Thank you Amywxue, Jae B, MsFrizzle, SmartMcSmartle, and DarkShadowKun for the reviews!

Beware the dark side of the Moon.

Moon
A Danny Phantom Fanfiction by Cordria

Chapter 2: Hiding Truths

Tucker, Jazz, and Sam

Tucker scowled and dropped his head onto his arms, ignoring his biology teacher in favor of gazing at the empty desk next to him. Danny had finally come out of his coma, finally was back home again… and where was his best friend, confidant, and wing man in all video games? By his side?

No he wasn't. He was at school. Trapped in a desk. Listening to something about - Tucker took a moment to focus on the board - the differences between cellular mitotic divisions and cellular meiotic divisions.

That didn't bother to mention how incredibly warm it was in school that day. Tucker's shirt was starting to itch around the collar. He reached up to absent scratch, returning his gaze to the empty chair. He wanted to be at the Fenton's house. The trio of friends had talked over how Danny would break the news to his parents a number of times. Every one of the plans had involved the three of them talking to the adults. Not a single plan had ever mentioned leaving Danny alone to face his parents. Especially after what happened last night.

Tucker frowned and started to pick at the peeling edge of his desk. The way Danny had collapsed had been odd. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton had kept repeating that it was because he had been so sick, that the doctors had said not to push him too far, that Danny just needed more rest.

But there was no denying that Danny had been glowing for a few seconds. Twitching. Screaming. There was no way he'd simply collapsed from exhaustion.

There was a ghost involved. Tucker was willing to bet every one of his computers on the fact. Even the new one with the eight-core processor and liquid cooling system. There was simply the question of which ghost had done it. Or which ghost-obsessed human.

Eyes narrowing - with a quick glance up at the teacher, finding her still completely involved in her own lecture - Tucker snuck his hand into his pocket and pulled out his PDA. Not bothering to keep it below the level of his desk, Tucker switched on the wi-fi and pulled up a news article he'd seen earlier: Kidnapper Jessica Oscura Escapes in Massive Explosion.

His eyes scanned over the lengthy text, trying to filter out all the media hype and guestimation to find the actual facts. The woman had apparently blown up a section of a prison in North Carolina, miraculously managing to not kill anyone. Several of the guards reported that she'd been accompanied by an angel as she had made her escape with her brother, Freakshow. Then she'd vanished. Eighteen hours of extensive searching of the area had, so far, brought no new leads as to where she might have gone.

Tucker tapped his fingers lightly against the top of his desk as he thought about that, absently turning his gaze towards the board. The teacher was moving strangely colored X's around inside circles. Then he looked down again.

Head tipping to the side, Tucker swiped his fingers on the screen. The article returned to the top and the zoomed in on the byline. Author. Date. Time.

"Oh my God," Tucker whispered. "That's the same time Danny collapsed." Brain starting to make connections, Tucker scrolled down the screen to stare at the quotes by the prison guards. A green angel. Glowing. Floating. Danny?

"But…" He clicked the button to turn the screen off, turning the PDA upside down, confused. "But Danny was in Amity Park. That's almost a thousand miles away." In front of the class, the teacher gestured towards something that looked like a snowman. "How could he have been there?"

He turned to look at the empty desk Danny should have been sitting in. "What's going on?"

Jazz was skipping school. Not technically, she supposed - her mother had called her in and the school had been so nice about letting her have a few days off to help her brother - but in her mind, Jazz knew she was skipping school. It simultaneously made her gut knot in worry over breaking the rules and caused a slightly heady 'I'm breaking the rules' sensation that brought unconscious smiles to her face.

Still in her pajamas, flipping idly through daytime TV, Jazz glanced over at her brother. He was pretending to be asleep again. "I know you're awake," she said.

"No I'm not," he murmured after a moment. "Leave me alone."

"You twitch in your sleep," Jazz informed him with a grin. "When you're faking it, you hold too still."

A blue eye opened to gaze at her. "I don't twitch," he informed her furiously.

"Sure you do." She turned her attention back to the TV. "Oh, Judge Judy."

"You can't tell me you actually like Judge Judy," Danny complained after a few more minutes of pretend sleep. "Change the channel, I beg you."

Jazz arched an eyebrow, not bothering to send Danny the look that comment deserved. "What do you care, you're asleep, remember?"

She watched Danny shift and push himself back into a sitting position. "Fine. So I'm not asleep. Now can you please-"

"Mom! Danny's awake!" Jazz yelled, finally acquiescing to the demand and flipping over to Lifetime with a sadistic grin. She could hear footsteps on the basement stairs. Both of their parents had been downstairs in the lab, working on some new invention. "Say Yes to the Dress marathon. Awesome."

Paling slightly, Danny shot her a dark look. "You evil little… I don't know what's worse," he muttered, "the TV show or Mom."

Jazz set down the remote and leaned back in her chair. "They just want to talk, Danny. You didn't really get a chance to finish explaining things to them last night before you…" she trailed off, an uneasy feeling settling in her stomach. "…Fainted."

Danny's lips were pressed tightly together, his eyes wide and anxious. "I don't want to talk," he said softly. "I just…" He shrugged halfheartedly, then flinched when the sound of the basement door opening and closing filtered into the living room.

He was shaking so badly Jazz could see it from her spot on the recliner. "It's going to be okay, Danny. Relax."

Then he was gone. No wisps of haze, no soft blurring. He was simply gone. The blanket that had been tangled around his legs collapsed empty to the couch.

Jazz stared at the spot where her brother had been, startled, her mouth undoubtedly hanging open. "Danny?" Her eyes trailed up to meet the blank gaze of her mother.

"Where's your brother? He's supposed to be resting," Maddie said, one hand on her hip.

Jazz's mouth moved a few times, searching for something to say. "Bathroom?" she finally came up with, wincing at the uncertain note in her voice.

Lips thinning, her mother closed her eyes and shook her head. "Alright." The word was soft and empty.

Jazz watched as Maddie turned around and walked back out of view. There was the sound of a chair scraping in the kitchen, then silence. Guilt surged in Jazz's chest. Chewing on her lip, Jazz sat there a moment, debating what to say, before getting up and slipping into the kitchen herself. She settled down in one of the other chairs, intending to explain to her mother a few things about Danny. Like how he disappeared like this all the time.

But her mother was crying.

There was a strange feeling in Jazz's heart at the sight. A breaking sensation that drove spikes of terror and helplessness into her mind. She sat there, not knowing what to do or what to say. Jazz Fenton, psychotherapist-in-training, she-who-always-knew-what-to-say, found herself simply threading her fingers together in her lap and staring at the scratches in the kitchen table, the conversation she'd intended to have gone from her mind like it had never existed.

Her mother was one of the strongest people in the world. Nothing had ever broken her - not the deaths of her parents, not the physical and emotional attacks from the world at large at her choice of lifestyle, not when she'd thought Danny was dead… not even the ghosts. She'd cried before, sure, but it hadn't ever been this broken, empty sound. Jazz felt herself starting to worry that the family she'd always depended on - her strong, quirky, completely abnormal family - might be starting to fall apart at the seams.

The sounds her mother was making pulled straight at Jazz's soul. She couldn't help it. Soon she was swiping at tears on her own cheeks.

That's when a warm hand curled around her fingers. Jazz looked up into her mother's reddened eyes. Gazed into the tiny smile that formed on her mother's face. "It'll be okay, Sweetheart," Maddie whispered. "Trust me."

"You are supposed to be resting." Sam looked up from her milkshake at the Nasty Burger just long enough to fix her best friend with a glare. He looked horrible - white and pasty with a strange sheen to his skin that was normally associated with a very high fever. Sam's glare instantly faded away to a look of concern. "You okay?"

Danny shifted his weight from foot to foot, then basically collapsed into a chair opposite her. "I just… Mom wanted to talk… and I…" He trailed off. "Yeah."

"Articulate," Sam complimented sarcastically, licking a lost bit of vanilla milkshake off her lip as she continued to study her friend. "I almost know what you're talking about."

"Danny," Tucker said in surprise, dropping into an empty seat with a large triple bacon burger. He instantly surrendered his fries, but Danny didn't reach over to grab one. "What are you doing here? And, don't take this the wrong way," Tucker stopped to take a bite, talking around the mouthful, "but you look horrible." Sam shot him a disgusted look, but held back on the comment.

Danny scowled at Tucker. "I just couldn't be home anymore. I don't want to talk about… it."

"You're going to have to eventually. You can't hide at the Nasty Burger forever." Tucker finally swallowed his bite.

"Yeah, and you really should be home." Sam stared at her friend, watching him slump in his seat, his eyes nearly closed with exhaustion, then shook her head and reached for her backpack. "You look really sick. I'm gonna call your parents."

"No!" Danny shot up, eyes wide. "I don't… I can't… Sam please. Just wait a few minutes." His voice had a desperate pitch to it that slowed Sam's hand. "Please."

Sam glanced from her hand to Danny and back, then sighed and retreated from her backpack. "Fine. A few minutes."

Danny's eyes closed and he collapsed back against the chair. "Thanks."

"What are you so afraid of, anyways?" Tucker asked. "You were all for talking to them last night."

"Yeah, with you two there," he replied sullenly. "And you didn't see the look on my mom's face this morning."

"We'll come with you," Sam offered with a smile, worriedly watching the way Danny was draped bonelessly over the chair. "We always told you we'd be there when you talked to them."

Danny's return smile was small. "Thanks."

Silence fell as Tucker chewed through his burger. Tucker swallowed noisily and asked the question Sam couldn't bring herself to ask. "So what happened last night?"

As Sam had predicted, Danny's smile vanished. "I fainted," he said blandly, looking away.

"Yeah… no," Tucker shot back. "Try again."

Danny scowled and rubbed his hand on his temples. "I don't… remember." The last word came out as almost a sigh.

"That doesn't sound like a good thing," Sam said, pushing away the nearly-forgotten milkshake in favor of resting her arms on the table.

"No, it-" Danny froze, mid head-shake, as his body shuddered violently and mist escaped from his mouth. The entire table went still for a heartbeat. "No…" Danny's eyes were wide as he stared over his shoulder.

"Danny, no." Sam reached forwards and grabbed his hand tightly in his. "You can't. You-"

"Someone'll get hurt," Danny whispered, but he hadn't moved, still gazing over his shoulder.

"Your parents can take care of it." Tucker joined in the argument, setting down the remains of his triple bacon burger. "The three of us can hide out at my house."

Sam nodded in agreement, knowing that Tucker's house was the closest of the three. "Come on," she cajoled. "I'll order pizza." Danny's head turned around to gaze into her eyes and Sam had less than a moment to realize what was going to happen. "Danny, NO!"

But he was already gone.

To be continued.