Maddie looked back fearfully at Sam. Those words weren't supposed to be said. She didn't believe them. They were just her imagination. Her son was fine…he was…fine.
Not a word was said, and the entire world seemed to freeze in place. The first one to take action was Jack. He bounded over to the wreckage and started to dig through it. His son was in there, and he was determined to find him.
He threw chunks of rubble over his shoulder. Sparks scorched his jumpsuit and burned his skin, but he didn't care. The fire gave him some light, but a fire isn't a good thing.
Maddie set Jazz down and checked for wounds. She held back her tears. Jack would find him, but in what state? Would he be dead? Would he be in a coma for the rest of his life? She didn't want to know…and yet she had to.
Beads of sweat ran down Jack's forehead. He still hadn't even found a hint of life and worry started to build up inside him. He threw huge chunks of the ceiling over his shoulders, only to uncover metal and shards of glass.
Sam held her hand up to her mouth. She watched Jack work. She watched him find nothing. She watched his every tiny movement with the rubble. Nothing came up…nothing at all.
A few minutes of silence passed before Jack stopped. He looked back at his family and tears glinted in his eyes.
"I can't find him."
"You can't give up yet!" Sam yelled. They can't just give up on him. He never gave up on them.
"We all need to look." Maddie tried to stay calm. Vlad was going to pay for this. Maddie sat, a now peacefully sleeping Jazz, next to Sam, while she and Tucker went to help Jack.
"We have to put this fire out," Maddie grabbed the rope fire hose and pulled the handle on the nozzle. Water sprayed onto the fire, distinguishing it a little at a time.
Meanwhile, Jack and Tucker continued to dig.
"Please be okay, Danny. Please, Please be ok." She wrung her hands together. She looked over at Jazz. She wished she was asleep too. But then again, she'd probably have dreams -nightmares- about Danny.
Maddie finally switched off the hose and wiped her forehead. The fire was out and a better search could begin.
"Danny!" she called his name again, maybe he was awake…hopefully. But still…no answer reached her ears. Hope was dim.
Jack ran to the center but stopped when his foot hit something liquid. He looked down to see that the ground was covered in green ectoplasm.
"Maddie?" he kneeled down and stuck his finger in the ectoplasm. It was thick and bubbly. It was a type that would infect a ghost…mainly what caused a ghost to get influenza.
Maddie ran up to him and too noticed the ectoplasm.
"What?" she kneeled down next to her husband, "I wonder..."
Jack moved forward a little to try to find the source of the ghost blood. It led to a glass tank that had been shattered to pieces and covered in heavy debris. He picked up the biggest piece and shoved it over to the side, but what met his eye was more than ectoplasm.
"The ghost kid!" Jack's eyes grew wide. How had he gotten here. It wasn't possible, unless he was working for Vlad.
He was unconscious, but an oxygen mask was over his mouth, and still attached to its source. A huge chuck of the ceiling lay on top of his body and he looked paler than he had any other time Jack had seen him. He has huge scrapes from the glass across every part of his body that could be seen. Bruises covered his body as well and blood covered his arms and legs.
Something inside that burly ghost hunter felt bad for the boy. He knew at this point, he was against Vlad. He'd never be in that position if Vlad was his master. He grabbed the chunk of ceiling that crushed the ghost and pushed. A cracking sound was heard beneath it, and that wasn't a good sign.
He grabbed Phantom's arm's and tried to pull him out, but he noticed that bandages were already wrapped all the way to his neck. Or, of what he could see at the moment.
"Maddie!?" Jack called his wife over, and Tucker came running as well.
"Jack? Did you find him?" Maddie brought a hand up to her mouth.
"No…but I found…someone else," Jack still tried to pull Phantom from his locked position.
"Phantom?" Maddie touched his hair gently.
"He's stuck."
"Ok, you and Tucker push the rock off of him and I'll pull him out."
"Is he still alive?" Tucker's eyes were filled with pure fear and worry. He fiddled with his shirt and his eyes didn't leave Jack's smudged face until an answer came from his mouth.
"I don't know." This time, Jack was serious, "But right now…we just need to focus on getting him out."
Tucker looked at the floor and nodded. She and Jack took their positions and Maddie took Phantom's arms. Jack and Tucker pushed and Maddie pulled.
Once again, the cracking sound was heard, but Maddie was able to pull Phantom from his crushed spot. She pulled him into her arms and carried him away from the debris area.
Millions of shards of glass pierced his back and cut his jumpsuit. Blood poured from his small body and stained Maddie jumpsuit.
Maddie fell to her knees next to Sam, who had a completely shocked look on her face.
She took off the top half of his jumpsuit, but stopped when his torso was visible. Ripped, bloody bandages were already wrapped around his body; bandages…that she put on.
"Jack," Tears filled Maddie's eyes, "This is our son. This is Danny."
"What? No…that's the ghost boy." Jack kneeled down next to her.
"No…Jack. I put these exact bandages on Danny. This is our son." Maddie hugged the broken boy. Jack grabbed his wrist.
She looked up at her husband as he squeezed his son's arm. After a few seconds he let it fall and looked at his wife.
"He's gone…" he looked away.
"No!" Sam burst into tears, causing Jazz to wake up.
"Mom? Dad? Danny?" She rubbed her eyes to clear her vision.
"Why is everyone crying?" She looked in her mother's lap at her brother.
"Danny?" She touched his chest, but pulled her hand away, "What happened to him?"
"His rib cage was crushed. That and all the other damage he endured…he's gone Jazz. Danny's…gone." Maddie held Danny. She pressed his chest against her own as tears poured from her eyes.
"What?" Jazz stared at her mother is disbelief. Danny had gotten through so much. It almost seemed like he was invincible.
Why didn't he ever tell us who he was?
We could have helped him in his hunting. He could have put behind some of the danger.
They wouldn't have hunted him, and he wouldn't be dead right now.
"He have to get back upstairs," Jack pointed out, "It's still pretty dangerous down here."
Maddie nodded a little and handed Danny to Jack.
"I'll go first." With that, she grabbed the hose and climbed. She tried to leave her thoughts below, but they clung with her. Her tears hit the floor that gained distance with every pull.
When she reached the top floor again she broke down in sobs. He was dead. He was dead because he didn't trust her enough to tell him about his other half. He was afraid of her because of the words she didn't know where hurting him.
"Mom?" a soft hand touched her shoulder and she turned to see her daughter.
"Mom. I knew. I'm sorry. I wanted to keep it a secret. It was his secret and his choice to tell, but…now I-I should've told." She fell to her knees next to her mother as tears rolled down her cheeks.
Jack threw Danny over his shoulder and climbed up the rope. His cold body didn't move like the lively boy he knew for fourteen years. It simply jolted with his movements, not his own. He stayed like an artificial, with no life at all. An object you had to move and it had no power.
He reached the top and set Danny down, staring at him as tears filled his eyes as well.
Sam kneeled beside him, and held his hand. Tucker sat on the other sat fiddling with his hat, avoiding looking at his lost friend. His lost brother.
"He's not all gone yet."
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Hello again. Umm I'm sorry this took so long to update. I wrote most of it like two months ago and it's so bad. But I kept it and fixed it up a bit so…I hope you like it. Yes…I killed him. But my mom helped me establish the plot a little. So yes, the plotline is coming to.