And another chapter is up! Callooh, Callay! (Anyone get it? I'll absolutely love you if you do). So Sammy is kidnapped, possible DEAD?! Everyone else is on their way to the Far Frozen! This chapter is gonna be a little shorter, sorry about that, guys. It's not for lack of inspiration, it's short for a reason. But I hope you like it anyways!
I was gonna wait a little longer before posting this chapter, because I know some people *cough* Potterhead *cough* like to review each one, but I finished it really quickly and I just couldn't wait to post it!
LooneyAces: With pleasure
theL3monTart: Always happy to answer any questions. It's a lot of fun :) and yes, Danny is in hella lotta pain.
PhantomFanForever: Luckily for you, it's a quick update!
Sophia the daughter of Nyx: Thanks!
Reptil: It's great to hear I didn't totally bomb her personality, and she calls him Sparky because of how he died. A little bit of cruel, dark humour between friends.
Enjoy!
A heavy silence had settled over the group the moment they stepped into the carriage. The delegate from the Far Frozen that Dora mentioned had been Snowstorm, and the large yeti had immediately started fussing over Danny like a worried mother when she saw the state that he was in, and carried him bridal style (much to his protest) into the large carriage. Inside, there were two long benches covered in plush purple cushions, a thick blue carpet covered the floor. On one bench sat the ghosts, and on the other was the humans. Danny, who didn't quite classify himself as either, found the division humorous and opted to sit on the floor in between the two groups.
This drew a long bought of laughter from Ember and Tucker, and a stifled laugh from Dora, while the Ghostketeers watched in confusion, oblivious to Danny's in between status. It had been silent since the laughter faded.
Danny, personally, didn't mind. It gave him time to feed and regain some of his energy. He sat with his legs crossed, arms draped across his knees, and hunched over with his head hanging down. His hair fell over his face, preventing anyone from seeing the light glow in his eyes after they glazed over. While picking at the emotions hanging in the air, Danny decided he should at least try and get the humans and ghosts talking to each other. Not that the ghosts wouldn't do it anyways, but so far the humans had rejected any opportunity for conversation to arise.
"So… why not the Speeder?" Danny asked, startling several people. They had assumed he was sleeping.
"It crashed when we are flying over Princess Dorathea's castle," Tucker explained. He received an approving smile from Dora when he used her proper name.
"I thought that was fixed the last time I was here…"
"It was, Daniel," now that her servant weren't around, Dora had allowed herself to relax a little. "But it would seem that it wasn't entirely indefinite. Small electronic objects, like the ones that you have brought for me, still work, but anything larger, like your Speeder, and fails just the same as it did the first time."
"Oh. That kind of sucks," Danny mumbled.
"It more than sucks, Danny-boy! I spent months working on that Speeder, and now I'll have to build it again," Jack said.
"Well, about that. As Dora said, that's kind of happened before. It only took me a few days to fix it, and you never even noticed it had been wrecked. I could do it again," Danny replied. He could just imagine the shocked look on his father's face.
"Fenton? No way, you're not smart enough to do that! I bet you got one of your ghost friends to do it for you," Dash scoffed.
"Hey, Dweeb, what did you just say about Danny?" Ember asked, her voice laced with venom.
"I'm not a Dweeb! Fenton's the dweeb-" Dash's insult was cut off as Ember suddenly lunged forwards, the neck of her guitar held up to Dash's throat like the blade of a sword. Maddie and Jack reacted instantly, jumping for the ghost while activating the weapons on their jumpsuits, while Paulina shrieked and scrambled away, clutching Star. Dash gulped and glanced at Kwan for help, but before anything could happen, Danny interfered.
"STOP!" He shouted, his voice commanding and bearing a slight echo, and everyone couldn't help but comply. Sitting calmly in their seats, Snowstorm and Dora were smiling, and they both whispered something that sounded oddly like "all hail Phantom."
"Ember, but down Dash, his brain is damaged enough after taking all those hits in football."
The rock star glared at Dash, but slowly pulled her guitar away and dropped back down beside Dora.
"Did you just call me-" Dash was once again cut off, but this time by Danny. The halfa, who had been standing on the other side of the carriage, was suddenly in front of him, the jock's shirt balled tightly in his fist. Danny was standing at his full height, which turned out to be taller than Dash, and he leaned down so that his eyes bored into Dash's.
"Don't even think about it, Baxter. I am in a lot of pain right now, and would rather not have to deal with your sorry ass! You can throw your punches, but don't believe for a second that I'm in the mood right now to pretend to be the defenceless little nerd you all take me for. You finish that sentence, and I swear to Clockwork you'll find yourself on the wrong end of an ectoblast." Danny let go of Dash and the jock fell back onto the bench. He hadn't even realized that Danny had been lifting him higher.
"Same thing goes for you three," Danny's head swivelled to face the other A-listers, who nodded meekly.
"And you two!" He spun around to face his parents, one hand lashing out to rip one of the compact blasters off his father's shoulder. "These ghosts happen to be my friends. Mine. And I don't take kindly to people harming what it mine. Blood relation or no."
"Danny?"
"What?" Danny snapped, turning his head to glare at Ember.
"Your obsession is showing," Ember snickered. Danny's gaze softened, and he unclenched his fists, willing his eyes to turn back to blue. He looked at the A-listers, who actually appeared to be afraid of him. He had to admit, it was a little nice.
"Sorry," Danny mumbled, before once again sitting on the floor. He leaned against the wall of the carriage, taking long, deep breaths to ease the ache in his chest. It didn't work, of course. He hadn't been lying to Dash when he said he was in a lot of pain. Everything still sort of felt the same as it did when he woke up. His heart beat was too heavy and loud, his head was pounding, and it took every bit of strength he had to move his limbs. That short outburst had wasted all the energy Danny had gather over the last half hour, so he settled back into position and once again tackled the emotions in the air.
Luckily, he was not needed this time to keep up the conversation.
"Sparky?"
"Yeah, what about it?"
"I was just wondering why you called him that."
"You're his friend, right?"
"Best friend."
"Okay. So, does that mean that you… you know… know."
"Oh. Oh, yeah! Yeah, I do. Not everything though."
"Huh. And he said no one knew."
"No one did. Hardly anyone does. Just me and Sam."
"Sam and I, Mr. Foley."
"You said you don't know everything about Sparky?"
"No. We don't know how it happened."
"That's why."
"What's why?"
"That's why I call him Sparky. I'm sure the dipstick won't mind me telling you that much. Do you, dipstick?"
"Not at all," Danny muttered.
"What about that thing, on your back. Can I tell him about that?"
"No. No you can't." Danny tilted his head up to give Ember a quick glare, then went back to feeding.
"Okay, okay. No need for the 'scary eyes' as Plasmius puts it. They aren't that scary."
Danny shook his head, but didn't reply. After a heart beat (one of Danny's slow, painful ones) the conversation continued.
"Tucker, what is it that you're talking about?"
"Hm, what?"
"You, and this… ghost. About Danny, what are you talking about?"
"Mrs. Fenton, it's not really my place to tell."
"Tucker."
"It really isn't. It's Danny's secret."
"Oh, come on, geek boy, just tell us. We have to be here in this stupid carriage anyways."
"You, Paulina Sanchez, want to talk about him, Danny Fenton? You?"
"There's nothing else to do! We're stuck in here, and we haven't seen the ghost boy at all-" Cue a snort from Ember. "-and we can't go home yet, since he needs to be taken care of."
"Yeah, Foley. We're in this mess because of Fenton. We should get to know stuff."
"Actually, we aren't in this mess because of Danny. We're in it because of you. And you, Mr. Fenton."
"How is it our fault, Bad Luck Tuck?"
"Because you shot him! With guns! Sure, you punch him all the time, but Danny can take that. But a gun? And you're his dad! Why did you guys shoot him?"
"You mean the Great One was injured by his own blood, and subjects?"
"Yes! And I want to know why? You shot my best friend, your son. Why?"
"The ectoplasm, of course! We tested Danny-o's blood, and found traces of it in his system."
"He told you that he would. It was because of the accident! It wasn't doing anything!"
"Actually, boy-o, that's where you're wrong."
"There was massive cell death, Tucker. The ectoplasm is killing him."
Danny felt all eyes turn to him, but didn't look up or respond. He simply continued to take in their emotions. He may not have liked the turn the conversation was taking, but it made for a great mix of negative emotions, and he was slowly regaining energy.
"So you shoot him? End it faster?"
"The BB-Blaster was designed to target and eliminate ectoplasm, using a serum made from the petals of a flower harmful to ghosts. We tested it on his blood, and it attacked the ectoplasm while leaving the rest of it unharmed."
"You know, that sort of explains gym class."
"Ooh, you mean when Danny had to take his shirt off? I never knew he was so muscular, like the ghost boy! Right, Star?"
"Yeah, whatever."
"No, not that. For the fitness testing, I'm his partner. When we had to calculate heart rate before, and even after the activity, Fenton's was-"
"Okay, Dash, that's enough for now," Danny had turned his head slowly to look at the jock, and was watching him with unblinking eyes right now. His voice was low and even, but Dash heard the hidden threat. He immediately snapped his mouth shut, but fumed at being cut off for the third time. By Fenton no less!
"What was that about your heart rate, Danny?" Maddie asked.
"It's nothing." Danny's eyes narrowed at Dash, whose eyes had flitted over to Maddie, before returning to Danny's.
"Dash, what was it you were saying?" Maddie's voice was sweet and motherly, and Dash opened his mouth to speak. He paused for a moment, looking at Danny, then steeled his resolve. He didn't have to stop talking because Fenturd told him to. Dash bet that he didn't even know how to use those muscles of his. So, completely forgetting the momentary fear he had felt when Danny was yelling at him, Dash continued.
"His heart rate was low. Extremely low. Like, thirty beats per minute low," Dash finished, giving Danny a triumphant look.
"Danny, is he telling the truth?" Jack asked.
"Of course he isn't! That's physically impossible. I'd be dead if that were true, wouldn't I?" Danny shouted, silencing Ember and Tucker's chuckle with a sharp look.
"Of course it's not possible, sweetie. Then you wouldn't mind us checking your pulse?" Maddie said, standing from her seat.
"Mom, it's fine. You're a scientist, you know I wouldn't be alive right now if my heart were beating that slowly. Even if I were, I certainly wouldn't be conscious, or moving around," Danny reasoned. He was getting tired again. Even talking hurt.
"And that's exactly why it shouldn't be a problem for me to check. Besides, you've been seriously injured, sweetie. We need to check your vitals."
"My vitals are fine. My heart's beating, though Clockwork knows for all the pain it's causing I wish it wasn't. Sure, it feels like my lungs are on fire, but I'm still breathing. And last I checked, I wasn't… I wasn't…" Danny voices trailed off, and he found his eyes wandering down to his hand, which we was holding against his chest for emphasis. It came away bloody.
"Oh, great," Danny muttered. He raised it to his face, not bothering to wipe away the blood first, and pressed the back of his hand against his forehead.
"Dude, besides the obvious issue," Tucker said, motioning to Danny's chest. "You okay?"
"I'm warm," Danny murmured.
"Duh, it's so stuffy in here, how can you not be?" Paulina complained, fanning her face with a well-manicured hand.
"No, not warm like that. Like, I'm your temperature," Danny continued, his voice quiet.
"Great one?" Snowstorm asked.
Danny felt his cheeks flush, and noticed that he was sweating. "Hey, Snowy. How bad is it when someone with a cold core starts to feel warm?"
"Very bad," Snowstorm said gravely.
"Oh, that's nice to hear," Danny panted, before he started shaking. He fell forwards onto his hands and started coughing. Flecks of red darted the pale blue carpet. Danny groaned, and dropped further, but caught himself just before his chest hit the floor. Using the last of his strength, he pushed himself onto his back and mentally scolded himself for passing out for the third time in the last twenty-four hours.
I know, I'm being so mean to Danny! He's in so much pain, and he keeps passing out! Poor Danny. Sorry this chapter was kinda short, but like the Dash chapter, I wanted to keep it all separate from other events.
Did you guys understand who was talking in the unlabeled portion? Since Danny was just listening, and not watching, I decided not to include descriptions because this chapter was technically from Danny's PoV, just in third person. I tried to make the personalities obvious so you'd know who was who.
Anyways, 'see' you next time!
