A Ghost of a Chance...

Chapter 1

It had been three months since summer had ended, and Sam and Tucker had left...

Danny walked the Streets of Amity Park, making his way back to Fenton Works, his home, after a long day of working at the small coffee shop/bookstore he called work... Not many people entered the shop so it seemed like the perfect place for him to work and still be able to fight ghosts... His boss was barely in and didn't care if he left the shop at random times as long as he locked up beforehand... Which was great seeing as he was almost constantly fighting ghosts, he'd fight at least twelve to nineteen in a day... And at least eight of those would be box ghost...

He definitely appreciated Clockwork teaching him how to open his own portals to the ghost zone, he said that it normally took ghosts eons to learn the trick but he could "See" he'd need it in the future... He then gave him a hug... Which was weird since Clockwork hated physical confrontation of any kind...

He walked up the steps feeling the wear and tear of the day catch up to him... But he ignores it as he began to hear the same yelling he'd heard since the accident... His mom, Maddie, was tearing into his dad, Jack, about leaving lab equipment upstairs again...

After Danny had died... Partially... His parents seemed to begin to hate each other... but they stayed together for Danny's sake...

Honestly... At this point, they'd just split... or at least stop yelling at each other...

He sighed and opened the door, walking past the kitchen and their yelling, not even acknowledging him as he made his way to his room. He slammed his door, ceasing the yelling...

He dropped his bag on the floor and walked over to his bed, collapsing on it as the world began to crash around him like always... His schedule was starting to get to him...

Wake up, eat, fight ghosts, work, fight ghosts, finish work, ghosts, head home, ghosts, eat, sleep, ghosts, sleep, Repeat...

It was becoming too much for him... When his friends were here he'd at least get breaks from the ghost fighting... but now...

He could hear a plate break followed by more yelling... He needed to get out of this place... but how could he... he barely made a living on his one job alone... But how was he to get a new one when he was always busy fighting ghosts...

Danny sat upon his bed, swinging his legs over the side and placing his head in his hands... His head was pounding and he could already feel the sting of tears in his eyes... he was stuck... he knew this... he'd known it for a long time... and he knew he could do nothing to fix it...

He got up, grabbing his coat from his closet and then made his way downstairs, he needed to clear his head and the yelling wasn't helping.

"Heading out again, Mom!"

"Huh? Oh ok! Dinner's at 7, be back before then!"

" 'Kay!"

Danny ran out the door and down the street, it was cold and icy, not that he minded, since getting his Ice Core he'd found that cold weather didn't affect him anymore. He'd even slept out in a blizzard and was fine... it was only when his Core became unstable that'd he'd find himself getting cold, and he meant COLD, he'd almost died.... again... once when it went out of control one night... yeah not fun...

Danny was rounding a corner, not really thinking about where he was heading, when he bumped into someone and slipped on a patch of ice, falling straight on his back and hitting his head.

"Aww! Fuck... that hurt..."

He didn't bother trying to get up, the ringing in his ears was making him too dizzy to even try...

"Are you alright there? That was quite a fall there..."

"Hmm? Yeah, I'm fine... Not that bad really..."

The man before him held out his hand, helping him up. It wasn't till he was back on his feet that he realized who it was, his dad's old college buddy, mayor, and arch-nemesis...

Vlad Masters...