friking-awsom-kitten

[friking-awsom-kitten]

Cracked Clay Cup

for @greatbigolhampuckjustforme

“Are you awake?”

Until he heard that question, the answer to it would have been a resounding no.  However, he was awake now, so he pried his eyes open to squint at whoever had interrupted his sleep.  

“Maybe,” he mumbled into a fluffy pillow.  

“Excellent.  Then we can start the questionnaire.”

In his opinion, it was far too early for a questionnaire.  On the other hand, the creeping feeling that something wasn't quite right was creeping its way up his spine.  He levered himself out of his blanket cocoon and into a sitting position.  Then he retrieved his blanket, wrapping it around his shoulders.  He wanted to be cozy.  

“Questionnaire?” he asked.  

“Indeed.  It’s not long.”

“Um, okay.  What are you doing in, um…”  This… wasn’t his bedroom.  He was pretty sure this wasn’t his bedroom.  Or any place he’d seen before.  

He also didn’t think he’d seen the ghost before, which added an air of surrealism to the whole situation.  

“Who are you?” he asked, looking the ghost up and down.  He was tall and broad-shouldered, dressed in purple, with a hooded cloak thrown around his shoulders.  There was a rectangular hole in his chest, and in the hole was a pendulum and clock face.

“That is, in fact, one of the questions I have to ask you.”  The ghost showed him the back of a clipboard and produced a pen from thin air.

“Um, that, um.”  He frowned.  “Who am I, or who are you?”

“Yes,” said the ghost.  “But let us start at the beginning.  Do you know who you are?”

“Well, yeah, sure, I’m… Um.  I’m.  I…”  It should have been an easy question.  It should have been a question he didn’t even have to think about, which is why he didn’t.  But he didn’t even have the echo of an answer.

“I will mark that down as a no.”

“Wait, wait,” he said, “what’s going on, who am I?”

“I have to go through the whole questionnaire before I answer your questions, I’m afraid.  Those are the rules.”

“I… okay?”

“Do you recognize me in any capacity?”

“Nope.  Am I supposed to?”

“Excellent.  Next question, do you know where you are?”

He shook his head.  “Somewhere in the Ghost Zone, I think.”

“Do you know what year it is?”

“Um.  Two thousand five?  Or, uh, six?”  He shrugged.  Something like that.  It was a little blurry.  

“How old are you?”

“Teenage?”

“Can you describe yourself?”

“Um…  Forgetful?”

“Physically,” clarified the ghost.

He looked down.  He was covered in blankets and therefore unable to see so much as an inch of skin.  He crossed his eyes to look at his nose.  “White,” he said, finally.  “Probably.  And a guy.  Is that a physical thing?”

The ghost made a note on the clipboard.  “And how would you describe your parents?  Your family?”

“Uh.  They probably… exist.”

“Very good.  Favorite band?”

“Dumpty Humpty.  Why do I know that and not my name?”

“Please hold your questions until the end.  Favorite food?”

“Milkshake.  Kiwi fudge.  That’s weird.  That’s weird, isn’t it?”

“No weirder than a cheese puff and bacon milkshake.”

“Huh.  Is it weird that I want to try that now?”

“Somewhat, but not horribly so.”

He gazed at the ghost silently for several long seconds.  The ghost gazed back.  This was already an awkward situation, but it was getting worse by the second.  

“So… what’s the next question?”

“That was the last question. As you can doubtlessly tell, I am now answering your questions.”

He probably should have noticed that, actually.  He leaned forward, eager.  “Great, so, uh, what’s going on?  Why don’t I remember anything?”

“Your memory was removed in preparation for legal proceedings.”  Was it just him, or did the ghost seem… displeased about that?

“Uh… that seems sort of backwards, doesn’t it?  If I’m supposed to testify or defend myself, shouldn’t I at least remember what it is I’m doing?”

“That would be true if you were testifying or defending yourself.”

“Okay…  So…  What am I doing?”

“You are the subject of an extensive custody dispute.”

“And… that means I need to get my memory erased why?”

“We ghosts have a different method of settling custody disputes.  We prefer it if the child in question decides who to be with.”

“I kind of feel as if that’d also be easier with my memories.”

“On the contrary, memories can often lead to people choosing to stay in unpleasant situations.  For example, memories might create a sense of debt, sentiment, or honor that would prevent an objective decision based on current reality.”  The ghost said this as if he was reciting the phrase from rote memory.  

“That seems… wrong, somehow.  Like, there’s a missed assumption or something.”

“Be that as it may be, it is how we do things.”

“‘We’ being ghosts.”

“Correct.”

“Am I a ghost?”  This felt like another of those things he should just know, but, as before, he just didn't. 

“An unusual kind, but yes.”

“I'm dead?”  

“You died, yes.  Whether or not ghosts count as dead is a matter of scholarly debate.”

Well.  Okay, then.  He didn’t know what to say to that.  He sort of thought being dead would have more impact, but maybe it was hard to mourn for a life he didn't remember.  Or maybe he'd been dead for long enough that he'd already processed all the implications, and that had stuck around subconsciously.  Like the name of his favorite band.  

That was still weird.  

“So… What happens now?  Do you lead me out into the courtroom, see who I run to?  Do some kind of genetic test?  What are the rules here?”

“On the contrary, we have taken measures to keep your biological family from having an unfair advantage based on resemblance.  No.  What will happen is that, as a trial, you will spend a few days with each group that put themselves forward as potential guardians.  They have acquired housing appropriate for a young ghost, and have been… reviewed… to prevent abuses or other troubles.  You may leave their temporary guardianship whenever you choose.  However, once you leave, you will not be able to return to them until and unless you choose them at the end of these trials.  Between the potential guardians, you will stay here with me.”

There were so many troubling things in that explanation that he didn’t even know where to start.  

“So… the courtroom thing, but drawn out.”

“I suppose so, if you choose to look at it that way.”

“Right.  So, um.  What’s my name?”

“It’s Daniel.”

“Great.  Okay.  Cool.”  Daniel rubbed his eyes.  Despite all the heart-attack inducing things he was learning about today, he was still half-asleep.  Maybe it was a memory-wipe side-effect.  “You know, this is kind of messed up.  Some kind of weird reverse fairy tale kind of thing.  Like that story where someone has to pick the right girl when she’s been turned into a flower and there are two other flowers.  Why do I know that?”

“Unfortunately, I am not allowed to give you that information.  I am here to tell you the rules and make sure you are… able to do this.”

“To make sure you guys didn’t nuke my brain, you mean?”

“To some degree, yes.  But this is also frequently rather emotional, at least that is my understanding.  You are handling it remarkably well.”

“Oh, I’m just delaying my breakdown until after I see what I look like.  Better to have some idea of what my body is capable of in terms of punching walls and all that.”

“Wise,” said the ghost, with a small smile.  “There is a bathroom just through that door if you wish to examine yourself physically.”

“I’ll do that, in a bit.  But, first, um.  You keep saying we and us.  Who is that?  Who’s doing this?  I mean, ghosts, sure, but more specifically?”

“The legal system of the Ghost Zone.”

“Which is… Who?  Exactly?  The Observants?”

“You remember that.  Interesting.  But, yes, they are, for better or worse.”

“And you?  What's your position?”

“I am merely a neutral monitor selected by the Observants.”

“Monitor, huh?”

“I feel as though it would be misleading of me to call myself an observer under these circumstances.”

Daniel nodded.  “I can understand that.  I guess.  Is that, um, your usual job?  Taking care of kids like this?”

“I’m afraid not.  I work for the Observants in another capacity.”

“What capacity?”

“That would be one of the things I am not permitted to tell you.”

“Okay, and what’s up with that?  Why can’t you tell me things?”

“I am not allowed to give you information regarding your own past, including contextual information.”

Daniel frowned at the ghost.  “That sort of implies that I knew you, though, doesn’t it?”

“I can neither confirm nor deny that.”

“Cool,” said Daniel.  “That’s helpful.  You’re not in the running for my… whatever I should call this.  My guardianship?”

The ghost nodded.  “That is an acceptable term, but I must remind you that I am a neutral monitor.”

“Sure.  Right.”  There were other questions he could ask, other questions he should ask, but his brain felt fried.  Did he have a brain, being a ghost and all?  Or was he just, like… goo?

Yeah, no, he wasn’t going to ask that.  He was going to go do something more… concrete.  Bathroom time.  He was sure it would be just as harrowing, especially with the implication that his appearance had been changed somehow, but he could be brave.

He shuffled to the edge of the bed and swung his legs over.  He frowned at the cold floor and decided to take the blankets with him.  Then, he realized one of his questions had gone unanswered.

“Hey, um.  What’s your name? You never did say.”

“You can call me Clockwork.  And when you are done in the bathroom, I have breakfast waiting downstairs.”

Daniel heaved himself up and went to the bathroom, looking over his shoulder at Clockwork as he went.  

This was just… really weird.  Should he try to escape?  Like, even if Clockwork was telling the truth about everything, this wasn’t exactly what he would call a good situation.  But if this was the lie, then what was the truth?  The truth was always worse, when people were lying like that.

… Not that Daniel could come up with any specific examples of that.  It was more of a feeling.  

Soft lights came on in the bathroom as he stepped in.  It was… a bathroom.  He was sure he’d been in other bathrooms before.  This one had a purple-on-lavender color scheme and a large bathtub.  The fixtures were brass.  In other words, it resembled Clockwork to a surprisingly high degree.  Daniel wondered if he lived here normally, or if he’d just been the one to decorate.  Or if someone with a sense of irony had decorated it for him.  

Whichever.  Maybe he’d ask Clockwork about it and see if he answered.  It was harmless enough, compared to some of the questions he could ask.  

There was also a mirror.  He stared at it.  

His skin was a sort of tan pink, awash with freckles.  His hair was white.  His eyes were glowing and green.  His ears were long and pointed, curving up around the sides of his face to sit on the top of his head.  The blankets were also purple, funnily enough.  Huh.  

He leaned closer, squinting.  What kind of ears were those, anyway?  He had to assume he didn’t have them when he was alive and human.  Cat?  Dog?  Fox?  It wasn’t an automatic ghost thing, either, since Clockwork didn’t seem to have them, although that hood could likely hide a lot.  

If he had animal ears, did he have anything else?  Maybe some cool slit pupils?  He leaned even closer, over the counter.  Maybe?  They might be slitted?  He alternately blinked and widened his eyes, trying to make his pupils change sizes.  

Yes!  They were slitted!  Cool!

Which put better odds on this being a fox or cat thing than a dog thing.  Dogs had round pupils.  

Next question: did he have a tail?

He swung the blankets off his shoulders and folded them up so he could set them on the counter.  He was, surprise surprise, wearing purple pajamas.  But he also had a large, fluffy tail.  He petted it.  It was very fluffy.  

Excellent.  He’d always wanted a tail.  Well, he’d wanted one for the few minutes he’d been aware there was a possibility he could have one.  Very nice.  Good feeling.  Soft.  

It also seemed very unfamiliar.

Precautions.  

Right.  

The smile slid off his face.  Well.  On reflection, he didn’t think Clockwork was lying to him, but he really needed to know more about him to make a real determination.  Just like he needed to make a determination about his potential ‘guardians.’  

This was giving him real adoption scam vibes.  Which was weird, because he’d’ve thought that’d be one of the memories they’d erase if they wanted to do that.  Maybe memory erasure was just… really inexact.  That sounded like a possibility.  Maybe there was some other weird scam going on.  

Only one way to find out.  He washed up, then left the bathroom and navigated towards the stairs.  

The stairs were also purple.  

Daniel was definitely leaning towards this place being decorated by someone with a weird sense of humor.  A non-Clockwork someone.  There weren’t nearly enough clocks for this place to have been designed by someone named Clockwork.  You had to be really into clocks to name yourself Clockwork.  

“Welcome,” said Clockwork, smiling at Daniel from the center of the purple kitchen.  “There are pancakes.”  He gestured to the table.  “And the file next to them has the names of your potential guardians.  Why don’t you read through them and see who you might like to stay with first.”

“You want me gone so soon?” asked Daniel, sliding into his seat.  

“You are welcome to stay here for as long as you want, but then you won’t get your memories back.”

“I can get my memories back?” asked Daniel, looking up sharply.  

“Yes, they will be returned after you make your choice,” said Clockwork.  He turned back to the stove.  “Hashbrowns?  Eggs?  Sausage?”

“Um,” said Daniel, who was gradually realizing how hungry he was.  “All of them?”

“Of course.”

Daniel turned his attention back to the file folder, then flipped it open.  Time to see who he was being… adopted by?  Was that the right term here?  

The first page had seven groups of names, bullet pointed.  It was also done in calligraphy, which was certainly a contrast to the plain manila folder it was stored in.  

“Anyone catch your eye?” asked Clockwork, setting down a plate with eggs and sausage on it.  

“Does it matter which order I do this in?”

“Not at all.”

“So I could start at the end.”

“Indeed.”

“Great,” said Daniel.  “Then let’s start there.  After breakfast.”

[friking-awsom-kitten]

@Cassien Nitrate

[friking-awsom-kitten]

Three ghosts peeked through the door opening into the ruins. It was empty. One of them signaled and they all hurried in. The three were variously different in shape and in wear, but it was all camouflage clothing as one could clearly- NOT see because they were hidden in the shadows, camouflaged. They were also all injured and wrapping their wounds quickly to keep blood from staining anything. They couldn't afford to leave any part of themselves behind in this place.

They hurried their way to the middle of the room but paused before reaching their destination.

One of them looked around the room nervously, skimming over the many skeletons in the ground. "It's the only thing intact in the entire place. The tales didn't lie about the Final Battle."

Another nodded. "It is called the fight of the century. Let's get it. Before any of the traps go off or the guards wake up."

"Or the hellhound scends us," the third continued monotone even as they approached the Sarcophagus, "Or Pariah senses our presence. Or someone comes in for a lunch break and kicks our tails because they're the strongest warriors in this realm and we can't call for reinforcements."

They floated in front of the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep. The only thing looking unbroken and untouched in between all the chaos around it. They gave an involuntary shiver at being so near such a legendary artifact.

The one that had spoken last turned to the ghost at their right. "Well? Go ahead and do your magic. We have thirty seconds."

The one addressed grumbled and moved their tentacles to the coffin, only hesitating for a second before leaning close into the keyhole. They grabbed a few complicated tools from the inside of their suit. "I can't understand why we couldn't get the Key first. Can't have been harder than breaking into here."

"I doubt it. Not many would try to break into here without the Key."

The third grinned, but didn't move form their position. One of their many heads facing the door with focus. Another winked at them. "We're dumbasses that come here without it."

"Nonsense. Septir is the best lockpicker in the seven realms."

"You made up that title. I didn't escape prison just to be thrown in again because you forced me to join your little rebellion."

"You wanted to join. Everyone who isn't a coward is on some level a part of the rebellion, I can assure you."

"Yeah." The multiheaded ghost agreed cheerfully. "Dark is definitely not a public favorite. I really hope this works. We've been trying to full fill this mission forever and lost too many souls to his...security." they glanced at the bodies around them.

The other nodded and nudged the Lockpicker on their injured tentacle, who flicked it annoyed at them. "Quick. I smell a shift."

One of the heads of their third companion started sweating. "Hurry. I don't want to end up like Plasmius."

"Plasmius got what was coming for him," another head tried to reassure the first. "We have a little more time. And they won't know it was us. The rebellion will have hidden our traces the best way possible. Besides, we'll succeed."

The ghost standing above the tentacled ghost put their hands on their hips and stared up at the Sacrophagus. "We have to. Whoever is in here is our last hope. The only one who has ever matched Pariah Dark in battle."

Their speech was interrupted by a click.

The three froze when the lid of the sacrophagus shifted. They held their breath, but nothing exploded and no alarm sounded...that they knew of.

The tentacled ghost couldn't believe their eyes. "It worked? That lock was centuries old."

Standing next to them the ghost put a hand on their back. "Good work. We have to hurry."

The mutliheaded being left their post and quickly joined them as they slowly opened the lid.

It creaked open, making them wince. They peered in, having no idea what to expect.

They're greeted by the oddest thing they'd ever seen. A smallish ghost with two arms, two legs, dirty frosted white hair and two eyes that were closed shut. The man (because no matter what the ghost looked like, they had been in the Sarcophagus for hundreds of years) had a basic color scheme of two colors.

"Wow," Clarasil, the multiheaded ghost whispered, "That is the most basic ghost I've ever seen."

"Definitely didn't expect that." The other agreed. Because there were no special features to be seen on him (the legends had always stated him as a male). Nothing to give away what his obsession was or what he specialized in. That was always something visible on ghosts. But this one looked like a blank slate. It could be anything. Even his clothes were simple.

The only notable thing were the gadgets he'd obviously used to fight Pariah.

Clarasil cried out in muffled anguish, thus interrupting their staring. She held her side, trying to keep the blood from flowing from around the arrow imbedded in her stomach. It was no use. It splattered the ground.

The other two reacted quickly. The guards had arrived. Their presence was known. They had to complete their mission.

The sleeping man was janked out from his makeshift bed and Septir enveloped three of their tentacles around him. They ran towards the other hallway. Away from the two archers at the entrance.

They avoided looking at them lest they reveal their identities. They were also scared they'd freeze in fear at the sight of them. There were many tales regarding the keepers of the Sacrophagus and they didn't dare take any chances.

"Timmel."

Timmel stopped at the terrified whisper, while Septir and the sleeping ghost continued their frantic sprint to the entrance, and turned around to see Clarasil taking out her weapons. That could only mean she was staying to fight back. Which means there was no hope for her.

"No. Nonono. Clara, please. Come with us. Who cares about a little blood." Timmel grabbed her hand and avoided looking at her many eyes, sure they were staring at her with pity. "Come on. They'll catch up."

"I'll hold them off." One of Clarasil's heads reassured, which was terrible reassurance.

"Take the Challenger. I knew the risks," another gave her a firm expression.

Timmel finally looked at her with tears in their eyes. They knew they shouldn't have gotten attached to their companions. They knew there were gonna be casualties. They knew.

Clara's other face was crying. She didn't say anything but pried Timmel's hand from her arm and gave it a kiss. She turned around and charged towards the archers that were almost upon them.

Timmel made a fist of their hand and wiped their eyes with it, quickly turning around and hurrying to catch up with Septir and their charge. The mission was long from over. The other ghost didn't say anything about the whole situation, but held tighter to the ghost in their tentacles.

They dodged one of the many traps they had to get through for the exit. The archers had yet to appear after them. Clarasil must be giving them a hard time.

Next to Timmel, Septir cursed.

"They're waking up."

"Now?!"

"Yes, now. What do I do? Are they gonna attack me?"

"Just hold on. We're almost there."

In their distraction they didn't notice the ghosts up ahead until they had already thrown their attack.

Septir reared back but knew they wouldn't be able to dodge the maze being thrown at them. They wrapped all their tentacles around the being in their hold and half turned just in time to receive the hit right on.

They screamed and feel to the ground.

"Septir!"

"I- I'm fine. Take the Challenger."

They both knew that Septir wouldn't be handing their charge over if they were fine, but Timmel did as they were told (right after throwing some spades towards their new attackers).

Septir had been right. The Challenger was waking up. He squirmed in Timmel's arms and groaned softly.

This only made the attackers drop their weapons and start running over to them. They were afraid of what would happen if the boy would wake. It would only be a matter of time before Pariah Dark himself showed up.

Septir scrambled up with difficulty. They weren't bleeding but had obvious problems with moving just about everything. "Don't just stand there. We're not done yet."

Timmel smiled and nodded. "Up and at 'em, you criminal."

They dodged another maze and dodged it again at it turned around back to its owner.

"Hand over the ghost!" One of the attackers shouted as they stepped aside from another trap setting off.

The ghost in question shifted again and Timmel looked down and with a start realized the eyes were opening. Freaking out, Timmel ran forward. They slipped out a spade and wooshed it at the ghosts' feet. They flew over it.

"Timmel!" Septir struggled to catch up. "Behind us!"

The other guards had caught up. A sword burst out of the ground and nearly sliced them. The walls of the long and trap-filled hallway almost seemed like they were closing in on them. One of the Keepers had reached them and lunged straight for the boy. Timmel swung out their foot to kick them away but they caught it and snapped the bone. They screamed and fell to the ground. Their hold on the man loosened but quickly tightened again. They would hold on to hope until their last breath.

Next to them Septir managed to hit the Keeper, but got stabbed in the tentacle for it.

Something moved Timmel's arms and hit them in the stomach, making them lose their hold. There was a gasp and a flurry of movement.

The Challenger had woken up.

He swayed on his two feet, as if still in the realm of dreams, and did his best to take in the confusing circumstances he had woken up in.

Everything around him had frozen.

The Keepers stiffened when his gaze swept over them. It was the first time they'd ever seen the man they had been keeping closed in. Their whole lives they had spent keeping this being in his place and others from freeing him. And now here he is, blinking at them slowly.

One of then panicked. Something in their instincts told them they had to attack now or they'd never survive. That might not be the smartest thing to do but their instincts had only ever been programmed to attack so they quickly drew their maze and swung.

Timmel didn't even see it fly. Maybe it was because they were distracted by the awoken Challenger, but the speed of the weapon was certainly a factor. They made a noise of distress, fully prepared to stand up and take the hit, but it had passed over them.

The Challenger only shifted to let the maze pass. As if being polite and opening the door for it. His eyes followed it, still distracted, almost fascinated by it, before settling on the attacker. The Keeper still had their hand outstretched and Timmel realized too late what they were waiting for.

The Challenger just rocked back to the other foot and the maze grazed by his head. He even reached out to grab it, only missing it by a few inches. He pouted when it returned to the flabbergasted Keeper's hold. "Hey, uh-"

His voice was like that of a puberescent teen, heavy with sleep and croaky with the disuse.

"Have I been kidnapped in my sleep again? This seems a bit more dramatic and bloody than all the other times- Whoa."

The Keeper lunged forward, the other three copying them, desperate to throw this...thing... (simultaneously the most feared and awe-inspiring creature in the Ghost Zone) back in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep and completely forget about this meeting.

Timmel was in the brink of shock at all the happenings, but their body instantly reacted at the threat and threw their entire damaged body at a Keeper that had gotten too close to their charge.

Septir also rushed forward to protect him. With their beaten down and half moving body they could only act as a shield and let the attack come.

Timmel had been successful in taking a sword from the attacker and also in taking a kick to the head that made their vision go wild for a second.

The ghost wondered if they were dreaming when the Challenger cried out in alarm and pulled them towards him before forming a shield of ectoplasm around the three. Timmel choked in their attempt to stop him from using his own energy inside this place, lest they track him by it, before realizing that with the time he'd been laying here traces of his energy were bound to be left behind anyhow.

The man shouted at the Keepers attacking his shield. "Hey! Can you calm down? Can we not attack each other?!" When it became clear that they weren't answering him he kneeled by Septir, who'd collapsed in exhaustion. "Hello? Who are you and why would you protect me at the cost of your own life?" His eyes flitted towards Timmel at this and Timmel could see the deep concern and fear in them. Looking more like an old and well worn mother than the young adult his body portrayed.

Septir coughed. "Because my life isn't worth much."

The other looked shocked. "All life has equal worth. Ghost or human." He frowned disapprovingly. "If your life isn't worth much then mine isn't either."

Septir laughed- Timmel, in all the time they'd known the ghost, had never heard them laugh - and said: "You couldn't be more wrong. Timmel, go."

"Yes." They stood up. "He must almost be here. There's no way he hasn't been alerted. We have to escape."

The Challenger, despite not having a clue about what is happening, nodded and helped Septir stand up. However he grunted and the shield disappeared.

The Keepers were nasty fighters. Powerful too. A measly shield would never hold them back long. They had broken through and were now swinging their weapons at the trio. The Challenger quickly stood up to meet them and formed a sword of ice in his hand, surprising everyone.

Despite all of the stories and legends surrounding this man, no one could tell what his powers were. What obsession he had. What exactly he was capable of. There were rumors obviously, but nothing concrete or solid.

Timmel had never figured he'd be an ice core.

They quickly tore their eyes away to take the chance and bring Septir and the Challenger to safety. They grabbed Septir only to be stopped by a sluggish tentacle.

Timmel looked down and knew immediately what the conviction and designation in the eyes of the other meant. "No. Not you too."

Septir grinned, showing off sharp teeth and patted the younger ghost's head. "Now none of that. I'll only lead them to you if I come with."

In that moment, Timmel could clearly see in Septir the parent behind the criminal. With their soft expression. "I picked the lock containing the most valuable treasure. I've fulfilled my obsession. I'm satisfied." They truly seemed like it. They hadn't lived the most moral 'life', having been a criminal and all, but they'd done good, breaking outlaws from jail, including themselves, robbing from one of Pariah's banks. But they hadn't even announced their chosen gender yet. Not that there was any doubt in Timmel's mind that Septir would've always wanted to be a 'they'.

Timmel sighed and nodded. They set Septir down and stood up. "Thank you for your service."

"My pleasure, commander."

Timmel swung around as the last of the other ghost faded away. They barely dodged a sword and were able to stab the swordsman in the stomach. Their spade sliced through the opening in the armor with a satisfying slash.

The Challenger stomped his foot and ice spread across the floor and encased two of the Keepers. It only held them for a few seconds before they were able to burn through. They were fire cores, as was the preference with Pariah Dark. Ice was a good defense against that but the offense wouldn't suffice.

That didn't seem to deter the ghost as he swung his hands up and, as they glowed brightly, thrust them towards the Keepers. It was an amazing sight. The torrent of fire that surrounded the others. The element seemed to grab them and slam them against the wall. Not even their own control over the fire was strong enough to help them escape the shining machete that sprang from the ceiling and sliced them in half.

Timmel took the opportunity to grab the man and make a run for the opening, limping terribly on their broken leg. They had no time to waste, despite how much of that time Timmel wanted to waste in thinking deeply of how it was possible to have two contradicting cores within the same being.

"Really hope those were bad guys and I didn't just destroy two innocent ghosts!" He shouted as he ran backwards and shooted a mixture of fire and ice blasts at the attackers.

Timmel ignored that for now. "Don't worry. They deserved that. Come on!" They'd gotten out of the hallway. Finally.

Timmel and the Challenger did not stop as they ran through the castle grounds. Alarms blaring around them. Their charge gave a choked gasp. "Pariah's keep?? That's where- Oh. Oh shit!"

They did not have time for the crisis he looked like he was falling into. "We have. To. Go!!"

Timmel tugged on him and he nodded, finally turning around and running like a normal ghost. "Right yeah. Going is a real good option right now." He unexpectedly grabbed them and they shot up to the sky. Timmel could almost swear they saw the blurred and brightly glowing shape in the distance wearing a fiery crown. But they shot away faster than a rocket.

The Zone seemed to swirl around them, helping them forward, propeling them forward.

They had escaped.

They had escaped the most guarded prison of all that had previously been holding in only a single prisoner who was at this moment holding Timmel in their arms as they shot away at breakneck speed.

The ghost took a breather. They'd succeeded. After all the planning and training and more planning they hadn't actually expected to succeed in their mission. It had been their riskiest mission up to date. They'd already said goodbye to all their loved ones. They'd been given a celebration before their departure. None of them were expected to actually come back. Because so many others hadn't.

But they'd gotten him out. He was free.

Now what.

DP Avatar au

In this Danny Phantom avatar au it has nothing to do with the actual avatar (the last Airbender) and everything with Dannyboy. Let me explain.

So some idiot stole the key and opened the sarcophagus of eternal sleep releasing the King, the Pariah of ghosts. Pariah Dark. However, to the relief of all the ghost population, local child hero Danny Phantom someHow traps that sucker back in the mummy coffin, saving everyone. They're all happy, they're celebrating. Sadly not everyone is joining in. Danny, for one, because he's resting and recovering from almost dying. And Vlad. Who happens to be the idiot that released the Ghost King.

Vlad Plasmius is furious and stressed and hoping Desiree would appear and give him three bottles of vodka, because he cannot find the ring. The Ring of Rage. Half of a two-set of accessorial artifacts that would grant him a power to rival the mightiest of ghosts. Thanks to Daniel he was able to obtain the Crown of Fire, but that was absolutely useless without the ring. Which he couldn't find.

He was rummaging in the ruins of the King's castle, hoping against hope that Daniel had taken it off and thrown it away like the careless boy that he is. He had done the same with the Crown so it wasn't that big of a reach. However he was running out of places it could have been hidden and he finally sat down on the ground. Heavy dread weighing him down.

If it wasn't here then that meant Pariah still had it. Then that meant it was unreachable unless he opened the sarcophagus again and unleashed the now even more wrathful king of the dark. A shiver went through his spine. He knew he didn't stand a chance against that. He could use all the wit he had abundantly but in the end it was power that mattered. Daniel; he had both wit and power. Not enough of both sadly but if he waited a few years and played his cards right he'd be able to keep both items to himself. And he'd have unimaginable power.

A few years later Danny was having a nice, pleasant chat with the dark lord of the ghostly dimension.

"I will destroy you," the king roared.

"You can try," Danny replied.

His smug ass dodged the sword that would've sliced him in half as Pariah readied some hellfire and almost singed the flesh off Danny's skin, which was more tan than even he could manage.

"You won't stop me this time, half child."

Danny was afraid he wouldn't.

"I will make sure you'll never be able to stop me again."

Danny was afraid of that too.

But he had to try. Like he'd done three years ago. He didn't know who was stupid enough to let the king out fucking again. As he and Pariah crossed swords he made a mental note to hunt down the culprit after this.

They were in the throne room AGAIN. Pariah had somehow found the Crown and Ring AGAIN. The thing was that this time Danny didn't have any special supermachine to increase his power. He did have more experience and more additions to his suit. He hadn't stopped improving while Pariah was locked up and sleeping.

The other ghost realized this and decided he had to finish this Now. If he didn't get rid of Danny Phantom he would always be a threat to his kingship. Not only because of the boy's power, Daniel Phantom also had something Pariah would never have. The support of the people. Many of whom were giving their everything to fight back Pariah's own personal skeletal army.

Pariah was thrown against the stairs. He looked up to see his previous prison above him. The thing that had trapped him for centuries. Ages he could have spent ruling.

The halfa landed a few steps below him and reached back to punch him. "Give up, Pariah Dark. It's over."

The ghost grinned wide, glowing eyes shining bright with dark purple energy. He grabbed the child's arm and pulled him to him. "You're right." His voice was full of unmistakable triumph. "It is over, Phantom child."

He turned around, taking the boy by surprise and shoved him into the sarcophagus. The boy let out one final cry before it was cut off by the slamming of the lid of the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep.

#danny phantom #dannyfenton #avatar au #pariah dark #sleepingdanny au #posting this on this account bc this is my writing account #the og post was just the concept/prologue of the actual story #i wanted to post that separately so yall could add on what you wanted if my story isnt satisfying idk could happen #i also dont like 'sleepingdanny au' can someone come up with a better name #posted this on my mobile so i dont have the reading link sorry bout that #long post #chapter one

[friking-awsom-kitten]

When life gives you lemons, its a sign. Be sour. IASA Chapter 6

Danny held himself still with his legs as his dad turned a corner sharply. He turned to check that the screeching cars they'd left behind hadn't ended up in a crash. "As much as I love your driving." He turned to the man next to him. "I'd love it even more if you didn't cause a car accident."

"Don't you worry about a thing, Danno! I have it under control. I'll get you to school in a pickle and that photographic scum will not catch us."

"The paparazzi knows where I go to school," the boy mentioned drily, "but thanks for driving me."

"Here we are!"

The RV stopped with a screech and Danny took a moment to stare at the building. He took a breath and grabbed his backpack from between his legs.

"And if anyone bothers you, you just tell them. Your mother would tell you to pinch their arm hard but she's had to learn the hard way that people complain too much. Learn it from me, Danny, just be yourself and they will probably leave you alone. Teens your age only bother people who are like them. Fake friends, they are."

"Dad." Danny fidgeted with his backpack. "I don't know if I can do this actually."

Jack smiled at his son, leaning on the steering wheel. "Do what. There's nothing you have to do."

"I- I just wanted to go out and see what the town was like and what school is like and I don't wanna stay all the time at home and school's the only place they'll kick the paparazzi out, but there's all the kids and what if they expect me to be all this...heroic."

"Danny," he interrupted, "you don't have to do anything. They shouldn't expect you to do anything and there's nothing you have to prove. You're amazing, no matter what they say." He nudged the boy on the shoulder with a grin. "Just be yourself!"

Danny threw his hands up. "But I don't know who I am!"

"You don't have to know! You are you." He snorted. "Babies aren't handed a list of personalities when they are born. They just are." He clicked the door open for Danny. "Now go out there and don't let anyone tell you who you are."

Danny looked outside at the growing crowd of kids. He turned back to his grinning dad and hugged him. "Ok." He smiled and let go. "You'll pick me up right."

"Righto!" The man seemed even more enthusiastic now. "See you after school. Call if you need me to pick you up earlier. Have fun!"

Danny waved gently as his father backed up. The teens were giving the RV a wide range as he screeched away. The boy adjusted his backpack and speedwalked to school. He wanted to get there before he was mobbed.

Some students were already walking over to him and a few asked him why he was at school so early and how he was feeling.

Danny tried to answer a bit as he walked to the front doors. He paused in the entrance and looked at the few kids around him. "Wait. Can someone tell me where the principal's office is?"

Before he could even finish his question they were pushing and guiding him through a path he wouldn't remember later.

"Aren't you guys going to be late?"

"Yeah but I don't care," a guy waved his question away. "Well, we still have like ten minutes but it wouldn't be the first time I came in late. A lot can happen on your way to school. That's why I try to come earlier."

Danny didn't know how to respond to that. He let them stand outside as he knocked on the principal's door. He entered at their calling and stood in the doorway.

"Hey. I'm-"

"Mr. Fenton oh!" The woman seemed surprised even though Danny's parents had called. "You're early."

Danny nodded but didn't say anything. Did she expect him to give a reason to why he's ten minutes early??

She cleared her throat and fished out some papers, ignoring the kids lingering at the door. "We've come to an agreement, as you know, and talked over the conditions of your education and behaviour in school."

She paused to look at him and he nodded. They'd talked in depth about the rules she'd sent in her email so Danny knew what she expected of him.

"I've spoken to your teachers over your conditions. If they don't respect your decisions you may speak to me about it. But if I hear anything about you disrespecting anyone there will be consequences."

"Yes, I know, ma'am. Wouldn't dream of it."

Her face softened and she almost smiled as she handed him his papers. "Here is some information of yesterday's classes. I trust you've studied the other papers I sent over so you could be a little up to date with the lessons."

Danny grimaced with his face. "I did read through them. But if it's concerning my memory, I've learned to not rely much on that."

The principal winced, thinking she'd stumbled upon a touchy subject, but frowned when she saw his playful smile. "Of course not," she played along, "In that case: please report if you have anymore problems. You have the school app on your phone, don't you? You'll see your schedule there. Please go on your way." She leaned to the side and scowled at the teens at the door. "And make sure to not be late."

Danny waved and closed the door, leaving her to her work. He tucked the papers under his arm as he fished for his phone. He looked up and sighed, seeing the kids had stayed.

"She has a soft spot for you, man," one boy announced.

Danny hummed as he scrolled for his schedule and frowned at the number of his class.

"Of course she does," another rolled his eyes. "He will probably be every teacher's pet."

They followed Danny as he searched the hallways for his classroom.

"Are you kidding. Have you seen his attendance?"

"Hey, Danny?" A kid whose name he did not know addressed him and he raised his eyebrows. "You'll still go out to fight ghosts right?"

Danny stopped in the middle of the hallway, students that were filling the hallways moved around him. "I eh. I don't know." He continued walking to escape the groups' shocked stares and to not block the pathway anymore. "Do ghosts really attack this place? Why would they do that?"

"Because they're evil?"

Danny and the others turned to look at the boy with differentiating looks of offense.

"Dude, not cool."

"Yeah. What the heck."

"Sorry sorry."

Danny rolled his eyes and stopped in front of his classroom. "Besides, I don't even know how to use my ghost powers. Shouldn't you guys go to class?"

"You don't what?!"

"Go to class." Danny stepped in the classroom and sat down on a random seat.

The students that had been following him stared at him through the entrance and gestured wildly. He scowled and made shooing motions until they finally pouted and left. The halfa looked around the room at the classroom.

A lot of kids were there already and were staring at his seat in the corner of the room. Danny could tell they wanted to talk to him so he quickly set to opening his backpack to seem busy.

The boy froze when he'd unzipped the bag. The little blob ghost from his fridge was sitting comfortably in between his textbooks. "What are you doing here?"

The blob opened its red glowing eyes and peered up at him.

"You can't follow me to school."

It crooned a bit in fear and buried itself deeper in, making Danny feel bad. He reached out and touched it, sending a reassuring wave to calm it down. "It's fine. I'll just have to ask the principal wether they can let you come along. Just don't cause trouble." He hoped they would let it come. It's presence was very nice and he felt less lonely with it.

"Who are you talking to?"

Danny looked up to see a few kids around him. The blob ghost meanwhile slid over his hand and snuggled up under his chin. Danny giggled as it tickled his neck.

"What is that?"

"What is it doing here?"

"It's not dangerous is it?"

"Is it your pet?"

Danny shrugged at them. "It's a ghost, obviously. It just followed me to school and it's not my pet." He said as the blob curled over his shoulder and purred on his chest.

One of the kids wordlessly lifted their phone and took a picture.

They were distracted by the teacher entering the classroom. "Alright. Everyone to their seats." She set her bag on the desk and took out a folder before looking up. "Today we're continuing with the book so-"

Danny looked up from his frowning at his books as he tried to find the one for this class to see what had made her pause. She was staring at him with wide eyes and an open mouth. He raised an eyebrow.

She jumped a bit and straightened. "Oh! Mr. Phantom I mean Fenton! What a surprise. Welcome to Biology! How are you feeling?"

"...fine." He paused as his eyes flitted around the room awkwardly. "Thank you."

She nodded nervously. "We hadn't expected you for another week for sure. Do you need anything? Or do you have everything?"

Danny shook his head. "No, it's fine. We planned things with the principal already. She should've sent you an email on the agreement."

"Yes, she did. Your free passes so you can go and fight ghosts or just to skip class when it gets boring, right?" She winked and giggled. "I bet the other kids are jealous?"

Danny knew she was nervous and just desperatingly trying to relate to him and make him like her but that did not make her putting the other students down any better. His shoulders tensed a bit and he took a breath as he answered. "I won't abuse my freedom. I think I'll have enough trouble trying to keep up with the classes without me skipping unnecessarily. And no one needs to be jealous of me. There's nothing to be jealous of." He didn't want others to think he was privileged in any way. "Anyways. I'm here to learn so please, you can just ignore me and do whatever you usually do."

The teacher seemed taken aback and she laughed nervously. "Of course of course. I- well this is biology. And uh what page were we on?"

"43 miss," a student deadpanned and a few others snickered.

The teacher looked at her own book. "Ah of course. We were learning about blood circulation. But I don't suppose you have to learn that, huh Mr. Fenton?" She laughed and Danny sighed.

"I don't know. I'm still human from what I've heard."

"Oh. Do ghosts have beating hearts too?"

"Miss if have questions about ghosts you can ask my parents. I came here to learn of human biology. If you can't teach the class when I'm here then I'll just leave. If I'm not learning anything in your class I'm wasting my time."

There was a short shocked silence and then a few kids in the back went "ooooooooh buuurn" quietly.

The teacher laughed nervously, trying to salvage the situation. "Oh you're right. Of course. Let's- students, calm down- let's get started. Open your books."

Danny slumped into his seat, really hoping not all his teachers would be as flustered and nervous around him. Treating him like a celebrity. He wondered how they treated him before the accident that erased his memories.

The blob nudged him under his chin, attracting the attention of the teacher. She stared for a few seconds before jerking and going back to typing into her computer. Danny sighed.

A few more classes later showed the halfa that not all the teachers would treat him like a celebrity.

And he wasn't sure he was grateful for that. Couldn't there just be one that treated him like a normal human? Even if he wasn't one?

Mrs. Wilckie from Literature had pretended she had new seating arrangements but all she did was put Danny in the farthest corner of the room and randomly scatter four other students. She was tense the entire lesson and jumped slightly every time he appeared in her view. She was scared shitless of him.

Mr. Geagner from Geography made it perfectly clear Danny wouldn't get free passes in his class and any missed assignments would not be tolerated. He'd said he'd be treated like every other student in his class and would be expected to act like every other student in his class. "All students have extracurricular activities after school," was what he said. Blobby, as Danny started calling the blob ghost, hissed quietly at him and Mr. Geagner made sure to comment on how pets weren't allowed in school. Danny reminded him that Blobby wasn't a pet.

Mr. Lancer the English teacher pretty much ignored him the entire lesson, which Danny was grateful for. Except for the many concerned glances thrown his way. He actually stopped him after class to chide him about putting himself in such dangerous situations. Danny didn't say anything, only agreed, but didn't promise anything either. It was amazing how everyone just collectively forgot that Danny had no memory of what he did before. It was like he was being scolded for something someone else did.

And now that he's started on this rant; all those rules the principal had set...as if they fully expected him to continue being a vigilante. Didn't he have enough on his plate already? Didn't they think he was already going through too much?

His final class before lunch was History with Mr. Job. And he was already dreading it. A few kids had stopped him in the hallways to warn him of how the teacher had ranted about a ghost getting an education and they advised that it'd be better if he skipped the class. Danny and Blobby exchanged glances. The blob ghost went invisible (at least to the human eye) at Danny's request. He knew it'd be hard enough without bringing an actual ghost to class.

The moment he stepped in he could feel the steely gaze of the bearded, short teacher behind his desk.

Don't make eye contact. He'll see it as a threat. Avoid his eyes at all costs. Just get a seat. Not in the back. I'm not giving in to him. Not in the front. I'll be in direct line of his rage. Middle seats were perfect neutral ground. This was his first day in all classes. It would determine the rest of the year. His mom had told him that first impressions were the most important.

"Good morning, Mr. Fenton. Come to learn about the history of the living?"

Danny paused, he wasn't sure whether to should ignore him or answer the question. "Yes."

Students snickered and his frown deepened. "You've come to the right class then, I suppose. No, sit at the front. So I can keep an eye on you."

Danny sighed mentally and dragged his backpack to the front, careful to not jostle Blobby too much.

The teacher sat up straighter and gestured at him. "Stand up over here."

The boy paused. What was this teacher playing at? He stood up and stood in front of the desk warily, Mr. Job standing up and looking down at him. "I'll get to the point, mr. Fenton. I don't appreciate you deceiving everyone. I have no qualms believing that had the Guys In White not shot you down, you'd have kept up all your lies."

I'm starting to think I had the right idea, Danny thought to himself.

"And I know there's more you're hiding and lying about so let it be clear that I do not trust you."

"Crystal." Danny said in monotone. This teacher literally couldn't make it any clearer that he dispised Danny's guts.

Mr. Job scowled. "You're in my class. You'll refer to me with nothing but respect."

A spike of anger went through Danny. "With all due respect, sir. You're my teacher, not a drill sargeant."

There. Now he'd gone and antagonized the man. Great.

Mr. Job was angry now. "Back to your seat. You've wasted enough of my time."

Danny turned around silently but couldn't resist the eyeroll when his back was turned.

"The only reason I'm even letting you in here, is because of the school so watch yourself."

Now was when the ghost boy ignored him and concentrated on the buzzing eminating from his backpack. Probably Blobby.

One of the kids next to his seat raised his hand for a high-five, a big grin on his face. Danny just raised his eyebrows at him with a confused expression. What was there to celebrate. He and his teacher had just gotten into a fight. Nothing to be happy about here.

"Sir," a kid said with hesitation clear in her voice. "You do know he's Danny Phantom right?"

Mr. Job snapped towards the girl. "So? He's a ghost. He's not to be trusted. And you'd do well not to."

Danny could feel the bristling from the students around and wished he knew how to use his powers so he could disappear.

"He's probably saved your ass a lot of times." A kid in the back of the class half stood from his seat.

"That's all instincts. Ghost are driven by nothing but instincts. Like animals. The world would be better without them."

"The world'd be better without pricks like you," a teen muttered somewhere on the right of Danny and he prayed the teacher hadn't heard her. The student that high fived her definitely did.

Anger was steadily rising in the class and someone in the back piped up with controlled rage.

"He could easily send you through the wall."

"Mr. Baxter!"

It was quiet for a moment as the teacher looked at his class. His eyes moved from Danny to the kid in the back. "Is that a threat?"

"No!" Danny shook his head fervently and swirled around in his seat to face the rest of the class and the kid who had made the last comment. "Shut up."

"What but he's-"

"Enough." He stared at them a bit more to make sure there were no more protests and turned back to open his book. He looked at the teacher expectantly.

Mr. Job frowned at him. "Right. We've spent too much time already. That means extra homework. Get your books everyone."

Nobody complained, out loud at least. The last half hour of class was tense.

The end of school couldn't come fast enough.

#dannyphantom #danny fenton #jack fenton #maddie fenton #ghosts #why do i keep tagging it with so much #then at least this appears somewhere lol #sam manson #I'm a superhero apparently #wonder how long this book will become honestly #Tucker Foley #ghost portal #Amnesiac!Danny

[friking-awsom-kitten]

I'm too young for life IASA Chapter 5

Danny woke up with a start. He laid immobile on his bed and stared at the ceiling, his ears perked. It took a few moments before he relaxed slightly. He was grateful that he still remembered the day before. He was a seventeen? year old boy named Danny...Fenton, yes and...he had a mom and a dad and a big sister named after a music genre. Jazz, yeah it was Jazz. He's famous for something and...let's see. His parents are ghost scientists and he can cook.

That was about it.

Danny really hoped he could learn more about his life today. Hopefully it would explain... everything.

He sighed a bit and sat up. He hadn't gone to sleep until late, but he still felt well rested. He scrunched his nose. He really needed a shower asap.

Let's see, where was the shower. Ah yes.

Danny entered the bathroom but went right back out to get a new pair of clothes. His parents had given him clean clothes so he didn't have to leave the hospital in a hospital gown, but he just wanted a fresh start of the day.

The boy threw a pair of clothes from the closet and on the ground and started undressing. However, when he slipped off his shirt he froze.

Was that really weird skin or...

Why were there so many light patches of skin. Why did those patches have ridges. What-

He scrambled out of the bathroom and stood in front of the full body mirror in horror.

His body was a patchwork of skin and scars. Even with his limited knowledge of weapons, Danny could see he had stood on the business end of all of them at some point. Wait...were those claw marks?

What is this?

Danny's hands trembled as they touched his stomach. What had happened to him? Had he been caught by criminals and tortured? Was he a professional assassin? Was he part of a dangerous gang full of guns, knives and...bears? Wolves?

He was overcome by panic and struggled to get out of his pants. He hopped around and fell on the ground. He lay there, staring at his legs, which weren't much different from the rest of his body. Air escaped his mouth as he ran his fingers over his scars.

Was he a fireman? He had a lot of burnt parts. Isn't he too young to be a fireman? What was he? Sixteen? Too young.

Danny humphed and fell on the ground, staring at the ceiling intently. "What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck." He raised his arms to the ceiling and glared at them. What the fuck, he thought, how is scars the only thing that was left after whatever happened to him? How wasn't he dead? He grunted and slammed his hands on the ground. "Ok." The poor boy took a deep breath. He rubbed his eyes roughly. "Ok then. Whatever. I'm a mutilated human? Being? I- whatever." He stood up and made his way back to the bathroom. He paused and turned his head to look at the mirror once more. It showed his back, which looked like it had had pieces of concrete slammed into them. How didn't he have broken bones? Or missing limbs?

The boy huffed and turned back around. "All I wanted was a damn shower."

He took off his boxers and put the water to the coldest setting.

Some time later a slightly dripping but freshly washed and clothed boy walked carefully down the stairs to the kitchen. It was empty and he couldn't hear anyone moving in the living room, or in the house for that matter. It wasn't that early was it?

He looked around for a clock and the one he found said it was 8:30. That wasn't early... But apparently his family didn't do mornings because everyone's breathing was even and deep.

Danny, however, found himself to be very hungry so he set about opening every cabinet and searching for anything to eat. He barely remembered where everything was so it took a bit to find the bread. He skipped putting anything on it and ate three slices before he spread some peanut butter on the fourth.

He heard his...dad wake up and start dressing so he figured the rest would come soon and made the table with what he could find.

His thirst urged him to open the fridge, but he wondered if he would find anything drinkable in there because he sensed (smelled? He wasn't sure, but he knew) ectoplasm and other chemicals in there. The boy braced himself and opened the fridge. His other hand flung forward to hold back a small green blob that Danny figured was a ghost. He inclined his head. "Hello, little guy. It's not very nice to attack someone without even a greeting. I'm just here to drink something."

That just seemed to agitate the ghost more and Danny hurried to continue. "I won't hurt you! I-" he searched the fridge and found a pack of juice. "Can I have that?" He pointed at it and saw the blob ghost consider it. After a moment he sensed its affirmation and grabbed the pack, simultaneously letting go of the ghost, who curled back inside as he closed the door. Danny sat down to drink and wondered if his parents knew this house was haunted.

Soon enough Jack entered and lit up at the sight of Danny eating breakfast. "Good morning! Good to see you're here!"

Danny nodded, knowing he wasn't only talking about being downstairs but being here and out of the hospital in general. "Made breakfast."

"Thank you Danno. I'm starving."

They sat for a half hour, talking fast and jumping from one random topic to the next. Danny kind of enjoyed talking to this man. At some point he asked whether he knew about the ghost in their refrigerator and Jack admitted that he did, but no matter what kind of antighost powder they sprinkled around the machine those little guys kept showing up.

Danny was extremely amused that this family of ghost hunters couldn't get rid of the ghostly pests in their fridge. "Don't you hate ghosts?"

Jack appeared surprised and offended. "Of course not. I love ghosts. Why would I spend years studying and researching on something that I hate." The woman of the house walked in as he continued talking. "Ghosts are amazing!"

Danny frowned in confusion, looking between his dad and his mom, who was shuffling to the fridge in her pyamas. She grabbed a skillet, opened the fridge, let the blob ghost slam into the skillet as she grabbed something to drink and closed the fridge.

"Aren't you ghost hunters?" The boy continued.

"Ghost hunters is our official term," Maddie explained, "But it's not our official job."

"Huh?"

She plopped down next to him. "We do hunt ghosts, yes, but that's only a very small part of all we do. We study their anatomy, DNA (or what's left of it), mannerisms, lairs, obsessions and run through all theories on ghosts to give proof on which are true and which stereotypes should be eradicated." She brought some food to her mouth and spoke through half a mouth full. "Of course, we can't prove or disprove anything without a specimen."

Jack nodded. "Ghosts are fascinating. And the more we learn about them, the more complex they turn out to be," he stabbed his knife in his toast, "the more amazing they are."

Danny felt a bit uncomfortable, but also a bit relieved that their whole profession didn't revolve around the hunting and extinction of ghosts. "So why call yourself a Ghost Hunter?"

"Because of previous misconceptions of ghosts," Maddie explained a bit annoyed, "as soon as anyone found a ghost lair, they wanted it gone. I don't see them wanting to eradicate the birds building a nest in the trees."

Danny flinched.

Jack nodded, munching on the last of his bread. "It's for business purposes. Don't worry, Danno. Everyone knows more about ghosts now. Us Fentons don't keep our research a secret. We only keep calling ourselves ghost hunters because it catches other ghost organizations' eye. We need to get materials from somewhere."

Danny nodded, deep in thought. He wasn't quite sure what to think. So how did his parents stand on the idea of ghosts now? They loved them, they said. Loved to...inspect them? That's the general vibes he'd gotten. And he didn't really like them. But they did say that thanks to them, people had gotten more used to ghosts.

It was then that Jazz entered and greeted everyone. She smiled at him especially, but he was too out of it to respond.

She let him and quickly ate her breakfast. Jack had continued to talk about their work and recounting the types of things they had found out and how he'd always been fascinated by ghosts. Ever since he was eight and would swear he'd seen the glowing outline of their dead horse in the woods.

Danny looked down at his lap and his arms resting on his legs. His mind was brought back to the small panic he'd had back in his room. He was wearing a long sleeved shirt. He wasn't sure why, because he could have just as well worn a shirt since he wasn't very cold. He remembered the makeup kit he'd found behind the mirror after leaving the shower and seeing a ridge behind the glass.

The weirdest thing was that it only contained skin tones and the like cover-up cream. Did he use those to cover up his scars. It's the only thing he could think of right now. But why would he? Was Danny before embarrassed of them? Danny after didn't know why he should be. They were just scars. Why did he feel the need to hide them.

Although they were disconcerting.

Jack must've realized he hadn't heard Danny in some time and paused. "Danny?"

"Mmh?" The boy looked up.

His sister smiled through her bangs that hung in her face now that they weren't in her headband. "Penny for your thoughts?"

"I uh-" Danny cleared his throat a bit awkwardly before making up his mind. He brought his arms above the table and pushed a sleeve back. He pointed at the scars, a bit accusingly. "Where did these come from?"

It was quiet around the table as Danny looked at them steadily.

Maddie, who was sitting next to him, reached out and ran her thumb over a few of the scars. "Do you...have more?"

Danny blinked at her. She didn't seem too surprised to see them, although shaken. He stood up and held up his shirt. He figured they'd wanna see the back too and did a slow turn.

"Well, now's as good a time as any." Jazz was the one to break the silence.

Maddie still had her eyes glued on the burn mark on his side and Jack was speechless for once.

Danny was curious. "You didn't know about them?"

"I-" His father started, "I figured. I've seen the things you do. It's different seeing it in person."

Danny frowned. "What kind of things? What did I do?"

Jack stuffed some food in his mouth, showing that although he'd been exited to tell the boy, he wouldn't be the one to blow the news.

"This is gonna be weird so," Jazz but her lip and patted her hands on the table awkwardly, "maybe brace yourself."

Danny frowned in confusion. He was definitely suspecting something weird. Nothing normal could give him these types of marks. He didn't just trip at school and suddenly gain bullet wounds on his shoulder and a third degree burn on his side.

So he figured he was braced enough.

Jazz pursed her lips. "You um...have a dangerous life."

The boy rose an eyebrow. "You don't say."

She humpfed. "Let me finish."

"This is just a bit hard to explain." Maddie interrupted. "It's a very long story. A big part of which I don't know yet."

Danny didn't respond and Jazz cleared her throat. "You're half ghost."

Maddie straightened, offended. "He's not half ghost. He's got ectoplasm in his veins yes but you can't make it out as something as simple as half ghost."

"It's easier to explain it to him like that." Jazz defended herself. "We always referred to it as half ghost."

"Danny's smart. That term simplifies it unnecessarily and is severely incorrect."

"For goodness's sake. We're kids, mom. Not profesional scientists."

Danny's eyes were wide as he followed the exchange. He was a hybrid? How did that work? None of his parents were ghosts. "Is that how I got these scars?"

The two women turned back to look at the topic of conversation to see him scratching lightly at his arms scars.

Jazz frowned. "Well, I suppose indirectly? Being half ghost wasn't really the reason you got them...most of the time."

Now it was Danny who looked confused. "I meant- are the scars a product of becoming..." He struggled. "Did something happen to me that resulted in me getting these wounds and becoming half ghost or? Did. Did I die because of a mass shooting??" He was getting worked up now, and angry at how little everything made sense. "Did I die in a burning building? Was I stabbed because I really feel stabby right now."

"No! I uh-" Jazz wrung her hands, really hoping she wouldn't have to be the one to be telling him about this. But she was the one with the most knowledge of how it had all happened. "You remember the ghost portal we have in our basement right? It's- you were the one that made it work."

The boy's eyes widened. "I made that??"

"No! Our parents did the whole machinery and yeah. You kinda..were the one that turned it on and actually made it work."

"Wha- how?"

Jazz threw her hands up. "I don't know. You told me you went inside and touched something and it turned on and you." She paused. "Something happened to you. And you became half ghost."

Danny blinked down at his hands. His parents looked just as frustrated as Jazz about how Danny had become what he is. Danny remembered the feeling when he was down in the basement. It didn't quite feel like familiarity, but it was similar. Like he belonged there. Not necessarily in the good sense. He just belonged.

"So how." He continued, feeling very cross because none of his questions were really being answered. "Scars. And, you didn't know about this, did you? What happened?"

Maddie sighed loudly and leaned back in her chair. "No," she said ruefully, "we did not know. We only found out about you being...whatever you are, after the accident that resulted in your coma. You kept it a secret from everybody expect Sam and Tucker and Jazz."

"What." Danny hugged his torso. "What did I keep a secret."

Jack grinned wide at that, not even reading the tense and expectant atmosphere. "You being a superhero!"

Danny had fallen silent. He took a single breath and exhaled with an incredulous expression. "A what now?"

He watched for a few seconds as his mom and his sister struggled for words, when his father suddenly stood up and grabbed the beat up laptop that was resting on the small table next to theirs. He ignored the others' questions as he turned it on and typed a few things. Then the man spun it around and pushed the laptop towards Danny.

His eyes widened as he took in the screen. He didn't know whether he'd forgotten some things about the internet or whether his family just had different updates, but he didn't really fully recognize whatever the setup was except that a picture of the anime boy was on screen.

On top of the screen he read: Danny Phantom

"Click on one."

Danny did as his dad said and the picture started moving. Oh, this is a video. Danny blinked several times as his family briefly congratulated his dad on the idea and waited for Danny's reaction.

The boy watched as the anime man on screen was busy in a hand to fist scuffle with a ghost. There was a lot of static but Danny could hear them talking to each other. The fight didn't look very dangerous. And with that Danny means that they didn't look about to kill each other. It was certainly rough, but almost in the way siblings would fight, with a bit more bruises and shoving into trees involved.

What Danny couldn't understand was why they were showing him this. What did he have to do with him?

Danny paused. Unless...of course.

"Oh." He looked up to see his family staring expectantly. "It's me, isn't it?" He asked even as the puzzle pieces fell into place.

He wasn't a fireman, but he sure had been close.

Jazz nodded. "Like we said: you're half ghost. You protected Amity Park from ghosts who tried to take it over or destroy things."

Danny frowned at that description. Something seemed wrong with that summary, even ignoring the past tense. However, his eyes stayed glued on the screen. Past Danny had used his opponents grappling hook against them and pierced it through their armor. Current Danny wasn't very upset, though. He recognized the ghost from the character sheet that he had found in his dresser. He didn't remember the name, but knew the armor was just a robot.

Past Danny stomped and crushed the other's shoulder, making the head pop right out and revealing a small but intricate control panel and a simple ghost in it. The ghost scrambled away only to be caught by an amused Danny.

The boy stared at the screen as past him exchanged a slightly scolding conversation that the other returned with curses and an eye roll. Danny barely noticed as his family moved around him, finishing breakfast, cleaning the table and leaving him to scroll through the app.

He didn't know how long he stayed sitting there, so lost in the laptop and the app he slowly recognized as YouTube. He went from amateur videos to news channels about him. He saw a wide range of ghosts and his past self's apparent familiarity with a lot of them, along with many very hard battles that revealed some of the scars he had. His finger brushed over a sharp line on his shoulder as he stared at on screen Danny getting an arrow stuck in that place.

He frowned at a video from a youtuber discussing 'Danny Phantom's secret identity. He was really wondering how he had kept it a secret that he was a half ghost. And how he'd dealt with all the injuries. He must have been doing this for long if he could move around in a fight that easily. He remembered Sam and Tucker. They must have known. There was no way they didn't know. Oh wait Maddie had mentioned that Jazz, Sam and Tucker had known. But his parents. The rest of the town...

The youtuber finished their video and as they monologed the end notes he scrolled down for more videos. He paused by one showing his parents shooting at ghost him. His finger hovered over the mouse before he continued down, evading that topic completely. The comments for the video showed that the people didn't suspect his civilian self at all. There were a lot accusing some dude called Wes, but they seemed more teasing than the result of any sleuthing. Also a lot of comments mentioned Danny Phantom's...allure. He chuckled and decided to search for something else. He exited YouTube and looked up 'Danny Phantom' on Google. A wiki page showed him what he wanted to know, which was whatever he could.

It told him everything the public knew about him. Name, powers, ghosts he'd been seen fighting with, his apparent betrayal to the mayor and the public in general (he paused to look up what that crap was about and figured troubles with other ghosts), the public's obvious indecision of his honesty and theories of his obsession, where he came from and what he wanted.

They must've not yet updated this enough because all he saw of his human half was a short mention of Danny Fenton at the bottom of the webpage. He'd figured he would've been all other the place.

When he was done he leaned back in his stool with a huff. The boy stayed quiet, letting the information settle for a moment. He could hear talking in the living room. His sister was talking on the phone about her college and arranging so she could stay for a month at least and continue her studies here until she got back. His parents were in the OP center talking loudly. He guessed this house was never quiet. It wouldn't fit anyways.

He curled his fingers in his now dry hair and turned his eyes back to the laptop. He pursed his lips and hunched back over. Danny typed a quick 'Danny Phantom accident' on YouTube and clicked on the first promising video.

Breath was held as the video played. A lost looking ghost of his past self hovered in the sky, staring at a small, sparkly white jet right before being enveloped in a green light. Danny blinked as the amateur video finished and scrambled for another.

This one was more professional. It showed him moments before. Fighting a ghost, dodging his parents, not dodging his parents, defeating a jet, defeating a ghost, turning around to face the other jet. Danny paled at seeing a zoomed in picture of past Danny.

The boy was trembling, covered in scratches and bruises, dark bags under his eyes, and staring wide eyed at the giant weapon being aimed at him. Fear crossed his eyes right before he disappeared in light.

There was a flurry of movement as Danny pushed himself off the table and fell on the ground. He curled up on the ground, covering his face and sealing his eyes shut in preparation for...something.

"Danny?"

His breath hitched as Jazz's voice shook him from his fear. He heard her pause the conversation on the phone and call out again. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah yeah." He shouted. "Fine!"

He slowly uncurled and tried to control his heavy breathing. "I'm fine," he whispered reassuringly to himself and stood up, leaning on the table. He took a breath and looked back at the screen.

The video had ended and another was loading. He stared as the video from another news channel started. A woman presented the news and introduced the topic of Danny Phantom. It switched to the same event but from another angle. The woman spoke over the video, relenting the events and giving slight background information.

Danny slowly went back to his seat, not taking his eyes off the screen as the ghost boy (as a lot of people insisted on calling him) flew around until he was shot down. Danny didn't move this time as his ghost slammed on the ground. There was a hush in the crowd as a different bright light erupted around the ghost. A zoomed in image revealed a human lying unconscious on the crater.

The woman started talking again, explaining exactly who the shockingly alive body of Phantom is. Meanwhile a few shots of an ambulance coming in and Danny being wheeled in passed by. The camera crew rushing to keep up. They just barely got a shot of Maddie entering the ambulance and driving off. They'd tried to question Jack but he had ignored everything as he ran in his own car, or whatever that thing on hour wheels was.

The woman promised to come back if they had anymore news and the video ended.

Danny hesitated before reading the comments.

He wanted to know the public's reaction.

He wasn't disappointed when thousands of people expressed their surprise. It seemed most of them knew his human body and couldn't believe he was an actual ghost. Others were incredibly confused on the workings of a half ghost but some were shouting in captions as if their hypothesis had been confirmed.

Danny quirked a smirk. Did some people actually suspect him? Or were they just making it up? It was in any case a surprisingly low amount and Danny was impressed that he had been able to keep it a secret for so long.

He sighed and laid his head on his crossed arms.

His family and friends were hoping and almost certain he would get this memories back, but Danny didn't know.

There was a whole life he had lived, things he had done, people he had met, that he didn't know about. He...didn't know anything. It was depressing. And if he didn't remember, he'd never get that life back. He'd never know how it would be to be a part-time superhero (or full-time if you pushed it, which past him seemed to have done) and go to school without anyone knowing of it. Because his life now was, so very different.

He sighed.

Suddenly he lifted his head and turned around. There was the blob ghost, peeking through the ridge of the fridge's door. Danny stared at it for a few seconds before he realized what he was feeling. The blob was sending good vibes his way. It must've sensed his distress and wanted to comfort him.

Danny smiled and invited it to come closer. The ghost hesitated, as if making sure it was ok, and jerked free of the fridge. It flew a few circles around Danny before pressing against his chest, where his core must be. It purred against it and Danny relaxed.

He smiled as he petted it. The ghost didn't seem to be familiar with petting, but he let the halfa follow his human instincts.

They had been sitting like that for a few moments when Jazz peeked around the corner to check on him. She smiled. "Looks like you got acquainted."

Danny looked up. "Did we use to be friends before this?"

She shook her head, much to his confusion. "A bunch of them would follow you around, which would've been bad news for your secret." He hummed a response and after a moment she jabbed her thumb up. "Want me to get Mom and Dad?"

"Sure."

The two ghosts were quiet as Jazz ran up the stairs and shouted at her parents to come down.

Danny shot an amused look to the blob ghost as everyone ran back down.

Maddie was first and she stopped by the doorway with a nervous smile. Before she could say anything his father had barged in, closely followed by his sister, who was frowning at her parents' eagerness.

Maddie blinked at the blob ghost getting cozy with Danny. "Looks like you tamed it."

Danny huffed out a laugh. "More like it tamed me. They're comforting."

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Oh. Oh!" Her eyes cleared and she nodded like it made complete sense.

There was an expectant silence in the air. Danny waited for his mom to explain but she seemed to have already moved on.

"Well?" Maddie started. "Do you...have any questions? We'll try to answer as well as we can."

Danny paused and gave the blob ghost another pet. "What happened to the ghost I captured?" They looked lost so he gave more context. "Right before the accident?"

"Oh. I let it go." Maddie revealed. "Into the Ghost Zone of course. I figured that's what you would have wanted."

Danny nodded. "One more thing. I have a request."

"Anything, Danny."

"Can I go to school?"

#danny phantom #danny fenton #amnesiac!Danny #sam manson #tucker foley #jack fenton #maddie fenton #jazz fenton #ghosts #ghost zone

[friking-awsom-kitten]

Sleeping beauty just need some coffee IASA Chapter 4

He gasped, sitting up in shock. However, something refrained him from getting enough air and was shoved up deep into his throat. He chocked and grasped whatever was blocking his airways, ripping it off. Suddenly he could breathe again and he took big gulps.

His eyes flitted around the room in a panic, not recognizing where he was. Something to his left caught his eye and he stared at the woman that had been checking a machine next to him.

The woman dropped what she was holding and screamed.

He screamed back.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sam had been staring out the window for a long time now. She didn't pay attention to whatever the teacher was saying. Few kids did.

Word of Danny had gotten around pretty fast and by the end of the first day everyone knew. It had been chaos.

Some people were angry and wanted to bill the Fentons for all the damage Danny's fights had gotten them. Some wanted to report the parents for child abuse. Most were furious at the GIW for disrespecting basic human rights and trying to capture a boy and were pestering the government to shut it down. The president, however, wouldn't back down, saying they were the best of the best at ghost science and this town needed them.

But almost everybody was grateful for Danny and all he'd done for the town.

A lot of people had visited him in the hospital. Including several of Sam's classmates.

They would also continuously ask the two friends questions.

About how it happened. If Danny's parents had known. Whether they got to fight ghosts too. Whether Danny would keep protecting the town or if he was ok.

Sam honestly didn't know. It had been two weeks. She'd never been more worried than she was now. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense, though. He had been exhausted. Physically and mentally. He was probably on the bridge of collapsing anyways and that blast must have depleted his energy reserves.

She sighed and glanced towards Tucker, who was staring at his phone. The device was turned off and pushed far away on the table, but the boy didn't take his eyes off of it.

All of a sudden, a sharp ring interrupted the teacher. Everyone jumped a bit in their seats and they turned to look at Tucker, who was scrambling to pick up his phone and putting it on his ear.

"Yes? For real?!" Tucker's eyes widened and he looked at Sam. "He's awake!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They burst in the hospital room. They had memorized the way long before and could walk from the receptionist to the ICU wing in their sleep.

Their eyes immediately fell on the small family in the corner.

Maddie looked about ready to cry and Jack was standing still with furrowed eyebrows. It was not a sight Tucker and Sam had expected to see.

The cause of all this grief was sitting up on his bed with a frustrated expression. He didn't have a breathing mask on anymore and the IV had been removed.

"Danny!" Sam cheered and sprang forward to hug him. He tensed under her hug and she frowned, letting go. "Danny?"

The boy huffed, looking incredibly uncomfortable. "So I've been told. Who are you?"

She was so perplexed her arms went slack. Tucker sucked in a gasp and they both turned to the doctor that had been standing next to them. He cleared his throat. "Yes. Daniel seems to suffer from Amnesia. From what you have told me and what we discovered, this was caused by a combination of sleep deprivation, malnutrition, and recent stress. The severe concussion he recently got sealed it. It affected his hippocampus." The doctor stopped reading from his paper and looked Danny over before continuing. "From what I have gathered up to now, he seems to only be affected on the explicit memory, meaning the memory of the places and the times and the people. Or the who, what, where, when and why. However, the implicit seems normal, thankfully."

"The what?" Tucker breathed out, barely able to form words as he tried to understand everything happening.

"That means the skills he has learned. He can walk, talk, breathe, and all the motoric functions he has learned throughout his life, as well as riding a bike or reading. However, I'm not sure whether his semantic memory is damaged. This is the common knowledge. For example the days of the month. Or when his birthday is. The damage on that may vary."

The raven gave an exasperated sigh. "If you go through that explanation one more time I'm gonna give myself another concussion."

"Well," Tucker smiled weakly, even though tears were threatening to fall, "he didn't change personality-wise."

The other boy grinned. "He did say I still have the skills I learned. Must have practiced my sass a lot because I'm a pro."

Sam snorted. "Yeah. You did." She turned to the doctor. "But they will come back, right? This isn't permanent?"

For the first time, the doctor's face fell. "I- we aren't sure. Retrograde amnesia, which is what this condition is called, doesn't have a cure, but there are some ways to coach old memories to come back. Most patients remember their oldest memories, but Danny doesn't seem to even have that. If he does regain some memories, it will most likely be from early childhood. However, we can't be sure. It could get better, worse, or stay like this for the rest of his life." He looked at the pale faces in the room and smiled encouragingly. "But I don't think it will get worse given that this was a brain injury, first and foremost."

He nodded towards the parents. "Before I run a blood test and prescribe anything, I need some questions answered." He took out a list and a pen. "Did Daniel take medications? Any past health problems? For example seizures or strokes or infections? Did he take drugs?" He crossed over every time they shook their heads or wrote down when they mentioned something about a panic attack or how he had had an accident in the portal.

The doctor shook his head. This kid was a walking medical catastrophe. It was no wonder he ended up with amnesia. He sighed and put his papers down. "I'll send for a drug test and he'll have an MRI scan. After that he will have to stay in the hospital for a few more days until he is fully healed. Daniel, will you let us put back the IV?"

Danny scrunched his nose. "Ugh why. I'm awake now. I just need some food. Do you guys have some fries?"

"We'll get you appropriate food after the IV is back on. Your body is still short on nutrients."

"Please, Danny." Maddie begged. "The sack also has some ectoplasm. It will help you heal faster. You will be able to get out of here sooner."

Danny pursed his lips. This woman claimed to be his mom, and let me tell you how weird it is to not even remember your own mother. He wasn't even sure if he could trust these people. They could be lying to him for all he knew. But he had no other option. Besides, that woman gave him a comforting vibe. He smiled at her unconsciously and nodded. "Alright, but the second I'm out I want pancakes."

All the medical procedures had been run and the doctor had decided Danny would stay two more days before he could go home. All Danny's injuries had been healed during his coma. He claimed nothing hurt and only complained about getting food. Something nobody was surprised about. The boy hadn't eaten normal food in weeks. What they were surprised about was that he was so restless. He should be tired. In fact, he should still be unconscious. But nobody was about to complain about that.

What Danny really wanted was a bath. He felt dirty and gross. He was horrified to learn he'd been washed during his slumber and couldn't look at any nurse in the eye after that.

However, he felt especially uncomfortable when groups of strangers walked through the door and grinned at him and gave him presents and took pictures.

He glanced at the table next to him. It was simply covered in 'thank you' and 'get well' notes and some kind of merchandise. He had also gotten many pictures and drawings, but they were so confusing he couldn't figure heads or tails of it. On the other side were also some balloons and a few stuffed animals and to top it off, all around him were flowers.

I must have been some kind of celebrity, Danny thought. But why were they thanking him?

A girl suddenly burst through the doors and tackled the poor boy. He let out a yelp and she let go just as fast as she'd latched on and started rambling.

"I'm so sorry. I came as soon as I heard and then the plane was delayed and I first had to arrange a short vacation and I had to finish this assignment and they wouldn't let me go saying you weren't in danger of death and they said 'Alright, you can go, but if you don't get that degree it's on you' and I swear I was about to strangle them."

Danny couldn't understand what she was talking about so he took the time to inspect her. She had long brownish-red hair and he could honestly see the resemblance to his apparent mother. This must be Jasmine, his older sister.

The girl seemed to catch on that Danny wasn't responding and she paused, looking at him good for the first time. They stared at each other in silence for some time, taking in the other sibling.

Jasmine held out her hand and smiled. "Hello. My name is Jasmine, but you can call me Jazz. I'm sorry about just now. I was a bit worried."

Danny blinked in surprise. Why was she introducing herself? She must know he had amnesia. He grinned. It felt nice to know at least someone didn't come asking him if he knew them or expecting something from him. He shook her hand. "I don't think I need to introduce myself since you probably know me better than I do. You're my sister, right?"

Her smile brightened and he silently congratulated himself. "Yes. I'm two years older. So I'm nineteen and you're gonna be seventeen in Oktober 27. It's July 13 today. I just came from college."

Danny smiled softly, grateful for all the information she was giving him. He felt awkward having to ask such simple things. "Are you in the first year?"

She nodded. "I'm studying creative therapy. To put it simply, it's a kind of therapy for people who can't put their problems into words so instead do it with their hands. The therapist then can study their movements and results to see how they think and how to help them. There are many types and I'm doing a mix between drama and art."

She continued talking and Danny listened. He learned so much. She told him all about her and her life and her friends and even what recently happened in college. It was as if they were catching up on old times.

She didn't mention anything about Danny, or what he used to do or what they did together and he was grateful for that. It would have felt like she was telling him what he should have done and he would've felt obligated. It was an insane thought, given that all that had happened in the past, but he didn't want people telling him who he was.

They talked for hours. Mostly she was the one speaking, but Danny often put in his opinion or input in something and she would laugh.

At one point, a violet-eyed girl and a dark-skinned boy walked in and joined them. Danny remembered them as the two people who were there when he woke up. He tensed a bit, but they just greeted him and sat down. They said some words to Jazz and turned to look at him.

The boy wiped his hands on his pants and cleared his throat, but at a look from Jazz he smiled at Danny. "Hey, man. I don't think we told you our names. I'm Tucker Foley and that's Sam Manson."

Danny nodded towards them, but frowned at the girl. "Are your eyes naturally purple?"

Sam rolled said eyes as Tucker laughed. "No." She admitted. "They're blue. I got these contact lenses from my grandmother. She didn't want them to go to waste."

Tucker laughed some more. "Her grandmom used to be really rebellious as a teen. She saw potential in Sam," he told Danny and so the conversation went into flow again.

Sam and Tucker telling Danny about themselves and complaining a bit about school. They also told him how they met.

Apparently, Danny had known these people for practically all his life. Since kindergarten. That was a weird thought.

Jazz had glared at them for bringing that up but Danny sighed. "It's ok, Jazz. I'm gonna get this a lot from now on."

Sam winced. "Sorry. Just thought you'd want some background information. If there's something you don't like talking about we won't. Just tell us, alright?"

Danny shrugged. "That's just the thing, Sam. I don't know anything about anything. Everyone expects me to know all kinds of stuff and then it's just gonna get awkward." He huffed, frowning. "Whatever. It doesn't matter. I'll just figure out what my life is now."

Jazz grinned, beaming proudly. "That's the way to look at it, Danny. Just start off fresh."

Except that wasn't entirely possible. The moment Danny was admitted out of the hospital he knew his life was way weirder than he had thought at first.

When he was let out there was a crowd waving him off and cheering and he got a green sock thrown at him so that was a nice way to enter the world fresh.

Then there was the house he apparently lived in.

He honestly had no idea what to say about that. It looked like aliens had infiltrated earth and were doing a terrible job at laying low.

He sighed, ignoring all the paparazzi and following the two adults inside. It was much better inside. It was very clean. As if it had been prepared for his arrival. That just made him feel more guilty.

Maddie and Jack were grinning at him as they gave him a tour of the house. Maddie more nervously, while Jack was excited.

The first and second story were pretty normal. On the first was the kitchen and the living room. Then upstairs were all the bedrooms. Danny paused in what was apparently his room. It looked pretty clean and neat. He must have been either a perfectionist or his mom had tidied it up for him. He was gonna go with the second one.

Finally, he was shown the basement and the op Center, which is what they called the UFO on the house. The UFO looked exactly how Danny imagined a UFO would look like. It was huge and had a lot of wires. Somewhere something was beeping, but he couldn't figure out what.

Then the basement. Danny shivered as soon as he entered. He saw millions of weird machines and guns and a milkshake maker he decided not to trust. The name Fenton appeared everywhere. Like a logo.

Then there was a door at the other side of the room. It had a beethemed pattern as if warning people of toxins. Danny felt like he should put on a face mask or something to protect himself. His father was wearing some type of protective suit.

"What do you do for a living," he asked, exasperated.

"We're ghost hunters!" Jack grinned, leaving Danny with a baffled expression.

"Why do you hunt ghosts?" He asked, stumped and curious. The part about ghosts didn't surprise him much. It felt as normal as the fact birds were chirping outside.

Jack's expression fell and he exchanged a look with Maddie. "Well son." He started cautiously. "We're ghost scientists. We have been studying them for years. We sometimes catch one to learn more about them from up close."

"Like they're animals." Danny frowned and his parents grimaced.

"They're not all sentient, Danny." It was Maddie who said this. "And Amity park has been haunted by ghosts for years. Most of them attacked and destroyed."

"Well maybe most of them just stayed home minding their own business and the ones that did mean bad came here so we don't see the other side of their world."

To his surprise Maddie smiled softly. "Yes. You may be right."

They didn't tell him much about the things in the basement. In fact it was the shortest they had been in a room and they practically shoved him back up the stairs.

They stayed in the living and talked a bit and Maddie went to the kitchen to cook some dinner because it was already pretty late in the afternoon. Danny had a foreboding feeling. Probably because how Jazz paled and sent him a few scared looks.

Danny stood up and followed his mother to see her fumbling around the fridge, trying to find something that didn't try to bite her hand off. "Hey?" Danny started, unsure if this would be seen as impolite. "Do you want me to help you cook dinner?"

The woman brightened considerably as she slammed the fridge shut and smiled at him. "Are you sure? I mean. Yes, I would love it if you did this with me."

Danny nodded and rolled his sleeves up before washing his hands. Maddie's eyes widened when she realized she'd forgotten to do that.

"So what are we making?"

Maddie scrunched her face. "I'm not sure yet, Danny. There isn't much left that is edible."

"Where do you keep all the food?" Her boy's eyes searched the small kitchen and she remembered he had forgotten all of that.

She pointed out the fridge and a few cabinets and he looked through them, bringing out many types of ingredients and selecting a few out. He asked for the pots and the pans and she pointed it out. He asked for herbs and she showed him. He asked her anything and she gave him the answer, watching in amusement as he fell right into his element.

Maddie settled back a bit as she saw him swiftly cut some carrots and dump them in the pot. She smiled. It had been a long time ago that Danny had taken the job of a cook in this house. Given that no one had any insight in it or kept mixing the sauce with the wrong chemical (what do you mean chemicals aren't supposed to go in food?). The raven had looked up recipes or he would cook ready-made food.

He'd started simple and after a while started mixing in his own stuff and experimenting. He had loved it. Maddie had let him drop a few chores so he would have time to prepare and make dinner. He would write a list of groceries and tape it on the fridge and Jack would go buy it.

In fact, Maddie could see the last note he had written still on the top left of the refrigerator. Her eyes watered a bit.

"Are you ok?"

She wiped her eyes and nodded. "Just that onion you were cutting just now. It's fine. Go ahead. You're doing a great job." She smiled. "Anything else you need?"

He shook his head as he flipped some pieces of meat on the sizzling pan. "Well, not for now. There are no more potatoes. And when was the last time you refilled the salt? And I had to use something else instead of the paprika because that's all done too. And you got way too much beef. How are you going to eat it all before it expires."

Maddie's smile turned nostalgic as she saw all he listed right now written on the little sticky note on the fridge. "We usually don't," she told him, earning herself a look of disgust.

Finally, the dinner was ready and they all say down to eat. Each family member congratulating the boy on the excellent food and what would they do without him. They didn't mention how they'd barely survived the two weeks he'd been absent.

Jazz was just in college, but Jack and Maddie had to constantly order pizza or eat in a restaurant every night. Even something as making some toast was always a hassle. Not only because the toaster sometimes malfunctioned and threw up the bread so hard it stuck on the ceiling, but Maddie was also very sure bread shouldn't be green.

Now they had Danny back. Everything had changed. Just....everything.

But he was back.

They talked a bit more. Danny asked about the many drawings they'd had to carry back home along with the rest of the presents. Who was that man on the drawings that looked to be made by kids ranging from three to fifteen?

Jack looked excited to tell him something, but Jazz had shushed them. She smiled at Danny reassuringly. "How about we talk about that tomorrow. You have enough to think on right now." She stacked the empty plates and brought them to the sink. "You heard the doctor. Get some rest. I'll do the dishes. Don't worry about school yet. You have a few weeks to recuperate and get used to life."

Danny looked at each of the people in the room, taking in their appearance and demeanor. If this was his family, no matter how crazy, he loved it. He smiled and turned around, bidding them a good night.

He walked up the stairs and paused, trying to remember where his room was.

He had a small moment of panic when he couldn't recall right away. What if he forgot more things? What if he forgot whatever he did today? What if the doctor was wrong and my amnesia isn't just of whatever happened before the concussion and I'll keep forget- oh wait his door was the one in the left hall.

He sighed in relief when his assumption was proved correct as the door opened. He closed it behind him and took a good look around.

The walls were white, but they had been covered in many posters about some kind of egg band or about a Doom. He wasn't sure. There were also some NASA posters and the wall next to his desk had a big board covered in pictures. There was a blackhaired boy with Sam and Tucker. A lot of those actually. And some about random places Danny had no clue about.

But his eyes wandered to that boy again. Was that...him?

He hadn't looked in the mirror yet. It was strange. Not knowing what you looked like.

Was that really him?

He found a mirror next to the dresser and the closet. It was large. It could fit his whole upper body and a bit of his legs.

He paused before taking a peek. A pit in his stomach and a bit of adrenaline made him jump forward and stare at the boy in the mirror.

He looked a bit older than in those pictures. But he still has black hair, blue eyes, a small nose and smallish eyes and thin lips and fat cheeks and freckles. Although he felt better knowing he had a bit of a jawline and the baby fat was less than in the pictures. His hair was also longer. And it was messy. Probably hadn't been brushed in weeks. Even if they had washed it, as they said, it still looked greasy and dirty.

He didn't feel like doing much of his appearance right now.

He wanted to explore.

He put to the side the pile of presents his father had dumped in his room after having brought it from the hospital and went rummaging through his room.

He opened every drawer, looked at every piece of clothing and squinted under every piece of furniture and he learned a bit about his past self.

He didn't have much variety in clothing. It was mostly T-shirts, jeans and sweaters. There was one neat suit shoved in the back, though.

He had some kind of obsession with stars.

Same thing goes for ghosts. There was even a map in his dresser. Along with a long list of names and some kind of description behind them.

He looked in the bathroom, which he had found he had right in his room. He found a first aid kit shoved under the sink, which he found odd. The rest was just normal supplies for in the shower.

But for the rest, his old life was still a mystery to him. Danny wondered if he would ever gain it back. Had he always been this famous? Wasn't it exhausting? And why had everyone been thanking him?

He suddenly wondered where his phone was. He should have one right? He'll ask his mother tomorrow.

But he really wanted to look up amnesia on the internet.

His eyes fell on a beat up laptop and he tried to turn it on, but it had a password. The hint wasn't even helpful. It just said 'bitch' and Danny honestly felt attacked and offended.

He plopped down on the bed with a deep sigh.

Everyone told him to get rest, but that was the last thing he wanted to do. He felt so energetic and restless. He didn't think that should be normal. He was pretty sure patients just coming out of comatose shouldn't feel rested.

Sigh, just one more thing he wanted to look up on the internet.

He also wanted to know how he went into a coma.

The doctor had vaguely mentioned a concussion or another kind of head injury. Must have been bad. He'd also made it pretty clear Danny was up long before anyone had thought he would be.

Maybe if I had slept for a bit longer, Danny thought, I would have been able to keep my memories.

He groaned quietly. Nothing made sense. Life was a weird jumble of gibberish and with every piece of information he made out it just became even weirder.

He lifted his arm to look at one picture he found he liked. A white haired anime man was standing with hands on his hips and a cape fluttering behind him. Sparkles had been thrown around as well as glitter that had been glued on.

There wasn't a note or anything, just a boy's name. Joey. Along with a small drawing of a dinosaur that Danny didn't think had anything to do with the rest.

That same anime boy turned up everywhere. On the balloons. On the plushies. On the shirt he'd gotten. On the posters the poeple seeing him off from the hospital were holding.

Who was that dude??

And what did Danny have to do with him??

Danny stood up and walked towards the mirror again. He cocked one hip as he put his hands on them and frowned at the image.

"Who are you?" He asked the boy with exasperation. "And just how crazy is your life?"

#danny phantom #danny fenton #amnesiac!Danny #jack fenton #maddie fenton #jazz fenton #ghosts #ghost zone #why do i keep tagging it with so much

[friking-awsom-kitten]

Sleeping don't need no sleep IASA Chapter 3

"Danny Fenton."

Erica, the receptionist, got their attention with little effort.

The small group that just kept getting bigger by the hour snapped to attention. Maddie, who had returned two hours ago looking dejected and saying she'd done all she could for then, scrambled up from her hunched over position on the plastic chair and faced the woman. Sam and Tucker, who'd been half hiding behind Jack from the questions of the group around them, stopped whispering quietly to each other and looked at her with glassy eyes.

Erica smiled reassuringly. "The doctors have done all they could. He should be fine."

The room was filled with sudden chaotic cheering and whooping. Laughing as they embraced each other.

"I knew it," Jack muttered as he held his crying wife. "Us Fentons don't stay down for long."

Erica smiled, though now it seemed a bit more of a grimace. "However, he's in a coma."

The ones who heard her fell silent and hushed the other celebrating people. They threw her some concerned glances.

"How long?" A teenage girl asked softly.

"We don't know." Erica bit her lip. "Given Danny's interesting case, it makes it hard to figure out."

"But he should awake by now," Sam frowned, mind clouded in fear. She stood up, fists clenched. "Is he not awake?"

"He took a very hard hit, Miss," Erica responded in confusion.

Tucker stood next to his best friend too. His eyebrows furrowed and lips pressed together. "He's had worse. It's been hours. He's usually awake by now. Probably not fine and delirious, but at least conscious." Equations seemed to be running around in his head. "You gave him sedatives, didn't you?"

Erica ruffled through the papers and nodded. "To make sure he didn't wake during the procedure. It will wear off in a half hour. However, we don't expect him to be awake until at least another three weeks." She glanced up at the two teens who were looking almost angry. As if she was lying to them and the universe didn't make sense anymore. They were trying to grasp at something they could understand. She took a short breath. It was usually not allowed, especially to all these people around them, but they needed to have something to stand on and ground themselves. They had to know everything about this boy's health to get a clear understanding. "Danny got a bad concussion, several burns and scrapes. His left leg is severely bruised and his chest area is damaged." She paused. "Was he in perfect condition before he got all these injuries?"

Sam and Tucker faltered and exchanged glances. Erica was looking at the Fentons but it was Danny's best friends who answered.

"No," Tucker bit his lip before continuing. "He was very tired. We suspect he probably hadn't slept in days. He was stressed because of the tests at school," he bit out, as if angry at the school for putting such weight on his friend's shoulders.

"That leg injury was from another ghost fight," Sam added. "He was pretty drained last time I saw him. Probably because of the sudden rise in ghost attacks."

Maddie looked very crestfallen. Her desire to contribute something to the conversation had her saying: "At this time of the year the barrier between the Ghost Zone and here is thinner than normal. Natural portals have been opening up everywhere around Amity Park, where the ectoplasm is more concentrated than anywhere else in the world."

The rest of the group nodded along as if they had any idea what was being said.

Erica looked a bit more worried. She shifted her hold on the stack of papers in her hands and sighed. "Whatever the cause, Danny is not in his best condition and won't be waking up anytime soon. Everything that can be done has been done. He will stay in the hospital so we can monitor him and adjust to his needs. Maddie and Jack will be contacted if anything happens." She looked around at the crowd of hopeful faces and nodded. "He is apt for visitors. However, close family members first. After they are done, and with only their permission, you will be allowed in by threes."

There were smiles and sighs of relief. Maddie and Jack stepped forward to follow Erica, but Sam and Tucker stopped them.

"Can we go with?"

Maddie looked at Erica. "They are very close friends to my son. We would consider them family too."

The woman smiled fondly. She had guessed that. She nodded and the four of them walked the hallways, passing many rooms and once sidestepping a a group carrying a stretcher.

Tucker felt a bit bad about not caring if that other person was ok. He only wanted to see Danny as soon as possible.

Erica kept talking, giving them some information on his situation. "He was put in ICU and needs to be monitored constantly. There may be a nurse with him. He needs to be looked after at least 12 hours a day."

Jack frowned. "What kind of bill are we getting?" He asked rhetorically.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." Erica grinned at them. "We have agreed to let him stay for free and the nurses caring for him are volunteers."

Jack's mouth dropped. "Why?!"

She smiled, looking towards a specific door. "We owe him."

Finally, she opened a door and the four of them peeked in.

There were four beds. Only two were occupied. In one, an old woman was lying, another comatose patient. Some pictures were placed on the table next to her and an IV was stuck on her hand. On the other.

They rushed in to group around the bed that was too big for the body on it. The boy was as pale as the sheets under him and he was covered in bandages. He had been cleaned and his face held a few Band-Aids that kept some cuts together.

Maddie reached out and held his hand. It had an IV on the back that she decided to ignore. Jack placed his hands on the bed next to Danny's legs, looking as if he was refraining himself from hugging him. Sam held her arms tightly close to her chest. She clenched and unclenched her fists. She shouldn't be worried. Danny's had worse. He'll be fine. She won't cry.

Tucker seemed to have missed the memo because he had made a fist on the blanket Danny was lying under and tears were spilling out on his face. "Please Danny," he pleaded. "Prove them wrong. Like you always do." He bowed his head next to his brother's. "Wake up soon."

#danny phantom #danny fenton #amnesiac!Danny #sam manson #tucker foley #jack fenton #maddie fenton #jazz fenton #ghosts #ghost zone #superhero

[friking-awsom-kitten]

Breaking bones and traffic laws IASA Chapter 2

The crowd cheered when the jet retreated.

"That's right!" A man yelled, holding up a shoe. "You better run!"

Sam, however, sprinted over to her best friend. His parents were kneeling next to him, trying to rejuvenate him.

"Someone call an ambulance!!" Was shouted among the crowd.

Sam kneeled next to the Fentons and flinched at the sight of her friend. It had been her turn to check on Danny, so she had skipped a lesson and had ran in only to see him surrounded and shot down. Now he lay here covered in bruises, pale and burned, probably because of the GIW's gun, not to mention unconscious.

His parents were not taking this well. His mom was crying and trying desperately to wipe the green tinted blood away. This wouldn't help Danny in any way but she seemed focused on cleaning him from any evidence that he was hurt.

His dad was muttering under his breath. His eyes wide as he held his limp kid.

About three ambulances pulled up, having been called by several people. There were also some police cars and the distant roar of an emergency helicopter.

The policemen pushed people away to make way for the medics. Two medics squatted down next to Danny and quickly started working on his worst injuries.

Sam couldn't see much past the policeman blocking her sight but she could tell they were stopping the bleeding. Especially from the injury on his head. She knew head wounds blead fast (thanks to Danny) but this looked bad.

Meanwhile his parents were shouting out things.

"Please help him!" Maddie begged. "That's my son. Save him!"

They were in a panic. The whole place was chaos. People were crowding around and shouting and camera crews going awol because of this breaking news and the Fentons kept trying to get to their son.

The medics put the halfa on a stretcher and directed him to the ambulance as quick as they could.

One of them stopped Jack from getting in too. "Wait at the hospital. Don't worry, Mr. Fenton. We'll take good care of your son."

"But he's a ghost!" Jack said frantically. "We can help you with that."

The medic froze and sent his comrade a questioning look.

The other called through a telephone that was attached to the vehicle and his eyes widened. "It's true," he said when he hang up. "It seems we have Danny Phantom on our stretcher."

The medic's eyes got huge and he eyed the boy that was being taken care of by the third doctor. He glanced back to see both of the parents watching him hopefully. "Do you know how to heal a ghost? Or whatever this kid is?"

Maddie hesitated but she knew her knowledge would be valuable to her boy. "We've studied ghosts and how they work for years. Please let us help."

The medic gave the other medics a glance before nodding. "Only one, though."

They both stepped in before pausing. Jack smiled sadly. "I'll go with the RV."

"Thank you, Jack." Maddie sighed in relief and stepped in. The doors closed, leaving Jack and Sam outside. They watched the ambulance take off with the siren on, people rushing out of the way and waving them good luck.

Jack sighed but he turned on his heel and sprinted to the RV. Sam followed quickly.

He got in and turned on the engine. The door of the other seat opened and he saw Sam stepping in.

"I'm coming too," she said with a determined glint.

Jack honestly couldn't care so he grabbed the wheel tightly. "Hold on."

Sam barely had time to grab onto the seat when Jack took off.

They sped through the streets in a way that would make the roadrunner jealous. Everything went by in a flash, but Jack only had eye for the hospital at the end of the road. He faintly remembered another time he had been setting a new speed record for his injured son.

Jack peeked at the back seat to confirm his son wasn't laying there, dripping green liquid and covered in scorch marks, barely breathing.

No. This time he was in an ambulance, which was honestly worse. Was he still alive? Was he still breathing? Has he run out of blood?

The panicked screams of Danny's friends had been barely noticeable above the loud rumbling of the house, which the Fenton parents later found out was the powerful start of the Ghost Portal.

Maddie had dropped the bag of groceries she had been carrying and sprinted past her husband to the basement.

They had opened the door to see Danny half dead on the ground and his friends freaking out, not able to get a coherent sentence out.

Jack now realized much more had happened back then than just a bad shock.

Jack screeched on the brakes and scrambled out of the RV, leaving it occupying three lanes because of his horizontal parking.

Him and Sam sprinted to the main entrance, bursting through the doors and scanning the lobby for the receptionist. There she was. A short woman, her dark brown hair tied back in a loose ponytail and her fingers messing around with different papers.

Jack slammed his hands on the desk, making the woman jump. "Where is my son?!" he cried.

The receptionist blinked in surprise and Jack called out again. "My son, Danny! Is he ok? How is he doing?!"

The woman held up a finger. "Just a second." She typed something on the computer next to her and frowned. "Danny Fenton?" she asked. She knew Jack, or at least, she knew his last name (who didn't know Fenton Works. That sign over their house was visible halfway across town). However she didn't know much about their family and kids, much less their names.

Jack nodded furiously and the woman raised an eyebrow. "The ambulance taking him hasn't arrived yet." She gave him a suspicious glance, probably suspecting all of the traffic laws he must have broken. "Please take a seat in the waiting room and I will call you up when he will be ready for visitors."

"Please," Sam interjected. "Can you tell us how he's doing?"

The receptionist pursed her lips. She glanced at the screen of her computer and back at the distraught people in front of her. "I will keep you posted on how he's doing." She smiled at them reassuringly before she was interrupted by the phone.

Jack and Sam dejectedly started walking towards the waiting room, but paused when the receptionist let out a small panicked sound and started writing something down. "Of course," she was saying, "I'll make sure they're ready to take him in." She hanged up and looked at Jack with wide eyes.

"What," Jack frowned. "What happened."

"There has been some complications during the ride, but they're back on track. They will be arriving here shortly."

"What kind of complications?" Sam wrung her hands together nervously.

The receptionist ruffled with a few papers and gave a tired sigh. "I'm not completely sure myself. However, Danny might need some special attention. Excuse me, I need to take care of somethings so we can be prepared for his arrival."

Jack seemed to realize they weren't getting anything more out of her so he slowly guided the distressed Sam to the waiting room. The chair creaked as the big man sat down on it and Sam plopped down next to him.

The goth looked around. The waiting room was big. Many people were scuttling around, some nervously talking to their companions, some by the coffee machines, some staring off into nothingness deep in thought. Sam wondered what it would be like, having a normal life. She rarely thought about this. The thought usually just popped into her head when either Danny, Tucker or herself were injured badly. As they tried patching each other up she would wonder how it would be like to have a normal life, with normal problems. Not that she wished she had a normal life. She loved this. The thrill and sensation and feeling like she was actually doing something with her teenage life.

However she couldn't help but wonder. If they had a normal life, Danny wouldn't be there, bleeding out in an ambulance, his death status being brought up a few notches.

But Sam guessed he was never destined to have a normal life. None of them were. Not Danny for having such ghost loving parents. Not her for constantly wanting to be different and looking for new and adventurous things. Not even Tucker for the simple fact that he chose Danny and Sam as his best friends (of course being such a Tucker wouldn't be normal either).

Sam's eyes teared, but she smiled through the tears. Her life wasn't normal and she loved it. And she knew Tucker and Danny loved it too. For the most part. But every roller coaster that climbed up, had to fall down sometime. No matter how thrilling it was, there were risks. And Danny just happened to be sitting on the front seat of the ride.

The worst thing wasn't even that he was injured. He had gotten worse, she knew. It was that everyone else knew about him. The moment he woke in a hospital he would be waking up to his living nightmare.

With a start Sam realized these people here in the hospital didn't know about the blown secret yet. She looked around again. Taking in their faces. None of them had any idea. It was an unsettling thought that within a couple of hours most of Amity Park would find out. She faintly wondered if the rest of the world would know, or even care. They didn't know Danny as personally as the people in Amity did, but the town was famous for being as haunted as it was and a half ghost kid would surely spike their interest.

Sam let the thought go. She would just have to wait and see. It's not like they had another Reality Gaunlet to erase everyone's memories. All she could do was care for Danny as she knew Tucker would too.

Sam's head snapped up. Tucker! He didn't know yet. He couldn't have. He was still at school as were most teens. But he had his PDA and this was sure to be on the news by now. However, she checked her messages to find it empty, he would have called her by now if he did know. Should she call him now? This would also be a big shock for him and he would most likely freak out that his friend was being taken to his number one nightmare. Before she could make up her mind, Mr. Fenton's phone rang instead, blasting out the Ghost Busters theme in the waiting room.

Jack fumbled with the phone in a panic until he managed to pick up the call. He held it to his ear, unsure whether to feel hope or dread. "Mads?"

Sam's wide eyes inspected the bigger man's expression, searching for any information it could give her.

Jack nodded and his brow creased. "Yes. I'm at the waiting room. How is he?" A pause. "Ectoplasm? Are you sure? And the Fenton analyzer. Of course." He stood up and started speed walking to the door. Sam scrambled behind him in confusion.

"Anything else?" Jack running a hand through his hair. "Alright. I'll get them." He hang up and glanced at Sam briefly. "I'll be right back."

"What?"

They passed the doors and walked by the receptionist, who called out saying something about Danny arriving at the hospital.

Jack didn't falter as he walked out and towards the RV. He kept muttering words under his breath and counting on his fingers. "Two cans of ectoplasm. No three. Just in case. Fenton analyzer. The ecto-sector."

Sam frowned. "Where are you going?"

"To pick up some things from the house." He stepped in and turned on the engine. "Be right back."

Sam was left standing in the driveway as the RV screeched away. She took a deep breath, trying to calm her nerves. She shivered despite of the sun and decided to walk back in. As she walked through the lobby she noticed there were more people in there than before. Most were clustered around the secretary while others talked to each other, watching something on their phones and pointing it out.

She raised an eyebrow but didn't think much of it until one of them spoke to the secretary. "Can you at least tell us if he's gonna make it?? Is he a ghost??"

Sam froze. She turned in time to see the woman behind the desk smile uncertainly, though apologetically, at them. "I am sorry. I'm not allowed to disclose information about a patient with no one other than his family and friends."

Sam sprang forward, suddenly remembering how she had told her and Mr. Fenton that Danny's ambulance had arrived. She pushed past the few people in between her and the secretary and looked at her with wide eyes. "How is he?"

The woman opened her mouth to deny an answer again when she recognized the girl. "You are his friend?"

Sam nodded furiously. "He's like my brother. You said the ambulance got here and his dad just went to get things for him and I'm worried. Is he alright?! What happened?"

The woman smiled reassuringly. "The ambulance stopped because his heartrate was out of the normal and his bleeding was too fast. They had to make sure it stopped before he ran out."

"His heartrate is usually faster than the one of a normal human." Sam nodded.

The woman's eyes widened in surprise that this girl knew that and referred to her friend as if he weren't a human but her expression turned to a frown. "That is worrisome. His heartbeat was slow." She quickly glanced to the screen to confirm her facts when the girl began to panic. "But it accelerated. That is why they stopped the ambulance."

Sam breathed a small sigh of relief but didn't relax. "The bleeding stopped?"

The woman nodded, which made the other people relax as well. "For the most part. He's in the emergency room at the moment. I haven't been updated on any other injuries or complications." She turned to the small crowd questionably. "May I ask who you are?"

"We're worried." A middle-aged man didn't answer the question. "We want to make sure the boy is ok."

Sam was touched. These people didn't even know Danny, yet here they were, worried and panicked for his sake. She considered it was a logical reaction given how he was the ghost that had protected them for so long and had been beaten up to the hospital. But they could have just followed the news from their houses. Instead they came all the way to the hospital.

She couldn't understand the receptionist's confusion until she realized the woman didn't know about Danny's special status yet. She guessed she would be getting this reaction a lot at first. "Danny is half ghost." Sam decided to enlighten the woman. She glanced to the woman's name tag to see her name was Erica. "He's Danny Phantom." She was almost not able to say that simple phrase. She'd never said it before.

Erica only managed to look more surprised. "Excuse me?"

"You don't know?" The man next to Sam said it as if he had been insulted. "It's all over the news! The ghost boy is the Fenton's son!!"

Sam sighed and left them alone. She didn't need this right now. She entered the waiting room, thankful no one here had heard the exclamation from the lobby. She didn't want anyone to recognize her as his best friend and bombard her with questions. Those people by the receptionist better not try.

She sat down, hunched over and placed her head in her hands. She couldn't do this alone. She needed to tell him. She couldn't care less if he freaked out. She couldn't bear knowing this while he didn't.

The depressed goth girl pulled out her bat themed phone and scrolled down the contacts to find 'Tucknology' popping up as one of the first ones. She tapped it and held it close to her ear as she waited, still hunched over.

The call traveled out of the hospital, a few blocks down, to the school Casper High. In a social studies class, three seats away from the front, in a beat up backpack a high tech phone rang with the same call. Tucker jumped when 'Dead girl walking' sang from his front pocket. He frowned, confused and slightly panicked. That was Sam's ringtone. Sam never called in the middle of class unless it was something she couldn't handle, so it must be bad.

He ignored the snickers coming from the other students and picked his phone out. He glanced at it and turned to the teacher with pleading eyes. "I just...I have to take this I'm sorry."

The teacher sighed and waved her hand. "Do whatever you must to turn that horrible music off."

Tucker didn't waste anytime and held it close to his ear. "Sam?"

"Tucker. It's Danny."

The boy immediately straightened. Danny wasn't the only one protective of his friends. "What did he do?"

There was a faint chuckle from the other side. The standard question concerning Danny. "He umm...he's got it bad. The GIW shot him down."

"They did what?!" Tucker half sat up, ready to tear the GIW's headquarters open with his bare hands and get Danny out of their undeserving claws.

"They didn't get him." Sam reassured him quickly. "He's at the hospital."

"He's where?!?"

By now the rest of the class was getting nervous. The teacher leaned forward in slight worry.

Tucker gripped his desk, tense. "Why is he there?" Not 'What happened to get him there'. Danny did lots of things that should get him in the hospital, as did Sam and Tucker. But what made this time different?

"They know, Tuck. Ever-one knows..." Her voice cracked. Tucker was really panicking now. "They...they shot him down and he- wouldn't move. Everyone saw him. I don't know what to..."

"Calm down, Sam." Tucker's own voice trembled slightly, although he didn't know what got his friend breaking down like this.

His classmates gasped. Sam had to calm down?? What had happend to make the tough goth who never let emotions show unless it was anger freak out like this?

Tucker continued. "Where are you? I'll come to you."

"I'm at- the hospital."

That made him pause. Both his friends at the hospital. He hated that place so much. Being at the hospital never meant anything good. It meant pain and suffering. Tucker heard another un-Samly sniffle and broke. He took a deep breath. "Which hospital?"

He ignored the collective gasp of his classmates as he threw his stuff into his backpack. He had learned to always be prepared, especially in a crisis.

"Honor Grave Hospital."

Tucker nodded. "Be right there. Don't move."

She mumbled a bye and hung up. Tucker slung his backpack over his shoulder and shoved his phone in one of his many pant pockets. He didn't say anything as he passed his teacher and opened the door, ignoring his fellow peers' questions.

Tucker ran out of the school and to his motorbike that was chained to a tree next to the school. The chain was only decoration really. He yanked it off and typed in a password after pressing his thumb and scanning it. He quickly jumped on and revved the motor, starting up and away towards the hospital.

He was at the hospital in a blink.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #ghosts #ghost zone #amnesiac!Danny #chapter two #sam manson #tucker foley #jack fenton #maddie fenton #jazz fenton

[friking-awsom-kitten]

What ghost up must come down IASA Chapter 1

Danny rotated his shoulder with a wince and fixed his blurry gaze on the ghost. He held up a finger and shot the ghost down. It wasn't a really powerful ghost of any special kind. It shouldn't be that hard to beat.

But the last three sleepless nights and mental strain had him and his body exhausted.

It's all because of those exams, Danny grumbled internally. He was certain the teachers had ganged up against him to cluster all the tests in one week. The term 'free time' had become a stranger to him the past week.

Danny sighed deeply as he held up a shield, too lazy to dodge a shot. Maybe he should take some time off and go punch the arcade games instead of ghosts and textbooks.

Something prickled his sixth sense and Danny looked over his shoulder to see two GIW jets come into sight.

Shit, he thought, why now. He hadn't seen those guys in weeks. They weren't a daily occurrence, thank Clockwork, but how bad could his luck be that they chose this particular day to annoy him.

Danny decided to end the fight quickly. For both his sake and the ghost's.

He flew at the ghost rapidly. "Hey dude. What about we let this die?" He threw a roundhouse kick and the ghost was thrown away. "Seriously!" He exclaimed as the ghost recovered quickly and shot multiple shots at Phantom. "You have ghost to calm down!"

The ghost groaned. "Do you ever stop?" To which Danny grinned. "Over my dead body."

"Watch out, Phantom!"

Danny got the warning too late and was hit on the back of his knee. He yelped, wondering why they couldn't hit the other leg. This one already had a massive bruise on it. He put up a shield and groaned when a few other strong shots hit it.

The GIW seemed to be updating their weapons.

Phantom scowled and swirled around, lighting his hands up with ice. "Common, guys, can't you see I'm busy?! Can we reschedule so I can kick your white clad ass another time?" He aimed and successfully encased one of the planes with ice.

The jet flew out of control when the driver's vision was obscured. Suddenly it stopped jolting around and landed harmlessly, though rather roughly.

After all, Phantom wasn't a bad guy. He landed the jet with telekinesis before returning his attention to the battle.

A small crowd had started to form a bit away. Danny barely spotted a camera crew setting up their equipment. His gaze was directed to the large RV revving up the driveway. Could this day get any worse?

He'd have to take them out one at a time.

The boy decided to concentrate on the most dangerous threat first. He tried a few shots, which the GIW jet expertly dodged.

Danny squeaked when a shot exploded a few feet from where he stood. He glared at the ghost, who shook his head with wide eyes and pointed at something. There stood Jack holding up a large weapon.

Jack held up a fist. "Stay where you are, spook!"

Danny rolled his eyes and winced when it sent a jolt of pain in his head. He'd been fighting a headache since yesterday. Sam said it was because of his lack of rest.

You know what? Baby steps.

The ghost boy flew up and punched the ghost hard.

"Why did you punch me!" The specter complained. "They did it."

"You were annoying me first," Danny countered. "You started this, and I don't know about you but I always finish what I started. Now get in the stupid thermos."

"You keep that thing away from me!" The ghost chose to escape into the sky and Danny followed swiftly. He appeared in front of him and waved as he sucked the yowling spirit into the thermos. "That's done. Let's get out of here."

Maddie squinted into the hole on top of her gun, aiming at the ghost boy. He was distracted. This was her chance. However, something paused her finger on the trigger.

Phantom looked so exhausted and so drained out. He was dripping a bit of ectoplasm and he almost dropped the thermos from his shaking hands. Maddie didn't know why this made her hesitate.

She lowered the gun slightly and her eyebrows furrowed.

The woman's eyes suddenly widened and out of instinct she shouted a warning.

Danny gasped when he heard something behind him. The sound of a machine charging up.

He slowly turned around to come eye to eye with Agent O, who smirked and pushed a button. This caused the giant canon under the jet to light up.

The crowd below watched in horror as their favorite hero was enveloped in light coming from the gun and rocketed down to the ground. They expected him to catch himself and float back up. To shake it off like he had done so many times before.

However Danny Phantom crashed. Hard.

A small crater formed under his unmoving body.

The Fentons spent no time to rush forward and catch the ghost boy off-guard. The camera crew also hurried up, as did some other people, to check on the boy.

They stared at the unconscious teen with bathed breath.

Jack frowned in confusion. What just happened? "Hey spook!-" He wasn't sure how to continue. Ask him if he was ok? That seemed like such a stupid suggestion.

Suddenly Phantom flashed.

The people watching almost thought he was fading? Was this how ghosts died??

What really happened was much worse.

When the flash disappeared....so did Danny Phantom.

In his place was another, just as famous (for different reasons), teenage boy.

An unconscious, bleeding and injured Danny Fenton met their mortified gazes.

"No," Maddie whispered, tears prickling her eyes. "Da..Danny?"

Jack's arms went slack and his weapon clattered on the ground.

Everyone's shock was interrupted by a loud announcement.

They looked up to see the jet aiming another type of gun at the boy on the ground. Jack and Maddie recognized it as a restraining gun. "Step away from the Specimen," Agent O said through a speaker.

"What?!" Maddie shouted in disbelief. "What are you planning on doing with MY son?!"

"This is a rare creature and he will be brought in by the GIW to be examined."

"Examined?!" A civilian exclaimed in disbelief. "He's just a kid!"

"We are from the government," was the agent's answer, one he used frequently. "Stand back as I immobilize him. He must be prepared for experiments. Lots and lots of painful experiments." He charged up the gun.

Maddie ran up and stood over her son, gun pointed to counterattack. "You will not lay one hand on him!!" She cried, tears streaming from her face from shock and rage at man above her.

"You have no say in this, Fenton." Agent O said irritably. He wished that woman would just move over. The specimen was within his grasp. So close. He would not let it go. "Move over or I will call for backup."

Jack placed his large body between the jet and his son. "Let them come," he growled. "You filthy scumbags will have to go over my corpse to get him."

Agent O sighed as if this was a minor inconvenience. He reached for his communicator.

"And mine!" A woman in her early twenties stepped closer to Danny.

"And mine!" An old man waved a fist as he joined the group.

"Who said anything about my corpse!!" And enraged goth screamed up at the insecure GIW jet. "I'll be dancing over yours if you come within a five mile radius of Danny!"

Agent O pursed his lips as his eyes took in the crowd yelling and shaking their fists at him. He turned on the communicator. "Requesting assistance. The Specimen seems to be of more value than anticipated." He winced when a shoe clanged against his window. "However the civilians seem...reluctant to let it go."

"Describe reluctant," a voice from the communicator asked.

"One threw a shoe at the ship."

The voice hummed.

"A muddy one," Agent O clarified, making the voice gasp.

Agent O took a peek at the crowd. "I am grateful there isn't a tomato stand near here."

"This is the twentieth century. There are no tomato stands in the middle of the road in a city like this one."

"Believe me. Tomato stands are always at the ready when there's a riot," the Agent commented drily.

"Is that the term you would use?"

Agent O winced when a shot from the Fentons scorched his ship. "Definitely."

"Are you able to restrain them?"

"Cameras are present."

There was a small silence. "Retreat," the voice said with as much regret as Agent O felt. But he obeyed and powered the gun down as he directed the jet to base.

The boss of his sector continued. "When you're back, come to my office and relay all the information you have on the specimen."

"Yes sir."

#danny phantom #danny fenton #im a superhero apparently #chapter one #ghosts #ghost zone #sam manson #tucker foley #jack fenton #maddie fenton #jazz fenton #just all the fentons #amnesiac!Danny #thats the tag of this book

[friking-awsom-kitten]

I'm a superhero, apparently (short summary)

Danny Phantom story in which Danny gets himself in a very rough spot and because of an accumulation of factors loses his memory. He does this in the worst way possible: by falling unconscious in a small crater of his own doing and detransforming in front of tons of spectators and the entire news crew.

By the time he wakes up just about the whole world has found out about the teen that has been secretly protecting this side of North America and turned out to be the famous spook Phantom.

Danny has to figure out how to reintegrate in his own life, but everyone is steadily making that very difficult and Danny decides pretty early on that he can't be bothered to try to understand all that's happening.

The Guys in White are meanwhile even more interested in the ghost child than ever before and Danny's ghostly enemies have also caught wind of his predicament. They decide they should 'visit'.

So Danny's in danger.

Danny can honestly not find the fuck he should give.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #just take it #thank you for reading? #danny has amnesia #ghosts #ghost zone