Nothing can be hidden for too long…

Four: Unlockables

Danny groaned and shifted, throwing an arm across his face. Something smacked his forehead and he jolted upright, gasping, and starring at his wrists. Two bands of black metal were clamped there, sparkling with a strange green undertone, they tingled against his skin and he longed to pull them off but something told him he'd get the same results of that thing that they'd hooked him up to in the chair.

"Here!" Someone shoved a neon green iPod into his hands and he blinked up at Alex who pushed his glasses back up his nose, "I've got tons! ZeE took my pink one!" He held up a cerulean iPod, the wire leading to his headphones, waving as he shook it in Danny's face, "Any music you want, ZeE can get it for you!"

"Right!" Danny turned to see the other boy perched on his own bed shirtless, his black scarf still wrapped around his neck and his arm bands still on, a black and pink butterfly tattoo exposed on his back like a pair of tiny fairy wings, "I've got 'free' wireless internet so I can get you anything, anywhere, anytime!" He winked, "I hack for fun."

"What the heck!?" Danny slid out of his bed, finding himself still dressed in his jeans and T-shirt, "What happened!? Those people! What did they do to me!? And what…are…these…things!" He emphasized each word with a tug at one of the bracelets, scowling and muttering under his breath.

"I dunno." Alex muttered, his attention taken by his iPod, "Decorations? Maybe they thought you were boring."

"Hmph," The black-haired boy stomped over to the bathroom and slammed the door, locking it behind him before turning to the mirror and running his fingers through his hair, "Nothing looks different," He glanced down at the bracelets and then back at his reflection, "Goin' ghost…!" He hissed and focused on the cold ghost energy in the back of his mind.

Sparks leapt off the bracelets, digging into his skin and making him scream, and they began glowing bright green. A door slammed open, Alex and ZeE started shouting, and then someone burst into the bathroom and grabbed Danny by his shirt front, holding his inches away from a pair of gray, blank eyes.

"Do not try that again, Daniel." Said a cold voice, "We will know. And we will stop you. Do not try to use your powers, Daniel." And he was dropped, gasping, onto the floor. A door shut and there was a heavy, awkward silence and then a creak of bed springs and someone padding across the carpet. Alex crouched next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder in comforting way.

"Danny, are you okay?" ZeE asked, "What happened?"

"Curse it all…!" The halfa groaned as he pushed himself upright, "Curse them into oblivion, they freaking blocked my powers!"

"Powers? What powers?" Alex asked and Danny froze, realizing what words had just slipped out in his anger and pain, "What are you going on about?"

"I…I…I didn't…I mean…that is I…" Danny stuttered, looking from Alex's confused features to ZeE's curious ones, he was stuck, "I…what I meant was…"

"Are you a video game fanatic?" ZeE asked, fingers still tapping away at his laptop keyboard, his eyes never leaving Danny's face, "Is that what this is?"

"N-no…!" The other boy stammered, "I…" He bit his lip and looked at the floor, "Look, I…got in an accident about a year ago and it gave me powers. Ghost powers. I'm a halfa. Half ghost, half human."

ZeE gapped at him, his hands frozen half-way through whatever it was he was typing into his laptop, and Alex had a strange look on his features, like he knew something about Danny that Danny didn't.

"There…" Danny sighed, "Go ahead and laugh or scream or reject me or whatever-."

"You're a halfa?" Alex asked and Danny's attention was immediately on him, blue eyes flashing a question, "I've heard those doctors talk about halfas and ghosts. I don't know what they want with them but if you're a halfa you must be getting something special."

"Doubt that," Danny growled, "These things are stopping me from 'going ghost'. That's not special treatment if you ask me; that's torture."

"n0t l33t…" ZeE murmured, turning back to his computer, "n0n3 of it…"

"What the!? What did he just say!?" Danny starred at the hacker and then at Alex who was casually flipping through songs on his iPod, "Alex, what did ZeE say!?"

"He said that what they're doing to you and within this place isn't cool." The boy pushed his glasses up his nose and smiled, pushing the neon green iPod into Danny's hands again, "Come on, Danny, get some music. Hearing that tune all day long does things to your head."

Danny shrugged. Might as well enjoy it while he could. Who cared about his ghost powers, they weren't that important anyway unless a ghost attacked. And no ghost was going to attack this place. Who cared if these people knew his secret, who cared if Alex and ZeE knew, they weren't telling. He shoved his way onto ZeE's bed and started rambling off a list of songs and Alex joined him and soon all three of them were laughing at some stupid video they found on You Tube.

Danny was having the time of his life. He didn't even stop to think about what was going on. He was having too much fun.

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"You need to eat, Tucker, you can't starve yourself…!"

"I can too."

"No, you can't! You need food!"

"No, I don't. I'll starve, thanks."

"But-."

"Leave me alone."

"Tucker-."

"Go away."

"Tu-."

"Get OUT!"

He heard the door slam, the sound of angry footsteps down the hall and stairs, and then some muffled words. He didn't move. Jazz had called him a few minutes earlier to tell him what she had already told Sam. She had known. She had known Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom. But she couldn't tell him. And Tucker couldn't either. Tucker couldn't be there for Danny as his best and long time friend because Danny wasn't there.

His eyes burned and he clenched his fists, burying his face into his pillow, glasses discarded on his bedside stand. The silence pressed in on him like a ton of bricks, weighing him down with every morbid thought and empty, dry sob, telling him over and over and over in its own soundless way that Danny was gone.

Disturbed by the stillness crushing him, Tucker reached out blindly, his face still in his pillow, and hit the button on his radio, not caring about what was playing, just trying to get rid of the silence that was killing him, eating him up.

"Another gun for hire and just another day. When you are done you just abuse it, whatever you say. If you were offered some, would you wanna bite the hand? Would you betray a friend to prove you're cold and then walk away?"

And no one was doing anything; Tucker sat up in his bed, rubbing his face, trying to get a hold of himself; no one was looking for Danny. Even he, Tucker Foley, was sitting, pouting more like, in his room like a five year old! How could he!? How could he do that to Danny!?

"We were born with nothin', I don't want, but you need something. You want glory, I need none and it's coming between us."

His best friend in the whole world and what was he doing, crying! Unforgivable! Tucker leapt from his bed, snatching up his glasses and strode over to his door, reaching out a hand for the handle…

"People are born with, people are born without, some people have, and others want what some go without. Some people live free, some people just want more, as for me I got all that I need."

…And stopped, letting his hand drop. He didn't know where to start. He stood in the middle of his room, looking blankly at the door like it would give him the answers. But there were no answers. Danny had simply vanished.

"Do you still think that we're not brave if we don't bleed? We've seen so much blood and violence already, how much do you need? You howl and fight your war and talk of being free. Won't let you in, they're just usin' you so why don't you see?"

Disappeared. Poof. Invisible. Just like the half ghost he was. Only this time, he wasn't going to come back, not on his own at least. And there was hardly that big of a fuss outside of Amity Park; kids were being kidnapped all over the country, no one else was doing anything about it so why bother with one more kid?

"Some people are born so much closer to the sun, holdin' out their hands and grabbin' golden rays they are the choosen few. But we both know of course that's not you or me and I'd be telling the truth if I said it don't matter, so how 'bout you?"

But this was Danny! Danny Fenton, the son of the greatest ghost hunters in Amity Park, the clumsy, cute, shy, and bully-targeted Danny whose greatest pleasure was to hang out with his pals at the Nasty Burger and chow down on a handful of fries and a shake.

"Can you tell me really you don't need it, you don't want it? If you can, cool, if you can't, the difference between us…"

Not to mention he was Danny Phantom. Who was going to protect the town without the ghostly hero there? Would anyone notice that Phantom wasn't there? Would they care or would they be glad to get rid of him? Tucker's fist clenched once more and he gritted his teeth against the tears. He had to find Danny! He just had to!

"People are born with, people are born without, some people have and others want what some go without. Some people live free, some people just want more, as for me I got all that I need. Don't got much but I got what I need."

He'd go to Sam's house and they'd plan together, find something, anything, that might get them a lead to where Danny had been taken. And Jazz, Jazz could help too now. A trio out to set things right again. He allowed a smile to trace his lips but it was sad. They'd do it, it'd be hard, but they'd do it. And they'd find Danny. Tucker had no doubts.

"Some people are always reachin' for somethings they don't need. I'll tell you now with thoughts like that there will never be enough."

Because Danny was looking for a way out. Danny was looking for a way to get back to Amity Park, back to his friends, back to his family, back to his life.

"Some people are always strugglin' for something that is not. I'll tell you something now that I'm really fine just lovin' what I got."

Danny would remember them and come back to them. Just like always.

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Yeah! Tucker scene! I feel I leave the guy out too much so he got his own little musical scene with the song 'could you bite the hand?' from Wolf's Rain. But his thoughts may not be exactly right. By the looks of things on Danny's end, it doesn't seem like he's looking for a way out. But he hasn't forgotten Sam and Tucker, has he?

Thanks for the reviews and thanks for reading! Please, tell me what you thought of this chapter and stay tuned for more! Byes!