Okay confession time: Stormfly wasn't actually injured in this fic until like, a week before publishing chapter one, so I've been really combing over and trying to get her recovery written in to the fic
And it wasn't until it was time to publish this chapter that I realized I may have...extended her healing process out longer than I should have, so...whoopsie, look over that for me, would you?
Summary: The gang celebrate a successful heist with a midnight flight. Meanwhile, Danny has another encounter with a mysterious figure (and another not so mysterious one)
Yeah anyways sorry for the late update, my readers over on AO3 got it like twelve hours earlier oops
Anyways.
Considering the group had come home to a very frustrated bunch of dragons (and a few overturned chairs suggesting at least one of their amulets had been on the fritz because of it), it seemed only fitting to celebrate their victory with a midnight flight.
Of course, it had its restrictions – none that were unreasonable, mind you, but Hiccup couldn't deny that he'd rather just jump from Sam's roof instead of making the thirty minute drive out of the city.
But Phantom had set clear boundaries: they were not to fly anywhere near the heart of town, and when he came to get them after his nightly patrol, they had to comply. It was strange taking orders from someone Gustav's age, but then again Phantom seemed to be immensely more responsible than most viking teens.
It made Hiccup wonder just how long Phantom had been sixteen for.
The wind bit at Hiccup's cheeks as he whooped, and Toothless roared happily as they shot through the clouds, quickly turning the remaining lilacs of sunset into a dark twilight. Perhaps it was the air pressure, but Hiccup chose to believe it was the exhilaration that made him light-headed.
He closed his eyes and relished in the feeling as Toothless' wings stopped, and then his stomach pressed into his throat as they began to plummet.
Hiccup laughed hysterically at the feeling, grasping at the clouds before shifting his prosthetic and pulling out into a loop. "Oh, I've missed this!" He hollered, and he didn't need Toothless to be human to know that his roar said the same thing.
The clouds parted to their left, and Hiccup turned to find Astrid and Stormfly joining them. The bandages on the nadder's wing were there mainly as a failsafe. This was her testflight, and she seemed to be holding up quite well. Astrid was laying back on her dragon with her arms out on either side, smiling brightly with her eyes closed.
She peaked them open, turning her head to find Hiccup watching her, and she giggled. "You look like your face is gonna split in two!" She hollered over the wind.
"So do you!" Hiccup laughed.
As an answer, Astrid threw her hands up and made a show of breathing in the crisp air.
Toothless roared then, and Hiccup leaned forward to see the night fury looking at him. "What?" He chuckled, "You wanna race?"
His dragon warbled an enthusiastic affirmation, and his pace quickened for a second or so.
Hiccup turned to Astrid with a raised eyebrow, "First one back to the landing pad is target practice!" He called and barely gave her enough time before he switched his prosthetic, prompting Toothless to begin a nose-dive.
The wind drowned out Astrid's protest, whistling past Hiccup's ears like an old friend as they plummeted. He turned a sly eye to the sky to find Astrid and Stormfly break through the clouds, hot on their tails, with determined looks on their faces.
Laughing, Hiccup turned back around and leaned forward on his saddle, letting the wind blow over his back.
When the field below became discernable, Toothless pulled out of his nose drop, sending the crops below billowing to the earth. Stormfly squawked overhead, and glancing upwards revealed the nadder to be casting her shadow over Hiccup.
Astrid leaned to look down at him and stuck her tongue out, and then turned to the right with a barrel roll.
"Hope your armor can handle my axe!" she taunted and then promptly disappeared over the tree tops.
Hiccup shook his head fondly as he followed her path. It felt refreshing to feel that barely held-back laugh in his throat. He didn't think he'd had it since they'd been back on Dragon's Edge.
Toothless took an updraft, and they performed a few acrobatics before the small strip of forest thinned out to another field, and when they eventually landed, Astrid had already dismounted Stormfly and was leaning against her expectedly.
"You know, usually when people suggest races, they take them seriously." She tried to reprimand, but there was a giggle in her voice as she squinted her eyes.
Hiccup dismounted Toothless with a huff of air. "My armor could use some durability tests, anyway." He smirked as Astrid pushed off her dragon and walked up to him.
"Eh, I think a kiss will suffice." She joked, rustling his already-messed-up hair.
Wrapping a hand around her waist, Hiccup let out a playful hum, "Oh, is that so?"
Pursing her lips mischievously, Astrid nodded dramatically, causing him to laugh.
"Then I guess I could accept that." He smiled, voice dropping.
Their lips brushed together briefly in the moonlight, and for a moment the sound of the wind rushing through the grass made Hiccup forget that they weren't home.
It was only after Astrid pulled away that he opened his eyes again, and a blinking quickly drew his attention.
He looked up to see Snotlout with a flashlight in his hands, and when he saw that he'd gotten their attention, he cupped a hand over his smirk and yelled, "No PDA!"
Astrid turned with squinted eyes and flipped him off, and Snotlout's laugh bounced off the platform as he whirled around.
Hiccup sighed, plastering his hands on his hips as he looked up to their makeshift campsite. It was something called a billboard – he'd seen them around before, but this one seemed to have been older – perhaps neglected, even. It was lower to the ground; the suspension beams were made of peeling wood and the large picture was discolored from years in the sun. It was littered with graffiti, and a few of the spotlights were burnt out, but the ones that did work cast an orange, hazy glow that framed Astrid in a comforting light.
It was the run-down kind of appeal that Hiccup was used to. Quaint. Quiet.
"You coming?" Astid's voice drew him back to her.
"I'm gonna grab some water," he said, as she made her way back to Stormfly, "I'll join you in a minute."
She nodded, and with a squawk from Stormfly, the shield maiden took off.
Hiccup watched her dart in front of the moon before turning to the billboard.
Toothless crooned, brushing up against him, and the dragon whisperer scratched his dragon under the chin. "I'll be right back." He chuckled, "Don't get your gears in a twist."
The ladder leading up to the platform was, perhaps, just a bit too rotted to be considered safe, but that didn't mean it wasn't usable. As Hiccup pulled himself up onto the billboard, he was greeted by Sam, Tucker, and Snotlout, who was munching on some jerky from the twins' vending machine raid.
"Surprised you aren't in the air." he snarked, prompting an eye roll.
"I could say the same to you." Hiccup retorted, leaning against the peeling paper of the billboard, "Where's Hookfang?"
Snotlout nodded to the forest behind them, "probably trying to burn the twins to a crisp."
"Do I even want to know?"
The indignant noise Snotlout let out was almost comical as he sat down, letting his feet sling over the edge of the platform. "I'm giving him five more minutes before I hunt all four of them down. Five? I'm still confused about the two–heads thing."
Snorting, Hiccup looked over to Tucker and Sam. The former, unsurprisingly, had his face buried in his PDA. Sam was using the lights to flip through a rather large book, biting at the black polish on her nails absent-mindedly.
"You guys staying entertained?" He asked, and both of the younger teens turned to him with twin nods.
Hiccup was glad. He hated feeling like a burden – dragging them along just so that they could catch some airtime.
Sam shut her book slightly, leaning forwards, and her voice dropped. "You wanna see something cool?" She whispered.
With a skeptical turn of his head, Hiccup knelt next to her, expecting to be shown a page from her book.
Instead, her purple gaze darted upwards, and she pointed towards the top of the billboard silently.
Hiccup followed her gesture to find Phantom, gaze plastered firmly to the sky, with his gloved hands stuck under his thighs. Surprise sparked in his chest – it had felt a bit chillier up here, but he hadn't expected it to be because of the ghost boy.
"I thought he was on patrol." He whispered, suddenly feeling like he needed to, even as Phantom remained as still as, well, a corpse from where he was perched. "Should I call everyone in?" He asked, trying to push down to blossoming disappointment in his gut.
Sam shook her head earnestly. "You're not the only one that loves the sky." She chuckled, nodding her head again towards the ghost, "Watch closer."
Turning back, Hiccup paused.
Phantom's glow blended with the oranges of the spotlights, but it was still distinct. An almost-blue glow that reminded him of a smaller moon. His hair whisked with invisible breeze, and his eyes, doe-shaped and wide in that moment, cast toxic reflections across his face.
These were things that Hiccup knew of Phantom – had grown to recognize, sure. But he supposed, beyond his attempt to sketch him, he'd never really absorbed anything beyond the fangs and the not-human-ness about him.
"He has freckles," he muttered to himself, and saw Sam nod out of the corner of his eye.
They glowed a pale green, and maybe it was a trick of the light, but they even seemed to twinkle.
"They only do that when he's really happy." She supplied, Hiccup turned with a concerned pinch of his brow at that.
Phantom had always seemed…upbeat. A little stressed, perhaps, but upbeat nonetheless. Hiccup had taken that for what it was, but now that he thought about it…
He looked back to Phantom.
He was thin, too, almost too thin, and yet…he still had a childish roundness to his face. Seeing this now made him realize that the ghost normally had tension to him, pulling him into rigid edges that made him appear older than he really was.
Here, he was relaxed. At peace, even.
Hiccup knew it was ridiculous to be feeling concerned. After all, it hadn't been that long ago since he'd been his age. But then again, he still had a beating heart.
"If you stick around for much longer, you should ask him about the stars." Sam's voice snapped Hiccup out of his musings, and he turned to find her staring in…something he would call melancholy at Phantom, "he knows them all."
Hiccup didn't doubt it. He hummed, and a silence lapsed for a few minutes. He'd nearly forgotten what he'd gone up there for until Toothless roared impatiently.
That, combined with what was probably his own stare seemed to snap Phantom out of his stargazing stupor. Without blinking, his eyes darted down to the group on the platform, and Hiccup offered an awkward smile.
"Right." He sighed before standing. "Where's the water?" He asked the ghost.
He smiled and lifted a hazy finger to point below him. "Behind the billboard. Help yourself."
"Grab me one, while you're at it?" Snotlout asked.
Nodding, Hiccup pulled himself behind the thinner section of the platform until he saw the small stash of snacks. As he bent to rummage through them, the support beams to his side creaked and he looked up to see Phantom floating off them now.
"I'm gonna go look for Red again." He stated.
Hiccup paused as Sam protested.
"Again? Danny, she's not going to give you the chance!"
"I can't just sit here and do nothing!" Phantom's echoing voice retorted, "C'mon, Sam. I've gotta try, otherwise she's just gonna go haywire and I can't–" He cut himself off abruptly, sentence ending with an almost-squeak.
"Can't what?" Sam refused to let that slip-up go.
There was an icy silence, and when it began to linger a bit too long, Hiccup craned his neck to peer through a crack in the wooden boards.
Sam was still sitting, staring at Phantom, who had his arms plastered to his side. Her jaw was painfully clenched as she searched him. Tucker had turned to watch the interaction with a nervous expression. Snotlout was not-so-subtly turning away from them.
"Why?" Sam asked, voice falling flat.
Phantom took a bit too long to answer, but he still didn't blink. "You know why."
Instantly shaking her head, Sam set her hand onto the platform and began to get to her feet, "No, I don't! Danny –"
"Sam." The ghost cut her off, and she paused, knees halfway bent under her.
Phantom sighed. "Please. Just –"
He never finished the sentence, and when it became obvious that he didn't have any more words, Sam turned away from him with a held back scowl.
The ghost brought up an unsure hand, like he wanted to place it onto her shoulder, but hesitated and averted his gaze. He let it drop.
"Tuck?" He said, and the techie pretended to not have been listening, jolting up with an overdramatic "hmm?" his eyes darted to everything but Phantom's eyes for a few seconds.
Nodding his head out to the horizon, Phantom said, "Join me?"
"S-sure." he stuttered, stuffing his PDA into his satchel before hastily scrambling to his feet.
Hiccup jolted as Tucker began walking towards the ladder, grabbing the water bottle that had previously evaded his grip. He nodded to the younger teen as he began his descent before walking back to Snotlout.
"Here," he said as he handed the flask over.
Snotlout nodded his head in thanks, but his eyes kept flickering to Sam, who was still boring holes into the platform.
Swallowing, Hiccup brushed his hands restlessly on his hips. "Well, I'm…gonna head back out there." he said, flicking a couple awkward fingers off his forehead in a goodbye.
He tried to offer one to Sam as well, but his wave was just a bit too high for her to notice. He muttered something that sounded like a goodbye before climbing down the ladder.
It wasn't until he was halfway down that he realized, in his haste, that he'd forgotten to grab a water bottle for himself.
With a groan, Hiccup let his forehead thunk against the wood in disappointment.
Toothless had scampered over to him as soon as he'd seen him climbing down, and the look that he gave Hiccup when he apologized was very reminiscent of Stoick.
"I'll be right back, Bud." He stated, again, and then began scaling back up the ladder.
Neither Snotlout or Sam noticed Hiccup as he ducked behind the billboard, grumbling to himself about his stupidity.
"Well…that was a little awkward, huh?" Snotlout's voice flittered to Hiccup's ears as he stuck his hand back into the ice.
His question was met with silence, and then a creaking of boards as Sam shifted. Hiccup caught her through the cracks once again as she turned away from him.
That didn't seem to perturb Snotlout, because he promptly continued with a rather self-absorbed, "I mean, not that I care, you know." He sniffed, turning away from the goth as she thumbed through her discarded book, "If that ghost wants to go get himself killed a second time, who are we to stop him?"
That brought a scoff out of Sam. She shook her head annoyedly, chin finally tilting upward to the sky. "I just don't get it."
Snotlout didn't respond, but it wasn't like he was given much of a choice because Sam continued, slapping her hands angrily on her thighs before stumbling to her feet, "I mean – I don't know what he sees in her! She's – she doesn't listen! She has no critical thinking skills, and she doesn't even trust him, yet alone care enough to stop trying to kill him!"
She began pacing, raking her hands through her hair, "And he makes me feel bad for pointing it out! I just –" She finished her rant with a punctuated yell that was whisked away with the wind.
"Mmm." Snotlout hummed, nodding his head slowly. His gaze ventured towards Sam as she sunk back onto the ledge, legs swinging radically over the edge. "Crush?"
She whirled to him with suddenly wide eyes, causing him to snort. "Hey, I'm not judging. I'm sure he's cute for future-teen standards."
Sam stared at Snotlout for quite a while with a look that was very indiscernible before she turned away, resting her elbows on her knees. "Not a crush…" She grumbled with a wavering pitch in her voice.
Sounding entirely unconvinced, Snotlout hummed again. "Are you sure?"
There was more silence. Enough of it that Hiccup was convinced that Sam wouldn't bother to answer him. But eventually she sighed and turned back to Snotlout.
"I'm sure." She mumbled again, and she sounded it.
She studied the moonlit field as the wind blew, turning the grain into golden waves. She chewed at her bottom lip in contemplation. "...I guess it won't really matter if I tell you, would it?"
"Ouch." Snotlout snorted. Sam didn't bother to comfort him, instead sending him a split second glance out of the corner of her eye.
"...I think I like girls." Her voice was a whisper in the breeze.
"Oh. Okay." Snotlout responded.
That time, she turned fully to look at him, though her shoulders remained facing forwards, hunched self-consciously. "Only girls." She emphasized, like that was some earth-ending admission.
Snotlout nodded again. "Okay."
"Okay?" Sam parroted incredulously, and he nodded just a bit more firmly.
"What clued you in?" He asked.
Sam still looked like she didn't quite believe that Snotlout was cool with this. She took a moment to respond, and when she did her voice was tense, like she was testing unknown waters. "I don't know. I thought I had a crush on Danny, I guess. A few years ago, anyway, but…"
"It didn't stick?" Snotlout finished her thought, and she nodded quietly.
"Don't get me wrong, I do love him – he's one of my best friends. But we were so –"
She cut herself off, eyes glazing over as a memory flashed before her. "I was scared for him. Scared for myself. I mixed up concern and jealousy. And I think I was just…forcing myself into ignoring that. Like, yeah, every girl gets their first crush. I thought it was…I don't know. I guess I thought that if I tried hard enough, it would happen eventually." She clenched her jaw and blinked rapidly. And then she laughed bitterly.
"That sounds stupid, doesn't it?"
Hiccup watched as Snotlout's brow pulled together in a rare display of empathy, and with pursed lips, he shook his head. "Nah. I know how you feel."
Now, Sam's shoulders joined her head in facing him very quickly. Her eyes widened. "Do you?"
Snotlout grimaced bashfully as he recalled something, scratching at the tip of his ear, "I mean, it was kind of the opposite. More…denying that I had a crush than forcing myself to."
His icy gaze fell to the floorboards. "There was a…situation with Fishlegs, and hypnotism. Long story." He jutted in as Sam reared back in confusion, "but yeah. I still don't think I'm over it, if I'm honest."
Sam stared at him, and for a long while the only sound was the rushing of wind through the leaves behind them. Eventually, though, she spoke, rubbing her upper arm. "O-oh. Um…"
She turned and paused for a bit longer, "Thanks." She croaked out, "For trusting me with that."
Snotlout smiled confusedly, and Hiccup found his own version cross his face. "Uh, yeah. Sure." he responded, and it almost sounded like a question.
"...have you told anyone else about this?" He asked, and Sam quickly became infatuated with the spine of her book.
Silently, she shook her head. "No. I mean – I know that Danny and Tuck wouldn't care. That's not my worry, it's just…"
She chewed at her lip again, "I guess that makes it real." Her voice broke off into a whisper.
Snotlout's head tilted to the side. "Is that so bad?"
Sam's eyes flitted to him. A smile that was full of melancholy pulled at her lips. "I guess not."
When she opened her book back up, Hiccup quietly took his queue to leave, water bottle firmly in-hand this time.
He felt kind of guilty for eavesdropping – as unintentional as it was. But then again, it was hardly a secret well-kept. Snotlout's crush. Fishlegs seemed to be a bit oblivious to it at times – especially since it was technically 'Thor Bonecrusher' that had won Snotlout's heart – but Hiccup figured that was due to issues with his own self-confidence more than anything else.
Hiccup hoped that Sam's stress about the whole situation was just teenage angst. After all, it was frustrating, finding yourself.
But…surely, not scary.
Okay, maybe a little scary, but over who you like? That was hardly an issue back home. Hiccup had been much more terrified introducing Toothless to his dad than he would have ever been bringing home a boyfriend.
For some reason, that didn't seem to be the case in Amity Park – enough so that Sam seemed to feel denial was easier than truth. And it wasn't like Hiccup didn't entirely understand that – he was Berk's heir, after all. Posterity was something he had to worry about.
But the way Sam spoke made it sound like it was safer for her to keep her feelings secret, and that made his gut coil in unease.
Toothless all but threw Hiccup onto his saddle then, making him realize that he'd been standing at the bottom of the ladder for a little while. He shook his head to clear it and barely had time to click his prosthetic into place before the night fury was leaping back into the sky.
Danny gave up on his chance of reconciliation when Val wouldn't let him get within a quarter mile of her, warding him off with heavy fire that lit the sky with something like angry meteor showers.
He retreated with a burning feeling in his gut, ready for Sam's "I told you so" that would inevitably spill from her lips when he and Tuck returned.
Tucker said the same thing, though he managed to do it through a single glance up from his PDA as Danny landed next to him on the street. He had to push back the agitation in his chest.
"No luck?" Tucker asked, and he reluctantly shook his head.
A sympathetic sigh left Tucker as he pushed himself off the light pole he'd been leaning against. "How about we forget it for tonight? Celebrate the victories we did get?"
Danny rubbed the back of his neck anxiously, sparing one more glance over his shoulder with a faltering hope that he'd spot Valerie there. "It doesn't feel like we won anything right now."
Snorting, Tucker rolled his eyes. "Don't let the dragon riders hear that."
A new type of apprehension sparked near his core then, wrestling with the other cluster of it in his stomach, and Danny groaned, burying his head in his hands. "I hate this."
"I had a feeling." Tucker deadpanned.
Danny whipped to his best friend with a pinched brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"
The look he was given was not a very nice one, and it only made his question more urgent.
"Tuck?"
The techie gave a somewhat skittish shrug as he turned around. "Look, all I'm saying is…not everyone's gonna trust you, Danny."
"Val's not everyone." the ghost boy muttered, feeling that sense of frustration in his chest. He didn't get it. He'd never get it. He didn't have a core.
But then Tucker gave him a knowing look, and Danny felt blood rush to his cheeks in alarm. "Wait, you think it's like that?"
"Is it not?" Tucker sounded like he would be surprised if it was anything other than that.
Danny opened his mouth to protest. Because it wasn't like that. It wasn't. Val and he broke up for a reason. What mattered right now was the fact that– that – if she didn't trust Phantom, then she would up her patrol hours. She'd break their truce and start patrolling more than just the suburbs. She'd catch too many ghosts and leave him with nothing to –
He sucked in a sharp breath, forcing his expression to soften. "It's not like that." He stated.
"Are you sure?" Tucker's eyes narrowed.
"I'm – sure!" Danny reared back in the air, avoiding his friend's gaze with an eye roll. "I'm not stupid, Tucker! You know I don't exactly have the time to date, anyway."
"I didn't say you were," he countered, crossing his arms over his chest.
An awkward silence lapsed for a second or so.
"But would you?"
Blinking, Danny shot his head to Tucker to find him staring up at him wistfully.
"Would I what?" he asked.
"Date. If you could."
Would you try to rekindle things again, the question hung silent in the air and made the ghost boy's underworked heart flutter to a near normal speed.
He opened his mouth to answer the impossible question.
A trail of mist left instead.
Saved by the bell, Danny couldn't help but think as he hastily shoved away the conversation into a corner of his mind that was, perhaps beginning to get overcrowded with similar conversations. After making sure there was nothing behind Tucker, he spun to check his own six.
He zeroed in on what looked to be a fishing pond, and a twist in his core was just present enough for him to recognize the presence.
"You again?" He muttered to himself as Tucker took a tentative step forwards, catching his gaze. He raised an eyebrow in a silent question as he held up his blaster.
"Skulker?" he whispered, and Danny quickly shook his head.
"No."
He didn't know how to explain something he hadn't officially met yet.
"Tuck, get back to the campsite." He spoke calmly, resisting the urge to stare at the thicket on the closest side of the pond. If this ghost really was spying on them, he couldn't let it know that he knew about it.
Dropping his voice, Danny added, "And make it look casual."
"What?" Tucker gawked, "dude, that's a thirty minute walk. At least. Just let me help you!"
"No," Danny felt his eyes flash, and his friend took a step back in bewilderment.
"This is my job," Danny whispered, "I don't need you getting hurt."
"And that's the other thing," Tucker wiped his forehead with his sleeve restlessly, "you – why are you doing this? You never used to!"
"What? Do what?" Danny asked, even though he really didn't want to hear the answer because someone was listening in on them.
"This!" Tucker gestured at Danny and then to the forest, "Turning us away – you –!"
Danny rushed forward as his voice rose in volume, clamping a hand over his mouth, " – can't deal with this right now," he hissed, widening his eyes urgently as more mist trailed from his mouth.
Tucker's eyes darted around Danny's face with a fire in his eyes, before settling on the mist.
A deep sigh left him, and he pushed the ghost boy off, straightening his cap.
"Fine." He said, gaze darting to the fishing pond.
He then turned on his heel, and left.
It was only when Danny watched him disappear behind a hill that he sighed wearily.
Guilt took a moment to squeeze his stomach again, but he pushed it to the side.
Tucker just didn't understand.
He scoffed at the reminder. Dating. He couldn't afford to date, he was Danny Phantom. He'd miss dates, and that was the best case scenario.
Danny turned and, with a measly pace, began an innocent flight through the woods.
…it wasn't like he didn't…want to date, he supposed. He did enjoy his thing with Val during freshman year, however short it was.
The presence by the pond didn't move. At least, not at first. It was only when Danny ducked behind a particularly large tree did his core twist and the ghost started trailing him.
…But his and Val's relationship had ended for a reason. Danny would be idiotic – no, selfish – to rekindle anything again.
He wandered aimlessly for a few moments, hoping to catch the ghost in arms length. But it did not get close enough for Danny to confront it. Instead, it found a new hiding place, and the ghost boy's skin began to crawl with goosebumps as invisible eyes laid on him.
Sighing restlessly, Danny shrugged the uneasiness off, giving up on the game of cat and mouse. He turned his gaze to the treetop adjacent to him with narrowed eyes, peering into the inky shadows. "Didn't your mommy ever tell you it's rude to stare?"
Danny crossed his arms over his chest and tilted his head down dangerously, letting his back rest against the tree trunk. "And by the way, Dude, still trespassing."
A stillness Danny was not used to when it came to ghosts was all he was met with, and when no answer came his way, he frowned, tilting his head to the side. "So are you gonna tell me what you want, or are we gonna do this the hard way?"
Again, there was no answer. But, there was movement that time.
The shadow shifted, like water separating from oil, it peeled itself from the treetop, blocking out the leaves behind it.
Squaring his shoulders, Danny raised his fists. It was a black silhouette resembling Spectra. But then again, it wasn't like Danny was given a lot of opportunity to compare the two, because the ghost obviously didn't like that he'd spotted it. There was only a split second of what-was-assumed-to-be eye contact (the shadow figure boasted no visible eyes) before it darted off into the forest.
"Hey!" Danny couldn't help the exclamation as he pushed off the tree, "wait!"
Kind of ridiculous to demand a ghost that didn't want to be seen to wait, but it didn't hurt to ask. In the few seconds it took him to dart above the treeline, the shadow figure had already gained a lot of ground on him. He just managed to catch the mysterious ghost dart behind a house
Nose-diving, Danny's hand found the thermos on his belt. He was done playing nice – whoever this ghost was, they'd overstayed their welcome.
Danny caught the shadow figure in the corner of his eye as it weaved through the backyard. The remaining ongoers of what looked to be a family BBQ parted with shrieks at the rush of air.
With a muttered curse, the ghost boy put on the speed, trying to cut off the shadow figure before it got far enough to catch up with Tucker. Danny flipped in the air, clearing a picket fence, and landed on the sidewalk with only a slight skid of the heels as he turned to face his adversary.
Despite the difficulty of chasing a shadow figure in the night, Danny was thankful that there were no bystanders to be wary of. He slung the thermos from his belt and pointed it at the ghost, who skidded on its heels once it set its gaze on him.
"Surprise!" Danny snarked as he pressed the button, but the shadow figure missed the beam by a hair's width, keeling to the side and using the momentum to shoot across the street and back into the woods.
Wasting no time, Danny took off after it again.
Being part human meant that he still had breath to keep, and no matter how enhanced his human side's abilities had become, Danny's stamina would never match with a full-ghost's. Cornering a ghost was hard, especially without a ghost shield, but catching up to one was a different story. Danny hardly considered himself slow, so he'd learned early on to use that to his advantage.
The only problem was, some ghosts – like this one for instance – were faster than him. Not only that, but it seemed to have a knack for misdirection. It used its appearance to its benefit, sticking to the shadows and cutting corners like some sort of ninja. Danny's ghost sense remained the only thing he relied on at times.
But, he knew this area better. Not as better as, say, the heart of Amity, but certainly better than the newest ghost to be added to Tucker's roster.
Clipping through the back porch of yet another house brought Danny up alongside the ghost as it skirted the treeline.
"Fancy meeting you here." he smirked, and the moon caught the ghost in just enough light for Danny to see what looked like clothing – its face was concealed by more than just shadow, too. It reared its head back in confusion.
The ghost boy pointed the thermos straight at it–
Only to have something ram into his side.
With a resounding, half-wheeze of a shriek, Danny flailed as the thermos slipped from his grip, vortex rocketing off and hitting nothing but sky.
At the very least, he managed to keep himself from face planting into the dirt. The wind whistled past his ears as he came to a halt a few inches from the grass.
He blinked, and the shuddering breath he let out made the blades frost over.
Hastily, Danny balanced himself back out, kicking a miniscule toe on the ground and shooting back into the air.
A hollow thunking sound drew his attention to his thermos as it landed harmlessly in the meadow beside him.
Cursing under his breath, Danny shot towards it.
As he reached down, his ghost sense went off again, and suddenly a hand was on his back, pinning him to the ground.
Squawking, Danny tried to turn intangible, but an encompassing, familiar aura forced him to remain solid.
The grip tightened, shoving his head into the ground, and Danny grunted in pain.
"Thanks for drawing it out for me, Whelp." growled, of all people, Skulker, and Danny's eyes shot open in shock.
"What?" He grunted in bewilderment, summoning an ectoblast into a hand.
The grip on his head tightened. "Consider my sparing your life a thank you." Skulker growled.
As soon as the pressure on Danny lifted, he kicked out, flipping onto his back and firing at the hunter.
But like the thermos, it only hit air, sailing off into the distance and exploding like a wispy firework.
With his arm still outstretched, Danny blinked in disbelief at the air, sending his ghost sense out and finding that Skulker was already gone.
As was the stalker.
"Okay," He muttered to himself, picking at some rubble in his side and inspecting Skulker's handiwork, "that was…"
Insulting, confusing, audacious…
"Weird," Danny settled on, pocketing the rubble and shooting up into the air.
Danny returned to the campsite to find Tucker conversing with Sam with frustration clear on his face.
Great. He'd managed to anger both of his best friends in one night. Was it too late to turn back around?
He was somewhat relieved to see that Snotlout and Hiccup had left them sometime in the last half hour.
To their credit, the air was flooded with relief at the sight of him with no injuries. "What happened?" Tucker asked, arms crossed firmly over his chest.
An unhappy shake of his head accompanied Danny's answer, choosing to ignore the remnants of tension in the air. "Well, I'm pretty sure I have yet another stalker." he grumbled and glanced behind him, paying special attention to the shadows under Sam's car, which was parked carefully in the ditch between the highway and the billboard.
"What do you mean?" Sam queried, thumbing through her book passive-aggressively.
The ghost boy bit his lip, debating on whether or not he should even tell them when he wasn't even all that sure himself. "...It's not the first time I met it – that was right after the dragon riders showed up. And it doesn't attack. It just…watches. And then darts off when I acknowledge it."
Neither commented on the fact that he'd never mentioned a new ghost.
"So you didn't catch it?" Sam placed her hands onto her hips when Danny nodded a grave affirmative.
"It teleports", he admitted, opting not to mention Skulker until he understood what was happening, "too well, too. My ghost sense can't extend far enough to pick it up."
"What did it look like?" Tucker asked, face illuminated with his PDA's light, Danny was sure he was pulling up their ghost files. He pinched the bridge of his nose with a grumble.
"Shadow figure." He muttered, "no defining features, but it's got clothing. I think it's wearing a mask?"
The techie glanced up at him, "like, a ski mask?"
"Something like it."
Sam and Tucker shared a look.
"Talk about cliche…" Sam muttered.
"Cliche?" Danny parroted, causing her to roll her eyes.
"Ski mask? Mysteriously watching from the shadows? Disappearing on a dime? You don't seriously think these are coincidences, do you?"
Danny felt his eyes widen then and brought his hands up, cupping the sides of his head in surprise, "You guys think this is the thief?" He exclaimed, kind of hoping that his friends were joking.
Even as that thought crossed his mind, the next words fell out of his mouth instantly. "oh Ancients, I thought it was teleporting."
"You should have told us about this earlier. We could have corrected you." Sam snapped.
Danny's eyebrows dropped.
"It's no wonder you couldn't catch it," Tucker huffed, brushing past Sam's jab. He spun as if he was going to spot a new ghost portal. Danny could admit that he did much the same.
He spotted the shape of a dragon and its rider dart across the moon, he pressed his lips into a thin line.
"Now onto the important question," he spoke to the sky before turning back to his friends. The orange lighting flickered on them briefly, "what does it want with me?"
Yeah so. Period-accurate homophobia, yay...considering I want this to be ~2000's-2010's, you know, it's kind of a given. I just really need Sam to have some sort of queer mentor because I totally needed one when I was her age and questioning. Her little rant is pretty accurate to my own when I was figuring out my shit. Suck it Bitch Fartman.
I love dropping hints to an overarching plot hehehe "arachnophobia is the dumbest phobia out there. Who cares if two spiders get married, it doesn't affect you." -user "dummyidiotloser" on tiktok
T...two more weeks of school...and hten summer breakk and then I cane...write regularly againne/;...
I'm supposed to be writing an essay rn.
Oh well.
Until next time, my lovelies
~Local Dragon Haunt