Chapter #4: Unfinished Stories

Anxiety, terror, worry…they all flood his senses, and he becomes aware of a dull ache in his head, along with the pleasurable feeling of fingers combing through his hair. He'd shielded Mr. and Mrs. Manson…the table. His somewhat scrambled thoughts reassemble before he opens his eyes to the light of a parlor. His head rests on Sam's lap, and she smiles down at him.

"You should feed," she mutters quietly, "You put a nasty split in your skull, but at least you sated your obsession for now, right?"

He chuckles, resting his hand atop hers, which rests on his chest. His mind slips back into darkness, and he watches the colored strands of emotion float around, pulling in small pieces from the group.

…a ghost!

What's with this sudden lurching?

Are we going to sink?

…shipwrecked?

…came out of nowhere!

…hope he's okay…

…m-married?!

He feels his heart rate spike briefly. Surely it's safe, right? It's in his room, in his suitcase, nice and protected…he calms himself quickly, the ship is just getting tossed around a bit. It's not sinking, and even if it is, you can always fetch it with ease by just phasing through; you can breathe underwater.

Time ticks by, and the ship stills soon enough. As all falls silent, Al clears his throat, "I'm going to go see what's going on outside. Everyone, I know you're anxious, but please wait here."

"I'm coming with you," Mr. Manson suggests.

"We're going too, Sam," Danny grunts, sitting up slowly, "Help me up?"

"I was planning on it," she replies, ::Your ghost sense went off; was it…?::

::Yeah, it was Vortex,:: he replies grimly, ::He broke out of the Observants' Prison a few months ago. They have a two-million bounty on him.::

::And Tucker hasn't dragged you off to hunt him down?::

::He doesn't know. I'd rather leave the weather-ghost to the Observants, personally. I really don't want my emotions connected to the weather again.::

::Well, we agree on something there,:: they exit into the sunshine, all clouds gone without a trace. The deck gleams with rain, and the ocean spans in all directions. Mr. Manson and Lacroix talk with a man who seems to be the ship's captain.

"…communications down…engine dead…" he manages to hear.

"…lightning damage?" Al questions.

"…no idea where we are…no land in sight," the captain continues.

"…mechanics down to engine room…running…"

"Vortex could have blown us anywhere he wanted," Danny whispers, was I his target?

"If he knew we were here, don't you think he'd have…sunk us or something?" she hisses.

"I didn't even direct that thought at you…" he mutters, "Did I?"

"No, but I don't always need telepathy to read your mind, Danny."

"Noted," he swallows, his eyes scanning the horizon more carefully.

"See anything?"

"No," he croaks, "…I have a bad feeling about this, Sam."

"It never ends, does it?" she sighs.

"…Sorry," he whispers softly.

"Dan–"

"I told everyone to wait inside!" Al frowns, approaching the couple.

"Danny was feeling a little dizzy. I thought some fresh air would help," she lies smoothly.

The halfa smiles weakly to back her up.

"Well," he huffs, "Let's go back in. We need to discuss what's happened and make some plans."

"Yeah," she agrees, ::Danny, what's wrong?::

::Nothing,:: he assures, ::Besides the obvious,:: the wall slams down over his mind, shutting her out.

::…Danny?::

-BREAK-

Pamela glances over to the couch, where her daughter sits, her boyfriend's head in her lap as she combs through the raven strands. His eyes flutter open, and he grimaces briefly, before turning his gaze back to her with a smile. Sam mutters something, which he returns with a chuckle. His hand lays atop hers, which rests on his chest, his finger tapping rhythmically against the back of her hand, his eyes slipping shut again.

He'd known it; the ghost. But how? Why?

She drags her icy glare from the couple on the couch to the woman she converses with; or rather, listens to. The marginally older woman seems to enjoy listening to herself, and can make her seem engaged in conversation with little more than the appropriately times gasps and acknowledgements.

He'd looked furious, not even hesitating to approach the spectral biker. This doesn't match the Daniel Fenton she knows; he's never been the rebellious type – except for the Circus Gothica incident, which Sam insisted was…abnormal; something about televised hypnotism. He's always polite, gets decent grades, and is usually smiling, but often nervous whenever ghosts are mentioned.

So why had he been able to approach that ghost without hesitation? Was it because Sam had been in danger? No…Sam had followed behind him, mildly irritated; she had talked to it too. What had they said?

"…tick off Kitty again?"

"…angry at him since the day they blew into the afterlife together…before then."

"…a ghost-less vacation."

He'd stressed the phrase 'ghost-less.' They had degraded to more angry whispers, the young man even grasping the ghost's jacket to haul it from its seat. Before it left, it looked nervous; a ghost scared of Danny Fenton?

Sam had seemed…unusually deft with the first-aid kit, applying the bandages to his head with hardly a glance in his direction. It had been a comfortable, practiced routine. Thinking back, she can remember finding a large, well-stocked first-aid kit beneath her daughter's bed. She'd considered confronting her about it, but forgot about that the moment she saw the stash of gory horror movies next to it.

She will have to ask her about it later.

Jeremy and Alphonse leave the room, noting the stillness, to check what's going on outside. Danny sits up, wrapping an arm around Sam's shoulder, and requests to follow them. She helps him stand, and they move carefully outside.

The group returns a few minutes later, pale.

"All instruments are down," Alphonse rumbles, the cabin falling silent, "No land is in sight. The sea's gone calm; according to the captain and crew, the storm just swept in without warning. We always check for oncoming storms, but…this one caught us off guard. Our engine is down, and we have some of the on-board mechanics checking it out."

Sam lowers Danny to the couch, and he clears his throat, "May I, Mr. Lacroix?"

"Anything, Mr. Fenton?"

"Danny," he smiles, "About the storm…I think it may have been caused by a ghost named Vortex."

"A ghost? What makes you suggest that, dear boy?!" he gasps.

"Vortex controls weather; he's a powerful nutjob that can strike without warning and enjoys chaos. That storm wasn't natural, as the crew can attest. It's just my theory, obviously."

"The engine failure was caused by a ghost as well," a woman spits, "was that this…'Vortex' fellow?"

"No," he laughs, "That was Johnny Thirteen; he likes to flirt with human girls, but he's not typically downright malicious. He has this…bad-luck shadow that follows him around, so when he flew through the engine…it broke."

"And how do you know this…Johnny Thirteen fellow?" her eyes narrow.

"He flirted with Danny's sister," Sam replies bleakly, "Obviously, it didn't go over well."

"You seem…comfortable with ghosts," a man comments.

"Well, duh," Paulina's little sister comments from her mom's side, "We're from Amity Park."

The room falls silent again.

"Fenton, yes!" Al laughs, "I thought the name seemed familiar! Your parents supplied us with ecto-weapons!"

"Of course they did," Danny sighs, "And where might this equipment be?"

"By the crew quarters," he replies.

Danny leans forward, his elbows on his knees and his fingers interlaced, "We could really use Tuck right now…do we have any working communication?"

"No, it's all down."

He frowns, his eyes becoming distant, "Yeah…we could definitely use Tuck."

"Why do you say that?" Jeremy asks warily.

"We're running on a backup generator, the engines are down, we don't know where we are, and our communication's out," he lists, "Tucker is a technological genius; if anyone could find a way to get a signal out, it'd be him."

"Tuck…Tucker Foley?" Al questions, "The kid that designed the system in Antarctica?"

"Mayor of Amity Park and our best friend," Danny grins, "We were all up there. We've been pals for like…ever."

"Naturally, the one time he isn't with us," Sam growls.

He stands, "We need to take a full stock of what we have and what our situation is. Take a tally of passengers to make sure no one went overboard; get several people in the medical wing, to help the injured. If we're lucky, the mechanics can get the engines going. See if we have anyone on board that can fix the receiver-transmitter to see if we can get our GPS, Wi-Fi, and radios working."

The group stares at him before glancing at Al, who clears his throat, "Sounds like a plan," he admits, turning on his heel and exiting the room. The other guests follow behind, men loosening their ties on the way to their cabins.

Pam watches Danny carefully, her eyes narrowed. This isn't the Danny Fenton she's familiar with. He's far too calm, given the situation, and so is Sam. Neither one of them has seemed too worried, calmly assessing the problems before them.

There's something she's missing; and she'll find out what it is before this cruise is over.

A/N: I'm going to try updating every other day at least. They might come a little later in the day than usual, but…anyway, chapter #4! Thanks to all who reviewed! Remember: regular reviews keep me updating! If I feel like you aren't enjoying it, I lose my enthusiasm too. Also, a quick reminder to guests: Pick a name, or just sign a something at the end of your reviews if you want author feedback in the A/Ns. You can read the A/Ns of Journey of Secrets again to see what happened to one guest who was reviewing regularly but left me with no way to specify a response; I will troll you, and it will probably make my morning to do so…or rather, it would, but I have a job now and therefore less time spent on my computer checking my e-mail every time I hear the notification on my phone. Seriously, people; I stop whatever I'm doing to check for the review notification every time. Journey of Secrets is BY FAR my most popular fic, with the most popular fic (before its publication) having a total of 13 reviews, 42 favs, 41 follows, and a little over 7,000 views. So really, and sincerely: Thank you! :D I hope you'll continue to enjoy the story! We get some Tucker and Val next time!