#Meatloaf Ascendant

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

𝔐𝔢𝔞𝔱𝔩𝔬𝔞𝔣 𝔄𝔰𝔠𝔢𝔫𝔡𝔞𝔫𝔱 𝔟𝔶 𝔐𝔦𝔠𝔥𝔞𝔢𝔩 𝔚𝔥𝔢𝔩𝔞𝔫

[oblivious-aro]

Friends in Strange Places Ch. 4

What if Vlad was good instead of evil? Link to chapter 1:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39040329/chapters/97656390

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"Again, sorry for being late." Valerie said to Tucker as they walked to his house. "You know how Mr Garcia can get with his end of class lectures."

"Yeah, been there." Tucker nodded. "Sounds like he broke his record for longest-winded speech today. Lucky you. Anyway, here we are," Tucker spread out his arms "Casa Foley!"

Tucker's house was green with dark shutters. He lived on one of those streets that had trees planted along the road. It was a nice house. Valerie kind of wish she lived here. Her old house had had a private garden filled with shrubbery. She didn't realize how much she missed the greenery.

They ascended the front steps and Tucker opened the door for Valerie.

"Hey Mom!" Tucker called as they entered the house.

"Welcome home Sweetheart" Valerie heard a voice call back. "Did you have a good day at school?"

"Yeah. I hope you don't mind, but I brought a friend over."

"Oh, is it Danny?"

"No, her name's Valerie."

Angela Foley appeared in the hall with a plate and a dish towel in her hand.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Valerie." Angela smiled. "I don't remember the last time Tucker brought someone over who wasn't Danny or Sam."

"Ha ha, yeah." Tucker said. "We're just going to go upstairs and work on some homework and maybe hang out a bit."

"Ah, yes, homework! Well, don't let me keep you. We're having meatloaf for dinner if you're interested Valerie."

"Thanks Mrs Foley, but I probably won't stay too long. My dad's expecting me."

"Suit yourself. I'll be in the kitchen if you kids need me."

"Okay, thanks mom!" Tucker called as he led Valerie up the stairs.

Angela smiled to herself as she walked back to the kitchen. It was nice that Tucker was expanding his social circle.

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"Your mom seems pretty friendly." Valerie said as Tucker shut his bedroom door.

"Yeah, but she'd probably have wanted to talk to you for another hour if I hadn't mentioned homework. Anyway, you got the glove?"

"Yup." Valerie pulled a black glove out of her bag and handing it to Tucker.

He frowned when he looked at it.

"You're right-handed, right?"

"Yeah?"

"You sure you want the shield on your left glove? Makes more sense to have it on your dominant hand."

"No, I want it on the left."

Tucker furrowed his brow.

"To be honest, it doesn't really make sense to incorporate the shield into a glove in the first place. I mean, if a ghost attacks, it'd be faster to just pull out the shield than it is to put on a glove. So, it would only make sense to fuse the shield to the glove if you planned on wearing the glove all of the ti-"

Something clicked in Tucker's brain. He remembered the books Valerie had been carrying when he'd bumped into her in the hall shortly after the Axiom attack. How angry and upset she'd been by the whole situation.

"Valerie. You're not planning on hunting ghosts are you?"

"Weellllll-"

"Valerie! Do you have any idea how reckless that is? Ghosts are dangerous, and you need to know what you're doing, and have the right equipment! Normal weapons don't work on ghosts, and you can't exactly fight them with just this tiny shield! You need real ghost weapons!"

"For your information, Foley, I do know what I'm doing, and I already have 'real' ghost weapons."

More gears began to click in Tucker's brain. He'd seen a ghost hunter with black gloves. And Valerie's voice and build were pretty close to-

"Oh my gosh." The glove slipped out of Tucker's hand as his eyes went wide. "You're The Red Huntress!"

"Hey!" Valerie said, suddenly on defensive "How do you know that name?"

"She kind of shouts it really loud when she- you're chasing down ghosts."

Tucker sat down on his bed and stared at the ground. This revelation was blowing his brain, although he had to admit it that made perfect sense.

When Tucker looked up, the sight of a glaring Valerie centimeters from his face almost made his jump off the bed.

"I swear Foley, if you tell anyone, especially my dad, I'm going to-"

"Hey, hey, relax!" Tucker held up his hands and scooched back on the bed. "I told you, I'm pretty good at keeping secrets. I swear I won't rat you out."

"Good." Valerie took a step back, but her face was no longer friendly.

Tucker was too nervous to say anything. Valerie wasn't feeling particularly chatty either.

It wasn't long before the tension finally became too much for Tucker to bear.

"So...where did you get your gear?"

"None of your business." Valerie's glare hardened.

"You don't trust me at all, huh?"

Valerie didn't say anything.

"Am I the first person you've told?"

"Not that I wanted to tell you, but yes."

"Oh."

"Oh what?"

"So you've been doing this all on your own?"

"I've been doing fine on my own, thanks."

"Not saying you aren't," Tucker glanced at the glove on the floor. "But that just kind of sounds like it sucks."

Tucker thought he saw Valerie's expression soften ever so slightly, so he decided to keep going.

"You know, I meant what I said earlier. I'm pretty good at keeping secrets, and I'm not going to tell your dad. Parents are great, but I get that sometimes you don't want them involved. They might worry, or worse, try and stop you, and... I know it sucks being benched when you know there's something you can do to help."

Valerie's face softened, but she wasn't smiling. She wasn't making eye contact with Tucker. He wasn't sure if that was good or not.

"Anyway, it might take a few days, and a lot of help from my tech forums, but I think I can do it. Put the shield into your glove, I mean."

"Thanks."

"No problem. I don't really need anything else from you, and it seems like you don't really want to talk right now, so I guess I'll see you in school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure."

Valerie walked over to Tucker's door. She put her hand on the door knob. After a brief hesitation, she turned back to face Tucker.

"Hey, um, before I go," she said "Have you ever tried flying?"

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"AAAAHHHH!"

Tucker clung to Valerie's waist for dear life as they sailed through the night sky.

"Thrilling, isn't it?" She called over her shoulder.

"That's one word for it!" Tucker nervously replied. "Watch out for that tree!"

"Relax, I know what I'm doing."

Valerie dipped the hoverboard down briefly before rocketing upwards. Tucker screamed again and shut his eyes as they burst through the through the leafy branches.

After a few seconds, Tucker felt the hoverboard stop moving.

"You can open your eyes now." Valerie said. "Trust me, you're gonna want to see this."

Hesitantly, Tucker opened his eyes.

"Woah..." he breathed.

He'd expected to see stars, but it was too cloudy for that tonight. That being said, Tucker had never been this close to the clouds before. It was incredible seeing just how massive they were. The sight might have been terrifying if the clouds weren't so fluffy. Tucker almost wanted to reach out and touch one, but he was still too scared to let go of Valerie.

"Look down."

"Isn't that the one thing you're not supposed to do when you're up high?"

"Just do it, you idiot."

And so Tucker did.

Amity Park looked even cooler than the clouds. The city was full of tiny sparkling lights. They weren't like the stars, these lights were gathers in dense clusters. It reminded Tucker more of fireflies. Not that Tucker had ever actually seen fireflies, but he assumed that this was what they'd look like, minus the colour variations from neon signs.

You could see how the layout of the roads and sidewalks all fit together, making hundreds of not-quite-squares. It always felt like it took forever to walk one place to another in Amity, and now Tucker could see it all.

It was an amazing ,but also kind of weird seeing Amity Park from this angle. It was like Tucker was looking at his entire life.

Wow, that was stirring some emotions.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Tucker's grip on Valerie relaxed ever so slightly. "It really is."

Danny had carried Tucker via flight a few times, and Tucker had tried flying himself when he was briefly half-ghost, but he'd never really had the opportunity to just stop and take in the view from this high up.

Tucker wondered if Danny ever came up to just hang out in the sky. He hoped he did.

"Up here, it feels like it's just you and the stars." Valerie said "Everything down there? All your problems and the people you know? They all feel really small and far away down there. For a few minutes you can just exist without worrying about all that stuff."

"Yeah, that's exactly it." Tucker looked over at Valerie. "Do you spend a lot of time up here."

"I used to come up here at night when I couldn't sleep. Guess I kind of stopped. I should come up here more."

The serene moment was interrupted by the sound of Tucker's stomach growling.

"Sorry." he said "You wanna grab a nasty burger?"

"Didn't your mom already make a meatloaf?"

"You think I don't have room in here for a Nasty Combo and my mom's meatloaf?" Tucker patted his stomach. "I'm offended. I'll pay if you drive."

"Alright, deal."

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A sunken eyed employee opened the drive-thru window.

"Welcome to the Nasty Burger. What can I get for- hang on, the drive-thru is only for customers with vehicles."

"Do hoverboards count?" Valerie asked.

The employee stuck his head out the window and looked down at their board. He blinked slowly and sighed.

"Sure, why not. What would you like to order?"

"We'll take two Nasty Combos, one diet cola, one diet iced tea, and upsize one of the fries."

"That'll be $13.95." Tucker handed over some cash. "Please proceed to the next window."

"Thanks." Tucker saluted as Valerie flew to the second window.

They hovered there for about a minute. A peppy teenager soon appeared and opened the window, greasy white bag in hand.

"Two Nasty Combos with diet, iced tea, and- "

Her cheery expression melted into confusion when she got a good look at the masked figure and teenager on a hoverboard.

"Whaaaaa...?"

Tucker took the bag from her hand.

"Thanks!" he smiled politely at her . Her expression did not change as Valerie zoomed off back towards Amity Park Park.

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When they got back to Amity Park Park, they sat down by a tree to eat. Valerie had barely unwrapped her burger before Tucker was begging her to let him try out her mask.

"Okay, fine." she rolled her eyes affectionately.

"Yes!" Tucker pumped his fist as Valerie handed him her mask. He slipped it on over his face.

"Wow, everything looks so red."

Valerie grinned evilly and hit some buttons on her wrist.

"Agh! That's a lot of information!"

Valerie laughed and toggled the statistics off.

"Yeah," she said "You have to get used to seeing things through the visor. It's pretty useful once you do but, between that and learning how to fly on the hoverboard, it took like two months before I felt even remotely ready to try going after a ghost."

"And how'd that go?" Tucker asked, pulling the mask off.

"Pretty bad." Valerie laughed. "I thought I'd gotten pretty good at flying, but I fell off my board twice. Turns out flying's a lot harder when you're actively chasing a ghost, and not just doing laps around the park. Luckily my hoverboard comes back to catch me when I fall."

"It does? That's awesome!"

"Right? If I only had a way to actually hold onto the ghosts, I'd be all set. That ghost Danny Phantom's got some gizmo that sucks up ghosts. I tried to ask his about it, but he just disappeared and flew away."

"Oh. D-did he?"

"Yeah. He saved my life once, so I figured he was probably friendly, but guess I was wrong."

"Maybe he just needs to warm up to you?" Tucker shrugged "I mean, being a ghost and all, he's probably not used to humans trying to be friends with him. Most people he meets probably react the opposite way to ghosts." This was a very surreal way to talk about Danny.

"I guess. For now all I'll just have to stick with scaring the ghosts away."

"That's ironic."

"Shut up!" Valerie smiled and pushed Tucker's shoulder. "For real, though. Ghosts used to hold so much power over me. After that dog attacked Axiom, I was scared all the time. I couldn't even sleep most nights. Being The Red Huntress liberates me. It gives me power over those monsters. Just having the suit makes me feel safe and strong, and I'm not afraid anymore!"

Valerie suddenly blushed.

"Sorry, I'm oversharing. Don't really have anyone else to talk to about this."

"Nah, you're good, I get it." Tucker said. "Ghosts can be...a lot to deal with. You've got to talk to someone about all the craziness. I'd go insane without Danny and Sam. Although I suppose I wouldn't be dealing with ghosts at all if it weren't for Danny..."

Tucker began to sweat. Was he saying too much?

"I suppose." Valerie laughed. "Do Fenton's parents ever take you ghost hunting?"

"What? Me? Ghost hunting? No way!" Tucker hoped Valerie didn't notice how high-pitched his voice was. "That would be way too dangerous. And a waste of my gifts."

"Gifts?"

"My good looks and natural charisma!"

"...right."

The two of them took a bite of their burgers at the same time, leaving things silent while they chewed.

"Hey, Val?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for showing me the sky. And for trusting me with all that. I had a really great night."

"Yeah, me too."

Tucker and Valerie turned away from each other just in time to miss the other one's blush.

They just sat and talked about nothing in particular between bites of their food. Once they'd finished, Valerie flew them back to Tucker's house, and they snuck in through his bedroom window. Valerie changed out of her suit (it took every fibre of Tucker's willpower not to geek out over the way it folded into her backpack), and the two of them headed downstairs so Valerie could leave.

"See you in school tomorrow." she waved.

"Bye." Tucker waved back as Valerie shut the door.

"Valerie seems like a nice girl." Tucker's mother said once she'd left.

"I agree. When did you two meet?" Tucker's dad asked, grinning and raising an eyebrow.

"Slow down, Dad. We're just partners in bio."

"You know, your mother and I started as bio partners."

"It was actually home economics, dear." his mother corrected. The two of them smiled at each other, clearly thinking about fond memories.

"Right, well I'm going to go hide in my room while before you two start making out."

"I can't believe you would talk to your own parents that way." His mother tousled Tucker's beret as he passed her on the way to the stairs.

"And I can't believe you two would be so risqué in front of your son!" Tucker dramatically threw his arm over his face as he ascended the stairs.

Tucker's smile faded as he shut the door to his room, realizing he now had a serious dilemma.

On the one hand, Valerie being The Red Huntress definitely seemed like the kind of thing Danny should know. On the other hand, it wasn't fair to out Valerie like that.

He couldn't even ask her if she was okay with him telling Danny without revealing Danny's secret, and he couldn't ask Danny if he was okay with him telling Valerie without revealing Valerie's secret.

After thinking about it for a bit over a few solo rounds of DOOMED, Tucker decided he was just going to have to keep both their secrets. This probably meant that he was going to want to scream every time those two obliviously interacted, but he was just going to have to suffer in silence.

"Tucker!" His mom called up "Dinner's ready!"

Good, meatloaf made suffering much easier.

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Danny had been planning on telling Sam and Tucker about Valerie first thing at school that morning. Unfortunately, some ectopus had other plans. Danny hadn't even finished breakfast when his ghost sense went off.

Ectopuses were slippery ghosts, and Danny only got it into the thermos two minutes before the end of home room.

He managed to transform back, grab all his stuff, and arrive at first period just as the second bell rang. Ms Murphy gave him a look, but didn't say anything.

"Ghost attack?" Tucker whispered as Danny sat down net to him and Sam.

"Yeah. Listen, I've got something really-"

"Danny, Tucker, your discussion can wait until after class."

"Yes Ms Murphy." Danny and Tucker replied.

Danny had never been more anxious for a class to end. He almost cheered when the bell finally rang.

"So, what were you saying earlier?" Tucker asked as the trio walked out of Ms Murphy's classroom.

"Okay, so yesterday, I was fighting The Box Ghost-"

"That's very exciting news." Sam interrupted.

"That's not the end of the sentence." Danny glared at Sam. "Anyway, The Red Huntress showed up in the middle of the fight, and-"

Danny stopped talking when he noticed Valerie walking not far behind their group. He'd forgotten that they had English together.

Valerie hadn't noticed Danny and his friends. She was too absorbed with adjusting some settings on her watch. Although, now that Danny really looked at it, the display screen was showing features that a normal watch definitely didn't have.

"Danny?" Sam's voice snapped Danny's attention back to his friends. "What happened? What did The Huntress do? Did she hurt you?" Sam's clenched her fists as she asked the last question.

Danny glanced at Valerie again. She didn't seem to notice that Sam was referring to her alter ego. She probably wasn't listening to their conversation at all. Why would she be? She didn't know who Danny was.

"Uh, no, no! Everything's good, I just...uh, you know, English is starting soon, so I think I'll just tell you at lunch."

"Dude, you're acting real weird." Tucker looked at Danny with concern. "You sure everything's alright?"

"Yup! Totally fine! Don't worry, I can't talk now, but it'll make sense later."

"Okaaaaay..." Sam raised an eyebrow as the three of them took their seats.

Danny glanced over his shoulder. Valerie sat at the desk behind Sam (of course Valerie sat so close to their group!), lazily looking out the window. Her watch now displayed the time on its screen, just like any average everyday digital watch would.

"Alright students," Mr Lancer entered the classroom and shut the door. Today we're going to be starting our unit on Edgar Allen Poe."

Valerie sitting right behind him made it even harder to pay attention now than it had been in first period.

After about ten minutes of struggling to take in Mr Lancer's droning, Danny felt his ghost sense go off.

Well, it wasn't like he was going to learn anything today anyway.

Danny and Valerie raised their hands at the same time.

"Gray?" Mr Lancer pointed his piece of chalk at Valerie.

"May I go to the washroom?"

"Sharon's already gone out. You'll have to wait for her to get back. Fenton?"

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

Mr Lancer let out a deep sigh.

"Fine. Hurry back."

Danny shot out of the classroom.

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The ghost turned out to be another ectopus (Danny should've known; they always came in pairs!) that was occupying itself by gnawing on a boiler in the school's basement.

"Dude, don't you have anything better to chew on?" Danny asked "Like, that just can't be your best option."

The ectopus hissed violently, abandoning the boiler to charge at Danny, tentacles at the ready.

Ectopuses weren't very strong, but it could be hard to keep track of all their tentacles in a fight. At some point, the ectopus managed to grab Danny by the waist and throw him into a bunch of pipes.

The pipes dented and a few of them cracked, releasing streams of steam horrible hissing. Danny used the obscuring effect of the steam to his advantage, sneaking around the ectopus and blasting it in the back enough times to weaken it before sucking it into The Fenton Thermos.

"Attention Casper High," Principal Ishiyama's staticky voice said as Danny capped The Thermos "It appears we are having some major plumbing issues. As such, we ask students and faculty to exit the building immediately. The rest of the school day will be cancelled. Bus drivers will be notified and should arrive shortly."

"Oops." Danny said to no one.

Not that that was really his fault. It was the ectopus that threw him.

Danny flew invisibly to the school's front door, checked that there wasn't anybody still inside, then transformed, rushing outside. It didn't take long to find the soaking wet Sam and Tucker.

"Hey guys!" He called "I, uh, got the ghost."

"Good for you." Sam said as water dripped from her hair. "I, personally, would like to go home and change now."

"Agreed." Tucker wrung out his beret and placed it back on his head. "Hey Danny, could you maybe not set off the sprinkler system the next time you're fighting a ghost?"

"Wait, how on earth could we have possible set off- it doesn't matter. I've got something absolutely bonkers to tell you two!"

"Did your dad bring the fridge to life too?" Sam asked, taking out her ponytail.

"No, Valerie's The Red Huntress!"

"Wait, WHAT!" Sam said. Tucker didn't say anything, but his eyes widened.

"Yeah, can you believe that?"

"H-how do you know it's her?" Tucker asked.

"She literally told me. I ran into her when I was fighting The Box Ghost yesterday, and she started talking about the time Phantom saved her at Axiom. She wan't even trying to hide her identity."

"Wow." was all Sam could think to say.

Danny rubbed his eyes.

"Ugh, of all the people she could've been, it had to be Valerie."

"You know, this might actually be convenient in a way." Tucker said.

"Really, how?"

Tucker took a deep breath. Now that he knew Danny knew about Valerie, he figured it might be a good idea to broach the subject of Danny letting her in on his secret. He wasn't really sure how Danny would react, though.

"Okay, so, don't freak out, but I was thinking about something." Tucker said.

"What is it?"

"It's just, don't freak out, but I was thinking, you know, and this is just a 'maybe', just something to consider, but perhaps, just potentially-"

"Just spit it out already Tucker!" Sam snapped.

"Hey hey!" Tucker held up his hands indignantly "This is a delicate matter, Sam! Anyway, Danny I think that maybe you should consider telling Valerie."

"Tell her what?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Tell her...your secret. You know, that you're Danny Phantom."

Nobody said anything right away.

"Seriously Tuck?"

"I mean, you don't have to, I just thought it was worth consider-"

"You think that just because you like some girl, I should just tell her my biggest secret?"

"Hey, it's not about that! I don't even like- never mind. I just thought that since Valerie's also a ghost hunter, it might be beneficial for you two to, like, you know..."

"What?"

"I'm just saying, having someone to help you fight ghosts wouldn't be a bad thing, right?"

"That's what you and Sam are for!"

"I know, and no offence to me and Sam, we're great, but Valerie's a real powerhouse. She could be a real asset to Team Phantom. You two've seen her, she's got skills and some real sick gear. I mean, at the very least, she probably has a ghost tracker, so we could rely on something more precise than your ghost sense. That'd be cool, right?"

Sam raised an unimpressed eyebrow, and Danny looked furious. Maybe indirectly insulting his ghost sense hadn't been the best approach.

"I'm just saying having more help is never a bad thing."

"Maybe not for you." Danny said "You're not the one who'd be putting yourself at risk."

"I'm just-"

"Sure it's all about what you think. Who cares about my opinion? Who cares that I'm the one on the front lines of most of the ghost fights? Who cares that I have to navigate a minefield of potentially hazardous devices in my own home? Who cares that my parents say they love me then turn around and start going on about how they're going to destroy me every day?"

Sam thought she saw Danny's eyes flash green while he was talking. Tucker seemed to be at a loss for words. Sam didn't blame him.

"Danny," she said carefully "I don't think he-"

"Ugh! You know what?" Danny interrupted her "I've had enough!"

With that, he transformed and flew off towards Fenton Works. The force of his takeoff was so strong that Tucker had to hold on to his beret to keep it from flying off his head.

"He's really got to stop changing out in the open like that if he wants to keep his secret a secret." Sam remarked.

"It was just an idea," Tucker said "I didn't mean to make him so upset!"

Sam sighed.

"It's not your fault Tucker. I think Danny's kind of sensitive about the whole 'secret identity' thing right now. He told me he was actually thinking about telling his parents."

"What?! That's crazy! You told him why that was a bad idea, right?"

"He already knows why it's a bad idea, Tucker."

"Then why on earth does he want to tell them?"

"I don't know. I guess keeping his ghost half a secret from his family has really been stressing him out?" Sam chewed her nail thoughtfully. Danny was clearly upset and had tried to talk to Sam earlier, but she'd just shut him down.

She'd really been a really terrible friend.

"Okay," Tucker said "Danny is clearly going through some stuff. We'd better go talk to him."

Sam realized that Danny probably wouldn't have gotten this upset if he'd talked to Tucker first instead of her.

Well, if this mess was her fault, then she was going to fix it.

"He's seemed pretty mad at you." Sam said "Maybe I should go alone."

"Yeah," Tucker sighed "You're probably right. I'll talk to him tomorrow when he's cooled off. Call me later and tell me how he's doing?"

"Yeah, sure thing. I'll just drop my stuff off at home and change into something dry first. Give him some time to calm down."

"That's probably smart." Tucker said. He sighed. "I hope Danny's okay."

Sam didn't say anything.

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Danny was lying on his bed, trying to distract himself from the swirling thoughts in his head by drowning himself in Pac-Man Collection on his Game Boy. Tucker had once joked that Danny was drawn to Pac-Man because it's a game where you keep catching ghosts that keep escaping. Danny disagreed, the game was more about working around ghosts rather than fighting them.

That being said, Danny was actually pretty bad at avoiding the ghosts. He'd just lost his last life to Blinky (Blinky and Pinky always ganged up on him!), when he heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" he asked, shutting off the Game Boy.

"It's me!" Sam's voice answered from the other side. "I brought your backpack. And, also some homework from Lancer. Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Sam opened the door.

"You okay?" she asked, shutting it behind her.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Danny asked, sitting up.

"Seriously Danny?" Sam pulled Danny's computer chair next to his bed and sat in it backwards.

Danny fiddled with a loose string in his blanket.

"Look," Sam sighed "I don't get your whole conflict about wanting to tell your parents. If I had ghost powers, you couldn't pay me to tell mine. But this isn't about me."

Sam had taken the time to figure out what she was going to say on the walk over.

"Your relationship with your parents is different from mine. You're clearly struggling and needed someone to talk to, and I didn't listen. I'm sorry. I'm ready to listen now, if you still want to talk."

Danny sighed.

"I don't know Sam. It...it's just been a lot." Danny stopped fiddling with the string and looked at her. "Keeping this secret, it's stressful."

"Even now that you have your powers under control?"

"Like I said earlier, it's like there's a wedge between me and my family now. It's not, like, huge, but I can feel it, all the time, just lingering in the in the back of my head. I don't always notice it, but it always seems to affect things."

"How so?"

"It's like I'm constantly being reminded that all it would take is a single moment, and everything would be different. My family would start to see me different."

Danny took a steadying breath before continuing.

"But, whether anyone likes it or not, I am half-ghost. My ghost half is a part of who I am. And keeping that a secret means I can't fully be myself around the people I love, as cliché as that sounds."

"No, I get it." Sam was surprised to realize she meant it "I could probably get along with my parents a lot better if I wore brighter colours and frillier skirts, but that's not who I am. It would feel so restrictive, like I was denying who I- oh." Sam looked at Danny "Is that what keeping your ghost half secret feels like?"

Danny nodded.

"Oh." Sam said again. "Danny we- I didn't realize you were under so much pressure. I mean, I know being a ghost with ghost hunter parents isn't fun, but...why didn't you say anything earlier?"

Danny shrugged.

"I don't think I really realized how bad it was until recently. Kind of like how I didn't say anything about my gender dysphoria until middle school. The bad feelings have always been there, I just didn't really...fully realize it, I guess. It's just, seeing Vlad and my mom argue in Colorado, seeing how hiding destroyed his relationships with the people closest to him, it made me scared."

"I mean, you're not really like Vlad." Sam said. "You still talk to your family. Vlad's problem is that he shut himself off from everyone completely. You don't do that."

"Maybe not, but I'm still closing myself off from them. Keeping a secret this big is just so...so...draining! Mom, Jazz, even Dad have noticed something is off with me. I don't like all of this lying and hiding!"

Danny hugged his legs to his chest and buried his face in his knees.

"I'm tired, Sam. A day hasn't gone by since the accident where I don't think about this at least a little. I'm sick of this dragging me down. I just want it to stop, but the only way to make it stop is to take a huge risk. I'm just so sick of thinking about all of this."

When Sam was seven, she'd had a special purple hair tie that she wore for months straight until it was all saggy and had lost it's elasticity. Looking at Danny gave her that same feeling she had when she'd looked at the old hair tie. It hurt her heart in a place that was hard to reach.

Sam got up off of her chair and sat down next to Danny on the bed.

"To be honest Danny, I'm not really sure what you should do." Sam said "But we'll figure it out. And no matter what happens, Tucker and I are gonna be here for you."

Danny wrapped his arms around her.

"I don't know what I'd do without you guys." he said.

Sam bristled. Besides for with her grandmother, Sam wasn't big on hugs. They weren't bad, just kind of...weird. But, considering the circumstances, she decided to make an exception this one time..

"You owe me for this, Danny." she said to herself, patting Danny's back.

They stayed like that for a while. Danny wanted to stay there forever, and Sam probably would have let him (well, maybe just for another five minutes), if Danny's ghost sense hadn't gone off.

"Ghosts ruin everything." Danny said, releasing Sam and looking out his window. He saw a green shape zoom overhead in the direction of Amity Park Park.

"Alright, going ghost!" Danny shouted as he jumped out the window, did a flip, and transformed.

"Can you please not jump out of windows?" Sam said to the now hovering Danny. "You give me a heart attack every time!"

"But it's cool!" Danny protested. "Anyway, it looks like the ghost is headed towards the park. Meet you there?"

Sam nodded and rushed out of Danny's room. Danny zoomed towards Amity Park Park.

--------------------------------------------------

It was hard to spot a ghost through the treetops, but the sound of people screaming near the playground narrowed Danny's search down pretty quickly.

It didn't take long to find the source of the panic. Lurking in the trees, next to the sandbox, was a tall humanoid ghost. Its bottom half consisted of long tattered grey robes, while thick hair-like green tendrils concealed its face and upper body. People fled from the ghost as its tendrils stretched and wrapped around trees and various playground equipment.

"Hey!" Danny called out, the ghost turning at the sound of his voice. "Didn't anyone ever tell you to keep your tentacles to yourself?"

Danny dove towards the ghost, but one of its tendrils shot out and wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides. The end of the tendril floated up next to Danny's face. It suddenly turned into a face, eyes opening, and a long tongue flailing out of a mouth that hissed and bared its fangs.

The ghost had snakes for hair. Over a hundred snakes.

"Not tentacles. Got it."

Danny yelped as the snake yanked him down to its level. Twenty or so snakes parted like a curtain, revealing the ghost's face.

Danny was immediately drawn to the its eyes.

They were a deep grey and there weren't any pupils. Danny couldn't stop staring at them. The whole world outside of those eyes seemed to fade away and Danny felt his feet, which had previously been flailing and kicking, grow heavy and fall limp as he got lost in the gray expanse of the ghost's irises.

A blast of pink energy suddenly nailed the ghost in the face, causing it to shut its eyes and wail. Danny felt like a spell had been broken the second the ghost's eyes were off of him.

Pink blasts continued to assault the ghost and it soon dropped Danny to the ground. He looked up and saw Valerie circling the ghost on her hoverboard, bombarding it with ecto blasts.

"You looked like you could use a hand. AGGH!" Valerie swerved to dodge an incoming snake. She continued to shoot at the ghost as she dodged. Most of her shots missed, and the ghost had moved the curtain of snakes back in front of its face.

The snakes briefly recoiled when they got shot, but Valerie's blasts didn't seem to be doing as much damage as when she'd hit the ghost's face.

Danny tried to stand up while Valerie had the ghost distracted, but found that he couldn't. He looked down and screamed when he saw that his feet had been turned to stone.

He concentrated some ecto energy into his feet. There was a burst of ecto energy and grey rocks, leaving behind his normal white boots.

Danny sighed with relief and shot up into the air.

"Don't look into it's eyes!" he shouted to Valerie "It'll turn you to stone!"

"Wait, for real?"

Before Danny could answer, the ghost managed to grab Valerie with its snake hair.

"Valerie!"

Danny tried to fly after her, but snakes kept popping up and blocking him. He tried to blast them away, but there seemed to be no end to them.

Danny soon gave up and flew up out of their range. He was going to try and hit the ghost with an ecto blast from afar, but when he looked down he realized with horror that the ghost had already parted its hair and locked Valerie in its gaze.

To Danny's surprise, Valerie raised her blaster and shot it directly in the face. The ghost let out more horrible wailing noises, and its snakes all thrashed and tangled in confusion. Valerie whacked the snake that was holding her with the butt of her blaster, causing it to drop her.

She was running as soon as she hit the ground, blasting any errant snakes that came after her. As soon as she was far enough from the throng, her hoverboard came sailing back to her and she jumped on it, flying up next to Danny.

"How'd you do that?" Danny asked "When I looked into its eyes, I got put in a trance and my feet turned to stone."

"My visor must filtering whatever's radiating from those creepy eyes." Valerie said. "Sweet!"

"Okay, I have an idea." Danny said. "How good are you at flying?"

"Pretty good. Why?"

"Try to get as many snakes as you can to follow you. Then fly all around the trees. Go around as many branches and trunks as you can."

"So they get all tangled up? Nice! I like the way you think Phantom."

Danny smiled a little at the compliment, but quickly went back to business mode.

"You take the right, I'll take the left." he said.

Valerie nodded and the two of them zoomed off in opposite directions.

"Hey, Snakes!" Danny shouted "Bet you can't catch me!"

Over fifty snakes hissed at Danny. He zoomed off and they gave chase.

Danny wove over, under, and around tree after tree as tightly as he could. It didn't take long for the snakes that had been following him to get tangled up in the branches as well as each other.

When he was done he looked over at Valerie. She wasn't flying as fast as him, but she was pretty agile considering the how awkward Danny assumed a hoverboard would be to manoeuvre through the trees. It only took her another ten seconds to finish with her snakes. When she was done, she flew over to Danny.

"Now what?"

Most of the snakes were stuck in the trees, but there were still about twenty of them hanging in front of the ghost's face.

"Considering she kept some snakes to cover it," Danny said "I assume she doesn't like getting shot in the face."

"But the face-snakes only move when she's trying to freeze someone."

Danny looked at Valerie. He had another plan, but this one required a lot of trust in Valerie. Some part of Danny hesitated, but, realistically, she'd more than proven herself.

Danny steeled himself with a deep breath.

"If I let the ghost grab me," he said "That'll make her expose her face."

"Yeah, but then she'll put you in a trance. You won't be able to shoot her."

"That's why you're the one that's going to shoot her."

"What, me?!"

"Yes, you. She'll be focused on turning me to stone, leaving her wide open for you."

"So shouldn't I be the bait, then? Since I can't get turned to stone?"

"Her eyes will probably still freeze me from faraway if I accidentally look at them, and you won't be able to hit her either if with her snakes wrapped around you. Wow, that's a weird sentence. Anyway, my point is, the only way to defeat her is for me to distract her so you can hit her weak spot."

"B-but, she still has some snakes free!" Danny had never seen Valerie so hesitant. "I can't dodge and aim at the same time!"

"You just have to hit her once. That'll break the trance and I can blast her point-blank. Can you do that?"

"I-I don't know. If I can't then you'll get turned to stone."

"I think you can do it."

"What?"

"I've been watching you fight. You're still pretty new at this, but you've definitely got what it takes to be a ghost hunter."

"Huh, honestly I kind of thought you hated me."

"Maybe I just didn't give you a fair chance. What do you say? Want to give it a shot before Medusa untangles her hair?"

Valerie only waited a second before answering with full confidence:

"Yes."

"Alright, let's go then!"

Danny zoomed towards the ghost. He stopped about a meter in front of her, and began throwing as many ecto blasts as he could at the snake-hair in front of her face.

As Danny predicted, they didn't seem to do much, and a couple of snakes shot out and wrapped themselves around him. Danny struggled halfheartedly as the ghost's hair began to part, revealing her hypnotic grey eyes.

Valerie tried to hit the ghost's face, but snakes attacked her from every direction, throwing off her aim. Her shots weren't landing anywhere near her target.

"C'mon Val." she muttered to herself, flying underneath yet another snake. "Just ignore your shaking hands. Focus!"

But as hard as she tried, she just couldn't land a shot. Valerie glanced at Danny and began to panic when she realized he was stone well past his ankles.

This wasn't working. She needed to get closer to her target, but the size of her hoverboard made it impossible to weave through the snakes.

In a desperate move, Valerie jumped off her hoverboard and began running towards the ghost. It took the snakes a second to recalibrate, but she wasn't paying attention to them. She was laser focused on the ghost's eyes, shooting as many shots as her blaster would fire at those horrible empty corneas.

She was only a few meters from the ghost when she felt a snake wrapping itself around her torso. She ignored it and kept firing. Just as the snake yanked her into the air, Valerie saw a shot collide with the ghost's face.

Valerie cheered before screaming as the snake that was holding her began flailing around wildly.

The ghost let out a painful wail, but the snakes that were holding Danny and Valerie didn't let go.

Free from the trance, Danny shook his head and focused ecto energy into his feet. He swung his legs back before kicking them forward and blasting the ghost in the face with a giant ecto beam, simultaneously freeing his feet from their stony state.

His arms were still pinned down, so Danny kept shooting the ghost's face with ecto eye beams until she eventually released him.

Danny, arms now free, hovered in front of the ghost and began blasting her with his regular ecto blasts.

Behind him, he heard a yell and a thump as Valerie fell to the ground.

"I'm okay!" she called out.

Soon pink beams joined Danny's green ones in their assault on the ghost's face. The ghost's wails grew louder and louder until it finally crumpled to the ground, its snakes falling limp.

Danny pulled out his thermos and pressed the button, sucking the ghost into the bright blue beam. The ghost wailed the entire time she was being dragged in. Some of the hair snakes tried to wriggle out, but Danny gave the thermos an extra ecto-boost and all the stragglers were soon sucked in.

Danny capped the thermos feeling tired but triumphant.

Valerie flew up to him. She yanked off her mask and leaned on her knees.

"That was," she said between panting breaths "Intense. I've never fought a ghost that powerful."

"Well, " Danny smiled "You did pretty good."

Valerie smiled back.

They suddenly heard someone scream. Valerie pulled her mask back on and readied her blaster. Danny moved into a fighting position.

"Danny!"

Danny looked down and saw a panicked Sam running across the park.

"You have to come quick!" she said "Some kid got turned into a statue down here!"

"What?!" Danny and Valerie said together.

They both flew after Sam. She led them to a spot neat the swing set, where a child had been frozen mid-run.

"Oh no..." Valerie breathed.

"It looks like the ghost froze him instantaneously." Danny said. "But how? It took her a good ten seconds just to freeze my feet."

"Maybe being a ghost protected you from her powers a bit?" Valerie shrugged.

"And what makes you such an expert on ghosts?" Sam glared at Valerie.

"Hey! Which one of us has the ghost weapons here?" Valerie gestured to her blaster.

"Sam, she's cool, we don't have time for this."

"It's not like the kid's getting any more frozen." Sam crossed her arms. "And just how do you know we can trust this mysterious masked figure?"

"Do you two know each other?" Valerie asked.

"Yes." Danny said.

"No." Sam said at the same time.

The two of them looked at each other.

"You know what?" Valerie said. "It doesn't matter. Right now we gotta figure out how to unfreeze this kid."

Sam crossed her arms, but didn't say anything.

"Can you try that thing you did to free yourself earlier? The green glowy thing?"

"Oh wow, you really don't know anything about ghosts." Danny said.

"Hey!"

"Uh, I don't know. It was easy to do to myself, since it's just manifesting the ecto energy inside me already, like I do before launching an ecto beam, but I don't know if I can, like, transfer it to someone else."

"It's worth a shot, isn't it?" Valerie shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess."

Danny put his hands on the kid's shoulders and summoned some ecto energy. His hands glowed green, but nothing else happened.

"Maybe try doing it like an ecto blast, but less blasty?" Sam suggested.

"What does that even mean?" Valerie asked.

"Guys!"

Valerie and Sam stopped talking. After a minute, Danny's hands stopped glowing and he let go of the kid.

"Hey," Sam said "Are you-"

"Shh!" Danny cut her off. He took a deep breath and grabbed the kid again.

Danny's entire body began to glow green as he concentrated on directing his ecto energy into the kid. It was a very awkward and strenuous task, and Danny wasn't sure if he was doing it right at first, but the kid was soon surrounded by his own faint green aura.

It took all of Sam and Valerie's energy to hold back their cheers, but Danny wasn't close to done yet.

Danny could feel every muscle burning, but he kept up. The glow around the kid slowly got brighter and brighter.

Finally, there was a small explosion of rocks, and Danny collapsed onto his hands and knees.

The no-longer-stone child blinked at the strange trio.

"Hey kid." Sam smiled tentatively. "Do you remember what happened here?"

The kid stared wide-eyed at Sam.

"D-dere was a scawy monster..." he said very quietly.

Valerie's hoverboard folded into her feet. She landed on the ground and took off her mask.

"Hey kid, my name's Valerie." she said, getting down on one knee. "Do you think you can tell me your name? We're gonna try and help you find you parent, okay? I bet they're worried about you."

The kid seemed to relax a little.

"M-my name is-"

"Joel!"

Someone was suddenly sprinting towards them. She grabbed the child once she got close enough and hugged him close to her body.

"Oh thank the stars you're okay! I've been looking everywhere for you! Did that monster hurt you poor baby?"

Joel pointed to the trio.

"D-dey saved me, Mummy."

Joel's mom looked at the trio. There were tears in her eyes.

"Thank you kids. So much. I don't know what I'd have done if-" Hey eyes locked onto Danny on the ground. "Are you alright young man?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Danny began to stand up. "Yeah, I'm goo-"

The world started to spin. Sam rushed over and caught Danny. He leaned on her.

"Yeah, I'm great." he gave Joel's mom an unconvincing thumbs up.

"Dear, I really think you should-"

She was cut off by the sound of screeching tires and an obnoxious car horn whose familiarity made Danny's blood run cold.

"WHERE'S THE GHOST!" He heard his father shout.

"Oh no, The Fentons." Joel's mom's face was filled with dread. "Oh I am not dealing with those two today. Thanks you kids so much!" she called as she ran away with Joel in her arms.

"Danny," Sam said "You've got to get out of here!"

"I don't think I can fly, Sam."

"Well, at least-"

Before Sam could finish speaking, a white ring popped up around Danny's waist. Danny gasped, and quickly focused on making it disappear. Luckily, it did.

He and Sam looked at each other in horror.

"Um, what was that?" Valerie asked.

"That means I won't be flying anytime soon." Danny said.

"Well duh, you can barely stand!" Valerie said.

"The tracker says the ghost is just over here, Jack!" They heard Maddie Fenton's voice say. She was not far away.

"You two hide!" Valerie pushed Sam and Danny towards some large bushes.

"Hey!" Sam protested.

"They can still see me on their ghost tracker!" Danny said. "Hiding's not going to help!"

"Don't worry." Valerie pulled her mask back on "I got this."

Valerie turned and walked a few meters away.

"I don't trust her." Sam whispered just before Danny's parents appeared.

"You!" his dad pointed at Valerie "Sharply dressed citizen! Did you see a ghost? We're on the hunt for one!"

"I'm no citizen Mr Fenton, I'm The Red Huntress." Valerie said, her voice steady and authoritative. "And, as it happens, I've already apprehended the ghost."

"What?" Jack said "But according to our tracker, there's still a ghost around here!"

Valerie something small out of her pocket.

"You must be picking up signals from my Ghostagatchi." She said.

"Ghosta-wha-chi?" Maddie asked.

"It's what I use to contain ghosts. It's still in early development, though, and my prototype is still leaking ecto-particles. That must be what's showing up on your tracker."

"I suppose that makes sense." Maddie rubbed her chin. "Although, as fellow ghost hunters, we know how hard it is to make a properly functioning spectral containment device. Perhaps you could tell us how that one wor-"

"Unfortunately," Valerie interrupted loudly "Before I came to fight this ghost, I was in the middle of rounding up some stray rat ghosts. I should probably get back to that, even though I'm sooo tired from fighting this ghost, and my ecto blaster could really-"

"Ghost rats?" Jack turned and grabbed Maddie by the shoulders "Maddie! Those must be the ghosts that've been stealing the screwdrivers!"

"Oh my gosh you're right Jack!" Maddie turned to Valerie. "Tell us where they are!"

"Last I saw them, they were under the bridge downtown, but-"

"We're coming for our screwdrivers ghost rats!" Jack shouted as he and Maddie ran towards their RV.

The sound of the RV revving briefly filled the park before the vehicle disappeared, leaving no trace it had even been there besides some tire tracks next to the swings.

"Phew!" Valerie's whole body relaxed once The Fentons were gone. "Alright, you two can come out now."

In the bushes, the white ring reappeared around Danny's waist. It actually managed to split almost a foot before he could force it back together.

"I don't think I can stay in ghost form much longer." Danny whispered to Sam.

"Unfreezing that kid really zapped you, huh?"

"Phantom? Manson?" They heard Valerie call.

"Maybe I can convince her to leave?" Sam said.

"No."

"But Danny, she'll-"

"I know."

Sam's face slowly morphed into shock as the implications of what Danny had said sank in.

"We're coming!" Danny called back to Valerie. "Sam, help me walk out."

"You doing any better?" Valerie asked as he and Sam emerged from the bushes.

"Hanging in." Danny said. "So what is a 'Ghostigatchi' actually?"

"It's just a Tamagatchi." Valerie showed them the black and purple plastic egg. "Most adults don't know what they are, so I figured The Fentons would buy it."

"You take your Tamagatchi ghost hunting?" Sam asked.

"I take Gloria everywhere. And, Manson, if you so much as think about telling my dad I hunt ghosts, I swear I'll-"

"Relax, your secret's safe." Sam said. "Might want to be a little less loose with your identity sharing if you want it to stay a secret though."

Danny had no idea if Sam was being genuine or just trying to goad Valerie.

"Thanks for covering for me." Danny said.

"No problem. Figured those two wouldn't react well to seeing a ghost. Even if he did save everybody."

"Yeah...and there's also something else you should know. About me and The Fentons."

"What is is?"

Before Danny could figure out where to even start, the white ring reappeared around his waist.

Danny turned to Sam.

"I don't think I can hold it back this time."

"Hold what back?" Valerie asked "What is that?"

"It's just that, well, I'm actually only half-ghost."

"You're...what? What do you mean?"

Danny didn't have time to explain any further before the ring split and washed over him, reverting him back into his human form.

"Wait," Valerie said "Wh-what?"

"Surprise!" Danny said, smiling nervously.

Valerie took off her mask, as if needing to check what she was seeing with her own unfiltered eyes. Her mouth was hanging open slightly.

"Fenton?" she said.

"Uh, yeah." he awkwardly confirmed.

"Oh my gosh..." Valerie breathed "What sort of freaky stuff did your parents do to you?!"

Danny felt a crushing sensation in his chest. Looking Valerie in the eye suddenly became difficult and he desperately wanted to run back into the bushes.

"Hey!" Sam snapped. She took a protective half-step in front of Danny. "Danny is not a freak! Thought you'd have a little decency for the guy who saved your life multiple times."

"What? N-no, I just meant, like, are you okay? Are your parents doing...bad things to you? Do you need somewhere to go?"

"Oh, um, no it was an accident." Danny said, still not meeting Valerie's gaze. "I got my ghost powers in an accident. My parents don't even know."

"Oh."

"Even if Danny did need help," Sam glared at Valerie "He'd go to one of his friends!"

"I'm just trying to...I-I didn't mean to..." Valerie's eyes kept flicking between Sam and Danny. She looked completely and utterly lost. "I just-"

"Whatever you're trying to do, it's not helping, so just stop! Come on Danny, we're getting you home."

Sam turned them away from Valerie and began walking towards Fenton Works. Valerie didn't say anything, she just watched them go.

--------------------------------------------------

"I think I'm good to walk Sam." Danny said after they'd made it out of the park.

"You sure? I really don't mind."

"Yeah, I'm feeling better. And I don't want people wondering what's up with me."

Danny didn't want anyone to look at him at all right now.

He just wanted to go home.

About halfway back to his house, Sam began rambling incessantly about what had happened. Danny only half listened.

"...can't believe she would be so insensitive..." They had just arrived at the front steps when she seemed to clue in to how silent Danny was.

"Sorry, I'm making things worse, huh?"

"It's fine." Danny didn't look at Sam as he spoke.

That was worrying.

"Hey," Sam said. "Don't listen to Valerie. You're not messed up or whatever, she has no idea what she's talking about. Don't even think about her. Let's focus on something else for a bit. I know! Let's make popcorn bags and watch Dead Teacher 2! That one is still your favourite, right?"

"Sam, it's almost six."

"So?"

"You're probably already late for dinner. You'd better go home."

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm not abandoning you."

"Sam, I'm fine."

Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Danny..."

"Seriously. I mean, yeah, I'm not exactly jazzed about what happened, but the fact is it did happen. I'll get over it. It's not like Valerie's someone I really care about or anything."

Sam didn't look convinced.

"Danny, not to sound like Jazz, but I don't think brushing this off is a good idea."

"I'm not brushing this off. Look, I'll call you guys if I, you know, need anything or whatever, but I'm really fine. Besides, you know your parents, if you're late then they might not let you hang out with us all weekend."

Sam looked like she wanted to argue back, but she didn't say anything.

"Cool, I'll see you tomorrow." Danny said, heading inside and shutting the door.

"Oy vey." Sam shook her head and pulled out her cell phone as she started back home. "Tucker? Yeah, Danny's not doing so great. Something happened..."

--------------------------------------------------

Danny let out a sigh of relief. Finally, he was home.

He went up to his room and got out the homework Sam had brought over. It wasn't much, just a short story and a reading comprehension sheet. Probably everyone else had finished it in class, and he would've too if a certain ectopus hadn't taken him out of second period.

Danny began to read.

Valerie was in his English class. He had English first period on Monday. He was going to see her basically first thing after the weekend.

Danny wasn't sure if Valerie had ever spoken to him. Well, human him.

She'd probably start thinking about Danny Fenton very differently now. He'd go from the freaky ghost kid to the freak ghost kid.

Danny tried to focus on the story he was reading, but Valerie's reaction at the park was playing over and over in his head. The look on her face, the words she'd said, how she said each word she'd said.

He went over their exchange so many times that it stopped feeling real. Maybe if he just kept replaying it, he could stay in that moment forever, and never have to face the world where Valerie knew.

It doesn't matter, Danny told himself. It happened, he couldn't change that. Valerie wasn't even his friend, so it didn't matter what she thought anyway.

It didn't matter that Valerie was going to see him differently now. It didn't matter that Valerie thought that Danny was some messed up freak...

A tiny splotch of water suddenly appeared on the paper Danny was failing to read. When had he started crying?

No, he wasn't crying, because this wasn't a big deal! It didn't matter what Valerie thought!

It shouldn't matter what she thought.

Valerie thinks you're a freak...

It didn't matter. He knew he wasn't a freak, and that was all that mattered.

Valerie doesn't even hate ghosts, she just thinks you're some creepy kid with creepy powers...

"It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain;" Danny read out loud, desperately trying to speak over his own thoughts. "But once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was-"

And if that's how someone who doesn't hate ghosts reacts, then how will your parents react?

A dam inside Danny burst open. His head sank into his arms and he began sobbing.

He sat there with his face on his desk for at least ten minutes. Danny cried and cried until he just couldn't cry anymore.

It was like he'd released all the feelings he'd been holding in for the last few months through his tears, but Danny didn't feel relief.

He just felt empty.

--------------------------------------------------

Danny didn't say much during dinner. Not that his parents noticed, since they were going on and on about their latest invention, 'The Fenton Fizzler'. Danny had no idea what it was, and he didn't really care to listen to his parent's latest plan to potentially decimate him. It was just too crushing tonight.

He did sit up a little when his dad pulled out a machine the size of a television and set it on the table.

"Welp, I'm done eating," Danny pushed his chair back and stood up "So I'm gonna go upstairs and study."

"That's my little scholar!" Maddie beamed approvingly.

"After a few quick adjustments, this baby'll be ready for a demonstration!" Jack declared, patting The Fizzler proudly.

"Oh joy." Danny muttered dryly while walking to the compost bin.

Jack and Maddie were totally absorbed by The Fizzler, but Jazz was watching Danny. She noticed that he was scraping a bit more than scraps into the compost bin.

Jazz pushed down a lecture about wasting food as she followed Danny into the hallway.

That was a sign he needs support, not criticism, she reminded herself.

"Hey, Danny," Danny stopped with his foot on the bottom step at the sound of Jazz's voice "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Danny turned away from her and began walking up the steps. "I just have a lot of homework."

Jazz bit her lip as she watched Danny disappear upstairs. She hated seeing him suffer alone like this. Sure, he had Sam and Tucker, but they couldn't always be there.

She really wanted to let Danny come to her when he was ready, but sometimes she wondered if it would be better if she-

Ka-Boom!

"Aah!"

"Quick, Maddie, get the fire extinguisher!"

"Hey!" Jazz ran back into the kitchen "My essay's in there!"

--------------------------------------------------

After they'd gotten the fire under control (Jazz's essay was fine, thank goodness), Jazz went up to try and talk to Danny again. Unfortunately, his light was already turned off.

Jazz sighed. Hopefully Danny was sleeping. He seemed like he needed the rest.

Jazz retreated to her own room and sat at her desk. She started to go over her essay again, but she was having trouble paying attention to the words she was reading.

A part of her wanted to burst into Danny's room and tell him that she knew everything, tell him that he could stop hiding, that he could talk to her about whatever was upsetting him.

Of course, she knew that wouldn't help. Telling Danny she knew his secret was a risky move on a good day, never mind when he was already in such deep emotional distress. She'd made the decision to let him come to her when he was ready for a reason.

Still, sticking to that decision could be difficult. Especially during moments like these.

Jazz just wished she could do something to help.

But sometimes, she reminded herself, the most helpful thing you can do is nothing.

Not that she was really doing nothing. She still covered for him with Mom and Dad. She still supported him in little ways, like driving him to school and prepping his lunches so he didn't have to suffer the cafeteria food. She even made him fluffernutters on Wednesdays, despite the fact that they weren't very nutritious, because she knew they were his favourite.

It didn't help with the ghost fighting, but Jazz knew that sometimes little acts of kindness, just signs that someone cared, could make it easier to keep going when things were difficult.

So, no, Jazz wasn't doing nothing, she was doing everything she could.

Even if it didn't feel like enough some days...

--------------------------------------------------

"Well, unfortunately, we need another new toaster," Jack said to Maddie as they carried what remained of The Fenton Fizzler down to the lab "But I'm glad Jazz's essay came out unscathed."

"Yes, I'm glad you managed to grab that first. "Maddie agreed as they set The Fizzler down on a table. "Jazz always works so hard on her essays, I'd hate to think how sad she'd have been if it had gotten burned up."

Maddie pulled out a wrench and began loosening a bolt on a mechanism that looked salvageable.

"Say, Madds?"

"Mm?

"Does something seem off with Danny?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he was barely paying attention when we were explaining how The Fenton Fizzler worked at dinner, and he usually pays very close attention when we talk about our new inventions. And the past few days he's just seemed kind of distracted and quiet."

"Oh." Maddie set down her wrench.

She had, in fact, noticed Danny's odd behaviour. But she'd decided that, since Danny had said in the helicopter that he wasn't ready to talk yet, she wouldn't press him.

Of course, now that Jack was saying it out loud, giving him that much space seemed a bit excessive. What if it was something unrelated to the helicopter talk that was bothering him?

Even if it was that, and he still wasn't ready to talk, then there might have been some other way Maddie could help him while still respecting his boundaries.

"I'll go talk to him once we've made sure what's left of The Fizzler won't spontaneously combust again."

But when Maddie went upstairs nearly an hour later, she found that Danny's door was shut and his lights were off, meaning he was probably sleeping.

Maddie couldn't help but feel like a failure. Putting off talking to Danny was what had gotten her in trouble in the first place. Why did she so easily fall back into bad habits?

Sighing, Maddie started down the stairs back to the lab. She glanced over her shoulder at the closed bedroom door.

She hoped Danny was alright, and that he could forgive her for failing to be the parent he deserved.

--------------------------------------------------

Danny had turned off his light early so that Jazz wouldn't come in and try to talk to him, and then proceeded to stay up way too late playing Pac-Man.

At around eleven in the morning, Danny was (very rudely, in his opinion) awoken by the ringing of his cell phone. He didn't even have the energy to grumble as he dug through his bedside drawer and flipped open the phone.

"Whad'yoowan?" Danny blearily greeted whoever was calling him.

"Hey, Danny." Tucker's voice responded. "Did I wake you up?"

"Whyd'yoothintha?"

"Heh, sorry. Listen, Sam told me what happened last night. With Valerie."

"Oh."

"How are you doing."

"...Fine."

There was a moment of silence. Danny was pretty sure he heard a sigh on the other end.

"Well," Tucker said "Sam and I are gonna come over. We don't have to talk about it, we can just play Turbo Racer Six or whatever, but we'll be there soon. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay, I'll just eat breakfast and stuff."

"Alright. See you soon man."

"See ya." Danny replied before hanging up.

Danny's thoughts drifted to last night. The scene wasn't replaying itself in horrible obsessive detail like it had earlier, so Danny was able to reflect on it more rationally.

Realistically, Valerie's reaction shouldn't have been that shocking to him. He knew that people finding out he was half-ghost wasn't likely to go over well, that was why he kept it a secret in the first place.

But even so, there was always that stubborn little bit of hope. Maybe that was why it was so painful to hide, because some part of him thought it might be possible, that his family might not reject him if they found out, but maybe give him the understanding and closeness that he longed for.

Or maybe it wasn't hope, but denial. That made more sense. It would explain why Danny didn't feel sad that it was gone. He just felt empty. It sucked, but deep down Danny had always known that acceptance was just a fantasy.

Danny sighed. He just wanted to stay in bed and not face reality, but Sam and Tucker were coming, and he needed to get ready. With great reluctance, Danny threw the blankets off him.

After getting dressed, Danny dragged himself downstairs. No one else was around, but he found a note on the kitchen table:

Danny,

Mom and Dad are out getting groceries, and I'm at the library. I'll be back around 2:00, and, knowing Mom and Dad, they'll probably be out until dinnertime. Feel free to invite Sam and Tucker over, or whatever. I know you have lots of studying to do, but it's important to rest, so just take the morning to relax, and I can help you with your homework later if you want.

Never forget you're amazing, Jazz

Danny rolled his eyes. Like he'd want Jazz helping him with his homework. Her 'helping' usually usually ended up just being a giant reminder of how dumb he was compared to her.

Danny yawned and poured himself a bowl of cereal.

Although, he supposed that it was nice of Jazz to offer her time. Especially since he knew her essay was due on Monday.

Danny groggily ate his breakfast. He'd just put his empty bowl in the sink when he heard the doorbell.

Ding dong!

That was probably Sam and Tucker. They sure got over here quick, Danny thought to himself as he made his way to the front entryway.

Danny opened the door and froze at the sight of Valerie.

"Hey, Danny." she said. Her face looked sombre.

Danny just stood there.

"I'm not going to attack you or anything, you know." Valerie said.

"I-I didn't think that."

"Look, about yesterday..." Valerie rubbed her arm.

Danny gulped.

"I just wanted to apologize."

"I, um, what?"

"I didn't...look, I know I reacted weird. Are your parents home?"

"No, it's just me here. Tucker and Sam are coming over soon, though."

"Can I come in then?"

"Uh, s-sure."

Valerie looked around as Danny led her to the living room. Normally he'd be polite and give her a tour, but his mouth was too dry right now.

They got to the living room and sat in different armchairs.

"So," Valerie folded her hands on her lap "Tucker told me that he and Sam were there when you...you know...and that I'm the first person you've ever really told, including your family. That about right? Just so I know who to keep my mouth shut around?"

"Uh...p-pretty much, yeah."

"It must be rough, being half-ghost when your parents are ghost hunters."

"Um, y-yeah."

It was very, very strange to be talking about this with a schoolmate who wasn't Sam or Tucker. A little bit uncomfortable.

"To be honest," Valerie continued "I didn't really know how to react last night. I mean, in my defense, what are you supposed to say when someone tells you they're half-ghost?"

"Heh, yeah, that's fair." Danny responded mechanically.

"But I was thinking about it, and I realize that that was kind of a big thing you shared with me. And I kind of just freaked out all over you. I know that telling me that secret means that on some level you trust me. I'm not sure if I really earned that trust though."

Danny wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't even sure what to feel.

"Which sucks, because I really owe you. For Axiom and last night."

"Last night? What do you mean?"

"We wouldn't have defeated that ghost without you."

"Are you kidding? You were the one who was immune to its statue powers! I'd be a garden ornament right now if you hadn't shown up."

"I don't know if I'd have had the guts to go for it if you didn't believe in me. I certainly didn't believe in myself last night."

"But, you always seem so confident."

"I am pretty good at most things, but I haven't exactly had a lot of practice fighting ghosts. The small ones I chase away from Casper barely even count."

"Weeeellll, your aim could use a little work." This was easier to talk about. The dynamic with his family and his secret was a touchy subject, but Danny had no issues discussing ghost fighting. "But you'll get better with time. It took me a while to figure stuff out."

"You seem pretty good to me."

"You'll be pretty good someday too. I can tell. You've got the skills, the only difference between you and me is experience."

"You're probably right. Don't know if I'll ever get to your level, though. Those awesome ghost powers give you quite the edge."

"Awesome? Ha, you don't think I'm, like, a freak or whatever?" Danny tried to sound like he didn't care, even though he actually cared a lot.

"No way. It's like you have my suit built right into you. I'm kind of jealous."

"They're not all that great."

"Oh, quit being modest."

"I'm not! There are some serious drawbacks."

"Oh yeah, like what?"

"There's a ghost hunter that wants to skin me and hang my pelt on his wall."

"Wait, what? Gross! That's disgusting!"

"See!" Danny smiled triumphantly.

"Okay, but it must be pretty handy being able to fly places and just grab stuff out of your locker without undoing the lock. You can do ghost stuff in human mode, right?"

Danny held up his arm and turned it invisible.

"Woah!"

"What?"

"That's just...so cool!"

Danny smiled. He actually even laughed a little. It felt like some dark clouds had parted inside of him.

Valerie had come over to talk because she felt bad about what she'd said to Danny. She wasn't repulsed by him, she cared about him, even knowing that he was half-ghost.

When Danny had been replaying the reveal at the park in his mind, Valerie had seemed like such an intimidating judgmental force. Her voice had been so cutting and full of disgust, but this morning, in reality, it was full of concern and even admiration. The contrast was jarring, but also heartwarming.

Knowing that he was half-ghost didn't make Valerie see him as any less human.

This was good. Great, actually.

The front door suddenly opened and Sam and Tucker walked in.

"Who's ready for some-" Tucker stopped mid-sentence.

"Oh, hey guys." Danny waved at them, but he forgot that his arm was invisible. He turned it visible and tried again.

"What's she doing here?" Sam crossed her arms.

"Just, clearing up some things from last night." Valerie said. Danny was impressed at how well she resisted Sam's antagonism.

"Did she say any more stupid stuff?" Sam asked Danny.

"What? No, she was actually here to apologize. We're good now. Everything's cleared up."

Danny saw Valerie smile a little at his words.

Sam didn't look convinced, though.

"Take it easy Sam." Tucker put a hand on her shoulder. "Valerie's just trying to help."

"Oh," Sam shrugged off Tucker's hand "So you're on her side?"

"I'm not on anyone's side, I just-"

"Hey, Tucker." Valerie interrupted "Let me talk to her."

"Oh?" Sam let out a mocking laugh "And what makes you think I want to-"

"Sam," Danny said "Please?"

Sam opened her mouth to protest, but closed it when she saw the look on Danny's face, her expression softening.

"Fine." she said.

Danny gave her a small smile.

"Thanks Sam." Danny stood up. "Tucker and I will be in my room. You can just come up when you two are done."

"Nice seeing you Valerie!" Tucker waved as Danny dragged him up the stairs.

Valerie and Sam heard the sound of a door slamming above them, leaving the two of them alone to talk.

Sam crossed her arms and glared at Valerie. Valerie also crossed her arms, but the look she was giving Sam wasn't as hostile.

"You don't have a very high opinion of me, huh Manson?"

Sam just continued to glare.

Valerie sighed.

"I don't really blame you."

Sam raised an eyebrow.

"I've changed a lot since my dad got fired from Axiom." Valerie continued. "When you lose everything you own and all your friends, it kinds of forces you to really take a look at your life. Figure out your priorities, you know?"

Sam did feel a twinge of sympathy, but she wasn't going to let Valerie know that.

"Still, I guess you only really know 'old Valerie'. The Valerie that who treated people like they were beneath her because they weren't rich or cool enough, or whatever. The Valerie that I'm starting to be ashamed I ever was. The Valerie whose actions I can't go back and change, no matter how much I want to. But pity parties don't get you anywhere, so what I'm going to do instead is put my focus into becoming a better Valerie. Again, I know why you don't like me, and I get it, but do you think you could just give me a chance? To be a better person? To help you guys? To help Danny? I can see that you really care about him."

"I don't have a crush on him!" Sam's steadily softening face instantly hardened again. Everyone always thought that she and Danny had a thing for each other and Sam hated it.

"Alright, alright, I didn't say you did." Valerie raised her hands defensively. "But he definitely means a lot to you. I think that's why you're so angry at me, because you only know old Valerie, who was a jerk, and you think that I'm going to hurt Danny."

"You did hurt Danny. Last night. For some reason, he trusted you, and you made him feel like a freak, which is one of the things he's most afraid of."

If looks could kill, Valerie would have been nothing more than a puddle on the floor.

"I..." Valerie looked at the ground "...I did, you're right. It was an accident, but I guess you're right." Valerie looked back up at Sam "But I want to make it up to him. I can use my tech to help Danny. You've seen me fight ghost, you know I can help."

Sam's expression didn't change.

"Look," Valerie sighed tiredly "To be honest, I don't really need your permission to be a part of this. Tucker and Danny are already cool with me, and I've already been fighting ghosts for the past month."

"That's sooo nice to hear. Why are you wasting my time with this speech if you're just going to do what you want with or without my approval?"

"Because I want it. I want to work with all three of you, so I'd like for all of you to like me. Or at least give me a chance?"

Sam screwed up her face in thought before sighing.

"Fine." she said. "I'll try to be nice and not hex you into oblivion."

"You can do that?"

"Hurt Danny again and find out." Sam smiled for the first time that morning. Valerie preferred the glaring.

"Well," Valerie said "Now that that's all settled, you three seem to have plans, so I'd better get going."

Valerie got up and walked past Sam to the front door. Sam didn't take her eyes off her. Valerie turned to look at her before stepping outside.

"Thanks for giving me a chance, Manson."

"Don't screw it up, Gray."

Valerie gave Sam a small smile before shutting the door behind her.

--------------------------------------------------

"Maybe we shouldn't have left them alone." Danny said to Tucker. "Sam might bite Valerie's head off."

"I wouldn't worry. Valerie's no pushover."

"I'm telling Sam you don't think she could beat Valerie."

"Absolutely do not do that!"

Danny laughed. Tucker tried to sulk, but he couldn't help cracking a grin at Danny.

"Well you seem to be doing better." Tucker said. Then his disappeared "Hey, I'm sorry for pressuring you yesterday. Sam said Valerie's reaction really messed you up last night. I guess I didn't really think about how much trouble telling Valerie could cause you."

"Tuck, it's fine. It was just an idea, you didn't force me to tell Valerie."

"Yeah, but I should've at least considered-"

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about this one. I...hadn't exactly been having the best week when you asked." Danny rubbed the back of his neck embarrassingly.

"You really do seem better now, though."

"Yeah, I really am. On the subject of Valerie, though..."

"What? I thought you two were cool now."

"We are. I'm talking about Valerie and you."

"Me?"

"You've got a crush on her, don't you?"

"What?! That's ludicrous!"

"You're not denying it."

"Danny, that is a totally baseless accusation!"

"Still not denying it."

"Aggh!"

"What's with all the screaming?" Sam asked as she opened Danny's door.

"Nothing." Tucker grumbled.

"So, are you and Valerie cool now?" Danny asked.

"I'm...giving her a chance. But only because I know Tucker likes her."

"WHAT?!"

"Thanks Sam." Danny smiled, ignoring Tucker's outcry. "Now, I don't know about you two, but I am ready to sit back and not do anything that doesn't involve kicking your butts at Turbo Racer for the next four hours."

"You sure you don't want to talk about what happened?" Sam asked.

"Nope!" Danny said. "Actually, after talking with Valerie, I honestly feel a lot better." Sam could tell Danny really meant it, he wasn't trying to ignore his feeling like last night. "Right now, what I could really use is a break from all the ghosts, drama, and ghost drama"

Sam and Tucker looked at each other. They could tell Danny wasn't just trying to push away his feelings this time, he really meant it.

They looked away from each other to smile at Danny.

"And what makes you think you're going to win, Ghost Boy?" Tucker grinned challengingly.

"Oh?" Danny raised an eyebrow "You think you're a challenge for me, Friar Tuck?"

"Come on you two," Sam rolled her eyes "We all know Chaos reigns supreme."

--------------------------------------------------

Thankfully, Danny really did get that break. There were no ghosts attacks for the rest of the day, so he thoroughly enjoyed just playing video games with his friends.

That didn't mean no work, though. As soon as Sam and Tucker left, Danny got to started on his English homework. It didn't take too long, but Danny also had some studying to do for an upcoming history test that he knew Jazz would bug him about if he didn't do it. He had no idea how she always seemed to know when he had homework or an upcoming test.

The rest of the evening had been pretty chill, and Danny had gotten a pretty good sleep in Sunday morning, but unfortunately his dad wanted the lab cleaned after lunch.

Danny grumbled at he scrubbed the lab floor. His dad had said it would be a "quick and easy job", but little did he know that there was a ghost spider egg hidden under one of the tables that was ready to hatch. Danny had managed to suck most of them into the thermos, but a fair number of them he'd ended up squashing, leaving a bunch of ecto-goo for him to clean up.

Ecto-goo was not fun to clean up.

He'd just finished cleaning the spider guts when his ghost sense went off.

"Oh no," Danny glared at the portal and transformed "You are not messing up the lab after I just finished wiping up all that ectoplasm!"

Danny put his hands together and charged up a mega ectoblast, ready to knock whatever came out of that portal right back in.

"Oh I wouldn't dream of it." Vlad Plasmius said as he emerged from the portal. "I know how hard ectoplasm is to scrub out."

"Vlad?"

"Daniel." Vlad nodded. "It seems the vultures were right about that safe path. Well, as safe as The Ghost Zone can be, anyway. I don't give those birds enough credit."

"Vlad, what are you doing?" Danny let his ecto blasts fizzle out and transformed back. "My parents could've been in here!"

"They actually were when I checked a few hours ago. Invisibility is a very useful tool, Little Badger. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Um, okay. What's up?"

"Well, I'm sure you remember our little chat the last time we met?"

"Er, yeah." Danny rubbed the back of his neck.

"I wanted to apologize for my sudden and, frankly, rather rude departure. You and your mother were more right than I was able to face at the time. I'm afraid it was all just too much for me to process. I actually had to go back to therapy to sort through some things I thought were long behind me."

Vlad laughed lightly, but his face quickly turned serious.

"But I didn't just come here to apologize. Daniel, after much deliberation and discussion, I've come to a very difficult decision."

Vlad took a deep breath.

"I think it's time I came clean to Jack and Maddie about what the accident did to me."

Vlad paused, waiting for Danny's reaction, but there was none. Danny just stared at him, face unchanged.

This surprised and concerned Vlad.

"Now, I know this might decision might-"

"Why?"

"Pardon me?"

"I don't understand why you want to tell them." Danny felt the anger begin to rise in him. It wasn't as strong as when the vultures had first told him about Vlad's plans, but it was still very much there. "You've already been hiding from them for twenty years, and you're hardly around anyway. What possible reason could you want to tell them now for?"

""Well..." Vlad was taken aback by the hostility in Danny's voice "I...might be willing to come around more often if they knew. Assuming they accepted me, that is."

"That's a pretty big 'if'." Danny scoffed "I don't get it. Why can't you just keep your ghost half a secret when you're around them like I do?"

Vlad took a breath.

"I don't know if this will make sense to you, Daniel, since you only had your accident a few months ago, but I've been living as a ghost-human hybrid for over twenty years, and it's become a rather significant part of who I am. It's not just a secret to keep, it affects how I live my daily life. In negative ways, yes, but also in a lot of positive ones. Hiding my ghostliness means hiding who I am, which is fine when I'm with my business associates or the grocery clerk, but around the friends I'm supposed trust it's..."

A tired look crossed Vlad's face, and he didn't quite look at Danny as he spoke.

"...painful. I've only been able to admit this recently, but keeping this secret has been hurting me for years. When I'm with Jack and Maddie, in a way it doesn't feel like it's really me there. Whether I want to or not, I can't go back to being the Vlad Masters your parents knew in college. He simply doesn't exist anymore."

Vlad's words reminded Danny of the ones that he'd said to Sam in his bedroom the other day, but Danny's still found himself angry.

"If you just made an effort-"

"Daniel, these past few months were me making an effort."

"So that's it? You're bad at lying, so you're just willing to risk losing your friendship with them?"

"We've barely spoken to each other in twenty years. It's like you said, In a way I've already lost them."

Danny's words being used against him made his blood boil. He was too angry for his brain to form a response.

"All things considered," Vlad continued "I may actually have a lot more to gain by telling them."

"Like what? Them never talking to you again?"

"I do understand your reluctance, but I've made up my mind that telling them is worth risking our pathetic excuse for a friendship."

"You know, this puts me at risk too Vlad! It's not just you!"

"That's why I wanted to talk to you about it first."

"Well, if you're looking for permission, the answer's 'no'."

"If you truly feel that this puts you at risk, then I won't tell them, but I really think that this could be beneficial for you."

"Really, how?" Danny scoffed.

"Well, I don't know if you'd ever want to tell your parents what the portal really did to you, but if you let me tell them about me, then you'll at least know how they'll react."

Danny blinked is surprise. He hadn't even considered that.

"You...you mean, you would..." Danny shook his head. "They'd figure out that I was half-ghost too. We had the same accidents, it's not that hard to put two and two together."

"Our accidents, although both caused by ghost portals, I believe were different enough that your parents won't connect the dots. Remind me, what were the after-effects of your accident?"

"After-effects?"

"Yes. I was hospitalized for sometime, and suffered and unfortunate case of, um, erm..."

"Ecto-acne?"

"Yes, that. Anyway, I believe the energy you were exposed to was more purified, so I assume you didn't necessarily have the same...physical ailments I did. Your portal is also much bigger than the one that malfunctioned in our college. Were you even conscious when you were brought to the hospital?"

"I didn't go to the hospital."

"...What?"

"I mean, it was the most terrifying experience of my life, and afterwards I was pretty scared that my parents might catch me phasing through stuff or turning invisible by accident, but physically I was fine. I probably should have gone to a therapist, but once I figured out how to go back to looking like my human self, you couldn't even tell that I'd just had all my molecules rearranged."

There was a pause.

"You're telling me," Vlad spoke slowly "That I spent almost three months hospitalized, in various degrees of extreme fever, with an incredibly humiliating skin condition, and you walked out of that," Vlad thrust an arm out to the swirling portal behind him "Without so much as a-"

Vlad put a gloved hand over his face and took a deep breath. A very deep breath.

"Beer cheese soup...never mind that now. As I was saying, our accidents were...different enough that I don't believe your parents will connect them. Did you ever consider that my portal incident had changed me the same way it did on you when you heard about it?"

"Er, no."

"You see? It's easy to spot patterns when you know what you're looking for. But when you don't know there are even clues to be found at all, the most obvious truths can go right over someone's head."

"Like how no one figures out Clark Kent is Superman?"

"Yes, exactly! Frankly, considering the fact that you consistently set off their devices meant to work on ghosts, and they still haven't suspected anything, I think you're secret is quite safe. Honestly, Daniel, I didn't even realize who you were in your ghost form, even though it looks nearly identical to your human form, and if anyone should have been able to put two and two together, it's me. I'll even add emphasis on the impurity of the ectoplasmic energy that blasted me to throw them off the scent."

Danny was speechless. This was a golden opportunity. Danny had been wanting to tell his parents for a long time. If Vlad told them first, then he'd know for sure whether telling them was safe.

This was exactly what Danny wanted. But...

"But they might might reject you. Vlad, what if they try to kill you? What if they hate you? I know you said you've already lost them in a way, but you might really lose them."

"I like to think they won't. I know Jack and Maddie be be a bit...pathological. But I was friends with them for a long time. When it comes down to it, they have good hearts. This will certainly come as a shock to them, and I'm sure it'll take some adjusting, but I think when it comes down to it, they'll accept me for all I am. Don't you?"

"I-I think so...but if they don't..."

"I know the risks, Daniel. And I've accepted them. "

Danny felt his anger melting away as Vlad's words sunk in.

With his head cooler, Danny realized that he'd been trying to shut Vlad down the same way he'd been trying to shut down the voice that urged him to tell his family.

He hadn't really been talking to Vlad for the past few minutes. Vlad had already considered every point Danny brought up, likely much more deeply than Danny had even had the time to.

But what if Vlad was wrong?

But what if he wasn't?

"When did you plan on telling them?"

"I thought I'd invite your family out to my cottage for a weekend getaway. If...that's alright with you, that is."

"You mean the one in Colorado?"

"While there has been some debate on what that particular structure is technically classified as, it is not even a little bit a cottage. My cottage is by a lake, and free of ghost fauna. Does that sound alright to you?"

Danny didn't answer right away.

"Yeah." He finally said, his stomach doing a little flip-flop. "I'd be okay with that."

Vlad's eyes widened slightly.

"Just to be clear," he said "You're giving me permission to tell Jack and Maddie about my ghost powers on said getaway?"

"...Yeah. Yeah, I am."

"Excellent!" Vlad smiled wide. "Oh, I'm so glad you've said yes! Now, I believe I'll head home and make a phone call to your house, as ludicrous as that is. Thank you, Daniel, for letting me do this. I really appreciate it. I know that wasn't a decision you made lightly."

"Yeah. I know I was arguing with you pretty hard earlier, but honestly I've kind of wanted to tell them for a while too. It's just..."

"I know."

"Yeah."

Vlad turned to head back through the portal.

"Wait!"

"What is it?"

"When exactly did you plan for the trip to happen?"

"I have a free weekend in two weeks, and I thought then might be a good time. Is that a problem?"

"No, that's fine. There's just one thing I want to do first..."

--------------------------------------------------

Danny stared at Jazz from the doorway. She hadn't noticed he was there yet, and was scribbling away in a notebook, two very large books open on either side of her.

He could just leave. Once he told her, there was no going back. He didn't have to do this.

It was so tempting, to just turn around and walk away from all the risk. But Danny wanted to tell her before Vlad told his parents. He wasn't exactly sure why. Maybe he wanted to prove he wasn't a coward who let Vlad take all the risks for him, maybe he wanted some backup in case things went really wrong, or maybe he was tired of fear keeping him from going to one of the people he trusted most (even if he'd never admit it).

All Danny really knew was that the longer he waited, the more time he'd spend stewing in anxiety.

Better to just jump in and get it over with.

"Hey Jazz." he said.

"Hey Danny." She looked up and smiled at him. "What's up?"

"Uh, do you know where Mom and Dad are?"

"Grocery shopping."

"Didn't they just go yesterday?"

"Apparently they got distracted by some ghost rats or something and never actually made it to the store. They said they were bringing home pizza. Why, did you need something from them?"

Danny's stomach suddenly dropping made it hard to speak, but he knew hesitating too long would worry Jazz, so he forced himself to start talking.

"I, um, actually wanted to tell you something." It almost felt like someone else was saying those words. Those words that he couldn't back out of. "It's...about the accident."

This was it. He'd crossed the threshold.

The smile faded from Jazz's face. She closed her notebook and pushed it away without looking at it.

"Do you want to sit down?" she asked.

"Um, yeah, I guess that'd be good."

Danny began making his way toward a chair on the opposite end of the table, but Jazz pulled out the chair beside her. He hesitated briefly, but took the chair beside Jazz, turning it so that he was facing her.

Tick, tick...

Had the kitchen clock's ticking always been this prominent?

"Okay," Danny said, not even noticing how tightly his hands clutched the hem of his shirt "Okay, so, um, it's, I, I-"

"Take your time Danny." Jazz said. "Breathe. I'm not going anywhere."

"Right." Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

This was hard. He'd never actually told anyone himself before. Sam and Tucker had been there for the accident, Vlad had found out by beating him into unconsciousness (which actually sounded pretty bad out of context), and with Valerie he'd kind of just let the secret reveal itself. He had told Sam and Tucker about Vlad, but this was different.

Did he just blurt it out and get it over with? Did he try to slowly explain things and break it to Jazz gently?

Danny knew he should have come up with a plan, but thinking too hard about the fact that he was actually going to tell Jazz made him feel sick. He'd barely been able to stomach sending Sam and Tucker a message about what he was about to do, and he still hadn't read their replies.

Tick, tick...

"Jazz do you...do you believe Mom and Dad when they say all ghosts are evil?"

"Our parents are wrong about a lot of things, Danny. I take everything they say with a grain of salt."

Jazz smiled softly. Danny found the strength to smile back.

"And of course," Jazz continued "There's that ghost kid whose always saving everyone. He saved my life twice you know. He's definitely good."

On the one hand, that was good to hear. On the other, people talking about Phantom in front of him made Danny squirm on an average day, never mind when he was seconds away from revealing that they were secretly the same person.

"Sorry," Jazz laughed gently "I'm rambling. I'll let you keep talking. Unless you ask another question."

"Ha, ha, thanks." Danny laugh sounded fake and distracted, even to him. He suddenly noticed how dry his mouth was. He swallowed to try and get some moisture back, but it didn't really help. He decided to just jump into it. Jazz would be surprised, but she'd accept him. He knew she would.

He was pretty sure she would.

"It's just, The Fenton Portal, when it went off, it...changed me. " He paused. True to her word, Jazz said nothing. "It, and this is going to sound crazy, I know, just bear with me, but The Fenton Portal...it made me half-ghost."

Jazz smiled gently at him.

"I know."

Danny's heart stopped. He'd been prepared for Jazz to react in so many different ways; surprised, confused, anxious, even fearful, but never in a million years had he expected that.

It was more disorienting than being punched in the face by Skulker.

"You- I- you what?"

"I know you have ghost powers." Jazz said. "I know you're Danny Phantom."

"N-no." Danny stood up. "There's no way! Y-you can't have..."

Danny was completely blindsided. It was hard to make sense of his thoughts through the weird mixture of anger and confusion that flooded his brain. He didn't really have a good reason to feel so hurt, but it felt like he'd just found out that someone had been tricking him.

In a way, this almost felt worse than rejection.

Jazz stood up and grabbed Danny's shoulders.

"Danny, look at me." She said firmly. "Breathe. It's okay. I've known for a long time. I've been doing what I could to keep Mom and Dad off your back."

Danny pushed Jazz off of him and turned around. He didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry. Maybe it was wrong to keep this from you," For the first time that evening, Jazz started to sound unsure "But I wanted to wait until you were ready to tell me. I didn't want to force you. I didn't mean to-"

She stopped talking when she heard a loud sniff from Danny. He was trying to hide it, but there was no mistaking it; he was crying.

Jazz stopped talking. She walked in front of Danny and put a hand on his shoulder. He scrunched up his body at her touch, but he didn't push her off.

"Danny?"

He looked up at Jazz. His eyes had started to turn red, and she could tell he was using every fibre of his being to hold back tears.

Danny reached up and wiped one of his eyes roughly with the heel of his palm.

Something in Jazz broke.

"Don't try to fight it." Jazz tried to sound confident, but her voice wasn't as steady as she hoped it would be. "It's okay, you're safe here. You can...y-you can..."

The more she looked at Danny's puffy eyes and ever-so-slightly trembling lips, the harder it was to find words. She wanted to say the right thing, whatever it was that would make Danny feel better.

Danny had gone through so much, been through so much pain because of all the hiding he'd done from his family. From her.

What could Jazz possibly say to make all that better?

Feeling lost and desperate, she just wrapped her arms around him as tight as she could. At first Danny didn't respond, but then she felt his body begin to quake with sobs and his fists clung to her shirt.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"You shouldn't be." she replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

Jazz felt tears sliding down her own face as Danny buried his head in her shoulder.

It was hard to tell how long they stayed like this. Jazz felt her back starting to cramp, but she was willing to remain hunched down forever. For Danny.

"I'm okay now Jazz." he eventually said.

Jazz didn't move or respond. She just wanted to hold her baby brother like this and keep him safe forever.

But she did allow Danny to gently wriggle out of her grip.

The two of them just stood there and looked at each other for a few seconds.

"Do you want to sit down?" Jazz asked.

"Yeah."

The two of them sat in the chairs they were sitting in before. Neither of them said anything right away.

"Do you, um..." Danny struggled to find the right words.

"What?" Jazz asked gently.

"Did you, like, have any questions you wanted to ask me? About the whole half-ghost thing?"

Jazz smiled.

"Yeah, actually. If you don't mind."

"Yeah, it's cool."

"Okay, just to make sure I have everything straight, Sam and Tucker are the only other people who know?"

"Yeah. Well, besides Vla-" Nope. Danny didn't know if he was allowed to tell her that yet. "-aaalerie."

"Valerie?" Jazz frowned "As in Valerie Gray?"

"Yup. That's the one."

"Okay. So what's the story there?"

"You know that new ghost hunter, The Red Huntress?"

"Yeah...hang on, are you saying Valerie's The Red Huntress?"

"Apparently."

"Huh. Okay. Wait," Jazz's suddenly sat up straight, her face filled with panic "Were you forced to reveal yourself because she captured and tortured you?"

"What? No, no. I ran into her while fighting a ghost and, unlike Mom and Dad, she was nice to me as a ghost, so I figured it'd be a good idea for us to work together."

Jazz visibly relaxed. Danny decided to save the long version of what had gone down for another day.

"Okay. So I'm basically all caught up. I just have one more question. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now. I didn't expect to break down like that. It's kind of embarrassing, but I guess I was kind I've been kind of worried about how telling you would go for a while, and-"

"No. I mean, I'm glad you're emotionally okay now, but I meant with the ghost fighting."

"What?"

"I know Mom and Dad trained us how to handle ourselves pretty well in combat, especially against ghosts, and you always seemed okay, but I just want to check that you're not too overwhelmed or anything."

"Oh, nah, I'm good. It was kind of tricky at first, especially since my powers were so hard to control, but Sam and Tucker helped out and we've pretty much got the hang of it. Big ghosts don't show up too often, so we keep up pretty okay. Of course, we don't exactly control when the ghosts do show up, so there are some occasional hiccups."

"Like that time with your English exam?"

"Yeah, right, totally." That particular hiccup probably had more to do with the all-nighters Danny pulled after the latest DOOMED update, but Jazz didn't need to know that. "I mean, sure, I'd rather they didn't show up at 3:00 am sometimes, but overall, fighting ghosts is actually kind of cool."

"That's a relief to hear." Jazz smiled. "But still, I'm glad you had Sam and Tucker so you didn't have to go through all that alone."

"Yeah..." Danny rubbed the back of his neck guiltily "Look, Jazz, they were there when the accident changed me, I didn't go to them before you, I trust you, I just-"

"Danny, you don't have to justify yourself. I'm not going to judge how you responded to a situation as drastic as becoming half-ghost. I know you, and I believe you did what you thought was best, for yourself and the people around you. You may be kind of a snarky moody teenager these days-"

"Hey!"

"-but you're the kind of person who always tries their best. You always have been."

Danny didn't say anything. It was genuinely touching that Jazz thought of him that way. Sure, he knew she loved him, but Danny hadn't realized that she also believed in him. Or how much that meant to him.

Danny and Jazz turned their heads at the sound of screeching tires.

"Mom and Dad are home." Jazz said.

"You don't say."

"See, there's that snarkiness I was talking about."

"Well, for you informati-"

"Hello Kids!" A smiling Maddie kicked open the front door, arms full of grocery bags. Jack followed closely behind her with two boxes of pizza and a singular burlap sack.

"What's in the bag?" Danny asked.

"We finally tracked down those ghost rats, Danny-boy!" Jack beamed.

"That sack's full of ghost rats?!" Jazz's face paled.

"Nope! Those darned vermin got away." Jack set the pizzas on the counter and then turned the bag upside down, dumping a small mountain of screwdrivers onto the kitchen table. "But we found these!"

"The ghost rats...were real?" Danny stared at the pile of screwdrivers in disbelief.

"Ooh! You kids will never guess who called us while we were out!" Maddie piped up as she put away various groceries.

"Who?" Jazz asked.

"It was Vladdie!" Jack said. "Sadly, my cell phone going off was what alerted the rats to our trap and allowed them to escape, but on the bright side he's invited us all to spend a weekend at his cottage!"

"Well that's...pretty sudden." Jazz raised an eyebrow. "We haven't seen him in three months, and he suddenly wants us to go on vacation with him?"

"Yup!" Jack beamed, not seeing Jazz's point at all. "And he said Danny could bring Sam and Tucker with him!"

"Oh, for real?" Danny said "Sweet!"

"What...why...?" Jazz was completely baffled. "Has he even met your friends?"

"Yeah, he..."

Danny suddenly remembered that this was not a group he could talk about the Axiom situation with.

"...saw them on the stairs when he came over that one time."

Jazz just stared at Danny. After a few seconds, she stood up.

"You know what? I'm just going to roll with whatever is going on. My brain has had enough tonight. I need pizza." Jazz opened one of the boxes. She instantly closed it again. "Never mind, that one's Dad's abomination."

"Aw, come on Jazzy-pants." Jack put his hand on Jazz's shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with pineapple on pizza."

"There is if there's also anchovies on said pizza."

"I'm telling you, you kids would love it if you just tried it!" Jack said, taking a slice from the box. Behind him, Maddie shook her head frantically and mouthed the word 'no'.

"Well, as tempting of an idea as that is," Danny opened the other box "I think I'll stick with pepperoni."

Just as Danny was about to take the first bite, a familiar chill ran up his body, escaping from is mouth in a puff of mist.

Jazz, who had noticed Danny's breath, followed his gaze to the window in time to see a dark figure in overalls float by.

"Ugh," she said dramatically "I just remembered, Danny, you forgot to log out of DOOMED on my computer again."

"What? Jazz, your computer doesn't even-" Danny noticed the look Jazz was giving him, and it clicked "Oh. I mean, yeah, I'll go up and do that right now." Danny stood up.

"There's no way I'm trusting you in my room alone." Jazz stood up too.

"Kids," Maddie frowned "Can't this wait until after dinner?"

"I don't want Danny's game eating my battery. Don't worry, this'll be quick."

"Alright." Maddie relented. "Danny, try to remember to log off of Jazz's computer in the future."

Jazz and Danny bolted up the stairs together, stopping on the landing. Jazz looked at Danny.

"Do you need help?"

"Nah, I got this."

"Are you sure?" Jazz pulled out a small rod. She hit a button and it extended a meter and sparked on the end. "Because I am fully prepared to obliterate anyone who tries to mess with you. Human or ghost."

"Woah." Danny blinked at the weapon a few times before giving Jazz a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, it's just The Box Ghost. This'll be quick. He's as threatening as a bag of wet cotton candy."

"HEY!" A familiar blue head popped out of the wall. "THAT IS AN INACCURATE ASSESMENT OF MY POW-!"

"Yaaaahhhhh!" Jazz let out a startled scream and jabbed The Box Ghost with her rod.

"Auuuughh!" He let out a painful yell before falling the rest of the way through the wall, landing on the floor between Danny and Jazz.

"Everything all right up there kids?" Maddie called from the kitchen.

"Yup!" Danny said.

"Everything's fine!" Jazz said

"Euuugh..." The Box Ghost said.

"All right. Hurry up, your pizza's getting cold!"

Danny and Jazz looked at each other. They looked back down at the dazed Box Ghost. Danny pulled out The Thermos and sucked him into it.

"Wow, that was quick." Jazz said. She hit the button on her rod, shrinking it back to its original size. "Back to pizza?"

"Yeah, back to pizza."

As they walked down the stairs, Danny realized something; he felt better than he had in weeks. Maybe even months.

Sure, he still had his parents to deal with, but he was telling some people, and they didn't hate him. They didn't look down on him or feel too differently at all.

Jazz still wanted to protect him, which was often quite annoying, but it was what Jazz did. Learning he was half-ghost hadn't really changed the way she looked at him, which was all Danny wanted. It was everything he'd hoped for. Something he'd been too scared to even hope for sometimes.

And yet, it was what happened. And it felt good.

"Hey Jazz?"

"Yeah Danny?"

"I'm glad I told you."

Jazz smiled.

"Me too."

She came over and wrapped an arm around Danny. He let his head lay on her shoulder for a few seconds before pushing her away and reentered the kitchen. Jazz rolled her eyes as she followed him.

Danny listened to his parents go on about their call with Vlad. They were very excited about the trip. Danny was excited too, and very happy for his parents, but he couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive.

That trip held great potential for disaster. In two weeks, his parents love was going to be put to the ultimate test.

But right now, things were good, and Danny was going to enjoy that.

[sunnys567]

Friends in Strange Places Ch. 4

What if Vlad was good instead of evil? Link to chapter 1:

https://archiveofourown.org/works/39040329/chapters/97656390

--------------------------------------------------

"Again, sorry for being late." Valerie said to Tucker as they walked to his house. "You know how Mr Garcia can get with his end of class lectures."

"Yeah, been there." Tucker nodded. "Sounds like he broke his record for longest-winded speech today. Lucky you. Anyway, here we are," Tucker spread out his arms "Casa Foley!"

Tucker's house was green with dark shutters. He lived on one of those streets that had trees planted along the road. It was a nice house. Valerie kind of wish she lived here. Her old house had had a private garden filled with shrubbery. She didn't realize how much she missed the greenery.

They ascended the front steps and Tucker opened the door for Valerie.

"Hey Mom!" Tucker called as they entered the house.

"Welcome home Sweetheart" Valerie heard a voice call back. "Did you have a good day at school?"

"Yeah. I hope you don't mind, but I brought a friend over."

"Oh, is it Danny?"

"No, her name's Valerie."

Angela Foley appeared in the hall with a plate and a dish towel in her hand.

"Well, it's nice to meet you Valerie." Angela smiled. "I don't remember the last time Tucker brought someone over who wasn't Danny or Sam."

"Ha ha, yeah." Tucker said. "We're just going to go upstairs and work on some homework and maybe hang out a bit."

"Ah, yes, homework! Well, don't let me keep you. We're having meatloaf for dinner if you're interested Valerie."

"Thanks Mrs Foley, but I probably won't stay too long. My dad's expecting me."

"Suit yourself. I'll be in the kitchen if you kids need me."

"Okay, thanks mom!" Tucker called as he led Valerie up the stairs.

Angela smiled to herself as she walked back to the kitchen. It was nice that Tucker was expanding his social circle.

--------------------------------------------------

"Your mom seems pretty friendly." Valerie said as Tucker shut his bedroom door.

"Yeah, but she'd probably have wanted to talk to you for another hour if I hadn't mentioned homework. Anyway, you got the glove?"

"Yup." Valerie pulled a black glove out of her bag and handing it to Tucker.

He frowned when he looked at it.

"You're right-handed, right?"

"Yeah?"

"You sure you want the shield on your left glove? Makes more sense to have it on your dominant hand."

"No, I want it on the left."

Tucker furrowed his brow.

"To be honest, it doesn't really make sense to incorporate the shield into a glove in the first place. I mean, if a ghost attacks, it'd be faster to just pull out the shield than it is to put on a glove. So, it would only make sense to fuse the shield to the glove if you planned on wearing the glove all of the ti-"

Something clicked in Tucker's brain. He remembered the books Valerie had been carrying when he'd bumped into her in the hall shortly after the Axiom attack. How angry and upset she'd been by the whole situation.

"Valerie. You're not planning on hunting ghosts are you?"

"Weellllll-"

"Valerie! Do you have any idea how reckless that is? Ghosts are dangerous, and you need to know what you're doing, and have the right equipment! Normal weapons don't work on ghosts, and you can't exactly fight them with just this tiny shield! You need real ghost weapons!"

"For your information, Foley, I do know what I'm doing, and I already have 'real' ghost weapons."

More gears began to click in Tucker's brain. He'd seen a ghost hunter with black gloves. And Valerie's voice and build were pretty close to-

"Oh my gosh." The glove slipped out of Tucker's hand as his eyes went wide. "You're The Red Huntress!"

"Hey!" Valerie said, suddenly on defensive "How do you know that name?"

"She kind of shouts it really loud when she- you're chasing down ghosts."

Tucker sat down on his bed and stared at the ground. This revelation was blowing his brain, although he had to admit it that made perfect sense.

When Tucker looked up, the sight of a glaring Valerie centimeters from his face almost made his jump off the bed.

"I swear Foley, if you tell anyone, especially my dad, I'm going to-"

"Hey, hey, relax!" Tucker held up his hands and scooched back on the bed. "I told you, I'm pretty good at keeping secrets. I swear I won't rat you out."

"Good." Valerie took a step back, but her face was no longer friendly.

Tucker was too nervous to say anything. Valerie wasn't feeling particularly chatty either.

It wasn't long before the tension finally became too much for Tucker to bear.

"So...where did you get your gear?"

"None of your business." Valerie's glare hardened.

"You don't trust me at all, huh?"

Valerie didn't say anything.

"Am I the first person you've told?"

"Not that I wanted to tell you, but yes."

"Oh."

"Oh what?"

"So you've been doing this all on your own?"

"I've been doing fine on my own, thanks."

"Not saying you aren't," Tucker glanced at the glove on the floor. "But that just kind of sounds like it sucks."

Tucker thought he saw Valerie's expression soften ever so slightly, so he decided to keep going.

"You know, I meant what I said earlier. I'm pretty good at keeping secrets, and I'm not going to tell your dad. Parents are great, but I get that sometimes you don't want them involved. They might worry, or worse, try and stop you, and... I know it sucks being benched when you know there's something you can do to help."

Valerie's face softened, but she wasn't smiling. She wasn't making eye contact with Tucker. He wasn't sure if that was good or not.

"Anyway, it might take a few days, and a lot of help from my tech forums, but I think I can do it. Put the shield into your glove, I mean."

"Thanks."

"No problem. I don't really need anything else from you, and it seems like you don't really want to talk right now, so I guess I'll see you in school tomorrow?"

"Yeah, sure."

Valerie walked over to Tucker's door. She put her hand on the door knob. After a brief hesitation, she turned back to face Tucker.

"Hey, um, before I go," she said "Have you ever tried flying?"

--------------------------------------------------

"AAAAHHHH!"

Tucker clung to Valerie's waist for dear life as they sailed through the night sky.

"Thrilling, isn't it?" She called over her shoulder.

"That's one word for it!" Tucker nervously replied. "Watch out for that tree!"

"Relax, I know what I'm doing."

Valerie dipped the hoverboard down briefly before rocketing upwards. Tucker screamed again and shut his eyes as they burst through the through the leafy branches.

After a few seconds, Tucker felt the hoverboard stop moving.

"You can open your eyes now." Valerie said. "Trust me, you're gonna want to see this."

Hesitantly, Tucker opened his eyes.

"Woah..." he breathed.

He'd expected to see stars, but it was too cloudy for that tonight. That being said, Tucker had never been this close to the clouds before. It was incredible seeing just how massive they were. The sight might have been terrifying if the clouds weren't so fluffy. Tucker almost wanted to reach out and touch one, but he was still too scared to let go of Valerie.

"Look down."

"Isn't that the one thing you're not supposed to do when you're up high?"

"Just do it, you idiot."

And so Tucker did.

Amity Park looked even cooler than the clouds. The city was full of tiny sparkling lights. They weren't like the stars, these lights were gathers in dense clusters. It reminded Tucker more of fireflies. Not that Tucker had ever actually seen fireflies, but he assumed that this was what they'd look like, minus the colour variations from neon signs.

You could see how the layout of the roads and sidewalks all fit together, making hundreds of not-quite-squares. It always felt like it took forever to walk one place to another in Amity, and now Tucker could see it all.

It was an amazing ,but also kind of weird seeing Amity Park from this angle. It was like Tucker was looking at his entire life.

Wow, that was stirring some emotions.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Tucker's grip on Valerie relaxed ever so slightly. "It really is."

Danny had carried Tucker via flight a few times, and Tucker had tried flying himself when he was briefly half-ghost, but he'd never really had the opportunity to just stop and take in the view from this high up.

Tucker wondered if Danny ever came up to just hang out in the sky. He hoped he did.

"Up here, it feels like it's just you and the stars." Valerie said "Everything down there? All your problems and the people you know? They all feel really small and far away down there. For a few minutes you can just exist without worrying about all that stuff."

"Yeah, that's exactly it." Tucker looked over at Valerie. "Do you spend a lot of time up here."

"I used to come up here at night when I couldn't sleep. Guess I kind of stopped. I should come up here more."

The serene moment was interrupted by the sound of Tucker's stomach growling.

"Sorry." he said "You wanna grab a nasty burger?"

"Didn't your mom already make a meatloaf?"

"You think I don't have room in here for a Nasty Combo and my mom's meatloaf?" Tucker patted his stomach. "I'm offended. I'll pay if you drive."

"Alright, deal."

--------------------------------------------------

A sunken eyed employee opened the drive-thru window.

"Welcome to the Nasty Burger. What can I get for- hang on, the drive-thru is only for customers with vehicles."

"Do hoverboards count?" Valerie asked.

The employee stuck his head out the window and looked down at their board. He blinked slowly and sighed.

"Sure, why not. What would you like to order?"

"We'll take two Nasty Combos, one diet cola, one diet iced tea, and upsize one of the fries."

"That'll be $13.95." Tucker handed over some cash. "Please proceed to the next window."

"Thanks." Tucker saluted as Valerie flew to the second window.

They hovered there for about a minute. A peppy teenager soon appeared and opened the window, greasy white bag in hand.

"Two Nasty Combos with diet, iced tea, and- "

Her cheery expression melted into confusion when she got a good look at the masked figure and teenager on a hoverboard.

"Whaaaaa...?"

Tucker took the bag from her hand.

"Thanks!" he smiled politely at her . Her expression did not change as Valerie zoomed off back towards Amity Park Park.

--------------------------------------------------

When they got back to Amity Park Park, they sat down by a tree to eat. Valerie had barely unwrapped her burger before Tucker was begging her to let him try out her mask.

"Okay, fine." she rolled her eyes affectionately.

"Yes!" Tucker pumped his fist as Valerie handed him her mask. He slipped it on over his face.

"Wow, everything looks so red."

Valerie grinned evilly and hit some buttons on her wrist.

"Agh! That's a lot of information!"

Valerie laughed and toggled the statistics off.

"Yeah," she said "You have to get used to seeing things through the visor. It's pretty useful once you do but, between that and learning how to fly on the hoverboard, it took like two months before I felt even remotely ready to try going after a ghost."

"And how'd that go?" Tucker asked, pulling the mask off.

"Pretty bad." Valerie laughed. "I thought I'd gotten pretty good at flying, but I fell off my board twice. Turns out flying's a lot harder when you're actively chasing a ghost, and not just doing laps around the park. Luckily my hoverboard comes back to catch me when I fall."

"It does? That's awesome!"

"Right? If I only had a way to actually hold onto the ghosts, I'd be all set. That ghost Danny Phantom's got some gizmo that sucks up ghosts. I tried to ask his about it, but he just disappeared and flew away."

"Oh. D-did he?"

"Yeah. He saved my life once, so I figured he was probably friendly, but guess I was wrong."

"Maybe he just needs to warm up to you?" Tucker shrugged "I mean, being a ghost and all, he's probably not used to humans trying to be friends with him. Most people he meets probably react the opposite way to ghosts." This was a very surreal way to talk about Danny.

"I guess. For now all I'll just have to stick with scaring the ghosts away."

"That's ironic."

"Shut up!" Valerie smiled and pushed Tucker's shoulder. "For real, though. Ghosts used to hold so much power over me. After that dog attacked Axiom, I was scared all the time. I couldn't even sleep most nights. Being The Red Huntress liberates me. It gives me power over those monsters. Just having the suit makes me feel safe and strong, and I'm not afraid anymore!"

Valerie suddenly blushed.

"Sorry, I'm oversharing. Don't really have anyone else to talk to about this."

"Nah, you're good, I get it." Tucker said. "Ghosts can be...a lot to deal with. You've got to talk to someone about all the craziness. I'd go insane without Danny and Sam. Although I suppose I wouldn't be dealing with ghosts at all if it weren't for Danny..."

Tucker began to sweat. Was he saying too much?

"I suppose." Valerie laughed. "Do Fenton's parents ever take you ghost hunting?"

"What? Me? Ghost hunting? No way!" Tucker hoped Valerie didn't notice how high-pitched his voice was. "That would be way too dangerous. And a waste of my gifts."

"Gifts?"

"My good looks and natural charisma!"

"...right."

The two of them took a bite of their burgers at the same time, leaving things silent while they chewed.

"Hey, Val?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks for showing me the sky. And for trusting me with all that. I had a really great night."

"Yeah, me too."

Tucker and Valerie turned away from each other just in time to miss the other one's blush.

They just sat and talked about nothing in particular between bites of their food. Once they'd finished, Valerie flew them back to Tucker's house, and they snuck in through his bedroom window. Valerie changed out of her suit (it took every fibre of Tucker's willpower not to geek out over the way it folded into her backpack), and the two of them headed downstairs so Valerie could leave.

"See you in school tomorrow." she waved.

"Bye." Tucker waved back as Valerie shut the door.

"Valerie seems like a nice girl." Tucker's mother said once she'd left.

"I agree. When did you two meet?" Tucker's dad asked, grinning and raising an eyebrow.

"Slow down, Dad. We're just partners in bio."

"You know, your mother and I started as bio partners."

"It was actually home economics, dear." his mother corrected. The two of them smiled at each other, clearly thinking about fond memories.

"Right, well I'm going to go hide in my room while before you two start making out."

"I can't believe you would talk to your own parents that way." His mother tousled Tucker's beret as he passed her on the way to the stairs.

"And I can't believe you two would be so risqué in front of your son!" Tucker dramatically threw his arm over his face as he ascended the stairs.

Tucker's smile faded as he shut the door to his room, realizing he now had a serious dilemma.

On the one hand, Valerie being The Red Huntress definitely seemed like the kind of thing Danny should know. On the other hand, it wasn't fair to out Valerie like that.

He couldn't even ask her if she was okay with him telling Danny without revealing Danny's secret, and he couldn't ask Danny if he was okay with him telling Valerie without revealing Valerie's secret.

After thinking about it for a bit over a few solo rounds of DOOMED, Tucker decided he was just going to have to keep both their secrets. This probably meant that he was going to want to scream every time those two obliviously interacted, but he was just going to have to suffer in silence.

"Tucker!" His mom called up "Dinner's ready!"

Good, meatloaf made suffering much easier.

--------------------------------------------------

Danny had been planning on telling Sam and Tucker about Valerie first thing at school that morning. Unfortunately, some ectopus had other plans. Danny hadn't even finished breakfast when his ghost sense went off.

Ectopuses were slippery ghosts, and Danny only got it into the thermos two minutes before the end of home room.

He managed to transform back, grab all his stuff, and arrive at first period just as the second bell rang. Ms Murphy gave him a look, but didn't say anything.

"Ghost attack?" Tucker whispered as Danny sat down net to him and Sam.

"Yeah. Listen, I've got something really-"

"Danny, Tucker, your discussion can wait until after class."

"Yes Ms Murphy." Danny and Tucker replied.

Danny had never been more anxious for a class to end. He almost cheered when the bell finally rang.

"So, what were you saying earlier?" Tucker asked as the trio walked out of Ms Murphy's classroom.

"Okay, so yesterday, I was fighting The Box Ghost-"

"That's very exciting news." Sam interrupted.

"That's not the end of the sentence." Danny glared at Sam. "Anyway, The Red Huntress showed up in the middle of the fight, and-"

Danny stopped talking when he noticed Valerie walking not far behind their group. He'd forgotten that they had English together.

Valerie hadn't noticed Danny and his friends. She was too absorbed with adjusting some settings on her watch. Although, now that Danny really looked at it, the display screen was showing features that a normal watch definitely didn't have.

"Danny?" Sam's voice snapped Danny's attention back to his friends. "What happened? What did The Huntress do? Did she hurt you?" Sam's clenched her fists as she asked the last question.

Danny glanced at Valerie again. She didn't seem to notice that Sam was referring to her alter ego. She probably wasn't listening to their conversation at all. Why would she be? She didn't know who Danny was.

"Uh, no, no! Everything's good, I just...uh, you know, English is starting soon, so I think I'll just tell you at lunch."

"Dude, you're acting real weird." Tucker looked at Danny with concern. "You sure everything's alright?"

"Yup! Totally fine! Don't worry, I can't talk now, but it'll make sense later."

"Okaaaaay..." Sam raised an eyebrow as the three of them took their seats.

Danny glanced over his shoulder. Valerie sat at the desk behind Sam (of course Valerie sat so close to their group!), lazily looking out the window. Her watch now displayed the time on its screen, just like any average everyday digital watch would.

"Alright students," Mr Lancer entered the classroom and shut the door. Today we're going to be starting our unit on Edgar Allen Poe."

Valerie sitting right behind him made it even harder to pay attention now than it had been in first period.

After about ten minutes of struggling to take in Mr Lancer's droning, Danny felt his ghost sense go off.

Well, it wasn't like he was going to learn anything today anyway.

Danny and Valerie raised their hands at the same time.

"Gray?" Mr Lancer pointed his piece of chalk at Valerie.

"May I go to the washroom?"

"Sharon's already gone out. You'll have to wait for her to get back. Fenton?"

"Can I go to the bathroom?"

Mr Lancer let out a deep sigh.

"Fine. Hurry back."

Danny shot out of the classroom.

--------------------------------------------------

The ghost turned out to be another ectopus (Danny should've known; they always came in pairs!) that was occupying itself by gnawing on a boiler in the school's basement.

"Dude, don't you have anything better to chew on?" Danny asked "Like, that just can't be your best option."

The ectopus hissed violently, abandoning the boiler to charge at Danny, tentacles at the ready.

Ectopuses weren't very strong, but it could be hard to keep track of all their tentacles in a fight. At some point, the ectopus managed to grab Danny by the waist and throw him into a bunch of pipes.

The pipes dented and a few of them cracked, releasing streams of steam horrible hissing. Danny used the obscuring effect of the steam to his advantage, sneaking around the ectopus and blasting it in the back enough times to weaken it before sucking it into The Fenton Thermos.

"Attention Casper High," Principal Ishiyama's staticky voice said as Danny capped The Thermos "It appears we are having some major plumbing issues. As such, we ask students and faculty to exit the building immediately. The rest of the school day will be cancelled. Bus drivers will be notified and should arrive shortly."

"Oops." Danny said to no one.

Not that that was really his fault. It was the ectopus that threw him.

Danny flew invisibly to the school's front door, checked that there wasn't anybody still inside, then transformed, rushing outside. It didn't take long to find the soaking wet Sam and Tucker.

"Hey guys!" He called "I, uh, got the ghost."

"Good for you." Sam said as water dripped from her hair. "I, personally, would like to go home and change now."

"Agreed." Tucker wrung out his beret and placed it back on his head. "Hey Danny, could you maybe not set off the sprinkler system the next time you're fighting a ghost?"

"Wait, how on earth could we have possible set off- it doesn't matter. I've got something absolutely bonkers to tell you two!"

"Did your dad bring the fridge to life too?" Sam asked, taking out her ponytail.

"No, Valerie's The Red Huntress!"

"Wait, WHAT!" Sam said. Tucker didn't say anything, but his eyes widened.

"Yeah, can you believe that?"

"H-how do you know it's her?" Tucker asked.

"She literally told me. I ran into her when I was fighting The Box Ghost yesterday, and she started talking about the time Phantom saved her at Axiom. She wan't even trying to hide her identity."

"Wow." was all Sam could think to say.

Danny rubbed his eyes.

"Ugh, of all the people she could've been, it had to be Valerie."

"You know, this might actually be convenient in a way." Tucker said.

"Really, how?"

Tucker took a deep breath. Now that he knew Danny knew about Valerie, he figured it might be a good idea to broach the subject of Danny letting her in on his secret. He wasn't really sure how Danny would react, though.

"Okay, so, don't freak out, but I was thinking about something." Tucker said.

"What is it?"

"It's just, don't freak out, but I was thinking, you know, and this is just a 'maybe', just something to consider, but perhaps, just potentially-"

"Just spit it out already Tucker!" Sam snapped.

"Hey hey!" Tucker held up his hands indignantly "This is a delicate matter, Sam! Anyway, Danny I think that maybe you should consider telling Valerie."

"Tell her what?" Danny raised an eyebrow.

"Tell her...your secret. You know, that you're Danny Phantom."

Nobody said anything right away.

"Seriously Tuck?"

"I mean, you don't have to, I just thought it was worth consider-"

"You think that just because you like some girl, I should just tell her my biggest secret?"

"Hey, it's not about that! I don't even like- never mind. I just thought that since Valerie's also a ghost hunter, it might be beneficial for you two to, like, you know..."

"What?"

"I'm just saying, having someone to help you fight ghosts wouldn't be a bad thing, right?"

"That's what you and Sam are for!"

"I know, and no offence to me and Sam, we're great, but Valerie's a real powerhouse. She could be a real asset to Team Phantom. You two've seen her, she's got skills and some real sick gear. I mean, at the very least, she probably has a ghost tracker, so we could rely on something more precise than your ghost sense. That'd be cool, right?"

Sam raised an unimpressed eyebrow, and Danny looked furious. Maybe indirectly insulting his ghost sense hadn't been the best approach.

"I'm just saying having more help is never a bad thing."

"Maybe not for you." Danny said "You're not the one who'd be putting yourself at risk."

"I'm just-"

"Sure it's all about what you think. Who cares about my opinion? Who cares that I'm the one on the front lines of most of the ghost fights? Who cares that I have to navigate a minefield of potentially hazardous devices in my own home? Who cares that my parents say they love me then turn around and start going on about how they're going to destroy me every day?"

Sam thought she saw Danny's eyes flash green while he was talking. Tucker seemed to be at a loss for words. Sam didn't blame him.

"Danny," she said carefully "I don't think he-"

"Ugh! You know what?" Danny interrupted her "I've had enough!"

With that, he transformed and flew off towards Fenton Works. The force of his takeoff was so strong that Tucker had to hold on to his beret to keep it from flying off his head.

"He's really got to stop changing out in the open like that if he wants to keep his secret a secret." Sam remarked.

"It was just an idea," Tucker said "I didn't mean to make him so upset!"

Sam sighed.

"It's not your fault Tucker. I think Danny's kind of sensitive about the whole 'secret identity' thing right now. He told me he was actually thinking about telling his parents."

"What?! That's crazy! You told him why that was a bad idea, right?"

"He already knows why it's a bad idea, Tucker."

"Then why on earth does he want to tell them?"

"I don't know. I guess keeping his ghost half a secret from his family has really been stressing him out?" Sam chewed her nail thoughtfully. Danny was clearly upset and had tried to talk to Sam earlier, but she'd just shut him down.

She'd really been a really terrible friend.

"Okay," Tucker said "Danny is clearly going through some stuff. We'd better go talk to him."

Sam realized that Danny probably wouldn't have gotten this upset if he'd talked to Tucker first instead of her.

Well, if this mess was her fault, then she was going to fix it.

"He's seemed pretty mad at you." Sam said "Maybe I should go alone."

"Yeah," Tucker sighed "You're probably right. I'll talk to him tomorrow when he's cooled off. Call me later and tell me how he's doing?"

"Yeah, sure thing. I'll just drop my stuff off at home and change into something dry first. Give him some time to calm down."

"That's probably smart." Tucker said. He sighed. "I hope Danny's okay."

Sam didn't say anything.

--------------------------------------------------

Danny was lying on his bed, trying to distract himself from the swirling thoughts in his head by drowning himself in Pac-Man Collection on his Game Boy. Tucker had once joked that Danny was drawn to Pac-Man because it's a game where you keep catching ghosts that keep escaping. Danny disagreed, the game was more about working around ghosts rather than fighting them.

That being said, Danny was actually pretty bad at avoiding the ghosts. He'd just lost his last life to Blinky (Blinky and Pinky always ganged up on him!), when he heard a knock on the door.

"Who is it?" he asked, shutting off the Game Boy.

"It's me!" Sam's voice answered from the other side. "I brought your backpack. And, also some homework from Lancer. Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Sam opened the door.

"You okay?" she asked, shutting it behind her.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Danny asked, sitting up.

"Seriously Danny?" Sam pulled Danny's computer chair next to his bed and sat in it backwards.

Danny fiddled with a loose string in his blanket.

"Look," Sam sighed "I don't get your whole conflict about wanting to tell your parents. If I had ghost powers, you couldn't pay me to tell mine. But this isn't about me."

Sam had taken the time to figure out what she was going to say on the walk over.

"Your relationship with your parents is different from mine. You're clearly struggling and needed someone to talk to, and I didn't listen. I'm sorry. I'm ready to listen now, if you still want to talk."

Danny sighed.

"I don't know Sam. It...it's just been a lot." Danny stopped fiddling with the string and looked at her. "Keeping this secret, it's stressful."

"Even now that you have your powers under control?"

"Like I said earlier, it's like there's a wedge between me and my family now. It's not, like, huge, but I can feel it, all the time, just lingering in the in the back of my head. I don't always notice it, but it always seems to affect things."

"How so?"

"It's like I'm constantly being reminded that all it would take is a single moment, and everything would be different. My family would start to see me different."

Danny took a steadying breath before continuing.

"But, whether anyone likes it or not, I am half-ghost. My ghost half is a part of who I am. And keeping that a secret means I can't fully be myself around the people I love, as cliché as that sounds."

"No, I get it." Sam was surprised to realize she meant it "I could probably get along with my parents a lot better if I wore brighter colours and frillier skirts, but that's not who I am. It would feel so restrictive, like I was denying who I- oh." Sam looked at Danny "Is that what keeping your ghost half secret feels like?"

Danny nodded.

"Oh." Sam said again. "Danny we- I didn't realize you were under so much pressure. I mean, I know being a ghost with ghost hunter parents isn't fun, but...why didn't you say anything earlier?"

Danny shrugged.

"I don't think I really realized how bad it was until recently. Kind of like how I didn't say anything about my gender dysphoria until middle school. The bad feelings have always been there, I just didn't really...fully realize it, I guess. It's just, seeing Vlad and my mom argue in Colorado, seeing how hiding destroyed his relationships with the people closest to him, it made me scared."

"I mean, you're not really like Vlad." Sam said. "You still talk to your family. Vlad's problem is that he shut himself off from everyone completely. You don't do that."

"Maybe not, but I'm still closing myself off from them. Keeping a secret this big is just so...so...draining! Mom, Jazz, even Dad have noticed something is off with me. I don't like all of this lying and hiding!"

Danny hugged his legs to his chest and buried his face in his knees.

"I'm tired, Sam. A day hasn't gone by since the accident where I don't think about this at least a little. I'm sick of this dragging me down. I just want it to stop, but the only way to make it stop is to take a huge risk. I'm just so sick of thinking about all of this."

When Sam was seven, she'd had a special purple hair tie that she wore for months straight until it was all saggy and had lost it's elasticity. Looking at Danny gave her that same feeling she had when she'd looked at the old hair tie. It hurt her heart in a place that was hard to reach.

Sam got up off of her chair and sat down next to Danny on the bed.

"To be honest Danny, I'm not really sure what you should do." Sam said "But we'll figure it out. And no matter what happens, Tucker and I are gonna be here for you."

Danny wrapped his arms around her.

"I don't know what I'd do without you guys." he said.

Sam bristled. Besides for with her grandmother, Sam wasn't big on hugs. They weren't bad, just kind of...weird. But, considering the circumstances, she decided to make an exception this one time..

"You owe me for this, Danny." she said to herself, patting Danny's back.

They stayed like that for a while. Danny wanted to stay there forever, and Sam probably would have let him (well, maybe just for another five minutes), if Danny's ghost sense hadn't gone off.

"Ghosts ruin everything." Danny said, releasing Sam and looking out his window. He saw a green shape zoom overhead in the direction of Amity Park Park.

"Alright, going ghost!" Danny shouted as he jumped out the window, did a flip, and transformed.

"Can you please not jump out of windows?" Sam said to the now hovering Danny. "You give me a heart attack every time!"

"But it's cool!" Danny protested. "Anyway, it looks like the ghost is headed towards the park. Meet you there?"

Sam nodded and rushed out of Danny's room. Danny zoomed towards Amity Park Park.

--------------------------------------------------

It was hard to spot a ghost through the treetops, but the sound of people screaming near the playground narrowed Danny's search down pretty quickly.

It didn't take long to find the source of the panic. Lurking in the trees, next to the sandbox, was a tall humanoid ghost. Its bottom half consisted of long tattered grey robes, while thick hair-like green tendrils concealed its face and upper body. People fled from the ghost as its tendrils stretched and wrapped around trees and various playground equipment.

"Hey!" Danny called out, the ghost turning at the sound of his voice. "Didn't anyone ever tell you to keep your tentacles to yourself?"

Danny dove towards the ghost, but one of its tendrils shot out and wrapped around him, pinning his arms to his sides. The end of the tendril floated up next to Danny's face. It suddenly turned into a face, eyes opening, and a long tongue flailing out of a mouth that hissed and bared its fangs.

The ghost had snakes for hair. Over a hundred snakes.

"Not tentacles. Got it."

Danny yelped as the snake yanked him down to its level. Twenty or so snakes parted like a curtain, revealing the ghost's face.

Danny was immediately drawn to the its eyes.

They were a deep grey and there weren't any pupils. Danny couldn't stop staring at them. The whole world outside of those eyes seemed to fade away and Danny felt his feet, which had previously been flailing and kicking, grow heavy and fall limp as he got lost in the gray expanse of the ghost's irises.

A blast of pink energy suddenly nailed the ghost in the face, causing it to shut its eyes and wail. Danny felt like a spell had been broken the second the ghost's eyes were off of him.

Pink blasts continued to assault the ghost and it soon dropped Danny to the ground. He looked up and saw Valerie circling the ghost on her hoverboard, bombarding it with ecto blasts.

"You looked like you could use a hand. AGGH!" Valerie swerved to dodge an incoming snake. She continued to shoot at the ghost as she dodged. Most of her shots missed, and the ghost had moved the curtain of snakes back in front of its face.

The snakes briefly recoiled when they got shot, but Valerie's blasts didn't seem to be doing as much damage as when she'd hit the ghost's face.

Danny tried to stand up while Valerie had the ghost distracted, but found that he couldn't. He looked down and screamed when he saw that his feet had been turned to stone.

He concentrated some ecto energy into his feet. There was a burst of ecto energy and grey rocks, leaving behind his normal white boots.

Danny sighed with relief and shot up into the air.

"Don't look into it's eyes!" he shouted to Valerie "It'll turn you to stone!"

"Wait, for real?"

Before Danny could answer, the ghost managed to grab Valerie with its snake hair.

"Valerie!"

Danny tried to fly after her, but snakes kept popping up and blocking him. He tried to blast them away, but there seemed to be no end to them.

Danny soon gave up and flew up out of their range. He was going to try and hit the ghost with an ecto blast from afar, but when he looked down he realized with horror that the ghost had already parted its hair and locked Valerie in its gaze.

To Danny's surprise, Valerie raised her blaster and shot it directly in the face. The ghost let out more horrible wailing noises, and its snakes all thrashed and tangled in confusion. Valerie whacked the snake that was holding her with the butt of her blaster, causing it to drop her.

She was running as soon as she hit the ground, blasting any errant snakes that came after her. As soon as she was far enough from the throng, her hoverboard came sailing back to her and she jumped on it, flying up next to Danny.

"How'd you do that?" Danny asked "When I looked into its eyes, I got put in a trance and my feet turned to stone."

"My visor must filtering whatever's radiating from those creepy eyes." Valerie said. "Sweet!"

"Okay, I have an idea." Danny said. "How good are you at flying?"

"Pretty good. Why?"

"Try to get as many snakes as you can to follow you. Then fly all around the trees. Go around as many branches and trunks as you can."

"So they get all tangled up? Nice! I like the way you think Phantom."

Danny smiled a little at the compliment, but quickly went back to business mode.

"You take the right, I'll take the left." he said.

Valerie nodded and the two of them zoomed off in opposite directions.

"Hey, Snakes!" Danny shouted "Bet you can't catch me!"

Over fifty snakes hissed at Danny. He zoomed off and they gave chase.

Danny wove over, under, and around tree after tree as tightly as he could. It didn't take long for the snakes that had been following him to get tangled up in the branches as well as each other.

When he was done he looked over at Valerie. She wasn't flying as fast as him, but she was pretty agile considering the how awkward Danny assumed a hoverboard would be to manoeuvre through the trees. It only took her another ten seconds to finish with her snakes. When she was done, she flew over to Danny.

"Now what?"

Most of the snakes were stuck in the trees, but there were still about twenty of them hanging in front of the ghost's face.

"Considering she kept some snakes to cover it," Danny said "I assume she doesn't like getting shot in the face."

"But the face-snakes only move when she's trying to freeze someone."

Danny looked at Valerie. He had another plan, but this one required a lot of trust in Valerie. Some part of Danny hesitated, but, realistically, she'd more than proven herself.

Danny steeled himself with a deep breath.

"If I let the ghost grab me," he said "That'll make her expose her face."

"Yeah, but then she'll put you in a trance. You won't be able to shoot her."

"That's why you're the one that's going to shoot her."

"What, me?!"

"Yes, you. She'll be focused on turning me to stone, leaving her wide open for you."

"So shouldn't I be the bait, then? Since I can't get turned to stone?"

"Her eyes will probably still freeze me from faraway if I accidentally look at them, and you won't be able to hit her either if with her snakes wrapped around you. Wow, that's a weird sentence. Anyway, my point is, the only way to defeat her is for me to distract her so you can hit her weak spot."

"B-but, she still has some snakes free!" Danny had never seen Valerie so hesitant. "I can't dodge and aim at the same time!"

"You just have to hit her once. That'll break the trance and I can blast her point-blank. Can you do that?"

"I-I don't know. If I can't then you'll get turned to stone."

"I think you can do it."

"What?"

"I've been watching you fight. You're still pretty new at this, but you've definitely got what it takes to be a ghost hunter."

"Huh, honestly I kind of thought you hated me."

"Maybe I just didn't give you a fair chance. What do you say? Want to give it a shot before Medusa untangles her hair?"

Valerie only waited a second before answering with full confidence:

"Yes."

"Alright, let's go then!"

Danny zoomed towards the ghost. He stopped about a meter in front of her, and began throwing as many ecto blasts as he could at the snake-hair in front of her face.

As Danny predicted, they didn't seem to do much, and a couple of snakes shot out and wrapped themselves around him. Danny struggled halfheartedly as the ghost's hair began to part, revealing her hypnotic grey eyes.

Valerie tried to hit the ghost's face, but snakes attacked her from every direction, throwing off her aim. Her shots weren't landing anywhere near her target.

"C'mon Val." she muttered to herself, flying underneath yet another snake. "Just ignore your shaking hands. Focus!"

But as hard as she tried, she just couldn't land a shot. Valerie glanced at Danny and began to panic when she realized he was stone well past his ankles.

This wasn't working. She needed to get closer to her target, but the size of her hoverboard made it impossible to weave through the snakes.

In a desperate move, Valerie jumped off her hoverboard and began running towards the ghost. It took the snakes a second to recalibrate, but she wasn't paying attention to them. She was laser focused on the ghost's eyes, shooting as many shots as her blaster would fire at those horrible empty corneas.

She was only a few meters from the ghost when she felt a snake wrapping itself around her torso. She ignored it and kept firing. Just as the snake yanked her into the air, Valerie saw a shot collide with the ghost's face.

Valerie cheered before screaming as the snake that was holding her began flailing around wildly.

The ghost let out a painful wail, but the snakes that were holding Danny and Valerie didn't let go.

Free from the trance, Danny shook his head and focused ecto energy into his feet. He swung his legs back before kicking them forward and blasting the ghost in the face with a giant ecto beam, simultaneously freeing his feet from their stony state.

His arms were still pinned down, so Danny kept shooting the ghost's face with ecto eye beams until she eventually released him.

Danny, arms now free, hovered in front of the ghost and began blasting her with his regular ecto blasts.

Behind him, he heard a yell and a thump as Valerie fell to the ground.

"I'm okay!" she called out.

Soon pink beams joined Danny's green ones in their assault on the ghost's face. The ghost's wails grew louder and louder until it finally crumpled to the ground, its snakes falling limp.

Danny pulled out his thermos and pressed the button, sucking the ghost into the bright blue beam. The ghost wailed the entire time she was being dragged in. Some of the hair snakes tried to wriggle out, but Danny gave the thermos an extra ecto-boost and all the stragglers were soon sucked in.

Danny capped the thermos feeling tired but triumphant.

Valerie flew up to him. She yanked off her mask and leaned on her knees.

"That was," she said between panting breaths "Intense. I've never fought a ghost that powerful."

"Well, " Danny smiled "You did pretty good."

Valerie smiled back.

They suddenly heard someone scream. Valerie pulled her mask back on and readied her blaster. Danny moved into a fighting position.

"Danny!"

Danny looked down and saw a panicked Sam running across the park.

"You have to come quick!" she said "Some kid got turned into a statue down here!"

"What?!" Danny and Valerie said together.

They both flew after Sam. She led them to a spot neat the swing set, where a child had been frozen mid-run.

"Oh no..." Valerie breathed.

"It looks like the ghost froze him instantaneously." Danny said. "But how? It took her a good ten seconds just to freeze my feet."

"Maybe being a ghost protected you from her powers a bit?" Valerie shrugged.

"And what makes you such an expert on ghosts?" Sam glared at Valerie.

"Hey! Which one of us has the ghost weapons here?" Valerie gestured to her blaster.

"Sam, she's cool, we don't have time for this."

"It's not like the kid's getting any more frozen." Sam crossed her arms. "And just how do you know we can trust this mysterious masked figure?"

"Do you two know each other?" Valerie asked.

"Yes." Danny said.

"No." Sam said at the same time.

The two of them looked at each other.

"You know what?" Valerie said. "It doesn't matter. Right now we gotta figure out how to unfreeze this kid."

Sam crossed her arms, but didn't say anything.

"Can you try that thing you did to free yourself earlier? The green glowy thing?"

"Oh wow, you really don't know anything about ghosts." Danny said.

"Hey!"

"Uh, I don't know. It was easy to do to myself, since it's just manifesting the ecto energy inside me already, like I do before launching an ecto beam, but I don't know if I can, like, transfer it to someone else."

"It's worth a shot, isn't it?" Valerie shrugged.

"Yeah, I guess."

Danny put his hands on the kid's shoulders and summoned some ecto energy. His hands glowed green, but nothing else happened.

"Maybe try doing it like an ecto blast, but less blasty?" Sam suggested.

"What does that even mean?" Valerie asked.

"Guys!"

Valerie and Sam stopped talking. After a minute, Danny's hands stopped glowing and he let go of the kid.

"Hey," Sam said "Are you-"

"Shh!" Danny cut her off. He took a deep breath and grabbed the kid again.

Danny's entire body began to glow green as he concentrated on directing his ecto energy into the kid. It was a very awkward and strenuous task, and Danny wasn't sure if he was doing it right at first, but the kid was soon surrounded by his own faint green aura.

It took all of Sam and Valerie's energy to hold back their cheers, but Danny wasn't close to done yet.

Danny could feel every muscle burning, but he kept up. The glow around the kid slowly got brighter and brighter.

Finally, there was a small explosion of rocks, and Danny collapsed onto his hands and knees.

The no-longer-stone child blinked at the strange trio.

"Hey kid." Sam smiled tentatively. "Do you remember what happened here?"

The kid stared wide-eyed at Sam.

"D-dere was a scawy monster..." he said very quietly.

Valerie's hoverboard folded into her feet. She landed on the ground and took off her mask.

"Hey kid, my name's Valerie." she said, getting down on one knee. "Do you think you can tell me your name? We're gonna try and help you find you parent, okay? I bet they're worried about you."

The kid seemed to relax a little.

"M-my name is-"

"Joel!"

Someone was suddenly sprinting towards them. She grabbed the child once she got close enough and hugged him close to her body.

"Oh thank the stars you're okay! I've been looking everywhere for you! Did that monster hurt you poor baby?"

Joel pointed to the trio.

"D-dey saved me, Mummy."

Joel's mom looked at the trio. There were tears in her eyes.

"Thank you kids. So much. I don't know what I'd have done if-" Hey eyes locked onto Danny on the ground. "Are you alright young man?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah." Danny began to stand up. "Yeah, I'm goo-"

The world started to spin. Sam rushed over and caught Danny. He leaned on her.

"Yeah, I'm great." he gave Joel's mom an unconvincing thumbs up.

"Dear, I really think you should-"

She was cut off by the sound of screeching tires and an obnoxious car horn whose familiarity made Danny's blood run cold.

"WHERE'S THE GHOST!" He heard his father shout.

"Oh no, The Fentons." Joel's mom's face was filled with dread. "Oh I am not dealing with those two today. Thanks you kids so much!" she called as she ran away with Joel in her arms.

"Danny," Sam said "You've got to get out of here!"

"I don't think I can fly, Sam."

"Well, at least-"

Before Sam could finish speaking, a white ring popped up around Danny's waist. Danny gasped, and quickly focused on making it disappear. Luckily, it did.

He and Sam looked at each other in horror.

"Um, what was that?" Valerie asked.

"That means I won't be flying anytime soon." Danny said.

"Well duh, you can barely stand!" Valerie said.

"The tracker says the ghost is just over here, Jack!" They heard Maddie Fenton's voice say. She was not far away.

"You two hide!" Valerie pushed Sam and Danny towards some large bushes.

"Hey!" Sam protested.

"They can still see me on their ghost tracker!" Danny said. "Hiding's not going to help!"

"Don't worry." Valerie pulled her mask back on "I got this."

Valerie turned and walked a few meters away.

"I don't trust her." Sam whispered just before Danny's parents appeared.

"You!" his dad pointed at Valerie "Sharply dressed citizen! Did you see a ghost? We're on the hunt for one!"

"I'm no citizen Mr Fenton, I'm The Red Huntress." Valerie said, her voice steady and authoritative. "And, as it happens, I've already apprehended the ghost."

"What?" Jack said "But according to our tracker, there's still a ghost around here!"

Valerie something small out of her pocket.

"You must be picking up signals from my Ghostagatchi." She said.

"Ghosta-wha-chi?" Maddie asked.

"It's what I use to contain ghosts. It's still in early development, though, and my prototype is still leaking ecto-particles. That must be what's showing up on your tracker."

"I suppose that makes sense." Maddie rubbed her chin. "Although, as fellow ghost hunters, we know how hard it is to make a properly functioning spectral containment device. Perhaps you could tell us how that one wor-"

"Unfortunately," Valerie interrupted loudly "Before I came to fight this ghost, I was in the middle of rounding up some stray rat ghosts. I should probably get back to that, even though I'm sooo tired from fighting this ghost, and my ecto blaster could really-"

"Ghost rats?" Jack turned and grabbed Maddie by the shoulders "Maddie! Those must be the ghosts that've been stealing the screwdrivers!"

"Oh my gosh you're right Jack!" Maddie turned to Valerie. "Tell us where they are!"

"Last I saw them, they were under the bridge downtown, but-"

"We're coming for our screwdrivers ghost rats!" Jack shouted as he and Maddie ran towards their RV.

The sound of the RV revving briefly filled the park before the vehicle disappeared, leaving no trace it had even been there besides some tire tracks next to the swings.

"Phew!" Valerie's whole body relaxed once The Fentons were gone. "Alright, you two can come out now."

In the bushes, the white ring reappeared around Danny's waist. It actually managed to split almost a foot before he could force it back together.

"I don't think I can stay in ghost form much longer." Danny whispered to Sam.

"Unfreezing that kid really zapped you, huh?"

"Phantom? Manson?" They heard Valerie call.

"Maybe I can convince her to leave?" Sam said.

"No."

"But Danny, she'll-"

"I know."

Sam's face slowly morphed into shock as the implications of what Danny had said sank in.

"We're coming!" Danny called back to Valerie. "Sam, help me walk out."

"You doing any better?" Valerie asked as he and Sam emerged from the bushes.

"Hanging in." Danny said. "So what is a 'Ghostigatchi' actually?"

"It's just a Tamagatchi." Valerie showed them the black and purple plastic egg. "Most adults don't know what they are, so I figured The Fentons would buy it."

"You take your Tamagatchi ghost hunting?" Sam asked.

"I take Gloria everywhere. And, Manson, if you so much as think about telling my dad I hunt ghosts, I swear I'll-"

"Relax, your secret's safe." Sam said. "Might want to be a little less loose with your identity sharing if you want it to stay a secret though."

Danny had no idea if Sam was being genuine or just trying to goad Valerie.

"Thanks for covering for me." Danny said.

"No problem. Figured those two wouldn't react well to seeing a ghost. Even if he did save everybody."

"Yeah...and there's also something else you should know. About me and The Fentons."

"What is is?"

Before Danny could figure out where to even start, the white ring reappeared around his waist.

Danny turned to Sam.

"I don't think I can hold it back this time."

"Hold what back?" Valerie asked "What is that?"

"It's just that, well, I'm actually only half-ghost."

"You're...what? What do you mean?"

Danny didn't have time to explain any further before the ring split and washed over him, reverting him back into his human form.

"Wait," Valerie said "Wh-what?"

"Surprise!" Danny said, smiling nervously.

Valerie took off her mask, as if needing to check what she was seeing with her own unfiltered eyes. Her mouth was hanging open slightly.

"Fenton?" she said.

"Uh, yeah." he awkwardly confirmed.

"Oh my gosh..." Valerie breathed "What sort of freaky stuff did your parents do to you?!"

Danny felt a crushing sensation in his chest. Looking Valerie in the eye suddenly became difficult and he desperately wanted to run back into the bushes.

"Hey!" Sam snapped. She took a protective half-step in front of Danny. "Danny is not a freak! Thought you'd have a little decency for the guy who saved your life multiple times."

"What? N-no, I just meant, like, are you okay? Are your parents doing...bad things to you? Do you need somewhere to go?"

"Oh, um, no it was an accident." Danny said, still not meeting Valerie's gaze. "I got my ghost powers in an accident. My parents don't even know."

"Oh."

"Even if Danny did need help," Sam glared at Valerie "He'd go to one of his friends!"

"I'm just trying to...I-I didn't mean to..." Valerie's eyes kept flicking between Sam and Danny. She looked completely and utterly lost. "I just-"

"Whatever you're trying to do, it's not helping, so just stop! Come on Danny, we're getting you home."

Sam turned them away from Valerie and began walking towards Fenton Works. Valerie didn't say anything, she just watched them go.

--------------------------------------------------

"I think I'm good to walk Sam." Danny said after they'd made it out of the park.

"You sure? I really don't mind."

"Yeah, I'm feeling better. And I don't want people wondering what's up with me."

Danny didn't want anyone to look at him at all right now.

He just wanted to go home.

About halfway back to his house, Sam began rambling incessantly about what had happened. Danny only half listened.

"...can't believe she would be so insensitive..." They had just arrived at the front steps when she seemed to clue in to how silent Danny was.

"Sorry, I'm making things worse, huh?"

"It's fine." Danny didn't look at Sam as he spoke.

That was worrying.

"Hey," Sam said. "Don't listen to Valerie. You're not messed up or whatever, she has no idea what she's talking about. Don't even think about her. Let's focus on something else for a bit. I know! Let's make popcorn bags and watch Dead Teacher 2! That one is still your favourite, right?"

"Sam, it's almost six."

"So?"

"You're probably already late for dinner. You'd better go home."

"Don't be ridiculous, I'm not abandoning you."

"Sam, I'm fine."

Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Danny..."

"Seriously. I mean, yeah, I'm not exactly jazzed about what happened, but the fact is it did happen. I'll get over it. It's not like Valerie's someone I really care about or anything."

Sam didn't look convinced.

"Danny, not to sound like Jazz, but I don't think brushing this off is a good idea."

"I'm not brushing this off. Look, I'll call you guys if I, you know, need anything or whatever, but I'm really fine. Besides, you know your parents, if you're late then they might not let you hang out with us all weekend."

Sam looked like she wanted to argue back, but she didn't say anything.

"Cool, I'll see you tomorrow." Danny said, heading inside and shutting the door.

"Oy vey." Sam shook her head and pulled out her cell phone as she started back home. "Tucker? Yeah, Danny's not doing so great. Something happened..."

--------------------------------------------------

Danny let out a sigh of relief. Finally, he was home.

He went up to his room and got out the homework Sam had brought over. It wasn't much, just a short story and a reading comprehension sheet. Probably everyone else had finished it in class, and he would've too if a certain ectopus hadn't taken him out of second period.

Danny began to read.

Valerie was in his English class. He had English first period on Monday. He was going to see her basically first thing after the weekend.

Danny wasn't sure if Valerie had ever spoken to him. Well, human him.

She'd probably start thinking about Danny Fenton very differently now. He'd go from the freaky ghost kid to the freak ghost kid.

Danny tried to focus on the story he was reading, but Valerie's reaction at the park was playing over and over in his head. The look on her face, the words she'd said, how she said each word she'd said.

He went over their exchange so many times that it stopped feeling real. Maybe if he just kept replaying it, he could stay in that moment forever, and never have to face the world where Valerie knew.

It doesn't matter, Danny told himself. It happened, he couldn't change that. Valerie wasn't even his friend, so it didn't matter what she thought anyway.

It didn't matter that Valerie was going to see him differently now. It didn't matter that Valerie thought that Danny was some messed up freak...

A tiny splotch of water suddenly appeared on the paper Danny was failing to read. When had he started crying?

No, he wasn't crying, because this wasn't a big deal! It didn't matter what Valerie thought!

It shouldn't matter what she thought.

Valerie thinks you're a freak...

It didn't matter. He knew he wasn't a freak, and that was all that mattered.

Valerie doesn't even hate ghosts, she just thinks you're some creepy kid with creepy powers...

"It is impossible to say how first the idea entered my brain;" Danny read out loud, desperately trying to speak over his own thoughts. "But once conceived, it haunted me day and night. Object there was-"

And if that's how someone who doesn't hate ghosts reacts, then how will your parents react?

A dam inside Danny burst open. His head sank into his arms and he began sobbing.

He sat there with his face on his desk for at least ten minutes. Danny cried and cried until he just couldn't cry anymore.

It was like he'd released all the feelings he'd been holding in for the last few months through his tears, but Danny didn't feel relief.

He just felt empty.

--------------------------------------------------

Danny didn't say much during dinner. Not that his parents noticed, since they were going on and on about their latest invention, 'The Fenton Fizzler'. Danny had no idea what it was, and he didn't really care to listen to his parent's latest plan to potentially decimate him. It was just too crushing tonight.

He did sit up a little when his dad pulled out a machine the size of a television and set it on the table.

"Welp, I'm done eating," Danny pushed his chair back and stood up "So I'm gonna go upstairs and study."

"That's my little scholar!" Maddie beamed approvingly.

"After a few quick adjustments, this baby'll be ready for a demonstration!" Jack declared, patting The Fizzler proudly.

"Oh joy." Danny muttered dryly while walking to the compost bin.

Jack and Maddie were totally absorbed by The Fizzler, but Jazz was watching Danny. She noticed that he was scraping a bit more than scraps into the compost bin.

Jazz pushed down a lecture about wasting food as she followed Danny into the hallway.

That was a sign he needs support, not criticism, she reminded herself.

"Hey, Danny," Danny stopped with his foot on the bottom step at the sound of Jazz's voice "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Danny turned away from her and began walking up the steps. "I just have a lot of homework."

Jazz bit her lip as she watched Danny disappear upstairs. She hated seeing him suffer alone like this. Sure, he had Sam and Tucker, but they couldn't always be there.

She really wanted to let Danny come to her when he was ready, but sometimes she wondered if it would be better if she-

Ka-Boom!

"Aah!"

"Quick, Maddie, get the fire extinguisher!"

"Hey!" Jazz ran back into the kitchen "My essay's in there!"

--------------------------------------------------

After they'd gotten the fire under control (Jazz's essay was fine, thank goodness), Jazz went up to try and talk to Danny again. Unfortunately, his light was already turned off.

Jazz sighed. Hopefully Danny was sleeping. He seemed like he needed the rest.

Jazz retreated to her own room and sat at her desk. She started to go over her essay again, but she was having trouble paying attention to the words she was reading.

A part of her wanted to burst into Danny's room and tell him that she knew everything, tell him that he could stop hiding, that he could talk to her about whatever was upsetting him.

Of course, she knew that wouldn't help. Telling Danny she knew his secret was a risky move on a good day, never mind when he was already in such deep emotional distress. She'd made the decision to let him come to her when he was ready for a reason.

Still, sticking to that decision could be difficult. Especially during moments like these.

Jazz just wished she could do something to help.

But sometimes, she reminded herself, the most helpful thing you can do is nothing.

Not that she was really doing nothing. She still covered for him with Mom and Dad. She still supported him in little ways, like driving him to school and prepping his lunches so he didn't have to suffer the cafeteria food. She even made him fluffernutters on Wednesdays, despite the fact that they weren't very nutritious, because she knew they were his favourite.

It didn't help with the ghost fighting, but Jazz knew that sometimes little acts of kindness, just signs that someone cared, could make it easier to keep going when things were difficult.

So, no, Jazz wasn't doing nothing, she was doing everything she could.

Even if it didn't feel like enough some days...

--------------------------------------------------

"Well, unfortunately, we need another new toaster," Jack said to Maddie as they carried what remained of The Fenton Fizzler down to the lab "But I'm glad Jazz's essay came out unscathed."

"Yes, I'm glad you managed to grab that first. "Maddie agreed as they set The Fizzler down on a table. "Jazz always works so hard on her essays, I'd hate to think how sad she'd have been if it had gotten burned up."

Maddie pulled out a wrench and began loosening a bolt on a mechanism that looked salvageable.

"Say, Madds?"

"Mm?

"Does something seem off with Danny?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he was barely paying attention when we were explaining how The Fenton Fizzler worked at dinner, and he usually pays very close attention when we talk about our new inventions. And the past few days he's just seemed kind of distracted and quiet."

"Oh." Maddie set down her wrench.

She had, in fact, noticed Danny's odd behaviour. But she'd decided that, since Danny had said in the helicopter that he wasn't ready to talk yet, she wouldn't press him.

Of course, now that Jack was saying it out loud, giving him that much space seemed a bit excessive. What if it was something unrelated to the helicopter talk that was bothering him?

Even if it was that, and he still wasn't ready to talk, then there might have been some other way Maddie could help him while still respecting his boundaries.

"I'll go talk to him once we've made sure what's left of The Fizzler won't spontaneously combust again."

But when Maddie went upstairs nearly an hour later, she found that Danny's door was shut and his lights were off, meaning he was probably sleeping.

Maddie couldn't help but feel like a failure. Putting off talking to Danny was what had gotten her in trouble in the first place. Why did she so easily fall back into bad habits?

Sighing, Maddie started down the stairs back to the lab. She glanced over her shoulder at the closed bedroom door.

She hoped Danny was alright, and that he could forgive her for failing to be the parent he deserved.

--------------------------------------------------

Danny had turned off his light early so that Jazz wouldn't come in and try to talk to him, and then proceeded to stay up way too late playing Pac-Man.

At around eleven in the morning, Danny was (very rudely, in his opinion) awoken by the ringing of his cell phone. He didn't even have the energy to grumble as he dug through his bedside drawer and flipped open the phone.

"Whad'yoowan?" Danny blearily greeted whoever was calling him.

"Hey, Danny." Tucker's voice responded. "Did I wake you up?"

"Whyd'yoothintha?"

"Heh, sorry. Listen, Sam told me what happened last night. With Valerie."

"Oh."

"How are you doing."

"...Fine."

There was a moment of silence. Danny was pretty sure he heard a sigh on the other end.

"Well," Tucker said "Sam and I are gonna come over. We don't have to talk about it, we can just play Turbo Racer Six or whatever, but we'll be there soon. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay, I'll just eat breakfast and stuff."

"Alright. See you soon man."

"See ya." Danny replied before hanging up.

Danny's thoughts drifted to last night. The scene wasn't replaying itself in horrible obsessive detail like it had earlier, so Danny was able to reflect on it more rationally.

Realistically, Valerie's reaction shouldn't have been that shocking to him. He knew that people finding out he was half-ghost wasn't likely to go over well, that was why he kept it a secret in the first place.

But even so, there was always that stubborn little bit of hope. Maybe that was why it was so painful to hide, because some part of him thought it might be possible, that his family might not reject him if they found out, but maybe give him the understanding and closeness that he longed for.

Or maybe it wasn't hope, but denial. That made more sense. It would explain why Danny didn't feel sad that it was gone. He just felt empty. It sucked, but deep down Danny had always known that acceptance was just a fantasy.

Danny sighed. He just wanted to stay in bed and not face reality, but Sam and Tucker were coming, and he needed to get ready. With great reluctance, Danny threw the blankets off him.

After getting dressed, Danny dragged himself downstairs. No one else was around, but he found a note on the kitchen table:

Danny,

Mom and Dad are out getting groceries, and I'm at the library. I'll be back around 2:00, and, knowing Mom and Dad, they'll probably be out until dinnertime. Feel free to invite Sam and Tucker over, or whatever. I know you have lots of studying to do, but it's important to rest, so just take the morning to relax, and I can help you with your homework later if you want.

Never forget you're amazing, Jazz

Danny rolled his eyes. Like he'd want Jazz helping him with his homework. Her 'helping' usually usually ended up just being a giant reminder of how dumb he was compared to her.

Danny yawned and poured himself a bowl of cereal.

Although, he supposed that it was nice of Jazz to offer her time. Especially since he knew her essay was due on Monday.

Danny groggily ate his breakfast. He'd just put his empty bowl in the sink when he heard the doorbell.

Ding dong!

That was probably Sam and Tucker. They sure got over here quick, Danny thought to himself as he made his way to the front entryway.

Danny opened the door and froze at the sight of Valerie.

"Hey, Danny." she said. Her face looked sombre.

Danny just stood there.

"I'm not going to attack you or anything, you know." Valerie said.

"I-I didn't think that."

"Look, about yesterday..." Valerie rubbed her arm.

Danny gulped.

"I just wanted to apologize."

"I, um, what?"

"I didn't...look, I know I reacted weird. Are your parents home?"

"No, it's just me here. Tucker and Sam are coming over soon, though."

"Can I come in then?"

"Uh, s-sure."

Valerie looked around as Danny led her to the living room. Normally he'd be polite and give her a tour, but his mouth was too dry right now.

They got to the living room and sat in different armchairs.

"So," Valerie folded her hands on her lap "Tucker told me that he and Sam were there when you...you know...and that I'm the first person you've ever really told, including your family. That about right? Just so I know who to keep my mouth shut around?"

"Uh...p-pretty much, yeah."

"It must be rough, being half-ghost when your parents are ghost hunters."

"Um, y-yeah."

It was very, very strange to be talking about this with a schoolmate who wasn't Sam or Tucker. A little bit uncomfortable.

"To be honest," Valerie continued "I didn't really know how to react last night. I mean, in my defense, what are you supposed to say when someone tells you they're half-ghost?"

"Heh, yeah, that's fair." Danny responded mechanically.

"But I was thinking about it, and I realize that that was kind of a big thing you shared with me. And I kind of just freaked out all over you. I know that telling me that secret means that on some level you trust me. I'm not sure if I really earned that trust though."

Danny wasn't sure what to say. He wasn't even sure what to feel.

"Which sucks, because I really owe you. For Axiom and last night."

"Last night? What do you mean?"

"We wouldn't have defeated that ghost without you."

"Are you kidding? You were the one who was immune to its statue powers! I'd be a garden ornament right now if you hadn't shown up."

"I don't know if I'd have had the guts to go for it if you didn't believe in me. I certainly didn't believe in myself last night."

"But, you always seem so confident."

"I am pretty good at most things, but I haven't exactly had a lot of practice fighting ghosts. The small ones I chase away from Casper barely even count."

"Weeeellll, your aim could use a little work." This was easier to talk about. The dynamic with his family and his secret was a touchy subject, but Danny had no issues discussing ghost fighting. "But you'll get better with time. It took me a while to figure stuff out."

"You seem pretty good to me."

"You'll be pretty good someday too. I can tell. You've got the skills, the only difference between you and me is experience."

"You're probably right. Don't know if I'll ever get to your level, though. Those awesome ghost powers give you quite the edge."

"Awesome? Ha, you don't think I'm, like, a freak or whatever?" Danny tried to sound like he didn't care, even though he actually cared a lot.

"No way. It's like you have my suit built right into you. I'm kind of jealous."

"They're not all that great."

"Oh, quit being modest."

"I'm not! There are some serious drawbacks."

"Oh yeah, like what?"

"There's a ghost hunter that wants to skin me and hang my pelt on his wall."

"Wait, what? Gross! That's disgusting!"

"See!" Danny smiled triumphantly.

"Okay, but it must be pretty handy being able to fly places and just grab stuff out of your locker without undoing the lock. You can do ghost stuff in human mode, right?"

Danny held up his arm and turned it invisible.

"Woah!"

"What?"

"That's just...so cool!"

Danny smiled. He actually even laughed a little. It felt like some dark clouds had parted inside of him.

Valerie had come over to talk because she felt bad about what she'd said to Danny. She wasn't repulsed by him, she cared about him, even knowing that he was half-ghost.

When Danny had been replaying the reveal at the park in his mind, Valerie had seemed like such an intimidating judgmental force. Her voice had been so cutting and full of disgust, but this morning, in reality, it was full of concern and even admiration. The contrast was jarring, but also heartwarming.

Knowing that he was half-ghost didn't make Valerie see him as any less human.

This was good. Great, actually.

The front door suddenly opened and Sam and Tucker walked in.

"Who's ready for some-" Tucker stopped mid-sentence.

"Oh, hey guys." Danny waved at them, but he forgot that his arm was invisible. He turned it visible and tried again.

"What's she doing here?" Sam crossed her arms.

"Just, clearing up some things from last night." Valerie said. Danny was impressed at how well she resisted Sam's antagonism.

"Did she say any more stupid stuff?" Sam asked Danny.

"What? No, she was actually here to apologize. We're good now. Everything's cleared up."

Danny saw Valerie smile a little at his words.

Sam didn't look convinced, though.

"Take it easy Sam." Tucker put a hand on her shoulder. "Valerie's just trying to help."

"Oh," Sam shrugged off Tucker's hand "So you're on her side?"

"I'm not on anyone's side, I just-"

"Hey, Tucker." Valerie interrupted "Let me talk to her."

"Oh?" Sam let out a mocking laugh "And what makes you think I want to-"

"Sam," Danny said "Please?"

Sam opened her mouth to protest, but closed it when she saw the look on Danny's face, her expression softening.

"Fine." she said.

Danny gave her a small smile.

"Thanks Sam." Danny stood up. "Tucker and I will be in my room. You can just come up when you two are done."

"Nice seeing you Valerie!" Tucker waved as Danny dragged him up the stairs.

Valerie and Sam heard the sound of a door slamming above them, leaving the two of them alone to talk.

Sam crossed her arms and glared at Valerie. Valerie also crossed her arms, but the look she was giving Sam wasn't as hostile.

"You don't have a very high opinion of me, huh Manson?"

Sam just continued to glare.

Valerie sighed.

"I don't really blame you."

Sam raised an eyebrow.

"I've changed a lot since my dad got fired from Axiom." Valerie continued. "When you lose everything you own and all your friends, it kinds of forces you to really take a look at your life. Figure out your priorities, you know?"

Sam did feel a twinge of sympathy, but she wasn't going to let Valerie know that.

"Still, I guess you only really know 'old Valerie'. The Valerie that who treated people like they were beneath her because they weren't rich or cool enough, or whatever. The Valerie that I'm starting to be ashamed I ever was. The Valerie whose actions I can't go back and change, no matter how much I want to. But pity parties don't get you anywhere, so what I'm going to do instead is put my focus into becoming a better Valerie. Again, I know why you don't like me, and I get it, but do you think you could just give me a chance? To be a better person? To help you guys? To help Danny? I can see that you really care about him."

"I don't have a crush on him!" Sam's steadily softening face instantly hardened again. Everyone always thought that she and Danny had a thing for each other and Sam hated it.

"Alright, alright, I didn't say you did." Valerie raised her hands defensively. "But he definitely means a lot to you. I think that's why you're so angry at me, because you only know old Valerie, who was a jerk, and you think that I'm going to hurt Danny."

"You did hurt Danny. Last night. For some reason, he trusted you, and you made him feel like a freak, which is one of the things he's most afraid of."

If looks could kill, Valerie would have been nothing more than a puddle on the floor.

"I..." Valerie looked at the ground "...I did, you're right. It was an accident, but I guess you're right." Valerie looked back up at Sam "But I want to make it up to him. I can use my tech to help Danny. You've seen me fight ghost, you know I can help."

Sam's expression didn't change.

"Look," Valerie sighed tiredly "To be honest, I don't really need your permission to be a part of this. Tucker and Danny are already cool with me, and I've already been fighting ghosts for the past month."

"That's sooo nice to hear. Why are you wasting my time with this speech if you're just going to do what you want with or without my approval?"

"Because I want it. I want to work with all three of you, so I'd like for all of you to like me. Or at least give me a chance?"

Sam screwed up her face in thought before sighing.

"Fine." she said. "I'll try to be nice and not hex you into oblivion."

"You can do that?"

"Hurt Danny again and find out." Sam smiled for the first time that morning. Valerie preferred the glaring.

"Well," Valerie said "Now that that's all settled, you three seem to have plans, so I'd better get going."

Valerie got up and walked past Sam to the front door. Sam didn't take her eyes off her. Valerie turned to look at her before stepping outside.

"Thanks for giving me a chance, Manson."

"Don't screw it up, Gray."

Valerie gave Sam a small smile before shutting the door behind her.

--------------------------------------------------

"Maybe we shouldn't have left them alone." Danny said to Tucker. "Sam might bite Valerie's head off."

"I wouldn't worry. Valerie's no pushover."

"I'm telling Sam you don't think she could beat Valerie."

"Absolutely do not do that!"

Danny laughed. Tucker tried to sulk, but he couldn't help cracking a grin at Danny.

"Well you seem to be doing better." Tucker said. Then his disappeared "Hey, I'm sorry for pressuring you yesterday. Sam said Valerie's reaction really messed you up last night. I guess I didn't really think about how much trouble telling Valerie could cause you."

"Tuck, it's fine. It was just an idea, you didn't force me to tell Valerie."

"Yeah, but I should've at least considered-"

"Hey, don't beat yourself up about this one. I...hadn't exactly been having the best week when you asked." Danny rubbed the back of his neck embarrassingly.

"You really do seem better now, though."

"Yeah, I really am. On the subject of Valerie, though..."

"What? I thought you two were cool now."

"We are. I'm talking about Valerie and you."

"Me?"

"You've got a crush on her, don't you?"

"What?! That's ludicrous!"

"You're not denying it."

"Danny, that is a totally baseless accusation!"

"Still not denying it."

"Aggh!"

"What's with all the screaming?" Sam asked as she opened Danny's door.

"Nothing." Tucker grumbled.

"So, are you and Valerie cool now?" Danny asked.

"I'm...giving her a chance. But only because I know Tucker likes her."

"WHAT?!"

"Thanks Sam." Danny smiled, ignoring Tucker's outcry. "Now, I don't know about you two, but I am ready to sit back and not do anything that doesn't involve kicking your butts at Turbo Racer for the next four hours."

"You sure you don't want to talk about what happened?" Sam asked.

"Nope!" Danny said. "Actually, after talking with Valerie, I honestly feel a lot better." Sam could tell Danny really meant it, he wasn't trying to ignore his feeling like last night. "Right now, what I could really use is a break from all the ghosts, drama, and ghost drama"

Sam and Tucker looked at each other. They could tell Danny wasn't just trying to push away his feelings this time, he really meant it.

They looked away from each other to smile at Danny.

"And what makes you think you're going to win, Ghost Boy?" Tucker grinned challengingly.

"Oh?" Danny raised an eyebrow "You think you're a challenge for me, Friar Tuck?"

"Come on you two," Sam rolled her eyes "We all know Chaos reigns supreme."

--------------------------------------------------

Thankfully, Danny really did get that break. There were no ghosts attacks for the rest of the day, so he thoroughly enjoyed just playing video games with his friends.

That didn't mean no work, though. As soon as Sam and Tucker left, Danny got to started on his English homework. It didn't take too long, but Danny also had some studying to do for an upcoming history test that he knew Jazz would bug him about if he didn't do it. He had no idea how she always seemed to know when he had homework or an upcoming test.

The rest of the evening had been pretty chill, and Danny had gotten a pretty good sleep in Sunday morning, but unfortunately his dad wanted the lab cleaned after lunch.

Danny grumbled at he scrubbed the lab floor. His dad had said it would be a "quick and easy job", but little did he know that there was a ghost spider egg hidden under one of the tables that was ready to hatch. Danny had managed to suck most of them into the thermos, but a fair number of them he'd ended up squashing, leaving a bunch of ecto-goo for him to clean up.

Ecto-goo was not fun to clean up.

He'd just finished cleaning the spider guts when his ghost sense went off.

"Oh no," Danny glared at the portal and transformed "You are not messing up the lab after I just finished wiping up all that ectoplasm!"

Danny put his hands together and charged up a mega ectoblast, ready to knock whatever came out of that portal right back in.

"Oh I wouldn't dream of it." Vlad Plasmius said as he emerged from the portal. "I know how hard ectoplasm is to scrub out."

"Vlad?"

"Daniel." Vlad nodded. "It seems the vultures were right about that safe path. Well, as safe as The Ghost Zone can be, anyway. I don't give those birds enough credit."

"Vlad, what are you doing?" Danny let his ecto blasts fizzle out and transformed back. "My parents could've been in here!"

"They actually were when I checked a few hours ago. Invisibility is a very useful tool, Little Badger. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about something."

"Um, okay. What's up?"

"Well, I'm sure you remember our little chat the last time we met?"

"Er, yeah." Danny rubbed the back of his neck.

"I wanted to apologize for my sudden and, frankly, rather rude departure. You and your mother were more right than I was able to face at the time. I'm afraid it was all just too much for me to process. I actually had to go back to therapy to sort through some things I thought were long behind me."

Vlad laughed lightly, but his face quickly turned serious.

"But I didn't just come here to apologize. Daniel, after much deliberation and discussion, I've come to a very difficult decision."

Vlad took a deep breath.

"I think it's time I came clean to Jack and Maddie about what the accident did to me."

Vlad paused, waiting for Danny's reaction, but there was none. Danny just stared at him, face unchanged.

This surprised and concerned Vlad.

"Now, I know this might decision might-"

"Why?"

"Pardon me?"

"I don't understand why you want to tell them." Danny felt the anger begin to rise in him. It wasn't as strong as when the vultures had first told him about Vlad's plans, but it was still very much there. "You've already been hiding from them for twenty years, and you're hardly around anyway. What possible reason could you want to tell them now for?"

""Well..." Vlad was taken aback by the hostility in Danny's voice "I...might be willing to come around more often if they knew. Assuming they accepted me, that is."

"That's a pretty big 'if'." Danny scoffed "I don't get it. Why can't you just keep your ghost half a secret when you're around them like I do?"

Vlad took a breath.

"I don't know if this will make sense to you, Daniel, since you only had your accident a few months ago, but I've been living as a ghost-human hybrid for over twenty years, and it's become a rather significant part of who I am. It's not just a secret to keep, it affects how I live my daily life. In negative ways, yes, but also in a lot of positive ones. Hiding my ghostliness means hiding who I am, which is fine when I'm with my business associates or the grocery clerk, but around the friends I'm supposed trust it's..."

A tired look crossed Vlad's face, and he didn't quite look at Danny as he spoke.

"...painful. I've only been able to admit this recently, but keeping this secret has been hurting me for years. When I'm with Jack and Maddie, in a way it doesn't feel like it's really me there. Whether I want to or not, I can't go back to being the Vlad Masters your parents knew in college. He simply doesn't exist anymore."

Vlad's words reminded Danny of the ones that he'd said to Sam in his bedroom the other day, but Danny's still found himself angry.

"If you just made an effort-"

"Daniel, these past few months were me making an effort."

"So that's it? You're bad at lying, so you're just willing to risk losing your friendship with them?"

"We've barely spoken to each other in twenty years. It's like you said, In a way I've already lost them."

Danny's words being used against him made his blood boil. He was too angry for his brain to form a response.

"All things considered," Vlad continued "I may actually have a lot more to gain by telling them."

"Like what? Them never talking to you again?"

"I do understand your reluctance, but I've made up my mind that telling them is worth risking our pathetic excuse for a friendship."

"You know, this puts me at risk too Vlad! It's not just you!"

"That's why I wanted to talk to you about it first."

"Well, if you're looking for permission, the answer's 'no'."

"If you truly feel that this puts you at risk, then I won't tell them, but I really think that this could be beneficial for you."

"Really, how?" Danny scoffed.

"Well, I don't know if you'd ever want to tell your parents what the portal really did to you, but if you let me tell them about me, then you'll at least know how they'll react."

Danny blinked is surprise. He hadn't even considered that.

"You...you mean, you would..." Danny shook his head. "They'd figure out that I was half-ghost too. We had the same accidents, it's not that hard to put two and two together."

"Our accidents, although both caused by ghost portals, I believe were different enough that your parents won't connect the dots. Remind me, what were the after-effects of your accident?"

"After-effects?"

"Yes. I was hospitalized for sometime, and suffered and unfortunate case of, um, erm..."

"Ecto-acne?"

"Yes, that. Anyway, I believe the energy you were exposed to was more purified, so I assume you didn't necessarily have the same...physical ailments I did. Your portal is also much bigger than the one that malfunctioned in our college. Were you even conscious when you were brought to the hospital?"

"I didn't go to the hospital."

"...What?"

"I mean, it was the most terrifying experience of my life, and afterwards I was pretty scared that my parents might catch me phasing through stuff or turning invisible by accident, but physically I was fine. I probably should have gone to a therapist, but once I figured out how to go back to looking like my human self, you couldn't even tell that I'd just had all my molecules rearranged."

There was a pause.

"You're telling me," Vlad spoke slowly "That I spent almost three months hospitalized, in various degrees of extreme fever, with an incredibly humiliating skin condition, and you walked out of that," Vlad thrust an arm out to the swirling portal behind him "Without so much as a-"

Vlad put a gloved hand over his face and took a deep breath. A very deep breath.

"Beer cheese soup...never mind that now. As I was saying, our accidents were...different enough that I don't believe your parents will connect them. Did you ever consider that my portal incident had changed me the same way it did on you when you heard about it?"

"Er, no."

"You see? It's easy to spot patterns when you know what you're looking for. But when you don't know there are even clues to be found at all, the most obvious truths can go right over someone's head."

"Like how no one figures out Clark Kent is Superman?"

"Yes, exactly! Frankly, considering the fact that you consistently set off their devices meant to work on ghosts, and they still haven't suspected anything, I think you're secret is quite safe. Honestly, Daniel, I didn't even realize who you were in your ghost form, even though it looks nearly identical to your human form, and if anyone should have been able to put two and two together, it's me. I'll even add emphasis on the impurity of the ectoplasmic energy that blasted me to throw them off the scent."

Danny was speechless. This was a golden opportunity. Danny had been wanting to tell his parents for a long time. If Vlad told them first, then he'd know for sure whether telling them was safe.

This was exactly what Danny wanted. But...

"But they might might reject you. Vlad, what if they try to kill you? What if they hate you? I know you said you've already lost them in a way, but you might really lose them."

"I like to think they won't. I know Jack and Maddie be be a bit...pathological. But I was friends with them for a long time. When it comes down to it, they have good hearts. This will certainly come as a shock to them, and I'm sure it'll take some adjusting, but I think when it comes down to it, they'll accept me for all I am. Don't you?"

"I-I think so...but if they don't..."

"I know the risks, Daniel. And I've accepted them. "

Danny felt his anger melting away as Vlad's words sunk in.

With his head cooler, Danny realized that he'd been trying to shut Vlad down the same way he'd been trying to shut down the voice that urged him to tell his family.

He hadn't really been talking to Vlad for the past few minutes. Vlad had already considered every point Danny brought up, likely much more deeply than Danny had even had the time to.

But what if Vlad was wrong?

But what if he wasn't?

"When did you plan on telling them?"

"I thought I'd invite your family out to my cottage for a weekend getaway. If...that's alright with you, that is."

"You mean the one in Colorado?"

"While there has been some debate on what that particular structure is technically classified as, it is not even a little bit a cottage. My cottage is by a lake, and free of ghost fauna. Does that sound alright to you?"

Danny didn't answer right away.

"Yeah." He finally said, his stomach doing a little flip-flop. "I'd be okay with that."

Vlad's eyes widened slightly.

"Just to be clear," he said "You're giving me permission to tell Jack and Maddie about my ghost powers on said getaway?"

"...Yeah. Yeah, I am."

"Excellent!" Vlad smiled wide. "Oh, I'm so glad you've said yes! Now, I believe I'll head home and make a phone call to your house, as ludicrous as that is. Thank you, Daniel, for letting me do this. I really appreciate it. I know that wasn't a decision you made lightly."

"Yeah. I know I was arguing with you pretty hard earlier, but honestly I've kind of wanted to tell them for a while too. It's just..."

"I know."

"Yeah."

Vlad turned to head back through the portal.

"Wait!"

"What is it?"

"When exactly did you plan for the trip to happen?"

"I have a free weekend in two weeks, and I thought then might be a good time. Is that a problem?"

"No, that's fine. There's just one thing I want to do first..."

--------------------------------------------------

Danny stared at Jazz from the doorway. She hadn't noticed he was there yet, and was scribbling away in a notebook, two very large books open on either side of her.

He could just leave. Once he told her, there was no going back. He didn't have to do this.

It was so tempting, to just turn around and walk away from all the risk. But Danny wanted to tell her before Vlad told his parents. He wasn't exactly sure why. Maybe he wanted to prove he wasn't a coward who let Vlad take all the risks for him, maybe he wanted some backup in case things went really wrong, or maybe he was tired of fear keeping him from going to one of the people he trusted most (even if he'd never admit it).

All Danny really knew was that the longer he waited, the more time he'd spend stewing in anxiety.

Better to just jump in and get it over with.

"Hey Jazz." he said.

"Hey Danny." She looked up and smiled at him. "What's up?"

"Uh, do you know where Mom and Dad are?"

"Grocery shopping."

"Didn't they just go yesterday?"

"Apparently they got distracted by some ghost rats or something and never actually made it to the store. They said they were bringing home pizza. Why, did you need something from them?"

Danny's stomach suddenly dropping made it hard to speak, but he knew hesitating too long would worry Jazz, so he forced himself to start talking.

"I, um, actually wanted to tell you something." It almost felt like someone else was saying those words. Those words that he couldn't back out of. "It's...about the accident."

This was it. He'd crossed the threshold.

The smile faded from Jazz's face. She closed her notebook and pushed it away without looking at it.

"Do you want to sit down?" she asked.

"Um, yeah, I guess that'd be good."

Danny began making his way toward a chair on the opposite end of the table, but Jazz pulled out the chair beside her. He hesitated briefly, but took the chair beside Jazz, turning it so that he was facing her.

Tick, tick...

Had the kitchen clock's ticking always been this prominent?

"Okay," Danny said, not even noticing how tightly his hands clutched the hem of his shirt "Okay, so, um, it's, I, I-"

"Take your time Danny." Jazz said. "Breathe. I'm not going anywhere."

"Right." Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

This was hard. He'd never actually told anyone himself before. Sam and Tucker had been there for the accident, Vlad had found out by beating him into unconsciousness (which actually sounded pretty bad out of context), and with Valerie he'd kind of just let the secret reveal itself. He had told Sam and Tucker about Vlad, but this was different.

Did he just blurt it out and get it over with? Did he try to slowly explain things and break it to Jazz gently?

Danny knew he should have come up with a plan, but thinking too hard about the fact that he was actually going to tell Jazz made him feel sick. He'd barely been able to stomach sending Sam and Tucker a message about what he was about to do, and he still hadn't read their replies.

Tick, tick...

"Jazz do you...do you believe Mom and Dad when they say all ghosts are evil?"

"Our parents are wrong about a lot of things, Danny. I take everything they say with a grain of salt."

Jazz smiled softly. Danny found the strength to smile back.

"And of course," Jazz continued "There's that ghost kid whose always saving everyone. He saved my life twice you know. He's definitely good."

On the one hand, that was good to hear. On the other, people talking about Phantom in front of him made Danny squirm on an average day, never mind when he was seconds away from revealing that they were secretly the same person.

"Sorry," Jazz laughed gently "I'm rambling. I'll let you keep talking. Unless you ask another question."

"Ha, ha, thanks." Danny laugh sounded fake and distracted, even to him. He suddenly noticed how dry his mouth was. He swallowed to try and get some moisture back, but it didn't really help. He decided to just jump into it. Jazz would be surprised, but she'd accept him. He knew she would.

He was pretty sure she would.

"It's just, The Fenton Portal, when it went off, it...changed me. " He paused. True to her word, Jazz said nothing. "It, and this is going to sound crazy, I know, just bear with me, but The Fenton Portal...it made me half-ghost."

Jazz smiled gently at him.

"I know."

Danny's heart stopped. He'd been prepared for Jazz to react in so many different ways; surprised, confused, anxious, even fearful, but never in a million years had he expected that.

It was more disorienting than being punched in the face by Skulker.

"You- I- you what?"

"I know you have ghost powers." Jazz said. "I know you're Danny Phantom."

"N-no." Danny stood up. "There's no way! Y-you can't have..."

Danny was completely blindsided. It was hard to make sense of his thoughts through the weird mixture of anger and confusion that flooded his brain. He didn't really have a good reason to feel so hurt, but it felt like he'd just found out that someone had been tricking him.

In a way, this almost felt worse than rejection.

Jazz stood up and grabbed Danny's shoulders.

"Danny, look at me." She said firmly. "Breathe. It's okay. I've known for a long time. I've been doing what I could to keep Mom and Dad off your back."

Danny pushed Jazz off of him and turned around. He didn't say anything.

"I'm sorry. Maybe it was wrong to keep this from you," For the first time that evening, Jazz started to sound unsure "But I wanted to wait until you were ready to tell me. I didn't want to force you. I didn't mean to-"

She stopped talking when she heard a loud sniff from Danny. He was trying to hide it, but there was no mistaking it; he was crying.

Jazz stopped talking. She walked in front of Danny and put a hand on his shoulder. He scrunched up his body at her touch, but he didn't push her off.

"Danny?"

He looked up at Jazz. His eyes had started to turn red, and she could tell he was using every fibre of his being to hold back tears.

Danny reached up and wiped one of his eyes roughly with the heel of his palm.

Something in Jazz broke.

"Don't try to fight it." Jazz tried to sound confident, but her voice wasn't as steady as she hoped it would be. "It's okay, you're safe here. You can...y-you can..."

The more she looked at Danny's puffy eyes and ever-so-slightly trembling lips, the harder it was to find words. She wanted to say the right thing, whatever it was that would make Danny feel better.

Danny had gone through so much, been through so much pain because of all the hiding he'd done from his family. From her.

What could Jazz possibly say to make all that better?

Feeling lost and desperate, she just wrapped her arms around him as tight as she could. At first Danny didn't respond, but then she felt his body begin to quake with sobs and his fists clung to her shirt.

"I'm sorry." he said.

"You shouldn't be." she replied, her voice barely above a whisper.

Jazz felt tears sliding down her own face as Danny buried his head in her shoulder.

It was hard to tell how long they stayed like this. Jazz felt her back starting to cramp, but she was willing to remain hunched down forever. For Danny.

"I'm okay now Jazz." he eventually said.

Jazz didn't move or respond. She just wanted to hold her baby brother like this and keep him safe forever.

But she did allow Danny to gently wriggle out of her grip.

The two of them just stood there and looked at each other for a few seconds.

"Do you want to sit down?" Jazz asked.

"Yeah."

The two of them sat in the chairs they were sitting in before. Neither of them said anything right away.

"Do you, um..." Danny struggled to find the right words.

"What?" Jazz asked gently.

"Did you, like, have any questions you wanted to ask me? About the whole half-ghost thing?"

Jazz smiled.

"Yeah, actually. If you don't mind."

"Yeah, it's cool."

"Okay, just to make sure I have everything straight, Sam and Tucker are the only other people who know?"

"Yeah. Well, besides Vla-" Nope. Danny didn't know if he was allowed to tell her that yet. "-aaalerie."

"Valerie?" Jazz frowned "As in Valerie Gray?"

"Yup. That's the one."

"Okay. So what's the story there?"

"You know that new ghost hunter, The Red Huntress?"

"Yeah...hang on, are you saying Valerie's The Red Huntress?"

"Apparently."

"Huh. Okay. Wait," Jazz's suddenly sat up straight, her face filled with panic "Were you forced to reveal yourself because she captured and tortured you?"

"What? No, no. I ran into her while fighting a ghost and, unlike Mom and Dad, she was nice to me as a ghost, so I figured it'd be a good idea for us to work together."

Jazz visibly relaxed. Danny decided to save the long version of what had gone down for another day.

"Okay. So I'm basically all caught up. I just have one more question. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine now. I didn't expect to break down like that. It's kind of embarrassing, but I guess I was kind I've been kind of worried about how telling you would go for a while, and-"

"No. I mean, I'm glad you're emotionally okay now, but I meant with the ghost fighting."

"What?"

"I know Mom and Dad trained us how to handle ourselves pretty well in combat, especially against ghosts, and you always seemed okay, but I just want to check that you're not too overwhelmed or anything."

"Oh, nah, I'm good. It was kind of tricky at first, especially since my powers were so hard to control, but Sam and Tucker helped out and we've pretty much got the hang of it. Big ghosts don't show up too often, so we keep up pretty okay. Of course, we don't exactly control when the ghosts do show up, so there are some occasional hiccups."

"Like that time with your English exam?"

"Yeah, right, totally." That particular hiccup probably had more to do with the all-nighters Danny pulled after the latest DOOMED update, but Jazz didn't need to know that. "I mean, sure, I'd rather they didn't show up at 3:00 am sometimes, but overall, fighting ghosts is actually kind of cool."

"That's a relief to hear." Jazz smiled. "But still, I'm glad you had Sam and Tucker so you didn't have to go through all that alone."

"Yeah..." Danny rubbed the back of his neck guiltily "Look, Jazz, they were there when the accident changed me, I didn't go to them before you, I trust you, I just-"

"Danny, you don't have to justify yourself. I'm not going to judge how you responded to a situation as drastic as becoming half-ghost. I know you, and I believe you did what you thought was best, for yourself and the people around you. You may be kind of a snarky moody teenager these days-"

"Hey!"

"-but you're the kind of person who always tries their best. You always have been."

Danny didn't say anything. It was genuinely touching that Jazz thought of him that way. Sure, he knew she loved him, but Danny hadn't realized that she also believed in him. Or how much that meant to him.

Danny and Jazz turned their heads at the sound of screeching tires.

"Mom and Dad are home." Jazz said.

"You don't say."

"See, there's that snarkiness I was talking about."

"Well, for you informati-"

"Hello Kids!" A smiling Maddie kicked open the front door, arms full of grocery bags. Jack followed closely behind her with two boxes of pizza and a singular burlap sack.

"What's in the bag?" Danny asked.

"We finally tracked down those ghost rats, Danny-boy!" Jack beamed.

"That sack's full of ghost rats?!" Jazz's face paled.

"Nope! Those darned vermin got away." Jack set the pizzas on the counter and then turned the bag upside down, dumping a small mountain of screwdrivers onto the kitchen table. "But we found these!"

"The ghost rats...were real?" Danny stared at the pile of screwdrivers in disbelief.

"Ooh! You kids will never guess who called us while we were out!" Maddie piped up as she put away various groceries.

"Who?" Jazz asked.

"It was Vladdie!" Jack said. "Sadly, my cell phone going off was what alerted the rats to our trap and allowed them to escape, but on the bright side he's invited us all to spend a weekend at his cottage!"

"Well that's...pretty sudden." Jazz raised an eyebrow. "We haven't seen him in three months, and he suddenly wants us to go on vacation with him?"

"Yup!" Jack beamed, not seeing Jazz's point at all. "And he said Danny could bring Sam and Tucker with him!"

"Oh, for real?" Danny said "Sweet!"

"What...why...?" Jazz was completely baffled. "Has he even met your friends?"

"Yeah, he..."

Danny suddenly remembered that this was not a group he could talk about the Axiom situation with.

"...saw them on the stairs when he came over that one time."

Jazz just stared at Danny. After a few seconds, she stood up.

"You know what? I'm just going to roll with whatever is going on. My brain has had enough tonight. I need pizza." Jazz opened one of the boxes. She instantly closed it again. "Never mind, that one's Dad's abomination."

"Aw, come on Jazzy-pants." Jack put his hand on Jazz's shoulder. "There's nothing wrong with pineapple on pizza."

"There is if there's also anchovies on said pizza."

"I'm telling you, you kids would love it if you just tried it!" Jack said, taking a slice from the box. Behind him, Maddie shook her head frantically and mouthed the word 'no'.

"Well, as tempting of an idea as that is," Danny opened the other box "I think I'll stick with pepperoni."

Just as Danny was about to take the first bite, a familiar chill ran up his body, escaping from is mouth in a puff of mist.

Jazz, who had noticed Danny's breath, followed his gaze to the window in time to see a dark figure in overalls float by.

"Ugh," she said dramatically "I just remembered, Danny, you forgot to log out of DOOMED on my computer again."

"What? Jazz, your computer doesn't even-" Danny noticed the look Jazz was giving him, and it clicked "Oh. I mean, yeah, I'll go up and do that right now." Danny stood up.

"There's no way I'm trusting you in my room alone." Jazz stood up too.

"Kids," Maddie frowned "Can't this wait until after dinner?"

"I don't want Danny's game eating my battery. Don't worry, this'll be quick."

"Alright." Maddie relented. "Danny, try to remember to log off of Jazz's computer in the future."

Jazz and Danny bolted up the stairs together, stopping on the landing. Jazz looked at Danny.

"Do you need help?"

"Nah, I got this."

"Are you sure?" Jazz pulled out a small rod. She hit a button and it extended a meter and sparked on the end. "Because I am fully prepared to obliterate anyone who tries to mess with you. Human or ghost."

"Woah." Danny blinked at the weapon a few times before giving Jazz a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, it's just The Box Ghost. This'll be quick. He's as threatening as a bag of wet cotton candy."

"HEY!" A familiar blue head popped out of the wall. "THAT IS AN INACCURATE ASSESMENT OF MY POW-!"

"Yaaaahhhhh!" Jazz let out a startled scream and jabbed The Box Ghost with her rod.

"Auuuughh!" He let out a painful yell before falling the rest of the way through the wall, landing on the floor between Danny and Jazz.

"Everything all right up there kids?" Maddie called from the kitchen.

"Yup!" Danny said.

"Everything's fine!" Jazz said

"Euuugh..." The Box Ghost said.

"All right. Hurry up, your pizza's getting cold!"

Danny and Jazz looked at each other. They looked back down at the dazed Box Ghost. Danny pulled out The Thermos and sucked him into it.

"Wow, that was quick." Jazz said. She hit the button on her rod, shrinking it back to its original size. "Back to pizza?"

"Yeah, back to pizza."

As they walked down the stairs, Danny realized something; he felt better than he had in weeks. Maybe even months.

Sure, he still had his parents to deal with, but he was telling some people, and they didn't hate him. They didn't look down on him or feel too differently at all.

Jazz still wanted to protect him, which was often quite annoying, but it was what Jazz did. Learning he was half-ghost hadn't really changed the way she looked at him, which was all Danny wanted. It was everything he'd hoped for. Something he'd been too scared to even hope for sometimes.

And yet, it was what happened. And it felt good.

"Hey Jazz?"

"Yeah Danny?"

"I'm glad I told you."

Jazz smiled.

"Me too."

She came over and wrapped an arm around Danny. He let his head lay on her shoulder for a few seconds before pushing her away and reentered the kitchen. Jazz rolled her eyes as she followed him.

Danny listened to his parents go on about their call with Vlad. They were very excited about the trip. Danny was excited too, and very happy for his parents, but he couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive.

That trip held great potential for disaster. In two weeks, his parents love was going to be put to the ultimate test.

But right now, things were good, and Danny was going to enjoy that.

[rainbowdelicartz]

I finally got to redesigning my Food Fantasy self insert, Meatloaf!!

(In both her normal and ascended forms)

All info is down below!

Meatloaf

Rarity: R

Class: Support

Links w: Beer and Hamburger

Trait: Fun-loving and generous

Likes: Beer, Candy Apple, and Hamburger

Type: Dishes

Origin: Germany/USA

Time: 5th Century/Late 1870s

Height: 154cm/5 foot 1

Fav Food: Roast Beef

Preferred Fallen Angels: Bulimia and Hamstero

Backstory:

When Meatloaf was first summoned, her Master Attendant was a meat vendor that resided in a small cabin in Sakurajima, where they both lived together

But, as more time and years had passed, the more depressed and depleted the MA seemed to have become due to lack of business and many life events

Even as Meatloaf had took on the meat stall her MA owned and acted as a maid, cook, emotional rock, and a companion to them, nothing she did could ever make her MA feel any better

One day, Meatloaf had woke early in the morning, only to find that her MA was gone with no note of where they went left behind and never even saying goodbye

Meatloaf waited for a long while for them to return, but they never did

After months of this, she packed up and went off to find out what happened to her MA, though to this day she has not found them

After a few years of wandering and searching, while looking around The Catacombs in the Nevera area for her MA, she had encountered The Specter Family and was taken in by them as one of their own

Meatloaf now sees them as her family and now along with trying to find her MA, she is now also on a mission to stomp out the stigma that Tierra has against The Specter Family

She currently works in Desire Tavern as a barmaid to help make ends meet

Meatloaf is the most competent member of The Specter Family when it comes to maid work and taking care of The Young Master

She is also very close and romantically involved with both Beer and Candy Apple

Meatloaf met Candy Apple after seeking out the Sunset Detective Agency for help looking for her MA and Meatloaf met Beer when she sought out the help of the Holy See with her mission for the Specter Family

I really do hope you guys enjoy her more this time around! Enjoy!!

COMMISSIONS ARE OPEN!!!

[kerlonflowers]

Burn zombie burn cover

BURN ZOMBIE BURN COVER SKIN

BURN ZOMBIE BURN COVER SERIES

As she gets closer to the door, the tension ratchets up to a fever pitch, before she reveals her face in all its disheveled glory. She seems unaware of his pleas, and crawls out of her bed. She sits up, despite Hideo's insistence that she not bother herself. The point of view switches to Hideo's view from the mail slot, and we see Tekko in bed. By doing this each zombie on fire adds to. The core mechanic is about setting zombies on fire. The objective is to kill as many zombies as possible before he dies, whilst also attaining a high enough score in order to progress. Cover the hand in cheese with the exception of the nails. In Burn Zombie Burn the player controls Bruce against a never ending army of zombies with arena shooter-like gameplay. Simple, quick and big effect - It doesnt get any better than that. Plus, zombies take a long time to die from fire, and while they are burning, they will spread the fire everywhere they go. When fires burn this early in the season, scientists try to figure out whether they were sparked by 'zombie fires' that started the previous. Hideo ascends the staircase and peeks through the mail slot of Tekko's apartment door. This Burnt Zombie Hand Meatloaf is sure to gross you out and yet be delightfully tasty all at the same time. But it may not burn the whole house down, and it most likely will not spread to the houses around it if your trying to burn the zombies in other houses. Wildfires burn in northern Russia in early May, 2021. While crossing the bridge on the way to her apartment, he notices military vehicles are driving beneath it's an indication that, yes, something terrible is about to happen. When the zombie apocalypse that we were promised on the book's cover comes to pass, it's tremendously rewarding.Īn example of that is when Hideo learns that Tekko has become infected with ZQN.

BURN ZOMBIE BURN COVER SERIES

The series knows to show and not tell, and it is through overheard conversations that Hideo - and, thus, the reader - learns the world is about to change, mostly for the worse. Find co-op news, reviews, and more info about this game.

BURN ZOMBIE BURN COVER SKIN

If skin is damaged by a burn that protection may be compromised. Co-Op gameplay information about Burn Zombie Burn on Playstation 3. It does so because you are using the microwave or turning the lights on, and at nighttime that gets to be bizarrely loud. So yeah, your base covered in blood doesnt attract zombies because its smelly. It’s primary purpose is to protect the body by creating a covering that keeps germs and the like from entering the body and causing infection, disease, etc. Zombies that do seek will try to break in, and THAT attracts the horde in earnest. I Am a Hero is slow with the way it presents its horror. Answer (1 of 2): Our skin is the largest organ in the body.

[hellknightthatwrites]

Born Different

Chapter 01 continues

I grabbed my hamper after balling up my damp towel and night clothes and tossing them into it. The smell if sweat coming from the hamper was strong enough to make me recoil despite how clean I'd gotten during the shower just smelling that stench made me want another one. It was a weekly thing. Every week I'd wake up from that nightmare in a cold sweat. Years ago before I reorganized my furniture I'd accidentally smashed my alarm clock when in a post sleep state of confusion.

My pulse would always be pounding in my ears. Every breath during those attacks felt like I was trying to force pea soup out of my lungs due to the heaviness of my breathing. I walked downstairs to the basement passing my mother's room and the main house. I quietly turned the knob and pushed myself through the doorway. I allowed myself to slip into the quiet letting it shroud me. I didn't want to disturb my mother. She hadn't been feeling well and rest was essential.

I opened the washer and dumped the contents of the hamper inside. I closed the lid and pressed start. I looked around the basement. It was always furnished and looked more like another den or bedroom than a basement. In the far corner opposite of me was a reclining chair. Beside the chair stood a floor lamp and a small coffee table. To the right of me along the wall stood an entertainment center with a thirty-two inch TV set and a blu-ray player. Further along the wall a bookcase full of old Stephen King and Dean Koontz novels sat in the corner. Between the walls was a doorway that opened to the water heater and the furnace. I sat in the recliner and took several deep breathes. I pulled the lever and reclined the chair. Part of me considered getting up and turning on the lights but I'd decided against it in a bid to hopefully get some sleep.

I assumed that I must've slept for quite some time because the sounds of birds singing had roused me from my dreamless rest. I stood up stretching and yawning as my back and neck cracked a couple times. Getting to my laundry I threw my damp clothes in the dryer. Ascending the stairs I couldn't help but hope I didn't wake mom with any of last night's antics. I walked into the kitchen and went to get the box of cheerios out of the cupboard when I noticed a sticky note attached to the kitchen table.

"Garris, I'm returning to work today, please prepare a meatloaf for dinner Dani is coming over tonight and please remember to smile, I love you" I read aloud.

Ever since a particularly messed up day twelve years ago she'd been trying her best to get me to lighten up. I appreciated her efforts but I could never banish my worries for good. She loved me like her own son. Adopted or not she never looked at me as if I was just a kid she took in. To her I was her son who happened to be adopted. Not just an adopted kid. I sat down in the living room and looked at the clock. One in the afternoon. I'd been asleep for nearly eleven hours. I let out a sigh as I strode into the kitchen and plopped the recipe book on the kitchen table. I flipped to the meatloaf recipe and after gathering the ingredients I'd prepared to cook.

[the-void-holds-me]

I feel like now-a-days people don't talk about how much of an icon Meatloaf is

[if-found-return-to-gusu]

Happy Birthday to Me pt 10

While he was gone, I kept dancing with A-Lian and making faces for her to giggle at. It worked quite nicely until she heard the obviously very familiar sound of her parents singing. Instantly deciding she was tired of her poor uncle’s antics in favor of wanting to be held by her mother (fair) I shuffled her along to the stage. She waddled the last few steps to her mom who immediately swooped her up. Jin Ling had already ascended to his rightful throne in his father’s arms again, his favorite place that evening it seems, and the two doting parents started to dance along with their song (which was, fittingly enough, “I wanna dance with somebody”. Pff)

Somewhere near the end of the song Lan Zhan finally came back with the promised sweets. He looked a bit concerned and mildly heartbroken to find that A-Lian was no longer with me. When he asked where she had gone I just pointed up to the almost obnoxiously perfect family picture on stage. (Obnoxious because of the peacock, and almost because Shijie is always perfect and never obnoxious.)

The king demanded that he get to sing a song so before they could be shuffled off the stage they were allowed to sing a rather off-key rendition of “twinkle twinkle little star” with A-Ling belting his little heart out and A-Lian babbling her best to follow along. 

It was so adorable that I had to look at something else or I’d end up crying again. So instead I started poking at the cake that was still being held by the steadfast Lan Zhan. 

I’d barely managed to shove a huge bite in my mouth when I felt a forceful yank, taking me away from my cake and my Lan Zhan! Unacceptable!

Turns out it was, of course, my darling little brother telling me it was my turn. RUDE

“YOu could have at least let me finish my cake, Asshole!” I grumbled at him once I was finally able to swallow the lump of frosting that had jammed my mouth shut. 

(Gamby yelled at me to watch my language so close to the kids. Oops. Sorry Gamby)

I got shoved up on stage then despite my continued protests. SangSang asked me what I wanted to sing and after a moment of thought there really was no other choice for me. 

Okay

I know it’s a meme. 

Okay I get it. Alright? He-Man and lol and whatever. Haha. BUt for real, 

“What’s Up” from 4 Non Blondes fuckig SLAPS okay?

And I’ve loved it WAY longer than it’s been a meme! Fuck you He-Man! (Yes I’m aware I used the meme in question on my blog once. I am a multi-faceted human being and am perfectly able to compartmentalize thank you).

So the song starts off pretty quiet but after a few seconds Gamby all of a sudden shrieked like an excited teenager and practically begged me to sing it too. 

So obviously yes, right? I’m not gonna say no to a duet with Gamby!

Oh it was so FUN! We were both really hamming it up in the best way and sometimes barely even able to sing it because we were trying so hard not to laugh. 

We had a stellar audience too, all looking comically enraptured by the song, swaying in time to the music. I think SangSang even pulled out a fake lighter ap on his phone to hold in the air as he swayed. 

The song ended to energetic applause and we both took our bows dutifully before  Gamby pulled me into another tight, tight hug. 

“It’s our song,” she said in my ear. “I used to sing this to you when you were just a sprout!”

FUCK

Okay hold on. 

Sorry the memory of it made me well up again. 

So you have to understand. I have always LOVED this song. Not just, like, liked it or thought it was fun or anything. I LOVE this song. Like top 5 forever. Maybe even number 1. Just. 

This song for me. It comforts me. I don’t remember anything from my early childhood but this song made me feel nostalgic. Safe. I found it when I was like… 15? 16? And just it was SO familiar. 

It turns out that Gamby and Mom used to sing it together with me all the time. The feeling I was getting whenever I heard that song. It was her. And it was Mom. The feeling I get from that song is the feeling of being loved by my parents. With no expectations. Nothing to repay. Just pure love. 

I don’t remember my mom. But I have that now. I have that feeling. 

Okay

Okay I’m fine. I’ve blown my nose and we can carry on. 

So I’d mostly re-composed myself by the time I found Lan Zhan again only to discover that he’d just stood there the whole time just…. Holding the cakes. 

I freaked out a little due to my honestly a bit overly-emotional. I took the cakes away and set them aside so I could rub his arms while scolding him. (Did I really do that? Why?? Ugh I’m an idiot)

I told him he could have put the cakes on the table or something and that his arms must be tired! I think I just wanted an excuse to touch him more.  But I was a bit high on adrenalynn and the liquor was still making me a little warm.

So I’m gonna blame it on that. 

While I made a buffoon of myself, Jiang Cheng and Huaisang did a cover of Meatloaf’s Let me Sleep on It. 

It was hilarious. They had taken the energy that had honestly started with “My Heart will Go On” and just cranked it all the way up to 11. It was so good to see Jiang Cheng just having FUN without having to worry what he looked like for once. 

He always has to be on his best behavior. It must be exhausting.

But now, with Nie Huaisang playing the part of the overly-pushy love interest asking him to ‘love her forever’ and Jiang Cheng pleading for more time to consider back and forth. Ah it was amazing. I rested my head on Lan Zhan’s shoulder while I watched it, feeling pleasantly warm and just honestly so loved. It struck me again just how many people had come here just to celebrate me. I still can’t wrap my head around it. 

I held Lan Zhan’s hand as I thought about it though, lacing our fingers together because I can and it’s free. I sighed after a while, just feeling so content. I told Lan Zhan as much and was rewarded by a hand playing idly with my hair. 

“I’m glad you are,” he said. I could feel the words rumbling in his chest. “You deserve to be.”

I looked up at him then, all indignant because how dare he ruin a perfect moment by embarrassing me like that (he ruined nothing. I just like being dramatic). But then I realized just how close we were and my protests just kinda never found their way past my throat. I traced every feature of his perfect face with my eyes, longing to do it with my lips instead. The urge was almost tangible. For a second it almost felt like I might die if I didn’t press a kiss to every part of his face I could. His forehead. His nose. His cheeks. His eyelids. His chin. His lips.

I leaned forward a hair when he spoke and broke the spell. 

Thank god.  

I think he asked me why I was staring or something. It’s the only thing that made sense, but I didn’t really hear him due to the fuzzy static in my ears. I got up quickly lest I fall into a stupor again. Curse you Lan Zhan. Curse you and your perfect face. I looked around the room to find something to latch on to and my eyes fell upon the tragically under-utilized photo booth!

It was one of those fancy ones you see at all the weddings and big parties now-a-days. The kind that’s a huge mirror that you can write on and with like the props and stuff. 

I immediately decided that there was nothing in the world I wanted more than to immortalize that frustratingly perfect face next to mine and I dragged him over to the photo booth. 

We had already agreed we needed to fix our ‘lack of selfies together’ problem after all, didn’t we?

By the time we got here, we’d been beaten to the punch by the beautiful Wens. Wen Ning and Wen Qing were making funny faces in the mirror with A-Yuan and aaaah my heart!

I don’t think I’d EVER seen Wen Qing pull faces like that. I’m so glad I get to keep those photos forever. With that in mind I realized I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to be included! So naturally I photobombed! Well. More I bodily shoved them to the side to make room for me to starfish in front of them.

I suppose I should have anticipated the vicious crack to my head even if it was my birthday. Wen Qing’s finger snaps are murder!

Mortally wounded, I crawled my way back to Lan Zhan so that I might at the very least die in his arms. 

I complained that Wen Qing was being mean because she was and that I was going to have a bruise on my forehead for the rest of the night! Mostly I just wanted to see if he would kiss it better for me. 

Except. 

He actually did. 

;ADFJ;LKSDJF;AJKF;ASLJF;JF

WHY MUST MY PLANS ALL BACKFIRE ON ME???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Wei Ying.exe has stopped. Please wait while we reboot the system.

Would you like to submit an error report? Yes | No

Oh I must have been so red. I was still riding on that ‘It’s my birthday I do what I want’ feeling though and it spawned the following word vomit. 

When he asked me if it felt better.

I told him

Yes

But.

“I think I need another kiss just to make sure. You wouldn’t want the birthday boy to be incapacitated for the rest of his party, now would you?”

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

AND OF COURSE LAN ZHAN WENT ALONG WITH IT AND KISSED THE SPOT AGAIN. BECAUSE HE ALWAYS INDULGES ME AND DOESN’T SEEM TO KNOW THAT HE SHOULDN’T BE ENCOURAGING ME LIKE THIS?!?!?!?

I heard the sound of the lovely Dr. Wen gagging behind me. Fair.

But then we were saved by my hero A-Yuan who ran up to hug Lan Zhan’s fucking anime legs and thanked him so sincerely for healing his Xian-Gege. 

“You’re so right, A-Yuan! He’s great like that!” said, kneeling down to pat  his back approvingly and ruffle his already party-ruffled hair. 

Then I noticed that we had somehow managed to edge into the frame of the photo booth and the countdown to the next picture had started. I tried to warn Lan Zhan to get ready but turns out that was the WRONG action. He looked up at the exact worst possible moment so when the mirror showed us back our picture it showed me yelling, A-Yuan looking into space, and Lan Zhan’s face morphed into a hideous slug monster. 

This set A-Yuan to giggling right away, claiming that his bunny gege was a monster!

Lan Zhan growled at him, playing along, which got me going.

LAN ZHAN. STOP. MAKING. ME. FEEL. THE. THING. I. AM. NOT. READY. TO. ADDRESS. YET.

FUCK

;LDKJFSA;LJKF;SKJDF;LKFJ;FLK

Lan Zhan is NOT allowed near kids anymore! My heart can’t take the strain!

To cover up my newest surge of emotion, I demanded we take some proper pictures! 

Wen Ning, angel that he is, took A-Yuan away so we could have pictures with just the two of us. Lan Zhan looked ready to protest, so for the sake of my poor heart, I pressed the ‘picture’ button to distract him. I gave him an arrow that said ‘birthday boy’ on it, which we barely got pointing in the right direction in time, and grabbed a lovely handlebar mustache for myself while claiming to be DaGe and told him to smile. 

Bless his soul he actually did. I don’t know how he manages to tolerate all my stupid antics. Somehow he always seems to be able to take me in stride while staying (mostly) unruffled. I should take lessons. 

The picture came out perfect! ♥ 

So Naturally I demanded a million more. 

We did a few with props and a few without. And some silly faces and some serious faces. And some faces that were so serious they circled back to silly.  Lan Zhan was a real champ and went along with all my hijinks. 

Then I remembered the tree incident that everyone yelled at me over. 

If he catches me I’ll…..

That sentiment was so strong. I don’t even know how that thought ends. I’ll what? 

I still don’t know. 

This time I at least gave him some warning. 

 I told him to hold out his arms so I could jump into him in a much safer recreation of the tree yeet. 

The picture snapped right as I landed in his arms and I remembered to look just in time so that I could grin at the camera and not Lan Zhan in an attempt to be slightly less obvious. When the picture came back though Lan Zhan was looking straight at me. Probably trying to make sure he didn’t drop me. But fuck. 

I’m keeping that one in my wallet once we get them printed. 

Apparently my leap got the attention of the rest of the party because suddenly EVERYONE was there. It was like a clown car with everyone squishing in to see how many of us we could fit in a single picture. Ah it was amazing. We grabbed some props for added panache and I managed to wrangle it so that Lan Zhan and I were still in the middle with all my friends and family squashed around us. 

In a brilliant idea on how to save space, I decided that I should just get as close as possible to Lan Zhan and gave him a big fat smooch on his cheek. I was rewarded when I saw the end result with what had to be the best picture ever taken. 

Nie Huaisang and Jiang Cheng had their hands in each other’s faces, trying to push each other out of frame, each of them barely managing to stay in the back corners of the picture. 

Below them and to the left, DaGe was looking entirely too pleased to be squished in that close to Lan Xichen who was holding at least 7 different props and looking ecstatically excited. Wen Qing and Shijie were next to each other on the front right, holding A-Yuan and A-Ling respectively. The four of them were holding up peace signs, their faces all close together to try to fit in the picture. 

Front Left was Jin ZiXuan with A-Lian, rubbing their noses together and looking admittedly adorable. 

The front center had MianMian and Qin Su making innocent doll eyes at the camera, their hands laced together and their cheeks squished up against each other. Directly in the back center Gamby and Aunty Yi were imitating them perfectly.  

To the middle right sat Wen Ning looking like he was just happy to be included. He’s such a sweetie. 

And right in the center of all that commotion was myself and Lan Zhan. I was planting the most obnoxious kiss I could manage on his cheek and he was grinning like the sun. 

Oh.

My God.

OH MY GOOOOOOOODDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

After celebrating the best picture ever made we all somehow managed to disentangle ourselves from each other, with many knocking elbows and a lot of laughter. 

[fleckcmscott]

Watch What Happens - Chapter 1

Summary: Arthur, an aspiring comedian, has struggled to find normalcy and compassion his entire life. Y/N, a hard-working paralegal and transplant to Gotham, has just been put on a case for the Wayne Foundation. When they meet, unexpected sparks fly.

Chapter warning: Angst

Words: 2,004

Long A/N: This story was inspired by a few things: the beautiful character of Arthur Fleck; Todd Phillips asking (on a podcast) how Arthur's life might have changed if someone had put a hand on his shoulder; and reviews in which people asked some variation of the following question: "What would a put together woman like Sophie be doing with Arthur?" (That one really gets me - everyone deserves normalcy and happiness.)

"Watch What Happens" follows the timeline of the movie, with twists on some major events, and added ones.

It's been over 10 years since I've written prose that wasn't something technical or a screenplay, so I'm rusty. I popped out the 120 page draft of this story in four weeks, and am working through the second and third drafts. I'm both terrified and excited to share this with all of you!

Arthur took a long drag off his cigarette as he absorbed his counselor’s last question. The ticking clock on the wall, the fluorescent lights beating down on him, the uncomfortable closeness of the room - none were helping him come up with an answer. What did she want to hear? He seemed to get the same response no matter what he said. “Work is okay. I had a sign-spinning job this week.”

“Did you enjoy it?” Counselor Kane asked.

The memory of the beating he endured made him anxious. Stress built in his torso. His abdominal muscles twitched as he tensed. He already dreaded the fit he knew was coming. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying hard to hold back. Laughter tore its way through his throat, piercing his own ears. Reaching across his chest, he attempted to stifle the guffaws. He’d been told before that changing positions was supposed to help. It didn’t seem to this time.

Eventually, each gale became quieter, transforming into coughing, then a few quiet chokes as he regained a semblance of control. Had he enjoyed being beaten up by a bunch of teenagers and yelled at by passersby? Not really. “It was fine.”

He watched as she made notes, studying the stacks of papers and files on her desk. He knew he wasn’t giving her a lot to work with this week. But he was exhausted. Starting counseling eight months earlier hadn’t been his idea. After being released from Arkham, he’d been mandated to go to therapy once a week. It was hard to be enthusiastic about it.  Most of the time he didn’t think it helped. He was still as isolated, as anonymous as before. The negative thoughts continued.

But he kept trying. 

After a few moments of silence, he asked a question of his own. “Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?” He met her look for the first time this session.

A grim expression came across her face as she gave a nod. “It is certainly tense. People are upset. They’re struggling, looking for work. These are tough times.” She continued writing. “How about you? Have you been keeping up with your journal?”

“Yes, ma’am,” he answered meekly.

“Great. Did you bring it with you?”

He stiffened, lips puffing at his cigarette. A smile came across his face but didn’t reach his eyes. If he’d thought she wanted to read his journal, he would have left it at home. He’d assumed it would be private.

She didn’t seem impressed. “Arthur, last time I asked you to bring your journal with you for these appointments. Can I see it?”

He squeezed his hands together and ran them over his thighs, trying to convince them to stop bouncing. He was certain she wasn’t going to let this go. Might as well get this over with. A slight chuckle escaped him as he turned to reach into his jacket pocket.

“I’ve been using it as a - as a journal. But also a joke diary?” Reluctantly, he handed the folded, spiral notebook over. “Funny thoughts or observations.” He looked down, then, knowing what she’d find in there. “I think I told you I’m pursuing a career in stand-up comedy.”

She flipped through the tattered pages. “No you didn’t,” she said.

He paused. She didn’t remember that? “I think I did.” He noticed she hadn’t flinched once. Maybe the pornography he had pasted in there wasn’t so bad.  

Kane stopped and glanced at him before reading aloud. “’I just hope my death makes more sense than my life.’”

An eyebrow raised as he huffed, a corner of his mouth lifting. She’d wanted him to write how he felt, right? That about summed it up.

She seemed concerned, but merely closed the journal and gave it back to him. “How does it feel to have to come here? Does it help to have someone to talk to?”

Arthur furrowed his brow as he exhaled another cloud of smoke. “I think I felt better when I was locked up in the hospital,” he said.

“And have you thought more about why you were locked up?”

He did his best to recall, though his memory of that time was fragmented. White walls, a straitjacket, no shoelaces. He remembered a window in the door of the observation room and ramming his head into it. “Who knows…” he sighed. He watched as Kane started packing up his file. “I was wondering if you could ask the doctor to increase my medication.”

She took out a list and read it over. “Arthur, you’re on seven different medications.” She raised her shoulders slightly. “Surely they must be doing something.

His eyes softened, letting down his guard for a moment. “I just don’t want to feel so bad anymore.”

~~~~~

Arthur stood in line at the pharmacy, hand playing with the keys in his pocket. He browsed the nearby stand with office supplies. More pens would be good - he tended to go through ink quickly with all the scribbles in his journal - but he doubted he had enough change for both them and his co-pays. They’d have to be picked up later.

Once he was up, he stepped to the laminate counter. “Hi, my name’s Arthur Fleck. I have three prescriptions to pick-up?” He handed his Gothamcare card to the pharmacist, who gave it a glance. The medications were $2.50 each. After paying, he said a quick “Thank you.” The pharmacist turned his attention to the next person.

Arthur exited the pharmacy, starting the fifteen minute trek home. As he walked, he thought about what he would do that evening. His back was still sore from the kicks it’d received after being jumped. A hot shower would help soothe the aches, but he wasn’t sure when he could fit it in.

He was already arriving home later than usual because of work. The oven would have to be preheated, as he could prepare his mother’s nightly TV dinner. Watching “Live with Murray Franklin” was a must. And he wanted to work on his comedy routine. He knew he was getting close to having a really good set. The shower could wait until morning.

He trudged up the concrete stairs near his building. Every step became heavier as he ascended. Why should you be wary of stairs? They’re always up to something! When a new joke came to him like that, he always felt a little better. He’d have to repeat it to himself until he had a chance to write it down.

After entering his apartment complex, he shuffled to the mail room and checked the box labeled “P. Fleck.” It was as empty as the run-down lobby he stood in. He went into the rickety elevator and repeatedly pressed the button for the eighth floor.

As soon as he entered the one-bedroom apartment, his mother called to him. “Happy, did you check the mail before you came up?”

Wincing, he took off his jacket and hung it on the hook. “Yeah, mom. Nothing.” He entered the dimly illuminated galley kitchen and went to the freezer. The meal he grabbed was the first one he saw, and he started the oven. While it pre-heated, he examined his new prescription bottles. He popped one open and took a tablet. Then he finally got a chance to write down the joke he’d come up with.

When the meal was done he took it into his mother’s, Penny’s, softly lit bedroom. He’d made it nice and neat for her, on a tray with cutlery and a napkin. She was sitting up in the double-bed against the headboard, waiting. He set the tray down over her legs and carefully cut the meatloaf for her.

She watched his movements. “He must not be getting my letters,” she said.

This again. She’d been going on and on about the Waynes for years. Annoyingly, her fixation had become more intense over the past few months. “It’s Thomas Wayne, mom. He’s a busy man.”

Penny shook her head dismissively. “Please. I worked for that family for years. The least he could do is write back.”

Arthur pursed his lips and gave a curt nod. He wasn’t in the mood to discuss this tonight. “Here. Don’t get all worked up. Eat.” Before sitting on the chair next to the vanity, he handed her the fork and patted her cheek. “You need to eat,” he said.

He could see his mother pointing at him with her fork out of the corner of his eye. “You need to eat. Look at how skinny you are,” she said. He ignored her concern, smoothing his brown, mid-length hair back and releasing a breath.

When he turned to her, she appeared content. “He’ll make a great mayor,” she said confidently. “Everybody says so.”

He studied her before answering. “Oh yeah?” he said, his voice adopting a playful tone. “Everybody who? Who do you talk to?”

She motioned towards the TV. “Well, everybody on the news.” Her voice became adamant. “He’s the only one who can save this city. He owes it to us.”

Arthur looked at the floor, raising his eyebrows.

At the sound of a certain familiar theme emanating from the television, Penny patted the side of the bed. “Come sit. It’s starting.”

He smiled. “Yay, Murray.” Reaching behind him, he turned off the table lamp. He hurried to his usual spot, the left side of the bed, and took off his shoes. He leaned forward, elbows on his knees, quickly becoming lost in the show. He’d been watching “Live! With Murray Franklin” for as long as he could remember. The colors of the curtain, every note the band played, the beats between Murray’s jokes - he knew it all.

The excited energy of the audience surrounded him. His lungs were filled with the studio air conditioning. It took all his strength not to jump with excitement as his idol entered the stage. He tried to settle for a standing ovation - it didn’t work. He couldn’t stop himself from shouting, “I love you, Murray!”

The house lights went up and Murray squinted into the crowd. Arthur looked around before realizing Murray was talking directly to him. He’d picked him out of the crowd. The spotlight was on him in a flash. Arthur introduced himself, stammering when he said he lived with his mother. When the audience laughed at him, Murray came to his defense. Of course he had - he knew what it was like to struggle.

At first, when Murray called him down to join him on stage, Arthur resisted. But as the audience demand grew stronger, he had no choice but to relent. A wide smile crossed his face as he descended the stairs to stand shoulder to shoulder with Murray. Murray’s hand was warm when he took Arthur’s and lifted his arm in a cheer.

“That was great, Arthur! I loved hearing what you had to say. You made my day.” Murray told him.

Arthur’s voice was quiet when he answered in disbelief. “Thanks, Murray.”

Murray gestured with his arm towards the studio. “You see all this? The lights, the show, the audience, all that stuff.” He held Arthur square in his gaze, hand on his shoulder. “I’d give it all up in a heartbeat to have a kid like you.”

A lump formed in Arthur’s throat. He couldn’t speak. Murray understood in an instant and pulled him in for a hug. Relief washed over Arthur as he relaxed into the embrace.

The warmth Arthur felt went away, and he found himself back in his shabby apartment. He looked over his shoulder to his mother, who was spooning mashed potatoes into her mouth. As much as he loved Penny, as much as he enjoyed watching Murray with her, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was all his life was going to be. When he thought of the likely answer, he closed his eyes, feeling emptier than ever.

 Tag list (Let me know if you want to be added!): @harmonioussolve​ @clowndaddyfleck​

[stargazersastronomy]

Meatloaf - Aquarius Rising Sign/Ascendant

Ice-T (Thrash Metal Band, Body Count)- Aquarius Sun

Alissa White-Gluz (Arch Enemy) - Aquarius Moon

Marilyn Manson - Aquarius Mercury

Floor Jansen (Symphonic Metal band, Nightwish)

Sazuka Nakamoto (Babymetal) - Aquarius Mars

Dani Filth (Cradle of Filth) - Aquarius Jupiter

Melissa Bonny (Rage of Light, Ad Infinitum) - Aquarius Saturn

Moa Kikuchi (Babymetal) - Aquarius Uranus & Neptune 

Jen Majura (Equilibrium, Evanescence) - Aquarius Lilith

A Collective Orientation

With the Sun in the collectively-oriented sign of Aquarius, the emphasis is upon finding individuality within the context of a group or community. There is a need to seek practical solutions to broad social issues, whilst maintaining a detached and objective stance.

As an Air sign, Aquarius is concerned with the exchange of information and ideas, logic and fact. For those with the Sun in Aquarius communication is, both informally through maintaining social connections, or more formally through practical routes.

Aquarius much to do with the social side of life, and Aquarians do well to observe the cultural norms upon which protocol and etiquette are built. Sun in Aquarius may have excellent networking abilities and a broad range of friends. Maintaining equality in relationships is important for those born under this sign.

As a Fixed sign, Aquarius is concerned with durability. They need to establish firm conceptual underpinnings with which to approach life. They can tenaciously hold onto ideas of what they perceive as right or wrong, and unless they can be shown a logical alternative to an intended course of action, will be unlikely to change.

They can earn a reputation for stubbornness, but it is often the Aquarian ability to maintain a tested theory that is at work here, rather than an obstinate disregard of someone else’s point of view.

Source: starslikeyou, aquarianastrology

[themonsterblogofmonsters]

Monsterblog Recommends: Speed Racer [Film]

Previously - Monsterblog Recommends: The Sinister Man’s Prince of Slytherin [HP Fanfic]

This is, as with Jupiter Ascending, a Wachowski production. And of course, from that, you already have a good idea of what this is likely to be: crazy, fun, and full of hatred for capitalism.

Lets go.

[a spoiler-free explanation of Speed Racer]

1. What the hell is Speed Racer?

Speed Racer was originally a Manga and Anime series made in and for Japan. It sold pretty well as did it’s various toys and in 2008 it was made into a live action film by the Wachowskis. 

Do not go “ugh” at that. 

The 2008 Speed Racer film is honestly one of the only anime/manga live action adaptations I think is any good and thats because the Wachowskis knew what they were working with. The story isn’t exactly the same, but it makes reference to the original. The setting isn’t exactly the same, but again, it makes reference to the original. And, of course, the aesthetic isn’t exactly the same... but the film aesthetic is what makes it work. I’ll explain more in the next section.

The story of Speed Racer is relatively simple. Speed Racer is a young kid when his older brother leaves home and dies racing one of the world’s most dangerous races, the Casa Cristo. Speed is devastated, but grows up to love racing as much as his brother did. He’s offered a contract with one of the world’s most prominent car manufacturers, Royalton Industries, but due to his father’s distrust of big corporations, turns it down, only to be informed that if the big corporations don’t want him to win, he will not win. Speed sticks to his decision, and things begin to go downhill for his family.

[yes the dude on the right’s name is Inspector Detector and do you see what I mean about the aesthetic yet?]

When things are in the absolute pits they’re approached by Inspector Detector, the same man who investigated Speed’s brother’s death, and told that he has suspicions that Royalton, amongst others, may be corrupt, and that he needs Speed’s help to get some information.

Things happen, races are raced, and a good ending is achieved and I will not give you details because I don’t want to ruin it for you. But its a simple fun story and its really worth a watch.

2. Why I’m recommending it

As I said above, this is possibly one of the only live action adaptations of an anime or manga I think is really any good. Its cheesy, but its cheesy in the same way that Meatloaf is cheesy - energetic, fun and enjoyable as all hell. They nail the aesthetic by going hard on the CGI; there’s this slight sense that everything in the film is a little unreal, that the world of the film is somehow more real and bright than ours - and thus, unreal, a little more like a cartoon... or an anime. 

This also serves to excuse some of the more bonkers stunts and cartoonish acts of villainy - its a cartoon world! Of course cars can jump and a mob boss keeps a tank of piranhas in his mobile office lorry. Of course race tracks involve vertical drops and deadly spiked slaloms and every car being fitted with a device that wraps the driver in shock absorbing bubbles if the car crashes.

Within the bright, colourful, cartoonish aesthetic of the film, these things all make perfect sense. 

Other things that are really good... the family dynamics like damn. Mom and Pops Racer both clearly care deeply as hell about their kids, and even about Sparky, who isn’t their kid but who, as far as they’re concerned, is a part of the family in every way that matters. Trixie, Speed’s girlfriend, is likewise considered to be effectively a part of the family and a huge weight is placed on the importance of helping and supporting one’s family.

In some of the flashbacks to before Speed’s brother left, you also see their dynamic, which is warm and affectionate and clearly full of love. When Speed is feeling down at one point its not his girlfriend who offers advice and support - Trixie does that at other points instead - but his mother. His little brother is a little shit in the way that little siblings are, but is also still there to help the family when needs be. And Pops Racer... Pops Racer has issues since the death of his elder son, and so when Speed goes to race at Casa Cristo he’s angry and upset.

At no point does he take any of this out on his family.

No shouting, no raging, no destroying. The most scolding there is would be when he and Mom Racer say how worried they are and then him gruffly asking how the car is handling before going off to fix it - taking his negative energy out on something constructive so he can continue to help protect his family and ensure everyone is safe and well.

And Trixie is great - played by Christina Ricci - and gets involved in races, in building cars... the first time we see her in a flashback she gets in a fight with another girl who’s making rude comments about Speed.

She does also at one point race. 

Alsooo... Trixie’s never treated as a prize being won. Its made clear that she and Speed have been friends from childhood, that she’s something of a petrolhead herself and that the relationship between her and Speed grew out of those similarities and mutual affection. It actually kind of ties into another aspect of the family dynamics - Pops Racer at one point says that having his kids was one of the greatest decisions of his life... after marrying his best friend.

He outright says that Mom Racer is his best friend and that their marriage is based on that as much as romance and affection.

HEALTHY FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS. 

Its also important because... like this film doesn’t allow for toxicity to go unchallenged. Mistakes are made as a direct result of toxic masculinity and in both cases they learn they have to accept the choices they made and learn to become better people and act in ways to try to prevent that toxicity repeating itself.

Its really really cool.

3. Less Good Things / Trigger Warnings

One of the mob bosses goons gets his fingers chewed off by his boss’s piranhas, though its largely off screen and cartoonified. I think the bit most likely to be emotionally devastating would be when Speed’s brother dies which happens quite early on and is really really goddamn sad because they do build up the relationship between Speed and his brother via flashbacks early on during a really well edited together backstory infodump. By and large, though, its designed to be a family film rather than peak edgelord.

You can make an argument that the film is whitewashed, as it was originally Japanese in the Manga and Anime, though my understanding is that the mangaka did have a big western influence when writing, not just for the character’s mindsets and behaviours but also when it came to appearance. The story also isn’t without characters of colour - there’s a black viking racer, and there’s Taejo Togokhan and his sister Horuko - though there definitely aren’t as many as I’d like.

There’s also quite a lot of flashing lights and weird colour stuff and visuals at a few points which may be hard for any of you with epilepsy or problems with such things. In the image above, those big lights are camera flashes and there’s a lot.

In the below well...

Lots of stunning bright colour and its definitely very effective but it is also kind of eye-hurty if you’re prone to eyestrain.

4. Spoilers and Further Points

Oh no, no, no, I am not spoiling this for you guys. I refuse. What I will tell you do though, is pay attention to the music and pay attention to how its edited, to tie past events to present and in order to explain aspects of characterisation and plot.

5. Further Reading

You could go and read the Wikipedia page on this film and I wouldn’t stop you, but then you might see how it was initially received by critics (badly) and miss the point.

Critics didn’t like this film, my dudes, and the critics, in this case, are very very wrong. Like Jupiter Ascending this is a film for you. But, where Jupiter Ascending is a film for you as a teen, young adult or adult, Speed Racer is a film for the child inside. This film is bright, it is fun, it is energetic, and it is funny. It is full of family and affection and damn nice cars and this is the glue that holds the story together. People have criticised the plot of this film, but the plot is very straightforward - people have hurt this family and, in various ways, they want to prevent that from happening again. The driving force is always family and love for one’s family and one’s art, whatever that may be, and how family should be there to support you with that and in turn you should make sure there is always space for your family when you’re done with your art.

These things need not be separate, but all part of a great and loving whole.

And that, my dears, is why you should watch Speed Racer.

[theartofmichaelwhelan]

MEATLOAF ASCENDANT (1997) by Michael Whelan

Along with the science fiction and fantasy cover art I was sorting through in the studio, I stumbled on album artwork as well. Here's Michael's original painting for The Very Best of Meatloaf.

Thematically, the painting follows Michael's iconic cover for Back Into Hell. You can see an echo of that cover in the clouds above the bat demon.

[scrawlingskribbles]

aah so imagine rad being absolutely floored by any big romantic gestures because he's never really had someone do that for him. and raymond makes, like, a huge romantic gesture (im not a very romantic person so the romantic gesture can be what you want) and rad is just speechless and blushing and raymond starts getting nervous because rad isnt saying anything but then rad lets out a choked lil "i love it!!"

Oh my god, y e s tho!!!!!!!! :,D 

Because like we’ve already seen in the show that Rad is the kind of person who does those kinds of intricate/extravagant gestures himself (like planning the entire Plaza Prom all by himself just to try & impress (mainly) the Alleyway Teens—an entire prom, what the heck Rad x’3—and that was just in the general sense even, not even in a romantic way) so, YES, floored is absolutely the right word for how he’d feel if anyone ever turned the situation around on him omfg the poor meatloaf’s soul would probably Ascend right on the spot~ ;;v;;

[wiremagazine]

DESTINATIONS: PHOENIX/TEMPE

By Joey Amato

The last time I was in the Phoenix area was 2005, so when I was offered a chance to visit the city again, I jumped at the opportunity, especially since this trip would coincide with Phoenix Pride. The temperature in the spring and fall is quite tolerable and enjoyable, so I would plan your vacation during those seasons, unless you are an avid heat seeker.

I really didn't recognize any part of the city, so jumping on a pedal cab for a quick tour of downtown was the best way to orient myself. I met up with my friend Josh Rimer aka Mr. Gay Canada, and we were on our way! Our wonderful tour guide Billy was a hoot. He knew everything about every nook and cranny of the city from the history of buildings to the meaning of some of the city's most iconic murals. He knew we were in town for gay pride, so he included some information about the city's LGBTQ history and culture.

Before checking in to our hotel, we stopped for lunch at The Churchill, a locally owned community-driven gathering spot in the heart of the Roosevelt Row neighborhood. Ten small businesses surround an open-air courtyard intended for dining, drinking and socializing. The space hosts a variety of speakers, art events, and fitness classes throughout the year.

If you're craving a bit of luxury, check into the magnificent Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. It's one of the most LGBTQ-friendly resorts in the region and is set against the picturesque McDowell Mountain range. The sprawling Southwestern-style complex features 750 guest rooms, six heated pools, and a 44,000 square-foot Well & Being Spa. Spa culture is big in Scottsdale, with many properties offering unique treatments highlighting their natural surroundings. The Phoenician offers a wonderful Body & Soul treatment that is not to be missed.

Speaking of spas, we ventured off the beaten path to explore another renowned spa resort called CIVANA. Traveling can be fun, but also stressful, so I chose a relaxing treatment combining 10 different aromatherapy blends. While at CIVANA, take part in a sound bath class, where an instructor creates vibrations using singing bowls made from various healing crystals. All you need to do is relax while the sounds melt your worries away.

For the adventurous type, try aerial yoga. This is not your run of the mill yoga. In fact, it wasn't relaxing at all. It was more like a Cirque du Soleil training camp. I tried my hardest to keep myself balanced while suspended in mid-air by nothing but cloth. Of course, my fearless instructor made me go upside down and swing from side to side while a flimsy sheet was supposed to support me. After I got over my fear, I enjoyed the class. The entire experience was fun, but more of an upper body workout than a yoga class.

While in Phoenix, visit the Desert Botanical Garden, a collection of more than 50,000 arid plants gathered from deserts from around the globe. We recommend visiting when the garden first opens to avoid the scorching heat. The Garden also offers evening tours which, although we didn't get to experience, we heard were a great way to view the property.

Not too far away is the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) which displays a collection of 6,800 instruments from 200 countries and territories. Most of the displays are enhanced by audio and video technologies that allow guests to see the instruments, hear their sounds, and observe them being played. During our visit, the MIM featured a special exhibit on Arizona native and rock legend Alice Cooper.

All this touring got us thirsty, so it was time for some cocktails. Since we landed in Phoenix, all we kept hearing about was a place called The UnderTow. But after I said I needed to research it, people told me not to, and just go. Guests enter The UnderTow through Sip Coffee & Beer Garage, which happens to be a converted Jiffy Lube. The downstairs area – where mechanics worked on vehicles – has been transformed into a subterranean tiki bar complete with sound and visual effects that made guests feel as if they were stranded in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Not to be outdone by the décor, the bartenders know how to make one hell of a cocktail.  

After drinks, it was time to celebrate Pride. Phoenix Pride is one of the first festivals to kick off pride season and attracts over 40,000 revelers during the two-day festival and parade. This year's festival featured headlining performances from Ada Vox, Kim Petras and JoJo.

The bars came alive after Pride, as in most cities. We didn't get to experience many that night due to immense crowds, but we did visit Stacy's @ Melrose, and got to meet Stacy himself. Next time around, I would love to swing by Charlie's and Kobalt to get a feel for the local LGBTQ community.

The next day, it was time to explore Tempe and the first item on the agenda was a pop-up art experience called The Scene. The Instagramable paradise featured 11 uniquely designed rooms ranging from a disco room to a bathtub surrounded by rubber ducks and a glow-in-the-dark slinky room. The owners of the exhibition are from Tempe and plan to bring the exhibition on tour. If it comes to your city, make sure to check it out. It's a fun place for both kids and adults to explore and work on your selfie-taking skills.

While downtown Phoenix has a corporate feel, downtown Tempe definitely has a collegiate vibe, due mostly to the presence of Arizona State University. College students are seen parading around the city on bikes and scooters past rows of rainbow flags and a giant rainbow chair in the heart of downtown which the city installed to celebrate gay pride. The city doesn't have any gay bars or clubs, but locals are quick to let you know that every bar in Tempe is welcoming to the LGBTQ community.

In the center of the city is A Mountain… as in the letter A, which is prominently displayed on the side of the mountain. To get the best view of the city, hike to the top in the early morning. For the perfect sunset view, try an evening hike. Bring lots of water as the hike looks deceivingly easy from the street level, but as you begin to ascend, grows extremely challenging especially as you begin to navigate the sharp rock formations towards the top of the mountain.

For dinner, head to Culinary Dropout, a trendy gastro-pub in downtown popular among the college crowd, which specializes in craft cocktails and delicious, reasonably priced cuisine. Start off the meal with an order of Soft Pretzels with Provolone Fondue and Prosciutto Deviled Eggs. I would also recommend trying the Ma… the Meatloaf and Rainbow Trout, which is served with green beans, toasted almonds, and caramelized shallots. The staff at Culinary Dropout is also very easy on the eyes, so I think you'll enjoy this place.

After dinner, check in to the Moxy, a Marriott branded hotel designed with the millennial traveler in mind. Instead of a stuffy reception desk, guests at the Moxy are greeted by a reception area that also doubles as a bar. The hotel lobby contains an oversized Jenga game, pool table, foosball table and two arcade pinball machines in addition to many cool seating areas where guests can gather. Tempe was the first city in the United States to open a Moxy and it has become a favorite among visitors.  

There is so much to do in both Phoenix and Tempe, I recommend a minimum of a week to explore the cities and maybe even take a day trip to Mesa or Sedona. Whichever season you decide to travel in, you will have a blast.

Enjoy the journey!

Joey Amato is the publisher of Pride Journeys, a website dedicated to LGBTQ travel. Joey has spent over a decade in LGBTQ media and public relations and currently resides in both Nashville, Tennessee and Indianapolis, Indiana. He can be reached at joey@pridejourneys.com.

This was originally published in Wire Magazine Issue 11.2019

[megsblackfirewrites]

The Beginning of a Legacy: Chapter 5

Chapter 5

“Welcome to Zurich, Switzerland,” Malaha smiled as they stepped off the cargo plane. “It’s a crisp ten degrees Celsius without a cloud in sight and winds at about ten kilometers an hour.”

“What were you, an airline hostess?” Reyes demanded as he stuffed his hands into the pockets of his standard issue jacket.

“My mother was,” Malaha laughed. “Follow me.”

John fell into step behind Malaha, smirking a little as Joel grumbled about the chill. The cowboy was bundled up in his jacket, glaring at the sky whenever the wind tried to steal his hat. No one else was having an issue with the cold, just the Southerner that had never fully adjusted to anything below “melt the skin from your face” heat.

“This is Overwatch headquarters,” Malaha said as they approached the gleaming building. “All of your briefings and debriefings will be done here. All of our field data will also be processed here. Basically, everything that will happen and is going to happen will happen under this roof.”

“Swanky,” Joel commented as they walked through the glass doors. “Far beyond my pay grade.”

“Far beyond most of our pay grades,” John agreed as he looked around. “Oh what the governments of the world are willing to put out when pushed enough. Starving people can die in the streets, but war? Always ready to fuel a war.”

Everything was state of the art, gleaming and shimmering in the lighting far overhead. Holographic images flickered back and forth on the screens as people walked past. VI units droned to the people that demanded their attention, symbols from every culture on Earth used to represent the innumerable personalities behind the screen. Eyes slowly turned to regard them as Malaha led the way across the tiled floor towards a pair of double doors. She pushed them open and continued onwards with the rest of Overwatch at her heels. She led them straight to a council room where a long tables of decorated men in dress blues were waiting. Jack and Reyes immediately straightened up, quickly followed by Reinhardt, Miyu, and the rest of the entourage. All except Joel.

“Howdy,” he greeted as he tipped his hat.

The Generals glared at Joel, but no one said anything as he settled back on his heels. Malaha gave the formal introductions before she turned the floor over to the man sitting in the center of the table. The man regarded John closely before he tipped his chin forward.

“We are told that you are good at getting results, Captain Morrison,” he said.

“I am,” John replied simply.

There was a reason that he and most of the people in his unit ascended the ranks so quickly. They were smart, talented, and knew how to get what they needed out of a mission. They were ambitious, cunning, and more than one had been ruthless in their efforts to get places. John didn’t consider himself anything special, but when he had a goal in mind, he accomplished it no matter what.  

“We need this war brought to a close as quickly as possible,” the General said.

“Consider it done,” John inclined his head. “All I need is time to go over the information available, talk with your experts, and devise strategies. War might still be a few years before it’s done, but the omnics will not be winning on my watch.”

“You have free reign of the facility, Captain,” the General said. “Do as you must.”

John heard the dismissal in the tone and saluted. He turned around, shooing everyone out ahead of him as Joel walked at his heels. He heard Joel snort as the doors closed behind them and glanced over his shoulder at his friend.

“Never liked suits,” Joel grumbled. “Don’t trust them one bit.”

“You don’t have to,” John smirked. “Just trust me.”

Joel clapped his shoulder and gave him a gentle shake. “Trust ya to the moon, old man,” he teased.

John shoved Joel’s shoulder before he headed straight for the labs. He walked in with Joel on his heels and sought out the head scientist. He was a little surprised to find an engineer in charge of the whole operation, but he supposed it made sense. Dr. Torbjörn Lindholm was a grumpy individual with a clear case of dwarfism, but he knew how mechanics worked better than anything John had ever seen.

“These damn tin cans,” Torbjörn growled as he jerked a thumb at the parts on his work table, “make my life difficult. Designed to make the world a better place and they wind up scraping it instead. Ungrateful.”

Joel whistled as he looked the bench over. “Tommy would love to be here,” he chuckled. “All these parts to tinker with.”

“Well, where is the man then?” Torbjörn glared at him. “I need as many hands as I can manage to find in order to figure out how best to dismantle these things.”

“Tommy’s ten,” Joel grinned. “Don’t think you want to be dealin’ with my boy, doc.”

Torbjörn let out a chuckle. “Ah, well, sometimes kids can see things better than us adults,” he said. “So, when are we getting deployed, Captain? Been itchin’ to try out some new weapons.”

“As soon as I can get enough information to plan our first strike,” John shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t like charging in blind. Don’t like sending people out to die needlessly.”

“We’ll be ready when you are, Captain,” Torbjörn nodded his head. “I might not be the tallest man, but you won’t find anyone more willing to follow you into battle against the omnics.”

“Thank you, Torbjörn,” John smiled as he got to his feet. “I’ll let you know when we’re ready to deploy.”

“Little overzealous,” Joel commented when they left the lab.

“A tad,” John agreed. “He’s likely been fighting since the beginning. Don’t be too hard on him.”

Joel snorted before he clapped John’s back. “Well, I don’t know about you, Cap, but I’m starvin’,” he grinned. “Let’s go get us some grub.”

“Van?” Jack called as he trotted up the stairs to the “Secret Room”. “Van, are you up here? Your Ma’s really worried.”

The Secret Room wasn’t really secret, but it was difficult for most of the adults to get into. The hallways had low ceilings and weren’t very wide, and the best way in was through a tunnel that even Jack was starting to find hard to navigate.

Most of the kids had decorated it in drawings and other odds and ends they had lying around. It looked like the school room that Jack remembered attending before the war started. There was a peaceful atmosphere to it when there weren’t a lot of kids around and he’d figured this was where Vanessa would go to be alone.

Vanessa had her knees pulled up to her chest in the corner. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying and she hiccupped every now and again. Jack hurried over to her and sat down, hugging his best friend close.

“Ssh, it’s okay,” he soothed. “What’s wrong?”

“Ma doesn’t want me anymore,” she whispered. “She only wants Jesse, not me and Tommy.”

“I’m sure that’s not true,” Jack smiled and rubbed her arm. “She was really worried about you.”

“She’s faking,” Vanessa snapped. “You don’t live with us, Jack. You don’t hear the things she says.”

“Does your Pa know about it?” he asked.

“No,” Vanessa shook her head. “Ma’s not dumb enough to say it when Pa’s there. She knows he loves us and would do anything for us. Unlike her.”

Jack bit his lip. “We should tell someone,” he murmured. “One of the adults.”

“They don’t care,” Vanessa sniffled. “They don’t care about anyone but themselves.”

“Now I know that’s not true,” Jack smiled and hugged her. “You’re just scared.”

“I ain’t scared-a nothin’!” Vanessa shouted. “Yer the scaredy-cat, Jack! You don’t even like climbing trees!”

“That’s not true!” Jack pouted. “I just knew that tree by the northern watchpoint couldn’t have been climbed.”

“Yah, that’s why I almost got to the top,” she grinned at him.

“I totally would have followed you if my dad hadn’t come looking for me!” he pouted.

“Liar, liar, pants on fire!” she giggled. “You’re terrible, Jack!”

“Am not!” he pouted more. “You’re the one that’s too scared to talk to the adults!”

“Am not! I just know they won’t do anything,” she huffed.

“You won’t know that until you tell someone,” he grinned. “Come on! Tammy’ll know what to do.”

Vanessa didn’t look convinced, but she trotted at his heels to the tunnel. They crawled through the tunnel and hurried back to where Jack was staying in the apartments. The door was stuck, again, so it took Jack a little while to wiggle the door open. He grumbled about needing to talk to someone about the door and trotted into the kitchen.

“Tammy!” he called. “Vanessa has something to tell you.”

“Oh?” she asked as she cleaned her hands. “What’s wrong, Vanessa?”

“Ma doesn’t want me and Tommy anymore,” Vanessa said softly. “She only wants Jesse. I’ve heard her say it. She says it in Spanish really fast and quiet, but Tommy and I can understand. She…she’s gotten really mean too. Pa used to only give us a smack on the bottom when we were bad, not hard at all, but Ma…it hurts. It hurts a lot.”

Tammy knelt down and gently held Vanessa’s shoulders. “Vanessa, are you absolutely certain that’s what she’s saying?” she asked.

Vanessa nodded and rubbed at her eyes. Tammy frowned and hugged Vanessa close to her chest, rocking her slowly. Vanessa burst into tears all over again and clung to Tammy’s shirt.

“Ssh, mein mausi,” Tammy soothed. “It’s okay. We’ll get to the bottom of this. Ssh. You can stay here with me until then, okay? I’ll just let your Ma know that we found you so she can stop throwing a fit.”

“Okay,” she rubbed at her eyes. “What’s for supper?”

“Meatloaf,” Tammy smiled. “It’s one of Jack’s favourites.”

“I like pizza more,” Jack grinned as he walked over to hug Vanessa close.

“Everyone likes pizza more,” Tammy smirked and got to her feet. “You two go get cleaned up, alright?”

They nodded and hurried off to the washroom. Jack grinned as he helped Vanessa drag the stools over so they could reach the sink. She poked him in the side, huffing as he laughed.

“Told you they’d help,” he said happily. “You don’t have to be afraid.”

“They said they’ll help,” Vanessa shrugged. “We’ll see.”

Jack wet a facecloth and started wiping Vanessa’s face. She scrunched up her face, grumbling that he was being rough, but didn’t try to pull away. It felt good to help like this, especially since Vanessa knew what it was like to be without her dad.

“We’re gunna be best friends forever, right?” he blurted out.

Vanessa blinked at him in confusion. “Of course! Why wouldn’t we be best friends?”

“Because people leave,” he whispered. “They leave and….”

“I ain’t leavin’,” she said stubbornly. “Come heck or high water, I ain’t gunna leave.”

Jack felt himself starting to tear up and he hugged her close. She took the cloth from him and started dabbing at his eyes, giggling that he was still pretty when he cried. Jack laughed and hugged her tighter, nuzzling his face into her hair the same way that his dad did to him.