A/N: Uh oh... I'm doing it again aren't I... I'll try to make the next one a little happier for Danny... but no promises!

Rating: T

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.


93. Give Up

The trees ended suddenly and a vast, grassy plain opened up in front of him. He let himself drop on the ground and rolled on his back, gasping for air. Some time passed by, a soft breeze rustled the trees nearby and brushed his face, drying the sweat off his forehead, an insect crawled on his hand. The shadows of the trees moved, exposing him to the blazing sun that started burning his skin. Reluctantly he opened his eyes again and looked up. The sky was blue and cloudless. He estimated it was around noon. He had been laying there longer than he thought.

He pushed himself up on one arm and examined his surroundings. He was about ten feet from the trees, the forest ending abruptly at the edge of the plain. He could see for quite a distance here, the plain stretching on for miles and miles. On the far end he could see mountains and... smoke. A single column of smoke was rising into the air, as if someone had built a campfire there. He stared at it. It was very far away. He scrambled to his feet. If it was very far away he'd better get going.

Keeping his eyes on the column of smoke in the distance, he walked across the plain, away from the woods he had gotten himself so unbelievably lost in. But where there's smoke, there's fire and a fire meant people. Maybe some campers, out there in the wilderness, having a roast or something on it, or maybe just for the pleasure of staring into the flames. He would ask them for help, they could get him back to civilization. Because the one thing he would never do, was going back to Vlad's chalet. His left shoulder still stung from the improved Plasmius Maximus, removing his powers. Vlad had laughed mockingly when he ran, yelling after him he would be back before nightfall, that little boys didn't stand a chance in the wilderness without ghost powers to protect them for twenty-four hours. He clenched his teeth. Vlad had made a mistake, letting him go like that.

After two hours he stopped for a moment and looked back in the direction of the forest, but it was very far behind him now. He throat was dry and he didn't have any water. He should have looked for water first, before trying to cross this dry, vast grassland in the burning sun. He turned and looked in the direction of his destination again, now a thin streak. The fire was burning out, there might not be anybody around when he finally got there.

It couldn't be helped, he had to keep moving, to at least try to get there, if only to find water. His face set in a grim determination, he continued on, ignoring his thirst and hunger as best as he could.

It was hot. He tried to swallow but found it impossible. His breath was now raspy and he felt the heat burn in his lungs. He realized belatedly any mistake would kill him here and he was sure his walking on these plains qualified as a mistake.

Suddenly he found himself on his hands and knees. He could't remember falling down. He looked at his hands, clawing in the dirt. He couldn't make out his skin under the black dirt and dried blood. A bath would be nice. Two baths, one for drinking and one to just sit in and soak. And his sister banging the bathroom door. He could hear her already.

"Come on Danny, you've been in there an hour, get going already."

He smiled at that.

Something in his mind screamed. He wanted it to stop but finally gave in to listen what the person screaming was saying.

"Get up get up get up..."

He didn't want to. He was having such a nice dream. He was sitting in the park with Sam and Tucker eating ice cream and then his ghost sense went off and... Wait that really happened. Memories. A sob rose in his throat and he opened his eyes.

He was face down on the ground now. His throat hurt, his stomach hurt and above all his head hurt. Laying there wasn't going to help any of that, he decided, so he scrambled to his feet again somehow and looked around him. In which direction had he been going? Had he walked around in circles? He could see the tree line of the forest he had come out of, and in the opposite direction the foot of the hills. They were considerably closer now but he didn't see the smoke anymore.

A step. And another. Slowly, painfully, he started walking again, staggering every now and then. Twice he was on his knees again but he got up and stubbornly kept moving. Visions entered his mind, visions of his family, his friends, reaching out to him, but when he reached them, his arms stretched out, they disappeared. Then monsters stood in his path, a big bear with four arms, glowing green and he shied away from it, whimpering, waiving his arms in a futile attempt to fend it off.

And then he was there. As by some miracle he had been going in the right direction all this time. He looked at what had been a large campfire. It was only smoldering now. Disappointment washed over him. There had been people here but they had left, traveled on on their happy camping trip, unaware of him and his plight. He lost and Vlad had been right, he didn't make it on his own without his ghost powers.

The sun was setting, shining it's last beams on the boy lying in the grass, face down. A light breeze waved his hair but he didn't stir.