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dp-pastandpresent · 5 years

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Past and Present: Chapter 15

Sam woke up in her bed, covered in sweat and unable to remember how she had gotten there.

As she rolled over, she slowly began to recall the conversation between her grandmother and Danny, followed by her visit to Tucker, and then the graveyard.

The graveyard!

Why hadn't she thought to search out Danny before? After all, she knew he was from Amity Park and had to have a plot there. But the more she thought about what she discovered, the more she wished it had all been a dream.

Before she could contemplate it more though, a soft knock came at her door.

"Sammy, it's getting late, and I know you've had a rough weekend, but you need to get up."

Grandma.

"Go away!" Sam growled, turning over to face the wall. The last person she really wanted to see right now was HER.

But Sarah Manson was not one to take no for an answer, and instead opened the door and came in anyway, parking her scooter next to Sam's bed.

"Sam… please… we need to…"

"Talk! I think I heard enough of that yesterday! I really just need to be alone." Sam growled at the wall, trying her hardest to avoid making any contact with her visitor.

"I don't think you even heard the whole story yesterday dear, and even if you did, that was fifty years ago…"

"Fifty years or five, it still matters." Sam pouted.

Sarah was quiet for a bit, contemplating her next move, but not willing to give up just yet.

Finally, "You're right, it does. But you have to admit, this situation isn't normal by any means. After all, when…" she stopped, not willing to say the next part, for she hadn't spoken those words in so long.

Sam noticed the pause and slowly glanced at her grandma, seeing her glasses start to fog up once again.

"…Danny died," she finally said, then added, "well, no one ever expected him to come back…"

She did have to give her grandma some credit – who would ever expect to see the ghost of their former boy friend return, let alone fifty years later?

But that didn't mean she was ok with the whole thing.

"Just go, please," Sam said quietly, still refusing to catch her Grandma's eye.

Knowing she had lost, Sarah slowly backed out of the room, but not without one final say.

"Just know dear, whatever happens, I'm here for you."

Danny had spent the night in the graveyard. He'd found himself feeling tired for the first time since his return and found himself leaning against his own headstone and letting his mind race.

Danny had been so sure last night that the 'D x S' had meant 'Danny and Sarah'; the scratches seemed old, and he knew Sam had not found his grave until now.

But the more he thought about it, the more he wished he hadn't seen it. Sure, she probably scratched it in the day of the funeral, when she was still in love. And sure, fifty years had passed and she had found a family; he had known that for a while now. However, he still couldn't shake the conversations they had had yesterday.

"I never forgot you Danny! Never."

'And she didn't. She knew me right away, standing in that room, white hair and all.'

White hair. Green eyes. Cold body. A ghost.

That's what he was: a ghost. And for the first time since his resurrection, it finally hit him that he wasn't truly living; he hadn't been for awhile.

'What am I even doing here? Trying to save people but making a bigger mess than when I started. My mission was done the second that portal opened; I should have just turned around and gone back.'

'If you were supposed to go back, Clockwork wouldn't have shared those memories with you. You wouldn't have an innate sense to save people. And you wouldn't have been able to remove that amulet.'

Remembering the amulet, he quickly pulled it out of his pocket , holding it up to his face for a closer look.

From afar, it was a typical round, gold charm. But upon closer inspection, Danny noticed some small writing inscribed along the border in a language he couldn't decipher. In the center was a circle, and to his surprise, an emblem that seemed oddly familiar. How so, he could not place, but he knew he had seen it somewhere.

As he held up, it began to glow a faint green. After a moment, Danny noticed this green glow was transferring to his body as well.

Freaking out, he dropped it to the ground. His glow returned to normal. Danny was unsure what to do about this, but knew there was more to this trinket than met the eye.

'Do I dare keep carrying this thing around? It could be dangerous...' he found himself thinking has he looked down at the necklace on the ground, which was no longer glowing.

He knew the one place it could be kept safe: The same place he had been leaving other things. But would she really want to see him, especially now?

'She might not want to see you, but you NEED to see her.'

He needed Sam, that he knew. Having spent the night in the graveyard, surrounded by his past, he knew that even more certainly now. Something was pulling at him, forcing him to want her, NEED her.

But did she want him? It was hard to tell.

The way she had acted when she discovered the truth made him believe that she didn't.

But the flowers before him said otherwise.

A double edged sword: that's what he was facing. And no amount of ecto-energy could dull the blade.

"Sam! I didn't expect to see you again so soon! I'm not sure if we have anything for you today."

Maddie stood at the doorway, looking down at her guest with a hesitant smile on her face.

"It's ok Mrs. Fen- Maddie! I just needed to get out of the house. Mind if I come in, even if I just sweep a bit?"

Sam had finally gotten out of bed, a mission in her sights: now that she knew the connection with Danny and the Fentons, she was even more enthusiastic about "interning" at the lab.

'Maybe I can catch a glimpse of that computer…' she thought as Maddie led her downstairs.

But if she was going to, it wasn't going to be now, for Jack was once again staring intently at the computer screen, a glazed over look upon his face.

"Jack! Jack!" Maddie had to call multiple times before her husband finally looked up to see his wife glaring at him.

"Oh, sorry Mads! I just was trying to figure something out…" he said, his eyes darting between his wife and the computer.

Maddie raised her eyebrows curiously.

"This morning, when I came down, the ecto sensors were going off. Apparently someone, erm, thing, was here last night. There's ecto-DNA all over my computer!"

"But that's impossible dear. We closed the portal before we went to the…" Maddie stopped, not wanting to let too much slip in front of their guest.

'Where?'

"I don't know Maddie, maybe we let one slip. Or maybe it was one of those local ghosts? I still can't identify the DNA sample – it keeps coming back positive for me, and you know I'm not a ghost!" Jack seemed annoyed, like he should have solved the problem by now.

'Local ghost, Jack's imprint… Danny! He must have come here last night…'

Sam's mind was again reeling with this information; she wanted so badly to get her hands on that computer.

Maddie and Jack were still so wrapped in their own conversations, they didn't even see Sam slip by and wander over to one of the tables, where a new gadget lay.

"Jack, you don't think it's...?" Maddie said in a hushed voice, trying to hide their conversation from their visitor.

"It could be! But I can't know for sure until I do more tests, and our equipment isn't up to speed yet."

The gadget Sam was looking at seemed to be a boomerang, but was made of metal and had glowing sensors on it.

'Well, they definitely didn't get this in Australia, that's for sure.'

As she picked it up, it began to glow, emitting a low "whirrrr" sound.

"Sam! What in the world?"

The Fenton's private conversation came to a halt as the couple turned to face the young girl.

But before anyone could do anything, the device began to beep, telling the group that it had discovered something.

"OF COURSE!" Jack got up quickly and ran over to Sam, grabbing the device. "The Boooo-Merang!"

"The what?" Sam asked, still trying to get the hang of all the ghost lingo.

"It's something Jack invented. It picks up ecto-signitures and tells you where the ghosts are. But it's never worked before," Maddie said, as if she was tired of her husband inventing new things that never worked.

"Because there's never been a ghost in the lab since I invented it! Until now!"

'Wait? So this device, this Booo-Merang, it can find ghosts? Find Danny?'

She wasn't sure she wanted to find him, let alone allow the Fentons to. But she hadn't seen him since she ran out and was starting to soften up to the idea of more answers.

"If a ghost really visited last night, this will find it! I'm sure of it!"

Before Sam could even attempt to stop him, Jack threw the device up the stairwell, and to everyone's surprise, its jets propelled it up the stairs and out of sight.

"Jack… now what?" Maddie asked, both amused and frustrated with her husband's antics.

"Well… actually, I'm not sure. I know it will find the ghost, but I don't actually think I programmed it to bring it back to us…" Jack's smile quickly faded.

"So, basically, you just threw it, hoping it'd find a ghost, and that ghost would just happily bring it back to us?"

"Well when you put it that way… I think I need fudge…"

Jack lowered his head and began up the stairs, his wife following as they again forgot that they had a visitor.

'Man, if those two had children, they'd be able to get away with murder …'

Not that Sam cared, for she finally had the lab to herself. And Jack had left his computer on, completely password free.

Taking one last glance around, she quickly hopped into the chair and clicked the screen to life.

Jack had left his "DNA Identifier" open, although there was no real data to display.

'If he really wants to identify ghosts, he's going to have to start getting more samples…'

She hit the tiny horizontal line at the top and found herself on the desktop, loaded with game icons and various folders.

'Doom. Portal XL. Diner Dash? Really Jack?'

Reality sunk in as she realized she had no idea what she was looking for, having been so excited to get the chance to poke around that she hadn't thought of what would happen when she finally could.

'Blueprints. Ghost files, family photos…'

Sam let out a yawn, already ready to give up her search.

'Wait…. Family photos! Duh!'

She smacked her head as she clicked on the icon, and a familiar set of eyes appeared.

Even in black and white, she knew them the second she saw them. Gorgeous eyes that were lit up with a smile on the boy's face as his black hair fell forward. He had his hand around a girl, a couple years older, who was also smiling.

'Danny and Jazz' the caption read.

'So that's his sister, she looks just like him, eyes and all.'

After gazing at this black and white eyes a bit longer, she finally hit the 'next' arrow, only to be bombarded with more photos of her ghostly crush in his youth. Her eyes began to tear up.

'Stop Sam. You knew he had a childhood. Family. Life. You're stronger than this; don't let it get to you.'

'But you're not strong: that night at the dance proved it. Dash was barely worth it and yet you still chose to take your life. Again and again you've thought about it, and again and again he's saved you...'

And he always would. As she peered at the photos, she began to remember all the things they had done together and the bond they had begun to form. No amount of memories or time gaps could change the fact that he had saved her in more ways than one.

'Danny. You've always been so strong. Even as memories came back and things got unearthed, you always kept that smile on your face. And what did I do? I ran. I didn't even give you a chance to explain.'

Sam was crying now as she stared at an old family photo of the Fentons: Danny and Jazz both under the age of ten holding their parents' hands at the park.

'Danny. I'm sorry…'

She hit the 'next' key, ready for whatever was to come. But not fully ready for what she saw.

There he was. Sitting in the sandbox, again at a young age. But he wasn't alone this time. No, he had a companion.

'Grandma.'

Danny found himself outside the local burger joint, a small rumble coming from his stomach. He had been feeling it all day, but couldn't quite place what it meant until he managed to find where his senses told him he needed to be.

'That's not right though. Ghosts don't get hungry. Ghosts don't crave hamburgers. Ghosts don't EAT!'

But his stomach insisted otherwise as the smell of grease wafted from a nearby vent.

"Hmmmm burgers…"

He couldn't take it anymore; he had to at least go inside and let his cravings have their feast.

'Might not be able to eat it, but doesn't mean you can't SMELL it!'

Turning invisible, Danny flew through the wall and into the restaurant, finding his senses completely engulfed with the smell of French fries and burgers.

'Man, what I wouldn't give for just a bite of one of those,' he thought as a waitress walked through him with a tray of food.

And he was about to grab one off a nearby tray when a sudden crash stopped him. Turning around, he saw that one of the store windows was completely shattered, and several people staring in awe.

'What the…?'

That was all he could think before feeling something hit in the head and falling to the ground.

#danny phantom #sam manson #dpau #danny phantom au #danny phantom fanficton #phanfiction #danny phantom fanfic

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