-Cracks the door open-

-Throws chapter into room full of starved reviewers, followers and favoriters-

''I'M SORRY PLEASE DON'T HURT ME''

-Slams the door and run for my life-

When team Phantom finally got back to the Fenton household, they silently got everything back in place and erased every last trace of their escapade. When they were done, Tucker, wanting to change the mood, proposed: ''Anybody up for some Doom?''

His proposition was answered with some half muttered responses and humming. The trio got upstairs, and threw themselves on the comfortable couches, starting the console version of their favorite video game. After a few moments of uncomfortable playing in silence, Sam finally decided to say something

''You know Danny, it might not be that bad… I mean, I know that right now it doesn't seem like it, but we'll find a way to get your writing back. I mean, we still got Frostbite and Clockwork, and if we don't, we'll find something else, like we always do.''

Danny, not looking very convinced, nodded slowly. But then, his face scrunched up again '' But Sam… You heard Writer… '' His voice got down to a whisper and broke a little '' It's also a spoken language. What if….''

Tucker cut him off ''We'll deal with it if it comes to that man. But I'm sure that we'll find a solution before that, if it evens comes to it''. Danny hummed hesitantly, his face looking like a dejected puppy. The three teens played some more Doom, and, with the help of his two best friends, Danny started to look a little bit happier. As they were playing, they started to plan for the two other trips they would have to take to the ghost zone. They decided to go as soon as possible, while the Fentons were still at their ghost convention. When Sam and Tucker left later that night, Danny actually was in a good mood.

The two other trips were failures. Frostbite was particularly happy to see them, but was of absolutely no help. Still, he was interested in the phenomena and asked Tucker and Sam for a copy of their notes and test results, and of course, asked Danny for a sample of his writing.

The visit to Clockwork's lair wasn't better. The door to his tower was closed and wouldn't open no matter how much asking, begging and screaming they did. They considered trying to pass through the walls, but finally decided that angering the master of time wasn't worth probably getting told the same things again.

School was getting harder and harder. Danny was writing more and more in ghost language, and it was getting more complicated every time for Sam and Tucker to correct Danny's papers. Two days after their last trip to the ghost zone, they had an exam. Danny was literally panicking, because he wouldn't be able to give his paper to his friend due to the teacher surveillance.

The day before the exam, he was pacing in his room, Sam was sitting on the bed, and Tucker in Danny's computer chair. '' What am I going to do!?'' He shouted angrily, throwing his arms in the air. '' I can't pass you my paper because Lancer will think we're cheating, and my grades are already down the toilet with all the ghost fighting, so I can't fail this test too! And that's without talking about the fact that if anyone discover exactly what I'm writing, my secret's going to be out in a whiff!''

Sam was trying to calm her friend, but she had to recognize that Danny had a point ''Please Danny, I know it's bad, but…. We'll help you more with your homework so you can get your grade up? And, for your secret, if you, a ghost, didn't even know what was ghost language, how do you think Lancer will?'' Tucker nodded ''She's right bro, Lancer won't be able to tell what is it, and it's not like he could find that information on the internet. Believe me, I've tried. He'll probably just think that your horrible writing just got worse.''

Danny stopped pacing, looked at Tucker, and half-shouted, half-wined '' Hey! My writing isn't that bad!'' Tucker grinned ''Yeah, you're right, it's not bad… it's horrible, have you even seen…'' Sam muted the two boys friendly bickering. It seemed that Tucker little quip snapped Danny out of his anxious state. As the boy continued to argue in the background, her mind started to wander.

''…am? Hellloooooo?'' Suddenly, Danny was calling her, waving his hand in front of her eyes. ''Sorry, I spaced out''. Tucker snorted '' We saw that. It's our third time calling you'' Danny smiled ''Tucker wants to go to the Nasty Burger.''.

Sam got up, gladly accepting the distraction '' Well, let's go! '' Anything to keep Danny's mind off his ghostly troubles.

The next day, Danny woke up early. Not that he had enough sleep, or that is alarm woke him up. He was woken up by a nightmare.

The dream began with Danny sitting in Lancer's class. Suddenly, the bald teacher asked Danny to go answer a question on the class board. Danny, sweating bullocks, shakily got up from his seat and got to the board. He slowly took a piece of chalk, bringing it against the board smooth black surface. He focused all of his willpower toward his writing, wishing it to be English. When he was done, he looked at his answer, which seemed fine to him.

Sighing in relief, Danny turned around to go back to his seat, when he caught sight of Lancer, who was staring at him with a perplexed look on his face. Suddenly, Danny wasn't relieved anymore. He accelerated the pace to get back on his chair, but then Mickey asked

'' Isn't that ghost language?'. Pure dread crept up Danny's spine. Suddenly, everyone in the class was looking at him. There were looks of fear, disgust, anger… And then the whispering started.

''Freak''

''Monster''

''Abomination''

''You shouldn't exist''

''Get away from me!''

Danny bolted out of the classroom, running as fast as he could. After that, the dream just spiraled into an incoherent mess of the Guys in White attacking him, his parents turning on him and some other things he couldn't remember and didn't want too.

Unable to go back to sleep, Danny decided to just get up already. He jumped in the shower, the cold water helping him wash the lingering feeling of pure fear that his nightmare left him with. With a lot of time left before anyone would be down for breakfast, Danny decided to study a little bit more for today's exam. It took him a little while to get into it, but when he did, it was one of his best study sessions in a while. Complete silence and no interruption were something that Danny rarely had when he studied. After an hour, Danny was feeling kind of ready for this test, and some noise announced that Danny was not the only one awake anymore.

Danny got out of his room, made it down the stairs into the kitchen and greeted Jazz, who was making herself some coffee. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, and giving Danny a surprised look she asked

''You're up? At this hour? How come?''

Danny tried to think fast. He never got up in time, normally stretching every single minute of sleep he could get between ghost attacks. But the more he was thinking, the more the look on Jazz's face was becoming suspicious. Knowing very well that his sister was able to read him very well (too well for his own liking), Danny decided to tell her part of the truth.

''I had a nightmare and couldn't go back to sleep''

Jazz nodded, acknowledging that she accepted his answer. '' Wanna talk about it?''

''No'' Danny answered

Jazz frowned '' Well, if you ever change your mind, you know where to find me. Want some cereal?'' She offered him the box. Danny shook his head. Even if he wasn't in a panic anymore, the sheer thought of his exam was making him nauseous. He wasn't hungry at all.

The frown on his sister's face deepened ''Come on, you skip so many meals, you need to eat at least something. Anything you'd like?'' Not feeling like having his sister over around him all morning long, Danny decided to try to please his sibling.

''Do we still have some of those peanut granola bars?'' Jazz nodded, opened the cupboard, foraged a little and finally threw him a bar. She sat down at the table with him, eating her cereals while he half-heartedly nipped at his snack.

Jazz looked like she wanted to press him more about what was worrying him, but since she knew how he could clam up when he didn't want to talk about something, she let it go. Putting on a smile to mask her worry, she cheerfully asked

''Want me to drive you to school today?''

''Sure'' Danny normally preferred to get to school on his own, but despite being wide awake, Danny was exhausted. The bus was a no-go and he felt too tired to walk or fly to school, so he gladly accepted his sister offer.

''Great! We're leaving in ten!''

Danny was sitting on his chair, waiting for exams to be passed. He was so anxious he felt like he could faint. That must have shown, because when Lancer putted a test, face-down, on Danny's desk, he paused his distribution and looked at Danny, a slightly worried look on his face.

''Are you alright mister Fenton?'' Danny quickly nodded, rubbing the back of his neck ''Yeah, just didn't sleep well tonight'' He tried to smile at Lancer, but it got out looking more like a grimace. Lancer didn't look convinced

''Very well.'' The teacher continued his test distribution, but still gave Danny some side looks from time to time.

Tucker and Sam turned toward Danny, smiling encouragingly. Tucker gave him a pat on the shoulder. '' Breathe dude, it's gonna be alright''. Sam just gave him a thumbs up. And then, just like that, Lancer finally started to give instructions for the test. After a little babbling, everyone turned their sheets and got to work.

It was finally over. With a big part of the stress and anxiety gone, Danny felt like knelling over in a corner and sleeping the rest of the week off. Unfortunately, the ghosts didn't care. There were two attacks that day. One of them Skulker, and one of them the Box Ghost. The fight with Skulker ended with Danny sporting a nasty gash on his side, which Tucker bandaged expertly in the boy's bathroom during lunch.

At that point, Danny was simply wasted, so when the Box Ghost showed up, the fight turned into a bad comedy show. Danny actually got buried under piles of boxes, and accidentally turned back into human form. At that point, Sam and Tucker came and save the day with a few well-placed wrist-ray shots and the help of a trusty Fenton thermos. Danny was still stuck under a gigantic pile of cardboard boxes, too wasted to use his intangibility. At this point, his friend had to dig him out by hand.

When he finally got back home, Danny went straight to his room and crashed face-first on his bed, almost instantly falling asleep.

-The following weekend-

Lancer just made himself a cup of his favorite tea. He brought it to his living room, and sat in a big comfortable green chair and opened his work suitcase. He started grading this week's test. Most of his students did pretty well. He was happily grading, when he stumbled upon Danny Fenton's copy. He started reading the answers out, but after only a few seconds, he brought his hand to his face, rubbing his eyes.

He finally decided to go get his prescription glasses. He had them for a while but never wore them because his view definitively wasn't this bad and they didn't look... how do the kids say it… ''hip''. When he finally got back, glasses on his face, he took back the irritating copy, just to mutter, face palming

''Chicken soup for the soul!''

I'm not going to give you a date for next chapter release, because we all know how well that went last time…

-cough- I'm so bad at updating -cough-

-cough- Much sorry -cough-

A round of applause for CMJFMF who was still there to beta-read this chapter even if I went missing for months.