Chapter Text
Chapter 1: A New Friend
The news was definitely unexpected. No heads up. No hints. Her dad hadn’t given away anything. Nothing along those lines! It was going to be an interesting adjustment, to say the least. Something she didn’t think she could do. Her dad definitely didn’t think it through. She had told him so when he told ther the news. As well as a few other things. He didn’t appreciate that. And he made it clear. Very clear. The descision had been made. Without her. It was final. She was going to live on Earth. And there was nothing she could do about it.
“Dad…” she groaned at the door to the portal leading to her new home. Her dad had stayed behind, but she just felt better whining about the whole thing.
She had a faded purple suitcase with her that her friend had given her that one time. Her pale pink hood was supposed to help keep her hair out of the way. It did not. It just made her light blue hair get in her eyes way more. If she had more motivation to do something besides whine into the ether, she would take the cropped hoodie off completely. Instead, she just kept swatting the strands out of her purple-gray eyes.
She wished she had a watch. Maybe then she would know it had only been four minutes instead of the hours it felt. Because of the whining. And possibly wondering if her white thermal suit would look out of place on Earth. It was fine in the Infinite Realms, but who knew how weird fashion was on Earth.
The portal doors slid open, showing the room on the other side. It had metal walls with metal tables all along one side of the room. Some of them were cluttered with all sorts of lab equipment. A few she recognized from home. Some unfinished ghost hunting weapons. A control panel was to her left as she floated in. She would have landed, but the whole room was covered in ectoplasm. She was pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to be.
A teenage boy with black hair and blue eyes stood in front of the portal. His white NASA shirt and blue jeans were covered in the gooey green stuff too. He was breathing heavily. A thermos with green lettering on the side of it was in his hands. At least something recognizable was greeting her.
“Hey, Gwyn,” he said, out of breath. “Sorry for the wait. This jerk showed up and wrecked the lab.”
Gwyn looked at the thermos he was now holding up to her. She let out a sigh. “It’s fine, Danny. Who was it? Technus? The Box Ghost?”
“Neither, just an ecto-pus. It was a pain to catch, though,” Danny groaned, waving her to come in.
"I'm guessing you want to try and clean this up. Pretty sure your parents would appreciate it.” Gwyn found a clean place to land. “Want some help?”
“Yeah, if you don’t mind. It’s a lot.” Danny rubbed the back of his neck.
“I don’t mind. Least I can do is help clean since I’m staying here now.” Gwyn set her bag to the side as she looked around for some cleaning supplies.
Danny passed her a mop. “...about that. I had to fudge the truth a bit to get my parents to agree to let you stay.”
“Fudge it?” Gwyn stopped her mop before it touched a large puddle of ectoplasm. “What do you mean fudge it? Fudge it how?”
Danny started cleaning up a nearby puddle of green ooze. He didn’t answer or look at her. “Well…I may have told them you were from somewhere not in the Ghost Zone.”
“You-you told them-but you-you were supposed to-!” Gwyn gave an incredulous look.
“You think my ghost hunter parents would let a known ghost stay in their house?” Danny defended.
“You live here, so duh I thought that!” Gwyn immediately changed to her human form. Auburn hair, plain sweater, brown eyes, lack of ghostly glow. “What if they figure it out? I’m supposed to be safer here! That was the whole point of dad forcing me here!”
“I’ve been hiding it from them for two years now. Just don’t broadcast it when they’re around. Besides, they’re not that dangerous. We can avoid their ghost-hunting equipment,” Danny answered, his tone somewhere between aggravated and defensive.
Gwyn covered her eyes with her hands, a groan leaving her mouth. “Danny…”
The two stood in the midst of the ectoplasmic mess. A tense, at least for Gwyn, silence filled the air. The room had an eerie green glow from the goo covering the place. It brought her slight comfort. Her hands migrated to her long hair, absently pulling on it slightly as she took control of her breathing.
“Sorry, it’s-it’s fine. I’m just-nevermind. Dad always tells me not to ruin an apology with an excuse…” Gwyn leaned against the wall.
“I probably should have given you a heads-up before you got here.” Danny at least looked a touch sheepish at the admission. “But you’ll get used to it, and Sam, Tucker, and I are here to help. Plus Jazz.”
Gwyn looked at him. “So what did you tell your parents about me?”
“You’re my pen pal from Alaska, who’s transferring to Casper High this semester.” Danny sat down next to her.
“...I guess that’ll work.”
“There’s, um, one more thing… I didn’t tell them how we met…”
“Well, I mean, if you didn’t tell your parents I’m part ghost, it would make sense you didn’t-”
“No, I mean my friends. I just told them I met you on one of my trips to the Far Frozen. You know, when I go over for some practice with my ice powers.
“Danny!” Gwyn groaned, “why?”
“I just…haven’t gotten around to telling them yet,” Danny rubbed the back of his neck.
Gwyn took a long breath from her nose. “I’m going to help clean, then I’m going to my room to unpack and process everything.”
Danny followed behind and grabbed his own cleaning supplies. “Good news is my parents won’t be back for a while.”
Gwyn absently nodded. She really shouldn’t be so worked up. Danny had told her he hadn’t told his parents about his being part ghost. Why should she expect him to spill his biggest secret? Maybe it was just the left over frustration with her dad.
It was going to be okay. Though she didn’t like how she had got there, she was going to live on Earth with her friend. It was all going to work out. All she had to do was hide her powers. Not to difficult. She had done it before. Just, maybe this time, not to the same level so as not to hurt herself. Again. She could handle this. Her dad wouldn’t have sent her somewhere dangerous.
It took about two hours, but they finally got the last of the ectoplasm cleaned up. Danny released the ecto-pus into the Ghost Zone before the two teens walked up the stairs to the kitchen. It had gray-blue tile on the walls. Lime green cabinets. The basic kitchen appliances were scattered throughout the room. A round metal dining table sat in the middle of the room with matching chairs.
Danny led her through the living room before finally showing her to the guest room next to his bedroom on the second floor. The room had sage green walls and wood floors. A silver-gray carpet lay across the middle of the floor. A twin bed was nestled against the wall. Two windows were sitting on either side of it. There was a wooden bedside table on both sides with white lamps. A cushioned bench rested against the end of the bed in place of a baseboard. A desk was situated against the far wall with basic office supplies and a rolling office chair. It was definitely different from her home, but she kind of liked it. It wasn’t too cold to where she couldn’t stay in her human form.
“I’m next door, and Jazz’ll be across the hall.” Danny held the door open for her.
Gwyn walked to the bed and put her suitcase at the foot of it. “And your parents?”
“Down the hall,” Danny replied. “I should warn you; my dad snores.”
“I’ve slept through worse, but thanks for the heads up.”
“Do you need any help unpacking?”
“No, I don’t have much…most of my clothes are from my…my mom.”
“First thing we’ll do once you’re settled is go to the mall and get you some new stuff then.”
“Sounds awesome, but could I be alone for a bit? I’m a little tired…”
“No problem. I’ll be in my room. Have some homework to do. If I miss one more assignment, Lancer’ll kill me.”
“Hard to kill somesthing that’s already dead.”
Danny shrugged. “He’ll still try.”
Gwyn huffed a laugh as he shut the door. It didn’t take much effort to open her suitcase and put away the small amount of clothes she had. And absolutely none whatsoever to flop onto the bed afterward. The room was warm and cozy. She liked being able to be human without freezing. But nothing beat home. She was already missing it. How was she going to handle going to school and dealing with humans if she was already homesick?
At some point she had dozed off. Glancing at the digital clock told her it was dinnertime. The flight from her home to Danny’s was long and tiresome. And that was beisdes the other stuff she had done beforehand.
A knock on the door. Danny’s voice called out before he opened it. “Dinner’s ready, Gwyn.”
“I’m coming,” Gwyn sighed.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” Danny approached the bed.
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired. You’ve made the flight. You know.” Gwyn got up. “Let’s eat, I guess.”
“Just a heads up, my parents are back, and Jazz is too.”
Gwyn followed the teenage boy down the stairs and into the kitchen once more. There was a rather large man in a bright orange hazmat suit at the table. He looked to be about as tall as her dad. Maybe six feet even? He had black hair that was starting to gray around his ears. His blue eyes twinkled with a seemingly permanent sense of joy.
Standing further into the room was a middle-aged woman. She had auburn hair, much like Gwyn’s, that was cut short. It looked nice paired with the blue hazmat suit she wore. Her purple eyes focused on the soup she had on the stove.
An older teen, possibly eighteen by the looks of her, sat at the table with a book. From the title, Gwyn assumed it was about psychology. Her red hair was pulled back by a light blue headband, leaving her aqua-blue eyes unhindered as she read. She was dressed in a black long-sleeved shirt and blue pants that matched her headband.
“Mom, dad, Jazz,” Danny called from the doorway, “this is Gwyn.”
The woman cooking soup turned around with a kind smile. “Well hello, Gwyn.”
“Welcome to Fenton Works!” The man boisterously proclaimed.
Gwyn waved, standing slightly behind Danny. She absently started playing with her sleeves as her friend led her to the table. She sat between him and who she assumed was his sister Jazz. The older girl had put her book down as the two sat.
“Nice to meet another friend of Danny’s,” Jazz greeted.
“It’s a pleasure to meet Danny’s family,” Gwyn said, forcing the slight quiver out of her voice. She pulled her feet up into the chair with her. “Thanks for letting me stay here.”
“Our pleasure.” Mrs. Fenton brought the soup to the table.
“Any friend of Danny’s is welcome any time.” Mr. Fenton beamed as his wife sat next to him.
“How did you two meet? Danny mentioned you were pen pals, but he never mentioned how you two got in touch in the first place.” Mrs. Fenton amicably inquired.
Gwyn fiddled with her sleeve a bit more. “Um, well…it’s been a while, so I don’t fully remember.”
“We met online, on a Doomed event. There was a one-time boss thing going on and we were randomly teamed up with a few other people,” Danny explained with zero hesitation.
“Oh, I see. Do you enjoy playing video games?” Mrs. Fenton started to serve the food. It looked like potato soup.
“Kind of. I prefer reading or drawing, but every now and then I play.” Gwyn gladly took a bowl. “I’m afraid I cost us some xp on that boss fight. Danyy’s been showing me some stuff to help me improve.”
Danny smirked as he took his dinner. “You’re actually pretty good. Just a nervous starter.”
“Wow, not like my dad says that or anything.” Gwyn gave a wry smile.
“Almost like I’ve heard him say it once or twice,” Danny teased.
“You ‘heard’ her father?” Mr. Fenton paused eating his dinner.
“Oh, yeah…we started video chatting a bit after getting acquainted.” Danny shovelled a spoonful of food into his mouth.
Mr. Fenton nodded before going back to eating. The family started having small conversations about the day. Asking how Gwyn’s flight was. How Danny’s schoolwork was coming along. How the two hunters almost caught a ghost in the park before Phantom had gotten in the way.
Once everyone was finished, Mrs. Fenton turned her attention back to her guest. “Now, we should go over somethings. We have some house rules I believe you should know.
“I’m sure Danny-boy has told you about our job as the best ghost hunters around!” Mr. Fenton boasted.
“Yea, he mentioned something like that before,” Gwyn nodded.
“Well, our lab is in the basement. For your safety, you won’t be allowed down there unless one of us is with you. Just to be sure you’re not exposed to anything.” Mr. Fenton pointed at the basement door vaguely.
“Second, we have a curfew for Danny that we think you should follow as well. Unless previously discussed, you should be back here by ten every night,” Mrs. Fenton added.
“And, in case of a ghost attack, you need to follow the safety procedures and get as far away as possible.” Mr. Fenton almost jumped out of his seat as he gave his wife a side hug. “Leave the ghost to the professionals.”
“Yes ma’am and sir,” Gwyn nodded.
Mr. Fenton’s grin somehow widened more. “Don’t you worry about any ghost, though. The Fenton’s will send them running for their afterlife!”
“The final thing we wanted to tell you is that we would like you to help around the house once you’ve settled in,” Mrs. Fenton finished.
“That’s only fair. Dad had me help clean the lab back home,” Gwyn stated.
“Your father has a lab? What does he do?” Mr. Fenton leaned over his son to get closer to her.
“Oh, he’s…” Gwyn went back to playing with her sleeves. “He’s the leading scientist back home. He does a lot of research on anything that could be useful for the community.”
Technically, not a lie.
“Does he have any research on ghosts? I would like to discuss the effects of ectoplasm on humans. A fresh perspective is always welcome,” Mrs. Fenton mused.
“He has a few thoughts,” Gwyn mumbled. The attention was starting to get a little uncomfortable.
“In other news,” Jazz interjected, “Danny mentioned you’re going to start classes at Casper High.”
“Yeah, I start Monday.” Gwyn kept her eyes on her food. Did they have to keep asking her questions? Didn’t anyone else want to talk?
“Do you have everything you need for school?” Mrs. Fenton asked.
Gwyn internally groaned though she was glad she at least knew the answer to that question. She had no idea how Danny got her enrolled in the first place. “I have most of my supplies, just not my textbooks. I can just share Danny’s until I get them if I have to. Or one of his friends.”
“Well, don’t hesitate to tell us if you need anything.” Mrs. Fenton gave her another warm smile.
“Of course,” Gwyn smiled back before standing. “I’m kind of tired. I’m gonna go lay down. Nice to meet you all.”
Mrs. Fenton gathered some of the dirty dishes. “It was nice to meet you too. Get some rest. I’m sure the flight was tiring.”
“My arms sure would be,” Mr. Fenton beamed.
Of course, a dad joke. Gwyn gave a polite smile before leaving her dishes in the sink and walking out of the room. She was sure the family wanted to spend some time together anyway. No reason she should keep them from family time. A little twinge of an emotion she didn’t want to feel passed through her. She quickly squashed it and returned to her room. She pulled out a lavender hoodie. It was obviously two sizes too big. One of the only pieces of clothing that were truly hers. It still smelled of soured lemons and lavender. She pulled it on and sat at the desk. She didn’t even look as she grabbed her drawing pad and pencils. As if in a trance, she began to draw.