Our Time Chapter 3
Danny found himself in the middle of a dark room. He had fallen asleep while Vlad and him had been watching through the movie for a second or possible third time. He sat up and tried to make out where everything was. In the process, he kicked what he suspected to be the pizza box onto the floor. The loud crash of cardboard traveled quickly through the small room.
Beside him a mass moved slightly then turned to face his general direction. "Daniel?" Vlad questioned the darkness. Danny stared in slight shock at the older man. He hadn't realized that he and his arch… no ex-arch nemesis had been sleeping in the same bed.
"Uh, sorry. I accidentally hit the pizza box I think." Danny said nervously. He still wasn't used to the whole Vlad being a good friend thing yet. He tried to move away from the man a bit.
"Is something the matter, Daniel?" The older man looked over at the worried teen.
"Just a bit hot." The raven haired boy replied honestly. He was really hot since he fell asleep in his shirt and jeans. He resituated himself again.
"It's no wonder. You usually sleep in your shirt and boxers. Now that I think about it, I fell asleep before changing out too." The man sleepily got up and stretched. He stumbled a bit and knocked down a stack of sodas the two of them had made before blacking out. He wrestled against his pants and finally pulled them off then slid out of his shirt with a bit more dignity. He fell back into the large bed and curled up. The only sheet covering him was the thin material of his dark purple boxers.
Danny looked awkwardly at the now mostly naked man next to him. He was a little freaked out, no more like morally scarred, but somehow it stated to feel right to him. Like he had done this so often that it was only natural. After a long while of just sitting in the dark growing more used to the situation, he striped off his pants and went back to sleep. A smile inched it's way onto his face.
The next morning the gray haired man woke the teen up. The man was fully clothed in a loose black v-neck t-shirt and a pair of worn old jeans. He had a splash of what looked like white flour on his cheek. "Good morning, little badger. You have school today. I looked over your science homework and it looks like you've been doing better." The man tossed a pair of clean folded cloths on the bed next to the teen and walked upstairs shouting back down, "Breakfast in ten!"
Danny had woken up in a rather good mood for some odd reason. He couldn't quite figure out why. It could haven been the smell of light fluffy buttery pancakes wafting down into the basement, or the fact that for once in his life he had been woken up for school in a way other than to the sound of an annoying alarm, or perhaps it was just one of those days. He finally got out of the warm soft bed to begin the day. When he went to change, he found that somewhere along the line, he had taken his shirt off during the night as well leaving him in just his red boxers. He shrugged and tossed on his clean shirt and jeans. He ventured upstairs and hooked a right. The teen didn't remember ever seeing or going to the kitchen, but for some reason he just knew where it was.
"Morning Daniel." Vlad greeted him. The small table was set for two with a cup of apple juice for Danny and a coffee for the older man. Danny sat down on the plush chair and looked at the stack of perfectly baked pancakes that sat prestigiously on his plate. He grabbed the syrup and poured some on the top and watched the sticky liquid slowly cascade down the stack.
"Morning." Danny offered as he grabbed a fork and started to eat his first fluffy hotcake. He was stunned by how good of a cook Vlad was. He couldn't believe how light and delicious it was. He quickly shoveled a few more bites into his mouth.
"Calm down and chew. It's not like you have to eat it all in just a few minutes like you do at home." The older man laughed as he took his seat and started in on his food. He sipped the coffee he had made as he looked over the newspaper.
The raven haired teen looked up at the clock to see what time it was and was surprised to see that it was barely six in the morning. The sun was coming up outside and school didn't start for another hour and a half. Danny was rather amazed that he had not only woken up so happily so early, but that he was actually very glad to have been. He could enjoy more time with Vlad. His face grew a little warm as he though this idea over. He had just been happy that he could spend time with Vlad, his arch neme… no former arch nemesis.
Memories of the life he lived in this dimension slowly sauntered into his mind. His mind filled with memories of mornings just like this one. Up early, a caring man reading the paper, warm fresh food, and a morning to spend lazing around the house waking up. He hummed softly to himself as the warm atmosphere washed over him. The teen had never had a life where it was so picture esque, so invitingly warm so T.V. family perfect.
After breakfast the raven haired boy cleaned the dishes and wiped down the table like he remember doing so many times in this life. Afterwards he joined the man on the couch. He was sitting back letting the food digest a bit as he stared out a window that sat across from him. The dawning sun painted the navy blue canvas sky with splashes of pink and orange as it ascended slowly. The teen joined the man on the couch and sat close to him as the beauty and calm of the new day washed over them.
"Daniel, I've been meaning to ask you for some time, but…" Vlad looked hesitantly over at the boy. "…would you like to come work for me at my restaurant? I could really use a reliable sever and I though you would like some extra cash."
The raven haired boy looked over at the older man, surprised to hear that Vlad owned a restaurant in this dimension. He fidgeted with this information for a bit, hoping some memories would flood in and help catch him up on this odd idea. None came.
"Well… I guess why not." The teen stuttered, still suppressing shock. He was still hoping for a memory or two to pop up and inform him about this place Vlad ran.
"That's wonderful! Think you can start today? Come by as soon as school's out." The older man was suddenly wrapping his strong arms around the boy next to him in a way of showing his gratitude. Danny felt a surge of sever discomfort coming from the part of him who was used to brutal attacks from the man. He wormed around a bit and finally broke out of the hug.
"Well, uh I should probably head to school. You know, get there early and all…" Danny quickly said hoping he sounded convincing. He grabbed his backpack that was laying next to the front door, packed with care, and bolted out of the house and down the street. He stopped at a near by corner to catch his breath and regain his composure. He now had to figure out how to get to school from this part of town and for some reason, his memories did not want to help him out on this one.
"No problem." He muttered to himself. The teen looked around hesitantly. When he dictated that the coast was clear, he tried to expel a burst of energy from his body to change his form. He hoped that he could just fly around as Danny Phantom and find his way to the school. After standing on the sidewalk awkwardly for a bit, he realized that nothing was happening. His transformation didn't take. "That's weird. I wonder if it's harder to access my powers in this dimension or something."
The teen looked down at his human hand for a bit trying to figure out if it was just something weird between the dimensions, or if he had lost his powers. He finally shrugged the problem off. There was no way that keeping Masters from turning into Plasmius could effect whether or not he could go ghost.
The raven haired teen ended up spending most of the morning trying to piece together broken memories in an attempt to find the high school. He arrived just minutes before the first bell and took his seat in Lancer's class.
The teen was sitting right in front of Sam and Tucker. When the out of shape teacher started his lecture on the book they were studying, Danny turned to look back at them. "Can you believe how hard it is to walk around a town I've been flying around for a year now?" He laughed. The two of them gave him a quizzical look.
"Do we know you?" Sam piped up. The goth girl looked at the boy ahead of her as if they had never interacted before.
"You must be off your rocker dude." Tucker chimed in. He was messing with his PDA while he insulted Danny's mental health. "What do you mean fly anyway? Like airplanes?"
"Ah no… I mean. Wait, you don't know me?" The teen looked at them in shock. "Are you trying to mess with me?"
"No we aren't. We haven't talked before and now you suddenly want to act like we're best friends or something?" Sam pointed out in an almost paranoid way.
"But…but no, how could this be? I'm not friends with you guys in this world?" Danny suddenly turned in his seat and flipped through his notebook. Instead of seeing his written conversations with them and plans for ghost hunting, he saw notes.
During lunch, Danny pulled Sam and Tucker aside. "Listen, I know this is going to sound crazy, but we're actually really good friends. Well, in a different dimension we are. I-I have ghost powers and you guys helped me track down Skulker and Technius and put them back in the ghost zone."
"We're not saying your crazy dude, but I am thinking it rather loudly." Tucker remarked as he tweaked his hand held.
"Fine. I didn't want to do this, but in second grade during lunch time you ended up blowing chunks in Sam's…"
"How do you know about that!" Tuck shouted as he gave Sam a nervous glance.
"Wo, what?" Sam said as she stared incriminatingly at the nerd.
"I told you, I'm your friend." The teen paced around as he looked around the cafeteria. Everything else seemed to be normal. "I'm from a different dimension, where everything is hectic and such and… wait." Danny remember his accident from earlier that morning. "Have either of you heard of a ghost named Danny Phantom?"
"No never heard of him." The dark skinned teen said racking his brain and hand held for answers. "Nothing shows up on any of the search engines either."
"Danny Phantom? Sounds like your name with a lame ghost pun attached." The goth teen remarked sarcastically.
"That's because in my dimension I was a ghost hero that used that as my alias. Apparently I can't go ghost here." Danny paced around again looking for answers as to why he couldn't turn ghost. "Wait, I never became friends with you in this dimension. You were the reason I got my powers! If I didn't meet you, than I couldn't have gotten my powers! That explains it." Danny stopped and stared at her.
"Again dude, loudly thinking you're crazy. Besides, what's the point in having wicked awesome ghost powers, if you don't have anyone to fight."
"There a tons of ghosts to fight. Like Skulker." The other two teens shook their heads. Neither of them knew who he was talking about. "Young Blood? Ember?" He questioned again. The two teens just shook their heads again. "The box ghost. You must at least know the whole beware bit, right?"
"Sorry, but Amity is dulls-vill. Nothing exciting happens, not even ghosts." Sam pointed out.
"No ghosts, no ghost powers, no Plasmius, no friends, and I get along with Vlad?" Danny questioned. He suddenly realized how different this life was from his last one. The weight of the whole world crashed down on his shoulders and bore into him.