Ectoplasmic Angel

Chapter 7

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Danny was distant for an entire week. Every morning when Sam and Tucker left for school they'd say their usual heartfelt goodbyes while Danny remained dispassionate. The two humans tried their best to engage him in activities- Sam even tried to lure him with honey to no avail- but it seemed the incident in the kitchen had shaken their friend to the very core.

The three of them had only known each other for a couple months, but it felt like they'd known Danny their entire lives; they could easily see how Danny's silence was affecting their moods. As Lancer pointed out one day in class, they acted like they didn't have a reason to smile anymore.

Thankfully there was no issue with Sam's parents. Mrs. Manson was extremely accommodating towards her new guest while simultaneously remaining condescending. Her and Mr. Manson checked up on Danny every so often like a farmer tending to his prized pig before a contest.

Ignoring the tension between them, their speech practice continued as planned, every day for four or five hours with breaks in between, and Sam and Tucker were proud to say their friend was getting the hang of the human language. Every so often they'd catch his mouth moving excessively when pronouncing a word, but it wasn't as if they couldn't understand what he meant.

It was finally after eight days, four hours, and twenty-three minutes- Tucker wasn't counting or anything- that Danny seemed to open up to them again.

Sam was explaining to Tucker some of the things she'd learned from the book she bought on supernatural creatures when the young angel quietly slid up behind them. So immersed in their discussion about whether or not Danny had sharp enough teeth to rip the flesh off a human arm, they failed to notice said teen watching over their shoulders.

"-you're just so obsessed with that vampire movie from a while ago that you're seeing things," Sam argued, finger stabbing at the rudimentary drawing of a vampire depicted in the book.

"I'm telling you, it could be legit," Tucker countered. "He loves honey so maybe it's a substitute for human blood because it's so sweet!"

Sam glared. "Danny is not Edward fucking Cullen."

"Have you seen him when he smiles? I swear there are at least fifty sparkles-"

A hand shoots between them before Tucker finishes his sentence. Startled, Sam's grip on the book loosened enough for Danny to bring it backwards until he held it gently in his arms and softly turned the pages.

Sam and Tucker froze. This was the most interaction they'd had with Danny in the past week outside of their lessons so even though they want to know what he's doing, they were more than happy to stay silent and let him come to them.

Finally, the crinkle of pages turning stopped and Danny looked up. His eyes were clearer than they'd been and his lips were tilted to the side to form a hesitant smile. As he turned the book around to show them the page he stopped on, the humans felt like this was Danny's way of apologizing for ignoring them.

Sam slowly reached out under his expectant gaze. Once she held the book, she quietly read out loud the title, "Death and What Comes Next." She turned her confused gaze to Danny when she noticed the picture.

Tucker leaned in and made an unsure sound. "Uh… that's a Reaper, isn't it?"

Danny giggled softly- something in Sam and Tucker warmed at the sound- and shook his head. "No," he said, pointing at a tiny image floating above the cloaked being.

Sam gazed at the winged creature as her eyes widened. "Angel?" she whispered, eagerly turning through the passage for information.

"Scientists and philosophers have spent years in vain searching for the answer to the question 'what comes after death' only to present their findings as merely speculations and theories," Sam read outloud, eyebrows rising. "Though previous research led us to the existence of what is commonly referred to as ghosts, or lost souls as we like to refer to them as, our most recent studies have uncovered the passing of souls as falling under three main categories: those that ascend, those that descend, and those that remain."

Sam paused long enough for Tucker to take over. "Those that remain are faded versions of souls. Ghosts consist of several categories including poltergeists, and these souls are ones that remain tied to a force on the mortal plane such as an object or a person. Those that descend seem unable to rise. Research about these circumstances are limited, but we have concluded that only those who seemed to have missed something during their mortal existence must finish carrying out their lesson below," Tucker continued, passing over the details of each category except the final topic.

Wanting to finish, Sam grabbed the book back. "The final beings are what we call souls that have ascended," she breathed, mesmerized by the contents of the paragraph. "Unlike the remained and the descended, we have yet to encounter a being that's soul ascended, but considering there are souls that both freeze and fall, the logical conclusion is that there must be ones that rise as well."

"That's it?" Tucker asked when she stopped reading. "That's seriously all they know about angels?"

Sam considered the book as she flipped through its pages. "Well the writers are extremely objectively based," she observed. "If they really don't know much about something then they won't put any speculations and opinions in their work."

Tucker groaned, throwing his body back until he landed on the bed next to a startled Danny. "This suuuuucks."

"At least we finally know what he is," Sam said, turning to their friend. "Danny, you are an angel, right?" Her eyes were sparkling.

Danny smiled at her and nodded. "Yes!" he responded, excitedly.

Tucker pressed his elbows into the bed to sit up and stare at him. "Dude, that is so freaking cool."

Cooing, Danny collapsed on top of him, throwing the entirety of his body weight on the unsuspecting teenager. The air rushed out of Tucker's lips as he laughed. Smiling at her boys, Sam smacked one of Danny's feet away from her face. "Hey, kid, you're cute and all but you smell."

Having gotten the hang of sensing a playful atmosphere rather than a serious one, Danny wiggled his toes into her hair. Sam shrieked and laughed loudly. "Gross, Danny!"

The three playfully shoved each other around, enjoying each other's company after a week of separation. As they basked in the enjoyment of their play, they were reluctant to break the fragile peace.

Eventually Sam pushed Danny off her lap and sat up, prompting the boys to stop their tickling. "Danny, are you really okay?" she asked, softly.

The angel seemed to think about the question for a moment. His eyes trailed upwards, but were surprisingly dry. "Am okay…" he whispered, turning back to his humans. "Hurt, but okay now."

"Are you sure?" Tucker leaned forward to look Danny in the face. "You know it's okay not to be, right? You don't have to pretend to be fine when you're hurting."

Danny's eyes took on a wet sheen as he closed them. He shook his head and buried it in Tucker's arm. Sam scooted closer to them on the bed and reached up to rub his shoulder in what she hoped was a soothing manner.

"You know, before you came Tucker and I were really lonely," Sam said. Danny peaked an eye out from behind his bangs as she continued with a smile. "Nobody here really likes us much, and this town is pretty lonely to survive in all by yourself."

"But then suddenly you fall out of the sky and BAM! We've got a friend," Tucker added with sound effects to make Danny laugh. It worked. "I don't know why, but this town has always been just…"

"Depressing," Sam finished, sighing. She looked at Danny who had finally shown his whole face. "You saved us, Danny. Without you, I just feel like there's something missing."

The angel looked stunned at her declaration, probably only understanding half of what was said, but knowing that the emotions behind it were overwhelming. Sam was happy. He really did need to know how much they cared about him.

Danny struggled to open his mouth. His eyebrows were furrowed and his lips quivered for almost thirty seconds of silence until he pieced together his emotions. "… missin-g home," he said, looking at the sky. "Not… go home."

"You miss where you came from?" Sam repeated. "Can you not get back?"

Danny's eyes watered. "Not want-d back."

"Oh, Danny," she whispered, dragging him into a hug. Tucker joined them silently.

After a minute, Tucker leaned back enough to share a look with Sam. She nodded and the two of them coaxed Danny to come out. "Know that you are always welcome here," Sam said, "but if there's a way to get you home then we'll find it, I promise."

Danny leaned back. "…Saam will?" he asked, looking backwards. "Tuucker too?"

Ignoring their hearts as they clenched, they swallowed their fears and responded positively. Danny was ecstatic at their promise and he dragged them into a deep hug again, cooing the entire time and completely missing the torn looks they sent each other over his head.

They loved Danny enough to let him go, but the sadness that consumed them at the thought of his departure was suffocating.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

"Hey! I got it!" Tucker announced the next day at school. Sam paused while munching on her vegan sandwich long enough to look over his shoulder.

"Who are the Fentons?" she asked, squinting at the screen of his PDA.

Tucker was practically vibrating in his seat. "Remember that book you got and how the authors were anonymous? Well I found one of them- er, well two of them technically!"

"Seriously?" Sam's eyes were wide.

"Oh yeah, this is definitely them. It says they studied the paranormal in college, I mean who does that?"

Sam stole the PDA from his hands. "Do you have an address? An email?"

"Actually, no," Tucker frowned, typing wildly on his device. "I barely managed to find their names. I'm a tech wiz, not an actual wizard."

Sam groaned loudly, slamming her head against the lunch table. "Fantastic."

"Hey, losers!" a deep voice called from down the table. Dash remained seated, but his gaze was intimidating enough. "Quit shaking the table."

Tucker squeaked out a terrified "No problem! Sorry!" but Sam seemed to want a quick funeral.

"Hey, Dash?" she asked, gaining the entire A-listers' attention. "Have you ever heard of the Fentons?" Her question was a shot in the dark according to Tucker, but Sam was willing to try anyways.

Either startled by her bravery or the question, Dash gaped openly. "What?"

Before he could pummel the nerds who disturbed his lunch, his friend Kwan spoke up with a curious tone. "Isn't that the girl you had a crush on Freshmen year?"

Dash's cheeks flamed as he whirled around to yell out his denial. "N-no! Who the hell would- I never!"

"Yeah, I remember that," Paulina commented, twirling her straw around. "The redhead with the brains from my AP Spanish course. She's like a year ahead of us."

Dash continued to deny his so called crush while his friends teased him mercilessly. Tucker decided this was a grand time to make their quick escape before Dash remembered it was them who had brought up the topic of his old flame.

As he dragged a reluctant Sam from the cafeteria, he questioned her sanity for daring to talk so openly to the biggest bully in all of Casper High.

"I don't know," came her response. "I just felt like it."

Tucker stopped to give her a pointed look. "We've never talked to Dash. Ever. He always approaches us and you always say our best response is to give no response." His gaze followed her surprised expression as she realized how out of character she had reacted. "So tell me, why did you do that?"

Sam blinked slowly, as if waking up from a dream. "Tucker, I don't know."

They looked at each other for several second before continuing down the hall towards Lancer's office. If anyone knew where to find this Fenton girl, it was him.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

Lancer was extremely cautious about giving out the home address of one of his older students, but Sam Manson and Tucker Foley weren't bad kids- just lazy and unmotivated- and after Tucker spun a tale of Jasmine Fenton tutoring them in AP Calculus, he relented.

Several hours later, once the humans had finished school, Sam, Tucker, and Danny were walking to the "large house at the corner of Amity Park with a neon green sign." Dressed in Tucker's Capri pants, Sam's shoes, Tucker's ghost shirt, and Sam's skirt, Danny skipped happily beside his humans, excited to be outside.

"I can't believe we're actually this lucky," Sam said, kicking a stone on the sidewalk for Danny to chase. "What are the chances that the people we want to meet live down the fucking street?"

Danny looked up curiously at the new word. Sam paled. "Don't repeat that," she said, hurriedly. He went back to skipping his rock.

Tucker lowered his PDA and gave her a lopsided grin. "This town's always been weird. It actually makes sense that these people live here."

"But you said they used to live in Wisconsin so why the heck would they move here all of a sudden?" Sam urged, waving her arms around.

Tucker shrugged. "It said they moved almost three years after college. Maybe they were planning on having a baby and decided Amity Park looks nice enough."

"But this Jasmine kid is practically two years older than us," Sam argued, unconvinced. "I don't know, the timeline just doesn't match up."

"You're paranoid."

Sam gave him a flat stare. "We live with an angel, Tucker. Imagine what other weird things could be true that we've always dismissed."

The conversation dropped when Danny almost ran in front of a car to retrieve his wayward rock. Only thanks to Sam's athletic muscles were they able to get him out of the way in time. The rest of the way to the Fentons was spent trying to explain to Danny that rocks were not sentient- No, Danny, they are not pets- and that his life was more important than that of his little grey friend. He almost cried.

Not soon enough, the three reached the Fenton household. It was only four in the afternoon yet the neon green sign outside was turned on and flashing the neighbors.

"Think this is the place?" Tucker questioned, craning his head upwards. Danny mimicked him.

Sam knocked on the large door- who the heck were they trying to fit through this thing?- and said with absolute confidence, "Definitely."

The door was opened by a woman with dark red hair in what appeared to be a blue jumpsuit. She looked startled. "Can I help you?" she asked, pleasantly.

Tucker did his best to smile brightly. "Uh, yeah, we just wanted to ask you a couple questions about your book."

The woman's eyes hardened. "Are you making fun of me?"

"What? No! It's just," Sam tried to explain, looking for an excuse as she pulled the book out of her backpack. "Uh, well my grandmother died recently and I just kind of…" she trailed off.

Something softened in the woman's eyes and she nodded. "I understand," she whispered, finally smiling softly. "Would you like to come in?" She stepped backwards to allow enough room for her guests.

The inside of the house was oddly shaped, but other than the green colors it was a normal house. If Tucker and Sam hadn't known the Fentons were two of the authors of a book on the supernatural then the house certainty would not have given it away. Except for maybe the giant sign.

Mrs. Fenton led them to the living room and gestured to the couch. Danny was the first to bounce onto it, giggling softly. She sat herself on the sofa across from them and reached out for the book in Sam's hands. It was reluctantly given.

"I haven't seen this in ages," she whispered nostalgically with a smile. "There were only a few copies made."

The teenager silently sent thanks to her rich parents and their ridiculous connections. "Are you still researching what you wrote about?" Sam asked, casually.

Mrs. Fenton sent her a look as if she couldn't believe they were taking her seriously. "This was a project Jack and I completed with a friend during college," she explained, her expression strained. "If I had to take a guess I'd say my husband and I researched what was written even more thoroughly after we wrote it than before."

Tucker felt the unease in the air. "Would it be alright if we asked a couple things about some of the topics…?"

"Maddie," she said we a smile.

"Ah, right, Maddie?"

The woman sucked in a deep breath and handed Sam the book back. She looked as though she was preparing for a police interrogation. "You may."

"There's one thing that really caught our interest," Sam explained, moving forward and pointing at the picture of the reaper. "This page- it just really spoke to me and I wondered if my grandma might still be around or…."

Maddie swallowed and caught her breath. "Ah, yes, that was something we were interested in as well," she whispered, leaning backwards and adopting the look of a scientist. "There are so many speculations we have about death and what comes after, but as you can see nothing was concrete enough to place in our book."

"Could you possibly share with us some of your opinions?" Sam shrunk a little under her sharp gaze. "It might help me cope a little."

Mrs. Fenton nodded. "I know." Why did they get the feeling that she really did know? "But most of what we discovered is already written."

"What about the ascended souls?" Sam asked, pressingly forward. "There's only a sentence about them."

Maddie was silent for a long time. "My husband, Jack, encountered a remained and I myself met a descended." She looked up. "But we have never met an ascended before. It's our belief that once they're up there, they're never coming down."

Sam and Tucker tried not to look at Danny. "Why not?"

"Well, up there is seen as a peaceful place," Maddie explained, wistfully. "If a soul is lucky enough to be sent upwards then it's obviously done something wonderful to have been chosen."

Tucker tilted his head, remembering all the masses his mother made him attend as a kid. "You don't really believe in the traditional heaven and hell, do you?"

"I'm afraid not. Our research shows that a majority of souls stay attached to Earth when they die, either as ghosts or poltergeists. And if only a few souls ascend while thousands descend then it's quite odd to believe only good people go upwards and only the bad go down. What about the people in the middle? How do we classify them? Can we really make a claim that all mortal evil translates to falling and mortal good translates to rising?" Maddie let out a frustrated sigh. "It's complicated, but we never stopped searching for an answer."

Sam thought for a moment. "You said that you think people who ascend are 'chosen.'"

Maddie couldn't look them in them in the eyes. "Yes, we believed they were marked at birth. We researched strange marks on people and found a correlation to their marks and the instances in which they died. All were of unusual circumstances."

Sam and Tucker were suddenly reminded of the strange looking stain on Danny's shoulder. It was shaped like a stretched-out D with three spiked edges and almost looked like a P rested inside of it. Thank gosh- yes they even censored themselves in their own minds- Danny had chosen to wear Tucker's huge ghost shirt that covered his shoulders.

"That sounds… realistic," Tucker finally responded, wanting nothing more than to help the woman confirm her theories, but Danny's safety came first. "And there's really nothing else you can tell us?"

Mrs. Fenton shook her head. "I apologize," she said looking at Sam. "I'm sure your grandmother is in a comfortable place. If she loved you very much she may even be watching over you right now."

Sam allowed herself to smile. Mrs. Fenton really was a nice woman. "Yeah, that'd be cool."

The three of them stood and after a moment Danny followed his friends. Maddie gave him an odd look as if she was just now noticing his presence. That was unsurprising considering he hadn't spoken at all since he arrived at the Fenton house. Giggles happened occasionally, but other than that no words were spoken.

At the door, Danny suddenly leaned in to Sam. "She smell-sss nice," he said, a little too loudly. Tucker groaned while Sam sent Maddie an apologetic look.

"Oh, it's fine," the woman chuckled. Finally looking Danny in the eyes, the froze. "I- oh."

Afraid they had given something away, Sam and Tucker stiffened. "Is everything okay? He's foreign and isn't too good with English yet."

Maddie shook her head, still looking at Danny. "You're eyes are beautiful, child," she observed, softly, hand rising as if to touch the sapphires sparkling at her. "They look almost…"

Danny titled his head, not at all bothered by the strange woman who seemed to want to touch him. He hummed softly and responded- still having trouble with the th sounds- using the manners he was taught, "Tshank you!"

Before things could get any weirder, Sam tugged softly on Danny's hand. He finally looked away from the adult and broke the spell that had captured her. "Well, we'd better get going," Sam said, stepping backwards out the door.

Maddie blinked. "Ah, yes."

The three kids were halfway near the corner at the end of the street when Maddie suddenly called out, "If you have any more questions, please, we're always here," she shouted, smiling and waving.

Though Mrs. Fenton was a nice woman, something was just off about their first encounter with her.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

When they arrived at Sam's house, her parents greeted them at the door. "Samantha, dearest," her father said, turning his nose up at Danny's appearance. "We have prepared a gown for you this Saturday."

Sam paused on the stairs. "What?"

Her mother rolled her eyes. "The charity benefit, Samantha. I have been telling you about this all week. Your friend of course is invited as well."

Tucker raised an eyebrow at them. "Really?"

"Not you," Pamela sneered.

Recognizing this as one of her parent's political power games, Sam glared. "Tucker comes or we're not going at all."

Her parents were forced to agree. Having Danny not attend wouldn't be too damaging to their reputation, but their own daughter denying the invitation was entirely unbecoming. Though reluctant, they promised to have a suit prepared for both her friends by Friday. They pretended to not hear Danny's request for a skirt.

The teenagers escaped upstairs only for Danny to declare it was bath time.

"Well he does stink," Sam observed, grabbing the shirt he was wearing. "This looks like it hasn't been washed in days."

"Hey!" Tucker cried. "It still smells fine."

"Right."

They grabbed towels for Danny and his special honey scented shampoo- teaching him to not eat it had been hell for all of them- before ushering him inside the bathroom and waiting for him to close the door and kick them out as usual.

Surprisingly, Danny stood there smiling. "Saam and Tuucker too!" he announced, arms wide and eyes bright.

The two humans sent each other looks. "You know what, why the hell not?" Sam said, turning around to grab them both extra towels. The angel squawked at the curse.

Danny didn't understand why the humans insisted on wearing a towel in the bath- Sam's tied under her arms and Tucker's around his waist- but was happy enough that they wanted to come with him. They got in first and watched as Danny stood at the edge of the water smiling at them.

"You going to come in or do we have to drag you?" Tucker said playfully.

Danny shook his head and slowly started to undo his shirt. His fingers missed the buttons several times and the humans suddenly understood what he was about to show them. When large- holy fuck- beautiful, white wings uncurled slowly from their position against his back, they gasped.

With his eyes shining a bright blue, his black hair ruffled and bouncy, and the beautiful white wings spread out behind him, Danny looked so otherworldly- which he technically was- that Sam and Tucker could only silently marvel at the being before them.

Full of happiness and feeling loved and accepted, Danny quickly launched himself into the tub, soaking his friends and covering the floor with water.

"Oh- Danny! You're supposed to take off your bottoms before jumping in- oh gosh they're soaked now," Sam sputtered, wiping the water out of her eyes and smearing her mascara in the process.

Tucker laughed for a full minute at her raccoon look.

Bath time was spent in peaceful silence, each person quietly enjoying the others company as they washed honey scented soap into each others hair and playfully splashed themselves with bubbles.

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

A/N: I have never in my entire life updated so many of my stories in a month. November and December were times of giving. I am dead now. Also SWMC hates me and refuses to write itself.

Lots of stuff in this chapter for future events. Hope everyone still likes this story! It's quite different from my usual ones.

Also, new summary:

Danny isn't sure he'll ever understand why he was kicked out of heaven, but with mortal friends as perfect as his did it really matter that he was all alone now? It seems Amity Park needs him more than his old home, because things are starting to wake up that were better left asleep. And maybe- just maybe- the Angel isn't as alone as he thinks.