My first Danny Phantom fic. A pretty long, gut-wrenching one-shot. Just an experiment, really, but I love how it turned out.
Warning: this is not a happy story. You'll find I don't write those a lot.
POV of Sam Manson, pre Phantom Planet, DannyxSam!
Tell me what you think, everyone! And you know how to do that…
REVIEW!
Btw, sorry about some of the cheesy dialogue later on. It serves its purpose well, and I couldn't think of any other way to say it without it sounding insincere.
Enjoy…
I rather hate field trips. Just thought I'd say that.
And sitting there, on that fateful day, crammed into a disgusting, Twinkie yellow school bus that probably got 3 miles to the gallon with all of our school's jocks, bullies, popular jerks and band geeks, was no exception.
Well, I suppose it could've been worse. Two of the people next to me (or on top of me, actually, for we were sharing a two person seat) were actually really cool.
To my left, face pressed into the window, was Tucker Foley, the techno whiz kid. He was African American, wearing a red beret, long sleeve yellow shirt, baggy green cargo pants and brown boots. And right now, he looked very uncomfortable.
Packed in beside him was me, Samantha Manson. However, if anyone called me that, I would, and will, certainly punch him or her in the jaw. I insisted that everyone call me Sam, and everyone did, save my mother and father.
I came from the second richest family in Amity Park (right behind Vlad Masters), and my bright, sunny, disturbingly happy parents were dead set on getting me to become a nice, decent woman who would fit perfectly into all society. I, being a Goth, wanted nothing to do with it, but that didn't stop them from trying. I was currently wearing an outfit that matched my constant dark ensemble: black tank top with a purple oval in the center, black skirt and heavy combat boots. I brushed my chin-length black hair with purple highlights out of my eye and looked, well, up.
Up was where Danny was, my other best friend.
Danny was tall and skinny, with raven hair that stayed eternally wild, a simple white T-shirt with a red design in the center, and loose, light blue jeans. His eyes were a shockingly vivid ice blue, and his skin was very pale, even compared to mine.
I suppose that it wasn't all that surprising; he was half dead, after all.
Danny's parents were ghost hunters, and they, in their insane genius, had built a portal into the Ghost Zone, where the deceased, which were mostly malevolent, resided.
It was one unassuming afternoon when Danny had been showing us his parent's lab that I had convinced him to step inside of the portal, to have a look. He had eventually obliged, and of course that, right when he was inside, was when the portal finally decided to work.
So Danny Fenton then had ghost powers. He had an alternative form, Danny Phantom, that he used to combat evil spirits, one where he transformed into a being with snow-white hair, neon green eyes, and a black jumpsuit. He was really sort of a superhero, even though his parents, being the ghost hunters that they were, constantly tried to decimate him. Tucker and I knew Danny's secret, and we were only ones. We got into some trouble a lot while fighting ghosts; Tucker and I always got off pretty light, but not Danny. I often found myself wondering how Danny lived through it all with his carefree attitude intact. It would have driven me insane by now, keeping a secret like that and trying to pass high school while fighting constant ghost invasions.
So why was Danny up? He was sitting on top of me.
"Anyone mind telling me why we decided to transport the whole class halfway across Illinois on only one bus?" Tucker asked angrily. I rolled my eyes and smiled.
"That, my dear friend, is because the school system is too cheap to pay for any more transportation, or to get some that actually has decent gas mileage," I told him.
"I'm not even a green maniac and I agree with that!" Danny said, fruitlessly trying to make me and Tucker more comfortable, which was not working. He was still on top of us, with his pointy elbows and heavy shoes.
Our gazes met and we both blushed furiously before looking away. I saw Tucker raise an eyebrow at Danny, whose reaction I could not see.
…
So what if I liked Danny? There was no problem with that!
"Where are we even going?" he asked hurriedly, trying to change the topic.
"Some river to collect some crayfish or whatever," Tucker muttered. "I can't see why we can't take another trip to Axiom, that was cool."
"Uh… because that was the time Technus almost took over the world?" I said. Danny laughed and tried to sit up again.
We went onto a bridge, and the giant bump knocked Danny over, sending him crashing down, and then his face was suddenly right in front of mine.
We wore identical startled expressions as we stared into each other's eyes again. His were so… intoxicating, I guess. I was lost in their swirling, shining depths, filled with so much happiness and love and pain and confusion and warmth and cold all mixed together and we were unknowingly drawing closer, lips parting…
That was the last I ever saw him alive.
The school bus suddenly swerved to the side and crashed through the guard rail, soaring out over the brown river water 50 feet below. Time slowed and almost stopped, and as the bus slowly wrenched in half and Danny fell away I could see the terror now in those beautiful eyes, and we reached our hands out, trying to grab a hold of each other.
I snatched empty air.
Bridge debris and pieces of steel fell on top of me and Tucker, and I was pinned, crushed, the light was swirling, but I couldn't feel the pain. All I could do, all I could think, was a single word as he dropped from the sky, towards the icy water, away from me, from Tucker, from life itself.
"Danny! DANNY!"
Pulsing lights faded around the edges of my eyes, turning the dark world red, then blue, then over again. There were loud noises, the ominous rumbling of the bridge and bus being secured, the shouts and buzzing radios of the emergency workers swarming everywhere, the screams of children and parents alike as they were reunited. Beneath it all, deathly loud but quiet as well was the rushing of the now black water surging beneath me, carrying him away.
A man in a fluorescent yellow firefighter's hat was suddenly in front of me, heavy, gloved hands wrapping around my back and grabbing my arms, supporting my head, throwing aside the heavy ruins that pinned me, broke my bones and skin. Tears flowed freely from my eyes; not for me, but for Danny, who was swept away beneath me. I had not seen a flash of white light, no confident, sarcastic comment as he broke the surface of the water carrying the still living bodies of all the other passengers, green eyes glowing and hair shining. There was no evidence of him, of anyone, anywhere; the glassy, rippling river had swallowed all remains like they had never existed.
I was rising in a strong but gentle embrace, pressed protectively against tough but supple fireproof fabric as my mysterious savior pulled me to safety. I tried to stay to reach out again, to jump in after my friend, my love, to save him, or at least join him, in the oblivion beneath us, but I was not able to move.
I was carried away from the crash, and I saw Tucker on a gurney, hooked up to machines, a mask over his face, blood seeping through his bandages, his desperate family gathered around, holding his hand and staring in shocked disbelief as they watched their son in such a condition, and I cried anew. All of my friends… gone? Swept away from me…
I saw faces over me now, my mom's vibrant red hair stylishly cut as always and my dad, immaculately dressed like every day. Their usually happy or often stern faces were carrying the new expression of fear and sadness and almost horror as they stared at me. I tried to reach out to them too, but I was still motionless.
My gurney was picked up and smoothly loaded into the back of an ambulance. As I was lifted I saw three figures standing out from the formless crowd, by the rail, staring into the swirling water. There was a massive man with short black hair, a slender woman with sporty brown hair and under each of their arms was a skinny teen with long red hair. All of them were slightly hunched, shoulders shaking, and I could hear their sobs as the doors closed behind me and I was driven out of sight, away from the place where part of my heart died.
I can never really be sure how much time passed. It was all filled with dark skies, grim faced doctors, harsh lights on a white ceiling scrolling past me, whispered alerts and inconsistent electronic beeps from impersonal little machines attached to the needles and tubes sticking into my body. I saw many people, some I didn't know, some I did, like my parents and Tucker's parents and my grandmother and even once I saw the Fentons. I could not bear to meet their eyes, so I feigned complete unconsciousness. I saw so many similarities from Danny to his family that I had never noticed before: the shape of his eyes, the mouth, the seriousness in a desperate situation.
I wished that Danny was at least somewhere in the beds around me, or even that he would walk up with his sister or parents, completely fine, here to heal me, or even far away, where he was certainly safe. It was delirious, and the small logical part of my fractured mind told me that I would not find Danny anywhere. He was gone.
I had surgery. I had massive internal damage; I heard one of the doctors saying. There was the sharp white lights, the mask with the sickly sweet smell in it, all those people running around in green pajamas and hairnets, grasping my uninjured hand or gently touching my shoulder, telling me the procedure and that I was going to be fine. I saw the worry behind their eyes.
Then I was fixed, sewn up, and it felt like I had slept for years, ages, eons. They softly asked me if I wanted to share I room with a specific person, and I managed to say "Tucker," in understandable English. They wheeled me into an elevator and up a few floors, then down more hallways and finally into a room that was dark, it must've been night again, with a curtain drawn down its center.
"Try to get some rest." I was told.
A few more days past, and I saw Tucker again. He was a little better off than me, but neither of us felt like talking. We just lay there, exhausted, but relieved to be alive and in each other's presence, and mourned for the one who wasn't there. Our trio was eternally broken.
I was crushed. I would spend all day in a daze, and at night I would sleep very lightly, eyes darting about under my lids, whispering "Danny… Danny…"
I knew this because I heard my nurse telling my parents. She was worried about me, worried that if I didn't start eating more and sleeping better I might still die. I didn't care.
One night I was awoken by a person in the room. They were silent; whoever they were, but I could sense them. I pretended to sleep, curled up tightly under the covers, flimsy hospital gown showing my back.
"Sam…"
It was so quiet that I wasn't even sure that I had even heard it. Even so, I rolled over.
It was Danny.
He was in his ghost form, lit up from behind by the soft glow the moon gave off through the curtain that divided Tucker and my beds during the night. His eyes were glowing softly green, and a monumentally sad and angry expression was twisting beneath them. I knew Danny enough to know that he was angry at himself, not me.
"Oh Sam…" he said again. A small tear escaped and trickled down his cheek. It dripped on my hand, leaving a small ice crystal there.
"Where did you go?" I asked softly, choking on my words. "You fell, and… and… I couldn't save you… and it was so dark… and you didn't come up… and I thought that you had… d-died…" I was sobbing; painful, gut seizing shudders that made me gasp for air. Danny rested his glowing, white gloved hand on my shoulder, and it was like he had put an ice pack there.
"I did."
The world spiraled, and I almost passed out again. My heart felt like it had gone from its recent, meager beat to absolute stillness.
"Wh-what do you mean? You're here…"
Danny smiled sadly. "I'm all ghost now. My living half drowned that night. I can't change back."
"Danny…" I whispered. "This is all my fault! Everything! I made you get into the portal that one day, and I couldn't save you a few nights ago… and now you've died!"
"Sam, I wouldn't change a moment of my past. Nothing is your fault, and I don't blame you for anything." His brow furrowed angrily again. "It's me who failed. I didn't change, go ghost, and now many more people besides me are probably dead, and just look at you and Tuck!"
He took a deep breath and clenched his fists.
"You don't have to live with any guilt, Sam, forget about it."
"You don't understand, Danny, I can never forget about it!" I shouted. "I LOVE YOU!"
Tucker stirred on the other side of the curtain, but did not wake.
"I've loved you from almost the first moment I met you, and I've been too shy and stupid not to tell you!" I was sobbing again. "And now it's too late!"
I buried my face in my knees, crying painfully. Cold tears gushed from my eyes and onto the sheets around me. Danny sat down on the bed, but it didn't bend to reflect his weight. He just floated on top.
I felt his frozen hands lightly grasp my shoulders and sit me up. His face was soft and caring as he wiped my eyes. Then he leaned in and planted his lips upon mine.
It was freezing, but not. I was dizzy, giddy, the background rushing away as I wrapped my hands around his neck and tried to pull him closer. It seemed to work, which vaguely surprised me, and he put his hands in my hair, my neck, my exposed back.
It lasted forever, and no time at all.
I was breathless, and Danny looked like he would have been, if he still had to breathe. We were both blushing.
"I've always loved you, Sam. No matter what happened, no matter which ghost I fought or what mess I got in, I always made it through because I couldn't bear to never see you again."
"But what about now?" I sniffed.
Danny was silent.
"I could not eat, stay in this condition, heck, even find a knife, and join you!" I said, suddenly near insane at the thought of no more Danny. "We could both be ghosts!"
Danny looked alarmed.
"Do NOT do that!" he said firmly. "You don't want to leave now, trust me. Being a ghost this young is hard, too hard. You still have your whole life left."
I was filled with sadness again, my intensity suddenly dimmed. "I don't want it without you…" I whispered. "My life is empty without you there to fill it."
"I'll be here. Always, I'll watch over you, take care of you. You'll see me again, and again. I promise," Danny said sincerely, taking my hand.
"But you have to eat. And sleep. Take care of yourself, Sam."
I nodded, a small flame of hope sparking in the dimness.
"I'm going to go talk to Tucker and my family," Danny said. "I will be back."
I nodded again, hot tears welling once more at the corners of my eyes.
Danny smiled, kissed me on the cheek, and faded away into nothingness.