The clock read 2:15 in blaring red numerals. Danny found himself lying awake, his mind racing through bouts of fear, anger, depressed and frustration. Yet no matter how he looked at the situation, he couldn't find a solution to the problem. How could he, if he didn't even know what was going on with his powers? Why had all of this happened so suddenly? What brought it on? Sure he'd been having some rotten luck lately, but did that merit going postal on everyone? Not to mention, on top of everything else, he didn't have long before his ghost energies built beyond his ability to contain them.
Just like before.
He'd be forced to transform if he built up too much energy and aggression, and everyone would have to go through that nightmare again. Would he have to do this for the rest of his life? Would he reach a point where he could control the transformations? Would this end up being a one-time thing? He didn't dare try to change into his ghost form and see. Should he finally tell his parents? Would they be able to help? Could he somehow suppress his other side? The side that reminded him of his alternate future... He shuddered at that thought, but one more idea refused to leave him alone:
Had everything he'd gone through with Clockwork been for nothing?
Every attempt to relax and calm himself and get some sleep, only made him feel more frustrated...which was the last thing he needed. Sighing, he rolled over in a vain attempt to find a more comfortable position, his fevered mind hyperaware of every lump and wrinkle in the bed. He knew that all of this worrying was pointless. He knew that it didn't help him and that he had to sleep. He had to. He couldn't figure out elementary algebra on his own, and tomorrow he needed to solve a problem most of the world couldn't handle.
"Come on, Fenton," he growled at himself. "Get some sleep so you CAN figure out what's going o--" He stopped, watching his breath fog and rise up before him, visible even in the darkness. "Oh no..." he gulped and shot straight up. "Not good." The Fenton Thermos lay across the room, stuffed in his backpack where he'd put it earlier, and he had no other weapons at hand...he'd never really needed them before.
Well, if he lived through this, that would change.
Somehow, although he couldn't see anything, he felt the ghost approaching. With a hiss, he threw the covers off and started toward his backpack, only to be stopped dead in his tracks by a freezing voice.
"WHERE IS MY SISTER!" the harsh voice growled, sending shivers up his spine. Danny looked down to see two green eyes phasing through a pile of socks he'd left on the floor.
He gulped again. "A-Abby?"
"Well!" She moved closer to him, glowering in the darkness. Danny leaned away, realizing just how eerie ectoplasmic eyes looked in the dark.
"Er...uh...I think she's downstairs," he responded quickly.
"You think?" Abby's voice hit him like a sheet of ice, and he couldn't help but wince.
"I--" he started, cut off by her yanking him forward by his shirt to stare at her face-to face.
"Then you'd better change so you can come with me, just in case she's not!"
Danny felt himself grow cold at her suggestion. "I-I can't," he managed to get out, barely.
"What?" she hissed.
The half-ghost felt his teeth set. He wouldn't change, and no one could make him. "I can't change, okay!" he spat out, suddenly angry, and pushed her hands away.
"You changed just fine earlier." He could hear the poison in her voice grow, but at the moment he didn't really care
"Look, I just can't." He slumped back onto his bed with his arms folded. He could see an outline of Abby with what little light came from the sliver of visible moon through the window, but he didn't dare to even use something as insignificant his night vision for fear of what it could do to him. The ghost sense was bad enough.
Suddenly, a glowing green spear appeared in her hands, providing him with plenty of light, although he immediately wished it had stayed dark--when he couldn't see the look on her face, everything felt safer.
"Listen, ghost boy," she said through clenched teeth, "you'd better help me get my sister back, or I'll make you regret ever having become half-ghost."
"Too late," Danny muttered as he glanced warily at the spear.
Abby blinked. "Excuse me?"
"I said 'too late.' Look," he let out another long sigh, "about the transformation...that wasn't me, tonight. Well, it was, but it wasn't."
"You're not making any sense," Abby replied dryly, but she did look slightly more calm.
Emphasis on 'slightly'.
Danny thought for a few moments, until he realized that there was no way to put his thoughts into coherent form, so he simply launched into it.
"I don't want to be that person. I know what I'm capable of when I...don't care. That scares me almost as much as losing my family, and far more than you, or any other ghost, ever could." Abby's spear disappeared as she blinked at Danny. "It's all my fault, and I'm sorry. Everything that happened, it's all me, so I'll help you out, as long as you promise to leave when we're done. I don't care where you go."
Abby looked down, not quite sure what to think of his proposal. "How can you help me?" she asked, finally.
Danny slid off of his bed and began pacing. "First, I need to know if my parents are up or not." He walked over to the door and opened it quietly, peeking around the corner. "Their door's open, which means they're still working in the lab. Dang it." He shut the door again, and resumed pacing. "We need a distraction. I could get her out if I had a few minutes..." He stopped suddenly and looked over at Abby expectantly.
"I get it," Abby sighed. "But it's worth it if I get Ashlynn back."
"Just distract them for a few minutes." Danny nodded at the window. "Meet me back here after that, okay?" She nodded and turned to face the outside wall, when Danny spoke up again. "Oh, and weave around a lot. They'll be right on your tail the whole time. Trust me, I know."
A slight, if sarcastic, smile touched her lips for a fleeting moment before she took a deep breath. Vaguely, Danny wondered if other ghosts needed to breathe or not, and made a mental note to observe the next time he could actually talk to a ghost without destroying half the town.
"Right," she said finally, signifying she was ready.
"Okay, go!" Danny said, and ran over to the door, throwing it open with a bang. "MOM! DAD! GHOST!"
He saw Abby vanish out of the corner of his eye and counted off in his head. "Six, five, four, three, two--"
"WHERE?" Both of his parents stormed down the hall and through Danny's bedroom door.
"That way!" Danny pointed near the window Abby had disappeared through. "I think it was one of the other ghosts from tonight!"
"Come on!" both adults yelled at the same time, managing to dent Danny's door slightly on the way out, and nearly knocking down a tired-looking Jazz at the same time. Yelping, she dove out of the way, looking up to see her parents already gone, and Danny starting down the stairs after them.
"Wait." She stood up. Danny stopped and turned to look at her over his shoulder. "What was that all about?" From her reaction, he knew immediately that she knew he was hiding something. "Danny," she warned, crossing her arms and sending a stern glare his way.
Danny folded. "I'm helping Abby get her sister back, okay?" Even he winced at his wording. And, as expected, Jazz reacted less than favorably.
"YOU WHAT?" she shrieked and grabbed his arms, spinning him around to face her. "ARE YOU CRAZY?"
"No," he said meekly, trying to shrug away from her grip.
"Danny!" The red-head dropped him and ran a hand through her hair. "How do you know they're not triggering your...er..." she paused and Danny closed his eyes, bracing himself. "Your dark side," she said slowly. He had to resist the urge to quote Darth Vader, figuring that wouldn't go over very well at the moment.
Instead, he shook his head. "I don't think they are, Jazz."
"And you're willing to stake the safety of the entire world on that?" she asked dryly, folding her arms pointedly. Danny gulped, wide-eyed. He hadn't quite thought of it that way. He wasn't sure he wanted to think of it now.
"Thanks, Jazz." He matched her tone, hoping that she didn't catch the uncertainty in his words.
Still, he'd made a promise, and he intended to keep it. Besides, he'd love the chance to prove Jazz wrong.
"Danny." He suddenly realized Jazz had spoken again. "You have to think these things through."
"I can't," he responded, glancing back at his clock. Had this conversation only been two minutes long? He could have sworn that he'd been standing here longer. "I made a promise. You have two choices: you can come with me, and make sure nothing happens, or you can stay out of my way." And with that, he turned on his heels and sprinted down the stairs, leaving Jazz calling after him.
"Danny!" She took a step after him, but he ignored her completely. Jazz felt her fists clench as worry and frustration bombarded her stomach. "That boy is going to get us all killed!"
She stood there, fuming for a few seconds, trying to calm down. After some major counting, she swallowed her pride and raced down the steps after him, hoping for the first time in her life that she was wrong.
"Ouch!" Danny yelped quietly, having jammed his foot under the counter. He yanked it out and ignored the throbbing, running down the last set of stairs, jumping the last few steps and hitting the basement floor, hard.
"Dang it," he hissed, but again he ignored the pain and stood up, looking around the hurriedly abandoned lab. He spotted Ashlynn almost immediately. Her cage sat almost dead center of the eerily lit lab, surrounded by a ghost shield.
"At least I can handle this," Danny muttered to himself.
"Danny!" Jazz called. He could hear her pounding down the stairs, through the front room and into kitchen, obviously coming after him. With a gulp he ran through the ghost shield, biting his lip against the shock that came from being half ghost.
Once inside, he reached for the door and the large padlock that covered it. It sparked in reaction, and he jumped back to see a new field of spectral energy that he hadn't seen before—energy giving off an aura that Danny had long since learned not to touch.
He didn't know where the keys were, nor could he even begin to guess at what the combination lock was.
That meant ghost powers.
And the energy prevented him from getting close and phasing through, which meant energy blasts.
Cringing, he took a deep breath and aimed his finger at the offending obstacle, trying not to remember that with the wrist guards, every time he'd used his ghost powers, he'd grown angrier. The more anger he had, the harder it got to control his powers.
But he'd promised.
Cocking his finger like a water gun, he shot a blast that hit dead on the mark, melting the metal padlock clear through. He sighed when he realized he didn't feel any effects until...
"DANNY!" He jumped and turned at Jazz's voice, trying to hide his smoking finger. She stood at the foot of the stairs with her hands on her hips. If her glare had been daggers before, she shot flaming shish-kabobs at him now. "You know you shouldn't be using your powers in your condition! What if you would have sent them off...or...something," she stuttered.
"Stop treating me like I'm made of glass or something!" Danny growled back at her.
"Danny, you're not thinking straight!" Jazz argued, walking towards him.
"Why not?"
"Because!"
"Because I'm risking everything to keep a promise!" Danny yelled. 'They're not setting me off! Why don't you trust me?" Jazz opened her mouth to respond just as Danny's ghost sense went off again.
"They're right behind me!" A new voice cut through the echoes of their argument. Turning, they both looked up to see Abby dive straight at the cage.
"No! WAIT!" Danny and Jazz yelled at the same time, but too late. Abby struck the ghost shield and let out a pained shriek.
Danny looked up at his sister with a pleading look. "Jazz, please?"
Jazz closed her eyes and let out a frustrated sigh. "You owe me one, Danny," she muttered and walked over to the cage. "You deactivate the ghost shield, and I'll stop whatever's on over here."
"Thanks, Jazz," Danny smiled and dashed over to the control panel. In seconds, the shield dropped and the glow around the cage died. Abby darted in as soon as Jazz threw the cage door open.
"Abby?" Ashlynn's muted voice mumbled as her sister gently picked her off of the harsh, cage floor.
"Get out of here!" Jazz told her, hoping she didn't sound too harsh. Werther Abby noticed her tone or not, she nodded and phased up and out of the lab, carrying her limp twin in her arms
Danny walked over to Jazz cautiously. "Look, Jazz, thanks. I--"
"Shh!" Jazz hissed, her face going several shades paler. What sounded like a herd of elephants came thundering through the door. "Mom and Dad...they're home!"
