Chapter Text
His only beacon of light was diminishing.
Diminishing like the glow of plasma as it died away.
And what was he to do, sit around and wait for it to regain that magnificent glow that lit up his life with gleams of hope and happiness? It had been years since the last ghost attack. Months since he'd seen his family, Tucker, Sam… hell, Danny hadn't even seen any old rivals from the ghost zone in ages, either! Granted, they weren't on the best of terms, but he managed to work up mutual agreements with a majority of them, and had even gotten used to them popping in every now and then to fool with him or play pranks on the three.
But those were his high school days.
Could it have been that they had no idea of his move away from home, of his enrollment in a university and the beginning of his life?
A feeling of unease made itself present as it curled up in the pit of his stomach. Surely they'd be able to find him with no trouble. They found him in various places ranging from school to out of town malls all those other times. Black brows furrowed as the halfa went into a deeper concentration. Everybody had gone off the radar ever since Danny had arrived at his first ever dorm. For the first time since he had acquired his ghostly abilities, Danny felt isolated from the world.
"Hurry up, Danny, or we're leaving without youuuuu!" shouted Sam as loud as she could from the other side of his bedroom window as the halfa frantically searched about for his gloves. Feeling the anxiety of rushing around get to him, the teen unlocked his window and hoisted the glass up, popping his head out into the snowy outdoors.
"Just gimme a minute, I can't find my stupid gloves!" Danny bellowed back, heaving out an irritated sigh as he ducked back into his room and shut the window before the snickering goth got the chance to launch a snowball at his face. After a few more minutes of tearing his room apart, the dark-haired male let out a gleeful "Aha!" upon locating the leather gloves. How they managed to get underneath his bed was beyond him. Not even a second glance was given to his pigsty of a room once the gloves covered his hands, and he raced out and down the stairs, only pausing to give his mother a kiss on the cheek. He opened the door with the widest of grins, and-
"… Guys?" Danny took a few cautious steps forward, the fear of being ambushed having had instilled within him. But as he trudged further ahead, he realized that he was alone. Had they really gone off without him?
"Mom, did you see where Sam and Tucker went?" he yelled loud enough, hoping his mother had heard him from inside the house. No answer. Slowly, he turned around, and his blue hues widened. Where had his house gone?
"Why is everyone gone..?"
Danny woke with a start, pale hands trembling from the sorrow that made itself present in his mind while he slept. A cold dampness pressed against his cheek; he'd been subconsciously crying. It was no wonder, a dream like that could probably make anyone cry! Sniffling quietly, Danny slumped over the edge of his bed and got to his feet, a shiver creeping up his spine as soon as his body had left the warm blankets.
Any other day, the halfa would've stayed curled up in bed while his mother brought him hot chocolate with loads of marshmallows. Then again, it wasn't often that he had such sorrowful dreams. Or cried in his sleep. Hell, the last time he woke up crying was after watching "It" when he was six.
But this was college, not high school.
Missing classes on account of being down in the dumps was a guaranteed failure. The only good excuse to actually have to miss a class was if one literally couldn't get out of bed due to illness. And Danny was here to build up the start of his life. There was no time for feeling blue! Unlike his high school years, he planned to enjoy college, and that was that.
"Why are you open..?" he mused to the window in a mutter through chattering teeth.
Was it so bad to disregard it? Of course. He, of all people, knew better than to believe he'd just gotten up himself in the middle of the night and opened the window on his own. While possible, well.. Danny often felt that something was messing with him, to put it simply.
He crossed the room in hesitation, hands poised as if to defend himself from anything that might be lingering about, before he at last hoisted the window shut with a breath of relief. Pausing momentarily, Danny stood before the window, tiredly lidded eyes peering out to quietly scan the sky ahead; widening when something small, nearly insignificant caught his gaze.
Just a few inches away from him, beyond the protective glass, fell little, white flakes. Snow drifted down to the earth in a leisurely pace, only to pile up onto the few feet that had already fallen. His fingertips brushed against the glass to leave the fogged images of prints, as though pining to feel the cool frost against his skin.
"I really hope that it was you that triggered my dream," he whispered solemnly. Maybe the first few classes of the semester would be canceled now. If anything but the dream, at least it would give him a chance to call his parents.