Amity Park: The Last City Standing
(part 2)
"Human beings, we have dark sides; we have dark issues in our lives. To progress anywhere in life, you have to face your demons."
Warnings: language, timey-wimey fuck ups, seriously a lot of fuck ups, #Dashwhyareyoulikethis, season 3 has been slowly roasted for the good bits, TUE affected Danny more than canon showed, I have been wanting to write this story since 2010
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
Danny woke up feeling like he went twenty rounds with Pariah Dark.
A pounding headache was apparent and–with only a groan–he squeezed his hands together, crushed between his body and the ground, and pushed his upper body up gently. The fluid in his arms took a moment to adjust the change in flow as they rushed to his fingertips again. The pain was more of an irritation.
He was disoriented. There was green everywhere and the sun was enough of a distraction to prevent him from clearing his vision. Danny uncurled a hand to rub away the spots.
"Kid, I really don't have all day."
The voice came from above him. Things started to clear and Danny looked up at a man in a uniform holding a rake. Oh, it was the rake that was digging into his side.
Danny cleared his throat. "What?" he asked, voice full of dizzy sleep.
The man sighed, crouching down to his level. "Look, I don't care what kind of drugs or stuff you kids were into last night, but the park closes at noon for drills," he explained. "So, I need you guys out of here."
There's a soft cry of his name to his left and Danny turns to see Tucker rolling on the floor next to him, clutching his stomach. "Oh my god, what did I eat?" his friend groaned. "Nasty Burger has never betrayed me like this."
"Perfect," the man said, standing again and looking out at the stirring bodies of Danny's classmates. "You all can go home now."
The A-listers were waking slowly, looking around in confusion at the unfamiliar park. "Where are we?" Dash asked, squinting at the tall buildings behind them.
Sam was on her feet before everyone else and punching Dash in the shoulder. The jock gasped, but was too dizzy to retaliate. "If you think even for a second that we're letting get away with this," Sam threatened, leaving the ending open.
"Look, I don't care whose fault it is you guys slept in the freaking park last night," the man from before said, exasperated. Danny noticed that his uniform reminded him of a janitor. "Just get out of here."
They were in the large grassy area of what appeared to be a park. There were trees and benches–even a small playground in the corner–but the area was empty of life. Behind the trees, there were several roads and tall buildings; possibly a major highway. The nine teenagers were taking everything in with shock and worry as none of them recognized where they were.
Sam recovered quickly, turning to the man waiting for them to get off the grass. "We're really sorry about that. Where are we exactly?"
The man raised an eyebrow. "Like I said, the park." Danny can tell he was no longer amused with them. "Want to take my advice? You've got twenty minutes till the drills start. Even if you live close by, you'll never make it inside in time. Call your parents and tell them you're safe and at that diner over there." The man pointed behind them to a small shop at the corner of the street.
The students had no idea what was going on, where they were, or how they got here. The man seemed to expect they knew what was going on so until they figured it out for themselves, it was best not to give too much of their confusion away.
Paulina and Star looked the most worried, having left their bags back at the cultural festival with their phones in them. Valerie had her bag on her back. Mikey had the book he was reading still clutched in his hands. The rest of them were without a way to contact home and were slowly starting to realize this.
Dash was frustrated–maybe even a little scared–as he took in everything. His mouth opened, but Sam noticed this and cut him off.
"Thank you!" she said, loudly, gesturing to her classmates' various positions standing or sitting in the grass. "Sorry about all this. We'll go do that now, our parents are probably worried sick."
The man relaxed. "It's fine, just get inside."
Sam sent a very pointed look to everyone who was watching her. They slowly got to their feet without saying a word and followed Sam as she waved cheerfully behind her. They reached the corner of a street, where a road sign and a crosswalk stood, before stopping. The man from before was still back at the park.
"Alright," Sam announced, spinning around and glaring at everyone as they gathered. "Does anyone know where the hell we are?"
"Not Amity Park," Valerie informed, blankly. She gazed at the tall buildings, clean roads, and the glowing shopping center down the street from them. The city they were in was not only clean, but looked like people lived here comfortably. If there were actually people outside right now, the city would most likely be an extremely lively place.
Sam noticed these oddities too, looking over the group of students until resting her eyes on Dash. "Where's the stupid orb?" Sam asked, holding out her hand. Dash frowned and crossed his arms.
"This is not the time to be petty, Baxter!" Sam argued, throwing her hand out again. "Whatever is going on here has something to do with that stupid thing you stole so give it here."
The entire group, even Paulina, Star, and Kwan were looking at him expectantly. Dash was clearly outnumbered, but he still didn't uncross his arms. "I don't have it."
Sam stepped forward. "I'm serious!" Dash argued, stepping back to put distance between them again. "I woke up and it wasn't in my pockets!"
"Damn it! You dropped it?"
"Well how should I know?! That crazy old lady is the one who did something. She was probably a ghost waiting for some innocent victim to come by–"
"Innocent, my grandma's wrinkly old ass–"
Danny stepped in between them, hands pressed against both of their chests. "Enough!" he shouted, quickly removing his hand from both of them before Dash could swing his fist out. "The lady wasn't a ghost, but the thing you stole was definitely something supernatural."
Danny ignored Dash's cry of, "Oh yeah? Says you, Fentonail!"
"I know we're all confused and scared, but I think everyone can agree that we need to figure out where we are," Danny continued.
"Rockford," Mikey answered. "I-It was the sign at the park."
"We're still in Illinois," Tucker said, finally cheering up. The realization that he woke up without his precious PDA had been heartbreaking to him. "Teleportation is definitely new, but we live in a town overrun by ghosts, so who knows?"
"If Lancer hadn't taken our phones, I could call mi papá to come pick us up," Paulina huffed, patting her pockets as if expecting her phone to suddenly appear.
Valerie swung her bag forward. After a moment, she sighed and said, "I don't have mine either. I left it on the picnic table."
"This book isn't very helpful, is it?" Mikey stated, holding up the English textbook he had traveled with. "If only I had grabbed my backpack."
"We need to know how to get home," Sam cut in. She looked behind them. The street across from them had several shops with few lights on. "That guy pointed out the diner over there so that's where we should start."
The class eyed the vacant street and the warm, welcoming diner. "You sure that's a good idea?" Tucker voiced. "I'm pretty sure this is how all horror movies start."
Sam raised her arms in exasperation. "You got a better idea, genius?"
"No, no, diner is good. Just nobody say any cliché last words. I've made that mistake one too many times."
They walked across the road hesitantly, noticing more and more oddities with the town they landed in and feeling their skin crawl under eyes they were sure were watching them. The street lights were all yellow and the crosswalk signs didn't turn on when pressed. Not only was the town empty, it was like everything was on pause.
Sam walked ahead, knowing that Tucker, Danny, and–reluctantly–Valerie were carefully eyeing the other sides of the group and keeping everyone close together. Sam had one ghost weapon in her bag: the thermos, which only worked if the ghost's power levels were three and below. This would force Danny to transform and fight if they met anyone stronger. The trio was hoping to avoid that scenario.
The diner's "open" sign wasn't lit, but they could see people through the windows. Sam pressed her hand against the door and held it open when no one made a move to do it first. They entered quietly, not disrupting the warm atmosphere and quiet conversations inside the diner. Sweet smells teased them from the kitchens as the students recalled–with great despair–that they never finished their lunches.
A waitress twirled past them carrying a coffee mug. She laughed at them good naturedly. "You all sure waited 'till the last minute, didn't you? I was just about to lock up."
"With everyone still inside?" Danny asked without thinking. He winced when she snorted.
"Cute, kid," she said, walking passed them to pour another drink for a customer. "I suppose humor is always needed in times like these. Can I get ya'll something to drink while we wait?"
Danny almost asked what they were supposed to be waiting for. "Could you give us directions?"
"Directions? I sure hope you kids aren't trying to skip town all of a sudden?" The waitress and the man she was pouring coffee for laughed. The class didn't get the joke.
"We just need to know how to get to Amity Park from here and we'll be out of your way," Valerie informed, growing impatient with the conversation.
Something changed abruptly. The restaurant practically went silent as every ear tuned in to their conversation. Eyes remained forward, but the atmosphere of friendliness was gone; which was easily understood by how stern the waitress's face looked.
She carefully set down the mug she was holding, eyes following each of them. "Is this a joke?"
The students knew their town was something to laugh at when looked at by outsiders, but it didn't make it any less frustrating. Somehow, they managed to land in a city that not only knew Amity Park was the town of the "phony supernatural fanatics," but also appeared to hate its citizens.
Dash was on the defense immediately. "We just want to get back to our families, okay?" he blurted, providing more information than necessary. Danny almost heard the tiniest bit of worry in Dash's voice and decided to stop Sam from connecting the punch she was winding up.
The waitress's eyes cleared, abruptly. She suddenly appeared both angry and pitying, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. "Wow. I mean, we all knew Amity Park cut off everyone when it happened, but they even left their own kids?" she whistled, shaking her head. "Ruthless." Behind her, others were varying with similar reactions.
She looked at their dirtied bodies, arms crossed. "You guys have been on your own for a long time. You must have been what, twelve?"
The class had a feeling that there was serious miscommunication error.
The waitress resumed her duties, picking up the coffee mug she left at a table and venturing to another as a sort of positive lift occurred in the atmosphere of the diner. A man at one of the tables smiled at them, and the class noticed that the restaurant no longer felt hostile.
Danny couldn't help but think all of their smiles were expressions someone would wear at a funeral.
"I can direct you to it," the waitress offered. "But nobody's tried to get there in four years so who knows what the surrounding area looks like anymore."
A different man from the back of the restaurant grumbled, "People have screamed their heads off and banged their fists as hard as they could. They won't get in."
"Well, if they were originally from Amity and their parents are still there, then maybe they could get the citizen's attention." Here the waitress paused. "Or pity."
"Have 'em take the western bus route!" another helpful customer chimed in.
The teenager sitting next to the woman who shouted the advice jerked to face her companion. "Are you trying to get them killed? The west route was destroyed last Saturday!"
"Eastern's faster," the man who smiled at them earlier suddenly said. He sat right next to where the class was still standing with bewildered expression. "Be careful, though. That's where He was last seen."
A coffee mug slamming on the counter of the diner halted the 'helpful' advice. "I am quite capable of giving directions, thank you," the waitress snapped, delicate fingernails wrapped tightly around the handle of the object that could easily be turned into a weapon. "If ya'll would kindly focus on your food, I'll be right back.
The class followed her as she guided them outside; glass door closing behind them with a click, taking the feeling of warmth and safety with it. A slip of paper was handed to Mikey.
"That's the symbol for the eastern bus so you'll know it when you see it. Down this street for about a mile, take a left at River Drive and then a right at Fourt," she explained, expression soft. "Look, kids, I can't promise you anything or say I'm real happy about doing this, but I hope you find your families. No parents–not even them–deserve to know the loss of a child."
"We really appreciate it," Valerie said. The waitress waved off her praise.
"Just, remember us, okay?" the woman asked. "We're still here."
Valerie blinked. "Of course." How could they forget them?
The class followed Mikey this time after the waitress headed back inside. He held the slip of paper up for each student to see as they followed the directions.
"Does anyone want to even try and guess what that was all about?" Danny voiced, still turning the conversation over and over again in his head.
It was Dash that provided the simplest and most comforting answer, "Simple," he said, shrugging. "There are towns and people even crazier than Amity Park."
Valerie was stressed. "Please," she begged, rubbing her temples. She eyed the sky above them as it darkened with clouds, wishing for the skyline of the only home any of them had ever known. "Let's just go home. No more arguing, no more fighting, I just want to see the Amity Park sign by nightfall."
They found the bus route within an hour.
Danny spent the entire time worrying. He wasn't sure if the others recalled that the old woman had said something just before they disappeared. She was too far away from them for Danny to hear her whispered words, but Danny knew her grin promised the entire group retribution.
He looked at Sam, walking in the front of the group. Danny envied her strength. Despite the situation, she fought Dash, got them answers, and above all, always tried to do the right thing. Beside him, Danny watched Tucker as he hummed an annoying song from a commercial for gum. Even Tucker, in many ways, was strong; with his humor and intelligence, Danny honestly had no idea what he would do without him.
Danny tried to stay positive–tried to reason that although everything looked bad, it'd turn out alright–but the reassurances didn't calm the ectoplasm in his veins or the crawling of his skin.
Void of life, the station gave off an eerie feeling. Despite this, the nine teenagers collapsed at the bus stop in various positions on the floor or benches; each lost in their own thoughts as they dreamed of home.
The bus arrived after ten minutes of waiting. A large man greeted them with a scrunched-up look of disdain. "You kids leaving town at this hour?"
"It's only the afternoon," Danny replied.
The man laughed. "Whatever. Got any money? It'll cost you extra since I'll have to stay out of town till it's over."
Sam shoved a wad of cash into the man's hands, startling him. No one argued why Sam had so much money or volunteered to split the cost, they simply got on the bus with shoulders hunched and heads low. Danny didn't think anyone else recognized how they were acting: like all Amity Park citizens did when they prepared for an attack.
Danny took the seat next to Tucker, closing a hand around his and squeezing. Tucker squeezed back and Sam eyed them both over the back of her seat. They were tense, each feeling the building tension, but not knowing where it was coming from.
They thought something was going to attack the bus–maybe a ghost followed Danny here–but the purple vehicle pulled away from the station without incident. The buildings flew by as they circled the block. Just as they had observed on the way here, the entire city was void of life: a ghost town.
With no traffic lights to stop him, the driver made his way onto highway quite easily, leaving the dim glow of the empty city behind in a trail of exhaust.
Paulina had her hand pressed against the glass. She gently traced the view of the building before they got too far away. "Where are the people?" she finally gained the courage to ask, ignoring Sam's hissed warning.
The driver watched them in the rearview mirror. "Taking cover," he replied easily.
Danny had a very bad feeling that he didn't want to know. "Danny," Tucker's voice said, sounding strained as he tugged on his sleeve, "look."
Tucker's other hand was pointing out the back window of the bus to the city they left behind. There was a slight buzzing sound coming from the direction that Danny immediately recognized as an alarm. He stood up slightly to get a better view. The entire skyline of Rockford, Illinois was lit up in flashes of green and white, with helicopters flying overhead and shining lights over buildings.
The once empty, silent town was so bright they could see it from miles away.
They're silent as they watch the sirens and flashing lights in the distance; a loud boom from the city doesn't even shake them. Danny has to ask. He has to know. "Why?" he voiced, not taking his eyes away from the scene.
The driver snorted. "Jesus, kids, haven't you ever seen ghost drills before?"
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
"This is as far as I can take you," the driver said. His deep voice penetrated the hazy sleep several of the students had fallen into during the ride.
Their memories were fuzzy, each of them having to come to terms with, once again, waking up to find themselves somewhere else than where they started. Danny nudged his friends awake, having not slept a wink.
When they exited the bus, the students realized the driver was being quite literal. "Oh, my fuck," Dash voiced. Stepping out beside him, mouth unhinged, Sam didn't even bother to punch him for his language.
The road in front of the bus was gone. Torn into shreds of unrecognizable colored lines and pieces, the rest of the walk appeared to be more of a mountain climb. The entire landscape looked like something straight out of a zombie move, with grass, dirt, and path piled up and destroyed by some unnatural creature.
"About a couple miles down this way is where ya'll are headed," the driver said, holding the slip of paper the waitress gave the kids between his fingers. "You'll know it when you see it."
"You expect us to walk this?" Dash gasped. His hands were tugging at his blonde hair in disbelief.
"No, of course not," the driver whined. "Fly." He pulled the us doors shut and reversed the vehicle, leaving the stunned teenagers behind.
They stood there gaping at the path that used to be a highway leading to the entrance of their town. Then, Valerie suddenly had a fistful of Dash's shift. "This is all your fault!" she screamed as she shook him.
"Me?" Dash cried. Danny didn't know if he was brave or stupid.
"Yes, you idiot! You and your stupid schemes and your stealing and–UGH!" Valerie shoved him to the ground, ignoring the groan of pain as she placed a foot over his chest. "Does this look normal to you?"
"So a ghost attacked while we were gone–"
Valerie grabbed his chin and turned his head to face the destruction before them. "A ghost attacked? This looks like the entire Ghost Zone had a field day while we were gone. We don't even know if Amity Park is still standing!"
Dash swallowed heavily. His eyes really took in the damage this time. "It's not like we would have been able to do anything!"
Valerie punched him square in the nose. "I COULD HAVE!"
"Val, stop!" Danny shouted, pulling her away from the bully who was now clutching his bleeding nose. Kwan was at Dash's side in an instance, but surprisingly Star and Paulina only watched.
Her eyes burned into Danny's startled blue ones. "No, Danny! Quit protecting him."
Danny let go of her arm, reminded of his conversation with Sam who was watching with raised eyebrows and a knowing look. "I'm not," he defended.
"You are! You do! You've been weird for months–" she cut herself off, shaking her head. Her fingers covered her eyes in a gesture of tiredness. "God, no, I can't deal with this right now. What's important is finding out what happened and how we got here."
She whipped around to glare at Dash, still clutching his nose but being held up by Kwan. "And I am so not finished with you," she hissed through clenched teeth. The students thought she was going to continue to yell at him, but she paused, eyes on one of Dash's hands. "What the hell is that?"
"What?" Kwan asked, jerking backwards when she grabbed one of Dash's wrists. "H-Hey!"
Valerie's eyes were wide. "Is this the stupid thing you stole?" She shoved Dash's hand into his face and the teenage boy suddenly noticed an odd circular mark on his left wrist.
Dash blinked and brilliantly declared, "That crazy lady left her voodoo on me!" Valerie kneed him in the stomach.
"We're leaving," she declared, walking towards the first obstacle. "Keep up or get left behind. No matter what, we're reaching Amity Park before it gets dark and we are finding out what the fuck Dash did."
"I didn't do this!" Dash argued, still rubbing at the mark on his arm. He was ignored.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
They worked together to cross the ruins. There were deep holes in the ground that no one could see the bottoms of, mountains of ruble, sharp edges to avoid, mud, water, and the occasional storm whenever it started to rain. The storms were light and ended quickly, but the students couldn't climb most of the material when it was wet, even when they used each other. They followed the relative path they were directed in, knowing they were headed in the right direction when they kept having to climb over street signs.
Unsurprising to no one, the A-listers kept to themselves. Dash's nose had stopped bleeding two hours ago, but his ego was still bruised if the occasional glare in Valerie's direction was anything to go by. He kept quiet, though. Either having sense that pretty much everyone was mad at him or just knowing now was not the time to argue.
When they came across ectoplasmic burns on the road–laying sideways as the chunk was certainly not walkable–Danny felt his heart quicken.
Sam reached the area first and gently touched a hand to it. "It's old," she voiced, nodding to the others slowly following her lead. "Really old."
"That's not possible," Danny whispered, placing his own hand against the mark and feeling zero vibrations to indicate recent activity. "We just left. This wasn't here earlier this week."
"Maybe it's a new type of ghost," Tucker offered. "One that's ectoplasm count is… weirdly outdated?"
Danny let his hand drop. "Great, just what we need."
"I should go first," Valerie announced. She hesitated when the trio turned to her. "I-I'm not too bad at fighting so I just think it's smart."
Danny wished he could tell her she really didn't need to justify how good at fighting she was. They knew.
The students continued forward. After another mile, they started to see a glow over the horizon. They kept walking in that direction, but Danny noticed that everyone was keeping their eyes firmly facing forward. He let his gaze wonder for a moment, noticing the destroyed pieces of large building off to the right and left of them in the distance. Destroyed cities.
No one wanted to believe Amity Park was among them.
When the light from what looked like a giant dome became large enough for them to stop and gape at it, the students finally noticed they were looking at their home town. There was no sign in front of the dome, but deep down there was a feeling of belonging. The tingle of ectoplasmic energy enticed Danny who realized the dome was actually a gigantic ghost shield.
They stood in silence, several feet away from the cackling energy and mouths practically catching flies.
Valerie was both relieved and approving. "Looks like Amity Park finally decided to take things seriously."
"But how and when?" Danny whispered in awe. The shield reached over the tallest of buildings which appeared faded and distorted from their outside viewpoint. "There is absolutely no way my parents built this in a day." Danny paused, blinking. "Actually, okay, knowing them, maybe they did."
"How do you know your parents built it?" Valerie asked, hips cocked. "Axon Labs and Mayor Masters have been working real hard on the anti-ghost initiative."
Danny raised his arms to the giant shield. "It's big, it glows, it's super eccentric, and I bet it has my Dad's face on it somewhere."
Valerie frowned. "Touché."
"Is this what that lady meant by getting in?" Paulina wondered, squinting at the shield and wondering if she could touch it. "Where's the entrance?"
The students looked around both edged of the shield as it disappeared into the distance, far larger than they could follow now that they were so close. There wasn't anything that looked like a door.
"HEY!" Sam cupped her hands around her mouth and shouted. The nine teenagers joined her in screaming at the top of their lungs.
When nothing happened, Dash stepped forward to bang on the shield. "Wait!" Valerie cried, moving forward. "Don't touch it–"
Everyone stopped when Valerie's backpack suddenly beeped. To their surprise, the shield made the same sound and a portion of it pealed apart in front of them. Valerie turned around to cover her bag where Danny, Sam, and Tucker knew her Red Huntress suit rested.
"My phone!" Valerie said, nervously, pressing against her backpack until it stopped beeping. "Ah, my dad must have recognized my phone and let us in."
Valerie was lucky no one cared to question her. Now that the shield was open, they could see what had become of their city and they were far too enraptured to argue. "Are those flying cars?" Star breathed, immediately crossing the barrier in astonishment and leaving Valerie to finish her stuttered explanation.
"No way," Dash whispered, following her into the bustle and glow of Amity Park. "No way, no way, no way."
Every single one of them walked through the shield, too busy in their shock to watch as it closed behind them, cutting them from the blurred view of the outside world and surrounding destroyed cities. Beside Danny, who was slowly starting to feel dread creep through him, Tucker squealed at all the technology.
"Guys," Mikey laughed, eyes sparkling and absolutely certain, "we're in the future."
"There is absolutely no way this is the Amity we left behind," Valerie agreed. Her smile was wide as she twirled around to watch people fly through the air in floating cars. She breathed in the clean air, instinctively knowing that the ectoplasmic contaminant that buzzed through their town in the past was gone.
The ghosts were gone.
Dash looked down in astonishment at the circle etched into his hand, feeling a wave of pure vindictive satisfaction. "That crazy old bat sent us to the future. Suck on that, you nut case! How in the hell is this punishment?" he laughed, racing forward to explore.
"Wait!" Sam shouted, grabbing the back of his shirt and halting anyone else's sudden movements. "We still need to go back."
The other students, minus Tucker who ignored everything Sam said usually and Danny who was still trying to understand why his body wouldn't move, gazed incredulously at her. "We're in the future with flying cars, super shopping malls, and probably kick ass entertainment, and you want to go home?" Valerie said in disbelief.
"Oh nooooo, let's just go prancing around in the future and fuck up a few timelines while we're at it," Sam jeered, "I mean, it's not like our futures are important or anything."
Valerie wanted to argue with that, but closed her mouth the more she thought about paradoxes. There was also the fact that a ghost object had sent them here so who knew what kind of fiend was pulling the strings.
"Timeline's are delicate," Sam continued, "and we might mess up the future just by being here."
Valerie nodded. "Alright, then how do you propose we get to the past?"
"Danny knows a ghost that could help." Danny, having heard his name, jerked to attention.
"Ah, right, Clockwork," he said, slowly, blinking.
Valerie crossed her arms at them. "A ghost? You're joking."
"If it can help us get back then–DASH, YOU ABSOLUTE–UGH!" Sam cut herself off, screaming. She was running into the city in seconds, following after the blond jock who had snuck off during their conversation to approach the nearest citizen.
Dash, in all his wisdom, believed interacting with the citizens was an okay thing to do. He wanted to know how far they went into the future and decided to ask the man he saw sitting outside a coffee shop. "Hey, dude! What year is it?"
The man looked up from his phone at the shout. He eyed Dash who stopped in front of him with a look of tiredness. Finally, he shrugged, "2027," and went back to looking at his phone.
Dash turns around. "Holy crap, ten years. This is insa-MANSON!" Dash was cut off by his own terrified squeal when he finally noticed Sam charging at him. "H-Hold on! Wait a second!"
"You idiot!" She screamed, grabbing his arm easily and tugging him away from the man. "What did I just say about not changing anything?"
"That it's… bad?"
"So, tell me, Baxter, why did you think it was a good reason to do it anyways?"
A small gasp came from the man they were walking away from. It startled Sam long enough for them to pause and look backwards at the citizen now on his feet. "How did you get in?" the man breathed, eyes locked with Sam's.
Behind Sam, the rest of the class settled in front of the man whose breathing picked up again when he noticed another person in their group. "T-The shield," he stuttered again, switching his wide-eyed look of shock from Sam to Tucker.
"T-The shield." His voice is no more than a terrified whisper now.
Sam knew the dangers of messing with the timeline, but if people were going to easily recognize they weren't from here, then she had to know how they could do it. She took a step closer and the man panicked. There was a choking noise as he shoved himself against the shop window before taking off down the street into the denser part of town. He didn't even look back once.
It was like he had seen a ghost.
"Well that was helpful," Valerie scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Nice going, Dash."
"Me?" Dash exclaimed, tearing his hand away from Sam. "Manson's the one he got all freaked at for some reason. Everything was fine until she showed up."
Sam was still staring at the man who was no more than a speck in the distance. Her heartbeat, against her will and better judgement, began to pace irregularly and speed up to pump blood through her veins to prepare for a fight. There was a tiny thought in the back of her mind that all of this was very familiar. It nagged at her as dread tingled down to her very fingertips. Tucker wasn't stupid, and when she looked at him she saw the same reflected foreboding feeling.
In unison, they turned to find Danny shaking. The deep fear of self they thought they'd finally gotten rid of was as plain as day in his expression.
Sam took a deep breath in. "We need to go. I told you, we're not supposed to be here."
Dash groaned, not noticing the stillness of the trio. "Whatever, Manson. I just wanted to know the year."
"Yeah, you just wanted to know a lot of things," Sam said, her tone no longer friendly, and harsh enough for the others to pick up on the change.
"Sam?" Valerie asked. The girl looked at the three of them, feeling like she missed something important.
"We need to leave before we cause irreversible damage to the timeline," Sam explained, ignoring Danny's slowly crumbling face and trying to draw attention to herself. Tucker discretely settled at Danny's side to grip his hand tightly. They were going to get out of this and everything was going to be fine, was what she imagined Tucker whispered to him.
Danny was going to start panicking and they would have no idea how to explain this to the other students. The wounds were too fresh, the future too painful to think about after the CAT incident, and Danny absolutely was not ready to be thrown into one where it seemed that nothing had changed if the damaged cities, the reactions to Tucker and Sam, and the giant ghost shield were any indicator.
All those months and months of his friends telling him that they were there, that his parents were safe, that he would never turn into Dan because they fixed it–and suddenly Danny couldn't breathe.
The other students, god bless their souls, for once in their lives decided to be observant. Sam was no longer able to distract them when Dash turned to Danny and Tucker, raising an eyebrow. "Why does Fenton look like someone murdered his family?" he asked.
"Oh, my fucking God," Sam swore.
Danny might have panicked, might have started screaming, or might have raged at Dash so hard that he turned him into a pile of ectoplasmic goo. Triggers caused unpredictable reactions that Sam and Tucker knew they wouldn't be able to hide or explain well enough, but a loud explosion caught everyone off guard and saved them the struggle.
Barely even a second passed before the citizens in the denser part of town seemed to know what to do and took shelter in the buildings, leaving the kids in the street.
"No," Valerie groaned, seeing the ectoplasmic smoke rising on the left side of the city, outside the dome. "There aren't supposed to be any ghosts in the future, come on!"
A female voice called out from above, "Code yellow, mild disturbance on Eastern Command Center. Dispatching repair team immediately. Clear for code black. Stay indoors."
"Code black?" Mikey whispered. "Is this a ghost drill? We only ever went as far as code red!"
Sam was already grabbing Tucker and Danny. "INSIDE, NOW!" she yelled to the others, racing to the coffee shop's entrance. The students listened easily.
Sam gripped her two best friend's hands tight enough to feel them shaking. She assumed code black meant… the worst scenario, so code yellow shouldn't be too much for them to deal with yet. What was most important right now was keeping their classmates alive, keeping them away from Dan so they couldn't be used as leverage, and making sure Danny took very deep, calming breaths.
Sam's heart clenched at the thought of having to force Danny through this again. The knowledge that nothing had changed, even though Danny knew what he would lose if he ever went down this path, hurt more than anything. She couldn't even imagine what was going through Danny's head right now, but she knew it would take more than a couple months of therapy with his sister to fix it.
Tucker, for the first time in a while, was absolutely livid. He could see Sam's concerned expression and knew she was worried for Danny–which he was too–but for once, the techno geek was pissed. His best friend was finally starting to heal after two or three months of pretending the encounter with the future never happened. Then Dash had to go and undo all their hard work and thrust Danny into his personal living HELL.
Tucker was going to break some balls when this was over.
They didn't get very far, maybe a couple feet towards the shop, before a giant, vaguely humanoid shape blocked their path; slamming down in front of them hard enough to shake the ground and send them to their knees.
Sam reached for her backpack at the same time Valerie did, both preparing to fight with whatever ghost weapon they grabbed–although Sam only had a thermos–but turning in shock when the monster was sucked up before they could move.
Floating above them– with her mask off and in all her glory–the Red Huntress smiled and announced, "Ghost contained, heading back to…" she trailed off when she noticed the stunned kids sprawled bellow her.
"That's impossible," she breathed, descending until she was right in front of them. She ignored the startled exclamations of "Valerie?!" from the other students and focused on the trio, saying the words they never wanted to hear again.
"Sam? Tucker?" she gasped. "But you're dead."
Quietly, hidden behind his friends, Danny placed his head between his knees and allowed himself to cry.
o.O.o.O.o.O.o
A/N: They're 16-17 years old and Juniors in high school. Sam totally has a potty mouth (cynical people tend to when faced with death all the time–Danny's too in shock to curse and he's a public figure for little kids so he has to try and hold his tongue).
Don't forget to review! What do you think will happen? What do you want to see happen?
Q and A:
What was up with Rockford?
In the student's present time, nobody else in the world believes in ghosts. The town of Rockford was preparing for Ghost Drills that the students got stuck in my middle of; waking up in a park a good couple miles away from Amity due to the fact the Ghost Shield protects against all things ghostly, and the object that sent them to the future was ectoplasmic based.
Miscommunication error? Why do Rockford's citizens freeze when they heard Amity Park?
TUE never explored this, but my headcannon is that the rest of the world (or at least several cities and small towns) survived Dan's wrath by adapting and creating ghost weapons and drills. When Dan attacked and first revealed that ghosts were real and dangerous, everyone ran to Amity Park to try and get help, but the city went on lockdown, shutting everyone else out to fend for themselves.
Danny?
Danny is not okay. Seriously, even though they were saved in the end, he saw everyone he cared about die while he couldn't do anything to save them. He was told by Clockwork and the Observants that he will always be caught in a cycle and there will always be the chance he could turn out like Dan. He's stuck in a box of worrying that every action he takes could be the end of someone he loves. That's a lot of guilt to put on a kid's shoulders.
Why was the man asking how Sam and Tucker "got in?"
He knows they're dead and thinks they're ghosts.