It's been a little while since we've had an update, so here's what's been going on in my life. First of all, I finished my English class with an A. I had wanted to update the story a little bit during the break, but I had wound up updating an older story of mine. After that, I started a super difficult class that demanded all of my attention. I passed that class with a high C, so now during the break I can avoid my family and update the story.
Now to answer some questions, Wishfull: Just when things start to look up, life always comes to knock you down. Hopefully Danny can put up with the setbacks without loosing himself.
DJTimmer: The chapter would have taken place during the million-dollar ghost, and the explosion was because the filter didn't get changed. Secondly, I won't comment on what Raz' goals are. That tidbit is for him, and him alone.
DJberneman: The explosion originated at the Fenton works ghost portal because the Portal filter went critical. Danny was supposed to be there to change it, or at least somebody was, but with Danny MIA the whole family was a little preoccupied to do anything about it. The explosion destroyed almost everything in a mile wide radius, and knocked out electronics even further out.
The guest: If you find this, I probably won't write a story like the two mentioned because I would feel like I'm copying the authors of those stories. I love their stories too, but their style and pacing is much different from mine.
Sdphantom10: Thank you for your review. Made me realize that it's been way too long since I've done anything with the story.
Now onwards with the story.
Nightshade
NS-Maddie's Flight-NS
Maddie sat inside of the bathroom of the tiny jetliner on route to Miami, Florida. She had been bawling her eyes out for the last hour. She didn't really care that much to cover the fact, seeing as there weren't many people on the plane. She looked into the mirror in disgust. She hated what she had done to her son even though that damned ghost had latched itself on her baby boy. She wished she had just talked with Danny, maybe things would have turned out different. As she examined her eyes, she started to say something, but the plane suddenly hit heavy turbulence. She tried to exit the bathroom, but got thrown into the wall. The world had blackened out for a few seconds, but luckily Maddie had stayed awake.
It was now that Maddie felt weightless. She pried open the bathroom door, then glided out of the bathroom, and to the cockpit. The pilots were gone, and the plane was crashing. She found a parachute in a little box on the wall, and blitzed through to the exit. She left the plane and skydived her way to safety. As she pulled her chute, she angled herself in such a way to see the airport in Amity had a green haze in the air. She began to fear the worst.
NS-Amity Park-NS
Danny had been in his room staring into the mirror. He had no more tears at this moment, but that didn't stop him from dry heaving and rubbing his burning eyes. At first, he thought of all the things he wanted to say to his father and sister, but that only served to make him more depressed. Then he thought about what he would say to his mother, but that only made him angry. Now, he shut himself out from everything else. As he finally had enough, he moved to the bed. He collapsed onto the soft mattress, feeling completely defeated and tired, did he succumb to a restless slumber.
Down the hall, the rest of the Teens were having a heated debate. The four teens, two childhood friends and two titans, were sitting around a table.
"So, what happens now?" Tucker asked the group.
"What do you mean?" Sam asked for clarification.
"I mean, what happens with Danny?" Tucker clarified, feeling completely stressed.
"I wanted Danny to return home before deciding what to do next. Now he probably feels that he has no other options," Robin replied.
"Why wouldn't he. He can always decide to stay with us? We have the room for him!" Sam exploded, feeling a bit hurt by Robin's lack of understanding.
"If he's anything like I was, he won't want to stay in the same place where his parents died," Robin answered, shifting in his seat.
The room fell silent at what Robin had stated. The other three realizing that Robin was speaking from experience.
"When I met Danny, I felt that we were similar in a few aspects," Raven pipped up, causing all eyes to be on her. "I am the daughter of a powerful demon from another dimension. My mother was a human who fled from his grasp. My heritage was never a secret from the monks of Azeroth, which made making friends almost impossible. I thought with Danny being half ghost that he would suffer the same as I had," Raven said.
"Your father is a demon?" Sam breathed in disbelief.
"I've only lain my eyes on him once. I fought him back into his own dimension, but I fear that he might one day return," Raven stated.
"Fathers, right?" Tucker said, trying to lighten the mood. Sam would have punched the kid, but didn't have it in her right now.
"Shut it," was all Sam could muster.
"Anyway, when I learned of what was to become of Danny, I took it upon myself to try and help him. As he said earlier, he was meant to kill his mother, which was what would lead him into the darkness. Now that his family has passed, I fear that the terrible future is trying to make itself true," Raven said, feeling terrible for the boy.
"No," Sam declared. Now all eyes were on her, so she elaborated, "We can help Danny through this. Together, we stand a chance at changing his fate."
"Together," Tucker said, slamming his fist to the table.
All the other teens slammed their fist onto the table, then said in unison, "Together!"
Danny shifted from his bed, as he heard banging from the other room. It sounded like fists smashing down on something. Danny felt panic shoot through him as he transformed. He phased through several walls until he reached the meeting.
"I heard banging, is everything okay?" Danny asked, pushing down his sadness. He took in his friends sitting around a table with the titans, and dropped his guard a little.
The teens all paled a little, but it was Sam who said, "Listen Danny, we are all here for you. We want to help you change your fate."
Danny felt tears start, but pushed them down. He stifled a sigh, then said, "I'm tired of hearing about all this talk of fate or destiny." Before anyone else could say anything more, he turned and phased through the walls once more.
Robin sighed, and said, "We just need to be there for him…"
NS-The Woods, Morning-NS
After a long night of hiking through the woods, Maddie had finally made it to a vantage point that overlooked Amity Park. The most of the guts of the tiny city were gone, replaced by a crater, with an almost completely shattered outskirt. Maddie dropped to her knees, tears streaming down from her eyes as she let out a loud, shocked scream. After a few moments, all Maddie could do was sob silently.
NS-Manson Mansion-NS
It was around eight in the morning when the sound of knocking had resonated throughout the old house. The Manson household, much like the rest of whatever still stood in Amity, was without power still. Danny had barely slept since last night, and from his guess not everyone had a pleasant night's sleep. Danny left the room he was in to see Sam come from hers looking a tad confused. The Foley's were nowhere to be seen as of yet, but Robin and Raven emerged from their rooms fully attired in their clothing.
Danny sighed, and went back into his room to get changed, but hadn't realized that Sam had snaked her way past the door.
"You know that you can stay with us, if you want," She said.
Danny jumped at the sound of her voice, but relaxed a little. He was wearing a pair of sleeping pants, and had on no shirt. It was the first time that Sam had seen him without a shirt since he got his powers, and she looked a little impressed at the musculature that he had been developing. She almost felt a little disappointed when he put a plain grey shirt on that he found in one of the drawers of the dresser.
"It's not that simple," Danny said, sounding a little defeated.
Danny heard a knock at the door, effectively breaking their conversation. Sam moved to open it, which revealed the blue cloak and pale skin of Raven.
"A government agency is evicting everyone still in Amity. Robin is hashing out the details now," Raven reported.
"Wait WHAT!" Sam yelled.
"That's not the worst part. They are apparently a supernatural branch that deals specifically in ghosts, and they want you Danny," Raven informed.
"How?" was all Danny stated, before he walked out of the room.
Danny, Sam, and Raven all moved through the house, albeit the latter two trying to catch up to Danny. The three arrived in a large drawing room that had a large table dragged in the center. Two men wearing white suits stood up when the Danny entered the room. They put their hands on the weapons at their sides, but did not draw them.
"As I was saying!" Robin shouted from where he had been sitting. "Daniel James Fenton was with us in Jump City for the last few days, and when we arrived in Amity, he was under our supervision, as well as with the Foley's," Robin finished.
The man on the left said, "We need to ask you a few questions Mr. Fenton."
The other shot his eyes to Robin, and asked, "What was he doing with the Titans?"
"I can sit right here and answer your questions just fine, thank you," Danny said, his voice bleeding with frustration.
"Danny…" Raven said, only to be cut off by one of the men asking a question.
"What was the explosion that emanated from this point?" The man asked as he extended a photo of the blast radius taken from a satellite.
Danny looked over the photo, seeing that the crater was larger than he had anticipated, and said, "My father built a portal to the ghost zone. I'm guessing the portal had something to do with it."
The man shook his head and asked, "You think, or you know?"
Danny took a seat at the table, then said, "I can't be sure. To be frank, I've been gone for a little while."
The man on the right sighed, and asked, "Okay, why were you with the Titans?"
Raven and Robin looked like they were about to go entirely flush while Sam looked as if she were tensing up for a fight. Another man entered the room, looking a little pale.
"M, O, I just finished interrogating the Foley's and they say the boy went missing for a few days, only to come back with the titans. Mr. Foley said that as he came up the stairs to see what was going on with Raven, he saw Daniel transform and create what we know to be a ghost shield," The new man wearing white informed.
The two agents looked back to Daniel while getting aggressive. "What are you!?" The man on the left shouted, while the other unholstered his weapon.
The titans got into battle poses, but simply sighed.
"No use lying anymore…" He said, trailing off as he let the rings form around him. As they moved around his body, the agents jaws dropped. They saw a kid with snow white hair and glowing green eyes, flecked with tiny sinews of red.
"Stay focused, because I'm going to tell you of the day I half died," Danny said quietly.
NS-One hour Later-NS
After the story concluded twenty minutes after Danny began, the questions mounted. They threw around words like unauthorized and unethical in many different contexts. Danny answered all the questions as best he could, trying to not to be vague. At the end of the hour, the original agent on the right, O, had asked the Million-Dollar question.
"Why were you with the Titans?" O asked, concern now showing through his voice.
"I was attacked by my own mother. I sort of wound up in their care for a few days. They offered me a place, I only came home to say goodbye to my family and friends," Danny asked.
M leaned back in his chair and said, "Under normal circumstances, you would be placed under arrest under arrest. I won't lie to you, it wouldn't be a pleasant stay either, but these are strenuous circumstances." He took out a recorder, and placed it on the table. "I've been recording the entire conversation we've been having. I can confidently say, while you are indeed a ghost, your humanity prevents us from detaining you strictly for your existence," He concluded as he clicked the stop button. Then he said, "That was for the records, but off the record, we will be watching you ghost. One slip-up, your ass belongs to the Guys-in-White."
The three men stood up, as another agent moved into the room escorting the three other Manson family members. He informed them of the time they had left, before they would take the home, as he extended a check for the property value of the home.
Without another word, the Government Agents were gone. Each person standing in the house felt a different emotion. Robin felt inspired by Danny's confidence, Raven felt relief that nothing bad came of the situation, Danny felt concern for his well-being. Only the Manson family felt sadness.
Robin stood and said, "I feel we've overstayed our welcome. Thank you for your hospitality, we must be getting back to Jump City."
Raven nodded as she stood as well.
"I'm sorry things are ending like this Sam, I have to go," Danny said to Sam. She teared up.
"You can come with us. Please Danny, don't leave me," Sam said, sobbing a little. Danny was taken aback. He had never seen Sam, an ultra-recycle vegetarian goth, cry. He didn't know how to respond to this at first. He even started to consider it, but Raven intervened.
"You talked yourself into a corner Danny. If you don't show up in Jump with us, the government will detain you," Raven said, elongating her pronunciation of will.
Danny mentally kicked himself. She was right, of course. Danny turned to Sam and sighed.
"I can't stay. I want to, but I can't," Danny paused, pulling her into a hug. "It's not goodbye forever," Danny whispered into her ear.
As they broke, Danny and Raven made their way to the exit of the home. Each twist and turn, made a pain break through Danny's chest. The bowling alley where they would hang out, the theater where they would watch the horror movies. Danny felt tears form, but pushed them down. It was goodbye for now, not forever, right? As they made it to the foyer, Robin stood there scowling.
"Ready?" Robin asked.
Danny gave a small nod. Danny transformed back human, and the team made their way back to the plane.
NS-The Forest-NS
Maddie had woken from a short sleep to a couple squirrels landing on her back. She shoo'ed the creatures away, and looked back to the city. She began walking down into the hill until she made it to a street. Moving through the desolation only served to create dismay for her. She should have been here. This would have been her fate, had she not cowered away. Had she not pushed her son, her only son, from her, this may not have been her fate.
Each street she took was more and more destroyed. Metal pipes stuck up from the ground, pavement began to disappear, until eventually she saw that the couple roads that would have been where Fenton works were even gone too. Unlike the homes that fell down, or barely stood under their own weight, these buildings were vaporized. Maddie fell to her knees, but heard a voice that came as a shock but a comfort.
"Mad? Is that you?" The voice broke the silence.
She turned, tears running down her eyes, as she asked, "Vlad?"
End of chapter.
I'm taking some creative liberties where it comes to the GiW. I understand they are ghost hunters who would not care if Danny did the destruction or not. That being said, I doubt they'd want to outright attack a new member of the Titans, who have a strong connection to the Justice League. Don't get me wrong, they will be utilized eventually, but for now we can enjoy their squirming.