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Warnings for: Spectra, emotional manipulation

Chapter Forty Three

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"Oh, Danny… And here I was joking when I said there was a reason you were so comfortable around killers." Of course… That was always how thing went, though, wasn't it? Just as soon as everything was going well and Danny couldn't be happier, there had to be something to drag him back down to the reality of what his life really was. "My, my, you do work quick when it comes to taming assassins, don't you?"

"You know, I'd really like to find out where you get your information from one day." Too easy. It was getting too easy for Danny to call up the full brunt of his power when he was still human. Already there was green energy swirling around his fingertips and he knew, without a doubt, that his eyes were glowing with the same energy. It was interesting, though, that she had chosen to attack while he was walking home from school and in full public view. That wasn't her typical style. "It must be so much harder without that snippy little assistant of yours around to do your dirty work for you. Now, what do you want, Spectra."

"Such a hostile tone towards your therapist!" Spectra's smile was sharp and deadly as one finger hooked over the edge of her sunglasses to tug them down, "Really, Danny, if not for me then I don't think you would ever talk out your problems."

"Really? See, I thought this was a fight. You say something you think is witty, I return with a bit of my own actual wit, you make me doubt my sanity, and then we part ways and I hope I never see your ugly face again." Oh, that got to her, didn't it? Danny had almost forgotten with how she always acted, but Spectra's obsession wasn't making others feel bad - oh, no, that was just a means to an end to her. No, her obsession was being young and beautiful. That was the reason she did all of this. "Is that a new wrinkle? It has been a while since we've spoken, after all."

"Cheeky, aren't you?" Tensing at the tone, Danny didn't even get to raise a shield before his back was slammed into the crumbling brick wall of an alleyway, wicked sharp nails tearing through his shirt and digging into his skin. "If you really want a fight, Danny, then I'll be glad to oblige."

"Bit dangerous for you, isn't it?" Tapping into his ice powers, Danny made his body as cold as he could get away with as quickly as he could, pleased when Spectra released him with a sharp hiss. "You don't really fight, after all. You're more of a scavenger than anything."

"And that's supposed to make you feel better, is it?" This time when Spectra attacked him, it was without the use of her human disguise. Fuck, it had been too long since he fought Spectra when she was like this - fighting with Johnny made him learn just how hard it was to fight off a shadow, and Spectra, it seemed, didn't have Shadow's weakness towards light. "Scavengers pry their meals from the jaws of beasts much stronger than you. You, Danny, oh… You should be very, very frightened right now."

"And you, Spectra, should realize just who I am." Danny let his transformation take over him at once, throwing all of his energy into a shield to knock Spectra off of him before he was shooting into the air as fast as he could. "You really think a leech is going to be the one to take me down? I've beaten things stronger than you!"

"You don't know how strong I've gotten." What- Since when could Spectra teleport? Danny didn't manage to even fully turn around before powerful energy was searing into his back, Danny clamping down on the scream that wanted to tear its way out of his throat. "None of you ever really did understand how my powers work. Let me give you a little lesson, since you love learning so much."

Forming another shield, Danny grunted as energy slammed into it, his eyes widening as he started to see cracks spider webbing across his energy. Spectra shouldn't have this much power - at least, not enough to crack his shield like that. "I don't think whatever you have to teach me is something I want to know."

"No, but it's something you need to know." This time Danny really did scream as his shield was shattered apart and Spectra was pinning him to the roof of a building, pieces of rock and gravel digging into his seared back. "Aw, did the poor little hero get used to winning all his fights? Did you forget that you're still a child?"

"And what-" Danny gritted his teeth, forcing himself to keep his eyes open. "And what does that say about you?"

"I drain more than just 'energy', Danny." Spectra's grin was sickly. It was as if her entire being was poison and Danny wanted her gone he wanted her off of him- As soon as he heard Spectra's hiss of pain, Danny was bringing his legs up and sharply kicking up at her as hard as he could, scrambling away and back into the air as he did so. "My, my, we are scared, aren't we?"

"Just what the hell do you want?" Distracted by the pulsing pain in his back, Danny sucked in a sharp breath as he suddenly dropped out of the air to instead land on the roof, head swimming and body feeling as if he had used far too much power in far too short of a time. That couldn't be right, though. He had barely used his powers lately.

"You know, Danny, maybe I was wrong about the three of you not making it work." What? Looking up at Spectra - and didn't that just set him on edge even more, having to look up at her - Danny saw she was tapping a claw against her cheek and had a twisted mockery of a pout on her face. "Then again… My point still stands, doesn't it?"

"When are you gonna learn that making me doubt my relationships isn't going to work anymore?" Come on, come on, come on, focus. He shouldn't be feeling this drained after only exchanging a few hits with Spectra - the pain in his back be damned. Maybe if it was another, stronger ghost, but in a head-to-head fight Spectra was weak. Why was he feeling this tired?

"Oh, it's not their feelings for you that has any doubt to them, no, no… It's your feelings for them. Human teenagers are so fickle with their emotions, after all."

Dragging up as much power as he could, Danny threw a powerful blast towards Spectra, upset that it only managed to hit part of her as she dodged out of the way. "That's your big last ditch effort to get to me? Telling me that I'm 'fickle'?"

"Well, it's not like I'm wrong," Spectra huffed, not even paying attention to the bright green ectoplasm that was dripping down her arm, shadows pulsing and shifting around the wound. "You three only have so long together before you start to outgrow them. You already have outgrown the Ghostwriter, after all."

This time Danny knew his attacks were wild, but he couldn't bring himself much to care as long as one of them would shut her up. "You know nothing about us!" Even as he said it, though, he knew it was a lie. Spectra knew almost too much about them with how accurate her words were at times - with how deeply they dug under the skin.

"Oh, please, you yourself know that's a lie." Spectra's simpering smile was gone, nothing but cold rage in it's place. "You know you're lying to me as much as you are yourself. Admit it, Danny. What kind of person falls in love with two people at once like that? What kind of person falls in love with their mate's brother- Oh, yes, yes, I know, they're happily together and aren't really brothers, but that's something that would have happened with or without your interference. 'The Priest of Death and his White Fang'. They were always building up to it. You, however? You're just a quick fuck to pass the time-"

"Shut up! Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up!" The scream built up in his throat and grew and grew and Danny did nothing to stop the way power poured into his words and forced them out. Spectra deserved far worse than what a ghostly wail could unleash so he made sure to pour in everything. All his hate, all his anger, every bad emotion her words had caused in him, all the 'darkness' that Randy spoke about - he poured in everything.

Too much.

"Quite the temper tantrum." Heaving for breath, Danny stared down at where his shaking arms kept him from collapsing, eyes wide at seeing he was human. That was wrong. That was- He didn't change back when he used a ghostly wail - not anymore, at least. Not unless he was facing someone powerful- Really… Really powerful. "Are you going to let me finish now?"

Perfectly manicured nails caught Danny by his chin and forced him to look up, a perfectly human Penelope Spectra kneeling in front of him and smiling. "There we are, nice and silent. Now, as I was saying, you're just something interesting for them. New. The strange little half-ghost child who saves the day and falls into the hero trope so easily. That's how it started, wasn't it? After your stint as Christmas Hero your dear Andrew was curious and let you come back to his library."

N… No. Danny had gone to apologize and then butted his way in so he had to come back, Andrew had nothing to do with 'letting' him… But if that was the case, he could have locked Danny out of Vidya. Danny never would have entered Vidya if Andrew hadn't wanted him there or Vidya hadn't deemed him someone Andrew would talk to. "I can't blame him. You're quite the rarity, even more than Plasmius. You're safer to observe, too. Didn't you notice that Randy didn't stop taking jobs for Plasmius until after you came along?"

That… That was true, but there was more to it. Randy knew how uneasy Plasmius had made him back then and only took jobs once they made the truce, and… But… Randy himself had told Danny that day they had first met each other. He said he was curious about his little brother's mate and wanted to meet him. Curious. Randy had kept an eye on him like one might a particularly interesting science experiment.

"They were raised by thieves and killers, Danny." The swelling of sympathy in Spectra's voice had Danny flinching and trying to pull back - trying to remember just who this was - but it was all he could do to keep his eyes open. He was so tired. "They don't have empathy like you do. When they see something interesting, they do whatever it takes to keep it close and study it. A lonely little teen like you… Something like a relationship would keep you happy."

No… No, she was wrong- She was wrong. He and Andrew were mates. That- Something like that couldn't be faked. Feelings like theirs couldn't be acted out like a role in a movie. R- Right? No, they couldn't. They couldn't.

"Ssh, ssh, it's okay, Danny, it's alright. Maybe I'm wrong about all of this, hm?" Exactly. She was wrong. "Maybe I've misjudged you all and you really will last, but… Well, maybe you don't have to worry. You have so little humanity left, after all."

...What?

"I really was a therapist once, you know, so I know how this all goes. Feelings change when you're human - they constantly grow and evolve and change. As a ghost, however… You're stuck forever how you are the moment you die. There's no changing after that. While Andrew and Randy will always be together now, you'll only be with them for a short time. How likely is it that you would still be together when you're thirty? Forty? Fifty? Even if the feelings stay the same… Eventually it will get to be too much."

She was right. At least with these concerns, with these words- They were words Danny himself had thought over for ages now. Words he had thought so many times that they had even once slipped into a game between him and Andrew. That was his greatest fear. Growing older and moving on. How many people stayed with their first real love, after all? Randy and Andrew would always have each other, but when Danny left… He would have no one.

"That doesn't have to happen." Spectra's voice was warm and kind and for a moment - just a moment - Danny forgot that he was supposed to hate her. "Things don't have to end in tragedy, you know. Can't you see that this is really the best? You see it, don't you? Everything would be better if you were just a ghost-"

"You mean everything would be better if I killed myself." Danny pulled himself back roughly, cursing as his arms gave out and he just barely managed to catch himself enough to lean against the low stone wall of the building roof they were still on. "That's what all this is about, right? I kill myself and you- You what? Get power? Get some kind of control over me?"

"Oh, Danny, please. I'm not Freakshow." Scoffing, Danny glared as Spectra gave him a sharp smile, sickly glowing eyes staring at him over the tops of her sunglasses. "We both get what we want. As it is, if I influence someone's death then I get quite a bit of their energy when they pass on - which would make no difference to you. You'd come back as a ghost even stronger than you are now."

"Yeah, I'd also be dead." How could he have ever - for even an instant - believed Spectra to be kind. "It's never going to happen."

"Oh, Danny." Spectra sighed, fully taking her sunglasses off and standing up, cheek propped up on a closed fist. "I see so much of myself in you some days-"

"That's the last thing I want to hear from you." He wanted nothing in common with the monster in front of him. Nothing.

"It's true, though," Spectra frowned, shaking her head. "I was once in love too, you know. I know what those feelings are like. That desperate need to be close to them, that overflowing love that you never want to end, and that fear of growing older and drifting apart from that one you love so much. I know the fear of being alone and the fear that you'll never find that happiness again."

Did… Was there actually something Danny had in common with Spectra of all people? He… He supposed it would make some sense? She was human once, too. Spectra hadn't always been this twisted - she couldn't have been. Maybe she was telling the truth, this time - or at least, telling the truth about this. Maybe she really had been happily in love before-

"So I killed the man I loved and then I killed myself." For a moment - a single moment - Danny felt as if the ice inside of him had finally turned against him. "It was the only option, you know. It was all I could do. I was getting older, he was seeing he had other options, and I wanted us to stay together. As you can guess for yourself, I'm the only one that came back."

"You're sick." How could she talk of love and the fear of drifting apart when she had- Danny could never imagine something like that. He could never kill Andrew or Randy - not even if it cost him their relationship. "How could you do something like that-"

"I was in love." Spectra's voice was colder than any ice wielder in the Far Frozen, the woman glaring down at him with a hint of fang showing through her disguise. "I made sure to never make that mistake again."

"So now you take it all out on everyone else," Danny smirked, desperately trying to pull his power up from inside him, pushing away the tiredness and digging for anything he could use to transform. He just needed to get home and he would be okay - he could turn on the ghost shield and he would be fine.

"Sometimes," Spectra smirked, staring down at Danny before sighing and dropping her shoulders, twisted pout back on her face. "It really is a gift what I'm offering you, Danny. Can't you see how good this would be for you?"

"Yeah, gift of making me kill myself. Such a great gift- No, really, you should look into starting a business." Alright, he should have enough power to make it to the ground, after that he would be relying on running- Considering the attack that had burned his back, that wasn't going to be very fun.

"Oh, honestly, Danny." Spectra shook her head, shadow form beginning to bleed through. Danny started pulling his power close to him again, ready for whatever was about to happen. "Haven't you realized it yet? If you become a ghost as you are now then not only will you finally feel like you aren't torn between worlds, but you'll get to forever keep those two assassins of yours. Not to mention the possibility of your charming future will finally end."

"I don't need to kill myself to make sure that future will never happen." He had promised. He had promised, and it wasn't a promise he was planning on breaking. He would never turn into Dan.

"Don't you? You have assurance, after all. You're already half ghost. You'll come back without any problems and look exactly as you do now." Looking over the edge of the roof, Danny gasped as his chin was roughly grabbed and he was pulled around to once again face Spectra. "Don't you get it? You fell in love with death and now your choices are very, very limited."

Spectra was more shadow than woman now, Danny doing his best to not flinch at the glare she was leveling at him. Spectra didn't give him a chance to respond to her words, only gripping tighter, "Your ghost half is already obsessed with those two, after all."

"What- No! They're not my obsession!" Oh, Danny loved and cared for Andrew and Randy deeply, there was no mistake about that, but he wasn't obsessed with them. "Protecting Amity Park is my obsession!" That's what always pushed him to keep going, after all. Protecting Amity Park and keeping everyone safe. That's what got him through the nightmares, the long nights of being unable to close his eyes in fear of what he might see, and the wounds with scars he would always have… That… That's what got him through… Andrew…

"Danny, Danny, Danny." The nails dug into his skin, not quite piercing it but certainly making a promise. "Don't forget the very problem we've been discussing. You're only half ghost. That human side of yours - small as it is now - influences quite a bit. Your obsession is fluid and it can change. Why do you think Plasmius is not longer out for revenge against your parents? Your obsession changed, Danny… To lose those two would break you."

Danny settled for glaring and making a sound very close to a snarl, trying not panic as the energy he had been building up inside him started feeling like it was slipping away. Just what was happening to him?

"You know I'm right, don't you?" It wasn't the words that had Danny snapping his gaze to Spectra's but the tone. The tone that showed she was telling the truth - that they both knew she was telling the truth. "Staying alive is only giving you more and more chances to lose them and everyone else that you care about, so take some free advice and make it to where you'll never lose them."

"Oh, so you're just trying to help me now, is that it?" Danny jerked his head back, keeping himself upright out of spite more than any actual energy he had. "After everything you've done what makes you think I'm going to believe a word you say?"

"Like I said, we'd end up helping each other." Spectra smirked as she stood back up to her full height, her body more shadow than human now. "You wouldn't even have to do anything at this point. You're able to use all your powers when you're human, right?" She didn't wait for Danny to answer - why would she? She already knew he could. "In fact, I'd say that they've near taken over at this point, right?"

Danny didn't like where this was going- God, of all the days to let Tucker keep the Fenton Thermos so he could fiddle with it. "Get to your point."

"Ooh, temper, temper. You really are starting to sound like him - even your voice is getting deeper." Liar. She was a liar. She had to be a liar. "My point, Danny, is that you could just change into that ghost half of yours and not change back for… Oh, let's say a week? A month tops and I'm certain you'd never have to worry about being human again."

"Yeah, because that's how half-ghosts work. We just become more and more ghost as time goes on- Oh, wait. We don't!" But… Danny couldn't help but remember when he had visited Vlad and the man had seemed startled when Danny had formed his tail when he was still human.

"How would you know? There's only three of you and each of you came about in different means. That cute little 'cousin' of yours is more ghost than you are some days with how she was crafted out of ectoplasm, Plasmius was only exposed to the after effects of radiation, and you… Oh, Danny. You were exposed to the entire Ghost Zone at once. What does that do to a person, I wonder."

"That's not how it works. I don't just stop being human if I spend long enough as a ghost." Except… Except everything was already bleeding together. How often had Danny had to forcibly stop himself from using his powers when he was in school these days? He had as much access to his powers in human form as he did his ghost form.

"Are you sure?" No. No, he wasn't sure at all. Just what had the Ghost Zone done to him? What had it really, really done to him? "Why, I'm sure you wouldn't even have to stay as a ghost the way you're going. Just a bit longer as you are, and, well… You said it yourself, after all, didn't you?"

"I-" Before Danny could even think on what to say, a loud, booming crack broke the very air and Danny fought to cover his ears against the sound, eyes wide as he realized that Spectra had been hit so hard she had been forced through the roof - and what looked to be a few floors below that.

"Oh, Spectra… You made a very poor decision today." Flinching at the touch to his cheek, Danny blinked as he slowly realized that it was Randy in front of him. It had taken a moment because… He had never seen Randy look this angry- He had never seen Randy look so much like White Fang.

"Ra- Randy." Even with all of Spectra's words floating around his head and digging into him, Danny couldn't help but let a small part of him be so damn happy at the fact that someone had come to help him. "Randy, be careful, she's stronger-"

"Oh, I'm quite aware." Before Danny could say anymore, one of Randy's pure white bubble shields was wrapped around him, Randy standing back up and looking to where Spectra - completely made of shadows - was dragging herself out of the rubble.

"My, my, what did I ever do to be blessed with your presence?" Even as she spoke, Danny could see that Spectra was plotting her escape quickly and furiously, fear clearly shining in her eyes. Just what had Randy done to her the last time they had fought? Spectra rarely showed fear like this, so whatever Randy had done… It left an impression.

"You hurt my mate." Right, Randy was very protective- Oh… He called Danny his mate. "Now do be a dear and stay still while I pump your body full of lead and blood blossoms, yes?"

"I rather think that will have to wait for another time." Spectra's gaze turned towards him, Danny hating himself for how he curled up and felt honest fear. "Danny, be sure to remember our little conversation today, hm? No matter how this all turns out, well… You'll soon get what you want."

Spectra and Randy were both gone in a blink, Danny breathing out shakily and only keeping it together as the sight of the crystal shield that was securely wrapped around him. As long as he was in here, he would be kept safe.

Except he wouldn't. There was no way he could be kept safe. He couldn't be kept safe as he was right now because right now there was no safety for him - not when he knew what was coming.

Spectra's words always hit their mark. She didn't lie - she didn't need to when the truth was so nasty. No, Spectra's words were utter truth, and Danny… The Ghost Zone had taken half of his humanity that day, but what if it had taken all of it? Danny was becoming more and more ghostly by the day.

The way he could use his powers in his human form, the way 'Phantom' kept bleeding into 'Fenton', the time powers, and not to mention the way he acted with Andrew on Valentine's Day- He had acted like a ghost who had his obsession threatened. He was becoming more and more ghostly by the day and there was nothing he could do about it.

There was no last minute end-of-the-day fix to this. That day weeks ago when Randy and Andrew had seemed so panicked over him proved that, and when he had talked to Vlad and seen fear in the man's eyes at how far Danny's powers had come? He… He really was dying, wasn't he? It was slow and taking a long time, but he was becoming more of a ghost by the day. He…

Spectra had been right. She had been right about all of it, but she had been most right at the very end of their 'talk'. He really had said it himself.

Humans and ghosts weren't meant to mix.