The Apprentice of Thanatos

Chapter 31: Shadow-Travel 101

     Danny winced as memories of what had happened yesterday resurfaced. "Sorry," he mumbled quietly.

     Sam pulled away from the hug, quickly followed by Tucker and Danny. Then Sam punched Danny in the arm.

     "Ow!" Danny yelped as he rubbed his arm and glared at the goth.

     Sam glared right back, completely unfazed. "Don't you ever disappear on us like that again, Daniel James Fenton. If Jazz hadn't told us you were the real you, then I would've marched right over here and kicked your sorry butt!"

     Danny ducked his head in shame. "Sorry. I won't do it again."

     "You'd better not, or else I'll hunt you down and give you a piece of my mind," Sam huffed.

     Danny chuckled at that. "I believe it."

     "Seriously though, dude. What happened to you yesterday?" Tucker asked.

     Danny grimaced. "It's... a long story."

     After righting the couch, Danny and his friends retreated back up to his room; Jazz joined them after making sure the Fenton parents weren't home. Sam and Tucker sat on the bed, Jazz sat on the desk chair she had pulled over, and Danny stood facing them, mentally debating on how to start.

     "So... what happened after Sam and I left?" Tucker prompted, finally breaking the growing silence.

     Danny sighed. He had already been over this with Thanatos, so it should be a breeze telling Sam, Tucker, and Jazz. And he wouldn't have to do as much explaining, either, since they had been a part of it, too.

     "After you guys left, things kinda went downhill."

     "And you're sure the thermos is safe with Clockwork?" Jazz asked, resting her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hands. "How do you know he won't just open it?"

     Danny shrugged. "I mean, Dan wasn't supposed to exist in the first place, so I doubt Clockwork would take him just to release him later."

     Jazz hummed, unconvinced.

     "Look, it'll be fine," Danny assured her. "Don't worry."

     Jazz sighed and leaned back in her chair. "If you say so."

     "So what did you do after the test?" Sam questioned.

     "Yeah, we tried to find you but Jazz said you left to fight a ghost or something," Tucker added.

     Danny ruffled his hair. "I mean, yeah, there was a ghost, but I took care of it."

     Danny told them most of what had happened while he was with Thanatos (he left out all of the crying, though. He was kinda embarrassed about that). He skipped over the reincarnation part of their conversation. He... still didn't know how to feel about the possibility of him being a reincarnation. Thanatos had said that it shouldn't affect his life and even then, there was no guarantee that he even was a reincarnation. It was just best not to think about it for now.

     When Danny finally got to the impromptu training session with Thanatos, he trailed off as he thought about Tom. Even though Danny knew Tom had gone peacefully, it still made him sad that such a nice person was no longer around. Danny would've liked to get to know him better.

     "Danny, you okay?" Jazz asked.

     Danny nodded and took a steadying breath. "Yeah, I'm good. So, Thanatos took me to this nursing home..."