Okay so we're just gonna pretend like I didn't get 68762519687321 death threats after the last chapter. Hahaha.

It's okay, guys. Calm down. Everything's fine.

Sort of.

Right so I'm on the main computer in my house because my laptop has officially quit on me. Updates will now be even more sporadic than before, YEY.

But they will come.

Um...yeah. Idk.

I don't own Danny Phantom.

Enjoy (:

Wide Awake

Chapter Sixteen

September 10, 2013

Danny could not remember the last time he felt quite as cold as he did in the moments after Valerie's words. Every molecule of oxygen in his system seemed to evaporate on the spot, leaving him completely breathless. He barely felt himself falling forward, hands landing against the surface of the table with a low thud, eyes bulging and unseeing as his mind went into overdrive. For once, Valerie was silent, and Danny was thankful for it; he was not sure he could handle her talking just then.

"What do you mean, she's gone?" He finally managed to whisper hoarsely after a few moments of tense silence. "Where did she go?"

"We don't know. She left sometime in the middle of the night last night." Valerie said. Her voice was thick, as if she had cried at some point.

"We have to go find her." He said firmly. He clenched his hands into fists against the table, ignoring the splintered wood pulling at the pads of his fingers as he dragged them across.

"There is no finding her. She left. She doesn't want to be found. And when a person doesn't wanna be found, they don't get found." Tucker spat. Valerie flinched at his words, dropping her gaze to the table. With a jolt, Danny remembered that her father left the group sometime over the course of the year. His heart broke for her.

"She wouldn't just walk out," Danny insisted, ignoring Tucker's noise of impatience. He watched Tucker shove away from the table and pace the length of the room, biceps straining beneath his sleeves. "I know her, she's not that kind of -"

"You know her?" Tucker shouted, his outrage making his voice shake. "You've known her for three days! You don't know shit! I've known her almost my whole life!"

"It doesn't matter how long I've known her, I know her well enough to know she wouldn't just leave us!" Danny shouted, matching Tucker's volume. "She's not that kind of person!"

"Yeah?" Tucker hissed. He stalked forward, closing the distance between them until his face was just inches from Danny's. "Then why is it that she asked me to run away with her a few weeks ago, hm? Why did she insist that the two of us could make it on our own, that we didn't need Valerie or the rest of the group to survive? Why would she beg me to run away with her?"

Danny stepped back, blinking in shock. "She really asked that?" Valerie asked, her voice barely audible.

Tucker seemed to calm slightly at the hurt tone of Valerie's voice. "She begged me to, but I told her I couldn't. I wouldn't. So we didn't. I guess she came to the conclusion that she didn't really need me, either."

His head fell, shoulders slumped, and suddenly he was so like the Tucker Danny knew before the Event that Danny nearly cried at the sight of it. Seeing Tucker like that - broken and scared - made him long to see Sam again.

"There's something more to all of this," Danny said slowly, carefully choosing what he was going to say. "She...she didn't tell me everything, but...she made it seem like...she thought someone was after her. Someone still alive."

"Lars?" Valerie asked, leaning forward in her chair slightly. Tucker's head snapped up, his gaze hard again. "Did she say it was Lars?"

"She didn't say any names." Danny lied. "She...she just...she seemed really scared. Could it be possible that someone came in here last night and took her?"

Valerie and Tucker exchanged a glance. "I think it would take a hell of a lot more than one guy to subdue Sam enough to kidnap her without making any noise," Valerie said, a bit of life returning to her voice. "Did she say anything about it being multiple people? Or just one guy?"

"I don't know." Danny glanced down at his shoes, hoping his face was not giving him away. "All I know is that she seemed really scared yesterday. I think someone else is involved in her disappearing in the middle of the night."

"There could be tire tracks on the trail outside," Tucker said suddenly. "Maybe someone did break in and take her. All they'd have to do is knock her out in her bed and then carry her out. She's not heavy at all, one person could have easily just taken her." He was pacing again, nodding excitedly as he convinced himself. "I bet it was Lars, that little shit. I bet he broke in and took her. He knows where all the creaking panels of wood are in the floor, he knows how to sneak through here at night. I bet he came in and kidnapped her in the middle of the night and we just slept right through it."

"Do you realize that if this theory is correct, he's had her for at least a few hours now, and that she was unconscious for at least part of that time? He wants revenge. He could have just left her unprotected in the middle of a field overnight, she could be -"

"Don't say it." Tucker snapped. Valerie deflated immediately, pressing her lips into a hard line. Danny felt his heart thumping uneasily in his chest as every part of him itched to search for Sam. "She's alive. Don't you dare think anything different."

Valerie said nothing.

"Right. Well, then," Tucker squared his shoulders and drew himself up to his full height, glasses flashing dangerously beneath the light of the lanterns strewn across the table. "I'm gonna go look for her."

"We should start downtown, that was the last place I saw Lars," Valerie said as she stood.

"You're staying here." Tucker informed her without glancing at her. Valerie froze, eyes flashing dangerously. "Look, if you honestly think you're gonna go traipsing off into zackland you've got another thing coming. 'Specially now that you've got my boy in you." Every eye in the room fell to Valerie's flat stomach. "You're staying. Keep an eye out. If Sam's got her wits about her, she's gonna try to make a run for it back here. Stay and watch for her. If I'm not back by sunset, tell everyone what's going on and start sending out search parties. Don't say a word until then. Mass chaos is the last thing this camp needs right now."

"What do you want me to do?" Danny heard the words leave his mouth before he was aware of thinking them. Tucker glanced sideways at him as he rolled his sleeves up.

"You're still training. It's fine and well if you're comfortable out there with her, but being alone is an entirely different story."

"Did you forget I survived for almost a year by myself?" Danny asked, ignoring the voice in his head that muttered granted, I was flying the whole time, but... "I didn't fight, I stayed out of the way, and I survived by myself."

"If you honestly believe that going after Sam after Lars kidnapped her won't involve some form of fighting, you're sadly misinformed, bud." Tucker chuckled humorlessly and brushed past him to rifle through the drawers of the armoir. "Stay here with Val. Make sure nothing happens to her. Keep everyone calm." He pulled out an ancient revolver and spun the hatchet. "I loaded this thing the day we kicked Lars out. I just knew I was gonna need it someday."

He pocketed the revolver and moved past Danny again, heading for the front door. He turned when he reached the threshold, gazing at Valerie. "I told you back in the beginning, I'm not losing her. Losing him was bad enough. I can't lose her, too."

Danny glanced at Valerie, to find her eyes swimming with tears. "Tuck...there's something I need to tell you," She mumbled, eyes flickering to Danny.

"Tell me when I get back with Sam." He said, shaking his head slightly. "I'll only be gone a couple hours. Don't worry."

She opened her mouth to argue just as the first few tears went streaking down her face, but before she could form any words, the front door was closed and Tucker was gone. Valerie collapsed into the chair at the head of the table, buried her face in her arms, and sobbed. "I'm sorry," She choked.

Despite the fact that every instinct he had told him to rocket out of the building, Danny forced himself to stand by Valerie's side, one hand on her back, awkwardly rubbing circles on her shoulder in an attempt to be soothing. "Don't be sorry." He told her, his words choppy and disconnected.

"But I am," She moaned, her breaths hitching as she tried to inhale. "This whole situation is so fucked up and it's all my fault, I should have just told them from the beginning who you were and then maybe Sam wouldn't be gone and we could all be together and we might even be happy or something but I didn't I lied and I'm sorry..."

"Val, Valerie, listen to me," Danny perched on the corner of the chair closest to her, squeezing her shoulder until she peered up at him blearily. "Even if we did tell them, Lars still would have tried to kidnap Sam. Nothing you did caused this. Okay?"

"Do you know where she is?" Valerie whispered, brushing her hair away from her face impatiently. Danny tried to stay calm, but her earnest gaze made him fidget. "Do you know where he's keeping her?"

"I don't know," Danny admitted in a low voice. "I...I think I might, but...I don't know."

"Does Tucker stand a chance at finding her on his own?" She asked. Danny shook his head. "Then you need to go. Go find her. Get her back, do whatever you need to do, and then when they're both back here we'll tell them who you really are. I'll tell them it was all my idea, that you had to go with it because I was threatening to not let you see them unless you went along with it, and then they'll know and everything will be okay."

"You don't have to take the brunt of this, Valerie, I participated just as much as you did." Danny said. "We'll tell them that initially it was just a panic response to them not believing us and then we sort of dug ourselves into a hole with it. We'll tell them the truth."

"If you can get Sam back, I don't think either one of them will care what we call it. They'll just be relieved to see you alive." Valerie murmured. They both froze, whirling around to face the third bedroom when the door slowly creaked open. Charlie's face, flushed with sleep, appeared in the crack. "G'morning, Charlie," Valerie said, forcing a fairly convincing cheerful tone. "You're up early."

"I heard voices," He yawned. "There were boys in here. Did they eat my cookies?"

Danny's head whipped around, eyes landing on Valerie's suddenly pale face. "Did you hear what they were saying?"

"No." Charlie sighed, shuffling out of the bedroom fully toward Valerie. She pulled him up onto her lap. "One of them told them not to step on the creaky part of the floor, but they were all really quiet. It was still dark outside."

Valerie's eyes were wide and shining, silently screaming for Danny to go. "I'll be back later," He said hoarsely, unable to tear his gaze away from Charlie's innocent face. without another word, he walked quickly to the front door, closing it tightly before flashing to Phantom. He spared one glance down at his uniform, eyes lingering for just a moment on the symbol emblazoned on his chest, before rocketing into the sky.

All thoughts faded to nothingness as he quickly found the road and followed it from above, desperately trying to remember the path Sam took to get to the trees. It took a few moments, but eventually he was able to get his bearings. He listened carefully for any signs of her, nearly falling out of the sky when a long howl echoed across a vast distance toward him, but other than that it was perfectly silent. The trees only moved as he shot past them, branches bending slightly at the disturbance, but otherwise there was no movement. All was eerily still in the near-morning light.

At the first sign of movement, Danny zeroed in on the source like a bird circling its' prey. He slowly lowered himself into a thicket of brush, peering through the branches carefully at the figure moving through the darkness. A strange glow seemed to emanate from the person's skin; as Danny shifted through the brush, trying to get a better angle, a thin stream of mist poured from his mouth. He stared at it uncomprehendingly as it swirled in the air before his face for a moment, before dissipating.

He stood quickly, drawing the ghost's attention backwards. "Don't shoot, I'm one of you!" He shouted, raising his hands to his chest. The ghost's eyes were wide, it's chest heaving, and hands glowing with a menacing red coat of ectoplasm. "I don't want any trouble, I'm just looking for someone."

"I don't know anyone, leave me alone." The ghost hissed.

"Wait, please, hold on," Danny plead, stepping out of the brush. The ghost was already off the ground; he froze at Danny's words. "My friend was taken last night and I'm trying to find her. She's in a lot of trouble. All I wanna know is if you've seen a girl around here recently,"

The ghost remained frozen, back turned to Danny, and the silence stretched on for so long that Danny was almost sure the ghost was just going to ignore him. He sighed in frustration and kicked off the ground.

"Wait." Danny froze and whirled around to find the unfamiliar ghost facing him, brow creased in concentration. "They told me about you. You're the kid who's half human, aren't you?" Danny nodded dumbly. "Yeah. They told me about you. You were a real pain in their asses." A half-smile lit the ghost's face. "They were worried about you when you didn't turn up in the Ghost Zone after all hell broke loose out here. They thought you managed to get yourself killed." Danny said nothing, choosing to allow the ghost to cackle for a moment. "They'll be really pleased to hear you're alive and well, I guess!" The ghost choked, glancing down at the ground below their feet. "This girl. What does she look like?"

"She's about this tall," He held a flat hand even with his chin, "and she's got black hair. She's really thin. Her eyes are purple."

"Purple eyes?" The ghost shook his head. "Nah, I'd remember seeing someone with purple eyes. You don't see shit like that every day." The ghost snorted and glanced over his shoulder. "Granted, at one point, I probably would have said the same thing about flesh-eating zombies, but...whatever."

"So you haven't seen her?" Danny could feel his disappointment rolling off of his body; he tried not to drown in it as the ghost shook his head. "Okay. Thanks anyways."

"Well, hold on." The ghost called as Danny made to fly away. Danny paused, refusing to turn back to face this ghost. "I didn't see anything, but...I kept hearing a bunch of guys yelling off that way." Danny chanced a glance back to find the ghost pointing to the south. "Sounded like some kind of freaky satanic ritual. I don't know. I got away from it as fast as I could, but that might be where you look first."

"Thank you," Danny mumbled.

After what felt like hours, he finally spotted the familiar treeline, just starting to reflect the rising sun. He guessed it was about five miles south of where he met the ghost. No bright flash of light greeted him as he approached the treeline; not that he was expecting one. He slid into invisibility at a good distance away, scanning the trunks for any signs of movement. He saw none, but a strange crackling noise was slowly growing louder as he approached. He thought he could hear voices, but they were garbled beneath the crackling and the obnoxiously loud thumping of his heart in his ears. He was still hovering just beyond the treeline, wondering if he should investigate, when he heard it.

A terrible, choking, gargling scream, piteous and terrified. And like a moth to a flame he was drawn to it subconsciously, his body weaving through the trees without much thought at all. Which was just as well, since he seemed to lose all brain function at the sound. The crackling sound was growing louder, the scream deteriorated into a desperate heaving sound, as though someone was trying to escape their own body, and the distinct sounds of multiple zombies hunting their prey all reached him at once.

When he burst through the trees, he froze, unsure of what he was seeing. The trees seemed to stop right at the edge of a sandy slope which slowly gave way to a rather large lake. Dozens of lifeless bodies littered the ground between where Danny stood and the edge of the water, each more bloody and mangled than the last. Danny felt his stomach heave as he absorbed the sight of them, but thankfully a huge movement to the left drew his gaze away from their unmoving faces. A dilapidated lake house stood off to the left on the beach, looking as though one powerful breeze would blow it away, and on the water before the lake house stood an old dock, which was inexplicably engulfed in flames and swarming with dozens of zombies. They swatted through the flames, howling their displeasure at the heat, and for a moment Danny was so mesmerized he forgot why he was there. And then he heard a scream.

A female scream.

And instantly he understood what happened. Without a second thought he shot forward, flitting to intangibility at the last second and scooping up the huddled figure cowering at the very edge of the dock. She was bloody and just barely stirring, the bits of her skin that weren't coated in blood or soot ashen, and her eyes rolled to the back of her head the second he plucked her out of the flames. He soared over the dock just as the wood splintered and collapsed, sending the fireball and the zombies tumbling into the water below. He did not stop to watch it all sink to the bottom of the lake; instead, he shot into the house.

The place smelled horrible, but it seemed uninhabited. Danny gingerly lowered Sam's lifeless body to a couch that looked as though thousands of moths had made a meal of it and quickly flashing around the house, checking that each room was empty before returning to her side.

"C'mon, Sam, talk to me," He murmured, lightly tapping her cheek. Her head lolled to one side, jaw falling slack, but she made no sound. He bit back a whine as he lightly gripped her arm and forced intangibility around her, allowing the blood to slide through her and stain the cushions beneath her. "Sam, please, come back to me," Her skin was bruised heavily, angry purple splotches skirting deep red gashes. Fury unlike anything he had ever known pounded through his veins, but he ignored it, his frantic worry for Sam nearly suffocating him. "Sam, come on, please...Sam..."

He guessed she had a few broken ribs, judging from the extensive bruising there and the way she inhaled sharply when he ran his fingers across her side. Amazingly, he did not find anything else nearly as severe; just a lot of bruising and bleeding. He fell back to his haunches, sighing in relief while simultaneously praying she did not have any internal bleeding. He was just about satisfied when he spotted something that made his brain go to mush.

On her right arm, just above the crease of her elbow, her skin was bruised in an even circle. He lifted her arm gently, examining the purplish-greenish marks, and right as he got to the inside of her elbow, he spotted several red dots in her skin.

His vision went dark. He felt himself fall backwards, landing hard on his backside, but the pain did not reach him. Lars drugged her? That fucker incapacitated her, beat her, drugged her, and left her to die?

Oh, I am gonna fucking MURDER HIM.

Danny realized he was already on his feet, stomping toward the back door, fists clenched so tightly he was almost certain he was drawing blood. He paused in the doorway, though, as a sudden thought came to him: what if Lars is one of those dead guys on the beach? What if all of those people were working with Lars?

The scene unfolded immediately in his mind: they probably used this place as a storage unit whenever Sam made her deliveries. They brought her here and beat her, thinking it would be a perfect place to leave her until the zombies broke in and killed her. But then someone - probably Lars - thought it would be even more entertaining to drug her and leave her out on the dock like live bait. And then they got the idea that would kill them: light the deck on fire so that she would not be able to get away.

They were probably still lighting the fire when the zombies surfaced from the floor of the lake. He shivered at the mental image, shaking his head violently. He almost felt sorry for them.

But then, he scoffed. "That's what you get for fucking with her." He muttered to himself.

"Danny?" A quiet voice asked from behind him.

He turned sharply and froze at the pair of bloodshot purple eyes staring in disbelief at him. Hear head shook slightly, as if it was a huge effort to keep it up, but she did not seem to mind. Her lips were cracked and nearly white as she ran her tongue across them subconsciously.

"Danny?" She whispered. Her voice seemed to unlock whatever trance he was in; he spared one look down at his suit, cursing himself for forgetting to flash to Fenton, before he was at her side, lightly squeezing her hand. "Is it you?"

He nodded and brushed her hair matted away from her face. "I knew it," She whispered, her head falling back to the cushions.

He opened his mouth, ready to tell her everything, but she interrupted him before he even began. "I told Tucker you would come back from the Ghost Zone, but he didn't believe me. You saved me."

He snapped his mouth shut, screaming internally. "Can you talk?" She asked, voice breaking as she turned her head to face him.

Her eyes were clouded and suddenly he knew she would probably not remember anything about this later. She was still high on whatever Lars forced on her. Even so, she might remember parts of it, so he would have to be careful. "Not really," He whispered.

She lifted her hand clumsily to touch his face and he held her wrist, closing his eyes when she stroked his cheekbone with the pad of her thumb. "It's okay," She said, sighing in content. "You're here. That's what matters. Can you stay?"

"No," He whispered without thinking. This is not the time or the place to tell her, he thought. She deserves to be fully awake and aware when I tell her. Not strung out and nearly dead. "Not for very long."

"It's okay," She repeated. She sounded as if she was about to fall asleep. "You were here when I needed you most. I love you."

He could not stop himself from whining a little. He ducked his head down and pressed his forehead against hers, squeezing her hand gingerly. "I love you so much," He whispered. Her eyes fluttered shut. "Sam, I love you more than anything."

She sighed and her hand slid slowly away from his face. He pulled back slightly to find her eyes closed and her breaths coming slowly and evenly.

As gently as he could, he lifted her up from the couch, cradling her against his chest. Her weight was warm and familiar and he felt the urge to cry at the relief of finally getting to hold her the way he used to, but he knew it was only for a short time. He had to get her back to the ranch, and quickly, so that she could get the medical attention she needed. He tried not to think about the lack of resources to ease the pain of her broken ribs.

The flight back to the ranch seemed much shorter than the flight out to Lars' camp. He rested his cheek against her forehead, partially to keep her head tucked safely into his neck, and partially because he liked the feel of it. From his vantage point in the air as he approached the ranch, he could see the other survivors moving about the camp, already setting into their daily chores. He flitted to invisibility as he approached, landing a few yards in front of the house, before flashing to Fenton and jogging up the path to the front door.

He kicked at the door violently, stepping back as he spotted Valerie rushing through the front room. She froze for only a second when she spotted Sam in his arms, but she had the door flung open within seconds.

"You found her!" She gasped as he hustled past her, carefully turning to avoiding jostling Sam in any way. "Oh shit, what happened to her?"

"Lars." He growled. Valerie left the front door standing open, opting to follow closely behind Danny as he rushed to get Sam to her room. "Are the kids in here?"

"They're playing in the barn, what happened?"

Danny did not respond right away; instead, he focused on getting Sam safely tucked into her bed before turning to face Valerie. "I told you I thought I might know where he took her. I was right. There's a lake a few miles south of here. I found her on a dock. All his guys are dead and he might be, too, but before they died they beat her, drugged her, dropped her on that dock and lit the dock on fire so she couldn't get away. I got there right before the dock collapsed. If I had been even thirty seconds later..."

"All that matters is that you got to her on time," Valerie said firmly. "How bad is she?"

"Broken ribs, a lot of cuts and bruises, and she was still high on whatever they forced on her when I got to her, but I think she's okay."

"Did she see you?"

"Yep. Just Phantom. She didn't see me as Fenton. So now she thinks Phantom is around."

"Not for much longer, hopefully," Valerie murmured, running a hand through her hair. "I need to get Jack in here to take a look at her, and then when Tucker comes back we'll tell them."

"Should I go look for him?"

"Nah. Tuck'll be fine by himself, especially since he's mad. He's dangerous when he's mad." Valerie shivered. "Stay in here with her while I go find Jack, okay?"

Not needing to be told twice, Danny immediately fell to his knees at her bedside as Valerie flitted out of the room. He heard the back door close and Valerie's muffled voice calling for Jack, but he kept his gaze on Sam's sleeping face. "I really do love you," He whispered to her, taking her hand and bringing it up to his lips. "I love you so much and I would do anything to protect you. That's why I've been lying to you. I wanted to keep you safe and the only way I could do that was to pretend to be Seth. It killed me to let you think I was dead, but being Seth was the only way I could stay close to you. I'm so sorry, Sam. I'm so sorry."

Her head rolled to one side, a small crease appearing between her brows, but she remained fast asleep.

This might be the longest chapter I've posted to this story so far? I'm not sure it's definitely the longest of the three I have in my Doc Manager right now. Woot.

Okay so it's not really a cliffhanger. I didn't want to be mean since I honestly have no freaking idea when I'll be able to update this again. Plus I'm planning on having a pretty big one in chapter eighteen. So not next chapter, but the one after that. This is a nice ending. Not a lot of anticipation on this one. Or the next one.

You're welcome (:

Um...okay. Yeah. That's all I got.

Thank you for reading! (:

- Tori