Life in the Fenton House
Danny Fenton’s first memories were not pleasant ones. He was small in them, of course. And being trapped in an enclosed space with a deformed ghost and a blaster? That just made him feel even smaller.
“Dodge left, son!” his father called.
“Take it out already!” his mother added.
Danny breathed heavy and jumped out of the way, crying. This ghost was scary and he didn’t know what he was supposed to do and everyone was yelling at him and he didn’t like it.
“Crying won’t get you out any faster!” his mother called.
That didn’t stop Danny from crying. He rolled, dodged, and ran. He shot the deformed ghost thing with his blaster again, and it finally dissipated with a noise Danny would never be able to get out of his mind. He collapsed to the floor and cried into his hands. The door clicked open.
“You need to work on your technique,” his father chided.
“Make sure you shower before you come up for dinner,” his mother added.
Then they left him crying. A few minutes later, quiet footsteps sounded on the stairs and Jazz walked into view.
“Come on, little brother, let’s get you up. I can wrap that cut on your elbow for you after you shower,” Jazz coaxed, walking into the room with him.
Danny sniffled miserably. Jazz sighed and sat next to him on the floor, putting an arm around his shoulders.
“They just want what’s best for us,” she whispered.
“I know,” Danny agreed, sniffling again.
Jazz sat with him for a little while longer before urging him to his feet. Once he had showered, she wrapped his elbow. And life in the Fenton House went on.
Danny couldn't pinpoint exactly when Tucker Foley came into his life. As far as he could remember, Tucker had always been there. Even though Danny was a Fenton, and that meant he was an outcast and a little scary and a lot weird, Tucker was there. Danny wasn’t sure he understood it, but they were best friends. That was just how it was, and that's how it had always been. Danny really, really hoped that was how it would always be.
Danny and Tucker met Sam Manson in second grade. She was bossy, and she wore pink even though she hated pink, and she huffed around the room most of the time. She seemed to be just as much outcast as Danny, and by association Tucker, were. Neither Danny nor Tucker knew why this would be, but it was. At some point, Sam Manson became the third in their trio. And it worked.
The first time Sam came over, she was fascinated by Danny’s family, their ghost gear, the lab. Tucker and Danny steered her away from it, but it was an obsession that would long affect them. They met his parents and Jazz, and life in the Fenton House went on.
Danny, older now, was in that same room. Now, there were three ghosts. He rolled, ducked, dodged, and shot with practiced ease.
“Good form. Make sure you keep your shoulder tucked on the rolls,” his mother called.
“Your aim has improved, but make sure you keep an eye on all your enemies,” his father added.
Danny huffed, and, now much too old to cry during this exercise, took their advice to heart. He tucked his shoulder on the roll, and he forced himself to glance around to make sure all his enemies were in his sight. He had two shots on the green one and the blue one, but only one on the purple one. He needed to even it out before he could take them all down. He took another shot at the purple blob, missed, swore to himself as he dodged. A few minutes later, however, found all the ghosts blown to pieces and Danny on his way to take a shower before dinner.
He met Jazz on his way up the stairs. She tossed him a grin as she wrangled her hair up, on her own way to training. Her mostly black jumpsuit was stark and tight against her pale skin, mirroring Danny’s mostly white jumpsuit against his own tan. He high fived her in passing, a joke they’d had since they were young. It was a tag off. For the training, for the pain, for the work. It said, “I’m in, it’s my turn, you can rest now.” And life in the Fenton House went on.
This time the fight wasn’t in training. Ghosts didn’t often come to Amity Park, especially since most that had were taken by the Fentons. This ghost was, apparently, an exception. Maddie and Jack weren’t even there. They were working on the portal, always the portal. Ever since Jazz had turned sixteen and Danny fourteen, they had left any ghost hunting missions to them for the most part. Danny and Jazz were perfectly equipped to handle it well, after all.
Jazz high fived Danny as they got out of the Ghost Assault Vehicle. Danny chuckled as he hauled his blaster out behind him.
“Tag in, huh? Think whatever ghost this is will actually take both of us?” Danny joked.
Jazz, her own preferred weapons now in their holder, slammed her door shut. She shrugged, the crossing batons on her back shifting with the movement.
“Probably not, but you never know. Plus, you’re the long range fighter,” Jazz answered. Then, she wrinkled her nose in distaste. “You know how I feel about blasters.”
Danny rolled his eyes and chuckled as they walked. Jazz had hated blasters, ever since they were kids. She preferred her batons that, with the push of a button, could extend into staffs. She had always been better at close contact fighting than Danny, anyway. They both became more serious as they saw three animal ghosts attacking a group of civilians.
They didn’t have to communicate verbally. Danny took a knee and started shooting while Jazz dove into the fray, batons in hand, shooing the civilians out of the way. The civilians ran, making Danny and Jazz’s job significantly easier. Danny watched Jazz’s back, using his blaster whenever Jazz wove out of the fray for a split second. They had fought together like this since they had been kids, and since the ghosts were relatively weak, it was easy to take them out. Danny and Jazz returned home in the GAV, got absolutely no acknowledgement from their parents, and went to shower before dinner. And life in the Fenton House went on.
Danny’s parents had been building a portal for a very long time. Jazz and Danny, well, they didn’t entirely understand why their parents would want to open their world to more ghosts. Ghosts were evil, mindless, soulless creatures, after all. That’s what their parents always said, at least. Jazz had never believed it, and as Danny got older, he wasn’t sure he did either. But with their parents, compliance was always best. No one needed to tell the siblings that for them to know.
So, when the portal didn’t work and their parents were devastated, Danny and Jazz weren’t entirely sure what to do. Sam, on the other hand, had an idea. She had always been fascinated with the lab, after all.
“Come on, Danny, just take a look inside,” Sam cajoled.
Danny turned to Jazz for assistance, but his older sister just shrugged. Sam had been pushing this for the better part of an hour, and Danny was getting tired of it.
“Make sure you unplug it first,” Tucker chimed in helpfully.
Danny, grumbling, unplugged it. Then he walked into the portal. Even without it being plugged in, though, there were still about a million exposed wires. Danny tripped, stumbled, but caught himself along the wall. A button depressed under his fingers. This couldn’t be good.
Someone was screaming. It took Danny a moment to realize it was him. Then, the pain hit, and the screaming ended.
Danny’s first thought when he came to was that he was really glad his parents were gone for the weekend. His second thought was that his hand was see through. Wait, his hand was see through. That couldn’t be right, could it?
“Danny?” Jazz called, tentative.
It was only then that Danny realized he was still inside the portal, laying on the floor. He hauled himself upright, which was far easier than it should have been, and drifted out.
“I think,” Tucker said, sounding ill, “I think something went wrong.”
There was a click as Sam plugged the portal back in. Behind Danny, it flared green. In the dim lighting, Danny took in his appearance in a mirror across the lab. White hair. Green eyes. Black suit. Oh, and his feet weren’t touching the ground. Yeah, Tucker, something went wrong.
“Are you….?” Jazz asked, trailing off, her voice trembling.
“A ghost?” Danny asked, a sinking feeling in his stomach. “I think so.”
Jazz stumbled, but to Danny’s surprise, it was towards him and not away. He blinked, then a flash burned his eyes and something in his chest ached and he was falling. Jazz caught him.
“Well, that’s interesting,” Sam mused.
Danny snorted, looked down at his now human self.
“Interesting is one word for it,” he agreed.
And life in the Fenton House went on.