Chapter 4

Danny has been finding himself in front of a mirror a lot recently. For good reason, he might add. First it was a different appearance, the whole ghost form thing. Then it was the scars lining his entire back, top to bottom. Who could forget that? Now it was this. How do you hide fangs?

Danny pulls his mouth open wide by the sides, taking glances at his new pair of chompers. His previous canines were still in his backpack, and these new ones made him look like a damn vampire. Both the top and bottom canines had been pushed out to be replaced by these monstrous beauties.

As if his upcoming social life wasn't going to be hard enough, he somehow had to also keep people from seeing these new one-inch long fangs. 'What kind of bullshit is this?'

Was this someone's idea of a joke? To just tack on to the ever growing list of things he had to hide from people?

Danny traced his tongue over the new teeth, flinching it away when he accidentally drew blood from his own tongue. They were apparently ridiculously sharp as well.

Danny closed his mouth and sat down on the edge of the bathtub. He rested his elbows on his knees and sunk his face into his hands. "What the hell am I supposed to do…?"

Everything else so far, he could hide. This? Every time he opened his mouth to talk or eat he'd be exposing himself. He couldn't just suddenly become a mute. He had friends and family that would notice it the second he opened his mouth. Maybe, just maybe, he could get away with keeping his mouth as close to closed as he could get. How long would that last though? Maybe a day, two at most. He still had to eat, and there was no way was he going to skip out on meals. He would never get through the week, especially with his nosy sister. She would pry his mouth open the second she thought something was up. 'Am I hiding a cavity? Nope, just my new vampire teeth, don't mind it Jazz.'

Speaking of his sister, boy oh boy is she angry. Getting back three hours late all but secured that lecture. It was a miracle he could even hide his new teeth. He made up an excuse, obviously, saying that he left his phone in the library bathroom and had to run back to get it. She bought it, thankfully, but he still had to suffer through the lecture.

It was a good thing he brought an extra pair of clothes when he went out to practice. His favorite white and red shirt? Trashed and burned. It was caked in blood, ectoplasm, and had electro-plasmic burns all throughout the damn thing. There were large burn holes on his back and side where the electricity was being grounded.

His pants and shoes fared a bit better. Since he wasn't standing his shoes were spared, and his pants, while crispy on a few parts were fine, mostly. He was still going to throw them out. He would've flown back if he could but he couldn't change back again, and these pain attacks are getting very old very fast. If he has one of these in public he's screwed.

Danny was looking on the bright side though. If the pain does eventually stop, then the powers are worth it. Oh-so worth it. There was a certain feeling to flying, a truly euphoric feeling. One most people might never get to experience in the most literal definition. Freedom. This was America, the home of the free and the brave, but can those people fly? No? Well he can, and Danny was downright positive that this was what true freedom was. No machines helping him, he wasn't jumping out of planes and free falling, and he most definitely wasn't being shot out of a cannon. He was flying, just himself, and nothing else.

These fangs were kind of throwing his mood right now though. Danny gets back up and moves to the mirror again. He bares his teeth, doing different facial expressions. He opens his mouth and simulates as if he was eating a sandwich. 'Yeah, that's noticeable.' If he opens his mouth, even just a little, these pearly piercers are in full view. Danny sighs through his nose, "Can't they just go away?"

Danny pushes one of the teeth up with two fingers, careful not to prick himself, and to his surprise he feels something in his face muscles. He lets go and tries for another tooth, same feeling. Going to the bottom two he can feel something under his skin, by his chin. Suddenly there's hope, 'Maybe these things retract?' He pushed back against the teeth again, trying to get a feel of the muscles. Not too bad, almost like there's pressure being put on the areas.

Although it takes a solid hour, eventually they do retract enough to look normal. Danny's mood brightens immediately and he sighs in relief. It's uncomfortable, but that's not the worst he's experienced so far, and who knows? Maybe Danny will get used to it, 'Like muscle memory.' It's not like it remotely compares to the last couple days, maybe that says something about his pain tolerance?

"Oh man, what about trips to the dentist?" May as well add that onto the growing list. There's also no more blood work, hospital visits are out, and how much ghost hunting equipment is in this house alone? Thinking about it realistically, he was kind of screwed if he wasn't careful about this.

The stray thought that maybe his parents could fix this flies through his head, but he dismisses it immediately. He can't give up flying, no way, not after actually doing it. He can do so much now, there's no way he can throw this new part of his life away so quick. Now that he's gotten a taste of it, he wants these powers.

Danny checks the time, eight in the morning. He definitely didn't want a repeat of last night, so it was probably better to cut back on the time for training. Maybe five hours instead of eight.

That's for later though. Now? Now he's got an hour before Jazz finishes breakfast and a Kill/Death ratio to bring up in Doomed. He's almost beat Tuckers.

Being able to go invisible and fly at the same time makes the art of stealth so damn easy. Danny is currently hovering over the Amity Park Mall, peering down through the glass ceiling. Danny's eyes are practically radiating anger, wisps of ectoplasm steaming off his eye. His face wore a scowl, quickly turning into a snarl. His fangs on full view and baring right down at his 'best friends'.

They lied. They weren't on vacation or out of town. They aren't with their families in another state or country. They're right here, in the mall. Out in public of all damn places, like he wouldn't find out? Well, probably not since he never went out without his friends, but that's beside the point. Danny's eyes narrow; they know that too.

What Danny sees is his best friends, Sam and Tucker, out on what looks like a double date. They're at one of the cafes in the mall, a short walk away from the food court. He feels childish, getting angry over this, but they lied to him dammit! He feels betrayed, did they have to lie? Why? It's not like he has a plethora of friends to go around, Sam and Tucker are quite literally his only friends. 'Wow, that's sad.'

Tucker's date looks like a library wallflower. A braided brunette with large glasses, wearing a long dark blue knee length skirt. She seemed to be enjoying herself, she was laughing at what Danny assumes is another one of his corny jokes. Surprisingly he could hear them, but just barely, only half words and run-ons. Danny couldn't help but admit that she's cute, she looks maybe a year older than Tucker, how did he get her to agree? Under normal circumstances he'd be ecstatic for his friend.

Danny almost had to laugh at what he saw was Sam's date. It was almost comical, really. He has white hair hair, pushed back into spikes and he kept pushing up his sunglasses, green eyes underneath. It was like looking at a non-glowing taller and lankier version of his ghost form. He wore all white and black too, his vest and pants being the only white on him, everything else a deep satin black.

Danny floated closer before landing on the glass. He went to press his ear up against the glass, before stopping and using his hand to wipe away the dust and grime. Satisfied, Danny resumes his spying.

Danny pulled back, cocking his head back in laughter. "Hahahahaha, he has a fake accent!" It sounded European, but he could hear some slips with the accent, 'Sounds kinda American!' how could anyone buy that? Danny stopped when he saw Sam's face. She was laughing, and looked like she's enjoying herself. She dressed up too, it wasn't a spur of the moment thing; this was planned. She has a black short skirt on and her black 'one size too small' shirt seemed to expose more of her midriff than normal. Her dark purple jacket matches so well with her amethyst eyes.

Suddenly, he's not so angry anymore. It just kind of hurt. All of it, really. First dying, then having afterlife attacks that cause excruciating pain and property damage. Now his two best friends were out having a great time, but not only did they not tell him, they lied to him. Now his crush was out on a date and she obviously wanted to dress for success. Tucker was even more confusing, as Sam was normally very personal and private, Tucker always told him everything and he, in return did as well. Danny almost never lied to Tucker.

Danny's hand clenched, cracking the glass. He hated this. Danny spots another familiar group of people, ones that he tends to avoid at all costs, lounging around by the food court. He stood up and looked away before an idea rears its way into his mind. He returns his gaze to the two groups while narrowing his eyes. "OK, let's see how committed they are to this lie."

Danny phases down through the roof while invisible, something he couldn't do normally if he was trying to do it on purpose. Ghosts are literally, according to his parents, emotions implanted into ectoplasmic energy formed into consciousness. They are energy with feelings. An imprint of what a person once was, based off of what they were feeling at death. Danny's current moment of emotional duress is subconsciously aiding in his control over his powers.

He quickly finds a bathroom by one of the video games stores that him and Tucker frequent, and transforms back into his human half. The action and process of what just happened startle Danny as realization hits him, he's never had that much control before. It's swept away soon after. He has a plan to pull off.

Danny quickly makes his way into the store, 'Park Playcade and finds something to buy. The store was a mixture of retro arcade and a modern game store, making it a popular place for anyone who plays games. He's wanted a new controller and headset for a while now anyway, may as well get it now.

After his quick purchase Danny sets off toward the food court, he has to grab the A-listers attention. They never pass up an opportunity to harass him, and with Dash there it was almost guaranteed that he would mess with Danny. The cafe isn't far, maybe fifty or sixty feet. If he walks fast enough he can get by it before Dash catches up.

Danny pauses before looking around, hoping to find his escape method. It doesn't take long to find it, an old mall security guard. He looks like he's maybe in his fifties, and if memory serves he's helped Danny and Tucker before with Dash and his cronies. What was his name again? Mr. Daytle? Danny smiles and waves at the man to get his attention, Mr. Daytle follows suit. Danny discreetly points to the A-listers and the older guard gaze shifts to them. He looks back and gives Danny a smug smile and a thumbs up. He points to himself, then to Danny and then to his back. 'I've got your back.'

Too easy.

So, the plan begins. Danny puts his headphones in and walks by the food court, in clear view of Dash, toward the cafe. As if reading from a script, Dash sees Danny, nudges his friends and points his head in his direction. Mr. Daytle notices too and keeps his attention on Dash and Danny, but he makes no move of getting up yet. Good.

As Danny gets closer to the cafe he takes his phone out and looks behind him. Dash is en-route with his goons. He acts startled and pulls his hood up. His friends have noticed by now and Danny sees them hiding behind their respective dates. Danny's eye twitches, 'Really? Hiding from me?'

He keeps walking, going past the cafe and acting like he didn't even notice them. When he gets about twenty feet past the cafe, Dash finally catches up, Mr. Daytle lagging a fair distance behind them.

"Hey Fenturd!" Danny flinches and turns around; Sam and Tucker readjust their hiding spots, Danny can't see their faces but he knows they're watching. "What do you want Dash? It's summer break, can't you take a break on the bullying too?" Danny is immensely pleased with his acting.

Dash doesn't drop it and he snarls his lip, "What was that? I didn't ask for backtalk!" He picks Danny up by the collar. He can see the security guard picking up his pace, good. Danny goes for one last push.

Danny waves his hands at the surrounding pedestrians. "What are you gonna do Dash? Hit me in public in front of all these people?" Danny smirks at Dash and he has to strain his new face muscles so his fangs don't grace his face.

The reaction is immediate. His eyes go wide and a vein goes up his neck, all the way up to his temple. Kwan tries to stop him, obviously aware of the implications that could happen, but it's too late. Dash is already mid swing to his gut.

Before his fist connects, Danny uses his new dentitions to shred his both sides of his cheek on the inside of his mouth. By the time Danny's doubled over from the punch, his bag hits the floor, he has a satisfying amount pooled in his mouth and he sprays it all over Dash's new shoes, price tag still on. 'Dumbass'. Right on que, the security guard rushes in and apprehends his assailant.

Mr. Daytle is horrified and outraged."What do you think you're doing?!" He takes Dash by the back of his collar and twists his arm behind his back. "Holy shit Fenton." Kwan steps back, startled by what just happened. Paulina and Star back away as well, wide eyed and faces mimicking a mix of disgust and surprise.

"Son, are you OK?" Mr. Daytle gently asks him while still holding dash in a back arm lock. Danny nods, and Dash is taken aback in panic. "Fuck, Fenton, I- I didn't mean to-" Danny cuts him off, spitting more blood onto the ground and glaring at the larger jock, "Save it Dash," Danny chokes out, already regretting his decision to chew on his cheeks. It takes everything in his power to stop his pointy cuspids from showing. Danny purses his lips to squash his inner cheeks back into place, gritting his teeth before reaching down to grab his bag. Maybe he overdid it, he didn't really have to chomp on both of his cheeks.

While he's bent over Danny peers through his fallen hair, eyeing his friends. Both pairs of dates have wide eyes, and Sam and Tucker looked horrified. 'What's that look for? Come help me if you mean it.' He stares for only a second, but it's long enough to see them stay. They aren't going to help.

The hit didn't even hurt that much, nothing compared to the last few days, nothing to this. To dying. Danny has to act the part though, so with shaky movements he straightens his back and wipes the blood from his mouth. It smears on his cheek, and he notices another security guard that was nearby run up. He's a young blond, maybe in his mid-twenties, but he's built large enough to hold the younger quarterback in the same hold.

Danny glares at them for a few more seconds before he notices a security camera, turning his head, he notices another one behind him further away on the underside of a walkway. 'Icing on the cake.' Danny feels a hand touch his shoulder in a gentle grip, he looks up to see Mr. Daytle, "Let's get you to our office. We're gonna have to do an incident report." Danny nods, but points to the cameras. "I want the tapes. As evidence, if he denies it." Mr. Daytle raises an eyebrow, but nods. Dash and his friends are already being carted away, Danny follows suit with the older mall cop.

Danny briefly looks down at the blood, and a small sigh escaped his lips. Good, there wasn't any ectoplasm in it. Danny's eyes widen, "Um, my uh- my parents are out of town for the week and my sister is the only one home." Danny pauses to clear his throat, noting that his cheeks didn't seem to hurt that much anymore. Danny continues, "I'd appreciate it if you don't call my home. She's kinda fussy and naggy, if she finds out I spewed blood I wouldn't be allowed to leave the house all summer."

Mr. Daytle looks at Danny for a moment. It's long enough for Danny to think he's going to refuse. He sighs before dragging a hand down his face and rubbing his eyes. "Sure thing kid." He gives Danny a cocky smile, "You sure do ask a lot of favors."

Danny looks down and blushes, he rubs the back of his neck with a small sheepish grin, "Sorry about that, sir." Mr. Daytle laughs and waves his hand, "Don't worry about it. I told you two that I'd help you guys if they messed with you again." As they're walking into the office Danny nods, "Thanks." he whispers his gratitude. Danny was starting to feel kind of bad for manipulating the situation like that, but he was happy to get Dash in trouble.

But his friends didn't get up to help him and that hurts. Danny winced when he gently rubbed his jaw; his cheeks hurt too.

Hopefully blasting and destroying the forest landscape isn't going to be a regular thing. The second Danny left the mall he went to find an alley. It didn't take long, but he kept going to get a little further away from the mall, just in case they followed him. They hadn't. Danny had never flew so fast before, and he was grateful for it. It calmed him down and let him forget about his friends. To focus himself.

He had blew blood all over the bully, and they definitely saw it, and they definitely did nothing. Thinking back, he definitely overdid it, but maybe this would get the A-Listers off his back for a while.

Two birds, one stone. He got confirmation they were avoiding him, and he egged Dash into assaulting him in public; even getting video evidence of both. He had tantamount, bonafide, on the flash drive proof. Video evidence brought to him by his new favorite mall security guard. He could call them both on it, and he most definitely would.

The sound of a large pine tree falling over brings Danny back to the present. Danny looked down at his right hand, Ectoplasmic energy rippled across his fingers, all five ectoplasmic digits in the shape of a claw. He had sliced through several trees, the fallen trunks littering the area. One of the large boulders had been sliced through with a ecto-ray. Danny shifted his sight to a smoldering tree, it's bark blasted around it. His sight focused down to his glowing gloved left hand. Green ectoplasm fueled electricity danced across his finger tips.

He clenched his hands, before his felt a familiar feeling of anger. "RRRAAAGH!" He whipped around, green electric fury rushed out of his fingers like a whip, smacking into a small pine tree. The bark peeled away in an explosive fashion, the inner core of the tree burning in a green glow. 'I feel like a sith lord.'

Danny sighed and flew back over to his stuff, even if he was angry and disappointed, he wasn't in such a blind fury that he would destroy his own stuff. He didn't want to make himself feel worse. He flipped open his backpack looking for his cell phone. His fingers brushed across the flash drive before he found his object of interest right next to it.

It wasn't really anywhere close to three, but he didn't really have it in him at the moment. He would finish the notes when he got home. He also spent a solid hour constantly using his powers, and he was surprised he could keep it up. Danny let the cloak go, turning back to regular Danny Fenton. He would have to name his other half soon.

Danny walked through the carnage, backpack in tow. It was the same area from yesterday, it was deep enough in the woods that no one would find it for miles. If it looked like a battle took place yesterday, then today it was a war. A plethora of trees lay scattered around, and some are stabbed into large boulders and rock outcroppings. He had used and abused his powers on the poor trees, and he did feel bad about it, really, but he can't say he wasn't impressed with himself at the moment.

Danny treads along a broken path, splintered and shattered wood lay around him, the remnants of his 'practice' while under the influence of anger. He didn't think he could get that angry. Jagged rocks litter with the wood, and the scent of burning trees and ozone enter his nose. Danny smiles, not pleased at what he had done, but pleased with what he could do.

After an hour Danny soon gets bored of walking and transforms, pleased that he actually could after the mess he made.

The homecoming flight made for a better mood, and when he reached home without incident he fell down onto his bed. It would be better to sleep on this.

As Sam lays on her bed, she can't help but be beside herself with guilt, her and Tucker both. She couldn't believe that Danny was hurt so bad he spat out blood, and she didn't do a damn thing to help him. She was so afraid of what he would say. Is there something wrong with him? The only damn thing they could hear was Dash's annoying shouting.

Danny would be furious if he found out they lied to him. He would be justified too. They didn't want him to feel left out, but looking back it seems like such a stupid reason. They should have just told him the truth. It's not exactly a lie that they're going away with their families, but both of their date of departures were tomorrow.

She had met Gregor at the Amity Park Mall in the occult shop a week ago, they hit it off and he quickly asked her out. She was flattered, and they're so alike, both goth, both ultra-recyclo-vegetarian, and he had such a charming accent. They held many of the same interests. She was nervous and asked Tucker to go on a double date with her. Apparently Tucker met his respective date at a computer store downtown, though she didn't know the exact details. They didn't want him to feel left out, but looking back it seems like such a stupid reason.

Sam groaned and as she rolled onto her side, her date went down the drain fast too after that. Gregor wanted to continue the date, but she wasn't feeling it anymore. Her best friend, hurt right in front of her, and she didn't do a damn thing. When they wouldn't agree, his accent broke when Tucker annoyed him too much. He was faking it the whole time, everything, all their similar interests, being a goth, vegetarian, all of it. Gregor wasn't even his real name, it was Elliot. He was just some spoiled little rich asshole from Michigan visiting family.

Tuckers date seemed to end well, so at least there's that.

How could they have not helped though? They just watched, like it wasn't their problem. Like a bystander. It sickened her. The whole point of her lying was gone too, now if he found out, all it would amount to is a damaged friendship for nothing. She rolled back onto her back and took the pillow from under her head, and placed it over head instead.

Danny's so loyal, open, and kind. He also has a temper, and the last time they lied to him it blew up big time when he found out. She doesn't know how, but he always catches them when they lie. He always finds out. He's so much smarter than he gives himself credit for.

She feels like a fool, and while she didn't think it would end their friendship, it can definitely hurt it. All for nothing. Sam mumbles into the pillow, "Today fucking sucks."