Silently, Vlad ran through his mental list of facts. There wasn't too much to cheer him up.
First, Daniel wasn't really dead, and his current location was unknown. He was most likely hiding in the woods or in some nearby city. There was no way he'd let his two human friends travel by themselves to get Alex, and yet that's exactly what had happened. So, it was safe to say that the young halfa was alone, and, almost certainly, very unstable. Could that be considered a good thing?
Second, Alex had been rescued by Daniel's friends. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that they were back in Amity Park, for they had nowhere else to go. He hadn't bothered hunting the children down the day before for this very reason. Instead, he took the night off to visit the Ghost Zone.
Third, after morning had come around, he made his way to Amity Park. On a whim, he broke into Fenton Works as a ghost, only to have a look around. Imagine his surprise, when he came across The Black Peacock, hiding under the table in the Fenton's kitchen!
As an added bonus, he had come across The Fenton's. They both looked extremely depressed. Clearly, they were distraught at the loss of his son. While he didn't give a damn over what the bumbling oaf thought, Vlad knew that he could cheer Maddie, his soon-to-be-wife, up. Once he had Alex again, the three of them could finally be together as a family.
Perfect!
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"Do we have to go back to my place?" Danny whined. "They'll see me!"
"Dude, it's your family." Tucker said. Alex shook his head.
"They shouldn't see him just yet. Hey Danny, how about you phase one of us invisibly into your house? We need to get the book back."
Danny shrugged. "Pick a number between one and seven hundred."
"A hundred," Alex sighed.
"Two hundred fifty-nine,"
"Six hundred sixty-six,"
"Tucker wins!"
Sam quickly asked if Tucker even knew where the book was. The boy nodded.
"The kitchen, right? Hopefully it's still there."
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They continued walking for a few more minutes, finalizing the plan. Once they finished this, Alex and Sam ducked into the nearest store, a pharmacy. Danny took Tucker, turning both of them invisible before flying away. They were in the kitchen in under a minute. The room was empty, so Danny let Tucker go to allow both of them to search the room more quickly.
"This isn't working. The book just isn't here anymore!" Tucker hissed, opening the fridge in a final effort to find it. He saw a flash of white light reflected off a glass of some dark drink, causing him to spin around in alarm. The fridge door calmly clicked shut behind him as the boy gaped. "Danny, what are you doing?"
The halfa had transformed back into his human half. Silently, he brought a finger to his lips, and then beckoned his friend over.
"If it's not here, Jazz may have it." He said simply. Tucker blinked, a grin slowly making its way across his face. He nodded, walking past his friend to check the living room. Maddie Fenton was sitting on a couch, a cup of coffee in her hands. She stared down at it, a glum look in her eyes. Tucker alerted Danny of this.
"Well, we'll just have to find another way to get upstairs. She'll see us if we walk through the room."
"Why'd you change back?" Tucker asked randomly, taking hold of Danny's shoulder.
"I wanted to talk to Jazz. She never threatened to 'rip me apart molecule by molecule'. I want her to know that I'm alright."
Tucker went silent. Thinking the conversation was over; Danny phased them up to his sister's room. Jazz was still at her computer, trying to find as much information as she could about her little brother. Danny quietly released Tucker, walking across the room.
"Hey, Jazz." He whispered softly. The girl jumped, spinning around in her chair. Her eyes lit up.
"Danny, you're alright!" she cried out, jumping over to give him a hug. "Are you alright? Where have you been?"
Danny hugged her back tightly. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."
Tucker smiled softly, looking away. His eyes fell on the guitar on the bed, and he quickly went to look at it. "Hey, Jazz, where did you get this?" he asked. Jazz looked up, pulling away from her brother.
"Oh, that? I found it downstairs. My parents found Johnny's old bike too. It's in the lab, my dad has been taking it apart because he thinks it has something to do with you two and Sam and Alex. I took the guitar before they could rip it apart; is it important?"
"It is. Thanks for getting it."
"No problem, go ahead and take it if you want."
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"Hey, Danny, can I ask you something?" Jazz asked. Danny shrugged, which his sister took as a yes. "How are you feeling? Really, I mean."
She stared into his eyes, her own filled with concern. His blue eyes blurred for a moment, and he really wanted to look away. Jazz sighed, pulling him into another hug, which he returned fiercely. Slowly, she rubbed his back with a hand, trying to calm him down.
"Jazz, do you promise not to tell mom and dad?"
"I promise."
Danny phased out of her hug, transforming into Phantom. Tucker gave a start, looking between the siblings with alarm. He saw how Danny's green eyes filled with tears. Both boys expected Jazz to become scared, to run out of the room in panic. Instead, she only looked sympathetic.
"Is this what is bothering you?" she asked. Danny shook his head, the tears falling from his eyes. A small sob escaped his pale lips, and he ran back to his sister.
"Someone tried to kill me, and they still are. I wanted to come back and tell someone that I was alright, and so are Tucker, Sam, and Alex. I didn't want to tell mom or dad, because they always threatened to dissect me. I don't want to die…"
"Danny, you know they'll never do that to you. They love you."
Why is he giving away his secret identity so easily?
"There's this guy," Danny hiccupped, "and he wanted me to be his son or something. He was going to take mom as his wife, and kill dad. I don't know what he'd do with you."
"He is the one who is after you? Danny, who is it?"
"He wants to kill me! Jazz, he trapped me in that warehouse and set it on fire. Do you know what he's after now? He wants Alex now."
"Where is Alex?"
"He's with Sam. They're waiting for us in a drugstore." Tucker said. "Jazz, Danny's been through a lot." The boy trailed off, looking around for something. A pen and some paper were next to Jazz's computer, so he rushed over to scribble something down so that Danny wouldn't hear it. He held the note up for Jazz to read.
"Vlad said that he'd make Danny go crazy in the end. Danny has been through a lot more than just a burning warehouse. We don't know what to do!"
Jazz's eyes went wide and she looked down at her brother in horror.
"It's just stress, that's all that's wrong with him. He'll be fine." She said with more force than was necessary. Closing her eyes, she patted Danny on the back again, speaking softly to him.
"We actually came back to Fenton Works to look for a small book. It was in the kitchen." Tucker said quietly, looking at his shoes.
"I've been down there once or twice today. I never saw a book in there."
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Alex looked up when the front doors of the store opened, admitting a single man. Alex had been alone, because Sam had, only moments before hand, left for the restroom. Instantly, the young spy's eyes narrowed. Yassen seemed to sense the boy's anger, and he turned his head to look at him. Alex had begun to make his way over to the ghost, roughly shoving him in the chest when he was close enough.
"What the bloody hell is your problem?" he seethed. "Why did you have to pull that stunt? Now, thanks to you, Danny is practically insane!"
"He was about to break." The ghost said, as if it really didn't matter. Alex pushed him away again.
"Why did you have to do it?"
"He'll have time to heal now. Of course, I could have left him as he had been, and allow him to mentally collapse while he was facing his enemy."
Alex couldn't help but groan. "I don't think he will get better. Have you even seen him recently? You haven't, have you?"
"Hey! Where the heck have you been?" Sam barked from across the store. Yassen ignored her.
"If you two kids don't shut the hell up, I'm kicking you out!" the manager growled from behind the register, where he had been helping a new employee.
"Why don't you just shut it?" Sam spat. "Can't you see that we're a little busy here?"
The man's face darkened with rage. Alex saved him the trouble, herding Sam out of the store. He knew that Yassen would, for some odd reason, follow them out, so he hadn't bothered with calling to him. Ever the lady, Sam flipped the bird to the manager on her way out. She wasn't in the mood to deal with him. Growling, he rolled up his sleeves, stomping off after her, past the automatic doors.
"Listen, sugar queen, you've got some nerve just blowing up at me like that-" he began loudly, spraying spit everywhere. He stopped suddenly when the tall blonde stepped between him and the girl. Red eyes stared down into his muddy ones coolly.
"Is there a problem?" Yassen asked, feigning concern, but barely, to show that he didn't mean it. The manager gulped, looking quite uncomfortable at the sight of the ghosts red eyes. Numbly, he pointed.
"Are you on drugs or something?" he asked stupidly. Yassen shook his head, sighing softly.
"As interesting as that would never be, I actually have come down with conjunctivitis. Would you believe that I'm actually allergic to my sister's cat? I was on my way here to purchase something to soothe my tired eyes. However, I seem to have lost the urge to even get my wallet out to buy a stick of gum, seeing how you treat your customers, however rude they may be." Yassen spoke in a smooth and even manner, rubbing his eyes when it seemed proper. Finally, with one last swipe at his eyes, he placed his hand on the other man's shoulder in what would be a friendly manner.
"Conjunctivitis?" the manager said, frowning.
"He means pink eye!" Sam hissed. The man cried out, swatting Yassen's hand from his shoulder and backing away, back to his store. Yassen pretended to look hurt at this until the man had left his normal line of vision to retreat back to the nearest bathroom to wash his arms off.
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"Why are you even helping us?" Alex asked. They had left the pharmacy to stand inside the doorway of the deli next door. Yassen took his time to answer.
"Your mother asked me to." He finally said, looking out across the street. "Actually, it was your father, but I am unable to even see him."
"You're not making any sense. Where did you see my parents?" Alex frowned, not liking how small his voice had suddenly become. Sam was silent, watching the two of them with wide eyes. She missed it, but Alex instantly saw the expression in Yassen's eyes, quite possibly for the first time.
"Alex, when someone dies, they can choose to stay behind. Many wish for this, but their spirit isn't strong enough to cast a perfect reflection of who they once were. Rarely, you'll find one who is. They'll be a slightly fractured image of themselves, with only one or two mistakes."
"Like your red eyes?"
"Exactly. Your parents are like me, in the sense that they were strong enough to look almost like they had when they were alive."
"What does this have to do with my parents?"
"They are still here, if you choose to look at this situation in that manner. However, you will never be able to see them. It is something of a curse. Once someone close to you, be they by blood or bond, dies, you never see them again."
"But, I can see you!" Alex whispered.
"Am I family, a friend? No, I am not. This is why I was only able to see your mother. She assured me that Hunter was there. He asked me to watch over you, if I were to ever see you again, because he could not."
"What about Danny? Why do you care about him?"
"Death is a strange this, Alex. It rearranges everything you thought to be right, and puts them into a new perspective."
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"Are you sure? Not even one book?"
"Not one."
"Dang it."
"It seems like the two of you need some dry clothes way more than you'd ever need a book. Come with me."
Jazz gently got her brother off of her before going over to her door. As quietly as possible, she left the room, leading the way over into Danny's room. Her brother phased through her and was at the closed door of his closet in seconds. Phasing through that as well, he grabbed a handful of clothes from the back before kicking the door open to dump the clothes out across his floor.
As soon as that was done, the halfa pulled his damp hoodie off, replacing it with a shirt and another jacket, this time in black. He zipped it up halfway. Jazz quickly turned around to give him privacy, assuming that he was going to change his entire outfit. He didn't though, and only went over to his dresser to retrieve a pair of socks before wandering off to find his trademark shoes. Tucker took his time picking a shirt and jacket of his own. Chuckling, he pulled up a white shirt.
"Ghostbusters? Really?"
"It was a joke, from me. I gave it to him on his birthday last year." Jazz said, smiling. "That was before I knew his secret. Neither of us were really into ghost hunting though. Our parents though he was interested in fighting them though, when they saw it. That's why he doesn't wear it too often."
"Or maybe he's too busy wearing all of those red oval shirts." Tucker said, smirking. He cast the shirt aside, instead picking a plain white shirt and a navy blue sweater.
"It's safe to look now," he joked. Jazz turned around, shaking her head.
"Honestly, you aren't even going to change your jeans?"
"Danny didn't." he said defensively.
"It's true," Danny called softly from his closet. He didn't want to be too loud for reasons he would never tell.
"Well, that's just stupid. I'm going back to my room for a minute to get something. When I get back, both of you had better be in dry clothes."
Danny watched her with wide green eyes as she marched out of the room, softly shutting the door behind her. He leapt out of the small closet, red Converse in hand, to grab another pair of jeans. He threw a random pair of blue jeans at his friend.
"Tucker, hurry up! She's only giving us a minute!" he hissed, pointing to the door.
"Dude, she wasn't being serious. She's not going to barge in or anything." He said calmly, taking his boots and socks off. He changed into the new pants anyway while Danny shuffled around in the remaining pile of clothes, trying to pick out clothes for Sam and Alex. Once he was done with that, the halfa went to stand in his trashcan. Before Tucker could ask what he was doing, he turned himself intangible, just enough for the rest of the water on him to run off into the metal bin. Tucker instantly wondered why they hadn't thought of that earlier, and he suggested that they do that to Sam and Alex. That way, they would only have to bring jackets for them.
"Hey, Tucker, do you want your shoes back?" he asked, stepping back out and regaining tangibility. The other boy shrugged.
"It doesn't matter."
"That's good." He pointed to the discarded pair of sandals. "I must have cut my feet somewhere, because the shoes are all bloody."
"Yeah, you can keep them."
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"You're not acting like your normal self at all." Alex said, pointing an accusing finger to the blonde ghost. Yassen shrugged, smirking.
"Ah, that's your choice." He said; his amusement showing through clearly in his voice.
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Jazz came back eventually, carrying a red backpack on her back. She grinned, shrugging her shoulders.
"I there's a lot of stuff in here that's sure to help you. I packed a thermos, three small ecto guns, first aid stuff, and chewing gum."
"Why gum?"
"For nerves, you never know. Anyway, will this be enough?"
Tucker nodded. "We have the guitar too. And Yassen."
Jazz cocked her head to the side in confusion. Her little brother helped out, describing Yassen as some ghostly assassin who had been helping them out whenever he damn well felt like it (which wasn't often), and who didn't play games. The girl nodded slowly.
"An assassin is helping you?"
"Yeah, he and Alex know each other."
"How is that?"
"That's classified information, Miss. Even I don't know."
Jazz sighed, ruffling Danny's white hair. She suddenly looked sad.
"You two should go back to the others." She said quietly, giving her brother another hug. "As much as I want to go with you two, someone needs to stay here with mom and dad. Promise me you two will stay safe; Sam and Alex as well."
"It's a promise!" Danny whispered, hugging his sister back. He phased away, sort of shoving Tucker towards her. Blushing, the techno geek thrust his hand out instead, shaking her slender hand.
"We'll be back. Uh, by the way, Jack, the girl one, knows where we are, minus Danny. She thinks we're running around with Phantom, but she's promised to not tell. Since the two of you already know though, it can't hurt to talk with each other, right?"
"Definitely. Anyway, good luck."
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AN: Ugh, school starts up again in a few days. Well, it's my senior year of high school, so it's not too bad!
Ok, so Yassen is sort of OOC. I tried to base this new guy off the Yassen during his final moments of life, but there wasn't much to read of that in the book. Please tell me what you think of his Yassen-ness in this chapter! Reviews are love!