Warning for death and violence involving a child. Possibly triggering.

"I won't hurt you." He held out his hand to her, smiling softly. She still looked conflicted.

"You're still a stranger…" Her words were soft as she looked down at her shoes, small mary janes. Her white socks poked out the tops, pom poms dangling.

"That's very smart, not to trust strangers." He squatted down to her level. "Did your mom tell you that?"

She nodded, light red hair bobbing, but didn't say anything.

He smiled encouragingly. "Well, I know you're Allie. My name is Danny. It's nice to meet you." This time when he held out his hand, it was sideways for her to shake. She hesitantly did so, blue eyes flicking to meet his. His hand engulfed hers completely. He didn't let go when she did. "We aren't strangers anymore. Can we be friends?"

The little girl bit her lip before slowly nodding. She trusted him, that was good.

"Do you want a piggyback ride?"

There were the magic words. She beamed. "Yes!"

He turned his back to her and she clambered on. After making sure her arms were tight around his neck and she was secure, he stood up. He needed to hurry. He took a couple steps, hearing her giggle, then launched into the air. Her laughter turned into a scream and Danny turned them both intangible. He zoomed over the playground and Amity North Elementary School, quickly leaving behind the trees on the playground they'd been behind. He headed to the forest, ignoring the 'child' on his back's crying. Did she really think she could fool him?

Slowing down, he stopped once they were above a place that was far enough away. He turned the both of them tangible, then shifted himself into intangibility once again. He didn't feel the girl fall through him, but he could definitely see her. He only let her fall for a few seconds before he swooped down and grabbed her arm. The 'child' screamed as he felt the bone give in his grip. He didn't let go and she swung back and forth, still screaming.

The noise grated on his sensitive hearing. "Shut up, Jazz," he snarled. She didn't and he let go again. The girl kept screaming and he rolled his eyes before catching her by the other arm. This time, the bone held. The girl's face was wet with tears and snot. She continued to scream. "Shut up!" Danny bellowed, "Shut up or I won't catch you next time!"

The girl bit her lip and sobbed quietly as she dangled from his grip. She looked at him with fearful, wet blue eyes. Danny knew it was just an act, though. Jazz could be good at pretending. He had almost been tricked the first time. "Please, I'm sorry, please don't."

He pulled her up, so she was closer to his face. "Did you really think you could fool me again, Jazz?"

"I'm Allie," she quietly mumbled.

"Sure you are. Just like you were Kinsey and Brynlee and Paisleigh and Wrigley!" He shook his head. "I've always been smarter than you ever thought I was! I've never been an idiot, Jazz!"

She sniffed. "Can I please go home?"

He took a deep breath, the glow from his green eyes fading. "Of course not, Jazz. We're going to play a game, you know that! Do you want to play hide and seek?"

"No, I don't want to play!" The girl started sobbing hard again. Danny was tired of her pretending. He dropped towards the ground and she screamed again. They stopped a few inches above the ground and he let go of her.

"Go hide, Jazz, and I'll count to a hundred." Her words echoed in his mind 'Let's play hide and seek, Danny. Go hide'. The girl stayed sniveling on the ground and Danny scowled. In an instant, he yanked her up by her collar. She cried out again and he shoved her. "Hide!"

She stumbled, then ran into the forest. Danny smiled slightly, leaning back until he was laying in midair.

"One," he lazily called, "two…"

The counting echoed through the forest, blessedly quiet after Jazz's screams. He didn't know why she pretended like this every time. It was annoying. He didn't complain too much though. It was nice to see her again so much, after so many years. He'd missed her.

"Sixty-six, sixty-seven, sixty-eight…"

Counting was always the most boring part. He hated having to count so high. It couldn't be something easy like ten. It had to be a hundred. It took forever and sometimes Danny lost count. Now he couldn't hear anything other than his counting. The girl's ragged breaths had faded away into the distance. She was probably far enough now, but Danny had to finish out to a hundred. Those were the rules.

"Ninety-four, ninety-five, ninety-six, ninety-seven…"

He straightened himself so he hovered vertically, grinning with excited anticipation. He rotated until he was facing the way she'd run first. Jazz never made it hard, she always ran and hid in the same direction.

"Ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred."

He shot off straight into the forest. He slowed down after a minute – Jazz wasn't always very fast. If he flew by too quickly, by the time he stopped he would have passed her. Now he drifted along at a quick walking speed, listening for Jazz's breathing.

There.

Turning invisible, he glided around and behind a bush a few feet ahead. The girl was sitting cross-legged on the ground, cradling her fractured forearm and crying quietly with her lips pressed together. Danny leaned around her to look into her face and dropped his invisibility. "Found you."

She screamed and jolted backwards, then screamed again when she bumped her arm.

Danny leaned back and folded his arms. "That was a really dumb hiding place, Jazz. Hide again."

She didn't move.

Scowling, Danny bent down and pulled her to her feet. "Hide again, Jazz."

"No!" She pulled away from him, taking several steps backwards. "I don't want to hide. I want to go home!"

"We're playing a game, Jazz. Go hide."

She stomped her foot. "My name is Allie and I don't want to play this stupid game. I want to go home, right now!"

Hands blurring, Danny grabbed her shoulders and yanked her back in front of him. "I told you to hide."

"No!" She screamed. "I don't wanna!"

Why didn't Jazz want to play anymore? It was her idea – it was all her idea! Danny never wanted to play hide and seek but she made him. He didn't want to play, but he was because she wanted to. She couldn't just say she didn't want to. She made him play, she had to play too! "Hide!" He roared, shaking her back and forth viciously.

Her head snapped back and forth, and then he heard a kind of cracking noise. He stopped shaking her and her head lolled limply. Keeping her up with one hand, he used his other to lift her head. Her eyes were blank.

He grinned. Finally, she was hiding again. He didn't know why she always chose stupid spots like bushes and trees at first – that wasn't hiding. He lifted her last hiding spot and flew over to where he put all her other hiding spots, dropping it. Now, he needed to go home for dinner and he could start looking for her new hiding spot tomorrow.

His parents were quiet when he got home, like always. They sort of ate dinner, but both gave up and retreated to the lab halfway through. Danny didn't know why they still acted so sad. Maybe they didn't know Jazz wasn't dead, just playing hide and seek? Or, maybe they were pretending too, playing the game with them. Danny giggled as he put another forkful of mashed potatoes in his mouth. Sometimes he would get tired of this game, but it was mostly fun. He wondered where Jazz was hiding now. Thinking hard, he finished his dinner and went up to bed. Ghosts didn't bother him anymore – they knew he didn't like it when they interrupted the game.

He hated the sound of his alarm. It was so annoying. He dressed quickly, then transformed and headed out the window. Mom and Dad never checked to see if he had gone or not.

For some reason, today everyone was driving their kids, not walking. Weird. Normally he'd be walking to meet Sam and Tucker too, but Jazz wanted him to play again today. She wanted to play so often now. It used to only be once every few months, then weeks. Today was the first time she wanted to play two days in a row. Danny wasn't going to argue with her though. The bell rang as he hovered over Edgar Allen Poe Elementary School, scanning the students, looking for Jazz. He was about to fly away when one last car drove up. He drifted down a bit as the car door opened.

"Have a good day, Ashlynne!" A man yelled from the car as a little girl with light red hair and a blue bow jumped from the car.

"Love you Daddy!" she called back, slamming the door and sprinting around the school, obviously headed for the third grade portables. The car that dropped her off drove away and Danny landed behind her, becoming visible again.

"Ashlynne!" He took a step forward.

The girl looked over her shoulder, then stopped and turned around. "Danny Phantom!" She ran towards him, then stopped, frowning. "I'm late, I can't talk. I'm sorry."

"No, Ashlynne," Danny quickly spoke up, "It's okay. Your teacher will be okay if you're late if you're with me."

She bit her lip. "Really?"

"Yes." He nodded reassuringly. Extending a hand, Danny asked her, "Do you want to play hide and seek?"

Whoops, I turned Danny into an insane, delusional serial killer. This is my first time publishing anything like this, please tell me what you think. I want to know how you felt reading it and how I can improve.