Savior
Summary: Danny and Jazz are being abused by a babysitter till one night they've had all they can take. Inspired by the music video 'Savior' by Skillet. One-shot.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman does.
Dedication: To RainbowSerenity for doing the covers for Hello and Imaginary. You rock my world!
Maddie Fenton lifted the surprisingly quiet little boy out of the bathtub. "Is something wrong?" The little boy looked up with scared blue eyes. "Are you scared about your dad and I leaving tonight?" He nodded, unruly bangs falling in his eyes. "Don't worry, Josh is nice. He's watched you before." Danny stared off into space as his mother finished drying the five-year-old off.
She finished helping him slip on the little light blue pajamas and lifted him up, carrying him downstairs and putting him next to Jazz on the couch. "There. See. Your sister isn't scared about tonight, are you Jazz?" She shook her head not looking away from the TV. But the second the doorbell rang and her mother turned her back, she looked over at her brother with terrified eyes. Danny swallowed. It was all over now.
I'm everything you've wanted
I am the one whose
haunting you
I am the eyes inside of you, stare back at you
The two sat in Danny's room, playing in the blanket tent they had made earlier. Their mother had even helped them string up some Christmas lights on the inside for light. Jazz almost wished she hadn't the let an eerie sort of glow over her brothers terrified features. She swallowed the lump in her throat, focusing on staying quiet and keeping Danny occupied.
Other than locking them in Danny's room he hadn't touched them yet. Jazz listened to the strange noises coming from the living room as the twenty-two year old was watching some sort of movie. He had just thrown her and Danny in here saying that it was a grown-up thing. Jazz bounced the rubber ball to Danny again.
He missed the catch and crawled out after the ball. She waited for a moment. "Danny," she whispered. No response. "Danny?" She heard the door creak open. Blue-green eyes went wide. "Danny! No!" she hissed. It was too late. He was long gone.
There's nothing left to lose
There's nothing left to
prove
Surrender your love, it's all you can do
Jazz bolted as quietly as she could to the top of the steps. She saw Danny running down at the bottom. "Danny!" she called as quietly as she could. He looked up at her and pointed towards the spill-proof cup sitting on the coffee table before darting off into the living room.
Terror filled Jazz as she took the steps two at a time trying to get there in time to stop her brother. Danny grabbed the sippy cup and ran into the kitchen bumping the sleeping college senior's elbow in the process.
His eyes snapped open and he turned just in time to see the second grader skid to a stop at the edge of the living room. His face contorted as he saw her. "You little— I thought I told you to stay in that damn room!" Jazz froze, eyes wide as he walked over and grabbed her by the shirt shaking her hard. She started to scream and he slapped her hard upside the head before grabbing her by the shirt and dragging her up the stairs.
Danny made it to the top of the stairs just in time to see the door slam on his sister's room and her crying and fabric tearing. Danny walked over and stood there, tears welling up in his eyes. "Jazz?" he whispered.
The terrified screams continued for what seemed like an eternity. Danny fell to the ground crying, he pressed his hands to his ears as tight as he could. "Go away," he whispered to himself. "Just go away."
What you got, what you want, what you need
Gonna be
your savior
Everything's gonna crash and break
But I know, yeah I know
Danny stayed like that until finally the door came open. Josh stepped out and smirked at the little boys tears. "You want something to cry about?" he spat. He grabbed a handfull of dark hair and pulled the little boy into a standing position before throwing him hard into the wall.
He took the belt in his hand and snapped it across the back of the little boy. He screamed for his sister. "She can't help you now. In fact, I'd be surprised if she could even walk." The young man sneered. The little boy shook his head. "Are you calling me a lair?" Blue eye look petrified and he picked him up by the throat and tossed him next onto his sister's floor.
The door slammed behind them. Jazz managed to shove herself off the bed and her and Danny crawled to each other. Shaking hands clung to each other as they cried on the others shoulder. "We're leaving, Danny," she whispered. Blue eyes flicked up at her. "We have to run away. He'll kill us." The kindergartner just sat there numbly his cheek resting against his sisters shoulder. He finally nodded.
"I don't wanna die, Jazz," he murmured and she held him tighter.
What you got, what you want, what you need
Gonna be
your savior
Everything's gonna crash and break
Your savior
The little book bags were both dumped and now filled with clothes and toys. Jazz and Danny clutched ands as they walked slowly down the stairs, Jazz whimpering softly at every step. Every time she did Danny would squeeze her hand. The two made it to the ground floor and stayed pressed against the wall as they crept down to the lab.
Jazz cleared of a corner of the worktable and bit her lip against the pain as she swung herself up and shoved her pink book bag out the window. It stuck but after a little bit of pushing it went. She then swung herself up and used her arms to pull herself through. She turned and stuck her head and arms back in.
Danny was next. He pulled himself up onto the table after much struggling and reached up to where his sister was waiting to pull him up. Danny jumped for Jazz's hands and his little bear foot caught the edge of the beaker tray witch fell to the floor with a crash that seemed impossibly loud. Upstairs, the TV went off.
Jazz panicked and tried to pull her little brother out, backpack and all. "I'm stuck," Danny almost screamed.
"I know," Jazz retorted, anchoring her heels into the dirt and throwing her weight against it.
Danny started crying little tears streaming down his face. "Don't leave, Jazz! Don't leave."
"I'm…not…going…to…" Jazz bit out, pulling with each word, each time he came a little bit closer to being out.
Jazz heard Josh bit out a bad word that she had heard on the bus. With one last pull Danny came loose. She drug him a good three feet away from the window before pulling him to his feet. Jazz picked up the spotlight she was carrying and tossed Danny a littler flashlight. Grabbing Danny's free hand, she ran for all she was worth.
It's time to redefine your deophobic mind
Don't
hesitate, there's no escape
The secrets on the inside
Danny whimpered again as his sister pulled hard on his hand. "I'm tired, Jazz," he pleaded. Jazz slowed to a walk, glancing over her shoulder but she didn't stop. She squeezed his hand and smiled at him. Her legs were so sore; it hurt so much to walk. But she would die before she would let him touch her baby brother.
She looked down at the blue-eyed little boy. He had his head bent, and his shoulders tense. He looked like that cat that used to be in their neighborhood. She had tried to pet it one day and it ran away. She had started crying and her mom had told her it wasn't her fault. Somebody had been mean and hurt the cat so now it was afraid of people. She wondered if the same thing could happen to people. She didn't want that to happen to her and Danny.
She remembered promised when he started school that she wouldn't let anyone push him around or hurt him. That included Josh. She had broken her promise. She wondered if her parents would be mad at her. She didn't want them to be mad, she had tried so hard. She started to cry. Maybe she just wasn't good enough.
There's nothing left to lose
There's nothing left to
prove
Surrender your love, it's all you can do
The two swinging little beams of light finally entered the playground at their school, followed shortly by two exhausted children. Danny was basically leaning against his sister's side as they walked. It was way past there bedtime and they had gone through a lot. His eyes drooped shut and his footsteps slowed. He felt someone jerk his hand and he opened his eyes again and took a few more steps.
His sister sort of pulled them over to the yellow plastic tunnel that lead up to the blue twisty slide. She helped him to get inside. They crawled into the middle, Danny leading the way. Halfway through, they both sat down. They sat in silence, too exhausted to think anymore. It wasn't long before both children were out cold. Fingers frozen by the late autumn air clutched at the other's hand.
What you got, what you want, what you need
Gonna be
your savior
Everything's gonna crash and break
But I know, yeah I know
The front door swung open, Maddie stepped through the door. "Josh, were home!" Silence greeted them and both parents exchanged an uneasy look. The kids would be in bed, they knew that but they almost always came home to Josh watching a movie. "I'll go check on the kids. You find Josh."
"Josh?" Jack called. He heard his wife peak in on their son's room. He went into the kitchen, still no sign of the college student. Where in the world could he be? A piercing scream filled the house he dashed out of the room in time to see Maddie get to the top of the stairs. Nothing in his life had scared him like her next words. "They're both gone."
What you got, what you want, what you need
Gonna be
your savior
Everything's gonna crash and break
Your savior
Little blue eyes snapped open at the sound of something moving. He reached over and shook his sister awake. She blinked a few times before realizing why he'd woke her up. She nodded and held her finger to her lips. He nodded and repeated the gesture before both tried to listen. They couldn't understand words but there were definitely two people talking.
"I think it's an abduction. We're wasting our time looking. We'll never find those poor kids." The sound of footsteps coming up the steps to there tunnel sounded deafeningly loud. "Can you imagine what it'll be like for their teachers? Having to tell kindergarten and second-graders their classmates were kidnapped?"
"Don't say that." Came the other's voice. "My son's in that little boy's class."
The footsteps stopped. "You're kidding. That's Tuck's class?
The other voice came from a little further away than the last time. "They said they both go here. Little boy's five and there's only one kindergarten class." Danny turned to look at his sister. She gave his hand a squeeze. Danny knew Tucker. He sometimes played blocks with him.
Suddenly a flash light shone up the tunnel and both pressed themselves higher up. The light swept through again, this time going dangerously close to Jazz's left shoe. Danny tried to scoot up higher so Jazz could hide, the only problem was his shoe squeeked against the slick plastic. "What was that?" the voice called. Both kids gasped when the light hit them in the face.
I am the eyes inside staring back at you
I am the eyes
inside staring back at you
You need
You need me
The two terrified kids sat in the backseat of the police car while the officers radioed that they had found them. Jazz tuned the words out and stared at the park. She couldn't believe just today that she had been playing on the swings and laughing. She felt like she'd never even smile again.
She was scared and she couldn't show it. She'd already let Danny get hurt, she wouldn't let him get scared. She looked over at her brother a thick welt from the belt appearing on the side of his neck. She couldn't help but cry.
One of the officers opened the door. "Can I sit back here?" Jazz and Danny both scooted over. He sat next to Danny. He looked over at them. He seemed nice. His eyes weren't mean like all the policeman on TV who arrested the bad guy and then took him to jail. "I know you guys are scared. I know you probably don't want to think about it, but I need you to tell me why you ran away."
They sat in silence for what could have been minutes or it could have been a few seconds. "He hurt us," Jazz whispered.
The officer reached over and squeezed her knee. "Was it your dad?"
Jazz shook her head. "Josh. He's our babysitter."
What you got, what you need
Everything's gonna crash
and break
What you got, what you need
Everything's gonna crash and break
Jack finally opened the door. It took longer than usual doing to his unwillingness to put his frightened son down. Maddie followed with Jazz clinging to her. There had been a lot of tears and hugs and muttered assurances. It was the longest night of the two childrens life. The clock hands in the living room pointed dutifully at the twelve and the six. It was slightly past midnight.
Tomorrow would be even longer. Medical exams for both kids and a long talk with the police was looming over the two young children's heads. "Daddy? Do we have to go to school tomorrow." Jack looked down at the little blue eyes staring back up at him.
"No, Danny. I think you can stay home tomorrow."
"Will my teacher get mad?" he asked sleepily.
Jack shook his head. "Your teacher just wants you to get better."
His little face turned to look in the kitchen where his mother was washing the nail-rakings on his sister's face. "I want us to get better too."
What you got, what you want, what you need
Gonna be
your savior
Everything's gonna crash and break
But I know, yeah I know
Jack and Maddie sat at the kitchen table. "So the real question," Jack murmered. "Is do we let the kids know that the reason they're being video taped tomorrow is so that we can persecute Josh."
Maddie tore the edges of her paper napkin. She looked up tears forming in the edges of her green eyes. "I just want this to be over, Jack. I want to hear them laughing, yelling, or fighting again. It scares me how they've both gotten so quiet."
Jack ran a hand through his hair. "Maybe the police had the right idea. If not for both than just for Jazzmine. She doesn't even understand what happened to her or why."
"I don't understand why it happened. I mean why Jazz? She's only seven."
Jack shook his head, feeling helpless. "I don't think we'll ever know."
What you got, what you want, what you need
Gonna be
your savior
Everything's gonna crash and break
Your savior
Jazz propped herself up and glanced at the clock. Two fifty-seven. She almost cried. How could it only be two minutes since the last time she checked? She sat up and pulled her knees up close to her. It had been two weeks and she still felt incredibly dirty. She didn't think she'd ever feel clean again. The doctor she was going to told her it's not her fault, but if that was true why did she feel so bad?
It was so hard to sit in class with all the others. She felt so different. The tears that had only been a thought away for fourteen hard days came again. She took a shaky breath, and heard her door creak open. She looked up to see her little brothers tousled head peek through the door.
"Jazz?" came the loud whisper.
She took a deep breath. "Yeah?"
He stepped in so she could see he was clutching the blanket he'd had since he was born. "I had a bad dream. Can I sleep with you?" She nodded and folded back the covers. Danny darted over and curled up next to her. The two of them laid awake for a while both just staring at the ceiling. "Jazz?"
"What?"
He turned towards her. Bright blue eyes met sparkling blue-green. "We'll be okay, right?"
For the first time in two weeks, the auburn-haired girl didn't feel as bad. "Yeah. I think so."
I'm watching you
Cause you need me
I'm watching
you
