Jazz had never been much of an artistic person, and as she stared at the crude sketch on the notebook in her hands that she had just finished, she wondered briefly if she should've paid more attention in Mr. Willis' art class back in fifth grade.

Flipping the page with a sigh, the girl tapped her pen absentmindedly against the new page, her mind wandering as she fidgeted where she sat. She'd been surprised at Freakshow's response when she'd asked for paper and pencil, the man immediately offering her a spiral book and fountain pen from a trunk without a word.

Her parents had been suspicious, flipping through the book and inspecting the pen for over twenty minutes, sure that something had to be wrong with them before she'd snatched them back. They'd been in their cages for two solid days and she was beyond bored, so she wasn't too concerned about the off chance something had been done to the items.

But she had set them aside until her parents had fallen asleep, instead spending her afternoon dozing when she could to escape the heat. At least at night there was a light breeze to stir the humid air around, and as Jasmine tilted her head back, she could feel the wind brush against her shoulders.

She knew Danny would rescue them, there was no doubt in her mind he would. She'd seen him singlehandedly defeat far stronger enemies on more than one occasion. Her only concern was how he would find the gems and get back before the end of the day tomorrow. That, and Freakshow had shown them the news that evening, nothing but his and his friends faces plastered over every news station in a nationwide hunt for the teenagers.

Danny hadn't done anything wrong, so why the government was so desperate to paint him as a criminal was beyond her. She understood they wanted him for the same reason their parents had, but he was a kid and they knew that now, so they weren't really planning to hurt a kid were they?

Running her fingers across her forehead, Jazz let out a soft sigh and pressed the tip of the pen against the paper and watched the ink bleed across the lines. Their parents had been coming around at the very least. From getting over their shock and guilt, to even quietly discussing how they could assist him in his fights.

Maybe their family would grow stronger from all of this, maybe her little brother would no longer have to carry the weight of the city on his shoulders. That would be nice.

Shifting closer to the bars, Jazz reached out a hand and gripped one of them tightly, blue eyes looking up at the stars as she inhaled the night air.

"You're up rather late, child."

The quiet voice drifts over from her left, her head turning to look at the strange man who was standing beside the door of his own train car.

"Tomorrow's a big day."

She remarked coolly, shifting away from the bars an inch as Freakshow clasped his hands behind his back and tilted his head up at her, inquiring eyes studying her intently.

"You're not worried?"

"Should I be?"

"If your brother does not return my gems by tomorrow evening, then yes, you should be very worried."

Looking down at her hands, Jazz crossed her legs and rested her elbows against her knees.

"Why are you so intent on destroying him?"

She asked quietly, and unlike when her father had baited him earlier, the man didn't look angry when he answered.

"He made me into a fool, he ruined my show and handed me and my ghosts over to those ridiculous Guys in White. They locked me away, they destroyed my life's work. All because of him."

"Didn't you hypnotize him and force him to be in your show against his will?"

She asked, arching a brow as the man waved his hand dismissively.

"That's beside the point. Either way, your brother is a menace."

"He can be annoying, and really infuriating sometimes, but he helps a lot of people. And he stops a lot of ghosts who want to destroy our home."

"Ghosts, ghosts, ghosts!" Freakshow yelled, his outburst startling the teenager as Jazz backed up further, watching him warily as he threw his arms into the air. "Always ghosts! You have no idea what it's like living in the shadow of ghosts all your life!"

Looking over at where her parents were asleep, Jazz watched her father turn over, muttering under his breath as the girl turned back to Freakshow.

"Oh I think I have some idea."

She frowned, grabbing her pen and notebook and scribbling down a note as Freakshow continued with his rant.

"My parents loved ghosts more than me," He said, his shoulders slumping as he stared at the ground. "My audience loves ghosts more than me, and deep down.." He mumbled, turning back to Jasmine with an expression that was almost heartbreaking. "I think I love ghosts more than me."

Dropping his head and pushing it against the bars, Jasmine scrawled a few more words in her book and leaned closer.

"Tell me about it."

She sighed, resting her chin in her hand as she looked back towards her parents. All they'd cared about her whole life was chasing ghosts. She'd never really held it against them until Danny came along, but she hated how they always put their ghost hunting above their kids.

Now she was an adult, or practically one at least. She had college to think about, and exams and tests and she was fine by herself. She didn't need her parents coddling her or trying to rope her into the family business. But they ignored Danny.

When his grades first started falling they didn't even notice, it was Jasmine who had tried to help him find time to study. When he came home with black eyes or bruises from being shoved in the lockers and pummeled by bullies, it was her who helped comfort him and made sure he took medicine for the swelling.

All those nights he would come home at two or three in the morning and she would hear him clattering around in the kitchen or bathroom, she was always the one to patch him up and make sure he ate something.

She loved her parents, she really did. But surprisingly Freakshow was right; it did feel like her parents loved ghosts more than they loved their kids sometimes.

Looking back to her captor, she was startled to find him leaning closer, watching her with sadness in his eyes.

"You feel it too, don't you?"

Jazz hated to admit it, but she did. And it was nice, despite his creepiness, to know there was someone else out there who understood those feelings too.

Between Danny and her parents, she couldn't escape ghosts. She didn't think there had ever even been a day in her life when ghosts had not come up constantly. Even when she was on school trips away from home, she was the girl with the freaky ghost hunting parents.

She was the weirdo whose family was responsible for the ghosts that always screwed with their town. And now she would be the girl whose brother was the ghost boy. How hard would she have to work now to field the questions and the fans?

She wanted to protect Danny with everything in her, but it was overwhelming. She wanted a normal life so badly, or at least one where she wasn't locked in a cage for days because some Freak wanted to rule the world and destroy her family. But it seemed like ghosts were the only thing on anyone's mind anymore. Sometimes she just.. Sometimes she wanted..

"Sometimes I wish I was a ghost."

As the words left her lips, they mingled with the man's as their eyes met, crimson locked onto aqua as a look of understanding passed between the two with their shared sentence.

"You really do understand me, don't you child?"

He whispered, continuing to stare as she looked back at her parents. Her father rolled to his other side, his hand clenching against his chest as he muttered in his sleep.

"Ghosts.. ghosts.. get back!"

Blinking once, a sigh left her as she looked back to the man and slouched against her hand again.

"More than you know."

"Then why?" Looking back up, the Freak was leaning against the bars, his arms folded as he posed the question. "Why did you never say a word?"

"About what? About Danny?"

"You could've told the world, or you could've gone off, left it all behind."

Frowning, Jazz picked up her pen and scribbled another note down before clicking the pen twice.

"They're still my family." She said firmly, staring at him as he stared at the moon. "And Danny is still my little brother, half ghost or not. Maybe our family is weird, and definitely unorthodox, but they're my family and I would do anything to protect them."

"But who made that your job?" She said nothing, gripping the pen tighter as the man backed away and regarded her with a faint smirk. "Those people? The ones you claim to love so dearly. They thrust that job upon you, placed the weight of your brother on your shoulders without even asking. Don't you hate them for that? Don't you wish it could all be different? You're a clever young woman, and when I get my gems back, I can make it right. I can give you a life without an annoying nuisance of a brother. Give you parents who aren't obsessed with capturing ghosts. You could start anew."

"I wouldn't be me." She interjected, pushing herself to her feet as she pulled the notebook to her chest. "If you take away my brother and the core personalities of my parents, you take away me too. They shaped who I am, for better or worse. And I like the person I am. If you take all of that away, maybe life would be more normal, but you'd be taking away everything that I am now and there might not be anything of who I was left."

His smirk twists into a scowl, his eyes flashing in anger as he turned his back to her, his fingers drumming against his other hand.

"You're telling me you don't want it all to end? Funny, I would've thought otherwise. I suppose we don't understand one another as I thought."

Without another word Freakshow sauntered away, retreating once more into his own train car as Jazz sunk to her knees, her body trembling as she reached out for the bars holding her in. Pressing her head against the metal, she bit down on her bottom lip.

"You're telling me you don't want it all to end?"

That's what he'd said. For it all to end. He meant something entirely different, she knew that. He meant death and destruction and controlling the universe. But in some respect he was right. She wanted it to end. She wanted her family to be whole again and for her brother to be happy. She wanted her parents to stop caring so much about ghosts and pay a bit more attention to them. Just a little.

She wanted them to see how lost Danny was in life, she wanted them to see what their careers were doing to him. And she wanted to go to them like she used too. She wanted to let them help carry her problems for just a little longer. Maybe she was almost an adult, but maybe she still needed her parents from time to time too. Maybe she did want it to end.

"More than you know.."

A/N

Every chapter is sad now, that wasn't my intention but here we are. The show portrays Jasmine as the voice of reason, as being the more normal one in her family, and I think people forget sometimes that she's just a kid herself with her own portion of the world's weight on her shoulders. I actually really love Jazz and she needs a story all her own someday.