Okay. I first want to say to those of you who have been giving me and my sister death threats for if I killed off Danny, (you know who you are) RELAX! Sheesh! If you'll just keep following along, I promise you won't be disappointed. But I won't give you any details. I want you to find out for yourself.
(NOT speaking. This is Blackjay, her younger sister, adding a bit to the author's note without the knowledge of the actual author.) I'm sure roasting us over an open pit to …uuuuuuu… will be EXCEEDINGLY fun. Tell me can you do my sister first so I can watch…or run away… BUT according to my evilly added authors note in chapter 21, I TOLD YOU it was getting intense and the whole "hahaha I know what's gonna happen" I was rather associated with this.
Chapter 29: The Sacrifice
Danielle and Sam entered the medical facility at a run, pulling off the white Fenton Jackets and tossing them aside as they entered the room where the dying hero rested. Tucker and Danny's family had already gathered in by the time they got there. Danny himself seemed to still be unconscious and his loved ones all looked to have anxious expressions as they turned to Frostbite for the reason he had summoned them.
Danielle looked over at the medical screen that monitored Danny's vital signs and was astonished to see that his life countdown was now down from four hours to twenty minutes. Had she and Sam really been in the shrine for that long?
The Goth and the half-ghost clone joined the group with their fears growing of what Frostbite's message might be. The look on the friendly beast's face only made the tension even worse.
"Frostbite, what's the matter?" Jack was the first to ask. "Is the antidote still not ready?"
"No, it is." Frostbite said quickly, "In fact it's just over there." He indicated a stone counter where a small device with a blue liquid inside was laid.
"Well, then aren't you going to give it to him?" Tucker asked hurriedly.
Frostbite just stood there for a second, before lowering his huge eyes with a very heavy sigh. "We can't." He said sadly, shaking his head.
Danielle stood rooted to the spot in shocked confusion after hearing this response. "But…why not? It'll work won't it? I mean, he still has twenty…or…nineteen minutes left."
"Which is hardly enough time for the antidote to take full effect." Frostbite responded. "As we have finally come up with a cure that would be strong enough to make the poison dissipate, it's just taken too long to make."
Danny's friends and family exchanged worried looks as Danielle went over to Danny's deathbed with her arms folded, already guessing what this was leading up to.
The Far Frozen leader looked at the physicians who were looking as solemn as everyone else in the room before he turned back to Danny's peers with the fatal message. "The Blood Blossom has already been working at him for enough time that…even with the antidote's administration…I'm afraid…it's already too late."
Danny's mother fell into Jack's arms in hearing this and he, in turn, held her close with one arm as he used his other to wrap around his daughter, who was beginning to weep as well. "I'm terribly sorry." Frostbite said as he watched this heartbreaking scene with much remorse.
Tucker and Sam looked at each other, feeling like they had already lost their best friend. Sam put a hand over her mouth, remembering the kiss she had left the ghost hero before she left the room last time. Tears swelled up in her eyes, as she now knew that her lips would never feel the tender and loving touch of Danny's returning kiss. Not even in a final farewell.
As for Danielle, despite her dread of hearing that Danny was not going to make it, she had already been half expecting this news. When the Far Frozen guard had come to retrieve her and Sam from the shrine, she had noticed that she couldn't feel any difference in Danny's condition. She was sure that if they had the antidote ready in time, they wouldn't have hesitated in giving it to him. The cloud of sorrow hung over the room as Frostbite's message was fully absorbed, and yet, the female hybrid was surprised that she wasn't crying like everyone else. But then again, she had already cried enough tonight. And as she looked down at Danny's pale face, she knew that no additional tears were going to help him wake up. No matter how much she and everyone else wanted him to.
"So that's it?" Tucker was saying to Frostbite as he looked over to where his best friend lay, about to be taken by the poison. "He's really going to…?"
"Don't say it, Tucker. Don't you dare say it." Sam almost shouted, trying desperately to keep her chatterbox of a friend from saying the one word that everyone had always been afraid would happen to their beloved hero, friend and family member.
"It's not gonna stop it from being true, Sam." Jazz looked up from her father's arm that she was crying on as he continued to hold her and her mother in an attempt to comfort them.
Danielle put a hand on Danny's forehead as she listened to this conversation behind her. He had grown so cold, she almost immediately recoiled when she touched him, and she sensed inside her that his life was hanging on by a thread. By the time he was gone, she would be the only part of him left to carry on as Amity Park's, as well as the world's, hero.
Hold on. Danielle withdrew her hand from Danny's cold skin for a second in having a sudden thought. She was a part of Danny. She had his DNA. Her ecto-signature was even similar enough to fool the Guys in White. Twice. She looked at her hand as if examining it more closely as an idea was starting to form in her head.
As the wheels in the young clones mind were turning, Jack looked up at the Blue caped beast as his wife and daughter continued to weep in his arms. "Frostbite…are you sure there's nothing more we can do?" He asked the ghostly snow creature.
Frostbite could only shake his head regretfully and he walked to the stone counter, picking up the device that held the cure…that seemed to be useless now, despite their efforts. "We've tried everything to make the antidote stronger." The elderly ghost responded, twirling the device in his clawed fingers. "But unless your son had just a bit more time, or if we had only finished it sooner, I'm afraid there is nothing else." He put the antidote down again and faced the Fentons with the most apologetic look.
"Actually," Danielle said slowly, as she turned around to face the others. "There just might be one more way."
This certainly got everyone's attention. Though they still looked quite confused on why Danielle would be saying this.
"Frostbite listen. The reason why I look so much like Danny is because I'm a clone of him." All of the white furred ghosts looked at each other in confusion in hearing this and the Fenton's and Danny's friends looked quite surprised that she was admitting this so willingly. Danielle could tell that the same questions were coming up that Danny's family had asked when she first told the story. "I know, it's complicated." Danielle admitted. Then she approached the group of Danny's peers, as she continued to explain. "But he and I have an almost identical ecto-signatures. My strength, my power: it all came from him. So what if I could somehow…give it back?"
"Give it back?" Tucker scratched his head, looking around at the others as if asking for a better explanation, but they had none. "What do you mean?"
Danielle went on. "Together, Danny and I could accomplish a whole lot more than if we just did things ourselves. Maybe all Danny needs is a bit of backup." She said figuratively. "So if I could find a way to merge myself back with him, maybe our combined power will be able to help the antidote along and fight the poison."
"What?" The humans and Far Frozen tribe members said in unison and in surprise.
"Danielle, do you realize how insane that sounds?" Sam said bluntly. "How the heck do you think you can actually merge back with Danny?"
Danielle knew she'd get this kind of reaction, but she continued to clarify nonetheless. "He always said that I could tap into the powers that we both have and use them in ways that he can't. We already share this link, right? I could probably use that as a kind of channel to do it."
Jazz wiped her eyes before stepping away from her Father's arms to protest. "But Dani, even if it is possible for you to rejoin him, what if it's not enough? The poison could overcome both of you and we'd lose you too. Then who would protect Amity Park?"
"You guys would. And I'm sure Wulf would be happy to help too." Danielle said plainly, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow. "But you'll lose one of us either way, and I don't hear anyone else coming up with any other ideas." She held a hand out to indicate Danny. "And he's running out of time. If we don't try something, it really will be too late."
Though everyone already knew how short a time Danny had left to live, they looked at the screen where the countdown indicated fifteen more minutes. Jazz looked back at her parents as if asking for their support in the argument, but they were looking as if they couldn't find anything to say. Danny's sister looked where her little brother laid and then back at Danielle who looked like her mind was made up in what she was about to attempt.
Still, she couldn't help but say one more thing to try and convince her otherwise. "Dani, we just barely got you back from a week-long torture session you had with The Guys in White. Even if this does work…and Danny gets better…"
"What if there's no way to bring you back?" Sam added when Jazz had trailed off. "What if…we never see you again?"
"Exactly." Jazz agreed. "I mean…aren't you scared?"
Danielle stared at Jazz for a second before looking around at the others, seeing that they had the same question in mind. It became clear to her that Danny had obviously told, not only Sam, but everyone else about her near-death experience back in Vlad's lab and how it had been haunting her since then.
She looked down at the floor, biting her lower lip, knowing that she would never be able to deny what they already knew. "Becoming non-existent was, and still is, the one fear I've had to live with all my life, Jazz." She said quietly. Then she turned to look at Danny's unmoving and defenseless figure. "But…the one thing I know I would never be able to live with…is knowing that there was still a chance to save him…but, I didn't take it." Everyone present in the room glanced around at each other in full discovery of the meaning behind Danielle's words before she turned back to Danny's family and friends. "But if you'll just let me, I'm willing to face that fear now." She finished, standing as tall as possible with as much confidence as she could muster to show her determination, despite her fear of what might happen.
After a moment passed, in which Jack and Maddie gazed at their adopted niece, they could see Danny's kind of fortitude coming out through the light of her clear blue eyes. The ghost hero's love for the ones he longed to protect had always been stronger than their concern for his safety. And it was obvious that Danielle, likewise, was never going to be swayed in her own decision.
Danielle was about to turn and walk back to Danny when his parents suddenly called for her to wait a minute and they walked up to her. Danielle stopped and turned back to them as they did this. "I'm…sorry if I ever caused you any trouble." She said softly, shuffling a foot into the floor a bit.
Mr. and Mrs. Fenton looked at each other in confusion and then at Jazz, Sam, and Tucker who just shrugged in uncertainty.
Mr. Fenton looked back down at his niece with a bit of a bewildered look. "What ever made you think that?" He asked.
Danielle felt a bit embarrassed by their reaction and said sheepishly, "Well…I guess I just…since Danny is your son, I thought that maybe you just took me in because…he asked you to." All of the Fentons looked at Danielle as if shocked that she had said this, making the clone feel even more foolish.
"Is that what you've been thinking this whole time?" Maddie inquired. "That we were only taking our son's happiness into consideration, and not yours?"
"No." Danielle responded, almost defensively. But after a second of thought, she became a bit hesitant. "Well…maybe…sort of…a little." Then she finally admitted with a sigh. "Most of the time."
"Oh, honey." Maddie said in pity for the young girl as she and Jack both pulled her into a hug that she wasn't quite expecting. "You were never a bother to have in our house. Ever. Anyone who has ever even hinted otherwise has never been more wrong in their life."
"Or in their afterlife in case you heard it from any ghost." Jack put in as they pulled away from the embrace.
Maddie bent down to Danielle's face-level, keeping both hands on her shoulders as she began to speak softly. "Dani, listen. You may have been the creation of an old friend who had betrayed us and did self-serving deeds that we probably can never forgive him for." Danielle lowered her eyes at hearing this, but then Maddie smiled and used a gently hand to lift her chin back up and regain her full attention. "But he made you from the image of our son, whom we are proud of. And we are equally as proud to have you as a member of our family, Danielle. And something much more dear than just a niece."
Danielle blinked in half disbelief at what she was hearing, or what it was leading up to. "You mean…like a…?" She started to say. Just to be sure she was hearing this right.
Jack cut in, bending down to one knee and putting a large and reassuring hand on the clone's shoulder. "If word hadn't already been getting out that you were Danny's cousin, we wouldn't have even hesitated in saying that you were our daughter."
He finished this statement with an honest smile and Danielle couldn't help but beam at the both of them. Then she just couldn't restrain herself anymore and she suddenly jumped into Jack's arms, which warmly received her. "Dad." She said happily, as she began to cry again: Only this time, with tears of joy. "Wow." She said quietly, pressing her fingers of one hand to her mouth in realizing what word had just come out of it.
"What's wrong?" Jack asked, pulling away from the hug a little to look at her, a bit confused.
Danielle laughed a bit and dried her eyes. "Nothing. I just…I never thought I'd say that again." and she wrapped her arms around Jack's neck again.
Jack smiled in response and patted the girl's back in comfort as she clung to his neck even tighter. Maddie also joined in the embrace and kissed the top of her head, running a hand through her long ebony hair.
Danny had been right. Danielle really did have a family that considered her to be one of their own. And there was no doubt in her mind that they were being absolutely sincere about it. Not like Vlad, who could never truly provide her with the one thing she had always wanted most: A real father: A family.
Just then, a loud blaring noise sounded for a few short seconds and Danielle, completely startled, pulled away from Danny's parents, looking around in alert. Frostbite was at Danny's medical monitor and he looked over at Danielle and the Fentons. "It disappoints me to have to break this up, but Danny is now down to his last seven minutes." He warned and everyone was suddenly reminded of the topic they had been discussing before.
Jack took Danielle by her shoulder and turned her around to face him "Now, Dani. You're absolutely sure you want to do this?" Danielle was looking a bit nervous, but she nodded indefinitely.
Jazz ran up to the young clone and hugged her. "We may not have been able to get to know you as well as Danny did, but it was really cool to have a little sister around for a while." She said, and everyone else joined in for a last group-hug.
"If we don't see you again after this," Tucker said to the ghost-girl as everyone was separating from the hug. "I…uh, I mean, we…" he quickly corrected himself. "We'll miss you."
Sam gave a suspicious smile at Tucker who rubbed that back of his head awkwardly. Danielle was kind of giving him the same look as he cleared his throat, and she was starting to get the feeling that she knew why Tucker really did take her to the End of School dance.
But she didn't have time to think on it anymore when another alarm started blaring and Frostbite approached the group. "The poison is nearing his central core, Dear One." He said urgently to Danielle specifically. "If you still wish to proceed with this plan of yours, it's now or never."
Danielle nodded in response and took one last look at, not just Danny's family and friend's, but hers, and smiled in thanks at each of them before stepping away. Then she shut her eyes and triggered the spark of power that made her Go Ghost. Once she was fully transformed, she walked over to Danny's bedside.
She was still a bit scared on how this was going to work out, but she was just as determined as ever to at least try. "Well." She said as she put a gloved hand on Danny's chest, where the white Danny Phantom logo was. "Here it goes." Then she closed her eyes to concentrate on the link that was helping her to feel what he was feeling inside him. She focused her mind, forcing every other thought out, aside from the connection that would help her to add her strength to his. As she did this, she did begin to feel a bit of a strange tinkle running up her arm and spreading throughout the rest of her figure.
Everyone watched anxiously as they saw Danielle straining in concentration. She seemed to be struggling a bit, trying to first mentally force herself inside Danny. Not like overshadowing, but like actually becoming the part of the ghost boy that Vlad had used to create her, and rejoin with him. They became awestruck as they saw her whole being beginning to glow with a bright green light. She was tensing as the aura grew brighter and she grimaced as if it was starting to become harder and more painful. But she pooled all of her concentration and energy together and the green aura became so bright, it looked like she had actually turned into the source of light itself that shined with a blinding radiance that forced everyone to shield their eyes.
They heard Danielle let out a last effort cry and a great flash filled the room before the green light began to fade. Sam, Tucker and the Fentons looked up only when the light had completely died out and they saw that Danielle had disappeared.
Several lights on the screen started flashing and Frostbite turned to look at it. "There's a secondary heartbeat happening inside Danny now." He said, indicating a blue line that had appeared above the red one that was monitoring Danny's heart rate. The red line was pulsing at a very weak pace, but the blue one was stronger and was pulsing normally. Other places on the screen were indicating several other changes that had suddenly happened inside Danny.
The others started to gather around the screen and the ghost hero, wondering if this was supposed to be a good sign or a bad one, until several alarms from the screen were beginning to sound at once. The Far Frozen physicians were looking quite apprehensive and one of them looked at the screen, pressing a few buttons on it. "I think his human immune-system is trying to fight her out." He informed everyone, over the sound of the alarms. "And the poison is still trying to attach his central core." Danny's countdown had now reached less than two minutes and was still going down as his family and friends stared at the screen, clinging onto each other in fright that Danielle's plan may not have worked. Even Danny was trying to resist the merge.
That was just like him. If he had still been conscious when Danielle had presented the plan, he would never have allowed her to attempt such a thing for his sake.
The tension in the room multiplied extensively as the seconds passed. The screen continued to flash with hazard indications and the countdown was still steadily ticking away, now with thirty seconds remaining.
"Wait a minute." Frostbite suddenly said, "The individual heart-rates seem to be synchronizing." Indeed, on the screen, the blue and red lines did look to be coming closer together. The average of the individual rates was making Danny's become much stronger. Eventually the two lines merged completely into one red one and just as the countdown was reaching ten seconds, it paused, blinking for a bit. Then, to everyone's astonishment, it suddenly began to rapidly shoot up.
"It's working." Frostbite said, beaming as the young hero's vital signs indicated the results Danielle had predicted. The countdown climbed back up from the ten seconds to a full minute. Then two. Five. Ten. And it still continued speeding back up. "I think the merge has been successful. Quickly. The antidote." He said urgently to one of the physicians as the countdown shot all the way up to passed an hour before the rate began to slow down.
They didn't have to be told twice. One of them retrieved the tool with the blue liquid and Danny's family quickly moved aside to let him through. He lowered it down to Danny's arm and there was a long hissing noise as the antidote was drained out of the device and into Danny's body.
Another Far Frozen doctor looked at the screen behind Frostbite, as Danny's vital signs seemed to be stabilizing. "Antidote administration successful." He announced. And everyone let out the breaths that they had all been holding almost the whole time without even realizing it.
"And that's not all." Frostbite pointed out, indicating a chart on the screen that showed a black silhouette image of Danny that had splotches of red flowing throughout. A green color had come into the image of Danny's arm where the antidote had been given to him and it spread. Making the red color disappear as soon as it came into contact with it. But at the same time, there was a yellow color that had suddenly appeared where Danny's heart would be and was doing the same thing. "There seems to be another force that's working against the poison." Frostbite explained.
"Do you think it's Danielle's added power kicking in?" Sam asked curiously and quite awestruck at what she saw was happening.
"I'm not sure. If it is, I would have thought that she would just be delaying the poison instead of actually fighting it back. In fact, since she is just as much a ghost as Danny is, the poison should be affecting her as well. But whatever this new energy is, it's helping the antidote work twice as fast and effectively."
This seemed to be a good thing happening. Whatever this reinforcing power was, it was certainly working to help Danny and the poison had no chance against it. And as they watched, the red splotches of color on the screen gradually disappeared in being forced away by the green and yellow colors. As this happened, the color in Danny's face was returning. Danielle had actually done it. Her plan had worked.
No one was sure exactly how much time had passed since the antidote's administration, but it was certainly quite a while of just watching the screen as if turning away from it was going to make the red colors start taking over again.
As the last of the red on the black, humanoid image was disappearing, Danny began to stir for the first time in hours. Sam rushed over to him, almost wanting to make sure that she wasn't just seeing things. Everyone else hurried and gathered in a circle around Danny as he quietly moaned, slowly opened his eyes.
The boy's vision was slowly brought back to light and he saw the faces of his whole family and his two best friends beaming down at him. "Mom? Dad? Guys?" He said, as he took in everyone's faces almost in a confused manner. They all looked just as excited as he slowly sat himself up and rubbed his eyes to clear them.
It was strange. He knew that he had been in the most terrible kind of pain just before passing out, and yet he was waking up as if he had just had the best nights sleep in his life. "I'm…okay?" He asked, looking at his hands, contracting and extending his fingers just to feel their movement. "Am I…?"
Before he could finish his question, Sam suddenly threw herself on his neck. "You're cured, Danny." She said, and then she kissed his cheek. She noticed how warm his face was again as she pressed her lips against it. She almost couldn't believe that he was once again awake and actually able to hug her back.
Tucker and the Fentons each took their own turns welcoming Danny back with warm embraces of their own. Frostbite was even allowed to shake Danny's hand in congratulations at making such a miraculous recovery. Danny smiled at his friends and loved ones in the room, hardly believing this was happening himself. Before long though, he started looking around as if realizing that something was missing. "Wait. Where's Danielle?" He asked scooting himself to sit on the edge of the medical table.
Everyone's thrill in seeing Danny awake suddenly vanished after he mentioned the clone. Danny observed his relatives exchanging somewhat nervous and yet very sad looks for a moment and started to get a bit nervous himself on what these expressions might mean. "She hasn't taken off again, has she?" He asked, sliding off the bed and setting his feet on the stone floor.
"Well, no not…really." Jazz said, scratching the back of her head as if trying to figure out a way to phrase this properly.
When people tried and failed a few times to speak and explain to Danny, Sam eventually stepped up, putting a hand on Danny's chest as if observing something inside his very being. "You can probably say that…she's actually found a way…to always be with you."
"I don't understand." Danny said, shaking his head in wonder of what Sam really meant. After a long and hesitant pause, they then began to tell Danny everything that had happened in the last half hour with a bit of help from Frostbite and his fellow villagers.
Danny listened intently as they explained how they had thought he was lost because the antidote wasn't ready soon enough. And then how Danielle stepped in and volunteered to give him the power he needed to receive the cure by merging back with him. They told the story in as much detail as possible, putting in how she didn't like the idea of taking over for Danny if he died. Certain people took turns in telling important points of it that they knew of best. Sam, for one, said how Danielle had finally forgiven her for the things she had said at the dance. And Danny's parents added in how the clone did feel accepted as an official part of the Fenton family before she made her sacrifice. When Danny heard how she had even called Mr. Fenton "Dad," it made him smile.
And yet, despite knowing that she had gone through with this idea, knowing that she was indeed loved by more people than just Danny, the recovered hero was hanging his head in solemn by the time they had finished. "I still can't believe she did that." He said, putting a hand over where his heart was, now with the knowledge that the clone had literally become a part of him again.
"Dude, we didn't want her to do it any more than you." Tucker said. Putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "But, she is your clone: making her just as stubborn as you are."
Danny scoff at this remark, knowing it was quite true. He supposed they really were similar in more ways than even he realized.
The room was silent for a while in which everyone present was feeling both cheerful that Danny's recovery was so successful, but at the same time mourning the loss of another friend and family member.
The ghost hero looked up at Frostbite who was looking at him with an expression of great pity. It was in just looking at the spectral beast that Danny had a bit of a thought. He bit his lower lip, dwelling on it for a second before looking back up at his furry friend. "Hey, Frostbite? That shrine of yours." He began, glancing around at the white-furred physicians who had worked so hard to help him as well. "Do you think maybe you can add on a portion in tribute to Danielle?"
Frostbite smiled pleasantly and bowed humbly. So did his fellow citizens of the icy realm. "I was just about to ask your permission to do just that, Great One."
000000
Over the next month or so, Danny continued on to protect Amity Park and other various places in the world where his ghost-fighting expertise was needed. He couldn't understand why, but somehow, when Danielle had rejoined herself with him, he had lost touch with his Phantom Phreeze. No matter how many times he tried to bring out the cold energy he knew was there, he could never get it to work. His parents had run several scans on him to understand why this was so, but the only conclusion they could come up with was that it was a side effect of the antidote. But since Danny used his plasma ray more often, he sort of got used to not having it. Besides, he always had his family and friends to help when he needed it.
Because his ice power had disappeared, for whatever reason, he could no longer use his ghost-sense to detect the presence of nearby ghosts. But he didn't seem to need it anyway. Even if an unseen specter was prowling around, ready for an ambush, Danny would somehow get these feelings of warning that danger was near. And if an attack was coming at him, he would get these swift impulses to make a certain move to defend himself. Somehow, whenever he followed them, it was always right on. It was like having a second conscience. As if he could feel that Danielle was right next to him: Guiding and encouraging him as he continued to defend his hometown.
On rare occasions, if he was about to be overpowered by a particularly powerful ghost he was having difficulty with, no matter how beaten up he was, he would suddenly feel a boost of ghost-energy that he knew was never his own, but that he could use at that moment to regain the advantage. Though even during these times, he could still never use his ice power.
So during the first part of this summer vacation, things did go quite well without Danielle being around in person. Overall, he felt okay about what she had done for him, but by far, he was the one among his family and friends who missed her the most. At one time, someone in his family had suggested using another one of their inventions called the Fenton Ghost-Catcher, which was a device that looked like a giant Indian dream-catcher that had the ability to remove all things ghostly from anything or anyone. Danny had used it once to separate his ghost and human halves to try and be in two places at once while he was still having trouble in duplicating himself. But the results of that experiment ended up being disastrous. The use of the Ghost Catcher probably wouldn't have been any good anyway in trying to get the young clone to reform. Danielle had become an actual part of him again. Though his parents had tried to find some trace of her that they could possibly use to bring her back, every attempt had failed. She no longer had an actual form that they could get a hold of. So in that regard, the Fenton Ghost Catcher was useless.
In his spare time, he almost always found himself stopping by his old house to visit his old bedroom where he had first met the clone. Once in a while, he even went to their usual meeting places, almost hoping that she would be at one of them. But she never was, so he eventually stopped doing it, wondering why he had even bothered.
Time went on and one night, he was coming home from a visit to the Ghost Zone. As soon as he was back in the new lab, he phased up through the ceiling, all the way through the ground to the top of the old Fenton Works where he touched down on the flat roof and turned into Danny Fenton. He had been coming up here quite a bit lately and it was actually a bit nice that the Op center was off of it. It seemed more roomy this way. Not to mention, much less distracting.
It was a warm summer's night. The sky was clear and a full moon shined, blanketing the whole town in a soft glow. Danny went and sat himself on the edge of the roof, letting his feet hang over the side of the building as he gazed out at this beautiful scene. Danielle would have loved to see this. He felt a refreshing breeze blow through his dark hair and he started to think back on enjoyable memories Danielle had had with him and his family.
He dwelled on these thought for quite a while before he suddenly felt something touch his right shoulder. When he looked, he found that it was a hand that wore a gold, class ring on one of the fingers. He recognized it instantly and looked up to see that it was whom he had already guessed it to be.
"Hey Sam." He said, smiling up at her as she sat down next to him. But then he looked over the edge of the building remembering that the door was locked, no one was inside and the only entrance to the roof was through the interior of the house. "How did you get up here?" He asked, looking back at the teenage Goth, confused. She pointed behind them, with a smug look and Danny saw that the Specter Speeder was landed in the center of the roof behind him. "That's weird. I didn't even hear it coming up."
"That's probably because you were more than likely being distracted with other things on your mind." Sam said bluntly. But her tone changed and her expression softened. "I was in the lab with your parents when they saw you come through the ghost portal and I guessed you would be up here." Danny nodded in understanding, shifting to a more comfortable sitting position. "So where have you been all day?" Sam asked.
"Just went to see Frostbite." Danny responded with a shrug, looking back out at the cityscape he was observing. "They're finished with that part of the shrine for Dani."
"Mm-hmm. You know, I've been wondering why you didn't suggest they make a whole other shrine for her."
Danny shook his head slowly in recollection. "She never would have wanted that." He said. "In fact she probably wouldn't want any kind of memorial made for her. But…I wanted to have some way of thanking her. For what she did." After he said this, he solemnly put his right hand over his chest, as if trying to feel for the young clone inside him.
Sam took that hand in both of hers as her pity for the ghost hero grew. "I miss her too." She said, rubbing her thumbs over the back of his hand, having an idea of what he was thinking about. Then she scooted herself closer to Danny until their shoulders almost met. "But even if you were conscious at the time, I don't think even you would have been able to talk her out of doing it." Danny sighed, knowing that she was probably right. "You felt it to be your duty to protect all of us. Maybe she thought it was hers to protect you. Like a sort of…guardian angel. Always looking out for you." She finished with a smile.
Danny looked into the Goth's face and smiled back. "And she's not the only one." He said to Sam. He withdrew his hand from both of hers and moved it up to her face where he ran the back of his fingers, softly across her cheek.
Sam put her arm around her hero's waist as they leaned in towards each other, touching foreheads. Danny pulled her hair back behind her ear, cupping her cheek in his hand after he did so. "Thanks, Sam." He said softly in the greatest appreciation for her. Sam had always been there for him in trying times. Including times where he was feeling so depressed. Even before the day he had gotten his ghost-powers. Sure, they had their arguments once in a while, but that never changed a thing.
The teenage ghost shut his eyes, listening to the sounds of the night as he felt Sam put a hand on his chest. He could feel his heart beating under where her hand was placed: The heart that was still beating because of Danielle's sacrifice for him.
Danny lifted Sam's chin to look at her face. "By the way. Frostbite said I owed you something." And he finally returned her kiss.
I had you guys going there for a while huh? (chuckles evilly)You had no need to worry. I had absolutely no intention of having Danny die. But I'll bet you didn't see the old switcharoo coming, did you?
HOWEVER, just to make sure you don't make spectacles of yourselves in giving me death-threats in your reviews for killing off at least one of the hero's, I'll allow you to know right now that the story is still not over and Danielle's not really completely gone. You may actually be surprised at what I have in store for the ending.