A/N:

I swear on my life that I didn't mean to leave this story for as long as I did. I was just really sick over the holidays...like ER, ICU get your will prepared sick, so I gave up fanfiction in favor of my health. But I LIVE. So here's the next chapter. Night and I sincerely apologize for the long delay. The next chap will be up before 10 February! Cross my heart and hope to become a half ghost!

Oh, and Night doesn't think a sigh can be a catch phrase...I think that if it sounds like a dying whale sigh like, "Huuuhahauhuahuhauh," then it counts.

Night:First of all, Gomenasai! We really didn't mean to leave you hanging Christmas break has a way of throwing things of schedule. Secondly, lies! People do not sigh like dying whales unless they are in fact dying. As Danny is technically already dead-half dead- HE HAS MISSED HIS CHANCE TO GIVE A DYING WHALE SIGH. THEREFORE, NOT A CATCHPHRASE!

Jenna: It's never too late for him to get that chance...MWUAHAHAHAHA!

Night: Look here you watch it or I will come after you with this chain saw rather than Sam and Tucker. Speaking of (VRRRRR) Come out come out wherever you are! Sam Tucker I just want to talk. Promise!

Jenna: Well...maybe we will have some character death. And without further ado, here's the semi-long awaited Chapter 3 of Jump Start!

Disclaimer: I own neither Teen Titans nor Danny Phantom...I don't own Duct Tape either...but if I did, well, I'd be a gazillionaire.

Chapter 3

Danny opened his eyes, wide awake. He didn't take notice of not having to turn the alarm off. He just thought he forgot to turn it on last night. The upper level of the house was quiet so Danny just thought everyone had already left and he was just going to be late to school. It's not like I expected them to be here anyway.

He got up and walked out of his room to the bathroom across the hall. Danny went through his morning routine, slightly marveling that there was still hot water in the shower. Jazz normally uses it all up before I wake up. He sighed—it was becoming more of a catchphrase to him than "I'm going Ghost!"—and left the bathroom to get his things from his room.

After getting dressed, packing, and grabbing his bag for the day, Danny skulked down the stairs, already anticipating the glare Mr. Lancer would surely give him when he finally showed for school. The living room was devoid of any disturbance, not showing any evidence of last night. Going into the kitchen, Danny dropped his bag next to the table and tried to prepare his breakfast without thinking about last night or his inevitable confrontation with Tucker and Sam during lunch. He got his cereal, avoiding the prospect of toast, and ate it, staring off into the distance. Danny was so in his own thoughts that he hadn't heard the stairs creak with the tell-tale sign of someone in the house with him.

A few seconds passed before it made its presence known with a, "Danny?", and a light pat on his shoulder. Had he not gotten control of his powers years ago, Danny would have fallen halfway through his chair in a bout of intangibility. But thankfully nothing happened except him gasping and whirling around, screeching along with the chair to see his older sister in her robe over her pajamas.

"Jazz?" Danny asked, confused and slightly worried if he were hallucinating. If only... "Why are you still here? Aren't you late for school/work?" He knew it was normal for him to be late but Jazz? Child prodigy? Shining light of the Fenton family? Smart, dedicated, trustworthy, diligent, and basically everything everyone thought Danny was not? Why would Jazz be late, or, from her current attire, skipping school, today?

These thoughts seemingly mirrored in Jazz's mind when she scoffed, "Me late? Not even when I had that almost pneumonia-like fever in middle school did I skip. Jasmine Fenton does not miss school." She crossed her arms, offended at the accusation. "But one thing Jasmine Fenton does do is get up at 5:45 every morning and get breakfast at 5:50. However, I never thought I would have company for breakfast, especially not yours."

She must have a really high fever if she thought it was still before 6 o'clock, he thought while turning to the microwave clock which surely would have told him—

It was 5:51 AM. He, Daniel James Fenton, was awake at 5:51 washed, dressed, and over half way done with his breakfast. He looked down and shocked himself again; in his bowl, unlike his usual sugary confection, were the saturated left-overs of the raisin bran cereal his mom bought for her and dad. As he moved his hand, his eye caught a flash of deep red that gave him the third near heart attack of the day. Washed? Check. Dressed? Check...but not in his usual t-shirt and jeans that still drowned him in their fabric even with his added muscle and height. Instead, he had on one of the only semi-fancy shirts that he thought was too much for school. It was a long-sleeved red shirt with swirling black accents dusting down his right side. His pants, he saw as his eyes traveled farther down, were a pair of dark jeans that fit him better than his usual, showing a slight definition in his thighs from the ghost hunting and training. His shoes were a newer, black converse with dark red, no, wine, laces that were even darker than his shirt. All his intelligent mind could muster was a garbled, Wha—?, before he realized that Jazz was still talking.

"—and what are you even wearing? Special occasion?" She waited for him to answer while he tried to compose himself from his gasping fish-like state.

"I-I don't," he tried, just realizing that with the normal time it took for him to get ready and eat, he would have woken up around 5:30 if not before. Danny combed his fingers through his hair in an attempt to collect his thoughts; and if the events of this morning were not enough to freak him out, Danny's hair was combed.

His. Hair. No one combs Danny's hair. Even his mother gave up years ago trying to get him to style it or go get it cut periodically. For Danny to have combed his hair, he must have finally snapped, or at least a little bit.

"Heh…heh," he laughed hesitantly, ruffling his hair back to its semi-messy state in an attempt for normalcy that morning, still not sure how to answer Jazz without her psychoanalyzing him more than she already was. "My waking up this early is special enough, right?" he deflected, finishing off his cereal, the dissolving bran leaving a weird film in his mouth.

Jazz's eyes narrowed, catching her little brother's side-step but letting it slide in favor of getting herself something to eat. She fixed her oatmeal and toast, Danny shuddering as he looked at the burnt remains, and sat down facing Danny. He tried to shake off her gaze and got up to clean his bowl when Jazz said, "Little brother, being a guidance counselor intern at Casper High allows me to obtain a substantial amount of data on the effects of ghost envy on adolescents and the overall teen psyche." She paused, stirring her spoon in the cooling oatmeal. "I have observed the strained relationships between some of the students and their friends and, unfortunately, even their family." At this point, Jazz set down the spoon and placed her hands under her chin. "I know that, even with recent developments, some relationships were still strained and have frayed to, what some may say, their breaking point. I just wanted to let you know that even with things seeming bad now, it doesn't mean the world's coming to an end." Jazz pointedly looked at Danny, her eyes scouring his for any tells. "In fact, I called Mr. Lancer this morning to discuss a possible 'grief counseling' group for the more 'affected' students…Do you think anyone would be interested?" She pointedly inquired.

Danny knew Jazz was specifically talking about him. She probably heard last night with him and their parents. And, if her hints were any proof, she at least knew that Tucker, Sam and he were having issues if not that they were dating behind his back.

"Jazz," Danny exasperatedly sighed for the umpteenth time this morning, "no one is going to want to join a counseling session." He guarded his words, making sure she couldn't get any hidden meanings from what he was saying. "Without the ghosts, any problems to be had at Casper come from normal, average, teenage drama. Definitely the kind no one wants their big sister in," he pointedly glared at her while reaffirming that everything was fine. "And anyway, shouldn't you just be focusing on the ghost envy part of your thesis? I mean, that is the reason that Yale is letting you do this semester study with some of the Illinois State University students." Signaling the discussion was over, he crossed his arms over his chests.

"Fine, Danny," Jazz coughed, understanding his dismissal. "If you, or anyone you know, would like to talk about anything at all, you know where to find me."

With all the craziness that happened just the day before, Danny's heart warmed knowing that his sister was the one constant in his life. Even when they were kids, it was always Jazz and Danny against the world. She was his first female friend before Sam and his first friend period before Tuck. Whenever mom and dad were too busy meeting with funders or inventing in the basement or making runs for equipment, Jazz would be the one to make grilled cheeses for him, make sure he did his homework, read him stories before he went to bed, hold him when he was scared of the lightning storming outside, and assure him that even if their parents fought at Christmas it was because they respected and loved each other enough to have debates. Jazz was always there for Danny and he didn't want to burden her with his problems. They were his problems and his alone.

"Thanks, Jazz," Danny smirked, grateful for her and all she had done. Jazz beamed, knowing that Danny would open up to her soon.

A faint humming stopped; Danny looked over semi-worriedly at the refrigerator, wondering if it had stopped working. Jazz, on the other hand, recognized the sound of an ecto-appliance in the basement turning off and grimaced, upset of her being interrupted right before she got Danny to talk to her.

Before Danny could turn around, the metal door leading to the basement opened wide, banging on the kitchen wall before it could stop, a large hand coming out, followed by an even louder voice exclaiming, "We've got it so close to working, Maddie! I just can't seem to get the stasis sequence right!" Jack climbed out of the stairwell, goggles covering his face, looking down in sadness at the kitchen floor.

"It's alright, honey," a second, smaller voice responded. "It's probably just a miscalculation on the Floyd's estimation principle with the third quadrant sinusoidal waves. Or maybe it's—well, we can figure it out later. For now…how about fudge?" Maddie's light feet ran up the stairs to catch up to her husband, trying to console him on their failure.

Jack's eyes twinkled in joy as he took off his goggles and looked up, yelling, "FUDGE!"

And while, normally, the prospect of fudge is a cause for celebration in the Fenton family, this was the point at which Danny's and Jack's eyes met. Confusion with a hint of sadness mixed with hope was written all over Danny's face. On Jack's face was plastered a fading left-over excitement from the idea of fudge in the morning and a blossoming anger.

"Yes, Jack," Maddie chuckled, unaware. "Fudge. Now do you want it in pancakes or waffles or—Ooh!—maybe an omelet! I've always wanted to try…" Of course this was the time she finally got up the stairs to see her daughter sitting at the table eating breakfast as was usually scheduled and her husband staring at the other side of the kitchen probably lost in the wondrous proposition of fudge this early in the morning. "Ja-ack, don't block the way out of the basement. We've talked about this," she admonished while trying to push her behemoth of a husband out of the way. "It's kind of a fire hazard, honey." Maddie rounded her husband and was about to turn around to light-heartedly scold him when she saw her son, wide-eyed and unexpected and up before 6 in the morning.

No one said anything for a while, the silence a pall in the early morning kitchen setting. Jazz had scooted back to get a good view of her parents' and Danny's reactions. Jack's eyes stayed on Danny, excitement muddled by the anger and disappointment shining through. Maddie's eyes had narrowed at seeing Danny surprisingly awake before the other three had left the house. Danny's eyes flickered between his mom and dad in worry and hope and slight fear at a relapse of last night's events.

Danny opened his mouth to greet his parents, or at least diffuse some of the tension in the room, but was interrupted when Jack interjected, "Daniel. I'm surprised to see you up so early." His arms were slack at his sides but his hands were slowly clenching.

Danny inwardly sighed in gratitude, at least he hadn't had to start the conversation. "Yeah," he said. "I guess I just—"

"That's great, Daniel," Jack dismissed. Startled, Danny did his best impression of a goldfish while Jazz tried to get Danny into the conversation.

"G'morning, mom, dad," Jazz brightly voiced, smiling encouragingly at her parents.

"Good morning, sweetie!" and "Hey, Jazzerincess!" were the replies, completely different from the 'warm welcome' Danny had just received. They turned their disappointed glares from their son into proud grins for their daughter. Jazz glowed in the attention, completely forgetting about consoling her brother in the wake of last night…and some of the stuff this morning.

Danny, unnoticed, or ignored, in the corner, had stopped gaping like a fish and inwardly chuckled to himself. Well at least I got recognition. He leaned against the refrigerator, not knowing what to do for the next two hours before school started. In the background, Jack, Maddie and Jazz were talking jovially like Danny was not even there. It wasn't until he bumped into the sink, making a spoon clatter, that they seemed to remember he was there.

"Well," Maddie started, "we were going to tell you now Jazz—and have you pass it on to Daniel later—so I guess we'll tell the both of you, together." She motioned to Jack so that he could continue.

"Oh! Well, your mom and I have been chosen by the government to be funded for a new alternative energy project!" Jack exclaimed excitedly, Danny's presence's influence slowly fading.

"That's right, honey!" Maddie affirmed, pulling out a cookie from somewhere in her jumpsuit and handing it to her husband who took it delightedly. "So, we'll be extra busy the next couple of weeks and the noise level in the lab may be escalated. We just wanted to warn you, Jazz, in case it hindered your studying in any way, or if you wanted to have any friends over." She smiled at Jazz lovingly as if she could do no wrong.

Danny didn't say anything about being skipped over in the consideration but Jazz caught the twinge of sadness that crossed his face. "Sounds good, mom, dad," Jazz smiled at them. "But you know I don't usually do serious school work here. I'm normally at the library." She nodded towards Danny. "It's really him you have to worry about, with Sam and Tucker and all." She looked squarely at Danny with a satisfied grin on her face like she had helped him.

Unfortunately, it just made things worse. Jack and Maddie turned slowly towards their son as if regretting having to look in his general direction. Jack scowled at the "family blemish" while Maddie disdainfully commented, "I'm sure we won't have to worry about that."

Danny's head quickly turned to the floor so he wouldn't have to see their faces. "Yeah, Jazz," he said, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "I'll be fine." He chuckled. "You know me…"

Maddie and Jack, seeing that the conversation was over, bid goodbye to their children, more to Jazz, and left to get more supplies for their project. Another awkward silence filled the kitchen, Danny still looking down and Jazz looking at him with a calculating gaze. If Danny didn't know better, he would have thought his life to be reduced to some teenage melodrama.

Jazz initiated movement again by picking up her discarded breakfast, walking over to Danny and the sink. "Remember, little brother," she said while putting up the bowl. "Anything at all." She walked away to let Danny stew in his own thoughts knowing that whatever was going to come, he would need her more than ever.

Seeing as how it was only 6:10 in the morning and school started in, well, exactly one hour and fifty minutes, Danny had no idea what to do with his time. He was fully dressed and packed—he double-checked his backpack to make sure in the morning daze he didn't forget anything—so now all he did was laze around in the living room, waiting. For what? He didn't know.

I really don't want to be here when they get back, he thought, knowing that if his parents caught him sitting in there doing nothing they would probably demean him even more. So, with an increasing nagging feeling in the back of his head, he grabbed his bag and headed out in the direction of the school.

Danny didn't want to think much on his way so he paid attention to every minute detail on his path. He counted each worn-out cobblestone on the road he walked on. His feet followed a series of cracks, like a path, ultimately leading to a newer paved street on which he turned. This road was covered in fallen, crushed leaves, not the wimpy limp kind but the kind that crunched loudly, proudly, and strongly when stepped upon. Danny took his time walking down this stretch, taking advantage of his self-made leaf-crunching theme song. The trees that towered over him showered him with a warm golden glow from the sunlight shining through. The harsh crunching of the leaves was accompanied by the light whimsical tune of birdsong, its high tones greatly contrasting Danny's increasingly despairing mood. He skipped over a puddle, marveling in the ripples given off by the falling leaves. The sky was cloudless above his head and no one else was yet awake or around for Danny to come across. So, he walked alone and walked and walked until a shadowy edifice crossed his path.

Danny looked up at the school building, towering before him. So many fights he has had the past two years from the Lunch Lady to the Box Ghost, Skulker and Poindexter and especially an odd ectopuss or two. But for all that the school had been a battleground, it was the place where he had some of his fondest memories. The joking and playing around with Sam and Tucker. The befriending Valerie after he "ruined her life". The slow but steady warming up to Mr. Lancer despite the rocky times of his freshman and sophomore years. School was bad, yeah, but it's bad for everyone. For Danny it was like a refuge that his life revolved around. One steady thing he could rely on—save that one time during his prank war with Vlad when a certain mayor took it too far (Uniforms? Too far, man!)—was school.

His watch on his right wrist told him that it was 7:10, an hour after he left home. He climbed up the stairs to the main building knowing that even though school didn't start in an hour, some of the staff would already be there and the door would be unlocked. Passing the lobby he noticed not many people were around unlike the previous day. He smirked recalling the odd behavior of Mikey and his crew. Danny started to remember what happened afterwards, a scowl forming on his face, but quickly shook his head of the thoughts and continued down the hallway to a private area he knew would be empty until lunch time: the school library.

Some mornings, when a particular ghost woke Danny up in the wee hours of the morning with no chance of going back home and catching an hour of sleep, Danny would sneak into the school and go to the library for a quick nap. On bad days he was caught by the librarian. On worse, it was Mr. Lancer. Today, the library was dark save a group study area in the back with larger tables. Danny walked over to that area, not tired enough for a nap but not really awake enough to do any studying or reviewing, and picked a random book from the shelves to read.

He sat down and started reading the book which turned out to be a folklore, mythology, legend mix. Scanning through the pages, he found a story that interested him about the priests of Azarath and the origins of the great demon Trigon. He hummed at the thought of a being created and corrupted mainly by the negative feelings of an entire planet finding the similarities between some of the ghosts he has known to have formed in the Ghost Zone and this so-called "demon".

The lights above him dimmed for a moment as a shadow crossed his light. "Young Mr. Fenton. It is a surprise to see you, of all people, this early and in the library no doubt. I hope we are not relapsing to our 'napping' days," came the voice of his first, second, and third year English teacher and on-the-side vice principle.

Danny shut the book quickly, slightly ashamed at his reading choices. "Mr. Lancer. How long were you—"

"How long was I watching you get sucked into a book on the lesser known legends of some relatively old Satanic cults?" He interjected. "If I hadn't known any better, with the attention you were giving the material, I would have thought you were trying to find a remnant of the group to join." Mr. Lancer rubbed his hand across his face exasperatedly. "If only you could have devoted that much attention on your studies, Mr. Fenton, your potential would have matched if not far exceeded your sister's. Unfortunately..." he ended, giving Danny a condescending glance.

Danny sighed, his shoulders hunched against Lancer's accusations. He stood up, telling Lancer he would see him in class at the end of the day. Danny quickly left the library, not wanting to be scolded more by the man and wandered about the school in boredom. The Trigon story did set him on edge a little, almost like his ghost sense but not fully manifesting in the cold blue mist.

He sighed again—This is becoming a really bad habit.—and looked at his watch, stunned when it announced that he had spent about a half hour in the library reading the story. It didn't really surprise him then, when, after turning the corner, he saw some students milling around. What did surprise him was the sudden change in his face's direction along with a sharp cracking sound and a faint burning on his right cheek. The commotion alerted the others as they tried to see what was going on. A confused Danny turned his head forward just in time to see a seething Valerie about to berate him.

"The fuck is your problem, Fenton?" She screamed, dark green eyes rolling in anger and sadness. "If you didn't want to hang out together because of me, you could have just said something and not made some lame-ass excuse." She poked her finger at his chest this time, nearly whispering, "And you definitely didn't have to use me as a back-up excuse for your parents to explain whatever the hell you were doing last night."

Danny hadn't expected his parents to have called Valerie last night and he was extremely sorry, but when he tried to say this, she interjected with a, " Uh-uh, Fenton. Don't you dare try to make some half-hearted apology." Her sadness overcame her anger as tears glazed her eyes, threatening to come out. "After what happened freshman year, with the ghosts, Phantom, my dad, and the A-list, you were the only one who accepted me whole-heartedly...Danny, I thought we were friends." She put her hand down to her side and looked at the floor, not wanting him to see the tears that were starting to occupy the corners of her eyes. "I guess I was wrong," she whispered and turned away, leaving him and everyone else in the hallway a bit flabbergasted and dismayed.

When people started to move, some looked at Danny in empathy, still recalling him finding out about Sam and Tuck, some in anger at his hurting the poor Valerie Grey. "Val," Danny sighed, his hand moving through his hair as he tried to think of a way to make it up to her.

His train of thought hadn't even left the station before the entire side of the school heard the scream, "DANNY!"

Great, he groaned, turning around to face whatever or whoever was coming his way. He was faced with the livid expressions of Sam and Tucker, his two supposed best friends, storming up to him, nearly hand-in-hand, with their faced twisted in almost disbelieving anger with just the faintest hint of concern...really faint.

"What the hell, man?" Tucker spat out when they got to him. He was panting from the slight exertion Sam had just put him through. "What's with your parents calling our houses and getting us in trouble?"

"I had to let my mom and dad scour my room just so they could be sure you weren't hiding out there," Sam answered, hands solidly on her hips.

"And mine took away Cheryl...I was on my last payment on her!" Tucker raged, more mad at Danny than the loss of his PDA.

Danny sighed, "Look guys," he said, trying to defuse the situation, "I didn't mean to get you guys in trouble. I didn't even mean to stay out so late...I just got caught up."

"Oh," Tucker commented, his voice turning cold. "You were 'caught up'. Well, apparently you were so 'caught up' helping your dad out with his 'new-invention' that he didn't even know you were home."

"Yeah," Sam scoffed, "'Caught up', right."

"I know I messed up," Danny conceded, trying to assuage his friends' anger before they blew him off. "I just needed to clear my head...I needed some alone time."

"You're alone almost all the time, dude," Tuck responded, "that is, if you're not stalking me, Sam, or Valerie."

Wait...stalking? We barely even hang out.

"Yeah, Danny. We've backed off considerably in the past couple of months. And you need alone time?" Sam jeered.

Backed? Off? I barely even saw you guys. You BLEW me off!

"Well, you were busy any time I wanted to hang out," Danny tried.

"That's the problem, Danny," Tuck relented. "It's only when you want to hang out that we do."

What?! You guys have been ignoring me almost since sophomore year got out!

Sam calmed down a bit, looking at Danny, still mad, but a bit concerned. "Is this about something else?" She asked, attempting to find out if he knew about her and Tucker. "You know you can tell us anything, right?"

Something else...tell you guys anything?! "Like the way you two have been blowing me off for the past. Six. Months?! And sucking face behind my back?! And dissing me when I'm not around?! And jumping on my case when I make the slightest mistake because I'm supposed to be a freakin' hero or something but whenever I do what you want me to do you get all mad and jealous and...and...bitchy?! Is that something I can tell you?!" Danny snapped, yelling incredulously at the top of his lungs so loudly that even some of the teachers peaked out of the classrooms but then started to usher the uninvolved students in to prevent a crowd and to start the school day.

It wasn't until his face was fully red from exertion and Sam's and Tucker's faces paled at the exclamation did he know that he voiced his thoughts out loud. And even though it felt like a mountain of weight was lifted from his shoulders at that moment, voicing his problems in the open just made his world feel like it was falling apart even more. Before, he could try to ignore, to avoid his problem the chasm that grew between him and his friends and try to fix it up with a slightly sad smile and not so sincere apologies. It was like trying to connect the sides of the Grand Canyon with Duct Tape. Now that it was out for everyone to see, it was impossible to ignore.

Danny slowed his breathing, concentrating on his heartbeat, trying to calm down. "Guys," he started, attempting to apologize.

"No, Danny," Tucker interrupted. "Now we know how you feel. You don't have to apologize."

Danny asked dazedly, "I don't?"

"No, you don't," Sam replied. She moved her hand into Tucker's saying, "And now you know how we feel. And we aren't going to apologize either."

Danny just looked at them, slightly disbelieving but happy that they thought no apologies were necessary.

"We aren't going to say we're sorry for blowing you off. We aren't going to say we're sorry for avoiding you. And we aren't going to say we're sorry for talking about you behind your back, " Tuck stated.

Sam continued, "We aren't going to say we're sorry for dating. Nor are we going to say we're sorry from keeping it from you." She grasped Tucker's hand tighter. "We're not sorry for any of it, Danny. Mainly because Tuck and I love each other."

Tuck smiled at her, "Yeah, man. I really love Sam. If she needs me, I'm there. No ghosts. No delays. No half-assed excuses about detention, homework, or being grounded."

Danny stammered for a second. He thought everything was going well, but this sharp downhill drop made his hopes fall even more. It's almost like they're saying—

"It's your fault, Danny." Sam said, interrupting his thoughts. "You were the one who pushed us away. When the ghosts first showed up, we were there for you."

"Whenever and wherever you needed us, dude, we were there!" Tuck shouted. "Day or night. And it was a lot of night!"

"We lost hours of sleep for you. Great opportunities were missed for you!" Sam yelled.

"And we always—always!—volunteered our time, sacrificed our lives for you, Danny!" Tucker raged.

"But you and your stupid, ridiculous, ghost powers," Sam heatedly whispered, not forgetting that that little tidbit was still a secret, "you always had to rub it in our faces like you were Jesus come down from the Heavens. Well guess what, Fenton," Sam seethed, "I'm Jewish."

"And then you pushed us away. I guess we weren't powerful enough for you," Tucker yelled. "We were left behind! You left us alone! What were we supposed to do? Wait for you to return to us like some love-sick puppies?! I don't think so!"

"Me and Tuck are through with you, Danny," she yelled, only for the entire side of the school to hear. "You're nothing but a cancer on our friendship and our relationship."

Tucker leaned in close as to hinder any eavesdroppers and pointedly whispered to Danny, "Find yourself a new Team Phantom."

He grabbed Sam's hand and bypassed their lockers as the first bell for school rang throughout the halls, leaving Danny alone again.

Danny should have been mad. He should have been raving, foaming at the mouth, shouting obscenities in their general direction! He should have been calling them out on their lies and yelling at them about how they should be grateful for him, saving their pathetic lives day after day! He should have been screaming that they were never as close to death as he had been time after time except for that one Dark Dan incident! He should have told them off and screamed that if the Disateroid were to almost hit Earth, he would have amassed a team so great with power so fearsome and saved the world leading them! He should have...he should have...but he couldn't.

He hadn't wanted to fight with them, to have a falling out. He wanted everything to go back to normal. He didn't really care that Sam and Tuck were dating, just that they were keeping it from him. He wanted them to be friends again, for them to be happy together. And, not for the first time, he wanted to be fully human again. Danny was tired. So very tired. Of fighting, excuses, arguing, detentions, losing sleep, being grounded, the injuries, of it all. He was just tired. And two of his strongest support pillars just completely collapsed, leaving him wearily teetering on the rest.

He, Sam, and Tuck had been friends almost since diaper days. And now...he sighed, readjusting his backpack, and shoved his hands into his pockets, heading to his first class of the day while wondering if he should skip. Deciding against it—Running away from and avoiding my problems hasn't worked out too well for me before. Why would it change now?—he picked up his pace to get to class before the second bell rang.

Semi-lost in his thoughts and not paying attention to where he was going, he turned a corner quickly and crashed into another person. He stumbled back, starting to apologize with his head down, again, to whomever he bumped into.

"Catcher in the Rye, Mr. Fenton," he heard Mr. Lancer admonish. "Even with this morning's events,"—Did everyone hear it?—"you should pay attention to where you are going. Now apologize, young man." Danny saw Lancer's feet turn away from his direction to the other person with impeccably shiny, black dress shoes.

"Why, Mr. Lancer," a hauntingly familiar, suave voice replied, its shoes turning to face Danny. "I'm sure the young lad has many a conundrum occupying his thoughts and overcrowding his senses."

Wait...I know that voice, Danny thought, a bit embarrassed. Raising his head, while Mr. Lancer was still offering his sincerest apologies, his eyes swooped over well-tailored black dress pants, a crisp white shirt complemented with a black suit jacket with red accents and a thin, red, long strip bowtie.

"I'll see you before lunch starts, Mr. Mayor, for your sound check?" Mr. Lancer asked while walking away.

Vlad?

The older half ghost hummed in recognition as he stared at Danny, a calculating grin sweeping across the boy's features and face.

Instead of enraged like he normally felt when the Fruitloop was around to ruin his life, steal his mom, kill his dad, or infect his two best friends—ex-best friends—with ecto-acne, Danny was highly confused. He hadn't seen Vlad since the end of last school year and had frequently worried over what his arch nemesis was scheming before relenting and giving the man no second thought as he continued his time as mayor of Amity Park and business practices. Now that Vlad was facing him in the school hallway, all that Danny could articulate was a bemused, "Uh-Vlad? What are you doing here?"

Vlad's eyes shifted minutely with a searching look, so fast that Danny missed it, as he reached out his hand to grab Danny's shoulder. Danny tensed, prepared to defend against any and all attacks from the crazy old man, but was completely thrown off by the gentleness of Vlad's hand on his shoulder and the wave of peace it sent through him.

Vlad, now satisfied with whatever he was looking for, threw a warm and seemingly genuine smile at Danny.

"Little Badger."

Night: Understand why I whipped out the chainsaw now? You can't tell they don't have it coming.

Jenna: They really did, though. Now, onto reviews before she decides to kill anyone else and I have to make up a fake alibi for her.

Night: She really is a good friend.

Poohbearmorris: Why thank you for the greatnesseseseseses...eses.( Night: Forgive her she is sleep deprived.) But seriously, thanks :P! And cliffhangers are my specialty as you and the world soon shall know...I sound like like an evil villain.

Ninuhuju: I know I would but Night would kill me if I had Danny commit suicide. And he just seems like a character that would demean himself over and over again and hide all of his pain until it burst in an angst-splosion of sadness and despair. But don't worry, that's coming.

Totalfangirl01: You definitely jinxed it! We need to start calling you Bad Luck Tuck!Night: Don't worry Jazz is semi-safe. Threats of retribution have already been made should something happen to her. Jenna:...-_- What she said...and SPOILERS! But I guess you're just going to have to read and see!

Crimson Leo: Well keep reading and we hope you like what you see. NIGHT: Have a cookie it's gingerbread! Jenna: She's bribing you and I technically and legally cannot condone this licentious behavior. Night: Who says I have to have your approval? Again you want to end up like Sam and Tuck. No? Then you didn't see anything(penguins of Madagascar hand motions)

SomeItalian: That is high praise, madam. I'm antsy about character death. So we'll keep that on the back burner for now...for now.

shy wolf: He could...unless there were some catastrophic event preventing anyone from entering or leaving the Ghost Zone hmmmmm...naw just kidding. You'll find out why later!

ColorlessRainbow42: Here you go. Night would kill me-no, just hurt me. I still have to finish the story.

Good Witch of Babble: You really live up to your name :P. Night: Have a box of chocolate it's the Hershey's Pot of Gold. Jenna:...Ignore the crazy voices. And I really like your ideas. I hope you won't mind me stealing and integrating a few!

UltimateTouken: I hope you like Danny's mini-snap then too! And there will be a lot of Amity Park citizen bashing when the Teen Titans and Justice League get involved.

jh831: Here's course no. 1. Night: Darn straight! Though he still isn't violent enough for me. Though I am picking up the slack.

Kimori Takahashi: Fire? That's paltry compared to the shit I have in store for our poor Danny! Oh, and no way is he ever gonna be Dan bad...despite Night's wishes. That's just nightmare-inspiring!

Guest of honor: I hope this was soon enough, that you come back, and that you get an account so I can badger you!

Night: Now then on behalf of us both thank you to those who favorited and follow this story. Goodnight everyone we wish you and yours well!