Well.. This is awkward and late. My bad

Late tonight, eh? That's my bad

My mom went back into surgery last week and i barely had any time to write this chapter.

BUT I GOT IT DONE SO LWTS GET INTO ITT

Chapter XV:

Catching up

Building the portal was.. more difficult than Danny thought.

Not for reasons that others may think.

It wasn't like he was dumb. Far from it. He would've passed his freshman year with all A's if it wasn't for all the ghost attacks (and the whole turning into one thing). He didn't consider himself a genius by any means, either. The blueprints weren't hard to figure out. Hell, he's made his own fair share of (rocket) blueprints. The only thing he changed was where the power button was. (He did not need that incident to repeat.)

So, no. It wasn't the blueprints that made it difficult.

It was that stupid ring.

At first, he didn't know what to do with it. So he hid it until he had an idea on what to do with it. But was quickly aggravated by it calling to him, so he held it close to his person. Sometimes switching from his hoodie pocket, to his pants pocket, and if it was lucky, around his neck. But never on his finger.

And it knew that.

'Put me on,' it'll whisper. 'You'll feel better.'

It often whispered to him throughout the day. Making promises. Promises of satisfaction. Promises that sounded more than tempting on some days.

But man was it annoying.

It almost made him want to go to the Ghost Zone via Fenton Portal. Almost.

The only thing stopping him was his Fenton pride.

And the fact he spent so long on building the portal already. He was almost done after all. It wasn't long until he got to the testing stage. In probably two weeks max; if he continued working at the same pace.

Plus, there was.. some satisfaction of him building the same portal in less time than his parents did.

That fact by itself was therapeutic in a way.

Danny eventually drowned out the ring's advances and focused back on the portal. The faster it was done, the faster he could get rid of it. How would he even get rid of it? Letting it aimlessly float through the Ghost Zone was dangerous. Maybe he could hide it. Or give it to Clockwork.

Clockwork..

(Danny sharply blinked back to life and saw the scene before him. It was familiar. Different scenario, but familiar nonetheless. He looked down at the amulet around his neck. A soft 'huh' escaping from his lips before he looked up and saw that familiar purple cloak before him.

He opened his mouth to speak.)

Danny sighed and put the tools down. How long has he been here? He thought as he took out his phone to look at the time. He blankly stared at the time, watching the minutes change. ''When did I start working on the portal?" He wondered aloud.

Okay so, last problem, working on the portal alone was a bad idea. Terrible even. Not that he wanted to be alone, but everyone was busy. (Even Danielle was busy. How she could be busy with anything bemused him.) It was just so boring! Especially with his mind running faster than it used to and not being able to do- well.. anything. But it wasn't like he had anything else to do. That was the bad part of 'playing dead.' Roaming around freely wasn't an option. It wasn't like he could turn invisible and go people watching—

Danny blinked out of his thoughts. "Wait.."

Then he sighed after he thought about it more. His powers were too unstable for him to stay invisible for more than two minutes. So that was a no go.

Going ghost was an immediate no. It was too big of a risk. Not only from the mess that is his powers but also from getting caught.

So, what could he do?

He looked over at his plain white hoodie, that he took off to keep clean, and a red varsity jacket with shades, that Valerie had left behind one day after dropping off some materials. His stare turned intense as he came up with a plan but…

"It can't be that easy, right?"

...

"It's that easy." He muttered lowly to himself as he walked down the road, unnoticed.

The bright world around him was tinted gray from the mirror lensed shades he wore. The white hood over his head and hands hidden in the red jacket.

Danny messed with his bangs, from under the hood, trying to ignore the nervousness that was building in him.

Why?

It's not like he hasn't walked down these crosswalks before… in a year.

Okay, so he forgot a few turns. Which isn't his fault. Sometimes roads merge weirdly and his mental map of the city is overhead. It wasn't a reason for anyone to look at him weirdly. If they were. Danny has been keen on avoiding eye contact so far. But if he had to guess, the only weird thing would be him wearing a hoodie and a jacket during the hottest day of autumn.

Still, he blended in with any crowds until he reached his destination. Amity Park. It hadn't changed a bit. Well.. the trees weren't as green and the leaves were slowly falling. But that's just Fall being Fall. Nothing major.

Danny checked an old text on his phone then made his way in the park.

Should he feel like a tourist in his own hometown or was he that nervous? ..probably the second option.

The halfa sighed as he tugged his hood further down. His course changed away from the open field and into the tree filled area. Going deeper and deeper. Away from any lurking eyes. He came to a stop in the middle of the woods of the park.

Looking around, Danny hummed. Were they not here yet or-? "Did I go too far?" He murmured out loud as he slowly pulled down the shades from his eyes, wanting to get a better look.

He couldn't help whistling as the color came back to him. It was a good thing he went out in the middle of the day. If it was any later then…

'Crunch'

Danny turned to the direction of the sound of the leaves being crushed behind him. His blue eyes widening as he's met with teal ones filled with shock.

"…Danny?" The person breathed out.

Danny gulped. What does he say? This was a bad idea. What does he say? Is there any way to curse boredom? Was there a ghost for that? What does he say?! Maybe he should just play dumb.

"Who's Danny?" …damn it, Danny. 'I know..' Think before you speak! 'I know!'

He heard the person walk closer after a huff. It wasn't an angry sounding one. More.. disbelief. "Danny. Danny Fenton?"

Danny took in a breath and gave a weak wave. "Been a while, hasn't it, Star?"

"Oh my god," the blonde whispered loudly, her eyes locked on Danny. "And here I thought Valerie had finally gone crazy." She had whirled her finger in a circular motion before giving a nervous chuckle. "I gotta apologize to her later-"

Danny simply watched the other teen calm down. He.. he didn't know what to say. He got so caught up on trying not to get caught, that he forgot why he came here.

A few days ago, Valerie had brought up a question on if Star should be brought up to speed or not. From what he heard, both Star and Kwan were searching for him too. The human side, as Valerie so gracefully clarified. But him nonetheless. At first, Danny was confused on why those two would want to. But he remembered how the three of them became the most unpredictable of friends. So, he (hesitatingly) told his host yes. Also a bad choice. But it was his to make. A day later, Valerie came to him fuming about how Star didn't believe her and asked if he still had his phone on him (And truthfully he forgot about his phone until she brought it up.) After checking the clothes he came back in, he confirmed that he did have his phone. Then.. she told him to text her. And there was something on her face that didn't allow him to say no.

'Why are there so many scary women in my life?' He thought.

"Okay, okay," Star breathed, grabbing Danny's attention. "I have so many questions."

Danny nodded at her, as if to tell her to go ahead and ask.

"Are you real?"

Danny blinked. Then he huffed out a laugh. "I hope so."

His laughter spread to the cheerleader. "Sorry," she said. "I just- I can't believe it. You've been gone for like a year. It's been a year since I saw you! Your parents told us you were taken and killed by a ghost! Which was kind of bizarre cuz they're ghost hunters and you should've learned some things from them. But at the same time, you are scared of them so it also made sense at the time."

"Wait," Danny interrupted the girl's ramblings. "What did you say?"

Star raised an eyebrow, "That you're scared of ghosts?"

"No. About what the F- my parents told you," Danny's voice slowly lowered as the sentence finally struck him. "I'm sorry.. You think I'm scared of ghosts?"

"Well…"

Danny opened his mouth then quickly shut it while shaking his head. "Another time, Danny." He muttered to himself.

"My parents told you guys that I was dead?"

Star nodded before she continued, "They made an announcement at the school and everything. It was… shocking to say the least."

Danny swallowed air. "When did they make that announcement?" He dreaded the answer.

Star's face scrunched up together as she thought about it. "The.. third month you were gone, I think."

Silence.

"Of course," Danny grumbled. "Any other questions that I may or may not answer?"

Thus started a comfortable back and forth. Star asking questions and Danny answering them. Of course questions like "Where were you?" Or "What happened to you?" were thoroughly avoided by Danny asking his own questions. Star was quick to pick it up, and asked less personal questions. The two funding comfortable spots under their respectable trees.

"When did you get back?"

He blinked, his hood down as he scratched the top of his head. "Uh… Two months ago?"

Star raised an eyebrow. "You don't sound very confident about that."

"I.. lost track of time after a while."

Star nodded. Her eyes examining the former missing teen for a moment. "Are.. are you okay?"

"Hm. More spaced out right now." Danny said, turning to her.

"Oh then.. wait." Star's worried expression became blank as she stared at the now smirking Danny. "I'm serious."

Danny chuckled. "I know. But really, I'm fine. Just busy."

"Mhm," Star must've felt like there was more to it, but she didn't comment on it. "Then one more question." When Danny just nodded, she continued. "Can I get a closer look at your hair real quick?"

That wasn't a question he was expecting. "Why?"

He received a shrug. "There's just.. something weird about it."

And that didn't help him much. If it helped at all. (It didn't.) But he gave her the go ahead either way. Now, he was just as curious as she was.

Star stood up and made her way over to Danny, who turned his back to her when asked to. He felt her fingers run through his hair as if looking through it. She started at the top of his head and went down to neck. Then again. One more time. He didn't say anything until she made an amused sound.

"What?" He asked. "What is it?"

"Did you dye your hair while you were gone?"

Danny turned his head to look at her. He was hoping to see a joking expression, but instead was met with a genuine perplexed one. Like even she was confused on the question she asked. "No," he eventually told her. "Never found the time to think about that."

Star's eyebrows furrowed in thought. Her hands ran through his hair once more before moving a lock of hair upwards. "Makes sense. It's coming from the scalp."

He tensed slightly. Suddenly worried about what exactly she ended up finding. It wasn't a scar or anything, since she was looking at his hair. But what about it got her attention? Was it the newer length? He had been meaning to cut it, but he was busy with the portal. "What do you mean?"

"You," Star paused. "Your hair is turning.. white."

Silence.

"It's what?"

So, dissection time!

The Ring: I forgot about the ring for a while ngl. I thought this chapter can show how Danny is with it. And the thought of him being annoyed by it, like it was a iPad kid asking to play games on his phone, was a funny thought.

Clockwork: I'm personally loving these bits of what happened between Danny and Clockwork after his escape attempt gone wrong (but right?). Will he actually show up? Only time will tell.

Star: I wasn't planning on bringing Star into this chapter. It was initially going to be a just Danny chapter, but.. I couldn't come up with much to do. So I came up with something wrote some options on my "How bad is Danny's luck' wheel and spun it. Also how am I going to reference their friendship and not aCtualLy show it? .. Aka this interaction was planned earlier on, but was forgotten about. So, it was inevitable. Kinda. maybe. If I was bored enough. But if there are more interactions later on, it is important to note that i see him annoying her withe space puns, like he annoys Valerie with ghost/death puns.. that's all

Now..

Is this Chapter important story wise? Not fully. Would I count it as filler? Ehh.

Also before i go. Valerie's thing is proving.. difficult to do on this site. I mean.. I can do it, but because of the format limitations I can't say it'll have the same feel like on Ao3. But I'll still do my best to make it work!

Next up:

What will Danny do with this new information? Is the portal good enough to test? Will Valerie get her turn to have her time with Danny? What exactly were Jazz and Danielle busy with? Find out next time on Dragon Ball Z!

anywaysss

Remember to eat and hydrate yourselves!

Have a wonderful night/day! ~