I am soo sorry about taking forever to update. After the trip to Atlanta, I was exhausted, and had a midterm to study for on top of it. Then came the ritual of unpacking and cleaning up… yikes.

And also, I really don't appreciate it when people leave comments saying (and I quote), "are you alive!". Come on. I can understand a want for an update, but please, if you're going to leave a comment, try and be constructive about it. And if you can't, that's okay too. Just don't be rude.

Well, hate to say it, but this chapter's a bit short. But don't worry! I'll have the next chapter up in the next few days now that I can get back on schedule!

Enjoy. ;D

Chapter 8

Rain

"We...have to go." She said hoarsely, "We can't be staying out here." She didn't want to hear it, and at the same time, she was dying to. "Danny..." It slipped out, "I mean Phantom. Come on." She looped his arm over her shoulder, standing him up as she made her way to the playground a little ways away, the sky growling unhappily, as it began to rain.

Phantom blinked at her little slip-up, before she helped him to his feet and began to run, as rain started to lightly drizzle on them both. They were about to run past the playground and towards her apartment, which was still a ways away... and he barely had any power to fly them both there for cover. "Here," He tugged on her arms as he ran towards the large play set, grabbing hold of her hand to pull her along. Quickly he ducked under the slide and fell to his knees, lest he smack his head against the wooden 'roof'. He waited until Sam did the same, then relaxed a bit, leaning on the wall the play set provided. "...You know..." He said softly, a small blush rising to his cheeks as he looked out towards the growing storm clouds. "...You can call me 'Danny' if you want."

She quietly climbed under the slide, listening to the dull thunder of the rain against the metal. His words made her jump, and she looked at him cautiously. "I thought you hated that name."

"...I didn't..." He replied quietly, before raising up one knee to that he could rest his arm and head against it. "But... if it's you... I don't mind. My family called me that... it makes me feel...happy to hear you call me that."

She looked at him sideways, her once curled hair sticking to her cheeks as she hugged her knees up to her chest. "Danny..." She said slowly, "Do you mind telling me what the Hell is going on?"

He blinked once at her, an obvious light in his eyes that wasn't there before. "You know..." He stated quietly, gulping softly as he looked down to the ground, at a loss for words. "I wish I knew... I can't quite remember, but... I think something happened right after I died..."

"Think." She urged, watching him with wary eyes. "Think hard."

He looked over at her with a looked that clearly portrayed be felt like he was being put on the spot... and he wasn't taking it well. "I-I..." He spoke quietly, though his voice quickly melted into some sort of a whimper. "I can't..." His cheeks tinted pink as his eyes began to water. It was almost like he was thrown back ten years... he was starting to act like a child.

"You can, and you will." She said stubbornly. "Think back, you died, right, then what happened. start with what you remember."

He sat there for a moment, his breathing starting to quicken ever so slightly as the tears began to fall, his hands clutching to the mulch that adorned the ground. "I-I've been trying... Sam... I'm trying as hard as I...!" His eyes screwed shut before he pulled his knees close to his chest, his hands quickly beginning to rub at the tears as soon as they began to fall. "I'm sorry...!"

She looked at him like he was suddenly from another planet, half panicking as she raised her hands, scooting closer to him as she tried to calm him down. "It's alright, really its okay! I'm sorry for trying to make you remember... Just...just calm down..."

"First the explosion... my house...my family...! Plasmius... he..." He began to whimper incoherently, ignoring the fact that Sam was desperately trying to calm him down - all the while looking a little more than freaked. Bipolar, much? "He took me away..."

"Was that before or after you died?" She asked quietly, watching him as he seemed ready to run away, hugging her knees tight as she sat back. "Danny..."

"H-he..." His eyes opened ever so slightly as he looked up at her, the tears beginning to slow. "He took me away...my memories...he..." His voice began to trail off in long slurs, his eyes drooping heavily... before they closed completely and he slumped over to one side, motionless.

Sam gave a short scream despite herself, grabbing his shoulders as she cried out his name, rolling him over half into her lap. "Danny!"

For a moment he seemed almost dead (except for the fact that he already was), before the familiar sound of light snoring echoed in the small haven of the play set as rain continued to poor outside.

Sam released a breath she hadn't realized she was holding, leaning back against the play set as the ran beat down around them, the ghost prince laying with his head and shoulders in her lap. And when she just thought her life couldn't get any more strange...this happened. "What...am I getting myself into..."

Sam stayed put while Phantom slept, obviously having nowhere else to go that seemed safer than their current position. Even if her apartment wasn't swarming with the FBI or, god help her, her parents... it was still a good hour away on foot. And she wasn't going to be dragging along the very ghost prince she loathed with all her being just because he... what the Hell happened to him, anyway? Obviously the box she stole from Plasmius had something to do with it... and whatever was inside it apparently messed with whatever conscience Phantom had. It was almost as if it was a sort of weapon that deteriorated a ghost's mental stability, or maybe it was messing with her head. The sleeping teen on her lap couldn't possibly be the same psychotic sadist she met four days ago. For god's sake, he could have passed as a five year old, breaking out into tears like that. But she could only contemplate the outcome of all this, as the rain continued to steadily sweep across Amity Park, and the hours drifted away into early morning - thankfully though, it was still a few hours until sunlight. But Phantom didn't seem to be budging. At all.

"We can't be staying here all night..." She muttered to the boy in her lap, even as her eyelids hung heavy, and settled shut, the exhaustion from the night wearing on her, and she leaned forward slightly, half using the teenager in her lap as a pillow. She hoped that no one would find them like this...

Only a few minutes after Sam had dozed off, Phantom's eyes blinked open slowly, vaguely aware of his surroundings. Then, like he awoke to a bullhorn, he sat up in a rush - and in doing so, smacking his forehead right into Sam's, earning a rather loud protest from the prince as he immediately slapped a hand to the slightly red mark on his head, clearly unhappy. "WHAT THE FUCK!"

Sam yelped, the sharp pain bringing her back to reality as she jumped, smacking her hands over her forehead. "OW! What the-What the Hell!"

"That's what I want to know!" He yelled back, both teens completely unaware that they could probably be heard three blocks away. Phantom, groaned loudly, rubbing his forehead as he tried to make sense of what just happened. "Why was I laying in your..." He left it at that.

She flushed crimson, climbing out from under the slide, the rain drizzling on her shoulders. "You freaked out! Started acting like a six year old!"

"What?" He looked at her like she was insane herself, but at least he wasn't glaring at her. Like he usually did. "I don't remember acting like..." His words came to a slow stop, his green eyes widening in realization. "Oh my god. I do." That certainly wasn't dignified...

"Yeah, you...you...crazed up fruit loop!" She pointed at him, not sure what to make of him. "That box hit you with light, and then you started freaking out. You had me scared to death!"

"The box..." He repeated quietly, one hand gently lifting up to hold the side of his head, before he looked towards Sam with a surprised expression. "My memories!"

She half jumped when he said that, "So they were your memories..." She asked cautiously, already she could tell that he was different, and it unnerved her.

"Plasmius..." He whispered with a slight hint of venom in his voice. "He sealed my memories... I was six, when I died... right after the explosion..." His eyes widened considerably. "Sam."

"I'm not a ghost."

"No, you're a psychopath." She said amiably, crossing her arms. "What do you mean you're not a ghost?" She snapped, completely lost.

"The night of the explosion." He said quickly, like he was running out of breath. "My parents... they were working on something that had to do with ghosts...A portal! They were making a portal so humans could infiltrate Plasmius' castle!" He took another breath, his gaze constantly shifting between her and the ground. "But the portal was unstable... I had wandered in while my dad was working on it. I tripped on a wire, it came to life and..." He left that part open, knowing she'd catch his drift. "But I didn't really die." He looked up at her slowly. "Not completely."

"Are you telling me..." She said slowly, "That your...part ghost?" She looked at him with widening eyes. "That Plasmius kidnapped you and made you think you were whole ghost by stealing your memories?"

"...Have you ever heard the phrase, "Memories make a person"?" He asked bluntly. "Plasmius made me start over in life... he told me I had no memories of my life when I was alive, and it was common. He began teaching me, putting me through Hell so that I could become what he envisioned me to be. A vengeful spirit that would blindly follow him..."

She couldn't help but feel bad for him, and she bit her lip, watching him. "What now then? We don't have anywhere to go, Ghost zone or earth..."

"No," He said with a slight grin. "But my father will be looking for me. The ghost me." He leaned forward, before walking out into the open, and looking up at the sky, the rain slowly but surely beginning to cease. "It will take him much longer to find me if I were human... that would give us enough time to devise a serious plan."

"Hate to say it Danny." Sam said slowly, taking an unconscious step back. "But that hair of yours sticks out like a sore thumb, there's no way you'd pass as human."

He turned around and placed his hands on his hips, a rather wide smile across his face. "Really now?" He laughed. "Well then I'll just have to change that." He closed his eyes, then a bright white light surrounded his body, before it flashed... and in mere seconds, it faded, leaving a seventeen year old boy with raven black hair and baby blue eyes standing in Phantom's place, a black T-shirt and vest combo, along with an ordinary pair of jeans now replaced the uniform he had on before. He smiled and offered his hand to Sam. "Pleasure to meet you. My name is Daniel Fenton."

Sam leapt back, as the light surrounded him, shielding her eyes as it faded, and revealed to her the dark haired youth, and she couldn't help but stare, timidly taking his hand. "Well...uh...that was …different."

He returned her comment with a somewhat melancholy smile, his hand gently gripping hers. "Look, Sam... I know you hate me with all your being, and you should. I put you through Hell..." He sighed softly, his gaze falling to the ground. "But... will you give me one more chance? I want to make things right again, but... I don't think I can do it without you."

"How can I trust you?" She asked quietly, her violet gaze studying his intently, before biting her lip. "After all this, suddenly you want to fix things?"

His blue eyes seemed to dim even more as she spoke, his hand leaving hers as he looked away from her with guilt. "...I'm sorry I put you in danger... I can't even begin to describe how horrible I feel, having these memories of a shadow of me, constantly killing people, getting a rise out of it. I suppose, deep down, all ghosts are malevolent. But... now that I'm not just Phantom, but Danny Fenton, I want to believe I can undo the horrors I brought upon you... and the rest of Amity." He paused for a moment, not once seeming very hopeful, though his words bordered optimism. "I'm not telling you to trust me. It's your decision. If you want... I'll leave. I'll never interfere with your life again."

She looked at him oddly, sucking on her bottom lip before backing away from him. "You'll never interfere again." She confirmed.

He closed his eyes and nodded his head slowly. "If that is what you wish."

"Good." She said, her stomach turning for reasons she couldn't quite place, before she turned heel and ran, away from him, away from his war, and back into what she hoped would be some remnant of her normal life.

And behind her, the raven-haired boy turned his head, his body dissipating into the air.

He didn't follow her.

OH EM GEE I didn't just do that did I?

Yes. Yes I did.

Yaaay cliffhangers. Well, I am the mastermind behind the psychotically warped and twisted mind of Danny.

….I will not call the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher "Kenny"…even if he is wearing an orange anorak…

See ya soon. ;D

Zoey