HSR13
Phantom stared at me, I looked away.
"Ashamed of me?" Phantom asked, "Or angry?" He pressed. The room of mirrors opened down a long corridor, one end was a door to the room with the white and the door, the other end was a mystery. Long velvet curtains were drawn over the mirrors. Slowly dimming the light that had reflected around the room. Phantom and I stood there in our suits looking at each other, well him looking at me, me just glancing at him every so often.
"You know if it weren't for me you would have grown up." Phantom said taking a seat on one of the leather couches. I sat across from him.
"True." I commented.
"Do you hate me?" Phantom asked staring at me. I stared back.
"You are me." I said bored.
"You can hate yourself. You tried to kill us because of me." Phantom said holding out his wrists the same scars I had on them. I nodded.
"You are me." I repeated.
"You wish you'd never been me, you wish you could have grown up lived life with Sam, for that you hate me." Phantom stated. I stared at him.
"You are me." I said.
"AND I AM YOU!" Phantom yelled suddenly. I flinched.
"I am you." I said, "you don't scare me." I said.
"Yes, yes I do." Phantom said, "You're scared of my power, of what it could do to you." Phantom said.
"I'm not scared of you, and I'm not scared of me." I said. Phantom stared at me, then laughed pleasantly. He reclined on the couch.
"That was the truth wasn't it?" Phantom asked. I thought about it.
"Yes. I'm not afraid of you." I said. We stared at each other a long time.
"Are you afraid of something?" I asked. Phantom sighed.
"You tell me." He answered. I stared at him.
"You're scared of the future." I said, "Scared of what it would be like if we left, you were conceived here and you have existed here, and this is all you know." I said, "It's like your obsession, but its just because it's everything you worked to protect yet failed, you want to make it up somehow, but are scared that you never will so you can't move on for fear of failing to make things right." Phantom laughed.
"Bang on." He said.
"I know because that's what I'm scared of." I said.
"Aren't you the one who said I am you and you are me?" Phantom joked, "You're scared of more than you'd like to admit, it's holding you back." Phantom said. I hung my head.
We sat there in silence for a while. There was the faint noise of a lullaby, a musical score maybe, a melody, something drifting through the air. I tried to identify the source hear the words they drifted around but I was unable to grasp them. Maybe they were in another language. I closed my eyes and listened to it for a while.
(Your trembling silver eyes had opened on that dark night)
The boy on the couch was feverish, face flushed, mouth parted slightly short ragged gasps entering his mouth.
"Danny?" Jazz asked trying to cool the boy down , "If you can hear me squeeze my hand." Jazz said. Danny just continued to moan quietly as the fever consumed him. Tucker looked on worried, Angie gripped onto her husband in hopes that the boy on the couch would be ok. Derek brought in some more ice and pack of peas and a cold compress.
Sam bit her lip and held Danny's other hand, Danny's hand limp in Sam's. Valerie took off Danny's shoes and socks, then paused a moment before taking off the boy's shirt.
Derek placed the peas on Danny's torso only pausing for a moment to notice all the scars. Danny's body was red from the fever and Jazz worriedly fussed over him.
"Ectoplasm evaporates at 102.2 degrees F. So if he keeps burning like this he'll lose his ghost half which could repair the damage from the fever, and then we'll be taking a vegetable home to mom and dad because if he does survive that, he's brain will be mush." Jazz said.
"Crap." Was all anyone could say. Youngblood who had just entered the room saw Danny on the couch and panicked flying back into the ghost zone.
(A shining "you" was born that lit up the darkened sky)
"I'm ready to move on." Phantom spoke. I froze.
"Move on?" I asked. Phantom looked toward the white room that had the door in it.
"You know… go… crossover… whatever… I'm ready." Phantom said holding out his hand, "Are you?"
"Cross… over?" I asked unsure. Phantom nodded.
"We've done everything we can for them, what is wasted by staying more, just more pain and heartbreak, if we go now, they will miss us, but if we stay we torture them more, and if we go during that time it'll be all the more painful." Phantom said, "We saw them one last time, we got to talk, we had fun. That is how they should remember us, we should go now." Phantom said. I blinked. It would hurt, hurt to watch them as they continued to age. Phantom lowered his hand.
"What about protecting them, what about our promise to try and go home, what about mom and dad, we haven't seen them. What about leaving!" I asked holding my arms out in a why expression. Phantom stared at me.
"Of course they'll miss you… but me… I'm…I'm someone they never liked. They were always Danny Fenton's parents, me… they just wanted to kill… well rip apart moluclue by molecule, you can't kill whats already dead." Phantom said.
"Are you coming?' Phantom asked. I hesitated.
"No." I responded, "They need me to be with them again, and I need to face my fears." Phantom nodded, then began walking away, I headed for the other door, the one that led away from the room with the whiteness and the door. I paused my hand on the door to my body I would guess then I turned around.
"Where do you think you're going!" I yelled. Phantom turned the door to the white room opened.
"I… I'm moving on." Phantom said confused.
"Jeesh, I really am an idiot." I said , Phantom paused then contuied out the door. I rolled my eyes then ran attacking him wrapping my arms around him to keep him from leaving. I kicked the door closed and grabbed him.
"I am you and you are me, I told you as much already!" I said, "Moving on… we're not moving on like this, we're moving onward, we're going to keep walking, keep walking and never stop, never look back. That's not forward you idiot." I scolded. Phantom was absorbed back into me.
"This is." I said turning the door right in front of me. I opened the door that led away from the mirror room, the door that didn't lead to the whiteness. Inside the door was black. I stepped forward my consciences fading.
Then it got really, really hot. I thought I had made some terrible mistake, the heat burning me up. I coughed trying to get back to that room. Maybe I'd gone out the door, maybe I'd gone to the other place.
"Help!" I called opening my one stared at me Derek being the first to react as he ran to the kitchen coming back with a bottle of water which he opened. I guzzled it greedily draining the entire thing. Derek took the bottle and brought back a new one. I sipped this one slower trying to cool off. I noticed my shirt was off and blushed, but I was already flushed from the heat so I doubted anyone noticed.
"Danny?" Sam said staring at me, I gave her hand a small squeeze.
"Yeah?" I asked Jazz was fluttering around me like a mad bird with frozen peas, green beans, ice packs, a cold compress and what looked suspiciously like a bag of melted ice.
"I was afraid you'd die." Sam said. I was still burning up and sweaty so I didn't pull her to me and hug her like I wanted to, admittedly I wanted to do quite a bit more but I think this is rated T so we'll stick with I wanted to "hug" her.
"I… I could have." I said, "I chose not to, I chose to stay." I said giving her a smile. The frozen peas etcetera were starting to burn in their coldness.
"Look, I think I'll just go upstairs and take a cool shower." I told Jazz as I flinched away from a new pack of frozen vegtables, "You can keep those to yourself." I said pulling my shirt on.
"Besides they make you're nipples hard." Derek joked, Valerie slapped his arm, I laughed.
"True that." I smiled then climbed up the stairs. I paused at the top listening to what they would say about me.
"Danny, go take your shower, we know you're listening!" Tucker yelled. I laughed but hurried along.
(And for millions of years god has heard us cry)
Young blood flew through the portal then grabbed onto Ember as he found her the dead teen rocker glared down at the kid having gotten over babysitting a long time ago.
"Get lost young butt." Ember said shoving Youngblood off.
"It's Danny!" Youngblood begged, "That happened." Youngblood said. Ember's eyebrows rose. Then she smiled.
"Well, then let's go visit the dipstick." Ember purred tuning her guitar for action.
(Returning, the hushed prayers, drifting slowly back down to earth.)
Maddie Fenton, now quite the old woman held a book to her chest. Inside the book was every record left of her baby boy including a few pictures of his college graduation. Jack had known how much losing Danny hand changed her, losing Danny had changed Jack too. But to find out there son was alive and waiting for them was everything, like their world had been brought back to life.
They loved Jazz, but in truth they had never gotten over Danny. A fact which Jazz didn't resent them for but understood. Still, they felt like they had failed both their children when Danny had been taken.
But Danny was a ghost… half ghost he had said, and that was because of them. The ghost portal, everything that had to do with that anything that brought misfortune on Danny because of that was their fault.
Maddie clutched the book closer to her chest and let her tears fall down her face, letting her sorrow out, her shame, and most of all her joy. Danny was alive. Even if he was the ghost boy and Maddie wasn't sure how to react to that, he was alive.
Jack reached over and wrapped his arm around his wife's small frame.
"We're bringing you home Danny."
Fairfarren all.