Edit: 5/20/18: Next wave of grammar fixes and wording tweaks or some scenes altered to avoid cliches. Took out AN question and answer sections.
Okay sorry for the slight cliff hanger from last chapter.
Here we are!
zzz- normal separation
ooo- dream or vision separation
Mental thoughts or distant speaking
"We're all a little weird. And life is a little weird. And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness—and call it love—true love." ~ Robert Fulghum, True Love.
zzz
Valerie zipped forward and caught Danny partially on her sled. Not even hesitating, she darted away for the forest, hoping Sam and Tucker could find them soon. Almost right when she entered the deep forest around Amity Park's park, two rings of white light washed over Danny and he was Fenton again. She took in a sharp breath of air when she saw what looked like a burn mark wrapped around his left arm, hiding under his t-shirt sleeve. She found someplace to land and carefully transferred her friend to the ground before retracting her suit. She placed her head on Danny's chest briefly and could hear his slow heartbeat.
At least that's a good sign.
She heard rustling behind her and turned with a weapon drawn before she saw it was Sam and Tucker.
"Sorry, I didn't know who it was," Valerie murmured.
"It's fine," Tucker replied before hurrying over with Sam to look at Danny.
After a moment, Sam spoke, "What did that thing do to him? Danny can you hear me?"
"I don't know. He said something about that Ectopus killing me if it touched me, but he got touched and lived even if it hurt," Valerie replied.
"Danny is a bit more durable than most humans though," Sam murmured and started to pull Danny's shirt to get a better look at the damage. Tucker watched silently and somewhat nervously but was actually contemplating something carefully.
"Oh Danny…" Sam whispered and put a hand to her mouth. Valerie and Tucker looked over to see the same burn marks streaked a bit around his upper arms, dotted on his chest and when Sam rolled him slightly, streaked across his upper back. It plainly showed where the tentacles had touched him.
"How on earth will he explain those kinds of wounds to anyone?" Valerie murmured and then bit her bottom lip and looked away.
"Danny's had some pretty terrible injuries, so I wouldn't put it completely past him to heal most of this with time. He'll scar, but maybe they'll be faint…" Sam replied, mostly trying to sound hopeful which was odd for her.
Tucker finally seemed to come to some sort of realization. "I think I know what Danny was talking about. I'll have to check and see if I'm right when he wakes up, but I think those Ectopuses are more like jellyfish. Some sort of venom was in that thing and it would've killed Danny, Valerie or anyone if they touched it."
"But Danny's still alive. I mean his heart's still beating," Valerie pressed.
"I think… I think his core saved him. I think that's what that light was. You see his core is right next to or right behind Danny's heart. We aren't hundred percent sure which, because we haven't seen inside him, but one of those places. The venom would've gone through the arm and into the heart, but his core must've stopped it before it got too close. I don't know why his core would only protect him against this particular kind of venom or whatever, but for some reason his core rejected it, which might give us a clue later about what that thing was exactly," Tucker spoke and then looked at Valerie in slight fear. "Danny saved your life. You don't have a ghost core to protect your heart."
Valerie paused and sat stock still. "He… he…" Valerie wanted to punch something or cry, but because she couldn't decide which, she simply stared off into the shadows of the forest.
They all flinched when they heard a soft moan.
"Danny?"
"Hey Sam."
zzz
Vlad was really really busy. He'd been watching his surveillance cameras that he'd put up throughout the city as well as several recorded tapes from those same cameras from the past few days.
One of his monitors showed Danny using his new pyrokinesis, another showed Danny and Valerie's battle against Aragon at the mall, and the last was just finishing being recorded, a video of the purple Ectopus being evaporated by the white aura around Danny.
"So many mixed emotions… Where do I begin Maddie?" Vlad mused and the cat in his lap meowed as she pushed against his chest. He started to pet her as she desired.
"I'm not sure how Daniel was able to learn pyrokinesis so quickly." Vlad murmured and then formed bit of electricity between his fingers. The static bothered Maddie and she hissed slightly before jumping down and wandering off. "It took me a few years to use my electricity to its full potential and I prefer it due to its potency. While I naturally have a hot core, Daniel seems to be able to utilize both a hot and cold core… I'll need to study this further."
He glanced back up at his screens to see Valerie fighting alongside Danny against Aragon. While Vlad did have many cameras around the city they were very very small and thus couldn't capture sound very easily. He would've made the cameras bigger, but he was pretty sure his constituents for his time in office wouldn't like knowing they were being spied on by their mayor. So, he settled for less than great audio quality. He didn't really think he needed sound though; he was pretty good at reading people without it and something about the way Danny and Valerie fought together didn't look like an awkward temporary truce. That and Valerie had been hanging around Danny Fenton more than normal. Wasn't their fling together, over?
"Hmm… has my pawn become a turncoat? And if so, why?" Vlad mused and leaned back in his large plush chair. He happened to glance at the last video feed with the purple Ectopus and actually smiled. "At least that is going according to plan." He glanced back over his shoulder and saw a small dome of glass, inside was the Crown of Fire.
"Yes… according to the plan from the start. As if I would've let something like Pariah take me off guard, who does Daniel think he's dealing with?"
zzz
One Hour Previously
Deep in the far reaches of the Ghost Zone, in an area few had ventured near for eons, there was something that looked like a Graveyard of sorts. Only one stone sat in the courtyard though, with a single withered tree shading it. It was course like limestone and bleached like the sun from the human world had been baking it for centuries. In the ground, at the base of the headstone, a crack in the earth was forming though it was very small. Purple mist started to escape from the crack in small feeble puffs like something was having trouble breathing. When the earth had cracked, the headstone had been cracked as well damaging the words engraved in the stone and changing it from: "Utinam humanitas non cadat ad Malus." (May Humanity not fall to Malus) to "Malus ut ad humanitatem cadere." (May Humanity fall to Malus). A small Ectopus floated by and noticed the disturbance. Curious, it flew closer. It hovered above the crack calmly, looking at the headstone and around the Graveyard, until suddenly it stopped bobbing and hovered quietly and almost robotically. Slowly the green hue it had, faded to a dark sickening purple.
"Kill…kill…kill…"
zzz
After a while of sitting in the forest, Danny was able to get up and walk even if pain was etched into his features. Well it looked that way to Sam, but maybe to someone else Danny was merely scowling. He confirmed with Tucker his own suspicions about the Ectopus and its danger to full humans. They grabbed up their bags from the mall and walked themselves home after deciding to end their day earlier due to the previous events. Eventually, Danny got home and found Jazz, who immediately asked if he was okay. The news had come on saying that bystanders had witnessed the Red Huntress zooming away with an unconscious Danny Phantom, though the station had stated they weren't positive how true the info was since no reporters captured the event. Danny then explained to Jazz what had happened and Jazz had then rushed Danny up to her bathroom to look at his injuries even against his protests. She gave him burn cream to apply and watched him as he applied it and wrapped himself. Earlier that morning before taking a shower was when he'd discarded his old bandages for the gash on his left side that was no longer there; only a faint whitish scar remained. Hopefully after a couple days, the burns would look the same. Danny was sort of glad it was October now and no longer swimming season. He'd have to figure out some way to explain those burn scars by Spring, but for now he had too many things to think of until then.
Maddie and Jack then came home from another meeting with Axion representatives. The family had dinner together, Danny called his friends to put them at ease that he was okay, placed Sam's birthday present in a safe place, and then went to sleep. Oddly enough, no ghosts interrupted.
zzz
Tucker paced in his room early the next morning. Last night over web cam, Danny, Sam and he had discussed maybe visiting Frostbite to try and get info on the strange Ectopus they'd encountered. The trio knew Valerie wouldn't be making it this time; she would be spending the day with her father since Sundays were the only days that they were both free from work and or school. Jazz was still working on the finishing touches for her volume two of Ghost Envy and would be leaving tomorrow for University because her allotted break from classes for her independent studies were up. Tucker wanted to go with his friends to Frostbite's. He couldn't think of anything he liked more than hanging out with his two best friends, but in truth there was one thing that he wanted.
"I've got to get them together, somehow."
Yesterday he'd noticed something in Sam's behavior; She had been saddened by Danny's wounds and her care for him had bubbled up and a little over her typical walls against her will, fretting about him on the way home from the park, which Tucker had picked up on. Danny was still mister clueless and it always seemed that Tucker could pinpoint what was going on with Sam way before Danny could, which is strange since the kid could technically 'sense' emotions to some degree. Ultimately, he'd made up his mind all over again to re-double his efforts to try and help his two best friends get together. In doing so, Tucker had thought back on some lessons he'd learned from past mistakes of his, Tucker Phantom and Hotep-Ra being to two most prominent ones, and he knew he had to work harder at never letting any kind of jealousy come between him and Danny again. To some degree those mistakes had brought the two even closer together. Fights, goof-ups, dark paths, and things of the like seemed to do that to friends, at least friends like the trio.
So that's why he wanted Danny to be happy, because they had slowly become more than friends. They had become blood brothers in a sense. He had a fear of becoming a third wheel, but he knew two things would stop him from getting angry about it. One they had Valerie now so technically he wouldn't be completely alone even if she didn't know him like Danny and Sam did and second, Danny wouldn't leave him, ever. He was too loyal of a friend.
So maybe the best way to get them together isn't by bringing attention to it. That typically ended with a hurt shin and no progress. They got suspicious too quick. Perhaps they just needed space.
"Maybe they just need some time alone and together. But what in the world will be my excuse for not going with them to Frostbite's?"
Tucker happened to stop his pacing and glanced over at his table. He saw there was a Chemistry project for school that was due in a couple days. He absolutely despised long term projects that didn't have to do with technology. He deadpanned.
"The things I do for love."
zzz
Danny and Sam were slightly confused when it ended up being just the two of them heading to Frostbite's. Sam was certain that Tucker was up to something though she didn't know what. Danny simply shrugged it off and told her to not jump to conclusions, even if Tucker almost never worked on project ahead of time. What they both decided and agreed on was to visit Frostbite's domain, like planned. First, because Sam wanted the large snow creature to look at Danny's burns and make sure everything was okay and second because the Far Frozen had an impressive library that rivaled the Ghost Writer's collection in size, and it wasn't off limits due to Walker's 'rules' while the Writer served his sentence. It was where they tended to go now for information on things which they had a sneaking suspicion Clockwork wouldn't tell them about. He often was able to give them mostly info on Danny since there was no literature on Half-Ghosts until Vlad came along, but other things, he often asked for them to discover on their own. Clockwork also had an impressive collection and was willing to let them look through it if they could find nothing in Frostbite's library.
The two friends collected some equipment, got Sam a coat and had snuck into the lab invisibly since Danny's parents were working there. Danny opened the portal with the genetic lock and slipped in. Maddie had been wearing protective gear while she worked on something so she didn't hear the portal doors move. Jack had perked up and looked around suspiciously.
zzz
"I usually don't like floating through here without protection from the Spector Speeder, but we can only use the distraction tactics on my parents so often," Danny spoke as he glanced around cautiously.
"It's fine. I like this mode of transportation best anyways." Sam smiled even if Danny couldn't see it. She repositioned herself and grabbed Danny's arm for support while she shifted her weight, only for him to flinch hard. She realized she'd grabbed one of the burns on the upper part of his right arm. "Sorry!"
Danny smiled. "It's fine. You comfortable now?"
"Yeah," Sam replied. She flushed slightly when she felt Danny's arms wrap around her waist more securely. He could just be making sure she didn't slip, but she couldn't help but wish it meant more.
"Hey look, after about ten minutes, Far Frozen appears!" Danny smirked as they neared the frozen land. They touched down on the snowy ground and they heard a specific horn blow. It was the People of the Frozen's way of signaling a friendly, and not just any friendly, the Great One had arrived.
"Sounds like the welcoming party should be here soon," Sam teased.
"Yeah I guess. I don't know why they think so highly of me. I know I helped stopped Pariah, but without Vlad there with the Skeleton Key… I would've failed," Danny returned.
"It's because you were brave enough to try and willing to give your half-life for us, Great One," Frostbite replied as he trudged up to them.
"Yeah I guess." Danny shrugged modestly.
Frostbite gave a big toothy smile. "I want to see it. Please Great One, show us your eternal flame."
Danny perked up and Sam seemed surprised. Several other yetis stood nearby, curiously watching.
"How'd-" Danny started.
"Hakan is an old acquaintance of mine. He hasn't been around as long as I, but we see eye to eye on many things, with the major exception of you. I believe your existence to be almost entirely a good thing."
"Thanks, I think," Danny replied nervously.
Frostbite laughed. "Truth be told it's been… eons and eons since any ghost has seen a new ghost which can switch between a cold and hot core. Most often you either receive one or the other. Vortex is one of the oldest ghosts and one of the only ones still in existence which can do this same thing, which gives him his access to his weather powers."
"Really?" Sam asked in surprise. "Why is it that virtually all ghosts can't switch? Is it purely an emotion thing? It can't be, because then Vortex couldn't do what he does."
Frostbite nodded. "Indeed, you are correct. While the main reason the Great One here can use both is due to his half human status, there is also another important thing that can determine whether one can access both a hot and cold core. That is power potential. Vortex is a very ancient ghost like Undergrowth, Nocturne, Clockwork, the Observants, and a few others. Because of merely how the energy was separated and divided up in the beginning, all these ghosts received a great deal of power. These great stores of power allow for them to access both types of cores, though not all of them can do it easily… especially as easily as you, Great One."
"Huh? Wait, I can do it easy? Like it's much harder for some of those ghosts?" Danny asked.
"Indeed, you seem to have hardly any trouble with the switch. Even Hakan was stumped by your quick progress. I suppose he didn't believe me when I told him you learned your cyrokinesis in a day and a half! Ha!" Frostbite laughed.
"Why can I do it so easy?" Danny asked.
Frostbite frowned, "It seems only Clockwork is aware of the why and he is very guarded about that information for whatever reason."
"Oh, gotcha." Danny nodded and frowned slightly. He shook his head and smiled. "Okay, ghost fire coming up!" Danny floated up into the air and after a split second, he'd switched cores. He then concentrated and orange and white fire formed around his body and he took off flying around like a comet.
Sam smiled, watching him enjoying himself and the other yetis oo'd and aw'd at his brief display. Danny stopped, pulled the fire inside, and switched back to his cold core.
"Brilliant! Masterful, Great One! You've learned so quickly!" Frostbite shouted. He looked down at Danny and Sam standing next to each other and nodded. "So why have you two graced us with your presence?"
Sam frowned a bit. "Danny got attacked by something yesterday. It didn't set off his ghost sense and yet it looked like an Ectopus. It left burns on Danny's body whenever its tentacles touched him and we're pretty sure there was some sort of affect they had that was venom-like in it. His core rejected it though and protected his human heart. We're fairly certain it could have killed a human with one touch."
Frostbite nodded and listened carefully. "So, I imagine you'd like me and my staff to look him over and you want to check out the archives for clues to the identity of this mysterious creature."
"That's right." Sam nodded and smiled.
Danny spoke up, "I really feel fine, Sam."
"Even so, let us make sure everything is in order, Great One," Frostbite expressed. Danny sighed.
"I'll start looking in the library, okay?" Sam smiled and placed a hand on his arm. Danny nodded and smiled. They separated with Danny following after Frostbite and Sam being lead off by another yeti with small round glasses towards the library.
zzz
He walked into the infirmary behind Frostbite. Another yeti was in another room nearby gathering things. Frostbite turned and smiled. "Alright then, please do remove your suit in your ghost form and your outer clothes in human form so that I can see the burns in both forms."
Danny nodded and walked over to a corner of the room with a curtain. Once he pulled the curtain around him he reached near his neck and felt around for the zipper on his hazmat suit. It was an odd feeling to step out of his suit. There had been very few times that he'd ever been out of his suit while in ghost form. He wasn't exactly sure how the clothes from his ghost or human form disappeared or how sometimes they would swap, like when shrunken down with Dash or using his Ghostly Wail the first few times, but he didn't ask many questions about that. Finally, he found the super durable and thin plastic zipper and pulled. Once he found himself out of the suit and bandages and only in his boxers… the same colored boxers he'd worn the day of his accident three years ago, he transformed into his human form and chuckled seeing his white t-shirt, jeans, and red sneakers he'd chosen that day.
"Deja vu, huh?" Danny mused as he took off the clothing, the bandages weren't there this time. Once in his boxers again which were a different color than the others, he left the safety of the curtain, and shivered a bit. Even with his cold core, the yetis sure kept their home chilly.
Frostbite looked at him as he approached and could see the burn marks wrapped about the young man's upper body and left arm like a snake.
"I certainly see why your dear friend was concerned. These look painful," Frostbite spoke and gave a pitying frown. He then gestured to a table as the other yeti came forward. "Let us get to work."
zzz
She really loved Frostbite's library. It had so many tales of Ghosts and other things regarding the Ghost Zone and the dark and or mysterious things there. The bad part was, when trying to find info about this Ectopus creature, she wasn't sure where to start.
"I would suggest trying to look for the Ghost Encyclopedia volume number five for E. If you don't find anything there… then it might be more difficult to figure out where to look since we don't know what caused the mutation in the ghost or whatnot."
Sam nodded at the bespectacled yeti, "You check out the Encyclopedia. I want to check out any books that talk about ghost cores. That's the only other clue we have at the moment, that whatever altered the Ectopus made it easily able to be destroyed by some latent power in ghost cores or something like that."
The yeti agreed and lumbered off while Sam went down the aisle he said would have a couple books on ghost cores. She gazed over spine after spine before coming to find a book titled, The Nature of Ghost Cores. She plucked it from its place and walked over to sit in a chair to read.
It was an hour later, when she felt like she'd looked through the book enough. She'd learned couple things, but neither were very helpful towards figuring out what was odd about the Ectopus and predictably the Encyclopedia had no mention of any rare kind of Ectopus that was purple in color.
"So, any luck?"
Sam looked behind her to see Danny standing there in his human form, smiling.
"Hey, how are you?" Sam asked and stood to turn and face him.
"I'm fine Sam. Frostbite said they seem to only be burn marks now. They'll scar and fade mostly away eventually." Danny smiled brightly but stopped when he saw the sadness in Sam's eyes. When she realized he was looking at her, searching her face for that sadness again, she turned away and pulled the book out from the chair she'd been in.
"Anyways, I found a couple of interesting things, but nothing that helps with figuring out what was wrong with that Ectopus. For example, when ghosts overshadow each other it can be kinda dangerous to either party. Whichever ghost has greater mastery over their powers can manipulate the weaker one's core, corrupt the other's core, or simply absorb the other ghost entirely as a spare energy source," Sam spoke.
"Ew… that's like eating a ghost," Danny grimaced.
"Yeah. The other thing is that a ghost core never becomes weaker or stronger, only it's owner's ability to control its energy changes. The core you're given is the one you keep for all time with the exception of gaining magical artifacts to increase one's power," Sam finished and shut the book. "A few good things to remember, but nothing about a crazy purple Ectopus."
Danny nodded, "Maybe when we have time again, we'll go talk to Clockwork about it. Who knows, maybe it was just some weird fluke… I mean all we can do is wait at this point and see what happens."
Sam nodded and Danny walked behind her as she went to put the book back in its place. He noticed the sad look in Sam's eyes again and frowned. "Sam what's wrong?"
He stopped when she turned and placed a hand on his arm. Her fingertips lingered on the end of the burn mark that adorned his left arm; it stopped a little bit below his short sleeve.
"Do they hurt as much now? Did Frostbite give you something?" Sam asked evenly.
Danny nodded, "Just a little something, that and I'm always healing." He gave a smirk. His face dropped into a more somber look again when Sam gazed up at him. After watching her look over his face for a few moments, he saw her own face suddenly grow determined. "Sam you know you can tell me anyth-"
He was halted in his words when Sam's lips grazed his for a moment. Frostbite had motioned to the other yeti with glasses to follow him. They both left the library with a happy smile on their faces.
Her hands wrapped around his hands. Only a second or two passed before Danny reciprocated and let her know he felt the same. Danny pressed his lips closer and pulled one his hands away from Sam's to hold the side of her face. They finally broke apart and rested their foreheads together.
"You need to shave soon," Sam mumbled. Danny barked out a laugh in amusement at her request.
"Will do." Danny smirked. "So um, that was nice."
"You dork."
"Yeah, that wasn't well planned."
Sam just smiled and rested her head on Danny's right shoulder near the crook of his neck and he rested his head on top of hers.
"We need to go, don't we?" Danny asked.
"Uuuugh," Sam muttered.
Another brief silence came and went.
"Why did you kiss me?" Danny whispered.
"I… I was tired of waiting and you know how proactive I am. I really really care about you a lot Danny."
Danny nodded barely and then spoke, "I'm sorry if I hurt you for not saying anything… I was too cowardly to say something the other day."
"In front of my house? I was pretty certain that's what you'd wanted, but… that tiny bit of doubt for me was so much stronger then."
"I'm sorry Sam."
"Don't be. We were both afraid for a while… "
The two stared at each other for a while before they started to get nervous and blushed slightly. The two backed a bit away from each other.
Eventually the pair collected themselves and prepared to leave. Frostbite unknowingly embarrassed them when he congratulated them on their togetherness. Danny thanked the yeti chief for his help and time.
As Danny and Sam left the Far Frozen and disappeared, some of the yetis noticed their chief shiver.
"Frostbite, sir? Are you okay?" One of them asked.
Frostibite ignored them momentarily and looked deep into the Ghost Zone. "Something… feels wrong. I have absolutely no idea what… but something's wrong."
zzz
Back at the graveyard like area, the puffs of purple smoke had become a stream of smoke pouring from the ground in front of the grave-marker. Suddenly, the ground cracked more and a human sized cloud of purple smoke slipped from the ground and moved a bit away before setting on the ground in the general shape of a human. It glanced back at the headstone even though it had no eyes and then floated away leaving the graveyard quiet and still.
zzz
In the Observants' Halls and more specifically in a large office or sorts, an important and somewhat one-sided talk slash yelling match was occurring. It depended on which being you asked.
"Can't you sense it, Clockwork? A darkness that is forming? It's coming back after so many years. It's coming back!"
Clockwork stood, talking with three Observants in the office. The rest of their brothers and sisters hadn't been told. Only the three Observants in charge were present to talk with Clockwork. They were more powerful and could more easily sense disturbances before they came; they could see down the road of the future much farther.
"I don't only sense it. I know what it is, why it's here, what it wants, how it's formed, how it will be stopped… or how it might not be stopped. I do believe you all forget sometimes that I can see all things, Vigilate," Clockwork replied as he turned into his older self.
Another of the three, named Videre, spoke next. "I know why… It's that boy. That boy that you harbor and protect. The one you favor because of your bias! I don't know why you care so much for one life, but you are stepping out of your bounds! He should've been dealt with. Now we not only have to monitor him constantly, but his alternate future is now freed from the course of the boy's timeline. He could kill the boy and still exist! He's unstoppable now. Getting rid of the boy was our only sure-fire way of destroying that monster."
Clockwork sighed. "I know these things. I do not favor the boy. I have no bias and have not been aiding him beyond limits. I know that the one known as Dark Phantom is now separate from the boy's fate, but as I said before they are both my responsibility. What you are all unaware of is how important my choices will be in preventing disaster."
The last of the three Observants, Lacrimalis, spoke third with a feminine voice, "You're playing a dangerous game, Time-keeper."
Clockwork had to prevent a smile from coming to his face, knowing that would only anger the beings he was trying to calm; they just didn't seem to understand no matter how many times he told them, that he could see all things. He replied, "It's not too dangerous to gamble when you know the likelihood of each outcome. The main outcome will be good as possible for the whole, Wormhole will make sure the other outcomes are contained in their own dimensions and or destroyed by loops or decisions made, after all what never occurred can never be and Reaper will of course manage the souls."
"Wormhole seems to have trouble doing his job, allowing Dan to skip between space and time to try and assure his future. You both failed in that account," Videre growled.
"Wormhole… was willing to listen to my wishes and agreed to help me." Clockwork shifted into his child form.
"What!? He also disobeyed us!?" Vigilate snapped.
"We aren't required to listen to you. We are willing to listen. We aren't trying to do wrong, dear Observants. We are, believe it or not, trying to do the most good. Even Reaper is starting to see why the half-deads should be allowed to live." Clockwork shifted back into his middle-aged form.
The three Observants whispered to each other before Lacrimalis spoke, "Very well, you are dismissed for the time being." They all still seemed upset and maybe angry long after Clockwork bowed and floated away.
zzz
Back at Clockwork's lair, Clockwork floated towards his Windows of Time but paused and looked over at the thermos that sat in an alcove of his lair with an energy shield in front of it.
Clockwork let a thoughtful look come to his face. Though he had told the Observants about the future with great confidence in his ability as well as his colleagues abilities to constantly do damage control within existence, the truth was they had no idea how much this supposed darkness could warp reality and alter outcomes compared to most. He hoped things would turn out for the best.
"All is as it should be."
zzz
The next day came and Jazz was packing her things to start her drive back to her University. Jazz could've gotten into Yale, Harvard, or many other places, but she had started to grow a specified interest in the psyche of ghosts, and the effect ghosts have on the psyche of humans and none of those places had enough courses on the supernatural for her personal needs. In response, she'd settled for humble little Eastern Amity University which was a couple hours east from Amity Park itself. It was while she was folding another shirt when she heard a tiny explosion from Danny's room. She got up and rushed over to his room. When she opened it up, she saw Danny sitting on the floor.
Danny had several pieces of completed ghost ice crystals behind him. His face though was dusted with something charcoal-looking and sported a few stray cuts. His hands had taken the same treatment his face had. He looked up at her in alarm before seeing it was her. He let out a sigh after he unfroze from shock.
"Geez can't you knock? You gave me a heart-attack." Danny grumbled and tried to rub the dust off his face and hands, smearing a tiny bit of blood.
"Oh yeah, because when I hear an explosion from my brother's bedroom I remember to knock," Jazz replied and rolled her eyes. "What are you doing?"
Danny suddenly blushed slightly and looked behind him at the crystals, "Um… making Sam's birthday gift. It's a necklace of ghost ice, but I was wanting one to have an ember of ghost fire in it, you know as a pendant… It's not working out too well."
Jazz looked at the crystals behind Danny and suddenly grew excited. "Oh Danny! That's so wonderful! I know she'll love it." She looked up at Danny's face and saw he was still blushing and glancing at his own hands with a smile. She watched for a few more moments before she spoke. "Oh my gosh."
Danny glanced up at her in confusion. "What?"
"You two finally are together."
Danny seemed to panic. "Wait what!?"
"You two totally are an item now, aren't you!?" Jazz exclaimed and started to jump up and down.
Danny blushed fiercely and mumbled something under his breath.
"What's that?"
He mumbled again.
"I can't hear you Danny."
"We are."
There was quiet until Jazz practically tackled her brother in a hug. "Oh, Danny I'm so proud of you both! I can't wait to tell Mom and Dad! They've been waiting for this too!"
"Ah geez do you have to make such a big deal out of it?" Danny squirmed. "I know when we tell Tucker he's going to really going to have a heyday."
"Yes, I do, but don't be ashamed! This is good! You two will be a great couple, embrace it!" Jazz replied.
"Okay okay, I've got to get to school. Travel safe to University." Danny smiled and hugged his sister back. He almost engulfed her in his arms with how he'd grown. He was already a tad taller than her.
"I will. Tell Sam I'm proud and happy for you both."
"Okay."
So, Jazz went back to packing and Danny hid the completed crystals away, cleaned up, grabbed his backpack and flew to school.
zzz
"There's nothing that could make this day bad for him is there?" Sam muttered in irritation.
"With the amount of money he's hinting at getting for shamelessly betting on us, nope," Danny replied and squeezed Sam's hand tighter. Even though the day was a bit warmer than a few before, Danny was having to wear a sweatshirt to hide any possible view of his new scars from the Ectopus. He'd even shaved himself like he'd promised Sam and no budding stubble could be found. And what's more, he'd done it without his dad's help; his dad had been in the lab with his mother working on something anyways and he hadn't really wanted to interrupt them.
Sam on the other hand had on the ring that Danny had asked her to hold onto. The new couple had talked a long time last night over video chat and Sam had reminded him about the ring and Danny had explained that his dad had actually engraved Sam into the ring and not Wes like Sam had thought. She couldn't have been happier when he'd asked her teasingly if she'd keep it for a while longer and maybe wear it if she wanted.
Tucker was marching in front of both the happy Danny and Sam with the largest grin ever plastered on his face.
Oh, I forgot to mention one other tiny reason I wanted Danny and Sam together, the moolah.
People were staring at the young man as he walked through the halls. Some seemed to understand his odd behavior when they noticed Danny and Sam holding hands. It was fairly common knowledge at Casper High that Danny and Sam had seemed to have liked each other for a long time and the rumor or idea of it had gotten stronger the last few months.
The trio made their way to their lockers and people started murmuring. Tucker immediately went into action, finding all the people who'd bet with him so he could collect his money.
Paulina and Star were a distance away watching Danny and Sam talk and laugh to each other about Tucker while he was doing his thing.
zzz
"Paulina, I was just wondering like why you'd want to date Danny… I mean, technically you've been on a date or two with him before. They seem like really happy together," Star spoke and glanced between Danny and Paulina worriedly. She saw Valerie approach Tucker and drag him back over to Danny and Sam, who laughed at her actions.
"It's simple, Star. I don't really want to date Danny. It's about proving a point to the goth freak," Paulina replied as she watched Sam and Danny closely before the four friends started to walk towards their first classes.
"Can't you like make an exception just this once? You'd have to break Danny and Sam apart to date Danny even temporarily."
"So? That should be easy. I've stolen him from her before. That goth girl doesn't know boys like I do. I don't care how much history those two have."
"I thought you loved Phantom? What if he sees you with Danny?"
"Star, I think you're getting confused. It's basic stuff. I make myself look desirable, guys get jealous. Phantom's a hero so he doesn't get all that jealous but he'll fall in love when he sees I'm the most beautiful and desired girl in Amity or even that he's ever seen," Paulina replied and batted her eyelashes as she sighed in a comical dream-like manner. "It's just like the movies, the handsome hero and beautiful heroine always make it to the end and fall in love! Just like my Papa always said."
Star frowned slightly, "Paulina… I think you're a bit misguid-"
"Star, star- star… I'm the teacher, you're the student. Just watch and learn. Within a few days if not immediately, Danny Fenton will be wrapped around my little finger."
zzz
The school day went on normally, though right in the middle of last period, Danny went to the restroom to go and fight the Lunch Lady. He walked out of the boys' bathroom and almost shot Paulina with an Ectoblast when she suddenly was there and had said his name.
"Hey there, Danny."
He jumped a bit at the sudden company and then sighed to relax. "Geez Paulina… wait, Paulina? What are you doing here? Don't you have Math right now with Mrs. Matthews?"
"I needed to use the little girl's room, then I saw you and wanted to talk," Paulina replied and smiled sweetly.
Danny gave her a confused look. "Ohhkay?"
Paulina walked closer and smiled, "I was just wondering… you see there's this party in a few weeks. It's at the start of November, you know? Even your little friends, Sam and Tucker can come. It's one of two big parties we're having to kinda celebrate our class graduation coming in June." She placed a hand on Danny's arm. "I would love to see you there." She then turned and started to walk away when Danny reached out and grabbed her arm. Paulina smirked before she turned to face him. Gotcha. She then faced Danny and was slightly surprised by the intensity in his face.
"Paulina, are you wanting to say something to me?" Danny asked seriously and studied her face.
She smiled and batted her lashes. "Well truth be told… I'm not sure how to say this… but I think I like you Danny. Dash was great before we broke up, but you actually have some intellect. I felt like I was talking to a brick wall with him." She slipped her arm out from Danny's flabbergasted grasp and placed her hands on top of both of his shoulders and slowly started to slide them behind his neck.
Danny tensed and was about to speak when Paulina cut him off.
"Goodness! Danny… have you been working out?" Paulina asked and started to twirl a small bit of Danny's hair at the nape of his neck.
His cheeks flared red against his will and he gulped. "Uh Paulina, look I… I can't…" He paused and closed his eyes. He took a breath to steady his speaking which confused Paulina and then looked at her. "I'm dating Sam and I care a lot about her." He gently grabbed her hands from behind his neck and pulled them away. "I appreciate the offer… but I just don't really have a crush on you anymore. Ultimately some guys are looking for a girl that cares about them like Sam cares for me. I don't think this… is some kind of fling for me or her." He looked up and gave a kind smile. "I know you'll find someone, it just won't be me." He nodded at her stunned face and turned and walked back towards his class.
After he was gone, Star ran over to Paulina from a place she'd been hiding and spoke. "I think he's like pretty serious, Paulina."
Paulina laughed and Star cocked her head at her friend's response.
"Don't worry, Star. It's not over. Did you see how flustered he got when I got close? Danny's a modest guy, everyone knows it. He doesn't even like to shower with the other guys after gym. I'm just going to have to put on a little more pressure. He's a guy, he'll crack eventually. All I need to do later is damage control. I've got to pretend to accept his response and get him and his friends to still come to the party and then I'll deal the final blow."
Paulina smiled at her friend and walked off. Star lagged behind and spoke to herself. "Something about this feels… wrong." She then sighed and jogged to catch up to Paulina.
zzz
"What!?" Sam growled out loud as the four friends walked away from the school after the final bell had rung.
"Easy Sam, I told her no and sent her on her way…" Danny replied and scratched the back of his neck. "I just don't know what brought this on so suddenly." Danny stared at the ground in thought while Sam was still steaming slightly. Valerie placed a hand on Sam's shoulder and whispered softly.
"I told you she wouldn't hold a candle to you in Danny's mind," Valerie spoke and then winked. Sam seemed to relax and then calmed herself down.
Tucker was busy counting his wad of money from his betting earnings. "She probably is just starting to realize that you've grown some, dude. You're finally a stud like me."
Danny chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Right…" He shook his head when he heard Tucker grumble about Mr. Lancer trying to hide from him all day to avoid paying up for his part in the bet.
"No, she's just shallow. She wants to mess with people," Sam spoke up and crossed her arms.
"Well I hope she learns her lesson one day. She'll get hurt if she suddenly finds herself alone, with no friends," Danny murmured.
"Danny, you're way too kind, you know that?" Sam sighed.
Danny smiled halfheartedly at her. "Sorry, just can't help it." He looked off towards a sidewalk on the other side of the street to see people walking both ways. "When you've seen your life flash before your eyes a few times… It's hard not to want to give everyone… a second chance."
The others fell silence for a brief moment before Valerie spoke up, "Look, Danny… I just wanted to thank you for taking the hit for me from that Ectopus thing. I didn't get to properly thank you before. You made me madder than hell but I'm still grateful."
Danny smiled. "It's fine, Valerie. I mean, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to die and I was pretty sure you were. It was kinda a no-brainer for me really."
"Yoohoo! Danny!"
The four friends froze in their tracks. They were just about to exit school grounds completely when Paulina's voice had reached their ears. A few students turned and looked at Danny's group as well as Paulina approaching with Star. Sam could see the confusion in some of the girls faces when Paulina approached; most were aware by the end of the day, that Sam and Danny were a couple. The boys in the courtyard seemed intrigued, like they were about to maybe watch a cat fight since Paulina wasn't used to not getting her way, which Sam wasn't certain a cat fight wouldn't happen if Paulina pulled the same stunt Danny had mentioned, right in front of her.
"Yes Paulina?" Danny asked patiently and slipped a hand into one of his pockets causally; the other was holding Sam's hand.
"I was just wanting to apologize. I shouldn't have done what I did earlier today. I suppose I was just a little sad that I let a guy like you get away from me. I do hope what I did won't deter you or any of your friends from coming to the party though," Paulina responded.
Danny frowned slightly. "It's… okay Paulina and we'll see if we can make it. We'll certainly think about it."
Paulina smiled. "Oh good. Well see you all later then." She happened to glance over at Sam and almost flinched at the murderous look in the goth's eyes. She and Star walked away.
"She's kidding, right?" Sam muttered.
Danny shrugged. "She seems to be up to something… I don't know. We have time to think about it though."
The four friends walked down the road and Danny spoke again.
"I need to go ahead and get home. I'm gonna fly from here. I have something I need to uh work on." He was stumbling over his words.
Sam cocked an eyebrow. "You're not acting suspicious at all."
Danny laughed a bit nervously and spoke a bit high-pitched, "See ya at your birthday party, Sam." He then tried to phase through a wall, invisibly and his friends heard an- "Ouch."
"Did you do invisibility and forget intangibility again?"
"No."
"Danny…"
"Maybe?"
Sam laughed a bit and then Danny Phantom appeared flying over the wall. He flushed slightly after glancing in frustration at the offending wall and zoomed off.
"What was that about?" Valerie questioned and put her hands on her hips.
"Probably trying to work on Sam's birthday present," Tucker replied as he typed calculations on his PDA, most likely looking for which bank had the best interest rates for his betting earnings. He then slapped his forehead. "That was supposed to stay in my mind! Stupid Foley, stupid, stupid, stupid."
"My… birthday present?" Sam asked as a bit of pink came to her cheeks.
"Mmmm You've got yourself a sweet boyfriend, Sam." Valerie smirked.
"Boyfriend… I like the sound of that." Sam smiled slowly.
Valerie then waved. "I'm off, see ya at your house, Sam. Your birthday's tomorrow, right?"
Sam nodded. "Yeah, just remember that my parents will probably wonder who the heck you are and try to be rude. Just yell for me and I'll save you." Valerie laughed and walked off. Soon Tucker and Sam said goodbye to each other and went their own ways as well.
Okay Danny's fine, see? And he even gets a girlfriend! That's right, the two lovebirds are together now. Though now we also see some insight into where the odd Ectopus came from and we learn that Vlad's scheming and so is Paulina.
So, I hope you liked the chapter and tell me if you guys still like how this is going. To be honest, it's been a while since I've watched a lot of the Danny Phantom episodes, and so I'm a bit rusty on everyone's characters. I've started re-watching some of the episodes, but I've got a way to go. So yeah, I technically do wanna make them act a bit older too, so a bit OOC, since this story is kinda if they'd been aging over three years in the show.
Okay I'm done now.
Thanks everyone for reading, reviewing, fav'ing, following, and being awesome.
~NoSignal
Edit: 5/20/18: Next wave of grammar fixes and wording tweaks or some scenes altered to avoid cliches. Took out AN question and answer sections.