Inevitable

Chapter 14

There was a turmoil of activity and panic as all the students rushed out to the sidewalk to see what was going on, though most already had a pretty good idea. The cloud of smoke, thick and heavy above the rooftops and businesses not two blocks over was an adequate clue. And then there were the sirens in the distance.

It had happened once before, but the building had been nearly abandoned at eleven o'clock at night, save for a janitor, who managed to escape unscathed, and got to tell his story over and over to local news stations about how he was the only person to ever be caught in a "ghost-arson" fire.

The signs were all there: The fact that it had been an explosion to start the fire, how fast it had spread to the entirety of the local movie theatre, and then there was Skulker, inconspicuously flying away in the distance.

Danny didn't crowd around the edge of the street on his toes like most of his classmates while the teachers tried to coax them all inside. Instead, he dashed around the side of the building, Sam and Tucker hot on his heels. When he transformed, he reluctantly turned to look at his friends. Sam was pleading him with her eyes, but even she knew it was useless.

They had discovered about six months ago that fire could indeed harm ghosts. It had something to do with the fact that they were cold, but they were pretty vulnerable when it came to regular old flame, almost as much as humans. Of course, Danny had his ice powers, which made him substantially less helpless in a burning building, but the risk was still there.

Because of this fact, fire was one of Sam's biggest fears. Danny knew this, and tried to comfort her by playing it off, but he could only do so much in the present situation. He grabbed both of his friends and flew off towards a scene right out of their nightmares.

When they arrived, they were relieved to see that most of the daytime movie-goers had made it out alright. A fireman informed Danny that there were a few people who'd been on the other end of the building at the time of the explosion, mostly personnel, who'd only managed to make it to the roof. They were trying to get them down, but they were worried it might take too long, and that the roof would collapse by the time they got there. After hearing this information, Danny quickly turned to his friends. Instead of reassuring Sam, though, who already had tears forming at the corners of her eyes, but a fierce and determined look on her face, he turned his attention to Tucker. He looked at him seriously for what seemed like a long moment, but couldn't have been more that five seconds, trying to communicate a message.

There were sirens and crying and shouting and blazing flames, but despite all this, Tucker was pretty sure he understood what Danny was trying to tell him without words. And then, when Danny's eyes quickly flicked over to Sam for half a second, he was sure. Tucker nodded his head, and Danny took off towards the roof of the building.

Sam narrowed her eyes at Tucker when she could no longer see Danny because of the thick smoke, trying to understand the meaning of what had just passed between the two. It was strange for her, not knowing something involving Danny, but he was doing a pretty good job of blocking her out with his mind right now, the way she kept him from knowing her feelings for him. She might have blushed, had she been in another situation.

Tucker had turned his attention behind him, though, to a group of people arriving on scene. Upon closer inspection, they were determined to be most of their classmates. It wasn't uncommon for the majority of the school to skip out when there was a ghost fight nearby that was lasting a while, and the rule apparently applied to ghost fires too. Not that the fire itself was any different than the usual once it got started, but they were almost always bigger, and targeted, and the possibility of a fight afterwards hung in the air. It had gotten to the point where the teachers came too. Everyone cheered when they saw Danny Phantom dissapear into the smoke.

The crowd of kids from their class came to stand by Sam and Tucker. When things like this happened, social status was mostly disregarded for the chance to watch in good company, if only for a few minutes. Sam noticed Tucker take a step back and whisper something in Dash's ear, who looked confused, but thoughtful. They would look over at her every few seconds, and she was just about to give them a piece of here mind, when a bit of cheering erupted, and she turned to see Danny coming back with his first handful of people.

He'd managed to get three adults in one trip, which was pretty good, but Sam resisted the urge to turn and ask a firefighter how many people he thought were on the roof. As if he'd know. But still, she was getting restless. Obviously, Danny was pretty focused on what he was doing, but he was relying on instinct more than anything to guide him, which meant that Sam really had no idea what was going on, because he wasn't thinking about it. The only comfort was that she wasn't getting any feelings of panic or despair from Danny, so she knew he was okay for now.

He set the three women down, all three wearing the movie theatre's uniform, and didn't stay long enough to tell anyone anything, disappearing into the smoke in a matter of seconds.

Just then Tucker and Dash came to stand on either side of her, not looking her way, not saying a word. She looked up at both of them, but they were studiously ignoring her, so she shrugged it off when she saw Danny coming back again, this time, his load lighter. One man and one woman were set down near the ambulances to be checked out.

Danny talked to the same fireman from before, who was talking to him with a serious look on his face, probably discussing how they'd need to make sure everyone was out before Danny started trying to put out the fire, since his methods could cause hypothermia. They weren't far, and Sam began to make her way over towards them. She was stopped, however, by the screaming and wailing of a woman. She was trying to get to where Danny was standing, pleading him with her cries.

"Please!" She cried. "You have to help her! She's still in there!"

A flurry of voices from the crowd discussing the "latest developement" drowned out anything else that was said, but Danny was suddenly right next to the woman, talking in a rush, looking serious, asking her questions about where to find whoever had been left behind.

And then, he nodded, and turned toward the building. Sam felt her stomach lurch, an uneasy feeling overcoming her. This felt different from before. She had a bad feeling something would go wrong. Still, though, she didn't move from her place in between Dash and Tucker when Danny flew back into the building, lower down this time. She wouldn't be found on the roof.

Sam was vaguely aware of the tears running down her cheeks, of the news vans arriving and setting up their cameras, shoving microphones labeled with their news stations in bystanders' and firefighters' faces, trying to get a story out of them. Of Paulina and Kwan and Star and many others like them replying to all their questions, as if they knew much more than what could be gathered by taking a picture of the scene before them. Sam did, however, notice when Dash didn't move from his place at her side to flash his face in front of a camera and microphone, but a moment later, that didn't matter.

"No!" Sam's cry came a second before everyone else heard and saw the building collapse, but if people noticed, they forgot a second later.

Sam couldn't take it anymore. She may not have been getting anything clear from Danny since the ordeal had begun, but she had definitely felt that distinct surge of panic, clear as day. His panic, intensified by her own when she saw the roof and most of the walls collapse. She rocked forward, preparing to make a run for it, when two hands grasped her by the arms. Part of her processed that this had been why they were there, why Tucker had spoken to Dash about her, what Danny had been communicating with his eyes, but in that moment, none of that mattered. Nor did making a scene, apparently. She fought back, kicking and punching and struggling out of their grasp, but she wasn't making much progress.

Despite the collapse of the building, most eyes were on her, save perhaps the firemen and the woman who had begged Phantom about the girl left behind, who was now sobbing freely, sure that all hope was lost. But Sam was still moving, and getting nowhere.

"Sam!" Tucker yelled at her, trying to calm her down. "He'll be okay! Come on, just wait with us!"

And then, it seemed to have worked. She stopped fighting, and shut down. Tucker and Dash relaxed their hold on her when she took a step back, and almost everyone's attention returned to to scene before them when one of the last remaining walls collapsed.

It didn't last long though, when everyone caught sight of Sam running in towards the oncoming cloud of smoke that was just beginning to clear. A few people who looked back to where she'd been a moment before saw that Tucker and Dash were now on the ground, clutching their heads and their stomachs, trying to get their breath back.

About halfway there, though, Sam stopped. She felt calmer. Danny's mind was calmer now, too, trying to communicate to her that he was alright. A young girl, five years old, maybe, came running out of the darkness of the smoke, towards her surprised mother, the crying woman. Everyone watched as Sam started running again, towards Danny Phantom, who they could now see, as the fire was almost out.

And then Sam was in Danny's arms, and everything was alright again. For them, anyway.

"Danny, I swear if you ever pull anything like that again," Sam was wispering threateningly, despite the fact that she was still hugging him, "you're gonna' wish you were still in there."

He didn't respond, didn't move, as he'd suddenly become very tense. It only took half a second for Sam to process why he was so tense, and then she lifted her head up and looked around.

Sure enough, the news reporters and camera men were just making their way over now, having witnessed the whole scene.

Endless questions floated towards them,

"How do you know Phantom?"

"Is that your girfriend?"

"A fangirl?"

"Are you related?"

They both cursed their stupidity and forgetfullness, and then they looked at each other, deciding. Reading each other's minds, no pun intended, they half smirked, choosing not to care, and disappeared from sight.

A/N: So, as you can see, I'm not so great with the intense chapters...Yeah, sorry for the pitiful attempt, but I did somehow manage to get this up so soon, and I'm actually kinda proud of myself for that. I really tried with this one, and I did my best, but I'm still sorry for sucking.

Thank you all so much for the amazing reviews from the last chapter! Love you all! :D

-chris