THE ROAD SO FAR...
After a chance encounter with a new type of ghost, Sam and Dean come to Amity Park, IL searching for answers. Instead, they find three teenagers, two mad scientists, and one apparent portal to the Ghost Zone. They sabotage the portal and leave, checking off the episode as just another hunt, but little do they know that they had tripped the switch to a fated story.
Danny Phantom, the alias of Amity Park's hero - or villain, depending on who you asked, is born from the wreckage of the portal. He quickly builds a reputation for himself by fighting to keep the Ghost Zone from completely engulfing his home. A reputation, as it turned out, that reaches much farther than the city limits. The Winchesters catch wind of Danny's exploits, however distorted the rumors had become by the time they reach the Roadhouse, and set off for Amity Park while waiting for news of the yellow-eyed demon from Ash. When they arrive, they are immediately embroiled in a drama involving the nature of humanity, death, and life. They have one question on their mind: was Danny Phantom a monster or just a fourteen year-old boy caught in his parents' strange machine?
As it turns out, they are not the only ones interested in Phantom. Freakshow, the ringmaster of Circus Gothica, quickly catches onto Danny's power and puts him under the spell of the red orb he keeps with him at all times. The Winchesters team up with the reluctant Sam and Tucker in an attempt to rescue Danny from the clutches of his mind control. Which brings us to...
NOW
Sam wobbled on the tightrope, arms out on either side to keep balance. She had heard once that the more you moved, the more likely you were to fall, so she tried to keep her movements as small as possible. The scythe swished in front of her again, forcing her to slide backwards a little more.
"Danny!" she shouted at the cloaked figure on the platform.
Danny pushed the hood off his hair, revealing his glowing red eyes. "Danny's not here right now," he sneered, swiping the scythe at her again. She slid backwards, but her center of balance was off and she had to flail her arms to stay upright. She made the mistake of looking down. There was no net and the ground was very very far away.
"Danny, I'm going to fall!" She blurted, her panic leaking through.
Danny laughed. It was a sinister laugh and not one she had heard from him before. "That's the point!" He flicked the end of the scythe and sneered at her again. "Get it?"
Sam rolled her eyes internally. Even possessed by an evil clown, Danny was still making stupid jokes.
He swung the scythe towards her again and she was forced to duck. Instead of standing back up, she hung onto the cable of the tightrope with her fingers in what she felt was a more stable position. Her brain went a mile a minute, trying to figure out how to escape. Theoretically, Sam and Dean should be in the crowd below her, but she couldn't count on them seeing her or being able to get to her in time. Tucker was who-knew-where, so she couldn't count on him. And Danny was acting bizarro weird, so no help there. She was on her own. Something pricked the side of her ankle. Well, she and Dean's knife were on their own. An idea sparked in her mind.
Quickly, she pulled out Dean's knife and started sawing at the cable, hunching her body so it would be less obvious to Danny what she was doing. He could swing at her with the scythe again and she wouldn't see it, but this was her one chance to escape, so she forced herself not to care. Dean's knife was sharp, but the cable was made of thick rope, hardened by years of use. The knife barely made a dent. If she could just get the rope to break, she could swing down and away like Tarzan, out of Danny's deadly reach.
Above her, Danny laughed. "Lowering your head for the execution? Don't mind if I do!" She heard the swish of the scythe as it descended and jerked backwards just in time. She lost her balance and dropped Dean's knife as she just barely managed to grab the cable with both hands. It was too late. Her feet slipped off the cable and she was suddenly dangling a hundred feet above the ground.
Death above, death below... she thought as the shock finally started setting in. If I live, I'll make that the first line at the next poetry slam I go to.
"What the...?" Danny said. She looked up in time to see two things: the first was Danny shaking his head, his eyes flickering red and green again. The second was the cable, twisting and fraying where Danny had cut it with his scythe while trying to hit her.
She swore. Danny's eyes turned fully green and he looked at her.
"Sam?" Then he saw the rope. "Sam!" He lunged for her as the cable snapped, just missing her outstretched hand.
Sam realized rather quickly on her downward arc that when the rope straightened fully, she wouldn't be able to hold on. Her grip was tenuous and the rope was large and fairly frictionless from use. She was only reducing the number of feet she would fall. Maybe she wouldn't die when she hit the ground. Only be horribly mutilated. Maybe she'd land on something soft. She closed her eyes.
Something cold and strong snaked around her waist, lifting her up. Gasping, Sam opened her eyes. Danny, free of the black robe and scythe, was carrying her gently towards an empty spot in the stands. His eyes were a bright, beautiful green.
"Danny!" she cried, throwing her arms around his neck, all that unrequited crush business flying out the window. She was just happy that he was alright.
"Ow," he said, muffled by her shoulder. She let go quickly.
They landed in the back of the stands, Danny's hand remaining on her shoulder to keep her invisible. Sam breathed and was in the middle of checking Danny over when he tapped her and pointed at the three rings.
Sam looked up. The circus was in complete chaos. The only reason she hadn't noticed it before was because she'd been two seconds away from dying and losing Danny to a crazy goth clown.
The performers had revealed themselves to be ghosts, something Sam realized should have been obvious in hindsight: they were green for heaven's sake. The woman with spikes coming out of her head - previously tattooed - had animated her tattoos and was letting them fly around the room and terrorize the crowd of parents. A strong man and a dwarf ghost were also present, wreaking havoc by throwing things (including the dwarf) into the audience. Danny moved as if to fly out and fight the ghosts, but stopped as Jack and Maddie Fenton jumped into the fray. The two teens watched, flabbergasted, as guns appeared out of every nook and inconceivable cranny to fire at the onslaught.
Sam tore her gaze away and looked around the tent, realizing it was strangely empty aside from the audience. "Where's Freakshow?" she asked Danny.
Danny looked too, but his eyes widened as his hazy memory came back to him. "He's making off with the stuff he stole!"
In the faint distance, they heard the tooting of a train horn. "The train!" they said in unison. Without hesitation, Danny grabbed Sam under the arms and phased through the side of the tent.
They went straight through the Winchesters and Sam just barely stopped Danny before he flew past them.
"Dean!" she said. Dean jumped a mile high and whipped out his gun. Seeing it was her, he lowered it. Then he looked behind her and saw Danny.
"Kid," he said. And even though the gun stayed at his side, Sam had a sinking suspicion that he was having to try really hard to keep it there. "So you didn't die."
"Danny saved me," she said a bit defensively.
"Wait, you told them?" Danny whisper-yelled at her.
"Yes!" she whisper-yelled back, giving him a look that said we'll talk about it later, but right now we need to kill- ehem, apprehend a psychotic circus goon.
"Ok, so let's get Tucker and go," Dean said, sliding his gun back underneath his jacket.
"We can't," said Sam, "Freakshow is getting away with all the stuff he stole."
"I thought Danny stopped the jewelry store robbery."
Danny finally spoke up. "It's stuff he stole from other places, in Amity and before he got here. We have to stop him! He has that orb thing!"
"The freaky scepter?" asked Sam Winchester.
"The freaky mind control scepter, yeah," Sam Manson said.
"Oh," said Sam Winchester, paling.
"Don't worry," Danny sighed, "It only works on ghosts." He caught Dean's eye and hurriedly amended. "Not that I am a ghost. I'm a halfa which isn't a ghost, but it's not exactly a human and-"
Dean held up his hand. "Explain later, first we've got a psycho to catch."
A phone rang. The sound was so divergent from the present situation, that at first, Dean didn't realize it was his own ringtone. He took it out of his pocket and flipped it open. "Yeah? Kind of busy right - Ash? Wait, slow down." He moved slightly away from the group, nodding and making noises of understanding.
Sam looked at the other Winchester. "Really? Do we have time for this?"
Sam Winchester just shrugged. They all waited for Dean to hang up. Danny winced and rubbed his temples. Mind control was killer on the brain. But the pain kept getting worse. Red fog started clouding his vision and whispers invaded his brain. Danny staggered to the ground, clutching his head, trying not to listen to the sweet oblivion the whispers promised.
"Not again!" Sam went to her knees beside him, shaking Danny by the shoulders. "Fight it Danny!"
Danny let out an agonized yell with his last rational thought. "Get back!"
Without hesitation, Sam Winchester grabbed his name-mate and the two of them lurched away from the Ghost Boy. For some reason that Sam Manson could not divine, Sam Winchester raised his hand towards Danny, like he was reaching for him.
Danny looked up, red eyes flashing as he grinned. "Freakshow sends his regards!" He waved at them before shooting into the air and off around the tent. Sam dropped his hand, looking confused.
"The train!" Sam screamed. She shook off the hands that held her and sprinted after Danny as fast as her boot-laden feet would carry her. Halfway around the tent, Sam slammed into Tucker as he lurched out of the big top. They both went down.
"Sam?"
"Quickly! We've got to get to the train! Freakshow has Danny!"
"Where are the Winchesters?"
Sam blinked and looked around. The Winchesters weren't with her. She leapt to her feet and started running back. She found them where she had left them, Dean speaking urgently to Sam, holding him by the arm as if to prevent him from running away. Sam's eyes were wide as he listened to what his brother was saying.
As Sam Manson pounded closer, they looked at her, and she could see the guilt in their faces. "What are you doing?" she asked, breathless. "We've got to catch that train!"
"Sorry," said Dean as he barricaded the guilt behind a wall of practiced indifference, "We've got to go."
Sam's heart sank through her feet. In its place, anger flared. "'Got to go'?!" she yelled, "We've got to help Danny! We've got to stop Freakshow! What do you mean you've 'got to go'?"
"Hey!" said Dean, pointing an accusatory finger at her, "We don't owe you anything. We don't have to do anything. We -" he pointed to himself and Sam "- have to look out for ourselves."
In the distance, a train horn tooted again. They could all hear the screeches of the giant metal monstrosity starting its slow acceleration down the tracks.
Tucker caught up to them as Sam stood there, nostrils flaring as her ragged breathing heaved with rage. She looked back and forth between the brothers. "Fine," she finally said, levelly, and the younger brother actually flinched, unable to make eye contact, "Go look out for yourselves. But if I ever see that sorry excuse for a car and your raggedy, lying backsides in Amity again, I will take you out like yesterday's trash." She spat, "On sight." She turned and pushed Tucker ahead of her. "Let's go."
"What about -?" Tucker started to ask, stumbling as Sam pushed him.
"They're not coming," Sam snapped, "Let's go get Danny." Something in her tone kept Tucker from asking more.
Dean watched the two teens sprint off around the tent towards the train. Everything in him wanted to race after them. But his hand around Sam's bicep kept him anchored to his true purpose: to protect his little brother.
He still held the open flip phone in his other hand, long since disconnected from Ash's call.
The yellow-eyed demon a mere three hour drive away. This was his chance to save Sam, to get their dad back, and to set everything right again. It was almost too perfect. Too perfect to pass up, anyway.
"Ow! Dude!" Sam yelped, jerking his hand out of Dean's grasp. Dean realized he had been unconsciously tightening his hands into fists. The flip phone creaked in his grip. He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax.
He shoved the phone back into his pocket and turned back to the entrance of the circus grounds, which were deserted now. "Let's go."
"Are you sure we should leave, Dean?" Sam asked, hurrying to catch up. "They really need our help."
"Yeah, well we gotta help ourselves first," Dean growled.
"But -"
Dean whirled on his brother. "Don't think I didn't see you back there! You were trying to use your powers on the kid. You've been drinking that damn demon blood again, haven't you!"
Sam recoiled in shame, but defiance immediately took its place. "I thought it was a demon! I was trying to help -"
"You don't get it, do you?" Dean was up in his face, eyes blazing. "I- Dad-" And then he stopped, suddenly. Dad said I had to kill you if I couldn't fix you.
"What?" Sam snapped, pushing Dean away. "What don't I get, Dean? Come on! I know I was a disappointment to dad, but I didn't know I was a disappointment to you too. So, what? Come on!" He beat a fist across his chest in a tough guy gesture that was so juvenile that Dean was immediately reminded of a younger Sam and a younger Dean in a motel room with a younger, still angry John. Dean recoiled inwardly. Sam was talking to him how he used to talk to their dad. Had Dean really become so cruel that Sam felt he had to resort to his old defense mechanisms?
"Forget it," Dean said, much more softly. "It's the yellow eyed demon. He will always be our first priority. We can't let him get away again." Then he turned and started walking towards the car again, trying not to look as defeated as he felt. After a second he heard Sam's heavy footsteps following him.
The road they took out of Amity Park didn't follow the train tracks, but Dean still thought he heard the whistle in the distance, even once they had driven an hour away. He turned the music up loud, but he couldn't drown out the instinct that kept telling him to turn back. So, he turned the music up louder and they drove on into the night.
END OF PART ONE
BONUS CONTENT: The One Where Nobody Wins
One Halloween many years ago and many years from now, there popped into existence a ghost. He didn't know where he came from, who he had been in his past life. And so the other ghosts called him Nobody. He thought it fit, so it stuck.
One of Nobody's favorite haunts was a small house on the corner of Acorn Road and Chestnut Drive. It was blue, if he remembered the color correctly, with white trim. He didn't know why he liked the place. It just felt... right.
And there was a little girl in the house that he visited every year on Halloween - the only time he could get out of the afterlife. She was very small when he first came. So cute in a poofy pink princess dress to go trick-or-treating. He followed her as she went, standing by her shoulder and whispering to her which pieces of candy were the best. He came back the next year and found she had dressed up as a black cat with a bottle brush tail. The next year, she was a cowgirl with spotted chaps and a wide, purple hat.
He loved her costumes and he loved her, he didn't know why. There were plenty of other poofy pink princesses and purple-hatted cowgirls out every Halloween, but Nobody only had eyes for the little girl from the blue house with the white trim.
The little girl had a mother - he thought he remembered what mothers were, but he was never one hundred percent sure. The mother wandered with her daughter every Halloween around the neighborhood and - until she got too big - carried her home when she got too tired to walk anymore. Nobody walked with them until they got back to their house. Without fail, the mother would put her little girl to bed and then pour her candy bag out into a bowl in the hallway. At this point, Nobody would leave, the excitement waning from the night, and the Veil thickening again as Halloween came to an end.
But, as the years passed, Nobody gained a strange fascination with the mother, too. He started staying long after the daughter was put to bed to sit with her on the couch as she watched a movie or read a book before turning in for the night.
He could swear that he knew her from somewhere. Maybe his previous life? Nobody got excited about that and reached up on this most recent Halloween to touch the mother's face.
The woman started, jerking back, her hand flying up to her cheek where his ghostly fingers had touched. Her eyes were wide and Nobody was afraid that he had scared her, so for the first time in all his years of visits, he spoke to her.
"It's ok," he said, "Don't be scared." He realized the irony of telling someone not to be scared on Halloween a second too late. "I'm not going to hurt you," he amended.
"Joshua?" she asked the air, not quite looking at him. Nobody started. Joshua. The syllables curled around his insides, the way that the mother's tongue had wrapped around the phonetics resonated within him and he knew. Joshua was his name.
"I'm here," he said, and reached out to touch her cheek again. Tears sprang from the woman's eyes as his hand brushed her jaw. Abruptly she got up and went to the table where she kept the candy bowl. Nobody followed, noticing for the first time that the table was covered with pictures in tidy wooden frames.
The woman plucked one up off the table and stared at it. It was a picture of a man with a severe haircut, smiling in bright sunlight. The woman stared at the picture for a second before clutching it to her chest.
"Did you see your daughter tonight, Joshua?" said the woman, "Goodness it's so good to say your name again. Joshua. Joshua." More tears rolled down her face. She whispered, "I miss you."
"I'm here," said Nobody - Joshua.
"I think you're here," she said.
"I am," said Joshua, "Just for a little bit. I have to go back soon. But I'm here for now."
He felt the Veil closing again as the final minutes of Halloween ticked away. On an impulse - a familiar one. How many times had he done this before? - he stretched his vaporous arms around the woman.
The mother.
His wife.
"Laura, I'm here. I love you."
Laura gasped as the chill of his presence enveloped her and held her for a second. And then it was gone. The antique clock on the mantle chimed midnight. Even though she couldn't see him leave, she felt that he was gone.
"Goodbye," she whispered into the moonlit night.
This short story is dedicated to all the families who have lost a loved one. Around this time of year, even if you don't believe in an afterlife or in spirits, it can be comforting to think of our loved ones drawing near as this dreamlike Halloween passes.
Tune in next time for the continuation of Amity Park: A Nice Place to Live.