AN: Post-series but minus Phantom Planet. This'll be an AU that I hope to actually finish at some point. Heads up for a severe and permanent injury. Valerie knows DF is DP and sometimes helps Team Phantom. Danny and Sam have been dating for a few years. Val and Dani like each other. Everyone but Dani is 17, she's 15. Also yes, yes I did just show back up with a new AU after posting nothing for like four years.

None of them could pinpoint the exact moment that the fight shifted. Vlad hadn't seemed to be attacking any more brutally than usual, and they had the distinct advantage of five against one. Technically, anyways. Vlad's duplicates didn't count as other people, but they did count as other fighters.

They'd had him down to just himself and one duplicate, though. They were beating him and had already destroyed his lab for the umpteenth time along with his grand plans. It had been like this for the past couple years. Either the three of them or Valerie would stop Vlad's plans before he could even get it off the ground and he'd just rebuild and move on with planning. Every battle got harder as he learned from their mistakes and triumphs... and Danny had thought every battle was also getting easier as they each grew stronger as well. They even had Danielle there!

But it still happened. Val and Dani were toe-to-toe with the last of Vlad's duplicates, Tucker was in the midst of backing the two of them up from afar in the Spectre Speeder, and Sam was helping him with Vlad himself.

Nothing had seemed different in Vlad's attacks- not that Danny had noticed. But the sheer brutality of what he'd done was so direct and ruthless for his usual style that something must've changed around that point in the fight. Vlad had gotten in kick that sent Danny flying too fast to recover from without taking a hit to the basement wall, but Sam had blasted Vlad in the back just after it. And then Vlad had suddenly moved far faster than Danny could remember seeing from him before.

He moved far too fast for Sam to react in time to protect herself, and Danny could fly fast but apparently not fast enough. Not in this instance. He was just too far away-

He wasn't fast enough to stop it.
He wasn't fast enough as Vlad drew an ectoplasmic sword out of his other hand as he formed it, approaching Sam at lightning speed.
He wasn't fast enough to make it there before the sword cut a swift arc upwards- aimed for the Fenton glove fit around the lower half of Sam's arm.

Sam didn't move for several moments. It seemed like nobody did, for that matter. At least to Danny, it felt like the only thing in the room moving was Sam's arm.

The only thing moving was Sam's arm as it dropped to the floor without the rest of her.

Time returned and Danny wasn't aware of what had happened next. Not anymore, at least. The next thing he could recall was being with Sam along with the others, Val and Tuck doing their best to stop the bleeding, there was so much blood- Sam's head was resting on his lap as she stared at nothing and Dani was tucking a random blanket around her. A quick glance across the room confirmed there was no more danger at the moment- Vlad was heaped on the ground in human form across the room and for once, Danny didn't care whether he was breathing or not. He just turned his focus back to Sam and messily started brushing his fingers through her hair, trying to do something. His hands were too shaky- hell, he was shaky all over- to help much and they were drenched in blood. He wasn't sure how much was Sam's and how much was Vlad's.

"-nny.. an... Da... Danny! Danny! Danny, c'mon, we need you man!" That got his attention. Tuck was looking up at him, worried and expectant.

"Huh?" His throat was too tight and voice too thick. When had he started crying? Oh well. It didn't matter. All that mattered was Sam right now.

"We need you to ice her arm, man. There's too much blood- she's gonna bleed out before the ambulance-"

Ice. Right. He could do that. His hands were still shaking, but with a new task to focus on, he lifted his free one and formed a smooth layer of ice around. Ugh, he felt nauseous. Hold it together, Fenton. Around what was left of Sam's right arm.

A glance up at Tucker and Valerie to see if he'd done it right greeted him with vague surprise on their faces, but neither of them said anything or asked him to adjust it.

He turned his attention back to Sam. He had seen shock before. Been through it himself more than once. Cold wasn't good for shock. But that seemed to be Dani's job to deal with since she had disappeared but returned once more with another blanket.

It was hours before he left Sam's side, and he wasn't happy about it when he did finally have to.

It had taken all three of Dani, Val, and Tuck to break his grasp on the side of her stretcher while the ER team was quickly rolling her towards an operating room. Danny hadn't even heard them saying he couldn't go in. Apparently they'd also told him he couldn't ride in the ambulance either since he wasn't family, but they'd given up quick on that one. As soon as his friends got him out of ear shot of the doctors, though, Tucker spoke low and quick about how he just had to go ghost and then he could go back to Sam. He just couldn't let the doctors know he was in there while they worked on her.

Danny wasn't actually sure when he'd turned back to his human form, but he had to guess it was sometime before the paramedics arrived based on how much blood he was covered in- it would've disappeared if it was all on his hazmat. But he listened to Tucker, hurried off to the nearest bathroom, and was back at Sam's side in less than a minute- invisible this time and intangible so he wouldn't run into the flurry of activity from the doctors and nurses as they worked to save the love of his life.

He only left her side again when Mr. and Mrs. Manson were finally allowed into the room, and that wasn't for their sake. It was from listening to Tucker desperately asking for updates from them and being promptly ignored. Of course the doctors wouldn't tell Sam's teenage friends before her family. So with heavy remorse but the small comfort that Sam wouldn't wake up any time soon to just her parents being there, Danny headed back to the nearest bathroom and transformed to Fenton form once more.

He spared no time in hurrying up the halls to go back to Sam's room and then to the closest waiting room. He'd heard updates here and there about his parents showing up then leaving and the same for Tucker's parents, but there wasn't much point in everyone staying constantly until she was awake.

"Woah- dude, did you even try to clean up?" Tucker's comment was met with an elbow from Danielle, but there was clearly no force behind it. Humor was a coping mechanism for all of them, after all.

"She's stable now. Well. Has been for a couple hours now, I guess. She lost a lot of blood so they gave her a transfusion and said they might need to do another one if she doesn't make enough on her own with the fluids she's on. They." Danny swallowed hard against the lump in his throat. When did he start crying again? Had he ever actually stopped? "Something about what Vl-" Nope. He was going to be sick if he said that name. "Something about what he did made it so they couldn't put it back together- couldn't reattach her... They tried but-" The words kept getting stuck in his throat.

Silence hung over them as the weight of that settled in. Danny didn't let it sit for too long, though, starting to turn away. "I'm going back, but you guys needed to know and I can't believe her parents aren't-"

"Wait, Danny, you should sit down a while." Valerie caught his wrist, grip tight simply because that's what was required to even try keeping him in place. Not that any of them would be able to if he didn't want it.

Danielle followed up quick after Val though she stayed put in her chair for now. "Yeah, Bro, you look like you're gonna pass out. And I know you don't want to do that here."

"But Sam-" His protest was weak at best. He was losing it and he absolutely hated it.

"Is going to be okay. Right? That's what she's going to be. If she wasn't, you would've never left that room even if the building collapsed on you. Stay with us a bit and just. Let it hit."

Danny stayed firm in his place for a few long seconds... and then caved, slumping back towards Val and letting her pull him the seat she'd previously been in, between Tuck and Dani. After a moment, he felt the weight of a hand on his shoulder and looked up to meet Tucker's gaze. He made it maybe two seconds longer before a sob tore its way through his chest and he crumbled.