A/N: I had a binge problem when it debuted on Netflix and wrote this shortly after. Thought I wanted to continue this, but don't really have the time or ambition to. Instead, it was collecting dust for quite a few months.
Never know what you're going to get in these one-shot collections, huh?
This is an AU of a Series of Unfortunate Events.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
A ghostly series of unfortunate events
"I still don't see why I have to go with you to the library, Jazz," Danny complained, throwing his backpack over his shoulders with a loud huff of annoyance. It was one thing to stay after school for detention – but for staying after school to study?
Jazz raised a knowing eyebrow, "You skipped class twelve times this year," she countered, looking at her younger brother with concern. He let out a roll of his eyes before pretending to look at something far more interesting down the hallway. "Lancer's about to call mom and dad, and we both know that won't be good."
Danny let out a low grumble, trying his best to drown out his sister's voice. What he wouldn't give for a ghostly distraction to take his misplaced aggression out on. "Yeah, yeah, I know, I know…" He muttered as they both approached the large double doors of the library.
His sister gave his a skeptic glance on whether he was taking their conversation seriously or not, but decided to not voice her opinion. Resting a hand on the handle she waited a few seconds. The steel coldness of the handle invading her warm skin. "You haven't just been skipping class, Danny, you've been…" She trailed, giving him a steady look. He stiffened and stared into her eyes. "Distant," she finished.
"Listen, if this is about you psycho-analyzing me, can you not?" He asked, brushing away the topic. She immediately noticed how he dodged the topic and looked down at the ground. He wouldn't tell her what was going on with him – even though they were so close.
"Can we just go in and study?"
She let out a long sigh before opening up the door to the library. Once the musty smell of books and hit her – she instantly felt at home. Here, among the knowledge that the books had to offer, she knew she belonged. Walking inside the large room, she found an empty round table to sit down at.
Danny followed her lead, but not before he noticed the principal walking over to them. Cautiously, he eyed the urgency that was in her stride. She carried herself with fear and concern at the same time. The black haired teen slowly sat down at the table and waited for the small, petite woman to approach them.
Since Danny was half-ghost, he had acute senses – one of them being scent. He could practically smell the sweat dripping off the woman in massive amounts.
Either this was about a bad test score of his…
Or something bad had happened.
Jazz looked up from placing her backpack down on the table in front of her. "Principal Ishiyama?" Jazz asked in surprise. After all, it wasn't every day that you see your principal walking over to you. "Can I help you with something?" She wondered, letting her thoughts run rampant.
Had she done something wrong?
"Ms. Fenton…" Ishiyama spoke in a tremble. She kept sweating still, and Danny noticed that she had pulled out a red towel to dab her forehead with. His keen sense of sight noticed the slightly dampened spot on the towel before he tried to focus on the woman in front of him. She was here for a reason, and whatever it was, it wasn't good. "Mr. Fenton," she addressed, as if just noticing that he was there.
The young half ghost barely had any time to be offended at that.
"Something terrible has happened," she drew the both of them in. Danny rose an eyebrow, he wished she could just get straight to the point. Being the town super hero for the past two months, he felt as if he could handle anything.
"There was a fire. It burned everything to the ground. Your house and parents have perished," Ishiyama spoke out slowly in disbelief. As if she couldn't believe what had happened either. Sure, she had known that the Fentons were inventors, but she would never believe that they would become deceased because of their work.
Ignoring the irony that they were dead because of their research on ghosts, she looked at the two teens in front of her. One – Jazz Fenton – was the most promising of the two. Her vocabulary comprehension was off the charts, and her test scores were exceptional. On the other hand, Danny Fenton, he was the average, lazy student.
"Wait, what?" Danny asked, wondering if he had heard the woman correctly. His parents were scientists of the paranormal. He doubted that they could just pass away over an experiment gone wrong. After all, he had just seen them this morning.
They couldn't be dead.
"Ask your sister what the word perished means if you don't understand, Daniel," the principal stated, making the raven haired teen become taken aback at those words.
He narrowed his eyes at the principal, "I know what perished means."
He was ignored by his sister and the principal.
"What about Danielle?" Jazz asked, the ever growing fear in her tone. "Please tell me that she wasn't at home. Is she okay!?"
"Yes," Ishiyama answered with a nod, "Your one year old sister was safely at day care. Thank heavens. That would have been quite unfortunate if she were still at the residence."
Danny blinked a few times, "Does that mean that we have to stay with Aunt Alicia?" He asked, disgust clearly evident in his voice. He didn't want to wear overalls and cowboy boots – which were the fashion in Arkansas. Actually, the idea of living in Arkansas didn't thrill him at all.
Ishiyama let out a small sigh, "I don't have any knowledge of this aunt of yours, but from what your emergency contact says…" She trailed, pulling out a wad of folded paper from her suit jacket. She unfolded it and tried to smooth out the creases to better read the document in front of her.
"You will be staying with a Mr. Vlad Masters," she read, holding the piece of paper in front of her face. She looked down at the children with a sad frown, "Forgive my rudeness children, I have misplaced my reading glasses."
Jazz nodded, "And, where does he live?"
"Wisconsin," she informed, making the two teens in front of her look at her incredulously. "Is something the matter?" She asked, reading the atmosphere immediately.
"We don't know anyone by that name…" Danny began to say but was stopped with an elbow in the side from his sister.
She cleared her throat. "Our parents never mentioned him before."
Ishiyama folded the paper and placed it back in her suit jacket pocket. "I am terribly sorry to hear that. I have social services outside waiting for the two of you."
And with that, the principal turned on her heels and simply left without any word of sympathy at all. Danny let out a long sigh before running a hand through his hair. "Gee, you would think she would be at least a little more..."
"It doesn't feel like they're gone," Jazz stated, picking up her backpack off the table with shaking hands. "We were just there this morning. They were alive then. This is messed up! This can't be happening!"
"Jazz…" Danny muttered, quickly running over to his sister when she began to let out a number of uncontrolled sobs. He placed his hand on her upper back gently. "It's okay. We still have each other."
She looked over at him through her tear filled eyes. "What are we going to do? What am I going to do?" She asked in a state of shock. "I don't know what I can do!"
Danny helped his sister walk over to the door, "We'll do it together, Jazz. It's not all on you," he said, and before he opened up the door with the steel door handles, he looked up at his sister. He waited until she looked down at him. She let out a long sniffle before getting a handle on her emotions. "I might not be the best with words, or tests…But whenever you need me, I've got your back."
"Thanks, Danny," she whispered, her words barely escaping from her lips.
He nodded and opened up the door – letting his sister exit the library first.
Jazz was cradling their youngest sibling in her arms in the back of a taxi cab. It was a couple hours to drive to from Amity Park, and they were all starting to feel jet lag in some way or another. Danielle was sleeping soundly in Jazz's arms; Danny had his arm propped up on the door with his head leaning against the window; and Jazz was nervously shaking a leg that was beginning to fall asleep, all the while looking out her window as they pulled down a neatly paved road.
"I'm just saying, how come they never brought him up?" Danny quipped up from beside her.
Jazz let out a small flinch at his sudden speech and glanced over at him. "Maybe they weren't…" She trailed, unable to admit the fact that their parents were gone. She was in too much disbelief, and she felt unbelievably withdrawn from reality. It was as if everything that happened in the past twelve hours was void – that she would wake up tomorrow and everything would be fine.
Her mother would be cooking ecto-plasmic waffles.
Her father would be blabbing about his newest invention that he had engineered – yet stupidly named.
"Jazz?" Danny asked, straightening his body as he looked at his sister in concern. He noticed the way her eyes were unfocused, as if she were in a daze. He placed a hand on her shoulder to comfort her and shook it gently when he realized that his sister was still unresponsive.
Raising his eyebrows when she slowly turned to look at him. "Are you okay?"
She nodded, "I just…" She trailed, letting a few tears unconsciously trail down her cheeks. Not aware that she was crying until it dripped off her face, she placed a hand up to her face. "Sorry, Danny, I think I know why this isn't affecting you like it should."
His eyes went wide at that statement: Did his sister know?
Did she know that he was half-ghost?
He thought that he had covered all of his tracks – so much so that he would double check whenever he would morph. She stared at him before letting out a long sigh to steady her unstable emotions. "You can tell me when you're ready."
"Tell you what?" Danny asked in a hurried panic. He could feel his heartbeat accelerate aggressively inside of his chest. It felt as if it would suddenly jump out of his torso at any minute. She shook her head dismissively before looking out the window.
Danielle let out a small, sleepy groan from the conversation they were having. Her face scrunched together, but as soon as she had made a reaction, she had gone back to a relaxing sleep.
Danny bit his lower lip in thought before he also looked back out the window. He could also tell what she was talking about. His sister wasn't well-versed in ghosts – but she seemed particularly interested in their psychological traits – more precisely their emotions.
Ghosts can feel sad – but they move on relatively quickly from the horrible events that transpired. Such as their death days. That was a controversial topic to both him and his sister. Was he still traumatized by his death day? Of course, but he didn't think about it once.
Only when he got electrocuted by other ghosts would the events flash before his eyes. The blinding flash of white light that obscured his vision. His skin boiling as the hot, uncontrollable energy entered his body.
Yet, as quickly as the memories come back – he pushes them aside and focuses on other things.
Emotions such as anger, aggression, loathing…Those are the emotions that are commonly seen in most ghosts. Others pursue knowledge – the more experienced ghosts are different. They don't let their emotions control them.
Danny needed to figure out how to do that quickly.
He couldn't help his sister if he didn't understand her pain – the pain that he was supposed to feel.
"We're here," the taxi driver stated, pulling up to the large mansion. Danny broke away from his thoughts and quickly looked out his window. A large, enormous mansion stood in front of them. Jazz let out a small nod before opening up the door. "Aren't you going to take your…" The driver started to say but then visibly cringed.
He was informed of the incident.
They didn't have any luggage or belongings to their name.
They didn't have anything.
Once the Fenton's were out of the taxi cab, he took off slowly down the driveway as he made a loop around the water fountain. Danny watched as the car took off, and he was already missing the long drive up here. Now, he was faced with reality. The reality that his parents were no longer alive and he had to live with a complete stranger.
He glanced at Jazz, who was looking vacantly at the large wooden doors in front of her. She didn't knock on them – she also was thinking the same thing.
Danielle woke up and looked around sleepily. She found that there wasn't anything that was familiar in front of her and grabbed onto Jazz's black shirt tightly. Danny walked up to his younger sister with a small smile, "It's going to be alright."
"Is it…?" Jazz asked, challenging his words for the first time in the twelve hours that they found out they were on their own. Danny looked up at his sister and opened his mouth to defend his words. It was going to be alright. As long as they had each other, then they had nothing to worry about.
Is what he wanted to say.
But now he wasn't too sure.
The orange haired girl let out a deep breath to calm herself. She was the oldest – she needed to look out for her younger siblings. If she owed them anything – it was that.
Walking over to the door, she was surprised that she wasn't shaking. No, she was ready to face the next challenge face on. Leaving all uncertainty behind her, she lifted a closed hand to the door. Knocking on it a few times, she slowly took a few steps back.
After hearing nothing, Danny raised an eyebrow at his sister.
"You think he's even…?" He asked, but was stopped mid-sentence when the door swung open excitedly. A man with white hair and blue eyes stood in front of the siblings with a broad smile resting on his face. It displayed no ill-intent, just genuine happiness to meet them.
But the strangest and bizarre thing – Danny had never heard his footsteps. And the young halfa could hear anyone's footsteps. His enhanced hearing could let him do that. He eyed the man suspiciously – his first impression of the man was inconclusive.
There was, however, definitely something off.
"Children!" Vlad stated, looking down at the sleep-deprived Fenton's greedily. Jazz wanted to back up, she wanted to run. Adults never reacted this excited when meeting them. Their family reputation of being crazy ghost hunters warded them against these kinds of interactions.
Although she wanted to retreat – she stayed firmly in place.
Letting out a small half-smile, Jazz was the first to speak. "Vlad Masters?" She asked, and he nodded his head before pushing the door open widely, a gesture that told them to come in. "Um – Thanks for taking us in."
"I would do anything for your mother," Vlad stated thoughtlessly. He blinked slowly, as if catching his mistake, he them placed his hands behind him professionally. "For you parents – I would do anything for them."
The children remained outside, and Danny narrowed his eyes at the man. There definitely was something about him, but he couldn't place his finger on it. It was starting to bug the ever living patience out of him.
And his patience was already running thin in the first place.
"Yeah, how come our parents never mentioned you?" Danny asked rudely, and he received a scathing glare from his sister. He knew his question was uncalled for, but ever since becoming half-ghost, he didn't trust anyone. Not to mention, he needed to know who this guy was.
It was silent for a few seconds before Vlad let out a very dry chuckle. "I'm afraid that was terrible miscommunication on my end, Daniel."
"Danny," he corrected, but the man simply turned on his heels, ignoring his comment. Jazz sighed her head and shook it. "Jazz, don't you want to know who this guy is?"
"As long as he has a working toilet, then who cares?" She asked rhetorically before walking into the mansion. Danny took one step into the mansion, but found that his sister suddenly turned on her heels with her index finger almost in his face scolding. "At least he's willing to take us in! We could be stuck with Aunt Alicia – who doesn't have working toilets."
The young halfa rolled his eyes, "I could have found us a better option."
She shook her head, "We don't have very many family members left, Danny, we can't ruin this."
"He was titled as our 'god-father' that isn't really family…" Danny was starting to say but found that his sister was already walking deeper into the mansion. "And do I really need to say again that we know absolutely nothing about this guy?!" He yelled, but found that his words were lost to the wind.
Letting out a long sigh, he ran a hand through his hair.
He was just trying to protect them – why couldn't his sister see that?
Taking a glance around the room, he found the mansion to be in tip-top shape. Not even a speck of dust was anywhere to be seen – and believe him when he said that he tried to find one. He did find a lot of Packer merchandise. The green and gold interior was enough for the teen to stay the hell away from football for the rest of his life.
He heard of people liking something, and that was fine. But this was borderline obsessed. It genuinely seemed to him that Vlad had taken up no other hobbies other than collecting Packer related items. And he was a little happy about that – it meant that despite how unnerving the man was, he wasn't considered a threat.
Turning towards where he saw his sisters disappear to, Vlad was standing directly behind him. The teen had to stop mid-turn to prevent himself from colliding with the man. Once again, he found that this was completely insane – he should have heard his footsteps.
Or his breathing since he was this close in proximity to him.
"Daniel, I have already shown your sisters to their rooms. Would you like me to escort you to yours?" He asked, looking at the raven haired teen in amusement.
For the first time, the teen was at a loss for words.
He could only nod his head in compliance before the man let out a small smirk. The man turned quietly on his heels before making his way over to the extravagant staircase that led to the second floor. Danny observed for the first time how the man carried himself.
Danny could admit that he had soft footsteps, but with his enhanced hearing he could literally hear it audibly as if it were next to his ear. He didn't understand how this man had gotten the jump on him, not once, but twice.
"These are where all the rooms are located. My room is at the far end of the hallway, and the study is located in the middle of the second floor."
"Okay," Danny responded intelligently, not finding any other words to say.
Vlad suddenly stopped walking and turned towards the young halfa, "Is something the matter, little badger?"
Danny narrowed his eyes accusingly at the man, "I don't know, yet."
The man let out a genuine chuckle before turning back around, "I have a feeling that we're going to be on the best of terms," he stated in a tone that the teen couldn't decide if it was sarcasm or not. "And I want you to feel at home here."
"Working on it," the teen responded in absolute sarcasm, which made the man eye him out of the corner of his eyes before he turned back around. He stopped at a door and opened it widely for the teen to look inside. "Where's Jazz and Danielle's room?"
"I wouldn't want to separate the family," Vlad stated as he looked intensely at the teen that he began to feel chills crawling up his spine. The unwavering glance was beginning to make him uncomfortable. As quickly as the disturbing atmosphere came, it disappeared. "Your sisters are located right beside you."
Danny let out a hesitant nod before inching towards the room, "Thanks."
Vlad let out a cocky laughter, "Ah, so you do have manners," he stated before leaning in closer to the teen. Danny felt the urge to run deeper into the room but lose feelings in his legs. As if something was holding him directly in front of the man forcefully. "You see, Daniel, one thing that I do not tolerate in my household is rudeness."
The man stood in front of him for a few seconds before Danny found his voice. This was ridiculous – he shouldn't be scared of this man. He had ghost powers that could let him and his sister get as far away from this mansion as fast as possible.
Yet, he was deathly unnerved by this man.
"Understood…" Danny breathed out. As if satisfied by that answer, Vlad nodded and walked out of the room.
"Have the three of you already ate?" Vlad inquired before passing his room out in the hallway.
Danny was having a hard time have one comprehensive thought. He was surprisingly filling a blank with his memory on whether they had eaten or not. "I uh…" He trailed, looking nervously from one wall in his room to the man standing outside his doorway. "I don't know."
Vlad let out a chuckle in amusement. "How about a small snack, then?" He asked, although from the way he was glancing at the teen, Danny knew it was an order. "I could tell the chef to make a quick dish?"
"I'm not really hungry," Danny responded, but at that instant his stomach gave his lie away. His eyes widened when he noticed that Vlad gave him a raised eyebrow. "You know what? That sounds great, Vlad!" He stated, inching out of his room as Vlad walked down the hallway.
The teen took one step before his intangibility started to act up. His entire leg sunk through the floor, and the teen fell harshly against the carpet. Landing on his stomach, he looked up just as Vlad looked back at him.
A few seconds passed, and he was having a hard time coming up with an excuse, "My leg – uh – I tripped!" He yelled in embarrassment. He didn't understand what was happening with his powers. He thought he had this controlled by now. Or, had a better handle on it.
"Let me assist you," Vlad said as he walked over to him.
Danny started to panic. If the man came over and saw that he was one leg short, then they would be out of this mansion. He would be probably experimented on by the government. Jazz would be sent to live with Alicia, and who knows what would happen to Danielle. For the time being, he needed to guard his secret.
"I'm good," Danny insisted waved his arm away from him to shoo the man away.
"You tripped, you are certainly not 'good'," Vlad argued, continuing to walk over to the teen.
It was at that moment that Jazz walked out of her room with Danielle giggling in her arms, "Are we having dinner, Uncle Vlad?" She asked, stopping the man from walking any closer to the teen. She eyed her brother worriedly and noticed how sweaty and nervous he was. She could only assume that he was having trouble with his ghost powers.
Of course Jazz knew.
Although her brother was getting better at lying, she could always see through him.
No pun intended.
Not to mention, one time she saw her brother transform out of the blue one day.
Vlad looked over at Jazz, "It's fine. He trips all the time," she said, eyeing her brother before motioning her head towards the end of the hallway. "Shouldn't we get started on dinner?"
"I'll catch up!" Danny called over to them with a nervous chuckle.
Vlad took one more look at the younger halfa before nodding and placing his hands behind his back. He walked with Jazz towards the end of the hallway where another staircase was located.
As soon as they were out of sight, Danny pulled his leg out from the floor and found that it was stuck. Narrowing his eyes, he noticed his leg was still see through. That was weird, it should have been easy to pull. It had always worked in the past – and he didn't understand why his powers were acting up now.
Giving a hard pull, his leg suddenly became visible, and he summersaulted backwards into the wall harshly – the back of his head making contact with the hard surface.
Letting out a small groan, he placed a hand up to comfort his head.
"I swear it's this place!" He muttered under his breath before lifting his body up and walking towards where he had last seen Vlad and his sisters.
END.