Title: The Echoing Cry
Author: The Bookworm's Magician
Beta: Esther-Channah
Rating: K
Character/s: Danny
Pairing/s: Hint of Sam/Danny
Spoilers: For the episode "Control Freaks."
Summary: /She falls and falls and falls until she isn't falling, she's stopping-Danny bolts upright, sitting straight up in bed, and sweating so hard his sheets are soaked. After a few moments, in which the screams in his head just won't go away, he jumps up and phases through the wall to go on patrol. He won't be able to sleep again that night anyway./ Fourth in the Chronicles of the Mind-warped.
Disclaimer: I don't own this. I never have and I never will.
AN: I felt like that episode deserved more of a backlash than it got. So I decided to give it one!
The Echoing Cry
A train on a bridge over a river gorge... a fight... orders he has to obey... two humans (nasty things, humans)... falling, flying... the red, the all important red—and a scream that goes on and on and on (it doesn't stop, it won't stop, it can't stop) until it stops suddenly, abruptly, and he knows that if he looks down he'll see redredred splattered on the rocks below and he. Looks. Down...
Danny bolts upright, breathing heavily and sweating so hard his sheets are soaked. He absently—after so long, it's entirely a habit—checks his core, making sure that he can't sense anyone near him. When he's completely assured that no one's going to bother him, he slumps back onto the bed.
He can still hear that scream echoing in his ears, and though he knows with his waking mind that he got there in time, that he gave up the staff and saved Sam, in his dreams it all comes back. In his dreams, he doesn't save Sam; he chooses the staff, and she falls and falls and falls until she's not falling anymore, she's stopping—
Danny forces himself up and out of bed. Even though he can't sense any ghosts in his immediate area, that doesn't mean that they aren't out there—and he won't be sleeping anyway, so he might as well patrol.
He transforms and phases through his wall, grabbing the Thermos on the way out. He flies around until the sun starts to rise and then, only then, gives into his fears. He flies as fast as he can (which is very fast indeed) to the rich side of town, to the Manson's mansion.
He moves around the house invisibly, until he gets to Sam's window. She's there, lying in bed, still asleep. He exhales shakily and rests one hand on the glass.
She's still here. She's not splattered on the rocks by the river or falling through the air. She's alive, still here, just fine.
He stays for a moment longer, basking in his relief before finally leaving. He goes back to his house, prepared to face another day at school, pretending nothing's wrong, pretending to be fine. He might panic someday, break and actually wake her up to check, but today is not that day.
He can't say the same thing about tomorrow.
…The End…
