Danny buried his face into his hands, pressing his palms against his eyes to try and quell the burning sensation behind his eyelids, feeling the dark bags underneath them. His trembling legs almost collapsed beneath him as he sank to his knees.
He had only just arrived home from a long night of rounding up and catching the otherworldly spectres inhabiting his home town. When Danny had glanced at his alarm clock he'd almost broken down right then and there.
3:27
He had managed to sneak the Fenton Thermos crammed full of the spirits he'd fought that night down to the lab and released its contents back into the Ghost Zone, creep back up the stairs - creak, went the fourth stair from the top, and Danny flinched, grimacing up at his parent's room, certain he was finally about to be caught: he wasn't - and slip into his bedroom, clicking the door shut quietly before he allowed himself to release a single, strangled sob. Leading to him trying to struggle the short distance to his bed before he inevitably fell to pieces, crumbling apart at the seams. He hadn't made it.
Now he knelt on the floor of his room, the cool temperature of the tiles soaking through the jeans he was still wearing from the day before. He struggled to stop himself from unleashing any more whimpers, fighting against the tears threatening to appear in his crystalline eyes. He bit down on his lip to muffle the sounds rising like bile in his throat, grimacing as the acidic tang of blood and ectoplasm filled his mouth.
Danny's head snapped up to the door, hearing the sound of the knob turning long before the door had even started to open. His eyes widened in horror before squeezing shut, repeatedly blinking in an attempt to hide any trace of the moisture gathering in the corners of his eyes. He ran his tongue over the split in his bottom lip, hoping any sign of the liquid that had spilt from it only five seconds earlier was gone.
While he was distracted he hadn't noticed the figure that had soundlessly crossed the room, crouching down at his side. However, he did notice when a warm, gentle hand landed on his shoulder. Danny jumped, slowly letting his eyes travel up to rest on the face of the person before him. The warm eyes of Jazz stared back at him.
Her long red hair was messy from sleep and without her trademark teal headband, her pyjamas were ruffled and her small feet were slipper-less on the chilly tiles of his bedroom floor. This was the most dishevelled he had seen her in a long time, but it looked like she couldn't care less about her appearance just then. Jazz's teal-coloured eyes were full of nothing but concern. Concern for her little brother. Concern for him.
Her gaze raked over Danny's thin form, searching him, picking him apart and putting him back together again. Her eyes lingered on the already healing injuries from the ghost fights earlier that night - the ones that weren't hidden under his clothes, at least - on his split lip that had clearly been caused by his own teeth, on the dark shadows under his eyes enhanced by his paler-than-normal skin, on the glassy sheen around the edges of his eyes, on the faded scars from fights days, weeks, even months past, and on the way his entire body trembled softly, almost unnoticeably, under her hand.
Jazz's eyes were pained when they finally trailed back up to peer into Danny's exhausted ones. A sad resignation shone in those beautiful teal eyes of hers, and Danny looked even more wretched at the knowledge of how much pain he was putting her through seeing him like this. He glanced down, unable to hold eye contact with her any longer. Jazz couldn't accept this, and she gently cupped Danny's chin with her free hand, tilting his head back up to face her so he could see the soft, caring look pervading her gaze and the sad little smile adorning her face.
"Are you okay?"
The tears he had been struggling to hold back welled in Danny's eyes and he threw himself into his sister's waiting arms, curling up into her comforting embrace and choking out sobs, salty droplets streaming down his cheeks. Jazz's arms wrapped around her brother's small body and she tenderly began running her fingers through his raven locks, quietly humming a soothing melody.
Jazz knew Danny wasn't okay. He hadn't been okay for a long time. She knew he was becoming overwhelmed, slowly losing himself in his attempts to save everyone else. Jazz wouldn't let that happen. She will be there for Danny forever, and even though she can't save him from everything, she can at least save him from himself. She knew she couldn't always protect her baby brother. But she was going to try her damned best.
Until her dying breath.