::
"They were actually speaking Ghostspeak?" Andrew frowned at Danny, sounding as if he didn't quite believe him, which, rude. Insulting! "Are you sure they weren't just making similar sounds-"
"No, I mean at first I couldn't even tell it was Ghostspeak because I'm so damn used to hearing it and it was exactly Ghostspeak. It'd be like you speaking French and Randy not noticing because it's your thing and this is our thing and they were speaking it and-"
"Danny, Danny, breathe, mon cher." Sucking in a breath, Danny forcibly calmed himself down, smiling at Andrew and moving to sit on his desk. "Alright, what did they say exactly? It could be they don't quite know what they're saying-"
"They were talking about how to conjugate verbs, Andy. You don't talk about shit like that unless you know what you're talking about." Humans. Humans had learned Ghostspeak. "Is this even possible?"
"I…" Andrew shook his head, rubbing at the bridge of his nose and looking exhausted. "Mon cher, I don't… This is Ghostspeak. It's a language that should only be spoken by those in possession of ghostly energy. That's how it's always been."
"Not anymore," Danny mumbled, feeling his ghostly side pushing against him. If he looked down he knew he would see crystals of ice gathering across his skin. He didn't even need to look to know his eyes were shifting to green, too. "It was only supposed to be ghosts, but then me and Vlad showed up."
"Yes, well, you two were overloaded with ghostly energy to the point it changed your very genetic makeup," Andrew huffed, gripping Danny's chin and narrowing his eyes. "Danny-"
"I know. It's… It isn't just the Ghostspeak thing, though. It's like everything is blending. Both worlds. Ghosts are spending more time in Amity than the Zone and look at me." Danny was pretty much the poster child for what happened when two worlds clashed. Now, instead of Fenton and Phantom being so separate, it was all bleeding together.
"There had to have been a trigger for this. These children have grown up in Amity Park their whole lives and weakened borders or not they've never shown signs like this before."
"Well, actually." Laughing at Andrew's groan, Danny couldn't help but laugh more when his own glasses were carefully pushed back up. Jeez, he was starting to forget he even wore glasses. Maybe he should switch to contacts? That didn't sound too bad, really. Would be easier when he was a ghost, too. Flying came with a whole new set of challenges, these days. Maybe that was why Andrew-
"Danny, focus." Ah, right. "You get lost in your head very easily, you know." Mm, Andrew was smiling, though. "What did you mean?"
"Spectra had this thing a few years ago where she was trying to get a new body. She had infected the students with some kind of ghost bug that gave them ghost powers. Do you think that affected them?"
"Ghost bug?" Andrew let go of Danny's chin, finally, rubbing at the back of his neck and… Huh. Had he picked that up from Danny? "As in they were infected with some type of sickness?"
"No- No, I mean there was literally a ghostly bug of some kind overshadowing them." The look he was given was amazing. "Hey, I didn't decide for it to be bugs. But, here's the weird thing, the bugs weren't controlling them, just giving them the ghost powers."
"That shouldn't be possible. Humans reject ghostly energy, part of the reason only powerful ghosts can overshadow humans - and even then only for a short period of time. This is… This is something else, Danny."
"I was afraid you'd say that." Danny leaned back on his hands, staring up at the ceiling and lost in thought. "Do you think spending time in the human world has changed the ghosts? I mean, there's a lot less taking over the world shenanigans involved."
"None of them wanted to rule the world, Danny," Andrew laughed. "Well, maybe Technus, but I hear he's actually been busy doing guest lectures at the college."
"That's what I mean! They're acting so- They have lives now, you know?" They had friends and a little makeshift family and it was like they had more than just their obsessions, these days. "They're becoming more human-"
"No, they're not." Blinking at the tone that was almost bitter, Danny looked to where Andrew was steadfastly looking down at a sheet of paper. "You and Vlad are the only ones who can walk between both worlds and not have to choose."
"Walk between- What do you mean?" Oh, no, Danny did not like this feeling. It felt like they were about to have a talk. An emotional, relationship talk.
"I mean that you're able to walk between life and death and think nothing of it. You can be a part of both worlds and-"
"You're not." The silence was answer enough, he supposed, but damn if Danny didn't have an answer of his own. He had always known Andrew had been the more human one of all the ghosts - he only had to read Andrew's writing to figure that one out, but… God, it made sense, didn't it?
Andrew was always the one to encourage them spending time in Amity. He had latched onto the school and spent every moment he could in this world when he wasn't at Vidya. And when he was in Vidya it was less of a library and more of a home. Most ghost lairs didn't have kitchens and bathrooms and beds beyond the most basic of things.
"Andy…" Jeez, Andrew was just- Heh- Ha! He was so human. "You already walk between the worlds." As Andrew's gaze snapped up to him, Danny shifted over to sit on the paper and instead lace his hands with Andrew's. "Do you have any idea how human you still are?"
"I'm rather afraid there's a few things wrong with what you just said, mon cher. I can't be human when I'm dead-"
"Shut up, I'm not done. Do you remember that day in the library near the start of the year?" Danny frowned as Andrew only stared. "It was right after the first Spectra mess and I said your problem was that you weren't human enough and my problem was that I was too human. I was wrong."
"Considering all that's happened, I think that was more on the nose than even you intended. Danny, I don't know what you hope to accomplish here, but-
"No, no, don't you see? I was wrong because it's the opposite. I'm the one that's not human enough. Andy, look at me." He could feel it even now. That energy tugging and pulling at him and the way Andrew's gaze flicked to his hair Danny knew it was threading itself with white. "Andy, you're the one that's too human."
"Danny, I told you-" Jerking at Andrew's hand, Danny shoved it against the man's chest, giving him a hard stare. "What are you doing?"
"Heartbeat." Andrew tried to jerk his hand away, Danny not letting him. "See?" Danny said, giving a weak smile. "Still beating, just a little different." Looking around the desk, Danny grabbed the sharpest looking thing he could, poking at Andrew's finger and trying not to laugh at the yelp.
"Danny! What on earth are you doing!" Tugging at the hand, Danny flipped it over, squeezing at the finger to show the droplets of ectoplasm welling up at the source.
"See? Still bleeding, too." This time, Andrew's expression shifted to something so vulnerable. "You're not like Randy. He's… Randy's always belonged there, but you've always belonged here, with everyone, living and laughing and always messing up." Danny widened his grin, giving a wink. "You're as human as your students, Mr. Riter."
"Oh, mon cher." Letting himself be pulled into Andrew's lap, Danny held onto him just as tightly, kissing at his cheek and rubbing at that ridiculous stubble he still hadn't shaved. He was so very human.
"That's why we work so well together, I think, the three of us. Randy's already accepted how ghostly he is, he did that a while ago." A reason that Randy was so quick to use his powers. He knew who he was.
"I know." Andrew knew it, too. "The ghost, the human, and the one in between, then?" Yeah… Yeah, that was it.
"Guess I'm sort of like the bridge," Danny laughed, the words feeling right on his tongue. "Feeling better?"
"Embarrassed I seemed to have made a big fuss out of nothing," Andrew admitted, kissing at Danny's jaw. "Much better now, however."
"Mm, I'm glad." Tugging at the hand he had stabbed - lightly stabbed, but still - Danny brought it up to his hand and licked at the smeared ectoplasm.
"Jesus." Ah, twenty-two-year-old Andrew Riter was a joy. "You're not good for my heart, mon cher."
"I take pride in it." Smile slowly falling, Danny sighed, shoulders falling. "We're going to need to see if this is just the school or the entire town that's starting to pick up Ghostspeak. If we're lucky it'll only be because the students are still growing while the Fenton Portal is active."
"If we find evidence to the contrary?" Well, that…
"That's when it starts to get complicated."
::
"You know, this isn't exactly new," Danny said, startling Andrew and making Randy tilt his head towards him. "The ghost thing? That's why the Guys-in-White originally came here, cause of all the ambient ghost energy."
Clockwork had been right that by May his sense of time would settle and it was making it easier for Danny to shift through his memories of what had happened since the school year started. While some of it he could just barely recall, he was starting to realize just how much danger Section 13 could put them in. He was remembering how dangerous Walker had been.
"Amity's always been like that," Randy sighed, pushing the button for the crosswalk as he leaned against the pole. "Like I said, most human cities have this feeling to them. Amity feels more like the Zone."
"Do you think we would startle a few drivers if we merely phased through the traffic," Andrew mused, staring at the rushing cars. "It'd teach them to be more aware of their surroundings."
"No teaching when we're not at school," Danny scolded, trying hard not to laugh. "It's just weird. Humans shouldn't know how to speak Ghostspeak, right?"
"Technically speaking, they shouldn't be able to even form the words," Randy said, shaking his head as Andrew started walking/phasing across the road. Taking Danny's hand, Randy triggered his own intangibility as they walked. "It has to do with ghost energy."
"So the energy is changing them? That's why they can speak it?" That… That didn't sound very good, actually. That sounded very, very bad.
"Not changing, really. It's more like adding something that wasn't there before." Randy shook his head, swinging their hands together and getting Danny to let out a startled laugh. "Hearing anything, Andy?"
"There's an early bird special at all the local diners this week to honor the elderly." Andrew sounded as baffled as Danny felt. "Nothing terribly exciting, overall."
"Okay, so adults aren't going around speaking Ghostspeak, but they're- It's not just me, right?" Danny didn't walk around town as much anymore, but the way he saw people interact was more- More ghostly, almost. They were closer and Danny had seen more than one wrestling match in the park between even grown adults. It was like when ghosts tested each other's strength to teach them and make sure they were okay.
"It's not just you," Randy agreed, eyes closed and frown appearing on his face. "There's so much ghostly energy in this town."
"The children seem to be the most extreme when it comes to acting ghostly," Andrew pointed out, nodding to where Youngblood was playing with a group of children in the park. They were all running and screaming and jumping and acting as kids usually did, but the way they moved showed them as more of a group than just kids playing together.
Danny near jerked to a stop, absolutely sure beyond all measure that he had just seen one kid with glowing eyes. Was the Fenton portal really affecting everyone this much? It couldn't be. It was in the basement surrounded by walls that were meant to keep radiation contained! But… But Danny could feel it now that he knew what he was looking for.
"It feels like I'm still a substitute." Both his mates startled and looked back at him, Danny seeing the rising defense before he laughed and shook his head. "No, no, not like that. Trust me, not at all like that." It was hard to doubt their relationship after everything that had happened. "No, I mean, like… Like half ghosts are a substitute for something."
"A substitute for what, mon cher?" God, that was the question, now wasn't it? No matter where he went there was always something ghostly about where he was and it just seemed to be growing more and more as time went on.
"I… I don't know." Danny could walk between the worlds even more than Vlad and Elle would ever be able to. That had to mean something. He could walk between worlds without fear of either of them, so maybe he was a substitute for that? For some kind of bridge between death and life?
Jeez… Just what had he done when he pressed that button? He had done more than giving himself these powers. He… He had changed his entire town.
He just needed to figure out how.