Dreams
Danny hovered outside her window, watching her. She was squirming restlessly, whimpering and trembling. Danny immediately recognised this as the symptoms of her frequently reoccurring nightmares. They had started some time after the incident involving the Ghost King, Pariah Dark. Every night she would be tormented by nightmares of Danny dying, being destroyed by Pariah or Dark Dan or an army of his ghostly enemies. Like so many other nights, Danny had found her crying out his name in her sleep. At first, he would just try to wake her, then stay with her the rest of the night so she wouldn't have the nightmare. It was only when he began to overshadow her dreams that he discovered the true reason for her torment.
"Wake up, Sam." Danny flew over to her bedside and began to shake her shoulders gently. "You need to wake up."
"No, Danny, no!" Sam cried out pitifully, still fast asleep.
"Come on, Sam. Wake up." Danny repeated urgently, as she began to thrash around violently. It was getting worse.
Her cries soon turned into a scream. "Danny!"
It was late at night and Danny found himself surrounded by crumbling buildings. He could hear screaming coming from all directions, but one overpowered them all.
Sam.
Danny rushed towards the noise to see his dream self fiercely battle another ghost, which Danny identified to be his older, jerky self, Dan Phantom. Danny could see that his dream self's power was deteriorating. Danny flew towards the fight, knowing that the only way to end the nightmare was to end the battle. He overshadowed his other self, making it appear that he had suddenly found new reserves of strength. Danny began to fire ectoblast after ectoblast at his evil self. When most of these attacks failed to hit, Danny took advantage of his ice powers. He froze his older self before unleashing a ghostly wail – the only thing that could weaken him enough to capture him in the thermos. Dan fell to the ground as Danny grabbed the thermos and sucked him in.
Danny came to rest on the ground next to Sam. He reached out a gloved hand to brush away the tears that streaked her face. Leaning forward, he whispered into her ear.
"Wake up, Sam."
Danny was thrown out of her mind as Sam suddenly regained consciousness. Sitting up, she began to look around wildly, clearly confused. Danny immediately reverted back to his human form before rushing to her side. She flung her arms around his neck as he reached her, sobbing relentlessly.
"Oh, Danny…"
"Shhh…" Danny soothed, wrapping his arms around her. "I'm right here."
Danny held her close as the sobs eased. Her breathing evened out, and Danny soon realised that she had fallen asleep. This is how it was every night. Danny would patrol the city for ghosts, then save Sam from her nightmares. He rarely slept anymore. But as long as she did, it was worth it.