One Hundred Years of Solitude

Rating: T (only because of a little bit of gore / broken bone)

Pairings: None

Ages: Danny is 14

Summary: He looked into the boy's eyes, seeing the fire reflecting on their surface, and he knew that this boy had lived a lonely and pained existence. Somewhere along the way he had started giving of himself and no longer knew where to stop.


He was in a bad mood. So far everything today had been going wrong. His alarm hadn't gone off, he'd misplaced his papers, his car hadn't started for a while…

Mr. Lancer was having a bad day. So when he walked into the classroom and started taking roll, only to notice Mr. Fenton was again late or absent entirely, he was far from pleased.

Not moments after he'd started to explain to the class what they would be doing for the day, Daniel ran in. He was quite disheveled and flushed when he must've figured out what he looked like. The boy smoothed out his shirt and hair as quickly as he could manage before taking a seat.

"Detention, Mr. Fenton."

"But I-"

Mr. Lancer only rose a brow and saw yet again a look of complete defeat take over his features. He couldn't help but wonder what kind of thing would bring that kind of submission in a teen. Normally a teenager would silently brood or smart back, either way it was about rebellion. Daniel always seemed like he'd rather be in class like he was supposed to be.

"Yes sir." The teacher saw Foley and Manson give their friend a sad look that most might have missed. Whatever had been plaguing his student for the last several months, they were involved in.

"Good, now let's turn our attention to our reading from Hamlet."

Once everyone was busy doing a class writing assignment, Lancer took a seat and started to grade some other papers. After only one, he started to slow, too interested in his own thoughts.

More than anything he wanted to help Danny. Mr. Lancer highly valued the importance of a teacher's role in their students' lives. He had tried tough love with Danny at first but that hadn't helped. Only when he'd shown a gentler side did he see one of the boy's greatest personality traits. The boy had a natural kindness and compassion in him. Now that wasn't to say he didn't lose his patience or temper, but in the general sense, Danny cared for people, was a sympathetic soul, and was a grateful person when you did something for him.

He had all the signs of being a good person and a top-notch student in theory, but in practice it all seemed to slip away. He was broken out of his thoughts by Danny himself.

"Can I go to the restroom, Mr. Lancer?"

Lancer sighed and gave a silent nod. The boy rushed out of the room somewhat urgently like he always did. The teacher hummed to himself and tried to focus back on his paperwork.

About ten minutes later, there was an explosion. The building shook and the fire alarms were set off. Lancer rose quickly. "Let's evacuate quickly but calmly. We don't want anyone getting hurt when trying to leave, alright?"

Surprisingly the students listened to him and they all went into the hall, merging with other classes on their way out. Lancer happened to spot Tetslaff and leaned close to talk more privately as they trotted along. "Do we know what's wrong?" Lancer figured it was more than likely a ghost attack, but there was always that deep fear that it was something more human driven.

"No, someone said it sounded like it came from the basement." Before she could say anymore another explosion went off and some of the students screamed. They all picked up the pace a bit and made it to the doors. Lancer watched as all his students rushed out into the parking lot and slowly a horrible realization came to him.

Danny.

He turned and bolted back into the building, the smell of smoke assaulting his nostrils.

zz

A long dark tail whipped out, smashing into his chest and tossing him into the nearest wall.

Danny let out a hacking cough, feeling a bit of ectoplasm, cool against the corner of his lips. "Dumb fire-breathing lizard."

It was some strange creature that looked something like a Dodongo from the Legend of Zelda. So more like a komodo dragon with fire spewing from it's mouth than a dragon, but at this point, Danny would almost prefer that. This thing kept slithering between things and hiding in shadows. The ghostly hero could only hope that everyone had left the school, seeing as two different important looking do-dads had exploded and fire was spreading.

Danny zipped around another blast of fire and managed to freeze the lizard's entire head. The thing balked and started to writhe on the ground, scratching and clawing at its icy head-cage. Danny pulled out his thermos and smirked. "Good thing you don't need to breathe, right?" A flash of blue light and it was over.

Danny yelped and turned intangible when a wood beam crashed through him, literally. He looked around and saw that the fire had spread. "Better get out of here. I hope the news doesn't say Phantom tried to murder the high schoolers. That's just the kind of bad publicity I need." He frowned bitterly, coughed a bit raggedly and flew upwards.

Before long, he was into the bushes near the parking lot. He transformed back into Fenton and trotted over to where he saw Tucker and Sam standing.

"Hey guys. It was some fire-lizard ghost thing."

They both whipped around and they seemed somewhat surprised, though their faces were both pale. "Danny!"

"What?" Danny asked, wiping the corner of his mouth to get rid of the dried blood there.

"Dude, Mr. Lancer hasn't come out. I think someone said he went inside looking for you."

Danny stared at Tucker and then at Sam before his own face went white. He looked over at the building and saw flames flickering in and out of broken windows and roaring in his ears. He felt himself almost slip into the past, seeing the Nasty Burger go up in flames… Danny shook his head and looked around before turning invisible and transforming. He shot towards the school, praying that Mr. Lancer was still okay.

zz

He should've known Danny wouldn't be in the bathroom when he got there. Of course he'd been lying, no one needed to go to the bathroom that often without having been diagnosed with something.

The problem now was, where was he? For all Lancer knew, Danny had just skipped school completely after leaving class. Or he'd gone somewhere else in the school and was unconscious and slowly dying. The very idea horrified the man and put him in a place of indecision. Most people would probably say he'd done his dues and should leave. Even rescue team members would advise the same, but he just couldn't. It would be the ultimate act of metaphorical and literal surrender on the young Fenton.

He'd search just a few moments longer and then leave, check a few other places that came to his mind first. Though, Sherlock Holmes would say to look in a more illogical place, but that was only in mystery novels not real life…

"Mr. Lancer?"

Lancer flinched and turned around. For a split second, he thought it was Daniel, just because of his instinctual and early view of him as he turned. He pondered briefly why he'd never really and truly noticed how similar Fenton and Phantom were in appearance, not that he hadn't seemed similarities… He'd just never realized just how eerily similar they were.

"Phantom."

Danny Phantom floated before the teacher and nodded. "We need to get you out of here. The building is going to collapse."

Lancer realized that the specter was probably doing his dues and trying to save people. Honestly Lancer had always been a bit on the fence about Phantom's supposed evil nature. On the one hand, it seemed kinda poetic in a way to allow some spirit the chance to save lives while at the same time giving it some satisfaction of fulfilling its obsession. So long as Phantom showed no obvious signs of violence or willingness to put people in danger in order to simply save them right after, then Lancer didn't see why it was such a big deal to leave Phantom be.

In this particular case though, he had to disagree with being whisked away. "No I can't."

Phantom seemed confused. "Wait. What? Why!?" Lancer would've actually laughed at the ghost's surprise and exaggerated gestures if his throat wasn't starting to feel clogged with smoke.

"I have to find one of my students. He went to the restroom and I didn't see him leave the school."

It was peculiar to see the look that came to the ghost's face, as if he couldn't believe what Lancer was saying. Lancer himself couldn't figure out why such signs of worry and concern was so foreign to the ghost. Was following their obsession really that emotionless and cut and dry even when saving lives?

"Oh, well I'm sure he'll appreciate it. Who were you looking for? I might've already brought him out."

Lancer narrowed his eyes briefly, not seeming to remember seeing Phantom bring anyone out before he'd come inside himself, but waved the thought off, seeing as Phantom could fly very fast. "Daniel Fenton."

"Oh you mean the youngest of the Ghost Hunter family? Don't worry I already got him out."

Lancer nodded and was about to let Phantom take him, when he hesitated. What if Phantom had a greater motive to let the young Fenton die, seeing as the Fentons actively hunted the ghost. "I… How can I be sure you wouldn't leave him in here to die?"

Phantom blinked. "Excuse me?" There seemed to be a hint of incredulity in his voice.

"His parents hunt you-"

Phantom glanced nervously around before sighing. "Look, his parents hunt me, not him. I wouldn't condemn some kid because of his parents. Second, the truth is, I wouldn't even leave the Fentons themselves to die if they needed me. It goes against my obsession."

Lancer nodded but before he could speak he let out a hacking cough.

"Okay. We really need to get out now. You're going to die from smoke inhalation or something."

Lancer nodded again. "Very well. Take me out. If I find out Daniel isn't safe though, you'll have one less supporter."

Danny paused and then gave a mirthless chuckle. "I'll keep that in mind. Even if it's not why I do what I do." He floated forward a bit to reach out to Lancer before his sensitive hearing picked up a distinct cracking sound above them. He dove at the teacher. "Get down!" The overweight teacher felt the air leave his lungs as he was tackled; briefly he felt a tingling running through his body and he thought that perhaps he'd been injured.

After a moment, Lancer opened his eyes and saw that Phantom was holding them against a wall, away from a pile of recently fallen flaming debris. The teacher observed that they were see-through and the ghost had apparently used intangibility out of caution. He glanced up and locked eyes with the ghost.

"Are you alright Mr. Lancer?"

Lancer blinked and nodded. "I do believe so, Mr. Phantom."

Danny smiled. "Good." The ghost briefly flickered out of intangibility in order to decide which way to go before exiting. This would turn out to be a bad mistake. A paralyzing pain shot up through his leg and into his spine, causing him to let out a haunting scream; Mr. Lancer could only cover his ears shortly in fear and shock before the noise minimized into whimpers of pain. The teacher looked over and saw something that made his already nauseated stomach, twist into knots.

Phantom's ankle was speared (or had reformed around) by a piece of pipe that had fallen out of the ceiling, green liquid was oozing from the wound and his entire leg was spasming slightly. "Gotta… go intangible."

"Heavens, no! That pipe is cauterizing the wound, Mr. Phantom," Lancer spoke up in worry.

Danny only smiled. "I'm dead, sir… There's nothing to cauterize against."

Lancer stood dumbly for a moment while Phantom let his leg pass through the pipe. When his leg became tangible again, an odd pulse forced more green liquid through and Lancer got the odd feeling that Phantom's words weren't completely true.

"We've got to get out now." Phantom floated up and stopped, before landing wobbly on his good leg. Observing that the flames were licking through the roof, Danny wasn't sure he couldn't trust himself to keep focused enough to stay intangible while in severe pain. They would have to run out through the back door and towards the football field. The boy tried to walk and felt another stab of agony; the bone just had to be broken in half. They continued to move towards the back door as quick as possible with Danny hobbling. "You should go ahead Mr. Lancer, please."

"I think not."

"I'm dead."

"But I-"

Whatever Lancer was going to say, was cut off when Danny's foot on his broken leg hooked a two-bi-four. He let out a cry of pain as he tripped and at that moment, his concentration was broken. A ring of light formed around Phantom's waist and transformed him into a more recognizable form. Blood started gushing from his leg now that he was human.

"Mr. Fenton!?" A thousand different questions raced through Lancer's head that started with how as he hurriedly bent down to help his student.

Danny glanced up with a grimace and wild fear in his eyes. "Leave me, Mr. Lancer. I'll be okay. I just need a second."

For Mr. Lancer, it felt like someone had struck him in the chest. His heart was pounding as he saw many memories flash through his head. Daniel trying to stay awake in class, Phantom fighting ghosts outside his apartment in the wee hours, Daniel doing poorly on his grades, ghosts being fought off during the day, Daniel getting detentions for being late or skipping class, Phantom keeping a ghost from destroying the school, and over and over more memories came. Those very words Daniel had spoken, were practically what the boy had been saying to everyone in his life even as he sunk further and further into the abyss.

"Never again, Mr. Fenton." He saw Danny's eyes widen just the slightest bit before the fourteen year old was in his arms and he was running again towards the door. Lancer huffed and puffed with exertion, but a desire like no other is powering him. As they neared the door he heard Danny speak.

"I'll turn us intangible to run through the door." Lancer nodded as the tingling feeling returned. After a few moments, they were away from the roaring of fire and the creeks of a dying building; they could even hear a bird or two chirping.

"Mr. Fenton?" Lancer asked and looked down at his student. The boy smiled a bit.

"Thanks, Mr. Lancer. I have to go though. They'd figure out what I was if I went to the hospital. My blood isn't normal."

"But-"

"I promise I'll come later to talk to you and I promise, I'll really be okay by then." Lancer looked down into the young boy's eyes and saw honesty that had been missing for several months, shining there.

"Okay."

And then he literally vanished from the man's arms as a few firefighters came around the back and started shouting at him, asking him if he was alright.

zz

It was around ten o'clock at night when the boy had appeared in his apartment. Lancer had started to worry that the boy had been lying again before he'd appeared.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lancer! I was finishing up with a few weaker ghosts and then Skulker appeared out of nowhere-"

Lancer hummed. "It' quite alright, Mr. Fenton."

Danny froze and floated down to the floor before changing into his more human appearance. The boy seemed nervous or at the very least having trouble thinking of what to say.

"Where do your parents think you are, Mr. Fenton?"

"At Tucker's working on-" Danny froze from his automatic response.

"On what?"

"Homework…" Danny grimaced slightly.

Lancer nodded and his gaze went down to the boy's ankle, which he was now standing on as if nothing was wrong. "Is your ankle okay?"

"Yeah. Kinda feels bruised, but the bone's mended and it's not bleeding anymore…"

Lancer kneeled and looked at the boy. "May I?"

"Um… yeah, sure." He lifted his jeans pants leg, revealing a large ugly looking bruised area that wrapped around Danny's ankle.

"My word. Is this why you have trouble in P.E.?"

"Oh! No… Well I mean sometimes, but that's mostly because I'd break everything or would be able to do everything too well. It would be suspicious if I didn't hold back." Lancer paused before nodding. He stood up and paced for a moment, causing Danny to grow nervous. "Mr. Lancer?"

The teacher stopped and looked at a few books on his table which were holding down a stack of reports he was grading. "How much have you read of Hamlet like you supposed to?"

Danny balked slightly. "Excuse me? I mean… Sir?"

"How about we discuss what you have read?" Lancer asked, picking the book from the stack and walking over to Danny.

The boy seemed confused. "I… don't understand."

"For the time being, I won't tell your parents Mr. Fenton. I would consider telling them though. What you're doing is very dangerous, both from physical harm from fights as well as whatever this change could have done to your body, and I think with parents like yours who seem to love you, they have a right to know what's going on in your life. Do you know if your body is stable? Do you know if you're still human?"

"Well… I… I mean I have a heartbeat… in this form." Danny admitted.

"Do you understand?"

Danny nodded. "Yes sir. I mean, I've thought about it before, but it just never felt like the right time…"

Lancer smiled. "I'm sure it won't be as bad as you think. I'll even come with you and your friends for support if you need it."

Danny looked at the teacher in surprise. "You mean that? You'd back me up like that?"

Lancer huffed. "I may not be hip or cool, but 'backing you up like that' is technically my job you know."

Danny chuckled slightly. "Oh. Yeah, I guess so."

"Now, how about we focus on a different kind of ghost for a while? Like the ghost of Hamlet's father?"

Danny smiled as he sat next to his English teacher and nodded. "He supposedly warned Hamlet about what his uncle had done."

zz

"All this time he had hidden away his pain and his shortcomings, all for the benefit of others. As I looked into his eyes, hearing the roar of the fire, I could see that even with his two best friends helping him to shoulder his burden, he was terribly alone. He had two friends, but no people of authority to tell him whether or not he was righteous or doing the right thing. For months he has been wandering in the darkness, guided only by the barest understanding of his parents' handed down morals of right and wrong, which could never hope to fill in all the cracks his reality had forced upon him." Lancer leaned back from his desk and paused in his writing. After a moment he looked back down at his journal and wrote again. "Out of all the people in Amity, I managed to decode Daniel Fenton and it was by pure accident. That fills me with shame that I had to learn because of a freak fire on a random Tuesday that was no different than any other and not because I asked enough questions or made the boy feel safe. All I can do is try to rectify my mistakes from here on out. I have come to possibly believe that even death should not and can not truly stop the spirit of man or beast, or more honestly the spirit and drive to live and love that exists in us all." Lancer smiled before writing the date at the top of the page and then moving to the space near the bottom to write one last thing.

"Lost in the solitude of his immense power, he began to lose direction."

~ Gabriel Garcí a Márquez, One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Mr. Lancer then shut his journal and let out a sigh. "And here I was planning on retiring after this year… Looks like that'll have to wait for another three years."


So I hope you enjoyed this little Lancer Oneshot. He didn't blurt a book title but the title of the oneshot is enough I think. Mostly I was just wanting to write a story around that moment in the hall when Danny asks for Lancer to run. "Leave me. I'll be okay. I just need a second." I feel like that sentence can summarize the relationship between Lancer and Danny, especially when discussing a possible reveal. It's practically what Danny says to everyone and what he's been screaming to Lancer in his silence and submissive responses to detentions and bad grades. Lancer finally gets to realize Danny's code for HELP! and resolves to never leave him behind again.

Lol I can't help but type sappy stuff with these two.

Oh and as an added note, check out my DP story Pondus Omnium if you're ever in the mood for a longer DP story. Okay, self promotion done. *slips away*