"We were on the local news."

Danny was being discharged. As his parents signed the papers, he looked to his sister, who'd spoken suddenly, caught off guard, "Seriously?"

She didn't meet his eyes, "Yeah, 'boy electrocuted in home,' they said."

His feelings were mixed. Did anyone from school see it? He really hoped not, "Okay..."

The ride home was peaceable, Danny rolled his window down and felt the wind as they drove. The family RV was a silver customized assault vehicle. No joking, an assault vehicle. It looked closer to a normal car than the ones used in the military, but it was still obviously not a car. How his parents convinced the government to not ban it upon construction he had no idea. He was pretty sure they had a license for it, he'd heard them mention it in passing before. Apparently when they'd made it themselves, while Danny was just a baby, the authorities of Amity Park had given them some grief. It ended in his parents' favor. The window was a bit awkwardly placed from where he sat but he didn't mind stretching if it meant fresh air. His dad was a little reckless at the steering wheel sometimes, so things went by faster than they would have if his mom were driving.

"Tucker's mother called," Maddie said from the front passenger seat. Danny startled. His best friend. How could he have forgotten about him?

"What'd she say?"

"I told her you were alright now and she said Tucker was very happy to hear that. He wanted you to know he'd be there for you at school, when you return," she explained further.

A weight seemed to fall off the fourteen year old's shoulders, "I knew he would," Danny grinned genuinely, for the first time since the accident.

"I'm glad to see you're happier, sweetie," Maddie told him with an uplift in her tone.

No one said anything for the rest of the ride. They parked in FentonWorks' garage. It was air conditioned and familiar to him, having spent a good sized chunk of his childhood in it watching his father tinker. Once out of the RV—they'd always called it that, even if it wasn't—he could understand why the town saw his family as nut jobs, although it still churned him to think about. He gave it a long look. It had the FentonWorks symbol painted on expertly on the sides. Not huge, but not small, either. Noticeable. By now he figured only the people new to town didn't know about it. Middle school was a trying time for Danny, insults about 'the stupid tank your parents have' ran rampant.

Everyone was mindful of Danny the whole evening, he kind of appreciated it, but at the same time wished they would stop. He wanted to forget the accident ever happened. He wanted to get on with his life. Not that he wasn't, just...

The first thing Jack and Maddie had done upon entering the living room was ask Danny to sit down.

"We need to have a long talk," Jack intoned.

Danny knew what it was about.

"What were you thinking? You almost—you did die!"

"I'm sorry," Danny shook his head, "I was stupid, I don't know why I went in there."

He could still feel the scars on his arms and chest.

Maddie looked him in the eye, "We love you, and we want you to...well, I can't say 'remember this,' because I know you will. But you know why we're angry with you, too."

The heaviness on his mind was an anvil. He was an idiot for what he'd done, he knew. It was a miracle he survived that kind of shock—he assumed. No one had told him the voltage he'd been hit with. It didn't matter. He nodded. She hugged him. He didn't pretend not to return it.

The rest of the night was formulaic if with an air of oddness, resettling in a routine after almost losing a member of the family. Dinner, shower, sleep.

He awoke in the middle of the night, he didn't know why. He was hungry, but if he tried to get anything out of the fridge, his parents would interrogate him why he was up at this hour, he didn't want to mess with that. Strangely, the hunger was akin to a dull ache, more intense than what he was used to feeling, he didn't have the willpower to ignore it. He glanced at a small mirror in the hall on the way there and came to an abrupt standstill. Something was different about him, he didn't know what. His mind was bleary and no matter how long he stared at his reflection he couldn't register it as himself. An abundance of white and two neon green dots. He stood there for a minute or several. He forgot why he'd gotten up in the first place. Moving back to his bedroom he slipped back under the covers.

He was absolutely famished come morning. He devoured leftovers for breakfast seemingly with the speed of light.

He was returning to school today. His dad drove him there; Danny frowned slightly at what people must be thinking as the RV drove down the street, it was such a huge clunky noticeable vehicle. Oh well.

"If you have any trouble—"

"I'll ask the nurse to call home, Dad, I swear."

Jack nodded, Danny stepped out of the tank-car.

He walked through the front doors of Casper High and seemingly seconds later came face to face with Tucker.

"Dude!" They both exclaimed simultaneously. It was uncanny. Danny shook it off first and went on, "I hope you've been alright."

Tucker stared at him, "Danny—I hope you've been alright."
Danny swallowed, "You don't need to worry about that. I made a dumb mistake but I'm still alive, right?" Somehow, suggesting pretending it never happened didn't seem apropos.

"Yeah..."

They both had more to say, but it was all internal. Feelings, something teenage boys weren't good at conveying. Tucker's green eyes swam with thoughts, Danny thought he understood. Nothing more needed to be said.

"I guess we should go to class?"

Tucker blinked, "Oh, yeah, right."

It was on the way there a stiff, red-faced familiar figure clad in black and purple stomped past them...and stopped. Disbelievingly, on the heels of steel-toed boots, Samantha Manson turned. She looked like the world had fallen down around her. "Danny! You're alive!"

He had no idea what to say. She thought he was dead. Come to think of it, her parents never called to ask what happened. Only Tucker's. This was bad.

"I...was in the hospital, but, yeah," he finished lamely, "I'm alive." He felt like a moron for stating the obvious. It seemed like something she needed to hear.

Her violet eyes were wide, "I'm so sorry! I never meant for that to happen to you, it's all my fault—!"

He listened to her and gawked. He remembered what had happened. She asked him to pose for a picture. He was the one who decided to go into the Portal itself. She was exaggerating, blaming herself for something she hadn't done.

"Now hold on just a second!"

The fierceness he spoke with made the words die in her throat.

"None of it was your fault, Sam! I was a complete idiot. I almost killed myself, you just happened to be there," he said as firmly and clearly as possible, "You've got nothing to be sorry for. E-either of you." He stuttered the last words, blinking at Tucker, who was visibly moved by the whole thing. His face was haunted.

"I know..." Muttered Danny's best friend since childhood.

Good thing this hallway was mostly empty. If people were staring...well, for once, they'd have to deal with it. This was important.

Splitting up for classes was awkward, to say the least.

First period with Tucker, they both needed to ignore each other to get anything done—second period with Sam was strained, after awhile they both appeared to settle in and actually focus on their work instead of glancing at one another every few seconds—third was with nobody Danny knew personally. He breathed a sigh of relief—

"Hi, Fenton," a girl was walking up to his desk suddenly, Danny was surprised, girls didn't usually bother with him unless they were asking for a pencil, she stopped a respectful distance from him and continued, "Um...I was watching the news the other day and...you were in it," she was awkward and paused here and there, "My friends and I were wondering, what happened to you?"
Everyone was listening in now. Dash Baxter turned in his seat.

Danny closed his mouth so he didn't look like a fish, "Uh—I—was in an accident in my house. I had to go to the E.R. It's fine now, though." He explained. This was exactly what he'd feared.

She nodded and went back to her seat.

He was glad he wore a long sleeved shirt. It hid the lightning-shaped scars on his arms. They were still sore, he hadn't told his parents that. He could deal with it.

Lunch.

Tucker was talkative, still a little subdued, but he seemed to want to move on. Danny didn't blame him. He wanted to forget, too. Sam poked at her salad with her spork. He looked away when she met his stare.

"I'm sorry you had to deal with that," he said.

She asked, "With...what?"

"Not knowing."

"Oh..."

When P.E. came along it was nothing like Danny expected.

"Hey, Fenton," Baxter called from across the gymnasium, "Why'd your parents try to kill you?"

Danny couldn't believe what he was hearing at first. Then, he fumed. This was too much. In the past he'd taken Dash's stupidity, knowing it would pass. This was intolerable.

"You're an asshole, Baxter!" He shouted. No sense in lying.

Danny expected Dash to at least appear angry, like he did in middle school, but he only smirked, "You wanna do something about it?"

"Fuck off," Danny spurned.

"Right, 'cause you can't," Dash turned away with the most shit-eating smile plastered on his mouth.

Daniel almost shook with anger—an old sore spot was his parents, but this was even worse, accusing them of trying to hurt him was unbelievable. Coach Tetslaff wasn't doing anything. She must have heard. Danny hated her in that moment.

"We can go back to the lockers," Tucker tried to pacify, "Or something."

"Fine," Danny grumbled.

"I'm really sorry, Danny," Sam said, "No one should have that said to them."

For some reason her voice was solace, "Yeah..."