The Ultimate Sacrifice

Chapter 2: Nightmares & Reality

In his sleep, Danny whipped his head back in forth as his ongoing nightmare continued to develop. Beads of sweat were dripping off of him and his breathing became more and more labored. His body was shaking and he began to cry. Although he was asleep, his sub consciousness couldn't decipher between dream or reality. With fear spreading throughout his body, his hands gripped at the bedsheets encasing him as he muttered broken words in his sleep. "Sam… No," he whispered. "Mom… Dad… Jazz… Get away from them," he mumbled with growing intensity. No... No... Get back... NO!" he screamed as he awoke and sat straight up. He was quivering violently, his body drenched in sweat, as he took huge, shaky, breaths one at a time until he gradually started to calm down. While he began to relax more and more, he brought his knees up to his chest and curled himself into a little ball to hid his face as he carelessly wiped the tears from his eyes.

Suddenly, his family came rushing in after they had heard Danny's scream. Maddie burst through his bedroom door and came running up to him before she could even think to turn on the light. Once his father, Jack, had done so, everyone gathered around Danny and Maddie sat right in front of him on his bed, placing her hand on his knee. Danny looked up at her with sadness evident in his eyes and Maddie asked, "Honey, what's wrong? Was it another panic attack? A nightmare?" Danny thought to himself, remembering all the times in the past when he had panic attacks in his sleep, but that was back when the world didn't know his secret. Until now, his most recent one was probably just before the events of the Disasteroid, which was over 3 months ago. Danny thought he was done experiencing such heavy anxiety. He looked down with a frown on his face. "Yeah, both I think. But, I've never had anxiety this bad before. I don't know what happened, it was like something just snapped inside of me. I still can't get those images out of my head," he replied. "Do you wanna talk about it?" Jazz asked, wearing a look of concern for her little brother. "Not really," he replied, still looking away. "Are you sure? It might help," said Jazz. Danny thought about it for a second and then replied with a deep breath and a quick sigh. "Okay," he answered simply.

Danny waited for everyone to grab a chair and make themselves comfortable around him before he got started. As he thought about what he had just seen while he was asleep, he began to get nervous. He bit his lip loosely and blinked his eyes rabidly as his breathing grew heavier and tears started to form. Noticing his fearful behavior, Jazz scooted closer to Danny in her chair next to his bed and placed her hand comfortingly on his. She looked at him with a gentle smile as he took one last deep breath before saying anything. Then, cautiously, he looked up at everyone and recounted the events the occurred in his terrible nightmare.

"The first thing I remember was that it was dark all around, and I couldn't see anything. Then out of nowhere, this ominous pair of glowing red eyes appears in front of me and I hear an evil laugh echoing all around me. I was scared. I didn't know where I was or what was happening. But I did recognize those eyes, and that malicious laugh… they belonged to the ghost that I had just met in the alley yesterday," Danny continued. "Out of fear, I asked him "What do you want from me?! When he responded, I wanted to cry, I was so terrified. He said, "I want nothing from you, Phantom. I just want you dead… and trust me boy, I won't stop until I get what I want. I always do." Danny paused for a moment and took another deep breath to calm himself down before continuing. "After that, everything was pitch black again. Next thing I knew; I was in town with you guys, Sam, and Tucker. There was fire, debris from fallen buildings, and all-out war all around us. The entire town was in complete chaos. I panicked. I turned around, expecting to see you all standing right there with me, but you weren't there. And neither were Sam and Tucker." Danny broke down and started to cry as the story continued to climax. "Then, off in the far distance I see this same ghost that I spoke with earlier slowly approaching Sam as she was cornered against a building. She screamed for my help but there was nothing I could do. I tried everything. I ran for her as hard as I possibly could, but I never got any closer. It was like I wasn't even moving at all. I even tried flying, but that failed too," Danny continued as his emotions poured out of him ceaselessly. "All I could do was watch as the ghost killed Sam ruthlessly! Then, once he was done with Sam, he immediately went after all of you too! All of my family and friends, along with countless citizens were savagely killed because of me!" Danny concluded as he bawled his eyes out, burying his head in his hands.

Maddie, Jack, and Jazz all looked at him with shock and trepidation in their eyes. They couldn't believe what he had just seen in his nightmare. For a moment, they were speechless. Then suddenly, Jazz turned to Danny and lectured him. "Danny, it was only a nightmare, don't worry. None of that is going to happen, do you understand? It's not real." Then Danny lifted his head and retaliated. "But what if it was real Jazz? This new ghost is a very real threat and we have no idea what kind of power he holds. And yesterday, when I first met him, he literally promised me there would be a fight in the near future! With you guys always being by my side for help, your lives are in extreme danger! Don't you see that? That is one risk I simply cannot accept," declared Danny. Maddie then looked her son directly in the eyes and said, "Son, you may be a hero, but every hero needs a sidekick. You and I both know; you can't beat this guy without us. And while we understand why you would refuse to let us help you, it's not exactly your choice." She leaned in closer to Danny and continued, "We know how to protect ourselves, honey. And you know that we would never let you go out there and fight this guy by yourself. Sam and Tucker, especially, would never be able to just sit by and do nothing," stated Maddie. "Please mom, you have to listen to me. I can't let you guys get hurt. Don't you understand? You guys are my weakness. If you all are out there with me, I'll be too worried about protecting you that I won't be able to focus on defeating the ghost. Please. It would just be better for everyone if you stay away from the fight," said Danny. "I'm sorry Danny, but that's not happening. As your family, we can't let you fight this villain alone, it's too dangerous," declared Jack. Danny sighed. "Then how about we meet in the middle? You stay here at home where it's safe while I take on the ghost, and if, and I do mean IF, things seem to be going downhill, then you can intervene. Does that sound fair? That way, I can have time to put all of my focus into defeating the ghost, knowing that you all are safe. And you guys, including Sam and Tucker, can relax knowing that you can all help me if things don't go as planned," he claimed. The three family members took a moment to think it over to themselves. Soon after, they all looked to each other and nodded in approval. Seeing this, Danny then breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Great. Thank you guys. That helps me feel so much better. I'll tell Sam and Tuck later," he said. With that, the group finally got up to leave, sending him a few supportive words on their way out the door, and left Danny to himself to get ready for school.

After spending a few more minutes thinking to himself about everything that had gone down, Danny realized that he had a very long day ahead of him and got up to get ready for school. As he mentally thanked himself for showering last night so he didn't need to do it this morning, the boy walked downstairs and made himself a bowl of cereal for breakfast. After finishing his food, he only needed about 15 more minutes to get ready and then he was on his way to school. As usual, Danny decided to save himself a little extra time and effort by transforming into his ghost form and flying to school instead of walking. Once he had arrived, he met Sam and Tucker by the front doors. He took Sam's hand in his shortly after transforming back into his human form and the three teens made their way towards their first class as they waited for the bell to ring. Before class, they all stopped at their lockers to pick up their books. It was then that they all had the chance to talk for a few minutes. As Danny rifled through his locker, Sam asked, "So how was your night Danny? Judging by the bags under your eyes, it looks like you've had a rough night." "Yeah, I did… I had a panic attack." Sam's eyes grew wide and she replied, "What? Really? That's the first that's happened in a really long time." "Are you alright, man? Do you wanna talk about it?" asked Tucker. "No, that's okay. I'm alright. I'll tell you guys about it at lunch. We won't have time to cover it all before class," Danny responded. "Okay, well don't worry Danny, we're here for you. We've got your back," stated Tucker. As the bell commencing first period rang throughout the building, the three friends closed their lockers and headed to class together.

As the school day dragged on and the teens each headed to their separate classes, Danny grew more and more paranoid with every passing second. When the time for lunch had arrived, Danny took off as fast as he could to meet with his friends and tell them everything. As he ran through the halls, he received numerous looks of surprise from students everywhere. Once he had arrived in the lunch room, Sam and Tucker looked at him from their places in the lunch line with expressions of curiosity and worry. Immediately, Danny joined them in line and waited impatiently as each of them received their food and took their seats at their usual table. Right away, Sam asked Danny, "You wanna tell us what's bothering you or are you just keep acting all weird for the rest of the day?" He nodded sternly and went straight into telling them everything. Over a span of about 25 minutes and maybe 5 bites of food from each of them, the trio had covered everything; from the gruesome nightmare to the worrisome battle plan. While they let their thoughts settle, the friends simply finished their food and prepared for their next class.

About 3 hours later, the school day had finally come to an end and Danny, Sam, and Tucker all met outside the front doors to walk home together. In the short 15 to 20 minute walk it took for Sam and Tucker to reach their houses, they had talked endlessly. They shared many laughs about what went on throughout their school day. However, just as the team of friends was about to go their separate ways for the night, Danny's ghost sense went off. He immediately looked to his friends with fear in his eyes as they also noticed the blue mist emanating from his lips. The boy took action and transformed into his ghost form, ready to face the enemy he knew he had to confront eventually. He gave his best friends one last look of hope before he sent them on their way to FentonWorks, where they would meet with his family. Once they were far enough away, Danny floated up above the town to get a better look at his surroundings. But as he prepared himself for battle, with feelings of determination and perseverance, Danny was shocked when he saw what he least expected.