Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of the italicized dialogue added to this work of fiction. I make no profit of this.
Cirque Berserk
.Poisoned Scarlet.
.
.
.
A/N: Alright, I know the episode 'Control Freaks' is the last episode in Season 1 of DP. But I want you guys to pretend that Season 2 and 3 happened already except for the very last episode of DP: Phantom Planet. So, basically, everything is canon except for the final episode of DP and I'm making my own story starting from the last few minutes of Control Freaks. Just replace Phantom Planet with Control Freaks and delude yourself into thinking that DP never, ever ended! XD
The dialogue you will see highlighted in italics was taken directly from the episode. I did not make that up and that is the only thing I have copied. I disclaim it as well - to Butch Hartman, 'cause he's a freakin' genius. Though I do admit that, since Danny saved Sam at the last moment, I had to make up my own alternate ending.
.
.
.
1
Remembering
.
.
.
She stood at the edge of the tremulous train, staring desperately at her best friend. He stood firmly on the rattling train, holding the bright scarlet staff in his hands, flickering his red eyes to and fro Freakshow and the magically glowing scepter.
"Very good, drone," Freakshow said smoothly enough, "Now, bring me my staff. Come on, bring it!" he prompted mockingly, holding his gloved hand out expectantly, that same awful grin on his powdered face.
He stared at the staff in his hand wretchedly, unable to go against the force preventing him from deciding himself but being dragged into the allure of the staff regardless. He looked towards her, almost in dazed confusion.
"Fight it, Danny!" she pushed forward, standing in front of Freakshow, staring into his abnormal red eyes. "He's not holding the crystal ball anymore. You are!" she said urgently.
She was pushed away harshly, stumbling towards the edge of the train, looking down and getting a sense of vertigo as she gazed at the rocky, uneven floor. Freakshow sent her a sneer and looked back at Danny, who was holding the staff with a vice-like grip.
"Silence!" Freakshow commanded, "Obey me, ghost. Give me my staff. Come on." he tried again, wiggling his fingers, raising his brows.
"I saw you up on that high wire!" she screamed, directing his attention back to her. "You were fighting the whole time. Fight him now, Danny!" she took a step forward, seeing something flicker through his scarlet eyes. "You're not just a ghost. FIGHT HIM!"
He ground his teeth and clenched his eyes shut. His grip on the staff was neck-breaking as he desperately tried to gain control of his will. "Quiet!" he shouted, strangled. "All of you!" he shut his eyes against the invisible force inside him. "I need to think!"
"Stop her!" Freakshow commanded, pointing at her, sending her a dark sneer. "NOW!"
"Well, it's the crystal ball, or your friends, Danny!" she decided, courageously, trying not to look at the fifty foot drop just behind her. "Your choice!"
Lydia creeped up towards her, baring her teeth as her shorter, slightly fuller, partner glared menacingly at her through bright red eyes. He lashed out and she backed up, dodging a lethal swipe from Lydia, who only stretched her lips into a feral grin.
Then she stopped breathing.
Her combat boot stepped into thin air. She could not stop herself in time and soon she felt the world tilt on its axis. Her eyes swooped past Tucker, who was being restrained by the bulkier ghost, looking horrified and then to Danny, who had a white gloved hand over his eyes, teeth grinding in indecision.
"I didn't mean that to be so literal!" she manged to scream, air whizzing past her, a dreadful, stomach-turning burn surging through her body. "DANNY!" was the last thing she heard herself scream before she closed her eyes.
"Sam! NO!!" she heard someone cry.
But it wasn't Danny, she noticed quite sorrowfully. It wasn't Danny; in fact, as she rapidly fell, she could see his brightly glowing body still in the same position as she last saw him. Stiff, confused and holding the staff in his hand tightly.
It was Tucker who had called after her.
She noticed another figure being thrown. She saw with growing terror that it was Tucker. They were both falling. And Danny? Danny was still standing on the rumbling train, seemingly oblivious to everything around him as she hit ground with a sickening crunch and... sunk?
-
"Sam! Hey, Sam!" a voice lulled her from her deep sleep. She could hear something screech against metal and she quickly realized it was her curtains being puled apart. The steady stream of bright sunlight that spilt through the window was proof enough.
She groaned and slapped a hand over her eyes. "Ugh..."
"Wake up, Goth Girl," a female voice said, annoyed. "It's time for another day of college life, girl, so get the hell out of bed!"
Sam Manson opened her violet eyes to see Valerie Gray standing at the foot of her bed, looking smug dressed in black jeans and a tight lavender blouse. She had her usually curled hair in a pony tail and she wore the usual light make up. On her shoulder was her book bag and she sent her a risen brow, arms crossed in an expectant manner.
"Val?" she croaked, her voice still heavy from sleep. "What time is it? What are you doing here?"
"It's currently seven am and what do you mean what am I doing here?" she snorted, obviously displeased by her answer. "To wake you up for school, silly!"
"School. Ugh." She propped herself up on her elbows, rubbing the sand out of her eyes. "I will never be free from that torture, will I?"
"Nope!" she chirped too happily. "Now get up and get dressed. You have half an hour—I expect you to be ready to go by then." She strode to the door, yanking it open. "I'll be downstairs with Tucker when your ready."
"Wait, Tucker's here?" Sam questioned, quizzical.
"Yes," Valerie replied exasperatedly. "He is here and we will both drive to Amity State College together in Tuck's brand new BMW!" She gushed, grinning.
"Oh," was all she managed as her friend shut the door and left her to bask in the deafening silence. Rustling out of her sheets, she made her way to the bathroom.
She clicked on the lights and avoided glancing at herself in the full-body mirror ahead.
As she stepped into the shower, she wondered back to her dream. It wasn't surprising that she had dreamt of that night. She had been dreaming about that day since it happened, five years ago. But usually it was more gruesome. She wouldn't land in the stream like she really did but rather on the rocky floor. Danny would be looking over the speeding train, grinning, as he threw Tucker off as well, when she knew fairly well Tucker had been thrown by the muscled ghost.
But she hadn't had any of those dreams recently. They had stopped in year three of his so-called disappearance.
She stepped out of the shower, wiping the steam from the mirror and gazing at her wet, black hair. Then she gazed straight into her own eyes.
They seemed... duller than before, she noticed nonchalantly.
Her hair was the same length—if not shorter. It reached her chin evenly though she ditched the mini pony tail and resorted to leaving her hair alone. She had dyed one of her bangs a bright red colour and no one asked why. After all, she had some rather bad memories regarding that specific colour. She still wore a plaid skirt, only much shorter and with fishnet leggings instead. Her combat boots reached her thigh rather than her knee and her shirt was a simple stark black tank top with a bright red splatter of faux blood running across her breast.
She quickly pulled on her set of boots—combat style but zipping up all the way to her mid-thigh. The laces were killer, she decided two days after she bought them. But it didn't matter; she loved them regardless. She combed through her raven black hair, carefully avoiding the red streak before tying it back. She let the red streak of hair, which was longer than the rest, flow freely.
She applied her regular amount of eyeliner—which meant she put it on heavily. Along with powder, plain lip gloss and some mascara.
She stood in the middle of her room. The room she had rented in a rather fancy apartment complex; after all, her parents refused to let her live in anything less than excellent. The complex held a pool, a lounging bar downstairs, along with a perfect view of Amity Park's infamous forest.
It was centered near downtown—which meant she was in walking-distance of several of the most hottest shops the city had to offer.
She wasn't very impressed, having grown up in a practically 'Whatever-you-want-you-get' environment.
Not much can surprise her nowadays, she noticed idly.
"SAM!" Valerie's voice cut through her reverie. "You done yet?"
"Yeah!" she replied, driving her thoughts away. "I'm coming down right now! Just wait up!" She grabbed the messenger bag stapled with band patches, rough graffiti writing, and studs of all kind. Though there was one patch on her bag that stood out from the rest; one that no one dared to ask about.
A simple DP patch.
She hurried into the living room, finding Tucker playing with his brand new, state-of-the-art, PDA with Valerie checking her make up right beside him.
Tucker hadn't changed at all. He still wore that obnoxious red beret only he lost the geeky glasses and stuck with contacts. He also decided, after much argument, that wearing a long-sleeved, faded yellow shirt wasn't very appealing for the ladies. He settled on a rather colorful flannel, short-sleeved, shirt and traded his military green trousers for gray.
"Oh, Sam, guess what!?" Tucker exclaimed excitedly, "DOOM 2.0!" he flashed her his PDA's shiny screen to show her the brand-new game counsel. "I must have it!"
"Own it." Sam replied blandly. "It's a drag. Don't but it—DOOM 1.0 was way better than DOOM 2.0." she walked towards the kitchen and opened her fridge, raising a brow at her best friend's gawking. "What?"
"You... You... You..." he stuttered, disbelievingly "You own it and you never told me about it?!" he shrieked, ignoring his girlfriend's exasperated shake of her head. "Me? You're best friend in the whole wide freakin' world?"
Sam smirked. "Hey, I was going to tell you but I kept getting distracted. Sorry about that." she glanced pointedly at Valerie, who decided to watch the two friend's bicker in pleased silence. "I totally finished it in, like, one week though! It took me months to even get past Level 9 in DOOM 1.0!" She took out a curvy bottle of yogurt and ripped the seal off. "I suggest you get Terror V. It has cooler graphics." She downed the drink.
Tucker looked skeptical. "There's only one way to find out." He stared blankly at the door leading to Sam's bedroom. "Gotta try it out for myself!" he literally beamed and made a dash for the door.
"Watch out for the—"
"YEOUCH!"
"—AC cord." she finished, smiling wryly as Tucker shook his head and got up, dusting his pants before rushing into her room and letting out an ecstatic "I LOVE SAM'S CONNECTIONS!!" once he found the video game.
She only chuckled, throwing the bottle of yogurt away.
"Alright, enough chat. It's time to go," Valerie interrupted, grabbing her arm and tugging her out.
"Wait, what about Tucker?"
"What about him?" she questioned back, almost suspiciously.
"Won't he come with us?" she elaborated. "I mean, doesn't he have to attend class? Like the rest of us." she added dryly.
She usually didn't see Tucker at her home. They kept their school life mostly private considering he went to a completely different college: one just two hours away from Amity Park. A big shot, nice and new, only-for-certified-computer-geniuses, type of college.
Needless to say, Tucker lived quite far away. At least one hour away from her own apartment though they hung out regularly and continued to lunch at the Nasty Burger at least four times a month.
Valerie shook her head, a small smile on her face. "Tuck attended several college-level courses during high school so he doesn't have to go until four in the evening nowadays. He decided to take the night course since he only has to attend four classes in total."
Sam nodded, remembering. "He applied himself in school after... that."
There was a small pause.
They didn't talk about him a lot. Danny Fenton, she meant. Valerie had, in the end, never figured out who was Danny Phantom really was. They let her believe he was simply another ghost; a special, powerful ghost. Though they were relieved she never put two and two together—since Danny Phantom disappeared the instant Danny Fenton 'moved'. They had told her that Danny Fenton moved to California to study Ghost Psychology and gain a major in Physics so he could live his dream of working for NASA.
In reality, he just left with Freakshow.
But she suspected more; given Tucker's nervous attitude whenever she brought it up. She didn't question it though—she liked hating him.
It was easier and it hurt less.
Though the Fenton's were blissfully unaware of this for a while. He went missing for several days, Sam recalled, but he did come back. He had enough will to come back and tell his parents not to worry; that he was going to study abroad in the subject of Ghost Psychology (much like his sister). They, of course, had let him. They respected his decisions. He would finish his school elsewhere. He would be in the 'safe' hands of Vlad.
Now Sam did not know how Vlad had gotten involved. Freakshow was the one responsible for what had happened but somehow, someway, he did. Because that was the only way the Fenton's would ever let their youngest son go so easily.
Sam was outraged when she had found out.
He left without even one lousy good-bye.
But she shouldn't have been so surprised.
He also let her—and Tucker—fall to their deaths.
But, then again, she thought wretchedly, he was under a powerful mind control device.
She didn't usually think about that; it made things much simpler when she just thought about it the very, well, simple way: he let them both fall to their deaths and he did nothing to stop them. Rather, he followed Freakshow and his minions and was now entertaining Goths everywhere and basically robbing every valuable item he could get his grubby hands on.
See? Better.
None of that 'ulterior motives' crap she used to spend hours on end thinking about, feeling horrible and hurt, because she needed to look at it from 'his point of view'. Because she was too smart not to.
Nope. She stopped torturing herself that way three years ago.
As the two girls walked down the winding staircase and headed towards the parking lot, Valerie took out Tucker's brand new BMW's keys and unlocked the doors with a press of a button.
"C'mon!" she urged, sliding into the leather seats and touching the shiny wheel. "One of the best things Tucker ever invested in!" she squealed, turning it on and backing up as Sam buckled herself in.
"At least he's got good taste," she mused, eying Valerie shortly afterwards. "You chose it out for him, huh?"
"Duh!"
The two girls laughed as they sped down the street and towards their college.
They both never noticed the giant billboard that read in some rather creepy font: CIRCUS GOTHICA with a very familiar, handsome, man smirking sinisterly right besides the glowing words; his bright emerald eyes flashing dangerously and his black drag trench coat accentuating his extremely pale skin. His hand, you would notice, held a glowing bright green orb, which seemed to hypnotize you if you stared too long.
Right below the letters, it read:
Returning to Amity Park October twentieth through thirty one. Get your tickets now and experience the brighter side of dark.
No, they never did notice...