Oh my God, I haven't updated since last year!

IT'S 2012!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

K, I'm done.

This is a happy(ish) chapter. You'll understand.

If you haven't listened to Safe & Sound by Taylor Swift and the Civil Wars yet, GO LISTEN TO IT. NOW. IT'S WORTH IT. TRUST ME. I CAN'T STOP LISTENING TO IT. YOU WILL DIE FROM GOOSEBUMPS/SHIVERS/AWESOMENESS.

Potatoes.

I don't own Danny Phantom.

Enjoy (:

Darkness

Chapter Nine: Come Morning Light

January 1, 2012

Well, death is a curious thing.

It almost feels like life.

Except there's no pain here.

Oh...oh, okay. Ow. Nevermind, there's pain here afterall.

Strange.

Okay...I have arms and hands. Legs. Feet. Toes. Fingers.

Death is a lot like life.

Well that just goes against everything I learned in life.

I must have a brain. No other way I could be thinking.

I think.

Is that a bed I'm laying on? Why is it so cold?

I feel.

What is that scratching noise? Why is it so close to me?

I hear.

What is that terrible taste in my mouth?

I taste.

The air smells clean here.

I smell.

Those...those lights...so bright...

I see.

Just close your eyes...

You'll be alright...

Come morning light...

The song. My song.

I remember.

Slowly, slowly. Don't frighten anything away. Don't disturb whatever you're around. Slowly, Sam. Slowly.

Sorry, but 'slowly' isn't exactly a common word in my vocabulary.

I'm still sarcastic. Yay.

"Companion of Danny Phantom?"

That's a great way to start a conversation with me.

Sam moved slowly. Her eyes opened to slits, blinking rapidly to adjust to the lights around her. She groaned. "Where am I?"

"In Frostbite's domain,"

Frostbite?

The ghost?

I'm in the Ghost Zone?

"Am I dead?"

"No. Quite the opposite, in fact."

I'm alive?

She felt her heart leap into her throat. With the help of the furry creature beside her bed, she sat up. She took in her right arm, which was splinted in a make-shift cast. Her entire torso was wrapped tightly in cloth, which had light red stains over the wound in her shoulder and stomach that made her squirm in discomfort. The bandages around her head, which had been nearly torn to bits while Dan had tortured her, had been replaced. Her entire body ached, but as she checked herself over, she realized that she had been very well cared for while she was unconscious.

"How did I get here?"

"Frostbite heard your pleas for help and attended to the situation."

"How did Frostbite hear me?"

"Ah! She is awake!" A deep, familiar voice rang from the doorway. Sam turned and saw Frostbite, as tall and menacing as ever, smiling happily at her through his fur. "I heard you through a strange human device we found floating just outside this domain. Icestorm, you are releaved," The creature beside Sam's bed nodded, stood, bowed, and left. Frostbite took his seat, still smiling jovially at Sam. "It began immitating your screams. I tracked the signal and found you in the lab of Vlad Plasmius with an evil ghost by the name of Dan Phantom."

"Where is he?" She asked, glancing at the door again.

"He will not be bothering you anymore," Frostbite said solemnly. "Icestorm destroyed him. You are safe."

Sam nodded, leaning back into a pile of soft pillows behind her. "How long have I been here?"

"Five days."

Sweet Jesus.

"Where's Danny?"

Frostbite blinked. "Danny Phantom?"

"Yes. Danny. Where is he?"

"I...I was not aware...I didn't...um, I didn't contact him."

Sam stared at him. "What do you mean?"

"We didn't try to contact him."

"Why not?"

"We did not think that a ghost of his status would be free to come recover you from our care. We assumed that you would journey back to the human world alone (with our assistance, of course) and would surely run into him there."

"You mean, no one's even tried to tell him where I've been this whole time? He's had no idea where I am, or even if I'm alive or not?" Vaguely, Sam was aware that her voice was rising to hysteria. "He's been thinking that I'm dead this whole time?"

"Calm yourself, child," Frostbite said soothingly. "We had no way of contacting him. We would be more than happy to escort you to the human world if that is what you desire."

"Of course it's what I desire! Take me to Amity Park, now!" Frostbite stood and scooped her easily up in his arms. Within moments, they were soaring across the Ghost Zone. Sam glanced about nervously, half expecting Danny to be floating along, lost in the half-way world between life and death. That he would be a full ghost. That he would be lost to their world forever.

"Amity Park," Frostbite said moments later. They were on a street near the park, ducked in a shadowy alley. Sam took a few uncertain steps forward, trying to find her bearings. She seemed steady enough.

"Thank you," Sam murmured to Frostbite. "I'm sorry I got so upset. I just...I need to see him. I got scared. Thank you for taking care of me, though,"

"You are very welcome, human child," Frostbite said warmly. He patted her on her right shoulder with a trash-can-sized paw, before turning and vanishing into the Ghost Zone.

Sam turned back toward the street. She paused at the corner, glancing in each direction to assure that no one would see her emerge from the alley. Satisfied, she began the journey across town to the Fenton's. Her parents and Tucker would have to wait.

Moments later, she was knocking on the Fenton's front door. She could hardly contain her anticipation to see Danny again; it felt like it had been weeks since she laid eyes on him. She heard footsteps coming down the stairs. She heard the click of the lock sliding out of place. The doorknob twisted. Jazz appeared in the crack between the door and the doorframe.

Her eyes showed nothing but disbelief. "S-Sam?"

"Hey, Jazz,"

"But...but...you're...you're dead!"

Sam winced. "N-no, I'm not. I'm right here. Where's Danny?"

Jazz blinked in dumbfounded disbelief, before her eyes narrowed to slits. "This isn't funny. I know you. You're Amorpho. You're here to screw with his mind. You're a sick, twisted bastard. You think this is some kind of joke, her dying? Do you have any idea of how hard he's taken this? And you have the nerve to show up here pretending to be her. You're sick. You deserve to rot in hell."

"Jazz! I'm really Sam, I swear!"

"I don't believe you." She turned, the door swinging shut. Sam sucked in a deep breath.

"Just close your eyes," She sang softly. Jazz froze. "You'll be alright," Jazz turned toward her slowly, her expression unreadable. "Come morning light, you and I'll be safe and sound..."

"Oh my God," Jazz whispered. "It's...it's really you!"

Sam nodded.

"What happened to you?"

"Dan. He attacked me. He almost killed me. He stabbed me...twice."

"You need to find Danny. Now."

"That's why I'm here."

"Danny's at the park. With Tucker. I'll give you a ride. Come on, we have to hurry!"

"I miss her," Danny said offhandedly, picking grass out of the ground. He was curled beneath a tree in the park, Tucker sprawled out beside him. They were sitting beneath the very tree Danny had fought Skulker and Ember around earlier in the week. The last fight Sam would ever help him with. Stop it.

"Me, too," Tucker sighed. He was tracing the outline of a jagged rock protruding from the ground; a rock with a curiously red-stained tip.

Danny paused, allowing a gentle breeze to blow his hair away from his face. "It doesn't seem real,"

"I know what you mean."

"I keep expecting her to call me...to text me...or to just show up at my house the way she always did. I swear, I smell her on half the stuff in my room."

Tucker nodded, his eyes fixated on a spot far in the distance, which told Danny that Tucker wasn't really present for this conversation. He was lost in his own thoughts, which suited Danny just fine.

"Sometimes...sometimes I even think I can hear her. Especially when I'm outside. It's like I can hear her voice." Danny closed his eyes. He was experiencing that very sensation as he spoke. "Like right now. I swear I can hear her calling my name right now."

Tucker sat up, his eyes suddenly alert. "That's not just you, man. I can hear it too." He was on his feet, peering down the hill they were settled on. Danny stared, his heart hammering in his chest as he watched Tucker's face.

"Danny! Tucker!"

"There it is!" Danny said, joining Tucker. His eyes roved over the field, which was jotted with the occasional pedestrian, tree, or bush. Sam was no where to be seen.

"Oh...oh. It's just Jazz," Tucker murmured. Danny turned his face away, trying to hide the sudden bitter tears that sprang up in his eyes. "Man, for a second, it really sounded like -"

Danny looked up. Tucker's eyes were fixed on a spot in the distance again, his mouth hanging open in shock. Danny followed Tucker's line of vision, which was fixated on Jazz. No, not Jazz. The girl next to Jazz.

The girl with jet-black hair. The girl with bandages around her head. The one with blood-stained cloth peaking out beneath her black tank-top. The one with sparkling violet eyes.

Tucker was staring at Sam.

Sam bit her lip when Danny's eyes found hers. His gaze was so intense, she couldn't look away. As if she wanted to.

Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion. Sam felt as if she had departed from her body, watching the scene unfold from above. Danny was on his feet before Tucker even had a chance to clamp his mouth shut. He was at the bottom of the hill before Tucker could scramble to his feet.

He stopped three feet in front of her. "You...you're..." He choked.

"I'm alive," She whispered.

She stepped toward him cautiously, her arms up for a hug. Danny accepted her, raising numb arms to enfold her in a gentle, reserved hug. This wasn't how Sam wanted it. She wanted him to be crushing her against his chest, running his fingers through her hair, possibly crushing his lips against hers. She wanted to feel him, because that was the way it always had been for them. Each hug was intense, a celebration that they were both still alive. Not this pathetic excuse.

She pulled away from him just as Tucker made it to the bottom of the hill. His eyes were clouded with tears as he hugged her. His arms were so much stronger against her back than Danny's. He was so much more...there. The way Danny was usually there when he hugged her. Sam winced, feeling a shooting pain in her stomach that was echoed in her left shoulder. She was aware that Danny's eyes were on her face as she pulled away. Make a better effort to hide your pain.

"Is it really you?" Tucker asked, his voice hushed with excitement.

Sam couldn't find her voice. "It's really her," Jazz said. Sam nodded, closing her eyes for a moment. The pain of her body, which had been reduced in Frostbites domain, was significantly stronger now that she was on her feet. It was an effort just to stand.

"You need to get to the hospital, you look like you're about to pass out," Tucker said nervously.

Sam waved him off. "I'm fine," She tried to take a step forward, but stumbled over her own feet. Danny caught her, his grip on her arms gentle, but strong. She leaned into him.

"I'll take her. Meet you guys there?" She heard him say. She heard their murmured agreements. And then she was in his arms, flying effortlessly through the air.

Before she knew it, Danny was landing. Flashing to Fenton. Hustling her through the doors of the emergency room. "She's been badly injured," She heard him explaining.

And then she was being passed from the comfort of Danny's arms to a gurney. Someone was carting her off to the back of the emergency room. Danny wasn't with her. She threw her right arm back, reaching blindly for him, what she intended to be a call for him to come with her turning out to be a strangled yelp.

She felt the doors close behind her. Danny wasn't coming after her.

Something was very, very wrong.

Practiced hands worked over her body. Exposing each injury to harsh, chilly air. She groaned.

There was a prick at her left arm, and the next thing she knew, she was swimming in dark unconsciousness.

Uh-oh.

You'll have to wait and see (:

I get so tired of asking for reviews. So I'm just gonna stop (:

It's currently 12:26 AM. I've been up since 5 AM. Goodnight.

Thanks for reading! Stay tuned!

:D

- Tori