Chapter Text
When the portal spat them out again, Danny stumbled to his knees, retching his guts onto the alien planet. Lime green spattered the ground, tasting awfully like he’d been chewing on batteries, with a sharp burn across his tongue to back it up.
“I don't know how Wulf does this all the time.” He wheezed, taking a few serrated breaths, hands tightly clasped to his knees.
He felt her warm hand rubbing between his shoulder blades in comfort, and hung his head. Guilt gnawed angrily at the inside of his sternum.
“I'm... sorry I didn't tell you earlier.”
He heard her lean over behind him, hand remaining on his back as her feet scuffed around the corner of his vision, carefully avoiding the mess. She cleared her throat before speaking.
“How long did you really know, that you’re...?”
Danny closed his eyes, letting the throbbing pain in his skull run its course. He swallowed, winced, then spat the last bit of bile while Spectra’s words bitterly echoed in his head. (what are you? A ghost pretending to be human, or a creepy little boy, with creepy little powers.) His fingertips dug into the curve under his knees.
He felt her hand still, then move up to pat the top of his head. He huffed.
“Tucker and Sam are great about testing my abilities and measuring everything.” It was the truth, but… perhaps not the full answer to her question.. “I… after the accident, nothing really registered as human anymore. I think… I only really do things like eat and breathe out of habit. Because I think I have to, or I forget that I don’t.”
He huffed a painful laugh, struggled to his feet, and heard her do the same, kicking some pale blue dust over the glowing green fluid. When he looked around, pink atmosphere contrasted sharply with the blue earth under their feet, vivid orange and purple plants clawing and twisting toward the sky like zombie ballerinas frozen in mid-twirl across a barren desert.
“Is it just me, or did Lisa Frank paint an entire planet?” He tried to joke to hide the prickling fear crawling up the back of his neck. This place was...entirely ailen to him. The Ghost Zone had strange plants and creatures, but the color scheme was always purple and green. It had a certain miasma - a sheen to it that this place lacked, and it put him on edge.
Jazz forced a chuckle, pulling out her head band to rake her fingers through the orange strands.
“It’s not just you.”
“Oh, well, that’s good to know.”
He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, brushing off his knees instead of going intangible. She squinted at the mountains in the near distance, hand up over her eye to block out the strangely red glinting sun.
“There’s a city, not terribly far away” Jazz finally announced, ducking down again to slide her hair band on. She snugged her hair in place and offered him a small smile.
“Wanna check it out while you recover?”
He nodded, standing up and catching up with a little jog when she started walking toward it without him. Danny ducked his head, scratching the back of his scalp.
“Hey- do you- um… he was right about… the emotions, thing.”
Jazz shrugged, slinging her arm over his shoulders and pulling them together to stumble toward their destination.
“I figured. You've never made people feel miserable, not like Spectra does, so I'm not worried about it.”
“Oh.”
“Also, you’re a terrible liar. You wear your heart on your face. It’s hard to be mad at you when you look like you’re about to cry”
“I do not!” He puffed up indignantly, jabbing a finger into her ribs.She laughed for real this time, batting it away and reaching up to ruffle his mess of white hair.
“Suuuure you don’t, Mr ‘It’s a lie I’m not a ghost"
Danny grumbled, following his urge and transforming back to his human form. Gravity sucked his feet a bit harder, and the dry wind seemed more real as it whipped dust up around them. He could still feel his connection to the ghost zone thrumming in his chest - a solid little part that was more him than the flesh he wore. A little core made of ice and staticky screams.
Jazz hugged him a bit closer.
It almost made him feel human again.
“Do you want to talk...about this whole thing?”
Danny shoved his hands into his jean pockets at her offer, looking at the ground as their shoes tossed up blue dust with every step.
“I dunno, man. Probably should, but... “ He glanced up through his bangs. “Could the details wait till we get home?”
Jazz just nodded, and relief washed over him like a physical thing.
---
It took over an hour before the two of them reached the outskirts of the alien city, heads swiveling around as swaying yellow architecture twisted up in coral branches and sweeping canopies of delicate tunnels. Woven shades of orange and red criss-crossed the spaces in precarious bridges, letting cow-sized spiderlike creatures scuttle urgently across.
Danny would be a lot more alarmed had he not been so familiar with the strange anatomy of ghosts, their many-eyed and many-mouthed forms no longer rattling him.
Jazz, however, seemed intent on gluing herself to his side, spine stiffening any time one of the spiderings moved too close.
A few of the doorways were on the ground, instead of halfway up one of the treelike buildings, dozens of pale green eyes watching them pass while curious whispers followed them. Danny took a breath and forged ahead, waving at a spider creature that appeared to make eye contact, calling out a greeting.
It stopped, the little legs around its mouthparts twitching as one of its forelegs curled up to gesture to itself in mild confusion.
“Yes, hello. Nice to meet you. Sorry, we’re a bit lost. Do you know where we are?”
The spider hesitated, a ripple sliding across its furry yellow back, mandibles shifting uncertainly. It hissed, chirped, and made this low warbling growl that seemed to come more from its back than its mouth.
“Er- Sorry, I didn’t understand that.”
It tapped its legs, turning in a circle to face one of the spiders who had paused, chattering quietly. The other one ducked slightly, tilting its orange-streaked body to whisper back.
The first one ruffled its fur up, then started walking away.
It turned slightly, waiting for them when Danny and Jazz didn’t immediately follow.
“Oh! Thank you.”
Danny quickly started following it around the winding roads, Jazz tight behind him and clearly not happy to be here.
“How do we know it’s not going to eat us?”
“Because everyone had plenty of chances already, and they’re treating us more like stray cats than prey.”
Jazz made an unhappy noise, fingering the gun she’d stowed in her jacket pocket.
“Don’t threaten them unless they threaten us first.”
“I know that.” She frowned at him, but Danny was too distracted by the weirdly inorganic building that had come into view.
It wasn’t humanish, since it had way more sides and angles than any human structure would normally have, but it was markedly different from the brightly colored twisting buildings that surrounded it. Made of plain blue-grey stone and gleaming silver metal, with glass-ish doors and a several handles at different heights.
The spider poked a circle near the center of one of the doors, and it slid open with a soft hiss.
“Thank you again!”
Danny waved, bowing a little and scampering through the door.
Jazz hesitated, looking at the fuzzy spider, curling mandibles at eye height and still freaking her out. She bobbed her head a little.
“Thank you.”
It chirped wordlessly and tilted its body, before scuttling around and up the side of the building.
She caught a glimpse of white fangs and a wide pink hole of a mouth, a horrified shiver sliding down her spine.
Jazz caught up with Danny easily enough, catching the tail end of what sounded like an inquiry about earth. The alien behind the counter swiped and poked at a shimmering holographic panel, hemming and hawing and muttering robotic English through the glowing necklace fit high on its throat. Translation collar?
She noticed a small flashing light in the corner of its desk, and the ripple of tension that seemed to spread down the other desks as corresponding lights started silently blinking. It took a moment, but dread sputtered to life when she realized it was probably some sort of silent alarm.
“Danny.” She whispered, tapping the back of her knuckle on his side.
“-and I just mean we would appreciate any information you could give us- what?”
“We should go somewhere else.”
Danny turned toward her, head tilted slightly. Blue eyes widened as he spotted something over her shoulder, and Jazz didn't hesitate to drop to her knees when he shoved her down.
Glass shattered
Heat flashed overhead, and the otherworldly shine of his ecto shield lit up the stone room.
Jazz shoved her hands into her pockets, adrenaline twisting into protective fury as her fingers snatched up the weapons. As fast as she drew them, brandishing her laser lipstick and the stolen gun, Danny had already transformed, fists lighting up.