Danny stormed out of his room, his eyes still glowing green as he walked downstairs. He was beyond pissed off, his rage still burning in his veins as he continued to see the images from the one video, the words burned into his brain and replaying in his head. He had known she had been raped, he knew that she had been assaulted, but that bastard had been holding something over her... He had been using someone close to the Goth for his blackmail. It was easy to see that the boyfriend was himself, the only male that Sam had even allowed near her, but for some reason he couldn't wrap his head around why Sam would allow herself to be harmed and defiled by the older male just for him. He could protect himself, as was evident by the nightmare where she had wanted him to escape, to leave her behind so that he could get help. It wasn't because she didn't trust him to protect her, no, she had been afraid for him.
She would rather take that abuse, the whip and the disrespect of being made to walk around without a way to cover up then put him in danger. It was disgusting to think that she had gone thru all of that and for him! He wanted to rage at her, to scream about how he would never have allowed her to be taken and treated like that, that he would have protected her. She should have given him the chance, but she had been taken from their home for her protection. He scoffed as Tucker approached him from behind, his friend still uneasy about how angry the halfa was. He wanted to castrate the older male for what he had done and to think that Jeremy had wanted to impregnate the teen in the room upstairs. That he wanted to keep her in a home that would be her lifelong prison.
"Danny, man, I know that you're pissed off and I didn't even see what you saw," the dark skinned male stated, still keeping as far from the halfa as possible. "You have to know that you getting angry isn't going to make it better." He looked upstairs, his eyes sad when he thought of all that the female in that room had endured, before and after her capture and before Danny had saved her. He had been worried about Danny saving her, but he could see now that had he not done that rather bold move, that Sam would have been dead to all of it. She would have still been in that home, those years possibly the ones that would break her for Jeremy to use without a fight. Because the halfa had interfered with those plans Sam wasn't broken and had taken the chance to escape when it was presented to her. She had been strong enough to endure all of it and come out with scarring, but she would survive with a brighter future ahead of her.
"I am not pissed off," the halfa spat, his tone cold. "I am imperially pissed! I am so passed pissed that I don't know how to even explain it." He balled his hands into fists, one of his fists glowing bright green. "We could never understand," the halfa spat, his voice so low that only Tucker could hear it, but the ice that appeared below the halfa would attract the attention of the adults in the lab just below them. "He was keeping her in line with the threat of something she wouldn't allow to happen."
"The guy he was referring to," Tucker stated, his brow rising. He had wondered about that since the girl in question had been kept away from others, save for those in her parents circle. "That part doesn't ma-" The halfa's body tensed and the technophile got it. Jeremy had been talking about Danny. He had been threatening the Goth with Danny's life.
"I had a nightmare," Danny stated just as the front door opened, his back to it now as he looked at his friend. Tucker could see the emotions flickering in his bright green eyes. He could see how torn up the halfa was, his human form still standing before him even as his ghost side surfaced in his eyes. "I was taken into that house, placed before Sam as she was in the video..." he faded off, another door opening next to the front door, but Danny didn't hear either of them, his mind on that nightmare that had haunted him even in the daylight. "I thought that it was because of what I had seen from those images of the house, but it was like I was there with her." Silence. Tucker couldn't say anything, the other three people in the room also in shock at what they were hearing. "Then with that footage that he recorded." The ice around Danny began to grow quickly, spreading towards the four others around him as his anger grew. No one noticed the girl that had been standing there, watching them from nearly the beginning of it all.
"You figured out that the nightmare was more than a nightmare," Tucker stated.
"It wasn't a memory since I had never been to that house, but it was something because I was forced to sit there, bound at the end of the b-bed," his eyes closed for a moment, his vision blurring. "Watching as she fought. I had to listen to her scream-m." His eyes opened back up, the green gone as the blue of his eyes was now bright blue, his ice spiking up around him as a tear escaped from his eyes only to freeze against his cheek. The sound of someone choking on a sob brought all eyes upward, the sight of Sam staring at them, her eyes wide and her hand covering her mouth, forcing Danny to power down in shock. "Sam." The raven haired girl backed up, her eyes still wide and reflecting confusion and unease at his words. He rushed after her as the small female took off for her room. She slammed the door on his face and while he wanted to go into the room via his intangibility he stood outside the door, the only sound from the other side of the door the harsh breathing of Sam. He knocked on the door, his voice soft as he asked her to let him in.
"No," was her response, a broken tone to her voice.
"You know I could come in despite you saying no," the halfa stated. No response from the Goth behind the door. "I don't want to do that, but you know I can." The sound of her moving behind the door hit his ears just before the door cracked open to reveal the teen, her eyes locking with his blue ones. She stepped back and allowed him him into the dark room before shutting the door behind him, the small female quick to lock the door behind him. "I know that you didn't want me to know." She stepped away from him, her eyes adverted. "I see why you didn't want anyone to know and yet, I can tell that you were more bothered by me seeing it."
"I didn't want you to see it anymore than anyone else," she muttered. He moved toward her, the small raven haired teen stepping further back, her back just inches from corner of the room closest to the door.
"Sam, I can't even imagine how you felt at that moment, but I don't think any less of you because of it."
"You're pissed off because of him, but I know that you're just as pissed off at me," was her response, her eyes still refusing to meet his. It hurt that she couldn't even look at him, that him knowing and seeing what she had been trying to keep close to her vest. The true horror that she had dealt with for a year. "And don't try and deny it." He sighed. She knew she was right and there was no use denying it.
"I am mad at you, but not because of wh-"
"You're mad because I put you in a position that was unfair to you," she said, cutting him off as she finally looked at him, her eyes so full of guilt. He took another step closer to her, the small female taking another step back, her body as far in the corner as she could get. "I allowed him to use you to keep me captive." He reached for her, the Goth trying to push him back, her little hands on his chest so weak.
"Not mad at you for putting me anywhere," he said softly as he pulled her into his arms. She struggled against him at first before allowing the halfa to hug her to him. His heart was beating wildly under her ear as she stood there, her body so stiff he was afraid that she would break. "I'm mad because you didn't believe in me, that I could protect you." A sniffle came from the girl in his arms. "I would have come for you sooner, but I couldn't find you and for that I am mad at myself." Her muffled voice was the response he got. Pulling back slightly he looked down at her. "What?"
"You couldn't stop it," she muttered, her eyes downcast again. He moved one of his hands to place a single finger under her chin and with just a bit of pressure forced her to look up at him. There were tears in her eyes. "You did more than anyone else did for me. You didn't even know me or my story, but you came back for me anyway."
"Sam, I knew the moment I saw you on the ground that you needed help," was his response. She shook her head.
"Even your friend was against you even being on my side of the wall." She looked down again. "You could have reacted like he did and walked off." He forced her to look back up at him, his eyes drilling into hers.
"There is no way that I would have done that, even if I hadn't seen how your mother treated you. I would have come back for you because I knew that we were connected in some way." He was being completely honest with her. While he had been sidetracked by his crush, this teen before him had been spilling her guts, hoping that his help could lead her to a safe space. While his act had spared her from years of torment at the hands of both of her parents before Jeremy could take her away for his own pleasure, he had brought her to that act faster. He had handed her over to the man who had wanted to rape her and use her as his own personal incubator.
"Don't ever blame yourself," she said before wrapping her arms around him, her own body heat mixing with the chill of his own body. "It was bound to happen with him having so many people on the inside." He didn't want to believe it, wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't come into his life. He had seen his own share of evil in the world, but this was a different kind of evil. Vlad was a force that he dealt with, hell, even Skulker had his own darkness, but this was a darkness that while he had heard of it, had never been front seat to it. He had never thought that it could be that close to home and now, now it had affected someone who had come into his life because of it.
"As long as you don't blame yourself," he stated, hugging her tighter. When she didn't respond he kissed the top of her head, the short hair on her head tickling his nose. "I don't want ask for much, but I want you to understand that you are not to blame for one sick man's actions." Finally she nodded. "And I will prove that to you every day." Leaning back again he smiled at her, his eyes reflecting the affection he had for her, the feelings of love that shone back at her causing her to smile back at him. "Now, what happened to your hair?" She giggled, all the dark thoughts pushed away by the male holding her. "Were you going for the pixie look?" She shook her head.
"The people who helped me cut it so that I could wear a wig." He blinked at her response before she explained what had transpired the night that she had escaped. He was floored that the people who had robbed the place had really done what the had thought. They hadn't just released her from her cell, but they had ensured that no one could find her while reporting the male to the police. They had given her a chance when they could have just walked away.
"See," he said before pulling her back into a hug. "It wasn't just me who took one look at you and extracted you out of the darkness." Her smile broadened against his chest, his own widening as she realized that there were others out there like him, ones that knew how to take the hand of one in so much darkness and lead them out into the light.
"You were the first one to save me from the darkness," the Goth whispered, her head turning toward him, both of them staring into each other's eyes. The halfa looked down into her face for only a few seconds before his head dipped down to kiss her, his lips touching hers so softly that at first it seemed like an illusion, her amethyst eyes wide before they closed and she pushed herself upward to press fully against him. He pulled back from her, a look of surprise on both their faces.
"I will always protect you, Sam. I will always be the one that is holding your hand when the darkness tries to drag you back down." The raven haired girl smiled at him, love in her eyes as she laid her head back on his chest with a soft sigh.