Author's Note: I own nothing.
34 Blurred
Dani didn't remember how she wound up on a partially crushed bus clinging to a cutout of Ember McLain. All she knew was that Sam was up in the helicopter and she really wanted to be up there too. But Lancer had brough in the big guns, a group of truancy officers and what appeared to be half the Amity Park police force. She seemed to blink and they were at home, at the dinner table. She picked at her food and barely glanced up during her parents argument with Jazz about the concert the following night. She ate almost nothing and headed up to her room. She sat at her desk and flipped open her notebook. She was supposed to be doing something.
Absently she picked up a pen and began to sketch. Almost an hour later her hand was stained with purple and black ink and she was only distracted when a tap came at her window. She turned and a grin broke across her face.
"Sam!" Nothing else mattered, he was here. She rushed to her window pulling open the window and pulling him into the room, holding his hand with a smile as he used his other hand to wipe the sweat off his brow. FentonWorks was an old building but by no means easy to climb and Dani's room was on the second floor. "Wow, this is just like Romeo and Juliet!" She giggled lightly, gently squeezing Sam's hand.
Sam hated this. He liked Dani, had for a long time, but this, this was barely Dani. The person standing in front of him had none of the spark of wit and intelligence he admired in her, a pink film in her eyes obscuring everything that was Dani, replacing it with an obsession with him. One that became painfully obvious when he glanced at her desk, where she'd been sitting when he arrived. Her notebook was open and full of sketches of him, their names in hearts, one page was a full portrait of his face.
"It's so romantic that you snuck out just to come see me!" She gushed and Sam felt bile rise in his throat. He slapped a hand across her mouth.
"Knock it off, that's not you talking! We have to stop Ember before she takes over the world." He said taking her hand to lead her out of the room. She dug in her heels.
"Why does that matter? As long as we have each other we'll be fine." Sam rolled his eyes and groaned.
"Snap out of it! You don't feel that way about me!" He had no idea how she really felt but this wasn't it. "And I don't feel that way about you!" The lie stung to tell, especially with the tear that popped into Dani's eyes.
"Then why are you still holding my hands?" She asked and Sam dropped her hands. "And why are you still wearing those Fenton Phones I gave you?" She asked a smug smile on her face. Sam growled in frustration.
"Dani they aren't even actual jewelry! They're just a stupid set of communicators that…. Filter out ghost noise." Sam said an epiphany coming over him. Dani frowned.
"Wait does that mean you're breaking up with me?" She asked, fresh tears building in her eyes.
"Don't you get it, that's why Ember's music never affected me! I've been wearing the Fenton Phones the whole time!" Sam pointed out, desperately trying to get Dani to understand. Her eyes cleared of tears.
"Oh, so we aren't breaking up?" She asked looking hopeful. Sam was about ready to pull his hair out.
"We can't break up, we were never together." Yet, he kept that thought to himself though. "We need to deprogram you like we did Tanya." He stopped mid step. "Oh fuck, we forgot about Tanya. Quick transform! We need to get to the school now." Dani obeyed pulling him close with a smirk. It made him feel bad that a small traitorous part of him really enjoyed how close she was holding him. He shook it off though as she phased them through the wall and the flew through the night sky towards the school. She phased them through the school's roof and into the classroom where they'd left Tanya. The only light in the room came from the Cramtastic screens. Tanya's eye was twitching.
"Twelve hours of intensive standardized test prep. I now know what my version of hell would be." She said as Sam untied the jump ropes.
"I am so sorry Tanya, with everything that happened it just slipped my mind. I am so sorry." Sam apologized profusely. Dani leaned an elbow on the desk, a sappy smile on her face.
"You're so handsome when you're wracked with guilt." She beamed at him and he rolled his eyes.
"Not now Dani." He shot her way, refusing to look at her. Tanya stood stretching legs that had long fallen asleep. She frowned.
"Now don't tell me I missed you two getting together, cause I'm gonna need a play by play if I did." She sounded a bit annoyed, though if she was annoyed at herself or them Sam couldn't tell. He rolled his eyes again.
"It's not like that, Ember put her under some kind of spell." Tanya regarded Dani who was still staring soppily at Sam.
"Well shit. Let's crank up the story problems and we'll see her in twelve hours." Sam shook his head.
"We don't have twelve hours. Ember's midnight concert goes global at midnight, we barely have fifteen minutes." He shook his head, remembering what had happened on the rooftop, what Ember had said. "She gets her power when people chant her name, with a global audience none of us will be able to stop her."
"Well then why are we here. We need to fly down to that concert and shut off the power." Tanya said grabbing Sam and Dani by the hand. Dani glared at Tanya's hand where she was holding Sam's. Sam rolled his eyes, released Tanya's hand and grabbed Dani's instead, as Tanya muttered something about the volume of the sphere. It would have been a lot cooler that the Cramtastic actually worked if Sam wasn't so worried about Dani's forced crush causing the end of the world. Dani now satisfied she transformed, the feeling sort of like overcharged static under Sam's hand. She flew them to the concert with about ten minutes to spare. Tanya stepped up to the controls. Sam and Dani were supposed to be keeping watch but Dani was not the most attentive watch partner at the moment. It wound up getting them caught.
Dash and Kwan snagged Dani and Sam by the doors, a third guard snagging Tanya. Ember grinned at them, eyes holding on Dani and the way she kept glancing at Sam. She tapped Dani on the nose.
"Aww sweet little Baby-pop, at least you have good taste." One of the stage managers stepped up to them looking a bit confused as to why these three kids who had snuck backstage were being allowed to stay.
"Two minutes Miss McLain." Ember grinned.
"I honestly didn't think beating you would be this easy. The way you trashed Skulker I was expecting more out of you." Sam glanced at Dash and Kwan, they were both glazed eyed, not really paying attention to what Ember was saying. So at least that was a good thing. Ember tapped Dani on the nose again, the half ghost glared at her, but it seemed that Ember knew better than to step any closer to Sam lest she break her own spell. "I gotta go rock my world Baby-pop. And when I say my world, I mean my world!" She vanished. From where they stood Sam could see the stage and watched as Ember appeared on stage.
"Dani you have to stop her!" Sam demanded and Dani shook her head.
"I won't leave you!" Sam swore under his breath. Tanya squirmed in Kwan's grasp. He had hold of both girls, Dash had Sam in a slightly loose grip, eyes locked on the stage.
"We need to snap Dani out of this, or we're all about to be living in Ember's world." Tanya pointed out, and Sam nodded.
"I have an idea about that but I don't think you're gonna like it." Tanya raised an eyebrow, then it clicked. Dani's jealous glares and the fact that Ember wouldn't get within a foot of Sam.
"This is not how I pictured it but if it's that or watching the world fall, then yeah we need to break this spell." Tanya looked resigned but they had to shock Dani out of the spell and Sam couldn't think of another way. Dani would forgive them later, he hoped. Sam stamped down hard on Dash's foot, thankful for his large chunky combat boots. Dash reeled back in pain and Sam leapt away from him, socking him in the jaw and sending him sprawling. Kwan's grip loosened and Tanya wrenched her arm free and turned kicking Kwan in the groin sending him to his knees. He released Dani who looked a bit confused under the pink sheen in her eyes. Sam turned to Tanya and raised an eyebrow. She nodded. He grabbed her arm and pulled her to him, kissing her square on the mouth.
The sound that came out of Dani's mouth was something akin to a mouse being stepped on. Tears spilled over from her eyes as Dash and Kwan fled, Kwan a bit more slowly than Dash.
"Sam. How could you?" She whispered as the pink in her eyes broke apart vanishing leaving clear confused blue behind them. Sam and Tanya broke apart, both looking to Dani to see if their gambit had worked. "You and Tanya. But we were." Dani shook her head her eyes clearing fully as the tears stopped. "But we weren't were we?"
"No." Sam said, he couldn't help the defeated tone to his voice. "Ember did that." He didn't know how to voice how much this had hurt. A selfish part of him had really liked the attention, the fact that all Dani saw was him. Her eyes grew cold and flashed green in rage.
"Ember!" She growled out, Sam reached forward and Dani pulled away.
"Are you ok?" It was a stupid question, he knew that. Tanya stood next to him looking guilty and heartbroken all at the same time. Dani shook her head.
"No, I feel like I've had my heart ripped out, but I know who I can take it out on!" She transformed in a flash of light and flew out onto the stage barreling into Ember with a force that shook the stage. Sam stayed back from the edge of the stage as Tanya patted him on the shoulder, both watching the fight.
In the end Tanya saved the day, after a fashion. Her singing distracting the crowd and snapping them out of the spell long enough to drain Ember's powers and let Dani use the Fenton Thermos on her. Sam hugged her as she made it offstage out of the camera view. They smiled sheepishly at each other. Dani snagged his hand and turned them both invisible as the actual security guards began to swarm the place. Apparently none of them had known about a concert, let alone a global concert. They took Tanya off the stage but she mysteriously vanished from the room they were keeping her in and something corrupted the footage from the night so no one was really sure how the white haired girl had gotten in or out. Dani flew them home, they needed some sleep before the testing tomorrow. When she got home she phased right into her room, transformed back into herself and buried her head in her pillow. She wasn't sure if she cried herself to sleep or not. All she knew was she was considering leaving Ember in the Thermos indefinitely. She buried her head deeper into the pillow as the world around her blurred, though she couldn't tell if it was with tears or sleep.