'Of course this isn't good, Sam!' Danny yelled, trying to hide his fear beneath a mask of anger. 'How can I leave the lab if I can't wake up?'
Tucker replied hesitantly. 'We could carry you to your room, couldn't we?'
'No, Tuck, you tried to touch me and got burnt.'
Sam ran out of the lab quickly and without telling them where she was going. Danny looked at Tucker in confusion, but the geek couldn't see him, and neither of the boys knew what was happening. Had Sam finally gone crazy? It was possible.
She reappeared soon after, holding a large amount of towels that almost blocked her vision.
'Quick- somebody take them,' she growled in effort. 'Tucker!'
Danny resisted the urge to laugh, instead letting out a quiet snort. He tried to cover it up with a cough, but of course, Sam noticed.
'What are you laughing at?' she snapped. 'We could leave you like this, you know.'
Yeah, right, Danny thought. As if they would let my parents catch me again. Suddenly, his back stiffened as he realized just how serious the situation was. They could let his parents catch him again. What if it was impossible to wake him up? What if it couldn't be fixed? Solved?
Tucker and Sam were already out of the lab, not even noticing Danny's absence. He shook his head, attempting to rid it of all the negative thoughts that were flooding in. Silently trailing after his two friends, he was again struck with pessimism at the sight of his physical body, held between Sam and Tucker in a cocoon-like blanket. Danny shuddered- the body looked dead, well, more dead than usual. It looked… empty. Also, he noticed in alarm, the blanket was smoking slightly, the pale blue material turning the colour of caramel, slowing getting darker.
'Guys?' Danny ventured tentatively. He was aware of all they were doing for him, and didn't want to appear ungrateful. Unable to help in any real way, he hovered anxiously beside them. 'We might need to hurry, just a little.'
Sam and Tucker sped up as they reached the staircase to Danny's bedroom; Tucker cursing quietly as he was forced to ascend them backwards. By now, the blanket was the colour of a slightly burned marshmallow, about to burst into flames. The ghost boy ran ahead to stand in the doorway to his room. He turned around to watch his friends carry out their task, but had misjudged both their distance from him, and how fast they were travelling. Lacking the time to react, Danny had no way to escape. He didn't know what would happen if his intangible form touched his physical body, but he didn't particularly want to find out. Danny felt powerless as he passed through himself.
'Wow, dude,' Tucker frowned in discomfort. 'This blanket is getting really-'
The complaint was cut of by a loud scream of absolute agony. It sounded just as Danny's had when he stepped into the Fenton Portal. And it was coming from the motionless form inside the blanket.
Tucker and Sam's eyes grew impossibly wide.
'Danny!' They both yelled at the same time, with practiced ease. Then, the whole house went deadly silent.
DPDPDPDP
Oh ghost, Danny panted, locked up in some obscure part of his mind. It hurts.
The oppressive heat pounded down on him, forcing the ice that made up some of his ghost form to flare painfully as it tried to cool him down. The battle between hot and cold, light and dark, life and death, raged inside him, both opposites filling him with an arctic burn that seemed to be both killing and healing him at the same time. His surroundings were completely dark, not just devoid of light, but empty of all other sensations, as well. Danny had no idea where he was.
Unless this is death…
Shaking his head, the ghost boy backed up, floating through the void aimlessly. Maybe he could outrun his thoughts- if only he goes fast enough.
No, Danny's head was whipping viciously from side to side, affecting his flight. I can't be dead- I can't! Where's the Ghost Zone? Where are all my dead relatives? No!
Maybe this is it, an oddly calm voice responded. It was Danny's voice, but defeated, resigned to existing in this state forever.
He suddenly stopped moving; allowing the thoughts to fill his head, to the point where he thought he was going to turn insane from the constant chatter.
'No!' he yelled aloud. There was only one word in his head now, but that single syllable carried with it all the hopes, pains, triumphs and sufferings of Danny's existence. It was the only word to actually mean something- it was more important than anything he had ever said before, or would ever say again.
So, his voice quiet and lonely, laced with regret, Danny said one last thing before giving in to the darkness.
'Sam.'
DPDPDPDP
'Sam.'
At the sound of her name, Sam let go of the blanket, suddenly unable to hold it. Danny's head hit the ground with a squelching thump. The noise sickened her, but she had to see what it was. Her whole body felt numb after what she had just witnessed, or heard, since she didn't actually see anything. Tucker was still holding on to his end of the blanket, frozen with shock, and seemed unable to do anything else. Sam gently tugged the material away from Danny's face, and then spun around, gagging violently. The repulsive thump sounded again as Tucker's fingers released, but Sam didn't- couldn't- turn back to see where he was. The image was burned into her memory, the sight of Danny's dripping face branded in her mind.
There were soft popping noises coming from behind Sam, no doubt the sound of Danny rapidly melting. Dimly, Sam noticed a rise in the temperature, as if Danny's body was just a vessel for the otherworldly heat. It got to the point where Sam had to gasp and run down to the base of the stairs. No tears flooded her cheeks; her eyes remained traitorously dry, even as her heart and soul was being ripped apart. Dying, along with Danny.
Tucker wrapped his arm around her shoulders, but she pushed him away. It was never in her character to act weak, and besides, she didn't deserve comfort. She should have saved him. Tucker looked hurt- he needed reassurance, even if Sam didn't. Someone needed to say: 'Don't worry! Everything will be fine- you'll see!'
But, of course, no one would say that. Sam and Tucker had every reason to worry, nothing will be fine, it won't get better eventually- no matter what people say. Sam shuddered as the temperature reached its peak and an ice-blue flame engulfed the figure that once used to be Danny. The flame didn't touch anything else, though, leaving the house unharmed. However, the memory would forever scar the minds of both Tucker and Sam- the sight of their best friend being swallowed by ghostly fire.
AN:
Hey! pale-blue11 here!
I had a major freak-out last Thursday when I realized that I hadn't written chapter 5 yet! Then, somehow, I managed to put it off until now. 11:24pm on Tuesday. I'm really bad at this. That's why this chapter didn't go anything like the one in my head… oh, well :)
And so, as promised- why my best friend almost forced me off FanFiction!
I hope that no one saw this, but here's a copy of a review I deleted for this story last Thursday:
Fellowphantomian(guest): What a terrible plot! My two year old sister could do better than this! How can you be bothered to write stories about a show for 6 year olds when you are obviously a lot older than that. Not impressed.
…Yeah. I wasn't happy. I get A LOT of my confidence as a writer from my reviews, so I got really depressed at this. I mean, I like constructive criticism for my stories, but this offered no help- it was just insulting. This review almost made me delete my account, but then I got a message from Gabby. She thought that my reaction was hilarious, and decided to string me along for a while. After denying it several times, I finally made her realize how serious I was. She didn't know that other people could see it, or how embarrassed I got after I received the review. I deleted it immediately, then ignored her for as long as I could… which was about twenty minutes. I am still furious, but we are best friends again- like Sam, Tucker and Danny :) and she promised never to review one of my stories again. Good.
Anyway, now that's over… please review, favourite and/or follow my story! Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed already. And hello, Deborahpflover, if you're reading this! Seriously, everyone else, check out her stories- they're awesome!
Have a nice week!
pale-blue11