Ectoplasmic Secrets

What Am I

Summary: From the instant he wakes up on the cold tile floor, he knows something is very, very wrong.

Eyes still unopened, Danny became aware of his position on the lab floor, as he felt the side of his face pressed against the cool metal tiles. It didn't take more than a moment for him to remember why he was there.

Blue eyes slowly blinked open and it became instantly obvious that something had changed, something was wrong. Colors were all distorted in his eyes, not so much changed around, but more like altered just enough for it to be obvious. He tried closing his eyes and opening them again many times, but it did nothing.

Danny took a breath and tried to recount everything that had happened. He looked down at his right hand as it stung from being pressed against the floor. What he saw, was possibly even weirder than the change in his vision. Dread settled in his stomach as he looked at the faintly glowing green Lichtenburg figure that trailed up his wrist and forearm.

"What the hell...?"

He tried to wipe the mark away, wincing when it began to tingle and burn again. The green was definitely ectoplasm, and it didn't come off, so that meant it wasn't just on the surface, it was inside him.

"Human...biology and stuff shouldn't be able to mix with ectoplasm" he said to himself, remembering some of the stuff his parents had told him and Jazz about Ectology., "but then how...?". He looked closely at the weird green scar and swore he could almost see the ectoplasm pulsing and moving. Glancing around the room in confusion. his eyes soon landed on the portal.

The green vortex now pulsed and swirled steadily.

"...how am I alive?"

It didn't make any sense. Danny might not have wanted to ever follow in his parents footsteps, but he had picked up enough information on both that portal and Ectology in general to know that there is no way he should even still be breathing. He knew the voltage he'd been hit with itself probably should have been enough to do him in, and that didn't even account for the amount of exposure to raw, pure ectoplasm that he was sure he'd had.

Suddenly remembering something, he turned and glanced at the digital clock on the wall and his eyes widened.

5:46

"I was passed out for hours?!"

Getting up was a bit painful, but he hurried to do it and ran up the stairs and out of the lab, all while just hoping his parents and Jazz weren't back yet. When he got to the top of the stairs and closed the lab door behind him, he was expecting to get dizzy or lightheaded from the sudden motion, but instead he felt oddly energized. Looking around he found the kitchen and living room empty, and it hadn't looked like anyone had come in.

A few minutes later Danny had made it upstairs to his room. He shut the door and leaned his back against it when he suddenly felt like everything inside of him was burning and itching and stinging. He cried out in surprise and slid down the door to the floor. Briefly wondering if death was just finally catching up, he curled in on himself. Every muscle in his body was tense and he was either shaking or shivering, he really couldn't tell which one at this point.

The odd wave of burning pain passed almost as quickly as it had come, leaving Danny confused and scared on the floor, all alone in the house. A moment later he spied his phone sitting on the carpet floor a couple feet away and reached for it.

His hand was shaking as he found his best friend's contact and dialed.

It rang, and rang, and rang, and eventually it went to voicemail. After the beep Danny took a breath and started talking.

"Hey Tuck."

Pause. He didn't know how to say this, he didn't even know what to say.

"Something happened, something crazy, and I just don't- I don't know what to do, and I don't know-"

...what I am.

"Could you just- just call me back."

He hung up.

Around an hour later it was just past seven and Danny felt his stomach twist with dread and anxiety when he heard the front door open and his mom calling to him. I can do this. Just keep it together, don't let them know just yet. He was just about to head downstairs when he noticed the green scar was very visible where it was on his palm and arm. He ran over to his closet he pulled out an old light green jacket before slipping it on, effectively covering the majority of the mark. Unfortunately, it was still pretty noticeable on his palm. An idea popped into his head as he dug to the bottom of one of his drawers and pulled out old black gloves that cut off at the fingers. He slipped them on quickly and ran downstairs, hoping they wouldn't get too suspicious of it.

"Hey" he greeted on his way down the stairs. "Hey, son! You missed it! At one of the colleges they had a presentation about their astronomy program, even had a speaker from NASA, you would've loved it!" Danny smiled at the fact that his parents always knew how much he wanted to work at NASA one day as an astronaut. Of course, his smiled faded as he remembered his thoughts from earlier. If this thing is permanent…would I even be able to be an astronaut? They have to pass so many medical exams…what if…

"Are you cold or something?" Jazz suddenly asked. Danny looked up at her with wide eyes, "Well, yeah, I-I mean, it just seemed extra cold in my room, which is where I was...all day, so…yeah, so I decided to put on a jacket…and gloves." Jazz just raised an eyebrow, "Okay, whatever." then she added in a whisper, however, Danny still heard her clearly, "I still say we need a normal family vacation…"

"Whoa! Hey Mads, honey, you might want to have a look at this!" Jack suddenly yelled from the other room. Oh no, Danny thought, the portal. Maddie followed Jack's voice and after a moment she yelled, "It's working?! B-but how?!" She went down into the lab to investigate more while Jack came back into the living room, "Danny, you were home all day, did you notice the portal started working?" He gulped, "I-it is? I mean, it did? No I didn't- didn't notice." Thankfully for him, it wasn't his mom there interrogating him, or she would've noticed something was up, his dad, however, remained oblivious.

"You sure you didn't even hear anything?" he asked. "Nope, no, didn't hear anything, but I did fall asleep for a couple of hours, so, I-I don't know." Jack seemed to accept his son's answers and a smile grew on his face, "Well I can't believe it, but it seems to be working like a charm now!" Danny forced a smile for his dad and soon after retreated back to his room and shut the door.

Hours passed but Danny barely moved until it was nearly one in the morning. Tucker had never called him back, he figured he'd probably gotten his phone taken away again. Danny was actually a bit glad for that, because even if Tucker had called back, he didn't know what he would even tell him.

A/N: Hey! Thought I'd let you guys know I won't be posting a new chapter tomorrow, but I will continue the next day (Saturday, December 29th).

Thank you all very much for reading/favoriting/following/reviewing!