A/N: Thank you all for the reviews and comments on the last chapter!

Another Way

Chapter 2 : Subjective Reality

Maddie opened the door to FentonWorks while glancing back at her teenage daughter, Jazz. The two of them had been visiting a nearby college; despite being only a junior in high school, the girl was already hard at work trying to find a good college. Although she didn't really plan on going to a nearby, small-town college - she had her sights set on Yale or Harvard – she took any chance she could to familiarize herself with the 'adult life'. She would probably pout the rest of the day if she knew Maddie still thought of her as a 'teenager'.

"…and the library! I can just imagine studying there. Of course, it wouldn't be as great as Harvard's, but all things considered, for such a low population…" her daughter ranted on, with lights in her eyes. She didn't even realize that her mother sent her an amused smile and called through the front door that they were home. She knew from experience that she'd rather Jack knew she was coming in, or she might find herself covered in ectofoam.

But she frowned when no one replied to her call, and went further into the house, quickly noticing that neither her husband nor her son were in the kitchen or the living room, "Jack? Danny? Are you home?" she called again, a little louder, and this time someone answered her.

Her son's panicked voice drifted up from the basement, "Mom? Mom, dad's knocked out!"

Her eyes widened and she ran down the stairs of the basement, going through the possible scenarios that could have ended with someone getting hurt – had Jack forgotten the safety measures she reminded him of every day, and gotten himself hurt? Was Danny hurt too?! She didn't even see Jazz follow her with a mixed expression of concern and annoyance on her face.

When she finally saw her son and her husband, she was both relieved and worried – relieved because Danny seemed fine, although a bit shaken up, and worried because Jack was lying completely still on his back, on the floor next to the wall, a scorch mark evident on the front of his orange jumpsuit. The reinforced wall even seemed to have taken a hit.

She gasped and ran over to her husband, "Jack! Danny, what happened?!" she asked her paler-than-usual son, as she kneeled beside the man.

"It… we were attacked…" the boy tried, as though he wasn't sure how to explain what had happened.

"Attacked?! By whom?"

"Not… not a 'who', mom. It was a ghost." She would have thought he was joking, if his expression hadn't been completely sombre and serious.

"A…a ghost?" she repeated, not quite daring to believe it, "You were attacked by a ghost?"

"Yeah, mom."

She stared wide-eyed at him, not able to contain her own growing excitement, even when her husband was obviously hurt. A ghost? Did a ghost truly appear right in the lab? Then Jack groaned and moved and, suddenly remembering the situation, she put a hand on his shoulder.

"Jack? Are you alright?" she asked, as he pulled himself up to lean on his elbows and stare hazily at his wife.

"Mads? What are you doing home so soon?"

"I'm not early, honey, in fact, it seems I'm too late." She responded sadly.

"Too late? Too late for what?" Jack blinked and stared at her in confusion for a second, but then his eyes widened, "Mads! A ghost! There was a ghost! Here! In the lab!" the other three members of the Fentons gaped at him when he sprung to his feet, swaying only a little on his still-unsteady feet, and roared, "A GHOST!"

Seeing that her love was alright – relatively – Maddie sprung to her feet with a grin to match her husband's, "Was it really a ghost, Jack?! Danny said it attacked you!"

"It did!" Jack said enthusiastically, "It… it said it was threatened by my awesome ghost fighting skills, so he wanted to get rid of me while my back was turned!"

Danny made a face, "Well, that's not quite what…"

"But how did it get here, Jack?" Maddie asked, not hearing her son's mutterings.

Jack looked blankly at her for a second, but then his eyes caught a green glimpse from one side of the lab, and he turned towards it, the other Fentons' eyes catching the same light as he turned.

A bright-green, swirling vortex had opened in the Fenton Ghost Portal, a few dark and ominous shapes barely visible behind the green veil of the gateway. All of the humans in the basement stared enthralled into it, three of them with a feeling of dread reaching them from the sight, one with a growing sense of belonging.

"Jack…" Maddie breathed, her eyes wide in wonderment, now that she'd finally noticed the working gateway, "you fixed the Fenton Ghost Portal!?" she squeaked in excitement, "Oh, that must be where it came from!"

Jack blinked dumbfounded at the portal, mentally swearing to himself that it hadn't been working before that foul ectoplasmic waste bucket of a ghost had knocked him out… but maybe the hit had knocked some of his memory loose! Yeah, it'll probably come back to me later! He grinned to himself and wrapped an arm around his son, not noticing how he winced at the touch, "Yeah, Danny and I must've fixed it and that ectoscum took its chance to face its greatest enemy, ghost hunter JACK FENTON! Right, Danny-boy?"

Danny made a bad attempt at a smile, "yeah… that must've been what happened…" he trailed off, staring towards the green vortex with a frown.

Maddie saw the fear in her son's eyes, but guessed wrong at the reason, as she gently purred up his hair, "Oh, Danny, you must have been so frightened by that foul ghost. I'm sorry you had to go through that."

At her words Danny's eyes widened and he shook off her hand and his dad's arm and moved back, "No way, I wasn't scared. I'm not a child!" he protested, with a very childlike pout, crossing his arms.

Behind him, his sister 'tsk'd' and went up to put a hand on his shoulder, "Of course you were scared, Danny. It's perfectly normal," Jazz stated with an air of complete confidence, "when you've just had someone break into your home!"

Jack frowned at his daughter in confusion, "Don't you mean a 'ghost attack', princess?"

Jazz shook her head determinedly, "There are no such things as ghosts, dad. You and Danny must have been victims of a burglary, you were knocked out and Danny only agrees with you because he's too shocked to think clearly."

Danny sputtered in indignation and pulled away from her hand with a disgusted look, "I'm not in shock, Jazz! I'm fine!" he insisted.

Maddie gave him a quick check-up and said worriedly, "I don't know, Danny, you look a little sick… are you sure that ghost didn't hurt you?"

Danny opened his mouth to repeat what he'd said, but then realized that he really was feeling very faint – the pain of being electrocuted was bad enough, but the way he'd woken up was … his eyes fell to the floor and he scratched the back of his neck timidly, "Well, I almost slammed into the portal, and I … I got a bit of a shock."

Maddie frowned a went over to look at the portal, her eyes narrowing in contemplation as she stretched her hand out towards the swirling green, "it's not letting off any excess electricity now, though…"

Danny bit his lip, "Well, it was still just powering up, maybe that's why."

Jazz sighed in exasperation and pinched the bridge of her nose, "Yeah, or maybe it's because it's a crazy invention designed to transport the user to a realm that doesn't exist!"

"Jazz! It does so exist! And it's a zone, not a realm." her dad intervened with a childish sort of logic that only Jack Fenton could pull off without embarrassment, making Jazz groan in annoyance.

"If anyone needs us, Danny and I will be in my room. I have to help Danny overcome the trauma of being attacked by strangers and electrocuted by his own parents' inventions!" she announced loudly, and stomped up the stairs, dragging her unwilling little brother behind her.

Maddie watched her leave with a sigh. Her daughter was insistent on believing that ghosts didn't exist and she feared it was her own and Jack's fault for being so obsessed with them all throughout her childhood. "It's like she's punishing the ghosts for taking us away by not believing in them," Maddie mumbled to herself.

Jack, who'd felt depressed after Jazz's sudden dismissal, heard what his wife said and perked up, "Jazz is punishing ghosts? Of course she is! She's a real Fenton after all!" he announced proudly, making his wife smile in amusement.

"Yes, Jack, I suppose she is."

Danny swore that Jazz had to have been working out – either that, or he was weaker from the accident than he'd thought (because she couldn't possibly be naturally stronger than him – right?). He struggled feebly against her grip, groaning in annoyance.

"Ja-azz, let go!"

She shook her head without looking back at him, "No, little brother, I have to make sure you're not suffering lingering effects from being attacked by criminals – and apparently, electrocuted! – and in your own home to boot!"

"Criminals? What, you mean the ghost?" he asked, momentarily puzzled by her choice of words.

"Our parents' obsession has bled into your fragile psyche and made you think it's real! It's very damaging for a child!"

"Are you saying I'm hallucinating?!" he stammered, embarrassed and angry.

She looked back at him with an exasperated expression, "Danny, we both know that there are no such things as ghosts. It's all an unhealthy pastime that our parents insist on pursuing, instead of spending their time on more worthwhile projects – such a making it to the cover of Einstein magazine!" she breathed the last bit with a mixed air of both deep annoyance and admiration.

He managed to pull his arm from her grasp in a quick motion and glared angrily at her as she spun around to face him, hands on her hips and a disapproving pout on her face.

"I'm telling you, it was a ghost! It was super mad at dad and wanted to kill him!" he thought he'd gotten through to her for a moment when a fearful expression flittered across her features for a second, but it soon morphed into that mildly worried and disappointed look that was all-Jazz.

"Danny, we need to talk about this, and then you need to get some rest. You've obviously been shocked – in more ways than one!" she replied, ignoring what he just said, honest concern for his mental wellbeing apparent in her hushed voice.

Danny growled and rolled his eyes before stomping off towards his room, his small frame barely managing to make weak 'thumps!' on the carpet under his feet, "Fine. Be like that."

"No! Danny, it's important to sort through these crucial moments of you teen-identity, or you'll be scarred socially! Danny! DANNY, COME BACK!"

When Danny slammed the door behind him, he heard her mutter weakly, "…I'll be here when you change your mind…" and he almost - almost - felt bad. Then he remembered how she'd treated him like a mental-patient, and the rage flared up all over again. He noticed his mirror out of the corner of his eye, and the anger was replaced by a numb sense of anxiety.

He walked slowly towards the glass, as though it was a ferocious animal he'd been forced to tame, a stared sulkily into his own tired and fearful eyes. He'd half expected to see the same sight that had greeted him in the mirror in the lab. After he'd fallen through the ceiling.

He woke up with a strange tingling feeling in his stomach, and opened his eyes to see said body part literally being swallowed by his bed. At least that's what it looked like to his pained and sleepy brain. Understandably, he panicked, but that only made his predicament worse and he plummeted through the bed and floor underneath as though they were non-existent. When he came out on the other side, dropping from the ceiling in the lab like a bag of potatoes, he began to believe that he'd fall all the way to the core of the earth. Luckily, he stopped when he hit the floor – hard. Admittedly, he didn't hit it as hard as he would have expected, but to his already aching body, it was enough to leave him squirming in agony for a couple of minutes before he managed to convince himself to get up and look around his surroundings.

The first thing he saw was his father, lying stock still on the cold floor. He gasped and ran over to him. He laid a hand on the man's sizable chest and was relieved to feel a steady pulse. Then he froze. Because his hand wasn't his hand.

It was covered in a white glove, not unlike the gloves that his parents used, and there was a faint white aura around it, casting a ghostly light on his father's orange jumpsuit.

His eyed widened as he brought it up for a closer inspection, treating his own hand like a foreign object. Trailing the glove further down his arm, he realized that 'it' continued up his shoulder, down his chest… with a surge of anxiety he got to his feet and shuffled over to the mirror, fearing what he'd see.

This is not me.

The boy in the mirror was wearing a jumpsuit like his own, but with inverted colours. His eyes were glowing an eerie green, his skin pale and his hair snow-white. And around him was that strange white light, framing him, though not quite 'coming' from him. It surrounded his frame from every angle he looked, making him seem like an ethereal, mystical creature.

The sight unnerved him more than he could describe.

He gave a start when he suddenly heard his mother's voice from the living room upstairs, and his stomach curled into painful knots as the breath stilled in his lungs, leaving one thought to resound in his head; she can't know.

He might not be as smart as Jazz, but he wasn't a complete fool either and he could put two and two together; a ghost portal, searing pain - and apparently he could now function as his own nightlight.

I'm a ghost, he thought, feeling almost numb from the realization. His mother was going to hunt him, his dad would hate him, and Jazz… well, Jazz would probably deny his existence.

He could hear his mother moving further into the house, calling, and he felt the terror welling up in him, until he would have been near-hyperventilating if his current form hadn't had very little need of air.

No, no, no, no, she couldn't see him like this, like the thing she hates! I'm human, human, I'M NOT A GHOST! Suddenly, he felt an intense – but not painful – sort of coldness in his chest. It spread, travelling up and down his body with a blinding light, leaving behind a warmth that he hadn't realized he was missing.

He quickly closed his eyes when the light went past his face, and opened them to his reflection – his completely human reflection. He stared at the boy – himself – for a second, the relief making his knees weak, before summing up the courage to call back to his mother.

"Mom? Mom, dad's knocked out!"

Now he stood before his reflection again, but the sight of his human self didn't inspire as much relief as it had in the basement. Even though he was undoubtedly alive, he could still feel it in his chest; that sense of soothing cold, like a heart, belonging to something different from a human – but something that was also entirely him.

Even in this form he could still feel the ghost underneath the surface; he wasn't completely rid of it, and the feeling scared him.

He sighed and sat on his bed, hiding his face in his hands. What was going to happen to me now?

Jazz sat by her desk, tapping an angry rhythm on the wood with her nails, a deep frown on her face. They've really gone too far this time, she thought to herself, Danny gets hurt and they make it out to be a ghost who hurt him! … Maybe they're having trouble coping with the guilt? She wondered a little about that and her expression softened a bit, but even so, this is dangerous! They've gotten Danny to believe it too… what if he grows up with the same unhealthy obsession?! She sat up straight in her chair at that thought, her eyes widening.

She got up and started pacing the room, No, I can't let that happen. I was hoping that mom and dad would see sense, but obviously I was wrong. If they're not going to think about Danny's welfare, then… she looked up and glared out the window at the darkening sky.

Then I'll just have to. She smiled, Don't worry, Danny, I'll take care of you, little brother.

But then the smile slid off her face to be replaced by another frown. How was she supposed to help Danny? He knew that she didn't believe in ghosts, but his fragile mind was sure that he'd been assaulted by one, so he'd never open up to her enough to let her convince him that ghosts didn't exist and that there was nothing to fear.

"How do I get him to talk to me?" she mused aloud, as though expecting the air to answer her question, "He knows I'd never believe…" she stopped in her tracks, "Unless I pretend I do…" she shook her head with a grimace. No, she couldn't do that – one should never play along with the patient's illusions; that would only strengthen them. It was important that the people they trust deny their misconceptions –

But Danny doesn't trust me.

The thought surprised her. She didn't know when she'd realized that Danny had stopped trusting her, but she was sure. Danny wouldn't have pulled away from her that quickly if he did; he'd have tried harder to convince her of the alleged 'ghost attack'.

But it hadn't always been like that. Danny and she used to be closer than most other siblings; he'd trusted her with his secrets when he was younger, but as they both got older, they'd drifted away.

She bit her lower lip in thought; I'll have to show him that he can still trust me, but how? Trust is build, after all… the answer seemed obvious; she couldn't convince him that ghosts didn't exist unless he trusted her, and he wouldn't trust her unless he thought she believed him, so she'd have to… pretend she did.

It's dishonest, but it's for Danny's own good, she thought uncertainly, already resigning herself to her decision, he'll thank me when he's realizes what I've done for him, she still didn't feel too good about it, but she was really worried; her brother had seemed so closed-off earlier, and she'd sensed that he wasn't telling them everything.

"Alright… no sense in waiting!" she strode to her door and went out into the hallway, stopping before her little brother's room. She took a deep breath before knocking on his door.

"Danny? Can I come in?" no answer.

She huffed and hesitated before saying slowly, "Danny, I – I know you've just been through something traumatic and – and you don't want to talk about it, but I … want to know what happened. You can tell me…" she drew in a steadying breath, "you can tell me about the … ghost … and what it did."

She stood there for almost a minute before she heard him getting up and dragging his feet to the door. He opened it fraction and peered out at her with a slightly suspicious eyes.

"…You want to hear about the ghost?" he asked, the disbelief obvious in his voice.

She blinked, a little surprised. She hadn't even considered that he wouldn't believe her if she said she was interested. Of course he wouldn't, that's why I need to get him to trust me! She smiled at him, "Well, if you say there was a ghost, Danny, then… then I want to hear about it."

He looked like he was considering it, and for a second she thought he would let her in, but then he looked away from her.

"I already told you what happened. A ghost showed up, insulted dad and tried to kill him. That's all." He said tersely.

She rolled her eyes, "Then how did you get hurt? That wasn't really an accident, was it?"

He pressed his lips into a thin line and shot her an annoyed look, "Yeah, it was. That's what I said."

She sighed. Obviously he's not going to tell me right away. What was I thinking? Well, I'll just have to let him know I'm available if he wants to talk, "Okay, Danny." She said kindly, "But you know that I'm here if you need me, right?"

His glare softened and he smiled a little shyly, "Yeah… I know, Jazz. But I'm fine, really!" he added quickly, trying to sound convincing – and failing.

She pretended not to notice how fake his reply sounded, and nodded, hiding her disappointment behind a smile, "Alright, I'll see you at dinner, Danny." He nodded with a tense smile and closed the door as she walked off.

Well, no one said it would be easy, but he was still her little brother. As long as she tried to keep an open mind, she was sure Danny would come to her if he needed her help, now. She just had to hold back on her rejection of ghosts for a while …

She winced. That was going to be hard - with her parents' new invention, the house was sure to be full of ghost talk for a long while …

Vlad stood in his study, gazing out of his window at the setting sun. The orange rays reflected in his wine-glass, which he had all but forgotten about.

After returning to his castle and calming down, he realized how immature he'd acted that day; his plan had met a slight setback, and as a result he lost all self-control. It was pathetic. He was better than that. And seeing as how the invention Jack and Maddie had wanted to stay at home to work on was easily fixed by having an undersized teenager thrown at it, it was very likely that the pair would have made it to the reunion anyway. His actions had been unnecessary and premature.

But there was a silver lining to his failure. True, he hadn't felt too proud of himself when the boy emerged from the ghost portal as a changed man – or, case being, boy – but that had only been his sympathy whispering in his ear; he knew fully well what the boy would have to go through now, and he felt bad for inadvertently causing his misfortune. But who knew what would have happened if Vlad hadn't come by? The boy might have had the accident anyway, what with Jack's terrible habit of not making sure his inventions are safe. Knowing Jack as he did, he was sure the fool probably placed the 'On'-button inside the damn thing, or something equally idiotic. Someone would have ended up getting hurt – unless Maddie caught the mistake first of course, bless her heart – and in a way it was lucky that it was this boy, for the alternative could have been much worse.

After his accident, Vlad had made several attempts to safely extricate his ghost DNA from his human half, before he had to conclude that it would leave him incomplete, a hollow man, only half of what he was supposed to be; in a way, half of him had died to that damn prototype portal.

In his experiments, he'd exposed tissue from different kinds of creatures – humans included – to the effect of a ghost portal; none of them showed any signs of absorbing the ectoplasmic energy and he was positive that the real, living creatures wouldn't have become hybrids – he even tested it on a few – and he'd realized just how lucky he was to still be even half-alive after the accident caused by Jack's incompetence; he could truly have died completely that day.

He'd never been able to ascertain what quality he held that allowed him to become a hybrid, but it seemed like the boy held the same one. If anything, he was even luckier; it had taken Vlad's body a long time to get accustomed to his new DNA, and his ghost half had taken almost as long to develop fully. But the boy had turned into his ghostly self immediately.

Perhaps it was simply the excess of ectoenergy, Vlad thought to himself, it was much more energy than my body was put through.

But the fact remained that Jack had managed to create another hybrid, once again by unhappy accident. Even if it had kept Vlad from making a horrendous mistake by killing Jack instead of following his plans, it had also complicated them; he'd thought that he could hide his halfa-status from Maddie when they married, but with the boy now sharing his condition, the child was sure to realize the truth at some point, no matter how hard Vlad tried to mislead him. And besides… Vlad had to admit that he wasn't completely sorry for the boy's situation. The idea of training the young hybrid and passing on his experience was interesting. He'd never cared much for having an heir before, but now the thought seemed very enticing.

But how to go about it? The boy would surely be wary around him at best, screaming and murderous at worst (although he didn't seem especially violent). Well, at least he'll be wary around my ghost half – but my human half could approach him without risk.

Vlad smiled at the thought, and he wondered how he would go about that. Should he make an excuse to visit the Fentons before the reunion? Perhaps he could insist on helping the boy's parents with their faulty invention? But no, the portal was working now, so that would be a short visit, and it might put his plans for the reunion off-course, and besides, the boy would surely be a little out of sorts, what with his species having been changed just recently. If he wanted to get to know the boy, now was certainly a bad time.

I suppose I will have to wait till after the reunion, he sighed before a smirk tugged on his lips, but that doesn't mean that I can't keep an eye on the little badger…

A/N: I don't care what anyone says, Jazz is a true Fenton – haven't you noticed how she treats the ghosts? Condescendingly and with a superior attitude – and she can kick ass when she really puts her mind to it. She's just not very interested in that. At least she wasn't until Danny had his accident.

On Vlad's thoughts, I can only say; it's VLAD. Of course he's blaming Jack, what did you expect?

So, your thoughts on Jazz and Danny's interaction? Is it unrealistic? I'm afraid I may have pushed it a bit; I thought about having her come to her realization over a few days, but I'm not sure how much I want to focus on Jazz's inner musings in the coming chapters, so there. We also definitely need more action in this phanfic.