👻 Danny Phantom 👻 Trip into the Ghost Zone [HIATUS]

The Good News

*^Warnings: mentions of trauma, torture, and abuse; not Maddie and Jack friendly*^

     *Beep! Beep! Beep!*

     *Crash*

    Danny jolted awake and looked around frantically. His panic dissipated once he realized he was in his room, safe. Flopping back against his pillow in defeat, he tried to calm his heavy breathing and racing heart by counting backward from a hundred.

    "Danny!" He heard Jazz yell from her room. "Did you break another one?!"

    He knew she wouldn't hear him unless he yelled, so he said nothing. The alarm clock on his floor, now a shattered pile of plastic, was answer enough.

    "Seriously, Danny? That's the 6th one this month!" Jazz appeared in his bedroom doorway, already dressed for school and much too awake for 6 am, with her hands on her hips. "You either need to get those reflexes in check or buy a better clock!"

    "Okay," He mumbled into his pillow, hoping she'd leave him to die the rest of the way.

    He couldn't see her, but Danny knew his sister was frowning at him with that awful worried expression, "Just be dressed and downstairs by 6:30 if you want breakfast."

    Thankfully, she left, closing the door behind her. Danny rolled onto his back to stare blankly at the ceiling. The room was silent apart from the wind rustling the curtains of his window. He must have forgotten to close the curtains last night. With a deep sigh, the teen sat up and swung his legs over the side of his bed. He sat for a moment, staring blankly at his pajama pants this time, before finally getting up and heading to the bathroom.

    Danny turned the shower on and leaned against the counter while he waited for the water to warm up. In the mirror, he caught a glimpse of a dark purple on his side. Lifting his arm and twisting around for a better view, the hero was greeted by the sight of multicolored bruising on his ribs. Turning further, he found a shallow gash on his shoulder blade, probably the work of a child-sized pirate hook.

    Before he got any further, his phone began to ring.

    'Rise and shine sleeping beauty!'  Tucker shouted. Danny pulled the receiver away from his ear with a jolt.

    "Why would you do me dirty like that man?" He rasped, coughing to clear his throat after hearing how rough his voice sounded.

     'Jeez, dude, did you get any sleep last night?'  Tucker's amused voice came through. Danny huffed and refused to answer.

    'Who was it this time?'  Sam's voice chimed in, much more concerned, and quiet, than Tucker's. Danny's mood immediately brightened at his fiancée's voice.

    "Hi, Sammy."

    'Blech! I can hear the lovey-dovey heart eyes through the phone!'  Tucker gagged.

    'Hi, honey.'  Sam replied, ignoring the protests. 'Now tell us what happened and explain why you didn't wake us up to help.'

    "I mean it- it wasn't anything new..." Danny started, sensing her disapproval. "Skulker decided that 12 in the morning would be just a dandy time to show up and terrorize the city, so of course, I had to sacrifice my dream time to kick his ass. I didn't think it'd take more than 30 minutes and I didn't want to bother you, so..." he continued before Sam could start lecturing, feeling more awake as he recounted his escapade. "I simply sacrificed 5 years of my afterlife getting him in the thermos. And then, yippie, Youngblood of all people shows up, playing 'hide and seek tag' with his boney babysitter no less," Danny held the phone between his ear and shoulder while he pulled off his pajamas, "But 'tag' was actually 'ectoblast'. And you know what that means!" He put the call on speakerphone. "Danger for civilians, my absolute favorite!"