Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom. All rights to Butch Hartman.
Some bits of DxS fluff in this one. Enjoy!
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Sam stood outside the theater with her arms folded across her chest, her back leaning against the wall, and her brows set in a worried frown. Tucker was currently pacing, holding three wrinkled tickets in his hand and a phone in the other. Sam chanced a glance over at her friend, who seemed to be quite irritated at the person on the other end of the line.
"I already told you, Maurice, you need to keep my schedule clear tonight! I don't want to hear about any Council proceedings without me, I don't want to hear about news conferences happening tomorrow, and I certainly don't need you telling me when I can or cannot go see a movie with friends!" Tucker was visibly flushed at this point, panting a few frustrated breaths out.
There was a short pause before he started speaking again. "No, no- No! Maurice, you need to listen to me, and listen carefully. I hired you specifically for this. Please tell me you aren't capable of keeping my schedule clear for three hours on a Monday night?" Another pause. "Good, I'd hate to look for another assistant." Tucker snapped his phone shut and shoved it in his pocket, grumbling under his breath.
Sam walked over and laid a hand on his shoulder, offering a slight smile. "Come on Tucker, there's no need to get yourself to worked up. We're here at the movies, okay? If they show up at your office to sign papers, then I guess they will be out of luck. Besides," she placed her hands on her hips, quirking a brow at him, "since when did you grow a backbone?"
Tucker scoffed and tried to glare at her, but it was hard to stay mad at his friend for long, especially with that "Sam stance" of hers. "Ha-ha, very funny. I had to grow one pretty fast to deal with all those political dogs out there." He subconsciously straightened his beret, grinning at her, "The ladies dig it, ya know. A man in charge, and what not-"
He was cut off when his phone started ringing, and he bit back a groan. Delving into his pocket, Tucker pulled the phone out and answered it. "What do you want now, Maurice?"
"Who the heck is Maurice?"
"Oh! Hey Jazz." Tucker grinned sheepishly, and Sam couldn't help but snicker behind her hand.
"..Anyway, have you seen Danny yet? Its getting late, and I know he said you three were going to the movies, but he also said he'd stop by after his patrol to get a fresh pair of clothes."
Sam arched a brow and looked at Tucker. "Since when does Danny get a fresh pair of anything for a movie?"
Tucker laughed, "I'm sure he's fine, Jazz. You know his patrols can take awhile."
"I always thought his patrols weren't as long as five hours." There was a hint of bitter sarcasm in her tone that shut up Tucker's chuckle.
"..Wait, you haven't seen him for five hours?" He glanced over at Sam, who suddenly looked concerned at the thought.
"No- well. We spoke this morning, and he said he was meeting you two at the Nasty Burger, then he was going to do a patrol before seeing a movie with you guys. Why, is something wrong?" Her tone pitched into worry at the end of her question.
Tucker automatically shook his head, forcing out a slight chuckle, "No no, everything is fine, Jazz. He's probably on his way now. His patrols get pretty late into the night." Tucker and Sam shared another look.
"Are you su-"
"Jazz, we will call if he doesn't show up in the next 10 minutes, okay? Don't worry."
"Alright, if you say so.."
After their goodbyes, Tucker closed his phone and looked at Sam, both of their faces pale. "Tucker, call Danny. Something doesn't seem right," Sam finally spoke out, glancing towards the sky as if she'd see Danny any moment.
Tucker did as he was told, opening the phone and speed-dialing Danny's cell. He was surprised how quickly his friend answered the phone, and so he started talking right away. "Dude, where are you? We were supposed to be meeting at the movies, remember?" Filtering out the part about Jazz calling to see where Danny had been was, for a good reason, left out of that conversation. The look Sam gave him told Tucker he made the right choice. But when there was no response from the other end, he couldn't help but clutch the phone tighter. "Hey, are you even there? What-" Tucker was cut off when Sam's hand grabbed his wrist, pulling the phone away from his fingers.
When she put the phone to her ear, she opened her mouth to speak but she soon froze. Her brows knitted together, as if she were confused, or focusing too hard. "What is it?" Tucker asked, and she quickly shushed him and gripped the phone tightly to her ear. She could hear various noises, most of which sounded like wind and a lot of scraping. She listened intensely, frozen in place with Tucker staring at her almost horrified at her response. Sam tried desperately to make out the sounds, begging for a clue as to what was going on. Suddenly, the noises stopped and the wind died down. She pulled the phone from her ear, looking down at it; the call hadn't been lost. So what..?
Just as she put it back to her ear, an all-too-familiar scream was heard. Sam gasped, "Danny!" Tucker rushed closer to her, grabbing the phone from her shaking hand, but all he could hear was an empty dial tone.
The line was dead.
"Step on it Tucker!" Sam yelled, her hands gripping the dashboard of his Chrysler 200. He expertly weaved in and out of parked cars, and Tucker was silently grateful that it was a Monday night. Nobody was around at 11:00pm, not even local police.
"Sam, where the heck am I going? I don't want to be speeding around for nothing!" Tucker dared not look over at Sam, his eyes wide and glued to the road as if his life depended on it.
Sam's eyes were focused on the road also, her brows furrowed in grim determination. "I don't know! There wasn't anything I heard that gave away his position. Since we haven't seen anything, and we've been in the middle of town all day, I'm assuming its the outskirts."
Tucker nodded in agreement, "Danny's been taking his fights out there as of late, to do less damage to my budg- I mean, the town." She scowled at him, but he didn't have a moment to react as he took a hard left turn. He knew exactly where to go from here. After zipping down an alley and down some old roads, they finally came to a stop along the curb of an old subdivision.
Both teens flew out of the car, and stood in awe at the ruins before them. The building was old, to say the least, and bricks were still falling down every so often. A gaping hole was etched into the side. Sam immediately dashed over, Tucker calling after her.
"Wait, Sam-!"
Sam ignored him, however, and carefully climbed through the hole. "Danny?" she called, looking around. It was pitch black, and extremely dusty. Raising an arm, she covered her nose and mouth as she stepped down the mound of bricks.
"Sam, I don't think that's a good idea!" Tucker looked above them, noting how unstable the infrastructure was after a hit like this.
"Danny!" Sam called again, but heard nothing but her echo. She cursed under her breath, crouching down to see if there were any signs. "What if he's buried, Tucker? We can't just leave him!"
"Sam!"
"Tucker, I mean it-!" She whipped around on him angrily, but he was staring at the sky, still on the outside of the hole.
She quickly climbed back out, looking at Tucker before turning her gaze skywards. There, amidst the rolling rain clouds, was a green spectral light.
An ectoblast.
He wasn't sure when he came to, but Danny had certainly expected to be sopping wet, possibly in a puddle of mud, and maybe half-frozen. What he didn't foresee was a soft blanket over him, and an even softer bed beneath him. His brows furrowed and twitched with the energy it took to open his eyes, and when they finally opened he could see a dimly lit room with glowing stars on the ceiling.
My room? Danny's muffled thoughts collided with the massive headache in his right temple, and he couldn't help but groan. He raised a hand to press against the soreness, tilting his head slightly to the left. He saw Sam in his computer chair, her head and arms on the foot of his bed as she slept. Tucker was crashed on his bean bag chair, head lolled back and loudly snoring. Danny couldn't help but chuckle with amusement.
His headache began to recede as his vision came more into focus, and he was able to push himself up with some effort into a sitting position. His movement jostled Sam awake, and she slowly eased up into a straighter position as she blinked open her tired eyes. Danny found it comical to see her staring right at him, still half asleep, for almost an entire half minute. That was, until he noticed her slightly puffy eyes.
Sam's eyes widened as her mind seemed to finally realize Danny was awake and sitting up. Without a word, she climbed onto the bed quickly and wrapped her arms around his neck. Danny held back the hiss of discomfort around his ribs, and instead curled his arms around her back. Her silence was almost unnerving to Danny as she simply held onto him, and he couldn't help but rub her back reassuringly. "Are you alright, Sam?" Woah, his voice was much more raspy then he thought. Sam pulled back from him, her brows knitted together in a frown as she playfully punched him in the shoulder. "Ow!", Danny exclaimed, "What was that for?"
"Don't be so stupid!" Sam snapped, but the bite in her tone wasn't nearly as potent as she wanted it to be. Her expression fell, and she almost looked.. sad? Her eyes had landed on his bandaged torso, which Danny finally realized he had when he followed her gaze.
She's just worried.
Danny reached out and grabbed Sam's hands, offering her a genuine smile. "Sorry, it was a standard question. But, really, I'm fine."
Sam kept her gaze glued to his neatly done bandages, and Danny could see she was trying to figure out something to say. Finally, she looked up at him. "What happened, Danny?"
Immediately, his mind was taken back to the events. Empty eyes, a scarred maw, hot rotten breath, the flight, the water, how he nearly.. He was brought back from his thoughts when he felt his hands being squeezed. Sam was staring at him with concern, and Danny realized he had frozen up on her. He smiled at her, though it didn't reach his blue eyes. "I.. I honestly don't know what it was. My ghost sense had gone off, but.." he drifted off, trying to recall anything he had missed while he had been in his panicked state. He stared back into her amethyst eyes, holding onto her hands like a lifeline. "Sam, this thing.. it was different. There's no way it was just some animal."
Sam's eyes widened in some surprise, "Animal? What did it look like?"
Danny thought back, and took a deep breath. "It.. almost looked like a dragon, in size and shape, but the head was more.. dog-like? It also looked like a crocodile, and had really long talons." Sam winced at the last part.
"That.. almost sounds familiar, but-" A loud yawn and a set of groans erupted in the room, and the two looked over to see Tucker stretching dramatically. Danny and Sam glanced at each other with amusement, and Danny was grateful for the break. He didn't feel up to recalling what had happened just yet; he was just grateful to have his friends nearby.
"Hey, Tucker," Danny spoke fairly loudly, "Do you mind? You're gonna wake the whole neighborhood."
Tucker sat up with another groan, rubbing at his face. "Man, do you know what time it is? A mayor never gets to sleep, and now you're making dumb jokes at-" Tucker froze, shaking his head quickly to clear out the sleep, and grinned when he saw his best friend staring at him with a bemused expression. "Dude! You're okay!"
Tucker came over and gave Danny a fairly suitable bear hug, eliciting a gasp from the ghost-boy. Tucker pulled back and apologized, which Danny shook off with a sheepish smile. "Of course I'm okay, but seriously, try not to kill me next time I just wake up."
Sam folded her arms and stared at the two of them with an arched brow, "Oh, man, the bromance is getting really real in here. Tone it down a bit, I can only handle so much." The three of them shared a laugh.
Danny glanced over at the clock: 3:47am
"Oh, jeez. How are you two still functional at this time? And- wait," Danny paused, staring at the two of them with confusion, "Where's Jazz? And my parents?"
"Your mom and dad were at a convention in the next city over, and had to stay the night at a hotel. Jazz covered for you. She's with them," Tucker explained relatively calmly.
Danny, still being confused, responded with, "Covered for me? Why did she have to cover for me?"
"Danny," Sam began, "We all thought it was best to not have your parents freak out and come barreling down the highway to your side in the middle of the night. We know you trust them, and we trust them, but.." she trailed off, as if not knowing how to word it correctly.
Tucker crossed his arms, "They're still your parents, dude. They will freak out even more if they knew what happened to you."
Danny couldn't help but agree, and he laughed. "Darn, so they haven't lost the whole 'Ghosts!'," he waved his hands dramatically, "charade yet?"
Sam and Tucker shared a laugh before Sam spoke, "Are you kidding? That'll never end."
Danny smiled at his friends. "Some things never do."
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Thanks for reading!
