Chapter 1: Game Night
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
Game Night
Star looked over her reflection in the mirror, judging her own outfit before going out to meet Paulina. Tonight was the first football game of the season and everyone was super pumped for it, practically the whole school would be there so she had to look her best.
Her make-up changed her complexion just enough that she wasn't as pale as her white short-sleeved shirt, her orange jeans were freshly dry-cleaned and her white flats were newly shined. She put a hand on her hip, leaning slightly to see if it helped accentuate her figure at all like it seemed to do for Paulina.
"How does she do it?" Star muttered to herself, trying another position.
She was more than confident in both her body and her looks, except somehow Paulina always managed to make her feel inferior. They were best friends, but sometimes Star hated the Latina with everything she could. With Paulina, it was never that easy though.
Sighing in aggravation she let her hand drop to her side, deciding to forego the modeling all together and focused on getting ready again. She grabbed her two favorite hair clips from the jewelry box on her desk. One was an orange flower, clipped easily into the mass of blonde hair that hung down on the left side of her head. The second was one she saved for special occasions, a light blue star-shaped hair clip that was slightly smaller than the palm-sized flower she normally wore. Star clipped the star into place with a grin, putting it slightly in front of the orange flower to make her hair appear shorter on the left as her blonde mane hung down to nearly her waist.
Running her fingers through her hair one more time, Star smiled at her reflection. Last but not least, she put on Kwan's Letterman jacket to show support for her designated boyfriend even though early September wasn't known for it's cool and refreshing temperatures.
"The things I do for popularity." She sighed out, already feeling sweaty in the oversized jacket.
Nonetheless, she grabbed her turquoise purse and slung it over her shoulder. She gave herself one last glance in the mirror before pulling herself away and leaving her bedroom, heading out to meet Paulina at the football field.
"It's a good thing we got here so early, seats went really fast." Star commented from the bleachers.
They had gotten good seats in the third row, only behind what looked like the families of some members on the team that stayed to watch the practice too. The girls ended up on the end of their row, making it easy to slip out for bathroom breaks, snack trips or the event of a ghost attack.
"Totally." Paulina replied shortly, glancing down at her recently manicured nails. Star couldn't help but feel put out by the response. So, she couldn't resist zoning out while Paulina began talking her ear off about a new set of heels she wanted.
She could see the team getting ready to start; both teams huddled up planning out their moves. The bleachers were full of faces she recognized both from school and around town. If she didn't know them by name, she knew them by face. It was no surprise that she saw almost the entire class there; they were juniors now, they wanted to start off the year having fun. Which is why she was only slightly surprised when she noticed a familiar mess of black hair in the crowd. Only one boy had hair that messy and dark, so when the mom in front of him sat down (finally!) Star was greeted with the sight of Danny Fenton, sitting in the row behind them but a lot closer to the middle of his section.
Fenton was a strange one.
For the longest time, all he seemed to care about was joining the ranks of their A-list. She remembered him and his geek friend Tucker Foley plotting and scheming all through junior high to befriend someone, anyone that could help improve their social status.
Then freshman year, things just changed. They tried harder than ever for a few months, but after that- not a word from either of them. There was even a point in time Fenton outright rejected an offer to join AND the rumor mill says he dumped Paulina! Although Paulina denies they were ever together, there were a lot of people that claimed otherwise. It was like they suddenly didn't care about popularity anymore, like they became content with their own lives.
In a way, Star admired and even envied that. There were days she wished she wasn't friends with Paulina or dreamed about leaving the A-list but she knew she'd never do it. They could destroy her if she thought about leaving, and staying wasn't the worst thing; they really were her friends, after all.
"Are you even listening to me?" Paulina's voice rose in volume and brought Star out of her own head. "What are you even looking at?"
Star turned rather quickly, embarrassed at being caught spacing out, to face her friend but Paulina's face was a lot closer than she remembered. Paulina had leaned over to see where her gaze was.
"Aw, look at the freak boy- here all by himself. How lame." Paulina mocked, giggling rather loudly.
Star only just noticed that she was right, beside him were two near strangers. One from school, one she recognized as a cashier in the supermarket. Neither of his friends Manson and Foley were anywhere near him, which might explain his rather bored expression as he leaned forward on his knees and held his head in his hands.
Rather odd, Manson and Foley stuck to Fenton like glue for the most part. It was like they were afraid to let him out of their sight or he'd disappear on them. Like that would happen, Fenton didn't have anyone else to go to outside of his freaky family.
Although she never understood why, since he didn't remind her of the typical bully target. He was a bit awkward, sure, but he was always nice if not downright polite when he spoke. If you pushed his buttons, maybe you'd get a few jabs and sarcastic comments out of him but not always. He seemed content to walk away from any situation that seemed like it would go further than a casual greeting, whether 'further' meant 'let's get lunch' or turning into a shouting match.
He wasn't ugly either, and more importantly he wasn't what Paulina considered ugly. There were no braces, pimples, freckles or glasses, he wasn't overweight and he wasn't covered in body hair. He didn't have any particularly bad habits that might get on someone's nerves; he didn't smell, he didn't shout, he didn't chew with his mouth open. By all accounts on everyone's regard, Danny Fenton was an average teenager with hardly anything special about him.
"Look at that cut on his arm! It looks new, I bet he got it doing something stupid on his way here." Paulina continued on.
The most noteworthy thing about him was his constant sketchy behavior that last year created a rumor that he was in a gang. He was always leaving classes halfway though, sometimes coming back but not always, and showed up late for more classes than Star was on time for the whole year. He always seemed to be both around for all the crazy and nowhere near it. All that coupled with the various injuries he's been seen walking around with made for a lot of interesting school buzz.
Ultimately, the rumor mill decided that Danny Fenton wasn't in a gang and was only an extremely tardy teenager with an adrenaline addiction that led to dangerous stunts and a high pain tolerance. Everyone was more than content to agree and move on.
"What's he even doing here?" Paulina finished her nit picking on the Fenton boy.
Star conceded that she had a good point that time, why was he here? It probably wasn't to show support or school spirit, and he definitely wasn't friends with anyone on the football team unless he became really okay with taking beatings and being shoved into lockers all of the sudden.
She didn't have time to dwell on the question, though, as the loud noise of a whistle brought her attention back to the field before them. The teams were marching out into formation as the refs and coaches took their positions. The game was starting. Star took one last glance behind her at Fenton, who looked entirely uninterested in the game about to unfold.
She looked away.
The game was only half over, but everyone was very excited; it didn't look like Elmerton would be able to catch up; they had only scored one field goal so far compared to the multiple touchdowns Dash and Kwan had amassed already. It was shaping up to be a really good evening and Paulina was already talking to her about plans to celebrate the win after with Dash and Kwan when suddenly, the temperature dropped.
Star, previously sweating underneath Kwan's Letterman jacket, shivered and tried to rub her hands together for warmth. Everyone from Amity Park knew what was happening; a ghost was about to show up. Nobody moved yet, unsure of exactly what would happen; if they stopped what they were doing every time a ghost showed up nothing would ever get done.
But when they heard laughter and one popped into view, dramatically waving its arms around they knew they got one of the crazy ones. Best thing to do was run, try not to trip and hope Danny Phantom showed up in time to stop it.
Almost at once, the crowd stood and bolted. Paulina, being at the edge, was off first and gone before Star could even blink. She attempted to follow, only to be ruthlessly shoved through by a family of six and then again by a middle-aged man. Losing her balance on the side, she fell to the ground with a thud and could only roll underneath the set of bleachers she was just on top of to avoid being trampled by the crowd of people still running away.
She collected herself and peaked between bleachers to see what was going on, getting her first good look at the ghost.
It was one she hadn't seen before, a rare occurrence. Ghosts attacked very frequently, but rarely did a new one show their face anymore; they had their own rogues' gallery of ghosts by now. This one was sports themed, so attacking a football game was not a coincidence.
It had green skin like a lot of ghosts, but orange eyes and a football helmet on. Covering its body was what looked like a baseball uniform, and a very plain one at that. A simple black short sleeved shirt with an orange long sleeved undershirt and brown stripes running down the chest. It looked to be wearing ice skates at the bottom that were plain black, but with blades that were a bright Ectoplasmic green. The jersey had a bright orange '35' on the front, sewn with green stitches.
"What's the matter? Does nobody want to play ball?" The ghost cried out, creating a large blast of ectoplasm in its hand and throwing it at the field.
Players that were still evacuating were thrown around like nothing, trying to avoid the debris. It laughed again, throwing more and more blasts and keeping groups of people from escaping. Star panicked, unsure of what to do. How could Paulina not wait for her?
"Star? What are you still doing here?" A voice cut through her thoughts.
She turned to see Danny Fenton under the bleachers with her, sounding a lot more surprised than scared.
"I panicked and hid instead of running away." Star lied easily, unwilling to tell the boy about how she had been pushed aside like yesterdays mail. "What about you? You're normally the first person off the scene of ghost attacks, Fenton."
She tried to put an edge on her voice, unwilling to answer questions that could lead to her embarrassment.
"Oh, I uh- I fell of the bleachers in all the panic. You know me, so clumsy." Fenton replied through mild stuttering.
Star wasn't sure whether to get angry or not at the indirect insult, but didn't have time to think before Fenton yelled and lunged.
"Get down!" He cried, leaping forward and practically tackling her to the ground.
Somehow, he grabbed her so one hand cradled her head and prevented it from slamming into the ground while the other was around her waist, doing a good job of not letting it touch the ground either. After a brief second, she watched as his face clenched in pain before relaxing as she felt her back and waist touch the ground with surprising tenderness.
"Are you okay?" Fenton asked immediately, blue eyes searching all over her form.
Star could only nod through her surprise. She felt Fenton relax even more, slipping his hand out from under her head as he pushed himself off of her and stood up. Star sat up too, still dazed.
"Okay, I'll go, uh, get his attention, you get outta here." Fenton told her, running out from under the bleachers.
Star could only watch in complete shock as the kid who wouldn't look Dash in the eye lazily strolled onto the center of the now empty football field to confront a ghost. Specifically so she could get away. She started to walk towards the exit, only a few feet from where she was hiding
"Hey ball breath, you missed." Fenton said with such conviction Star couldn't help but glance back.
The ghost seemed surprised at first, which Star guessed was fair, but then it morphed into what seemed to be fear. Fear of what? The only things around were herself and Fenton by now.
"How did you know which game was the target?" The ghost asked in a rage, fear forgotten for now.
"You're predictable." Fenton replied with a shrug of his shoulders. He glanced back, his eyes meeting hers briefly before he looked back to the ghost. "You get one chance, leave. Go home, now." He said, getting louder.
Star caught the double meaning and turned to run, but so did the ghost. When it turned and saw her, it began to laugh and Star stopped in her tracks again.
"I should've known, of course there's a reason you're still here like that!" It cackled. "And here I thought we were having a friendly huddle, rookie."
Before Star could even begin to contemplate what the ghost was talking about, it started to charge another attack in its hands and aimed for her. She tried to run again, but the attack hit the ground in front of her and flung her backwards. She hit the ground again, a lot rougher this time.
"Star!" She heard Fenton cry out in shock.
She sat up, vision blurry for a moment and turned towards her classmates voice. She watched in shock as Fenton ran for her, dodging the ghosts blasts without even looking; the kid who was clocked as the slowest in gym crossed half the football field in seconds and jumped at least double his own body height at one point to dodge those blasts.
Star gasped as she felt herself leaving the ground again, this time being supported by two deceptively strong arms.
"Fenton?" She whispered in confusion.
Fenton was carrying her now, going just as fast as before despite the added weight of another person. Just before they could get out of the fenced in field, the fence glowed green and pulled itself shut, growing ten feet in the process. Fenton turned them around to see the ghost floating with its arms pointed outward at them, showing it was his doing.
"Uh, uh, uh. Game's not over yet, rookie. We've got a score to settle." The ghost cried out. All around the ghost, sports balls were formed. Green footballs, basketballs and baseballs floated in a circle around him.
"You act like it was a close game." Fenton muttered under his breath.
Star felt Fenton running more, but closed her eyes to deal with the massive headache she felt forming. She opened her eyes slowly again after she felt shade encompass her and Fenton started to set her down. Despite herself, she gripped his shirt.
"Relax, just for a minute." He said gently, feeling her tightened grip. They were underneath the bleachers now and Fenton was glancing left and right, ready for the ghost to attack again. "Trust me and stay here, I'll be right back." And then he was gone before Star could protest.
Not that she would protest, of course.
"You're really starting to get on my nerves, Fanatic." Fenton's voice sounded agitated again, like it did the first time he ran off to face the ghost alone.
Star tried to stand, but her legs wouldn't properly respond. She could hardly sit straight up, but she tried to peer through the bleachers to see what Fenton would do against their attacker.
"Why don't you do something about it then? Or is one little human enough to bring about your demise?" It mocked, launching all kinds of balls at the teenager.
"Oh please, you couldn't beat an egg!" Fenton replied, jumping into the air and- and running up the stream of basketballs and footballs towards the ghost?
Since when was Fenton that coordinated and agile? Forget that, something like that shouldn't even be physically possible for people in peak physical condition let alone the scrawny kid that got picked last in gym. It just got weirder and weirder because the ghost didn't even look surprised and turned them all around, aiming to hit Fenton from behind.
Star tried to shout a warning, but her voice failed her as she watched what happened next. Fenton pushed off a basketball and turned around mid-air, palming another basketball coming at him and using it to deflect multiple others incoming. He got hit in the chest, but simply gripped the ball for dear life and flipped forward, which seemed to break it from the ghosts spell and threw it for all he was worth at the ghost. Star didn't know why she was surprised anymore when it smacked the ghost in the face and Fenton stuck the landing with a roll onto the ground.
"You weren't supposed to be here! You always ruin everything you stupid half-breed!" The ghosts orange eyes glowed fiercely, but Fenton seemed unfazed.
"Shove it, Fanatic. Consider yourself out of the playoffs." Fenton quipped, pointing something silver at the ghost.
Then before her very eyes, Star watched the ghost get sucked into whatever it was Fenton was holding and disappear in a flash of blue light. Then, she heard his voice again.
"Game's over, guys. Come back, meet at mine." He paused. "Star!" She saw him remember her, then dash back towards the bleachers.
He was by her side moments later, helping her stand.
"Are you okay? You didn't get hurt too bad, did you? That was a pretty nasty fall." Fenton asked, looking her over as she tried to regain her balance.
The fog was starting to clear from her mind and she wasn't sure it had anything to do with the ghost's disappearance. She glanced around, seeing certain things return to normal. The fence was returned to its default position and a lot of glowing green balls disappeared, but the field was torn up beyond immediate repair and there was scorch marks all over the place, including Fenton's chest.
"I- I think so." Star managed to answer eventually after realizing he was actually waiting for an answer. "What about you?" She found herself asking, eyes drawn to the scorch mark shaped like a basketball on Fenton's chest.
"Never better-" He paused, glancing down. "I mean, uh- my chest hurts a lot and it hurts to breath, but I think I'll manage. I'm also really tired, too, you should probably get going."
Star's head still hurt a lot, so it wouldn't be until later that she reflected on the obvious lie. But for now, she just nodded and held her head in both hands a moment longer, trying to force herself to think clearly again.
"You are okay, aren't you? Do you want me to walk you home?" Fenton asked her, offering a hand as the other put something in his back jean pocket.
Star didn't know why, but she found herself unable to decline and gave Fenton one of her hands. He smiled at her and she tried to pretend she didn't notice the concern in his eyes.
Danny Fenton, as it turns out, is a really strange one.
He held her hand the whole way home, but rather than harping on it or attempting to pretend it was romantic he held his arm up, using his own hand to stabilize her the whole twenty minute walk home with no complaints. She was pretty sure she tripped quite a lot and she really expected to fall a lot more, but Fenton was deceptively strong and managed to hold her up every time.
And on top of that, he even asked her to forget everything that had happened! He didn't want her to tell Paulina or Dash or anyone about how he saved her or took care of that ghost, alone no less. In her confused state, she nodded before asking why, a choice she would regret later. It seemed like he wanted to forget tonight ever happened and he seemed borderline eager to leave her on her doorstep without so much as another word.
Anyone else would've milked something like this for all it was worth, which was a lot in Casper High. Fenton could've tried to bargain his way into the A-List, onto the football team, into Paulina's pants- hell most boys would've tried for a kiss or to grab her ass on a moonlit walk home regardless of the circumstances. But all Fenton did the whole walk back was make sure she was okay about twenty times, carry her purse for her and ask her to forget about what happened.
"This is me." Star said, pointing. She let Fenton walk her up the steps and prayed the door wasn't locked. It wasn't, and she opened it quietly.
"You don't need me to, uh," Fenton trailed off, gesturing to her house. She got the hint.
"No, dad says no boys in the house while he's not home." Star replied automatically. She almost went to take it back, but he nodded contently and smiled at her again, letting go of her hand for the first time since the football field.
"Right, good rule. I'll, uh, take off then. If you're sure your okay?" Fenton checked on her one last time, giving her her purse back.
"Yes, good idea." She said, turning to the door.
She heard Fenton step back down the steps without another word or complaint. Before she could stop herself, she called to him.
"Fenton?" She turned, watching how quickly he turned to check on her at her call. "Thanks." And then she stepped inside, slamming the door shut behind her.
Star couldn't think anymore and mindlessly fell onto her couch, ignoring the mental image of Danny Fenton walking away from her house with a bright smile.
Chapter 2: English Class
Summary:
Star goes to school the morning after her ghost attack. She is heavily effected by it and Danny Fenton is... not?
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did.
Welcome back! Thanks for the response on the story, keep it up! I love hearing what you guys think.
Last time we got Star's viewpoint on a rather strange scenario, so now here's Star's viewpoint on what should be a rather mundane scenario. Read on, readers.
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
English Class
The next time Star thinks about Danny Fenton is immediately after she wakes up the next morning, but she pushed him aside until after she popped some Tylenol pills to deal with her possible concussion and got her morning shower.
Only then while drying off did she notice the bruise on her thigh from where the landed so roughly after the ghost blasted at her. It's big, bigger than both her hands and has already started to turn a sickly purple color rather than a soft blue. She poked it, just to be sure, and winced as expected when it hurt.
She would have to be careful if she didn't want anyone seeing it, which she didn't. Her favorite style of jeans would surely irritate it too much, so she went for a long red skirt today that came all the way down to her knees. She threw together the rest of a makeshift outfit and hoped Paulina wouldn't bring up the mismatched clothes, since the blue t-shirt definitely didn't match to her standards with her red skirt or white shoes.
It's not until she got to school that she remembered what she's been trying not to think about, and there he is standing by his locker with his two geek friends just like any other morning. Just like he hadn't fought a ghost less than twenty-four hours ago and won.
It was when Foley let out a snort and shoved Fenton away for something he said, pushing him square in the chest and sending Fenton leaning backwards, that Star decided something was wrong. Fenton showed no signs of injury or even discomfort with the action, even though he had been visibly worse off than she was last night and she had walked away with more to show for it.
Something was going on, and she would get to the bottom of it.
She was Paulina's satellite for a reason; she was the eyes and ears. There was hardly a face in town she didn't recognize, if not know them by first name and she did actually know everybody in the school. Plus, where Paulina only paid attention to gossip pertaining to certain topics and people or the things she herself started, Star was tuned in to it all. She knew what the student body was buzzing about and which little bees were causing a ruckus.
So, rather than doing anything yet she ignored Fenton and his friends, ignored the talk in the halls and the warning bell as she made her way to Spanish, one of the few classes she didn't share with Fenton. Here, she was going to go over all the rumors and gossip she had heard about the Fenton boy over the last few years, which seemed to be when the changes started, and made a decision to watch Fenton a lot closer from now on.
Paulina sat down besides her, talking about how awesome the football game was last night even with the ghost attack. She was under the impression that Phantom had swooped in and saved the day like everyone else and Star couldn't believe how strong the urge was to correct the darker-skinned girl. Alas, she smiled and nodded as class began, pretending like Paulina hadn't totally ditched her last night.
Casper High seemed to unanimously declare Danny Fenton a very strange ordinary person.
Star tried desperately to organize her thoughts, but writing anything down was too risky; if Paulina caught her writing down stuff about Freaky Fenton, her position on the A-list could be in jeopardy and she wasn't sure she was willing to risk it for the sake of answers yet. So, she had to settle for mentally listing a bunch of second or third-hand gossip she had heard through the years about the odd teenager.
Some people have said that he never makes any noise unless he's talking. No footsteps, no outward breathing, no crack of the ankles as he walked; if you didn't see him walk past you, you never would have known he was there. Even just standing still and talking, there was an air of weightlessness around the boy. For someone so clumsy the school board from handling banned them any fragile equipment until he graduated after breaking literally dozens of bottles and vials in chemistry, he never seemed to miss a step or collide with anything. Chair legs, door corners, computer wires, kids swore up and down that he seemed to just pass right through these minor inconveniences that plagued the rest of the student body. He never seemed to notice they were there, how was it possible for him to continue stepping over them so consistently?
On the other hand, he seemed to be constantly injured. There was hardly ever a time when there wasn't a bruise somewhere, a gash concealed, a favored leg or an excuse about a concussion to a teacher. A lot of people noticed the Band-Aids that almost perfectly blended with his skin, the ripped or punctured clothes or the slight limp he seemed to constantly have.
He missed classes, a lot. But nobody ever really talked about seeing him around the halls very often. There were more kids than Fenton that ditched class, like a lot more, and they actually hung out in the hallways, cafeteria and library while they were skipping and hardly any of them saw Fenton around while classes were being held. In the halls before and after, sure, and during lunch too, but almost never during class. He couldn't really be using the bathroom that much, could he? Especially when a boy with a medical emergency pass for Irritable Bowel Syndrome also frequently spent time in the schools bathrooms and hardly crossed paths with Fenton. Statistically, two kids who went to the bathroom almost five or six times a day in a school with only three working boys bathrooms were bound to cross paths multiple times a week but no, apparently encounters with Fenton in the bathroom happened maybe once every two weeks.
And he was a really smart kid, but seemed to be in trouble in all his classes. It wasn't news when someone was doing poorly, but every kid that's worked on an in-class group project with Fenton (and he stayed through the whole thing) swears he's actually really smart and knows the material. So many kids are surprised when the rumor mill starts going on about how many people have overheard the lectures Fenton gets from every one of his teachers.
Then there was gym class. Fenton was always weak and scrawny before, so he's still weak and scrawny now, right? Nope. He didn't look as buff as Dash or anything, but everyone swears that with his physique, he should be doing a lot better in gym class than he is. He's always in last place when they run the mile, but he never seemed winded or tired. And he never took off his shirt no matter how hot it got or what activity they did; Fenton refused to be seen shirtless or even wear tank-tops. He went to great lengths, too, always the last one out of the locker room and he never went back in until everyone else was gone.
Speaking of clothes, his didn't change at all. Like really, almost never. Most of their class had changed something about the way they dressed; it was only natural, they were still finding their own styles. Star herself found that she didn't always like her hair down like Paulina did and that a ponytail looked great too. Even Manson and Foley had changed their looks somewhat; not drastically or anything, but they looked more comfortable than they used to. But even if he found his style first, Fenton never dressed for the weather or the occasion.
Sports days? T-shirt and jeans. Presentation days? T-shirt and jeans. Sweltering heat? T-shirt and jeans. Freezing cold? T-shirt and jeans.
People thought there could be a hurricane outside and Fenton would come strolling through the doors of Casper High, unaffected by the winds, rain and cold without so much as an umbrella to aid him. How had Fenton made something as ordinary as a t-shirt and jeans something to become suspicious about?
"Star? Star! Come on, class is over." Paulina's voice and nudging broke Star from her deep thoughts.
"Huh? Oh, right, sorry. That class was just so boring, I totally spaced." Star apologized quickly to her friend, shoving some books into her bag and standing to meet Paulina's height.
"I totally get it, Ms. Turner is so out of touch. Come on, let's go." Paulina concluded, turning on her new heels to leave.
Star followed.
The rest of the day Star's thoughts were still consumed by Danny Fenton. She went from reflecting on him to watching him as subtly as she could throughout the rest of the day. Easy enough, they shared most of their classes together.
Fenton showed up late to only the second class of the day, math, and it was well after Mr. Falluca took attendance. He was almost twenty minutes late to the class, so nobody was surprised when Falluca scolded the teen.
"Someone ought to teach you about responsibilities, Mr. Fenton. This behavior will not continue to be excused. Detention, today after school." Falluca reprimanded and the class, minus Star, burst into snickers.
"Yes sir." Fenton mumbled his reply and began to walk to his seat.
Star didn't understand at all. Before, Fenton would argue or attempt to explain himself to the teachers as they began to dole out punishments. She wasn't sure when that bit had stopped, but everyone used to enjoy watching Fenton flounder around trying to squirm out of detentions, parent-teacher meetings or any other punishments he was subjected to. But try as she might, she wasn't sure when the troubled teen had started quietly accepting any punishment placed on his shoulders.
There was a flicker of something in his eyes as he said it, but she wasn't sure what it could be. Anger? Guilt? Acceptance? All three? It was like he had given up trying to explain himself, like he realized it was easier to take the punishments and move on. That was kind of sad, in Star's opinion.
She watched him closely as he moved to his seat.
Fenton moved slowly. Very slowly. His steps were light as always, no audible footsteps were heard, but he seemed to be favoring his right leg; it always traveled almost double the distance of his left and every time his left foot touched the ground he leaned right. His right hand gripped the strip of his backpack, slightly picking up the shirt underneath so it wasn't touching his skin. His fingers clenched every time he stepped forward and scrapped against his chest, like he was in pain. The other hand was concealed in his pocket, but his left thigh looked like he spilled soda on his lap due to the darker colored stain on them the size of his hand. When he passed by her to get to his desk, not looking her in the eye, she noticed that it wrapped around to the back of his leg. His whole thigh seemed to be covered in palm-sized splotches of ink or soda or something.
He made his way to the back of the classroom as he usually did, out of the way and the best spot for classroom naps, a whole three rows behind Star, who sat in the second row. It wasn't until she glanced back at him again while he huffed loudly sitting down that she noticed small punctures on his face. One on his neck, one underneath his cheekbone and another above his temple. He turned his head slightly, as if checking the room and Star saw matching marks on the other side. She nearly gasped, but before she could complete her noise Fenton's head swiveled towards her as if he heard the nearly inaudible sound.
Her turquoise eyes locked with his bright blue ones and just for a second, Star felt like that was the safest place in the world. Then he smiled a crooked smile at her, as if silently thanking her for keeping her mouth shut, and slumping over in his desk. Star turned away immediately after, feeling her cheeks heating up.
For the first time that year, Star was glad none of her friends were in her math class.
Star wondered for the rest of the day about how Fenton could've gotten injured. She saw him in the hall before first period and he looked impossibly fine considering last night's events, but somewhere between first and second period that changed.
But, even stranger still was that the next time Star saw him in fourth period he looked just as he had that morning.
He haphazardly walked into class, on time, and only seconds after most of their class had gotten themselves seated. His backpack was slung lazily over his right shoulder, the same one he winced when his shirt brushed nearly two hours ago, and he was no longer limping but his jeans were still discolored on his left leg.
"Heads up Fentoenail!" Dash announced before blowing a spitball at Fenton's forehead.
The class laughed over the teachers' cry of 'Mr. Baxter!' but Star noticed something even through the wince she tried to fight. Fenton's right hand jolted, as if he was attempting to catch the spitball, but dropped even faster than it rose back to his side. Star was dead sure that with that speed, he could've deflected if not caught the projectile.
So why did he let it hit him in the face instead? How long had things like that been happening while nobody noticed? Star was willing to guess too long.
Fenton didn't pay Dash any mind after that and headed to his seat in the back of the room once again, pointedly shrugging his shoulders at something Manson and Foley were saying to him. It seemed like they either got what they wanted or gave up because as Fenton sat down, both his geek friends simply turned to face forward again, the conversation dropped.
Whatever was going on with Fenton, Manson and Foley were involved somehow too. She was sure of it.
It felt wrong, but Star desperately wished Fenton would rush off somewhere as he usually did.
They were in their last period of the day, English, and she had shared every period with him since fourth. For some reason, Star found herself unable to properly concentrate on her own thoughts regarding the boy, let alone whatever Lancer and their other teachers were droning on about, while she had the chance to observe him directly instead.
It wasn't nearly as mentally stimulating as thinking directly about all the strange things that seemed to float around Danny Fenton, and she certainly felt like thinking would be a more productive use of time that staring. Even so, she could hardly bring herself to stop glancing in his direction almost constantly. There were quite a few times Paulina asked who she was checking out, claiming to have had a 'dreamy look in her eye', and she had to pretend she was daydreaming about Kwan but those moments weren't nearly as heart stopping as the times Fenton almost caught her looking.
She found out he did that a lot, actually. For someone who was so tired all the time (his eyes had enough bags to go to London for a month) that he looked like he could collapse into a deep sleep at a moments notice, Fenton was very on-edge. Like, constantly. His eyes, while they weren't closed trying to nap, did nothing but jolt around the room dozens of times as if honing in on every individual noise. And sudden noises? They had his attention instantly, so thoroughly it seemed like he was ready to spring out of his chair if someone started using the electric pencil sharpener without announcing it first.
But beyond that, he seemed to be aware of every zip of a backpack, click of a pen and bump of a knee that was going on in the room. It was like he was constantly operating on nothing but a cup of coffee and a fight or flight response.
Barely five minutes into English, just as Star was turning her eyes away from Fenton again she heard a soft gasp. She quickly glanced back again, noticing Fenton was sitting straight as a board with his hand raised, a far cry from the seemingly passed out position she saw him last in the split second her eyes were off him.
"Yes, Mr. Fenton?" Lancer asked patiently, even if everyone in the room knew what was about to happen.
"Can I use the bathroom?" Fenton asked, glancing around the room again. She swore he lingered on her, longer but his eyes went back to Lancer too quick to be sure.
"I suppose. Be quick about it this time, would you?" Lancer chided, but Fenton was out of the room before he finished talking.
Star watched him go, the boy almost breaking into a dead sprint out of the room as the door slammed shut behind him. It caused her to blink in shock at the loud noise, but she swore there was a flash of light while her eyes were closed. She looked back at Manson and Foley, who seemed unable to stop making eye contact and glancing out the window like they would miss something.
Apparently, Star couldn't think much while Fenton wasn't in the room either. All she felt like she did while he was gone was go between glancing back at his empty seat, the clock and the door in the same pattern. Like if she followed it, it would make Fenton return sooner.
Why did she even care where he was? She wanted her questions answered, that didn't mean she could afford to suddenly start caring about someone who could get her whole social life uprooted. Besides, it's not like they were ever friends before there was an A-list anyways. Why should she care what freaky Fenton did in his free time?
She knew the answer, of course, was that it was because Fenton had made her start looking at things differently. She wasn't sure she could have done any of what Fenton did to save her best friends, let alone someone who hated her the way she hated him. Well, she didn't hate him. Just judged him.
Her thoughts on her exact feelings for Danny Fenton were interrupted by the boy of the hour coming through the door and leaning backwards on it to fully close it.
"Tell me, Mr. Fenton, is twenty-five minutes quick to you?" Lancer asked, hardly glancing over at the returning student.
Most of the class snickered and nobody seemed to pay any mind to his return. Nobody except Star who could not take her eyes off the condition that Fenton was in.
His shirt had holes in it, literal holes that were the size of her index fingers scattered everywhere. She could see red on some of them better than others, which made her think they were bites of some kind. His pants looked like they had been burned, the bottom right pant leg being charred black along with his normally white and red shoe turning an ash grey and maroon-like color. There looked like two gashes by his hip, just above his pocket, which was limply hanging down at his side rather than being sewn on to his thigh.
His face didn't escape unharmed either. The whole left cheek was covered in a black and blue and two the little puncture marks across his shirt were on his neck. If she didn't know any better, she would say a vampire just bit him.
"Won't happen again, Mr. Lancer." Fenton promised. His voice was a bit strained, like he knew he was lying, and he went to walk to his seat.
The minute he moved, Star noticed his arms that were previously hidden behind his back as he leaned against the door. They were both covered in gashes and scratches and cuts from his hands all the way up to his sleeves. There was dozens of them, going in every direction.
She must have made another noise because his eyes found hers again and she glanced down as quickly as she could, not wanting to be caught staring. She couldn't hold out for long though and glanced up again just in time to see him stuff his hands into his pockets so deep only half of his forearms were visible anymore as he walked back to his seat, noticed by nobody else.
She watched Manson and Foley talk to him again, but she couldn't hear anything over the sound of Lancer's voice and she was awful at lip-reading. They talked longer this time, but the conversation still ended with Fenton slamming his head onto his desk and his friends exchanging a glance.
Star contemplated what could have happened to Fenton for the remaining fifteen minutes of English class but could think of nothing to answer any of her questions with. She contemplated so hard, actually, that she had a repeat of first period and Paulina had to shake her out of her thoughts.
"What's with you today? You're acting like Dash when I wear a bathing suit." Paulina asked, nudging her shoulder.
Star only shrugged, going to stand when she noticed Fenton and his friends leaving in front of them. They were usually the last ones out the door, she must have spaced out really bad.
"Yeah sorry, I've just- been thinking a lot today." Star replied as convincing as she could.
She was avoiding eye contact with Paulina, hoping she didn't ask what, when her eyes ever so slightly were caught by a brilliant shade of blue. As quick as before, Fenton looked away and she found herself staring. It was then that she noticed something really, really odd even for Fenton.
He didn't have any cuts on his arms.
Chapter 3: The Talk
Summary:
Star tries to talk to Danny about... well, everything, but Danny is quite literally more willing to die than answer any questions whatsoever
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did.
Welcome back again! Keep on telling me what you guys think with this chapter! Sorry it's shorter than the last two, but I couldn't resist this ending. Next chapter will be longer to make up for it, promise! Anyway, read on, readers.
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
The Talk
Star stopped by her locker on the way out, wanting to empty her backpack out before the long walk home. She was so consumed by her thoughts all day that she never even opened it to exchange books, which explained the rather heavy math book she was still carrying around.
She opened her locker, careful not to hit Paulina who was standing in front of her locker, and stilled. Sitting in her locker was her light blue star-shaped hair clip. When had that gotten there? How had that gotten there? There was no way she would have left this here, let alone had the time.
The only time it could have fallen out was at last night's game and the only person who could have found it was… Danny Fenton.
"Hurry up Star, we've got to leave now if we want our table at the Nasty Burger. Dash and Kwan are waiting for us." Paulina reminded her.
Star slightly shut her locker so she could look Paulina in the face and put on her most convincing apologetic voice.
"I can't go today, my dad's making me pick up my stupid brother from school. I'll meet you there if I can." Star excused herself from the event and as expected, Paulina huffed.
"Fine, we'll go over now. Catch up with us later, okay?" Paulina replied before walking off.
Star glanced at her retreating form and watched as she left through the front of the building surrounded by the members of the A-list. Then, she looked back at her locker and began to wonder just how Fenton had even noticed her hair clip on the ground, let alone had time to pick it up and not even mentioning how he got it into her locker.
That must be why he was looking at her all day, she realized. He was probably trying to gauge if she knew it was him who had returned her hair clip. She picked it up and slammed her locker shut, coming to a sudden decision as she raced out of Casper High.
It didn't take long to locate her target. Fenton was walking home as usual, flanked on both sides by Manson and Foley. They didn't seem to be acting any different than usual, despite what Star witnessed earlier.
Foley was typing away on his PDA, mumbling something she couldn't hear even as she approached and Manson was not so discretely poking Fenton in all the holes on his shirt, as if trying to get a reaction while Fenton did most of the talking. She could hear him more than Foley, he was talking louder, but she still couldn't hear more than a few scattered words at her distance.
'Lead', 'ambush' and 'tattoos' were the only words she could clearly make out and they did nothing to sooth her curiosity. Before she could loose her nerve, she shouted to get Fenton's attention.
"Hey Fenton, got a minute?" Star called, hoping they were far enough away from school that nobody else really heard her.
All three of them turned in unison, seemingly equally shocked by the shout. Upon seeing whom it was that had gotten their attention, Manson glared, Foley winced and Fenton seemed to freeze for just a second before smiling and nodding at her.
"Go ahead, I'll meet you guys at Sam's." Fenton told his friends. They both seemed reluctant to leave him with her, but he prompted again. "Oh come on, I've been alone with worse. It'll be fine."
"Be careful Danny, don't turn your back to it." Manson muttered before she turned away. Foley glanced between her, Fenton and Manson.
"Later, dude." Foley said, turning to follow Manson away.
Star approached the now alone boy as his friends walked further away, looking him up and down to confirm her own suspicions. He looked completely fine, just as he had that morning. Impossibly fine for the condition she had seen him in throughout the day.
"Sorry about them, well, mostly Sam- she doesn't like you guys very much." Fenton apologized on her behalf, but Star only shrugged. Manson's attitude was the least of her worries and factored in none to her questions.
She was a bit caught off guard by the apology, but she tried not to let it show as she accepted it.
"It's okay, I don't know what I expected when I pulled you away." She replied. She paused, trying to gather her thoughts on where to go next. There were so many things she wanted to ask about- the hair clip, the spitball, the bruises and cuts, she couldn't decide.
Luckily, Fenton did for her.
"How's your hip?" He asked. She guessed she did a bad job at hiding the surprised expression she made, because he seemed to think she was angry. "I didn't mean to stare or anything, I just wanted to make sure you were okay after last night, that was a really strong blast and a hard fall. I noticed you weren't wearing your favorite jeans and you sat in right handed desks all day, even though your left handed so I just figured-" Fenton took a breath. "I'll let you do the talking now."
"There's a nasty bruise on my thigh, but I think it should go away in a couple days. It doesn't hurt as much as it did this morning." Star told him automatically, not sure what to say at the unexpected question. "My turn, how did this get in my locker?" She asked, holding out the star-shaped hair clip.
Fenton tried to look away as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly.
"I dropped my keys at the football field last night, didn't realize until I got all the way home. When I was there I found that, I- uh, I figured there was only one person it could belong too." Fenton explained nervously.
"But how did you get it into my locker?" Star pressed further.
She felt like she was watching a movie as the emotions and reactions flickered through Fenton's blue eyes.
"Sorry if I invaded your privacy, I didn't mean anything by it and I just thought it would be easier to give it to you that way so you didn't have to be seen talking to me during school. I know what talking to my friends and I can do to social status around here." He chuckled awkwardly, and Star almost didn't realize what he was doing.
"Stop not answering the question." She told him pointedly.
He didn't deny it and barely winced at the accusation. Instead, he just sighed and then there was something different about him.
"If you promise not to tell anyone, I'll tell you." Fenton told her. She nodded without hesitation. "If you try hard enough, you can get into anyone's locker. They've been replaced and fixed a million times in the past few years, the school started to make cheaper and cheaper repairs. If you're persistent enough, there's not a locker in the school you can't shimmy open. I don't like to do it, but it comes in handy to know."
Star nodded pretty much right away. It made enough sense to her, and she figured there had to be some way that Fenton had been escaping the inside of lockers Dash shoved him in.
"I was actually hoping you just thought you forgot it there in the first place, but I'm not surprised you knew. Sorry again I went into your locker." Fenton continued.
Star could only nod once more; almost dumbfounded by the revelation that Fenton hadn't even wanted her to know it was him who returned her clip. But she could think later, now was the time to ask questions.
"And another thing," She started quickly. She didn't want to tell him yet that she didn't care that he had broken into her locker in case he was only still here out of guilt. "About last night, how-"
"I told you, you should really forget about the whole thing." Fenton cut her off abruptly, sounding just like he had last night when he was talking to the ghost.
"You're the one who brought it up first earlier. Besides, I promised not to tell anyone, not to forget about it." Star replied back.
Fenton seemed catch the underlying meaning of her words. You talk, or I tell. After only a brief pause, he sighed and ran a hand through his messy black hair and looked at her expectantly. Clearly, he wasn't going to make this easy.
"What happened today? To your shirt and arms?" Star started with what she thought would be the hardest questions for him to lie about.
"Nothing happened, the faucet in the bathroom went crazy and soaked me. I changed my shirt, I keep spares everywhere because I'm so clumsy but I forgot that's the shirt I used when Tuck and I wanted to play a prank on my sister. Looked like bullet holes and blood, right?" Fenton replied with a chuckle at the memory.
"And last night? How did you do all that stuff? That ghost knew you and you kept talking back to it." Star continued.
She watched Fenton very carefully and he responded eerily easily, like he had practiced for these questions.
"My parents hunt ghosts for a living, Star. You really think they didn't make sure Jazz and I could take care of ourselves if we were attacked by a ghost?" Fenton replied.
"Why don't you do it more often then?" Star pressed and Fenton scoffed in reply.
"There are people out there for that already, they don't need me out there making things worse. My parents, the Red Huntress, Phantom- they can handle the ghosts fine without me. I can't do anything they aren't already doing." He said, crossing his arms. "Besides, I want nothing to do with ghost hunting."
Star supposed that made sense. Fenton was always one of the first off the scene of any ghost attack, but just because he was scared of ghosts didn't mean he couldn't face them once in a while. It didn't take long for Star to draw a connection.
"You only did that because I was there. You would've run away." She wasn't sure if she was asking or not.
"Well, yeah. Wouldn't you?" But that was not the answer she was expecting.
She wasn't exactly sure what he meant by that or what he was trying to get at, but her words died in her throat when she saw Fenton visibly shiver and gasp again. It was nowhere near cold enough for his breath to be visible, what was that about?
"Star, run." Fenton turned around and stepped sideways so he was in front of her.
Star hesitated for only a moment but grabbed Fenton's wrist and began pulling him in the direction of the school, ignoring his surprised yelp. He ran along with her, trying to keep his balance.
"What are you doing?!" He cried out in shock. Star vaguely registered him trying to slip from her grip, but it felt like more of an obligation than desire to be free.
She didn't answer and chose to run instead, sprinting the few yards back to Casper High and bursting through the front doors. Fenton yelped a few more times, but seemed resigned to be pulled along until a familiar voice startled them to a quick halt.
"Ms. Anderson, I hope you're not the reason Mr. Fenton is late to detention?" Mr. Falluca's voice came from the left.
They turned to be face-to-face with their math teacher, who had his hands on his hips. Star stammered, but Fenton stepped in front of her again and did the talking.
"Actually, I totally forgot I had detention today. Star was just trying to remind me before I left." Fenton lied effortlessly to Falluca.
Falluca seemed to buy it, but Fenton shivered again and she heard him whisper something under his breath.
"Uh- Mr. Falluca, I gotta-" Fenton started motioning with his hands but was cut off by the screams of the other detention attendees as the temperature dropped suddenly.
A group of kids poured from the room Falluca was standing in front of, all screaming about a ghost inside. Falluca took off too, following the students and Star turned to see what Fenton's reaction would be and was surprised to not see him at her side. She swiveled her head around just in time to see the door to the classroom slam shut and she couldn't help but run up to it and peer through the glass opening to see inside.
There, her thoughts were confirmed; Danny Fenton was once again staring down a ghost.
It was another new ghost, she realized quickly. This must be some kind of record with two new ghosts appearing two days in a row. This one also had green skin and red eyes, but looked more artsy than the one from last night. It had on a black artists smock over a dark green long sleeved shirt with rolled up sleeves and ugly brown slacks. A brown beret sat lopsided on its head, hiding large parts of its messy orange hair as if trying to compliment the orange '35' smeared across the smock in paint.
Star watched as Fenton ran forward and slid underneath the ghost, dodging what looked like a lot of very sharp paintbrushes. Instead of attacking, he ran to the back corner and bent down and only then did the blonde girl realize what happened; Brittney Hall had cowered under her desk instead of running to safety.
Fenton picked her up bridal style just as he had done to her the night before and jumped up onto a desk. The ghost turned and charged, trying to tackle the boy but Fenton leapt into the air and pushed off the ghosts back, sending it slamming into a bookshelf in the back of the room and the blue eyed boy ran straight for the door.
Star decided to be of some help and opened the door for him. Fenton recovered from his shock fairly quickly and tried to run through the door, but was struck in the side of the head with a flat shaped disc that vaguely resembled a paint palette. Fenton stumbled but remained standing and set Brittney on her feet, pushing her over to Star quickly as he caught something glowing in his hands and it exploded in his face, throwing him backwards.
Star reached out and grabbed Brittney's hand and pulled her through the door-frame just as another attack went where she had been standing. Fenton rolled forward, coming into her view as he threw what looked like the ghosts own glowing equipment back at it. He stood and glanced over to them, Star's eyes glued to his while Brittney's were squeezed shut as she clutched Star's hand.
"Go, now!" Fenton cried before turning to face the ghost again.
Star watched as he was hit in the chest with an ectoblast and flung backwards just before the door shut violently again. Star lunged to try and open it, but it wouldn't budge. She heard things breaking inside, both metal and wooden, and a whole lot of slamming around. The ghost and Fenton wrestled across the room, floating and on the ground.
Fenton ducked under a desk to avoid more paintbrushes and then kicked the desk out, knocking the ghost over briefly before it charged again and tackled Fenton out of her line of sight. There was a few more noises of clashing and slamming but then, everything came to a stop and not a peep could be heard from inside. Only then did the door gently open.
Brittney, who had just opened her eyes for the first time since Star saw her, was shaking when Star turned around to face her.
"Are you okay?" Star asked, unsure of what to do next.
"I think so." Brittney said, trying to smile. "Thank god for Danny Phantom, right?"
Chapter 4: Kind
Summary:
Star wrestles with the consequences of being a little too smart for her own good after being decidedly unaware for three years.
Danny... ???????
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did.
Thanks for being patient with the shorter chapter last time, so I hope this one makes up for it! It's the longest one so far and also my personal favorite so I hope you guys enjoy it! Read on, readers.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
Kind
Star knew what Danny Fenton was, and it wasn't nice.
No, Danny Fenton was too nice to be nice. Nice was being polite, being civil. Nice seemed easy, the thing that society said was the way people should act or be treated. Niceness was only caring about yourself and the way people saw you, the way people thought of you. Being nice was a show, a way to appease others. It hardly meant anything because nobody meant it.
Nice, Star was beginning to understand, was surface level.
Teachers were nice, cashiers were nice, most of the students were nice, her mother was nice. That was all good; she much preferred them being nice than mean or nasty and most of them probably cared about whether she was safe or not. But what did they feel?
The key thing that moved a person beyond nice wasn't what they said or did. It was what they felt.
Nice people acted nice to give themselves peace of mind. To ensure they were liked and had allies because they didn't want to risk a confrontation. If you weren't nice, you were usually mean and mean gave you enemies.
But he had found another option like so few others did and walked a different path. The more Star thought about it, the clearer it became. She had been a fool not to notice before; despite all the instances she was shown the truth. Nice wasn't a good enough word to describe him, it almost tainted what he truly was.
Danny Fenton was kind.
Kind was what Star was starting to realize people thought nice meant. Kindness, unlike niceness, came from a deeper place. If people were nice because they cared about themselves, people were kind because they cared about others. And care about others he did.
In the last few hours, the classmate she once mocked and ridiculed had shown her more kindness than anyone she dared to call her friends. He stayed at the first ghost attack for her, put himself in harms way, went out of his way to make sure she was okay and expected nothing in return. There was nothing in it for him to do anything that night.
He didn't have to stay, offering himself up as a distraction for her to escape unharmed. But he did, because he cared.
He didn't have to check on her after she fell, going out of his way to cross the field despite the rising danger and make sure she was okay. But he did, because he cared.
He didn't have to fight the ghost. He could've just hid and kept them safe until Phantom showed up and stopped the ghost himself. But he did, because he cared.
He cared so much, Star realized, that he gave up the rest of his evening for her despite everything she had a part in putting him through. He stayed with her when her best friend ran away. He walked her home when he could've left and met up with Manson and Foley. He gave her favorite hair-clip back when even she had totally forgotten all about it by the next day. He went out of his way to return it to her in a way he thought she would prefer.
He didn't care how much longer it would take to leave her hair-clip in her locker. He didn't care how it would've looked for him if someone had seen him trying to break into it. He didn't care that it would've made his life easier to not even think about returning it; to anyone else it was just a dumb hair-clip.
Star borderline didn't understand how someone could even be capable of the level of thoughtfulness and kindness expressed over and over again by Danny Fenton.
"Star? What are you still doing here?" Had been the first thing out of his mouth last night when he had approached her under the bleachers. From that moment, his entire focus seemed to shift from 'get away' to 'get Star away'.
He showed nearly no regard for his own safety as early as when he tackled her out of the way of the first blast, going out of his way to shield her and cushion her fall rather than just avoiding it himself. She knew most of her friends or classmates wouldn't have thought twice of shouting something like 'Duck!' and taking cover themselves. But not only that, then he offered himself up on a platter for the ghost in an effort for her to escape undetected. Granted he was apparently more capable than he seemed, but being human alone put him at a serious disadvantage.
He held her with a surprising gentleness; careful not to touch the hip she landed roughly on even if it would've been easier for him. He didn't mock her or drop her when she almost refused to let go of him like she would've expected before last night, instead he offered reassurance that he wasn't abandoning her still even though she was now injured.
He walked her home with no hesitation. It didn't seem to matter to him that he just told someone he'd meet them at his house. He didn't care that the walk turned out to be longer than he expected or that it was definitely way out of the way of where he lived. He paid no mind to the fact that yesterday, she was one of the ones snickering as Dash bumped into him in the halls.
Even earlier talking outside of Casper High, he instructed her to run first before he even seemed to think about running with her. Twice in less than twenty-four hours, he had been ready go risk serious injury if it meant that she could escape unharmed. Then again in the hall, he had rushed into the classroom even as a dozen kids fled because he noticed one student of the bunch had cornered herself and done the same thing; his priority was Brittney Hall leaving that room and he was more than willing to hand her over to Star while he sacrificed his body, his escape, to ensure hers.
Before the last night, Star wouldn't have looked twice at Danny Fenton unless it was to insult him or watch Dash push him around. Now, she couldn't seem to look away. Metaphorically, of course, as she hadn't seen him since he disappeared from the classroom wrestling with that painter ghost. But even still, the blue-eyed boy consumed her thoughts.
Yes, Danny Fenton was a very kind person.
But that didn't make him a superhero, did it?
Brittney's words stuck in her head, echoing like an eerie realization. "Thank god for Danny Phantom, right?" Brittney had said right away after she decided she was safe. She had immediately assumed that Phantom had been the one to rescue her from her predicament and Star supposed it made sense; hardly anyone else around town seemed to do as much as Phantom for the citizens especially when ghosts were concerned.
Phantom was kind too, a real superhero if she ever saw one.
He fought seemingly all the time, all hours of the day and night against evil ghosts that wanted nothing but to destroy their home and never asked for anything in return. He put up with a lot; most people in town didn't even like him until the Pariah Dark incident and there were still people to this day that despised him. The Fenton's still couldn't stand him and were often seen chasing him across town, there was those guys in white that kept interfering with ghost fights and above all the Red Huntress was hated by nearly all of Casper High because of she seemed to be on the hunt for Phantom.
Surely, kind was the only other thing besides a first name that Danny Fenton had in common with Danny Phantom.
But then, the more Star thought and remembered the more confused she became. She never would've looked twice at any of the connections if the line hadn't been drawn for her, but boy were there a lot.
Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom were two of only three Danny's she knew in town, and she knew most of the town. They looked unbelievably similar, almost like a palette swap of each other. Danny Fenton's messy, midnight black hair held the same style and length as Phantom's and they had the same deceptive build. Both were lean and slim, both hiding surprising strength behind their appearance.
Being a ghost would explain a lot of the mystery regarding Danny Fenton, too. He doesn't make noise because he walks like he's floating on air, he doesn't trip because he phases through things, he's never tired in gym class because he can do so much more than an average human before starting to feel winded and he carried her like she weighed nothing because he saved buses of children in his free time.
There was one thing she remembered now that she felt foolish for forgetting, for not seeing this herself.
Paulina had finally caught up to Phantom one day before he could disappear after one of his fights with that metal ghost. They had asked him tons of questions, a lot more than she could even begin to remember, but one of the things Paulina asked was if he protected the town for money or for fame and Phantom looked almost repulsed.
"Neither, I don't need money and I don't care for the attention very much." Phantom told them, nervously scratching at his neck.
"Then, like, what's in it for you?" Paulina asked. Star could tell she'd never be able to do something like that without benefiting somehow, but Phantom shrugged.
"Nothing really, but if I don't stop the ghosts, who will?" He replied.
"So you fight ghosts all day to keep a town full of people you don't even know safe just because you can?" Star asked him and he smiled at her.
It was a small smile and at the time, she missed that it didn't quite reach his eyes.
"Well, yeah. Wouldn't you?" Phantom shrugged.
Both girls were left speechless and before they could catch their breath, Phantom flickered away even as Paulina wailed for her beloved to come back.
Star couldn't believe nobody else knew about this, but it was a lot easier to miss the road signs to a place you didn't know existed. But the more she thought about it, the more she wished she didn't know.
She didn't want to think about Danny Fenton leaving class every day to go get beat up by ghosts across town and come back to getting lectures about responsibility. What must it feel like to be talked down to like that? How many people have told him things that couldn't possibly be any more wrong and he could do nothing but nod along?
She didn't want to think about Danny Fenton getting shoved into lockers, insulted and ignored by the same people he put his life on the line to protect and save every day. What if one day he decided he had enough? Would he ever not save someone because of the way he was treated? She wasn't sure she could blame him knowing the way things usually went.
She didn't want to think about Danny Fenton, alone and scared after some of the absolutely brutal fights she had seen the ghostly protector involved in. All cut, bruised and banged up just waiting for the next ghost to come along and start the cycle all over again. Did he have anyone? Anyone at all that knew how bad things really got?
She didn't want to think about Danny Fenton living every day with the fear of being hated for being something he couldn't control. She didn't want to think about Danny Fenton going home to a house he didn't feel safe in, where he felt like he wasn't welcome or loved. She didn't want to think about Danny Fenton being scared to tell his parents the truth in case they still followed through with their threats.
And the really, really didn't even want to start to think about what this meant for Danny Fenton. Was he dead? Alive? Something in between? Was he really dead or did he just sometimes look like a ghost? How had it happened? When had it happened?
If it had always been this way, his parents would surely know, right? But there was no way they knew, not with the way they went after the ghost boy. The thought of anyone, especially someone as kind as she now understood Danny Fenton to be, being scared like he must be of his own parents disturbed her. The two people in the world who were supposed to care about you no matter what, be there for you no matter what, do anything for you no matter what and always be in your corner and he was probably downright terrified of telling them even a little of the truth.
He couldn't tell them the truth about missing school or why he was doing poorly despite being rather smart. He couldn't tell them about the many sleepless nights or missed curfews he was bound to have, she knew there was no hour of the day that Phantom hadn't been seen fighting ghosts in the past. He couldn't tell them about the injuries that were no doubt received, always trying to be brushed aside. Even something as simple as 'where are you going?' couldn't always be answered directly or truthfully and for the first time Star really realized how alone Danny Fenton must feel.
Tucker Foley and Samantha Manson must be the only two people in the world he felt like loved and understood him. They were in on his secret; they had to be. The three of them were too close for them not to be and if anything, it was driving the closeness. It was the three of them against the world. Both worlds.
Finally, Star came down with a crippling sense of anxiety as she realized that the only one stopping their town from being overrun with ghosts, torn apart to pieces and rendered unlivable was an exhausted, lonely and scared sixteen year old kid carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders.
For the first time in years, Star cried.
She didn't know what to do with this information. She wasn't going to tell anyone; she owed Fenton- Danny, she owed Danny too much for that. But she couldn't just do not do something now that she knew. She couldn't go back to the way things were last week.
How was she supposed to mock Danny in the hallways knowing that he was putting his life in danger every minute so she could go home safely? How was she supposed to just stand and watch as Dash wailed on him knowing he was probably hitting already sore and broken bones? How was she supposed to call him a freak like Paulina expected her to knowing that 'freak' was probably exactly the way he thought of himself?
She couldn't not do those things either, that was what was expected of her in the A-list. They were all she had and Paulina could make sure she lost everything the same way Valerie had. Valerie, one of the only people she truly though of as a friend, was shunned from Paulina's posse because she could no loner afford the life they lived. The consequences for ditching the A-list or starting to befriend anyone outside their group, let alone someone as low on their totem pole as Danny freaking Fenton, would be a lot worse.
She wasn't as strong as Danny; he went to school every day and restrained himself from telling the truth, from harming anyone, from everything. He kept his head down and did what was expected because that's what made everyone else's life easier, and that's all he cared about.
He didn't care how many punches he took from Dash as long as Dash wasn't punching Mikey or Lester or Nathan. He could handle it.
He didn't care how many detentions, zeros or lectures he took from teachers as long as they weren't asking questions. He could handle it.
He didn't care how many times his parents had surely grounded him as long as they didn't know what he was doing. He could handle it.
As long as everyone was safe, he could handle it. But Star understood now that safe doesn't always mean safe. She knew now; she knew. That made her dangerous and it put her in danger. She really wasn't sure what she was going to do, but she had to figure it out fast because sitting on this would kill her.
She had to tell him she knew. That was the only conclusion she had come to. She would tell him she knew, go from there, and do whatever he thought was best. If he wanted her help, she would help. If he wanted her to forget, she would pretend like nothing changed.
That was assuming she could find him, get him away from his friends again and not have him totally freak out on her. He probably thought she hated him, what reason would he have to trust her with something as big as this. She was practically holding his life in her hands.
It's not until the next day when she decided that something was wrong.
Danny Fenton wasn't in school today yet and it was already fourth period. She hadn't seen him in the halls, hadn't heard from Dash that he was in a locker somewhere and he had been totally absent during both of their classes so far. It was strange; Phantom was last seen fighting the painter ghost yesterday minutes after it and Danny wrestled out of their classroom setting. It was almost unheard of for the last Phantom sighting of the day to occur as early at four o'clock in the afternoon, that was when they started picking up.
She would have to start with his friends after all, so she decided talking to them both at the same time would be best regardless of the risks to her reputation. So, between fourth and fifth period she pinpointed them in the hallway and started walking over, stopping halfway there as she realized where they were.
Manson and Foley were standing by Danny Fenton's locker, flicking their gazes from each other to each side of the hallway. Star realized with a sense of dread they were waiting for him to show up too. She wanted to turn, unwilling to make things worse, but Manson spotted her too quickly. They locked eyes and the Goth elbowed Foley, who turned excitedly as if expecting his missing friend.
"Oh," He said disappointed when he noticed her approaching. "I knew you'd change your mind about that date eventually."
"Is Danny Phantom?" Star pointedly ignored him, whispering her question instead.
"Is Danny Phantom what? Handsome? Brave? Single? Yes, yes and yes." Foley responded even as Manson rolled her eyes.
"We have no idea what you're talking about and even if we did, we wouldn't tell you." Manson replied, crossing her arms. "I don't know what you know or what you think you know, but you're wrong. Come on Tuck, he's not coming."
They started to turn away and head towards class, neither looking back at her until she decided she wasn't ready to give up yet.
"I'm worried about him too." Star blurted out. They both stopped in their tracks, turning slowly as she continued. "I haven't seen him either, not since yesterday."
"When exactly was the last time you saw him?" Foley asked her. She couldn't help but be surprised by the tone he had, almost accusatory.
"I didn't do anything to him and I don't know where he's at if that's what you're asking." Star reiterated. "I wanted to talk about the football game when he fought that sports ghost, I had questions. But then another ghost attacked us. He told me to run, but I panicked and dragged us both back here. It followed us, attacked a classroom and he went in to save a girl, Brittney. The door shut and locked after I pulled her out, I saw them fighting but they disappeared after a few minutes and I didn't see where. I haven't seen either of them since."
Manson and Foley stayed silent for a good while, exchanging glances with each other as they looked over at her. Star didn't understand the silent conversation they were having and spoke up again.
"I don't care if you believe it, but it's true. I just wanted to tell him I knew so I would know what to do. I guess you guys don't know either." She paused again, hoping to get something of a response from them but they still only stared.
Just as she was about to turn and leave, she heard the familiar click of Paulina's heels coming behind her.
"What's going on here? Were you telling them how pathetic they look probably trying to break Freaky Fenton out of his locker?" Paulina sneered at Manson and Foley.
Foley actually had to grab Manson by the wrist to stop her from reaching at the Latina girl. Paulina hardly flinched away and Star looked down at the floor.
"Forget it Sam, we've got bigger problems. She's not worth it." Foley said, starting to walk away.
"You're right Tucker- they're not worth it." Manson spat back at them even as she let Foley start to pull her away.
Right at that moment, Star made her choice.
"No." Star nearly yelled. "I was talking to them Paulina, because they're people too and don't deserve to be treated how you- how we treat them. I was trying to start over because I can't stop feeling guilty for everything I've helped you put these people through and I would really appreciate it if you mind your own business for once."
It seemed like everyone in the hallway froze. Nobody seemed to be able to move, like they were all waiting to give Star the chance to take it all back. She didn't know where all that confidence came from, but she was thankful for it when Paulina only huffed and turned angrily leaving her with a wide-eyed Manson and Foley.
"I meant that with everything I had. I'm sorry for the way I treated you all and every one before. I do want to start over with you two and Fent-Danny, if you'll give me the chance." Star finished, feeling awkward with them still staring at her.
Just as she turned to leave, one of them spoke to her. Surprisingly, it wasn't Foley who seemed open to giving her a chance.
"Ask us your questions after school, we'll decide then how much you've changed." Manson told her, but before she could smile the Goth spoke again. "This isn't what I want, but Danny would kill us for not giving you a second chance."
Then she turned and left with a quickness that surprised the blonde. Foley stuck around only a few seconds longer; long enough to shoot her a 'she means it' look and follow his friend down the hall.
Star was left standing along in the hallway as the bell rang.
Star sat on the steps of Casper High for forty minutes after school ended waiting for Manson and Foley to show up. This was no doubt some screwed up test for her; they wanted to see if she would stick to her word and meet them later.
Well she had, now where were they?
Just as she started thinking it wasn't a test but a set up and a bit of payback sprinkled in to make her look and feel like a fool, she heard the steady thud of Manson's steel-toed boots and the soft beeps of Foley's PDA.
She looked up from the ground and saw them standing over her so she rose to meet them, quickly dusting herself off and composing herself.
"Thanks for showing up." Star found herself saying.
The iciness around Manson thawed a little, her shoulders dropping. Clearly, she had been expecting a change of heart.
"Thanks for waiting, we were trying to find Danny." Man-Sam told her.
She was going to start over, so being on a first name basis would probably help her case. Not Manson and Foley, she reminded herself, but Sam and Tucker.
"Any luck?" Star asked hopefully. They glanced between each other again.
"We can't get a lock on his Ecto-signature, he's probably not in town. If he's still on Earth." Tucker replied, glancing back down to his device.
Star deflated a bit, but reveled in the little bit of information. The first statement that confirmed the theories she'd been having since yesterday. Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom.
Well, it didn't sound like a revelation when you put it that way.
"So it's true, then? He really is… you know… Phantom?" Star asked. She needed to hear someone else say it for it to be real.
"Yeah. Yeah he is." Sam replied. "But don't think we're answering all your questions right now. There are things you don't get to know- not yet, and certain things would be better if Danny told you."
"You really don't trust me, do you?" Star asked. She couldn't deny she was hurt, but she understood.
"We don't trust easily anymore." Tucker told her. "Fool me once, you know?"
"The only reason you're here is because we both believed you knew too much not to figure it out for yourself if you hadn't already by the time you came up to us in school. If you know something like this, we'd rather know what you know than leave you off to play junior detective." Sam explained.
"And because we decided you deserved a second chance. No way Paulina's gonna let earlier go, we'd rather give you the chance to have us than nobody." Tucker added.
"Sounds like you guys have dealt with this kind of thing before." She commented despite herself.
"One too many times." Sam muttered to herself and for the first time, Star thought about what a toll Danny's secret would've taken on her too. On both of them. "I guess you have some questions, right?"
Star nodded. Where did she even begin?
Notes:
Well it's about time someone in Amity Park started using their heads! I tried to make this as believable as possible with how I've portrayed Star so far and how we've seen her behave in the show; it's hard writing someone that seems to not have anything beyond solid character design. Let me know how I did and I'll hopefully see you all again soon!
Chapter 5: Eerie Silence
Summary:
Things continue to feel weird for Amity Park, even if they don't know it yet. For those of us that know about a certain secret, things feel even weirder.
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did.
Sorry about the slight delay, had some trouble figuring some specifics out in a way I was happy with and didn't ruin the theme and pacing of the story so far. I think I've finally got it, so hopefully a conclusion to this story should be reached soon. Read on, readers.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
Eerie Silence
It had been a whole day since Star talked with Sam and Tucker.
It had been a whole day since she learned that Danny Fenton had been Phantom for as long as Phantom had been around saving people in Amity Park and she still didn't know what to think. Sam and Tucker were nice enough to answer a lot of her questions but it still felt like there was so much she didn't know.
There were some questions she wished the two would've answered better, but those were the same ones they told her to ask Danny about. They said that if he wanted her to know about things like how exactly he became Phantom and whether or not he was dead or alive that he would tell her.
That's not to say she didn't get filled in on a lot; many of the dots she'd been pointlessly trying to connect had connected themselves with the revelation of Danny's half-ghost status. She also learned that that was what he and the other ghosts referred to him as; a half-ghost and that apparently most if not all of the ghosts knew that he was a half-ghost, half-human and his human identity.
"Isn't the point of a secret identity to keep your enemies from figuring out who you are?" Star had asked after Tucker mentioned the other ghosts knowing.
Both Tucker and Sam paused a bit too long before Tucker belted out a nervous laugh.
"Danny never was good with remembering comic book tropes, he got a little confused." Tucker tried to joke through this bit of the conversation, but his stilted tone and Sam's aversion of eyes gave her a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
It had been a whole day until she realized why.
Danny was more afraid of humans than ghosts. Ghosts knowing who he was seemed to be nothing more than an inconvenience; they seemingly never tried to expose him or go after his friends all that often, was them really knowing who he was that big of a difference? Even if they did, fighting back against them was as easy as breath-... was easy, comparatively. He couldn't exactly fight his parents or the government the way he fought ghosts.
It was the humans that would change things. His parents might not believe him, might think he was possessed. They might have done unspeakable things if he told them the truth. The rest of the town was no better; it was only in the last few decades that segregation and racism had stopped being normal, unproblematic things and for some reason, Star wasn't sure she trusted that everyone would accept Danny was still Danny. Still human.
They said that before her, only three people knew about Danny's secret; it was the two of them and Danny's older sister Jasmine Fenton. They were the only one's he trusted enough to know, to count on, to tell the truth with. The ghosts that he fought on a daily basis, that tried to invade the world and take over the town, that maimed and scarred and brutalized him for the last two years knew him better than almost every single person in Amity Park that he had grown up around and seen every day for over ten years.
And now, because of her and everyone else's carelessness and obliviousness, it had been two whole days since anyone had seen Danny Fenton or Phantom anywhere. He had missed school two days in a row, Sam says Jazz told her he hasn't come home or called her either and neither Sam or Tucker heard a word from him since she pulled him back after school that day.
Star, along with Danny's friends and sister, couldn't help but get increasingly worried.
At first, they told her this was somewhat normal. This wasn't the first time Danny had disappeared, caught up in his own ghostly adventure and was either too forgetful or unable to call them and it surely wouldn't be the last. But the other times, the ghosts attacked Amity Park in his absence.
There hadn't been a single ghost sighting in Amity Park for two days. Since Phantom and the painter had their brawl through Amity's skyline that fateful afternoon forty-eight hours ago. Everybody noticed the lack of ghosts, but only Sam, Tucker and Jazz seemed more on edge without ghost attacks than with.
Star was beginning to see why.
Amity Park was somehow even more eerie without ghosts than with them. And just as much so without Danny Fenton, Star couldn't help but notice.
No drops in temperature throughout the day. Interesting new stories on ghost battles were replaced with boring traffic reports and weather updates. Conversations and gossip between parties at school slowed to a crawl with nothing interesting in town going on anymore. Human crime seemed to be on the rise with people no longer fearful of being caught up in the destruction of their battles or being stopped by Phantom. Overall, it made the city feel slower.
The absence of her fellow classmate, however, was what was felt a lot more to Star.
It was strange not hearing Dash's cries of Danny's name in the halls. Not hearing his tired reply during role call. Not hearing the smack of his head against his desk in the middle of a lecture. Sam and Tucker felt it a lot worse than she did, she couldn't begin to imagine how they were holding themselves up enough to come to school.
Nobody else was even aware of the very real chance that Danny Fenton might not come back. They didn't even know something was wrong, much less so that he could be in danger. She didn't know how they had managed to live like this for two years. They went through two years of keeping secrets, of pretending. She felt like she was about to explode after two days.
"Miss Anderson!" Star was jostled back to reality by Falluca's cutting voice. "Not dozing off in my class, are you? I trust you know better than trying to be the new Mr. Fenton."
She bit her tongue when she found herself desperately claiming there was no reason for a new Mr. Fenton. She looked away, trying to give the impression she was embarrassed she was caught while she glanced backward to Sam and Tucker.
They both sent her small sympathetic smiles even though they each looked like they hadn't slept since yesterday.
"Sorry, Mr. Falluca." She replied as quickly as she could, regaining her thoughts.
She winced, the phrase reminding her terribly of Danny, but nobody noticed.
"Is this what it feels like? To not be noticed?" Star asked curiously to Sam as they stood in line at lunch.
"What do you mean?" Sam replied tiredly. She was functioning on autopilot, barely looking at what was shoveled onto her tray.
"I feel like I'm breaking inside, but nobody else knows. Nobody else can know."
Sam paused and Star didn't think she was getting an answer. They stepped out of line, Sam immediately throwing her tray in the trash, realizing the slop on it for the first time and started walking away. A few steps later, she turned.
"Why don't you come sit with me and Tucker today?"
Star smiled for the first time that day.
Every class for the rest of the afternoon, Star wanted nothing more than for Danny to burst in like he usually did, proclaiming something about getting lost or falling or even a sheepish apology.
He didn't, and Star could feel the pit in her stomach growing with each figure she saw pass the door that wasn't him. Sam left the room before Lancer could call Danny during role in eighth period, unable to hear him not respond for the umpteenth time that day. Tucker took responsibility for bringing homework to the boy despite knowing he wouldn't be there to drop it off to.
Star walked out of the building with them, ignoring the looks in the halls and Paulina's once scathing words.
"Feel any better?" Sam asked quietly.
"Yeah," She paused. "Thanks."
Sam and Tucker lived in opposite directions, so they split up a few blocks from school. Catch you later, they said. Star could only nod before dragging herself all the way home.
She was practically torturing herself doing this, but it brought her a strange form of comfort to watch some of Phantom's ghost fights online. It was the most she could see of the ghost boy right now and it was a lot closer than she could get to Danny Fenton's baby blue eyes.
She found one from a few days ago, the day after he saved her at the football game and suddenly a few things became clearer than ever. She watched as Phantom fought Skulker, one of the more frequent members of his rogue's gallery, through the skies.
It was different, seeing him fight while knowing the truth.
She and the A-list had once watched videos like this for entertainment and enjoyment. Paulina would rave about how handsome the Ghost Boy looked saving people and swooping onto the scene. She never failed to mention how hot he was, mentioning his muscles and powers at every turn while Dash and Kwan looked at him like their own personal Superman. Even she herself had gotten caught up in it all before, cheering on Phantom like the ghost fights were a boxing match on cable television.
But now, as she watched Phantom's leg get caught in a giant green bear trap and leave him open to a giant rocket launched at him, she winced instead and remembered Danny Fenton only minutes after the fight. Palm sized ink blotches on his left thigh weren't ink at all, but blood seeping from wounds that no ordinary person could recover from and no doubt severe burns on his right shoulder where the rocket struck, severe enough that the weight of even his backpack strap and simple t-shirt would irritate it.
Phantom's screams of pain and frustrated grunts were once something she didn't think twice about, but those days were behind her when all she could picture in his place was the classmate she grew up with in his place. It wasn't too long ago she wouldn't have even noticed those kinds of injuries on him in class, but now that she knew enough to recognize what made them was something that she wasn't sure she wanted to be able to do.
She watched as Phantom parried Skulker's fist with his own only to have another bear trap shoved in his face by Skulker's other hand. The green metal snapped shut as it was pressed into Phantom's face, snapping ruthlessly on either side of his head and Star was sure she just nearly had a heart attack. The only thing that seemed to save him was his reaction time, having experienced the trap once before was enough warning to let him phase out of it with little more than small punctures on both sides of his face and neck.
It was something as simple as seeing the effects the fights had on him that made Star feel uneasy. They all thought he could do anything, be anywhere, save anyone. There were worse ways to see him, and Star was sure that unlike a lot of his other fans there was nothing Phantom could do or say to convince Dash and Kwan that he wasn't a hero, or invincible or Superman. But it didn't sit right with Star anymore, knowing.
She wasn't sure if she liked it better or not yet. She was glad she knew, glad she figured it out and glad that Sam and Tucker hadn't shut her out upon her revelation. But there was a part of her that wanted more than anything to go back to the way things used to be; normal.
Normal seemed like such a weird word now and she wasn't sure she would ever use that word to describe her life again. Even just the thought of the word made her feel totally helpless and then she remembered she could only begin to understand what Danny, Sam and Tucker felt like. They had pretended for years to be normal and their worlds had changed drastically more and at a much faster pace than hers had.
Her thoughts had left her unable to pay attention to her laptop until she heard cries of pain again, much more intense and she was jolted back to reality. Her computer had auto played the next video in her absentee behavior which she was now realizing was a video of Phantom another ghost who showed up a lot; Plasmius.
She wasn't sure what they were fighting over or why, but it was Phantom's strongest power that had jolted her back to reality.
The Ghostly Wail.
Even through a computer screen, the effects the Wail had on anybody listening were awful. Every time he used it, it was loud and destructive but there was always a sense of anger, desperation, loss and so much more. The town had only confirmed the name and the source recently since it was a power Phantom rarely showed off presumably for multiple reasons. But it always seemed to get the job done.
Star could remember being mere blocks away when Phantom had unleashed one once and it felt like all she could hear were the screams of a thousand souls being burned alive. Wailing in desperation, trying to escape. Trying to live. It shook everybody the same way, it seemed, because whenever the attack was used it seemed to disorient everybody in the area.
The Ghostly Wail created a very eerie, haunted noise when used and left behind a deafening, cold silence. Star almost wondered if that's what Danny sounded like when he died.
It was that thought that made her slam her computer shut, unwilling to think about those kinds of things now more than ever with Danny missing. She didn't understand, but she felt like all the problems in the world would be solved upon his return.
She had to do something to stop herself from thinking, but she didn't know what. There was no way she could hang out with Paulina or any of the A-list after her stunt in the hallway. She hadn't come groveling to Paulina for forgiveness yet, so she would still be on the outs for them. Not that she would want to anyway, but just because you don't use the safety net every time doesn't mean you don't notice when it's not there.
Sam and Tucker were also probably a no-go. She wanted to try and ease into their friendship, not force herself upon them. She wanted to be friends with them, not just Danny and not just because she now knew some of their secrets and that would take time. Besides, hanging out with Danny's best friends probably wouldn't help her take her mind off Danny very much.
Phone in hand, she scrolled through her contacts and debated over calling the one person left she thought might be able to help her.
Valerie Grey.
They hadn't talked much since Paulina kicked her out of the A-list, but they talked still. Against Paulina's wishes of course, as she desperately didn't want anyone that she was friends with to be associating with the now lowly Valerie Grey. Still, Star couldn't help herself and found herself not only talking with Valerie still, but not bothering to hid it from Paulina.
Valerie was the single person Star felt like she could be honest, truly honest, with for a long time. Valerie was always the kind of person who took her friendships seriously and deeply, so it was no wonder she grew closer to Star than the other girls whose friendships seemed to take a more surface level approach.
But still, Star felt like she had failed Valerie by letting Paulina cast her aside and leaving her alone. After the incident, she was rarely seen with anyone in school again except for, ironically enough, Danny Fenton and his friends but those times were few and far between. At the time, Star had been totally encapsulated with Paulina and her Queen Bee status, she never would have thought about giving up her position in the A-list for Valerie.
The more she thought about it, that was her biggest regret. No time like the present, right?
She pressed dial.
Notes:
So as you can see, another shorter, Danny-less chapter here. I had some specifics to figure out since this story changed so much from what I was originally envisioning when I started, which is why some of you more observant readers might have noticed the summary change.
I hope everyone is happy with the slight change and deviation from the original plan, but it shouldn't be too long now before the rest becomes clear. Hope to be back again soon! As always, leave your thoughts behind!
Chapter 6: Turning Point
Summary:
Just as the opportunity presents itself to get more answers, Star isn't sure if it's worth the sinking feeling in her stomach that the situation is giving her.
Meanwhile, Danny still...????
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did.
I bet everyone is super surprised right now, huh? I hope there's anyone who still reads this. I have a lot more to say, but I saved all the juicy stuff for the longer authors notice at the end of the chapter. For now, as always, read on, readers!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
Turning Point
Three days.
Three days had passed since Valerie's phone had gone straight to voicemail and left Star feeling more alone than ever. Five days had passed since anyone had seen or heard from Danny Fenton, leaving Star feeling more and more like a nervous wreck. Tucker and Sam continued to pretend to be passing messages between him and his teachers and calling his parents every night with a different excuse to sleepover.
Star felt a sickening twist in her stomach at the thought that either of his parents could not notice their son was missing for what was going on a whole week now. She hoped his home life wasn't like this all the time, that this was just a busy week for his parents or something. That on an ordinary week, they would've questioned their sons whereabouts after so long. But she couldn't say for sure, and Sam or Tucker didn't seem very surprised with their reaction. In fact, as she found out that day, they expected it a little too well.
Danny, Sam and Tucker were so prepared in case of an emergency like this one that they had recordings of Danny's voice. They used it mainly on his parents, if either of them asked to talk to him, but the possibilities were nearly endless. As prepared as they were, Danny might've been able to remain missing for months.
Star didn't know if she could handle that.
Paulina texted her asking if she was ready to apologize yet, but Star just ignored her. She was in no mood to play Paulina's stupid games, regardless of what the other girl would do at school tomorrow. She had already made Kwan dump her and replaced her spot on the cheerleading team, so she really had nothing left to lose at Paulina's hands. That was why, as she strolled into school the next morning, she didn't expect it to be an eventful day. Just another day in the rut she had found herself in all week long suddenly a part of a select group that seemed to only be waiting around for Danny Fenton to make his miraculous return.
Her weekend had been spent third wheeling Sam and Tucker, as they answered her questions more and more and tutored her in the basics of their ghost equipment. She wasn't allowed to use any of it yet, they said, but it helped to know each weapons capabilities. Jazz came sometimes, which always made Star feel a bit more seen. Jazz had a knack for not leaving the room until everyone in it was in a better mood than when she entered; very appreciated in times like this. In between those instances she repeatedly tried calling Valerie, despite the lack of responses she received.
In Monday's Spanish class, everything continued as was her new normal. She spent the entire class glancing over at the door, as if expecting Danny to stumble in any minute with borderline pathetic excuses and pointedly ignoring Paulina glaring at her. She waved to Sam and Tucker now, in the hallways. She was the only person they would look at. They stared at everyone else with glassed over eyes and steeled expressions, desperate now to keep their façade up and not show their worry.
It wasn't until Lancer's English class that the mundane was broken. For the first time in over a week, the ghost alarm went off.
The second the green lights flashed through the classroom Star practically felt Sam and Tucker jump out of their seats, their reasons totally different from the masses flooding the hallway already. She couldn't help but sneak a look back to where they still sat, uniformly on either side of their missing friends desk. They seemed both excited at the sound and reluctant to follow any procedures, but both seemed to be trying to keep calm for the others benefit.
Star was in the middle of the line being escorted out of the building by Lancer, with Sam and Tucker bringing up the rear. She was wondering where the ghost was, as the alarm usually only activated if a ghost was inside the walls of the school unless manually pressed. No sooner than they were all gathered on the lawn of Casper High was Star's question answered.
A loud thud gained the attention of the group. Meters away from the evacuating students had landed Vlad Plasmius on his knees, hunched over, and hiding inside his cape. He was barely visible under his cape hiding his shaking frame.
Plasmius tilted his pale-blue face upwards at the roar of screams that tore from the crowd, red eyes zeroing towards two students.
"Daniel- "He choked out. His voice sounded hoarse, like he hadn't used it recently. Or used it too much. Star only just noticed the state of the ghost. Purple bruises forming on his blue skin, clothing ripped and torn in a messy way never seen from the uppity ghost villain before- not even after the roughest of fights with their ghostly protector.
"You better tell me what you did with Danny right now you psycho-obsessed motherfu- "Sam marched toward the downed ghost without fear. Even Lancer could only hesitantly step after her in his attempt to bring her back, wary of invading the personal space of such a powerful ghost.
"No," Plasmius cut her off through his cough. Star watched with rapt attention, as did the rest of their class. "Danielle." He rolled over and exposed the huddled form of a child underneath him.
She was in rough shape too, and there was so much green on her form that Star was immediately concerned for her wellbeing. She noted idly that the ghost girl, Danielle, bore a striking resemblance to Danny Phantom. Did Danny know her? Did Sam and Tucker?
Evidently, they did, because Tucker charged straight through the crowd next and knelt down next to the two ghosts, pressing a hand to Danielle's cheek.
"She's not doing well, something interfered with the stabilizations bonding agent. She longer she stays ghost the quicker she'll destabilize." Tucker said, glancing around. Sam asked the question with her eyes that nobody else understood, even Star, because Tucker just shook his head. "She can't, she'll die quicker. The only thing keeping her this alive is her ghost healing."
Sam turned to Plasmius again, now sprawled out on his back.
"You absolute- "She practically growled, only to be cut off again by a shake of the ground.
The ground shook violently, as did everyone on it, as the sound of eerie moaning filled the air. Painful howls and quiet groans alike flew threw the air and shook the students to their core. Even Plasmius, Sam and Tucker did their best to look unaffected, but it was there. The sound was unmistakable.
Danny Phantom's Ghostly Wail.
The source was far, very far away, but the impact could be felt throughout the whole city. Grounds shook, water splashed, heads turned. The voices of the dead filled the hearts of the living all across town, striking everyone with a sense of despair. None more than the group of teens that bore witness to the scene before them. Vlad Plasmius, one of the most powerful ghosts around and known enemy of Danny Phantom, seemed like he was running scared for his afterlife while cradling a girl Danny Phantom look-alike.
Doubly so to the few people who knew more than most. Star was beginning to become very concerned, even with how little she knew about Plasmius specifically. Sam and Tucker were on a whole new level of frantic and concerned now, speaking almost entirely in quick words and phrases as they looked from each other to the two, almost unconscious now, ghosts.
"Great Gatsby, what is going on around here?" Lancer asked as the Wail subsided. Everyone looked at Sam and Tucker, still firmly planted by the ghosts sides. Sam only offered a glare in return.
"I'd really like to know that myself." She said. "Where is Danny? What happened to her?"
"I- "Plasmius started but coughed again, spitting out ectoplasmic blood. He was cut off too, by another round of the Ghostly Wail.
"And why does he keep doing that?" She grilled further.
"Tuck? Sam?" A new, smaller voice asked. Star looked down at the ghost girl half cradled in Tucker's arms. "Why does it hurt? Where's Danny?"
"This is bad, we need to get her some help." Tucker said.
At this point, a crowd had started to box around the scene to watch it unfold. Nobody expected the Goth and Geek of all people to be so comfortable with a couple of ghosts, especially when the whole crowd was set on edge. Lancer, the leader that he was, tried to step forward again.
"I think it's time you two gave some answers." Lancer said, putting on his best teacher voice.
"I think it's time to go. Can you teleport?" Sam asked Vlad, seeming to notice the crowd for the first time. He nodded. The ground shook again, the sounds of death filling the air. How strong had Danny gotten? "Go, straight to the Opps center. Jazz is there now."
Plasmius vanished in a puff of pink smoke as Sam turned back to Tucker and Danielle.
"Frostbite. We have to get them to Frostbite." Tucker said, standing to lift Danielle. She nearly screamed in protest.
"What about Danny?" She nearly let out a wail of her own. Sam and Tucker both hesitated.
"Danny can take care of himself a little longer. The priority right now is you." Tucker decided. Danielle groaned in what seemed like protest but couldn't maintain it very long.
Star had to admire his resolve. He had to be just as concerned about Danny as the girl, if not more, and even say that probably hurt him. It was like saying they weren't looking for him, thinking of him. She almost thought she'd be angry for one of them to so easily dismiss the girls concerns.
But looking at the state she was in, she understood.
"He'd tell us to do the same thing we're telling you and you know it." Sam paused, glancing around. She put on her best steamy glare and cleared a pathway. "Let's go."
"Hold on just a moment," Lancer started. "I think you should," He started but Sam quickly cut him off.
"All due respect, I don't care what you think right now. The Ghost Alarm went off, we're done for the day and even if we weren't you couldn't stop me from leaving." She said. "Tuck, go."
She held her position a little longer, in case Lancer had anything else to say while Tucker began to move away from the crowd. Star thought that was it. That they'd both leave, but Sam found her eyes in the crowd.
'You coming?' They asked silently.
This was the start of the silent conversations she was sharing with Tucker all week. Simple, but big and obvious things. This was where the trust was earned, and friendships carved. She didn't reply with her words, but with her legs instead.
Star ran past Kwan. She past the phase where she needed to be attached to a boy.
Star ran past Dash. She past the phase where she felt the need to bully others for being different, or to boost herself up.
Star ran past Paulina. She past the phase where she let someone else control all her thoughts, feelings and emotions.
She wanted to be free, she wanted to grow up just a little now. She wasn't eager to own a home or pay taxes (or save the city and fight otherworldly monsters, but she figured she was safe from that responsibility], but she was ready to own her own actions.
Star answered with her legs and caught up to Sam and Tucker quickly. She pulled her keys out, turning to Sam.
"Good thing I borrowed the car today, huh?" She said, trying to keep her nerves in check. It was what she had seen Phantom do countless times.
"I love you." Sam's reply came swiftly.
Star drove, Sam rode shotgun while Danielle took up most of the backseat. Tucker squeezed himself against the door, giving her the most space he could while looking over her, glancing between her and his PDA.
"Checking medical records." Sam told her. They were getting better at silently communicating, Star supposed.
That was how the rest of the car ride went to FentonWorks. Silence. An eerie silence.
Except for the next Ghostly Wail that rippled through the town.
Notes:
Hey guys! Boy am I ever so sorry to do this to you!
If you noticed I said in the last chapter I changed the blueprint for the story, right? It became something totally different than what I had in mind. Okay, I'll work through it. Trigger Warning ahead: Suicide.
Que 2020, and when I tell you it was the worst year ever. My best friend killed herself that year, and it's been really hard ever since. I bounced back a little, but writing has been hard because she used to love to read everything I wrote. For a while I couldn't even open word without bawling like a baby. Not to get too deep about it, I've been trying to make a comeback.
I've been writing on my alt-account that I use when I publish under the Pokemon fandom, Tony2Shanks, here on . But I'm gonna be so honest I forgot about this story forever, and then when I did remember I had completely forgotten the blueprint of it I had reworked for it!
So I had no idea where past me had been intending to take this story. It bugged me to no end because I really, really liked it and it made so much sense to me then. But it eludes me to this day. Until today when I was clearing cache on my browser and logged back into this account to see everyone who has read this story and left a review between 2020 and today telling me how much they enjoyed where it was going.
I decided to hell with what I had planned, the least I can do is give these wonderful people AN ending! So I think I have SOMETHING planned, but I don't know if it'll be better than whatever past-me had so sorry if it's not what you expected or if it falls a little flat!
That being said, I've been recently re-invigorated in writing and Danny Phantom. My first priority is a Pokemon rewrite fanfic right now (it's called With Courage I Will Face by Tony2Shanks if you want to check it out!) but I hope to conclude this story very soon and give you something else to enjoy!
I've been in talks with someone about adopting another authors abandoned fic as well that I've been interested in continuing for forever, so maybe you guys will see that soon! Anyways, thanks to you all for being so wonderful and amazing and patient. You guys are THE reason this fic is finally getting an ending, I hope you all enjoy it!
Chapter 7: The Ghost Zone
Summary:
Vlad and Danielle are in terrible shape, and only Frostbite had the ghostly medical know-how to help so it's a time for a quick voyage into the Ghost Zone!
Star has a lot of processing to do on the way there, especially after she becomes privy to even MORE secrets
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did.
Hope this was in a timely enough manner! It's still not the end, but we're getting there! Read on, readers.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
The Ghost Zone
Star felt like a fish out of water as she sat in the Fenton Ops Center.
Sam, Tucker and Jazz acted like a well-oiled machine in tending to various aspects of Vlad Plasmius' and the ghost girl, Danielle's, injuries. Occasionally they would narrate their actions if it was easy enough to observe and didn't require an explanation for, like showing the location of med kits or the property of Ectoplasm behaving like human blood.
"Do you know where the Ecto-dejecto is?" Tucker asked Jazz.
"Danny keeps some inside his headboard." She replied quickly, leaving to get it.
"Just hold on a little longer, Danielle. This should pull you together long enough to make it to Frostbite." Tucker said, gently putting a hand on her head.
"Danny…" Was all that she replied, trying to move her arm.
Who was this girl to Danny? Star couldn't help but wonder. She was as narrowly focused on him as she Sam and Tucker were the past few days, if not more. She was on the brink of death (second death?) and the only thing she had found the strength to talk about was Danny.
"She should transform after she stabilizes." Plasmius' voice was still sore. He was spread out on the ground, head propped up with Tucker's backpack as Sam assessed his injuries.
"That could kill her!" Tucker hissed over Danielle's weakened form. Plasmius coughed but replied after.
"If you give her enough Ectoplasm with the Ecto-dejecto, it should eliminate the prospect of bleeding out. Anything else is hardly a concern with our advanced healing." Plasmius replied.
"Her healing works better in ghost form." Sam countered. Plasmius shuddered, before coughing violently again.
"We're being attacked from inside out, on the molecular level. Being a ghost is hurting as much as helping, the longer she is a ghost the more her strength is sapped; she's the same as we are. As humans we'll be torn apart marginally slower." He told them.
At the molecular level. Star replayed it in her head. That sounded… incredibly painful.
Tucker and Sam seemed to think so too, both sharing incredibly panicked looks.
"We need to get you to the Far Frozen, now. Jazz!" Tucker called.
Jazz barreled back seconds later, a handful of syringes ready. They were filled with green goo that looked like Ectoplasm. Tucker wasted no time injecting four full syringes into Danielle. Star couldn't help but cringe from the size of the needle, but the ghost girl didn't even flinch. Whether she wasn't afraid of needles or didn't have the strength to recoil, Star couldn't say.
"Is the Speeder still in the basement?" Sam asked Jazz. She nodded and pulled what looked like a key fab from her pocket.
"Ready when you are." Jazz replied. Sam nodded, and that was all the affirmation Jazz needed to press one of the buttons on the silver fab.
Just seconds later, what Star recognized as the silver flying thing the Fenton's sometimes launched from their backyard was hovering just outside of the room, bay door unhatched and ready to accept passengers. Star supposed she looked gob smacked by it, because Jazz gave a quick explanation.
"This is the Specter Speeder. It's designed for humans to travel safely into the Ghost Zone, not that our parents have ever tested it." She explained quickly.
"The.. Ghost Zone?" Star asked hesitantly. Sam and Tucker had told her a little about it, but she was still largely clueless about it. "We're going into the Ghost Zone?"
For the first time since Vlad Plasmius and Danielle crashed onto the ground, it seemed both Sam and Tucker took a moment to pause. They looked at each other for just the briefest of moments before Sam replied to her.
"You don't have to come if you don't want to. I thought you'd be grateful for the out at school, but I don't expect you to suddenly be all hands on deck with ghost stuff." Sam told her.
"Yeah, we get it if this is all too crazy for you right now. But we do have to go. Like, now." Tucker agreed. "If you're coming, great, and if not no hard feelings." He scooped up Danielle as carefully and quickly as he could.
She seemed to be dripping a lot less ectoplasm, which seemed like a good thing.
Jazz helped Vlad Plasmius stand up and walk to the Specter Speeder as the ghost looked warily at Star. Sam climbed in last, looking back at her. Star decided not to give it any more thought, lest she second guess herself, and climbed aboard.
The Ghost Zone made her feel… uneasy, for lack of a better word. The world outside just looked wrong in every way.
Doors floated everywhere, attached to nothing. Tucker said they could lead practically anywhere. A ghost's lair, a pathway to another part of the Ghost Zone, even a different time period.
There were chunks of land floating around that ranged in size from palm sized rocks to formations that could pass for an island back on Earth. She supposed they were islands here too, but they floated in the vast nothingness of eerie green instead of the cool blue oceans.
Swirls of green of every shade painted the 'sky' and the 'air' and the 'floor'. She had no idea this many shades of green existed and was mesmerized to see them all in one place. It was beautiful, she could admit that. But that didn't make the whole experience feel any less eerie.
It looked like it went on forever.
"It does." Jazz replied to her. She hadn't realized she spoke out loud.
"Danny and I have been trying to map it a little recently, but we haven't really gotten anywhere. It all changes a lot; everything floats around generally freely. Sometimes at the will of ghosts, Danny says." Jazz explained.
"Daniel has a lot to learn still about the Ghost Zone." Plasmius said through a hoarse cough. "A powerful enough ghosts can cause the ectoplasm in the air to move and shift around. That determines whether their lair moves throughout the Zone or not. They can block it or use it to carry the lair."
"Y'know, it'd be great if you could educate us a little more often." Tucker glared at him.
"We'll be lucky if I get to do much of anything a little more often." The ghost replied, taking a very deep breath.
"You should change back, Vlad. If what they did really is tearing you apart, there's no use in staying ghost. You told us to let Danielle change back, you should too." Sam pointed out.
Star's attention was drawn to Danielle.
The girl was laying on one of the bench seats in the back of the Speeder, sprawled out while Tucker sat on the floor beside her.
She had transformed.
She had transformed right in front of Star, from a glowing ghost girl to a frail, injured human girl. And she was the spitting image of Danny Fenton. Who was this girl? Clearly, that was not the most important thing right now, so she was trying to refrain from asking. But the similarities were uncanny.
Sure she had black hair and blue eyes now, and she was practically a mini-Phantom in her ghost form, the resemblance otherwise was uncanny. If Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom looked alike, this girl matched them both to a T in facial structure. Star had only gotten scattered looks, but she was certain that staring into her face was as good as staring at Danny's.
The poor girl looked even younger than him. Star hoped she didn't have to endure the same horrors he did, not at her age.
"I'd rather die on my own terms, and that includes not revealing all my secrets to the newest member of Daniel's ghost squad." Plasmius bit, glaring at Star. Even in his weakened state, it was enough to make her turn back around from her seat in the front and stare intently out the window.
"I would say don't worry about him, but he's always this sour." Jazz comforted her, placing one hand on her knee while keeping the other on the steering wheel.
"She's bound to figure it out eventually. She figured out Danny's all on her own." Sam threw back at him. "Besides, you're out of your mind if you think Frostbite isn't gonna ask you to do the same thing. If he's going to try to help you,"
"And that's a huge emphasis on 'if'," Tucker interjected.
"I'm sure he'll want whatever it is to not be spreading as quickly." Sam finished.
Plasmius did not have any retort to that. He sat for a few more moments, everything in the Speeder was quiet.
"If you tell anyone about this, girl, any of this," He started to threaten her but winced in pain too hard to complete his own thought. His arm crossed over his chest to cradle his stomach, face contorting in pain as two black rings appeared and washed over Vlad Plasmius.
In the place of the ghostly terror was Mayor of Amity Park, Vlad Masters.
"Holy shit." Star felt like she could just about pass out again.
They fell into silence after that. Mayor Masters and Danielle were making less painful noises but were trying to conserve their strength still. Sam and Tucker seemed to alternate between looking worriedly at Danielle and then each other, no doubt thinking about Danny, while Jazz focused only on driving.
If what Mayor Masters said was true and they were being torn apart on a molecular level, what did that mean for Danny? He wasn't even free, wasn't even here, on the way to get help. How much longer could he stand something like that? Was he affected by the same thing at all?
Star had a million questions, and for every single one she was sure Sam and Tucker had a million more of their own. She didn't want to spend the entire day badgering them with her own questions. They had hardly asked many questions of their own to Mayor Masters or Danielle after the initial encounter at the school, their focus shifting immediately towards rescue.
It was an admirable trait to have, Star noted. They wore their goodness on their sleeves today, in much the same way Danny did. She wondered if that was a trait they all had in common or if Danny brought that out in them. Or maybe it was a learned behavior, like everything else had proven to be.
They were cautious when they needed to be, but clearly knew when caution could turn dangerous. They were closed off in ways that Danny Fenton wasn't, but large parts of that was most likely due to their protectiveness over him. They had both changed so much since freshman year, outwardly a lot more than Danny had.
The double life, literally, was Danny's. But it had effected them in huge ways too. A secret so huge was bound to do so.
Then just when she was maybe starting to digest Danny's, she finds out that he isn't the only one. And that the others are a girl who looks exactly like both his human and ghost sides, and Mayor freaking Masters.
And suddenly, just like that, she was struck with another wave of empathy for Danny, Sam and Tucker at the pure depth levels their secrets reached. Danny, knowing that the mayor of his home town was a ghost seemingly bent on causing nothing but chaos and destruction the entire time and could do nothing about it except fight back, also as ghost. Because there was surely no way to go after Mayor Masters for it. Nobody would even believe the idea, and had Star not literally seen him transform with her own eyes she wouldn't have believed it coming from nearly anyone either!
He was up to a 97% approval rating!
At least now Danny Fenton's vitriolic hatred for Mayor Masters seemed to make a lot more sense.
Star was pulled from her thoughts as she felt the Specter Speeder come to a sudden stop. She jolted around, looking for the cause just to see they were stopped on top of what looked like… snow?
She gave a confused look to Jazz.
"We're here." She said simply, pressing a button and flipping a switch. The Speeder stabilized and the hatch in the back opened. Cold air filled the metal cabin instantly, and Star wished she had brought her hoodie from her locker.
"Come on, someone'll be coming to inspect our landing." Jazz said as she helped Vlad stand up again. He leaned weakly on her but seemed more determined to stand on his own than he had been before. She guessed being in human form was helping.
Danielle still had it much worse, but the bleeding seemed to stop after she transformed. Tucker picked her up again and followed Jazz outside. Sam helped her from the front seat into the back and let her out first before following and shutting the hatch.
There was nothing but wind and snow around them, and they were all vastly underdressed for the weather. Luckily, they didn't have to wait long before shapes appeared in the distance. They advanced quickly, three of them, each of them a hulking yeti-like creature with white fur.
"Welcome, friends of the Great One! What brings you to," The one in the middle, with an arm made completely of ice, started to greet them politely, but Sam ran up to him.
"Frostbite, you've got to help us! Danielle and Vlad are both in terrible condition, and we have no idea how to help them! Vlad says something's attacking them on a molecular level." Sam pleaded. Frostbite gasped.
"What? Such a thing should be impossible. What humans could have the capability of doing such a thing?" Frostbite asked as his assistants moved forward. One took Danielle from Tucker, and the other was just getting ready to haul Vlad, when he replied.
"The Ghost Interrogation Ward." Vlad said, reluctantly allowing himself to be picked up.
The silence was deafening once again. Even over the sound of wind blearing and snow crunching under their weight, Star could've felt a pin drop.
"Who?" She couldn't stop herself from asking.
"The Guys in White." Sam translated; her shock was apparent.
Star could feel her stomach turning in knots.
Notes:
I hope this chapter was engaging for everybody! Part of me is still scrambling to see if I can recall any pieces of the plans I had for this, but I'm totally flying blind right now lol. I don't think this is a bad direction, though, and I'm proud to continue the story in any way at all. (Not remembering WILL bug me for years, though.)
Thanks for your patience and understanding, readers. I know you're supposed to write for you, but when I was in a space where that seemed impossible I found a way to write for you guys. Now that I'm in a better place, I want to say thanks to everyone who followed, reviewed and of course, even just READ this story while it (and I) was on an unforseen, indefinite hiatus. That means the world to me, and I hope you enjoy the rest of this story, and whatever comes next!
Like I said before, I have plans of adopting another fic thats currently in indefinite hiatus. As I always say, read on!
Chapter 8: Goth and Geek
Summary:
While Frostbite tries to run tests on his new patients, Star reflects on how she used to see Sam and Tucker vs. how she's starting to understand them better now
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did.
Lo and behold, another step closer to an ending! Do us both a favor and read on, readers.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
Goth and Geek
The hospital at the Far Frozen reminded Star of something straight from a sci-fi movie. She hadn't enjoyed a good one in years, as Paulina thought they were way to nerdy, but she enjoyed watching them occasionally with her brothers when she was younger.
There was flat tables with plenty of glowing buttons, glass chambers filled with water(?) that hooked up to towers of computer screens and an entire corner of the room for monitors to display all kinds of data being taken by their equipment.
Danielle and Mayor Masters were each submerged in a tank, hooked up to a breathing apparatus to be monitored. Danielle was finally allowed to fall completely unconscious while Mayor Masters had adamantly refused to be rendered inert.
He also refused to undress in front of teenagers, so Star thought it was almost comical to see him floating in a suspension chamber in nearly his full suit.
Frostbite asked a number of questions, but they all seemed equally hard to answer. They hadn't wanted to drill either of the injured ghosts for information on the way here, having felt the situation was too dire for it. Even now it was impossible to say what their condition was and if Frostbite could help. It seemed Mayor Master's wasn't in as much immediate pain as he was outside, but he still couldn't communicate with anyone while being monitored under the water. That meant they were working with minimum details for the time being.
Star knew that wasn't great, medically speaking. But they were hopeful Frostbite's tests would conclude soon and reveal something useful.
She couldn't help but stare at Danielle in her chamber. They had dressed her in a stark white one-piece swimsuit for the water so her clothes wouldn't get wet. She floated aimlessly, held in place by whatever force was built into the bottom of the chamber and a mouthpiece for oxygen. She assumed oxygen. There were wires connected to parts of her body, over her heart, her sternum, up and down her arms and one on both her temples.
Her face was, as she expected, a spitting image of Danny Fenton's. There was a dashing thought that she looked more like him than Danny Phantom did. How was that possible? For her to look more like him than… than himself? She was visibly a girl, and she was shorter than him by a wide margin, but her face was like that of a mirror image of his.
"I'm afraid I must ask you all to exit the room for now. Tundra wishes to bring in a full team to read over their vitals and conditions and examine them from head to toe." Frostbite said as he entered the room.
"How long?" Sam asked. She wasn't resisting, just worried.
"I do not know. It depends on what they find. You may do whatever you wish here in the meantime, my Lair is yours as you well know." Frostbite said apologetically.
Sam and Tucker nodded so Star quickly stood beside Tucker as they made their way out.
"Actually, I'd really like to stay if I could. I think I can be of some help in regards to human and halfa biology." Jazz offered.
Frostbite considered this, bringing his icy hand to his chin before nodding.
"Yes, that would probably be very useful. We are no slouches in human biology either, but surely there are intricacies we do not know. Especially about human-ghost hybrids." Frostbite agreed.
Jazz turned to wave at them.
They gave a solemn wave back before leaving the room, passing no less than eight huge white yet-like monster ghosts on the way.
Star, despite all the twists and turns the last week had taken her, was still being surprised. You'd think she would get over that by now, but it was the opposite. Now every little thing seemed to intrigue her and make her question everything in ways she wouldn't have bothered to think about a week ago.
She knew Frostbite only asked them to leave the room because, logistically, it was a tight fit with so many people and the yeti ghosts too up a lot of room. Plus, the equipment the other team brough, plus the equipment already inside? It made sense to empty out non-essentials.
But considering how protective of Danielle Sam and Tucker were back at the school and the entire ride here, she almost expected a bit more of a pushback on leaving. They were clearly very close, and Star had seen similar things happen in hospitals back on Earth where people absolutely insisted on staying by a patients side. She had almost said as much, before Sam agreed.
Star had surprised herself at how immature that was at a time like this. She said as much to Sam and apologized for a scene she almost made.
"It's not just you," Sam assured her. "I can't completely walk away yet. But Frostbite is their best chance, if he needs room to do tests, we have to give that to him."
"If he thinks we'd just be in the way, we would be. No sense in crowding the room and slowing down progress." Tucker agreed.
They were all dressed a little warmer now, each taking out heavy orange parkas out of the Speeder while they waited. They were indoors, but even the walls were made of snow, so it was still beyond freezing. Sam didn't sit. She paced back and forth, occasionally asking Tucker a question as he sat and poked at his PDA.
From the questions he asked or statements he muttered it sounded like he was trying to piece together aspects of the Guys in White's activity. Star sat quietly beside him as she tried to warm her hands.
After ten minutes of rubbing them furiously together, Sam knelt and took her hands into her own.
"Focus. Just breathe." Sam said gently. "The entire Ghost Zone is colder than home, but this place pushes it. Before Danny got his ice powers, he would sit between me and Tucker and not move the whole way home, he was so cold from just flying around."
Star paused, smiling at the information.
"The key to staying warm is controlling your breathing. Breath deep through your nose, hold it longer than you normally would and exhale through your mouth. Like this." Sam took in a deep breath through her nose, held it for twenty seconds, and carefully blew the breath out her mouth. "Breathe it out, like your trying to dry wet nail polish after a manicure." she said with a wry smile and a final gentle pat on the back of her hand before she stood up again.
As she sat there trying to breathe like Sam told her, she found herself surprised. Again.
And more surprised than ever before. If you had told her last year, she would find herself sitting in the Ghost Zone she wouldn't have believed it at first. But with enough convincing she would have, she already knew it existed and that really, really weird things could happen in Amity Park. There was that time the entire town was transported into some type of other dimension, which she now realized was the Ghost Zone, and the time Mr. and Mrs. Fenton tried to petition the school to let them take kids into the Ghost Zone. So really, not an enormous stretch.
But the revelation that Samantha Manson got manicures?
If she hadn't heard it herself, she didn't think she ever would have believed it.
It wasn't particularly about her getting them. Star had seen her hands plenty and more often that not she at least wore plain black or purple nail polish. Sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less done, but never unkept. But she never imagined being one to mention it, or ever bring it up. It seemed a little too girly for her to want to really engage in.
But that's all she was, right? She was just a girl.
Just like Star, Sam was a teenage girl. She could see that a lot more clearly now, for whatever reason. Her hair was always extremely straight, too straight to be perfectly natural. So, she had to straighten her hair often to get that look. She wore makeup just for fun, Star could tell because she was wearing more eyeliner than foundation, so she had to enjoy some part of the experience. And her nails, she had just implied she received manicures; that was a step beyond painting them just for fun.
Even seeing Sam in a whole new light recently and she didn't realize how far from the truth old misconceptions were; that was how deep in the ground her head was buried.
At Casper High, Sam was largely regarded as an outcast. But unlike Danny and Tucker, it seemed she went out of her way to make it happen. Danny and Tucker had wanted popularity and attention for as long as Star could remember- until the accident changed everything. But Sam had never been that way and couldn't be bothered to give the 'popular' crowd the time of day.
That's why Paulina couldn't stand her, Star knew. Because Sam was neither intimidated nor impressed with them, like she could see through everything they weren't.
Sam spoke her mind and seemed to go out of her way to do so and many people found it abrasive and off-putting, but that was due to the social world created by Paulina since they were in the third grade. She made it impossible to do things like watch certain shows, eat certain foods, go to certain places or you risked being excluded. Everyone found it easier to follow Paulina's lead than Sam's, and she was left out for it.
She was different and that was enough. She liked black instead of pink, she liked boots instead of heels, she liked her hair in a messy bun rather than gorgeously flowing and she made it obvious. She liked things that were weird and scary like spiders and bats, not things that were fluffy and cute like bunnies. She liked monster movies and gore instead of chick flicks and rom-coms. But Star was beginning to understand that it wasn't that Sam hated those things; she hated that she was expected to like them and only them. That was where her ultra-contrarian attitude came from; she was just not one to be forced into something, and when she was, she fought back. Hard.
Black wasn't her favorite color; it was the lilac purple that accented her outfits. Her favorite movie wasn't Beetlejuice; it was The Hunger Games. Bats actually were her favorite animal, but she did find them cute, and it wasn't out of spite. She wasn't entirely different, she just refused to be exactly the same.
And again, unlike Danny, she didn't seem to talk to anybody at school except Danny and Tucker. Classmates joked with Danny, he quipped here and there; nobody at Casper High except Dash Baxter would say they didn't like Danny Fenton; he was inconsequential. A nobody.
But people didn't like Sam and Tucker.
Tucker Foley was another animal altogether, Star was realizing.
She and the rest of the girls in school largely regarded him as only the horn-dog of a teenage boy, and a bit too reliant on computers to the extent that it damaged his social skills. But you could only feel so bad for a boy before they took pity as interest, she had learned, so it was easier to treat him harshly.
But after watching him all week, she noticed the cracks forming.
How much of his flirting was a distraction versus genuine interest? How much of it was an attempt to build up his own confidence in the face of his best friend having super powers? How much of it was in the hopes and desire for a genuine human connection that wasn't part of a double-life?
Star couldn't say, really. Not that any of it excused some of his more persistent behavior, per say, but he was hardly the only boy in school with more than a passing interest in girls. Maybe he was a little one-track minded, but never forceful or invasive.
The girls didn't like Tucker Foley very much because it seemed like he wasn't genuinely interested in them. And Star thinks they might be right, but not for the reasons they think.
She was absolutely certain that, while he wouldn't really turn down an opportunity to hook up with a couple girls, he was not flirting with the intention of "getting some and getting gone". But she was absolutely certain that he wasn't interested in them because he didn't have any spare time to commit.
Between keeping secrets, helping Danny and his own life, Star was very certain that Tucker would never be able to prioritize a relationship with a girl who wasn't inside their inner circle.
Then there was the other angle, the Techno Geek thing.
Last month she thought it was abhorrent the amount of time he paid technology. She liked her phone as much as any teenager. She liked to text her friends from the dinner table instead of talking to her mom. She liked to take weird pictures of herself with her brothers. She liked to post status randomly for her friends, and then check those status in class instead of listening to whatever a river delta is. She even understood the appeal of video games, having brothers at home that played frequently for her to watch and join in sometimes.
But he needed his phone and PDA like they were hits of oxygen while he was drowning. It wasn't really until she saw him use one up close that it wasn't like a drug, or oxygen. It was like coming home for him. He was familiar with their buttons and noises, and he knew what each one could do, and which one had what.
He knew them in a way that he didn't know people, is the thing. He could read code like he couldn't some social ques, he could recognize the sounds of a computer more than the words coming out of a jocks mouth and he could enjoy his own interests in there and not out here.
And with other people who enjoyed the same, as she found out. Tucker had at LEAST one friend in every state and several overseas that he was constantly messaging with. Sometimes about nonsense, sometimes about tech, sometimes about life.
Not to mention how much time and attention creating the Ghost Files took.
Sometime one day after school Sam and Tucker had brought her back to Tucker's house. Sam was the rich one, and you knew it from looking at her house, but Tucker's attic looked like the entire electronics department rented its equipment from him.
He had so many towers and monitors and servers they had taken as scrap and fixed that he fixed them up. They currently held more information about ghosts than probably any government organization could ever hope to know, even the Guys in White and even the Fenton's.
They meticulously kept files on Danny's enemies, more detailed than any sports stat sheet Star had ever seen. Enemies, allies, everything in between. Plans and blueprints were scanned in of Danny's parents Ecto-weaponry that Tucker played with in his spare time. He liked to understand every one down to the last letter, otherwise it could hurt Danny later. Pages and pages of notes about Danny's biology and powers, instances that happened, questions they had, training routines and practice schedules.
Tucker was Home Base, and he was probably the most well-educated person on the planet about all things Ecto-related. All of which was made possible with his PDA.
And unlike both Sam and Danny, Tucker seemed to have a handful of friends. He was president of the AV club, and most of the nerdier kids in the school liked him a lot like Mikey, Nathan and Lester.
They made a really strange trio.
Star had already known that before, but it wasn't until very recently that she understood how strange.
A ghost, a goth and a geek.
Who knew?
Notes:
Back into one of the most fun aspects, character study and breakdown! Woo-hoo!
I love doing these from an outside prespective, but if there's anything I love more than that it's showing one from a recently recontextualized perspective. Star has to basically relearn and go over everything she thought she knew and understood about Sam and Tucker becausely clearly the way she was thinking about them was flawed.
I tried not to make it feel like she's done a complete 180 here, as she still has habits like calling people by their place on the social lader and accidentally grouping the nerds and anyone not A-List together a lot. But she IS trying, and I hope that's coming through.
Next time I think we'll check in on Danny for a minute... just a minute, or we might miss some character development for Star. I know that's what everyone is here for, surely.
Also I hope as I get closer to finishing this, I'll tell you more about the secret project I plan to adopt and continue! I think everyone will be pretty shocked and excited. Anyway, hope you guys enjoyed!
Chapter 9: Pain (1)
Summary:
Danny POV time! Just a little bit, as a treat. For you, not him. He is very much not enjoying it D:
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did.
Lo and behold, another step closer to an ending! Do us both a favor and read on, readers.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
Pain (1)
Pain.
The first thing that registered was the pain.
He looked around the room and tried to take deep breaths. Not that he needed them. Breathing deeply hurt, in his ribs and chest and throat. He was sure his ribs were bruised if not broken, and his throat was hoarse from all his wailing.
Using his Ghostly Wail, that is. He hadn't screamed for them once and wouldn't give them the pleasure, even if he hadn't known worse pain since the Ghost Portal. Or maybe the cloning chamber. Or maybe… that was beside the point.
The point was, he was putting on a brave face. A very brave face.
He should've escaped already; he should've gone with Vlad and Danielle. He wasn't even sure he could trust Vlad with Danielle. But he didn't have much of a choice.
His weary eyes focused on the other side of the room. There was another prisoner here still that he hadn't known about, strapped down on a table identical to his own, just a bit less bloody. She hadn't woken up once since he'd been in her room, but he supposed that was for the best. She was probably in more pain than he was, even.
Pain.
Maybe scratch that, he grimaced. He felt as if the inside of all his veins and arteries were being burned from the inside out. But still, he wouldn't leave her here. He would get her out of here even if it was the last thing he did. He had overpowered their machines before, and he could do it again. He just needed to be patient.
The door slid open, and four agents came into the room, wheeling a cart of probably weapons with them. They didn't exchange any words with him; they couldn't, they had placed a giant brick-like muzzle on him after witnessing his Ghostly Wail. But they seemed all too confident, and he liked that. They would slip up again soon, and they would pay.
One injected something into his arm, despite his violent thrashing about. It wasn't enough to dislodge the needle, or the table and the fire crept into his veins even more. He looked over at his fellow prisoner.
'Hold on, Val. Just a little bit longer. I promise.' He promised them both and closed his eyes to endure the pain.
Notes:
Hey guys! I know it's been a while and this is a short one for how long I've been away, but there is a madness to the method! I was originally going to try and do a lot here, but I thought splitting chapter nine into two parts would be a fun idea here. I've been hit with a teensy bit of writer's block combined with a super busy summer, and neither of those things appreciate how many ideas I have and want to write ahah.
I hope you guys can see Chapter 9.2 in about a week or so, things should start to calm down for me now and I can reliably have access to the best form of overcoming writers block; playing God of War: Ragnarok for hours. Next time we'll talk about pain from Star's point of view and yes, find out what exactly the Guys in White did to our favorite halfas. And Vlad.
Chapter 10: Pain (2)
Summary:
Some headway into the investigation is made while Star reflects on the last member of their little group, Jasmine Fenton.
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did.
The second half of chapter nine! This one takes place roughly the same time as 9.1. Read on, readers.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
Pain (2)
It felt like an eternity that they waited.
A few of the other yeti-like creatures had passed by and talked with Sam and Tucker, but it was largely just the three of them sitting in prolonged silence. Sam offered to show her around a little, but Star had declined. She was far too cold right now to go wandering around.
Tucker had grabbed some snacks from out of the speeder eventually, and they all shared a chocolate bar.
After several hours, Jazz and Frostbite emerged from the doorway, neither looking too pleased. They all jumped up and ran over to them expectantly.
"Well?" Tucker pressed.
"It's not terrible news, but it's not good either." Jazz said, looking at Frostbite.
"Plasmius was not wrong. It does appear that they are being attacked from the inside, on a molecular level by something that is reacting violently to the ectoplasm in their bodies." Frostbite said solemnly.
Star couldn't help but let out a gasp.
The thought sounded unimaginably painful. It had to be unlike anything she could fathom a human experiencing. Not that she had tons of experience in the medical field, but she had rudimentary knowledge of a lot of things and had a handful of hospital visits of her own when she was younger.
The worst pain she had ever experienced was probably when she had broken her leg in three places after a cheerleading mishap. That was bad, and she had nearly twisted her back out of place too trying to correct herself. But that was localized mostly, and above all, temporary.
"So, is there a cure?" Sam got straight to business as always.
"In theory, it would be easy to curate one, yes. But I would need a sample of their blood, and I was reluctant to remove either of them from the stasis chambers." Frostbite said. "There's only so much we can do at a distance and through the tubes."
"My sweaters got Dani's ectoplasm all over it, can you use that?" Tucker asked, unzipping his fluffy orange parka.
Star closed her eyes at the giant green blotch on Tucker's chest. His fuzzy yellow sweater was now at least thirty percent green, complete with flecks of red. Star guessed that was a consequence of being part human as well, though it didn't help that it felt like she was about to be sick at the thought.
Tucker took off his parka to remove his sweater entirely, handing it to Frostbite urgently. All he had was a white tank-top underneath, and some of the blood had gone through to that too. He pulled his parka back on over it quickly, zipping it back up to avoid the frigid air.
"I'll perform some tests with this. Do either of you know what this could be?" Frostbite asked the humans.
"There's not a lot we know about that can hurt ghosts like that. All Danny's parents Ecto-weaponry hurts, but it doesn't break down Ectoplasm like that." Jazz supplied.
"We've experimented with some of the folklore methods. Salt doesn't burn him, but pure sulfur leaves him with a rash. Silver or iron don't do anything, even purified." Sam rattled off. "He can't be warded off by any dreamcatchers that we've tried, and he can cross running water."
"The only other thing we've ever seen have any effect on him is…" Tucker trailed off, looking at Sam. "Blood Blossoms."
Star felt a pit growing in her stomach. Frostbite's eyes noticeably widened.
"Blood Blossoms, you say? You've encountered Blood Blossoms?" Frostbite was clearly shocked. "Those haven't grown in the Ghost Zone in a millennia."
"We encountered them in the past," Sam started.
"Like the past-past, we time-traveled." Tucker interjected.
"When we were chasing Vlad for the Infi-Map. We were in historic Salem, and Danny got stuck in a ring of Blood Blossoms." Sam looked haunted even by the memory. "I don't think I've heard him scream like that since…" It was her turn to trail off.
"Since the accident." Tucker picked up where she left off seamlessly.
Despite herself, Star felt a prickly of jealousy at their friendship. She ignored it. She was getting there.
"Yes, I can imagine. Blood Blossoms are the Earth's natural defense against ghosts, they work as wards and weapons. Ghosts can't stand to smell one, let alone feel one. If someone has weaponized Blood Blossoms on this level that would be… catastrophic." Frostbite said.
He quickly shook his head and turned away, saying he would get his lab techs to analyze Tucker's sweater. In the meantime, they were to continue to be patient out here.
"If it is Blood Blossoms, and it's still doing this much damage to Danielle and Vlad…" Jazz wondered out loud.
Nobody wanted to finish her train of thought for her.
She looked tired, and so broken, so unlike herself. It was unusual to see her in such a state. For the first time, Star began to truly reflect on Jazz and her role in everything.
Everyone in Amity Park knew Jazz Fenton.
She was practically a public figure and held in a much better light than her parents. She volunteered at the library since she was only eleven years old and paid back in food and as many books and articles as she wanted for all the time she put in. She had the highest scores on the CAT's in Casper High history and rumor has it, a teacher tried to fail her because she was desperate not to lose her favorite student. When that didn't work, they asked to move up to teaching the next year.
Dash had the biggest crush on her once upon a time, big enough that it was a sore subject between him and Paulina. There weren't many people that could make Paulina Sanchez jealous, but Star didn't know how else to describe it. And if she was being honest, she could understand it. Jasmine Fenton had it all.
Beautiful as the small-town girls from all your favorite movies. Smart as any college graduate when she was a sophomore in high school. Compassionate as it got in Amity Park. She couldn't think of a single person who had a bad thing to say about Jazz Fenton.
At least until she started hanging out more with her dorky little brother.
According to the general masses, she had become… flakey after. Lots of excuses as to why she couldn't hang out with her friends, being distracted as of late, seeming more tired than usual. Though it was only her social life that took a hit, and she barely fell behind in her studies at all and was on track to attend college at Columbia University. Ivy League, as if she would settle for anything less.
The last few days had given Star a lot of insight on that change in her, and it was one that was almost disparaging to know.
She had kept Danny's secret for almost as long as he had and had been going out of her way to cover for him when he didn't even know she knew. She went out of her way to make things easier for him no matter how it looked for her or the cost it would have on her own relationships with her friends and family.
Gee, that sounded familiar.
Once Danny knew Jazz knew, her desire to help had only grown and she wanted a more active role in helping. There was the physical side, which they all started taking more seriously after Jazz got involved. She trained and practiced with FentonWorks weaponry with Sam and Tucker and helped study Danny's powers however she could. The whole thing had given her a great side interest in biology. She would help with patrols and cover shifts, providing much needed back-up sometimes as well as relaying a lot of information overheard from their parents back to Danny.
Even when she wasn't physically with them, she was putting in long hours elsewhere and continued to blow off her social life. She dedicated hours every night to studying the months of ghost files to catch up on her knowledge. There was only so much she could learn as an outsider looking in, and she had a lot to catch up on.
Then there was the fact that she had quickly taken the role as Team Mom. She was always dutiful to make sure the others, especially Danny, were eating and sleeping well and used every trick in the book to get them to discuss their feelings openly. Sam had told her once that Jazz took pride in trying to help them work through a lot of the psychological side of being teenage ghost hunters. It was obvious that all she wanted was to make sure they were okay.
They all had a habit of burning the candle at both ends all too often, but Jazz took it to a unique level of personal involvement. Sam buried herself in training the weapons and learning about ghost lore and folklore. Tucker buried himself in meticulously keeping files of everything they learned and tinkering with weapons.
Danny, obviously, was literally caught between two worlds to bury himself completely in.
Jazz buried herself in psychology and the human aspect of it all, and it often let her get closer emotionally, but lead to burnout a lot quicker. Star had experienced a small portion of that herself and could recognize the emotional-giver drawbacks immediately.
That was a pain she was more familiar with than any physical pain, after being tread on by Paulina for so long. Some part of her was still resentful about it, but she had been a willful participant in Paulina's games for far too long to play the victim even in her own head. Even still, it was hard to pretend like she didn't carry scars from it all.
Absentmindedly, she moved closer to Jazz as she sat on the floor. They leaned into each other as Sam and Tucker mirrored them.
Frostbite returned after what felt like hours and finally let them back into the room. Most of the technical stuff was done, and they had analyzed Danielle's blood from Tucker's sweater as much as they could.
"It seems you were correct. There are traces of Blood Blossom inside Danielle's Ectoplasm. It's creating a violent reaction inside their systems. I'm afraid Plasmius was correct in his initial assessment." Frostbite said told them.
"What now? Can you cure it?" Tucker asked him.
"I believe so. But time is of the essence, and it may be too late." Frostbite said. "They've lost a lot of blood already, I would need a lot of purified Ectoplasm to perform a diffusion and, and a stabilizer, and many, many herbs to even begin to try and cancel out the effects the Blood Blossoms are having."
"What can we do to help?" Sam asked.
Frostbite paused.
"If you know of any device that can harness and purify Ectoplasm, that would be very beneficial. The natural process of purifying it would take far too long to get enough, even if I asked every member of my tribe to do so. The rest I believe we can scrounge up." He replied.
"The Ecto-converter would probably do. It's got an internal battery pack that stores energy until it needs to be converted. Any Ectoplasm it takes in is automatically purified to be converted out into electricity and Danny's had it hidden for ages now, so there's no way mom and dad have emptied it." Jazz told them.
For the first time in what felt like days, there was a gleam of hope.
"I want to go get my books too, maybe there's something in there we don't already know about Blood Blossoms. They're really difficult to find proof of on the internet." Sam said.
"Okay, I'll drive." Tucker said and they both turned to leave. They paused, shooting a glance back.
"Star, feel like taking another ride?" Sam asked.
Star quickly caught up to them, then cast her own look back at Jazz, who hadn't moved.
"You're not coming?" She found herself asking.
"No point, they can find the Ecto-converter as easily as I could. I'd rather be here in case something changes with Danielle's condition or…" Jazz trailed off.
Or Danny showed up.
Star nodded her understanding, sending a small smile to Jazz before she made her way back to the Specter Speeder with Sam and Tucker.
Star knew in her heart this would be over soon, for better or for worse. They- she only had to endure a little bit longer. If Danny could do it, so could she.
Notes:
Another thrilling chapter of psycho-analysis! A little lighter than usual on that front, but Star only has minimal and surface-level knowledge of Jazz. Like, even less than she does of Sam and Tucker, so she's got way less to work with. Most of it is entirely second-hand, but I think I got most of the big points across.
So, another piece of the puzzle was revealed. I hope some things are becoming a bit more clear. Star's right, it won't be long now until it's all over. Next chapter will be a bit of an errand run, more will be told to Star and maybe even... the beginnings of a resolution?
Catch you guys next time!
Chapter 11: Home
Summary:
Star begins to reflect on the trio's friendship with each other, and starts to wonder about her place in it all.
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did.
Read on, readers!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
Home
The ride back was just as quiet as the ride there, just a lot less tense. It was a dull, muted quiet rather than the crushing, inescapable quiet from before.
Tucker drove, traveling almost as fast as Jazz had on the way there. He was anxious but focused as his hands clenched and unclenched the steering wheel.
Sam sat beside him with her head back and her eyes closed. She took a deep breath every few minutes as if reestablishing her presence.
Star sat beside Sam. Her eyes wandered, unlike the other two. She looked around the inside of the speeder and outside the window. For what, she wasn't sure. It was just something for her eyes to do to keep her hands and brain occupied.
Mr. and Mrs. Fenton considered the Specter Speeder among one of their greatest inventions in terms of technological capability, Tucker says. It was impressive that it could provide safe passage to humans through the Ghost Zone for extended periods of time; it could fly over the vast nothingness and drive across the ghostly terrain if needed and it was armed to the teeth with weaponry to ward off any investigating specters. Without the speeder, a human would have a hard time navigating and traversing the infinite mass of swirly green.
It was a shame, then, that they hardly ever paid any attention to it. That's what Sam and Tucker said as they gave her a brief overview on most of the Fenton's inventions earlier in the week. For whatever reason, even though the speeder was designed to travel into the Ghost Zone, neither Jack nor Maddie had ever tested it for that. They barely tested it in the human world and were content to perform routine inspections from the outside. It had hardly been driven at all by the Fenton's and they even tended to forget about it since they continuously moved it to different spaces.
The speeder may have been Jack and Maddie's invention, but on the inside, it wasn't theirs. The color scheme screamed Fenton, but all the little touches inside said more. There was a port hooked up to the dashboard always, ready for Tucker to tap into with his PDA with familiar ease. The GPS had destinations only Danny, Sam, Tucker or Jazz would recognize; Skulker's Island, Vlad's Portal, Far Frozen, Clockwork's Tower.
Sam had full control of the glove box, clearly. There were lipsticks inside, both purple and black, and a variety of hair scrunchies. She was the only one prepared for most normal human emergencies too, so there were ChapSticks, mints, tictacs, nail filers and hand sanitizers inside. Along with smaller first aid kits to compliment the larger one in the back.
Jazz had books stashed everywhere, including under the seat of the speeder. In the back was her spare backpack, packed with things she'd need if she needed to run off and find Danny. Or with Danny. Her presence was simultaneously covering the least area but the most felt.
It was like some backwards version of a family car that had all the hallmarks of being broken in. If cars could fly and travel through dimensions. Her eyes wandered across the speeder again before continuing outside.
The doors that they passed by could've led anywhere and anywhen. They could've been home to any number of ghosts leading any number of different afterlives. They were all over. It was incredible to think about how there was an entire world that existed parallel to theirs. There were points when the number of doors Star could see was probably greater than the total population of Amity Park. It made the Ghost Zone feel just as vast as it probably was.
She couldn't help but begin to wonder about other ghosts as they passed by their homes. It reminded her of the same situation she was in just a few weeks ago; mindlessly passing by a world full of inhabitants while paying them no mind. She passed the doors just as she had once passed students in Casper High, though somehow, she felt like she had her eyes opened. She found herself paying closer attention to things than before.
It wasn't just about collecting and retaining information for herself or Paulina. It was in an effort to learn, maybe even understand things. Especially things she previously hadn't thought twice about.
Star was suddenly hit with a concern she felt the need to voice.
"What if Mr. and Mrs. Fenton are in the lab?" She asked. Both Tucker and Sam were startled at the suddenness of her voice.
"It's okay, we don't need to use the Fenton's Ghost Portal." Sam answered without opening her eyes or moving her head.
"Me and Danny made some… modifications to the speeder. If it's got enough energy, it can open its own portals. Since we're in the Zone, we can use it to charge the speeder and make our own portal home. The catch is its harder to make an entry portal, especially without Danny here to give it some juice." Tucker told her. "But Danny's better at aiming than I am, so the closer we are to the Fenton Portal the safer I feel about using it."
Again, Star couldn't help but be completely dumbfounded by the level of preparedness.
Nobody spoke again until they had taken a portal back to Earth and Star released a breath, she didn't quite know she was holding as if she were allowed to breathe again.
"We should spit up. Tuck, you should go to Danny's and grab the Ecto-converter. Drop me and Star off at my house and we'll grab some books and supplies." Sam suggested.
Tucker nodded and took a sharp turn towards Sam's house.
"I'll text you when I'm on my way back." Tucker promised quickly as he pulled down Sam's street.
"Don't get stuck talking with Danny's folks." Sam replied as she and Star exited the speeder.
"Don't get caught by yours." Tucker shot back, and then he was off.
Star had been to Sam's house twice in the past week, and Tucker's once. Usually, they preferred to hang out at Danny's, they said, despite the sometimes-looming sense of weapons hanging over their heads. Tucker's parents were more than welcoming, but they both went to sleep super early, and they always felt bad at the chance they disrupted Mr. and Mrs. Foley's sleep.
Sam's parents, though, were another story. Though her house was big enough that they could hide most of their recreational activities, her parents were far stricter than Tucker's or Danny's and much less accommodating of her guests. Sam said they never say eye-to-eye, and that them not liking her friends was simply an expression of that.
Danny and Tucker could've been anyone in the world, and they still wouldn't be allowed to stay later than 8pm.
It was an interesting contrast to Tucker's parents, who welcomed Danny and Sam provided they keep quiet and get permission from their own parents to be out past curfew.
And an even more interesting contrast to Danny's parents who they said teetered between constantly assuming Sam and Tucker were around somewhere and not knowing if anyone was home at all. It depended largely on what they were working on at the time and how devoted they were to it.
She was grateful for her own parents, as she had come to better understand lately. She could say a lot of things about them, but they would notice if she went missing for over a week.
"What are we grabbing?" Star asked as they tried to silently run to Sam's bedroom.
They made it uninterrupted, and Sam shut and locked the door behind them.
"If you could just grab some waters from the fridge and the box of crackers from my nightstand, that'd be good." Sam was busy ducking underneath her bed.
Maybe Star wasn't as grateful for her parents as she could be, she thought somewhat enviously as she opened the mini-fridge in Sam's room. She wished her parents would let her keep a fridge of her own in her bedroom. She didn't say anything, though, and just grabbed four water bottles.
"Oh, throw them in the bag that's on the chair." Sam instructed as she moved over to her closet.
Star dropped the bottles inside the backpack before swiping the crackers as well, tucking them into the front pocket. The backpack wasn't the fuzzy one she brought to school, Star realized. Instead, it was rough material and was navy green. Made for camping, maybe?
Probably yet another type of "go-bag", she thought. It was almost absurd how many stashes of various things they had hidden everywhere or ready to go at a moments notice. Though she supposed they had learned the hard way that it was better to be overprepared than underprepared, probably too often.
As Sam rummaged around in her closet, Star's eyes were drawn to nearly every aspect of the room. The room was very much Sam, the poor girl probably fought for her own space in her own house tooth and nail. The walls were deep purple rather than her more signature lilac, but it looked nice.
Her bedspread looked almost vampiric, though, with a white duvet cover on top of blood red sheets framed by black-stained wood. There was only a few posters scattered about: one of Scream, two of Alien vs. Predator and a signed poster of pop-star Ember McClain.
There were two desks, one for study and one for makeup. One had a computer at the back, the other a vanity. It seemed not even Samantha Manson was safe from the cliché 'girl has pictures of her friends on her mirror', as it was filled wish various snapshots of some combination of her, Danny, Tucker and Jazz. Though her other desk was much more in line with her overall image, down to the purple LED keyboard.
Still, as much as the room was overwhelmingly Sam's, Star was astute enough to pick out bits and pieces of Danny and Tucker scattered about.
Tucker's hat hung off the rolling chair Sam used at her desk, as if he had just stepped out to go to the bathroom rather than showing he hadn't been over for days. There was another adapter plugged into Sam's computer tower, sterling silver; a FentonWorks invention, no doubt. Whether it was Tucker's for the Ghost Files or Danny's for simple homework, she wouldn't pretend to know, but it sat plugged in as if it were being used now. Above it, there were notebooks filled with doodles clearly done by different people, and sticky notes littered the frame of the monitor. Some were keyboard shortcuts and reminders, but others were notes that had been passed or written between the three in class.
The pictures were strown around the mirror, very few had neither of her friends and somehow even less had someone else. There were a few with Sam alone, but only two with her parents. By her nightstand was a single framed photo, where Danny and Tucker stood with Sam and her parents on the day she received a reward from Habitat for Humanity.
She looked at the bed where Sam had dropped some objects to reach what she was looking for. In the pile of clothes, she could see garments of Danny and Tucker mixed in. A hoodie so obnoxiously yellow it had to be Tucker's, and two pairs of jeans that were so faded she doubted anyone but Danny could've gotten the color to wear off like that.
They were all so deeply intertwined in each other's lives. The thought almost made Star ache, like she was missing something that was never there. Her and Paulina had been close, nearly 'up each other's ass' close, but it was surface level. They spent a lot of time together, but they didn't leave things at each other's houses. They weren't prepared to share nearly anything other than school supplies and sometimes lipstick and tampons, let alone share closet space.
Even her more genuine connection with Kwan, their relationship was more about what it meant to the group than what they meant to each other. They got almost no alone time, no chance to let each other in to the degree that a real couple- that real friends should.
Danny, Sam and Tucker were friends, best friends. But they were each other's home as well.
Sam kicked her own closet door shut roughly, clearly annoyed, before she winced and remembered they were supposed to be quiet.
"Sorry, I was looking for this thing." She gestured with her hands full. "I knew we still had it somewhere, I think we'll need it."
In her hands was a small portable heater. It was grey rather than silver, so it was not a FentonWorks invention. Just an old portable heater that was small enough to throw into the backpack. Sam did just that, moving around the water bottles slightly, before dumping some books in as well from off the top of her desk.
"It's from a while ago, when Danny first got his powers. Before we knew what was going on and everything, his ghost sense would go off and he would get so cold he couldn't stand up. We used the heater a lot for the first few weeks, even though it was August." Sam reminisced out loud as she adjusted the items inside the bag. "Brought it back when his ice powers started developing and the same thing happened; he was walking around shivering for days before they manifested properly."
Star couldn't help but wonder how many things in here had so many small stories and memories attached.
"I'm gonna call my parents and tell them I'm sleeping out tonight." Star said.
She wouldn't say where; her family had no knowledge of anything that's happened the past few weeks. They were completely unaware of her changed social circle, and she couldn't risk having an entire conversation about it before she disappeared back into the Ghost Zone for however long.
God, what was she even doing?
Before she could think too hard about it, her mom answered the phone and Star put on her best excited voice to tell her about the sleepover. It wasn't Friday, so there was still school tomorrow, but Star reminded her mom that she had the car and could make it still.
Sam snorted in the background. Clearly, she had given up on the idea of school for the rest of the week hours ago.
As she'd hoped, her mother assumed she was with Paulina and told Star to say hello to her. It was easier this way for Star and felt less like she was lying.
"You didn't have to do that, y'know." Sam said after she hung up. "I know your worried, and we're glad you're here, but…" She trailed off just a bit. "You don't have to turn your whole life around, is all."
"It's okay. I don't think I liked where it was going anyway." Star gave her a sigh with a small smile.
Sam's phone beeped. Neither of them needed to look at it to find out that it was Tucker, and that the message said that he was now on his way back to Sam's.
Maybe, just maybe, Star was starting to build a home with them too.
Notes:
Happy New Year guys! Back again with another installment of 'Star: Budding Psychologist'!
This one was a fun one to write, I wanted it done sooner but- no lie- I had to revise the entire idea of this several times. At first I wanted to break down more than just Sam's room, but I also don't want to write just 8k words describing Danny and Tucker's rooms too. I mean, I would LOVE it, but I thought it might get old for you guys, especially considering we're kind of in a hurry to get back to Frostbite.
Officially, this is what I'm calling Chapter 10. The last two, both being called Pain, are two parts of the same chapter, essentially. I'm telling you guys this because I believe the story will be over in just two or three more chapters! WOOO!
So, we will soon get the answers that we seek! Enjoy for now, and I'll see you next time!
Chapter 12: Clean Up
Summary:
A major event brings an erupting cascade of evidence and new problems while Star continues to observe Sam and Tucker in a vacuum.
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did. Read on, readers!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
Clean Up
Their next stop was back to FentonWork's.
Tucker had said that he had checked the lab and Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were nowhere to be seen. He double checked and traced the location of their phones and the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle, pinpointing the location as somewhere in Detroit, Michigan.
That was almost a six-hour drive, though Sam said Jack Fenton could make it in three. Tucker's best guess for what they were doing there was searching for a particular part or gadget they needed for whatever they were working on. They had a lot of connections for parts suppliers for the right project wouldn't hesitate to make such a drive.
"We should grab a thermos and whatever we can from Danny's room then, while they're not here." Sam suggested.
Tucker agreed. It made sense, they might not get to come back to an empty house. Time was of the essence still, so they had to remain quick as they quickly scavenged Danny's room. Well, Sam and Tucker scavenged. Star didn't know what she was looking for, instead ended up looking around at Danny's room like she had Sam's.
She had never been inside Danny's room, to no one's surprise.
She had been to his house a handful of times, but just on the ground floor.
Once she had been asked to deliver his homework last year; it was a summer remedial class, so neither Sam nor Tucker were there to volunteer. She had dropped it off to Jazz, since Danny hadn't answered the door, and Jazz had let her in to drop off some books and given her a cupcake for her troubles.
Twice she had been tutored by Jazz in maths, back when she was in grade school. Her family remained eternally grateful to Jazz for tutoring her for free, as she had almost missed the honor roll for her maths grade. Jazz had helped her raise it just enough, just in time.
The last time was when they had all banded together to fight against the ghost pirates that had abducted all their parents. Somehow, that one felt the least surreal now.
Danny's bedroom looked generic at first glance. The walls were light blue, the bedspread was dark blue- both typical boy colors. There was a desk with a computer on it, and a purple beanbag thrown into another corner. Other than the space motif across the room, it was much blander than she expected.
Although as she watched Tucker duck under the bed and Sam remove a drawer from the night table entirely, she realized there was more here. It was just expertly hidden. Star supposed that summed up the severity of Danny's situation compared to Sam and Tucker's. They all kept secrets, but Danny had to keep his a lot closer. The Fenton's were too close to their double lives, as opposed to anyone in either Sam or Tucker's life. If one thing was left out of place, or if either of them came into the room without him knowing that could spell disaster.
Sam appeared to be checking a failsafe, a way to see if Danny had returned at all or if someone had gone snooping. Neither happened.
Tucker pulled an unsuspecting navy green duffel bag from under the bed and rooted around. He pulled out a Fenton Thermos and a Lipstick Laser that he tossed to Star.
"Just in case." He said offhandedly, shoving the bag back underneath the bed.
Star gazed around some more. Posters of the solar system and the NASA logo. A NASA rug on the floor. Three globes scattered around the room, one of them a squishy stress ball. It wasn't messy, surprising for a teenage boy and even more surprising for Danny Fenton considering the image he upheld. Maybe he wasn't as disorganized as he presented. Or maybe Jazz had cleaned the room in his absence, since he was missing for over a week now.
The ceiling had glow in the dark stars plastered on it, and Star couldn't help but wonder if they glowed yellow like normal or if the Fenton's had somehow made them glow green with Ectoplasm, like Danny's eyes.
She caught a glimpse of his closet while the door was open, and it only had a single jacket inside; very unsurprising, she supposed. It was a red winter coat, hung up beside his empty hamper. Underneath those and towards the back she could see an old filing cabinet that looked like it would've been in Casper High fifty years ago, tucked away behind Danny's single coat and a few pairs of shoes across the floor.
Ghost files related, no doubt.
She scanned the room for signs of Sam and Tucker, which didn't take long to find. She was sure that the small purse on the desk was Sam's, filled with either make-up or first aid, that was surely left there on purpose. Her unmistakable hair dye was here too, tucked a bit more discretely into the desk drawer.
It was no doubt that the phone cord plugged into the wall was Tucker's. It was by Danny's bed, but it was 16ft long, not the signature Fenton sterling silver and had several adaptors at the end for multipurpose use. Probably the best thing for them all to charge all their stuff with at the same time.
The way Sam and Tucker moved throughout the room was effortless, and with such directness Star wasn't sure she knew her own room as well as they seemed to know Danny's.
Sam grabbed his purple backpack off the desk chair and looked at Tucker.
"Anything else?" She asked, ready to move on.
"No, I think we got everything." Tucker said, quickly glancing around.
Just as they all started to move, Tucker's phone rang.
They both seemed to recognize the ringtone, and Sam and Tucker exchanged very worried looks. Tucker dropped the Fenton Thermos on the ground, forgotten as he pulled out his phone at blinding speed. He answered it and put it on the speaker at the same time, holding it out for her and Sam.
"Val?" Tucker asked curiously.
Star took a moment to be confused as she read the contact on Tucker's phone. Even upside down, it unmistakably read 'Valerie'. There was no other Valerie it could be, unless there was 'Valerie' in Tucker's family that she didn't know about, of that Star was certain.
But what did this mean? Why did Valerie bring out such a reaction in Sam and Tucker? It couldn't simply be that they weren't her biggest fans back when she and Danny had briefly dated. Their immediate reaction was too intense for something like that, especially compared to the usual intensity they seemed to be used to dealing with.
Now in addition to being confused by their lives, yet again, she was confused by Valerie. She hadn't so much as texted Star back from days ago or attended school in the meantime. What reason would she have for spontaneously calling Tucker Foley of all people? They were barely on neutral terms, let alone friendly thanks to all the pick-up lines Tucker hurled at her for months.
As surprising as the whole thing was so far, it was an even bigger surprise to not hear Valerie's voice on the other end of the phone.
"Help," The voice was weak and hoarse, but it was unmistakable. It was Danny Fenton.
Before either Sam or Tucker could say a single word, the entire ground shook worse than it ever had before and the temperature dropped drastically in a split second. The shaking was enough to throw all three of them scrambling to the floor, and Star could feel goosebumps appear across her entire body.
Through the phone and through the walls, they could hear the Ghostly Wail. It was, despite his weak voice, still packed to the brim with power. The screams echoed outside as the shaking continued while they climbed to their feet.
"Danny? Danny, where are you? Where do you need us?" Sam yelled onto the phone, though she received no response other than some grunting.
Star glanced out the window to see it had completely fogged over now from such a rapid temperature change. They urgently scrambled back outside while Sam called into the phone, hoping for a response from Danny while Tucker began trying to trace Valerie's phone using his PDA.
Though all their efforts paused as they exited the Fenton's house.
Ghosts.
Ghosts were everywhere.
Most of them were unconscious, or hardly moving, looking like they got spit out of a volcano and landed haphazardly across the block. But they looked around and that was all they could see for blocks and blocks at a time; ghosts strewn all over, almost totally unmoving.
"We're gonna need a couple more thermoses." Tucker lamented.
They worked in tandem for what felt like the first true time. Tucker had given her his PDA to hold as it tried to triangulate Valerie's phone while he ran to get the Specter Speeder and Sam had dipped back into the house to raid the armory and grab more Fenton Thermoses while still trying to get Danny to talk again.
Tucker pulled up out front just as Sam slammed the door behind her, dragging two duffel bags the size of her like they were empty. They wasted no time throwing them inside the Speeder and jumping in themselves.
Sam kept the hatch open and sucked in ghosts while they passed where she could.
"Star, got a location?" Tucker asked. Star squinted, trying to read the dark text on the dark green background.
"31st and… Hawthorne?" Star read out.
That was an odd place to be, she thought. There wasn't much to note in that area. Perhaps just a few already torn down buildings, a closed and to-be-torn-down post office and… a cemetery.
Tucker seemed to know that already, if the way he quickly closed his eyes to compose himself was any way to tell.
"Sam, hang on. We're flying high." Tucker warned.
"Good, maybe I can use the wide shot then." Sam dropped back into one of the duffel bags and pulled out what looked like a magnifying glass attached to a circular clip.
She clipped one end around the end of the thermos and held it tightly as they began to fly higher. She grabbed onto the hatch above her to stay balanced with one hand and gripped the thermos tightly in the other.
"This better work." Sam said, pointing it out.
Star had seen the thermos work before, plenty of times. Phantom used them all the time to capture the ghosts he fought after a fight. But she had never seen a beam so wide come out of one. It was nearly as big as the entire opening in the Speeder Sam was standing in as it shot out at the down.
"Star, get another thermos ready!" Sam instructed. Star moved quickly.
That was how they spent the agonizingly slow trip to 31st and Hawthorne. Star would grab an empty thermos and hand it to Sam, who clipped it to the magnifying glass in place of the one she had just filled. Then she passed the filled one back to Star, who slid it in the other bag.
It was quick and stressful. Sam said they were getting way more with the magnifying component than they would otherwise, but there were still more ghosts left than most people had ever seen in one place before. She estimated to Star though that they were getting more than half of what they were seeing.
They landed more silently than Star would've though at the speed they were going, but maybe she had misjudged how harsh Tucker's driving could be; he clearly had better control over the Speeder than almost anyone she had seen in a car. Although cars didn't hover, maybe a harsh landing was harder to pull off.
There was a giant hole in the ground, that much was obvious from the air and the cemetery was full of ghosts too. Some were aimless green blobs; some were more filled in than that. She looked around for anyone she might recognize.
Tucker and Sam jumped out, each taking two new empty thermoses and passing one to Star.
It felt like something out of a movie to her. They were doing their best to clear up the ghosts while on the way, despite how eager they all were to home in and focus on finding Danny. And evidently, Valerie.
Star pointed her thermos at an unfamiliar ghost with blonde hair wearing a blue dress, but Sam pushed it down.
"Hold on!" She said, kneeling.
"Dora. Dora can you hear me?" Sam asked as she shook the ghost. Tucker heard her from a few feet away. "Can you hear me? Are you alright?"
Dora groaned and shifted as she opened her eyes.
"Samantha?" She said, wearily. Sam nodded and it was almost strange to see the ghost relax at her confirmation. "He said he'd get us out."
There was no question who she was talking about.
"Dora, where's Danny? Did you see him, was he with you?" Sam asked.
Dora shook her head, taking a deep breath. Star wasn't sure if she needed to do that, or if it was habit. Or maybe it was just a comforting gesture, Sam and Tucker said that Danny reflexively breathed in his ghost form.
"Saw him sometimes. They kept him somewhere else. Somewhere else, with the girl. I don't know where he is, I just know it was him who got us out." She said.
"Okay. It's okay, we got you. We're gonna put you in the thermos to save your energy, alright? We'll get you out as soon as we get Danny and get back to Frostbite." Sam promised. She waited for a sign that Dora had heard her before going through with it and turned back to Tucker.
"Tuck, he's gotta be here somewhere." Sam said.
"I've got an idea. But you're not gonna like it." He paused. "Neither will Danny."
"I don't think there's much worse than what's going on right now that Danny won't like." Sam said quickly.
Tucker reached into Danny's purple backpack that he had grabbed from the Speeder upon landing, taking out… a silver and green boomerang.
Star recognized it from a previous discussion with them. They said that it was locked onto Danny's Ecto-signature and could find him pretty much anywhere; it had found him over state lines, locked in a hidden lab and even through time before. But they had spent hours throwing it one afternoon and it acted no differently than any normal boomerang.
This was before Danielle and Vlad showed up, claiming they escaped from the Guys in White. Tucker attributed the agency of being capable enough to hide an Ecto-signature. She supposed the hope now was that Danny was free of whatever they were using to block him and all the other ghosts.
"Oh, hell." Sam said, though, in a way that they could tell she was resigned to agree with the plan.
Tucker needed no further convincing, pulled back his arm, and sent the Booo-merang flying.
Notes:
Less psychoanalysis than usual, but in return we have plot!
We are closing in on the end now! I haven't decided yet if I want it to be one or two more chapters, but we are very close!
Sorry this one took a bit longer than usual again, the job hunt is still kicking my ass. As is the current state of affairs in the good ol' U S of A. I do believe I'm about to be self-employed again over the summer, so hopefully that'll give me slightly more peace of mind and let me write without feeling guilty that I'm not spending every spare moment looking for a job lol.
Just to clarify for anybody confused in case I didn't do a good enough job explaining; the ghosts erupted like a volcano from underground, in a GIW hideout. Danny was moved here after the breakout and destruction of the other facility of Vlad and Danielle, of which Danny also did. He probably could've escaped then as well, but only if he intentionally left Valerie behind, which he chose not to do.
Then they were moved here, despite the lack of space, due to limited options. This will probably be slightly clearer in the next chapter when we get to hear from Danny or Valerie, but you are all a very perceptive bunch!
Alrighty, until then, stay tuned and I'll see ya next time!
Chapter 13: Grey Ghost
Summary:
A heavily injured Danny and Valerie are rescued and recovered. They're brought back to Frostbite's for treatment while Star once again deals with a life-shattering identity reveal.
Everybody hopes for the best.
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did.
Read on, readers!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
Grey Ghost
They watched with bated breath as the Booo-merang soared away and turned sharply, swinging back down in a wide arc. It crossed the giant pit in the cemetery and passed more headstones before curling around a particularly large, rectangular gravestone.
There was a bang, and a groan, and for the first time in weeks Sam and Tucker looked like they could breath again.
It was a bit of an odd feeling, running towards a grave with a sense of hope, Star couldn't help but note. Though after her last week it was certainly not the oddest she had felt.
They sucked up ghosts along the way still, determined not to forget the overall mission despite the torturously close presence of their missing friend. Finally, they curled the gravestone the same way the Booo-merang did and laid eyes on Danny Fenton for the first time in days.
Or more accurately, Danny Phantom.
He was resting with his back to the gravestone, head knocked back as if he had been stuck (though Star figured that was the work of the haunted boomerang) while he had Valerie Grey wrapped in his arms.
Star couldn't hold back a gasp after seeing the condition they were both in, but Sam and Tucker seemed to do a marginally better job. They all bent down, and Sam and Tucker began inspecting Danny and Valerie respectively for wounds while Star observed from afar in a hands-off way.
They were both pale. Shockingly, concerningly pale. Valerie, naturally so dark-skinned, was by far the palest Star had ever seen her and Danny's skin seemed unusually tan as Phantom, except this time it was barely a few shades darker than his hair. They had multiple scratches and bruises everywhere, but particularly their wrists were noticeably discolored; probably where they had been bound.
Danny's sleeves were torn apart, and his gloves were gone, leaving his arms exposed from below the shoulder. Star could see all kinds of marks that looked like cuts and punctures, but also some rough enough to be scratches or grips. Valerie's clothes seemed to be more put together, and later she would probably be thankful she was wearing her Nasty Burger uniform and not any of her more favorite outfits.
Even now, Danny writhed in pain and clenched his eyes closed.
"Come on, they couldn't have got far!" A deep voice called.
Star's blood ran cold at the idea of running into the Guys in White here. She couldn't have moved herself and could've kissed Sam for the way the goth pulled her so quickly down further.
Sam and Tucker communicated with only their eyes as the sounds of movement got louder. They were climbing up from the crater, it sounded like, and just as they heard the shuffling of walking rather than standing or crawling, they both jumped up and fired a net from their own Jack-O-Nine-Tails that they had grabbed discretely while lying on the floor.
The agents never knew what hit them. Two nets were all that was needed to contain the four agents that had emerged from the base, each one capturing a duo. The force and surprise sent both pairs stumbling over the edge back into the hole while screaming. Star didn't stand again until she heard the thud of them hitting the bottom. She knew it was unlikely they could escape soon without help; the Jack-o-Nine-Tails had been heavily modified by Danny and Tucker to be an alternative containment method. The nets might not be as durable as nine steel-coated wires that lock and bind a target in place, but it was more convenient and easier to aim. And less lethal. Usually.
That's what Tucker claimed, anyway. She had believed him before seeing them knock four grown men god-knows how many stories down into a top-secret bunker.
Crisis swiftly averted, they all turned their attention back to Danny and Valerie.
Danny's eyes opened and found Sam's within seconds. He looked around at Tucker, then Valerie and finally her. If he was shocked by her presence he didn't show it, though maybe he was still completely out of it.
"Her first." He said weakly. His voice was hoarse and strained.
Tucker took Valerie from his arms quickly, lifting and carrying her bridal-style back to the speeder while Sam helped Danny to his feet.
"Lean on us." She instructed sternly, putting one of Danny's arms over her shoulders.
Star followed her lead moments later, ducking her head underneath the other arm to help carry his weight. He was light, even lighter than he looked. Star wasn't sure if that was surprising or not, or even if that was usually the case, since she had nothing to compare it to. Still, he seemed undisturbed by her presence, easily letting her flank his other side as she and Sam walked him back to the speeder after Tucker and Valerie.
The ride back to Frostbite's would've been uneventful, if not for the huge amount of information dumped on Star this time.
Tucker drove, pushing the speeder as fast as he had when they had Danielle and Mayor Masters inside, while Sam tended to some of Danny and Valerie's more minor wounds the best she could with the first-aid kits available. Star mostly played the role of assistant, though she did feel like she was beginning to learn a lot. She was grateful she at least had someone to watch do this stuff, as she was sure that Sam had learned mostly through trial and error.
During the drive she tried not to ask questions, unwilling to distract Sam from the dire situation at hand. But there was only so much Sam could do from here, and they both needed rest and real medical attention so there was only so much for her or Sam to do. Luckily it seemed she was either getting better at the 'silently communicating' thing than she thought, or Sam found her that easy to read.
Probably both.
By the time they had landed back in what they referred to as the Far Frozen, Star had been informed about Valerie's extra-curricular activity of ghost hunting. Valerie Grey moonlighting as Amity Park's Red Huntress.
That one may have made way more sense than Danny Fenton being as a ghost, but it was still a complete bombshell of a revelation to Star. It was certainly almost the last thing she suspected, even after finding Valerie unconscious in a cemetery beside Danny Phantom and being hunted by the Guys in White.
Once again Sam and Tucker tried to preserve Valerie's agency and didn't answer all her questions. They did mention that although they knew about her, she had no idea about them or Danny's identity even while they were dating so she guessed that that answered most of her questions about that whole fiasco.
Danny spoke minimally on the way there, probably trying to conserve his strength but also because of the pain his throat was in. He was trying to communicate words to Sam, but she insisted he rest first despite all their questions.
"We know about the Blood Blossoms. Vlad found us with Dani. They're doing better for now, Frostbite's looking after them. That's where we're going now. You'll see her soon, okay?" Sam would say similar things to this over the course of the trip.
Danny's hands would start to move or clench around the mention of Danielle, which Star found interesting. It seemed to be the subject he wanted to engage with the most, despite his inability to do so. He was probably relieved to hear she had found Tucker and Sam; that was practically her or Mayor Master's only hope, it seemed.
"You should change back, Danny. It seemed to help Elle and Vlad." Sam suggested.
Danny didn't respond, but neither of them expected he would. Though only Star was surprised when a ring of white light exploded out of his body, washing over his limp form and transforming him out of his ghost form.
His human form looked even worse for ware than his ghost form did, and way worse than Valerie still even after all of Sam's minor touch-ups. It looked like he had gotten even whiter, if that was even possible. His eyes opened again for the first time in minutes, and they kept their green glow as he looked around.
"Hurts." Was the only thing he said.
Then his eyes dimmed back to baby blue and his eyelids closed.
Star had to fight back the tears that threatened to come out.
Sam was running out of the speeder before it was even fully stopped or fully landed. She made impressive time moving through the thick snow, largely thanks to her combat boots, while shouting for Jazz and Frostbite.
They needn't wait long, as Jazz and Frostbite emerged very shortly after with a legion of guards following at the commotion. Before either of them could ask any questions, Jazz could already tell just by looking into Sam's eyes.
"Danny! They've got Danny!" Jazz cried just moments before Tucker pressed a button and opened an even bigger hatch.
Danny and Valerie were quickly transported by Frostbite's men to the same room where Danielle and Mayor Masters were held. The look on Jazz's face was nothing short of heartbreaking to watch, even after watching Sam and Tucker's faces so closely and being there to discover them herself.
"Did you obtain the Ecto-converter?" Frostbite asked urgently.
Wordlessly and urgently, Tucker handed over the backpack with the device inside it. Frostbite ushered them back inside at once. There was not but a moment to lose.
Star had already spent hours outside the lab with Jazz, Tucker and Sam once. If that had been agonizing, this would be downright torturous.
They waited in almost perfect silence, only occasionally disturbed by a sniffle brought on by the harsh cold or the sounds of [hopefully] progress through the doors to the other room. They all seemed to reach a breaking point with the silence at the same time, as when Star began to ask questions they began to answer and allow conversation to flow.
She asked if he would be okay, first and foremost. Sam and Tucker said yes. It was quiet and muted, but they said it like they were trying not to have any doubts. They were putting their faith in Danny even now, and there was no question about whether it was misplaced. Good, he needed that.
Jazz's answer was less sure and more hopeful. She deflected to talking about Blood Blossoms, which Star couldn't oppose too much as her information about them was severely lacking compared to the others.
They were mother nature's defense against ghosts, Jazz said, and existed long before ghosts or spirits were a thought in people's minds. They were extinct in nature now, though forms of their properties were diluted and existed in other anti-ghost methods; pretty much anything that had enough kick to hurt a ghost that didn't have Ectoplasm in it was probably a bastardized, low-level form of Blood Blossoms.
The Guys in White had found a way to make liquid, or at least highly concentrated, Blood Blossoms again and seemed to be injecting it into ghosts. All the ghosts they had seen scattered around Amity Park had been held captive by the Guys in White for who-knows-how-long, likely subjected to the same kind of experiments as Danny, Valerie, Danielle and Mayor Masters.
She asked about Danielle, and what her connection to Danny was. Why they looked so similar, and why Danielle had seemed almost more concerned for him than herself.
It took a few moments of hesitation, unsure if that story would be better coming from Danny or if it delved too much into Danielle's past. Ultimately they shared it with her that Danielle was created in a lab by Vlad as a result of trying to create more human-ghost hybrids. Danielle was a clone of Danny and was the only one that was able to be stabilized.
Star could tell they were holding back on that one, though she supposed that was fair. It seemed to be a loaded story from start to finish and she almost regretted asking. To imagine that Mayor Masters had genetically created a half-ghost girl using Danny's DNA HAD to be the most insane thing she learned since being brought into the fold.
Sam and Tucker said Danielle felt like she needed freedom to find herself, or she was afraid she would always be in Danny's shadow. It was hard on them both being apart, but for the longest time it was what Danielle said she wanted. It was only after they met again, through Valerie actually, and Danielle had promised to check in more. From there a relationship formed, and Danielle became an honorary-blood-member of the team who everyone saw as a little sister.
She asked about Mayor Masters and how he had become a half-ghost. She knew Vlad Plasmius was an enemy of Danny Phantom, but Vlad Masters had never publicly acted out as anything other than a generous mayor. Danny Fenton was probably the only person in town who felt strongly against him; everyone remembered the boy going out of his way to embarrass Mayor Masters numerous times during his re-election campaign.
They refused to talk about that. They said it was hardly any of their business, let alone hers. Vlad already had a hard enough time accepting that they knew as much as they did, let alone adding someone else further in the loop. She may know about his ghost-half now, but that alone but her in enough extra danger, they said. Vlad was one of Danny's most dangerous enemies and whatever way they could keep him off their backs was a good thing. If Danny wanted to be the one to broach that conversation, that was on him.
She could hardly understand it all. Vlad Masters, one of Danny Phantom's most dangerous and notorious enemies. But Danny's friends knew everything about him and had a close enough relationship with him so that he knew to come to them for help after escaping the Guys in White. And they helped him? Sure, Danielle was there too but it's not like Vlad was in any position to demand help or withhold Danielle from them. Instead, he came to them, pleading for his life and they helped him without question despite how much they seemed to fear him now.
Naturally her next question was about Valerie. She was just going down the list. She asked how long they had known Valerie was the Red Huntress and if it had anything to do with Danny and Valerie's relationship. She was curious if their ghost hunting was a point of mutual interest or if it was the wedge that came between them.
Surprisingly, they answered both those questions rather easily. They put together Valerie's identity rather quickly thanks to a combination of luck and circumstances lining up, as well as her not getting a proper voice modulator right away. Danny, despite having his face visible, at least sounded different thanks to the ghostly echo added to his voice. Plus, nobody though about a ghost having a secret identity like they do a girl in a red mask.
As for their brief relationship, they said it was doomed to fail on both accounts. Danny, or themselves, didn't trust Valerie enough to tell her about his secret and it didn't seem like there was anything great enough to come between her and hers. Danny tried multiple times to talk her out of ghost hunting, as Phantom, and she never listened. She always put the job ahead of everything else, even her feelings.
It was sad, in a way. They were extremely close to being kindred spirits. Two teenagers living double lives, locked in a battle against the spirits terrorizing the town. From their own perspective, they were each the only thing holding the town together and the other was an obstacle, a villain, even. Although that isn't totally true.
Phantom never hurt the Red Huntress; everyone knew that. She was the aggressor in all their fights, and most of the time it was plainly obvious that he was holding back against her. He never went for the shots he would have if she were one of his rogues and never attempted to bring her out of the air. That was a big thing; Phantom always grappled, and unless they were close to evenly matched, physically, he always grounded them before taking the winning shot or returning them to the thermos.
There were theories and breakdowns online about it just like plenty of other aspects of Phantom's fights, but one of the biggest theories was that it was a power or dominance thing. Phantom was asserting his superiority over the other ghosts by becoming the aggressor rather than the defender, showing the other ghost that the fight was over. It was an interesting theory, one that Star supposed she should be excited to be in the position to confirm or deny and lined up with the idea that Phantom wasn't an aggressor towards the Red Huntress.
Danny knew Valerie and knew that she was the Red Huntress. It made sense that he wouldn't want to fight her. Not only was she human and not a ghost, but he also knew she wasn't a villain; she was somebody he knew very personally. Danny probably couldn't treat Valerie any more like a ghost than Star could've iced her out when Paulina kicked her off the A-List. Valerie was just the type of person who found a way in, and you never wanted to remove her.
On the other hand, she was certainly unaware of Danny's secrets. She was armed with less than half the information he was and was doing her best to keep the town safe in her own way. It was just dreadful that that meant her going after Danny Phantom, who she now knew as Danny Fenton, as if either of them was the greatest threat the town had ever seen. Phantom was powerful, no doubt. Powerful enough to be a threat. But most people, especially kids their age, didn't think of Phantom as particularly threatening; maybe it was the jokes, or his lanky-form, or that they watched him get beat up and tossed around so much they dismissed the idea that he was actually kind of nearly invincible. Knowing he was Danny Fenton and trying to picture Danny Fenton as the greatest threat to the safety of Amity Park almost made Star gag with laughter even.
Even knowing them as one, and knowing what Danny Phantom was capable of, remembering that it was the heart of Danny Fenton underneath made her see Phantom as even less of a threat than she did before. Even seeing an entirely knew Danny Fenton than the one she thought she knew. She was safe to say everything she thought she knew about him before was wrong, and still she felt so assured that he was the good guy in all of this.
Despite Red Huntress' best claims and efforts, she was not the hero of the situation.
Star didn't ask any more questions after that. Instead, she sat with what she had learned, and what she had reflected on with what she had learned.
She thought about Danny, Danielle and Vlad; three beings, tied together on the strings of life and death. Danny wanted peace. Danielle wanted freedom. Mayor Masters wanted power. They would never be free of each other, not even if they tried. But how could they want to be? They were unique, and unlike everything else in the world. Outliers on both sides of life and death. There was nobody who could understand them better than each other. As ghostly as Plasmius seemed he was the mayor. And as close as Danny was to Sam and Tucker, they were human; full, living breathing humans.
If this were one of Mr. Lancer's essays, Star would go into how poetically tragic it was that the closest people in existence to you on a biological level were a) your clone and b) your arch-nemesis.
She thought about the ghosts of the Far Frozen, rushing around like mad to help the halfas and Valerie. It was a strange sight to see; they moved with an urgency absent from a lot of human hospitals. They seemed to hold Danny in high regard, but Frostbite made it no secret that he was not a big fan of Mayor Masters. Yet, they worked with urgency for him as well.
She though about her new friends, Sam, Tucker and Jazz. They had been through so much in the last few days, let alone the last few years. She couldn't imagine living the life they had if it was anything like this on a regular basis. A constant state of hyper-vigilance and living in suspense. Not knowing what mistake would cause your undoing. Would it be yours, or someone else's? They made it look easy, she thought. Too easy. Looking back to just weeks ago, she never could have fathomed this.
Star remembered once noting that Danny often looked like he was operating only on a 'cup of coffee and a fight or flight response'. She wished she hadn't been so accurate.
Mostly, though, she thought of Valerie. The girl who, weeks ago, Star would've called her true best friend. Even at their best, Star was Paulina's best friend, not the other way around. Star floated around her, orbited her, lifted her up. But most of their relationship was hollow, and for a while Star was okay with that. She placed her own social status as a higher priority than a real friendship in a trade she was willing to make.
Until Valerie was thrown out of the A-List.
Then Star was forced to start making some harder choices. Ones that Paulina didn't agree with, but for once Star was willing to risk it. She liked Valerie, and she didn't deserve any of what happened to her. The last thing she needed was to be dumped by her friends too, and in hindsight it was probably the beginning of the end of her own friendship with Paulina.
To think that nearly the entire time, Valerie kept something like this a secret nearly shattered Star. How didn't she know? Why didn't she know? She could hardly blame Valerie for not telling her; between her obvious support for Phantom and their differing opinions on ghosts in general and her own ties to Paulina, it was likely that Valerie just didn't trust her to keep it a secret.
It made perfect sense. But it still hurt.
Now, knowing that not one but two of her classmates were putting their lives on the line in a battle that nobody else knew anything about or cared for, whether it was for selfish or self-less reasons, it really began to make Star feel some type of way about herself.
Instead of dwelling on it, she sunk closer to Jazz on the seat. Jazz smiled and opened both her arms, taking Star and Tucker in from one side and Sam in on the other. They sat there, just holding onto each other for a while to stay grounded.
Until Frostbite came back out with news.
Notes:
Boy oh boy! So much plot here, I'm not even sure you guys will recognize this one! There hasn't been this much strictly plot in this story since *checks watch* 2020?
Chapter subtitle might be a bit misleading, I know that's the ship name for Danny/Valerie, but I wanted something that made sure it was clear a lot of this chapter was about Valerie without just naming it after her. As Star spends some time reflecting about Valerie and Danny's relationship (romantic and otherwise) I felt like it fit well enough.
This was a chance for Star to get most of her thoughts straight after having another bombshell dropped on her! Now she knows most of the big ones, there'll be no more identity reveals for her! In a few years she'll be glad she got them all out of the way over a few days lol. I hope I've made it clear enough what happened/what's going on without spelling it out, but keeping some mystery. If I haven't, it will be gone over more next chapter! Which, as of right now, I intend to make the last official chapter of the story! Can you guys believe we're almost there? I might do an epilogue after that, but mostly everything should be cleared next time.
Let me know what you guys think! I almost made this even longer but it felt too much like rambling at points, so I cut a lot of Star's inner monologue to avoid repetition or completely breaking pace. Maybe some of those thoughts will fit more organically next time. Also guys, I have a job interview this week! It's on Thursday, so if you're reading this before then wish me luck! This is the first one in a while I've let myself get pretty hopeful about!
Anyway, until next time, folks!
Chapter 14: Plus One
Summary:
Star tries to return to her day-to-day life while waiting for an update on Danny's condition. Unfortunately, just like Sam and Tucker, her new version of 'day-to-day' is worry and overthinking paired with events happening that she never would've seen coming when she woke up in the morning.
One of these days, she'll see something coming, right?
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did.
Read on, readers!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
Plus One
Even good news was heartbreaking to hear.
Despite the extent of their injuries Frostbite predicted that Valerie, Danny, Danielle and Mayor Masters would make full recoveries
Eventually.
Though, it was hard for him to predict when 'eventually' was. The extent of their injuries was varied and unique, and each of them had vastly different thresholds for recovery.
Valerie wasn't as gravely injured as the halfas, but being a full human meant her road to recovery would take longer for most of her injuries. Her wrists were severely bruised, and her arms were covered in lacerations; she had a few broken ribs and a sprained ankle, which they assumed happened on whatever night the GIW abducted her. Though the worst to Star had to be the huge bruise forming on the whole left side of her face, turning more and more purple the more color flushed back into her face.
She told the story of a woman abducted and ripped from her safe place for reasons unknown. She didn't make it easy, and she survived on the inside by doing god knows what. Star wished she would wake up soon, she was possibly more eager to talk to Valerie than even Danny, but it was probably better she stayed out; there was a chance she wasn't feeling the pain of all her injuries that way.
The halfas were much more… difficult, to observe and regulate, Frostbite noted, for obvious reasons.
"Without a doubt that Ecto-converter saved all their lives. We did the equivalent of a blood transfusion, but with Ectoplasm. But the damage was extensive. All three of them required a hundred percent of their Ectoplasm replaced." Frostbite told them. "Danielle's body almost couldn't handle even getting close to depleting; it's fortunate you brought the Great One back when you did. If he was not here to use his form to directly stabilize hers, I am not sure that she would've made it."
Danielle still floated in her stasis tube, unconscious. She had more color to her face and even unconscious, she didn't seem as tense as before. But she still looked so young, and to know that she had come so close to dying… It gave Star a shiver. To be so young and to have suffered so much. It was hard enough to imagine the suffering of normal teenagers with normal tragedies, let alone Sam and Tucker. Let alone further Danny himself, if that was the case double that for someone even younger than him.
"Plasmius took to the transfusion fine. It pains me to say it, but his recovery will probably be the quickest. His injuries were more severe than Miss Grey's and possibly even Danielle's, but his enhanced healing factor and more stable condition gives him a better chance at a quicker recovery." Frostbite said simply.
It was clear he had no qualms about skipping details in the Vlad debrief, as there was no love lost between them. It said a lot that he still went out of his way to help the man. Mayor Masters had always been someone who oozed power and respect. Sure, he seemed a little smarmy, but what politician didn't?
"Unfortunately, as we all expected, the Great One has the most severe injuries of them all." He said, glancing over at Danny in his own stasis pod.
He was human and underwater, connected to the same wires and machines as the others were. They removed his shirt to be able to work better, and as he was hardly conscious he didn't have as many objections as Mayor Masters, who was still floating in nearly his entire suit.
His body told the story of an entire war.
Scars littered his chest, stomach and arms of all shapes and sizes. Slices, punctures, burns, even from feet away most were visible. She briefly wondered how they seemed so obvious and apparent now, but nobody ever noticed scars on his arms before. He was always wearing short sleeves, making no attempt to hide them.
Perhaps it was some ghostly image thing that subconsciously worked. Perhaps they were normally closer to the color of his skin and weren't as noticeable when he wasn't on deaths door. Perhaps nobody looked hard enough.
"I believe they were routinely giving him whatever sedative they've concocted in an effort to make him more easily containable." Frostbite told them, pulling up a few images of Danny's blood on a few slides.
"Little did they know, no two words go worse together than 'Danny' and 'containable'." Tucker joked while they stared up at the slides.
"Indeed. Though they did remarkable damage. These were more trace amounts of this liquid blood blossom serum in the Great One's blood than in Plasmius and Danielle's blood combined. It's a wonder he survived if they were giving him so much so often." He told them.
"Do you know how he did?" Sam asked bravely. She wanted to know everything, down to the worst detail.
She said that was the only way to learn and be better next time.
"And how was he using the Ghostly Wail? I thought blood blossoms inherently dampened all ghost abilities, including things like powers, not just basic ghost functions." Jazz asked.
"Excellent questions, as usual. First, your understanding of blood blossoms needs slight enhancement. They do not nullify ghost abilities or powers; they burn us at our core. Being near them makes our cores react violently to where we being shaking and burning; this is the cores attempt to exert power and control. But that reacts poorly with the blood blossoms, as any power exerted worsens the damage done and pain felt." Frostbite told them. "Simply being a ghost and being near one would cause excruciating pain, and trying on top of that to access any extra power would surely open levels of suffering I couldn't imagine."
The group took a moment to digest the new information. Frostbite let them, as if he was seeing if they could answer their questions themselves.
Naturally, it was Jazz who figured it out first.
"Using power exerts Ectoplasm. No matter how big or small, everything a ghost does relies on and exudes it. Danny was using his powers, the Ghostly Wail, to get the contaminated Ectoplasm out of his system. Oh god, that must've felt like…" Jazz trailed off, not even being able to imagine what it felt like.
"It's the power that expends the most Ectoplasm. That makes sense." Tucker added.
"It's also the power that weakens him the fastest as it is. Using it that many times, in pain and already weakened is dangerously close to stupid." Sam countered, but there was no bite behind her words. If she were saying it to Danny rather than a screen, he might've even agreed.
"Agreed. But it might very well be the only reason he survived the levels of poisoning he was given. He expended the contaminated Ectoplasm via his powers and then his core replenished it with newly made fresh Ectoplasm. He was very close to essentially giving himself his own Ectoplasm transfusion. If not for these 'Guys in White' continually injecting him, I'd wager he would've cured himself of blood blossom poisoning. Absolutely marvelous." Frostbite gazed at Danny with pride and admiration.
It was amazing that even in such a state he could receive nothing but praise.
"So, how long?" Star found herself asking. She didn't want to be rude, but it was what they were all thinking, right?
"Truly, I do not know. I've seen beings in similar states of damage, but it's not the results that worry me; it's the method. Blood Blossoms are notoriously rare, and knowledge about their affects and effects even more so. I pride myself on knowing more than most, but I've never seen blood blossoms do this much damage; not to someone who has survived them, anyway." Frostbite admitted.
"Any timeline I give you at this point would be no better than a guess. It could be a few days, or up to a week. Maybe longer. Maybe even longer than that, for some of them." He added, looking at Danny.
"The human girl, Miss Grey, may return home tomorrow after a good night's sleep in the recovery chamber. Her natural athleticism combined with the innate abilities her suit aids with should be more than enough to guarantee a full recovery, though it may be a slow one for her as well. The others I suggest remain here until further notice." Frostbite told them.
Star liked to think they all slept a little better that night than they had in days. Even in the condition they were in having Danny and Valerie home [or close to it] was a win.
The next day, Star, Sam, Tucker and Jazz left the Far Frozen with a sleeping Valerie.
It was hard to leave without Danny, but there was nothing more they could do there for him and there was nothing more they could do in the Far Frozen for Valerie. It was time for at least one of them to return home.
"Oh god," Star realized with a sickening sense of dread. "Mr. Grey has probably been so worried. He's, like, the most protective dad ever. There's no way he hasn't been on a warpath trying to find her."
"That's why we're going to stay as far away from him as we can." Sam said.
Star must've been visibly confused, because she quickly elaborated.
"We have to stage her being found. Preferably somewhere like where she was found, without a lot of people. We leave her while we hide close by and call anonymously to emergency services with the location and they'll notify her dad. He won't want her in the hospital for long, and she'll be back home in bed by tonight if she's anywhere near as non-critical as Frostbite says." Sam told her.
"We have to do it this way. It's extra steps, but it's cleaner. We can't get too close to Mr. Grey, or he'll have too many questions we can't answer, and we can't just leave her somewhere, obviously. But we can't take her to the hospital ourselves, we don't have a plausible enough cover story." Tucker explained.
Star nodded. She understood the thought process, but it did nothing to ease the sour feeling she felt about keeping Valerie and her father apart for even a few hours longer than they absolutely had to.
Sure enough, though, it played out exactly like Sam and Tucker said it would.
They chose a small park, somewhere plausible enough for her to be and be found without arousing suspicion. The ambulance arrived in less than ten minutes, and they could see the whole thing from the window of a shop across the street. With Valerie in an ambulance, it was only a matter of minutes before they got ahold of Mr. Grey, and they would both be on their way to Amity General Hospital at the same time.
Everyone elected to go to their own homes that night. Something about reuniting Valerie with her father must've made everyone miss home just a tad more, even Sam.
Star saw on the evening news that Damon Grey was reunited with his daughter, who was missing for days, after an anonymous man walking his dog discovered her in Sheffler Park. She was discharged from Amity General when she woke up five hours later.
So what if Star hugged her parents and her brothers just a little longer tonight.
Days went by yet again. It was infuriating how little had changed after, frankly, so much had changed.
Danny, Danielle and Vlad were still recovering in the Far Frozen. None of them had woken up so much as once in the last three days. Valerie hadn't returned to school either, which Star supposed was to be expected, but it did little to ease her nerves. She did text her a few more times, in addition to the missed phone calls from before she was rescued, but had gotten no response.
Sam and Tucker restrained themselves from visiting Danny every day. They had more than enough damage control to do now that most of the endeavor was over to worry about sitting by his bedside. The way they covered each other's backs so thoroughly was something Star had always admired, even when she was on the other side of the glass. They each collected Danny's homework from different teachers, remaining consistent with their story, and relying on Jazz to play interference with their parents.
Jazz had been back once to visit Danny on her own. It was difficult for her, she said, to stay home knowing her brother was within her reach. But it was just as difficult for her to sit with him and know that there was nothing more she could do for him.
Star could understand that feeling. She was finding it difficult to fight the urge to visit him there too. Everywhere she went, it felt like somewhere else was where she was supposed to be. So, business as usual, she supposed.
They were much better at it than she was. Sam tried to go back to making a scene out of fighting with Paulina, Tucker was flirting with girls in the hallways again and they were both noticeably less distracted in class. Despite the seriousness of the situation still, it was clear that just finding Danny had significantly eased the burden of their worries.
Star resolved to try to let herself breathe a little easier too.
It was almost a full week when they were notified of a change. Six days and fourteen hours after the Ecto-transfusion, Danielle had woken up.
Frostbite had sent an alert on some emergency channel to Tucker's PDA. It was during fifth period, and they all unanimously agreed to ditch the rest of the day and take the Specter Speeder back into the Ghost Zone. Jazz was already home, ironically having skipped school to catch up on some studying, so Star, Sam and Tucker quickly made their way to the Fenton's home.
Tucker opened the door with a key from his keyring as smoothly as if it had been his own house.
All the Fenton's were sticklers for locking the door behind you, albeit for various reasons. Even if Jazz was the only one home and she was expecting them, the door would be locked.
Upon entering the living room, Tucker came to a sudden stop that caused Sam to loudly bump into him. Star had to wonder what caused it, considering Sam didn't immediately berate Tucker for it.
She came up behind them a close third, but not close enough to stumble into Sam, and saw Jazz sitting in the Fenton's living room with Valerie Grey.
It was the last thing Star expected, but it was a welcome surprise. Despite everything, seeing Valerie on her feet again was the first sign to Star that things were improving. That she, and they, had made a difference.
Jazz and Valerie both stood as they entered, more out of reflex than surprise.
"Guys," Jazz started lowly. "She knows."
That was all that she had to say. It was just three words- two, really. Just two were the important words. But it was said with such simplicity, seriousness and softness all at once that it covered everything.
Rather than be surprised, angry or worried or overcome with any other emotion, Sam and Tucker took it in stride. They completely trusted that Jazz had properly handled the situation to the point where it was now, between the small group of them, an open secret.
"How are you doing?" Sam asked the first question.
A few weeks ago, Star would've been surprised that the question came from Sam and not Tucker. Now, she couldn't imagine it being the other way around.
"Better. My ribs still really hurt, and my doctor says I should be on crutches, but you know how much those hinder movement." Valerie joked with a small smile. "Other than that, just pretty sore. And really, really angry."
Maybe it was in her voice, or her body language or her eyes. But somehow Sam, Tucker and Jazz all could tell her anger wasn't aimed at Danny. Star wondered if it was anything specific, or if they were more familiar with Valerie too than she was. That thought hurt too, but she quickly ignored it and tried to pay attention.
"What are you doing here?" Tucker asked the second question.
It was more inquisitive, and investigative. It was exactly the kind of question he would ask. Sam, for all her hard-shell moments, was the heart of their group and Tucker, for as simple and bone headed as he seemed, was the brains. Obviously that left Danny, as scrawny and unimposing as he looked, to be the muscle.
"My gear has been auto synced with your PDA for eight months." Valerie said. "I saw that emergency notice you got earlier, about Danielle and I knew you'd be going to see her. I want to come."
She said it so simply. She always spoke her mind and said exactly what she meant and always meant what she said. It was always something Star appreciated about her, especially in comparison to Paulina, where it was like playing scrabble and wordle at the same time trying to decipher a hidden meaning behind every word.
It seemed it was something Sam respected about her too, as she quickly and easily agreed to Valerie tagging along.
Everyone seemed to agree it would be best to talk on the way, and Jazz led the way to the Specter Speeder.
"I know I said I knew everything," Valerie started once they were making their way through the Ghost Zone, "but I didn't expect you to be a part of this." She admitted looking at Star.
Star waited to see if anyone else was going to answer her. Sometimes they did that, for each other and for her. It was never in a way that they talked over her, usually just offering her an out of a conversation if she wanted. But not this time.
"I didn't either." She said honestly. "I only just found out a few weeks ago. It was right before you both went missing"
"How did you know?" Valerie asked. Star suddenly felt a bit like Sam or Tucker, hearing an underlaying question to Valerie's question. "Did you know about me, too?"
"Danny saved me once, from a ghost attacking a football game. But he took the ghost out as a human, and I got really confused. He almost had me ready to wave the whole thing off, but another ghost attacked us at school. He didn't have time to run or transform with me there and he fought that ghost too, in the school." Star said. "But honestly, it was probably entirely because he saved Brittany from that classroom. She was so scared, and had her eyes closed the whole time, she didn't see who saved her. Do you know what she said to me, after Danny got her out of the classroom?" Star paused, and Valerie waited. "Thank god for Danny Phantom, right?"
Valerie hissed, as if she was struck.
"Yeah, that'll do it. That'll do a blow to anyone's secret identity." She said lightly.
"Your turn. How did you know?" Sam asked Valerie.
It wasn't hostile or even pointed. The atmosphere was much less tense than Star would've expected, especially considering how tense she thought it felt when she had just been let in.
Although she supposed that wasn't exactly fair. They had more history with Valerie than they did with her. Valerie had proven herself to be a reliable ally when the chips were down and could be counted on for many things. She was a great fighter, even without her suit, although the suit and gear were a huge plus when considering what she brings to the table, and more knowledgeable about ghosts and the supernatural than Star.
Though it wasn't exactly a contest [at least, not a fair one, Star couldn't even find it in her to be jealous at the way they seemed quicker to let Valerie in than they were her. Not after the way she had treated them all, including Valerie herself, for the past two years.
"After the whole thing with Danielle," Valerie paused. "He told me about her; being a half-human, half-ghost hybrid. It seemed to insane, but… I wanted to believe it, because I really liked Danielle. If she was human, it meant I didn't have to… y'know, bust her or whatever." She paused again. "But after we saved her and I let them go, I went back to Vlad's to look for him; he was my first benefactor, you know? I wanted to make sure he was okay. But then I… I saw him transform. He transformed the same way Danielle did, with the rings and the glow."
It was a startling revelation to everyone that Valerie had known about Vlad since then. If even half of their concerns were warranted, Valerie had been in very real danger long before being kidnapped by the Guys in White.
"I struggled for a while about the 'morality', I guess, of ghost hunting after that. And about whether ghosts could be good just like humans can be evil. And about which side of it made Vlad Masters evil enough to want to kill a little girl." Valerie's voice was calm, but sharp. "I decided that whatever his faults, Phantom did care about the right things now, even if I thought he didn't before. After that it was just… paying attention, really."
Star supposed it made sense. Valerie was the only person in the world who spent enough time with both Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom separately, believing they were two individuals, to be able to pick up on any similarities or patterns. She could've noticed any number of things down to his looks to his vocabulary. To anyone else it would've been inconsequential information, but to her it was droplets of water dripping into a bucket.
It, of course, didn't hurt that she was among the only people on earth to know about the existence of human-ghost hybrids. That surely helped jumpstart the conclusion.
"Phantom was in the middle of everything with Danielle and Vlad, it wasn't a huge leap to think he was a human too. After that it was all easy. But by then I had already decided he wasn't my enemy anyway, and once I realized who he was I… I figured it would be easier for both of us to just keep it to myself." Valerie admitted.
Everyone let her statement hang in the air for a moment. It wasn't long, just long enough to appreciate the gravity of her situation.
"He never blamed you, you know." Jazz said from the driver's seat. She had been silent the whole drive so far, focusing on driving and letting the others hash out stories on their own. "Even when he was afraid of you, and afraid to tell you, he understood why you were doing it. Respected it, a lot more than anyone else would've."
"What do you mean 'when' he was afraid of me?" Valerie asked.
"Ever since that incident, the one with Danielle. I think he knew something changed about you. He said he wasn't afraid of what you would do if you knew anymore. He was always afraid of hurting you by keeping his secret from you, and he was afraid of how you'd react to it. Maybe you'd think he was a liar, or a monster or whatever. But after you helped rescue Danielle, I think he knew that deep down, you'd both always be on the same side." Jazz replied, and gave what she hoped was a small reassuring smile over her shoulder at Valerie.
Valerie met Jazz's smile with one of her own as she tried not to break down further.
Which was a good thing, because Star was sure she was doing enough of that for everyone.
Notes:
*Slaps roof of fic* This bad boy can fit so much angst, and it gets great mileage too!
Welcome back, folks! I've decided this is the penultimate chapter after all! You can still squeeze me for one more! I thought about making this one longer or doing this one in a few different ways, but I reeeeally wanted more time for Valerie. So congrats, ya got me for another one.
Sorry for the delay! I went from being unemployed to overemployed! I have a job now, but not the one I mentioned I had a promising interview for. Instead I have settled for a customer service position at a faceless, soulless chain convenience store that doesn't pay me enough but has benefits. And I work some mornings at a local bookstore for the summer season, that pays even less but it's more of a "casual" arrangement if you catch my drift.
All that to say, I've been very busy and tired working long hours trying to dig myself out of the sinkhole of bills unemployment leaves you with lol. I'm starting to find my footing again with a schedule, though, and I have so dearly missed writing. I hope you won't have to wait long for the conclusion! With any luck, it'll be another long one and you won't have to wait two months!
Thanks so much for everyone's patience and love for this story!
Chapter 15: Safe
Notes:
I don't own Danny Phantom, but man I wish I did.
Read on, readers!
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Behind Blue Eyes
Safe
By the time they arrived, Danielle was no longer floating in water. Instead, she sat comfortably in a standard recovery room and was visibly pleased and relieved when they came in.
The group hug was immediate and inevitable, and it left Star and Valerie standing there a bit awkwardly even if they were happy to see the sight. At least now she wasn't completely alone on the outside, Star thought.
Although when Danielle was released from the others and floated over to Valerie, she suddenly wasn't so sure about that anymore when watching the ease at which the two talked. To her credit, Danielle glanced at her and took her presence in stride. She simple waved and looked at Jazz.
"Is she new? What's her deal?" Danielle asked Jazz. Though she was either overcome with embarrassment at asking Jazz in front of her, or she decided she would rather hear the answer from Star, as she quickly turned to face her again and asked, "Are you new? How long? Are you a ghost, or just a girl?"
"Yes, a few weeks, just a girl." Star answered in a succinct way, the same way she had seen Danny, Sam and Tucker do before. "My name is Star."
Danielle's smile reached her eyes as she floated up to Star excitedly.
"No way! Stars are the coolest! I love space and the stars! I get that from Danny, we think." Danielle said.
Immediately her mood shifted, and she looked at Jazz.
"How is he? Frostbite wouldn't let me stay in there with him after I woke up. He said I needed to wait in here for you." She said.
"And he was right; you don't need to be pacing the floor in there waiting for him to wake up any more than we do." Sam answered the back half for Jazz.
"He'll be okay, Elle. Frostbite said so. He just needs a lot of rest. Apparently he and Vlad might've gotten the worst of it there." Jazz said.
"Which is saying something, because some of the ghosts we've been seeing still look pretty bad, and that's not even counting you and Val." Tucker added.
They had been playing clean-up ever since that night. Ghosts were scattered throughout the city in all kinds of states ranging from 'too weak to move' to 'strong enough to say "Boo!"' and it had been the talk of the town as to what could've happened. It was just the incident needed to draw attention to the fact that Phantom hadn't been seen in over a week now, leaving many to speculate on his location and involvement.
Of course, most people were just generally under the assumption that Phantom hadn't been seen because there were no ghosts to fight. It was rare to see Phantom at all when he wasn't going to, in, or coming from, a battle of some kind. He wasn't some vigilante stopping crime, or a superhero who patrolled. When ghosts appeared to cause havoc, he somehow always knew and then he would show up and fight them off.
It was a routine everyone knew, and nobody thought twice about.
The appearance of so many ghosts without an appearance from Phantom was unprecedented thus far.
Instead of Phantom cleaning up the mess, Sam and Tucker under the guise of night rode around on scooters and packed as much ghosts into a Fenton Thermos as they could. Some nights Jazz would drive them, and some nights Star would join them. But it was a lot of work for them, and it took practically the entire week to see much change.
Star didn't quite like the feeling of responsibility she had to help with ghost clean-up. Not because she didn't want to help; but because it felt like a near-crushing weight on her shoulders. She found herself once again asking how Danny, Tucker and Sam had managed to live like this for so long if this was even close to how they felt. Though she knew they all had that feeling way worse than she did, especially Danny.
According to Tucker, most of the ghosts hadn't been near as poisoned as the halfas, so despite the excruciating pain they must've been in, getting back into the Ghost Zone would be enough to sufficiently expel and replace their Ectoplasm until the blood blossom poisoning was gone.
The risk of blood blossom poisoning carried much more weight on Earth than in the Ghost Zone because there was not enough naturally occurring Ectoplasm in the air for a ghost to draw power from. That was why they almost all had to eventually return to the Ghost Zone and there was another point of contrast to halfas, who could replenish their energy with food and sleep on their human side and draw from that energy to create Ectoplasm to power their ghost side.
She had absorbed a lot of information in her brief time in the Ghost Zone and talking with Frostbite. It was almost as much as she had absorbed the rest of the past few days just from talking with Sam, Tucker and Jazz.
Star almost didn't want to know how much more she had to go on to learn.
After visiting Danielle, things started getting back to what she figured would be close to her new normal.
Over the next week and a half, Sam and Tucker visited the Far Frozen every day now that Danielle was awake. It was a good excuse to check up on Danny regularly, and it made them feel better. Seeing Danielle gave them hope Danny would come out of it soon too.
Every few days Star would go herself. Often enough to interact and begin to really know Danielle. Not often enough to draw the attention of her family, wondering what she was doing away from home for such long hours so frequently. A trip to the Far Frozen after school typically lasted until 10 or 11pm, just in time for her curfew on school nights.
Jazz only returned a few times. She didn't want to keep disappearing and end up drawing attention to both her and Danny being missing a lot lately, so she kept her visits to days she knew her parents would be completely out of town.
Valerie hadn't been back at all, despite her wishes and best efforts. Damon was worried about her now more than ever and scarcely let her have enough time to vanish into the Ghost Zone that frequently. She could've snuck around him, of course, but after what he had just gone through Valerie didn't want to worry him any further. So, she fought him less on those matters.
Not that she didn't fight him at all. She wouldn't be Valerie otherwise. Instead of fighting him on curfew and ghost hunting, she pushed to return to school. Damon was unable to talk her out of it and, given the goodwill she generated by following instructions on no ghost hunting, was allowed to return to school the following week.
It was after that that Star felt herself growing used to this sense of normalcy. Adding Valerie into the mix just felt… right, in a way. She could tell that Sam and Tucker felt similarly, noting the ease at which they opened up to her compared to Star in the weeks before. She supposed she should be surprised, or even insulted, but instead she related. Valerie made a great bridge for her, combining her two worlds together.
Maybe she served the same purpose to Sam and Tucker too, and even Danny.
The week went on, and the four of them formed a quartet.
They didn't share all the same classes, but neither did Danny, Tucker and Sam. It wasn't just standing next to each other now.
It was the waves in the hallways. Hanging out in the hallway by each other's lockers. Waiting for each other at the end of the school day. Eating lunch together (which quickly became Star's favorite part of the day). A few days they even arrived at school together, carpooling with Star.
It didn't take long for Casper High's rumor mill to start up again, wondering what had brought the four of them together. It had also begun asking the question Star had expected; where was Danny Fenton?
Sam and Tucker had fielded questions for a few days before the situation got dire, but they had to step it up knowing it would still be a while before Danny returned. Jazz had faked a doctor's note for strep throat, and it passed Lancer's inspection so the staff wouldn't expect him for at least two weeks. But that didn't stop the students from speculating, especially with his sudden disappearance and the presence of Star and now Valerie hanging out with his other friends.
Some said he ran away, swore they saw him getting on a bus out of town. Some thought he finally got suspended, or even expelled, for all his skips and tardiness. Some said that Tucker and Sam had killed him to finally climb the ranks of popularity and gain new friends. The stories teenagers made up were laughable. Star had known that for years now after being Paulina's eyes and ears.
Nobody had the courage to ask Sam or Tucker directly and put an end to the rumor mill. But they would only grow more outlandish the longer Danny was gone, and they couldn't lie to the school or Danny's parents forever. Star was still astonished they were getting away with minimal interference from them. It was a testament to both the group's preparedness and the Fenton's level of gullibility, if not complete blindness.
By the end of Valerie's first week back they found their rhythm as friends.
It wasn't long after Valerie's return to school that Frostbite notified them of another change. Vlad had woken up and, despite being severely weakened, had refused further treatment and left the Far Frozen.
That set everyone on edge and left then unsure what his next move would be. Even Star was filled with a sense of dread despite hardly knowing the mayor as well as her friends did. Valerie was concerned for Danielle as well, having seen Vlad go after her before, but Jazz assured her Danielle would be safe within the care of Frostbite.
Nobody bothered to reach out or check on him after that. Clearly he wanted no further help with his situation. Jazz was sure that if he wanted something or had something to say he would come to them on his own anyway, and Star wholeheartedly believed her.
Valerie seemed to walk a little stiffer the next few days, with just a bit more tension in her shoulders than usual. If Sam or Tucker noticed, and she was sure they did, they didn't mention it. So, neither did she.
Valerie had been missing for three days, rescued, was out of school for six and back in school for eight days.
Danielle was rescued and unconscious for six days and spent nine recovering in the Far Frozen. She had decided to leave, as she was going stir crazy there with nothing to do for such long periods of time, but made Frostbite and Tucker promise to call when Danny woke up.
Vlad Masters was rescued and unconscious for twelve days. He spent zero time recovering in the Far Frozen and had not been seen in public in three weeks.
Danny Fenton was missing for five days, found and rescued, and remained unconscious for twenty days before showing the first signs of waking up.
Frostbite alerted them straight away, and immediately they all dropped what they were doing even though it was 11:30am on a school day to rush back down to the Far Frozen.
Star and Tucker ditched gym class without a second thought and met Sam by the door, who had just run out of science. Valerie was just moments behind, having left Lancer's room in the middle of a test. As they exited the doors, they were faced with the option of running as hard as they could to FentonWork's, as Star hadn't driven them to school today, taking the nearest bus, or calling Jazz.
Luckily, a fourth option presented itself as Jazz pulled up directly in front of Casper High with the loudest tire squeak they had ever heard. They all ran up so fast Jazz barely had time to unlock the doors before they piled in and Jazz took off again, going from zero to eighty in seconds.
"Dad's genes do come in handy sometimes." Was the only thing said the whole ride home, as it was over in two minutes and the group poured down into the Fenton's basement and took the Specter Speeder back to the Far Frozen for the umpteenth time.
They were escorted to the lab right away as always by Tundra, one of Frostbite's elite guards.
Once inside, they saw three empty stasis tubes and Frostbite, grinning ear to ear with a wolfish smile.
"Where's-," Sam started to ask, only to be interrupted.
"Wow, are there more of you guys than when I left?" His voice was low, but unmistakable.
Just a ways to Frostbite's left, Danny emerged from a doorway in jeans and a plain white, un-stylized t-shirt.
Sam reached him first, Jazz second and Tucker third while Star and Valerie both stayed put for now. They watched how all four of them melted into the group hug, relishing being united again. It was a heartwarming sight to see.
"How do you feel? Aches? Pains? How's your throat?" Jazz jumped straight into parental mode as the hug ended, and Danny gave a soft smile.
"Sore, everywhere. But that's a huge step up from how I felt before." Danny replied.
"How are you up so quick? It took Vlad and Danielle way longer." Sam asked, glancing between Danny and Frostbite.
"I had a little extra help." He said cryptically, just as Danielle popped into view.
It was abrupt enough that everyone in the room jumped, except for Danny and Frostbite, who were aware of her presence already.
"Lady Danielle had an excellent idea to jumpstart the Great One's healing process. We used her Ectoplasm to power his core and recovery, as they have the same Ectoplasmic signature." Frostbite revealed. "I hadn't considered it at the time due to how weak she was after awakening, but after spending so much time in the Ghost Zone I believed her more than strong enough."
"And you weren't worried about… you know… destabilizing?" Valerie asked curiously.
"We pretty much fixed that problem. The Ecto-dejecto was a great temporary solution and gave us time to check with Frostbite about a long-term one. After getting her looked at, we figured out the problem was her unstable core. So, we transplanted some of my core onto hers." Danny replied. He paused.
"Hey Val, hey Star." He said, greeting them for the first time.
Valerie took that as her final straw and ran to hug Danny herself, which he eagerly returned.
The way they held each other was different than the way Danny and the others did. Theirs was more… desperate, clingier. As if they were afraid to let go, or as if they were proving to each other they were still there, still alive. Possibly some sort of survivors' trauma bond, Jazz would say.
Star would say it was just their personalities and complicated relationship on full display.
"Me too, me too!" Danielle said eagerly and dropped down to weasel her way between Danny and Valerie, who let it happen.
Before long, the others had piled back in, and Star watched from feet away at the heartwarming sight. But, before her heart could even pang with loneliness or jealousy, they all turned to her and opened a spot that she graciously took. Somehow, she was in close enough to have her arms around both Danny and Valerie, while Sam's arm pulled her from behind.
She knew she needed to talk to Danny still. She had so many questions, and she was sure he did too about what her and Valerie were doing here. And for the others about what had happened while he was gone. And Sam, Tucker and Jazz definitely still had questions and concerns about him too that they were not going to just let go.
But for now, they each just took pleasure in the fact that they were together, and safe.
Unlike Valerie, Danny returned home and to school with no great fanfare.
He made sure to show his face to his parents as he and Jazz descended the stairs one morning, saying that Jazz would be giving him a ride to school. They barely thought twice, even though it was the first time in a month they were in the same room as their son.
At school it was like he never left, with teachers simply collecting his due assignments and hoping he was feeling better. Luckily for him, she, Sam, Tucker and Jazz had all had plenty of time to do all the assignments to maintain the cover story.
Now that Danny was back, there was a part of Star that began overthinking whether she belonged in the friend group or not. She was still an outsider after all, and they had all gone through so much together. Even Valerie seemed like a much more natural addition than she did.
But even if she felt that way, they made it clear they did not. Sam chose to be her lab partner over Tucker. Tucker always included her and Valerie in any plans made. Danny walked with her to and from classes they didn't share. Valerie called her every night, and they had girl talk that didn't involve ghosts.
They all had lunch together, with no assigned seats or pairs. It was like a whole different world than lunch with the A-List, only being able to interact with certain people due to the hierarchy structured by Paulina. She had somehow thought that Danny being back would change the dynamic, bringing it closer to something more structured and familiar to everyone. Instead, he fit into the dynamic seamlessly, as if he had been there the whole time.
In a way, Star supposed he was. He was at the center of it all. The whole incident, their whole friendship. It circled around Danny.
Star remembered the day after he returned home, and she made it a point to speak to him as quickly as possible alone. She feared his reaction about her knowing about joining the group while he was gone. It was silly to think, and it was silly to even say out loud as she had already heard from Sam and Tucker that befriending her was explicitly something Danny would've wanted them to do in his absence.
But still, she felt she owed him a face to face about it.
"I knew you were getting too close to figuring it out. That's why I wasn't surprised to see you that day, in the cemetery." Danny said. "Thanks for not telling Paulina and Dash. Or, well, anybody really."
"You remember that day?" Star replied, surprised.
"I remember most of it. I only started to really lose it after you guys found us. I figured it was okay to let go a little with backup there." Danny said playfully. "Seriously, thanks. For everything. I know you stuck with Sam and Tuck too, I'm sure they needed someone to help keep them occupied."
"I should be the one thanking you! For everything you do, everything you've done. You've saved my life, all our lives, every day." Star squeaked back. "And all I or anyone else ever did was ignore you, or worse."
"I know, but I learned a long time ago that I don't want to be famous for being a superhero. I don't want people to treat me nice because I save the town, I want people to treat me nice because I'm a person." Danny shrugged. "Dash would think twice about hitting me because he wouldn't want to pummel his hero, but he wouldn't think twice about pummeling the next nerd in the lineup. That's not exactly my brand of character growth."
Star was quiet for a beat, unsure if he was saying he felt she hadn't grown. And really, could she blame him? Had she really grown? Most of her second thoughts had only come about after connecting the dots. Sure, she had already been slowly losing her infatuation with Paulina and the A-List, but she hadn't thought about doing much about it before then. She hadn't thought much about anyone else until then.
"You're not who I'm talking about, Star." Danny read the look on her face and put a hand on her shoulder. "All you decided to start doing was acting on your own thoughts instead of Paulina's. We can all be a little shallow and vain, and we're all allowed to make mistakes. It's what you take away from them that makes you learn or not. And I think you've taken away a lot lately." He smiled at her.
It was at that precise moment that Star felt herself start to fall for Danny Fenton. Not Danny Phantom, all handsome, heroic and brave. Danny Fenton, sweet and kind.
She had spent the better part of the month wondering what would happen once he finally re-entered her life, and what would happen if she got the chance to talk to him again. And before that, had spent days studying him in school and trying to piece together various pieces of Casper High lore about him.
But none of that could compare to the simple feeling of being alone in a room with Danny as he let some of his walls down enough for her to be able to feel like she could do the same. For the first time in a very, very long time she felt… safe.
She wouldn't act on her feelings. Not right away, at least. She wanted time to process them, make sure what she was feeling was genuine and for the right reasons. And to give Danny time as well, he had just undergone a trauma unlike one he ever had before that had led to quite a bit of change in his life.
Obviously there was the addition of herself and Valerie to Team Phantom, but there were others.
Danielle began sticking closer, visiting more frequently.
Ghost activity was at an all-time low, for reasons largely unknown to the public.
The nearest known Guys in White outpost had been abandoned; they had probably retreated to lick their wounds and gather new funding.
Vlad had been re-elected as Mayor and approached Jazz about a desk roll inside City Hall.
The whole mess even started to make him think about telling his parents, though he said he wasn't sure if he was ready for that yet. Valerie suggested they practice on her dad, and maybe then he would let her help him hunt ghosts again. It was a possibility they would spend weeks considering.
In the meanwhile, Star was content with how they ended up.
A genius girl, hiding behind her image as a know-it-all and overprotective big sister to support her heroic little brother.
A ghost hunter, hiding behind a mask of vengeance to help someone who had been on her side all along.
A geek, hiding behind his screens to track, trace, update, log and file all pieces of information they came across to help keep his friend safe.
A goth, hiding behind a veil of indifference to ward off any attention her friends might incur to keep them under the radar.
A girl, hiding behind a fake version of herself no longer and doing what she could to make it up to the ones who had been saving her all these years.
And a ghost, hiding behind a pair of baby blue eyes.
Notes:
Aaand there we have it folks! The end of an era.
Sorry it took so long to complete, I quite literally lost the plot with this one. This chapter should feel a bit more like an epilogue than a chapter, as I wanted to slowly hint at the direction of things while leaving most of it open. The only reason I didn't end it at the last chapter was because it was getting a bit long and I wanted to give a bit more direction to it.
Adulting sucks, as when your unemployed you spend too much time stressing over finding a job to write. But then when you have a job, you have no free time to write either. Alas, the story must go on.
I think I wrote three separate versions of this ending out before deciding this is the one that worked best. It might seem a little loose still, and unsatisfying for the plot of the GIW or missing ghosts, but this is NOT a DP episode. It's from Star's POV, and I think that without the story going on for another few chapters or using several more longer time jumps that this was the more fitting way to wrap up this story.
I am working on a number of other projects projects currently, both in and out of the Danny Phantom fandom. If you guys like Pokemon fics check out my other works, such as "With Courage I Will Face", a Pokemon anime retelling. Otherwise, stay tuned for whatever comes out first, if I'm lucky maybe I'll get the courage to start uploading my version/continuation of a story I adopted! Hint, it is a DP crossover fic!
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