So the other day I was in the shower and thinking about Danny Phantom – ew, not like that, you perverts. I mean, I was just thinking about the fic I posted the other day and then my mind started wandering to DP and fanfics in general and I was going through ideas I had for different DP fics and trying to figure out which one I should build off of, when an idea just hit me and I started working it out and, well, you know how that sort of thing goes. So for the past few days I've been working through this chapter and going over things in my mind and trying to work things out. I would like to tell you that, at this point, I have everything figured out and I know exactly where I'm going with this fic, but I don't want to start our relationship out on a foundation of lies, so here's the deal:

As of typing this right this second, this is the only chapter I have written up. There are more writing themselves in my mind as we speak, but nothing that I have down on paper yet.

I have no idea where I'm going with this. I want it to be a Danny/Sam fic – seriously, who doesn't love that pairing? – and I know the basics of everything, but that's pretty much it. I know a few conflicts that are going to rise up, have a very loose plot line, planned out a couple of scenes that I definitely want to include, but right now the big picture is just sort of... evading me. But once I get everything figured out, I'll... let you guys know. Maybe.

So, basically, I'm starting this story with little knowledge of where it's going to go. Two points for winging it!

Okay, knowing that, I'd like for everyone reading this to know that it may be up to a couple of weeks before I get the next chapter up. I know, you guys must be outraged, especially given the way this chapter ends...

Alright, so one other thing you should know is that this is pre-Phantom Planet. Danny and Sam aren't dating yet, the world is still completely ignorant of Danny's secret, and all that good shit. That's just the way I planned it. I believe they're sophomores here, but it doesn't really matter, does it?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy this first chapter!

Disclaimer: Sweetheart, if I owned Danny Phantom, I would probably be loaded, and if I was loaded, do you know what I would do with all that money? I would hire the best scientists I could find and make them build me a Ghost Portal of my own. Then I would have them set everything to the way it is in Danny Phantom, go into it while they're "fixing it" with a hazmat suit on, push the 'on' button, get my ass some ghost powers, and then fly off happily into the sunset to find myself a ghost boy. Now, since I have yet to do any of those things, I think it's safe to assume I don't own Danny Phantom, in any sense of the word. Oh, I also don't own "Bullet From A Gun" by The Script. I don't own The Script, either, for that matter. If I did, I would never stop listening to Danny – lead singer of The Script – talk, but c'mon, he's Irish and Irish accents are hhhhhhhot. But I digress...

Be There.

A Danny Phantom fanfiction

By: Hisa-Ai.

Chapter One:

Bullet From A Gun.

Sitting in English class, looking down at some printouts and listening to Mr. Lancer read some poems aloud, Danny Fenton, Sam Manson, and Tucker Foley couldn't help but think about what a terribly boring day it'd been so far. It was one o'clock on the dot and, so far, there hadn't been much drama. No ghost attacks, no Dash shoving Danny into a locker, no Paulina messing with Sam, no pop quizzes or fights, no trivial gossip or secret slip-ups, nothing but school work.

The trio had trudged dully from class to class as the hours all melted into one another, looking over their shoulders as they waited for something – anything! – to pop up or for word of some drama or another to reach them. During their lunch period, they had all been so high-strung, so sure something was going to happen, that they couldn't enjoy their meals and had, instead, chosen to use their lunch period to patrol the area, something usually only reserved for Danny on days when there was a plethora of ghost attacks, but in this case was more than needed to soothe their nerves.

Usually, it wasn't a bad thing when the ghosts decided to take a break from terrorizing the town, but when that happened things usually trickled down, whereas in this case they just abruptly stopped. One day they were attacking in hordes and the next, they were doing nothing, not a damn thing. And that scared the trio; at least if the ghosts were attacking they knew what they were up to, but if they were doing nothing, Danny, Sam, and Tucker had no way of knowing what they were up to or if they were planning something bigger than normal. And that really did scare them.

However, their lunchtime patrol proved to be frivolous, so the three trudged to their lockers then English class with their heads down in thought, each of them lost in dark fantasies of what the ghosts could be up to, what their next moves might be…

And each of them was coming up with jack shit, if they were to be honest.

They didn't know what the ghosts were up to, what they could be planning – because they were definitely planning. There was no way they weren't. If only one of the three could figure out just what they were planning, then the day wouldn't be so bad anymore and they might be able to relax just a bit. But since that didn't seem as though it was going to happen anytime soon, the three sentenced themselves to worrying and wondering for the rest of the day, which, they would admit, wasn't that far off, but was still much too far off at the same time. While the hours seemed to slip and melt into one another, the minutes of those hours seemed to go by suspiciously slowly, giving them yet another reason not to pay much attention in any of their classes.

"Manson, Fenton, Foley! Are you three paying attention?" Mr. Lancer demanded from the front of the room, shaking his packet of poems at the trio. All three of them jumped and sat up in their seats, their heads snapping towards the front of the room. Mr. Lancer was glaring in their direction, awaiting their responses as the rest of the room erupted in giggles and whispers of "Bus-ted!" Without thinking, all of them replied that they were, though with such a lack of enthusiasm that no one in the room believed them in any sense of the word.

"Oh really?" Lancer asked threateningly, turning his attention back to his packet of poems, skimming over the one they'd all just read before turning the page and scanning it as well. A moment of awkward silence followed where everyone looked between them and Lancer and the trio all looked at one another with wide, concerned eyes, something about the whole damn day so far felt so… off. So… wrong. They were all so off their games and worried, not paying attention in class or their surroundings. At some point, they all started to wonder if maybe they should just duck out of school early, hit the Nasty Burger and then do some patrolling instead of hanging around this place all day, getting in trouble in class, ignoring everything that went on around them when they weren't hyper aware of it… Maybe they should just cut their losses, ditch the rest of the day, and get caught up the next one, it wasn't as if they would miss much, anyway…

"Alright then," Lancer started up again, making them jump once again. He rolled up his packet and tapped it against his other hand as he continued. "Since you three are paying such great attention, you wouldn't mind reading the next piece aloud for the rest of the class, would you?" he raised an eyebrow at them and looked all three in the eye somehow simultaneously. They looked at one another nervously, none of them knew what they were even supposed to be looking at, let alone which one they were on; how were they going to get out of this one?

It seemed as though not even the Universe wanted them to go through the humiliation of having to admit to Lancer that they weren't paying attention, however, because just as Lancer said an impatient, "We're waiting," the door to the classroom flew open and a secretary from the office – a mousy woman with big, thick brown hair and a set of petite, blue rimmed glasses who always wore clothing that was borderline inappropriate for someone who worked as a high school secretary – came rushing in, offering a piece of folded up paper to Lancer as she whispered something into his ear, blocking her mouth with one of her hands so as not to be over-heard by prying ears.

As Lancer listened to the woman, who stood five inches shorter than he did, Danny, Sam, and Tucker all let out sighs of relief and sunk down in their chairs, relaxing slightly.

"That was a close one!" Danny breathed, pressing his hand to his forehead.

"I'll say! I have no idea what we're even doing today." Sam agreed, taking a moment to look over the packet in front of her before giving up on it two lines in and pushing it away from herself.

"I haven't paid attention in a single class we've been to today." Tucker added, shaking his head.

"Me neither. It's just… too damn quiet. Like, what are they all up to? Things never die down like this, not just all of a sudden. It's just… putting me on edge." Danny admitted. Sam tucked a thick strand of her hair behind her ear and scratched her scalp carefully, chancing a glance in the direction of Lancer and the secretary, what was her name again? Miss… Julian? Julie? Julia? Jules? Something with a J sound, Sam was sure. What was she doing in Lancer's English class, anyway? The only time an office secretary ever showed up was when someone was in serious trouble, or there was a serious emergency for one of the students, so which was it? Or was she just looking for an excuse to thrust her chest in Lancer's face? Ugh, she hoped it wasn't the last one, because she didn't know that she would be able to keep what she had actually eaten of her lunch down if she found out that was her reason for being there…

"So what do you think the secretary wants?" Danny asked, jabbing his thumb in the direction of the two, Lancer was mumbling something back to her, his face filled with nothing but grief and concern. If someone had been in any kind of trouble, he would have been yelling by this point, so that meant there was some kind of emergency… Sam's stomach dropped as she entertained the notion that the emergency concerned her or one of her friends, but she quickly shook it off; if something had happened to anyone they knew or cared about, they would have gotten a call directly on their cell phones, or… or something.

No, the emergency couldn't concern any of them. It had to be about one of their classmates, but which one remained to be seen…

"She has some sort of message for Lancer there, so it's either her number or someone's in trouble." Tucker said, though even he shuddered at the thought of the secretary hitting on Lancer in the middle of class.

"Or there's an emergency." Danny added, leaning forward on his desk, resting his face in his hands as his elbows framed his printout.

"Yeah, that, too. Who do you think it's for?"

"Don't know. Could be anyone." Tucker shrugged at his friend's words and put his feet up on his desk, confident that it had absolutely nothing to do with him.

"Well, we haven't done much today, so I know none of us are in trouble." Danny shrugged, turning his attention back to Sam. He sat up straight in his chair as he smiled at her, then raised a questioning eyebrow at her, studying her face for a moment as he mulled something over. He looked as though he was going to say something to her, but before he could manage to get even a syllable out, Lancer turned away from the secretary and locked his eyes on Sam sadly. The look in his eyes unnerved her in the most dreadful of ways and she knew what he was going to say before anyone else did, just from the look he was giving her…

"Samantha, sweetheart?" he started tentatively. Her stomach dropped as all eyes in the room swerved to her, the room suddenly so quiet she was sure everyone had heard her stomach's descent. Danny and Tucker both sat up, eyes just as wide as hers, suddenly even more stressed than they'd been the entire day. Somehow, without needing to hear any more from him, they knew that they had been right; it had been too quiet all day, the ghosts had been up to something. And they had pulled it off, whatever it was. But what was the damage? What had they done? "Pack up your things and go with Miss Julia here to the office… I… I'm afraid there's been a terrible accident." He announced, his voice heavy with concern and sadness.

Sam swallowed, had he just said there'd been an accident? She swore she blacked out for a second there, because nothing seemed to make any sense anymore. They had just been sitting there, worrying about ghosts not attacking, and now Lancer was looking at her, calling her by her first name, adding an endearment, the whole class staring at her wordlessly, not even the snarky Paulina or the moronic Dash uttering a single word, just staring at her along with the rest of the class… What had Lancer said happened again?

"C'mon, Sam." Danny whispered, gathering up both his and her things and handing them off to Tucker, who piled them on top of his own things. Danny grabbed her by the elbow and gently helped her up, moving her towards Lancer and Miss Julia slowly; moving against every second like a bomb would go off if they moved too fast. Close behind the pair, Tucker moved ever so carefully, not wanting to drop a single item from his monstrous stack, but not saying a word about it, not complaining in the least.

As the three got to Miss Julia and Lancer, not one of them complained or protested about Danny and Tucker following her, seemingly knowing that there was no way she was going to be leaving that room without one or both of the boys. They almost seemed to be expecting it of them, actually, as they barely batted an eye at their presence.

Danny wrapped an arm around Sam's shoulders and rubbed the goose bumps off her arm, his own quiet way of soothing her. She would have been grateful for Danny then, but her mind was spinning around in a loop, trying to make sense of everything all over again, her day playing back in her mind. She was just trying to figure out where things had gone wrong, the moment when her day had suddenly become so fuzzy…

Miss Julia thanked Lancer and turned about on her heel, leading them all out of the room. Her heels clicked daintily on the floor as the door swung shut and the hallway engulfed them in its silence, which was even worse than the silence of the room they'd just left. Their trek down to the office was deathly silent, no one daring to breathe a word, not Miss Julia to offer any more information, not Sam to ask any questions, not Danny to try to comfort Sam, and not Tucker to complain about having to carry all of their things. No, now was not the time for something as meaningless and intruding as words…

Once they made their way down to the office, Miss Julia opened the door and held it open for all three teens to enter before her. Inside the office, it was even quieter. Not even the fan that was usually going when one went in there in the middle of the day was on, presumably being broken or just having been turned off by Miss Julia before she left to go fetch Sam.

Against the wall opposite the office door was a line of five chairs, all dark blue and with backs pressed against the wall below a bulletin board coated with announcements and flyers of all sorts for events passed and events future, the whole thing a mishmash of colors that made Sam sick to her stomach. Other than the wall of announcements, there was nothing particularly noteworthy of the office other than a few phones, a couple computers, a spot on the wall for the teachers' mail, and another doorway that led to the principal's office – just a normal high school office, complete with stale air that smelled like a combination of cheap cologne and office store supplies. But to Sam, it felt as though Death himself was standing in the room with them, looming over all of them, his glare threatening and daring them to say even a single word…

She didn't see how she would ever be able to rise to his challenge.

"I called your parents, Danny, Tucker." Miss Julia said once they were all inside the room. Tucker walked over to the dark grey counter in front of the computers and slumped all of their things down on it, the thud resonating through the small enclosure and making Sam flinch. A few of the papers and books on the top of the stack slid down, some landing next to the pile, some choosing instead to land on the floor, but no one made a move to pick any of it up.

"Tucker, your parents are on their way to the hospital and, Danny, your parents are on their way here to pick you four up; Mrs. Mershaw, the other secretary, went to get Jazz from class as well. If you'd like to take a seat while you wait, I have to get some papers ready for them to sign." She explained carefully, eyes darting away from Sam once she dropped her sympathy off. Sam nodded and let Danny steer her to the chairs.

As she plopped down in her chair, her mind went over some of what Miss Julia had just said, as she was still trying to play catch up with it all, but she still knew, somewhere in her, what all of it meant, what was being said and what it added up to. She couldn't bring herself to ask about what had happened or who had been hurt, if they were okay, if they were going to be okay, but she knew that all of that would be explained to her soon enough, anyway. And, as odd as it seemed, a part of her didn't want to know. The longer she remained truly ignorant of what had happened, the longer she could go without feeling as much pain as she was sure she would feel once she did know...

Danny kneeled in front of Sam and took her hands, trying to get her to look up at him, and when she did, he gave her the half-smile that she loved so much, but she couldn't bring herself to smile back. Not this time.

"I… Sam, you're going to be okay." He promised. Not, are you alright or everything's going to be fine or even I'm sure they're fine, but you're going to be okay. She liked that answer better than any of the alternatives, because it meant that he cared enough about her to give her the truth and trust that, no matter what happened at that hospital, her future wasn't going to be all bleak and hopeless. He might have been clueless and dense, but even he knew what to say occasionally.

"Tucker," Danny said suddenly, turning away from Sam for a second to address their other friend, who was currently trying to squeeze information about the accident out of Miss Julia.

"Yeah, dude?" he asked, turning away with disappointment when it became apparent that Miss Julia either didn't know much else or she just wasn't in a position to share what she did. Either way, it was disappointing.

"Go to our lockers and get our things, would you? Yours, Sam's, and mine. And hurry up; if you're not back when my parents get here, we're leaving without you." He warned, turning his attention back to Sam. Tucker nodded and ducked out of the office then, sprinting briskly down the hallway and out of sight of the glass windows.

Danny breathed a steady, concentrated breath out through pursed lips and ran his free hand through his hair, still clutching one of Sam's hands in his own. He gave her a comforting squeeze and tried to meet her eyes again, but she wouldn't take the bait, her mind had wandered too far off, trying to figure out what had happened… What did the ghosts do? Had they… killed her parents? How would they have done it, though? And why? What was she going to do if they had? Sure, her parents were over-bearing, much too conservative, pink, and so non-non-conformist that Sam sometimes wondered if she wasn't adopted, but they were still her parents, damnit! And hell help her if she didn't love them! And what about her grandmother? The only one in her whole family who seemed to understand and accept her as she was? Had they gotten to her, too? God, what was she going to do?

"Sam…!" Danny whispered, rubbing his thumb along her cheek. Silently pouring down her face was a stream of tears, making her make-up run and leaving her with nothing but a black smudged face with her salty tears trailing down it, painting it dark and desperate, sad and lonely, hollow and distant… Danny felt a pang in his heart and stood up abruptly then and, without thinking, pulled Sam up and into his arms, pressing her against his chest and wrapping his strong arms around her. She brought her arms up around his back and gripped his shirt, allowing herself to relax and let the tears flow more freely now, just a bit.

"Danny…" She mumbled, choking back a sob. She hated Danny to see her like this, but she couldn't hold it back, she couldn't stop the tears from flowing freely down her face, staining her face, his shirt, and her façade. But none of that mattered. She could wash her face, he could get a new shirt, she could build herself back up, but she couldn't get a new family…

"Sshh, I know, Sam. I know." He soothed as a sob escaped her, tightening his hold on her slightly as she shook in his arms. He couldn't help her, he couldn't make her stop crying – hell, he could barely stand to see her cry in the first place – he couldn't fix whatever the ghosts had done, but he knew one thing for sure: whoever had done… whatever it was that they'd done – because Danny still didn't know what they'd done yet – they would pay for doing it. Dearly. Every. Single. One. Of them.

"Danny! Sam! What happened? What's going on? Is everyone alright?" Jazz demanded, flying through the door with the second secretary – an older woman with light brown hair that she had fluffed out in front of her face in an attempt to hide her greying hairline – close at her heels. Mrs. Mershaw, the second secretary, held the door open for Tucker, who came bolting in seconds after them.

Trying to keep his voice level and calm, Danny moved slowly so he could see his sister and best friend over Sam's shoulder before answering. "We don't know, Jazz. All Lancer said was that there'd been a terrible accident. And he used Sam's full name. And he called her "sweetheart." But that's pretty much all he said. Miss Julia said Tucker's parents were on their way to the hospital and our parents were on their way here to pick all of us up. Other than that, we don't know a thing."

Jazz pursed her lips and looked over his position, his arms wrapped protectively around Sam, her head buried against his chest, shaking with sobs, probably staining his shirt – No. They knew something else, something they weren't telling her. Maybe they couldn't, not in front of Miss Julia and Mrs. Mershaw, but what – Oh. God.

It had something to do with ghosts. It had to; otherwise, Danny would have told her. All three of them probably already had it all figured out in their minds, what they thought had happened, what they thought the damage was, and if Sam, of all people, was in tears over it… Well, then it couldn't be good. And if they were right, about whatever they were right about, that meant… something bad. Ugh, it was so frustrating not knowing anything! She wouldn't know much, though, for a long while. At least until she could get Danny or Tucker alone, which probably wouldn't be happening anytime soon…

"Well, have you tried calling anyone?" She asked slowly, moving towards the counter to help a struggling Tucker pack the messy pile of school things into the three backpacks he had. It didn't matter what went where, as long as everything was put in a pack, it would be fine; they could sort out what was whose later on, after… Well, after the dust settled and school seemed important again.

"Who are we gonna call, Jazz?" Danny asked, exasperated. If they were right, they couldn't call Sam's parents, Danny's parents were going to be there any minute anyway so there'd be no point in calling them, and Tucker's parents were probably already at the hospital, finding things out, so to disturb them would probably be unwise if they wanted to find anything out themselves when they got there. No, there wasn't a soul in the world they could call to find anything out.

With a sigh, Jazz shook her head and zipped up the purple backpack in her hands. Who were they going to call, indeed.

The ending of this chapter feels incomplete, yet at the same time it felt like a perfect spot to end things. And I mean, it wasn't the perfect chapter, but I never really like first chapters, anyway. The next chapter will hopefully be better. I almost promise.

I feel as though I should explain the chapter title to you guys. Basically, what I decided was that name of the chapters for this fic would be song titles. Oh yeah, real original, right? Just shut up and listen for a second guys, 'kay? So, anyway, they're not going to be just random song titles, they're going to be song titles that I feel go with the chapter, or if there are certain lines of a song that I think of whilst writing or editing a chapter, I'll have the chapter be the title of that song. So in this case, "Bullet From A Gun" is a song by The Script off their second album "Science & Faith". The lines that I thought go with this chapter are as follow:

What's done is done
Can't resurrect the setting sun
What's done is done
Oh you can't reverse the bullet from the gun.

So, yeah, interpret that whatever which way you want to, that's just where my mind went with this chapter. And for those of you who are wondering, yes, I probably will include a few song lyrics from the chapter title/song in every chapter. But it will, more likely than not, be in an A/N so as not to interfere with the story itself. And hey, if anyone ever has a song that they instantly think of whilst reading any of this, feel free to let me know what it is in a review or a PM; I'd love to hear about it.

I feel as though I should warn you that there may or may not be some OOC-ness in this fic – five stages of grief, anyone? – but I'm not entirely sure yet. I mean, obviously the characters are going to be acting a bit differently, but given the circumstances, I don't know if it'd really be considered OOC, you know? No, you probably don't, but you wi-ill. Soon, my pets, soon...

Also, I don't know if you guys were able to figure it out from what I hinted at through-out the chapter, so I thought I might as well ask: What do you think happened? Why were they pulled out of class? Why is Sam crying? First one to guess right gets free virtual cookies!

Anyway, be sure to let me know what you think!

Always,
~Hisa-Ai~