Cirque Berserk
by. Poisoned Scarlet
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13
Shadow Lair
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Sam groaned, her head pounding. There was an annoying dripping sound coming from somewhere around her and a chilling breeze that had her shivering in her clothes. She slowly propped herself up on her elbows, groaning loudly when her body ached something nasty. She fluttered her eyes open, not sure what to expect, and once they adjusted to the blatant darkness, she looked up and surveyed her surroundings.
It looked like a room of sorts. It was very dark so she could barely see in front of her. The dripping sound came from somewhere behind her, which she noticed also stretched into infinite darkness. Every thing around her spread into darkness, actually, except herself...
She cautiously sat up and looked around critically, hearing nothing but that incessant dripping and perhaps a shuffle or two if she let her guard down for even one second.
"Hello?" she called, unsurely. "Is anyone in there?" She gasped when she saw something roll out of the darkness.
It was a ball.
A children's ball.
Sam hesitantly touched it. She flickered her eyes back up into the darkness and slowly rolled it back from where it came from.
The ball came bouncing back this time.
Sam threw it back.
It bounced back to her.
She frowned. "Who's there?" She kept the ball on her lap. "Could you please come out here? Hello?"
There was a fidgeting, snickering, sound coming from the point where she threw the ball. She was tempted to scoot back but somehow she knew that wouldn't help. She could feel her neck prickle, alerting her of danger, so she stood her ground and stared into the ink black ahead.
She blinked when a blob of black came rolling in. It curled into what seemed to be a circle and then two slits appeared, blinking and staring back at her with white, round, eyes.
It was almost...cute.
"Hey there," Sam began with a sense of trepidation. "So, uh, do you know where I am?"
It blinked back.
"...I'll take that as a no," she muttered. She glanced at the ball and picked it up, letting it roll to the small blob.
The shadow eyed the ball and then, with a curious gurgle, consumed the ball in black.
Did it just eat it? "That was...weird," Sam frowned, tentatively reaching out for the ball. The slits came back and rounded once more, gazing at her outstretched hand curiously. "Are you even...a ghost?" Her fingers gently brushed the shadow, feeling as if ice had frosted over them. She retracted her hand immediately, holding her frozen fingertips to her chest. "What are you?"
It blinked back and rolled the ball around, gurgling out something incoherent.
"I said, what are you?" Sam demanded, starting to get annoyed by its playfulness. She was cold, annoyed, and wanted nothing more than to be lying in her bed hugging her spider pillow. "What the heck are you?" She reached forward again and grabbed the ball, scrunching the shadow in her hand as she did so.
It cried out.
Suddenly, the infinite black that surrounded her boomed with a growl and Sam shakily her rose her eyes to stare into multiple eyes that were narrowed with anger. The red that lined its eye and the dark, crescent moon, pupil promised something she did not want to think about as Sam gulped.
"Uh oh."
Two whole days.
Danny was freaking out.
He had looked everywhere for her ever since Tucker had called him and asked if he had seen Sam around as the girl had mysteriously gone missing. The whole town had been scoured once, twice, three times and yet there was no trace of the goth girl anywhere.
It had been extremely difficult to dissuade the girls from trying to look for her with them. When they had discovered she had disappeared, all thought of going to the circus had fallen and they had immediately began their own search as well.
And so far, nothing had appeared – even with their combined efforts.
"What if she's hurt?" Danny asked, panicky, pacing around Tucker's room as the boy hummed in thought. "What if she needs my help? What if she's being tortured or something? What if she's dying or-or—!" He couldn't continue; the sheer thought of Sam being hurt or near death was something that made him sick.
"I think I know where Sam is," Tucker interrupted his spazzing.
"WHERE?" Danny screamed, zipping up close to him and shaking his shoulders desperately.
"Whoa, man, lay off the shirt!" Tuck huffed, dusting his shoulder and causing Danny to briefly glare. "Anyway, you know those weird shadow creatures you two were blabbing about before?"
"Yeah, what about them?"
"What's so terrible about them?"
Danny opened his mouth to respond but nothing came to mind. "Actually...they all refuse to tell me. They always scream and run away whenever I ask," he shrugged.
"Exactly. That might be our best guess if we're ever going to figure out where Sam is," Tucker frowned. "I have a gut feeling it has something to do with those things..." Suddenly, an ear-splitting shriek cut though the air and Danny looked toward Tucker's unmade bed; to the device that was howling its butt off annoyingly.
"What," Danny began slowly, "is that?"
"That, my friend, is my Ghost Sensor 3.0," he said, proudly. "It alerts me whenever there is a ghost on the premises!"
Danny scowled. "Well, can you turn it off? It's getting annoying..."
"Er," Tucker cleared his throat. "I stuffed it with so much high-tech gear...that I forgot to add an off-button."
"So you're telling me that thing won't stop screeching until the ghosts disappears or something?"
"Basically, yeah."
Danny reached forward and, with a crunch of his fist, effectively ceased the irritating blare.
Tucker stared blankly. "Well, that's one way of turning it off."
Danny tossed the crushed remains back on the bed, letting himself plop down on the edge to heave a sigh. "I really don't have time for ghost hunting...I gotta' go save Sam from – whatever."
"Until we can get another lead as to what those shadow things are, I'm afraid you have no choice, buddy." Tucker took off his glasses and wiped the foggy glass using the hem of his shirt.
Danny nodded, staring thoughtfully at the ground. Those mysterious shadow creatures were their only lead as of now and if they were ever going to figure out where Sam had run off to, they needed to first solve the mystery regarding those strange ghosts...
I wonder what's so bad about them, Danny wondered to himself, eyes still downcast. "Those shadow things...you have any idea what makes them so creepy?"
"Dunno'," Tucker shrugged. "They're shadows, right? Maybe they manifest themselves as your deepest nightmares or something?"
Danny inwardly gulped.
That would be challenging to face off against...
Or maybe they cause bad luck, Danny mused to himself, digging the tip of his foot into the carpet below. Like Shad—
It became obvious to him in that moment.
He vaguely heard Dan snicker in the deep recesses of his mind.
How could he have been so stupid?
"SHADOW!" Danny blurted, hopping to his feet. Tucker sent him a weird look. "You know, that giant black blob that hangs out with Johnny 13? Shadow?"
Tuck's eyes widened in realization. "Of course! He's a shadow himself, right?"
"What if he's...related to those things? Or if he is one of them!" Danny speculated. "I mean, all he does is cause bad luck to those humans unfortunate enough to get close to him or get stalked by him...what if that's whats so terrible about those shadow ghosts? They just give you a really, really bad case of bad luck?"
"That might be right," Tucker murmured in thought. "Sounds plausible. But there's only one way to find out," he grinned suddenly.
"Time to find Johnny 13!"
Finding Johnny 13 had proved to be more difficult than the two boys had anticipated. While Tucker searched on the ground, Danny took the air and scanned below thoroughly; hoping to spot the flirtatious ghost somewhere.
He went to all the major, usual, hang-out spots in the city but he still found no trace of the ghost. He had been on the verge of giving up and making his own solution (by going to the Ghost Zone and shaking out the answers from a random ghost) when he heard a group of girls squeal, followed by the roar of a motorcycle.
Danny smiled.
That sounded like Johnny 13 alright – if the ghostly howls that followed after, unnoticeable by the human ear, meant anything.
"Johnny!" Danny called out, causing a ripple of murmurs between the group girls when they caught sight of him. "I need to talk to you! It's urgent!"
"Hello?" Johnny hissed at him. "Can't you see I'm busy here?" He motioned to the busty blonde with a waggle of his brows.
"I know and I'm sorry but I seriously need to talk to you!" Danny replied, rolling his eyes when he saw Johnny sigh exaggeratedly and sweet talk the girls a bit more before, looking reluctant, he shooed the girls away to talk to the halfa.
"This better be good, DP, or else I'll sick Shadow on you," Johnny scowled, crossing his arms and waiting for the boy to speak his requests.
"Funny, it actually relates to Shadow..." Danny trailed off, as Johnny eyed him suspiciously.
"Alright, what about him?"
"How did you meet Shadow?" he decided to ask, knowing there would be no other way to really start this conversation that wouldn't include him leaving him hanging or just not answering his questions.
"Well, it happened like twenty years ago," he began, thoughtfully. "Kitty and I got in a fight and I left the house 'cause I just couldn't stand her nagging," he rolled his eyes. "I swear, all she talks about is how much I don't care about her and how I'm never home and how—!"
"Johnny!" Danny reminded.
"Oh, right...anyway, I was cruising through the Ghost Zone, ya' know, looking cool as always," he snapped the collar on his coat up arrogantly. Danny rolled his eyes. "And then I see this weird black blob thing. So, like the curious person I am, I go and check it out and turns out to be this shadow-like thing," Johnny continued, with a small smile. "Shadow looked a little washed out though...it was weird, he looked gray, almost."
"Gray?" Danny blinked.
"Yeah, turned out that it was because he was sick or something," Johnny shrugged. "Dunno', he got better once I took him home. Kitty wanted to kick him out though, that bit—!"
"So you didn't even care what he was?" Danny asked, with a risen brow. "What if Shadow turned out be some weird, out of control, blob monster who eats ghosts or something?" he joked, but Johnny had grown severe.
It was the most serious Danny had ever seen him. He leaned over the handles of his bike, saying very lowly: "What's the real point of this conversation, halfa?"
Danny's smile fell off his face. "A friend of mine disappeared a couple of days ago and I think those shadow-things everyone in the Ghost Zone don't want to talk about took her!"
Johnny frowned. "Whoa, sucks man...good luck with that!" He leaned back and was about to rev his motorcycle when Danny placed a hand on it, keeping it grounded as Johnny tried to lift off to no avail.
"Wait just one second, Johnny!" Danny grabbed the handles with both hands and leaned over them, shouting: "Why does everyone refuse to speak about them? What the heck is so dangerous about them that has everyone peeing their pants?"
Johnny gravely looked at Danny, shaking his head. "No, man, sorry. That's just something...something we can't bring up to random people, you know?"
"You're dead!" Danny cried. "What do you care?"
Johnny was silent for a moment. Then he said: "Those shadow things...no one talks about them because of what they could do."
"What...what could they do?" he asked, hesitantly.
"They're the only known specie of ghost," Johnny began, slowly, "that eat human souls and ghosts alike for supplement."
Danny froze.
"You mean—!"
"HAHA! I GOT'CHA!" Tucker landed on top of Johnny, toppling him off his bike. He held a little hand-held device in his hand, his glasses askew on the bridge of his nose as he pointed to Johnny, who glared at him for pushing him off his ride. "Now time to contact Dan—oh! Danny! There you are! I found Johnny 13!" he beamed triumphantly.
Danny gazed at the ground, concealing his wide, fearful, eyes. "Tucker..."
"Yeah, buddy?"
"We have to go now," Danny said, voice edging on hysteria. "We have to save Sam now!"
"What?" Tucker stood up, as Johnny grumbled and floated up; picking his fallen motorcycle while he was at it as well. "What are you talkin' about, Danny? What's the hurry?"
"Those shadow things!" he shouted, anxiously. "The reason they're so feared is because they...they eat human souls and ghosts!"
Tucker paled. "Human souls? Ghosts? What, you mean to say we're both on their menus!" Tucker motioned to Johnny and himself.
"Yes!" Danny hissed, exasperatedly. "And we have to go now before it's too late—!"
"No one's been able to locate them manually," Johnny interrupted, flatly. "And no one wants to, either, so if you both excuse me, I have a date with Kitty I have to get to—!"
"Can we borrow Shadow?" Danny blurted, causing Johnny to splutter.
"Wh-what!" he gasped. "You want to borrow Shadow to track down those freaky things? No! Oh, no, I am not risking Shadow's safety just 'cause your girlfriend got herself kidnapped!"
"Please!" Danny begged. "We have to get her back and Shadow's probably the closest thing we have to searching for them successfully! He'll be able to track them down and...and isn't he one of them himself?" Danny added, unsurely.
"Shadow? One of those things?" Johnny echoed, offended. "How could you even put him on the same level with those freaks?"
"Okay, so maybe he's not," Danny took back hastily. "But we need something that's able to track them down and didn't you brag about Shadow having master tracking skills one day?"
"...Yeah, your point?" Johnny asked, suspiciously.
"My point is—!"
"We just need to borrow Shadow for a little while, Johnny," Tucker cut in smoothly. "We'll give you something in return if you agree."
"We will?" Danny asked, confused.
"Yes, we will," Tucker leaned over to him, whispering: "Leave this to me, man!" He straightened and walked closer to Johnny, who braced himself and tightened his grip around the handles of his bike. "How about, in exchange for using Shadow for a couple of hours, we give you free reign...to all the girls you wanna' flirt with!" Tucker ended, with a suggestive waggle of his brows.
"What? Tucker!" Danny gawked incredulously at the man who merely waved him off.
"All the girls...I want?" Johnny repeated, wondrously.
"Yeah, and we'll, uh...give Kitty a five-day vacation to the best places to relax in in the Ghost Zone?" he cleared his throat, ignoring the way Danny let his hand run down his face at the question-sounding statement.
"You mean, Madam Skeleton's?" Johnny asked, hopefully.
Tucker blinked. "Er, yeah her!"
"Done deal, man!" Johnny hooted, clapping his hand on Tucker's back with a force that made the man wheeze. "Alright, I'll call him over right now!" Johnny whistled, a whistle so loud that Tucker didn't hear it although Danny cringed and plugged his ears.
A streak of black flashed by him and both Danny and Tucker turned to see Shadow land by Johnny faithfully, growling at the two usual interlopers in their schemes.
"Alright, boy, you're going to go with them and take them to the Shadow Dwellers lair," Johnny commanded casually, causing Shadow to pause his growling and look up at him in confusion. "What're you waiting for? Go and take them!" He pointed to them.
Shadow grumbled, giving his master one last mean glare before shuffling over to the two men, crossing his arms and huffing.
"Soo..." Tucker began. "That's it?"
"Yep," Johnny shrugged. His voice grew serious: "You better bring him back to me alive, though. If I find out something happened to him..." He revved his bike, glowing green eyes growing sinister with the implications he didn't hesitate to convey.
"Don't worry, Johnny," Danny assured. "We won't let anything happen to Shadow."
"You better!" He lifted off into the sky without another word, disappearing from their view.
"We better get going," Tucker reminded Danny quietly. "Alright, Shadow, lets go!" He crossed by Shadow and, almost immediately, tripped over a crack in the sidewalk and face-planted on the ground.
"...Maybe I should've reminded you Shadow that is sort of like a bad luck charm for humans?" Danny laughed nervously, as his friend propped himself on his forearms and sighed heavily.
"Noo," he rolled his eyes, sarcastically. "You think?"
Shadow just snickered.
Sam drew her legs in, eyes still shut and heart still racing in her chest. The giant eye that had appeared had caused a cold chill to run down her spine and, being completely at its mercy without her usual arsenal of weapons, she hadn't felt so weak than she did in that moment.
She didn't dare open her eyes, as she heard shifting and snickers; a cold shadow fall over her and consume her in a frosty blanket.
Not real, not real, not real, she chanted in her head, trying to concentrate on anything else but the creeping shadows that tried to undo her with their ghostly touches and echoing laughter. Not real, not real, not real. She wished Valerie were here, then perhaps she could project her fear onto her in the form of taunting and anger. Not real, not real, not real. Then perhaps she wouldn't be so scared or so needy to see Danny and hope...he could save her.
Her eyes flew open, staring into her arms as the shadows that surrounded her circled around slowly; like they had been doing for the past few hours now.
I don't need Danny, she thought, determinedly; despite the twinge of fear in her gut. I can get myself out of here without his help. She eyed the darker ring a few feet away and swallowed. But...maybe I should wait for them to cool off first...
Suddenly, she heard movement from across from her.
The slowly circling ring of shadows stopped dead and disappeared; retracting into its blind sea of ink black as sounds and thumps made themselves known.
Her fright kept climbing higher and higher with each frantic wiggle of the door knob she could now see ahead of her.
The shake of the knob stopped abruptly.
She held her breath.
The shadows all seemed to quiet; waiting.
She felt her breath hitch out of her throat as if someone had decked her in the stomach at the sight of Danny bursting through the creepily glowing door that would lead to another dimension and henceforth freedom. To her shock and confusion, Shadow twisted its way out from behind Danny, sharply gazing around like a well trained canine.
"D-Danny?" Sam blinked.
"Sam!" Danny sighed in relief, once he caught sight of her sitting lonesome ahead; under a beam of white light. "I'm so glad you're alright!"
Her brows creased in anger. "What the hell are you doing here?" She stood up, dusting herself. The darkness had become lighter, somehow. "How did you get here, anyway?"
"Uh, using him?" Danny pointed at Shadow, who waved back friendlily.
Sam glared. "And since when are you all cordial and nice?"
If Shadow could scowl, he'd be doing it right then and there.
"Anyway, that isn't important right now!" Danny waved off hastily. "What is is that you come with me and Shadow out of the Ghost Zone! We have to hurry up before—!"
"Before what?" she cut off, rudely. She crossed her arms expectantly.
"Before it comes back!" Danny finished, voice hushed.
"It?"
"Yes, it. That huge, weird, shadow thing that'll eventually eat you!" Danny explained, rather panicky. "You saw it before, right?"
Sam grew nervous. "Y-you mean that horrifying black blob is actually a shadow?"
"You know those shadow ghosts we encountered the last time we saw each other?" Danny reminded, causing Sam to nod. "Its them. Only, think of this one as the head honcho of the entire sect. Its this one that calls all the shots."
"Okay, I can get that," she started, trying to wrap her mind around this. "But what about the smaller ones? What do those do?"
"They...sorta collect people?" Danny answered, sheepishly.
"Collect...people?" Sam repeated, voice deadly calm. "How about you explain, oh-ghostly one."
"Er, you see, the reason why all the ghosts in the Ghost Zone are so freakin' terrified of these shadow ghosts is because they kind of have a bad habit of..."
"Of...?" she prompted.
He sighed, heavily. "They've got a bad habit of feeding off souls – dead or alive."
Sam froze. Her eyes flickered to Shadow, who was still vigilant beside Danny. "Wh-what about him? Isn't he like one of those shadows?"
"Who? Shadow?" Danny asked, pointing down at him. "Nah. He's either a totally different breed or he wasn't raised like that. Something tells me he just wasn't raised like that – Johnny 13 told me that he found him wondering the Ghost Zone all by himself so he became friends with him." Danny patted Shadow on the head, grinning when the amorphous blob contorted to his palm with a purr. "However...he does cause bad luck if you're not careful."
"Like I don't know that," Sam snorted, remembering all the times she'd encountered the black shadow and had something that could be considered bad luck happen right after the fight. "Alright, lets go." She began to walk to him when Danny caught something rise from the floor.
"Wait, Sam, no—!"
It was as if an alarm had gone off.
Sam froze as the walls peeled with black sheets of shadows. She tremulously stepped back, gasping when she felt something wrap around her wrist and tug her back roughly. A blast of green made the small shadow shriek and recede, a hiss sounding near her ear as she stumbled away from it, only to have more start to tangle her back into their nest of darkness.
"Danny!" Sam yelled, grimacing when a tendril cut through her skin a bit. More blasts of green exploded around her, causing an almost deafening screeching to boom from around her. She didn't know where it had come from, it seemed to come from all around her, but she did know that it was not happy.
She squeaked when she felt another shadow wrap around her midsection. But this shadow seemed different than the rest...
"Shadow!" Sam gasped, rolling her eyes when Johnny 13's pet winked at her and began to yank her toward Danny, who was floating above both of them and shooting green beams at the shadows – effectively keeping them at bay while Shadow rescued Sam.
"Hurry up, Shadow!" Danny shouted, shooting a black blob when it got too close to him. "I can't hold them of much long—whoa!" He cut himself in two to avoid a blow to his gut when one of the blobs morphed their tendrils into something resembling a spear.
"That was way too close," he muttered, putting himself back together both literally and mentally. He glanced down below him, to Sam and Shadow, who were nearing the door despite the shadows desperate attempts to keep her where she stood.
He took a deep breath, concentrated, and howled his ghostly wail; concentrating the wail into a certain spot and managing to make the shadows freeze where they were and shriek in pain.
Suddenly, what sounded like a hatch closing made everything quiet.
Danny listened closely, brows creasing in confusion, before his mouth fell open at the sudden bloodshot eye that appeared from before him, too close to him, glaring menacingly into his own eyes. He seemed kind of pitiful, floating there against a humongous eye that spoke volumes of the ass-kicking he was going to suffer if he didn't scram right then and there.
The things I do for Sam, he thought dryly. "Alright, just who the heck do you think you are?"
It snarled and Danny slowly inched back.
Its eye narrowed again.
"...Okay, plan B," he coughed to himself. "Can I please have Sam back? It's sorta important...you can have Shadow, though!" He bargained, pointing at the helping shadow who paused and looked up at him, glowering.
It screamed this time.
"OKAY! OKAY! SHUT UP!" Danny clapped his hands over his ears, cringing when the scream only became louder. "FINE! YOU CAN HAVE HER!"
"HEY!" Sam shouted from below.
Danny cast her an apologetic look, as the screaming abruptly ceased.
"Fine, if you won't take either choices," Danny started, voice growing equally menacing. "I guess I'll just have to take her by force. She might be tasty but, erm...uh, you're gonna' have to skip this meal!" he finished hastily, not trusting himself with cracking a joke since they all seemed rather inappropriate. It seemed to late for that regardless. His cheeks tinted red at Dan's howling laughter in his head.
Sam resisted the urge to roll her eyes, a small smile on her face. "That was so lame..."
Shadow grunted in agreement.
The large eye was not amused. The shadow eye suddenly disappeared.
Danny blinked. "Well, that was easy."
He spoke too soon. Suddenly, a vortex-like hole appeared from the center of where the eye had once been. Danny gasped when he felt himself get dragged in against his will – no matter how much he fought against the pull.
He could hear Dan frantically telling him to fall back: the monster meant business now.
Danny flung himself back and, once he hit the frame of the dimensional door, hooked his foot under the top frame to keep him grounded. He grit his teeth, as he struggled to bend down and properly grab the frame with his blisteringly cold fingers.
"Shadow, don't you dare let go of Sam!" Danny shouted, a threat veiled in the words.
Shadow merely whimpered, trying very hard to keep Sam from being lifted off the ground and sucked into the tunnel of nothingness. Despite herself, Sam looked behind her and felt her eyes bulge. That vortex was massive and allowed absolutely zero visual on what lay inside...
She could only guess, as she swallowed her heart and sunk her sharp nails into the floor. She tried to pull herself up, or at least keep herself still, but it was hard when the sucking pull behind her was almost impossible to break free from.
Fear clawed its way up her throat, as she felt herself slowly slip farther and farther away from the door. But she had to make it – she couldn't just let all that training go to waste! – so she forced herself forward; digging the tips of her shoes into the smooth surface and forcing herself to climb up and away from the vortex.
Suddenly, she heard Shadow howl in what seemed to be pain and she felt his hold on her release.
Her blood ran cold as she screamed and pushed forward, her forefinger just barely grabbing the edge of the door frame. She strangled out another scream as her finger popped from her weight. She managed to flash her other hand to the frame and clutch it for sheer life but without the aid of Shadow, holding on seemed harder and harder the more time ticked.
"Take my hand!" Danny's voice came from above her.
Sam cracked on eye open to see Danny's panicked eyes lock with her own. Her hands tightened around the frame of the door. She ground her teeth and forced: "I can take care of myself!" She heaved herself forward, tendons jumping under her skin. "I don't need your help!"
The sucking, seemingly, grew worse and she screamed when it just very nearly made her lose her grip and fly back into the endless dark.
"SAM!" Danny shouted, eye shut to keep his anger under wraps. "This isn't the time to be remembering the past! Just grab my hand!"
"I can save myself!" Sam spat, sucking in a sharp breath when she suddenly felt one of the shadows grab her foot. It twisted itself around her ankle, pulling her deeper and deeper into the swirling vortex of black that threatened to pull her into oblivion.
"Sam, take my hand!" Danny yelled. His hand was grabbing onto the door frame of the dimension. If he could just adjust his grip on it, then he could properly save her: whether she wanted it or not. But right now he needed her cooperation. Danny was no fool; the father in she was being dragged, every inch she was being pulled, meant another second he couldn't save her.
And the seconds were ticking.
"I-I can...D..Danny," Sam shut her eyes, hands clawing the ground when she felt another one of the black tendrils weave around her other foot. They gave a might tug that was stopped by her digging her fingers into the floor. "Danny!"
"Take my hand!" Danny outstretched his hand the farthest he could go. "Sam, just take my hand!"
"I can't reach it!" she cried.
Danny took a risk and let himself get dragged further into the vortex. He could see it – they were so close – their fingertips almost brushed...
"Please, Sam," he pleaded, jewel eyes boring into her own. This would resolve their problems; this last piece of trust was the only way they were going to rebuild the friendship he had inadvertently tarnished under Freakshow's control. "Trust me."
Sam searchingly looked into his eyes. He could see the uncertainty and fear in her violet eyes. She was scared of not only being sucked into a pit of darkness but putting herself in the position of being hurt again. He knew he had hurt her; the dislike and contempt she expressed was enough. But he wouldn't slip up again.
He refused to cause her pain again.
"Trust me," he breathed again.
"I-I trust you!" She reached forward, teeth grinding when she felt the creatures tug her back. But her hand gripped his own and never let go. Danny grunted as he pulled her to him, trying to make the creatures let go of her foot. It was pointless, however: they were well-wrapped around her ankle.
Oh, no, Danny thought, fear clutching his sides. If they don't let go then... He nearly bit his tongue – his fingers were slipping! He could feel the doorway start to slowly stray farther from his grasp the more suction the vortex ahead expressed.
He needed to get her out.
He needed to do something!
Suddenly, he felt something wrap around his midsection. Danny snapped his head down to see black entangle him, pull him back out of the doorway. He was stumped for a moment before it all came back to him.
SHADOW! He would kiss the ghost if he wasn't stuck in a life-threatening situation!
"PULL!"
...Tucker?
"PULL, MY FAITHFUL MINION, PULL!"
Danny nearly laughed, as he tightened his grip on Sam and felt Shadow tug him out of the doorway. He flashed his eyes to her, to her wide and surprised ones, and gave a reassuring grin. When Shadow had pulled them more or less through the doorway, Danny had enough nerve to let go of the door—
Oh, CRAP!
"DANNY!"
"SORRY! MY BAD!"
They were back to square one now...
"Shadow, don't let go no matter what, okay?" Danny shouted over his shoulder. The ghost gave a grunt he barely heard as he heaved himself forward and reached for Sam's other hand. Sam noticed this and automatically reached forward, fingertips fleeting his own before his hand encased her's. He fixed his grip on her wrist and took a deep breath before pulling to him with all his might.
"OUCH! HEY! WATCH IT! YOU'RE GOING TO PULL MY SHOULDER OUT!"
"S-sorry!"
"Danny!" Tucker's voice sounded from behind him. It sounded rough and choppy so Danny assumed his parents still hadn't fixed the loudspeaker in the Specter Speeder. "Any day now would be nice!"
"I'm trying!" Danny shouted back, annoyed. "This is harder than it looks, you know!"
I have to get Sam out! I have to. How can I save her? Damn I-I...don't... know what to do. It dawned to him suddenly, the severity of the situation. He could faintly hear Sam's soft cries as her arms ached from the pressure. It pained him that he couldn't do anything but it was so clear to him now...he couldn't do a single thing.
She can't...just disappear, he thought numbly. He tightened his grip on her wrists. She can't.
Hey, kid, are you for real?
D-Dan?
There was a resigned sigh that echoed through his mind, as his voice blotted out he commotion around him. Think. The dork is in the Specter Speeder, right? Dan didn't give Danny a chance to respond. That means that he's got a crapload of weapons at his disposal, right? Right. And one of those weapons just HAPPENS to be a certain GOO that acts like a freakin' ghost repellant.
It was like a brick being thrown in his face.
Ooh...
Yeah, 'oh'. Now go save her, you dumb halfa!
Haha, you just insulted yourself! Without heeding his retort, Danny shouted: "TUCK! I NEED YOU TO ACTIVATE THE FENTON FOAM!"
"Fenton—what?"
"Fenton Foam!" Danny repeated, grunting when he felt Sam get pulled deeper into the tunnel. "There should be a button with bubbles on it! Press it now!"
"Tucker!" Sam urged, gritting her teeth against the intense pull.
"Er—bubbles—right!" There was few seconds of silence, followed by a splurge of something nasty that splashed over him and caused him mild irritation. His eyes widened when he heard Shadow howl in pain and nearly let go. Danny let go of one of Sam's hands and gripped the doorway once more as Shadow recoiled from the sticky substance. However, he had not been the only one affected.
He heard distinct howls of pain come from deeper into the doorway and Danny pulled with all his might once he noticed the shadows had let go of Sam; a wash of relief flooding his chest when he felt the girl crash into his chest. He quickly shoved her out of the doorway, leaving the hisses and growls and howls behind him as he pushed the weak tendrils of Shadow out and slammed the door behind him.
He inhaled a shuddering breath. "Okay, that was—!"
"D-Danny!"
"Oh, crap," Danny quickly hovered down and grabbed Sam before she sunk deeper into the empty abyss of the Ghost Zone. He grimaced when he saw a doorway open up from below her, giving view to something rather creepy as his sharp eyes caught sight of something massive swimming around inside...
He wrapped an arm around her waist and he floated upward, toward the Specter Speeder which housed a rather smug-looking Tucker.
"Well?"
"Well, what?" Sam snapped.
"Don't you think I deserve a 'thank you, all-mighty Tucker'?"
Sam snorted. "If it weren't for Danny, I'd be a thousand miles in some dark pit by now."
Tucker frowned. "Not the answer I was expecting but alright."
"Guys," Danny interrupted, sounding tuckered out. "Can we just go now? I'm hungry and I think Johnny 13 is gonna' haunt me for nearly killing his pet." Danny twisted his lower body to face Shadow, who whimpered by the Specter Speeder and seemed to lick its wounds. It was still covered in the goo, which made it shrivel deeper into itself as it tried to shake off the no doubt burning sensation.
Even he was starting to feel a little uncomfortable with the goo.
Well, mom and dad upgraded, he thought dryly, making Sam intangible and walking through the metal walls of the vehicle. He placed her down gently, making her tangible immediately before heading back out and to Shadow, where he scraped the goo off of his shadowy form as best he could.
Tucker watched the scene for a moment, shaking his head when Danny yelped and took cover when Shadow shook himself of the goo.
"So, you guys friends now?"
Sam picked off bits of the green goo off her body. She briefly glanced at Tucker, who was smiling good naturedly at her. Her eyes strayed to Danny, who had his hands on his hips and was shouting something at Shadow, who looked annoyed and firmly ignored him and continued to shake himself of the offending goo.
She smiled softly. "I think...we can be friends again."
Tucker released the breath he had been holding. "Good. Because do you know how hard it is on me to see two of my best friends fighting? I mean, you guys fight worse than a married couple! Oh, jeez, I can see the headlines already: Mysterious Ghost Marries Gothic Aficionado! And where would that leave me? Yeah, friend to a bunch of freaks! You are soo lucky I already have a girlfriend or else I'd drop you two like hot tamales!" he ranted.
Sam rolled her eyes, cheeks growing pink at the thought of marriage, and laughed out: "Tuck, shut up and drive!"
"Hey, that's a song you know."
"Tucker!"
"Driving!"
A/N: Oh! It's done! I finished! The next chapter is the real last chapter but this is technically the end. Holy crap this was so hard to dish out! I spent hours mulling over how to end the chapter and it finally came to me in the form of a song! XD
I hope the length of this chapter made up for my late update.
Scarlett.