Chapter Six, Part One:
"All changes, even the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind us is a part of ourselves. We must die to one life before we can enter another."
– Anatole France
The room she found herself in was pitch dark. She couldn't see, but she could certainly still smell, could hear. The room smelled distinctly of mildew, of severe water damage. She could hear the leaky pipes; water dripping from various points across the room. (The source of the smell, perhaps?) All around her, people began to stir. Her students? She slid her hand across a wall, her hand gliding along the damp cement.
Sam had no idea how she'd gotten herself into this situation. Sure, she had always had a tendency to attract danger (or, more often than not, search it out herself), but this?
The last thing she remembered was sending her students to their lab stations to finish their experiments from the day prior. Sam had made her way to her desk to call and make sure Holly had gotten to the high school alright…
Then Katie Simmons had screamed.
Smoke had filled the room…
"Is everyone okay?" she called, stretching her free arm in the direction of a child breathing.
"Ms. Manson, where are we?"
As the students gradually woke, the room's volume rose to a crescendo.
"Everybody calm down! Panicking will get us nowhere!
While the roar slightly faded, whispers still littered the air. The noise was more manageable, though, allowing Sam to actually think. First, she needed to devise an escape plan. The room was painfully dark; so dark that her eyes simply weren't adjusting. She doubted that they even would. Without sight, things became exponentially more difficult.
Difficult, but not impossible.
"Does anyone have any idea where we are?"
Silence.
"Or any idea on how to get out?"
More silence.
Sam slid down the wall, blinking repeatedly. She knew it was dark; too dark for her students to see her tears. There was more to it than that, though. She had dealt with countless ghosts almost singlehandedly; she would not let these creeps see her cry.
Wouldn't.
Couldn't.
"Ms. Manson, where are we?" The voice sounded choked with tears, small and feeble. Sam couldn't place the student, but they were near-by. Close enough to touch…
"It's okay; we'll figure this out –"
Suddenly the room was filled with a blinding light. Sam blinked, her eyes widening. To her surprise, the students remained silent, paralyzed in fear. The light continued to spread throughout the room, contaminating every surface and bathing the students in a faint glow.
There was a door.
And it was open.
Sam rose to her feet, stumbling slightly.
"Stay put!" she ordered, stepping around the children scattered on the floor. "I'll be right back."
She was half-way up the stairs, when a figure appeared on the landing, cloaked in darkness.
"You all need to come with me."
"Where are you taking us?" Sam snarled, her fists clenching. "What do you want from us?"
The figure remained stoic. "We assumed you all were hungry. I would like to invite you all upstairs for a lovely supper."
"And then what?"
"We will answer all of your questions, of course," the figure replied.
Sam raised a brow, prepared to protest, but she could hear the unanimous mumblings of the students behind her.
"Fine," she said slowly, "but if you touch one hair on their heads, so help me, you will be sorry."
She turned around before the figure could comment.
"Everyone, follow me. Remain quiet and stay together at all times."
The students gathered together, all meeting in the center of the room. Each step seemed pained, their expressions filled with apprehension as they ascended the stairs.
The room they entered was, to put it quite simply, rather comfortable. It seemed almost like something that could be found on an eighties sitcom. It was cozy, with simple curtains framing the windows. It was a kitchen with simple accommodations, just with an additional set of tables and chairs.
Sam inhaled, taking in a whiff of cinnamon.
"Everyone, please take a seat. We have plenty of chairs."
Exhausted, the students dropped into the chairs surrounding the multiple tables. Sam, however, remained standing, her fists clenched.
"We're out of there now. Explain," she snarled.
The figure, who, in the proper light, was recognizable as a woman, smiled weakly. "I promise, everything will be explained. Just be patient. They're bringing in breakfast right now," she said.
Sam grumbled under her breath, taking the empty seat beside one of her quieter students.
"Ms. Manson," Tony Williams said, "what's going on?"
"We'll find out, Tony," she whispered. "And then we're going to get out of here. Whichever comes first."
The minutes passed, breakfast was served, and they still found themselves waiting.
As Sam began to rise to her feet, preparing herself for another confrontation, the door swung open, leaving her breathless.
None other than Valerie Gray stood in the doorway, arms crossed.
Valerie Gray.
Valerie Gray who, along with twenty other students, had been declared dead in classroom five-oh-five.
How was that even –
"Good morning, Sam," the darker skinned girl said, smiling at Sam. "I apologize for your earlier accommodations. It must have given you quite the scare."
"Valerie, what is going on? Why are you here? How?"
"Have a seat, Sam. I can't explain everything for you; I'm just here to make sure everything is under control. My associate will be here in just a minute to help –"
"No! I demand an explanation right now! You can't just show up ten years later, kidnap innocent students, and expect me to remain perfectly calm about this whole ordeal! Was it you who caused the first accident? Are you the one that killed Danny? Killed everyone else in that room? How dare you even show your face here!"
"Sam, please, calm down."
"What you did was despicable! And now you're doing it again! How could you do this to Danny, Valerie? You were friends! You knew –"
"Excuse me; may I have everyone's attention?"
Her head swung up, her mouth dropping open. Standing in the front of the room was none other than Danny Fenton. He was older, certainly, but there was no doubt in her mind that this was her Danny. The boy she had loved so dearly, whose death had, unfortunately, defined her life.
"I know this can be a fairly terrifying experience, but we hope to make this transition as simple as possible. Remember, no matter how strange, how upsetting this may seem, you are surrounded by friends," he was saying to her students. His blue eyes – just as beautiful as she remembered – darting from child to child, landing everywhere but on her own. "Now, while we wait for my associate, I would like to welcome you to the Association."
The Association? Murmurs filled the room.
"It is a rather simple organization with a sole mission: To take the world, to shape it, and create a better place. Each of you was selected based on your outstanding potential. You were gathered at a single time, a single place, and brought here to work for the good of the Association. It is an extreme honor.
"Now, I would like to introduce you to my colleague, Connor Ambrose."
As Danny stepped aside, a tall man with light blond hair took his vacated position. As he spoke, the students listened closely, eyes wide. Sam, however, could not drag her eyes away from the boy she had lost so long ago. Danny trailed his way through the cluttered tables, before settling down beside Valerie. He leaned over, whispering in her ear.
He was so close.
So close.
As she opened her mouth, preparing to call his name, to confront him, he suddenly began to trail towards the door. Seconds later, he was gone.
"Danny!" she called, interrupting the presentation. From the corner of her eye, she could see Valerie exchange a sharp look with Ambrose, but she paid them no mind. No, Danny had already disappeared once. She would not let him slip away again.
"Sam, please, you must remain calm. The introduction is pivotal to your initiation. Please, return to your seat. Danny will still be here when it's finished; he just has work to do. You can talk to him when this is all over," Valerie said, grabbing her by the shoulders. Sam struggled against her grip, but despite Valerie's now frail appearance, the other girl was still stronger. "Sam, don't make me euthanize you."
With a resigned sigh, Sam slid back into her seat. She had to protect her students, after all. Despite her wishes, they were still her priority.
"Thank you," Valerie murmured. "Now, please listen to Connor. The presentation is almost finished."
When she was finished with the aptitude test, she found herself wandering the halls of her new building. They had placed all the "new recruits" in the hall of an old apartment complex. Sam had, thankfully, been given a room of her own. It would give her the opportunity to strategize without drawing unnecessary attention. Attention from both the Association and her students.
Sam wasn't entirely certain what to think about the Association. They were certainly creepy, certainly underhanded. As for why Danny and Valerie were associated with them (no pun intended) was still to be seen.
Danny, and even Valerie to an extent, had always been rather level headed. Danny knew to trust his instincts and, Sam had learned, to trust in him. If he was a member – a leader, evidently – then shouldn't that say something?
First, though, she had to find him.
It was just a matter of where to begin.
She had gathered that the Association was spread across town, she just happened to be in their base. It was now a matter of narrowing down where to look. It helped that she was convinced that it had actually been Danny the other night. A Danny who had either undergone a radical personality change or, the more favorable option, had simple been protecting his cover.
Which begged another question: were they ghosts? For some reason, it didn't seem very probable. So, was it a coincidence that they had picked Amity Park, the ghost capital of the world? Had selected the infamous Danny Phantom's secret identity as one of their leaders? It seemed like too big of a coincidence or too many of them. Or perhaps they recognized the potential in a town that had spent their lives fighting off a ghostly menace.
"Hey, you!"
She nearly jumped ten feet in the air, whirling around to face the voice.
A woman stood behind her, a frown on her face. "I'm sorry to scare you." She didn't sound particularly sorry. Then again, though, that seemed to be the trend with the members of the Association. "My name is Olivia Cross. Fenton asked me to bring you to him."
"Danny? Where is he?" she said, wringing her hands.
"If you'll follow me, Ms. Manson."
And she did. The woman leading the way seemed to be in her early forties, touches of gray lighting her hair. She was of small stature, not particularly intimidating, until she opened her mouth. She was crisp and to the point; verging on rude.
But if she could take her to Danny, Sam didn't care if she grew horns and a tail and declared herself the antichrist. It would be worth it.
As Sam followed the woman, Olivia, out of the building and out into the street, Sam wrung her hands together. What would he say? Up to this point, he hadn't seemed particularly enthused about seeing her.
"As a warning, you cannot mention this meeting to anyone else. It could be completely detrimental," Olivia said, shoving her hands in her pockets. "It would set back everything Fenton and I have been working towards." She paused, seeming to carefully select her next words. "It… it's a big risk bringing you to see him. It's worth it, though; whether he chooses to accept that or not."
Moments passed in prolonged silence as the pair continued down the street, before turning down a small alley. Olivia stopped, mid-step, gesturing to a door to her left. "After you. It's at the top of the stairs."
Holding her breath, Sam climbed the seemingly never-ending stairs, preparing to face the boy who had haunted her dreams for the last ten years. The boy who had continually saved the world with a goofy smile in place the whole time; had dedicated his life to saving innocents, his own personal consequences be damned. The boy who, despite his heroics, had seemingly been stolen due to a freak chemistry accident.
The boy who was, against all odds, waiting at the top of the stairs. The boy who was waiting with answers to his mysterious disappearance and the key to finding her way back to her daughter.
Author's Note: Gah! First off, let me apologize for taking a millennium to get this chapter out. It wasn't particularly difficult to write, but I've had a whole ton of personal issues to deal with in the meantime. Issues that, while not extremely devastating, kind of zapped my desire to write much of anything at all. But, with all that aside, here it is.
I know, I know; this chapter was supposed to be the big revelation chapter. And it still is to an extent. I wound up having to split this chapter into two parts, though. It was just getting too long (part one falls at about 2,000 words without really hitting the meat of it), so I thought that slicing it in half might be the best option. Let me know what you think!
Again, I can't thank my lovely reviewers enough: Bananahsplit, Fluehatraya, ChopSuzi, Oak Leaf Ninja, Laora, and TiFu. Your kind words and feedback have really made up for the last few sucktacular weeks I've been having. I can't thank you all enough! Keep being awesome!
Don't forget to review, if you feel like being awesome! (Or if you spot some horrendous typos that I missed.)
And, until next time, "Be the leaf." Or, you know, continue being constructive(ish) members of society. Normal stuff.