-Previously-
His felt his mind getting darker and darker. He wasn't even able to think coherently now. The tunnel was getting blacker around him, and even though he struggled against it, it was enveloping him.
It finally came to him. He was dying.
…
His last thoughts were fast and barely distinguishable. He wondered if Jazz would tell their parents his secret. He wondered if the world would know what happened, or if his ghost side would just fade mysteriously into history. Then he thought of Sam… but at this point it wasn't really a thought at all… just an emotion, and he realized that he didn't want to die.
With a mental cry of dismay, there was a wave of cold, and then he knew no more.
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Assassin
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DAY 4
Wednesday
April 26, 2007
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AMITY HOSPITAL
12:39 pm
The first thing Danny felt when he awoke was an intense tingling. It was like dulled flames, licking his insides and making them ache. As he woke up more, it got sharper and sharper. He hissed in pain. "Danny?" A familiar voice asked hopefully.
He moaned, refusing to open his eyes. He didn't want to wake up, if it meant it he was going to be living in agony. He let himself slip back into his dulled state, and slowly he sank back into oblivion.
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5:54 pm
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The second time was better. When he started to come to, he felt only the pricking of pain… not the intense heat like before. He sighed heavily and cracked one eye open. He saw an angel peering back. He looked again as his eyes adjusted to the light behind her. It wasn't an angel at all… but it was just the person he wanted to see.
"Sam," he croaked, his voice rusty from the ordeal.
She smiled. "Welcome back to the land of the living," she replied quietly.
He blinked rapidly, waking himself up, and became more aware of the uncomfortable tingling. He tried to sit up, but it was as if lightening forked through his body. He collapsed back on to his pillow and grinded his teeth together. The strange prickling had turned hot again.
"Yeah, the doctor said that you wouldn't be able to move around with out that happening for a few weeks," his sister said, from her seat beside him, looking sympathetic. Tucker was leaning against the wall by the window, his arms crossed, and for the first time in a while, no PDA in hand.
"What happened? I just remember the windows exploding in… the rest is kind of a haze," Danny asked, rubbing his forehead, willing himself to remember more clearly.
Sam winced at the memory.
The smoke from the explosions finally set off the fire alarms, sending even more chaos out into the halls. She couldn't hold Danny without help. "TUCKER!" She yelled over the babbling voices and alarm, as his back arched in her arms. Something was wrong.
"We'll talk about that later. Right now, I think your parents are coming back with lunch," Sam said, and looked at the door that opened quietly.
As soon as they saw their son awake, they nearly dropped their trays. "Danny!" They both cried and threw their trays onto a chair, and ran to his bedside. His mother gave him a gentle hug, and his father grabbed his hand.
"How are you feeling?" His mom asked as she pulled away.
"Okay, when I don't move around too much," he replied. Sam had left his side, and was stationed next to Tucker at the window, and finally Danny realized what they were doing. They were on the lookout.
"Oh sweetie!" His mom exclaimed, "who would want to do this to you!?"
"I don't know," Danny said, turning from his friend's grim faces to his moms. "What happened? Why am I here?"
"You were poisoned somehow," Tucker said before Sam could say anything. "Police are investigating the lunch food."
"The lunch food? What about the explosions?" Danny asked exasperated.
"Well… they're investigating those too. Nobody was badly hurt, except for you." Danny hid a groan. If nobody had made a connection between him and his alter ego by now, he would eat his shirt.
"We think they were after Phantom, and your class just got caught in the middle of it," his father said, shrugging. Danny, Sam, and Tucker all looked at each other meaningfully.
"They say if it wasn't for Sam's quick thinking, you probably wouldn't have made it," his mother said, quietly.
Danny looked over at Sam, who refused to meet his gaze. Her mind kept playing the scene over and over in her eyes.
The room was nearly cleared out now, with the last few exiting through the door. Tucker looked back and saw her predicament. "WE NEED TO GET HIM OUT OF HERE!" She lowered him to the ground, panting.
Tucker ran over to help her, just as Lancer stuck his head back into the door. "Scarlet Letter! Would you—" but he stopped when he saw Danny.
"Tuck! He's burning up!" Sam exclaimed, felling his cheek, then his forehead. Danny cried out in pain. Mr. Lancer was at their side in seconds.
"Help me carry Mr. Fenton to the hall! We need to get out of the room! There could be more explosions!" Mr. Lancer ordered, picking up his legs. Sam quickly looped her arms under his, and they lifted him up.
Sam quickly blocked it out, "it was no big deal," she said, shrugging, but still not meeting his eyes. Danny knew Sam too well to press on. He knew that whatever happened scared her, and he didn't want her to get upset.
"So have they found anything?" Danny asked, pushing the subject away from himself. "Have they been able to trace the remains of the bombs from the windows?"
Tucker shook his head. "They've either been completely disintegrated, or someone cleaned up the leftovers before the police got there."
Danny exhaled heavily. "And nobody's found out any clues to who might have poisoned me?" He asked, glancing at his parents worriedly.
His parents shook their head sadly, but Danny noticed that Sam, Tucker, and Jazz didn't move. He looked over at them, and they quickly shared a brief moment of silent communication.
"Alright. Well, I guess the police will find something sooner or later," he said, staring at his two friends.
For the next few minutes, Danny's parents filled him in on the day he missed. He slept for nearly thirty hours, which was a fact Danny couldn't believe, considering he was already tired again. His body was putting up a hard fight against whatever it was in his system.
Danny yawned tiredly, and his mom didn't miss it. "Oh honey, do you want us to leave so you can sleep?" She asked in a voice only mothers can pull off.
"No… no I'm not that tired. I can deal with it," he replied quickly.
"I'm so sorry Danny… we've been searching for a antidote frantically, but the doctors haven't been able to find one because they don't know what it was that attacked your system like that." His mother stated, patting his hand. Danny looked confused.
"So I haven't been cured? How am I awake?" Danny asked, trying to grasp this new piece of information.
"We're not actually sure… your nervous system was somehow able to subdue it. All we know about what's in you is that it's making you overheat… but it doesn't show any signs of being in your system or your bloodstream," his mom replied.
"So…" Danny said slowly, "the poison is still inme?" He recapped.
"Yep," Tucker said from the window.
"Great," Danny said sarcastically.
"But the friendly doctor said it looks like it's wearing off!" His father exclaimed cheerily. "The only down side is that they are going to need to keep you in the hospital for a few more days… you know… just to make sure you don't have a relapse or something."
Finally the nurse came in to check his vitals, and asked him how he was feeling. She then told his parents that he probably was tired, and they should think about letting him rest soon. Then she left again.
"We should probably get going…" his mother said sadly, wringing her hands. "But if you feel like you need us at all, just call the nurse, and we'll be over in a flash, okay?"
"Alright mom… don't worry, I'll be fine." Danny said, making sure not to roll his eyes. He didn't want to take their concern for them lightly. He knew that whatever happened scared them.
After his mom, dad, and sister gave him a gentle hug, he asked, "Actually, can I talk to Sam and Tuck privately?"
His mother gave him a slightly confused look. "Sure, honey, whatever you want," and she ushered Jack and Jazz out of the room.
Once the door closed, Danny looked back at Sam and Tucker. "Okay, what really happened?" Tucker swallowed, and reached into his pocket, taking out a small object. Danny reached for it, and Tucker dropped it into his hand. "Where did you find this?"
Tucker told him.
Tucker tried to help pick Danny up, but he saw he wasn't needed, and trailed behind. Danny's fist slackened, and Tucker heard a small 'plink!' of metal hitting tile. He wouldn't have even noticed if he didn't see something falling out of the corner of his eye. He looked down and saw the dart that Danny had dropped. He crouched down to pick it up.
Suddenly he shivered violently, and instinctively snapped his head up to the wall of broken windows. He thought he saw a dark figure for a second, before it melted into the air. Tucker quickly realized he was the only one left in the room, and hurriedly stuffed the thing into his pocket, thinking it might be useful later. Then he sprinted out into the mess of students, still filing into the hallway.
Danny looked at the small white dart he held in his hands. He twisted it around until he came upon the green skull and crossbones. "This fell out of my hand?"
"Yep," Tucker stated. "We think that mystery man blew out the windows so he could get a clear shot."
"What happened? Can you guys actually tell me now? I hate being left in the dark. Like I said… I can only remember the windows being blown out… I thought I had caught on fire somehow… but now I think it was just the poison. I think I remember lockers…?"
Sam sighed, and said, "Well… after the windows blew out, your knee got cut…"
"Oh yeah… I remember that part…" Danny said, tilting his head to the side, thinking.
"And then you just sort of… collapsed. Mr. Lancer actually came in to help me get you out. That's when Tucker found the dart." Danny nodded, looking down at his sheets blankly, trying to remember.
Sam pressed on.
Danny started writhing in Sam and Lancers hands they got out into the hallway, making them nearly drop him. They lowered him down next to some lockers as he started to gasp and sputter. Sweat trickled down his face.
"HE'S PRACTICALLY ON FIRE! WE HAVE TO COOL HIM OFF SOMEHOW!" Sam shouted over the echoing voices and alarm. She wished she had more than just amateur medical training. She looked around wildly, as if hoping an answer would fall out of the sky, and Mr. Lancer was doing the same. Danny yelled out in pain, but then seemed to bite it back. She could tell he was on his last legs.
Tucker approached the scene, dart in his pocket, and saw Sam and Lancer looking confused. "SAM! IF WE DON'T DO SOMETHING, HE'S GOING TO DIE!" He screamed, bending down and feeling his forehead. "HE'S BEEN POISENED! HIS BRAIN IS GONNA OVERHEAT!"
Sam seemed to be on the brink of hysterics. Danny screamed again. Tucker was the only one that seemed to be able to move. He took off his hat and started fanning Danny with it wildly.
Sam's eyes lit up, "GET HIM TO CHEMISTRY!" She cried, picking him up under the arms again, and dragging him across the hallway. Tucker and Lancer didn't seem to make the connection. "THE EMERGENCY SHOWER!" Sam supplied.
The next minute Sam and Tucker dragged him into the empty room and towards the corner with the emergency shower. As soon as she could reach it, Sam pulled the metal lever, and cool water poured from the big plastic yellow showerhead, dousing Danny and herself.
Sitting herself under the shower, she supported her friend's head in her lap, placing a hand on forehead and brushing back his wet bangs that were plastered over his eyes.
"He's still burning up!" She said to them, worriedly. Danny's jaw was locked tight, and Sam could feel his muscles tense over her legs. He was doing his best not to show his agony.
Then, with a few throaty gasps, he suddenly fell limp. Sam looked up at her teacher and Tucker, her eyes wide. None of them said anything, but they all shared the same thought. 'Were we too late'?
"Mr. Foley," Lancer said calmly, "go get an ambulance." Tucker licked his lips, and slowly nodded. Then he turned on his heal, and ran out of the room.
Mr. Lancer between his two pupils. "Now I need to know what happened."
Sam shook her head, shivering. She wasn't sure if it was because of the shower. "I don't know. I was helping him out of the room, because of his hurt leg, and then he… just sort of collapsed." She significantly left out that he was being threatened all day.
Mr. Lancer nodded, his face paper white. He pulled up of the empty desks and sat down on it slowly. He rubbed his face, and then massaging his temples, he looked back down at Sam. She kept brushing Danny's hair out of his face gently.
Sam didn't know this, but that's when Mr. Lancer first thought of a connection between Danny and Phantom. He wasn't sure how, but he knew that Danny lying on the floor of the emergency shower was not just a coincidence with the warnings for Phantom sprawled all over the school.
While Mr. Lancer was trying to come up with connections, Sam looked back down at her friend's limp body, letting her wet hair cover her face. She watched as the water dripped slowly from her black strands of hair and fell onto his face, and tried to stay calm for Danny's sake.
Of course, Sam didn't tell her entire memory. She just nonchalantly said, "You started burning up… so we dragged you to the emergency shower."
Danny nodded. He saw Tucker looking nervously out the window again. "There hasn't been anymore threats, has there?" He asked warily.
"No… but you never can be too careful man," Tucker replied.
"This dart…" Danny started, thinking. "It's kind of familiar…" he bit his lip in thought.
"I've never seen it before," Sam stated, not helping him out at all.
"Where have I seen this…?" he mumbled.
"Well how creative can you get with darts?" Tucker shrugged. "I bet there's a million of those out—" He cut himself off with a gigantic yawn that even Danny couldn't miss. He looked up.
"You guys should go home and get some rest." Danny said, noticing for the first time the bags under their eyes.
"Are you sure?" Sam asked, and Danny couldn't help but smiling slightly. He was quite sure he had two of the greatest friends anyone could ask for.
"I'll be fine," he promised. "I'll call if there is another threat. Until then, you guys look like you need more sleep than I do." His two friends smiled tiredly back at him.
"Alright. Call if anything interesting happens!" Tucker put up his hand in farewell, and headed for the door.
Sam, also started to wave, but then stopped mid-gesture. Deciding against it, she quickly jogged over and gave Danny a gentle hug. For some reason, Danny found himself reluctant to let her pull away, and he blamed it on their experience they were going through. It made them both realize what could really be in a simple goodbye.
Wordlessly, a red Sam followed a slightly smug Tucker out of the room and the door clicked closed.
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TBC…
Aha! No cliffhanger this time… right? Actually… humm. Nevermind.
Sorry for not updating last weekend, but I was super busy… and I sort of had a mini breakdown, but that's beside the point. It's too bad real life has to get in the way of writing sometimes.
Review replies!
XSuperXStarX- Thank you, I appreciate that you made no attempt on my life. :)
yaioFan080- I'm glad you got my stupid waitress thing. And, obvi. after this chapter, he's not quite ghost goo yet.
Serrafinapekkala34322- You got your wish! And having Dan be the assassin would def. be fun… -evil cackle-
Toph Is Legend- Nope. Not yet. :)
BluFox15- Look! No cliffie this time! You should be proud of me… it's just always so tempting!
SoullessAce- Yes indeed. And I'm glad that I'm one of your fav. stories on alert! That means a lot. Oh, and your concern for Danny and mine are sorta in similar places. :D
Hawkflyer667- You're opinion has been taken. We'll see if he continues to survive though… -another evil cackle-
TexasDreamer01- haha! Well, he's called Clueless for a reason.
Lydielupin- High school is just such a fun place to set this, just because of the gossip. Suspense!
Danny Phangirl- HAHAHAHA! I read this and laughed out loud. So you don't have to bring the frying pan, which is a good! I updated… relatively… fast…!
Cartoon-crazy987- I hope you didn't die, because Danny didn't! And we got our first clue to who is could be… kinda… and people are stupid.
Yugisrose- Well… I've lost track of what's long or short when it comes to this fic. I've rewritten everything like three times. Ugg. And no cliffie! Woohoo!
Chrizzie1- Oh the perils of not knowing what happens is one of the worst perils there is! I hope I saved you, because you were so nice to spare my life!
Okay, I definitely just spilled HOT hot cider all down my front… so I have to go deal with that. Ugh.
Please review! (aka: review because I'm so polite.)