AN: New chapter! Not much I can say here. It's going to leave a lot of unanswered questions though. Sorry! Wait, not really.
Codiak, I had to answer your review. Are you referring to the Next to Normal song? That's where the title comes from. xD
To be honest, I'm still not sure how everything that's happened so far is even possible. This one ghost-Danny, to be exact-has changed my entire perception of life and death in the short time of two days.
I can't say I wasn't stunned, even fifteen minutes after he had that weird transformation happenstance. After he had spoken, I was still quiet. And he continued admiring his reflection. Narcissistic, much? No, I guess it makes sense. I mean, if that happened to me, I'd be staring at myself for a really long time.
Eventually I ended up beside him, staring at his reflection as well. Ok, ok, I get it. I can be a creep. But it wasn't like that, really! I was just...really shocked, I guess. Because like I said, my whole world had been turned completely upside down within the past two days.
Slowly I reached for his wrist. When I made contact, I kind of jumped a little from the shock. By this point I was relatively used to his chilly touch, and needless to say the warmth that met my hand was a surprise.
Still completely shocked, I pressed two fingers right below the thumb joint that met the wrist, and was surprised again to find a soft pulse.
He had kind of jumped too. I guess now I was colder than him. I mean, I am a Goth, and I rarely go into the sun, so my natural body temperature is lower than average.
"I...I can't believe...this is really happening," I slowly started, my eyes slowly meeting the set of blue in the mirror.
His head turned to me and I then began looking into his actual eyes, not just the reflection. It was weird, to say in the least. I mean, I had gotten so used to those brilliant apple green eyes, and while I always liked Danny's blue eyes, I remembered them in association with a child ghost, not the young man that was standing next to me.
"Me either," I heard him softly, and in spite of the current situation, he smiled. Like the time before, it wasn't a grin or a smirk, but a genuine smile.
I couldn't help but give a small smile in return. Which, of course, I was displeased about. I mean, come on. 'Smile' is not in the job description of 'Goth.' And somehow he could break my reign of darkness. Not fair.
We stood like that for a while, staring into each other's eyes, smiling. It was nice. Yeah yeah, make fun of me, but you have to understand that for how much we've been through, it was nice to have a moment without all the stress plaguing our minds.
Unfortunately we both had a silent understanding of the temporary state, and slowly our smiles faded. "So now what?" he dully asked, not quite ready to be brought back to reality.
"Well," I paused, thinking for a moment, "we've bought some time. Whatever equipment he has that can track you, which we know he must have since he's found you before, can't sense you anymore. Or at least, I would imagine it can't since you wouldn't have the same signature in a human state."
It made sense, but even that didn't make me feel a whole lot better. "Still, we have to figure out a plan. He's going to figure out pretty fast that we've bypassed his censors for now, and he'll come up with a new way to track you. I'm hoping the struggle to find you will buy us enough time to figure out just what his plans are and give us an idea of how to stop him."
He nodded solemnly, knowing that we didn't have time to kill. It really was a race at this point. We had to anticipate Plasmius's actions and be one step ahead. We needed to come up with a plan for inter-dimensional war, and we needed to figure out what exactly we were up against.
"But how? Even if he doesn't have an army of hybrids, he's still got an army of ghosts. We've got nothing." Danny had jump to the conclusion I was heading to first, and while I wanted to commend his anticipation, I felt the dread of his point. We had nothing.
I sat back down on my bed, needing time to process and think. Danny obviously got the message, because he sat beside me, not disrupting my thoughts. Slowly I began thinking out loud.
"I know you said you don't want to get others involved, but it's inevitable now. If he's planning an attack, it involves everyone." I could see him out of the corner of my eye start to protest but stop, waiting for me to continue. Smart boy.
"Danny, the only hope we have is to try and rally some forces while we figure out just what Plasmius is doing. We need to know if he has more successful creations, and we need to know how many ghosts are on his side. Plus we need experts."
He was skeptical, I could read it plainly on his face. "Sam, that sounds all fine and dandy, but I seriously doubt you could find experts on this. Your team of investigators doesn't have the proper equipment to fight ghosts. Plus, ghosts can only fight humans properly in the Ghost Zone. That's the only way the playing field can be close to level, and even then they have the advantage of home field. We'd need weapons, something I'm pretty sure people don't make in the line of paranormal."
He pointed out tons of loopholes in the idea, and I sighed, bummed out. There was, however, a potential plan brewing in my mind, but I wasn't about to voice it until I had more knowledge on the matter.
"So you're saying that if, somehow, we managed to rally a group of humans equipped with proper weapons and went into the ghost zone, we could stand a chance?" I questioned, looking up at him.
He met my gaze, and I could see the worry in his eyes. "I guess if you want to put it that way. But really, the front of humans would just need to be a distraction so I could finish Plasmius off. If he's destroyed, I can't see the ghosts fighting any longer. They're not the most loyal of beings. And if their leader is destroyed, that typically means surrendering."
He gave a small shrug, thinking about the idea. "Still, the whole idea is dangerous and thin. We'd need proper equipment if we want to stand a chance against ghosts in their own territory, and people who wouldn't find the whole concept crazy. And we'd need to act fast. The more time we take, the more likely of a chance of Plasmius building an army."
I, however, wasn't too fazed by the precautions at this point. Danny seemed to notice my apathetic nature and gave me an odd look, his brows furrowing. "I hope you've been listening enough to understand that this whole idea is extremely dangerous and we could all die," he blatantly stated, and I gave a cynical laugh in response.
"If we don't do anything, we're going to die. Plasmius will take over Earth and kill everyone. At least if we fight back, we stand a chance." I could tell that I was causing him to think because he started to say something but stopped himself.
"I guess you're right," he finally gave in, not wanting to accept the fact that I had a valid point. "But that doesn't mean we can just jump in head first. We have to plan. We have to find someone that is skilled with weapons, besides Plasmius. We need technology. We need people who are willing to risk their lives." He still had to point out all the technicalities, didn't he?
"So let's plan," I agreed, straightening my back and trying to look business-like. "I know exactly where we're going to go," I stated, matter-of-factly, before jumping up and dragging him off the bed.
"Sam, that's not planning," he pointed out, giving me a glare for my decision-making. I, however, could really care less that he was frustrated with me, because I already had a plan that was slowly falling together. Sure, it was far-fetched, and if it didn't work, then we'd go back to planning Danny's way; I, however, wanted to be the one to come up with the brilliant plan, so I was going to act on it before even telling him my idea.
I guess you could call me selfish. I wouldn't really disagree.
He was still protesting all the way down the staircase and out the front door. That was when his complaints stopped abruptly and his eyes grew wide.
"What kind of plan is this?" he questioned nervously, his eyes darting around as he watched the cars rush by and saw a few people walking around on the streets.
"Why are you so nervous? And can you please stop crushing my hand?" I added, wincing in pain as his larger hand had been gripping mine tightly.
"Oh, sorry," he returned, letting go of my hand before jumping as another car drove by.
"What if someone knows? What if someone sees me?" he babbled quietly, and I rolled my eyes.
"Danny, you realize you look human now, right? Even if there was a ghost, which there isn't, I doubt they would recognize you. And if you would stop acting so suspicious, people would stop staring. You don't have to hide now, you blend in like everyone else," I added in a whisper, before beginning to drag him down the street, much to his protesting.
After realizing I wasn't about to let him get out of this, he began walking beside me, shoving a hand in his jean pocket as the other was still latched to mine. Had it been anyone else, I'd have probably stabbed them with a fork for being in my personal space. Danny, however, was still having problems adjusting, and I figured that holding my hand provided him comfort. Plus it made him look normal, like we were just your average young couple walking down the street.
I...can't believe I just said that. Ugh. He's making it so hard to be Goth.
Luckily Danny didn't really think of holding my hand in that way, so we were good.
As we continued to walk, I figured it would be best to strike up a conversation to blend in more. Casually I glanced to him, noticing he was still a bit nervous. "So," I started, trying to think of something to talk about, "I never asked earlier. What memory of Timmy did you think of?"
Truth be told, I was a bit curious. I mean, I hardly knew the child, but he seemed very sweet, and I was rather interested in what made Danny happy enough to become human.
"I, uh...I didn't really think of him," he slowly returned, and I could see a nervous, sheepish grin on his face as his hand that had formerly been in his pocket reached up to the back of his neck.
My brows furrowed slightly and I'm sure I gave him a weird look briefly. "Well...what did you think of? Or what caused the change?" The confusion was pretty evident in my voice, and it seemed to make him more nervous.
"You." That one little word made my head start to spin. I'm really lucky I have a good poker face; I wouldn't have wanted him to read every single thing that was going on through my head at that moment.
He had thought of me. Something about me had made him happy enough to become human. I couldn't even pinpoint all the emotions I was feeling.
Despite my state of turmoil, I nodded and gave a soft "ah," before succumbing to the distress of my mind.
Luckily enough, I saw the sign I had been looking for pretty soon after that incident. "At least they're still here," I murmured softly, approaching the steps that led to the front door.
I pushed the doorbell button, hoping someone was home. Someone who would remember me, for that matter. I mean, it had been a while since I lived in Amity Park. I took one glance up to the same sign I had been looking for earlier, and gave a small laugh. The words 'Fenton Works' were so obtrusive in the neighborhood, it's a miracle I couldn't spot the building from my own house.