Sam ran as though her feet were on wings. She did not feel the sidewalk under her boots, nor the asphalt road, nor the loose dirt that served as pavement the closer she came to where the land ended. Buildings passed by unnoticed, the circles of light beneath streetlamps becoming monotonous as she dashed through them, one after another, a repetitive session of light and darkness. She didn't even notice the raindrops falling on her until they finally came down in a massive downpour, soaking her clothes, which in turn started weighing her down, slowing her run.
She finally came to a stop underneath the beam of a streetlamp, the last one standing at the edge of the residential area, near the shore road. Everything around her was in total darkness; pitch black. The sheets of water falling through the lamp's beam were the only moving things within her vision, giving her the subconscious impression of another presence. As she looked out upon the blackness, her body began to respond to her halt, and she began to feel dizzy; she reached out to put one hand on the streetlamp post to steady herself.
Suddenly, the sky was afire with a jagged white blaze of lightning. Sam shielded her eyes, instinctively jerking her hand back from the post so as to not end up getting electrocuted. Although the light faded immediately afterwards, her surroundings were frozen in her memory like a photograph; there before her was the shore road, on the other side of which were the shore-protecting rocks that led down to the low-tide beach, from there flowed the edge of the lake.
She stepped out of the light, running toward the images in her mind's eye. She felt it when her shoes left the dirt and made contact with the hard pavement, crossing it, hitting dirt again; she slowed down, and her foot touched stone.
She stopped, waited.
Another beam of lightning flashed across the forsaken skies, illuminating the world below in shades of blue and white. The rocks were large and ragged, piled along the shoreline, scattered about down on the beach. The lake surged underneath the tumultuous rainfall, like an animal moves about in response to a smaller animal constantly pestering it for attention.
The scene was then quickly thrown back into darkness, the only sound being that of the resulting thunder. However, only one part of the scene stayed in Sam's mind, that of a lonely figure adrift on the heaving waves, face down, in a white shirt and blue jeans, unmoving.
Sam stepped out onto the rocks, turning around, descending backwards. She chose speed over care, and in her haste her foot slipped halfway down, and she received a cut on her leg. Feeling the warm blood soaking her cloth legging, she slowed her pace, and yet soon found herself standing on the flat sand. She turned and dashed out toward the water, the lightning flashing once more as though to guide her. It was shallow only for a short distance; she soon found it deep enough for her to start swimming. She dove in, feeling the water entering her shoes, turning them into lead weights that threatened to drag her down. Trying to ignore the weight, she kicked out as hard as she could, keeping herself in line with Danny. The rain pelted her unprotected skin, occasionally hitting her in the eyes, obscuring her vision for a moment as she was forced to blink away the pain.
She felt something bump against her arm. She groped around frantically, feeling an arm and fingers, all limp. She then swung her arm out, catching Danny around his torso. She rolled over onto her back, kicking out with her resisting legs, paddling with her free arm, holding Danny as close to her as she could without his dead weight pulling her downward. Within moments she felt the sandy shallows brushing against her back. She stopped, sat up, pushing Danny off of her, then grabbed his hands in hers, stood up, stepped backwards, dragging Danny along on his back, onto the beach, out of the troubled waters.
She stopped, feeling her heavy boot thud against a rock. Laying his arms down, she stepped carefully around him, her hand on his shoulder to help her remember his position. She then knelt down beside him, running her hand across him, feeling his face; his eyes were closed, his mouth open.
"Danny... Can you hear me?"
Another lightning flash; she could see his face, his wet hair laying down against his head, his pale skin, his expression that of hopeless submission.
She touched his face again, feeling along the cheek, noting how cold and clammy his skin was.
"Say something..."
He offered no response.
Sam moved her hand down his chest, noticing how it failed to move. She then snatched up his hand, putting her thumb against his wrist. She waited, feeling for that which would not come.
Realizing the truth, she dropped the hand, heat once again surging in the skin on her face.
"No, Danny..."
She put her hands to her face.
"No..."
For the first time in as long as she could remember, she was truly afraid. All had become hopeless.
All was lost.
For his sake...
What could she do? She had lost him.
For him... Be strong.
He drowned. He's DEAD. No breathing, no pulse...
You haven't lost him yet.
He's dead...
You'll only lose if you give up.
But...
You can't give up. You have to be strong.
Danny...
For his sake.
Sam finally stopped crying. She removed her hands from her face, and somehow or another, she could see him laying there before her, her eyes having adjusted to the darkness somewhat. She reached down, touched his face again, putting her hand around his lower jaw, pulling it down, opening his mouth further. With both hands she moved his head, turning it so that it faced straight upwards, tilting it back. With one hand she then closed off his nose, holding his jaw open with the other hand. She leaned over him, looked down at his face. She knew she could not afford to be afraid any longer, though she was still anxious over remembering her lessons in CPR... Leaning down, she took a breath, then put her mouth to Danny's, exhaling straight into his mouth.
What comes next? Oh, right. She turned her head, putting her ear to Danny's mouth, listening for the air as it left his lungs. There was a slight gurgling noise coming from deep within his chest, but that was all. She turned her head back, took another breath, then repeated the action, breathing into his mouth. She then turned back to listen again. All she heard was the water being moved about by the air; with her ear to his mouth, she watched as his chest fell.
She leaned back, letting go of his face, feeling along his chest for the edge of his ribcage. It wasn't too hard to find; his being naturally thin, yet also enhanced by the fact that he hadn't eaten in more than a day, his ribs stood out noticeably underneath his cold skin. She found his central chestbone easily.
Putting her hands one on top of the other, she placed the heel of her lower hand against the end of the sternum, and thrust downward. She was somewhat surprised by the water that suddenly gushed up from Danny's mouth, knowing that the thrust was supposed to get his heart started again... She pushed down again, but no more water came up. She knew that there was a set number of times she was supposed to be giving him thrusts, but she couldn't remember what it was. She kept pushing down, letting up and then pushing down again, hoping that it would drive more water out of his lungs, but nothing happened.
She leaned down, putting her ear to his chest.
Inside his ribcage, all was silent and still. Just like it was before she started.
Her head remained on his chest; she couldn't make herself move.
"Danny..."
She closed her eyes, feeling the warm tears come again.
"Why, Danny... Why..."
She lost her balance, and her knee slid out from under her, accidentally striking Danny in the side. He did not give a jerk, nor did he voice a response, turning to Sam and asking her what that was for, reaching down to rub his battered thigh... It was as though nothing had happened; his sleep was undisturbed.
Sam reached down to move her knee back, and felt something hard pressing against it. Just his bones, she thought, her hand on her knee... But somehow, it seemed to hard to be just his bone, too flat and edgy as well...
She reached down to feel along his thigh, realizing that he had something in his pocket. Reaching in with one hand, pushing back the wet denim flap, she wrapped her fingers around and removed the object, a gold necklace with a jewel that suddenly started glowing with an ethereal green light as soon as she laid eyes on it.
Sam nearly froze when she saw the Amulet. For the moment she had forgotten what all Danny had gone through beforehand, all he had done to try and protect her, to save her life... He had made a promise to her, she remembered, looking at the glowing green gem. It was hard to get him to make that promise, considering the fact that all seemed hopeless, but still, in the end, he made that promise; he promised to her that he would not give up on her, no matter what happened.
And to think that came out of the promise she had made to him first, that she would not give up on him.
He laid down his life for her. Not just for her, she then realized, but for Tuck as well, and for his family... For everyone in Amity Park, it seems.
And now his life was in her hands.
"For your sake, Danny..."
She lay the Amulet down on the sand next to his head, able to see him better by the light coming off the jewel.
"...I won't give up."
She put her hands together again, one on top of the other, and once again began administering thrusts to his chest. She counted to twenty, having remembered her lesson, then stopped, checked his pulse. Nothing. She went back to the thrusts again, counting to twenty. She lifted his bony wrist, pressed her thumb against it. She could feel a slight rhythmic pressure against her thumb that time; a pulse, very faint, but a pulse nonetheless.
Dropping the wrist, she turned her attention to his lungs. She held his mouth open, pinched his nostrils shut, tilted his head back, and breathed into his mouth. She turned her head, watching his chest fall, listening. There again came the gurgle she had heard before, this time much more audible. The number for this one was sixteen, she remembered... She hoped. She repeated the motion, forcing air into his lungs, listening as it came back out. After a while the sound became much louder.
"Come on, Danny... Breathe..."
She turned back to his face, took a breath, exhaled into his mouth. Suddenly, he gave a jerk underneath her, a loud gagging noise emanating from his throat.
She jerked herself back just in time to avoid the spray of water that Danny spat up from his lungs. His eyes shot open; he gave a loud, deep gasp. Sam shoved him over onto his side, and he followed with the roll, coming to rest on his stomach, getting up on his hands and knees, continuing to spit up water. Sam leaned back on her hands, watching Danny, somewhat amazed at the amount of water two lungs could hold, until she realized a moment later that he was also vomiting water out of his stomach, apparently which he had swallowed while trying to keep from drowning. He took a long time, ridding his lungs and stomach of any and all water left inside them, then finally stopped coughing and started breathing, his breaths ragged and heavy. His arms shook under him. Sam leapt forward, sliding her arms underneath him to catch him as he fell to the side, his eyes closed, his strength all drained away.
She pulled him to her, holding up his neck with one arm, letting his head rest against it, her hand on his shoulder. His back lay against her thigh, her other arm crossing over his chest to keep him from sliding off of her. She held him close, her mind on nothing else but his labored breathing, which still came in loud gasps. She sat there, holding him, just listening to him get his breath back. After a while, she noticed him make a hissing noise, sounding out a letter.
"No, Danny, no, don't try to speak... Just breathe..."
She knew perfectly well what he was trying to tell her: Sam, you're shivering. Indeed she was shivering, the cold wet clothes clinging to her skin, and she was probably going to come down with pneumonia or something, but so was Danny; she could feel him shaking slightly within her embrace as well. But what was happening to her wasn't really her concern at the moment; she was more intent on making sure that Danny was going to live through this.
After a long while of just sitting there, ignoring the tingling in her legs, she listened as Danny's breathing gradually became more normal, yet still somewhat labored. Her eyes strayed to the Amulet laying just a couple of feet away from them. It was amazing what all they had gone through just to end up here, and yet they were still alive, seemingly miraculously... They and everyone else, they were all going to be just fine... She suddenly felt the urge to ask Danny, to ask him how he managed to break the Amulet's spell... But she figured that would be for a later time, a time when he felt well enough to want to discuss it.
But for now, everything was going to be fine.
Life would be back to normal for them soon...
Sam leaned her head against Danny's head, feeling the tears coming again. But these were not tears of sorrow; her face did not burn like it did before.
Danny could feel the warmth as it pressed against the side of his head, dripping down under his hair, running down the side of his face... Somehow or another it seemed to lessen the pain he felt in his chest, the muscles of which he must have overexerted while coughing up all that water earlier. But still in all, he hated to see Sam cry, mostly because he never became used to seeing a girl cry... He tried to lift his arm, reaching up to try and touch Sam's face, but he was still not strong enough; his hand fell across his stomach, and he let it lay there, too weak to try and comfort his weeping friend. Instead, he leaned into her embrace, his eyes remaining closed.
"Don't cry, Sam..."
"I'm not... crying..."
He flexed his fingers, feeling an ache in his arm. Pulling his arm sideways, he let it fall next to him, and he felt around, finding his pocket.
"Sam..."
"...Yes?"
"There's still... something... I need to do."
"What..."
She noticed his hand in his pocket. Quickly, she leaned forward, snatching up the glowing Amulet in her free hand, letting Danny slide off onto the ground, her other arm still supporting his neck. She held the Amulet in front of his face, getting back down on her knees.
"Here it is. ...I've got it."
He furrowed his brows, noticing the glow from behind his eyelids. Slowly, he opened his eyes, adjusting to the brightness in front of him. He was soon able to identify the object in front of him.
"We need to destroy it."
Sam nodded.
"You'll need my help, though."
"I'll gladly accept it."
Sam leaned back, getting up on her knees. Danny moved his arms to his sides, bending them, attempting to get up on his own, but he did not have the strength. Sam got down beside him, sliding her arms up under his, pulling him up into a sitting position. He barely had enough in him to hold up his head. Getting up off her knees, she was able to help Danny rise up onto his knees, then finally to his feet. She found him a lot lighter than she remembered him being, also due to the fact that he had gone for so long without eating anything. Resting his diminished weight on his legs, he was able to keep himself up, although only with Sam's help.
"My legs hurt."
"I would imagine so."
With Sam holding the Amulet in one hand, holding Danny up with the other arm, the two walked slowly toward the rocks that were strewn across the beach close to the original pile that lay stacked against the shoreline. Danny raised a hand and pointed at one of the rocks, a noticably jagged one that didn't stand up as high as the others. Sam lay the Amulet across it. They then looked around from there they stood; Sam soon found a smaller rock half-buried in the sand. Digging it up with her feet, she knelt down, Danny leaning against her, and they both were able to wrap their arms around the rock, Sam having to support Danny by letting him lean toward her, his neck on her shoulder with her neck on his. Together, they lifted the rock from the ground; together, they carried the side sideways to the Amulet, and together, they raised the rock, bringing it down on the glowing jewel, crushing it instantly.
Blue smoke burst out from underneath the rock, sending them both falling backwards, sprawling on the ground. Giving off a bright light, the smoke curled in on itself, rising up above them, taking the form of the ghost dragon, one that Sam recognized as what Danny looked like before he tried switching to ghost mode. its snakelike body curved in the air, coiling around, spreading its giant wings, turning its head to face them, its green eyes glowing fiercely.
Sam's breath caught in her throat. The winged demon hung over them, baring its fangs, green smoke rising from its nostrils. Sam turned to look at Danny; he lay back in the same manner she did, holding himself up with his hands, but he didn't seem as tense; in fact, it looked like he was staring the dragon down.
The dragon turned to face Danny directly. It growled at him, sensing his indignant expression. He did not move; his gaze did not shift, and his expression did not change.
Sam understood. What reason is there to be afraid of something you've already been?
The dragon recoiled slowly, folding its wings. Its growling ceased, and it lowered its head in defeat. Suddenly, its body began to dissolve into a blue mist, and soon, it had faded from existance completely, leaving Danny and Sam alone on the beach.
In the fading light, Sam saw Danny starting to lose his balance, falling backwards. She rolled over and dove to his side, letting him fall back on her, his head coming to rest against her stomach. His eyes closed; he had fallen unconscious.
She finally came to a stop underneath the beam of a streetlamp, the last one standing at the edge of the residential area, near the shore road. Everything around her was in total darkness; pitch black. The sheets of water falling through the lamp's beam were the only moving things within her vision, giving her the subconscious impression of another presence. As she looked out upon the blackness, her body began to respond to her halt, and she began to feel dizzy; she reached out to put one hand on the streetlamp post to steady herself.
Suddenly, the sky was afire with a jagged white blaze of lightning. Sam shielded her eyes, instinctively jerking her hand back from the post so as to not end up getting electrocuted. Although the light faded immediately afterwards, her surroundings were frozen in her memory like a photograph; there before her was the shore road, on the other side of which were the shore-protecting rocks that led down to the low-tide beach, from there flowed the edge of the lake.
She stepped out of the light, running toward the images in her mind's eye. She felt it when her shoes left the dirt and made contact with the hard pavement, crossing it, hitting dirt again; she slowed down, and her foot touched stone.
She stopped, waited.
Another beam of lightning flashed across the forsaken skies, illuminating the world below in shades of blue and white. The rocks were large and ragged, piled along the shoreline, scattered about down on the beach. The lake surged underneath the tumultuous rainfall, like an animal moves about in response to a smaller animal constantly pestering it for attention.
The scene was then quickly thrown back into darkness, the only sound being that of the resulting thunder. However, only one part of the scene stayed in Sam's mind, that of a lonely figure adrift on the heaving waves, face down, in a white shirt and blue jeans, unmoving.
Sam stepped out onto the rocks, turning around, descending backwards. She chose speed over care, and in her haste her foot slipped halfway down, and she received a cut on her leg. Feeling the warm blood soaking her cloth legging, she slowed her pace, and yet soon found herself standing on the flat sand. She turned and dashed out toward the water, the lightning flashing once more as though to guide her. It was shallow only for a short distance; she soon found it deep enough for her to start swimming. She dove in, feeling the water entering her shoes, turning them into lead weights that threatened to drag her down. Trying to ignore the weight, she kicked out as hard as she could, keeping herself in line with Danny. The rain pelted her unprotected skin, occasionally hitting her in the eyes, obscuring her vision for a moment as she was forced to blink away the pain.
She felt something bump against her arm. She groped around frantically, feeling an arm and fingers, all limp. She then swung her arm out, catching Danny around his torso. She rolled over onto her back, kicking out with her resisting legs, paddling with her free arm, holding Danny as close to her as she could without his dead weight pulling her downward. Within moments she felt the sandy shallows brushing against her back. She stopped, sat up, pushing Danny off of her, then grabbed his hands in hers, stood up, stepped backwards, dragging Danny along on his back, onto the beach, out of the troubled waters.
She stopped, feeling her heavy boot thud against a rock. Laying his arms down, she stepped carefully around him, her hand on his shoulder to help her remember his position. She then knelt down beside him, running her hand across him, feeling his face; his eyes were closed, his mouth open.
"Danny... Can you hear me?"
Another lightning flash; she could see his face, his wet hair laying down against his head, his pale skin, his expression that of hopeless submission.
She touched his face again, feeling along the cheek, noting how cold and clammy his skin was.
"Say something..."
He offered no response.
Sam moved her hand down his chest, noticing how it failed to move. She then snatched up his hand, putting her thumb against his wrist. She waited, feeling for that which would not come.
Realizing the truth, she dropped the hand, heat once again surging in the skin on her face.
"No, Danny..."
She put her hands to her face.
"No..."
For the first time in as long as she could remember, she was truly afraid. All had become hopeless.
All was lost.
For his sake...
What could she do? She had lost him.
For him... Be strong.
He drowned. He's DEAD. No breathing, no pulse...
You haven't lost him yet.
He's dead...
You'll only lose if you give up.
But...
You can't give up. You have to be strong.
Danny...
For his sake.
Sam finally stopped crying. She removed her hands from her face, and somehow or another, she could see him laying there before her, her eyes having adjusted to the darkness somewhat. She reached down, touched his face again, putting her hand around his lower jaw, pulling it down, opening his mouth further. With both hands she moved his head, turning it so that it faced straight upwards, tilting it back. With one hand she then closed off his nose, holding his jaw open with the other hand. She leaned over him, looked down at his face. She knew she could not afford to be afraid any longer, though she was still anxious over remembering her lessons in CPR... Leaning down, she took a breath, then put her mouth to Danny's, exhaling straight into his mouth.
What comes next? Oh, right. She turned her head, putting her ear to Danny's mouth, listening for the air as it left his lungs. There was a slight gurgling noise coming from deep within his chest, but that was all. She turned her head back, took another breath, then repeated the action, breathing into his mouth. She then turned back to listen again. All she heard was the water being moved about by the air; with her ear to his mouth, she watched as his chest fell.
She leaned back, letting go of his face, feeling along his chest for the edge of his ribcage. It wasn't too hard to find; his being naturally thin, yet also enhanced by the fact that he hadn't eaten in more than a day, his ribs stood out noticeably underneath his cold skin. She found his central chestbone easily.
Putting her hands one on top of the other, she placed the heel of her lower hand against the end of the sternum, and thrust downward. She was somewhat surprised by the water that suddenly gushed up from Danny's mouth, knowing that the thrust was supposed to get his heart started again... She pushed down again, but no more water came up. She knew that there was a set number of times she was supposed to be giving him thrusts, but she couldn't remember what it was. She kept pushing down, letting up and then pushing down again, hoping that it would drive more water out of his lungs, but nothing happened.
She leaned down, putting her ear to his chest.
Inside his ribcage, all was silent and still. Just like it was before she started.
Her head remained on his chest; she couldn't make herself move.
"Danny..."
She closed her eyes, feeling the warm tears come again.
"Why, Danny... Why..."
She lost her balance, and her knee slid out from under her, accidentally striking Danny in the side. He did not give a jerk, nor did he voice a response, turning to Sam and asking her what that was for, reaching down to rub his battered thigh... It was as though nothing had happened; his sleep was undisturbed.
Sam reached down to move her knee back, and felt something hard pressing against it. Just his bones, she thought, her hand on her knee... But somehow, it seemed to hard to be just his bone, too flat and edgy as well...
She reached down to feel along his thigh, realizing that he had something in his pocket. Reaching in with one hand, pushing back the wet denim flap, she wrapped her fingers around and removed the object, a gold necklace with a jewel that suddenly started glowing with an ethereal green light as soon as she laid eyes on it.
Sam nearly froze when she saw the Amulet. For the moment she had forgotten what all Danny had gone through beforehand, all he had done to try and protect her, to save her life... He had made a promise to her, she remembered, looking at the glowing green gem. It was hard to get him to make that promise, considering the fact that all seemed hopeless, but still, in the end, he made that promise; he promised to her that he would not give up on her, no matter what happened.
And to think that came out of the promise she had made to him first, that she would not give up on him.
He laid down his life for her. Not just for her, she then realized, but for Tuck as well, and for his family... For everyone in Amity Park, it seems.
And now his life was in her hands.
"For your sake, Danny..."
She lay the Amulet down on the sand next to his head, able to see him better by the light coming off the jewel.
"...I won't give up."
She put her hands together again, one on top of the other, and once again began administering thrusts to his chest. She counted to twenty, having remembered her lesson, then stopped, checked his pulse. Nothing. She went back to the thrusts again, counting to twenty. She lifted his bony wrist, pressed her thumb against it. She could feel a slight rhythmic pressure against her thumb that time; a pulse, very faint, but a pulse nonetheless.
Dropping the wrist, she turned her attention to his lungs. She held his mouth open, pinched his nostrils shut, tilted his head back, and breathed into his mouth. She turned her head, watching his chest fall, listening. There again came the gurgle she had heard before, this time much more audible. The number for this one was sixteen, she remembered... She hoped. She repeated the motion, forcing air into his lungs, listening as it came back out. After a while the sound became much louder.
"Come on, Danny... Breathe..."
She turned back to his face, took a breath, exhaled into his mouth. Suddenly, he gave a jerk underneath her, a loud gagging noise emanating from his throat.
She jerked herself back just in time to avoid the spray of water that Danny spat up from his lungs. His eyes shot open; he gave a loud, deep gasp. Sam shoved him over onto his side, and he followed with the roll, coming to rest on his stomach, getting up on his hands and knees, continuing to spit up water. Sam leaned back on her hands, watching Danny, somewhat amazed at the amount of water two lungs could hold, until she realized a moment later that he was also vomiting water out of his stomach, apparently which he had swallowed while trying to keep from drowning. He took a long time, ridding his lungs and stomach of any and all water left inside them, then finally stopped coughing and started breathing, his breaths ragged and heavy. His arms shook under him. Sam leapt forward, sliding her arms underneath him to catch him as he fell to the side, his eyes closed, his strength all drained away.
She pulled him to her, holding up his neck with one arm, letting his head rest against it, her hand on his shoulder. His back lay against her thigh, her other arm crossing over his chest to keep him from sliding off of her. She held him close, her mind on nothing else but his labored breathing, which still came in loud gasps. She sat there, holding him, just listening to him get his breath back. After a while, she noticed him make a hissing noise, sounding out a letter.
"No, Danny, no, don't try to speak... Just breathe..."
She knew perfectly well what he was trying to tell her: Sam, you're shivering. Indeed she was shivering, the cold wet clothes clinging to her skin, and she was probably going to come down with pneumonia or something, but so was Danny; she could feel him shaking slightly within her embrace as well. But what was happening to her wasn't really her concern at the moment; she was more intent on making sure that Danny was going to live through this.
After a long while of just sitting there, ignoring the tingling in her legs, she listened as Danny's breathing gradually became more normal, yet still somewhat labored. Her eyes strayed to the Amulet laying just a couple of feet away from them. It was amazing what all they had gone through just to end up here, and yet they were still alive, seemingly miraculously... They and everyone else, they were all going to be just fine... She suddenly felt the urge to ask Danny, to ask him how he managed to break the Amulet's spell... But she figured that would be for a later time, a time when he felt well enough to want to discuss it.
But for now, everything was going to be fine.
Life would be back to normal for them soon...
Sam leaned her head against Danny's head, feeling the tears coming again. But these were not tears of sorrow; her face did not burn like it did before.
Danny could feel the warmth as it pressed against the side of his head, dripping down under his hair, running down the side of his face... Somehow or another it seemed to lessen the pain he felt in his chest, the muscles of which he must have overexerted while coughing up all that water earlier. But still in all, he hated to see Sam cry, mostly because he never became used to seeing a girl cry... He tried to lift his arm, reaching up to try and touch Sam's face, but he was still not strong enough; his hand fell across his stomach, and he let it lay there, too weak to try and comfort his weeping friend. Instead, he leaned into her embrace, his eyes remaining closed.
"Don't cry, Sam..."
"I'm not... crying..."
He flexed his fingers, feeling an ache in his arm. Pulling his arm sideways, he let it fall next to him, and he felt around, finding his pocket.
"Sam..."
"...Yes?"
"There's still... something... I need to do."
"What..."
She noticed his hand in his pocket. Quickly, she leaned forward, snatching up the glowing Amulet in her free hand, letting Danny slide off onto the ground, her other arm still supporting his neck. She held the Amulet in front of his face, getting back down on her knees.
"Here it is. ...I've got it."
He furrowed his brows, noticing the glow from behind his eyelids. Slowly, he opened his eyes, adjusting to the brightness in front of him. He was soon able to identify the object in front of him.
"We need to destroy it."
Sam nodded.
"You'll need my help, though."
"I'll gladly accept it."
Sam leaned back, getting up on her knees. Danny moved his arms to his sides, bending them, attempting to get up on his own, but he did not have the strength. Sam got down beside him, sliding her arms up under his, pulling him up into a sitting position. He barely had enough in him to hold up his head. Getting up off her knees, she was able to help Danny rise up onto his knees, then finally to his feet. She found him a lot lighter than she remembered him being, also due to the fact that he had gone for so long without eating anything. Resting his diminished weight on his legs, he was able to keep himself up, although only with Sam's help.
"My legs hurt."
"I would imagine so."
With Sam holding the Amulet in one hand, holding Danny up with the other arm, the two walked slowly toward the rocks that were strewn across the beach close to the original pile that lay stacked against the shoreline. Danny raised a hand and pointed at one of the rocks, a noticably jagged one that didn't stand up as high as the others. Sam lay the Amulet across it. They then looked around from there they stood; Sam soon found a smaller rock half-buried in the sand. Digging it up with her feet, she knelt down, Danny leaning against her, and they both were able to wrap their arms around the rock, Sam having to support Danny by letting him lean toward her, his neck on her shoulder with her neck on his. Together, they lifted the rock from the ground; together, they carried the side sideways to the Amulet, and together, they raised the rock, bringing it down on the glowing jewel, crushing it instantly.
Blue smoke burst out from underneath the rock, sending them both falling backwards, sprawling on the ground. Giving off a bright light, the smoke curled in on itself, rising up above them, taking the form of the ghost dragon, one that Sam recognized as what Danny looked like before he tried switching to ghost mode. its snakelike body curved in the air, coiling around, spreading its giant wings, turning its head to face them, its green eyes glowing fiercely.
Sam's breath caught in her throat. The winged demon hung over them, baring its fangs, green smoke rising from its nostrils. Sam turned to look at Danny; he lay back in the same manner she did, holding himself up with his hands, but he didn't seem as tense; in fact, it looked like he was staring the dragon down.
The dragon turned to face Danny directly. It growled at him, sensing his indignant expression. He did not move; his gaze did not shift, and his expression did not change.
Sam understood. What reason is there to be afraid of something you've already been?
The dragon recoiled slowly, folding its wings. Its growling ceased, and it lowered its head in defeat. Suddenly, its body began to dissolve into a blue mist, and soon, it had faded from existance completely, leaving Danny and Sam alone on the beach.
In the fading light, Sam saw Danny starting to lose his balance, falling backwards. She rolled over and dove to his side, letting him fall back on her, his head coming to rest against her stomach. His eyes closed; he had fallen unconscious.