Chapter 10

Act 2: Aftermath

Danny and his friends were talking by the snacks table, each drinking a cup of punch, when Danny noticed Vlad and Dad having a conversation. Danny was used to Dad hovering around his college buddy while being ignorant of his true feelings for him, but in this interaction, Vlad looked like he was actually enjoying the conversation. Then something Dad said made Vlad scowl. Okay, so maybe not wholly enjoying the conversation, but it was a lot more cordial than he'd ever seen Vlad being towards his dad. Guess Vlad had just gotten better at hiding his contempt.

"Did you hear me, Danny?" Valerie asked.

"What? No, sorry, I was distracted," Danny said in response. He hadn't even realized that she'd made her way over. "What did you say?"

"Oh, I just said I'm glad you're back," she repeated.

"Oh, uh, thanks," Danny said with an awkward nod.

"Where have you been?"

Danny's mood shifted and he looked away, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Sorry, I don't remember anything about it."

"Oh, no, don't be sorry. Sorry for asking," Val responded awkwardly.

Danny shrugged and forced a smile, but couldn't think of anything to say back to her. Talking about the time he'd missed here or his time away were the last things he wanted to talk about, even if it was just to lie about not remembering. Suddenly, Danny's ghost sense escaped his mouth in a puff of condensation, and he looked around. He saw the tail of a ghost heading upward through the ceiling. Not cool. Why did they always have to show up at the most inconvenient times? "I'm… gonna go get some fresh air," Danny said, then made his way to the roof. What was this one up to?

He went out to the roof and saw Technus sneaking around, examining all the technology in the Fenton Ops Center through the windows.

Danny's eyes became angry slits as the glowing white rings transformed him into his ghost half. "Hey Tech-breath! Get out of my family's business!"

Technus turned around, surprised. "Ah, if it isn't the whelp, back from his little vacation."

Vacation? Danny saw red. How dare he make light of the torture he had to endure! Danny's face pinched into a hate-filled scowl and he launched towards him fist first, but Technus dodged as a bolt of electricity.

"Wait, what? No witty banter? Who are you, and what have you done with the ghost child?"

Danny ignored his dig and rocketed towards him faster this time. He pinned Technus to the ground and kept punching, reverting to the empty shell of hatred that had destroyed ghosts in the cube.

Technus wormed out from under Danny, but he caught Technus by the hair and slammed him into the wall of the Ops center, continuing his vicious, inhuman assault.

Again, the tech-ghost flew through an opening Danny had left in his flurry of attacks, but Danny cut him off and knocked him with a punch that threw him back onto the roof of Fenton Works. Danny dove down and pinned Technus like he had before, resuming his barrage of attacks. He was so engrossed in the beat-down that Danny didn't notice the sound of footsteps coming from the stairwell nearby.

"Danny! What are you doing?!" Sam shouted when she saw what was going on.

Danny's head snapped up, and he looked at her with crazed eyes until the look of horror on her face broke Danny out of his barbaric rage. She was looking at him like he was a monster. He looked down at Technus, ectoplasm leaking out of his badly beaten body, and Danny jumped back. Technus flew off in a panic, swaying haphazardly in the sky from the damage Danny had caused. His breath scorched his throat raw with how hard he was panting from the strain of his constant attacks, and a sick feeling tied his stomach into knots. His arms and legs began shaking, then he leaned over, retching once the full realization hit him of what he was going to do to Technus if Sam hadn't been there. He didn't particularly care for the ghost, but Technus didn't deserve that kind of brutality.

Sam rushed over to Danny and knelt down, resting her hand on his shoulder. "What happened?! Why did you go after Technus like that?!"

Danny's jaw clenched tightly as he stared down, suppressing the continuing gagging. How could he tell her what he went through? He looked at the floor, shame overcoming him, and he changed back into his human half. He stood and went over to the edge of the roof and leaned on the wall, holding his head in his hands.

"Talk to me. Please," Sam begged, following him.

"I… I can't, Sam. It's too much," Danny said through gritted teeth.

"Let me help you. That's what I'm here for."

"Sam, don't." Danny said as he gave her a stern look.

She was quiet as she realized what was going on. "You lied to Valerie, didn't you? You remember."

"No!" Danny slammed his fist against the wall and an unintentional explosion blew up in his palm, causing him to scream in pain.

"Danny!" Sam yelled, shock clear in her voice, but the searing pain in his palm distracted him from the immediate concern he had for her.

He fell to the ground and sucked air in through his teeth as he held his blistered hand close to his chest. Another wave of shame crashed over him, but this time magnified with horror as he realized how easily he could've hurt Sam instead. He had to get control over his powers before he did something that hurt someone he cared about.

Sam took his hand. "Let me see," she said, seemingly unfazed. Danny wondered if she even realized the danger he'd just unintentionally put her in.

He opened his hand shakily to show her the damage.

"It doesn't look too bad." She stood and went into the Ops center, probably raiding the first aid kit. She came back out with some antibiotic cream and a bandage and treated and wrapped Danny's hand. "There, that should help." She looked Danny in the eyes and sat back on her heels. "I don't like seeing you like this."

"I don't like being like this." Danny's voice hitched in his throat and, in that moment, his eyes glazed over and his mind was sucked back to that horrific lab. "All I wanted was to make it home and now that I'm here, everything is so… wrong. Except it's not. I'm what's wrong."

"You went through something. That doesn't mean something's wrong with you." Sam sighed. "It might help if you talk about it."

Danny shook his head and focused back on her. "It was horrible, Sam." His voice was quieter than a whisper. Danny looked away and held his head as the memories of that place began cycling through his mind. The worst parts, over and over. He couldn't escape them. "Make them stop," he mumbled under his breath. "Make them stop, make them stop, make them stop!"

Sam balked, not expecting to see the usually brave hero so broken. He had always been so untouchable. "I… I'm sorry, Danny. I didn't think… ugh, what can I do to help?" Sam asked herself under her breath as she put her hands over his. "Danny, remember when you, me, and Tuck were up here and you got out your telescope?"

"Before… before the accident."

"Yeah, and you were telling us how your mom took you up here all the time and it's what made you want to become an astronaut. Think about the stars. Planets. Think about floating among them."

He did what she said, and he saw stars glimmering in the sky in his mind. He imagined flying through the sky among them and took a deep breath, focusing on them and pushing the intrusive memories away. Eventually, he was able to breathe again and he closed his eyes. "Thank you."

"You're welcome. I'm sorry, Danny. I didn't think it was that bad."

"It's…" He was about to say that it was fine, but it really wasn't, so he just shook his head. "It is what it is, I guess."

She stood up. "We should get back to the party," she said, still looking a little off.

"Why don't you go on ahead? I'll be there in a few."

"Okay. Just don't take too long. We've all really missed you."

Danny gave her a small smile. "I missed you guys, too."

Sam went down the stairs, and Danny took a couple of minutes to compose himself, then followed shortly behind Sam. He was about to turn a corner when he heard Sam and Tucker talking and he stopped, listening in.

"Finally! What took you so long? I had to stop Mrs. Fenton from going up there when she noticed Danny was missing. I had to talk to her about recipes. Recipes! Does it look like I know anything about cooking? I hate cooking!"

"Not now, Tucker. We have a huge problem," Sam said in a hushed voice.

"What is it? Is Danny okay?" Tucker asked, worry clear in his voice.

"I don't know. He was… Well, Technus was up there and Danny was fighting him."

"Isn't that normal?"

"No, Tucker, this was… brutal. If I hadn't stopped him, he would have destroyed Technus. Not only that, but when Danny looked at me, his eyes were red."

Again with the red eyes? What was happening to him?

"Are you serious?"

"Yes. I don't know what happened to him while he was gone, but it's done something awful to him and we need to figure out how to undo it before he does something he can't come back from. And his powers are—"

"Sorry I took so long," he said as he turned the corner. Danny decided he'd had enough of eavesdropping.

"Oh, hey Danny, we were just talking about, uh, stuff," Tucker said, sounding a bit rattled, which made Danny feel even more guilty.

"Real smooth, Tucker," Sam said and smacked his arm.

Danny decided to ignore what he heard them say for now. He understood his friends' worries, but he didn't know what to do about it. What could he do?

The rest of the party went by without incident and at one point or another, everyone came over to him to tell him how glad they were that he was back. Though the sentiment was nice, Danny was quickly realizing how exhausted it was making him and was relieved when he saw people were leaving. There were only so many times he could lie about being fine before it became irritating. Sam and Tucker's parents came over and his two friends got the hint that it was their turn to leave.

"See you at school tomorrow, Danny."

"I'm not going to school tomorrow. Figured I'd just start fresh on a Monday. Would you mind getting any work the teachers want to give me?"

"Sure, we can do that," Sam said. "See you after school."

"Thanks guys. See ya."

When they left, Danny let the mask fall that he didn't know he'd been wearing. If he couldn't handle a party for a couple of hours, how would he handle being at school for seven?

"Did you guys want help cleaning up?" Danny asked, although he sounded a lot more tired than he expected.

"Don't worry about it, Danno. Danny saw the glare Mom shot Dad the same time he did and he backtracked. "—Your mom and I will handle get some rest."

The corner of Danny's mouth twitched, almost becoming a smile, but the exhaustion wouldn't let it go further than that. He went upstairs to his room and collapsed onto the bed, falling asleep almost instantly.

Harsh, blinding light. Shackles, rattling, tying him down. Struggling. Pain searing through him. Screaming. More pain. Always more pain. Insides falling out. Scalpel tearing at him, over and over and over.

Danny sprung up in his bed screaming, struggling against the bedsheets that had wrapped themselves around him like chains. He felt something trying to pin him down again, and he struggled against it until he realized someone was saying his name. He came back to reality, the mirage of the lab falling away as he recognized his sister's voice.

"Jazz?"

"Danny, change back! Mom and Dad are coming!"

He was in his ghost form again? When was this going to stop? He just finished changing back just as his parents burst into his room.

"Danny, are you okay? What happened?" she asked as she brushed his hair out of his face, looking at him, worry heavy on her face.

"It was just a nightmare, Mom. I'm… I'm fine." As fine as he could be, he supposed, since it was glaringly obvious that he wasn't fine. But seeing them all there, comforting him, helped him to calm down. He was home. He was safe. Danny looked at his dad standing awkwardly behind Mom and saw the same worry echoing across his face. He wasn't used to seeing his dad like that. Somehow, it made this whole situation more real. He was used to his mom fretting over him, but it was rare that there was a situation bad enough that his dad worried about it. He was always so carefree to the point of obliviousness.

"Are you sure you're okay, Danny?" Dad asked.

"Yeah. I'm okay."

Mom's look of worry deepened. "I wish I knew what more I could do to help you."

Danny didn't have an answer for her. He didn't even know what to do to help himself. He was just glad that he hadn't shot a ghost ray and hurt Jazz when she was trying to get him to come to his senses. "Well, I'm fine now so you guys can get back to sleep. I'll try not to wake you up again."

"Don't worry about that. Just focus on getting some good sleep, okay?" Jazz said.

He gave her a half-hearted smile. "Thanks."

They all headed to the door, but Dad stayed behind. "If you need to talk, I'm here. For you, I mean. To talk. Or not, if you don't. Heck, I can talk enough for both of us," he said with a small laugh.

Danny chuckled. "Thanks, Dad."

"Goodnight, Son."

"Night," Danny said, then Dad left the room, closing the door behind him. He settled back down in his bed, but this time, sleep wasn't as easy to come by. At least if he couldn't sleep, he couldn't have a nightmare. He kept tossing, trying to get comfortable, but nothing felt right. He groaned and sat up in his bed, looking around at his darkened room. The shuttle models, NASA posters, and books that had always brought him joy and hope for that future. Maybe it was more of false hope considering how his grades became after he got his powers, but still hope. It all felt so far away anymore. Everything did. He looked at the clock next to his bed. The glowing red numbers flashed 2:38. He wondered if Sam or Tucker were still up, then wondered if he should even bother them. What would he even say? Other than telling them everything, there was nothing he could say, and he didn't want to think about that place any more than he already was. Every spare thought he had led back to that place, and thinking about it brought back all of the fear, anger, pain, and helplessness. He just needed something to do to take his mind off of it. He looked at the bookshelf across from his bed and saw a box that he'd forgotten about; the model kit for the Discovery space shuttle that he'd gotten for his birthday a few months before the accident that gave him his powers. With all his ghost stuff that he had to deal with, everything he used to do to fill his time kind of got pushed to the wayside. Well, there was no ghost to fight, not that he would want to do that unsupervised at this point, and he couldn't sleep. He unburied the box and went over to his desk and began putting the model together.