AN: Happy Halloween.

Chooser of the Slain

Entering the morgue was easy enough, given that Valerie had a badge she could flash.

If Dr. Bart Rand, a short coroner with a neatly trimmed grey moustache, assumed Sam and Tucker were there to identify someone and then wanted some privacy to grieve... Well, that was his own fault.

As soon as they were alone, Tucker wiped away his fake tears and took up guard by the door.

Sam started scribbling down the appropriate symbols on the floor in finger paint. Sam had protested the choice of medium, but Tucker had eventually convinced her that they needed something that was easy to clean off.

Meanwhile, Valerie and Danny looked around for any signs of ghostly activity.

It wasn't hard.

In one corner sat a young girl, around fourteen years old. She bore more than a passing resemblance to Danny, with black hair and blue eyes. She was looking at them with a mixture of caution and curiosity on her face.

"Hello, there." Valerie kept her voice as soft as she could, not revealing her stress.

The girl jumped slightly at the address, but was quick to hide it. When she met Valerie's eyes, her expression was one of raw hope. "Hello? Are you talking to me?"

Valerie nodded.

The girl got up from her huddled crouch, walking closer to Valerie. "I thought..." There was a darting look towards one of the metal doors hiding the bodies. "I thought I might have died."

Valerie's vocal cords had tied themselves into a Gordian knot. Speaking was impossible.

The girl smiled and stretched out a hand, as if to grab onto Valerie to make sure she was real.

Danny stepped between them, catching the hand in a shake.

Valerie let out a small breath of relief.

"Hey, I'm Danny Fenton. That's Valerie Gray. What's your name?"

"Ellie Masters."

"Masters? As in Vlad Masters?" Danny smiled, but didn't seem more than amused by the idea.

"Yeah," Ellie nodded. There was something defensive about the set of her shoulders. "He's my dad."

"Good for him." Danny's response obviously eased whatever fear Ellie had, because she slouched down at the words.

"You know Vlad Masters?" Valerie couldn't help but side-eye Danny.

"He's got a TV that covers the entire living room wall, and good taste in movies."

Valerie refrained from commenting on that.

Ellie just blinked at them, not understanding the reference to Danny's habit for finding entertainment as a ghost.

"Anyway, we need to tell you something important." Danny herded the girl into a chair. "The reason you're here."

Ellie tensed slightly. There was weariness in her eyes, like she knew exactly what they were going to say. She probably did, given her previous reactions.

Valerie crouched down in front of the chair and offered her hand.

Ellie's fingers passed through Valerie's palm, feeling like the brief sensation of pins and needles.

"I wasn't wrong." Ellie slumped in her seat.

"No. You're a ghost." Valerie retracted her hand. "I'm a medium, but normal people can't see you."

Ellie shot a questioning look at Danny.

"I died years ago."

"Oh."

"Do you remember what happened to you?" Valerie leaned forward slightly, trying to appear calming.

"Erm. Yeah." The ghost girl blushed. Her fingers played with a lock of hair. "Turns out that dad wasn't being an overprotective jerk." Ellie's voice had picked up pace, to the point where the words blended together. "Running around alone after dark in bad neighborhoods wasn't actually something I could handle... I remember a really tall guy, and him saying my jacket looked expensive so I obviously had a lot of money, and then I remember blacking out."

Valerie nodded.

Danny scowled, but quickly schooled his expression. "Do you want to leave?"

"Leave?" Ellie frowned.

"I meant, like, go into the light. You don't have to stick around like I did."

"If I wanted to do that, I would have done it in the first place." Ellie crossed her arms.

"We can take a message to your dad, if you want," offered Danny.

'Right, because we can just waltz up to billionaire Vlad Masters and tell him his dead daughter says "hi".'

Valerie carefully kept her internal sarcastic commentary from reflecting on her face.

Ellie bit her lip, obviously considering it.

The lights overhead flickered.

Valerie's heart picked up pace, pounding loudly in her ears. She stood up in a fluid motion, placing herself in front of Ellie.

There was a bitter taste in her mouth.

The light-bulb closest to the door exploded in a shower of sparks and glass. For a second, a humanoid form was barely visible behind the blinding light. Walker's image flickered like a badly tuned TV, static overtaking his body.

He tipped his hat at her, like an old-fashioned gentleman. The accompanying smile was all teeth.

Valerie raised her voice to warn Sam and Tucker of where Walker was, when strong fingers closed around her throat. Valerie's shout died as air left her lungs.

Black spots played behind her eyes.

The grip was ice cold, a cold that seemed to be spreading through her veins. She wasn't sure if that was due to Walker, or her own death rapidly approaching.

Suddenly, she found herself dropping to the floor. She gasped for air, making herself feel sick with the rush of it.

She blinked away the spots in her vision, looking up to find Danny standing in front of her.

Two more bulbs exploded.

After the flash of the explosions, the resulting darkness left Valerie scrambling to keep her footing. All the lights in the room had gone out, and the underground morgue didn't have windows. The only light left came from the corridor and the still open door.

The door shut itself.

Tucker pulled out his cell phone, turning on the flashlight, and Sam was quick to copy him.

"Get him into the circle!" Sam's shout shook Valerie from her reverie. However, the one who answered wasn't her.

"Got it!" Danny jumped, pushing the poltergeist towards the writing on the floor.

The first push didn't force Walker far enough.

Driven by desperation, Danny grabbed onto Walker's waist and ran them both into the circle.

"Danny!"

"Do it! Banish us!"

Over Danny's shoulder, Valerie's eyes met Walker's. The bright green hate was still there.

He was without a doubt the man she had killed.

By accident, sure. She hadn't aimed for his chest when she pulled the trigger, but the fight had meant she hadn't been able to control where the bullet landed.

He hadn't been a good person, but he had been a person. Someone with a future, which she had ripped from him.

Like he had been trying to do to Johnny.

"I'm sorry."

She wasn't sure if she was apologizing to Walker, Danny or herself.

Still, stopping Walker from killing people wasn't wrong. Not before, not now.

Valerie's voice came out strong as she recited the Latin Sam had made her learn. Sam and Tucker joined her, a background chorus in a dead language.

Sam's hair flew around her face, pulled by a wind that shouldn't have been able to blow inside the basement. The three of them all had to brace themselves against it.

Walker ripped himself out of Danny's grip and started towards Valerie, only to be stopped at the edge of the circle, as if there was an invisible wall barring his way. He raised both fists to bang at it, to no avail.

"Bye." Danny's voice cut through the chaos, barely audible.

Valerie's words came to a crescendo, and then it was over.

The circle was empty.

Valerie could barely rip her eyes from the sight as she dropped to her knees. Similarly, Ellie was standing to the side. Her eyes were wide as they took in the space that had previously housed the other two ghosts.

Relief and grief warred within Valerie. Walker was gone, but so was Danny.

Danny.

Danny's friends wouldn't know what had happened. Neither Sam nor Tucker could see ghosts.

For a fleeting moment, Valerie considered not telling them. Not because it would hurt them, but because they had no reason to be around her without her acting as an interpreter for their dead childhood friend.

Valerie quickly squashed the selfish motion.

"Danny..." After all the shouting, and the strangling, her throat felt sore. The words wouldn't come out. "Danny sacrificed himself."

Sam's lips thinned, but she nodded curtly. She avoided eye contact as she walked towards the door and opened it, letting in light once more.

"We figured he did, after the way you yelled his name." Tucker sent her a weak smile. He looked exhausted. "Besides, it's the sort of thing he'd do."

"He was a good person."

"That he was."

"I'm sorry." Valerie bit her lip. "I'll... leave you alone now."

To grieve, was the unspoken continuation.

"You don't need to." Unexpectedly, it was Sam who said it. "You were his friend too. Even if only a short time."

"And you're our friend," added Tucker.

"I am?" Valerie felt silly for asking it, but the words came out before she could stop them.

"There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other." Sam sounded like she was quoting something. "Facing down an angry poltergeist is one of them."

Tucker extended a hand, and Valerie gratefully took it to pull herself up.

Valerie leaned back in the sofa in Doctor Jasmine Fenton's office. Sunshine flowed freely through the large windows, illuminating the room. The cushions were comfortable.

Over by the bookshelves, Ellie Masters was reading the titles. Because apparently Valerie couldn't have a therapy session without being spied on by a ghost. Every once in a while Ellie offered sarcastic commentary, which pushed Valerie's poker face to its limits.

"You seem to be doing a lot better." Dr. Fenton clicked her pen. Her smile was warm. "What has changed?"

'Your dead brother helped me face down a poltergeist.'

"Well, I guess I've got a different support system now." Valerie borrowed Dr. Fenton's term for it.

"That's good." Dr. Fenton leaned forward slightly.

"Yeah, I met some people. Made some friends." Shared some traumatic experiences that Valerie would talk to her shrink about, if said shrink believed in ghosts.

Ellie sent Valerie a smug look from her position by the bookshelf.

Dr. Fenton scanned her old notes, fingers flipping the pages. "Yes, we've talked about how you had trouble with that before."

Valerie had to smother a smile. Dr. Fenton had been the only one who had talked about it.

"And you seem to be have gotten some closure, regarding your old partner."

"I did." Valerie nodded. Nothing like facing down your problems in a battle to the death.

Fenton's eyes found the clock. The time was up. "If you keep this up, you'll be able to get back to active duty next month."

"Thank you."

"I guess that's it for today." Dr. Fenton looked hesitant. She never seemed to have as much time as she wanted, during Valerie's visits.

Ellie happily skipped out of the office, not waiting for Valerie.

"Yeah, see you next week." Valerie sent the other living woman a smile as she turned to leave. Then she paused by the door. "No, wait. Actually, there is something more."

Dr. Fenton- No, Jazz – tilted her head in question.

"Me and my new friends are going to the pub. They said they knew you, so if you wanted to come along..."

"Really?" Jazz's smile became more genuine, less professionally distant. "I think I'll take you up on that."

Valerie grinned. "Great."