Danny stared at Jazz. Does she know? Is she mad? Scared? Ashamed? Or maybe this is about something else entirely…
"The truth?" He gulped.
"Danny, don't you understand? I'm your sister. You don't need to be scared. You can tell me anything. Just trust me," Jazz insisted.
"I'm…" Danny trailed off, looked at the ground, and then turned away from Jazz, rubbing the back of his neck like he did whenever he was nervous. He looked back at her after a few moments, and she looked at him with warm, loving eyes. She didn't seem scared or angry…She seemed calm and confident. Two things he definitely wasn't at this point. "I want to tell you. It's just…"
She crossed her arms and gazed at him expectantly.
"I swear to God, if you don't tell me right now, I'm going to use your own Fenton thermos on you."
Oh my God…She doesknow.
"I - um - okay…" Danny could barely get words out and definitely failed to make sense of the ones he did say. "Okay," Danny breathed in deeply. "You want the truth? I guess I will just show it to you." He took another deep breath and closed his eyes as he put his arms out to his sides and squeezed his hands into fists. The room filled with a bright flash of light as white rings formed around Danny's torso and travelled up and down his body, changing his clothes to a black and white hazmat suit and his hair to snowy white. He opened his eyes, and they were now an otherworldly shade of ectoplasmic green.
Though she knew this was coming, Jazz was still astonished as she watched the transformation. Everything was confirmed: her little brother, Danny Fenton, was, in fact, DannyPhantom. The fact that she had figured it out on her own before this didn't make seeing the proof any less shocking. "Whoa…you really are him," she muttered, looking her brother up and down with wide eyes as if seeing him for the first time.
Danny watched her every expression. "What are you thinking?"
"You're saying you can't read minds too?" Jazz joked.
He chuckled, but his anxiety remained.
"How did it happen?" She asked, one hand on her chin.
Danny had been holding his breath for a while, scared of what she might be thinking and terrified that her hate of Danny Phantom would over-rule her love of him. He let that breath out to answer. "The lab accident all those years ago… When I, um, fixed the portal, it basically turned me inside out."
Jazz face palmed. "How did I not figure that out myself? And that is around the time that you started becoming so distant… So you're a halfa just like Vlad?"
Danny grimaced at the mention of his long-time foe, but nodded as it was true. "There are only 3 of us in the world."
"Who's the third?"
"That's a long story for another time."
"Did you know Vlad was a ghost when he revealed himself to the world?"
"I've known since we first met him at Mom and Dad's school reunion. Ever since then, he's been a total pain in my ass and an expert at making my life a living hell."
She frowned. "So you've had to go through all of this alone? Being a half-ghost. Fearing our parents wouldn't accept you and constantly being threatened by them? Are you okay?" Her eyebrows furrowed as she placed a caring hand on his shoulder.
He flinched a little, and she put her hand down. "I've learned to live with it." He peered at the ground again, not wanting her to see that his eyes were welling up with tears.
She noticed so she changed the subject. "So when you said you've been in the Ghost Zone all this time you weren't actually kidding around."
He nodded. "I was in the Far Frozen with the yetis."
She raised a brow. "I'll pretend like I know where that is. I guess I don't need to ask if Sam and Tucker know."
"They were there when I became Phantom."
She nodded slowly then veered into a whole other topic. "So about the murders -"
"It wasn't me. I swear. I was being controlled by this ghost named The Master. He is basically the ultimate puppeteer. He is controlling every one of those ghosts out there. Most of them are good, really. I mean, not evil at least. The point is, the only way to stop these ghost raids would be to find the source and take it down."
"I believe you."
He breathed out a sigh of relief and smiled. "That's something I've been needing to hear for a while."
Jazz smiled back at her little brother then hugged him tightly. "I've missed you," she said, tears streaming down her face.
"I've missed you too," Danny cried. The camera zoomed in on Danny's content face to which Danny replied (breaking the fourth wall): "Oh, come on. Can we have some privacy here?"
Jazz wanted to know everything about Danny's life, in and out of the Ghost Zone. She wanted to know all that she had missed, make sense of things that hadn't made sense at the time, what ghosts he had fought, all of the powers he had, everything. But, presently, they didn't have time for such conversations. Top priority was taking down The Master.
After they were done hugging, Danny gasped and cold air escaped his mouth. "Dammit."
Jazz cocked her head.
"Ghost sense," he explained.
"DANNY!"
The siblings exchanged worried glances just before Danny flew out of the house, and Jazz sprinted down the stairs. Jazz arrived outside a minute or two after Danny had gotten there and saw that a mad-scientist-looking ghost was taking over the RV. Danny swept in and slammed Technus into the car with brute force.
"Long time no see Technus," he said.
The ghost replied. "You?!" He raised his hands and the RV started running, ecto-rays and the like came out of the front of the car and pointed at Danny. He yelped as he jumped out of the way and the ecto-rays all went off simultaneously. One sliced Danny's arm. He shot an ecto-beam at Technus who screamed and fell over. Danny pulled his thermos off of his belt and sucked Technus in.
"That was quick," Jazz stated.
"Over time it becomes more routine than anything."
Sam and Tucker ran over. "Oh, um, thanks Phantom!" Tucker exclaimed.
He transformed back into his human form, and Sam and Tucker gawked at him. "It's okay. She knows."
They both couldn't help but smile. "It's about time," Sam said.
The sound of fighting in the distance reminded them that the battle was still far from over. "The effects of my wail must've worn off. You guys need to get back there. I, on the other hand, need to head to the Ghost Zone and take down The Master."
"Not alone," Jazz said. "What if he makes you kill again?"
"Well, I guess I could wear a Specter Deflector," he suggested.
"Hell no," Sam shook her head. "Then you won't be able to go ghost."
"But I'll be untouchable."
"Not necessarily…I think it is too dangerous."
"What should I do then?"
"I'll go with you," Jazz said, "wearing a Specter Deflector. That way, if he compels you to hurt me, you can't, and I can be there to lead you back on track to defeating him."
Danny nodded. "That sounds like it might work."
Tucker pulled a Specter Deflector out of the RV and handed it to Jazz who snapped it around her waist. "Okay. Let's do this."
This chapter is pretty short, I admit, but I wanted to get something out there today! Hope you liked it. JY'all have a good evening!