Author Note: Please review!
~CWA

Chapter 8:

Danny:
Even after two weeks of being in Bayville, it was still hard for me to believe that those people were mutants. Those people, I meant, were obviously Jean, Scott, Kitty, Kurt, and Rogue. There were more, I was sure and Gear told me so herself. Yet those were the ones I ran into the most, I even dared to consider Kurt, Kitty and Rogue a friend. I got along well with Jean and Scott, but Scott seemed a bit too uptight for my tastes. Granted, I got along a lot better with them all than Gear did. Somehow, Gear managed to piss Jean off a few times and how she did it was still unclear. According to Gear, it was because Jean 'wasn't clear that he was hers.' According to Jean it was because 'Gear had yet to learn the boundaries of flirting.' If I had to guess, I'd say that Gear flirted with Scott- but it was not a surprise. Gear managed to flirt with anything and everything- regardless of their gender or sex.

I laid down on my bed and slowly closed me eyes. A lot ran through my mind. I was still desperately wishing to remember my old life, fully not just things that I was told (and Gear wouldn't even tell me everything). I wanted to remember who I was before I died and I wanted to remember how I died, more so I wanted to know how my family and friends died. At the same time, I still didn't want to know. I liked living here in Bayville, I was Danny Tempest. I wasn't a ghost. I wasn't a hero. I was just a normal teenager and it was a foreign feeling, but at the same time it felt nice. If I knew everything then I might… I might want to leave. I didn't really want to leave, but if memories became too much I might have to. I wasn't ready for that… Gear said not to rush into things and hopefully my memories would come back soon. A part of me wished that they never came back.

With my memories lost, I had no idea who I was- favorite color, food, music, anything small like that. Here, however, I knew. I was Danny Tempest, cousin to Gear. I was making new memories as if rewriting the old, making new friends and I had a new family. If I knew who I was before all this then… I wouldn't be Danny Tempest. I would be back to being Danny Fenton (and Phantom) and Danny Tempest would be just an alias.

I sighed and tried to get some sleep, only for some nightmares to return to me.

The men in the white suits leaned over me. I struggled against some type of restraints on my wrists and ankles. I was vaguely aware of the band around my waist too.

"Strike 1," one of the men sneered.

Electricity shot through my veins. A feeling that I had been electrocuted before came briefly, but I was mostly aware of the pain- the searing, pain. After a second, it stopped and I panted heavily.

"You have two strikes left, scum. The next strike will be higher voltage, we'll see how much you can endure…"

His voice sounded different… Like an echo as if I wasn't fully awake. Two more strikes? What did he mean?

"W-What," I croaked, my voice raspy and sore, "D-did I d-d-do w-wro-wrong?"

The men laughed at me.

"Easy, scum, you're an abomination- and a freak like you is useful for study."

So I was being tortured just for living?

"Now hold still," one of the men sneered.

The next thing I knew a scalpel was cutting into my flesh. I found a new meaning to the word pain as my flesh was ripped open.

"There," one of the men said, "That must be the core."

He poked a spot into of me, causing frost to appear at my fingertips and a cold pain flooded me.

"Try that."

My ghost form was forcibly turned back into human as they poked another spot.

"Add more electric shocks."

It sounded almost like thunder and all I saw was a few flashes like lightening.

I woke up screaming, clutching my chest as tears swelled in my eyes. What type of nightmare was that? I looked down at my chest. I rubbed a finger over the scars.

"Or was it a memory…?"

"What's going on," Gear screeched as she ran through the door, making me wish I had a 'human' sense as well as a 'ghost' sense.

She had an anti-ghost gun in one hand and the other held a real gun. Her eyes were narrowed and were fierce. However, it was hard for me to take her serious when she was dressed in a black nightgown that had the Ghostbusters symbol on it- not to mention her bed head and the fuzzy bunny slippers. I took one look at her before I laughed. I clutched my sides and was still laughing as she stood there with a hand on her hip, putting the guns away.

"Haha, laugh it up, Casper. I ain't afraid of no ghost."

I bit my lip to keep from laughing- it didn't work. She finally just shook her head with a laugh too,

"Good to know you still know that stuff- media and all that shit. So, Double D, what was with the screaming? You don't have to tell me if you don't want to though."

I looked at Gear and sighed. Did I want to tell her? I should since it might be important.

"I…It was a nightmare, that's it," I said, telling partially the truth, not hinting that it may have been a memory.

"Alright," Gear nodded, "You know what's the cure for nightmares right?"

"No," I looked her cautiously.

"Video games, duh," she stuck out her tongue, "Check the living room- there's a game system out there and there's a few computer games on your PC too. Go, get happy, get some rest…"

She started for the door, stopping to turn back towards me one last time,

"If I can hear from my lab, then I know damn well it wasn't a normal nightmare… So if you ever want to talk or shit, I'm here."

"Thanks Gear," I smiled.

"No problem, Double D. Big sis gotta look out for her little bro, ya know?"

"Yeah," I smiled, "I know…"