everyone safe and happy...

Danny wondered if it was because they were all in his lair. If he was picking up their presence without them actually having to be nearby.

(It flitted through his mind that this wouldn't be so bad.)

Before he could examine that quiet thought in more detail, Danny's breath came out in a shuddering plume of mist. He dropped the apple he had been eating, and stared at it, somewhat alarmed by the amount. The wisps weren't going to ambush him again, were they? He thought that he had explained to them why that was a bad idea.

"What was that?"

Danny turned to face Mikey, who was staring at him, wide-eyed.

"Um-" said Danny, racking his brain for an explanation, any explanation. Before he could find one, however, the wisps, and it was a swarm of wisps, curse it all, arrived, all of them singing at once. It was like listening to an orchestra warming up, all the instruments playing different pieces, running through scales, squeaking when they weren't properly tuned, the musicians whispering to their neighbors, stands and chairs colliding as everyone tried to get comfortable. In other words, a cacophony. Danny couldn't catch one word in three.

Valerie had her blaster out and was taking aim. Danny saw her squeezing the trigger, and he was there, faster, much faster, than any human should have been, seizing her wrist, pushing her arm up, making her shot miss. She gaped down at him, her eyes wide. "Danny, what?"

"We talked about this Valerie!" said Danny. They had, and Valerie had promised to give ghosts a chance, to not shoot first, ask questions later. "How would you like to be walking in your back yard, and then someone's shooting at you? They haven't done anything to you, leave them alone!"

Valerie's surprise morphed to anger, "I don't have a back yard anymore, thanks to gh-" she froze, mid-word. Her eyes flitted up to where he firmly (too firmly?) held her wrist, before dropping again and boring into his. "You," she said quietly.

"What?" said Danny, his voice wavering. What did she see in his eyes?

"You!" she shrieked, trying to wrench her wrist away, blindly firing the gun. "You're Phantom! You've been possessing Danny this whole time!" shouted Valerie, kicking him. The wisps buzzed angrily, and swirled, but did not intervene. They probably couldn't. They had a hard time being tangible.

"Have not!" exclaimed Danny, incensed, before mentally kicking himself. He should have denied being Phantom. Way to go, giving Valerie another reason to hate him.

"It's your fault we're here!" continued Valerie as if Danny hadn't spoken. "You tried to blame it on Mr and Mrs Fenton but it's you! Your fault!"

"I-" Danny stuttered. "You- That-." He sucked in a deep breath. "Fine! Maybe it is! But I didn't want this! I don't want this! I didn't- I didn't want to- to die again." He was crying. He was crying in front of Valerie, Mikey, and Ricky, not to mention Sam (it was okay to cry in front of Sam. Sam had seen him crying so often before). "Y-You have no-"

Without warning, Valerie swept his legs out from beneath him. He fell backwards, reflexively letting go of Valerie's wrist, he didn't want to pull her over, too, and hit the ground hard. Valerie stood over him, aiming the blaster at his forehead. "Get ou- Ouch!"

Sam had tackled the taller girl, and they both went down in a tangle of limbs. "Leave him alone!" shouted Sam, trying to pull away the gun.

"You- you're with Phantom?! You-!" she cut off when Sam punched her in the face, and responded with a growl.

Valerie might have a black belt in karate, but Sam had trained with Maddie Fenton and a number of ghost martial arts masters, had lots of practice, and was willing to fight dirty. She was a match for Valerie, as long as the other girl didn't use her suit.

Danny scrambled up, staring at the two of them in horror. He- he didn't want this. They were his friends! Even if Valerie didn't act like it all the time.

"Stop," he whispered. "Stop," he said again, more loudly. "Stop!"

The ground rumbled like thunder. Vines shot out of the ground and grabbed hold of the girls by their clothing, dragging them apart. One wrapped around Valerie's gun, yanked it out of her hand, and then disappeared underground (should have done that earlier). The vines then released first Sam, and then a shocked Valerie.

Danny sat down heavily, feeling dizzy, drained. Sam ran over to him. She put her hand on his shoulder, carefully, as though he might start under her touch. He didn't. He leaned into it, moaning. (More than moaning. There was a ghostly keen of distress under his words. He didn't care anymore, he was tired.)

"Danny," she said, "what happened?"

"I don't know," he said. "Something's wrong." He looked at Valerie, who had her fists up, ready to fight, then back at Mikey and Ricky, who had their hands up in a position of surrender, and finally up at the wisps, who were now hovering near him, making soothing sounds. He hummed up at them, and several, including Leader, floated down to gently nuzzle him. "Something's wrong," he repeated. He looked back at Valerie. "I know you don't like me."

"That's an understatement, ghost," snarled Valerie.

Danny flinched. "I know you don't like me, but I didn't want this- this situation, either. I don't want to be like this." He ran his hand through his hair. "I don't want-" his breath hitched. "Valerie," he tried, using a different tack, "you know that I keep my promises. You know that. You know that." He watched her carefully as he said that and saw her stance relax, slightly, saw her bite her lower lip.

"What are you suggesting?" asked Valerie.

"A truce. Until we get back to Amity. I don't want to hurt anyone, you don't hurt me, we work together to get everyone home. Just like that time with Skulker."

"Yeah?" sneered Valerie. "And what about what you did to Mrs Fenton?"

Danny bit his own lip, absently noting the trickle of blood that ran down his chin. "Knee jerk reaction. I thought she was going to- to use that thing again."

"What so you were scared? Is that what you're saying?"

"Yes," hissed Danny. "Wasn't that the whole point?" He glared at her, letting his eyes burn. "You humans have no idea what it's like to die."

Valerie glared back, but she was first to blink. "One- No, two conditions," she said finally.

"What?" asked Danny.

"I want to be armed."

Danny looked at her with disgust. "You are armed."

"You took my gun."

This was a challenge, Danny realized. A power play. She was checking to see whether or not Danny, that is, Phantom, would out her as Red Huntress. Danny rubbed his eye. He hated this. He hummed at Leader, asking him if he could bring the gun up from underground. He knew, somehow, that it wasn't very far, but at the same time, he knew that he wouldn't be able to get the vines to bring it back up. Leader conferred with a few other wisps, responded with an affirmative, and dived down.

"Where are they going?" demanded Valerie.

"To get your gun," said Danny. "What's your other condition?"

"You get out of Danny right now."