A/N: Wow! My first multi-chapter fic! I don't know what to say except I really hope I finish this... You guys might have to kick me to keep writing occasionally. But please be nice about it!
Warnings: Some swearing, main character death
Fluorescent lights flickered to life, illuminating a laboratory strewn with rusted, half-finished projects and household appliances in various stages of deconstruction, most of them covered in layers of dust, grime, or a suspicious green substance. Once-white walls were covered in faint olive stains, and the distinct tang of cleaning supplies lingered faintly in the air.
"I really don't know why you guys like this place so much," sighed Danny as he led his two best friends between piles of spare parts.
"Dude, are you serious!?" Tucker, ever the techno-lover, practically yelled. He waved his arms around in pure excitement, and Danny had to duck to avoid the swinging limbs. "Your parent's lab is chock full of awesome gadgets that even I've never seen before!"
"Plus, since we're not technically supposed to be down here, it's sort of exciting, isn't it?" Sam added with a mischievous smirk. Although the goth girl was vegetarian and thin as a twig, she was also tough as nails, and a rebel who would jump at any chance to defy the rules.
Danny bit back another sigh. "Fine, but my parents are going to be home pretty soon." He started digging through a pile of discarded experiments, tossing what seemed to be a futuristic laser over his shoulder like it was an old sock. To be fair, an old sock would probably shoot the same amount of lasers. "Let's just find something to entertain Tucker and get out of here."
The trio dug through broken gadgets in silence for a couple of minutes, only the clinking of metal on metal echoing softly in the lab. Finally, Tucker pulled one out of the pile and crowed triumphantly, "This one!" To Danny, it looked like some sort of cross between a Swiss army knife and a toaster, but he just shrugged and nodded. Tucker seemed to know what he was doing.
"Alright, now can we please leave? If my parents catch us down here..." Danny rubbed the back of his neck as he glanced at the stairs nervously. Tucker nodded, content to clutch his strange gadget, but Sam had wandered over to the opposite wall. She had stopped to stare at a gaping hole filled with bunches of wires. The faint buzz of electricity blended with the noise of the lights, and if you got too close you could feel the tingle of static.
"Sam?"
She whirled around, eyes sparkling.
"Uh oh," snickered Tucker, "I know that look."
"Danny! Is this the ghost portal?"
"Uh... yeah," he replied hesitantly, "but my parents said it wasn't quite finished yet."
Sam grinned as she pulled out her phone. "It's still good enough for a picture."
Danny laughed nervously. "Come on, Sam... There's like, live wires and stuff in there."
Sam rolled her eyes. "It's not like you have to go all the way in. Besides, don't your parents have a bunch of hazmat suits?"
"Well..." Danny was cut off by the sound of the garage door opening. "Maybe later," he said quickly and motioned them up the stairs. Even so, he paused before turning off the lights to take one last look at the portal.
Ghosts. Yeah, right.
"Here." Tucker shoved the garish invention into Danny's hands.
"Wow, I thought you'd be taking this apart for a week at least," said Danny, tossing it from hand to hand. It was the morning after Danny had taken his friends into the lab, and the trio had met up like usual to walk to school together.
"Nah," Tucker waved off Danny's earlier comment. "I'm pretty sure your folks scrapped it for parts, I can't get anything to connect. Think you can snag me a new one?"
Danny shrugged. "Maybe, but anything they won't miss will probably end up being the same way." He stuffed the Swiss army toaster into his backpack and promptly forgot about it.
"Does that mean we'll get to go into the lab again?" Sam asked, rubbing her hands together like some sort of evil mastermind.
"Probably not." Danny ignored Sam's immediate deflation and continued, "I'll just grab something when my parents aren't in there."
The three friends chatted about nothing in particular until they reached Casper High. They briefly split to grab their books for first period. On meeting up again, they headed to the back of the classroom where they'd claimed seats and continued their idle conversation while they waited for class to start. However, Danny's attention wandered over to the group of A-Listers. Specifically, to Valerie Gray. Although she was an A-Lister, she was also strong, confident, independent... Danny shook his head slightly. She was so far out of his league, he couldn't even begin to think about talking to her.
But still, he thought, just look at her. She sat on top of her desk so confidently, like nothing in the world could bring her down. She was even showing off a small supply of odds and ends she had managed to swipe from her dad. Being the head of a security company, he had all sorts of interesting things - handcuffs, batons, she'd even gotten her hands on a taser.
Just then, Mr. Lancer walked in, and everyone shuffled back to their seats. Valerie quickly slid off her desk stashed the contraband back in her bag. Class dragged on like usual, but finally, the bell rang and the students rushed out to the temporary freedom of the hallway. Danny had most of his classes with either Sam or Tucker, but it was still a grind to reach lunch.
Danny slumped dismally into the hard cafeteria chair. "This day is taking forever," he complained. He idly twirled a fork, glaring at it as if it was the source of his problems.
"Cheer up man," Tucker soothed. "It's halfway over now, right?" Danny just mumbled incoherently in response. "Sam, back me up here?" Tucker looked around, realizing his backup was nowhere to be found. "Sam?"
"Look, all I'm saying is that those frogs didn't have to die just for us to learn anatomy, or whatever," Sam's voice drifted over from - oh, no... - the A-Listers' table. "If you'd just help me free them-"
"Look, little goth geek," Dash broke in, "I dunno about anatomy, or whatever, but I gotta keep my grades up if I wanna be a football player. I can't do your little frog dealio."
"Fine," Sam grumbled, "but at least take a pamphlet."
Dash swatted away the piece of paper she held out to him and hissed softly, "Make me."
Before he even realized it, Danny was at Sam's side. "Come on, Dash, let it go." What am I doing? He thought. I can't stand up to Dash!
Paulina cooed in a drippingly sweet voice, "Ooh, Fenton's come to save his little girlfriend!"
"She- She's not my girlfriend!" cried Danny, and Sam echoed, "I'm not his girlfriend! All I want is for this stupid jock to take a pamphlet, is that so much to ask?"
"Hey!" Kwan interrupted. "Nobody calls my buddy stupid!"
Things were escalating quickly. Most of the A-Listers had stood up, and a few people had even gathered around to watch the impending smackdown. I'm gonna get crushed! Danny started to panic. He wanted to throw up his arms in defense, or even to run away, but he was frozen on the spot.
"War and Peace, children, settle down!" Mr. Lancer inserted himself into the knot of angry teens, slightly out of breath. "I don't know what happened, but no one will be fighting in this lunchroom!"
There were a couple muttered curses, and a few students were gracious enough for a "Yes, Mr. Lancer," before everyone wandered back to their tables.
Danny turned to slink away when he felt a strong hand grip his shoulder.
"You, me, after school. Be there, or else." One of the A-Listers. Danny couldn't remember his name, but his breath was hot on his ear. The hand on his shoulder was quickly released before a teacher could notice, but Danny still couldn't relax. All throughout lunch, he could feel eyes burning into the back of his head.
Danny spent his next few classes trying to be invisible. At least, more so than usual. But as rough as the day had been, it couldn't last forever. Danny let out the breath he'd been holding since lunch as he hurriedly shoved his homework into his backpack. Finally, he could go home and relax.
Except, he couldn't.
When Danny peeked out the front door, he groaned. The A-Listers from lunch were prowling around, waiting for him. He slipped back inside and decided to take the back door. A few of the students knew about the faulty lock, Danny just hoped the A-Listers hadn't anticipated him being one of them. He reached the door and gently jiggled the handle. The noise seemed incredibly loud with the roar of the student body reduced to a distant rumble, but he managed to get it open and made his way out without incident.
Danny picked his way around dumpsters and old chairs, feeling relief settle over him. He was almost free. But just as he was about to pass the last dumpster, he happened to glance behind it. Time seemed to freeze. Empty, red eyes met his own. A huge form cast in shadow slowly rose up. When it reached out for him, Danny was finally snapped out of his trance.
He ran. Everything he had, every ounce of energy, went into escaping. Shit, shit, shit, he screamed internally. His feet pounded on the ground as he flew blindly through the streets, sides aching, heart pumping, breath hitching. He could hardly believe it. He had just seen-
His feet flew out from under him. He could feel himself falling. The last thought in his mind was...
Why?
No new messages.
Sam sighed. She hadn't been expecting any different. It had been almost a week since Danny had disappeared. Since then, he hadn't answered a single call or text, and just a few days ago when his body was pulled out of the river, his friends and family finally knew why. He was somewhat of a mess, so it had been a closed casket service. Sam wasn't sure if that was better or worse. She didn't really want to hear the details, so all she knew was that it had been an accident.
She took a steadying breath and opened her messaging app.
Sam: hey danny
Sam: just got back from your funeral
Sam: it wasnt too bad i guess
Sam: for once my parents didnt mind me wearing black
Sam: (Draft) but i still miss you
Her finger hovered over the send button. She chewed her lip. Why could she still not admit to herself that he was gone?
"Hey," Tucker whispered. "You okay?"
Sam looked up from her phone and realized a tear had crawled down her cheek. She wiped it away and nodded. She and Tucker were riding home from Danny's funeral with the Fentons. It was a short enough walk home and a fairly nice day, but they had used the excuse of wanting to talk it out with Jazz. In reality, the ride was mostly silent.
Jazz murmured softly from Sam's side, "Remember what I said earlier. It's okay to have a coping mechanism, but if this texting thing makes it harder to let him go, it might be unhealthy."
Sam grunted disagreeably but said nothing. She deleted the message.
The rest of the ride was as silent as before. Tucker was dropped off, and then Sam. She dragged herself upstairs, not wanting to talk to anyone at that moment, and collapsed straight onto her bed. She flipped onto her back and opened up her phone.
No new messages.
Sam scowled at the offending notification and began to type.
Sam: hey danny
Sam: me again
Sam: we got a project to research a constellation
Sam: i wish you could help me with it
Sam: if theres one thing youre good at its science
Sam: i chose the little dipper since i know its your favorite
Sam: you always tell us that it doesnt get as much love as the big dipper
Sam let out a quiet sigh as she sent the texts. Screw unhealthy coping mechanisms, she needed this.
Her fingers tapped softly against the bright screen late into the night, waiting for a text she knew wouldn't come. Her eyes began to droop, and finally she dozed off, still holding tightly to her phone. She jerked awake the next morning, roused by her phone's vibration.
1 new message.
What Sam saw there made her blood run cold.
It was from Danny.
A/N: Whew! First chapter done... A lot more to go. I hope I didn't depress anyone too much at the end there, but don't worry, Danny's story isn't over! I don't really have a schedule planned for this, but updates should be anywhere from a week to a month, depending on homework and motivation. And finally, I would like to thank my amazing beta, especially for reminding me how little body language I use.
See you guys soon!