"Danny are you sure?"

Danny rubbed his bare arms, then looked back up to Jerry. "I- uh. Yeah. Yeah I'm sure."

Jerry raised a brow. "You're still going to school without a jacket when it's, what, in the negatives?" 

"Negative ten, Fahrenheit." A pause. "That would be, I guess... about negative twenty three Celsius?"

"Negative ten. Danny." Jerry gave him a disproving look. "Negative ten."

Danny shrugged. "I still don't want to bring a jacket."

Jerry frowned then threw his hands up in the air, "Alright, fine. Whatever. Be stupid." Jerry gave him a glair then huffed. "You'll be mostly inside anyways. But when you come home an icicle, I'm going to be petty and say, 'I told you so.'"

"You do that Jerry." Danny said dryly.

Jerry grunted, then gave a concerned glance to Danny's arms. "... are you sure that you want to do this?"

Both of them knew that Jerry wasn't talking about the jacket anymore.

Absent-mindedly Danny pulled his own arms close. "It's just... it's just a short-sleeve shirt. Everybody wears these, right?" Danny swallowed. "I don't want- I don't think anybody will notice." Danny forced his arms to fall limply to his sides. To stop having his fingers trail the scars that were too many to count. "I need to... I want this." Danny's voice suddenly felt very dry. "I'll be fine... it'll be fine." His voice cracked at the last word.

For a moment too long, the room was silent.

"... Alright Danny." Turning around, Jerry tossed him a brown paper-bag. "Here's you're lunch."

Danny rolled his eyes. Mind trailing back to the arguments that Danny didn't need lunch. He could go days without it as being homeless taught him. And he wasn't usually hungry anyways. (That, however, made Jerry more persistent for Danny to bring a lunch.) "Thanks mom."

"Your welcome. Now get outta my house."

Danny started walking out the door, "Can we take your police car?" 

"We have this discussion every. Morning. No, we can not take the police car. And no," Jerry crossed his arms, "you can not ride in the back."

"But Jerry, come on!" Danny placed his hands together in almost a prayer. "Pleeeeasse?"

Jerry raised a brow. "Absolutely not."

. . .

"I hate you."

"I love you too Jerry,"

Jerry whipped around in the car, turning to where Danny was sitting in the back with the biggest grin and pointed an angry finger at him, "This is the last time. No more. No More! You look like a delinquent!"

"That's kinda the point."

"Get out of my car."

"See ya,"

"And don't forget yer lunch!"

Danny raised a brow, "Yer?" Danny then raised both brows. "I don't know why, but I feel like you and Bunny would get along great."

"Who the hell would call themselves 'Bunny'? Who is Bunny?" Jerry's eyes widen. "Oh my god, is Bunny another one of your voodoo-spirit-people-thing friends?"

Danny grabbed his stuff, "I'm-uh. Well- See you later!"

Jerry's face went blank as he turned back to the wheel. "I'm taking that as a yes."

Lunch in his red backpack and straps securely around his shoulders, Danny scrambled out the car, slammed the door behind him and began speed-walking to school. The last thing he wanted to explain to Jerry right now was the Easter bunny.

Yeah, no. Danny was not in the mood.

Danny felt someone tap his shoulder. Curious, he turned around.

A girl roughly the same age waved. Her brown hair was tied up in a yellow bandana and she had the kind of stair that could read your every move along with freckles that covered almost every inch of her pale skin. Her nails were a bright red and she had a thick-toned muscle to her like she did something such as kick-boxing or wrestling. 

She looked like the kind of person that could kick Danny's ass if motivated. Her hands began to move. 'I'm deaf, you sign?'

Danny blinked, taking a moment to process what she said. Then hesitantly signed back. 'Yes, I sign.'

Burgess as it turned out had a large deaf population, there-for obligating Jerry to teach him sign as well as taking a few classes at school. That being said, what usually caught Danny the most was the grammar. There was no the, or are or is. Mostly Danny took the translation liberties and mentally added words out of habit and for clarity.

'Thank god. Name me what? C-l-a-r-e. Name you what?'

Danny paused. Another thing that threw him off guard was how the deaf community asked for names. Instead of saying 'what's your name?' It goes 'Name you what?' or instead of saying, 'my name is-' it's usually, 'Name me what?' Then the person spells out there name with their fingers.

It was a lot to get used to. But Danny was growing fond of it.

'Name me what? D-a-n-n-y.'

'D-a-n-n-y, classroom where 33?'

Danny waved her over to follow.

As they walked down the hallway he could feel her stare lingering on her arms. She quickened her paste to walk next to him. 'Your arms, what happened?'

Danny just shrugged and kept walking. They turned a corner.

She continued to stare.

'those bullet wounds?!'

Danny glanced at his arms then back to Clare. "... maybe."

'I'm deaf, pea brain.'

Danny then realized that he said that out loud. 'Yes. Some.'

Her hands were still. Then; '... badass.'

Danny shook his head.

'you wrestled bears as well?' Clare asked this earnestly. Eyes at the claw and bite marks.

Danny honestly couldn't answer that at this point. Yes? No? Anything could happen at this point. Could've Danny wrestled bears at his past life? Pretty damn probable. Hell, Jamie's theory that Danny was a superhero was plausible at this point. (Though Danny, reasonably, had his doubts and was leaning more towards taking down bears in comparison.)

Clare must've took that as a yes, because her eyes were big and might as well held stars. 'Teach me everything.'

Instead Danny cleared his throat (even if she couldn't hear it) and gestured to the door that had the number 33.

Clare looked at the door, then back to Danny. 'I'm talking to you later.'

Mentally Danny crossed his fingers hoping that she would forget the whole ordeal. She seemed new after all, she should have a lot on her plate today as a student just rolling in. 'you do that.'

Clare didn't sign anything back, but her whole demeanor had an air of 'alright. I will.'

 Door now closed, Danny ignored the stares as he tried to walk to his own class.

. . .

"Hello."

"Hi..." Danny glanced at the girl with the short curly hair and the silver round glasses. She had on a purple sweater with green dots and a button nose. "Have we met before?"

At the response, the girl grinned showing off her deep brown dimpled cheeks, "No. I'm Mia, we don't have any classes together. I'm a friend of Clares'."

Danny peered his head past her to see Clare coming with a grin and light steps. She sat down next to him with a loud 'THUMP'.

'now,' Clare leaned in, 'teach me your bear-hunting secrets.'

Danny gave her an incredulous look. 'I don't have any.'

Clare pouted. 'I'm going to sit here anyway.'

Mia was now staring at Danny's scars, making his skin prickle. He glanced between the two of them, then back to Clare. 'why?'

'because I want to.'

Danny honestly couldn't argue with that logic. He hunched over his food.

Mia was still staring at his arms. "Didn't you come out of the back of a police car this morning?"

Clare gave her a cut displeased look until Mia translated what she said in sign. Clare then turned to Danny, extremely intrigued. 'you came out of the back of a police car?'

Choosing to both sign and speak at the same time, Danny opened his mouth then closed it. "I, ok. I live with Jerry, it's an inside joke, I asked him if I could ride the back to school."

There was a pause from the both of them.

'I would totally ride in the back,'

"Oh yeah, same." Mia seemed to be taking the same rout as Danny of signing whenever she was speaking at the same time.

Danny watched her hands. 'you sign really well.'

"Oh yeah, both of my parents are deaf, so, yeah." Mia shrugged, "Had to take years of speech therapy though."

Clare raise a brow. 'life would be so much easier if everybody just signed.'

'What about music though?' Danny signed back to Clare.

Clare for a moment became the embodiment of an eye roll. 'music this, music that. What's up with you hearing people and music?'

Mia shrugged 'It's nice, that's all.'

Clare gave them both such a look that Mia's hands went still and Danny decided that this was enough of the subject. He took a swing out of his water bottle.

Clare tilted her head, 'are you gay?'

Danny nearly spit his water.  Signing franticly before even the words could finish slipping out of his mouth. "I- what?!"

Clare seemed to be analyzing him. 'You look like the gay type.'

Mia grinned once more, leaning in. "Do you have a boyfriend?"

Danny made a face at the two of them. "you two are the worst."

Clare was grinning as well, 'So?'

"I just wanted to have lunch. That was it,"

Mia raised her brows.

"I only knew you two for, what, fifteen minutes?"

'And aren't we the best?' Clare signed.

Danny then glared at Mia, "You don't even know my name and now you want me to out myself to you."

"So, you are gay?" She paused. "Oh, yeah. I didn't ask for your name. What is it?"

Danny deflated. "It's Danny."

'In honor of us meeting I vote that we give you the sign name bear man.' Clare paused. 'I wouldn't have to spell out D-a-n-n-y each time.'

Mia looked please. "I second that vote,"

Danny slouched in his seat defeated. It looked like the rest of his school year was going to be spent called; 'bear man'.

Strange as it was, Danny found himself not minding so terribly.

. . .

"Oh my gosh! Danny! I have so much to tell you-" Jack Frost blinked. "You're not wearing a Jacket."

"Nope." Then Danny glared at Jack, "Why on earth is it negative ten degrees?"

Jack Frost frowned. "Is that in Celsius or Fahrenheit?"

"Fahrenheit."

"Yeah I hate Fahrenheit, America is the only place that uses it and it's just so Damn Annoying. I need to convert you to using Celsius."

Danny gave Jack Frost a pointed look. "You're completely missing the point."

Jack leapt onto his staff. "Hey, don't you like it cold?"

"I do, but still. Dude."

Jack Frost head tilted as if listening to someone whisper into his ear. "It was time, it had to happen. The wind told me so,"

Danny paused. "I'm... not even going to go into how cryptic that sounds. Anyways, you had something to tell me?"

"Eros was-" Jack Frost hesitated then looked around them. "... Actually I'm going to start telling you more as soon as we leave here; school grounds doesn't sound like the best place to spill this."

"Schools over, so," Danny shrugged, "I'm free to go wherever." Danny looked down at his feet, which was at least a foot into thick white snow. (Thank god that he had the sense to wear a good pair of snow boots.) Then back to Jack whom seemed to float on the very surface, an inch above the ground. No matter if he was on his staff or his feet. "Plus it's going to take me a while to walk in this." Danny then narrowed his eyes, "Whatever you are going to tell me, it better be something more obvious of the supernatural then you on your staff or floating just above the ground like someone's anime OC."

Jack Frost gave a nervous chuckle as he hopped off his staff and landed into the snow with a solid 'crunch' next to Danny. "I'm still not used to this whole 'everyone can see me' stuff."

Danny didn't have the time to respond. A towering blinding white figure suddenly appeared between the two of them. Sharp colors surrounded them as they were teleported to god knows where.

Just as suddenly as the colors appeared they subdued.

A old man with gold wire glasses peered at them. "Danny Fenton and Jack Frost I presume?"

Danny looked around bewildered, eyes wide and with no clue on what to do or what was going on.

Jack Frost however seemed to know what to do for this exact occasion. He lunged and aimed his staff at the figure. He had the same look and posture that he would have whenever he summoned Ice.

Nothing happened.

"Jack, what the hell is going on?"

"I'm trying to figure that out myself Danny."

The strange figure raised a brow. "Are you finished? Just for your acknowledgement, at least at the moment, no spirit can use their powers here. Not me," The man leaned in, "And certainly not you."

Jack looked like he was about to ditch the staff and pound this man old school style before the same towering figure grabbed Jack Frost and Danny then shoved them both to the ground in such a manor that it would've been impossible to get a solid punch or kick from either of them.

"Jack Overland Frost what on earth did you do?!"

"Oh, so your going to automatically assume that this is my fault?!"

The man leaned down at them. "I must say, neither of you are what I was expecting. But..." His eyes gleamed like a wild cats as he looked to Jack then Danny. "Extraordinary, the both of you."

Both of their bickering halted in their tracks as the man glanced down at them with a cutting analyzing look. Making them both feel like mice behind glass walls.

The knot in Danny's stomach began to form and tighten. "What... what do you want to do with us?"

The mans smile was surprisingly soft, gentle. Earnest, "Why, I want you on our side."

"Absolutely not-"

"Wait, wait hold on. Hold it. Are you the guy that's in charge of this? All of it?" Danny scrunched up his nose, "Why, for the love of all that's holy, would you want us to join you? Why would we join you? Don't you want to destroy humans or something?"

The old spirt gave a warm laugh like they had shared an old joke. It was so disarming that Jack Frost and Danny didn't even notice the pressure on their arms loosen and released.

"Destroy humanity? That would be rather foolish of me, the spirit of humanity now wouldn't it?" Humanity shook his head, "No, to destroy them is the last thing I want."

"I'm sure that the humans that you kidnapped would disagree." Jack Frost said dryly.

Danny slowly rose to his feet, eyes weary and firmly placed to where Humanity was standing tall and with an unnamed elegance. Jack Frost arose as well, keeping his staff close to his chest.

"What do you want to do with them then?" Danny paused. "What do you want to do with us?"

Humanity gestured them to follow.

Seeing the towering figure, a spirit that seemed to be made out of crystal shards behind them then Humanity at front, and Jack's powers not working Danny and Jack Frost saw no choice but to follow.

"Do you know what part of humanity I represent?"

Danny and Frost looked at each other. Jack Frost looked back over to humanity cautiously, "No..."

Humanity eyed fondly at his strange warehouse. It looked like a strange cyberpunk version of North's workshop. Machinery and gadgets everywhere that just bled with life and seemed to breathe, ticking in sink like a mechanical heartbeat. "invention." He said this softly as he turned around, eyes gleaming. "I represent invention. The part of mankind that feeds the need to create. The..." Humanity seemed to fumble for words, "The part that needs to make something new. To create something better for whomever needs it most."

Danny scoffed, "How do kidnappings and teaming up with Pitch and Hittite and Furor exactly fit into this? To your idea of 'creating something better'?"

Humanity faltered. "I admit, our particular team up was... not ideal, but, in the bigger picture they'll- we'll do more right then wrong."

Jack Frost looked skeptical. "Right? How does kidnapping Eros seem right? What part of any of this seems right?"

Danny's head whipped his head to where Humanity stood. "You kidnapped Eros?!"

Humanity ignored these outcries. "I think, that you're asking the wrong questions," He growled low, "I do this to free the mortals! To free the spirits!" A inner fire made his brown eyes go aglow, "How fair it is that humans have no choice but to idle as spirits choose their every fate, their every direction. Their very will. To even dream past a young age of 13 is an outlandish wish." He snarled. "How fair is it that a spirit's very existence fades the moment the last mortal standing loses belief, or, for god forbid a moment begin to forget? To even question the world around them? Is it truly so wrong for one's wish is to simply exist?"

Humanity seemed to restrain himself, taking a deep breath. "Spirits can not even merely exist- to be alive without humanity. A spirit's whole existence must always resolve around mortals. And humans have no true will nor freedom as long as a spirit exist."

Except for the ticking, the room was a baleful quite.

Humanity's voice grew soft, almost meek. "At the very heart of it, we are only each other's slave."

Humanity peered over to where Danny and Jack Frost stood with such a strange look of awe, wonder and fire that both teens recoil from the sight, "Word has spread far and wide, and you two- you two prove that everything that I am trying to build is possible! That this is not a naïve wish or madness, but a possibility. A... a hope."

Out of the two teens, Danny was the first to speak, "So what do you plan to do about it? What do you plan to do with all the people you kidnapped?"

"Including us," Jack Frost added.

"The Humans at our base are being well taken care of. We just need them readily available to see the volunteer. As of Eros," Humanity seemed to be withholding a look of distaste. "He... is well. The first step is to work on spirits being seen, then afterwards we work with the humans." Humanity beamed, "The simple plans are what work the best."

Jack Frost swallowed, "And if anyone gets in your way?"

Humanity's teeth gleamed. "They won't. Not for long,"

"If you want, you two are free to leave," Humanity said almost off handedly. "I won't stop you, I have better things to focus on. But if you two are with me, progress will accelerate greatly for the cause."

"I know that you two don't know how this happened between the both of you," Humanity said this voice low and leaned towards them like the three of them were sharing a secret. Humanity once more regained his poised posture, "But, perhaps we can figure out the answers we need together. So gentlemen, what do you say?" He held out his hand, ready to shake. To make a deal. "Will you join my cause?"

Authors Note: *Freak'en DIES over unusual length of writing*