what do you MEAN we don't have canon ships?

To all the injustice of the universe, he didn't meet any of his usual rogues along the way. There wasn't even a trace of the Box Ghost. 

“So when you need to find me, you're welcome,” another shot at a passing stone. “And when I want to find someone, there's no one there.”

Finally, he finds a huge island. Dark green thickets of vines hang from the edge, and huge and tall trees cover the entire ground. Danny grins, gathers the ecto charge in his hands and throws it at the trunk, breaking the tree in half.

Jazz could say that his whole way of cooling down is unhealthy, he doesn't need to respond to everything with aggression. Maybe a human doesn't need it, but a ghost? 

When a ghost accumulates emotions, it's an energy bomb. 

Danny found out about this completely by accident when he was sad after a failed test and at night he met Johnny on the border of the city. He just shot at the garbage, then at the stones, sometimes at the wall of a long-collapsed building. Then Johnny explained to him the features of his body and he really felt better. Not much, but still something.

Having already cut down three trees, Danny prepared to launch another one.

Suddenly, something grabs his ankle and turns him upside down. Abruptly, he changes his target and throws the ectoblast to the side. A scream is heard, but they do not let him go, but quickly throw him into the ground. His back breaks through the top layer, cracks spread across the pit. 

They don't even give him a second when several vines stick into him. He barely manages to become intangible and push off, flying into the air. Finally, he could see the attacker.

She's a ghost he doesn't recognize. Her long black hair is intertwined with vines, her eyes are completely green with barely visible pupils, and her lips are dark purple, as if poisonous. The ghost hisses, squinting at him.

“Getoffgetoffgetoff!”

Her core pulsates to the beat of his.

“Fightfightfight”

She's not waiting for his move. Her vines rise up from behind her again and attack swiftly. Danny dodges some, explodes others with ectolights. Sometimes he gets hit by particularly small but well-aimed vines, leaving thin cuts on his suit and skin. 

When he got close to her, he could only make a couple of punches, as she was already retreating and attacking again. Each of their blows shakes the air of the Zone, cuts through stones and scares weak ghosts. It takes him a long time to realize that at some point he started smiling, and she stopped using small tricks to scare him away, trying to completely suppress him. 

Their fight is like a dance of death. It's movement, it's adrenaline, and it's relief.

Perhaps by breaking her main vines from her back, Danny got too proud. 

Suddenly, his body goes numb, every movement of the limb slow and heavy. The next moment, the ghost herself grabs the suit and throws it to the ground. Danny lies on his back, feeling a spreading weakness. The girl stands over him, pressing his chest with her foot. And only now he notices that she is wearing only a mini dress made of leaves, which reveals a lot of white skin with green veins. The stem around her thigh looks too hot, which somehow makes his unbreakable heart skip a beat. 

“Beautifulbeautifulbeautiful," sings his core now. 

Danny agrees that he should be buried here. 

“Beautifulbeautiful?” The ghost is embarrassed in response. 

"You..." she says, coughs, and then continues. "You, uh... what are you doing here?..”

"Well, I'm lying under you at the moment..." Danny blushes and raises his arms in front of him. “That is, I'm lying on the ground, and you're above me... that is! The Ancients, it's terrible…”

“Embarrassmentbeautifulred”

Would it be advisable if he just ripped out his core? Her laughter softens the situation. The forest around her rustles in unison with her, and small dark purple flowers bloom on her hair.

"You don't explain yourself well.”

"I've already been told that…”

She let go of her leg, and even so, he still couldn't move. Her gaze passes over him, then she looks around and her eyebrows furrow.

"And yet," she waves her hand at the edge of the ruined island. “Why the hell did you harm innocent trees?!”

“Angerangeranger," her core screams. 

“Oh…” he examines the scale of the destruction, barely moving his head to the sides. "Is this your... family?"

“Sorrysorry.”

“No!” She crosses her arms in front of her. "But they also exist, just like you. They don't deserve to be destroyed.”

"That's right, you're right...I'm sorry," her words sink into his head. Just a couple of hours ago, he was told the exact opposite. Its core emits a quiet hum: “Sadsadsad.”

"Did something... happen?" She asks slowly, when a whisper gives her away: “Curiositycuriosity.”

“No.”

And they both know it's a lie. The silence is overwhelming.

"If you want, we can have sparring sessions," she looks into the distance, stealing a glance at him. "I think we both want to blow off steam sometimes."

“I would like that!” Danny nods at her. Finally, his body is moving away from this weakness, maybe someday he'll find out what kind of abilities she has.

“Likelikelike,” He abruptly looks away, feeling his face burn. The hand is lying over the core, hoping to somehow drown it out. 

It had never failed him so much. 

She, such a kind soul, doesn't say anything, but her face, like his, glows green. Instead of saying anything, she waves at him and pushes off from the island. Her figure begins to disappear.

"W-wait!" Danny shouts and flies up to her. She stops and turns to him with a question. “I wanted to ask… What's your name?”

“Oh…” It also dawned on her that they hadn't introduced themselves. "You can call me Nightshade."  She looks at him. "And you?"

Danny smiles and bows with his hand on his heart.

"Oh..." she jerks her hand away from the book. "Damn it…”

A thin red stripe appears on the pad of her thumb. She wipes a small drop of blood with her other finger and returns to the book again, not that it's a serious wound.

There is already a stone tile with a hollowed-out summoning circle on the table, so students don't have to worry about drawing. There are several recesses around the circle where reagents are poured to enhance magic and open a passage to the astral world.

Exhaling and calming his heart, Sam puts his hand back on the tile and closes his eyes. The spell comes out of her mouth in memorized text. In time with her words, ingredients flow through the grooves into the circle, flooding the study room with a mystical bluish glow. Her own magic is released in a purple, almost dark, stream and swirls around. 

A small drop of blood collects under the cut finger, soaking into the magic and spreading across the chalk circle pattern. The color changes abruptly from blue to red, and then to acid green. 

“What the…” Sam opens his eyes and pulls his hand away. She no longer casts the spell, but her magic continues to elude her, maintaining the circle of summoning. 

Huge amounts of mana rush towards the tile, but the low-level circle wasn't meant for that. The stone cracks and shatters in the next second. Sam covers his face with his hands, falling off the chair. 

A rift opens above her, and something comes out. The room is plunged into darkness, in which sometimes dots flash like stars in the night sky. All of this abruptly disappears in a bright flash, and someone is now looming over Sam. A boy with tanned skin, bright white waving hair with blue horns sticking out of it, and acid-green eyes, like summoning magic. There are freckles on his cheeks, connecting like constellations, and his lips are stretched in a grin. 

"Hi," his low voice resembles the crunch of snow on the coldest days of winter. 

"Hi..." she replies, still looking at the stranger. 

It is felt at first glance how power is hidden under this unearthly beauty. 

"Why are you looking at me so intently?" He asks and smiles smugly, lifting her chin with his finger. “Like it?”

"I hope you disappear," Sam rolls his eyes and pushes the hand away from his face. "Who are you anyway?"

"Ah, well, obviously..." the creature's gaze stops at something next to her, "...a familiar."

"How can you be familiar..." she sits up and looks in the same direction, noticing her summoning book. "Are you kidding me?!” 

Definitely not familiar, he smiles, gently grabs her hand and places a gentle kiss on her knuckles. The small cuts on them after the explosion of the stone tile leave streaks of blood on his lips, which he immediately licks off. Goosebumps run over Sam's skin, and a heaviness associated with magic appears in her soul.

"What did you do?.." She whispers, the strength draining from her body. She wants to fall asleep, but stubbornly keeps her eyes open.

"I've finished summoning," he says, approaching her again and picking her up in his arms when she can't fight at all. "Sleep well, Sam.”

Still, he couldn't focus on fighting the ghost now. It had been a long time since he had missed a blow from an ordinary ectopus, and this had already happened twice in the last battle. The guys in White didn't help either, for some reason shooting more accurately and withstanding his shots in response. Nevertheless, Danny couldn't help but look around the school yard, where he noticed Sam and Gregor. For some reason, he did not run away from the battlefield, but seemed to be watching. Suspicion flared up again, and irritation and a strange anger only fueled it.

In the rush of things, Danny didn't notice how the periphery of his vision blurred.

***

The next day was even worse.

The nighttime ghost attacks didn't give Danny a good night's sleep at all. As a result, he was late for his first lesson and was tired as hell. The cherry was Gregor, sitting next to Sam, who was chuckling softly. 

"Rough night?"  Tucker whispered as Danny sat down next to him.

"That's not the word.”

He wanted to sleep, but his head felt like it had been hit with a damn sledgehammer. The lesson and the teacher's speech were not perceived by the brain at all, and Gregor and Sam whispering did not simplify the task in any way.

As it turned out, school was just the beginning. 

Danny ignored the voice of reason in Tucker's face and followed Gregory. He just needed to prove that the new guy wasn't who he claimed to be; that he was an agent of the Guys in White! Keeping an eye on Sam was just a side assignment.

With each new place on this date, Danny's mood worsened. The evening seemed completely dark, and the surroundings were faded. The Guys in White took his mindset to zero, and he had to hide like a human. 

And then everything exploded. Metaphorically. Maybe not, Danny didn't remember it well. There was a ringing thought in the head: Gregory had kissed Sam. That's all.

Transformed into a Ghost, Danny flew home. 

The horizon seemed gray to him.

***

At lunch at school, Sam sat with him and Tucker, discussing the last lessons and unplanned tests. Danny couldn't concentrate on the conversation, and the food felt bland, like a sponge. His gaze inadvertently fell on Sam, her lips were painted her usual purple shade.

"Danny? Earth to Danny!” Sam's call distracted him from his thoughts. "What's the matter with you today?"

"I'm all right, what's with you?"  Danny muttered, still staring intently at Sam."How was your date with Gregory?"

"Oh, well, it's fine," she shrugged in response.

‘Is it okay?!’ Danny gritted his teeth, trying to hold back. ‘Is a kiss okay for her?!’

"Oh, yeah?" And even the paste on your lips?!" and yet it came out of him.

“What…” Sam frowned in incomprehension, but in a second it dawned on her and her eyes sparkled with rage. "You were spying on me! Seriously?!”

"Oh no," Tucker sighed, "I told you it was a bad idea…” 

It really was a bad idea, Danny realized. Especially when Sam glared at him and walked away with Gregor, holding hands. He wanted to just drop everything, come home and collapse on his bed, hoping to fall asleep and believe that this was just a nightmare. 

However, there are lessons before that.

He hadn't seen Gregor or Sam before he went home.

***

Danny was wrong. The guys in White weren't working with Gregor, they were hunting him!

Pushing his feelings aside, he flew towards the observatory. The agents had already begun firing at the open area, where Danny noticed Sam and Tucker dodging. Gregor was lying a little further away covered in dust. 

Anger and irritation have reached a critical maximum. Danny flew up to GIW's plane and disarmed it, pulling out the agents and leaving them without pilots. And those were thrown into the mud at the entrance of their office.

This calmed him down a little. After taking one last look at his friends leaving the playground, Danny flew to the crash site to check if everything was in order.

It took a long time, especially because of the destroyed small store. People turned out to be littered with debris, and he methodically pulled everyone out. The ambulance was already nearby, the police cordoned off the crash, and he had nothing else to do, so he flew home under invisibility.

All that came up on the phone was a message from Tucker saying that he and Sam were okay. That should have calmed him down. That's not.

They're fine.

Tucker said fine.

His gaze skimmed over the message once more, across the room, stopping at the window. THe Phantom was reflected in the glass. White hair, black suit. Eyes... and eyes, eyebrows. the skin looked gray, as if under a failed filter. The rest of the world became cloudy behind the glass. 

He looked at the window again, at the room, at the phone.

Tucker's fine.

Sam... Sam?

The Phantom flew through the city with lightning speed, arriving near a rich mansion in just a couple of minutes. He flew up to the familiar windows. They were curtained, but light filtered through the cracks. There was a knock on the glass and the fabric moved, giving permission to enter.

Sam's room remained the same in black tones, and she was wearing a dark robe over her pajamas. 

"I'm sorry," was the first thing he blurted out, looking right at her. "I...I shouldn't have done it... I shouldn't spy, even if something feels wrong to me.” He looked away at his clasped hands in white gloves. "And I was wrong, uh... that boy wasn't an agent, he was even being hunted! I…

"Danny!” with that call, his cheeks were cupped and forced to look directly into her worried face. "Danny, Danny! Are you with me?”

Exactly. Right. 

Danny still felt terribly lost, but looking into Sam's purple eyes, everything seemed right. She's right next to him. Looked at him. Was worried about him.

“Yes”, His arms wrapped around her waist and pulled her to him. "Here."

If Sam was surprised, she didn't show it, except for her racing heartbeat, and she didn't pull away from his embrace, just moved her hands to his shoulders. Something rumbled inside Danny. 

“Well…” She looked at him from under her long eyelashes, a slight blush appeared on her cheeks. “You were actually right, Gregor was a fake and did everything just to pick me up.” She shrugged, hiding her sadness behind her indifference.

"That's not true.”

Even in his departure, Gregor annoyed Danny. If it wasn't for Sam's hugs, this jerk would have gotten a couple of punches from the evil ghost. However, this may happen later.

"Sam, you're the funniest, smartest, most caring..." Danny smoothed a stray strand of hair out of his bangs with one hand, "... and the most beautiful. I-" he exhaled as he ran a finger from hair down her cheek and lifted his chin, leaving so little distance between their faces. - Can I…

The question was interrupted by a gentle kiss. It was an explosion of color, and Danny closed his eyes, completely focusing on the sense of touch. The warmth of Sam's lips was intoxicating and sobering at the same time. Time dragged on forever, but as soon as they parted, it didn't seem enough. 

"Well..." Sam whispered, not knowing where to look. “It was good.”

Danny grinned, remembering the conversation in the morning, and reluctantly let her go under a puzzled look. He still wanted to hold Sam in his arms, somewhere close so he could always see her, but now it wasn't as irresistible as it had been ten minutes ago. 

"Are you all right?" Sam asked when they parted and he returned to human form. “You used to look kind of detached.”

"I'm fine, it's just..." Danny touched his chest, where there seemed to be something there. “Did it seem like I forgot something? And it was me? Until you called my name.”

A blush spread over his face, especially under Sam's intense and worried gaze. He wanted to disappear. Instead, he turned back into a ghost and soared off the floor.

"Uh, should I go then?" He flew to the window and turned to look at her. “See you tomorrow!”

Without waiting for an answer, Danny got out of the room and flew back home. The bedroom was still the same, but still something had changed. Or is it in him? 

That night, Danny had pleasant dreams.

Gothgirl

- Good night

Ghostboy

Her parents were easily distracted by a small commotion at the other end of the hall and immediately hurried there, leaving her alone. Sam didn't even give the noble sons a second as she slipped into the nearest balcony. It was only about three meters from the ground. She walked over to the corner of the railing where the column was, kicking off her high-heeled shoes along the way.

Once again, she looked around the room through the glass doors hidden by curtains. It seems they haven't thought to look for her yet. Nevertheless, she hurried and examined the dress that her mother had ordered her to wear. This terrible pink color and voluminous ruffles bothered her eyes all evening. And now, without regret, she tore off her outer dress, remaining in a chemise and petticoats. Then she deftly jumped over the railing and carefully descended the ledges in the column, landing in the backyard, far from the front entrance.

Sam knew the security patrols like her own ears. Thanks to Tucker, her only friend and guardian of the Manson Estate. He likes to chat and sometimes told her about his work when she asked. So now she could walk unnoticed through the courtyard all the way to the garden and the hedge maze. There was a small hole under the bushes to get into the fields.

Covered in dust and blades of grass, but happy and free, Sam finally reached the forest through a field. It was a wild area, unmarked by anyone. Beyond that were the lands of other noble families, like lions, tigers, deer, and rumored to be inhabited by mythical beasts. Unfortunately, there was too little information about this, no matter how much Sam searched the family library. Or maybe rabbits couldn't have it, who knows.

The grass, slightly damp after the past rainy week, crunched under her feet, the leaves of the trees above her rustled, and lonely branches creaked in the distance. Nature sang its own music, and Sam listened enthusiastically, absorbing every note as long as she could. 

After all, she was not a dreamer, and this was not her first escape. The guards of the Canine family would easily pick up her trail and, depending on when her parents noticed her absence, they would find her no later than early in the morning. For now, she was content with the evening breeze and the red sunset visible through the canopy of trees. 

Still, she shouldn't have walked so carelessly in the wilderness. There were animals here that she couldn't negotiate with, and the only thing they did was satisfy their hunger.  

Sam didn't hear it, but rather felt it. Danger. The forest was still rustling under the pale rays of the fading sun, but now the shadows were getting longer. She didn't wait for the blow and ran. 

Her eyes scanned her surroundings, she needed to find a small enough shelter to wait out the danger. The darkness, as if for evil, prevented her from seeing much. Somewhere in the distance, she could hear a growl. It wasn't the growling of dogs that Tucker had shown her. Something more vicious and deadly that makes the hair stand on end. Her ears were fully turned to the sound, picking up on the change in direction. 

There was too little time left before the collision.

The trees opened up a lawn in front of her, a very small field with a large flat stone in the middle. Sam, without thinking twice, turned into a beast. Her little body with golden fur appeared in the folds of her clothes, instead of her black-dyed hair. Her paws were digging a passage under the stone, the main thing was not to get her. However, it didn't take her long when a hollow space suddenly appeared in front of her.

Her little heart was beating fast. She listened to the sounds outside, but there was silence. No howling, growling or heavy breathing of a predator. She seemed to be safe, but she didn't look out, wisely deciding to wait for morning. And now that the danger was over, her body involuntarily relaxed, her energy ran out after a long run, and she fell asleep unnoticed. 

***

Waking up has always been a difficult task for Danny. Couldn't Pandora have scheduled a workout for lunch? Why morning? It's not like the naga depends on the time of day! 

Even going on a short weekend, Danny had to work out instead of falling asleep for all those hours. Just because he could stay awake for several days didn't mean he needed to. After all, sleep is a great human habit!

In any case, he still had to wake up, because he had to get to Pandora in time so that she wouldn't give him extra hours for being late. However, something stopped him. There was something warm on his tail. Gently squeezing the fluffy ball with the tip of his tail, he pulled it out of his curled body.

Danny saw a small golden fluff with flattened ears and a white tail. He even poked at the muzzle and got no response other than a slight twitch of the nose. 

‘Cute...’

Deciding to pick up a brave wild rabbit that was not afraid to approach him, Danny crawled through the forest with the company. The birds were just waking up, and the breeze was stirring the trees and gently playing with his white hair. 

The morning chill was not felt on his skin, but the fur ball in his hands visibly trembled. Unfortunately, Danny didn't have anything, not even a light cape, except for a tight tank top. And even though his hugs wouldn't give much warmth, he could still hold the animal to his chest and protect it from the cold wind. He had to get to Pandora's temple as soon as possible.

The nagas were slower on land than in water, but it was enough for Danny to reach the edge of the forest in half an hour. From the smoothness of the movement, the walk did not bother his little friend at all, who was still asleep. 

High walls with torches, carved columns and huge statues of naga's warriors appeared in front of him. To the side of the temple was the entrance to the maze, where Pandora stood stroking the minotaur. Her back was open, her posture relaxed, but Danny wouldn't have thought it would take her by surprise.

"Good morning, Daniel," Pandora greeted without even turning around. "Wouldn't you even try to attack?"

"I know when to stop," Danny shrugged. "Morning."

Pandora grinned and turned around, chasing the minotaur back into the maze. Her gaze immediately fell on the young naga's hands, noticing the golden fur.

"Who did you bring today?"

"Oh, that," Danny smiled and opened his arms, lifting the animal higher. Compared to Pandora's height of 12 feet, the rabbit looked very tiny. - I found it in the forest, or rather it climbed into my tail ring. Can I take it with me? It'll be warmer and safer in the palace than the wild forests, right?

"Hmm..." Pandora lightly poked at the fluff and carefully examined the creature. "Daniel, you know it's a beastman, right?"

It turned out to be loud enough for the animal to wake up and move, slowly lifting its head and ears.

"Wh-what... what?!" - Danny brought the rabbit closer to him, which caused the animal to freeze, the nose twitched, and the eyes, a fascinating shade of purple, focused on his face. "But don't beastmen look like people with animal characteristics?"

The rabbit had enough nerve to roll his eyes and snort in his face. Danny could now believe that it really was an unusual animal. 

He awkwardly examined the rabbit, for which he received a hiss and a twitch of paw in response. Then, with the same embarrassment, he released him to the ground in the ring of his tail. 

"Uh... I beg your pardon?"  Danny scratched the back of his head, letting go of his gaze. "I didn't know you were a beastman... so that doesn't mean I had to take you without permission... but…"

"I think our guest realized that you were sorry," Pandora smiled with that sly look. "How about you let her out of the tail ring and let her go inside.

"Ah?" Danny looked at his mentor and back at the rabbit. "But what about the transformation into human form?"

And the beast hissed again and jumped on his tail, slowly climbing up a kind of wall. 

"Daniel, the beastmen don't appear clothed when they transform."

'The Ancients...' Danny felt his cheeks turn red. All he had to do was give the rabbit a path, and together with Pandora they went to the temple, and he awkwardly trailed after them.

The little friend did not lose his jumping pace, keeping up with Naga. When they reached the massive entrance, they looked at Danny again, snorted, and disappeared inside. Pandora laughed for some reason and went in too, closing the door in front of him. 

It wasn't a long wait, and yet every minute dragged by as Danny crawled around the porch, spinning in circles. He was terribly embarrassed and wanted to properly apologize after seeing the person himself.

Finally, the temple doors opened, and Danny crawled closer. 

His jaw seemed to drop as his gaze swept over the human figure that had walked out. The white tunic covered the entire body up to the ankles, and the arms came out of the side slits. Short black hair reached shoulders, and two ears peeked out from the top of head. The familiar purple eyes stared right at him, very intently, as if they could find out everything about him. Danny's heart skipped a beat and then started beating again in a new rhythm, and the tip of his tail moved restlessly. 

"Uh... ah, well..." the words, as if to spite him, did not come to his mind at all. "I-I'm sorry that I take you with me?"

'The Ancients, this is terrible,' Danny wanted to twist his tail and hide there until the end of time. 'Why has it become so difficult to speak?'

"It's okay," the girl shrugged. "I can't blame you when I got to you first, even if I thought you were a stone."

"I'm... a stone?.." Unintentionally, Danny looked down at his tail, which was covered with black scales glistening in the sun. 

"Pfft..." she looked at him so straightforwardly, holding back her laughter. "Yes, it's a very beautiful stone."

She couldn't even smile back at Danny. At least to comfort him.

And yet the world did not stand still. The green sky of the Zone was quickly filled with bloody clouds, gathering into the silhouette of the Ghost King. Danny didn't waste any more time on doubts and flew through the disabled ghost shield towards the enemy's fortress.

Together with Tucker, Sam took up blasters again and shot down an army of skeletons. Shooting seemed meditative: see the enemy, aim and shoot. Rinse and repeat.

Unfortunately, time dragged on like molasses. There was no sign of Danny's return, and with every passing second, tension was building in her stomach.

Suddenly, the sky began to mess up, like the graphics in a terrible game, returning to its blue color, or back to acid green. It hovered for a couple of minutes and finally stopped at blue. It became much easier to breathe, the smell of ozone was gone, the air did not seem filled with ectoplasm. The skeletons froze and bones fell, like puppets whose strings had been cut.

Sam turned around, where she saw Tucker struggling. They met eyes and, in silent understanding, ran back to the Fenton Works. The beam of ghostly energy was no longer coming from the antenna, and the shield was turned off. For some reason, the silence around the house did not calm the two friends.

Everything was the same inside Fenton Works. Scattered weapons, some leaking ectoplasm, a couple of piles of bone dust, and burns on the walls. Sam went further into the house, leaving Tucker to catch his breath on the porch.

A muffled hum of voices could be heard from the corridor to the underground laboratory. Sam gently pushed the metal door, as always, without creaking, just enough for her to fit through.

"…messing with our inventions to ruin them!", - Mrs. Fenton's voice came to her. Too annoyed when the city finally returned to the living world.

"Don't worry, Maddiekins, just let the ghost boy come closer and I'll take him apart molecule by molecule!" - The loud-mouthed Mr. Fenton comforted his wife in his own way, but it made Sam's heart sink.

"At least the ghost army was stopped…" - Damon tried to calm them down, but it seemed like it was a failed idea.

"Dad, you don't understand, the Phantom took the costume for his nefarious purposes!" - Valerie was burning with anger and whispering through her teeth. - "He even dared to reveal my identity."…

"We'll talk about this later, young lady!" Damon left the Fentons and looked at his daughter reproachfully. She visibly faded away, but the fury in her eyes did not subside at all. Sam hoped that this wouldn't create problems for the future Danny, especially in light of the recent relatively friendly days with Valerie.

Suddenly, Sam felt a weight on her shoulder and whirled around, preparing to strike. However, Jazz stood in the aisle, stunned, with her hands up, and her aqua blue eyes were strangely sad.

"Sam?" - she whispered, her gaze moving from her parents to Grays and then to Sam.

"Uh… well, of course it's okay", - Sam tried to keep her voice calm and shrugged her shoulders. - "And you?"

"I'm fine, but…" - Jazz clasped her hands in front of her and bit her lip, showing her concern. - "You know… is Danny okay?"

Sam's heart sank, but she steadfastly held on, tried to smile. Perhaps it turned out terribly if Jazz's eyebrows were furrowed.

"O-of course, why is there something wrong with him? He's okay, he's, uh, probably hiding somewhere in the city."

"If you say so…"

Sam kept a smile on her face as Jazz nodded at her silly lie, and then went down to the lab, joining her parents in the conversation.

"What the hell!.." - Tucker's shout caught her attention, and she closed the door and ran into the living room.

Her body froze when she noticed Vlad in the center of the room, who was holding an unconscious Danny. Instinctively, she raised her hand and aimed the blaster on her wrist at the man's face. Tucker was doing the same thing, aiming from behind.

"Let him go, Vlad…" - Sam almost hissed.

"Ah, Miss Manson, you're as always-..."

Before he could respond, a thin ectoplasmic ray flew less than an inch from a lock of his hair.

"Let. Him. Go." - Sam repeated her order again.

This time Vlad didn't say anything, but slowly let Danny to the couch, where Tucker came over. He picked up his friend and went to the stairs, while Sam guarded their backs, watching the calmly standing man.

When they entered Danny's room and locked the door, they both sighed, relaxing a little in this illusion of protection and privacy from fruitloop. Danny himself was still unconscious when they laid him on the bed. His skin seemed paler than usual, highlighting dark bags under his eyes, his hair was matted, and his clothes were disheveled.

"He's going to be okay, isn't he?" - Tucker whispered, watching the occasional dip of Danny's chest. His hands fiddled with the PDA, circling each button, just to keep his fingers from shaking.

Sam didn't know what to say. Her hand was on the sleeping boy's wrist, reading his slow pulse.

They both flinched when Danny coughed violently, his eyelashes fluttered, and his eyes opened slightly. He slowly surveyed his surroundings before focusing on them. Then he coughed again and Tucker quickly got up and went to the exit.

"I'll get some water", - the slight tremor in his voice was overshadowed by the relief in his posture.

The door closed behind him, leaving the two friends alone. Sam didn't really notice Tucker leaving. All her attention was focused on Danny, who was still recovering. She counted her pulse again. Slow, but within the normal range of her ghost boy. Breathing was also normal, there were no noticeable wounds or bruises. Only fatigue was imprinted on this body.

"Sam?"

The quiet call of Danny, already half-sitting on the bed, lifted some weight from her, dispelled her stupor. She threw herself at him with a hug, stifling a slight sob.

He could have died fighting the Ghost King.

He could have died from Ecto-Skeleton exhaustion.

He could have died while he was in Plasmius' hands.

"You're alive…" - she mumbled. Confirmed that it was real.

She heard a soft chuckle from above, and a hand was passed through her hair.

"Hey", - Danny called, and his hand lifted her chin. - "I'm all right. I won."

Their eyes met. There was so little distance between their faces.

Sam didn't know who moved first. It was definitely after her gaze dropped a short second lower before their lips touched. A soft touch and they broke away, but didn't go far, still sharing the same breath between the two.

"I… I wait you... " - she said, the stupidest confession of all the thousands of other things she could say. - "I…"

"Me too," - Danny smiled sweetly and disarmingly, knowing exactly what she meant.

His hand circled her neck and they approached again. The kiss was deeper and brighter, causing butterflies to form in her stomach.

The creaking of the stairs and the trampling of a crowd of people caught Sam's attention. She abruptly pushed Danny to lie on the bed, and she stood up from the edge. A soft whimper came from him as the back of his head hit the bed frame. She looked at him sheepishly and mouthed “sorry”. He responded by rolling his eyes with a smile.

The events after that passed in a kind of haze, Sam did not even notice how she returned home and lay on her bed. She buried her face in the pillow, stifling a scream, her heart racing as her brain finally realized what she had done.