Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“How did you know that?” The girl next to him, his lab partner—Sam, if he remembered correctly—asked abruptly.

Danny looked up from the beaker in his hands and blinked at her. “Huh?”

“To add the acid. I don’t remember Mr. Falluca mentioning that.” She narrowed her eyes at him. “Did you steal the instructions beforehand or something?”

“Oh, uh—” Danny shot a quick look over his shoulder and met the glowing eyes and burnt face of the slightly see-through and very dead chemistry teacher that hovered behind him. He quickly looked away, but it didn’t stop the man from drifting slightly closer and starting to mutter formulas in Danny’s ear.

He tried to answer over the noise, begging his own voice to come out at a normal and acceptable volume, “My parents are experts in the field, they love chemistry and I’ve practically grown up in their lab.”

Which wasn’t a lie, just not the whole truth.

The girl, Sam, seemed to accept the answer as she nodded with a serious face. “Good thing that you’re my lab-partner for this semester then.”

Danny smiled. Sam didn’t return it. The man over his shoulder did, but Danny averted his eyes. Ever since his Accident last year he had come to the conclusion that the amount of attention he gave a ghost was directly proportional to how likely they were to stick around. Which meant that he had to be careful with who he encouraged, and a ghost who talked enough that Danny couldn't hear himself think wasn’t particularly high up on the list. It was hard enough to keep up with what was going on around him as it was. Apparently, he was something of a wonder to the ghosts who hadn’t interacted with humans in who knows how long.

I don’t feel like a wonder , Danny thought miserably as he ignored the fifth recitation of the periodic table just inches from his ear.

They worked on in silence, or what passed as silence for Danny, until it came time to heat the solution up. The ghost, who had been quite helpful thus far, suddenly seemed agitated. And when Danny turned on the Bunsen burner, he suddenly started shrieking. Right in Danny’s ear. Which, of course, made Danny jolt and drop the beaker. 

Sam yelled and leapt back as Danny watched in silent resignation as the beaker fell, hit the side of the desk, broke almost cleanly in half, and then spilled the whole of its contents over Sam’s notebook. The black ink that had been her notes floated out across the page.

She glowered at him. “Great job, butterfingers. That’s half our grade and my notes for the whole course.”

Danny kept his eyes on the broken beaker. They had almost gotten along.

The man continued to scream.

Danny turned the burner off. The man stopped screaming and went right back to talking about actual chemistry facts and random information about elements.

Their teacher bustled over, tutting and huffing and exclaiming over the state of their workbench and then proceeded to throw Sam’s notebook into the hazardous waste bin together with the broken beaker. As the teacher shuffled away, stating that they would have to sit back the rest of the class and to not touch anything else, Danny managed a weak, “Sorry.” He was sure that his voice came out too low, but couldn’t hear it over the ghost’s droning voice. “I’ll let you borrow my notes.”

Sam scoffed. “Of course you will. It’s your fault I lost mine.” That said, she snatched Danny’s notebook and gave his half-unintelligible scrawls a critical eye before stuffing it in her bag.

Danny really hoped she’d give it back.

He had thought he had been an outcast before, but then the Accident had happened. And then the ghosts had shown up.

No one else seemed to see them and no one else seemed to be able to talk to them or hear them. No one except Danny. And the ghosts knew it. And they never left him alone .

The small saving grace was that despite what it looked like from the outside, he was almost never truly alone.

Danny sent a look over at the kid that sat next to Sam who was diligently studying and completely black and white. Sidney joined Danny in most classes, taking notes as if he was still alive, and even though they didn’t talk that much, Danny still appreciated his company.

The man next to him leaned in closer, still muttering under his breath, and Danny discreetly tried to lean away from the encroaching smell of burnt flesh. He changed his mind; the saving grace was the fact that the ghosts couldn't actually touch him or any other human. Of course, that didn’t stop some of them from making his life a living hell.

Still, he tried to get as much use out of them as he could. Some of them seemed to genuinely want to share what they knew while some just wanted to talk to someone and unburden themselves. Some of the ghosts were willing to part with information in exchange for a listening ear. By now, Danny knew enough drama that had gone down in Amity Park to fuel several seasons of the juiciest TV-show.

Most just kept to their own routines, haunting family members or places they remembered from life. The first few weeks after the Accident had been chaotic, but now most ghosts seemed to have settled down and violent outbursts were rare and short, like the one from the chemistry teacher.

Then again, some of the ghosts seemed to dislike most humans and Danny was very grateful that they couldn't touch him or anyone else. Just imagining what would have happened otherwise made chills run down his spine.

On a happier note; he had gotten to know a fair few of them and now knew the dead part of the town better than the living. There was almost always at least one ghost hanging around. If he was lucky he ended up with someone like the chemistry teacher that had been haunting him for the last couple of hours; essentially benign and willing to share some of his knowledge—If Danny was able to piece it together through the never-ending muttering about formulas and substances that was a bit more advanced than the high school chemistry they were currently struggling through. And, of course, as long as Danny didn’t offend him, do something he didn’t approve of, or stumbled onto something that set him off, then the ghost wouldn’t go crazy on him. Lucky .

Needless to say, Danny wasn’t exactly doing great in school. Academically or socially.

He didn’t have any real friends and he tried to stay away from home whenever he could since the ghosts seemed to congregate there. Probably because of the damned portal in their basement. His parents still hadn’t managed to get it working again since his Accident but maybe the ghosts hoped for a way back to where they’d come from. Danny’s theory was that it had opened up a crack in the world as well as in him, and that was why he was the only one able to see them.

Or, maybe he’d just gone off the deep end. Who really knew? He didn’t like to think about it.

Danny left chemistry class without exchanging another word with Sam, which was probably for the best. Twenty minutes before the end of class the dead chemistry teacher seemed to have gotten bored of watching a bunch of inept kids fumble his favorite subject and left, sadly he had been replaced by a grinning chick with green hair and a red leather outfit who refused to step out of his personal space. Her hair glittered with splintered glass under the fluorescent lights and she dragged one bent leg behind her as she walked. He’d seen her before, usually hanging around the parking lot or the mall, but he’d never talked to her.

Danny paused outside the classroom and let out a long-suffering sigh at the woman who had stopped right in front of him, hands stuffed into the pockets of her torn leather skirt as she blocked the way. Sure, he couldn’t touch or walk into ghosts, but it still felt bad just going through them.

Danny raised one eyebrow at her and asked, “Hey, can you move?”

He ignored the strange looks he got from people passing him in the corridor. The woman smiled, “That’s so cute of you to ask!”

“That’s not an answer,” Danny noted.

Before the woman could reply, someone showed him from behind. “Dude! Move! You’re blocking the door!”

Danny stumbled forward, grimacing as he went right through her. She laughed.

Whispers broke out behind him. “Ew, don’t touch him! That’s Danny, you know the Fenton guy who’s haunted or something.”

“He’s so scary!”

“He’s just a freak.”

Danny started down the corridor, eyes down and shoulders hunched. The woman followed. Well. At least his newest companion didn’t seem to be causing any troub—

“How dare you!” Came a sudden shout from behind and Danny whirled around to come face to face with a blond guy with balled fists.

Spoke too soon.

Danny raised his hands in a placating manner. “I haven’t done anything.”

“You trying to steal my girl?!”

“Wha—?”

The man threw a punch and Danny flinched backwards before registering the fact that the fist went right through him, as well as the fact that the guy's head was bent at an impossible angle. Ah. Another ghost.

The woman laughed again. “Oh, Johnny! This is my new friend! He lives in the portal-house !” She sounded genuinely impressed as she said it, which wasn’t that strange; the portal was how they’d all been able to cross over into this world.

The man, Johnny, growled and threw another punch right through Danny as Danny shook his head. “I don’t even know her name! I promise, I don’t—”

“Danny? What the fuck are you doing?”

Danny froze and turned to find Sam standing in the corridor with a frown on her face and his notebook in her outstretched hand.

People— living people—didn’t usually come up and talk to him outside classes. Danny found himself tripping over his words as he said, “I’m… Just… Messing around?”

She sent the, to her, empty space around him a look before pressing her lips together and saying shortly, “Whatever. Here’s your notebook.”

The woman pouted as she walked over to hang from Johnny’s arm. “Why didn’t you say you were taken?” She turned up her nose. “She’s not as pretty as me.”

“Come one, let’s blow this joint,” Johnny said as he started walking away.

The woman waved as they walked away. “My name is Kitty, don’t forget it!”

“Danny?” Sam asked and Danny looked back to find her still holding out the notebook, both eyebrows raised.

He quickly grabbed it. “I thought you needed that?”

“I’ve made copies.” She took a step away, then stopped and turned back. “Who—who were you talking to?”

She was still talking to him! This was his chane to smooth over what had happened earlier, all he needed to do was to act normal. Which was why, before he could stop himself, he blurted out, “Ghosts?”

Sam paused and Danny braced himself for the mockery. Then she shrugged and said, “Cool,” and walked away. 

For once, Danny was the one left staring.

Chapter Text

Danny sat in class, trying to ignore the ghost floating to and fro in front of Mr. Lancer, blocking the whiteboard and rambling about technology. He knew this particular ghost: Technus. He was way too into all things electronic and spent a fair bit of time hanging around the lab at home, talking to the other ghosts there and trying to direct his parents from over their shoulders as they worked on the portal and their other inventions. Of course it never worked, and lately he had branched out to hunting Danny down in school and investigating what kind of technology modern teenagers used.

Considering the fact that his hair stood on end and he constantly emitted smoke, Danny would say he hadn't been very successful with electronics in life, but he wasn't really one to judge. It was a small miracle he hadn't ended up the same after his Accident.

Danny just did his best to ignore him. He really needed to get a good grade on his next test if he wanted to pass the class.

To his right sat Tucker, a guy Danny had been sort-of friends with before this whole disaster had begun. They hadn’t really talked since then, what with Danny constantly getting in trouble, talking to nothing, and not noticing what was going on around him. He guessed even a geek like Tucker drew the line at hanging out with someone shunned by the whole school. Not that Danny blamed him; he wouldn't want to hang out with him either.

Technus floated over to where Danny sat and started asking him questions about the phones people had out under the tables just as Mr. Lancer started going through the test for next Friday.

Danny grit his teeth in annoyance and tried to discreetly wave the ghost away, but as always, his attention only emboldened the ghost.

Danny hissed out, “Get lost!”

“What?” Mikey to his left said and Danny blinked back to reality.

He gave his classmate a stiff smile and an even stiffer, “Sorry. It’s nothing.” He turned back to face the front and shrank back from Technus essentially floating in his desk, face an inch from Danny’s own. Danny grimaced and whispered, “Move.”

Mr. Lancer’s voice came from somewhere behind Technus’ grinning face. “Daniel, no talking.”

Technus launched into another spiel about him being the master of everything electrical and Danny held back a groan. “Sorry, Mr. Lancer.” By the heads turned his way and the stifled laughter, he guessed he had shouted that last part.

God, his head hurt. By now, Technus blocked the whole board.

That was one thing about ghosts; they didn’t seem to really remember what it was like to be human.

Danny glanced to the side and caught sight of Tucker’s desk where he was taking notes on his PDA and started to copy the notes from there instead.

Technus seemed to catch on and turned his attention to Tucker instead. He reached for Tucker’s PDA as if to pluck it out of his hands and Danny was just about to look away, happy for the clear view of the whiteboard when the PDA sparked.

Tucker blinked “What the…?”

Danny felt cold wash over him. That couldn't have been Technus’ doing, could it?

Danny's eyes jumped to Technus and saw his eyes light up. Literally. 

“Finally!” Technus crowed as he reached both hands towards the PDA. 

Danny tensed. Nothing happened.

Danny was so busy panicking that he almost missed when Mr. Lancer told them to pair up and start on the assignment of the day.

When Danny pulled himself together enough to ignore Technus’ increasingly loud and intensifying monologue about being a master of technology, most of the class had already paired up for the exercise. 

Tucker was just turning to a couple of other students, but Danny couldn’t let this opportunity slip through his hands, he needed to figure out why Technus had maybe been able to interact with the PDA. Danny drew on all his—admittedly quite small—-reserves of bravery and said, “Hey, Tucker.”

Tucker looked up at him with furrowed eyebrows. “Yeah?”

“You wanna—You want to work together?”

And Danny saw the hesitation on Tucker’s face, but in the end he said, “Sure.”

As they started working, Danny tried to ignore Technus and his laser-focus on the PDA in Tucker’s hands as well as his continuous monologue that included a concerning amount of talk about world domination.

Tucker seemed to catch on to his split attention, because after a while he stopped taking notes to give Danny a curious glance. “Are you interested in my baby?”

Danny blinked. “Your what?”

Tucker lifted the PDA and wiggled it in the air. “ This baby! It's a modified PDA with 150 MB of RAM, Linux, and one terabyte of memory.”

“Oh, ri—right,” Danny stammered, unused to the attention of someone talking to him. He cast Technus another glance and—seeing him still fruitlessly focused on Tucker's PDA—he chanced a hesitant smile at Tucker. “Yeah, it's cool.”

“Here, hold it!”

Danny fumbled the device thrust into his hands. “No, I don’t know if that’s—”

Technus reached for it as well, eyes glowing, and this time the PDA sparked again and then the screen short circuited.

Danny felt cold all over. Technus had definitely affected the PDA. The ghost had actually touched something.

Tucker stared down at his PDA in Danny’s hands with growing horror. Then he looked up at Danny with accusation clear on his face. He snatched it back and looked it over again and again, trying in vain to turn it on. “What did you do?!”

“No!” Danny held his hands up in the air in front of him. “It wasn't me!”

Technus laughed, looking delighted. “Haha! I'm the master of all technology! I will show you all!”

Mr. Lancer cut in, “What’s going on back here?”

Tucker put the dead piece of technology down in front of him and gave Danny a nasty glare. “Danny broke my PDA.”

“No, I didn’t—”

“Mr. Fenton. We don’t take kindly to destroying other people’s property. Please stay after class.”

Technus laughed and whooped and then flew out of the classroom. If Danny had to guess, he was probably going to go haunt the electrical store down by the mall which seemed to be one of his favorite pastimes.

Danny was left with an angry classmate, a disappointed teacher, and a dead PDA. He sank down in his chair. “Yes, Mr. Lancer.”

“Now, you two, get back to work. You still need to finish the assignment.”

Tucker frowned and as soon as Mr. Lancer was out of earshot, he muttered. “I knew I shouldn’t have said yes. Let’s just work on half each, alright?”

“Yeah, alright,” Danny sighed and turned back to his notes.

“We can work on it together?” Sidney asked from where he sat on the floor a bit behind Danny with a slightly see-through notebook in his lap.

“Sure, what have you got?” Danny whispered.

Tucker gave him a weird look, but Sidney smiled and scooted closer to where Danny was sitting.

After class Danny stayed behind and Mr. Lancer didn’t waste any time before starting his lecture. “You can’t go around breaking other people’s things, Mr. Fenton.”

“I didn’t—”

Mr. Lancer cut him off with a stern, “Even if you didn’t mean to, it’s no excuse. I know you’re having problems with some of the other kids and with paying attention in class, but you’re too old to be acting out like this.” His voice turned softer as he continued, “You're a smart kid and I've seen what you can do when you put your mind to it.”

What I can do if I'm lucky with who haunts me for the day , Danny thought bitterly. 

There was a kind-looking older woman hanging out behind Mr. Lancer, having come into the classroom after Technus left. Thankfully she was a lot quieter and seemed content to mostly hang around their homeroom teacher. It wasn’t the first time Danny had noticed her, she seemed to like hanging around for some of the classes. Danny would bet she had known one of the students when she was alive.

She smiled at Danny. Danny smiled back.

“Mr. Fenton? Are you listening to me?”

Danny nodded, even though he really hadn’t been. “Yes, Mr. Lancer.”

Mr. Lancer raised a single eyebrow, expression telling Danny that he had been through this too many times to buy his lie. “Alright, then. What pages are you supposed to read?”

Danny hesitated.

The woman next to Mr. Lancer said, “Until page 150.”

Danny repeated it.

Mr. Lancer nodded, pleased. “Good. Make sure to pay the same amount of attention in class and you'll turn this whole thing around. Now, get to reading.”

“Yes, Mr. Lancer.”

The nice lady looked at Danny with sad eyes. He hated the pitying look she sent him. He wasn’t the one that was dead.

Danny turned his attention to his book, but before he could read more than one page, the old lady spoke up again. “I am so sorry to bother you, but can I ask you to do something for me?”

Danny hesitated. She had helped him, but giving the ghosts attention rarely led to something good. When the ghosts asked him to do stuff it was a 50/50 chance of them tricking him or doing it for their own gain or amusement.

The old woman drifted closer to him. “Please, young man. I just want to say something to my grandchild. Now that I’m stuck here I have to try and make the best of it.”

Now that I’m stuck here . When the portal had activated with Danny inside of it, it had only stayed open long enough for some ghosts to be thrown out into this world before promptly breaking down, taking with it any chance for the ghosts to get back to where they’d come from. He felt partly responsible for it, what with him being the one to turn the portal on. Intentionally or not.

So Danny cast Mr. Lancer a glance and when he saw him deep in his own book he dared to whisper, “Who?”

The woman brightened up and leaned in closer, as if to whisper to him even though Danny was the only one able to hear her. “Sam Manson. I believe you share some classes with her.”

Sam. Of course. He’d destroyed her notes and she’d seen him talking to nothing. Well, he couldn’t really make her think any less of him, so Danny reluctantly nodded. “What do you want me to tell her?”

“I need her to know that she’s strong enough to be herself even without me, that I’m proud of her,” she paused and blinked rapidly, swallowing thickly before continuing, “and that she’ll always be my bubeleh.”

Before he could stop himself, Danny promised, “I’ll tell her.”

“Thank you, young man.”

“Why don’t you stay with her?” Danny asked, puzzled by the clear love in the woman’s voice and the fact that he’d almost never seen her around Sam.

“No one wants their grandparent to hover over their shoulder all the time,” she laughed. “Besides, I don’t want to risk being close to her if I… Get lost.”

He was just about to ask her what she meant by get lost when she placed a hand on his shoulder and Danny’s whole body froze as he felt it; all five digits and a palm cold as death. It was only for a split second but in that moment Danny felt the woman’s hand flex in surprise and then tighten as if desperate to grab onto any semblance of life.

The hand fell through his shoulder and the woman disappeared. Danny sat still for the rest of the hour; not able to read a single word.

Chapter Text

Danny hurried home with a flurry of thoughts racing through his head. Technus had affected Tucker's PDA. The old woman had touched him . He had thought he had gotten used to the ghosts and what they meant, but now it was all changing. It was getting worse.

As he approached the house he thought he saw a flicker of green in his periphery and whipped around, but there was nothing there. Maybe he was truly going crazy. He tightened his grip on his backpack’s shoulder-straps and hurried his footsteps, almost running up to the front door.

What was he supposed to do?! He needed help, but there was no one he could talk to about this. The only people who could theoretically help were his parents, and, well… He had tried talking to them before without success. They hadn't believed him when he told them about the ghosts, only stating that they would have seen them if they were really there. Then they blamed his Accident for making him scared of the portal and everything to do with ghosts, but never asked how they could help.

He didn’t even think they had noticed his detentions. His sleepless nights. His jumpiness.

His loneliness.

Even so, he didn’t have anyone else. Jazz was out of town, having graduated early and gotten into her dream school, and even though Danny was happy for her he felt more alone than ever. If only he had a friend, someone on his side.

But he didn’t, so he once again found himself at the top of the stairs leading down to the basement and his parents. And the portal. Maybe this time he could do better; maybe if he asked the right questions they would listen, maybe they would help him.

The stairs creaked under his weight as he walked down, steps slowing down at the sound of bustling activity below. Danny took a deep breath before he reached the bottom, steeling himself and then pushing through. “Mom? Dad?” Then he stopped just inside at the sight before him. “What are you doing?”

“Dann-o!” Jack exclaimed happily, waving a wrench over his head from his position halfway into the portal.

Maddie smiled as she fired up a blowtorch, the light of it illuminating something silver and green in his peripheral before he turned to look and it was gone. Maddie waved the torch around and said, “We’re just making some upgrades. Finalizing the design.”

The ghost that always hung around them, Vlad, waved distractedly from where he was pouring over some notes left out on one of the workbenches.

“But—” Danny cut himself off as he stared at the machine that nearly took his life. “Why?” Hadn’t it done enough harm? He thought, but didn’t say.

“It’ll be fine! We’ll get this sucker back in working order in no time!”

Vlad sent him a pitying look. Danny knew that the ghost had been a friend of his parents in college and also that he hadn’t been as lucky as him when he’d had an accident with an earlier version of the portal.

He shuddered and averted his eyes from the blisters and sores covering all visible areas of the ghost's body, trying not to imagine what that would have felt like.

“Great,” Danny said weakly. “Can you... not do that?”

His parents looked at him with questioning expressions. Jack tilted his head like a confused puppy. “What do you mean, son?”

Maddie gave him a reassuring smile. “I know you’re a bit… jumpy around the portal since your accident, but nothing is going to happen, baby.”

If the portal had let so many ghosts through the first time and then trapped them here, who knew what would happen if they did it a second time?

“Is the portal a… one way street?”

“No, silly, of course not!” Maddie laughed. “We need to be able to access the Ghost Zone to get more specimens.”

Vlad looked uncomfortable.

Okay, the fact that the portal hadn’t worked as planned wasn’t really news. “What would happen if ghosts got stuck here and couldn’t get back?”

Maddie tapped her chin with the blowtorch, thankfully extinguished by now. “That’s an interesting question, baby! I guess without a steady supply of ectoplasm they wouldn’t have a way of getting energy except through humans.”

“Wouldn’t that be… bad?”

Jack perked up. “Yes! Or, I mean, everything about ghosts are bad, but this is just evil! Imagine them eating your emotions like some kind of evil leech!” He ended with a wide smile.

Maddie nodded. “We’ve theorized about ghosts not having any actual emotions and living off of humans’ instead, this would just be that but to the extreme.”

Maddie nodded and added, “Theoretically, of course. We would end them far before anything like that happened.”

“Of course,” Danny agreed faintly. Maybe this was the reason as to why the ghosts had started changing. He knew that ghosts had emotions—he’d been around them too much not to—but they had started acting more unpredictably lately. Maybe they were deficient in ectoplasm?

“We know you’re scared, but there’s nothing to worry about!” Jack beamed at him.

Danny ignored him and asked, “Is there a way to get ectoplasm?” Maybe if he could make sure they got enough ectoplasm to stay stable, then they wouldn’t change.

“Not yet,” Maddie immediately answered, “The only source of ectoplasm is the Ghost Zone, but we need to get the portal up and running before we can go there.”

Ah. He was screwed, then. If the portal started back up, it would probably trap even more ghosts here, but if it didn’t, the ghosts stuck here couldn't get any ectoplasm and would deteriorate further.

Maybe he could make ectoplasm? Maybe there was a substitute? “Is there a way to—?” Danny cut himself off. The flicker of green was back, and this time it stayed, revealing itself to be a ghost with flaming green hair and metal body. Several bullet holes had punched through the metal, but considering that the ghost didn't seem to pay them any mind, Danny felt safe in assuming they had happened before his death. Or during, more likely.

The ghost fixed Danny with a piercing look and when Danny met his gaze straight on, he broke out into a predatory smile. “So you really can see me?”

“Ghost,” Danny breathed out, suddenly feeling woozy. Normally the ghosts fixated on him as the only one able to see them, as the only one they could communicate with; their only link to the human world. This one looked at him like prey, like something to hunt .

“Ghosts?” Jack asked as he looked around.

Maddie shook her head. “Honey, we’re happy that you’ve taken an interest in our research, but ghosts aren’t here right now. We would know.” She flipped her goggles back down and started her torch again, and just like that, both his parents forgot he was even there.

Danny looked away from the ghost, instinctively searching for something he could use to defend himself. The ghost drifted closer, head tilted in consideration. “A human who can see ghosts. That makes you rare, which makes you my prey.”

Danny really didn’t like the sound of that. 

He can’t touch me , he can’t touch me , he repeated to himself as he desperately tried to push the phantom feeling of a cold hand grabbing his shoulder out of his head. There was nothing around him except his paren’ts tools and blueprints. Danny grabbed a screwdriver in both hands and turned back to face the ghost just as he reached out a hand as if to grab him. Danny flinched backwards, screwdriver raised uselessly in front of him and eyes locked on the ghost’s metal hand and then, just as it was about to reach him, a hand shot out from behind Danny and grabbed it tightly. Danny’s gaze jumped up and back, landing on a scowling Vlad.

“Don’t you dare touch him,” Vlad growled and Danny noticed his eyes glowing slightly red, his fangs elongating. Danny took a small step back, shocked by his sudden departure from his usual human appearance, and for the first time Danny felt a bit scared of him. He’d never heard Vlad sound so angry before.

The ghost snatched his hand back from Vlad and floated backwards. He glared at Danny as he snarled, “This isn’t over. I will hunt you down and take your hide when you least expect it, when you don’t have your guard dog here to protect you,” he spat at Vlad. “I’m the Ghost Zone’s greatest hunter, Skulker, and I’ll see you again soon.” He smiled wide, teeth showing. “But you won’t see me.”

And then he disappeared.

Vlad immediately stepped back and took a few deep breaths. “Sorry. I just couldn’t let him hurt something that’s mi—That I care about.”

“I—Yeah, thanks.”

“What was that, son?!” Jack called from where he was back in the portal.

Danny broke eye-contact with Vlad, now back to his normal almost-human appearance, to gaze imploringly at his parents. “If ghosts were in the human realm, how would one get them back into the ghost zone?” He hoped they wouldn’t be able to see him shaking.

“Back?! If they were here, then we would make sure to study them!”

Danny bit back his growing frustration and fear. “And how would you send them back when you were done studying them??”

“We would just destroy them. They’re evil, son. It’s best to just get rid of them.”

Vlad winced and looked down.

Danny thought about the kind old lady next to Mr. Lancer, the old man who had helped him pass math last semester, the chemistry teacher who helped and hindered him in equal measure, Kitty and her big smile, Sidney and his determined studying, Vlad and his protectiveness. They weren’t all evil. A bit strange, a bit sad, sure, but not evil . He didn’t know if he would be able to make himself destroy them.

“But can you make them go back?” Danny asked with more desperation in his voice.

Jack laughed, walking over and clapping Danny on the shoulder. Danny tried not to flinch when the hand connected. “I guess we could scare them all back with our fearsome inventions! We would just have to make sure to capture a few first!”

Vlad growled, stepping in as if to protect him from his own dad, but this time his hand went right through Jack’s.

“But then, how would you capture a ghost?” Danny asked.

Maddie smiled wide. “Oh, honey! I didn’t know you’d taken such an interest in ghosts!”

Jack held up what looked like a thermos, “You can use this to suck the suckers in and trap them until we can run some tests on them! Or,” and here he reached down to get a green bat, “to put them out of their misery, you can use our Fenton Anti-Creep stick!” Jack mimicked swinging the bat at something, “Just whack and the ghost is a puddle of ecto! And we’re also working on this new ectogun that’ll be able to zap them!”

Danny eyed the inventions and thought about the ghost Skulker who was apparently dead-set on hunting him down. “Can I borrow them? I wanna show the people at school how cool your inventions are.”

Maddie seemed to think. “Hm, educating the children is important. Sure! You can borrow the Fenton Anti-Creep stick. Just be careful you don’t hurt anyone, alright?”

“What about the gun?” He would feel a bit better having something more on him than just a painted baseball bat.

Maddie shook her head, “The ectogun isn’t done yet, honey. But maybe you can borrow the Fenton Thermos if you want?”

Danny eyes the thermos with a green Fenton-works logo painted on the side and shrugged. “Sure, why not. Thanks.” Danny grabbed the thermos and the baseball bat, praying that it worked better than the portal had

Vlad sent him a quick, wary look. “Be careful with that, alright?”

Danny nodded. He wasn’t surprised that Vlad didn’t offer to come with him, instead keeping his eyes on Maddie as she worked.

Danny looked at his parents, already back to working on the portal, and then walked back up the stairs. If no one would help him, then he would just have to help the ghosts himself. And make sure they didn’t hurt anyone.

At least he was never completely alone.

The next day, Danny walked to school with a thermos at the bottom of his bag, a bat sticking out the top of it, and a girl with a guitar and a ponytail that flickered like flames at his side. She had fallen in line with him as soon as he exited the house and had talked his ear off about music ever since. The distraction worked wonders in settling his nerves. Her name was Ember and she hadn’t tried to touch him even once. Danny thought her name was very fitting, what with her flaming hair and the burns covering most of her visible skin.

And then, before he got to school she peeled off with a “See you later, baby pop!” thrown over her shoulder, leaving him to walk into the crowded corridors alone.

Danny gripped the strap of his bag hard enough to hurt, wishing he could bring out his bat without getting in trouble. He hoped he wouldn’t need to use it, but he refused to be helpless if another ghost decided to—

Suddenly he was startled by a hand shooting out through his face from the back. Danny jumped and dropped his backpack, the bat clattering across the floor. He whipped around only to come face to face with the same ghost that had confronted him in the lab yesterday. Skulker.

Nonsensically, he thought that if his parents had been right about ghosts eating emotions, then he hoped his fear tasted foul. If it did, the ghost didn’t show it as he grinned maniacally as he pulled his hand back. “Not going to be that easy, huh? I like that.”

Dash, who had been walking past, stopped and laughed. “Ha! You’re scared of your own shadow now? Why don't you try talking to it ?”

“Lay off him, Dash,” a voice from next to Danny said and he looked over to see Sam step in between him and Dash.

Danny cast a glance at Skulker who was at least temporarily distracted as he eyed the confrontation with glee. Maybe he could reach his backpack and the thermos in it? Would it even work?

The bat was a no-go, laying on the floor on the other side of Sam, but the backpack was a maybe if he was fast enough. Then again, how much help would a thermos be in a fight?

“Hey, don’t block the corridor,” Tucker’s distracted voice cut through the thick atmosphere. Danny looked over to see him tapping away at his PDA before looking up at the gathering of people. He blinked. “What’s going on?”

Danny wondered the same. A distant part of him was glad to see that Tucker had evidently gotten the PDA to work again.

Sam crossed her arms. “Dash is being pathetic and picking on Danny.”

Danny didn’t know if he should feel insulted over that or grateful that she was standing up for him.

“Pathetic?!” Dash screeched, “I’m not pathetic! He’s just a freak! Everyone knows it!”

“Yeah, you’re just a weak little boy,” Sam sneered as she picked up the fallen bat. “Or, what? You’re scared of him?”

Tucker snorted.

It was almost like they were standing up for him.

Dash scoffed and puffed out his chest as he proudly proclaimed, “Pfft, of Danny?! Yeah, right!” he leaned around Sam to call to Danny, “Just get over here and I’ll show you just how much I can whoop your ass in a fight! I could take anyone in this weak-ass school.”

Which made Skulker zero in on Dash with a predatory smile. “Ha! Let’s see about that!” Which meant that Danny’s grace-period was up.

Green energy started gathering in the ghost’s hand, dripping through his fingers and sizzling on the floor where it landed.

Distantly, Danny heard Tucker mutter out, “What the…?” but he was too focused on the way Skulker raised his arm as if to throw the green glob of energy right at Dash, and Danny—who no matter how much he disliked Dash didn’t want to see him melted first thing on a Thursday morning—lunged towards his bully and pushed him as hard as he could to the side.

Dash let out a yell of surprise as he toppled over backwards and Danny followed, feeling the displaced air and warmth of the green energy passing right above them and then—

Going right through the lockers as if they weren’t there.

Skulker swore at the same time as Dash.

Dash showed Danny off. “What the fuck do you think you're doing?! That’s gonna bruise.”

“Saving your life,” Danny said as he unsteadily got to his feet, taking a small amount of pleasure at the red cheek Dash was sporting from where he had slammed into the locker.

Dash balled his fists. “From who ?! Are you actually stupid?!”

Danny looked around and took in Sam and Tucker’s wide-eyed stare, the few onlookers who were all looking at Danny as if he was crazy, the empty space where Skulker had floated. The absence of the ghost didn’t make Danny feel any safer.

“What’s going on here?” Came a sudden stern voice from behind. Danny turned to see Mr. Lancer as he pushed his way through the small gathering of students that had congregated in the corridor.

“Mr. Lancer! They tried to kill me!” Dash said in a whiny tone of voice he only ever used in front of teachers as he gestured to all three of them.

Mr. Lancer glanced from Dash’s red cheek, to Danny, to Sam and the bat in her hands, and lastly to Tucker who had picked up Danny’s backpack in the scuffle, and then said angrily, “Ms. Manson, Mr. Foley, Mr. Fenton? All three of you, meet me after school is out.”

“What?! Just like that? That’s unfair!” Sam said indignantly.

“I won’t hear any arguments!” Mr. Lancer said, and that was that. “Now get to class!” And then he stormed off.

Tucker groaned. “Really? Why did we get detention?!”

“Thanks, ghost boy.” Sam sneered.

And now he’d destroyed all the chances of them ever becoming friends. Great.

Chapter Text

As the corridor slowly emptied of the people who had hung around to watch the commotion, Danny got a last glower from Dash promising painful payback. He ignored him and instead sidled up to Sam before carefully asking, “So… Can I have my bat back?”

He didn’t like the idea of going around empty handed when he had at least one ghost who had proudly proclaimed to be hunting him for sports. Not that he really thought a bat would do much more than making him feel better, but he would take what he could get.

Sam seemed to think about it for a second, before handing it back to him. “You owe me for landing me in detention.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.” Danny winced as he accepted his bat. He knew that other kids had to be worried about their parents actually noticing and caring about their school life and he hoped he hadn’t gotten Sam into trouble at home as well. “I hope your parents won’t be too mad.”

For some reason, this made Sam smile. “Oh, they will be furious.”

Tucker, from next to them, groaned. “My parents are gonna freak!” But he held out Danny’s bag for him to take, so Danny guessed he wasn’t too upset about it. Really, he was mostly surprised Tucker was even talking to him.

“Sorry,” Danny repeated uselessly as he accepted it, trying to stuff the bat back into it. 

Tucker got a glint in his eye right before poking Danny in the chest. “More importantly, I still haven’t forgiven you for messing with my baby!”

Danny tried not to let on how much it startled him that the finger connected. How long had it been since someone who actually could touch him had tried to? “What? No, it was—” Danny shut his mouth with an audible click. He couldn't say that it was a ghost; he didn’t want Tucker to think he was crazy too.

“It was what?” Tucker asked, raising a single eyebrow. “A ghost?”

Ah. That ship had already sailed, huh. Not surprising considering the rumors about him in school, but still.

Fuck it. He couldn’t really make less of a good impression than he already had, so he shrugged and said, “Yes, actually.”

Danny braced himself for it, but Tucker didn’t laugh. He simply stared at Danny with a thoughtful expression.

“I’m glad to see you were able to get it to work again?” Danny tried.

Tucker scoffed, turning up his nose. “Of course I did. I’m the master of technology.”

Oh no, not another one.

Before Danny could answer, Sam and Tucker exchanged a look before Tucker said, “But we want some explanations.”

Danny slumped. “That’s fair.”

Sam crossed her arms. “So. You can see dead people?”

Danny nodded.

She hummed. “That’s pretty cool.”

Danny shrugged with a grimace. “Not really.”

The bell rang and Danny jumped, but this time he managed to keep his hold on his bag.

“Alright, losers. Let’s continue this later. See you in class,” Sam called over her shoulder as she strode down the corridor.

“And in detention!” Tucker said with a wave as he went in the opposite direction.

Danny ducked his head to hide a smile. He’d never felt happy about getting detention before.

The only class all three of them shared was the last class of the day; Math. Funny how Danny hadn’t really noticed them before. To be fair; he hadn’t really had a reason to notice any students except the ones who’d made it a habit to pick on him.

There were still a few minutes until class started and Danny hesitated in the door, unsure if they would want him to approach them in public or not. Before he could talk himself into a small panic attack, Sam and Tucker both sidled up to him at the edge of the classroom.

Tucker didn’t waste any time before asking, “Okay. So what was that?”

“What was what?” Danny blinked in confusion.

“The floor-melting green stuff?!” Tucker exclaimed, loud enough to draw a few curious looks their way.

“You could see it??” Danny asked, a small part of him relieved at hearing someone else acknowledge it as real.

Tucker frowned. “Yes? Of course I could see it! What was it?!”

“I—I’m not sure.” Danny said, “I’ve never seen it before.”

Sam jumped in, “But you seemed to know it was coming? What with pushing Dash into the lockers. Nice tackle, by the way.”

“Thanks,” Danny said as he rubbed the back of his neck, “I mean, yeah. The gh—” He cut himself off, not wanting to say it out loud in a crowded classroom.

“The ghost?” Sam asked without hesitation.

Danny nodded. “... The ghost was doing it.”

Tucker leaned in closer. “How?”

“I don’t know, I've never seen one do that before.”

Sam narrowed her eyes at him, but before she or Tucker could ask anything else, Mr. Lancer cut in with a, “Quiet in class!”

They settled into their chairs and took out their books. Danny saw the old woman at the front of the class again. She was looking at Sam with a fond expression, before giving Danny a meaningful look when she caught his eye.

He remembered her hand on his shoulder, the tight grip. He nodded and hoped Sam wouldn’t think he was completely crazy after he delivered her message. The old woman disappeared.

For once, Danny was looking forward to spending time with people. He felt lighter than he had in a long time, which of course meant that it wasn’t long before something went wrong. 

It hadn’t even been ten minutes before he caught a flicker of green in his peripheral, and before he could blink a shot of something green went through Danny’s head, making him flinch.

Danny turned to see Skulker floating just behind him, grinning. He remembered his conversation with his parents the day before. Don’t be afraid, it will only make things worse . Don’t be afraid , he reminded himself as his hand slowly inched towards his backpack.

“Mr. Fenton. No phones during class,” Mr. Lancer said sternly.

Well, if he couldn’t do anything about it, then Danny would settle for keeping his eyes on the ghost while simultaneously trying to listen to what Mr. Lancer was saying. Which was hard when Skulker was screaming in his face. “And I will hunt you to the end of—!”

“Mr. Fenton, can you answer the—”

“—the world, and I will not stop until—”

“—from page 34?”

“—I have your head on my wall!”

Danny sucked in a deep breath. Let it out.

This was hell.

“Sorry, Mr. Lancer. Can you repeat that?”

“Mr. Fenton. Please pay attention.”

He was trying.

Sam and Tucker kept sending him weird looks and Danny wanted to melt through the floor. Thankfully, for some reason, Skulker didn’t seem to be able to touch him this time. Still, it felt like an eternity before class was over. 

As soon as class let out, Sam and Tucker went up to him. Sam didn’t waste any time before asking, “There was a ghost, right?”

“Huh?” Danny asked with his head pounding.

Skulker had finally given up after the tenth time of failing to shoot Danny point blank.

“A ghost? In class?” Sam asked again.

“Oh. Yeah. How did you know?” No one had ever noticed before. Maybe… Maybe he wasn’t the only one who…?

Sam looked around her as if searching for something. “You kept tracking something with your eyes that wasn’t there.”

Oh. So no luck in having someone else seeing the ghosts then. But someone seeing him ? And noticing stuff? That was new. 

“So you believe me?” Danny asked, hating how hopeful he sounded, how desperate.

Sam and Tucker exchanged a look before Tucker shrugged and said, “Yeah.” Then he crossed his arms. “But we still haven’t forgiven you.”

“That’s fair.”

“So,” Tucker tapped his fingers on his arm, eyebrows raised expectantly, “How are you going to make it up to us?”

Danny blinked, but he was too tired to think. “I can… What do you want?”

Tucker pushed his glasses up his nose. “You can show us some of your parents’ tech.”

Sam groaned. “Or, something a bit less nerdy. Tell us about ghosts.”

Danny looked between them. They were… actually serious? They wanted to know about his family? About ghosts? About his life? They wanted to talk to him? “I—I don’t really know where to start.”

“Well, is this what you do?” Sam asked with a vague gesture around them. “Go around talking to ghosts? Is that why you’re so…?”

“Weird? Shunned? Bullied? An outcast?” Danny tried.

“Sure,” Sam agreed easily. Weirdly enough it made Danny relax. At least they weren’t trying to wave it all off.

“I mean, yeah. It’s a bit hard to hang with people when someone else is always there.”

Sam scoffed. “I can imagine.”

It was weird talking about it openly. Even so, having someone else knowing about the ghosts, believing him, and not shunning him was more freeing than Danny had thought.

“Is the ghost still here?” Tucker asked with wide eyes, glancing around the room.

“Not right now, thank god. He got bored.”

“He?”

“His name is Skulker, apparently. He’s a ghost that started hunting me last night. He’s… a bit intense.”

“What do you mean hunting you?”

“I think he wants to skin me,” Danny said, ending it with a laugh that sounded slightly hysterical even to him.

Tucker made a disgusted face. “Why do you say that?”

Danny threw his hands in the air. “He never shuts up about it!”

“That’s…” Sam trailed off, seemingly unsure how to continue her sentence.

Danny decided to help her out. “Not great.”

“Not what I thought it would be like,” Sam landed on. “No wonder you always look dead on your feet. No pun intended.”

“It’s not always bad. It’s just—” Danny paused, searched for words. “I think they might have gotten a bit worse lately.”

“Why?” Tucker asked.

“I think—I think being here makes them… unstable.” What was the word his parents had used? “It would make them devolve.”

Sam hummed. “So what's the plan?”

Danny blinked in surprise. “You're gonna help me?”

Sam laughed, sounding incredulous as she said, “This is the most interesting thing that's ever happened in this school. Of course I’ll help.”

Tucker nodded. “As long as you promise to show me the tech.”

“Alright,” Danny said, not about to argue with them. “I think we need to send them back, or find a way to get them ectoplasm. You know, the stuff ghosts are made of? Otherwise they kind of… Live off of people’s emotions?”

“They eat my emotions?!” Tucker gasped out, grasping at his chest as if he could keep them all inside.

Danny made a so-so gesture with his hand. “It’s more that they live off the energy of them, I guess?”

Sam hummed in thought. “You said send them back . Back where?”

“Where they came from. The Ghost Zone.”

Sam leaned in, clearly intrigued. “How do we do that?”

“Yeah?” Tucker added with a frown, “How would we send them anywhere if we can't even touch them?”

“I—I’m not sure. Maybe we should start by going by my place and picking up some ghost fighting equipment?”

Tucker’s eyes lit up. “You have ghost fighting equipment ? Why didn’t you say so?!”

“I have some in my bag,” Danny said, suddenly feeling bashful, “but maybe we can wait until I show you the real stuff at home.”

Tucker almost jumped in place, a giddy smile on his face. “I can't wait!”

“That’s cool,” Sam said with a decisive nod, and that was that.

Detention flew by fast and before he knew it, he was walking home with two people by his side. Two living people!

For once, there were no ghosts in sight.

Danny stopped on the sidewalk right outside his house. Sam and Tucker stopped next to him, sending him questioning glances. “Wait. First. Before we go inside, I have to—I made a promise.”

“Okay...?” Tucker drew the word out.

Danny turned to Sam. “I promised to tell you something.”

She raised one eyebrow. “Alright? From whom?”

“From your grandma, I think?”

Sam waved him off. “That's impossible. She died, like, five years ago.”

“Yeah…”

“Stop. No.” Sam took a step back. “That's not funny.”

“I—”

“You can't joke about that!”

“I'm not!” Danny insisted and when it looked like Sam was on the verge on walking away, he decided to just plunge ahead and say it, “She told me to tell you that you would be fine because you were strong, that she was proud of you for being yourself and—” And here he hesitated, struggling with remembering what she’d said, “she called you a… bubble?”

Sam had stopped short with her back facing them. “Bubeleh,” Sam said with a thick voice. “She always called me bubeleh.”

Danny wasn’t sure what he should say. He’d never had to deliver a message like this before. So he decided to tell Sam all he knew. “I see her around sometime. She seems to like to hang around in school and look after everyone the most, but sometimes I see her riding a motorcycle with some of the other ghosts down by the library.”

Sam laughed wetly as she turned back around. “That sounds like her.”

Danny smiled. “She always goes the fastest.”

“Of course she does,” Sam said with a nod. “She was the coolest.”

“No messages for me?” Tucker asked with a pout, breaking the heavy atmosphere.

Danny laughed, “Any relatives you’re waiting to hear from?”

“Are you an answering machine now?”

Danny put on a robotic voice, “You have reached Daniel Fenton, please leave your message after death.”

They all giggled as Danny raised his hand and opened the front door, leading them all inside.

He led Sam and Tucker down into the lab, and somehow their presence made the cold metal of the room and the ever-present portal easier to handle. Danny stayed close to them and their warmth as they stepped off the stairs and he cleared his throat before calling out, “Mom? Dad? I—”

“That's great honey!” Maddie cut him off from halfway inside a giant tube. Jack was wrist-deep in the wiring at its side. Neither of them looked up. 

Sam and Tucker both sent him looks which Danny decided to interpret as supportive. He tried again, “I brought some—” and then he cut himself off. What were they? They weren't friends , exactly. They barely knew each other. 

Sam stepped forward. “We're Danny's classmates. It's nice to meet you.”

Danny had never heard her sound so polite before and considering Tucker’s surprised face, neither had he.

But it seemed to work as both Maddie and Jack popped out and up, immediately focusing on the three of them. Maddie walked towards them, dragging Jack with her, and stopped in front of them with clasped hands and a delighted expression on her face, “From school?”

“And you came here?” Jack leaned in close with a wide smile, “With Danny-boy?”

Over Jack’s shoulder, Danny caught sight of Vlad sending him a sympathetic look.

Sam took a small step back from them as Tucker gave a hesitant nod.

Maddie clapped her hands. “Oh! Welcome!”

They could at least pretend to be less surprised. 

“Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Fenton. It's nice to meet you, and to see your lab” Tucker said and Danny didn't think he imagined the hint of awe in his voice as he looked around the room with wide eyes. 

Which, of course, only made them beam more. Jack clapped Tucker on the back, sending him stumbling as he boomed, “Make yourselves at home!”

“Excuse the mess,” Maddie added with a wave of her hand, “We're in the middle of a project, you know how it is.”

Jack nodded. “Oh! We'll go and get you something to drink.” And then, before waiting for their reply, he bounded up the stairs with Maddie following. From the stairs, he heard his father’s loud voice trying to whisper, “That’s what you're supposed to do when they bring friends over, right?” and hoped in vain that Tucker and Sam were too distracted by the lab to hear him.

When silence descended, Sam walked slowly towards the portal at the back of the room. “What is that?”

Danny followed, uneasy. He tried to sound casual as he said, “It’s a broken portal to the Ghost Zone.”

“That's an interdimensional portal?” Tucker asked in a high, squeaky voice, taking a small step back.

“Yeah,” Danny said, voice hoarse. “Or, not right now.”

“Cool, cool, that's great ,” Tucker muttered, clearly scared, but still fascinated enough to keep his eyes fixed on it. The down-side of knowing enough to realize how much power went into something like this, and the danger it posed, Danny thought wryly, grabbing his right hand that still hurt periodically ever since his own realization of these facts.

“That is so goth,” Sam said with sparkling eyes. “How did it break?”

Nope! Not touching that subject with a ten-foot pole . Instead, Danny gestured to the table at the back that was laden with scraps, half-finished inventions, and a few actually working ones. “Let’s go through this and see if we find anything we can use.” He hoped they couldn’t see the way his hands shook.

Tucker seemed happy with the change of topic as he immediately picked up a Fenton Thermos and spun it around in his hands. “What’s this?”

“It’s a Fenton Thermos!” Danny said happily, relieved to have a question he could easily answer.

“A thermos?” Sam asked with a frown. “But how does it work?”

Okay, maybe not so easy answers. “I don’t know? It just… sucks them in.”

Tucker raised an unimpressed eyebrow. “ Sucks them in is not a very technical term.”

“Well, that’s how it works!” Danny threw his hands up in the air. “I have one in my bag, but I haven’t used it yet.”

Thankfully his parents came back before Sam or Tucker had the chance of asking any more questions, bounding down the stairs with brownies and something that Danny sincerely hoped was tea or lemonade, despite the vivid green color of it.

Maddie immediately clocked them standing over their inventions and asked, with a bit too much intensity to be casual, “You guys are interested in our inventions?”

Tucker nodded, bobble-head fast, “Yes, very!”

“And ghosts,” Sam added. 

Danny groaned. “Well, I hope you didn't have anything else planned for today.”

Maddie picked up one of the ectoguns, “Well, this right here is our newest invention! It’s still just a prototype, but it’ll be able to actually shoot ghosts!”

Danny really had to try and stea— borrow —that one. A way of actually being able to protect himself from ghosts? Sign him up.

Jack raised a fishing pole. “And this is the Fenton Ghost Fisher!”

“What does it do?” Tucker asked with shining eyes, almost jumping on his feet from enthusiasm.

“It can fish ghosts!” Jack said proudly, holding the fishing rod out in front of  him like a sword.

Danny could see some of Tucker’s enthusiasm die. “Ah, of course.”

“I’m more interested in knowing about ghosts,” Sam interjected.

Maddie clapped her hands in delight. “Well, first thing to know is that all ghosts are evil, and the second thing to know is—”

Danny tuned them out.

Chapter Text

The next few days were… weird. Which was saying something coming from a kid haunted by ghosts.

Danny started his mornings by packing his bat, his thermos, and his books, and then he went to school and met up with Sam and Tucker. He kept expecting them to get bored and not wait for him at the lockers anymore, but they did. Every day.

Danny knew they were probably just hanging out with him because they pitied him, but he wasn’t above taking full advantage of it while it lasted.

It was almost like having real, living friends.

Admittedly, they had been a bit disappointed when the ghost hunting equipment proved to mostly be painted bats and kitchen appliances, but Danny had managed to nab the prototype ectogun when his parents had been distracted telling Sam and Tucker everything they wanted to know—and everything they didn’t want to know—about ghosts. Sam had gladly picked up one of the bats and was carrying it around a bit too proudly and openly. Danny was just glad that she hadn't gotten in trouble because of it. Yet.

The cafeteria doors stood open and Danny hesitated a split second before walking inside. He knew that Sam and Tucker had said that they would work with him to try and find a solution to the ghost problem, but… A big part of him still didn’t believe it. So when he caught sight of Sam and Tucker waving him over he relaxed before quickly making his way over to them and sinking down next to Sam and in front of Tucker.

Good. He hadn't wanted to have to go round the back of the school to eat today, the biker ghosts were occupying most of the school parking lot and he'd kept his head down not to catch the eye of Johnny.

He had barely started eating when Tucker groaned as he bit into a sausage. “They really should change the menu and have sausage every day.”

Sam scoffed. “They have too much meat already! They should change to a vegan menu.”

“Danny, tell her! We all know that meat is superior!”

Danny, not wanting to pick a side, tried for a careful, “I like both.”

“Of course you do,” Sam said, half exasperated, half fond.

“Not fair!” Tucker complained, “Danny never argues! But I’m still right!”

They squabbled on and Danny found himself smiling as he continued to eat. This was nice.

Then Tucker hesitantly asked, “Ummm, Danny?”

Danny looked up, distracted. “Hm?”

“What's up with your lunch?”

Danny looked up to the ghost lady next to him and the way she was poking at his mashed potatoes with single minded focus. 

She was dressed in the same outfit as the other lunch ladies in school and usually hung around the cafeteria or mingled—as well as someone could when the other people in the group couldn't hear or see you—with the other lunch ladies. Today, Danny had noticed her drifting over as they talked, apparently deciding to hang around their table.

“Oh. You can see her?”

“I can see the way your potatoes are trying to form… a frowny face?” Tucker said with a tilt of the head.

Which meant that she was interacting with the human world. It had happened several times the last few days, and every time it made Danny break out into a cold sweat.

Danny turned to really look at the lady next to him and her pink apron, hairnet, green skin, and blood dripping from the knife stuck in her chest. What a way to go, slipping and stabbing yourself with the knife you were using to cut up the vegetables for that day’s lunch. So now she was adamant that no wasted vegetables, to make sure her death wasn’t in vain. She’d told him her story over a plate of spaghetti a couple of weeks ago, still didn’t excuse touching other people’s food though. “Hey, can you stop?”

She was completely focused on her attempt at potato-artwork. At least she wasn’t being violent.

Danny heaved a sigh as he put down his fork. He wasn’t feeling that hungry anymore. “I guess that’s a no.”

“Danny,” Sam said as she waved her own fork around, “I’ve been thinking.”

“Oh, woe us!” Tucker exclaimed and Danny bit back a snicker at the outraged expression on Sam’s face.

Danny raised his hand as if to punch Tucker’s shoulder, but stopped himself and dropped it. That was something he’d noticed lately; it didn’t feel right to touch other people. It wasn’t something he really wanted to examine too closely.

Sam soldiered on, “So. You're a psychic, right? Or, like a medium?”

“I... guess?” He hadn’t really thought about it.

“And you said they seemed to be able to interact with things when they’re close to you?” She gave his potatoes a meaningful look.

“Yeah,” Danny said with a long sigh. “Lately.”

“What if—What if you can use it to control them?”

“Who? The ghosts??” Danny waved her off. “I don't exactly have power over them.”

“Maybe that's just because you haven’t learned to control your powers yet!”

Danny hesitated, feeling uncomfortable. “My powers mostly make me more vulnerable to them, I think.”

“Well, have you ever tried touching one?”

“A ghost?”

“Yeah.”

Danny thought of Sam’s grandma and her cold hand on his shoulder and immediately said, “No. Why would I?”

“Well, imagine what we could learn from them! I would love to be able to interact with the dead,” Sam said dreamily.

“I don't know… They already teach me stuff.” And he didn't exactly want to encourage them by interacting with them more.

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” Tucker asked hesitantly, looking slightly scared and Danny wanted to say “ No, definitely not .”

But then Sam leaned forward across the table and looked at him with excitement in her eyes. “Come on! Just try it! It’ll be fine.”

And Danny couldn’t say no to her, no matter how badly he didn’t want to do it. So he reached out a slow hand towards the Lunch Lady and then tried placing it on her arm, went through it and then, after some encouraging looks from Sam and Tucker, tried again. This time when he reached out he tried to focus really hard on the feeling of someone else under his palm, of reaching out and connecting. His hand was shaking, but this time it landed squarely on her arm.

It's cold , Danny found himself thinking, and then she has really red eyes . And that's when he noticed that she'd straightened up to fully look at him.

Before Danny could do more than open his mouth, she'd grabbed a handful of potatoes from Danny’s plate and threw them at Tucker. “Eat your vegetables!”

Tucker screamed, Sam got up from her seat with a clatter, and Danny hastily removed his hand from her arm and when she next grabbed for a sausage, her hand went right through it. She cursed and swore and Danny leaned away from her. “Let’s not do that again.”

“What do you mean?? This was just the first test! And it worked!” Sam sounded excited. 

“Yeah,” Tucker agreed with potatoes dripping from his glasses, “It worked great .”

The Lunch Lady started screaming about menus and nutrition.

Danny frowned. He had never seen her act aggressively before. “I don't think it's good for them either.”

This made Sam pause slightly. “What do you mean? Are they… Okay?”

They're dead , Danny thought, but didn't say. 

“She seems… agitated.” A mild way to describe it, but he wasn’t sure what had gone wrong and didn’t want to scare them more. If only he could connect the dots.

Sam shrugged, “Well. The only way to prove anything is to try it again, to repeat it. Just like Mr. Lancer says.”

“Really, Sam?” Tucker asked with a long suffering sigh. “That's such a bad idea.”

“What?” Sam said in a challenging tone of voice, “Are you scared?”

“Yes!” Tucker immediately answered.

Sam ignored him and turned to Danny. “You must know some ghosts that are chill.”

“I don't know, Sam… It seems…”

“Dangerous? Stupid?! Yes, it does!” Tucker cut in, waving his hands in the air.

Sam hummed in thought, not giving any indication that she'd heard them. “Maybe try to focus on making them visible? Not being able to touch things?”

“I can’t control it!” Danny complained outwardly, while inwardly mulling the idea over in his head. If he could make other people see the ghosts then he wouldn't be completely alone with this anymore. He wouldn't be the weird one out. 

That. Held some appeal.

“Just try it on someone who you know is nice,” Sam said dismissively.

Another ghost that seemed safe…Hm. Only one ghost really came to mind. Sidney. “I think I know someone.”

“Great!” Sam clapped her hands with a big smile. “Let's go talk to them after school! How far is it?”

Tucker groaned.

“Actually… We don't have to go anywhere. He's here. In school.”

“I did not want to know that there were more ghosts in school!” Tucker groaned.

“Meet me in the hallway outside the gym after school.”

“Why here?” Tucker asked as the three of them gathered right after the last bell had rung.

“He likes to keep an eye on the bullies in school, and most of them happen to be gathered here most of the time.”

Sam sent the gym a scathing look. “Can’t imagine why.”

The school was still somewhat full of students milling about as they went to their after-school activities and clubs, but the area outside the gym was currently empty. Well, empty besides the black and white ghost floating next to the three of them. “Now that I’m stuck here I want to try and do some good so I make sure someone sees the bullies and what they do. Someone has to keep them accountable.”

Danny turned to him with a smile and a raised eyebrow. “Are you sure the victims appreciate you watching their misery?”

Tucker took a step back. “He’s here now ?”

Sam looked around as if trying to catch a glimpse of him. “Well, come on then. Do your thing.”

Sidney raised an eyebrow and looked cautiously at Danny. “Do what?”

Danny put his bag on the floor and fiddled with his sleeves. “I was thinking of trying something, if you’re up for it.”

“Sure thing,” Sidney immediately answered, completely trusting. His parents had to be wrong, there was no way Sidney was evil or that he was eating Danny’s emotions.

Danny focused and tried to visualize Sidney like Danny saw him; real and undeniably there .

A cold feeling washed through him, settling in his stomach before bubbling up his throat. Danny snapped his eyes open just in time to see a small cloud of vapor escape his mouth. It wasn’t fear that made him so cold, it was something else. Something… slow and calm. Something inevitable. Instinctively, he knew that it was the same something that made up the ghosts, so he tried to reach out with it towards Sidney, enveloping him in the cold something .

“What is that?!” Tucker screamed as he pointed at Sidney. 

“Um, excuse me?” Sidney said.

“A ghost?” Danny tried, relieved that it seemed to have worked and trying to ignore the chill settling into his bones. 

Tucker swore. “Holy shit, they're real!”

“I thought you said you believed me?!”

Sam watched Sidney with an open mouth and wide eyes before taking small steps around the ghost. “I mean, it’s one thing to hear about it and another to see it.”

Sidney looked startled, staring from Danny, to Tucker, to Sam, and back. “Wait. You can see me?”

Sam nodded eagerly, still circling the ghost with open curiosity on her face. “Yes!”

Tucker seemed hesitant, but at least he wasn’t reaching for the hidden ecto-gun he had on him, so Danny counted it as a win.

Sidney smiled wider than Danny’d ever seen before, and okay, maybe this hadn’t been such a bad idea after all.

Sidney turned to Danny, reaching out a hand towards him. “If you can see me, then can I…?”

At first, Danny panicked, but then he met Sidney’s hopeful eyes and felt himself relax. He wouldn’t hurt him. So he focused on trying to make Sidney tangible and tried not to tense up when he placed a careful hand on Danny's arm. Despite the chill Danny felt inside, Sidney’s hand was even colder, but Danny quickly forgot it as he marveled at the fact that he could actually touch his oldest friend.

Sidney’s eyes shone. “I haven't touched a human since I…! Just, wow!”

He started gripping at Danny's clothes, face, hands, then went over to Sam and Tucker.

Tucker shied away, but Sam reached out to meet him halfway. Danny watched, happy that his friends seemed to be getting along and tried not to pay any attention to the cold still blanketing him.

The happy atmosphere was broken by a sudden, harsh, laugh echoing through the corridor. “You have a new freak in your little gang?”

Dash. Which meant that his painful payback had arrived.

Danny turned to find the whole group of A-listers standing in the corridor behind them. Sidney turned with him and the happiness was gone from his face. “ You ,” he snarled, and now he wasn’t so much black-and white, as black with white details. His glasses gleamed in the overhead lights.

“What's wrong with him?” Dash said and there was hesitance in his voice. Fear.

Sidney straightened up as much as his form allowed and then floated up higher. And higher . His form elongating and growing. Danny watched in shock, teeth chattering.

Dash took a stumbling step backwards. “What the fuck…?”

Sidney reached towards Dash, but it wasn't with curiosity in his eyes, it was with anger.

“I’ve seen you bully Danny. And Mikey. Nathan. Wesley.” With every name, Sidney’s eyes seemed to glow a bit brighter.

Dash actually took a small step back. “I just tried to—”

Sidney grabbed Dash’s arm.

Dash growled, “Get off me, you freak!” and tried to shove Sidney away, but his hand went right through him. Dash let out a scream that sounded very close to a squeak.

Kwan tried to take a swing at Sidney and passed through him, stumbling into the wall with a curse. “What the fuck?!”

Paulina screamed. Star brought out her phone to film.

“Fu—Fuck! Get away from me!” Dash tried to claw Sidney off but Sidney just ignored him.

Instead, he leaned in close and hissed out, “You shouldn’t bully people.”

Danny decided it was time to step in, even though his legs were shaking from both fear and cold. This was still Sidney , still his friend, at least that was what he repeated in his mind as he stepped closer and croaked out, “Sidney. Don’t!”

Sidney paused. “But he hurt you!”

“Doesn’t mean you should hurt him.”

“He’s a bully ,” Sidney growled, spitting the last word like a curse.

Danny nodded. “Yeah, he is.”

Sidney still didn't back down, eyes fixed on Dash who hung from his hands, whimpering.

Danny sucked in a breath and sent a mental sorry to Sidney before deciding to play a little dirty. “And now you're acting like one too.”

That made Sidney look away from Dash and at Danny.

Finally, Sidney released Dash, who immediately dropped to the floor and scrambled back before taking off down the corridor, his whole entourage following.

As soon as Dash was out of sight, Sidney seemed to deflate; shrinking back down to his normal size and flickering back to his usual, only slightly unsettling, black-and-white.

Sidney looked down the corridor after Dash with a troubled look on his face. Then he turned to Danny, Sam, and Tucker. “Sorry. I don't know what—sorry,” Sidney said while scrubbing at his face with his hands, sounding lost.

“It’s not your fault,” Danny said immediately, reaching out a cold hand as if to place it on Sidney's arm, but stopping himself before it landed.

Sidney looked sadly at Danny’s hand, frozen in mid-air, “I don't think I should be here.”

“We'll get you back,” Danny tried to reassure him, hand dropping back to his side.

“No,” Sidney shook his head. “I think you should stay away. I don't—I don't know what I'll do if I… Get lost again.”

Get lost . That's the same thing Sam's grandma said. 

“Okay,” Danny agreed, feeling small and ashamed. He had put his friend through this, and for what? Curiosity? Because he wanted to appease his new friends?

And just like that, Sidney disappeared.

The coldness was still there, but Danny didn’t know whether that was because of the something he had used to interact with Sidney, or because of the shame he felt. He glanced up, searching for Sam and Tucker’s gazes to reassure himself that they were still there, but frowned when he found them looking behind him, their eyes wide and faces pale.

“You can touch us now, huh?” Danny heard from behind him and froze, cold fear flooding his system. He knew that voice. Skulker.

The image of Skulker landing one of his shots flashed in vivid detail through Danny's mind. The thought of Skulker, tangible and real and there. Danny shuddered, the cold seeming to waft off of him in waves and he didn’t know how to stop it.

Skulker's hand shot out and latched onto Danny's left arm. Hard. 

Danny tried to scramble backwards, but found that he couldn't. He tugged at his arm. “Let go!”

Skulker's grin widened. “No.”

Fear coiled tight in Danny’s gut before crawling up his throat and closing it up. He breathed out fog, fog, fog and couldn’t suck a breath back in. He couldn't focus, couldn't concentrate, couldn’t stop it .

“Make it so he can't touch you!” Tucker called desperately, fumbling for the ectogun at his belt.

“I can't control it!” Danny croaked back, desperately clawing at Skulker’s hand. It did absolutely nothing except tear at his own fingertips where they scraped against the metal that covered the ghost from head to toe.

Sam hit Skulker in the back of the head with her bat, which only really seemed to make him angrier as his grip on Danny tightened.

“Ah! Let go! You’re gonna break my arm!” Danny screamed and Skulker just laughed.

Tucker fired off a shot in a panic and hit the wall behind them, and then the gun reminded them all that it was a prototype by promptly melting in his hands. Tucker gave a shout of alarm before throwing it at Skulker and hitting him square in the face, which made Skulker loosen his grip on Danny’s arm. 

Danny wrenched it away and scrambled back, feeling a brief moment of relief, but then Skulker growled and raised a gun of his own and before Danny could do much more than register the movement, he had fired off a shot. He had better aim than Tucker.

Pain bloomed across Danny’s leg and distantly he heard Tucker’s panicked, “Oh shit!”

Danny agreed as he tried to stumble back but his leg buckled beneath him. He landed on the ground with a grunt and a curse. “Fuck! Ow!”

“Danny!” Sam called, raising the bat again, but Skulker had a gun .

Even so, Sam whacked Skulker hard over the head, her face pale but determined as she brought the bat down. Danny wanted to scream. She knew that it wouldn't hurt him, knew that it was useless, but she was still trying to protect him. Skulker growled and turned his attention to Sam and Danny—

Danny couldn’t let her get hurt, couldn’t let either of them get hurt. He had to get them to safety. Or get Skulker to go away. If only he had a way of making him—

The thermos! Danny whipped back to Tucker who was standing next to his bag. “Throw me the thermos!”

Tucker quickly dug through his bag and then threw the thermos to Danny, who snatched it out of the air with shaking hands.

Skulker raised his gun at the same time as Danny raised the thermos.

A beam shot out of the thermos’ opening, seeming to freeze Skulker, his gun, and the just emerged shot in a green light before immediately sucking it all in.

The corridor was suddenly and jarringly silent.

Danny stared down at the thermos in his hands. That had been… more effective than he'd thought. He hadn't really expected it to work. Maybe his parents actually did know some things.

“Oh, so that's how it works,” Tucker said with wide eyes.

“Get souped, idiot!” Sam crowed with a vicious grin, raising her bat over her head.

Then all three of them paused and looked down at the thermos.

“So…” Sam asked, “What do we do with him?”

“I—I don't know?” Danny said.

“Let him stay in there!” Tucker said with a scared look at the thermos. 

Danny agreed. What if someone else found them now? Attacked them? The cold still sat heavy in his throat and he desperately hoped it didn’t mean that it would affect more ghosts. He turned the thermos around in his hands a few times before saying, “Maybe we should try and hide—” 

He was interrupted by Tucker’s horrified, “Is that blood?!” and Sam’s outcry of, “Danny! Your leg!”

Right.

Chapter Text

“Fuck. Right. You got shot!” Sam exclaimed.

“Oh, yeah,” Danny said stupidly, glancing down at his bleeding leg. The adrenaline was starting to wear off and it was really hurting now. “Ow.”

“We need to go to the hospital,” Tucker said with a pale face, keeping his eyes away from the wound.

“No! No hospital! I can't—” Danny cut himself off, memories of his last stay at a hospital after the Accident going through his head. There were so many ghosts, both old and very very new. “I can't.”

Sam and Tucker exchanged a look. Sam chewed her lip and said, “Then we should take you home. Your parents—” 

“Will either take me to the hospital, or somehow see that the wound comes from a ghost and do tests on it and stuff instead,” Danny cut her off, trying to dial back the bitterness and failing.

Sam crossed her arms. “You still need to do something about it.”

She was right. It hurt. 

“It'll be fine,” Danny said, feeling slightly faint and trying to convince himself.

“Dude, we gotta stop the bleeding,” Tucker said, sounding equal parts disgusted and worried.

“Do you know first aid?” Danny asked hopefully.

Tucker shook his head, looking grossed out by the mere idea. “No.”

Danny turned his hopeful eyes on Sam, who immediately crushed it by shaking her head. “Not really.”

Tucker groaned. “And the nurse has probably already gone home.” 

“Well,” Danny said, “There's some first aid supplies in the classroom and I know a bathroom that almost no one uses. Great for hiding.”

“Dude,” Tucker said with a grimace.

Sam nodded. “That's sad.”

“It's convenient,” Danny corrected them with burning cheeks. “Let's just go.”

Danny tried to put weight on his leg and flinched. 

Tucker stepped up to his right side and offered his shoulder without a word. 

Sam did the same on his left. 

Danny hesitated, anxiety coiling tight in his gut at the thought of touching them. But then he looked at their expectant faces and resolutely pushed it all down and reached out, laying his arms across their shoulders.

They were warm.

Which, apparently, wasn’t all in his head as they both tensed up and Tucker exclaimed, “Dude! You’re freezing!”

“Yeah, sorry.” He had no idea how to stop it.

Sam hurried her steps. “I bet he’s in shock. Come on.”

Danny didn’t argue as he let them half-carry him down the corridor.

Together they struggled to the bathroom and into it, shutting the door with a relieved sigh that no one had stopped them. Sam ran out to fetch the first aid kit and was back before Danny or Tucker had time to do more than stare awkwardly at Danny’s now bloodied pant-leg.

“All right. Let's get this over with,” Sam said and patted the sink with an expectant look at Danny.

Danny hopped up to sit on it. 

Sam winced as she peeled the ruined edges of the pant leg away from the wound, her nonchalance slipping for a second. “It's not that bad. I think,” Sam said with very thin bravado. 

“Thanks,” Danny said, leaning his head back to focus on the ceiling instead of what Sam was doing, “Very reassuring.”

“I'm not a doctor! I take no responsibility if this fucks you up.”

“Fair.”

“Wait,” Sam said, taking a hold of the fabric on both sides of the wound, “Let me just…” and then she just ripped the rest of the pant leg off.

“Sam!” Danny complained, “Those were my favorite jeans!”

“And they ripped like tissue paper, get better jeans.”

Which was a fair point, Danny conceded, but that didn’t mean he had to tell her that.

Sam leaned in closer, squinting her eyes and managing to only look slightly disgusted as she inspected the wound. “I think it might have just graced you? It’s not bleeding that much.”

Danny relaxed slightly. “That's good.” She brought out antiseptic wipes and started cleaning the wound out. Danny tensed as the pain hit him, “Ok, not good.”

Sam held his leg still and hissed to Tucker, “Distract him!”

“I hate this stuff,” Tucker said with a queasy expression. 

“Patching people up?” Danny asked with a tight voice, desperately trying to focus on the conversation instead of the pain.

Tucker grimaced. “Blood. Wounds.”

And even though he really wanted the distraction and the company, Danny said, “You can wait outside.”

Tucker gave him an unimpressed look. “I don't know if you missed it, but there might be ghosts outside!” He shuddered. “Skulker might skulk there!”

Danny gave a snorting laugh.

Sam finally finished with the antiseptic and started rummaging through the kit. Danny breathed out a sigh of relief and glanced at his leg. It looked bad, yes, but not as bad as he'd feared. Still, it would probably scar, he realized with a detached sense of resignation.

He was pulled out of his thoughts by Tucker's careful, “Hey, Danny?”

“Hm?” He looked up, instantly worried about the change in tone. 

“Sorry for thinking you were crazy and not believing you.”

“That's fine,” Danny said with a wave and a casual tone of voice that tried to disguise the sudden tightness in his throat.

They were all quiet for a few seconds before Sam grabbed his right hand and gruffly said, “Let me see your arm.”

And Danny let her, startled by how gentle her hands were as she looked over the darkening bruise on his arm from where Skulker had grabbed him.

There wasn't really anything she could do for it though, so he settled for grimacing at the sight of his bloodied fingertips instead (note to self: don't try to scratch at metal with your bare hands) and then carefully put a bandaid on each finger. 

Danny swallowed heavily, not knowing how to react or what to say. No one had done something like this for him in a long time, either asking him for forgiveness or taking care of his wounds. Not since Jazz had left.

Tucker opened his mouth as if to say something but then shut it with a clack as a sudden scream echoed down the corridor outside and through the bathroom, full of fear and too raw to be anything but genuine. All three of them froze.

Sam was the first to break the silence. “Was that… a scream?”

“I think so,” Tucker said, sounding utterly defeated.

“Yeah?” Danny said slowly, pulling his hand back from Sam. If Sam and Tucker had heard it, then it couldn't have been a ghost, but what could have happened to make someone…?

“We should see if they’re okay,” Sam said before quickly wrapping the bandage around Danny's leg, over the pant leg and all, and then straightening up.

“Or, maybe we shouldn’t go towards the scary screaming?” Tucker tried.

Sam ignored him and leveled Danny with a glare. “For the record, I still think you should go to the hospital.”

Danny jumped up from his seat and winced when he landed on his leg. It didn't really feel any better. Still he smiled, “Thanks Sam! It feels much better.”

If her frown was any indication, she didn't buy it.

As they carefully walked out of the bathroom—or in Danny's case, hobbled—Danny found himself breathing shallowly, tensing, sweating. He was scared. Skulker had hurt him. There were more ghosts out there, they were acting more and more aggressively, and now people were screaming. He agreed with Tucker, he really wanted to just go and hide, but—

What if someone was hurt? What if it had been Sam or Tucker or Danny himself, and someone could have helped but just looked the other way…? So Danny hobbled on, arms wrapped tightly around himself.

God, he was cold.

“It sounded like it came from over here, right?” Sam muttered as she led the way through the almost empty corridors. The few students they saw hurried through with their eyes down, some of them even running. None of them stopped when Danny, Sam, and Tucker tried to ask them what was going on.

“We really should get out of here,” Tucker said worriedly.

“No one is stopping you,” Sam said shortly.

Tucker just pressed in closer to the two of them and walked on.

They passed the cafeteria and Danny cast a quick glance inside, noting a gathering of ghosts and hurrying on, not keen to stay around for them to notice him.

Tucker scoffed. “Don’t pretend you know where it came from, it echoed all the way down—” He cut himself off, then he hesitantly asked, “Uuh, Danny? Is this your doing?”

“Huh? What?” Danny asked as he turned back around, noticing that both Sam and Tucker had stopped dead, staring into the cafeteria with open mouths.

Sam made a vague gesture to encompass the whole cafeteria. “Them.”

“What do you mean?” Danny frowned. There were no humans that he could see in the room, but there were some walking down the hallways towards them.

“What do you mean?! There's ghosts everywhere!” Tucker hissed out.

“Yeah?”

Sam pursed her lips,eyes still locked on the ghosts in the cafeteria. “Is this what you see all the time?”

Danny frowned, then paused. Then it clicked. Damn, he was tired. “Wait. You can see them?!”

“Yeah, bud,” Tucker said, “Kinda wish I couldn't.”

Danny couldn’t disagree with that. Most ghosts weren’t exactly pretty to look at, what with the remnants of their causes of death. 

“This is so cool,” Sam said with awe clear in her voice.

“I don’t think they’ll agree,” Danny said with a nod to the students who had now reached the cafeteria doorway, stopped dead, and then promptly started screaming before taking off down the corridor. Danny winced. So that had been the screaming they’d heard before. Were all the ghosts visible now?

The ghosts turned towards the commotion and started making their way towards the cafeteria doors, eyes glowing red and green energy gathering in their hands.

Danny’s leg gave a painful twang and he backed up, fear squeezing his throat and making his throat come out shaky, “We—we have to run.”

“What?” Sam asked, snapping her gaze back to Danny just as the first ghost hurled a glowing, sizzling ball of liquid energy at them.

“Run!” Danny shouted, grabbing Sam and Tucker’s hands and forcing his aching leg to carry him down the corridor, dragging his only two friends behind.

“Can you stop it?!” Tucker asked as he stumbled after Danny.

“I don't even know if it's me doing it!” But the coldness in his body said otherwise, so he amended with a panicked, “I don’t know how!” as Sam and Tucker overtook him and started dragging him behind them instead as his leg began to give out.

The group of ghosts bullied their way through the cafeteria doors, tearing off the doors and huge chunks of plaster as they did so.

“Didn’t you say most ghosts were nice?!” Sam asked as she dragged the two of them around a corner, into a classroom, and then slammed the door shut. The three of them pressed against the wall, holding their breaths. For the first time she looked scared as she glanced through the window in the door towards the ghosts, breathing a sigh of relief as they passed them by.

“They are! But—” Danny cut himself off. The puzzle pieces went click click click as they joined together.

Sam and Tucker looked scared, Danny was scared, the people in school were scared. Sam’s grandma and Sidney said they didn’t want to lose themselves. And his parents had said…

“Mom and dad said that ghosts live off of people’s emotions… What if strong emotions also influence them?”

Tucker frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Like. If a lot of people around them are angry, or scared, then they will be too.”

Sam’s eyes widened in realization. “And then they'll lash out.”

“Yeah,” Danny nodded.

Tucker’s frown deepened. “But then, if something makes people panic…”

“It would be a disaster,” Sam finished.

“Like people are now,” Danny said with a heavy swallow. This was not good. “So the most important thing is to not be scared, I think.”

“No can do!” Tucker said with a slightly hysterical laugh.

“Yeah, me neither,” Danny agreed.

“Okay. That's—That’s fine,” Sam ran a hand through her hair as she looked back through the window. “We'll just try and make things calm down, keep things on the down low.”

Her sentence was punctuated by more screams echoing down the corridor, and then the ear-shattering ringing of the fire-alarm.

Danny clapped his hands over his ears, but he could still hear Tucker let out a long groan before shouting at Sam, “You just had to jinx it!” He turned to Danny, “Can’t you concentrate like before and make them go away? Or, at least so that they can’t touch things?”

Danny tried to concentrate, but the alarm echoing in his head, the shaking of his hands, the tightness in his chest, the increased pain in his abused leg, it all combined to make it impossible. “I can’t,” he said miserably.

Sam frowned at him in thought. “Is that why your hands are so cold? You losing control of… Whatever this ability you have is?”

“My hands?” Danny asked as he removed them from his ears to look at them. His fingers were white and shaking.

Tucker looked at Danny and a worried frown drew his eyebrows together. “Man, your lips are starting to turn blue. You okay?”

Sam leaned in closer. “You look like a corpse.”

“Sam!” Tucker exclaimed, outraged. “You can’t just say that!”

She shrugged. “What? It’s true.”

Danny heard them as if from a long distance as he tried to make sense of their words. A corpse? No, he wasn’t like the ghosts. He wasn’t—

Another scream echoed down the hall.

Sam straightened up. “We have to make sure no one is in danger.”

“We are in danger!” Tucker complained.

Danny wanted to clap his hands over his ears again to shut everything out. Before he could stop himself, he blurted out, “If I leave, maybe they'll go away?”

Sam looked at him incredulously. “And where will you go?”

“I don’t— I don’t know,” Danny admitted.

Tucker frowned. “And who will help you?”

He couldn’t answer that, both because he didn’t know and because the tightness in his throat was back with a vengeance. Why did they care? No one was supposed to care!

“Besides,” Sam added, “it wouldn’t really solve anything, would it? They'd still be here in this world.”

“True,” Tucker groaned, grabbing at his hair. “What should we do?!”

“We have to help them,” Danny said weakly with an unsteady voice, trying to wrangle his thoughts back to what they could do to help. He could have a breakdown later.

“Yeah, I know, but I think most students have already fled,” Sam said with another look out the window of the classroom door.

Danny shook his head. “No, or yes, them too. But I also mean that we should help the ghosts.” He had to try and help them all, both humans and ghosts. The question was how. 

Tucker blinked at him as if he had gone crazy. “Help them? With what? Killing people?”

“No!” Danny shook his head and tried to explain, “They don’t really want to be here, and they don’t really want to hurt people. We just— We have to get them back.”

Sam looked thoughtful. “Back to the Ghost Zone? But that could take ages to figure out. We need to stop them from hurting people now.”

Danny knew she was right. “If only we had a big thermos…!”

Tucker shook his head. “That would be impossible. The power needed for something like that would be enough to punch a hole in reali—” Tucker cut himself off and turned slowly to look at Danny. “Hey, Danny? You have an interdimensional portal in your basement.”

“Yeah? Or I mean, it's not working,” Dannys said, before adding on, “Thankfully.”

“Can't we use it, then? Rewire it like a big thermos to suck all the ghosts back in.”

Danny straightened up. “That's…”

“Genius, I know,” Tucker said as he pushed his glasses up his nose.

“I was gonna say crazy, but sure,” Danny said with a wide smile. “It's the only idea we've got!” Then he slumped back down. “But mom and dad won't listen.”

Sam scoffed. “I'm used to parents who refuse to listen. We’ll handle them.”

“But do you know how to do it?” Danny asked with a frown directed at Tucker. “Reprogram the whole portal? Not that I don’t believe in you, but my parents have been working on that thing for years.”

Tucker opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. Then he landed on a defeated, “No.”

“Well,” Sam clapped her hands together. “Great. We're still screwed. Lucky us that we have such a genius on our side.”

“I know someone else that might be able to help!” Danny said, thinking of Vlad. Not that he’d been able to fix the portal with his parents for all the time he’d been there, but now he might be able to actually work with them. “And he should be in the lab already. Come on, let’s go!”

Sam grabbed his arm to stop him. “You can barely walk and they're everywhere!”

Tucker groaned. "If only we had a car.”

Danny perked up. “Or a motorcycle. Follow me!”

They scurried through the corridors, keeping an eye out for any ghosts, before bursting out into the school parking lot. Danny scanned it and caught sight of Johnny and Kitty, standing off to one side.

“There!” Danny hobbled over. “Hi, Kitty.”

“You remember my name!” Kitty beamed, looking delighted. 

Johnny did not.

Still, Danny smiled at him. “Johnny, right? Can you give us a ride?”

“Are you saying we get to ride on a ghost motorcycle?” Sam asked before breathing out, “Hell yes.”

“First you try to steal my girl, and now you want a ride?” Johnny crossed his arms. “Tell me why I would help you and not pummel you to dust?”

“Because I’m trying to help you get back home?”

That made him pause. “You’re trying to help us?”

“Yeah,” Danny said with all the sincerity he could muster.

Johnny looked at him for a tense few seconds and then Kitty cut in, “Well, if you won’t take him, I will! Hop on!” She straddled her bike and patted the back of it.

Johnny immediately caved, “No! The guys go on my bike!”

Which was how Danny found himself squashed between Johnny and Tucker while focusing with all his mind to keep the bikes tangible—no matter the fact that he hadn’t really figured out how to consciously control it—and desperately not thinking about the fact that Johnny had clearly died in a crash once before.

Maybe he had learned his lesson from that? It was a thought that was immediately squashed when Johnny tore out of the parking lot on his hind wheel, revving his engine and yelling with glee. 

He could hear Tucker scream of fear in the wind, as well as Sam's joyful shout.

They shot down the street as houses and people blurred around them, making ghosts and humans indistinguishable.

As they went through the town, they picked up more and more followers; shapes moving after the motorcycles in a growing crowd. They must be ghosts, Danny realised. No humans could move this fast for this long.

Danny spared a fraction of brainpower worrying about whether they would be able to make this work or not. He had faith in Tucker and Vlad's skills, of course, but to reprogram something this big and advanced as fast as they would need to… He didn't have to be an expert in technology to see that it was nearly impossible.

Or a master of technology.

The bike seemed to wobble beneath him and Danny almost sank down into it before he managed to re-focus, as if the molecules tested his control and saw if they could get away with bucking him off or dropping him on the asphalt speeding past below. Tucker screamed, but Danny barely registered it as he tapped Johnny on the shoulder. “Wait!” Danny called over the wind, “Go left!”

They took a sharp left and then he saw it; the ghost floating outside the electrical store, cackling and scaring all the people around.

“Stop!”

They came to a screeching halt and Danny scrambled off the motorcycle and looked up at Technus floating outside the electronics store.

Sam and Kitty screeched to a halt behind them and Sam didn’t waste any time before posting herself between the approaching horde of ghosts and Danny and Tucker, taking her bat from where it had been strapped to her back and hefting it in her hands.

Tucker got off the bike with wobbly legs and despite looking ready to throw up, he managed to give Danny a puzzled look. “Why did we stop?” He groaned. “Now I really don’t want to go back on again. And, dude, you’re freezing!” He shook out his hands as if trying to bring warmth back into them from when he’d held onto Danny.

Danny decided to ignore the last comment—he didn’t have the mental capacity to worry about that right now—and instead gestured to Technus with a smile. “That's the ghost who broke your PDA!”

Tucker looked up at Technus with wide eyes before turning to Danny with a very strained smile. “Aww, you shouldn’t have! That’s exactly what I don’t want to hear right now, how did you know?”

Technus gave another laugh from where he hovered in the air, and now that Danny was close, a writhing cluster of cables, screens, and other electrical equipment started to snake out of the electricity store and up in the air towards the ghost. Technus crowed, “Yes! I'm the master of all technology!”

Which was exactly what they needed. 

“Hey Technus!” Danny called.

Tucker shushed him with panic in his eyes. “Don't call him over here!” Tucker whisper-shouted. 

But it was too late, Technus was already floating down towards them, his line of cables and screens trailing behind him. “What do you want? Come to try and stop me?” He grinned, the mass of electrical equipment sparking. “Let’s see you try.”

“No, I need your expertise.” That made Technus pause. Danny pressed on, “It’s just a little problem we need the best for.”

“What problem?” Technus asked, sounding equal parts intrigued and sceptical.

“You know. The portal.”

Technus’ eyes gleamed, but then he shook his head and bit out, “I’m not your errand-boy.”

“What? You're saying you wouldn't be able to figure it out?” Danny crossed his arms in a challenge. “And here I thought you were the master of all technology.”

“Guys?” Sam called, “We should really get going!” Danny cast a look behind him and saw that the crowd of ghosts had almost caught up with them.

Tucker swore beneath his breath, swallowed hard, and added in a pained tone of voice, “I'll let you look at my PDA again.”

Technus paused with a considering expression on his face.

Danny decided to push a bit more. “You can show all the other ghosts that you're the strongest.”

And that seemed to be the right thing to say.

Johnny and Kitty dropped them off outside Fentonworks and took off down the street, citing a need to take in as much of the open road as possible before going back. 

Danny hoped they wouldn't get into too much trouble.

He, Sam, and Tucker took the stairs down to the lab two at a time only to find utter chaos. There were several ghosts throughout the lab—that in itself wasn’t unusual—what was unusual was the fact that Maddie and Jack very obviously were aware of the fact.

Jack was wielding an ectogun, shooting wildly and missing every shot. Maddie used a bigger version of the gun and had placed herself in front of the portal, shooting slower but considering the pile of groaning ghosts in front of her, more accurately.

Vlad stood off to one side, hands covering his face.

Technus paused at the bottom of the stairs, hesitation clear on his face.

“Mom! Dad!” Danny called as he himself stopped right inside the room, not wanting to risk getting in their line of fire.

Jack looked up with a smile, “Dann-o! Have you seen all these ghosties?”

“Yeah dad, I have. And that's why I'm here, we need to—”

Jack cut him off with a happy, “You brought more! Attaboy!”

And that was when Danny noticed the crowd of ghosts had followed them into the house and down into the lab. They were moving restlessly and muttering between themselves, a mix between regular and glowing eyes fixed on Danny.

Tucker gave a startled shout as he saw them, dragging Sam and Danny away from the stairs and further into the room.

“And your new friends!” Maddie said happily, stepping carelessly across the green, wet, floor in front of her.

Sam cleared her throat, but her voice still came out slightly shaky as she said, “Hello, Mr and Mrs Fenton. We have to—”

“It's so nice to meet you again!” Maddie cut her off. “And what perfect timing! You seemed so interested in our studies and now you can learn even more about ghosts!” She gestured to the ghosts at her feet, some of which’s eyes had started to turn red. Danny noted with dread that most of them had turned to look at Danny as soon as they had stepped into the room.

“Later,” Sam said weakly, “We need—we need to take care of the ghosts.”

“We agree!” Jack beamed at her, raising his gun back up.

Danny shook his head, “No, not like—”

Maddie took aim at Technus and Danny stepped in front of it, hands outstretched. “No! Stop!”

“Danny?” Maddie asked with a frown.

“Please, don’t hurt them.”

Jack laughed. “They’re just ghosts Danny! Don’t be silly, imagine what we can learn!”

By now, all the ghost’s eyes were glowing red and the muttering had turned into a mix between shouting, whimpering, and growling. The cacophony pressed into Danny’s eardrums and resonated with the cold that seemed to have taken up permanent residence in his chest. But despite their agitation, none of them moved as if to attack. Instead, they kept their eyes fixed on Danny, as if waiting for him to do something. As if they trusted him to help them. 

The chemistry teacher was among them. Danny met his glowing eyes and knew that he had to try and convince his parents of the truth, to make them see sense. “They can teach you stuff without you hurting them and without you putting them under a microscope!”

“You’re talking nonsense!” Jack waved him off.

“Oh, my baby boy,” Maddie cooed, but didn’t lower her gun. “Did they do something to you? Threaten you?”

“No!” Danny grit his teeth. “Please, just listen to me!”

Jack stepped closer to them, reaching out with a smile. “It’s okay, son. You’re safe now.”

Sam stepped in front of Danny, growling out, “Back off!”

The shouting increased in volume and before any of the humans in the room could do more than yell in surprise, the crowd of ghosts had welled forward and enveloped Danny, Sam, and Tucker. 

Danny closed his eyes tightly, expecting pain, but there was nothing. Just an intense feeling of sadness and anger and a cold deep enough to make him gasp.

Then he heard echoed voices all around, “He’s safe here. With us.”

“You’ve done enough harm.”

Jack gasped in apparent realization. “Honey. We know that ghosts are sneaky and evil! They've corrupted them!”

“Danny!” Maddie called, sounding desperate. “Get away from them!”

“No,” Danny said, the word feeling foreign but freeing. He walked through the crowd of ghosts until he could see his parents, their faces pale and worried, and above all; angry. Danny shook his head. “They won't hurt me.” Not like you, he didn’t say.

Maddie made a sound of understanding. “It's okay baby, this will only hurt a little.” She aimed her gun right at Danny. “We'll save you and your friends.”

Chapter Text

“Mom?” Danny asked in a small voice. He knew the guns were made to only seriously hurt ghosts, but that didn't mean that it wouldn’t be painful getting shot by one.

Tucker threw his hands up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa! Don't shoot!”

Sam kept quiet, her own hand inching towards the bat strapped to her back. The ghosts around them seemed to get even more agitated, the cold increased until it made all of their breath’s fog in the air.

“This will get the ghosts out of you,” Maddie said, smile still fixed on her face.

They thought they were… What? Possessed? Would they just continue hurting them until they deemed them free of any ghostly influence?

“Oh, for crying out loud…!” Vlad stepped in between them. “I can't believe I have to say this, but don't shoot your own son!”

The point of Maddie's gun wavered in the air and then lowered. “...Vlad?”

“V-man?” Jack asked, voice suddenly uncharacteristically quiet, “But you—”

“Died? I'm aware,” Vlad said dryly. 

Jack and Maddie both winced. 

“And your son almost followed in my footsteps,” Vlad said with a meaningful look at the portal and a bit too much longing in his voice for Danny's liking.

This realization, that Danny's Accident had almost made him cross over to the other side to join the spooky crowd in the room, stopped them dead. 

Danny drew a surprising amount of vindication from the horror on their faces. It was something they should have realized earlier, but late was better than never.

“Oh, Danny,” Maddie said, dropping her gun to the floor and raising her hands to cover her mouth. “We didn’t—”

Jack shook his head, eyes wide. “We didn't know. We’re so sorry for not listening.”

“I told you,” Danny grit out before taking a deep breath and amending, “I know. Just. Please. Listen to me now. We need to fix this.” He believed them when they said they were sorry, but what he didn't know was how he felt about it, and he really didn’t want to figure that out right then and there.

To his surprise they exchanged a look and then Jack asked, “How?”

“We'll reprogram the portal,” he said, waving for Tucker and Technus to step forward. They did so after a brief moment of hesitation, both of them casting wary looks at his parents.

Maddie straightened up, the gleam returning to her eyes at the prospect of getting to tinker with the portal. “We can help!”

“No,” Danny said immediately. He didn't trust them not to add something that would hurt the ghosts, or a way to keep the connection open. All the ghosts around them tensed and Tucker and Technus stopped where they’d been making their way over to the portal, gazes fixed on Maddie and Jack.

For a tense second Danny thought they would argue, that they would insist on being involved, but then they looked around the room at all the eyes locked on them, at the fear and anger on everyone’s faces, and stepped back.

At first, Danny was worried that the ghosts would still attack, but as soon as Jack and Maddie stepped back they calmed down. And when he looked at his friends and at his parents he saw no fear and no anger on their faces.

“Come on, then!” Technus said as he floated towards the portal.

Tucker followed, the two of them starting to discuss what they would need to do while Vlad slowly drifted closer, clearly listening in. Tucker paused and walked over to Danny, reaching out a hand, “Can you hand me the thermos?”

Danny rooted through his backpack and withdrew the thermos, handing it over. “What will happen to Skulker?”

“Ha!” Technus laughed, “Old Skulky is in that thing? Don’t worry, if we get this working like we want, then he will be transported back with the rest of us.”

“But if you do that, all the ghosts will go back,” Jack said in a miserable voice.

“Yes,” Danny agreed, refusing to feel bad for them.

“Please let us rest,” Vlad begged. “It’s time for us to go home.”

Maddie shook her head, “But this is your—” 

Vlad looked at Maddie with anguish on his face. It seemed to pain him when he said, “Not anymore.”

Danny clapped Vlad on the shoulder. Vlad looked startled for a split second before zeroing in on Danny. “You could come with us?”

Danny shook his head. “No.”

Vlad slumped, letting out a long sigh. “I know. It’s not time for you to join us.”

Danny almost felt bad for him. Instead, he elbowed Vlad and said, “You have very intimate knowledge of the portal, care to help them?”

Vlad grinned, an unsteady thing accompanied with a glance at Maddie and Jack. “I've basically been studying this thing my whole afterlife. I can't wait to be able to actually touch it.”

“Why haven't you tried to fix it before then?” Maddie asked softly. “...Why didn’t you tell us you were here?”

“I couldn’t do anything, touch anything. And you couldn't see me,” Vlad said with a look at Danny. “Not until now.”

“Oh,” Maddie said softly, looking pale and exchanging a troubled frown with Jack. Danny didn’t blame her, he had no idea how he would react if he found out that an old friend he was partially responsible for the death of had invisibly been hanging around him for a long time.

Danny cast a glance over at where Tucker and Technus got to work on the portal, wishing he could escape this conversation and join them. Sadly, before he could come up with an excuse, Jack cleared his throat and spoke in a painfully earnest tone of voice as he gestured at Vlad, “Son, this is your uncle Vlad.”

Danny exchanged an incredulous and awkward look with Vlad. Did his dad really try to introduce them to each other? Now?

“Yeah,” Danny said shortly. “We’ve known each other for, like, a year.”

“Ah,” Jack gave a small laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. “Right.”

An awkward silence descended over the group, only broken by the clanking and muttering from the two working on the portal.

Vlad cleared his throat and floated backwards, “Well, this has been…” He grimaced. “I’m just gonna go and help them with the portal.”

And then he retreated before Danny could stop him. The coward.

“And I’m gonna go watch them,” Maddie stated, interrupting Danny before he could do more than open his mouth, “I’m not gonna touch anything, honey. I promise.” And then she quickly walked away.

Which just left him, Sam, and Jack. And the horde of quiet ghosts around them.

Jack shifted from foot to foot and looked between Danny and Sam. “So… When did you guys become friends?”

Sam turned to Jack, gave him the same uncharacteristically pleasant smile she had used with them before, and said, “Oh, we bonded because Danny asked us for help and we listened.”

Jack winced. “Right, right.”

Danny would laugh, but found that he was too tired. Thankfully, for the first time in his life, Jack seemed to pick up on the mood and left them alone while they waited. Danny would have loved to busy himself and help the people by the portal, but his right hand gave a painful twinge every time he considered it as if to remind him how the last time he messed around with the portal went.

Instead he passed the time by idly chatting with Sam and the ghosts. Sam seemed to relish the opportunity to ask them everything she could think of, including a lot of detailed questions about the afterlife that the ghosts seemed somewhat hesitant to answer.

One of them stopped her after a while with a kind smile. “Don’t be so hasty to know everything. You’ll get there in the end, and isn’t it fun to know there’s something new to learn when you do?”

So they talked about lighter stuff, and Sam got a taste of the frankly insane amount of gossiping the ghosts got up to. 

After a while Tucker looked up from tinkering and declared, “It’s done,” and then tacked on an uncertain, “I think.”

Technus scoffed. “It’ll work! I’m the master of all technology!”

Vlad patted Technus on the back. “Yeah, yeah, good job.” Then he turned to Danny. “Alright, hit the button.”

“Me?” Danny blinked in surprise. “Are you sure?” He looked around the room at the gathered ghosts. “Are you all sure?”

And they all nodded.

The clump was abc in his throat and he shook his head, “I don’t know if I should be the one to—”

Vlad cut him off. “You’re the only one who's been with us since the beginning. You know what this means. You are the only one we trust to do this.”

He’d never been entrusted with something like this before, but he knew that he couldn’t dishonor them by questioning it. So he reached out a shaking hand and placed it on the button. A warm hand landed on his shoulder, and then another. Danny glanced up to see Sam and Tucker there beside him, supporting him. He looked around the room, at Vlad, at all the gathered ghosts, took a deep breath and then, for the second time, pressed a button on the portal. 

This time he wasn't alone, and there was no pain, just hands on his shoulders and warmth at his back.

Then a bright light shot out of the portal, bleeding outward in a circle and enveloping the area around the portal, then the whole lab, then spreading even further. All the ghosts touched by the light seemed to just stop, frozen smiles of relief on their faces. The light pulsed as it spread wider and wider, and then it too stopped. Everything was still for a split second and then, with a sudden sucking sound, all the light and the ghosts were dragged into the portal, fast enough to leave hazy afterimages in their wake.

And then it was… empty.

More empty than it'd been ever since the Accident. The portal turned dark at the same time as Danny registered the fact that he wasn’t freezing anymore. 

Danny let out a long, shaky, breath and took a small step back, wincing as his wound made itself known with a painful twinge.

It was over.

He looked at Sam and Tucker who gazed back at him with equally wide eyes, before simply letting his knees give out and sitting down on the floor.

Tucker and Sam joined him a second later, all three of them sitting on the laboratory floor, staring at each other.

The next day of school arrived as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. 

That wasn't completely true; the school administration had scheduled a meeting in the gym during second period to talk about the “ghost-situation”.

Ironic, since for the first time since the Accident, there were no ghosts. 

Danny had walked to school alone and then paused right inside its doors. The halls had never seemed so wide, the school so quiet. The students and the teachers were all there and Danny knew that he was the only one who thought the school felt suddenly and impossibly empty, less alive. The heavy sadness he’d felt since the ghosts disappeared intensified as he thought of everyone who was now gone for good, all of his lost friends.

A fact that wasn’t helped by the fact that no ghosts also meant no more Sam and Tucker. Danny found himself mourning that fact almost as much as the loss of the ever present ghosts, but he knew that they wouldn’t want to continue hanging out with him now that everything was over. The ghosts-stuff had been the only unique thing about him, and now it was gone.

It had been fun while it lasted. 

Danny hesitated for a split second and then pushed the classroom door open. As soon as he entered, all eyes were on him.

This time it wasn't because they thought he was crazy. It was because they knew he wasn't.

The fear in their eyes was new, and he didn't like it. A part of him had thought that maybe now that they all knew the truth, and now that it was over, he wouldn't be singled out anymore. That he could be just like everyone else. 

His shoulders crept up towards his ears as he looked around the classroom, trying to find an empty seat and then he saw them; Sam and Tucker, both looking at him with expectant expressions and a gesture to a chair between them.

Danny could have cried right there on the spot, but instead the relief flooding his system only made him stumble as he hurried over to them. He sat down next to them and smiled big enough to hurt his cheeks.

Sam smiled back. Tucker threw an arm over his shoulder.

“So I was thinking that we should go visit this new place in town called Nasty Burger.”

“Do they have vegetarian options?”

“I hope not!”

As Tucker and Sam started squabbling, Danny leaned into Tucker’s side and smiled.

It was warm.