Pocket Watch
So you finally snapped, ey?
Stress, is that your excuse?
"…Blood Pressure rose up…"
"…Seems to be stressed in my observation…"
"…..Try to cut back on a few meals and…"
"…Sleep….should be fine…"
The doctor's words drooled on as Danny slowly gain consciousness, only to fall back into his current state, only to gain brief consciousness again. He seemed to be drifting on and off. Each time he opened his eyes, he was in a different area with a different scenario. The doctor's office, the family RV, and finally, his room where he woke up, finding himself in his bed, blanket up to his neck. Someone must've put his pajamas for him as he observed the clothes he was currently wearing.
Feeling groggy, Danny left the bed and stumbled over to the bathroom. The bandages he had put on himself earlier were still there, his hair was a colossal mess of tangles and waves, his face was as a pale as…well, a ghost, and his eyes had the biggest bags this side of the Addams' Family. That said, at least he felt slightly better, slightly as in he was on the verge of throwing up, but not overall tired or seemingly lacking in energy. I mean, what was all that about? Ever since Technus made light of his growing powers some months back, Danny has been keeping record over it, every single use of his powers sans for maybe flight seems to zap him in some way. The more he uses it, the bigger he uses it, the worse he gets. Even his ghostly wail which he has improved over in the near two years since he's had it reverted him back into his human state and subjectively caused him to collapse to his knees. That hasn't happened to him for about a year now. Could what the doctor said be true? Were stress and his constant pessimistic attitude he's had for months now been having some sort of effect on his powers which in term was affecting his body? Danny let out a loud groan and slammed his head on the bathroom mirror.
He started to remember more past events that caused him to be the way he was now. That stupid fight with Dash and his best friends…when the three separated because of him…
………………
An Unsatisfied Revenge
Perhaps Danny's memory was a bit foggy due to his current condition, but he really couldn't remember when Dash first picked on him. I guess it shows Dash has been breathing down Danny's neck for some time. He was always bigger then him (even when Danny had gained some slight muscles from all the fighting and training), taller then him (even when Danny had grown a few inches over the two years now since he became Phantom), and stronger then him (even when Danny had been fighting and training). The last one was a virtual unknown at that time. He's definitely gotten stronger both in his human half and ghost half, but trying to stay out of trouble and his growing cautiousness, Danny never picked a fight with Dash. Sure, he gives verbal abuses in most cases, but he usually ends up face first in a trash can or stuffed in a locker, refusing to throw a punch. Despite Tucker's constant suggestion to use his ghost powers like he did previously in his younger years to get revenge on him; that thought left Danny's head more and more over the course of time. After all, the abuse of his powers almost landed him as his evil incarnation whom he met two years back. Danny still had terrible memories of THAT event.
That said his day in school went about as crummy as possible. His increasing anger left out feared marks on both Tucker and Sam's face. Never had they seen their friend so peeved before in their entire lives.
"Danny's like a soda bottle." Tucker once said as he shaking his Coca-Cola, "Sooner or later…he's gonna pop." He opened the can and the coke spewed all over Sam.
"Oops."
"Nice." Sam muttered. She gazed around, hopelessly looking for Danny to join them for lunch, "What is he doing? Extra work?"
"Or fighting ghosts…and not even contacting us for help." Tucker mumbled, crossing his arms, disappointed.
"Well, we shouldn't be seating around here, we should be helping him…wherever he is."
"I'm disappointed he didn't contact us, but then I remember he's not in the best of moods, I wonder if it's wise to go out and find him."
Before Sam could respond to that, a massive CRASH occurred as a black suited figure flew straight through the lunchroom's many windows, landing harshly on one of the lunch table, the one reserved mostly for the popular, well known kids. Danny let out a massive groan while popular girl Paulina squealed something delightful.
"Ghost boy, you're here!" She squeaked, eyes wide and lavishing, hands cupped together, cheeks blushing, "I knew you'd come for me." She tried to wrap her arms around Danny, but he casually and slowly pushed her arms away. Without saying a word, he flew away and returned minutes later as his human half.
Everybody was staring at the broken window and the shattered pieces of glass all over the floor. Mr. Lancer at this point managed to back the students away from it, getting the janitor to clean it up.
"I suggest you all take your lunches to the outside lunch room." Lancer pointed out. With that said, the students took their back packs and foods outside.
"Danny Phantom was SO close to me today." Danny heard Paulina gush over, "He didn't let me touch him, but I just know he's playing hard to get."
"I wonder who he was fighting? I bet he kicked a lot of ass." Dash grinned. Well, at least Dash's respect for his ghost half reminded, as well as Paulina's crush on Phantom. Although over the years, his crush on Paulina has died, so the latter was of little concern to him. Right now, he had to deal with his friends…and a small headache.
"You know, you could have told us you were fighting a ghost." Sam said, "…Did he or she get away again?"
"Yes, and I didn't feel like calling for you guys." Danny said. The three found a spot to seat. The April weather gave a sunny feeling, as the air was neither too cold, nor too hot. Perfect spring weather.
"Why, would we have been too much of a bother?" Tucker asked, slightly offending.
"Tucker…"
"Are we too annoying?"
"Tucker…"
"Do we piss you off seeing as how whenever we even open our mouths, we seem to drive you up the wall or maybe we—"
"TUCKER! SHUT UP!"
For once, the techno geek took in that advice and clamped his lips shut. Danny glared dangerously at Tucker, looking as though he should put him on the top of his murder list. Tucker meanwhile eyed away from Danny, swearing he saw a small glimpse of red in his friend's eyes. The two remained quiet for the duration of the lunch period. Danny barely ate half of his sandwich before he declared he wasn't hungry and went over to dump the food. Unfortunately, he butted heads with Dash again, as if the blonde boy planned this. Of course, knowing his absolutely lust for pummeling Danny, it didn't surprise the smaller boy.
"Watch it, FenTURD; I had this jacket cleaned yesterday." Dash cried out.
"Your jacket comments are starting to tire me, why not try a new routine?" Danny said sarcastically, with a hint of venom in his mouth. His facial expression showed he was far from caring at this point. Predictably, Dash grabbed Danny again by the back of his shirt collar as he was about to walk away and was about to once again dump him in the trash can.
"Here we go again." Tucker sighed.
"Every time you make a crack at me, it's down in the dumpster for you." Dash cackled as he shoved Danny in. Again, a roar of laughter rang out. Danny hastily pulled himself from the trash can and removed the various scraps, banana peels, and unidentified mush off his clothes.
"What's the matter, FenTARD?" Dash said, mocking as he gave off a fake look of concern, "Does baby need a bib for his food? Or maybe another round of "Trash the 'Tard?"
"Go to hell." Danny said, surprisingly in an eerily calm, casual voice.
"Wrong answer, Fenton!" Dash said, grabbing Danny by the front of his shirt collar this time, "In my book, wrong answers are punishable by toothless mouths, so prepare to kiss your teeth good-bye." Dash raised his other free hand, recoil it back, and sent it straight for Danny's mouth. Danny would have fallen to the floor if not for Dash and his firm grip on his shirt. Instead, he got another pummel in the face. The punches repeated in a rhythmic pattern as various kids crowded around, mostly cheering on the one-sided fight. Dash cackled over each punch, confident in his abilities and enjoying seeing bruises and a bloody nose on Danny.
"Ooh, why doesn't he just fight back!" Valerie cried out.
"Hey, he's not some mindless 12 year old, Valerie." Sam pointed out.
Her words were spoken too soon. Dash recoiled for a final punch, the coup de grace, but as soon as he's fist neared Danny's face, a hand engulfed his and blocked the attack. Everything seemed to play in slow motion for Dash as he slowly gazed around to see whose hand that was. Dash's eyes opened wide when he saw Danny himself was blocking Dash's attacks. He then eyed Danny's face, the face of a warrior, not a 16 year old boy. The face of a very PISSED off warrior. Before he could fully grasp what was happening, Danny flung Dash over his head where he landed on the grass, staining his pants. The crowd dropped in dead silence. Dash, defeated by Danny? Impossible!
Dash staggered as he got up, spitting the grass out of his mouth.
"Alright, you wanna get serious with me?" Dash growled, "You think you got the guts to beat me?"
"I don't think, I know." Was Danny's answer. His voice had a sense of confidence and malice that it intimidated Dash. He shook it off and immediately dived towards Danny. Danny dodged Dash's charge, grabbed his extending arm, and drop kicked him in the guts. The crowd went wild with mixed emotions. Dash struggled to get up again and tried once again to go on the offense. He managed to succeed in pushing Danny up against a wall, but using that to his advantage, Danny lifted up his legs and kicked him hard on the chest. Dash staggered backwards, but didn't get time to rest as Danny continued from his kick with a spin kick, then a harsh two hit blow with his fists.
"Whoa." Was Valerie's response, "When did he get so good at fighting? When did Danny even know how to fight?"
"You wouldn't believe us if we told ya…or if we did, you'd be horribly peeved." Tucker muttered.
"What?"
"Nothing."
Dash now had his equal share of a bloody nose and bruises. Dash got in a few swings here and there, but he was shocked both from Danny fighting back and his sudden spontaneous burst of knowledge in marital arts (as far as Dash was concerned, anyways). Danny noticed Dash was staggering, dizzy from the attacks, but not yet fallen, so much like that of so many Mortal Kombat characters. He didn't understand why he suddenly had the ability to kick someone's butt so easily when he couldn't even defeat any of the ghosts he's faced for some time. Perhaps he was angry, more angry then he's ever been in his entire life, or perhaps it's because Dash was just a normal kid, not a ghost with extraordinary powers. Whatever the case was, Danny nearly delivered his final blow if not for a burly hand grabbing onto it. Danny turned around and saw an extremely agitated Lancer.
The walk to the principal's office was nothing short of unpleasant for Maddie and Jack. There they were told of Danny getting in a fight and literally tenderizing Dash's body. The ride home was a quiet one, but upon them entering their home and closing the front door, screams, shouts, and all kinds of manners of verbal abuse took place.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU WOULD DO SUCH A THING!" Maddie cried out, "WHAT HAVE WE TOLD YOU ABOUT VIOLENCE, YOUNG MAN?"
"YEA! ONLY TIME YOU ATTACK IS AT A GHOST! A GHOST!" Jack added in.
"WHAT DOES IT MATTER ANYMORE?" Danny shouted, "I'M GROUNDED AND I CAN NEVER LEAVE MY ROOM…WHICH IS JUST WHAT YOU GUYS WANTED ANYWAYS! YOU NEVER PAY ATTENTION TO ME!"
"What!" Maddie snapped from her anger to confusion, "What on Earth are you talking about?"
"Forget it." Danny said sternly, teeth gritting, "It's just as well that I have to get in trouble to gain your attention. How pathetically sad. Once I'm in my room, you'll forget about me ANYWAYS!"
Danny then harshly went upstairs and slammed the door. The headache he had earlier after the fight with the previous ghost increased. He didn't care if it was from the stress or the possible energy zapping from his ghost powers, he just laid in bed, closing his eyes tightly.
Fine, be that way
After about a week's suspension from school, Danny returned, looking stern as usual. He immediately noticed kids staring at him as he walked down the hallway to his locker, most of them backing away out of fear. Dash, who earlier was raving about how he could have taken down Danny cringed in fear and backed away when he came nearby. The blond boy was looking a lot worse off then Danny (who merely managed to get off with a few scraps and bruises) as Dash had on a sling for his arm and a neck brace. Danny obviously wasn't pleased with the entire student body eyeing him like an attraction at some freak circus show. After all, how many kids do you see in your school able to bust off someone's kneecaps? That said, half of Danny's mind didn't seem to care. He grabbed his books and left.
Anytime he was with Sam and Tucker, their reactions were mostly silent as well. This part irritated Danny that by lunchtime, he practically snapped.
"Why are you treating me like the others are?" Danny stood up from his seat.
"Huh?" Tucker replied in typical Tucker fashion.
"Why are you staring at me like some freak?" Danny continued, "Why aren't you talking to me? It's not like you haven't seen me fight before!"
"Well, fighting…ghosts (which she whispered)…is different from fighting people." Sam chimed in, "This is so unlike you. In fact, for months, you've been getting crankier and upset."
"Well, I've been through A LOT these past few months, so how about a little slack?"
"No."
Danny was shocked at Sam's stern reply. She too stood up, upset and angry as well. Hands placed on her waist, she started to speak her piece.
"Danny, I know you're stressed, I know your angry and hurt because of it, I know your family hasn't been paying attention to you lately, I know you're tired and edgy, but that doesn't give you the excuse to take your anger out on us!" Danny remained silent as she continued, "We're your friends and as annoying as we may be to you right now, we're just trying to help!"
"How can you help? How could you POSSIBLY understand what I'm going through, huh?"
"Hey, you're not the only teenager who's got buttload of homework, is ignored by their family, and—"
"You don't LIVE the way I DO, SAM! I'm not LIKE other teenagers!" Sam tried to stubble through, trying to find the right words, but her tongue was tied. Instead, she stopped muttering and remained silent. By this point, everyone eyed in Danny's direction.
"I didn't think so." Danny said, "If you can't tolerate me, then why don't you just leave me?"
"You know what, I think I will." Sam said picking up her back pack. She immediately left. Danny glared at Tucker who gave off more of a saddened face then anything else. He, too grabbed his bag though and left, following after Sam. As everyone else stared at Danny after his only two friends left, Danny took his bag and walked the other way.
After that, they haven't kept contact…
………………
That is the LAST straw
That was how he lost his friends. All because his anger got the best of him. Danny once again slammed his head on the mirror and let out a whimpered groan. Danny left the bathroom and got dressed. It was a beautiful Saturday and he was no longer grounded, but that didn't possess Danny to leave the house. Maybe he was too ashamed. That said, he felt awfully cold despite the warm spring weather, so he huddled himself with a jean jacket. Feeling awfully lonely, Danny headed to the main living room where his parents were busy arguing about, what else, ghosts. Jazz was on the couch, nose buried in a thick book as was her style. Usually when she couldn't stop Maddie and Jack from fighting herself, she'd usually ignore it. Even she had her limits.
No friends, failed grades, school bully, pathetic ghost fighting, all those thoughts entered into his head. His crappy life. His family ignoring him, but they were the only people he could talk with without leaving the house. Would it work this time around? Was he that desperate to talk to someone? Will they show sympathy considering he just came back from the hospital?
"Ahem."
"What are you talking about? That ghost was RIGHT there and you didn't even put on the offense!" Jack shouted.
"I was TRYING to protect you!" Maddie argued back.
"HEY! I don't need protection; my body can take a lot of damage!"
"Oh, don't you sass back at me! Not everything is offense, offense, OFFENSE!"
"In MY book, it is!"
"Ahem."
"OOOH, THAT'S IT!" Jazz slammed her book, "I can't STAND the two of you arguing over such mundane things!"
"If you're so annoyed by it, you could have just gone to your room." Jack said, irritated.
"Trust me, I would be able to hear you if I went halfway around the world." Jazz said, "Who CARES who got the ghost or not? You can always get him next time."
"That's not the point, the point is I'm right and your father is wrong!"
"No, I'M RIGHT and your mother is WRONG. DEAD WRONG!"
"AHEM!"
"How about both of you are right…or wrong—whatever!"
"OH, so you're gonna choose your mother's side, ey?"
"I didn't say that!"
"Then your father's?"
"AHEM!"
"I didn't say that, I—"
"—Ghosts attack gone wrong, if you only—"
"—If you just listen—"
"AHEM!"
"Stop arguing…so mundane—"
"—Offense—"
"—Maybe if you—"
"—YOU—"
"—I—"
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Maddie, Jack, and Jazz stopped arguing in the middle of Danny's scream. By the time he was done, the three stared at him with mouths wide opened. Danny meanwhile was breathing hard, his cheeks rosy red. He eyed the three who still kept silent, so Danny took this to his advantage and let loose all hell.
"THIS IS CRAZY!" Danny cried, "Is this ALL you EVER DO? Waltz around doing whatever crap you're doing and ignoring me? Well, I'm SICK AND TIRED OF IT! I've been going through SO much crap over the past months and it's just now that I have to let ALL this rage out. This is bull. I'm TIRED of being ignored; I'm TIRED of yelling at the top of my lungs to gain your attention like I'm doing now! I'm TIRED, PERIOD!"
"Danny…" Jazz softly said, "W-We didn't know."
"Of course you didn't know!" Danny shoved his face near Jazz's, "You three have been TOO busy with your own crap to pay ANY attention to me! Arguing over ghosts and on who's right or not and when you're not doing that, you're showering Jazz with affections because she's graduating and going off to a…a…smart college. And Jazz, you just LOVE that your parents are FINALLY basking you with love that doesn't concern ghosts but your intelligence! Well, I'm through with it! THROUGH, YOU HEAR?"
With that said, Danny marched to his room and slammed the door again.
It took the family some two hours or so before they all had the courage to knock on Danny's door.
"Danny, sweetie…are you still in there?" Maddie asked, "We just want to talk." Silence.
"Danny, son, it's me, Jack." Jack pounded the door.
"Dad, he knows who you are, he can hear you." Jazz gently pushed him aside and knocked as well, "Come on, Danny, open the door." Nothing.
"That does it, young man, you are NOT taking this in like a grown up!" Jack said, "I'm breaking this door down!"
"NO!" Both Maddie and Jazz cried. Too late, using his tremendous girth, Jack tore Danny's door from its hinges. Surprising all three, the Fenton family found no trace of Danny. They immediately noticed the open window. All three raced over and observed.
"Oh-No." Maddie gasped. As the two parents gazed outside, Jazz observed around his room, looking for some sort of clue or anything Danny might have left behind. Some of his stuff was missing as well as a couple of his traveling bags. She then gazed upon a regular piece of loose leaf paper resting on his pillow.
"Mom, Dad!" She urged. The two quickly ran over and stood behind Jazz as she read the note.
"Leaving the house, although I doubt you three would care. Where I'm going, I'm not telling. When I'll come back, God only knows. I'm just too angry to deal with my current life. Too hurt to be with the ones I'm most familiar with. I need to go away and think for a while or something. Don't bother calling the cops; I don't need the added chaos. I can take care of myself.
--Danny."
Maddie, not able to take in all this, sat down on Danny's bed. Jack placed a comforting arm on her shoulder. Jazz just stood there, lowering her head, clutching onto the note.
………………
Unexpected
It was the crack of dawn when a black convertible was driving past the rural country side, past the many farms, past the small country stores, and over to a lone castle manor located near the woods. After parking his car, a man dressed in a stylish black suit with a matching suitcase walked out of his fancy car. After such a long meeting miles away from Wisconsin, Vlad was glad to be back home. He walked up the familiar road, walked the familiar path, and saw the familiar double doors that led to his house. However, he didn't expect the unfamiliar sight of a 16 year old black haired boy lying down in front of the doors, resting his head on his backpack, cuddled in a fetal position, jacket over his upper body to warm himself as he slept away.
For a brief moment, Vlad just stood there, stunned, unable to muster any idea of what to do. It was when Danny moved the jacket closer to him that Vlad reacted. He walked around Danny and unlocked the door. Placing his suitcase nearby, Vlad lifted up Danny and took him inside.
To Be Continued…
………………
Author's Note: Well, I seem to have gotten a nice share of reviews, so I decided to continue, so here's Part Two. 'Nuff said.