A/N: to nightshadow24 , your half right. it is going to wait, but Brian's a little distracted in this chapter. and mazrad, the part at the end is for you! I was originally going to have this later, but ur review earlier convinced me to give it a sort of 'tip of the iceberg' thing. Now this chapter's a little longer than the others, so some reviews would be nice. thx to those who did, but his story has 234 hits, and twelve reviews total. Come on people!

Chapter 5 - True Colours

"So do you want to get an ice-cream or something?" Brian asked Hannah as they entered the food court on their tour of the city.

"That sounds great. How about I get a table, and you get me a chocolate ice cream?" she suggested, and when Brian nodded she went off. Of course, the moment their backs were turned, Brian's ghost sense went off.

Looking around for some sort of cover, he spotted a dusty little alleyway beside the ice cream shop that was around the corner. Ducking into it, he changed then went invisible to find the problem quick. Or, more like the problem found him.

Feeling warm breath and some sticky substance on his shoulder, he turned around slowly (so as not to startle whatever it was) and found...oh, it was just a giant ghost-wolf.

Going intangible at the last second as it's claws tried to slice through his form, Brian quickly charged his hand with ectoplasm and punched the overgrown pooch in the jaw, and by the sounds of it, cracking a few teeth in the process. It dazed the dog, and while Brian frantically searched around in his pockets for a Pen, the familiar blue beam shot out and snatched up the wolf, leading back to Lea on her hover board.

Due to her mask he couldn't see if she was happy to see him or not, but she wordlessly tossed the pen to him and sped off. So he took that as a 'not'.

Changing back and stuffing the pen in his pocket, he went to get some ice cream and went back to Hannah.

"What took you so long?" she asked, from her position at a small blue, double-seated table.

"Uh, there was a line." Brian lied, handing her the ice cream.

"Oh. So, why don't you tell me a bit about yourself, Brian."

-----------------------------------------------------------

"Dad!" Lea shouted in glee as said person walked in the door, and ran to hug him.

Tucker Foley stood at just over 6 feet tall, and had finally lost the hat.There was a PDA sticking out of his pocket, a laptop strapped to his shoulder, and his glasses had several buttons on the side for multiple purposes (including sunglasses and laser options). One of his only regrets in life was his inability to spend much time with his family, because the promotion he got 9 years ago put him travelling all around the country constantly to do business deals. But that let him provide a very comfortable life for his family, and he visited them whenever he could.

Tucker grinned and hugged his daughter back, almost stumbling back as his son too barrelled into him. They both started talking a mile a minute, and he could only make out a few words.

"Kids, give your dad a break, he only has one set of ears you know." Valerie came to his rescue. She walked over and hugged him too, but got a kiss in with it.

"It is so good to be home."

"I'll bet it is. Leo, take your father's case upstairs, will you? And Lea, be a dear and get some lemonade. Come on honey, let's go sit down." Valerie guided her husband's tired form over to the sofa. Both kids hurried, knowing the sooner they did their tasks the sooner they could talk to their dad.

Lea came out first with the tray of lemonade and four glasses, and sat beside her father. That left Leo to sit on the armchair across from them, which he soon did so. Then, before Lea had a chance to talk, Leo started talking about the cell phone upgrade he had planned.

"...sub-linking it to the PDA which will theoretically give it highly extended range, and limited access to the Internet-" RING RING, Lea's cell phone was going off, until she flipped it open.

"Hello? Oh hi Aaron! Yeah, he's here." Lea gestured to her family that she'll be a minute, and went off to the kitchen.

"Who's Aaron?" Tucker asked. Valerie was about to answer, but Leo beat her to it.

"Lea's slime ball date to the dance." he answered matter-of-factly.

"What? You mean she's not going with Brian?" Tucker had been hoping on that.

"Nah. They had a fight or something when Lea showed interest in Aaron. It went like this: she accused him of glaring, he accused her of swooning, and she said, quote, 'if that's how you feel, then I don't know why I waited so long anyway'. It was ugly." Leo explained the day's lunch adventure.

"Aw dang. I just lost 50 bucks to Jack!"

"Tucker Foley don't tell me you were betting on our daughter!"

"All right, I won't tell you." Tucker smiled sheepishly. Valerie narrowed her eyes in a really good impersonation of Lea, when that person walked back in the living room.

"Sorry about that, he was just wondering if I'd meet him for lunch tomorrow."

"You said no, right? We're working on that project with Brian tomorrow." Leo reminded, with a significant glance. They were actually going ghost hunting tomorrow, but their parents really didn't need to know that.

"I'm sure you guys can handle it without me."

Tucker and Valerie glanced at each other and both thought the same thing - deja vu.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Lea and Brian had been at odds for the past week. They just barely made it through the exams, without any moral support from each other. Poor Leo was stuck in the middle, torn between loyalty to his sister or loyalty to his best friend. So he simply declared himself neutral and spent time with his father. Though he still didn't get a date for the dance that night, though.

"Hey Leo, you never did tell me Aaron's last name." Tucker prodded, as he and his son worked on their favourite hobby - upgrading their gadgets. They still had some time before the dance, but Lea had gone to meet Aaron early.

"Oh, uh, Mattingly or something." Leo was putting the finishing touches on his new cell-phone upgrade. Tucker dropped the mini-screwdriver he was holding.

"What!?" Tucker jumped up and started searching for something on his computer. After bypassing several security fields, using several codes and passwords, Leo saw something that he thought would never come up on his father's, his science-is-the-best father's, computer. It was a ghost directory.

"Dad..." Leo asked hesitantly, prompting Tucker to explain.

"I'm correct in assuming that you, Lea, and Brian hunt ghosts, right?" Leo nodded, stunned, "well, I'll tell you that Brian's parents and I used to do the exact same thing and your mother joined us sometimes. Mattingly...we once met a ghost called Dora Mattingly. She was holding a beauty pageant so she could find the best girl for her brother Aragon, but Brian's mother was almost forced to marry Aragon because of it. Notice the similarities between the name Aaron and Aragon?"

Taking this information remarkably well, Leo realised the danger that Lea was in. "How did you beat him?"

"With a little help from Dora." Tucker replied, finally getting to the page he wanted, "Does this look like him?" he asked Leo.

"Yeah, that's him. Just change the hair and clothes. What? He can change into a dragon!" Leo had read ahead on the file that accompanied the picture.

"You know, I think I may just take Mr. Lancer's chaperoning offer." Tucker mumbled.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Brian nervously adjusted his tie as he waited for Hannah in the gym. Finally he spotted her - looking alive in a pink dress, with that oh-so-familiar red heart necklace hanging from her neck. She smiled and walked over.

"So, um, should we get a table?" he offered, gesturing the the cluttered tables on the far side of the room.

"Sounds good."

-----------------------------------------------------------

"Long time no see, Mr. Mattingly." Tucker's smile took a double meaning. Aragon's eyes flickered briefly and slightly widened at the sight of him.

"Mr. Foley! Wonderful to see you again. I had no idea that you'd be here!" Aragon's smile looked very forced.

"Dad? Aaron? Do you two know each other?" Lea asked curiously, in a simple yet elegant red dress.

"We met while I was in high school! His older sister Dora needed a babysitter. He was only a year old at the time, still in diapers, and I can't believe he remembers me! I remember one time when that favourite stuffed dragon of his accidentally got it's head cut off. Dora was just cutting up some eggplants and mistook that stuffie for one - you cried for a week!" Leo stared at his father with a new respect for the excellent lie and veiled warning. And he degraded Aragon at the same time! Aragon was red with anger.

Lea's eyes widened in horror as her dad embarrassed the life out of her date. Mumbling something, she dragged Aragon out to the dance floor.

-----------------------------------------------------------

For a second, just one little second, she was all he could see.

Lea was beautiful in Brian's eyes, with her hair in a fancy to-do with little tendrils framing her face...but then Hannah cleared her throat and his attention was drawn back to her, and the pretty necklace she always wore. It seemed to be the same shade of red as Lea's floor-length dress...

"Brian!" Hannah yelled.

"Huh? What?" Brian asked eloquently.

"You've seemed distracted all evening. Something on your mind?" Hannah was fingering the necklace as she scooped soup into her mouth.

"Um, it's nothing. Just thinking about how, uh, how it seems like yesterday I was walking in here for the first time." Brian lied. Recently, little tidbits of thought had been entering his mind, about how he is never really comfortable talking around Hannah, or how he can lie so easily to her. Not to mention she had a creepy habit of talking to herself. But with another glance at her all such thoughts were pushed from his mind, and she dragged him out to dance.

Soon Hannah left to go to the bathroom, and Brian waited for her by a table. But he never overheard a certain person talking to themselves as they worked on something like Leo did.

-Meanwhile, with Leo-

Leo picked up a cookie from the end of the punch table and sighed in mild content. Things had finally quieted down a bit, twenty minutes before the half-time announcements. He was about to head over to his dad and sister when he overheard something that made his blood run cold and made everything fall into place. Brian's strange behaviour, and his obsession-to-the-point-of-forgoing-ghost-hunting with Hannah.

"Stupid necklace. Why it won't work tonight, I have no clue. His mind is wandering...but it kept him perfectly focused on me before!Unless...maybe...well, it won't work then. Note to self - never trust something bought in the Ghost Zone..."

-----------------------------------------------------------

"I'm getting a little tired," Lea told her dancing partner, "how about we go get something to eat?"

"No, let's keep dancing."

"But the announcements are going to start soon." Lea tried to pull her hands away. She winced as his grip tightened to iron for a moment, but soon lightened up. But he was still holding her wrist firmly.

"Let's go outside." Aaron told her, and, leaving no time for her to argue, practically dragged her outside.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Tucker frowned at what Leo just told him. What was this, Night of the Controlling Ghost Freaks?

"We have to get Brian away from Hannah. Maybe we can convince Lea to dance with him..." Tucker started looking around for his daughter, only to be brought back to earth by Leo's exclamation.

"Dad, both she and Aragon are missing!" Leo told him, having asked someone.

Eyes widening in fear, Tucker quietly cursed under his breath. "Some chaperon I am..."

"What do you mean, Dad?"

"Aragon is a control freak. He believes all women are below him, and if Lea tries to make him stop, I don't want to think of what he'll do to her. You go find Brian, we'll need his help, tell him Lea's in trouble. Meet me outside."

-----------------------------------------------------------

Brian was still waiting on Hannah, idly playing with his food, when Leo came up to him.

"Brian, Lea's in trouble. It's Aaron - that's not his name. His real name is Aragon, and he's an evil ghost out to find a bride. According to Dad he's a control freak, and if Lea doesn't want to do something he'll make her." Leo explained really quick.

Immediately thoughts of Lea flew into his mind. The last time he had seen her...well, she had been dancing with Aaron, then the two went outside. But Lea looked as if she didn't want to. Of course, all Brian heard of Leo's explanation was the first sentence. After that, Brian jumped up, and dragged Leo with him to the door he had seen Lea go out of, explaining what he had seen on the way. It was hard not to let his emotions run away with him and transform, but on some unconscious level he knew he couldn't do that.

-----------------------------------------------------------

"Stop! Let go of me!" Lea's voice rang out in the night. He just kept pulling her deeper into the brush.

Alright, Lea was ticked. Aaron's iron grip had returned, and was sure to leave a mark. No more Miss Nice Huntress.

Using one of the moves that her mother taught her, Lea stuck her high-heeled shoes in the ground, effectively stopping them, and then she brought her arm in a big circle, twisting his arm, and then her wrist in order to wrench it from his grasp.

Abandoning her shoes, which were still stuck in the ground, Lea twirled around letting momentum carry her, and swung a kick to his jaw. He fell back, and, thinking she had knocked him out, she stepped forward to make sure.

But she was wrong. Aaron jumped up, and got her in a headlock, just as Tucker came around the corner.

-----------------------------------------------------------

Tucker stopped short as he saw his daughter struggling to escape a headlock. Trying not to panic, he casually stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Let her go Aragon." he ordered. Tucker was really just stalling for time, as Lea had signalled with her eyes that she had an advantage Aragon didn't know about.

Aragon's eyes glowed red, which seemed to stun Lea for a moment. But she was still, slowly so as not to startle her captor, reaching for her ankle.

"Why should I? I've waited so long for the right girl...but last time you and that infernal ghost child spoiled my plans and stole my bride! I will not be ruined again - and Dorathea can't help you this time."

Just then, Leo rounded the corner and looked at the situation in anger. But then he saw Lea reaching for her ankle, and for some reason a twinkle entered his eye.

"You won't win, Aragon. Let her go." Leo ordered.

"Must we go over this again? I've already won! There's nothing you can do." Aragon said mockingly.

"You're right. We can't do anything, but you happen to be holding one pissed off huntress, who can do something." Leo almost laughed at the look on his face.

Lea took her cue. Whipping her ecto-infused dagger out of her ankle holster, she stabbed him in his leg, causing him to cry out and release her. Jumping out of the way, an ecto blast from a tree nearby pushed him to the ground and a very furious Brian Phantom was revealed. Tucker also took his cue, taking his hands out of his pockets and pressing the button on a silver ring that hadn't been there before. The ring expanded to encompass his entire arm, complete with a small arsenal of weapons and a cannon where his hand was (just imagine something a little more than Skulker's arm thing, and silver). Lea caught her watch, thrown to her by Leo (who picked it up off her dresser before he left), and changed, though keeping her distance and not daring to repeat a similar mistake and retrieve her dagger.

"Well well well, looks like the fishes have teeth after all. Too bad I'm in the mood for sushi." Aragon stood up, and a green amulet revealed by him tumbling to the ground started glowing.

"No! Someone get that amulet!" Tucker warned, but it was too late. In a matter of seconds, they had a large, purple bellied, purple-tinged-black wings, black dragon on their hands.

"Lea, the amulet is what makes him strong." Tucker hinted to her.

"Right. I'll go tell Brian- oh, uh, that ghost up there." Tucker chuckled.

"Don't worry Lea, I know. Danny, Brian's dad, was my best friend, and he told Sam (Brian's mom) and I when he had the accident that gave him ghost powers in the first place. We had a feeling they would pass to Brian too." Tucker explained, dodging a jet of fire and blasting back.

Lea shrugged, jumped on her board, and sped up to Brian. She told him that they had to get the amulet, and that a two-pronged attack was probably the best way to go about it. He nodded, still firing ecto-blasts at the dragon's neck, while she swerved over to the other side of the dragon. She armed the activated the hover board's auto-target guns, which came out as two little cannons on either side, and she took her own ecto gun in hand.

The four of them were so caught up in the attack, that they didn't realise something. The people in the gym had seen the tall dragon and were running away, screaming, as the dragon slowly made it's way to the school.

Lea signalled to Brian, and they both flew in, shooting. Being the one with the free hand, Lea reached out to grab the amulet. But it wouldn't come off. The chain would need to be cut. Just then, the tail whipped up, and Lea found herself being flung towards a tree at really high speeds, and wondered vaguely if she would live.

But the thought wasn't needed. She felt someone catch her, in mid air mind you, and then Lea felt a strange tingly feeling. Next thing she knew, she was passing through the tree, and was on the other side. Brian had turned her intangible.

"Thanks." she told him, and he landed, still carrying her bridal style.

"No problem. You ok?" he asked, still carrying her.

"Yeah...um, you can put me down now." Lea inwardly smirked. A light blush appeared over his face, and he immediately put her down. It was then Lea realised that she had been knocked clear off her board, and it was lying behind the dragon. But then something glinting on the dragon's leg caught her eye. It was her dagger.

Brian had already left, and was currently putting a shield around Leo, who looks to have sprained his ankle. But the dragon was barraging his shield with fire, and it wouldn't last that long.

Lea crept up to the dragon as quietly as she could. If she was noticed, it was doubtful she would be able to get out of the way in time, so she rested her hand on the handle of her dagger, poised herself to run, and yanked.

Aragon roared in anger and surprise, and Lea ran like her life depended on it. Which, consequentially, it did. Now, Lea was not the best runner, but she was fast. She just couldn't keep it up for long. But Lea supposed that there must be one heck of a lot of adrenaline in her system, because she made it to the front of the dragon. Now, she had the means to cut the chain, but wished her feet had carried her to the back of the dragon to get her hover board. The jet of fire she had been outrunning was catching up, and she only had a few seconds.

So, she did what had always worked out for her in the past. She closed her eyes, let her mind go blank, and trusted her instincts. A vision of the dart board in her room popped into her mind, and Lea felt her right arm grab her dagger by the blade. Bringing her right arm to her left side, she stepped forward, brought her arm around in a slashing motion across her body, but halfway through let the dagger fly. Suddenly, the vision in her mind turned green, the centre being the amulet. Her eyes snapped open.

The next few seconds seemed to go by in slow motion. Tucker, Leo, Lea, and Brian all watched in amazement as the dagger flew, uninhibited, towards it's goal.

Bulls eye.

The dagger's tip lodged in it's centre, the amulet exploded in a brilliant flash of green light. The dagger fell, clattering to the ground in front of the dragon. Suddenly Aragon stood there in weak form, furious.

"How dare you!" but he didn't get to say much more because Leo (now walking okay) had opened a Pen, and, with Brian getting out of the way, started to suck Aragon up.

"No! I will be back! I will have you Lea, even if it takes another thousand years!"

"Oh get a cat." Brian told him, landing beside Lea, just as Leo capped the Pen.

Lea cautiously walked forward and picked up her dagger. The green stripe down it's centre, signalling ecto-infusion, glowed in the moonlight. Lea turned back to her father and friends, with an astonished look on her face.

"I've never hit the bulls eye before!" she told them, and she, Leo, and Brian promptly burst out laughing.

"Don't relax yet guys. My scanner says that there's still a ghost in the area." Tucker told them.

"That would be me." A soft voice called out from the trees. The ghost floated out, a sad expression on her face.

"Hannah?" Brian asked, startled. She sniffed.

"Yes. I'm sorry I led you on, Brian, but I've just been so lonely. Th-this necklace...it detects any small amount of attraction and focuses it, eventually guaranteeing companionship. But it stops working if it becomes apparent that the person's heart is already taken, whether they know it or not. I suppose it also masked your ghost sense but-" she sank to the ground crying. Lea immediately changed back and ran to comfort the poor girl, sinking to the ground beside her and offering a shoulder to cry on. Which she did. Then, she glared at the boys as if it were their fault, and Brian shrugged hopelessly.

Tucker actually helped to calm the ghost down, much to the surprise of everyone (he just told them that he had practise, seeing as they had Valerie crying at the drop of a hat before she had the twins). They agreed that Hannah would have to go back to the ghost zone, and the easiest way to get past Fenton security to the portal would be if she was in the Pen. So she joined Aragon there, and Leo handed Brian the Pen to flush out when he got home. The four of them started to head home, seeing as the gym was abandoned, when Brian asked Lea a question that had been nagging at him.

"Are you going to miss Aragon, Lea?" he asked quietly, so only she and Leo heard.

"Not really. Sure, he treated me like royalty, but now I see the truth that I don't want in that statement. And he was too proper. I mean, come on, my first boyfriend didn't even kiss me!" she responded happily, gesturing wildly with her hands, making Leo and Brian stop in their tracks and stare at her open-mouthed, while she just kept on walking, a smirk on her face.

"Lea, what's that on your wrist?" Leo asked calmly, inwardly fuming.

"Huh?" Lea stopped to inspect her wrist, and her eyes widened at the sight of large, purple bruises, "that happened when he was dragging me. Don't worry!" she told them when Brian's eyes started glowing green, "I-it doesn't hurt, actually."

Brian calmed down, but Tucker really wished they could've done something else to Aragon, when he heard his daughter add (the entire group seemed to have forgotten he was right beside them) added on one little word, meant only for her ears. "Much."

-----------------------------------------------------------

Brian sighed as he opened his front door, to hear his grandma sigh in relief.

"Oh good, your home! We heard that there was a little trouble at the dance, and that PhasoBill was there! Did you catch a look at him?" she said, and hugged him.

"Don't worry Gram, I'm fine. No, I didn't see him anywhere. But I'm just really tired, I'm going to bed." Of course, he was actually going to phase down to the lab when he got up, but she didn't have to know that. And he did just that. Sighing again as the flushing sound indicated he had been successful, he prepared to phase back up, but was interrupted by his grandpa.

"Oh hi Brian! That's strange, I could have sworn I heard the Drainer going, but I must've been imagining things. After all, you don't catch ghosts yet. Oh! Maddie's making fudge! I can smell it!" Jack turned back around and entered the den, leaving one stunned Brian.

'Could he know?' Brian thought, as he phased into bed. He thought about it for a second more, then, 'Nah.'