*Hello my lovelies! Welcome back! I would love to thank you all for continuing on even this far! Although it usually takes less time to read a story than to write it, I appreciate your time tenfold! I can't wait for us all to continue on this journey! And I would like to thank MercurialDestiny and Matt for taking the time to review! Even one sentence inspires me to go on!

Chapter 7

He slowly opened his eyes to see the all too familiar green and purple glows of the Ghost Zone. "Ah! What?" Danny yelled in surprise, straightening himself out. He looked down at himself, "Still in ghost form. No damage too horrific." He thought to himself as he stretched out his arms and wiggled his toes.

"What in the world happened?" He noticed how tired he was but his silent panic was more pronounced at the moment. He tried remembering, and it all came back to him in flashes as he held his head. The flier, Skulker, fighting, Clockwork, something about Clockwork, Sam and Tucker. Sam and Tucker!

He looked around, almost shaking at the memory of them, and even worse, that they weren't in sight! Refocusing on what was around him, he quickly flew around several floating islands and doorways.

"Tucker!" He called. "Sam! Where are you!" He didn't know what to do. The last thing he remembered was something about Skulker, maybe he got hit with one too many ectoblasts and that's why he couldn't remember. But how did he end up here? It wasn't making sense. He could feel the familiar gnawing sensation in his stomach. Something was not right.

Without even thinking, he made it his mission to search as much of the Ghost Zone as possible, for as long as possible. Turns out though that that was not for very long. He was absolutely drained. His initial panic had slowly seeped back into exhaustion. He wasn't giving up, he was adamant of that. But maybe Sam and Tucker were already back home, or were looking for him! "Why didn't I think of that? Stupid!" He berated himself.

He flew back to the Fenton Portal a little faster than he had the energy to do so. He was so happy to almost be home that just the sight of the familiar steel doors made him feel lighter with joy. He pressed his hand on the cool doors and they opened at his touch. He quickly flew in, feeling the vibrations of the portal wash over him and then quickly disappear.

As soon as he saw the sterile lab with gadgets strewn about, he morphed back into his human self. He ran up the stairs, each step feeling heavier than the last. He ran to his room, throwing the door open. "Tucker? Sam?" He even though he could see his room in its entirety he, he still ran around on each side of his bed looking for his friends.

"What now?" He thought. "Maybe Jazz had seen them?"

He quickly ran down the small hallway to Jazz's room, rushing into it without even knocking. "Danny! What are you doing?" He saw that her little brother was practically out of breath. "What's wrong?" She immediately said, going from annoyed to concern in three seconds flat.

"Have..have you seen Sam or Tucker?" He asked, catching his breath.

"No I haven't, why?" Her eyes burrowed into Danny's; as if her next breath was determined by the words he would respond with.

"I just… I just haven't seen them and they were supposed to come over to do some homework. I'll go check their houses." Danny said as he exited, before Jazz could even say a word.

"This can't be good." She huffed as she sat back down at her desk, scribbling in her journal.

Danny ran back into his room ready to morph back into Phantom so that he could check Sam and Tucker's house. "I'm going ghost!" Nothing happened. "I said, I'm going ghost!" He said again, a bit more impatiently. Nothing happened.

"This is not good." He said with a sigh.

"Are…are you okay?" Tucker asked, holding his head gingerly.

"Ugh. Next time, I'm driving." Tucker heard Sam say.

"Where are we?" The windshield that surrounded them was shattered yet still intact, which made it very difficult to see out. They knew they were on a slope of some sort because their seat belts were the only thing holding them from falling forward.

"Why don't we go out the back exit?"

"Okay just be careful unbuckling yourself." They unbuckled their safety straps at the same time. Sam caught herself on the dash board but Tucker belly flopped on to the windshield.

"Graceful." Sam snorted.

"Whatever!" Tucker just huffed. "Let's get out of here." He crawled his way to the back of the Spector Speeder. He pressed the large red button and the door burst off. The teenagers were immediately hit with the unwelcomed visit of icy air.

"Great job Tuck. The doors gone and we're going to freeze to death." Sam said, throwing her hands in the air.

"There's thermojackets in the bottom cabinet, why don't you grab us some instead of complaining."

He heard her scoff and was quickly met with a shove. "Here." She said, pushing the bright orange jacket lined with fur at Tucker.

After they put the knee length jackets on, they decided that it'd be better to look around then to stay in place. Either way the outcome looked grim.

"Alright, I found some backpacks in another cabinet, we should try to fill them strategically so we're not weighed down but that we also have what we might need." Sam said, her survival skills that she had gained from ghost fighting for two years kicking in.

"Right." They began to rummage through the different compartments of the bent Spector Speeder. Sam brought mostly weapons and extra clothing and Tucker focused on tools and supplies. He made sure he grabbed his bag of leftover meat before hopping out the door.

As they landed, they both slid slightly when their boots touched the snowy slope that they were on. They tried to gather their surroundings but all they saw was whiteness covered in white. The air had a chill to it but because there wasn't wind it was still bearable.

"So, should we head towards that slope, that slope or that slope." Tucker asked, pointing each direction where it looked like the same exact scenery was surrounding them.

"Umm." Sam thought for a moment. "We should go in the direction where we won't hit a slope for the farthest distance. As soon as we go over a slope we'll lose sight of the Speeder and I would prefer not to do that."

"I agree. Besides, I'm not really into the whole 'climbing' thing." They started walking in a direction they could only hope would bring them good luck.

Danny had seriously started to freak out. He tried everything he could to morph back into Danny Phantom. But nothing worked. The white rings would appear around his waist and then just sizzle and disappear. The furthest he had managed to morph was just enough so that a silver belt appeared. That had only lasted a moment though, and Danny had turned blue in the face to make it happen.

He needed to find Sam and Tucker. If they got separated in the ghost zone it didn't mean anything good. His stomach churned in anxiety. He started pacing back and forth in his room. The world seemed to close in on itself now that Danny could fly or turn intangible.

His worry was interrupted by a knock at his door.

"Danny?" His sister cooed. "May I come in?"

"Fine." He said, not being able to think of anything else to say.

She opened his door and slowly walked in. Jazz could see that Danny was pale, more so than usual. He had a glistening layer of sweat that covered his skin. His white t-shirt had turned slightly transparent with his perspiration.

"Danny, I know something's wrong. What is it?" For some reason her words cut right through his anxiety. He was being both comforted and scolded at the same time. He attributed it to his sister's knowledge of psychology.

"I…just a lot of things are going on. School isn't going the greatest and Sam and Tucker…" The boy trailed off, mumbling under his breath almost as if he had forgotten that Jazz was there.

"Danny! Snap out of it. Focus. Maybe I can help you." She stepped right in front of him now to keep him from pacing.

"No you can't. No one can. Only Sam and Tucker can but they're not here. I need to find them." Danny was talking fast, he felt like every second talking and explaining and thinking was a second that Sam and Tucker were stuck alone in the Ghost Zone. He turned and began pacing in the opposite direction.

"Danny, I know." Jazz said.

"No, you don't understand I…"

"No, Danny, I know." Her demeanor had changed altogether. She went from worried to authoritative without him even realizing it. She was met with the confused face of her little brother. He was just a child, they both were really, it wasn't fair that he was burdened so much by being half a ghost.

When Danny didn't say anything, she pressed on. "I know your Danny Phantom. I've known for awhile now, and I think you have too, maybe not exactly but subconsciously. I have so many questions, as I'm sure you do as well." Danny opened his mouth but she knew she needed to keep talking. "But, I think right now we need to focus on Sam and Tucker. What happened?"

His thoughts were racing even more so than before, if that was even possible. He started to feel dizzy so he sat down at the foot of his bed. He couldn't form a complete thought, let alone a sentence to answer Jazz.

Jazz noticed that Danny was struggling, his breaths were short and fast and he had put his hand on his chest over his heart, probably without even realizing it. "Look, you don't have to go into great depth, just say anything." She tried to encourage him.

Danny did his best to slow his breathing, which helped his thoughts return to normal speed as well. "We got separated in the Ghost Zone."

Jazz immediately felt a chill run down her neck. "So," She thought, "They've been going into the Ghost Zone." "Let's go find them, then." She didn't know where her courage had come from but she knew that if they didn't go quickly that it would probably dissolve.

"I tried that, I've spent hours looking for them. But… that's not our only problem."

She waited for him to elaborate but he didn't on his own. "What's the problem, Danny?"

"I can't morph, err change into Danny Phantom." He elaborated, unsure how much Jazz knew. Jazz knew. He would have to sort out those thoughts later.

"Why not?" Jazz asked, alarmed.

"I wish I knew. It might actually be because I have no energy left, mental or physical." He sighed.

"Okay. Lay down," She said, pushing his brother back onto his bed by his shoulders and speaking before Danny could resist, "and I'll figure out what to do next okay. Besides, you know Mom has always been right when she says that sleep cures almost every ailment."

It did feel good to lay down Danny noticed. "But a ghostly ailment?" He asked. "I don't…think so." He said as he started to close his eyes almost instantly.

"All right little brother, whatever you say." Jazz cooed, throwing a cover over her brother who she sworn was already asleep.

Jazz closed the door behind her after taking one last look of her sleeping brother. He seemed so sweet, so innocent when he was asleep. But now more than ever Jazz knew that his innocence was ripped from him the moment he became Danny Phantom.

*Ahh! Jazz knows! And Danny knows she knows! And where are Sam and Tucker! You'll find out! Work has been cray cray so I haven't had barely any time to write so I made sure I'm putting this chapter up this week! Until next time!