Chapter Text
***
1924
“Please don’t explain the concept to me again Pa. I am well aware of it.”
That drew a displeased look from his father and a rather unrelenting one from his mother, who placed her hands firmly upon her hips. “Then you would do well not to question what we’re doing.”
Danny bit back a sigh, along with the urge to roll his eyes. “The ‘what’ was rhetorical. I more meant, why are you still down here? This…portal to the realm beyond, the realm of ghosts, whichever name you give it-…It doesn’t seem inclined to work.”
“Because we have not yet made it so,” his father countered. “But we are close. Your mother and I can tell. Patience is a virtue Daniel.”
“As is listening and yet you continue to refer to me as Daniel,” he muttered before raising his voice once more, though that was more due to trying to be heard over his mother’s resumed hammering. “And what of Jazz? She has tried to catch you for several days now or is her wedding of so little import to you?”
His mother waved a dismissive hand. “Your sister’s engagement is still relatively new. There will be time to plan further down the line.”
Danny scowled because no, Jazz had been engaged near ten months now and had initially intended to have an autumn wedding. He doubted she would even manage a spring wedding with the precedent his parents were setting before him.
“Regardless, she would like to discuss it with you.”
“And we will,” his father said firmly, finally looking up. “However we are working right now. You would do well to leave us be. Surely you’re expected by this time yourself?”
Opening his pocket watch to check the time, Danny huffed. He turned on his heel, not bothering to toss so much as goodbye over his shoulder. He scaled the stairs and donned his hat, ensuring the front door was firmly shut and locked before making for the workshop. He was close to finishing his apprenticeship, well on his way to becoming a fully fledged coppersmith, a handmade telescope his final project. It doubled as a reward as well and Danny was exceptionally eager to test it upon completion.
“Danny!”
His head snapped up, letting a carriage pass before ducking across the street. He enveloped Jazz in a hug and she was quick to return it. He tipped his hat to her fiance, Eduardo, and got one in return. “What brings you so far across town?”
Jazz laughed. “So far. It’s barely six blocks. Amity Park is hardly large.”
“And yet, you don’t often drift this way,” he pressed, even as he nudged her towards his workplace. She got the message and fell into step beside him, Eduardo’s arm linked through hers.
“I have decided,” she said matter of factly, “That I cannot spend my life waiting on Ma and Pa any longer.”
Danny stumbled a step, eyes widening some. “You intend to elope?”
It had come up before but he had hardly thought his sister serious. It was still considered scandalous and while they as Fentons were often looked down upon and not so subtly ostracised by the community, Danny had assumed Jazz valued their opinions. To some extent at least.
“Nothing so extreme,” Eduardo assured hastily. “More, we will invite the reverend to the city hall and exchange vows there. It is more than affordable and rather less of a production.”
“You don’t mind that Jazz?”
“Why would I? I’ve never been one for attention,” she said with a wave of her hand. “And, once married, we intend to head west. There are a great many opportunities out there. More so than in this town.”
Danny frowned, chewing that over. “I have heard jobs are becoming more scarce regardless.”
“But you don’t disapprove.”
“Of course not!” He shot his sister a look. “I will always support your decisions as you have always supported mine. I myself tried to talk with our parents this morning about this very topic. You can imagine how it went.”
“Or rather how it didn’t,” Jazz corrected, a frown pinching her features.
“Mr Fenton, you’re late!”
Danny cringed. “Apologies Master Lancer!”
“You must forgive him sir,” Jazz intercepted smoothly. “I’m afraid I held him up on his walk over. My fiance and I, we are getting married this evening, as it were. I know Danny can be in the habit of forgetting things he shouldn’t so took it upon myself to remind him. Please go easy on him.”
The coppersmith, who had always had a softer spot for Jazz than him, softened and passed along his congratulations. Danny, meanwhile, was staring at Eduardo in poorly concealed shock. “Tonight?” he mouthed.
Eduardo gave a sheepish nod. “Town hall, the sixth hour.”
Danny smiled, thanking him before ducking inside. He hung up his hat and removed his vest, swapping it out for his apron and gloves. Panic was something he could do later. For now, he could only work.
***
The day had flashed before his eyes before he knew it. His lunch hour had been spent running home to try on his most formal clothes, only to find them hopelessly small. There hadn’t been time to organise a new set to be made so he had had to settle for having one of his father’s shirts taken in to his measurements and finding a second hand set of trousers that fit well enough.
He’d dashed back in just before Lancer could yell for him, returning to work and delivering orders. He’d stumbled in the workshop door just before closing, barely remembering to snag the copper wedding rings he had hastily made. They were hardly gold or silver or of particular value but, for all his rushing, they were some of his finest work and Danny knew Jazz would appreciate them all the same. After all, she had hardly given him time to arrange a gift and tailoring the shirt had already cost him most of his meagre savings.
“Mr Fenton, your telescope!”
“I will collect it tomorrow!” he called back as he fought with his vest fastenings. “I haven’t the time to be late.”
“No, I suppose you don’t.”
His master was smiling as he said it though and Danny returned it, grinning widely before bolting for the town hall. He made it a few minutes before six, jogging up the three stone steps. Jazz and Eduardo were already inside, along with the town reverend. Danny’s smile only grew, taking his sister’s hands in his.
“You look absolutely beautiful.”
“Why Danny. I do think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“A brother can be nice to his sister on her wedding day.”
She jokingly sniffed. “Yes, I suppose they must be. And as such, you must also do me a favour.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Indeed?”
“Yes. You must be our witness for the marriage certificate.”
Danny pulled Jazz into his arms. “It would be my honour.” He released her before handing over the rings. She took them reverently, eyes starting to glisten. “Don’t,” he said when she went to thank him. “This is the least I could do.”
“Danny, they’re gorgeous.”
“Then they match you.”
“Oh stop. You aren’t allowed to be sweet after all this time.”
He laughed but let her step back towards Eduardo. She handed the rings over and her fiance gave Danny a thankful look. He quickly looked away, cheeks flaming. But his attention was called back soon enough as the reverend stepped forward and, for all the stressing Danny had done, the exchange of vows took all of ten minutes. He added his name and signature to the bottom of the paper before it was signed by the city official.
“It is as simple as that?” he asked as they stepped outside mere moments later.
“As simple as that,” Jazz assured, smile blinding. “Now come, help me pack.”
He did a double take. “You intend to leave as early as tomorrow?”
“Danny, we intend to leave tonight.”
“So suddenly?”
“We would have stayed longer,” Eduardo admitted, Jazz softening at what he could only imagine was his fallen features. “But there is a train bound for California passing through at ten o’clock. The next will not be until Thursday week.”
“It’s not so long,” Danny tried weakly.
Jazz gave Eduardo a look and he nodded, shaking Danny’s hand before turning and heading back towards his own dwelling. Jazz, in turn, steered them towards home.
“I’m sorry Danny. We really did not intend to spring this on you so but. Well, Eduardo’s cousin has a job he can hold but only for so long. And I would like to apply for a position as school teacher before the school year starts anew. When we heard of the train this morning, I felt it was time to act. Sometimes I feel as though I am trapped in this city.”
Danny understood the feeling well. It was something they had often talked about. Leaving. Leaving and never returning. Never having to hear another word of ghosts and portals and listening to endless hammering and drilling and sawing.
“You must allow me then to visit,” he said as he unlocked the door to their home.
They bypassed the stairs to the basement with nary a glance, immediately making for the second floor. “Finish your apprenticeship,” she instructed. “Then, once Eduardo and I have stable jobs, it was actually my desire that you would move in with us.”
Danny’s jaw dropped even as he helped Jazz remove the trunk from under her bed. “You truly mean that?”
“Of course! It was, in fact, something I discussed with Eduardo early on in our engagement and he hardly minds at all. He rather likes you.”
Danny flushed, handing Jazz various garments as she meticulously packed them. “Then you should be pleased to know that I expect to become licensed by month’s end.”
“Oh Danny that’s wonderful!” She shuffled a couple of dresses to make room for a coat. “You must make the move before Thanksgiving then! I should like us to spend the holidays together.”
“I’ll do my best,” he promised. If he saved his earnings, it would certainly be doable.
“You always do,” Jazz said gently.
Turning to her boudoir, she gathered the last of her things. Danny did his own sweep of the room, opening drawers and checking cupboards for forgotten items, coming up short at a small, brown knitted bear. It was rather worse for wear but he remembered his sister loving it as a child. He carefully set it between a scarf and a pair of stockings, ensuring it wouldn’t be jostled in the journey. His head snapped up when he heard a sniff though. Jazz was watching him with wet eyes, bottom lip trembling.
“How do you always know exactly what I need?”
Danny bit back a sniff of his own. “Because I love you.”
***
The goodbye at the train station had been a tearful one and Danny had woken throughout the night in fits of crying. He had had Jazz by his side for as long as he could remember. He had never made a friend or found a mentor he could rely on and now he felt as though he was alone.
He was early to work the next morning and that, it seemed, alarmed Master Lancer more than him being late. He waved off the concerns though and got to work. The next few days followed the same, lifeless routine and it was distressingly painful to come home each day and have no one to talk to. His parents, still absorbed in their work below, had yet to notice Jazz’s departure and Danny was remiss to tell them. A part of him was burning with petty anger. Let them see. Let them see how much they had truly ignored them. It was an immature attitude he knew but Danny thought he had some entitlement to it.
And besides, it was hardly as though they would scold him for it. That would require them forsaking their research and focusing on him instead.
Which, perhaps, was why he was appropriately startled one day, a week after Jazz had left, to find his parents seated at the dining table upstairs. It was a heavy oak thing, carved by his mother’s sister, made for six but rarely seating more than two.
“Ma? Pa?” he asked as he edged into the room. “Is there something the matter?”
His father sighed and his mother hung her head slightly. “Our portal. It seems the wiring didn’t work as intended. It…I fear we’ll have to start again. From the ground up.”
Danny froze. “You have done so twice before. Surely that mea-”
“There is no ‘surely’ Daniel.” His mother’s snap was short, sharp. “We are dealing with a new, unknown science. There will be trials and there will be errors but there are no hard facts.”
“Then you cannot know for sure that ghosts even exist,” he countered.
She snorted. “That is the one thing we do know.”
“You do not. You have no proof!”
“Daniel,” his father warned.
“No!” he snapped. “I have watched you dedicate hours to this…farce for near twenty years! It has driven us bankrupt several times, it has ruined the reputation of our family, and is a cause of contention within this very house. Can you not see the rift it has created between you and me? You and Jazz?”
“You are old enough to support yourself,” was the reply.
“Now perhaps, but I was not always. And Jazz-”
“Daniel.” His mother cut him off. “It is not your place to lecture us, in any circumstance let alone this one. Your father and I have had a very trying day. We would like some peace. Please, control your temper. We can continue this discussion at a later time if you feel it necessary but we will only do so if you lose the attitude.”
He gaped at her before abruptly spinning on his heel. He slammed the kitchen door shut and marched down to the basement. He was no electrician, had no engineering abilities, but this was all pseudoscience irregardless. He could most likely strong arm the portal into working. And, if he could not, he would simply tear it apart, rivet by rivet. Either way, this would end tonight.
Donning the laboratory suit required, Danny powered up the lights. He ran a hand over the sketches, comparing them to the contraption in front of him. The blueprints matched near perfectly, each and every screw in place and not loose; he tested to make sure. The wiring ran into the main generator, the power switched to on. The doors were open and, at surface level, the tunnel itself seemed stable enough. A step or two in and everything still seemed as though it was in working order. That didn’t mean there wasn’t a problem further in, where the light didn’t reach. Doubling back, Danny grabbed one of the lanterns from his parents’ workstation, lighting it and holding it aloft with his right hand. Eerie shadows bounced off the metallic walls but he was undeterred, stepping back in with squared shoulders.
It was when he was a good three feet down that Danny noticed something off to the side. A lever. It had on and off written above and below and, most concerningly, it was still locked in the off position. Surely it should be on? That would make sense.
Reaching out, Danny put a hand on the lever. He threw it up into the on position and then he knew no more.
***
2024
“Please tell me that’s the last box.”
“It’s the last box,” Sam confirmed, not even caring when Tucker unceremoniously dropped his side. She followed suit seconds later, only nudge it over as much as need be so she could flop onto the floor.
“Sam, we haven’t swept yet,” Tucker groaned.
She casually flipped him off. “Don’t care. Tucker, we’re right on the Amity Park border. If anything’s going to kill me, it isn’t going to be dust on the floor.”
“If anything’s going to kill me, it’ll be walking about six flights of stairs every day.”
“That’s not going to be an every day thing,” she said and Sam was absolutely manifesting that because no, she would not be walking up six flights of stairs every day.
It had certainly been not a shock, but a great inconvenience, to pull up to their shared college apartment building and find the lift out of order. According to the notice taped to the metal doors, a ghost had cornered someone inside the day before and drained their energy so much so that they needed the hospital. The apartment’s manager was warning people to not use the lift for at least a week in case the ghost had made the elevator into their haunt.
“Do we have to wait a week though?” Tucker asked, slumping down beside her. “Can’t they just call some ghost hunters to do a once over?”
Sam shot him a glare. “And if there was one, they’d either kill it or capture it. It might not have fed so much on purpose. Ghosts are just dead people Tucker. They have as much right to be here as we are.”
“Some ghosts are born.”
“Doesn’t give them less rights.”
“It does when they take away my lifts,” he grumbled but there was a smile on his face that showed how much he was only joking. Which, of course he was. Sam wouldn’t have stayed friends with him if they’d disagreed over something as important as the rights of sentient beings. “Did you send your mom a picture of the notice?”
Sam snorted. “No, but I really should. Both my parents are so horrified I moved here. I think they actually thought I wouldn’t go through with it until I started loading the car this morning.”
“It’s like they don’t even know you.”
“I know right?”
But, in a way, Sam couldn’t exactly blame them. Not fully. Because Amity Park was dangerous. It was the epicentre of the blast that had rewritten ghost history as they’d known it back in the 1920s. The Amity Park Disaster was what had caused ghost portals to become a part of every day life; not to mention the ghost attacks that had come with them. And like a ripple effect, ghosts continued to be most frequent the closer one got to Amity Park. When Sam had told her parents that she was intending to attend City of Amity Park University, they’d both paled and immediately begun trying to talk her out of it even if the university itself was located outside of Amity Park.
Tucker’s parents hadn’t really been any different albeit to a lesser extent.
“The first time I have a lecture involving ectology, I’m sending through pics,” she said, corners of her lips quirking up.
Tucker rolled onto his stomach, propping his head up to look at her. “Okay, but what if they bring in an actual ghost to give a lecture? Like, you know, when you get into ghost rights?”
“Oh my god, yes! I’d actually die if they did that.”
“Hey, don’t joke about that here,” Tucker laughed, slapping her arm. “This close to Amity, saying it probably makes it so.”
“What, so you have wished it, so it will be and all that crap? I don’t think that’s how it works Tucker.”
“You never know!”
Sam conceded the point, reluctantly sitting up and looking around the living room of their apartment. Technically it was every room but the bedrooms and bathroom but still. Boxes were piled haphazardly, several appeared to be upside down, and Sam was pretty sure she’d left her duffel down in the car. A look at the time showed it to be nearing sunset and,
“Come on. Let’s unpack at least some of this. Then we can go out for dinner.”
“Pizza?”
“As long as it’s vegetarian.”
“...I’ll order two.”
“Good idea.”
***
It took them a good month to get settled in. After unpacking and setting up the apartment came discovering everything they hadn’t thought of - a rubbish bin, pegs, oven mitts, hampers. Then came orientation week and choosing their classes, trying to make their timetables as similar as possible while still following their respective degrees. And from there, there was the ordeal of attending classes in general and getting to know their classmates, the lecturers, and trying to understand college at all. The similarities between college and high school were hilariously small.
As such, Amity Park got pushed to the back of their minds; as much as it could be considering they could see it from their kitchen window and were not blind to the flashes of neon green that sparked sporadically throughout the night. There had been one ghost scare in their second week but even that had turned out to be a mindless blob ghost that campus security had been able to deal with. Most of their discussions about Amity Park were just throw away lines, tidbits overheard or discussed in class.
“Apparently the portal remains active to this day. No one’s been able to get in to turn it off.”
“There’s a ghost dog that sometimes runs through campus called Cujo. If you hurt him, it’s said a ghost will cut your tongue out.”
“My classmates said you can’t get into Amity Park because a ghost called Phantom stops you.”
“What, as in Ghost King Phantom?”
“Yeah, sure, the ghost king himself. No! Obviously it’s a different Phantom. I bet there are tons.”
“The second you stop foot in Amity Park, the temperature supposedly goes up twenty degrees.”
Undoubtedly the majority of them were probably embellished or stories told to frighten the newer students but Sam jotted each one down. Tucker knew she did so which was probably why he wasn’t too surprised when, one afternoon, she dropped down beside him, notebook in hand.
“So, for an assignment we have to write up a mock peace treaty to sign between us and the ghosts, specifically the ones in Amity Park. According to Professor Macrae, Amity Park has the highest number of “consistent ghosts”.”
Tucker frowned, clicking off his tablet. “What does that mean?”
“Something to do with the portal. It means that Amity Park has regulars. Ghosts that are there all the time. Or, pretty frequently. A lot of sentient ones too.”
“I mean, it’d make sense.”
“Right? So, I was thinking, to really build my case, I want to go and talk to some of them.”
Tucker stared at her for a long, long moment before groaning. “You want to go into Amity Park and talk to ghosts. Of course you do.”
“Come on!” she pressed, digging her toes into his thigh. “How good would it be to use actual quotes from actual ghosts? To get their genuine opinions on what rights they get?”
“What if they don’t even want to talk to you though? The Amity Park ghosts are supposed to be super violent. Especially Phantom. You probably won’t even get a foot over the border.”
Sam folded her arms tightly. “I still want to try. You’ll help me, right?”
Tucker groaned because of course he would. He was as curious as he was terrified. He shoved her feet off, which Sam went to complain about before he swivelled and dropped his head into her lap. Okay, yeah, she could deal with that. Would almost prefer it, really.
“I mean…” Tucker sighed. “We have to do a large scale 3D print model for one of our classes. I was thinking about doing a recreation of Amity Park pre-explosion. A lot of it was condemned and never rebuilt or knocked down. As long as I can photograph stuff, I’m in.”
“Dude, obviously! We’ll do your assignment as well as mine. And honestly Tuck, that’s such a kick ass idea.”
“Trust me, I’m well aware.”
She jokingly threatened to tip him over the side of the couch but Tucker just laughed, grabbing her arms and indicating that if he was going down, she was coming with him. Sam relented, settling back in and flipping through her notes once more. She gave him a sheepish smile.
“Would you be mad if I suggested we go now?”
“Sam, if you didn’t, I’d be worried. Just let me say my final prayers first.”
“Oh lay off,” she huffed, actually upending him this time. Tucker ended up in a heap on the floor, Sam stepping over him and scooping up her backpack. “I don’t think I’ll need anything other than my phone and notebook but you got any suggestions?”
“Don’t you have wrist rays?”
Sam pursed her lips. “Going in armed isn’t going to send a good message though, is it?”
“It’s more a precaution. You can use it to deter the blob ghosts. They can’t really be reasoned with, right?” he pointed out.
She sighed and slipped into her room, grabbing the wrist rays her parents refused to let her leave without. She slid one on and tossed the other to Tucker. He caught it easily as he got to his feet, collecting his tablet and rummaging for a charger and powerbank.
“Next time we go, we should have go pros.”
“Oh that is such a good idea.”
“I know,” Tucker said as he dumped a water bottle and a packet of doritos into his bag. “Someone has to be the brains around here.”
“Ha ha,” Sam said dryly. “Come on. I want to get over there before it gets dark.”
“You definitely won’t hear me complaining about that,” Tucker assured.
The lift, once again working, deposited them on the first floor. They unchained their bikes and turned the one way no one else ever did at the end of the apartment block: right. Took the right turn that led straight into Amity Park. The boundary line was clear, a concrete border in glaring black and yellow and even more glaring at night when the yellow parts glowed. Added protection so no one ever accidentally strayed too far, stepped too close, tempted the ghosts too much.
They pulled up right at the edge, Tucker sending Sam one last look. She met his gaze with fierce determination and then they were off, over, crossing that warning line.
The first thing Sam noted was that the rumours were not true and Amity Park was not any hotter than where they lived. Clearly that was a myth. But what people hadn’t talked about, the first thing that actively sucker punched her, was the atmosphere. It was painfully oppressive. She suddenly felt as though a million eyes were watching her and that the very air itself was pressing down on her. Her skin broke out in goosebumps and a cold sweat and it was taking every fibre of her being to not give into the instinct to run. It was as though the very town itself was screaming at her to get. out.
“Sam, I don’t like this anymore.”
“I don’t either,” she admitted. “But I don’t think we’re in danger.”
“Not in danger?” Tucker hissed incredulously. “This is the worst place I’ve ever been and I’ve only been here a second.”
“I know but I don’t see anyone.”
“Ghosts can go invisible!”
“If they wanted to hurt us they would. Come on, just a little further.”
Tucker grumbled but agreed. They pedalled down the main road, passing two blocks, then a third, and then coming to a stop at the fourth. It formed a crossroads and clearly looked like it had once been a popular, bustling intersection. The buildings on the corners were relatively sturdy for their age on two sides. The other two sides however…Both buildings looked as though they had been ripped apart, gouged from the back, with only the front facades weakly remaining standing. Everything beyond them spoke of destruction, and extremely violent destruction at that. Shattered windows, crumbling buildings, warped metal, and uprooted pavements.
“Holy fuck,” Tucker breathed.
Sam thought that quite about summed it up. Reading about the explosion was one thing. Seeing its devastation in real life? That was another thing entirely.
“It’s a wonder anyone survived,” she murmured, eyes raking over the uneven ground, the fallen debris, clearly having landed with considerable force.
Tucker shuddered. “How could anyone do something so horrible? They’d have to be a monster.”
Despite how much Sam knew whoever had done this - a person, a family, a team of scientists - had undoubtedly never predicted this outcome, she couldn’t help but agree.
That thought though, along with every other, suddenly vanished from her mind as a howling wind ripped through the street. She barely maintained balance on her bike. Tucker didn’t, crashing to the ground and struggling to push himself back to his knees. It was then that the superheated air slammed into them. The temperature change, it seemed, was not a myth.
“Sam, we have to go.”
“Y-yeah,” she stammered, yanking Tucker up and holding his bike as he clambered on. Coming towards them at an alarming pace was a black and white blur, neon green pin pricks suggesting where its eyes would be. “We really, really do.”
Tucker saw the ghost then, paling. He wasted no time in urging her forward and they both pedalled as though their lives depended on it. Most likely because they did. The wailing, screeching, howling wind followed them and Sam didn’t dare look back. Didn’t dare until they crossed the border, skidding to a stop on the other side and ignoring Tucker’s cry. True, the boundary didn’t stop ghosts but she had to see.
To her shock the ghost stopped right on its side of the line. It stared at her with glowing green eyes, white hair fanning out behind it. Its hands and feet hung limply, polar opposite to the way its teeth were bared, fangs glinting dangerously in the light.
It wasn’t hard to guess who he was.
“Phantom,” Sam whispered.
For one second, one tiniest split second, the ghost seemed to perk up before its scowl returned, snarl deep. Sam didn’t fight it when Tucker hooked a hand through her arm and began to tug her back. She did as asked, Phantom watching her every move, wary every time she paused, but she couldn’t help but think,
‘He looks so lonely.’
***