This story came to me slowly (around midnight, mind you) as I was brainstorming scenes for my main work-in-progress Danny Phantom AU. I was staring at my own silver white gold locket with black ribbon and suddenly an image of Sam holding it came to me. I asked her to tell me her story, and here it is…
Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. If I did, holy crap, I'd explode from giddiness.
The Silver Locket
Sam was lying in bed, and for the past week had moved little from her position except to eat and shower. Past memories and nostalgia was drowning her and eating her alive, but she didn't care. It hurt too much to care, and the abyss in her heart would just deepen.
"Happy Birthday Sam!" Danny's eyes were bright that day. They were shining for her and he handed her a dark red box. Sam asked jokingly if he was going to propose to her, because the box sure did look like it could have held a very large diamond ring inside. Danny laughed and shook his head.
How she missed his laughter.
Sam opened the box and gasped. It was better than any fantasized diamond ring. She took out a heart locket made of white gold, dangling from a silky black ribbon. Tears broke the surface of her eyes. She had never seen anything so beautiful.
"Open it up." Danny's gentle voice broke her reverie. He moved behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders, peering over her.
Sam opened the locket. On one side was a tiny mirror, reflecting her own beaming face, and on the other was small picture of her and Danny, framed by the heart shape of the locket. She smiled. "Danny…"
"Wait, one last surprise. Check the back of the locket. Uh…its kind of small, so there wasn't a whole lot of possibilities…" He scratched the back of his neck apprehensively with one hand.
She missed that silly nervous habit of his too.
She flipped the locket around, and saw engraved in script: "Danny + Sam" She didn't care if it was a whole essay or a single word. The rosebush sure does not complain if it blooms one rose or a dozen.
"Oh, thank you Danny…it's…it's gorgeous." Locket in her hand, Sam turned around and kissed him. "I love you."
Danny's arms wrapped around her waist and returned the kiss. "I love you too…"
She missed his kisses. She missed his embrace. She missed him.
She dangled the same locket before her, swinging it back and forth like a hypnotist's charm. Perhaps she was trying to will herself into forgetting the pain. Perhaps if she did actually succeed into hypnotizing herself, the gaping fissure in her heart would go away.
Ember may have been a nefarious ghost, but her words were true: "Teen love: they say it never lasts." They weren't just true; they were cold and cruel—cold and cruel like the world.
Sam stopped swinging the locket like a pendulum. She was randomly reminded of Poe's "The Pit and the Pendulum". Maybe the necklace could turn into the axe-like pendulum and kill her in a fictional way.
She opened up the locket. There she was in the past: together with Danny, so happy, and so in love. And there she is in the present, gravely alone with only her reflection—a teary, fragile, and pale reflection. Her eyes were empty—a wilting purple flower, or a jewel that was losing its fiery hue.
Heartbreak. Heartbreak puts out the sun and the moon, and causes heaven to weep. Heartbreak drowns the stars in the sea, and causes the flowers to be eaten alive by the earth. Heartbreak causes the fire to tear at screaming forests, and the rivers to freeze in sorrow. Heartbreak falls angels from the sky, and Sam was falling.
She wanted to cry. She wanted to cry and cry and cry and cry. She wanted the tears to purify the burning pain in her heart, but there were no more tears left. They had been used up like a failing river in the desert.
She got up, bracing for the blood that would rush to her head. Staggering a bit, she reached for her coat and pulled it on. The locket was still in her hands, and it was time to visit Danny.
Sam walked up the street towards the park. She knew he'd be there; he was always there. The skies overhead mirrored a stormy sea, gray and rolling with uneven waves. She could smell the rain coming. If she didn't have any more tears, at least heaven could still cry for her. A swirl of crumpled leaves drifted past her feet. She imagined the trees were even drooping and dying for what she was feeling.
The park came to view and the first thing Sam saw was Danny, or more so, Danny Phantom. Sadness squeezed her heart even tighter. He was standing on a ledge, eyes fiercely gazing into space, arms at his sides with fists clenched. What else could he do but protect the city?
Sam stopped at his feet and gazed mournfully into his face. She stepped onto the ledge and stroked Danny's freezing cheek with delicate finger.
"Danny, I miss you," she whispered.
He didn't reply. Statues don't talk.
Sam lowered herself slowly to sit on the ledge, and the tears once more erupted. She leaned against the statue's legs and wrapped her arms around it, wishing so badly the icy marble she felt would turn into flesh. She wished this stone replica of her lover would come alive and hold her, reassure her, kiss her. Her tears hit Danny's marble shoes. Why didn't reality work like fairytales? Why couldn't the magic of her tears bring him back to life?
Why did Danny have to die and leave her alone in such a world? She grasped the frosty stone tighter to prevent herself from screaming. A single tear trickled its way down to the graceful engraving on the front of the ledge.
Danny Fenton AKA Danny Phantom
December 13, 1989 – February 23, 2007
Forever loved as a son, brother, friend, protector, and hero of Amity Park.
After twenty minutes Sam sighed raggedly. Her breathing gradually returned to normal.
She opened her clenched fist and brought the locket up to the sky, observing how luminous it was in contrast to the darkening clouds. She kissed the heart, feeling herself pouring her eternal love into the tiny trinket. She turned towards Danny and tied the locket's black ribbon tightly on his wrist with shaking hands. It dangled at his knuckles and slowly ceased its swaying. She knew no one would take the locket. Everyone knew it was hers, and everyone knew it was a symbol of her and Danny's love.
A light drizzle swirled around her, mixing with her tears. It was comforting, to say the least. Danny glistened beautifully under the layer of water. He used to adore the rain and the calming effect it brought.
She sighed again and closed her eyes, arms embracing the statue once again. In her mind's eye, she imagined Danny holding the locket, smiling.
"I love you Sam." He caressed her cheek with a pearly gloved hand. "I always had, and I always will."
"I know. I love you too Danny…"
If you noticed, I put his date of death on February of 2007, the month Nickelodeon has decided to cease airing Danny Phantom. Whichever message this sends out, I hope in some part you will help to persuade Nickelodeon to desist that thought.