Anyone with a smidgen of observation skills could see that Phantom was fighting differently these days. There were no quips, puns, or witty banter. Show up, beat up, leave. And maybe his punches landed with more weight, his kicks hitting harder. All the while his characteristic wry grin was gone from his face, instead replaced with a stony scowl.

He knew he was acting different. He knew Jazz would probably lecture him on the stages of grief, as if explaining the science of loss would ease the pain and somehow make everything better. But it wouldn't make him stop missing his dad. It was funny how you missed even the annoying habits of a lost loved one. Sometimes when he flying around it was still almost as if he could hear him—

"GHOST! I'll tear you apart molecule by molecule!"

Danny flew right into a pole. He floated back a bit, rubbed his head, and muttered a small "ow".

That couldn't have really been his father, could it? He looked around but didn't see anything other than some people who had stopped to look and started waving cheerily.

"Idiot," he huffed to himself while rolling his eyes. He shook his head and flew off before more people gathered below.

—

"Danny," Jazz said in a way that meant her little brother was about to get a condescending lecture. "It was probably just top-down processing. Your brain didn't carefully examine all the details and instead took the short route and perceived the stimulus as something it expected."

Despite thinking himself an idiot earlier and knowing that Jazz was right, Danny couldn't help but allow himself this tiny bit of hope.

"No, Jazz. I know what I heard."

His sister released an exasperated sigh, this was a fight she didn't want to win. She placed a caring hand on Danny's shoulder and spoke gently, "he had a heart attack, Danny. He was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead. I know you miss him, we all do, but he's gone now. We have to learn to live without him. It's going to be hard and it's going to take a long time before we find a new normal, but we will, one day."

Danny removed his sister's hand from his shoulder. He just nodded solemnly before getting up and quietly leaving Jazz's room for his own. Jazz waited till she heard his door close before she let her calm façade drop. She collapsed to the ground and began to weep silently with her head in her hands.

—

Danny knew Jazz was right, he can't believe he ever got his hopes up even for a moment. His dad was dead, and he was never coming back.

He flopped onto his bed and just laid there for a few moments in despair before rolling over onto his back. He lazily crossed his arms over his chest while staring up at his ceiling and hoping for the nothingness of sleep to come so that he could forget his pain, even if temporarily.

The halfa was lulled to the cusp of slumber before he was suddenly woken by a gasp of cold breath. Danny opened his eyes and groaned. He was really not in the mood to deal with any ghosts right now. Danny was almost tempted to ignore it if it wasn't for the fact the ghost was in his house. The silver rings passed over his body and floated intangibly through his floor and to where he thought the ghost was. He was hardly surprised to find himself in the lab—most ghosts did come in through the Fenton Portal anyway.

The dim light of the lab combined with all his dad's clutter—his mom didn't have the heart to clean it after his passing, she had barely been down there at all—forced the young halfa to have to scan the room before his eyes finally landed on the hulking figure of a ghost by one of the tables. He readied himself into a fighting stance when the ghost suddenly turned around.

"No," he breathed. The ghost's iridescent eyes lit up at the sight of Phantom.

"Ghost kid!" He bellowed before pulling a Jack o' Nine Tails from somewhere in his orange jumpsuit and sent it flying towards the ghost.

Phantom, being caught completely by surprise, got trapped in the anti-ghost weapon. He gasped as he felt the phase-proof wires wrap around his body and trap him.

"Ha, gotcha! No ghost can outwit the best ghost hunter of Amity!"

Phantom's mind started racing as he realized who exactly it was who captured him. This was bad. He needed to get away, he needed to hide him.

Suddenly, there was a loud clank as metal hit concrete. Danny Phantom turned in time to see his mom standing in a state of shock, with her eyes as wide as saucers and her jaw dropping to the floor.

"Jack?" she gasped.

Yes, like all good authors, I'm a cliffhanger demon. Sorry, not sorry. I'm a busy person, but I will try to get the next chapter out soon. We'll finally get to the meat of the story! (You know, what was actually in the synopsis.)

I thought it would be a bit comical if Jack didn't realize he was a ghost at first. It feels like something he would do.

Anyway, this story already has two followers and 62 views just from my tiny prologue? I feel so loved. Also, I love comments! Feel free to leave some.