Hello all! Thank you taking the time to read this, my first full fanfiction story. I really appreciate the reviews and comments, I hope you all continue to enjoy the story. It's been fun to really stretch out my writing capabilities and I will do my best to make regular updates to the story. Now, onto the next chapter!
Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Danny Phantom. Unfortunately those rights belong to Nickelodeon, when they should really belong to the creator Butch Hartman. Until proper ownership is restored please enjoy this fanfiction.
Chapter 2
Desiree raised her face from her hands with wide eyes and unshed tears. Her bright ruby eyes glowed in the shaded alleyway both she and Danny found themselves in. "W-what do you m-mean?" she asked fighting back some pitiful sobs.
Danny rubbed the back of his head again as he thought over the situation. Desiree had caused some mayhem in his school cafeteria and he ended up chasing her into this alleyway where they surprisingly ended up talking. He was rather shocked when the genie ghost confessed how she didn't want to be forced to grant any wish she heard. The more he thought about it, the more he realized it wasn't that much of a surprise. He knew it was a part of her obsession, though in this case almost it was more of a compulsion, to grant any wish she heard but never considered how that actually affected her as a person…er…genie…ghost…whatever.
"Well…" he trailed off before looking back at her. She was gazing at him in rapt attention at this point and he had to force down a rising blush at her scrutiny.
"What I mean is…what if we can make it so you don't actually have to grant every wish you hear?" he asked slowly. He almost laughed when the genie ghost quirked her head to the side in confusion but quickly bit the inside of his cheek so she didn't take any laughter the wrong way and lose her temper.
'That's the last thing we need right now,' he thought to himself.
"Explain Phantom," she quickly demanded while still staring at him intently. Danny thought for a moment before continuing to explain.
"Well, what if we made it so you only granted wishes that you wanted to grant? So you wouldn't need to grant every single wish and any wish you did grant didn't need to be messed up and cause trouble for the town. That way if you still wanted to gain power you can, but you don't need to be forced to do anything you don't want to."
'It would certainly save me a lot of trouble if I had one less bad guy to worry about,' he added silently in his head.
Desiree glanced down in thought and didn't say anything for a moment, and the fact that she actually seemed to consider the idea was still a bit surprising to him. He waited patiently and watched the gears in her head work overtime. Then she froze and slowly squinted her neon eyes at him in suspicion.
"You would actually do such a thing for me?" she asked doubtfully. Again, Danny raised his hands non-threateningly to dispel her distrust. "I have no reason to lie to you, it would honestly give me a break if I didn't have to chase you around for causing the city trouble."
Desiree straightened and folded her arms while still looking a bit suspicious. In response, Danny raised his right hand while drawing an "X" over his core. "Cross my core and hope not to die…again…" he promised with what he hoped was a reassuring smile. Desiree in turn seemed to look him up and down as if to try and find any sort of lie, like he'd hide it on himself somewhere. Danny did his best not to wither under her stare and didn't say anything further. Finally, Desiree sighed and dropped her arms to her sides again. Then she placed one hand on her ample hip and pointed right at him with her other hand.
"If this turns out to be another one of your tricks and I end up in that infernal thermos again…" she left the threat unsaid.
"I promise its not a trick," he reassured her. She glared at him for a moment more before relaxing and sighing.
"Alright," she sighed almost in defeat, "Let's give it a try."
Danny grinned widely, happy at the outcome, but Desiree didn't seem as perky at the plan as he did. She folded her arms and Danny tried his darndest not stare at how they jostled her enormous chest. But he did notice how she seemed to retreat into herself and seemed even a bit uncomfortable. So again, he smiled what he hoped was a reassuring smile and promised her again it wasn't a trick. She nodded slightly in acknowledgement and the two of them stood/floated there a bit awkwardly.
"Okay," she finally said before gesturing in his direction, "Make the wish then."
"Oh…right," he said before clearing his throat and noticed her body tense. "Okay…uh…I wish that Desiree was no longer forced to grant every wish that she heard and could choose what wishes she wants to grant."
Air rushed out of her lungs as she stared at him in disbelief. She blinked once, twice, and even three times before answering.
"So you have wished it…so shall it be," she breathed while her hands began to glow. Soon the glow enveloped her entire body while a pink mist began to swirl about her. Her body began to shine brighter and brighter to the point that Danny had to squint and shield his eyes from the light while the mist and wind swirled and created a mini tornado about her. As quickly as the light and wind came, they just as quickly disappeared. Danny peeked over his arm and looked to see Desiree, appearing to be the same as ever, looking down at her own hands in wonder.
"Did—did it work?" he asked unsure. Desiree looked back up at him, almost as if she forgot he was there.
"I…," she faltered for a moment, "I think so…?"
"Uh okay how about we test it?" Danny shrugged. "I wish—,"
"Wait!" she tried to stop him but he continued,
"—for an ice cream cone," he finished. Desiree squeezed her eyes shut and tensed. Then a moment passed. Then another one. She then peeked out of one eye to see if anything happened. But as time passed, she didn't feel any of the compulsion she normally did to grant the wish. She then opened her other eye and looked back and forth from her hands to the halfa, all the while his smile grew larger and larger.
"Can—can you try it again?" she asked hesitantly. Danny nodded happily and said, "I wish for a fudgesicle."
Desiree looked at her hands again before looking back up at him. She slowly raised her hands and answered, "So…you have wished it…so shall it be…?" she said, though it came out as more of a question, as if she wasn't sure of herself. Immediately her hands glowed and then a glow appeared around Danny's hand. Out of nowhere a fudgesicle popped into existence in Danny's hand. Danny eyed it warily for a moment half expecting it to suddenly grow teeth and bite his hand. When it didn't, he slowly raised it to his face and took a tentative lick. Sure enough it tasted like a normal fudgesicle and he began licking the frozen treat in delight.
"Well that's awesome!" Danny said in between licks, "It looks like it worked right Desiree?" he looked back at the genie ghost and noticed the look on her face. "Uh…Desiree…?" he asked unsure. Desiree was staring at him with her jaw practically dropped to the ground in disbelief and awe.
"I…," she began but struggled with the words, "I'm free?" she asked. Danny in turn gave her a thumbs up as he continued to eat his ice cream. Whenever his family bought fudgesicles his father would scarf them all down and he wouldn't get any, so this was a rare treat for him. Desiree's expression turned from one of disbelief to absolute elation.
"I'm free!" she cried and immediately shot up into the sky. A surprised halfa quickly followed her as he continued eat his ice cream. As soon as he hovered above the buildings, he could see the genie ghost fly all around as if discovering flight for the first time. She zoomed all about and all the while was whooping and hollering in unending joy. Danny smiled to himself and gave himself a mental pat on the back before suddenly being caught up in a massive embrace. Fortunately, he saved his ice cream before finding his face buried into two of the softest billowy pillows he ever felt in his life. His cheeks flushed immediately as he felt Desiree wrap her arms around his head squeezing him tightly while her long ghostly tail wrapped around his entire body multiple times like a snake. She still laughed in pure delight while hugging his head as tightly as she could.
"Thank you!" she cried, "Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!" her ceaseless gratitude poured from her lips as our hero struggled to breathe amidst her expansive chest. Soon she cooled down and simply held him in her arms while breathing deeply in elation. Finally, she noticed him struggling to breathe and immediately let him go, unraveling herself from him as he gasped in the fresh air.
"Sorry," she said a bit timid and slightly embarrassed at her own actions.
"It's…okay…" he wheezed in between deep breaths. "Unfortunately, I still need some air since I'm not completely dead," he joked lightly. He looked up and noticed a slight blush of deeper green on Desiree's cheeks. Danny smiled cheekily at her but then looked at his ice cream.
"You know," he began, "I did always find your power to be pretty awesome; how you can just make things appear out of thin air."
"Well to be honest I don't just make it out of thin air," she answered, "I can't make material out of nothing, it has to come from somewhere."
Unbeknownst to the two specters, all the way across town there was a young boy crying while being dragged down the street by his mother.
"Timmy, I'm not giving you another ice cream," his mother scolded, "You shouldn't have eaten it so fast."
"I didn't eat it!" Timmy cried, "It disappeared out of thin air!"
"Do you really expect me to believe that?" Timmy's mom rolled her eyes.
"I promise!" he protested, "I think a ghost took it!"
"Oh honey, now why on earth would a ghost come and take your ice cream. I mean really, just because ghosts exist and they haunt this town doesn't mean that you can blame them for everything. You've already had too many sweets today as it is and I'm not giving you any more and that's final!"
The frustrated mother continued to pull her young son down the street as he continued to cry out about his disappearing ice cream.
Back with our hero and newly freed genie ghost, Danny continued to smile at Desiree's joyful reaction while finishing up his fudgesicle. She looked like the weight of the world had been taken off her shoulders and he couldn't help but feel immensely happy for her. She looked up into the sky with what seemed like a whole new outlook on life. Soon she turned to look back at him with a warm, sincere smile that lit up her beautiful face.
"You will never know the grandeur of what you have done for me, young Phantom," she said still smiling.
"Hey! I'm not that young!" he protested, "I'm almost 18! But please," he smiled back, "Call me Danny, all my friends do."
"Friends?" she asked a bit uncertain and in response he held out his hand with a smile.
"That's what I hope for anyways," he grinned, "At the very least I hope that we don't have to be enemies anymore."
She looked down at her hand for a moment before slowly reaching out and grabbing it in a handshake. Danny's grin grew wider but then cried out when he was suddenly pulled forward and felt soft lips kiss his cheek. His eyes widened in surprise as Desiree released his hand and floated a short distance away, still smiling.
"Until next time…Danny," she said warmly with a blush before turning invisible, flying off, and disappearing completely. Danny continued to float in place trying to contemplate everything that had happened. His grin never diminished as he raised a hand to the cheek that she kissed. He was jolted back to attention when the loud clanging of the class bell sounded from the school.
"Oh crap! I'm late!" he cried out and sped back to the school. While speeding off, he didn't notice that a certain genie ghost hadn't actually left and was following him invisibly.
Danny finally arrived back in the school, rushed through the empty halls, phased his hand into his locker to pull out his backpack and raced down the hallway to his next class. After nearly skidding past the doorway, he burst into the classroom where Mr. Lancer glared at him disapprovingly.
"Late again Mr. Fenton?" the teacher drawled disapprovingly.
"Y-yeah…sorry Mr. Lancer. I, uh, got an upset stomach and, uh, couldn't get off of the toilet," Danny answered lamely as several members of the class, namely the A-listers, snickered at his expense.
"Yes, well," Lancer sighed, "Hopefully your bowels will be able to control themselves while you sit in detention with me after school today."
Danny glumly nodded before trudging over to his seat where he sat next to Tucker and Sam. Lancer then called the classroom's attention and continued with the lesson. Once Lancer began droning on Tucker leaned in towards Danny.
"Dude, what happened?" he asked quietly so Lancer didn't hear him.
"Yeah Danny, were you able to stop Desiree?" Sam chipped in.
"Well…" started, "Kind of…it's a bit of a story I'll tell you after class."
After Lancer's class the trio began to walk towards their final class for the day. While walking Danny proceeded to explain everything that took place between him and the wishing ghost, minus her hugs and kiss she gave him. He mostly chalked that up to her excitement at being free, it wasn't like she changed her hatred of men or anything.
"Wow dude," Tucker commented after listening, "That's crazy to think. If it was me, I would've probably just wished her back into the thermos anyways."
Danny just shrugged in response while Sam continued the conversation, "But doesn't that kind of completely remove Desiree's obsession? I mean what is she supposed to do now that she no longer has to grant any wishes?"
Again, Danny shrugged before answering, "I mean, she can do anything she wants to at this point. As long as she's not causing any trouble to the city I don't mind. If she doesn't have an obsession maybe she'll just find a new one?"
"A new obsession?" Tucker asked, "Like what?"
"I don't know," Danny rubbed the back of his head, "Again it's whatever she wants it to be, I certainly would've felt bad if she continued to be shackled like that. Whatever it is, I just wish she gets an obsession she can actually enjoy and won't cause any more attacks on the town."
Unknown to the trio, said wishing ghost had been spying on them since Danny had returned to the school. For some reason she couldn't help but find the young halfa much more fascinating. She largely doubted his offer to help free her and had still partly expected him to wish her back into the irritatingly small thermos. She had even prepared a counter-measure if he had indeed made that wish. But despite those doubts, he had kept his word and helped gain her freedom. And for the afterlife of her she couldn't figure out why, hence why she had decided to stay close and spy on the young ghostly hero to try and decipher more about him. After hearing his wish for her, she couldn't help the invisible smile that came to her lips and quietly murmured;
"So you have wished it, so shall it be."
An interesting turn of events wouldn't you say? Hope you enjoyed it, I will be posting the next chapter soon!
