And so ends "The Love of my Half-Life."

Sorry I'm a tad late.

"What?" Shadow asked in confusion.

"I used to know that guy. He was my friend. C-Cade." She informed, panic rising in her voice.

"Well, he's gone now. Think you'll be alright?"

She nodded silently.

"I'd better be off then. Don't worry, if he ever comes back, I'll be there." Shadow assured before leaving the frightened girl.

During the day, Jake kept casting cautious and protective glances at Chris, not that she noticed. She was in a really glum mood. During class, she was staring out the window, not paying attention to the teacher.

"Miss Matthews, care to answer my question?" Mr. Taylors asked, knowing perfectly well that she wasn't paying attention.

"Oh, sorry, Mr. Taylors. I guess I was zoning out." Chris apologized, keeping a somewhat distant look.

"Do you need to see the nurse?"

"No."

"Alright. Then don't let it happen again. I'll let you off with a warning since it's only your second day here." Mr. Taylors informed.

Chris gave an understanding nod and attempted to concentrate on the lesson, but her far off look stayed in place, signaling that she wasn't focusing. It was then that Jake decided to corner her after class.

"Chris, are you okay?" Jake questioned in concern. Matt and Tori weren't with him. It was just him and Chris.

She looked confused for a moment and studied his face, making Jake feel extremely uncomfortable.

"Uh, Chris?" He tried, snapping her out of her scrutinizing look.

"Oh, sorry. You…just sounded like someone else for a moment." She told him.

Jake visibly tensed. She was talking about his ghost half.

"Y-yeah, well, it's just me." He stammered, hoping to lead her off of his trail, but mentally smacked himself when he began to stutter. "Um, anyway, you didn't answer."

"I…I just have a lot on my mind right now. You know, moving and stuff." She lied.

"Okay, but if you ever want to talk about something I'm right here." Jake assured with a comforting smile.

The girl returned a weak smile before leaving.

Chris got home that day and threw herself onto her black bed.

"Of course I want to tell him something!" She screamed to herself. "But how am I supposed to tell a guy I just met that I was being chased around by the ghost of my dead ex-boyfriend?!"

She got up and rummaged through her draws, pulling out a picture frame. In it, there was a picture of Chris and Cade. They had their arms around each other's shoulders in a classic 'friends' position with huge smiles plastered on their faces. Cade's skin was a peach-color, not the lifeless grey of his ghost's. His eyes were a deep blue and had no glow what-so-ever to them. There was no ominous aura surrounding him, either. Gently, Chris ran her thin fingers over the photo, a sad smile placed on her face.

"Why did things have to change? We could have at least been friends if it wasn't for that car accident." She reminisced before getting back up and replacing the photo in her draw, out of sight.

"Glad to see that you still think of me." A deep voice echoed from behind her.

The girl spun around, terrified. She'd know that voice anywhere. Behind her, Cade floated, a smirk planted firmly on his pale face.

"Miss me?" He teased, flying up closer to her.

"Cade." She gasped. "Why are you here?"

"For you, of course." He replied, grabbing her hand.

"No, Cade! Leave me alone!" She shouted.

"Sorry, can't do that. Never could, especially now." He responded smoothly.

"Get away from her, Cade!" Another voice shouted as Shadow phased into the room.

"Shadow!" She exclaimed in relief.

Angrily, Cade gripped her tighter and phased out of her room with her, flying high above the streets. Chris screamed loudly. Shadow dashed to them instantly.

"One inch closer and I'll drop her." The pale ghost threatened.

"Cade, no!" The captive girl shrieked.

"Dropping her isn't going to help you, Cade." Shadow warned.

"Yes, it will! I'd rather not do this to her, but if she dies, then she'll become a ghost like me and we can finally be together!" He claimed.

"Cade, we'll never be together! We broke up, remember?" Chris shouted.

"No! It's not over!" The ghost denied. He was loosening his grip on her. "Maybe you'll understand after you're a ghost."

"No!" She screamed, feeling his hold slip.

Shadow looked Chris directly in the eyes for a moment.

"Chris, do you trust me?" He asked her quickly.

She nodded shakily.

Shadow took a deep breath. If he didn't perform this just perfectly, then Chris would pay with her life. Moving smoothly, he created a ghost zapper and shot it at Cade. It hit him and began electrocuting him, causing him to release Chris. She screamed as she was sent hurdling to the ground. She squeezed shut her bright blue eyes, blocking out visuals of her imminent death. Everything felt like it was in slow motion and fast-forward at the same time, as weird as it sounds. The girl was ten feet from the street when strong arms forced her away from gravity's pull. She kept her eyes closed and took a few deep breaths before staring up at her, once again, savior.

Without taking one look at Chris, Shadow soundlessly landed on the ground and placed her on the pavement. He turned his attention away from the other ghost for a minute to gaze at the girl he had just saved.

"I'm never going to go skydiving. I think I've had enough freefalls to last a lifetime." She commented, placing her hand on her spinning head.

"Stay here. I'm going to go and finish this." Shadow ordered, mostly ignoring Chris's remark.

With that, he shot up in the air with Chris staring after him. Suddenly, a police car pulled up. An officer with blond hair rolled down the window and stuck his head out the window.

"Come on! Get in!" He ordered.

Chris cast one last look at the impending battle before hopping into the car.

"Hey, lover boy!" The black and red clad ghost taunted, gaining the full-attention of the full-ghost. "Why don't you go back to the Ghost Zone and find some girl there?"

"You'll pay for separating me and Chris!" Cade claimed, lunging at Shadow, who quickly moved out of the way.

"May I point out that, by the sounds of it, you were already separated?" Mocked the half-ghost.

Cade screamed in irritation, firing a blue ghost ray at Shadow. Shadow created a red shield to block the attack before firing one of his own ghost rays. This one hit Cade…hard. He was only able to look up pitifully before being sucked into the Fenton Thermos 2.0.

Shadow looked down before realizing that Chris was gone. Sighing, he flew off.

"Chris!" Jake shouted, the next day at school. The girl was across the hall. A frown fell on his face when she turned and gave him a weak smile that was still full of sadness and confusion before turning back around and continuing on her way.

Over in a corner of the hallway, Tori was watching the scene carefully.

"You know, you might want to make your move before Chris comes around."

The girl spun around to see Matt.

"It's not like that." Tori hissed.

"Denial, party of one. Your table's ready." Matt pretended to call.

He screamed loudly when Tori kicked him in the shin.

Okay, the title for this one wasn't very appropriate, but the story took off on it's own. I hadn't even planned Cade before this. At least there's an original enemy, not someone ripped off of the former show.