Chapter Text
“HEY!” a voice called, rough and raspy. The teenager stood by the doorframe , he was tall and had a goatee growing already. “If you don’t get your ass to school, you’re gonna get in trouble”
Fifteen year old Danielle, now Elle, looked up from tying her shoes. She had been at this group foster home for a good year and a half now. She had been made to come here when the authorities of the local city caught up with her in Massachusetts.
She couldn't explain where she came from. She had no documentation proving she existed and the truth…well she couldn't tell the truth. So she got put in a home . It had been a home full of other foster kids. She initially had hoped that this meant the family loved children. Maybe she could have a family.
But, of course,.she was wrong.
These people took in these kids to keep them out of trouble , and out of jail. And to get paid for doing it, it seemed. There were other foster families, she knew who were more loving. She wishes she had gotten those families.
These people didn't love her. They just saw her as a troublemaker to control and a way to make money. As usual
"...hey…girl…"
" I know, Davis." Elle got to her feet. She grabbed her bag. She looked at him. "Why don't you get to school then?"
"..fuck that . I'm skipping." He said
Elle sighed. Awfully rich of Davis to give her grief and then skip himself. "Fine then."
As she walked out she heard him say "why do you bother with this shit anyway? You know they just tryna keep us in line. Why follow their rules? You think you're better than us?"
Elle stopped . She turned around and leveled him with a cool gaze. "No. I want to…." She couldn't say that. It did make it sound like she thought she was better.
"You think you will get their love and shit if you act like a goody two shoes?" He snorted ."forget about it. They don't love any of us. "
" …I wanna hang out with my friends," Elle said lamely.
"Oh, ok whatever" Davis shrugged . "Just don't put your trust in these folks. They don't care about you. "
"Yeah. I know" Elle said, " you don't have to remind me.".
She walked past him and started down the path. She didn't want to catch the bus, she knew a quick path. Once alone she pulled out a burner phone Chase had gotten her.
Chase Carlisle had been very intent on becoming her friend since she started here, and introduced her to Jordan Hewitt. Elle had been cautious. Trust issues would do that to you. But it had been when she finally backed off that Elle realized she was for real. What sealed their friendship with Chase and Jordan was when the two ventured into a natural portal to the Zone and Elle of course had to go after them.
Not just to save them. She wanted these girls in her life. She had been lonely long enough. And perhaps she had been making excuses not to trust them.
She found them in some caverns collecting special energy crystals and what happened next meant they needed Elle's help too.
A message from Chase snapped the dark haired half-ghost out of her memory.
Punkypink: Hey? You got trouble from the folx?
Elle smiled. She typed back.
Phantasm : Nah on my way.
Jordan's message popped up.
AnimeAlchemist : we'll be waiting ~ .
Seeing their words made her feel better. Elle picked up her pace , now hoping to get to school sooner. Before long the school gates were in sight and so were Chase and Jordan.
Chase was a short girl with a curvy body and dressed in popping colors and hot neon pinks. She had even dyed the tips of her sunny blonde hair pink. Jordan was taller than both of them and she was a thin girl with glasses and chocolate brown hair. Elle knew she was part Japanese by her father but how much she didn't know. Her father had been adopted as a child.
The two girls rushed to embrace her before the three started walking into the school.
The school they went to was a very typical looking high school, underfunded and allegedly around for years.
“So how about the town Halloween festival coming up?” Chase asked. “You guys goin’ right?”
Jordan groaned. “Ughh. I wish. But.. step-asshole is intent on me staying home this year. He’s got it in his head that witches will be out.”
Chase groaned “Seriously???”
Elle frowned in concern. She knew from what Jordan said that her stepfather was a very temperamental and fanatical man with a worrying predisposition to control and occasional fits of violence. It worried her, even as her friend tried to downplay his behavior. Though Jordan did admit her mother rarely went against his commands and tried to implore Jordan to do things to appease and walk on eggshells around him. It worried her knowing Jordan had stepsiblings who were also at the mercy of this man.
“It’s not Jordan’s fault,” She said. Chase sighed.
“I… I know but..” She groaned. “It’s our thing we do.. We sleepover and… and like…sneak out…” Chase sighed. “But.. I don’t …I don’t want her to be forbidden from hanging out. So.. fine. Not again” She said. She breathed heavily and hugged her body.
“But I can find a way” Jordan hurried to Chase’s side worried. “I won’t let him take me away from you Chase.”
“Then.. just be safe” Chase said. “I know he’s a jerk but don’t set him off.”
Elle sighed looking worried. Chase could be flighty, impulsive and , as much as it pained her to admit it, a bit selfish in the moment. But clearly the thought of losing friends caused her real panic and Jordan herself would be willing to bend backward to prevent Chase from getting upset.
“We can maybe do our own Halloween.. Some other time.” She said firmly. “But neither of you should do something that might be risky. If Halloween is so much of a deal to him than… we just celebrate it another time”
Both girls looked at her and sighed.
“Yeah…” Chase nodded,
“Mhm.. “ Jordan nodded. “I mean I’m already at risk if he knows about it. … our.. Stuff..” She started breathing quick and frenzied and the look in her eyes told Elle she was spiraling into anxiety in her mind. Unlike some of her other meltdown incidents where the problem was ultimately easily solvable, the matter of someone learning about their powers was admittedly a cause for concern. And Elle didn’t know what she could say because honestly it scared her too.
“B-breath? Okay.. remember what the counselor said “ Chase said, as she gently guided Jordan through a grounding exercise.
They wound up being late to first period and the teacher was none too pleased but had his hands full with more disruptive latecomers and could only shoot them a furious glare. Normally Elle might feel bad but, honestly it wasn’t theirs or Jordan’s fault she had anxiety problems. They had a lot on their plate for a couple of kids.
Class itself was a drag. For Elle who had her creator’s private tutoring, it was frustrating that she still struggled to grasp math. Jordan looked still on edge from the way she looked about and tapped her pencil silently. Chase stared blankly at her desk and the ceiling
“Mrs. Carlisle do you know what ....”
“Nope,” She answered honestly.
Elle sighed.
“You should at least try to pay more attention.” The teacher chided.
“Or what. Gonna call my parents?” Chase retorted dryly and turned to doodling on the sides of her paper. The teacher huffed and tried calling on others. Elle raised her hand and attempted to answer.
“No no no that’s.. “ the teacher shook his head. “Whatever . None of you care-”
That was the bell. They all got up and left. Elle was feeling irritated . She at least tried to answer.
“What a manbaby,” Chase grumbled as they walked out. “He gets all bent out of shape even when someone tries!”
Elle sighed. “I guess . Maybe he’s just extra stressed”
Jordan followed up behind them. “I dunno, Elle, honestly this guy is notorious for being mean. He’s always like this.”
“Okay okay let’s just get out of hi-” Elle stopped because of a shooting pain, and before she knew it she had collapsed as everything went black.
She had a nasty feeling of what it could be but… why? Why here? Why now ?
-----------------------------------------
She was in the containment tube again, watching as Vlad was furiously pacing about the lab stewing over something not going right. There were a bunch of other chambers around with misshapen clones that looked nothing like the person that, by the pictures on the drawing board , she surmised they were supposed to be, His hand hovered over a red button before he stopped and walked over to her tube. A hologram of a woman followed him around and he seemed to be talking to it
His stupid creepy hologram thing. Ugh.
“At least this one is progressing enough. Though the sex is wrong….but… beggars cannot be choosers I suppose” He said thoughtfully.
“The female clone is showing more function and stability than the others, dearheart” The hologram said.
“That is true.. But… “ He trailed off and Danielle knew what he was thinking. Still not right , not what he wanted.
Had she heard back then? Had she heard this and filed it away or forgot it to protect herself? It made her stupid belief in him so much worse.
But why… why was she remembering this?
--------------------------------------
“ELLE!”
There was a bright light over her and it took a few moments before Elle realized this was the nurse’s office . Her friends peered over her worriedly. Elle rubbed her head, pulling herself up. She felt her strength returning. But her worry was through the roof. She remembered this when she was unstable, and her ghost form would melt. She had to always conserve strength and frequently stole food to keep up her energy at times when she was tired. To make matters worse it was when she was on the run from her creator, Vlad Masters , or among ghosts , Vlad Plasmius. She was pulling through by the skin of her teeth when Valerie found her, and she honestly worried that if not for that, she might have lost the fight.
She had thought the Ecto-Dejecto would hold for longer. Maybe forever.
But that was wishful thinking.
Elle sighed, rubbing her head. Her friends looked worried about her, even the normally tough, don’t-give-a-shit Chase looked like she was about to cry. She hated it.
“I….I’m sorry guys it’s…. A health problem. I… I probably just need some rest.”
Chase and Jordan exchanged looks and turned to the nurse. “We need to go home.”
The nurse sighed. “Surely just one of you will-”
“Hey, my parents are lawyers! How bout a big fuckin lawsuit to whoever runs this place!” Chase snapped back. “My friend is really sick and if something bad happens to her because we couldn’t help - your ass is grass lady !!”
“Fine.. I’ll sign you three slips” The nurse said resigned and annoyed. It wasn’t long before the three of them were out and on the way home. Chase and Jordan were like glue by Elle’s side
“Come on… I know a guy who can get us home, "she said . She headed to the back parking lot towards a group of tough looking guys who skipped school nearly everyday.
“Are you sure.. These guys look-”
Elle felt her breakfast coming up and with a ‘ hurk ’ , and tried to hold it back.
“Fine” Jordan finished quickly. Chase managed to pay off one of them to give them a drive to her place. The Carlisle home was massive and it sometimes begged the question why Chase went to a junky school like theirs. But the answer was depressing to Elle. Her parents just… didn’t bother to try.
It explained why Chase didn’t seem too phased by the typical threats from teachers. Parent teacher conference? They were always a no-show. At most they pulled a little money around to make problems and inconveniences just go away. It was why, according to Chase, she struggled to keep friends. Because parents of the other kids knew hers were never around, and she garnered a reputation with her desperate attempts in the past to get their notice.
She was ‘trouble’ as far as other parents were concerned. But Elle, she could understand the girl just wanting to be seen, to be loved. Inside the Carlisle home, Chase and Jordan wasted no time getting Elle to a bed. “Okay… um .. can… can you explain what this is really about” Jordan asked.
Both girls looked so worried. Elle sighed, unable to bring herself to lie.
“It’s….a long story but.” She took a deep breath. “I need to tell you guys where I came from.”
“We’ve got that talk Elle. Seventh grade” Chase said.
“No.. this is.. Uh.. different. I’m not a typical ..person” Elle said “I mean.. I’m…” She hummed trying to think of where to start. “I’m sure you know.. Well of Amity Park and stuff.. Danny Phantom”
“...oh?” Chase went a deep pink.
“I’m his clone,” Elle said solemnly. “Created by the billionaire former mayor Vlad Masters. That’s why I have ghost powers.”
Both girls stared blankly. Jordan gave a very flat “... what ”
“I know it sounds.. Well. crazy but apparently Vlad …knows how to clone people and like….I don’t know just bought the materials in a lab in his vacation home.”
“....dude.” Chase said quietly.
“Why though?” Jordan asked. “And what does this have to do with you getting sick?”
“I’m getting to that,” Elle said, breathing deeply. “He… he was obsessed with Danny’s family and… like…” She hesitated. “...you have to promise you won’t tell anyone. I’m already bending Danny’s trust enough telling you.”
“Yes!” “Of course” Both girls said, deadly serious.
“Danny is … part kid like us and part ghost. There was an accident. The same thing happened to Vlad like.. Twenty or so years ago. Vlad wanted Danny to become his ..his son or something … and marry his mom which is… super weird and gross. Anyway, Danny said no they fought and then Vlad decided well he’s going to make his own Danny to replace the real one” Elle sighed in annoyance. “Because that’s such a normal thing normal people do”
“..wow this dude is nuts” Jordan said.
“No kidding. Anyway .. he tried a bunch, created me but my powers made my body unstable . I worked with him thinking he was going to save me. He didn’t , I ran off . and some time later he got someone to kidnap me and tried to kill me and-”
“WHAT?” Both girls practically shouted.
Elle sighed deeply. “Yeah. it was… uh … scary”
“....is this guy still a threat?” Chase asked seriously, charging up her own powers.
“No…” Elle said quickly. “I mean. I don’t think so but he’s got a lot of experience, Chase. You’re still a new …well your powers are still new.”
“Yeah but ….” Chase started
“I have throwing knives’ Jordan said heatedly, also angry on her behalf. It meant a lot to Elle to see them so concerned for her. She had often feared that people wouldn’t want to be her friend, if they knew she was a clone. It’s why she put off saying anything.
“Guys.. no. I can’t let you risk that.” Elle took a deep breath. “Anyway Danny came, and saved me and … he used this stuff his parents invented that managed to help me get my strength and keep my form together. It felt amazing, and I thought. Or hoped that…it would last forever-”
“Oh no… nononononno” Jordan said, going into panic mode, as tears flooded over. Chase was tearing up as well.
“You’re… you’re dying ?” she asked, voice cracking.
Elle took a deep breath, hating to tell them. But they deserved the truth. “M-Maybe? I don’t .. exactly know.”
“Maybe.. Maybe you can go to him..Danny..… and… and try and get whatever you need” Chase said, pleading.
“I don’t know if I can make it all the way to Indiana like this” Elle said laying back. She stared dully at the ceiling. Was she dying?
There was a silence between the girls. “....we can.. Do that thing we learned…” Jordan said, turning to Chase. She reached for the shard necklace she wore with the crystal. “If we tap into its power.. Both of us.. We can.. Open a portal again. Like we did when we escaped the Crystal Cave.”
Chase nodded. She turned to Elle. “What then.. ? Is there anyone who.. Who could help?”
Elle nodded remembering one ghost who had once offered help whenever she needed it. Clockwork. The Ghost of Time. “I know somebody.”
“Alright.” Chase said, nodding.
Elle sighed. “Guys.. I need… I need a few hours to rest..”
“Yeah, I got it. And I can make you something to eat and stuff” Chase nodded. She turned to Jordan. “Come on… let’s go”
As they left Elle leaned back. “Thanks… guys”. She started to drift, exhausted from the journey to the house. As she drifted to sleep she found herself wondering, hoping that maybe the destabilization would be slow. She wouldn’t deteriorate nearly as fast now that she wasn’t living a rough life on the streets. She hoped at least.
--------------------------------
Chase was in a frenzy in the kitchen preparing food , protein shakes, anything needed. She didn’t know what was wrong with her friend. But she was determined to try and solve it. Jordan , she could tell, as long as she’d known the girl, was trying her best not to go into a spiral of anxiety and panic. “There’s a bunch of microwave meals and TV dinners in the freezer. Grab a bunch of them.”
Jordan nodded, going to the freezer and collecting the slim boxes. “Just focus on making them Jordan. Okay. Don’t think, don’t overthink just one thing at a time.”
As they both worked, preparing food and popping TV dinners in the microwave one after another, Jordan fidgeted. “.....They’ll notice I’m gone.”
“That doesn’t..” Chase stopped. “I’ll let you crash at my place. You.. .. you can just leave you know. I’ll hide you.”
Jordan looked conflicted. “But.. What if that means.. Afterward…." She chewed her lower lip, "What if my parents prevent me from being your friend?” She looked at her searching for reassurance. But Chase was panicking.
“That'll- I…. I’ll survive Jordan” She said. “Right now I just....well...I just want to keep Elle from dying.”
“...yeah.. That’s more important’ Ding . One meal out , another in. The two girls sat in silence. Chase felt fury bubbling within her.
“It's not fair!” She said, “Elle shouldn’t have to suffer because… because some creep just… thinks he can get whatever he wants.” She found herself spiraling into a furious rant as she worked on another protein shake “It’s so .. so stupid” She said furiously. “All our parents just…they don’t…take care of us.”
“Dad did” Jordan said quietly. “But Mom got custody.”
“Yeah. That’s the kind of thing I mean” Chase said, waving her hand furiously on the brink of tears. “All these people keep screwing up our lives. Why can’t the courts see … see that your stepdad is fucking nuts? Like.. who the hell believes that ..that covens of evil devil worshiping witches are out trying to.. I dunno eat babies or sacrifice virgins to Satan or whatever. This isn’t the freakin’ 1980s anymore!”
“Yeah” Jordan breathed deeply. She realized that here , now she could just rant away and not worry about placating her mother’s pleas to play nice. It was intoxicating. “Yeah.. like… what a weirdo. He’s always seeing devils behind everything. I have to hide every little thing from him and mom, because it’s evil or a sin! It’s dumb. My dad isn’t perfect but… at least he’s sane!”
The two girls sat in silence again. “We could run away"
Jordan looked to Chase shocked. “Wh-what?”
“No no I’m serious. We’re going into the ghost zone anyway to help Elle”
“Yeah?”
“What if we just… just stayed there?” Chase said. “Or used another natural portal back to earth to just.. Get far away and see what happens.”
Jordan was silent. “Chase.. This is crazy talk. We can’t…”
“Why not?”
For perhaps the next hour, Chase talked through possibilities to get away with her grand plan, slowly wearing down her friend’s resolve. “Listen… I know it’s drastic but. You’ve said yourself. You’re not listened to here. They don’t even try to understand you or get you. Your stupid stepdad even tried to send you to a camp to like… cure your sinfulness or demons or something”
“Yeah… I mean…he backed down…eventually” Jordan said, chewing a strand of her hair.
“What if he doesn’t next time?”
They both went quiet. Something told Chase that if she gave Jordan space to think, it might help. Better than overwhelming her with info. “Just think about it. People like your stepdad have sent kids to these awful camps where they literally torture them until they’re brainwashed or dead inside. I don’t want to see that happen to you.”
Jordan opened her mouth, probably to say her mother wouldn’t do that. But at Chase’s meaningful look she went quiet, unsure.
“I’ll … go take this to Elle’s room. That way she’ll have food when she wakes up.”
“Okay.”
---------------------------
Jordan felt like she had a weight like an anvil in her belly. She had her main phone at home, so she couldn’t see all the frantic or angry messages from her mother. Or the threats from her stepfather. She turned over Chase’s words in her head. Her concerns were honestly legit and Jordan found herself thinking that maybe, just maybe she just didn’t want to believe what Chase was telling her.
But then again. She liked to think she knew her mother. Sure she had a nasty breakup with her dad over differences in belief, and pressure from her maternal grandparents. Her mother had caved into pressure. Divorced her father and dated and then married a “good godly man” in her hometown.
And now Jordan was faced with a choice. She could turn away, and go back . Do the safe thing. Abandon her friends. End up just the same with a controlling asswad who tried to control her and would probably hit her.
Or.
She could make her own choice. Say no. Tell them all to take a hike and take off into the ghost zone and not return.
Why shouldn’t she? It’s not like they were making any effort . She always tried , did what she was told and it got her nowhere. Her mother eventually, under her stepdad’s influence , started to argue with the doctors who had said her daughter had any ‘behavior problems’ and just decided she needed to be forced to be normal.
Jordan clenched her fist, nails digging into her palms. She was shaking.
Sure it was scary , but. If she didn’t do anything, nothing would ever change. Or things would change for the worse. She didn’t know how long she could keep her newfound secret ghostly powers from her parents. Her stepfather would go ballistic. Say she’s a demon or try to forcefully change her, or beat her. Kick her out.
Her mother couldn’t overpower him at this point. He might even hurt both of them.
She opened her palm and looked down at it. She was going to do it. She couldn’t believe it but. She was going to do this.
The cycle of bending to authority had to end , and it was going to end today.
---------------------------
The door flew open as Elle had been eating the food Chase brought her. Jordan stood in the doorway with two large pans full of TV dinners. “I’ll do it” She said quietly to Chase. Elle looked to Chase who looked shocked and turned to Jordan shaking her head frantically.
“Do what?” Elle asked. Chase and Jordan looked nervous as they shifted and started to blurt rehearsed lies. She sighed and shot Chase a look. “Don’t.. Come on”
“Fiiiine” Chase said, exhaling deeply. “Jor and I talked. We’re gonna…uhh... run away .. into the ghost zone.”
“...what” Elle stammered a bit, staring at them. “......are… you sure?”
“Yeah” Jordan came over and set the trays down. “Honestly. It’s…the situation with stepdad ain’t getting better. I’m not going to wait around and let them control me. I ….feel bad for mom but… it’s …”
“She’s gotta look out for herself,” Chase said, looking at Jordan. “Elle….I’ve heard of what fundie jerkwads do to kids who don’t fall in line. And with our… powers well… It's only a matter of time before they find out. And something really bad happens..” Elle looked to Jordan who nodded, looking scared and sad. She thought of Danny.
Part of why she hadn’t gone back to him was because of her refusal to force him to come clean to his parents. Not before he was ready.
“Okay.” Elle said. “I-I understand.”
There was a silence as the three of them looked at one another.
“We’ll save you Elle” Jordan said. “And.. after that.. Well.. we can decide then.” Elle felt emotions of gratitude overwhelm her and she pulled her two friends in a hug.
“I love you guys” She said, finally letting the tears flow.
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A couple hours later, Chase and Jordan waited patiently in a large bonus room. Elle was careful, even though she had regained her strength for the time being. She stood in front of her two friends as they dug out their crystal pendants. Their adventure in the ghost zone nearly a year ago had made them deeply connected to the crystals , which were an external symbol of their new powers-and the source of them.
Elle took a deep breath as she held out her hands, and they took her hands. As the three held hands the crystals glowed and Elle could feel when the portal into the zone opened and swallowed them up. She was glad that she had their help in doing this, and she had to use minimal energy. But much to her dismay she felt more winded than she expected to when they landed in the Zone, an eerie black and green emptiness around them.
As Elle stumbled on her feet, Chase and Jordan quickly moved to help her nearly bumping heads in the process. “Alright….I .. probably should keep in my human form” She had to focus extra hard to turn back to human. “You guys got a grip on your flying?”
Chase and Jordan nodded giving thumbs up. “Hell yeah!” The two hadn’t been as..well.. Neatly split between human and ghost as Elle was. Rather than a dedicated ghost form , their human forms merely had a different eye color or a glowing streak of hair when using their ecto-abilities, and the crystal could be seen glowing even underneath clothing.
“Let’s go. I’ve gone to Clockwork before I know the way” The girls nodded and the three of them made their way floating through the eerie space of the Zone. However at one point there was a sound Elle knew all too well. Walker the ghost warden’s goons were getting close. If he saw her, well.. according to Walker, Elle and her friend’s existence was considered a violation of his dubiously enforced laws.
Elle guided them toward a detour of doors on a creepy bone covered island floating nearby. “We need to hide. Walker and his goons are bad news”
They flew toward the island of bones and huge skulls. What had been killed here, Elle didn’t like to think but the giant remains did provide a place to hide. “Those guys are bad news ,” Elle said seriously. “They work for Walker, that warden who chased us when you found the crystals.”
“Oh….” Chase grimaced. “That jerk”
“Yeah… and he’s hard on you guys… because of me” Elle said with a sigh. “He considers my existence a violation of the law-”
“Who cares what he thinks!” Jordan said furiously to the shock of the other two. “We talked to him and he made up rules on the spot. He’s just a power tripping jerk. And if he considers your existence illegal… he’s even worse than that!”
“Yeah! Fuck the ghost police!” Chase said.
“Right,” Elle said with a weak smile. She led them through valleys of bone as she heard the voices of the ghost cops over them. She wondered how long they would have to hide. She was worried the more fatigued and weak she felt. She was thankful she didn’t need to use her powers to light the way, as that was already done by her friends’ ghost crystals.
They made their way to an old eerie broken down house with a door that was boarded over . Elle looked up, the sounds of Walker and his men overhead weren’t going away. She felt exhaustion creeping up on her. Chase turned to Jordan. “Hey.. use that electric thing you did and blast this open. We can hide out”
Jordan bit her lower lip. “Maybe it’s blocked for a reason Chase… maybe it’s dangerous?”
Chase sighed impatiently, flinging a free hand overhead. “Yeah well. WE KNOW THEY’RE DANGEROUS! And Elle is getting weaker and we don’t know-”
“Okay , okay!” Jordan said quickly. She held up her hand, eyes glowing behind her boxy glasses. “Here goes nothing!” She aimed her hand at the boarded up entrance and shot a deep indigo colored charge at it. It blasted off the boards and revealed a very strange looking portal with a kind of glowing discolored goop dripping from it. In the portal opening was a scene like space with ripples flowing from single points. Chase groaned.
“This better be a good hiding place” She said before the two made a dash end , helping support Elle. But when they went through, their skin seemed to buzz and tingle and then burn as it felt like a kind of shock in their bodies . Screams echoed through the open space of the Zone until they all passed out.