I am thrilled to say that though this is incredibly late, I've finally written something for Panhead13's plunnie, 'Still Standing'.
So, to Panhead13, I hope you like it! :)
To everyone else, REVIEW PLEASE! Me and my tiny self esteem could use some encouragement... O_o
Also, I might've slipped an 'Incredibles' quote in there somewhere. :3
Disclaimer: I don't own nothin'.
Waking up on the ground is not fun.
Which is why Danny Fenton decided to put it at the very top of his list of things he'd rather not experience again any time soon. Or he would have, if he'd had any semblance of a coherent thought.
Not that it really mattered, anyways. Over the past few months, he and the ground had become very well acquainted.
As he gained a firmer grip on consciousness, the very first thing his mind registered was pain. It was almost kind of funny, since the last thing he remembered was also pain.
Danny chuckled deliriously. He just couldn't win.
It took a few minutes of rather fierce internal debate, but he managed to crack open one bleary eye... then the other. Blinking heavily, he took in the scene splayed out before him.
The first thing he noticed, was that he appeared to be in some sort of hole. He wondered, vaguely, how he wound up there, but frankly he was in too much pain to care.
He wrinkled his nose in disgust as he was suddenly hit with the strong smell of blood, and… was that ectoplasm..?
Huh. That's funny. He didn't remember seeing any blood or ectoplasm lying around, not that it would've even-
Oh, wait. That was him.
Or, more specifically, it was leaking out of him.
He frowned. That certainly couldn't be very healthy...
Eh. Figuring that he was still, well, breathing… it probably wasn't something that was too urgent.
Probably.
Somehow, the only thing he could bring himself to care about was sleep. In fact, the only thing that Danny wanted to do right now was go back to sleep.
And he would have.
Except, something in the better part of his mind argued that he should be at least somewhat more concerned.
Because waking up in the bottom of anything is bad.
In the state he was in, he couldn't stop the short burst of laughter that escaped his throat. His laughter was cut short, however, and he let out a strangled gasp.
Well, that hurt. Whoever said that laughter was the best medicine was a filthy, rotten liar.
As he fought to breathe through the pain, Danny promised himself that once all of this was over, he would find this person and give him a nice, swift kick in the groin.
Then we'd see how he liked it, the jerk...
It was probably not a good idea to stay in here, considering 'here' was a freakin' giant hole.
He needed to get out. But first, he had to get up.
Gritting his teeth, Danny braced himself to move from his spot on the suddenly very comfortable-looking ground. He turned over sluggishly, and couldn't help but groan. His body, he decided, was one big ache.
Danny attempted to lift himself off the ground, but his arms shook and gave out beneath him. It was only after a fair amount of struggling that he managed to get himself up onto his hands and knees. Almost immediately, his head started to spin, making him feel all... dizzled.
...dizzled? Dizzly..? Was that even a real word? Meh. He didn't care. It was, now.
Dizzly, whizzly, woozy, floozy...
Heh. Floozy. Heh, heh...
Wait. Why was he laughing again..?
He was supposed to be doing something.
Something about a hole. Speaking of holes...
Oh, right. The hole...
The hole which he still had yet to get out of. Apparently, that was a problem that wouldn't resolve on its own. Mind once again on the current task, Danny lifted one hand, and then lazily lifted the other hand... foot... leg... thing.
Whatever. He couldn't tell.
He lifted something, and waited for whichever limb to comply.
He then repeated those same motions, and after a few tries, he fell into an odd sort of rhythm.
Hand, hand, knee, foot...
Stumble, repeat.
Well, Jazz had always said that slow and steady won the race... and Danny was definitely slow.
He wondered if it still counted.
Slowly (very slowly), Danny clambered through the rubble, stumbling around and still giggling like an idiot.
And then he stopped, realizing that hey, he'd actually made it out.
Sort of.
Breathing harshly from exertion, he lay sprawled out at the edge of the hole...
Which is when he realized that the hole was actually a crater. Perfectly sized, too. Almost as if it was some sort of indentation.
Huh...
Well, that might explain the pounding headache and the various bleeding wounds...
Blinking hard in an attempt to rid himself of the spots dancing in his vision, Danny slowly eased himself into sitting position. He managed to push himself upright, but fell back down again as he was immediately met with a sharp pain in his side.
"Ugh," he wheezed, gripping his side tightly.
Danny frowned, realizing he must've broken... stuff.
Broken stuff is never good.
After resting for a few moments he managed to get himself to his feet, swaying slightly as the sudden movement sent his head spinning. Once he was sure he could stand without the immediate risk of falling over, Danny stood up slowly, looking out over Amnity Park.
Or rather, what was left of it.
It looked like a warzone. And Danny realized, with a shudder, that it very well could be.
The town- if it could even be called that, anymore- was in ruins. All of the houses, stores and other buildings that had once stood there were now completely destroyed. The streets were littered with rubble and all sorts of debris, and cars were strewn about haphazardly. A set of downed powerlines sparked dangerously, and in the distance, he could see smoke.
The town. His town...
The one place he'd tried so hard to protect was gone. Destroyed. Leveled to the ground. There was literally nothingleft. And the worst part was, was that he had absolutely no clue as to what had happened.
Danny stood there rigidly, completely numb with shock.
How did this happen? How could he have let this happen?!
Danny wiped a shaking hand across his eyes. He couldn't do this; not here, not now.
There were people here. People who needed help.
With his body moving solely on autopilot, he began making his way into the destruction.
As he scanned the area for signs of people, Danny realized that throughout all of this, he had yet to see a single person. He was absolutely bewildered.
As it was, the townsfolk should've started rescue efforts by now.
Where were they? Why weren't they here?
Danny wrapped his arms around himself tightly, trying not to panic.
He had to find someone, he had to do something...
Danny quickened his pace, glass crunching beneath his feet as he made his way through the debris. "H-hey..." he called out weakly. He held his breath, waiting for a reply, but was met with only silence.
"HEY!" He shouted this time, but immediately doubled over from the pain that shot through his back and ribs. Breathing harshly, he held a hand to his aching chest.
The pain was quickly forgotten, however, and a sick feeling settled itself in the pit of his stomach as the realization hit.
He was alone. There was nobody else here. In fact, there wasn't so much as a single sign that anybody else had ever even been here.
But they had all been here when this happened. He knew it, he was sure of it. And now...
Now, everyone was gone.
It was almost as though they had all just disappeared. But where could they have disappeared to?
Was everyone safe? Had they all evacuated the town?
Or were they... were they even...
"No, nonononono..." Danny whispered hoarsely, shaking his head vehemently at the thought.
"They're fine," he told himself. They weren't here... but they were fine.
They have to be.
In fact, they had all probably gone out for lunch.
...at the same time.
Yeah...
Yeah, that was it. That had to be it. They had all simply gone out to lunch, and they would be back soon.
Of course, he would have to explain everything to them once they got back. But whatever had happened... they'd seen it, hadn't they?
He had a sneaking suspicion that there wasn't anything left to explain.
His thoughts were interrupted when suddenly, his foot caught on something in the rubble. Danny let out a sharp cry as he fell forward and landed harshly on his stomach.
The impact stole his breath away, and he shuddered violently as white hot pain tore through his body. Danny clenched his eyes shut, his breath coming out in ragged gasps as he grasped at his injured chest.
Once the worst of it had subsided, he opened his eyes and looked up dazedly. For the first time, he noticed a large metal object in front of him. He squinted, trying to get a better look, and he very much wanted to cry when he realized what it was.
The FentonWorks sign.
Despite the pain he was in, Danny crawled towards the sign. Oh, how he wanted to cry right now. He reached out to it, clinging desperately to the metal thing as if it were some sort of lifeline.
Any relief he might've felt, however, was snatched away in an instant.
FentonWorks was nowhere to be seen.
In that moment, he felt something deep inside of him break.
Leaning heavily on the neon sign, he stood up slowly.
He'd tried to ignore the growing feeling of dread in the pit of his stomach. He had tried to ignore the pain he was in, and the tears stinging in his eyes.
He was tired. He was hurting.
And although he'd never admit it, Danny was scared.
Now, more than ever, he wanted to go back to sleep. To just pretend that none of this-whatever 'this' was- was happening. That it was all just a bad dream.
That he'd wake up, and everything would be back to normal.
But no matter how hard Danny tried to convince himself otherwise, he knew that this wasn't a dream. Nor would anything go back to being even close to normal.
Amnity Park was completely destroyed.
And yet, somehow, he was still standing…