Cirque Berserk

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6
Identity, Secret

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Sam soared through the air at a speed that would make most want to hold their stomach and close their eyes. Idly, she remembered how she used to be frightened by the machine she now so ever adored. She remembered how Valerie had teased her endlessly – a no-good habit she most likely got from Tucker – about her fear of flying.

It wasn't the flying itself, though, that had the hairs in the back of her neck stand on end. It was the fact that she was alone that had her so terrified. She had never been alone while flying. And contrary to common belief, she had flown. A lot. It used to be a favourite past-time of hers.

It used to be an excuse to spend time with someone who meant the world to her.

Sam gripped her belt tightly against these thoughts. Meant the world to me? She thought grimly, Yeah. He did, huh?

She slowly drifted through the air, staring across the blanket of noir that made up the sky; dabbled in bright spots of light that used to make her smile with delight. Now they were only petty reminders of the innocence she had shed.

Things weren't always as simple as one could make them seem.

"Come on, Sam!" Valerie frowned, displeased by the way the Gothic girl was simply standing there, before the hovering craft, dumbstruck. "It's just a board – you know how to skateboard right?" She received a nod. "It's the same – it's all about balance. Except..." she smiled lightly, "well, you'll be in the air flying doing about 90 miles per hour or so."

What little colour Sam's face had before drained now.

"Grr," Valerie stomped forward and placed on firm foot atop the board. It didn't move an inch. "See? It won't wobble nor will it drop you. All you have to do is secure your feet in here," she pointed to the claps that would automatically wrap around her foot to secure her to the board, "and push forward!" She jumped on, let the claps' lock, and bent her knee forward, prompting the board to drive forward.

Valerie hopped off and gestured to the high-tech device. "Well?"

Sam only stared, seemingly lost in thought.

"Oh, come on! Aren't you suppose to be brave or something? I thought you were all tough and the like... I didn't think you'd be a wussy about it," Val said smugly, only getting smugger when Sam shot her a deathly look.

"I'm not a wussy," she replied, coldly.

"Then what are you waiting for?" The same smugness that was apparent in her tone, seemed to have coated her pose, since the way she pointed at the board was all superior-like; as if she had finally figured out Sam's greatest fear. "Don't tell me a little flying makes the great Goth girl tremble?"

"Shut up," Sam glanced at the board a little nervously. She strode forward, ignoring Valerie's humored eyes, and put a foot atop the board. As the darker girl had promised, it did not move. In fact, as she gathered up enough courage to place her other foot in the clasp, it didn't move until the claps had locked.

Thats when it began to get a bit dangerous.

"Good, now bend forward slight—WHOA!" Val gaped as Sam's board struck forward like lightening, heading straight toward the tree in front. "WATCH OUT!!"

Sam had; her body leaned back, guiding the board upwards towards the sky, where millions of sparkling stars glistened in her eyes. The breath had been knocked out of her; her stomach felt sick and twisted; her limbs trembled from the terrible yet fascinating rush of adrenaline.

But just as she began to control the board, finally get the gist of it, everything went wrong. Suddenly, her foot wasn't in the clasp, and suddenly she felt the weight of gravity start to pull her down.

Her eyes widened, her pulse raced, her ears pounded with the rush of blood that pooled at her temples yet drained from her face. The board was leveled again, but she wasn't. In fact, as the air rushed all around her, she could feel her lips curving into that familiar call. She could remember that day so vividly it made her want to heave out whatever she had eaten hours before. She could feel her mouth betray her; her thoughts utterly forsake her.

"DANNY!!"

She really didn't want to call his name out. She really didn't but she had in the end she had. Valerie had ended up saving her, hovering on her own board with Sam tucked in her arms, and her face grimmer than she had ever seen it before.

Sam had lowered her eyes in shame.

Danny wasn't here to save her this time. He wasn't ever going to be there to save her again.

It was just a thought she had to get used to from therein.

"AHHHH! HELP ME! PLEASE! SOMEONE!"

Sam snapped out of her reverie the instant the plea had reached her ears. Maneuvering the board expertly, unlike those three years ago, she sped to where she was sure the cry originated from; somewhere in a dusty, dirty, ally.

Of course ghosts would stalk their victims here, Sam thought wryly. Wow, these ghosts have no originality whatsoever.

"Stand back!" Sam reached for her holster, where she kept Maddie's state-of-the-art ecto-plasmic gun she had personally developed for Sam's use only. And if Sam had anything to say about it, she's say it worked magnificently.

She posed, aimed, and fired at the threatening, other-worldly, entity with dangerous agility. It gave a rather vehement hiss and turned it's black eyes towards her, baring it's teeth, which were nothing more than black, sharp, spikes in the dim moonlight.

"Shadow," Sam revealed almost exasperatedly, lowering her weapon of choice. "What are you doing here? Again? And where's Johnny?"

Shadow rose one of it's brow, looking around itself to find his master, and shrugged in the end.

Sam sighed. "Oh, great. Now I have to find him, too, before he stirs up some trouble... hey, I thought Kitty had him sorted out!" She placed her hands on her hips and scowled at the not-so-menacing ghost that sat on it's hind legs, arms above his head in his preferred 'scare-pose', sending Sam an annoyed look, as if saying 'I'm in the middle of scaring someone half to death right here'.

"Ugh, fine." Sam reached behind her and pulled out the Thermos, making Shadow's hollow eyes widen with fear.

It sent the woman a feral growl before bouncing away from the scene speedily, leaving Sam and the man Shadow was trying to scare alone.

"Great," Sam lowered her Thermos heavily. "I really hope he catches up to Johnny, then maybe I can catch the both of them together like last time... are you alright? Sorry about that! Shadow just likes to... play games with us, er, humans?" She smiled reassuringly at the wide-eyed civilian.

"I-I," was all he could manage.

"Sorry, but I have to go," Sam winced when she heard an explosion come from the shopping district. "See you!"

"T-Thank you!" The man stammered, smiling as he waved her good-bye. "Thank you, Black Rose!"

Black Rose? Sam grimaced, spotting Johnny 13 showing off his bike to a couple of human girls near the mall. She scowled and headed down, her hand gripped around the gun tightly. She saw Shadow lift an after-hours hot dog cart above his head, sniffing out something that had caught his interest. Jeez, these people always come up with bad names! She tried not to think about one in particular, one that always used to make her burst out laughing...

Inviso-Bill, she thought anyways, sending a jolt of grief to her chest area. Her hover board wobbled slightly.

Not now. Don't think about that now, damn it!

"Johnny!" Sam hollered, conviction in her tone. Johnny froze, snapped his head up towards her, and shot the girls he was entertaining a deft smile before hopping onto his bike and letting out an ear-splitting whistle.

"Well, if it isn't the Wall Flower!" Johnny smirked, revving up his bike as she hovered across from him, a good three meters away.

"It's Black Rose, you idiot," she rolled her eyes.

"Uh, yeah, whatever."

"You're stupid pet's been terrorizing the citizens of Amity – I want you to either stop him or go back to the Ghost Zone!"

Johnny smirked darkly, readying himself for an attack on the woman. "What if I don't wanna?"

Sam growled. "Then your face is going to get intimate with my fist!"

"I wouldn't mind... maybe I'll finally be able to see the pretty face that's behind that helmet of yours," he winked, earning another exasperated growl from the girl.

"I don't have time for your games today, Johnny... either you go the hard way or the easy way." Sam gripped the gun and raised it at him for good measure.

"Hard way," he smirked, "kinky, Rose."

Sam prepared herself for the worst, when a malicious thought came to mind. She searched around her quickly, taking a look at her Ghost Radar, which was integrated with the sleek black glass that covered her eyes like shades. She smirked when she saw only Johnny registered on the radar – and that another ghost was heading towards them and fast...

"Where's Kitty, Johnny?" Sam asked abruptly, and only grinned evilly when Johnny's eyes went wide and his mouth dropped open; all thoughts about fighting put aside.

"Kitty..." he gasped, chewing his nails as a nervous gesture. "Aw man! I totally forgot about our date!" His eyes frantically searched for Kitty, complete dread draining into his features at the thought of what his ghost girlfriend might do to him once she caught up.

Sam stood on her board smugly, and for the first time in forever, glad that she and Kitty had a sort of alliance. Kitty had been rather helpful during her grief stages with a certain snowy haired super hero. The ghost woman had had the unfortunate privileged of seeing Sam silently shed tears of sadness one too many nights ago. The ghost girl had been meaning to ambush her but the instant she had caught sight of those big, fat tears rolling down her face and the absolute desolation in her eyes, she couldn't help but to pause and ask what's wrong.

Of course, Sam had retorted rather rudely, whipping out her ecto-gun and threatening to send her back to the Ghost Zone where she belonged if she didn't get a move on.

Kitty had sneered back but obeyed, casually throwing over her shoulder a meaningful, "If you need someone to talk to, I'm all ears!"

And it had come in handy, once.

Only once, and she didn't reveal the true reason for her sadness... only that she was having a few boy problems she couldn't wrap her mind around.

"JOHNNY!! WHERE ARE YOU?! COME OUT HERE YOU STUPID EXCUSE FOR A BOYFRIEND!!"

Sam grinned wickedly. "Its for you." She floated upwards, just in time to avoid Kitty's pounce as she landed on the sidewalk next to Johnny, who was sweating bullets.

"There you are!" Kitty screeched. "I have been looking all over for you! Do you know how embarrassing it is to stand around in public like some stupid, love-struck girl for THREE HOURS?! DO YOU?!"

"N-No..." Johnny said fearfully. "I-I was about to –"

"LIAR!!" Kitty cried, her bottom lip jutting out and quivering. Johnny seemingly lost even more of his ghostly colour when he noticed the tears that were forming in her pretty glowing eyes.

"Aw, baby, I swear that I didn't mean to forget!" Johnny turned his eyes towards Sam, who was watching with silent amusement. "It was her fault I was late!"

Kitty directed her rage-filled eyes towards Sam, who lifted her hands up in surrender and said: "Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait a minute here – you were the one who set Shadow free!"

"Oh, yeah? Well you were the one who decided to threaten to send me back to the Ghost Zone!" He retorted.

Kitty's furious eyes were back on her once more.

"Yeah, well – you were the one flirting with those girls!"

That seemed to be Kitty's limit, for she exploded in an awful rage that nearly made Sam back up and take cover in the comforting haze of the clouds.

"YOU WERE WHAT?!" Kitty growled viciously and grabbed Johnny by his collar, bringing him up close to her. "Is what she is saying true, Johnny?"

"I, er, well, you know... no?" he laughed nervously.

Kitty's eyes glowed a dangerous red, which promised hurt and pain, as she grabbed onto his bike and pushed him into the back seat, instead seating herself in front and revving the engine. "You have some explaining to do, you idiot!" Kitty soared into the sky, a reluctant and terrified Johnny in her wake, leaving Sam to clutch her stomach in hilarity as they disappeared through a ghost portal that had been opened up near the Nasty Burger sign.

From above, several hundred feet in air, Danny Phantom watched the scene with troubled eyes. A array of emotions flitted through those jewel emerald eyes of his as he proceeded to duck out of the woman's vantage point once more.

This isn't good, Danny thought with a sense of trepidation. He watched the masked woman for another moment, before averting his eyes and floating deeper into the concealment of the clouds hazy streaks. Who is she? It can't be Valerie... He watched the lithe girl tap her board once with the heel of her right foot. She's too small to be Valerie. Her skin's too pale, too, he observed, trailing his eyes over the strip of flesh that she'd allow to show; just below the tip of her nose.

She sped away from his sharp eyes just milliseconds after.

Who is she?

"Master?"

Danny was startled out of his thoughts. "Lyda? What are you doing out here?"

Lyda floated beside Danny, her head bowed in respect.

Danny flushed red and scratched the back of his head, a nervous trademark of his. "Uh, hey, you don't have to call me master... we-we aren't on stage or anything," he smiled anxiously.

Lyda directed her big, green eyes towards Danny, staring dead straight into his own glowing pupils. She spoke with the seriousness of death. "You saved me from Freakshow, Master Danny. I do not know how I could ever repay you for such a noble deed..."

"Er, it's just—it wasn't right!" Danny quickly amended, scratching the back of his head even more furiously now. "Anybody would have done what I did, Lyda, had they the right equipment." He raised his palm, eliciting a menacing, green, glow from it. "And I just so happened to have the right things needed." His smile was pained, and it did not settle well with the female ghost.

She subconsciously floated closer to the troubled soul, reaching out to grasp his equally frigid hand; but the sheer iciness of it was lost to her, for her own hand was as cold and dead as his. "Mast—"

"Please, call me Danny." He replied tiredly, pushing her hand away from his. "Come on, let's head back to the Tent before everyone else starts wondering where we are again."

He didn't glance at her again as he flew off towards the humongous tent located in Amity's most dreary and desolate areas: the cemetery.

She didn't question how he was avoiding his gaze. She just followed silently, simply glad to be of some comfort to Danny.

He didn't leave her side for the entire time spent with the rest of the ghosts, only when midnight came and everyone headed off to their sleeping quarters did Danny truly leave her side.

She was content just being near Danny.

"How could you let him escape, Sam?!" Valerie's vicious voice rang throughout the Foley household. Sam winced and pressed the glass of cool lemonade against her temple, annoyed that she was being told off by her best friend's girlfriend.

Speaking of said best friend, he was currently sitting across from her, diligently sipping his warm cocoa and pointedly ignoring both Sam and Valerie.

Coward.

"Because I felt like it!" Sam retorted, feeling her nerves on end. She tuned out the woman's infuriated voice again and pondered about the sick feeling she had felt deep inside her gut. She felt as if she was being watched and not in the good way. Though she had checked the radar built into her helmet time and time again she could not even see a smidgen of a ghosts magnetic signature anywhere.

Sam leaned against her knuckles, taking a sip of her drink and gritting her teeth when Valerie none-too-gently snatched the glass from her hold.

"Pay attention to me, Sam!" Val shouted, setting her straight for a moment. "I'm not joking around here – you can't just let every ghost you come across to go easy."

"I don't let every ghost I come across to go easy and you damn well know it," she replied sharply. Sam stood up and grabbed her coat from behind the chair. "It's getting late – I'm leaving."

"Oh, no you don't you little bit—"

"Whoaaa, there Val!" Tucker intersected, grinning nervously as the two women stared each other down. "I think Sam has learned her lesson, right, Sam?" He shifted his eyes towards mentioned girl, only to swallow when she didn't show any signs of cooperating.

Sam smirked darkly. "What lesson? All I could hear was an annoying buzzing in my ear." She waved haughtily at Valerie, who looked as if she were to blow up at any moment, and strode to the door. "See you two tomorrow." She shut the door behind her.

Valerie gripped the top of the chair tightly, nearly crushing it in her palm. Tucker could hear the wood from the weak chairs handle slowly begin to chip with the pressure of her sharp finger nails. Suddenly, the pressure receded, and Valerie visibly slumped.

She pushed the chair back with a loud screech and sat down heavily.

"These fights..." she said, seemingly to herself, "they're getting worse."

Tucker quietly agreed with the woman. Sam and Valerie had never really gotten along as well as most had perceived. Usually it was Sam's reckless and easy-going behavior that set Valerie off. Tucker knew for certain that Sam was anything but reckless – she was the most serious, down-to-earth, person Tucker knew. But that didn't mean that Valerie agreed with Sam's Ghost Hunting methods.

Valerie was set on locking up every single ghost that dare tread down the same path as she.

Sam was set on sending any ghost that crossed that delicately placed line she personally drew: fight me and you'll get your ass sent to the Ghost Zone. Don't, and you'll be safe to wonder the streets of Amity Park... for now.

It was what she said everytime to all of them; even those that had fought her and lost. Sam had the belief that every ghost was to be treated as an equal. She said that no ghost, unless she knew he was wickedly evil, should be denied the right to walk amongst the living.

"They died here. And for some sick reason they haven't been able to move onto that 'Heaven' or 'Hell' that we all talk about. They should at least be able to hang around us... even for a little while. Who knows? Maybe then they'll be able to discover what has kept them from moving on so long."

And she had a point... somewhat.

Most of the ghosts Danny had fought in their younger years were tied to the living by their obsessions towards objects. Skulker and his hunting, Ember and her music, Vlad and his desire for Maddie Fenton... and world domination.

They were all obsessions, which lead to Tucker's thoughts veering towards a certain 'lost' Fenton...

Danny's half-ghost... does that mean that he has an obsession too? Tucker was skeptical about this theory, considering that he was still half-human, half-alive, and surely his human side would keep his less-than-human side in place. But the doubt still lingered. What if Danny did have an obsession?

What if he can't move on once he—Tucker didn't want to think about it. He instead focused on what could be his obsession?

Well... Tucker grinned wryly. Maybe it could be his total disregard for himself in order to save others? Hero-complex. Tucker racked his brain a couple of more reasons but he couldn't find a single one. What other reason would he have for lingering behind? That is, if he ever did.

Then an image – a memory – came to mind. It came with startling such clarity; right down to the very last detail. It was one of their rather interesting adventures with some random ghost just a few days after the Freakshow incident... Sam had gotten the edge of her skirt caught on the edge of an upturned screw inside a warehouse and she couldn't get it undone in time to avoid the ghosts rather hard punch. She had been socked in the stomach, and Tucker was sure Danny saw red that day. It was what prompted him to believe that maybe all that teasing about Danny and Sam had some truth in it.

Danny had gotten... for lack of better word, stronger. It was as if he had time to train himself, because suddenly his ecto-blasts were much brighter, much more powerful. Suddenly, he could grab that ghost by the dingy clothes he was dressed in and throw him over his head and towards a wall. Suddenly, when his fist connected with the wall behind the ghost, narrowly missing it's head, Danny managed to punch a hole straight throw it; something he hadn't been able to do before even if he tried.

And it all went away just as quickly once he found that Sam was alright; just a little winded.

Tucker had whipped out his PDA and marked it into his digital journal under Strange & Rare Occurrences... which was pretty much filled up with several journal entries. But it was really something worth noting; not just some random thing that had happened and could probably be explained, ironically, scientifically by Sam or even Danny.

"It's the dark – it plays tricks on you."

"Come on, Tuck, it's a coincidence!"

"He was just mad, that's all – adrenaline rush... wait, do ghosts even have adrenaline glands? All well, he was just angry."

"The light, you know, since the warehouse was close to the dock the ships' lights' must've thrown you off."

But Tucker wasn't swayed by his friend's deft explanations. He knew what he saw, even had proof with the damaged wall.

This was what made Tucker believe that maybe Danny's ghostly obsession was none other than...

"Valerie," Tucker said after a while. Val lifted her head, usually vibrant eyes drawn down to a tired glow. "About Danny... are you still taking Sam to Circus Gothica?"

"Of course, Tucker," Val replied, scuffing her shoes against the tile of the floor. "Why?"

"When were you going to take her?" Tuck mumbled, grabbing his own glass and swirling the contents inside.

"Um, this upcoming Saturday."

Two weeks before Halloween, Tucker thought grimly. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why? She seems glum, glummer than usual and it's the best way to take her mind off our little... argument." Valerie explained rationally.

"I know but... I – call it a premonition, but I don't think you should take Sam on Saturday," upon seeing his girlfriend's suspicious and rather angry look, he added, "You know! Halloween and all! Don't all Goths like to get freaky with the supernatural... erm, on Halloween?" His voice pitched and squeaked towards the end, but Valerie seemed to think it was a good idea as well.

"Hmm, I'll think about that," Val replied rather distantly, picking at a scar she had gotten from falling off of her hover board. "Hey, Tuck, it's getting late and I have to go.. I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah, er, alright – here let me walk you –"

"No." Val said quickly – sharply – but added in a sweeter tone: "No, Tuck; no thanks. I just have to walk all this anger out, ya know? Before I decide you're annoying me and take it out on you," she teased, hopelessly.

Tucker watched helplessly as his girlfriend left without even a goodnight kiss. "Uh, er, call me?"

Val shut the door behind her silently in reply.

A/N: Sorry for the late update, as most of you know, I couldn't update before since I was long gone at some distant and foreign place... meh, it was Mexico. It's not such a big deal lol. I ended up not taking my laptop, resorting instead of taking a notebook and training myself into writing at fast speeds!

... Let's just say it didn't turn as well as I had thought it would.

My hand cramped up a lot and my mind was merciless as it bombarded me with ideas. It was painful since I couldn't write them all down; I ended up using my ipod touch as a means to write down my story ideas. I have about 5 drafts labeled 'CIRQUE BERSERK DRAFT – TAKE 1' and so on xD

So training my hand didn't go as well as I had planned... what did, though, is my ideas for this story! I've got some more tricks up my sleeve.

Maybe some of you noticed, maybe some of you didn't, but I tried to be a little more... detailed this time around. All thanks to TableDeskChair. For some reason, her comment '...your phrasing could be a bit more concise' lit up a bulb in my head that shouted 'DETAIL! YOU HEARD THE LADY, STOP SQUISHING SO MUCH DAMN STUFF INTO LITTLE WORDS! DRAG IT OUT, WOMAN!' XD

I quite enjoy dragging things out but another person had flamed me in another one of my fictions stating that my detail was much too, for lack of better word, 'cliché'. Kinda depressed me, so I quit adding as much detail as I wanted.

I hope this is better! Review and tell me what you think!

Scarlett.