Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom.

Note (9/14/2020): Yeah the last chapter went pretty deep and intense so at least this one will have SOME comic relief, but things are starting to slowly come together. That being said, I'm probably going to be taking a short break from working on this story to rewatch the show and finish sorting out a few story elements, but I'll be back soon! And I have a lot of cool stuff planned for the next few chapters that should be interesting all around plus I really need to switch gears so I can focus on Valerie and Dani again for a bit.

So in that case just assume that Danny's trying to get back into a normal routine again until Vlad gives him the ok to get ready for school again which will be fun since he's going to be going to a fancy private school. In a way that's still so sad because Dani would love to be able to go to a normal school and make friends but we'll just have to wait and see how her side of the story pans out...

Chapter 25: Running Only Gets You So Far

(Chapter inspired by Running Away by My Buddy Mike)

Danielle's POV

As much as it pained me not to help people like I usually do whenever I can, I wasn't going to take ANY chances after the whole robbery fiasco at that general convenience store I tried to stop. When my hand started melting that was a real wake up call for me and reminded me how important it is for me to focus on just getting to Danny as quickly as possible. He'll know what to do.

Once I got the chance to finally take a breather, I made sure to grab as much food as I could possibly carry in my backpack and left all the money I had left on the counter at a gas station just off the side of the road. I felt bad taking as much as I did since the money I had left wasn't going enough to cover everything I needed to get through the next few days, but I needed to keep moving and remember exactly why I'm fighting so hard to get back to Amity Park in the first place...

The reason I'm doing all of this, why I'm suffering through all this pain and loneliness, it's all so that I can warn Danny because he's all I have left. He's the only one who can help me find a place where I'll finally be safe from Vlad and these government creeps. A place I can call home where I won't have to run away or hide anymore. That's all I can really hope for anymore since I know I'll never be able to live a normal life.

At least not with the way I am now.

With a sigh, I returned my attention to the road in front of me and kept putting one foot in front of the other even though I felt so tired. Normally I don't travel this late at night unless I have to, but since I've been stuck in that other town for the past few days because of a nasty cold it cost me several days' worth of travel. But if I follow this road I should reach the next town in an hour or so and at least the weather has cleared up. Besides, now that I'm further out of town I can at least enjoy watching the stars roll by in the meantime, and thanks to my ghost sight I can still see really easily even in the dark.

That's one interest I don't mind sharing with Danny. We both love flying and stargazing and sometimes when I feel really down I'll just float on my back and look at the stars. It helps me find hope again even in the darkest of places when I really need it.

I was debating stopping for the night before too long when I saw a pair of headlights behind me. There weren't many cars on this road to begin with so it was odd seeing at least two heading my way. Maybe someone was out on a road trip together or heading home after a family reunion? Either way, I stepped a bit further off the side of the road hoping they wouldn't notice me since I had this funny feeling fluttering in my stomach that something was off. And I wasn't sure why at first either.

I didn't want to seem paranoid or anything, but given that I haven't seen any of those Guys in White yet had me feeling really on edge. I was so sure that the instant I overused my powers they'd lock onto my ghost signature again and the chase would be back on. But I haven't seen any sign of them which is almost worst than being chased by those crazy bloodhounds.

Watching the light behind me get closer I tried to act casual even when I noticed it slowing down as soon as the headlights hit my red backpack. I hated how it was such a bright color but I didn't want to have to steal a new one. I feel like enough of a criminal and a fugitive as it is. My heart started racing when I heard the wheels hit the gravel as they pulled over next to me...

Don't panic, just act natural, I told myself, then slowly turned around when I heard footsteps approaching me. But as soon as I laid eyes on the person in front of me my heart sank to the pit of my stomach. That uniform, these guys were totally those Guys in White agents! But how did they find me? And why was this guy-!

My thoughts were immediately cut off when another agent stepped out of the car and called, "Hey, why did you stop? We haven't reached our destination yet-"

Gesturing at me, the man in front of me frowned, "Because in case you haven't noticed, there's a young lady here who looks like she could use a ride. I know we're on a tight schedule but I can't ignore someone who might be in need."

Smiling at me the guy in front of me asked, "I'm sorry if we startled you, but it's dangerous for a girl to be traveling alone this late at night. I didn't expect to see anyone out here walking to town on foot."

Think Dani, give them a story they'll actually believe! Trying my best to sound convincing I admitted, "It's ok, I'm actually on my way home after getting into a fight with my dad. It was over something really stupid too and I was planning on running away from home to stay at a friend's house when I changed my mind and turned around. So if...you don't mind giving me a ride back I'd really appreciate it."

I hope this works because I'm pretty sure it'd be more suspicious if I told them I didn't need a ride. Looking up at him unsurely I asked, "Actually, my dad told me never to go anywhere with strangers so would you mind telling me who you are? My name is Sarah. What's yours?"

"Smart girl. Well, I can't tell you my real name but they call me Agent D, it's nice to meet you Sarah. You actually remind me a bit of my own daughter since she tried to run away from home once when she was sixteen and I refused to buy her a car. What she didn't know was that I already had and it was sitting in the garage with a bow so I still bug her about it to this day," smiling he led me to the car and told the person in the back to move over.

As I carefully ducked inside the car I made a mental note of the fact that I was going to be sitting in a car with not just two, but THREE government agent dudes that are gunning for my ghost-half and Danny's. I just hope I'll be able to convince them to drop me off somewhere as soon as we get to town instead of trying to talk to my 'dad' since it seemed like there's somewhere else they needed to be right now.

Again I don't know anything about these people except that they hunt ghosts and by extension, that means they're hunting me. So I needed to be extra careful not to use my powers at ALL while riding in the car with them. I just hope I'm not making another huge mistake right now getting so close to them. But at least now I know they are on my trail again so as soon as I'm in the clear I'll wait them out before using my powers again to hopefully get a head start before they track me down again.

I barely caught myself before I flinched when the guy next to me offered a bag of chips to me and asked if I was hungry so I timidly smiled and said thanks before I took a couple then popped them in my mouth. I was still insanely nervous but I tried not to show it and as much as I hated to rely on Vlad's acting lessons, they were going to have to help me out of this mess because I was an idiot and stuck too close to the road. I really thought no one would be out driving so late and there was still the other car behind us that was clearly following this one so they were traveling together, so the question is, where are they going?

With my ghost hearing, I heard the guy in the passenger's seat up front ask Agent D in the driver's seat in a hushed voice, "Are you sure this is a good idea? We could get in big trouble for picking up a civilian."

"Relax, we're not far from town and besides," his tone grew serious and I swallowed hard when he continued, "Our sensors indicate the target is somewhere in this area and it just doesn't feel right leaving a little girl on the side of the road like that when there's a dangerous ghost in the area. Besides, someone less savory than us could have come across Sarah and hurt her or worse and it's our job to protect the people. So I won't tell the chief about this if you won't Agent J. Deal?"

With a sigh Agent J leaned back in his seat and crossed his arms, smirking, "Fine, but you owe me a drink before we head back to the airship."

I blinked, Airship? What airship? That can't be good...

Clearing his throat to distract me from their whispering Agent D asked the guy in the seat next to me, "Everything alright back there Agent L? You're not bugging our guest are you?"

Choking on a mouthful of chips, Agent L sputtered and replied, "What? Me? Of course not, I even shared my chips with her!"

"Good," Agent D nodded to himself before calling back to me, "Sorry about him, we're not supposed to act so unprofessionally when we're on duty but I'm sure you won't tell anyone right, Sarah?"

"N-no, I won't tell! I mean, you're like government spies or bodyguards or something right? So don't worry I can keep a secret! And um, Agent L really did share some of his chips with me. That was nice of him," then, trying to act more cheerful I offered, "I have some snacks of my own too if you want to share them. Consider them thanks for the ride back home."

"Got any chocolate?" Agent L leaned over and whispered hopefully.

Nervously I reached into my bag praying I did have some chocolate and thankfully my hand closed around a Crunch bar which I handed to him and he whooped like a little kid. I wasn't about to let my guard down, but I didn't expect these guys to seem so...well normal. I thought they were ruthless single-minded ghost hunters so seeing them acting so nice was kinda throwing me off. Glancing past them at the clock on the dashboard I mentally groaned when I realized that only fifteen minutes had passed since I got in the car...

This was going to be the longest car ride of my life.

"Thanks for the ride," I smiled and waved after picking a random house on the edge of town to pretend was mine since it looked the part because it had a swing on the patio and looked homely enough.

"You're welcome. And remember what I said, your dad works hard too so sometimes you have to cut him some slack since he just wants the best for you. Take care Sarah and don't go running off on your own again ok? It's dangerous out there," he said, glancing at the door, "Are you sure you don't want me to talk to him? He might go easier on you when he realizes how upset you were to the point of wanting to run away."

"No no, it's ok!" I said hastily, waving my arms, "I'd rather just sneak in before he knows I ran away at all. Besides I'm sure we'll get the chance to talk in the morning and sort this all out."

"Well alright, if you say so," he finally relented, straightening up again and glancing at Agent J, "I suppose we'd better get going anyway before WE get in trouble too."

Smiling I nodded, "Yep, we wouldn't want that! So goodbye and thanks again for the help."

"Bye Sarah, and thanks again for sharing your snacks with us!" Agent L waved happily from the back with a second candy bar in his hand.

Waving I waiting until they started driving away before walking around the side of the house while pretending like I did live here as I started climbing the ivy I spotted when we drove up to this house in the first place. I didn't climb all the way up, I just sort of stayed there until I felt like the coast was clear before climbing back down and heaving a huge sigh.

"That was a close call. But seriously, what are they doing here? And what airship are they talking about? That can't be good at all because it must mean they're pulling out the big guns to find Danny," looking around, I kept going further into the back yard where I saw a treehouse in the back and figured that would be the perfect place to spend the rest of the night as long as I woke up before anyone noticed a stranger sleeping there and freaked out.

And at least I was smart enough not to give those guys my real name or even a last one so they wouldn't try to do a background check on me for whatever reason. But while I'm glad I caught a weirdly lucky break hitching a ride with some Guys in White, what they said when they thought I couldn't hear them had me worried. I felt like something big was going on and I was torn between trying to find out myself or sticking to the plan and getting to Danny before they could once the coast is clear.

Yawning I climbed up into the treehouse and after making sure it was empty I unpacked my sleeping bag and curled up inside, my mind full of questions but I was too tired to figure anything out so I pretty much immediately fell asleep even though I was planning to stay up a little longer just to make sure they didn't change their minds and come check up on me and my 'dad' anyway. Agent D seemed like a nice person, but I knew if he found out what I really am, none of them would have been that nice to me. I'm just glad they were at least nice to me tonight because by tomorrow morning we were going to be enemies again because I needed to get to Danny fast for both our sakes, especially if these guys are sending an airship full of goons after us.

I just hope I'll be able to make it in time.