New Beginnings

Heartbeat

At some point during the night, Fire's human heart had stopped, her blood getting oxygen from the low flames flickering across her body. The steady rise and fall of her chest had also stopped, leaving only the pulsating beat of her core, but, like all ghost cores, it beat quietly so it wasn't easily heard.

The wolf girl shifted in her sleep when she felt a hand rest just below her breast, tail twitching a little. Then, that same hand started shaking her and she groaned, blinking her eyes open, "What? What time is-oof!" Danny landed right on top of her. On her other side, Phantom shifted, blinking sleepily and looking just as confused as she felt.

"Danny, what-?" She instinctively wrapped her arm around him, her other one still around Phantom, with a confused expression on her face, "What's with the sudden dog pile?"

"Your heart..." Danny mumbled through her fur. Phantom peaked over Fire's shoulder at him before giving her a questioning look.

The wolf girl blinked a few more times before it clicked, "Oh, did my heart stop?" Danny nodded silently, gripping her fur a little tighter.

"You still have a heart?" Phantom asked. "I know you have a core, but I didn't think..."

Danny whimpered, "No heartbeat means dead..." he whispered.

"Danny, I don't think it's a big deal, you know I don't have a heartbeat right?" Phantom paused, "Well, not in the sense that you're talking about."

Fire raised a brow, looking over at Phantom, "Yeah I still have a heart. I'm still technically half ghost."

Her attention turned back to Danny when he let out a shuttering sigh, "Hey, I'm still talking right? I can still move and," she restarted her heart, breathing slowly, "listen, my heart is still beating. I just don't need it as much in this form."

Danny nodded hesitantly, listening to the calm beating of her heart along with the low pulsing of her core. He sighed in relief, feeling foolish, "Sorry," he said.

Phantom huffed, slightly amused, "I hope this is just after effects of the death day, I don't want to be scaring you all the time because I don't have a heartbeat," he said in a half serious, half joking way.

The wolf girl silently agreed with the prince on that, "Yeah, I stop my heart involuntarily all the time." Her ears twitched and she groaned, "Speaking of which, can I stop it again? At this rate I'm gonna get a headache otherwise."

Phantom shrugged, not really caring since he wouldn't know what it's like.

Fire glared playfully at Phantom, "I wasn't asking you princess. I didn't think you'd care."

It took him a minute, but Danny finally nodded, "Yeah, sorry Fire." He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

Phantom hummed, "Do you think we shouldn't go to school today?" He looked at both of them.

"I can handle it," Danny said, looking determined, "just...I'm still feeling...off is all. I'd need the distraction anyway."

Fire shrugged, "I don't care either way. I probably won't have my heart beating though." She wrinkled her nose, "It's fucking annoying to listen to and way too loud."

The wolf paused, looking at the boys curiously, "Do you think anyone would notice my lack of breathing?"

"Think about that question for a moment," Phantom answered, giving her a deadpan look.

Fire snorted, "You're right, those idiots wouldn't notice if I stayed in this form with a neon sign above my head saying, "I'm a ghost!"" She rolled her eyes and smiled when she heard Danny start laughing.

"It's how I manage to get by; I don't make myself breath anymore. All I do is hide my signature." Phantom rolled his eyes, "I usually don't let people touch me if I can help it either; anybody who brushes up against me in the hallway just figure I sit next to the air conditioner or something."

"Though Wes did accuse you of being a vampire that one time because of that," Danny snickered. "You even let your ghost fangs out for a couple of days just to antagonize him and feed the rumors. Though that one time you pretended to bite my neck was pretty hot," the blue eyed boy smiled at the the memory.

She snickered lightly, her eyes sparking with red, "Maybe I should start rumors about being a werewolf?" Her claws tapped against their skin as she grinned wickedly, "It's not exactly inaccurate, after all."

Phantom shrugged, his eyes snapping in mirth, "We could always bring back the supernatural beings of Casper high," he said wickedly.

Fire's ears fell into a relaxed position as she smirked, "I feel like that would be pretty fun." She tilted her head, "When was that a thing though?"

"'Bout the same time the whole Vampire thing came about," Danny replied, chuckling.

Phantom nodded, "Yes, after the bite episode, Danny started sneaking up on people and jump-scaring them; the rumors then turned into me killing Danny and his ghost haunting everyone." He shook his head and smirked, sometimes human logic was strange, though it was fun.

The wolf girl laughed, shaking her head, "Oh that's fucking awesome." Her eyes flashed red, her wicked smirk growing, "I wanna help wreck some havoc."

"Let's plan it out first, I'm sure the others would want to get in on the fun," Phantom said before yawning. "For now, let's get some more sleep."

Fire groaned, "Fiiiine! We'll just sleep like boring people."

Danny snickered, "Shut up and go to sleep." He pet the fur on her belly before settling down, grabbing his Fredbear plush and hugging it tightly, "Good night."

The wolf smiled, pulling them both a little closer so their heads rested on her shoulders, "Night."

Phantom smiled and snuggled down with them, already thinking up things they could do for their fun as he drifted off.

Needless to say, Casper High was going to have something to talk about for a long time.