It was so late, Danny knew he was going to get no sleep with this battle he was fighting, it would keep him up all night, he was so tired from the lack of sleep this week that he was slower to react. Skulker was usually nice enough to attack him at school during the day, but Vlad knew Danny needed sleep to function so he would send goons at night to prevent exactly that.
Tonight he had been so off his game that Vlad called Valerie in to fight Danny who was just barely dodging her shots.
Danny felt the white hot pain as she finally shot him and to her surprise he bled, he cried out in pain and fell to the ground, he reached for the wound and whimpered. Scrambling to get up to hide, he kept going on foot, it was strange to Valerie that he wasn't flying but she had a job to do.
The next shot hit and he wailed in pain and tried to fly, he didn't make it more than two feet off the ground but he was moving faster.
The final shot hit him in the leg and he went down, he curled up on the ground and the green blood gushed faster than he could heal, he shivered and cried, he was trying to keep from transforming. He needed to get to Sam or Tucker...someone. Anyone who would help him. Sew up his wounds.
He had no time, he had to hide in a civilian's house and hope they won't wake up while he rumages for bandages and a sewing kit.
He used all his energy to turn intangible and run into the closest back street to duck into a random house. Once inside Danny looked around for a bathroom and hurried to sit in the shower, turning on the scalding hot water, his body trembling from the pain.
Danny was so exhausted and woozy from lack of sleep and loss of blood that when the light turned on he didn't even process he had been caught.
Lancer stared at the sight before him, the Phantom was in his shower shivering and scared, wounded and bleeding. He didn't know what to do but he knew that though Phantom was a ghost he was still a teenage boy, and right now he was scared and hiding.
Lancer figured he was being hunted down by The Red Hunter as the kids have been calling her. He couldn't imagine how terrifying being hunted down would be but the Phantom in front of him was here and he had to help in some way.
Lancer cleared his throat and crouched down "Uhum...excuse me, are you alright Phantom? Might I ask why you're in my bathroom?"
The tired green eyes began to glow as realization and fear fell upon his face, he looked up quickly and met Lancer's concerned eye. Danny didn't feel the tears begin to fall but because of the shower head raining hot water on him it wasn't obvious he was crying until he stood up with a wobble and stammered steps.
Danny pleaded to Lancer "Please, don't yell, don't call out to the hunter, I promise I didn't mean to barge in I just...please I just need to stitch myself up and I'll leave just please don't tell her i'm here or she'll kill me."
Lancer shook his head "I won't inform the person hunting you of where you are, and don't worry about leaving, you can stay as long as you need to…...however I would recommend cleaning those wounds right away."
Danny looked surprised but grateful, he then realised he had been crying and rubbed at his face "Thank you."
Lancer gave a sad smile and nodded. He turned to his cabinet and began to look for his first aid kit.
Phantom sat back under the stream of water for a little while longer. As soon as he heard the cabinet door close he shut off the water. Lancer sat across from the shower on the toilet.
Danny looked at him quizzically and Lancer answered the unspoken question. "I'll clean those wounds and stitch them up for you."
Danny hesitantly pulled down the top of his jumpsuit to reveal two large gashes on his back, he tied the suit sleeves around his waist. Lancer set a step stool in front of him and let Danny sit in front of him.
After some cleaning Lancer grabbed the stitching supply kit inside the big first aid box, it looked like a military first aid kit. Danny thought it was strange. Lancer wanted to distract the teen while he sewed up the gashes.
Lancer cleared his throat and asked, "So, is your name Phantom? Or is that just your hero name?"
Danny gave it some thought and answered his question "I don't know what my name was when I was alive but I chose the name Danny Phantom because of a series of events after my death."
Lancer had begun his stitching "How old are you?"
Danny laughed and said "I died at fourteen but I'm supposed to be sixteen by now. You're the first person to even ask me anything about myself."
Lancer felt sad, this boy had died so young "Well if I'm going to help someone I'd like to know more about them. Especially when I know I could help them more often than just once."
Danny smiled "I could use more support...I wish I could talk to my parents about this but….th-they don't believe in ghosts ya know? Heh…..well um...I do have a few other allies who help me, but they didn't have to ask anything about me. They knew me pretty well and helped me pick my name."
Lancer was listening carefully, letting his mind absorb every word. "Well these friends sound nice, do they usually sew up your wounds?"
Danny shook his head a bit "Not all the time, I make it a habit not to get hit, but sometimes I need it and well, it's just standard sewing for clothes but it manages to hold until I heal completely."
Lancer paused to ask "How long does it take you to heal?"
Danny shrugged one shoulder, choosing to keep the injured one still "Depends on the wounds. This should take two days to heal but something like being mauled by a werewolf ghost took me about a week, my chest scarred pretty bad. Only the big wounds scar, the smaller ones disappear pretty quickly and I never see any sign that they were there."
Lancer took a moment to actually look at the teen's back and scars were scattered on his body from where he could see. It broke his heart to know that ghosts could be injured, feel pain, and bleed.
Lancer asked "Do ghosts have doctors for when they get injured?"
Danny just laughed "No, normal ghosts don't really get hurt that often and they heal a lot faster, I just happen to get the short end of the stick with healing cause I got more powers than most."
Lancer tightened the stitches and asked "Do the stitches hurt? Or are they too small to really feel?"
Danny said "I can feel it, but it doesn't hurt as much as getting shot, and I'm used to the feel of stitches."
Lancer couldn't help but wonder if he was hurt mentally but then again this was just a ghost wasn't it? Then again, he doesn't remember ever seeing another ghost bleed.
Before Lancer could ask another question, Danny said "It's nice to talk to a grownup about this stuff. The only ghost that has offered to talk and even train me also tries to kill me on a daily basis."
Lancer was curious "Why do you keep saying the word kill? Aren't you already dead? It's not as though you could die again, is it?"
Danny slumped forward a bit, he had slipped up with his words and he needed to come up with an excuse and fast "Well um….uh. You see I'm not exactly certain of what happens. Humans die and can become ghosts but those who don't have moved on, I haven't moved on yet and what you're seeing is my soul. It can be torn apart, shattered, destroyed. It's the death of a ghost, no moving on to wherever, just disappearing forever and never getting the option to come back."
Lancer had stopped moving completely, he didn't know what to say, so he just tried to think of a question to steer the conversation in a different direction.
"Does your soul look like the body you used to inhabit?"
Danny felt Lancer tie off the first set of stitches and answered with a quick head shake. "I look way different, for one I was born a girl...I died before I could even start Testosterone. The fun thing about being a ghost is that my body soul matches who i feel I am, a boy. This is the me I never got to become."
Lancer smiled "Well that's something to look forward to if I become a ghost, I get to have my hair back."
They both laughed and talked back and forth about the ghost zone and what it's like being a ghost while Lancer stitched up the other gash on Danny's back. When Danny pulled up his pant leg and turned around Lancer looked concerned that he hadn't known about this one. He repeated the cleaning process with the gash on his leg and this time he got to see Danny flinch. But what caught his eye was the three large scars that crossed Danny's chest from his shoulder to the adjacent hip while he was zipping up his jumpsuit.
Lancer thought it best not to ask but it broke his heart even more just to see that this child had gone through so much after death.
"So, Danny, do you remember what your life was like? Do you have fond memories?"
Danny looked up with sad eyes "I was bullied a lot….I don't remember where I went to school but I remember i was shoved in my locker a lot, that i was encouraged to kill myself. If I had gone to see what life was like once i was gone they would either rejoice in my death or no one would notice I was dead and gone. That's how I feel. I did have friends I think….but they were the ones who dared me to check out that damned machine I-...nevermind."
Lancer asked "Did they lead you to your death?"
Danny became frantic "They didn't know what would happen, it's not their fault! They just wanted me to see if I could fix it, and when I accidentally turned it on…it electrocuted me. Every time I feel a zap from electricity it makes me relive my death. It wasn't their fault, they didn't know it would kill me. I wish I could convince them that it's not their fault."
Lancer wiped away his tears and said "I'll make this quick and then we can have some tea, if you can sleep then I can provide my spare room for you, either way this is a safe place for you to come and stay if you ever need help. During weekdays I am in classroom 28 at Casper High, I hope you'll wait for the break times to interact with me but if it is urgent just leave me a sign that you need help and I will work as fast as possible to get out of the classroom to talk with you."
Danny smiled with tears in his eyes "Thank you Mr. Lancer. I just need to rest for a bit and I'll be okay…..I should tell you, one of the other friends I have is Danny Fenton, kind of how I got my name, Tucker Foley said I looked like a ghost Danny and joked about the name Danny Phantom but I took it...anyway. He's helped me with fighting ghosts and I'm kind of the reason why she's in trouble at school."
Lancer sighed "I see, well we can all talk about this business later, for now you should relax."
After he finished stitching Danny's leg and bandaged him up he fixed Danny with the guest bedroom and left him a hot cup of chamomile tea. Later in the night Danny went home, sleeping a good four hours before rushing to get to school.
Lancer woke up to find the room empty and the cup of tea had been finished and washed clean. He smiled with a fondness, these kids were his life and he felt like a father because of it. Lancer was willing to care for any lost teen who needed his help, dead or alive.