AN: HOLY FREAKING CRAP, I FINALLY FREAKING FINISHED THIS DING-DANG CHAPTER. HOLY CRAP, HOLY CRAP, HOLY CRAP! I AM SO SORRY THIS TOOK TO FREAKING LONG, I'M SURE YOU'VE READ THE AUTHOR'S NOTES, THOUGH, SO IT IS WHAT IT IS. Here is the long-awaited chapter thirteen!~ I am sorry this is a slightly slow chapter (in my opinion, but I'm the author so it's screwy), but I hope to have another chapter done soon. As it is, you guys are only getting this because I received help with my writer's block from the ABOSLUTELY WONDERFUL princessbinas. So please give her a big thank you, and here's another one from me. THANK YOU, BINAS! So, anyways, let's get on to the chapter! Hope you enjoy!~
*Danny*
The two continue to grin for several more seconds before Spectra turns her face back to Danny, her smile widening impossibly more.
"Who says we did anything with you brainiac sister?" she taunts.
"B-but you... he- he said you were going after them and Jazz is missing!" Danny protests, honestly hoping they did have her just so he could know she's reachable for him. He glares again as the pair laughs at him.
"My, my, my. I've known you to be many things, Daniel, but never so naïve. It was a ploy~" Spectra sneers.
"We do know where she is, though. She's nice and hidden away. And there's now way you can-" taunts Bertrand before Danny cuts him off with some ectoplasmic goop over his mouth. He's out of patience with the two manipulative ghosts.
"Spectra, I'm sick and tired of your games. Tell me where my sister is right now or, so help me, I will think of every single power and weapon I can use just to blast you both with them all," Danny says, voice low and menacing in his anger. Spectra glares at him for a few seconds more, but finally concedes defeat.
"Walker has her." She starts smiling again causing Danny's stomach to bottom out yet again. "And she's just been given two thousand years in a human proof cell.~"
*Dani*
Dani woke up with her head pounding like she'd never felt and the rest of her not feeling the best as well. The more she came to, the more she was hurting and the more sure she was that she was going to blast whichever ghost who did it into the next century. When she finally got around to opening her eyes, though, she was left confused. Why was she in Danny's room? More so, who put her here? She decided to think more on it later as she squinted against the morning light.
"Wait, morning?!" she realized, jerking upright and looking around to the window behind the bed. The light wasn't lying. It was indeed morning though only of the next day according to the bedside clock. She peered around and saw nothing out of place in the room and thee door locked again, the key beside the clock... That wasn't right, either. The door could only be locked from the inside, but she hadn't been awake to do that yet there was nobody who could've done it for her... right?
The only person who could do that who would actually help her was Danny, but Danny wasn't around. He had run away and wasn't coming back until his parents stopped being bigots. Dani repeated that thought in her mind several times to try convincing herself to believe it. She shook her head to clear it, the confusion starting to make it hurt worse since she already was getting over the concussion Bertrand gave her-
"Bertrand! Spectra! What happened with those two?!" she exclaimed, jumping up and morphing as soon as she got above the bed, darting through the wall and over the city streets until she reached the area the fight had been in. Just to find it completely patched up again.
'How do they even clean these things up so quickly? The city workers must be really busy most days.' She dove down through the ground and into the sewer, lighting up her hand to be able to see and being surprised to find human and ghost gore on the walls still from some sort of fight... Except she hadn't fought either of them down here. All that had happened down here was her getting slammed in the head... And then what? Someone had come to her rescue, but who? Jazz? Sam? Neither seemed likely as Sam had been yelling at her parents while Jazz hadn't even been downstairs and likely hadn't been able to find her so easily. So, WHO?!
Dani went around and looked at all the different patches of dried blood and congealed ectoplasm but none of them told her anything more than there had been a ghost and someone with human blood as well. And, with a wince, she saw that whoever it was had de-clawed Bertrand as the brilliantly white claws caught her eye.
Her mind went to Danny again, but she pushed it away. It was better to not let herself hope for that. When Danny did something big, he stayed by it unless he was completely wrong, and he certainly wasn't wrong for running away. She sighed and looked around some more for any further clues but found none. She leapt into the air and up through the ground, flying back to the house and into Danny's room. She looked around for several minutes for any evidence of who brought her to safety, but there was yet again nothing.
She shrugged to herself and morphed, wincing as her empty stomach makes itself known. She hesitated for a moment before going downstairs, completely on guard of everything around her and glancing around constantly. She reached the kitchen without incident then froze in her spot at the sight.
Maddie was sitting at the table, which had yet to be cleaned up from the mess of a dinner last night, and... bawling her eyes out. Dani had seen many odd sights, but never had she expected this one. She started to silently back up, intending on returning invisible when Jack spotted her.
"Ah, Dani's up, Maddie. You said you had to talk to her?" Jack asked his wife quickly, seeming very upset himself though his wife was obviously taking whatever was going on even harder than him. Dani paused in her retreat but was ready to go intangible and/or morph if it was needed. Maddie lifted her face from her hands, eyes bright red and face somewhat snotty; she surprised Dani by leaping up and rushing over to her. Dani flinched to herself, expecting some kind of hit or shot and almost going intangible when... she was being hugged? She had to pull back slightly for a view of the mother's face to be absolutely positive this was actually happening. It apparently was.
"I'm- I'm s-so sorry, Da-ni!" the red-headed sobbed out, clutching onto the young halfa as if she were her life-saver. It simply confused Dani even more.
"Uhm... what happened, Mrs. Fenton? I mean, why are you so..." she left the second question fall off awkwardly but it did the trick as Maddie gave a big sniffle and pulled away from the hug, resting back where she was sitting on her feet since she had been kneeling while hugging Dani. Jack cleared his throat and Dani looked over at him. He now had some fresh tears in his eyes as well.
"Jazz... ran away.." he got out in a broken-sounding monotone. Maddie let out another sob while Dani looked between both of them, confused. Were they actually telling the truth? Dani had to find out for herself.
She backed the rest of the way out of Maddie's embrace and darted up the stairs, almost taking flight from how many she was skipping over, and stopped dead in front of Jazz's open door. She wasn't there... It took Dani a moment for it to sink in. She. Wasn't. There.
"O-okay, clam down, Danielle," she began saying to herself, holding her head in one hand. "There are lots of reasons she could be gone that isn't running away." Dani continued trying to get her head straight with these until an odd square of white caught her eye... a note left on Jazz's bed. Dani gulped to herself and went over to it, picking it up to read.
"Dear Everyone,
I'm following in Danny's footsteps and running away. I've had enough. So, now I'm just going to walk away and leave until you can learn properly.
Jazz"
Dani sat down on the bed, half-numb. The note was bitingly short, and it hit her hard. Jazz had really left. Leaving Maddie and Jack, she could understand, but... why did Jazz leave her? Why would she leave Dani alone in a house with people who hated her? Why didn't she ask Dani to join her or something? Why..? Dani bit back tears of her own, feeling lost when she noticed something odd on the note when she glanced back at it.
She looked closer to be sure, but they were definitely there. Two small underlines, silently highlighting "walk" and the "er" in properly. Why would Jazz do that? It was completely deliberate, for sure. The lines were too perfect not to be, so why-
The answer hit Dani like slamming into a billboard, something she had personally done on many occasions.
"Walker!" she exclaimed, jumping up from the bed and morphing as she went. She skidded to a halt for a moment in the kitchen doorway where the couple were still trying to console each other somehow.
"Gotta talk to Tucker and Sam. Lock down the house and don't leave. I'll explain later. Bye!" she said rapidly, giving them no time to question her as she darted out of the house, taking flight off the top step and speeding towards the school.
*Danny*
Danny grins to himself with pride for both Dani and his own doing. He had spent almost two hours debating (with much pacing and several false-starts) on what to do about the situation and whether or not him revealing himself early would be worth it when Dani could fight. After continuing to give Spectra and Bertrand a royal beat-down, that is. The pair are currently stuck in a thermos he snuck from the basement , said thermos then placed inside an Op Center wall to prevent them getting out again until he releases them into the Ghost Zone. That wouldn't be for a while.
He had finally come up with the plan for the note then took another three hours and exactly forty tries to get the note perfect with hand-writing as close to Jazz's as he could manage and wording that could pass for hers if she was in a hurry.
He follows his cousin when she exits the Fenton house, intending on being with her if something even worse happens. By the look on her face, he knows one thing for sure. Walker's first beating from her would be possibly even worse than the second one Danny plans on giving him when they get Jazz back.
Yes, Danny had a good idea. For once. :D I hope this doesn't suck too much and that the characters aren't too OOC. XD Hopefully I'll see you all again soon! Have a great day! F, F, & R!~