Ch 1 A glitch in the system
"Oh, my head is killing me." Danny was not having a great day.
Danny's day at first was going reasonably well. He was hanging out with his two best friends, Sam and Tucker. His sister was off doing… he really didn't know what she was doing, probably something to gather some extra credit for college or something or the other. But best of all his parents weren't home either. As they were out trying to hunt down some ghosts with their new ghost locator, they just invented it. They seemed happy about their latest invention, as their last invention 'the ghost portal' was a huge failure.
Despite plugging it in, it didn't even turn on.
But as the old saying goes. All good things must come to an end. As somehow Sam had managed to convince him to go into the portal on a dare. What made it worse was when he refused to go inside. Tucker, the not so smooth ladies man started making chicken noises at him. Surprisingly Sam was the one that got offended. Not on his behalf. Oh, no. She started to berate Tucker on the mistreatment of chickens and how they are not a cowardly species but a proud avian species that would fight to the death to protect their nest. Which also caused her to go on a full on rant about underground cock fighting rings. With the aforementioned word 'cock' made Tucker giggle a little.
Not wanting to let this augment spiral out of control he agreed to the bet. As anything was better than listening to those two squabbling like an old married couple going through a bad divorce. Hell, he'd rather risk death to avoid that bullet. He just didn't expect that he would really be risking death that very same day. As he accidentally turned on the portal from the inside. Then a bright flash of green and gold engulfed Danny's world, followed closely by pain that felt like nothing he had ever known before or knew possible as darkness eclipsed everything.
"What in the hell happened?" Getting up. Danny looked around himself and saw he was standing on a gold paved road, in an unending field of white fluffy clouds, with an ornate golden gate radiating what could only be described as 'Holy' light right in front of him. "Or do I say. What in heaven happened?"
"Hiey! Welcome to heaven. Can I have your name, please?"
"Wait, Heaven? As in the place where all the good people go?"
The man nodded in confirmation. "Yes, my boy. This is indeed Heaven."
"So, this right here is the pearly gates?" The man nodded again as Danny only now realized. That the man he was talking to had a pair of wings and a halo on his head. "Are… are you Saint Peter?"
"Well, last time I checked I was." The now named Saint said joyfully. "It's always a delight to know that people in the living world still remember you."
"Wait… am I dead?"
"Well, of course you are. But don't feel bad about it." Saint Peter flew towards Danny and placed a gentle hand on Danny's shoulder to comfort him. "You're only a stone's throw away from paradise, and all I need is your name." He smiled.
"But my friends, my family, my…" Before Danny could go on, Saint Peter stopped him.
"This and many more questions will be answered, and many more things will be explained to you. After, you give me your name." This seemed to calm him down.
"My name is Danny Fenton."
Saint Peter thumbed through the good book. "Sorry I can't seem to find you."
"Can you try under Daniel Fenton, instead."
"Ah, here we go. One Daniel … Fen… Ton…" As Saint Peter read off he grew very concerned, and it was showing on his face.
"Is something wrong?"
"No, nothing's wrong. Your name is on the list, so you are guaranteed entry into heaven." Danny felt relieved to hear that. "It's just that your name is circled with a lot of exclamation marks on it. So trust me when I say, this has never happened before." The worry and confusion was getting to Saint Peter until he got an idea. "I know how to solve this. I'll just call upon my superior."
"Your what, now."
It didn't even take a moment before two new angels appeared in bright flashes of light. One was a giant of a woman with grayish skin tone with elegant bird-like features with six wings. The other one was more to Danny's size, though just on the smaller size. When they landed they changed their appearance to look more human as the tall one went to Saint Peter. While the smaller one, came right in front of Danny and started to squeal like an overly excited school girl.
"Hi, I'm Emily, I'm a Seraphim. Though you can call me Em! Emmy, E, whatever you want. I go by whatever." Her joyful laughter was almost musical to his ears. "Welcome to heaven." Her smile was so bright and genuine Danny couldn't help but smile as well along with being blinded by it.
"Hi, Emily, My name is Daniel Fenton but please just call me Danny."
"Well, 'Danny' if you insist. I have so much to show you I can't wait. Do you like dogs, do you like ice-cream?"
"There are dogs in heaven?"
"All dogs go to heaven, silly. I thought everyone knew that."
"I'm afraid sightseeing will need to be put on hold for now." The lager Seraphim cut in. "My name is Sera. I'm afraid you'll need to come with me Daniel."
"Danny," Emilly, corrected Sera. "That's the name he prefers."
Smiling at that Sera nodded. "I'm Sorry. Danny, it is then."
"Am I in trouble?"
Sera just shook her head in the negative. "Worry not. Danny, you are in no trouble. You are however a curious anomaly. We have never before seen a name in the good book that was both circled and with exclamation points in them, everbefore. So we are a little confused as to what to do with you."
"That doesn't sound very reassuring."
"Oh, don't worry about it Danny. You are already a part of heaven so it can't be anything bad. I, ashore you." Emily tried to comfort Danny.
"How can you be so sure?" To answer that question. Emilly, summoned a gilded mirror in a puff of clouds and showed him his reflection.
What looked back was something Danny was not expecting. He had changed, but not by much. His hair turned from black to a pure white in color, same went for his new set of wings on his back, he even had a glowing gold halo on his head that had just a tiny hint of a green afterglow, his skin seemed to have a more healthy glow to it as well. No more pimples or acne, score. However the most eye-catching change, pun intended, was his eyes. His sclera had turned from the normal white into a golden hue while his once blue pupils became a vibrant green.
"Am I an angel?"
"Yes!" Emily exclaimed giddy with delight. "Isn't that grand!"
"I Guess? This is just so much to take in right now. I think I need to lay down for a while."
Sera however was having none of that. She lightly grabbed a hold of Danny and before he could say anything she spoke first.
"I'm sorry about all of this Danny, but I have called a meeting with all the Elder Angels and it is not very wise to keep them waiting." and with that a flash of light Danny, Sera and Emily, were now in an empty courtroom.
Looking around Sera was confused. No one seemed to me around, which was weird to her as the Elder Angels were always punctual to a fault.
"Where is everyone?" Emily gave voice to Sera's thoughts.
"Oh, I sent them back. As I'd believed it would be best if I was the one to deal with this." A new voice answered.
All three heads turned towards the owner of the voice and the two Seraphim both kneeled to this new being. Danny however looked at the man as he casually walked towards them. He was tall and fit, he was lightly tanned and very well groomed. Danny wished when he got older he could pull off facial hair as well as this guy.
Sera saw Danny was not kneeling and was about to correct that. Until she was stopped as the man simply raised his hand.
"That's quite alright Sera, I don't mind. In fact, I find it quite refreshing to see some people stand in my presence." Looking right at Danny the man Smiled warmly. "Hello, Danny. Welcome to heaven." he reached out his hand for Danny to shake.
Danny was shocked. This man must be very important and given what he saw it doesn't take a genius to guess who he was. "Uh, hi.. Uh.. God, sir." Danny took the offered hand jester.
"Ha, ha, ha!" the man laughed and even a small tear ran down the man's face. "That was a good one my boy, but no. I'm not God. However you were close. I'm the prince of heaven, Jesus."
Danny's eyes widened. "As in the guy on the cross?" As the words left his mouth Danny regretted saying something to stupid and rude. Thankfully the prince took it instride.
"The one and only my dear boy. It's always a delight to know that people in the living world still remember you."
"Yeah, I get that a lot."
Without wasting any time Jesus cut to the chase. "Look, I know this is all very confusing to you Danny, so I'm going to keep this simple and short. Are you following me?" Danny nodded understandably. "Good, so I'm going to make this quick as I'm a very busy man. You Danny are not dead. Per se, you are still very much alive and well."
This caught everyone by surprise.
"Does that mean I get to go back home?" There was hope in Danny's voice. Heaven was cool and all but he'd definitely like to return home.
"Yes." That simple answer was everything Danny wanted to hear.
However not everyone was happy to hear that simple one worded answer. "Jesus, I must interject on this, you don't have the authority to do this. This boy clearly belongs here and even if he were to be sent back you'd need the approval of the other Elder Angels."
"Actually, I do. As my approval comes all the way from the top. The big man himself gave the order and what he says gose."
"But… but" Sera was lost for words as God never gets involved with the running of heaven anymore. Why get involved now?
"As I said before. Danny, here never actually died when the portal activated he simply ended up here."
"Then how do you explain all of this?" Sera pointed out to Danny's appearance.
Danny also wanted to know but chose to keep quiet as he didn't want to ruin his chances of going home with his big mouth.
"Oh, that's easy. You see, when Danny here activated the portal to the ghost zone. By the way Danny, kudos to your parents, that was impressive work they did. The portal did glitch up at the beginning a bit and opened a portal right at heaven's front gate for a split second for Danny to come through. That however isn't the important part. Danny, when you activate the portal you got bombarded by both ghostly and heavenly energies."
This took everyone's attention as no one knew what that truly ment.
"So, what are you saying?" Danny couldn't keep quiet now something happened to him and he wanted to know. He wasn't the only one as well that wanted to know.
Jesus Looked Danny straight in the eye and told him. "You Danny, are now a very unique being. A truly one of a kind of God's creations. You are a half human, a quarter angel, and a quarter ghost."
"..." Silence was all that Jesus got.
Rolling his eyes he continued. "It's also not just that I'm sending home without some strings attached."
That caught Danny's attention. "What do you mean by strings attached?" Danny whined.
"Well, we can't have something so unique go to waste and we could use someone like you to do a few jobs in the world of the living world for us."
"So, I'm what. A holy servant or something."
Jesus shocked his head. "No, I'd go along the lines of a prophet or herald of heaven, maybe even a secret agent or something." Okay that sounded a lot cooler to Danny. "Oh, I've got it. Heavens Champion! That will be your title."
"What would my job entail?"
"That is a very good question and I'm quite glad you asked it, Danny. You see, things on the Earth are not going so well. Things are happening down there and our hands are tied even God's hands are full as they are now. We need you Danny, to push back against the coming darkness."
"What darkness is coming?"
It was then Jesus's mood turned grim. "A lot of things, my boy. Like ghosts are starting to pass into the world of the living and you need to stop them from doing any real damage to the world."
Danny now looked guilty about the mention of ghosts thinking it was his and his parents fault but Jesus was quick to alleviate some of those worries.
"No, it's not you or your parents fault for the ghost incursions they've already been on the incline for some time now. I'd wish that would be all that was wrong in the world." His voice grows darker and his tone heavier. "Sinner and demons have also increased in never before seen numbers. Along with other entities like vampires and other unspeakables. I won't sugar coat things for you Danny, we need you, your world needs you. Will you stand and protect it?"
There was really only one thing to say in a time like this. "Why me, why not someone more qualified to do this. For god sake, I'm only 15?"
The dark overtone seemed to lighten up a little over Jesus as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a U.S silver dollar. "Danny, I'm going to tell you a universal truth. God isn't all knowing or all powerful, no one is, and if someone does claim that it's their ego and pride talking." Placing the coin in his hand he continued. "They say 'In God we trust' however people tend to forget trust is a two way street. Humans have free will to choose their lot in life. The good, the bad and the ugly. And that can be a heavy burden so 'God trusts in you' Danny, to make the right choice."
Looking down on the silver coin that was given to him. Danny could see that on one side it had Jesus's head on it instead of Eisenhower's. It still said 'In God We Trust,' and on the other side the eagle was holding a rosary and said. 'God Trusts In You,' "This coin feels oddly heavy."
Jesus nodded at that. "Any responsibility is a Heavy burden Danny, the heaviest are those we take upon ourselves willingly and with purpose."
"I'll do it." What else was one to say to the guy that died for your sins?
"Jesus Christ, you can't just send the boy back." Sera interjected as she can't take this any more. "The boy would need to be watched and trained. We can't just send him back looking like that." points at Danny's angel ghost form. "He'd become a target for all the forces of darkness or worse still, he'd be worshiped as a false ideal."
As soon as she said that a silver circle appeared around Danny. Turning him back into a normal looking human. "I don't know how I did that."
"Well," Jesus just shrugs and says. "That solves that problem."
"That doesn't solve all the problems." Frustrated Sera sighs. "He'd still need to be looked after and trained if he is to have any hope of fending off his first imp."
"That's a brilliant idea actually." Snapping his finger, as Jesus just got a brain blast of an idea. "Emily," He points at her. "How would you like to be Danny's new guardian angel?"
Emily's eyes widen as well as her smile. "AHHHHHHHHHHH!" She squealed as she ran over to Danny and hugged him off his feet with more force than he was expecting. "Did you hear that Danny, I'm your new guardian angel." Letting Danny go Emily flew off "There's so much I need to do. I'll see you later Danny, and thank you Jesus. I won't fail you."
"Can you just do that? Make someone become a guardian angel?"
"I can't make anyone do anything Danny, I simply asked if she wanted to become 'your' guardian angel and it looks like she said yes, Danny."
Now losing her patience. "That still leaves his training!" Sera fumed at the son of god.
Jesus just waved that concern off. "The world is not going to end next week Sera, the kid needs some time to come in on his own." looking at his wrist. "Oh, would you look at the time? Danny, I would love to give you the grand tour of Heaven. You know, all the good spots. Like the infinity arcade/ buffay, the library with all the best books never written, the dog park and the zoo filled with dinosaurs. But it's time you are sent back. Your friends are missing you."
"Wait, I have so many questions." He never did get to ask any questions as the floor opened up a portal and he fell in.
The two were both silent for a moment as they both looked at that floor. It was Sera that spoke up first. "You don't wear a watch."
"He doesn't know that."
"You planned this didn't you?" The accusation was out there now.
"As they say, God works in mysterious ways. Others would even say, "like father like son".
"That just makes you sound like the mastermind behind all of this."
"It was just a simple glitch Sera, it could've happened to anyone. It simply just so happened to have happened to Danny… as I intended it to."
"Are you sure you did the right thing? Doing all of this, sending Him away like that. I wouldn't even be surprised if you had other things planned out." her voice that was once filled with frustration now sounded more tired.
"No, I'm not so sure."
Painced, Sera was about to open a portal to get back Danny. Only to be stopped by Jesus. "What are you doing? We need to get him back."
A sad smile crossed Jesus's lips. "Like I said to Danny, trust is a two way street. He needs to know we trust him. So that when the time comes, he will trust us."
"What if he doesn't?"
"Have a little faith in me. But most of all have faith in Danny. He'll need it for his upcoming trials and tribulation."