#danny: if you people could just stay alive for FIVE MINUTES

[charlietheepicwriter7]

Imagine a Danny who gets adopted by Clockwork.

Imagine that, as a result of the adoption, Danny can now see the future, or parts of it.

Imagine Danny getting overwhelmed by all the bad timelines where the heroes lose or turn evil.

Imagine Danny working to do something about it.

[oliverreedmasterass]

Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Interlude | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Second Interlude | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Epilogue

Chapter Summary: The group makes their way into Frankenmuth, ready to fight against the hunters to protect their nest and pack.

Words: 5.2k

Warnings: grotesque violence (more intense than in previous chapters), gun violence, blood, head injury, language, implications of death

Notes: I'm writing this to hold myself accountable: Chapters 12 and the Epilogue will be posted by Halloween. If that doesn't happen, I will deactivate my account (jk) (also thanks to @infinisonicosm for the fic idea!!)

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Rae was sure she wasn’t the only one feeling the day weighing on her shoulders, but no one else showed it as they briskly moved through the woods back out to the residential streets. A part of Rae was relieved that her gut had been telling her the truth so they could get back to town faster, but she was also concerned. Where did this intuition come from? Rae had never noticed it before, and now it consumed her mind. 

The sun was just starting to make its way over the horizon when their feet met pavement for the first time in hours. Beside her, Morgan let out a sigh of relief. Jake turned around and looked back at Rae and Morgan, his face twisted with concern. 

“I heard your phone call with your mom,” he told Rae. “You and Morgan need to go home and stay safe. My dad said that Bri is in town, which is really bad news. Both of you go and let your parents know you’re okay. We’ll be able to fend things off.” 

“Look, I don’t know who Bri is, but we’ve made it this far, I don’t want to leave your side,” Rae tried to protest. 

“She’s a hunter. The best, actually. A vampire killed her parents and filled her with such an intense rage, she’ll kill whoever gets in her way, even if they’re human.” 

“People say she took out an entire nest in less than five minutes with nothing but a cheese grater,” Sam popped into the conversation, widening his eyes as he shared his story. “She kept one alive so he could tell the tale.” 

“I doubt that’s true,” Danny rolled his eyes at Sam. 

“No,” Karen countered, “It is.” 

Rae grimaced at the thought but held her ground. “This seems like an all hands on deck kind of deal.” 

She noticed that Jake was looking closely at Morgan, and then turned to her brother as well. In the fading sunlight, Morgan’s skin was entirely sapped of color. His rustled hair looked like it might never properly smooth down again. He was starting to fold in on himself like he couldn’t stand upright any longer. 

Jake caught Rae’s eye and Rae sighed. 

“Okay, Morgan definitely needs to go home.” 

“I can stick it out,” Morgan gave a weak protest. 

“Take one look in the mirror and you’re gonna change your mind,” Rae cut him off. She looked around at the group and wasn’t sure whether to smile or keep a straight face. She opted to let the side of her lip curl upwards slightly, and gave a joking salute. “Please be safe,” she told them. 

Josh gave Rae a comforting rub on the back. 

“What time is your chemo tomorrow?” he asked Morgan. Morgan looked caught off guard by the question, scrambling to come up with an answer. 

“10?” he guessed. 

“See you at 9 tomorrow,” Josh winked at him. 

Kelly and Karen gave waves to Rae and Morgan, and Danny and Sam called their goodbyes as well. As Josh rejoined his family, Jake remained behind, looking at Rae with those melancholy eyes. 

“Get some rest and lay low,” he told Rae. “I’ll swing by and check on you guys later.” 

“Don’t worry about us,” Rae shook her head, even though she did desperately want to see him later so she knew he was alright. “Watch out for Bri. If anything happens to you, I’m legally obliged to kick your ass.” 

“I’ve personally never felt more threatened in my life,” Jake’s face warmed slightly. 

“Now, go out there and get em, tiger,” Rae told him. Jake laughed, but he looked unsure. Rae watched him with interest, wondering what was going through his head. Before she could react, Jake stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her in close so she could feel his heart thundering in his chest. “Hey, hey,” Rae softly spoke. “It’s gonna be okay.” 

“Just in case,” Jake whispered back. Then, just like that, he released and took a step back, focusing his attention on Morgan. “No more running into the woods, okay?” 

“Trust me, I’m never going back there again.” 

Jake looked over his shoulder to see his family slowly disappearing from sight. 

“I’d better go,” he said. Rae saw a flash of fear cross his face. She wanted to tell him to sit this one out, that he had been through enough and should stay with her and Morgan, but her words stuck in her mouth. She knew he would never abandon his family when they needed him. Her heart broke that, at just 17, Jake already had to put his life on the line over and over again. 

“Be safe,” Rae reminded him, and then Jake was off. Rae felt a knot form in her throat as she watched him leave but, before the emotions could take hold of her, she focused her attention on Morgan. “Let’s get you home, bud,” she told him. 

All it took was crossing the street and walking half a block for them to make it back to their new house. Rae was in the middle of twisting her key in the lock when her mom flung the door open with a relieved cry. She engulfed Morgan in a tight hug, leaving Rae standing awkwardly to the side. 

 “Four hours!” their mom exclaimed into Morgan’s shoulder. “I thought you were dead!” 

“We’re fine, Mom,” Rae promised her, trying to hide her hurt that she hadn’t received a hug as well. 

“Where were you?” their mom had her eyes glued on Rae. “What were you doing that was so important you couldn’t answer your phones?” 

“I went into the woods,” Morgan cut in before Rae could think of an answer. “I got lost and Rae had to go in there and find me. Neither of us had cell reception.” 

Their mom held Morgan out in front of her so she could study him. “Why were you in the woods? You’ve heard all those stories about people going missing, Morgan. You know better than that.” 

“I was trying to clear my head,” Morgan levelly answered back, not breaking eye contact. “You know, before tomorrow.” 

Their mom let out an exasperated sigh and hung her head, unable to continue with her scolding. 

“Come on,” she told Morgan and Rae. “Let’s get you two inside. Dad has some dinner that he can reheat.” 

Rae took a look over her shoulder at the empty residential street before she made her way indoors. They were alone. 

The next hour and a half was torture for Rae. All through dinner and creating countless white lies about what had happened in the woods, she couldn’t stop thinking about how she was in the wrong place. She needed to be with Jake, Josh, Sam, Danny, Kelly, and Karen, defending their nest and pack from the hunters. They had been through too much for her to tap out early. 

Her eyes kept falling on the front door and, after probably her fifteenth time gazing longingly out the window, Morgan seemed to pick up on her thoughts. For a brief period where neither of their parents were in the dining room with them, he leaned across the table. 

“You want to go back out there, don’t you?” he asked. Rae could only nod. Morgan took another bite of his pasta and chewed thoughtfully. 

“I do too.” 

Even though the color had returned back to Morgan’s face and he looked more like a teenage boy than a ghost, Rae quickly shut him down. 

“I don’t think you really do,” she said. Morgan looked back at her in surprise. “You’re still recovering,” Rae continued. “You need to get your rest. Also, as your older sister, I can’t afford to see you endure any more of this violent shit.”

Morgan’s shoulders slumped. 

“I honestly do want to help, but I am feeling super gassed. I haven’t moved around this much in a crazy long time.” 

“You’re gonna stay here,” Rae decided for him. “And you better pinky promise you won’t come looking for me or do anything stupid while I’m gone, okay?” 

Morgan rolled his eyes, but offered his pinky out to her. “Promise,” he said. 

Rae took his pinky in hers and then stood from the table. 

“I’m gonna go out through the back,” she thought aloud. “Can you cover for me?” 

“I’ll tell Mom and Dad you’re in your room,” Morgan agreed. “Put on one of your weird folk albums super loud and stuff your bed with shit so it looks like you’re sleeping.” 

“You’re the best,” Rae grinned at him. She never had to sneak out of the house back in Folsom, but she and Morgan had had plenty of conversations over the years talking about how they would pull it off. She was so glad that Morgan had remembered their plan. 

Rae gave Morgan a kiss on the head which he returned with gagging noises, and then slipped out the back door and rushed through the side gate to return to the street. She wasn’t sure where to look for her friends, but heading downtown seemed like the best option.

Rae started to run down the middle of the road, her ponytail whipping behind her with each step. The streetlights were starting to flicker on overhead, and Rae sputtered as some gnats made their way into her mouth. The closer she got to downtown, the more Rae noted that things felt off in Frankenmuth. The streets that she and Jake had strolled down just a few days before when they first met were in disarray. Houses had their front doors entirely ripped off the hinges and their windows smashed. People stood, lost, on their porches, trying to make sense of everything. Off in the distance a werewolf howl rumbled. Rae couldn’t tell if it was Jake, but it made her run faster. 

She was moving quicker than she ever had before, but then skidded to a stop to clutch at her stomach, which was twisting in agonizing knots. 

“Oh god,” she groaned out. “This can’t be good.” 

While she held her middle, she heard footsteps rush to her side. She lifted her head slightly in the hopes that it was Jake or Josh to help her out, but was instead met with the boney face of a middle aged man who had a large scratch running from his forehead to his right cheek. 

“Gotcha,” he rasped. “Fuckin werewolf.” 

Rae’s stomach turned again and in a blur, she saw the man start to reach for her waist to hoist her up. She blinked and saw that the man was still standing over her, waiting to make his move. Then, his hands started to reach for her. Because she knew what he was about to do, Rae did the first thing that popped into her mind and jumped out of the way. The man turned around to look at her in surprise and she sent her foot flying up into his crotch. The hunter clutched downstairs and stumbled around in a daze, but then Rae saw him take out a large knife and slice at her. With another blink, she saw that he was still keeled over. After a few beats, he straightened back up, growled at her, and reached for his weapon. In a flash, Rae rushed to his side, snatched the knife out of his hand, went behind him, and held the sharp edge to his throat. 

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Rae hissed at him. 

“What the fuck?” the guy choked back. Rae saw a flash of him turning out of her hold and thwacking his hand through her arm so she dropped the knife. She waited for him to move and, as he started to shift on his feet, she sent the hilt of the knife into the back of his head. The hunter thumped to the pavement with a groan. Rae sent a few kicks into his side and head for a little extra insurance, and stole his leather knife holder to tie around her waist. She inserted the knife into it and then wiped her dirtied hands off on her jeans as she caught her breath. 

Something moved out of the corner of her eye and she felt the adrenaline rush back through her veins. The knife came back out in front of her and Rae turned to face Sam, who jumped with wide eyes. 

“Woah!” he called out. “It’s me!” 

Rae let out a hefty sigh and dropped the knife back down to her side. 

“I was gonna step in to try and help you but, Jesus, you handled that all on your own.” 

“I don’t know what happened,” Rae admitted. “It was, like, I could see what he was going to do before he actually did it.” 

“It sounds like you’ve got some tricks up your sleeve,” Sam nodded with a smile. “Speaking of tricks, look at this!” 

Sam squeezed his fists and let out a straining grunt which made Rae wince. This went on for an uncomfortable amount of time, but Rae caught sight of a nice set of fangs coming in from Sam’s mouth. He wiped some sweat from his brow when he was finished, and then flashed a wide grin at her. 

“I’m a hybrid!” he announced, opening up his arms like he was reintroducing himself. 

“That’s amazing!” Rae congratulated him.

“I still can’t turn into a bat or a full werewolf but, you know, baby steps. I was helping a nest move into hiding a few blocks over and one of the elders told me what I had to do to get the fangs. The guy was a genius or something because it only took one try!” 

“Those hunters better watch out,” Rae joked. 

“Right back atcha,” Sam nudged her side. Rae laughed, but was still filled with uncertainty about what had happened between her and the hunter. It was like she wasn’t herself for a second. 

Rae looked around and then back at Sam. “Where’s everyone else?” 

“My dad and mom are with the other leaders trying to put pressure on the mayor. Danny’s also there so they can prove they had nothing to do with his disappearance,” Sam shared. “I have no clue where Jake and Josh are, though. The last I saw them, they were by the river trying to get back some members of our pack who were taken by the hunters.” 

“I want to help,” Rae said without thinking twice. Her words seemed to relieve Sam. 

“Uh, yeah, I could use your help,” Sam nodded. “Don’t tell anyone, but being on my own out here has been kind of terrifying, even if I have my fangs now.” 

“Let’s find Jake and Josh so we have strength in numbers,” Rae suggested. 

Sam couldn’t argue with that, so he began tracking around, trying to pick up their scents. Rae followed behind him, putting every ounce of her energy into focusing on her stomach to see if it sent her any more distress signals. Rae didn’t know where it had come from, but she had total faith in the power of her gut feeling. 

Sam led them through more empty streets, which started to look familiar. Rae realized that they were moving closer to the high school and reflected on how confused she had been about Jake earlier during her first day. Ringing sounded loudly in her ears and her vision blurred, replacing the street in front of her with a disturbing scene. Rae saw Jake and Josh fighting in desperation against a staggering number of hunters who had them backed into a corner. It was dark and hard to see, but Rae could tell that they were struggling to defend themselves and growing afraid. 

Her sight returned back to normal and she immediately saw Sam in front of her with his hand on her shoulder. 

“What did you see?” he asked her with concern. 

“Jake and Josh,” Rae told him. “They’re in trouble. Somewhere dark, I don’t know where.” 

“I can smell them near the high school,” Sam replied. “Let’s go.” 

Sam started to run, and Rae followed behind him. With each step, Rae grew more anxious and worried. Considering all that they had been through, she had never seen such terror on Jake and Josh’s faces. It was as if they could see their end in sight. 

They made it to the front doors of the high school and Sam hurdled his body into them with all of his might. Rae watched in awe as the doors groaned at his weight and flung open. Sam let in another deep inhale and then looked back at Rae. 

“You said they were in a  dark place?” 

Rae nodded. 

“I bet they’re in the basement.” 

Rae started to move towards the staircase leading downstairs, but stopped in her tracks when she noticed that Sam wasn’t following behind her. Instead, he was glued in place, squeezing his eyes shut with his fists clenched, making more groaning noises. Rae watched in confusion, unsure what to do. The last thing she wanted was for the kid to pop an eye out. 

“Dammit,” Sam grunted. “I’m so close.” 

“Can I help?” Rae found her words, stepping back to join him. Sam shook his head and continued to strain. 

“AGGHHHHHH!” a voice bellowed with a crack from beneath their feet. 

“Jake!” Sam opened his eyes to shout. He then squeezed his eyes shut again and, in one fluid motion, transformed into a werewolf, fully equipped with bat wings and a set of murderous looking fangs. Rae took a second to gawk up at Sam, who had nearly doubled in size, but Jake’s screams were still sounding beneath them, so they headed for the stairs. 

Rae kept waiting for her stomach to kick into gear, or for her to see another vision, but her brain instead buzzed with panic. Sam led the charge downstairs with a low growl and immediately sliced through two hunters who had rushed to them to see what the commotion was. Rae had the knife out and pointed in front of her, waiting to see who would attack her. Finally she saw an image of a woman rushing behind her with a stake and then quickly turned, cutting at the woman before she could make her move. Rae caught a part of the woman’s arm, which made her cry out in pain, and then pushed her in Sam’s direction. In his monster form, Sam seemed to have lost every ounce of his human self. It was hard to believe that a fourteen year old was somewhere inside the terrifying monster that was fighting through a whole crowd of hunters with vicious strikes, bites, and blows. 

Jake’s screaming had stopped, which made Rae worried. Sam looked to be fending off the hunter with ease, so she rushed farther into the basement. Metal piping ran along the walls and her footsteps echoed in the space around her, lit only by a few dying light bulbs suspended from the ceiling. The farther she moved from Sam, the more she slowed her pace so she could listen for any signs of where Jake and Josh might be. After turning a corner, she heard voices and leaned against the wall, trying to stay quiet. 

“Bri should be here soon,” an unfamiliar man’s voice spoke. 

“She’ll be happy with what we caught,” a woman replied back. Rae could tell she was grinning from how she spoke. “Children of the Kiszka Pack and Wilson Nest, how lucky are we?” 

Rae thought hard about what to do. Jake and Josh were obviously behind the wall, but there were at least two hunters she would have to get through first. But she needed to make sure they were okay. Rae tried to force another vision to come to her, to no avail. Her mind remained blank, and she cursed to herself. Then, a thought ran through her mind: 

Just go in there. 

Rae felt like that was probably an incredibly stupid idea, but it was all she had. So, holding the knife firm and steady, she slipped out from behind the wall and took in the scene. The two hunters were facing away from her as they looked down at Jake and Josh, who were tied back to back on the ground. To Rae’s relief, they were both conscious, but the gash in the side of Josh’s head and Jake’s black eye left her concerned. 

“We use the children to get to their mommy and daddy, and Bri can finally get the justice she deserves.” 

Jake was gazing in front of him, looking like he wasn’t actively looking at anything, but he must have picked up Rae’s scent because he slowly rolled his head in her direction. She could see the surprise hidden beneath the wounds of his face, but he made no sound to give her away. Instead, he made brief eye contact with her, widened his one open eye, and nodded at the hunters. Rae nodded back and took in a deep inhale. 

Go. 

Rae lunged forward and plunged the knife in between the man’s shoulder blades, immediately causing a waterfall of red to ooze down his back. He fell down hard with the knife still in him, and Rae moved onto the next hunter, who was coming at her with her gun out and ready to unload. Rae caught a vision of something, but it confused her. It was just a brown blur. 

The hunter started to press on the trigger but then, in a flash, Sam soared into the room with a blood curdling shriek and slammed straight into the hunter with his talons clawing into her chest. He lifted her from the ground and threw her at the wall so her head slammed into one of the rusty metal pipes. She fell to the ground in a lifeless heap. 

Rae pulled the knife out of the man, and then looked at Jake and Josh. Their mouths were both hung wide open. 

“Jake,” Josh whispered. “I think they did something really bad to my head. I just saw the craziest shit.” 

Jake was focused on Sam, who was examining his body to make sure he hadn’t gotten any serious injuries from his fight against the herd of hunters. Considering no one else was coming into the room for backup, Rae could only assume that he had entirely eliminated that problem. 

“You turned,” Jake breathed out, taking in his brother. “You’re a full hybrid.” 

Sam let out a few beastly huffs, transformed back into a human, and crossed his arms over his chest, as if he was trying to hide himself. 

“That was my first time fully changing.” 

“You’ve got a lot of power in you,” Jake told him. 

“I just wanted to make sure you both were okay,” Sam softly spoke back. 

“We will be once we’re untied,” Josh replied. “I gotta get away from this guy. He smells like a wet dog.” 

Rae came up to them and started sawing away at the thick ropes with the blood-stained knife. Josh caught the ropes as they fell from his wrists and dropped them onto the floor with haste. 

“You shouldn’t be surprised, that’s what happens when a werewolf is in a damp place,” Jake complained back, looking offended. 

“What happened to you both?” Rae asked as she helped them to their feet. 

Josh grabbed at his injured head and huffed. “Let’s just say I put a little bit too much faith into the guy with the supposedly good sniffer. The hunters set a trap and we walked right into it.” 

“We were able to get back seven families and I thought I had a lead on one of the last ones that’s still missing, but it turned out the hunters had just gathered their stuff to lead us here. It was stupid on my part.” 

“No, no,” Josh backtracked. “You had the right idea. I mean, how could you know?” 

Jake shrugged, unable to answer. 

“How many more families are missing?” Sam continued to press. 

“Three,” Jake said. 

“Fuck,” Sam cursed. 

“Language!” Both of his brothers scolded him. 

“Any updates from Dad or Mom?” Sam asked. Josh and Jake both looked down at the ground and shook their heads. 

“Nothing,” Josh spoke. Then, he looked at Rae and Sam. “I know this probably isn’t the time, but do you think I could get to Danny kinda quick? My head hurts like a bitch. I can’t see out of my right eye.” 

“A hunter hit him over the head with a pipe,” Jake explained. 

“We should go to City Hall,” Sam told them. “Danny might still be there with our parents trying to talk to the mayor.” 

They began to move towards the hallway leading back to the staircase when Rae was hit with an overwhelming wave of nausea and a vision. A tall woman wearing all black. Armed with a gun and stake. Moving fast. 

“Guys,” Rae choked out, trying to get the image out of her head so she could warn her friends. 

“What is it?” Josh looked at her, concerned. 

“I think it’s Bri,” Rae said in fear. Sam wore a large frown on his face. Across from her, Jake had gone more pale than he already was. 

“Where?” Sam whispered. 

A wooden stake came whizzing through the air and just barely missed Sam, clunking against the wall only inches from his head, and clattering to the floor. Sam’s eyes were bugged, and his breaths quickened as he looked beyond Rae at something. Rae turned and saw the tall woman, maybe a few years older than her, rushing toward them through the darkness. 

“Fuck,” Sam, Jake, Josh, and Rae all said at the same time. 

“You took out my hunters?” Bri barked at them as she neared closer. Without any struggle this time around, Sam transformed back into his hybrid form. Rae could tell that Bri slowed down at the sight of Sam, but continued to project herself forward. Even though Jake looked entirely sapped of energy, he sucked in a deep breath and turned into a werewolf. Josh let his fangs grow out and touched his head gingerly. 

“I’ll be okay,” he told himself. 

Sam pounced on Bri, knocking her to the cold pavement, and held her down by the shoulders, foaming at the mouth. Jake joined his brother and tried to put weight on her feet to keep her entirely immobile. Before he could secure his paws around her ankles, she kicked free, and twisted out of Sam’s grasp, rolling away from the brothers. With a crazed look on her face, she reached behind her and pulled out another wooden stake, tossing it from hand to hand. 

“Which one of you wants to go first, huh?” she asked them with a malicious grin. 

“Preferably none of us,” Jake said under his breath. Josh sped at Bri, hissing and attempting to swipe at her. Bri expertly dodged his blow and held the stake up, ready to insert it through Josh’s back. Jake rushed at her and smacked the stake from her hand so it rolled away. Sam booked it to the stake and threw it into the distance. While he did this and Josh tried to regain his balance, Rae was struck with another image. Bri had a gun and pulled it on Jake, pressing it against his heart. 

“No!” Rae shouted, throwing herself in between them right as Bri flipped the gun out from her sleeve. To Rae’s surprise, instead of Jake’s chest, the gun was forced against her head. 

“Oh Jesus Christ!” Jake cried out in surprise. The feeling of the cool metal just above her ear made Rae tremble. “Let her go! She’s not one of us!” 

“But she obviously means something to you,” Bri smirked. Jake’s face fell. “How about we strike a deal,” Bri continued. Josh and Sam were by Jake’s side now, gaping at Rae in fear, unsure what to do. “You three hand yourselves over to me, and the girl doesn’t get shot.” 

Rae knew that, no matter what happened, it wasn’t going to end well. She pictured the bullet waiting to launch from the gun and let out a shaky breath. 

“What do we do?” Josh whispered to Jake. Rae could see Jake deteriorating in front of her. 

“Any day now,” Bri called to them. Rae squeezed her eyes shut and saw Sam holding his hand out towards Bri, closing his eyes. Hypnosis, Rae thought to herself. As a hybrid, Sam can hypnotize Bri. She reopened her eyes and stared at Sam, meeting his gaze. While he first looked at her in fear, his scrunched face opened with recognition at what she was trying to tell him. Whether it be intuition or some kind of telepathic connection, Sam quickly shut his eyes and lifted his shaking hand towards Bri. 

“What’s he doing?” Bri stared at Sam. Jake and Josh studied their brother in confusion. 

“Close your eyes,” Sam hummed at Bri. While Bri first looked at him like he was crazy, Jake and Josh let out a collective gasp. Although the gun was still held against her, Rae dared to peer out of the corner of her eye and saw that Bri was standing stiff, her eyes shut. “Put the gun down,” Sam continued. The cylinder jutting into Rae’s skull was quickly removed. “Now sit.” Rae watched Bri drop herself to the floor, her face placid. Jake and Josh hurried to her side and used the ropes from the previous hunters to bind her in place with her arms behind her back. Sam took a brief pause and looked around at them. 

“Go,”  he said. “I’ll keep her in place here.” 

“What, are you crazy?” Josh shook his head. “Absolutely not. We’re not leaving you on your own. I’ll drain her and we can get a move on.”

“No,” Jake cut in. 

“No?” Josh’s voice rose in surprise. 

“We can’t,” Jake said down to Bri, who was sitting at his feet. Josh stared at Jake like he was out of his mind and threw up his hands in exasperation. “I can’t be responsible for taking another person’s life.” 

“Then leave the room, you’ll never know it happened,” Josh said. Jake frowned.

“How about this,” Rae proposed, “We’ll tie her up extra good and keep her down here where she can’t hurt anyone else. Sam, how powerful is your hypnosis?” 

“What do you need me to do?” 

“Tell her she has to stay down here until she hears some obscure word like, I don’t know, Raisin Bran or something.” 

Sam held his hand out towards Bri and began his humming sound again. “You must remain here, unmoving, until you hear the word antidisestablishmentarianism.” 

“That should do the trick,” Jake said, looking relieved. 

“Just,” Josh cut in, “let me tie her up a bit more. To be safe.” 

After ten minutes of tying knots that would floor a boy scout, they left the high school, en route to city hall. Bri remained behind, restrained against a pole in the far back corner of the basement, her head rolled down, still under Sam’s spell.

****

Taglist:@lvnterninthenight, @writingcold, @myownparadise96, @i-choose-the-road, @psychedelicsprinkles, @mama-likes72, @ascendingtothestarssasone

[late-to-the-magnus-archives]

Snippet of CORRUPTED - Magnus Archives x Malevolent fic

Danny Stoker died trying to keep a weird, cursed book away from some very bad people. Tim opened the book, and has been thrust into an entirely new world.

A snippet in which Tim is growing increasingly concerned about whatever has taken up residence in his head.

And in which some of that being's nature begins to slip through...

-------------

A few kabobs later, Tim feels significantly better. Stable blood sugar is a hell of a thing.

He still hates not being able to see. It’s awful. It’s terrifying.

But John is doing a really good job of keeping him safe, and as long as Tim tells himself this will be over soon, he’s all right.

He has to be all right.

Tim also tells himself not to think too much about Bouchard’s description of John.

That was… not a safe-sounding creature. And maybe Tim is just being some sort of speciesist, but he doesn’t know how to approach the topic at all.

It brings to mind again the question of why John had been bound in a book held by humans.

It brings to mind again that John is manipulative, and is controlling. And Tim is more than fine with both of those things in certain circumstances, but depending on the guy to stay alive is definitely not one of them.

It brings to mind the question: what else is in that book that John cannot see?

Tim believes Bouchard. Something else is in there.

He wonders if it’s safe in the backpack. “Hey, John?”

The shop we need is about twenty steps ahead and to your right. Yes?

“Is the book safe? Should I, like, wrap it in my belt, or something, so it doesn’t open in the bag?”

It won’t matter if it opens in the bag. It could fall down a cliff and flutter completely agape, revealing its perverseness to the seagulls, and nothing would happen. It must be opened by a living, sentient being.

“Wow. If they could go that far, you’d think they’d put some kind of lock on it, yeah? A safeword, or something.”

John sounds amused. You mean a fail-safe? Or a password, perhaps?

“Sure, whatever. Still, that’s good to know. Wouldn’t want to release Cthulhu in the middle of London.”

No, we wouldn’t want to do that, says John with absolutely no inflection at all. Store to your right, now.

Oh, that wasn’t spooky. Nope!

Tim sighs. It’s still early morning, he tells himself. There’s safety in that, even if he can’t see the daylight. 

John doesn’t have a body, Tim tells himself. He’s not Cthulhu, either, since that is an old-timey story by a crazy dead racist. (Speciesist, Tim’s brain adds.) 

He’s safe, he tells himself. It’s not like weird gray-skinned monsters are going to come at him on a busy London street.

John directs him into the store, which turns out to be a health-food, raw sugar, vitamins-the-size-of-thumbs kind of place. There, John directs him to buy just… stuff.

A block of salt. Six small candles, unscented. Various herbs. A hand-built clay bowl. Matches. Distilled water. Rubbing alcohol. 

Then they leave, and find a hardware store, and John directs him to buy a length of rope, a hammer, six cleat hooks, one plastic pipe, and one copper.

Tim has played games and read books and seen movies, and cannot for the life of him figure out what all of this is supposed to do.

Very good, Tim, says John, who has obviously figured out Tim likes to be praised. Now we need a place to cast. I do not suggest your apartment, as we need to keep that location completely separate. 

“Cast?”

Yes.

“I’m going to cast a spell?”

We are.

Tim’s not sure about that. “You… how are you going to be casting it?”

In the same way that your thoughts can sink into me, my power can just barely be lent to you - not much, or it would hurt you, or break your mind, and I have no need to do that.

The unspoken right now might only be in Tim’s head.

He hopes it’s only in his head.

“You’re going to make me magical for five minutes, or something?”

Less time than that. As I said, I don’t want to burn you out, and unless you have an affinity for magic, using it would harm you with longer exposure.

“So I don’t have an affinity for magic?”

Well, we don’t know, do we? Have you ever tried to cast it?

Tim snorts. “Have I ever tried to cast the thing I didn’t think existed twelve hours ago? Yeah, no.”

Then we’re going to find out, and I’d rather that not result in your harm. Now, as I said: we need a place where we won’t be disturbed.

Tim thinks for a moment. His heart pings painfully, and he has to rub his eyes dry.

Tim?

“Sorry, just… Danny. Got into exploring derelict buildings not too long ago. It’s what I thought he was still doing when he showed up ranting about cultists, but… I'm pretty sure he knew some places. We need to go back to my flat and get his laptop. For his pictures, and… all of that.”

Mister Smooth is in the metaphorical building. Of course, Tim. Whatever we need to do. I’m sorry for your loss.

“Look, don’t… don’t do that.”

Do what? Even smoother.

“You’ve got one hell of a set of pipes, and we both know it, but you whip out that voice every time I get upset. And I don’t think you’re doing it to comfort me.”

Why else would I be doing it, Tim?

It’s not a flat tone. He’s not angry. He’s testing the waters.

Tim doesn’t want him angry. He needs him to fucking navigate. “I don’t know. I just… I don’t want to be manipulated. I know I’m all kinds of fucked right now, okay? Fragile. So maybe I’m being prickly, but…”

I have no reason to wish you any harm, Tim. If I have chosen a manner of speaking to you with the goal of it being effective, perhaps you should ask yourself what effect I’m trying to achieve.

Huh. That was… kind of hard to just argue with. Tim is still sure in his gut that it’s another form of bossiness, but the goal of the bossiness wasn’t one he’d considered. “Hm.”

Shall we go back to your apartment? John isn’t pushing.

Suspiciously not pushing. Maybe he wants Tim to think about it.

Or maybe Tim's still feeling paranoid because of the spooky Eye god. “Fuck that place,” Tim mutters.

What? Ah - the Institute?

“It’s still messing with my head.”

There’s a pause. I wonder if we can block him.

“Who, Bouchard?”

It might be unwise. We could anger his god. But… it might be satisfying, too.

“We can do that?”

Let’s complete this conjuring first. I need to see how you take it - if you’re in any way harmed, Tim, we won’t be doing it again.

There’s a weird little thrill in him - the same kind of thrill he had when he realized he could outrun everyone else in track and field, the same little thrill when he realized he had a skill for editing almost no one around him possessed, the same little thrill (though a touch more complicated) when he realized he did, indeed, like all the genders in whatever configuration they came.

“You think I could do magic?” he says.

I don’t know yet. We’ll see.

Tim suddenly snickers. “Are you telling me I could actually be a wizard called Tim?”

John laughs.

It’s a real laugh, not a chuckle - a deep and genuine guffaw.

It’s also possibly the wickedest sound Tim has ever heard. There’s something terrible in it, like it’s often cruel, and it feels like a sound so bottomless he could fall in it, screaming, forever.

That reference is far too old for you, isn’t it? John finally says. 

“Do not tell me you’re familiar with Monty Python.”

And why not?

“It… it’s just weird, is all.” Unnerving. “How the hell long have you been on Earth, anyway?”

Oh, Tim… the things I could tell you.

And then John doesn’t.

“Okay,” says Tim, slowly. “So. Um.” Choice time: pursue that spooky line of questioning, or just go the hell home?

“Let’s go the hell home,” he says. “Need the bus number?”

No, I remember. Turn around. The closest stop is behind us.

John remembered that?

Had he already been looking for a bus stop?

Tim knows that if he’d been in the position of having to navigate through some dude’s eyes, he wouldn’t have been focusing on surroundings enough to catch that.

John is… scary smart, actually.

Combining that with the manipulative tendencies, the bossiness, the obviously good memory…

Tim?

“Sorry. Right.”

It has to be obvious he’s lost in thought, but John doesn’t push.

Of course he doesn’t. It wouldn’t be scary smart to do that, would it?

A few more steps. Stop. It says the bus should be along in about fifteen minutes.

Since last night, Tim’s been running from cultists, from gray-skinned claw-monsters, from an eyeball god and its creepy priest.

For the first time, he genuinely wonders if he’s in serious danger from John, too.

Some of that must be getting through. Water in porous stone. You’re going to be all right, Tim. 

“You don’t know that.”

How about this, then: you’ve shown yourself worthy of reward, throughout this. I will see to it that you receive it.

Funny. After all the casual humor and the relatability of shared media, John has casually dropped an abjectly alien and terrifying sentence.

“Glad… to know I’ve fit your standards?” Tim says after a moment. “Though there’s not a lot you can do to make that happen.”

Not yet. But the time is coming soon when I will.

Oh, fuck me, Tim thinks. “Um… how?”

Would you like to know why I was in that book?

Would he? “Yes!”

Home. We do this conjuring. If you handle it well, Tim, I’ll show you.

Was it his imagination, or was something… bad about the way he said that? “And if I don’t handle it well?”

Then I will just tell you.

And that would disappoint John.

Tim exhales slowly. I am in so much trouble, he thinks.”So this conjuring will find some power to help us.”

That’s the idea.

Then they really had to do it. It was that or go back to Bouchard, and Tim would rather eat a rat. “All right.”

Bus.

They’re both quiet on the way home.

Without meaning to, Tim dozes until they’re about twenty minutes from his stop. 

John lets him rest.

[charcoalhawk]

Could you not have waited five minutes?

At the end of the day, the thing that pissed Danny off the most was that this wasn’t even his bank.

All he came in here for was a proof of income statement so he could officially buy the apartment he had been looking at. It hadn’t been the best place he visited during his apartment search, but it was within his price range, near his job, and it was a place he could afford to live on his own.

Or, Danny tries to stop a bank robbery.

Third fic for the 2023 Phic Phight, prompt from @wingedflight: Danny gets caught in the middle of a bank robbery. Can he diffuse the situation without revealing his powers?

At the end of the day, the thing that pissed Danny off the most was that this wasn’t even his bank.

All he came in here for was a proof of income statement so he could officially buy the apartment he had been looking at. It hadn’t been the best place he visited during his apartment search, but it was within his price range, near his job, and it was a place he could afford to live on his own.

He needed that proof of income today. Tomorrow was the weekend, and the main office at the complex he was looking at only worked on the weekdays.

He had actually meant to go yesterday, but he had needed to stay late at work and by the time he got off and was able to drive over it had been closed.

He might have been able to get there if he had flown, but unfortunately he’d had too many close calls to want to flagrantly display his powers now that he was living on his own. Fly around Amity? Everyone was too used to weird shit there, as long as you didn’t acknowledge it was weird no one gave you a second look.

But now, he didn’t have the protection of his parents' incompetence nor the safety of the Zone to flee to. So he was trying to only use his powers in situations where there was no other choice, at least as long as he was living in this big city.

Danny had been next in line. If these clowns had been five minutes slower he could have gotten in and out without dealing with this bullshit.

But then there’s the sound of glass shattering as three people bulrush the small lobby with these ridiculous masks that remind Danny of those creepy Anime face masks Sam got from Hot Topic once.

“Everybody on the ground! If I see even one phone none of you are making it out of here alive!”

(…Would Clockwork let him hop back half an hour so he didn’t spend those ten minutes commiserating with Jazz on the phone about moving so far away? It had felt so good to vent to his sister about why he needed to be out of Amity for at least a few months, but maybe he should have saved it for tomorrow night when they were going to meet up and plan how they were going to move him without their parents noticing.

Nah. The ghost already had so much on their plate. Besides, Clocky usually showed up on his own time when things were dire enough. So, at least he was reasonably certain this was not a timeline-destroying event.)

Everyone hits the ground hard, he sees one kid’s stuffed animal fly from her hands as her mom drags her to the floor and hunches over her like a human shield. The three robbers disperse around the room, with one guy standing near the one door while the other two move towards the tellers.

As the two near him Danny fights the instinct to glance at them as they pass. The smallest of the bunch stops right next to Danny as the last guy waltz’s behind the tellers desks to where they had dropped to.

Now, most of Danny’s knowledge of bank robberies came from action movies, so he had a very poor grasp of how these things were supposed to go. Should he stay lying down with the others? Does he call the robber’s bluff and hope they’ll leave in shame after getting told off by a barely legal adult?

Does he turn intangible and escape outside? He’s not a hero here, he’s just a 19 year old kid who needs a shitty proof of income statement to move into this shitty apartment miles and miles away from his town and his friends.

Well, he can’t just leave now that he’s here, turning intangible would mean leaving these people on their own when there was something there he could have done.

He knows now he can’t be everywhere at once, the entire world is not resting on his shoulders. But he is here, now. He can help the people around him and do his best to make sure everyone walks out of her alive.

There’s three robbers, one that's around Danny’s height, one that couldn’t be more then five foot even, and one who towered over them like a dollar tree Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The robbers had entered just after two, which Danny knows from the past half hour was when all the tellers finally got back from their lunch break. A fact that was not posted anywhere beyond inside the bank itself. Meaning they had likely scoped the place out beforehand.

But why later in the day? Why when they know the line will be longest from people being forced to wait for the tellers to return. Why not come earlier in the day when there was less potential collateral?

But then he remembered the big truck that had been pulling out of the parking lot just as he arrived. They had waited until now because before two the bank was working with cash from the previous day, but now they had a whole lot of new cash inside. And depending on how fast they could smuggle it the chance of the stolen cash being traced back to them would be marginally less.

Danny thinks about what he would have done had this taken place in Amity Park.

Amity was a cash heavy town, so he knows in years previous they had probably dealt with their fair share of bank robbers. But nowadays? If someone had been stupid enough to try that in his town the teller would probably have just laughed at the guy and told them they were better off trying to rob the mayor’s house.

All this was avoiding the big question though- should he risk going ghost and have this track back to the GIW, or try this the old fashioned human way and hopefully not get shot?

Three people were not a lot to deal with, but the big guy did give him some concerns.

And of course, he’s used to ecto weapons or fists, not guns.

He subtly glanced up at the robber standing next to him. They seemed to be surveying the people huddling on the floor, hands curled around his weapon.

There’s a few minutes of tense silence as the third robber moves into the back with the teller, but then a sound pierces the air that sends Danny’s heart down to the basement.

The kid has started to cry. Great heaving sobs as she huddles into her mother’s chest.

“Shut that thing up or I'll shut it up for you.” The big guy snarled from his place by the door, raising his gun slightly to make his point abundantly clear.

Fuck. These people were serious.

The mother is furiously trying to shush her kid, but she’s old enough to have understood the threat, and it seems nothing can calm her down.

The guy standing next to Danny seems to shift nervously, which at least tells him these guys aren’t all on the same page.

Maybe… he hasn’t tried partially possessing someone before, not enough to overshadow, but just enough to get them to say something they might not otherwise. He fears obvious possession might make things worse, and the last thing he needs is to give these assholes a reason to attack.

As subtle as he can he touches his fingers to the closest boot of the gut still standing next to him.

He tries to push his core out, not into creating a double but just an impression of himself over to try and nudge the guy’s thoughts.

We don’t need to hurt these people, we don’t need to hurt these people, we don’t need to hurt-

“Hey, knock it off. We get the cash and we get out, no need to complicate things by adding a body count to this.”

“Fuck off.” Both of their attentions are focused on the kid and her mom, with the big guy growing visibly more aggravated as the crying continues.

“Dude, just watch the door, don’t let one brat’s whining ruin it for us. After we pull this off you can move out to the middle of bumfuck nowhere and they’re won’t be any people, let alone kids, for miles.”

“Screw that, I’m moving to a goddam island, get me a lifelong tropical vacation for all the shit I’ve had to put up with.”

Good, good. The conversation moves away from people around them, towards all the things they’re going to buy with the money, and venting on all that they’ve had to deal with before this.

Thank the ancients, these guys are talkative. He can still see the big guy glance over at the crying kid every minute or so. Meaning he has to keep influencing shorty here to keep him distracted.

By Danny’s estimation it’s been about ten minutes since the three entered, meaning hopefully if the teller is cooperating these guys should be out of here in the next few minutes. The last guy had been carrying at least five big bags, so hopefully they’ll get what they want and Danny can leave and find another bank to get his income statement from.

“Hal better be back soon, we’re cutting it too close.” The smaller man shifts, forcing Danny to ty andshift along with him.

“He knows what he’s doing, Judy stick to the plan and- What the fuck! His eyes are fucking glowing, what the shit!”

Both guys are suddenly staring at him, and in that moment Danny remembers Jazz telling him that even when he looks human his eyes will glow an unnatural green when he has to use his powers.

At the time he had brushed the remark off, because even if someone noticed he could waive it off by saying one of his parents' inventions had backfired on him.

Not so now.

In the moment it’s taken him to realize what’s happened both robbers have their guns aimed at him, and as their eyes meet he can see panic overtake both of them as they go scrambling back a step.

Before he can try to explain, to try and diffuse the situation, before his core can even start pumping enough to give him the adrenaline he needs-

The guy is slamming his finger down on the trigger, and-

Oh.

Oh.

Getting shot is painful.

[bartletforamerica]

How the Bartlet Administration Reacts to COVID-19

Abbey: is not taking any chances. After losing the fight to get the President to retreat to the farm or Camp David, she gets him to agree to limit himself to the oval office and the residence, with as few in person meetings as possible. Even before they’ve pulled together a White House task force, she’s made sure that everything is being disinfected and that her entire schedule is either canceled or made virtual. Her staff is the first to be working from home (and oh boy does she scold if she finds out any of them did something she thinks is foolish), with most of the rest of the White House staff following shortly after. She makes it her mission to do PSAs on what people should be doing and even does a virtual Sesame Street collaboration to teach kids how to wash their hands.

Zoey: Is not super pleased to be stuck in the Residence 24/7. She’s doing classes from her bedroom, so yay to not having to get out of bed early, but she can tell people are super disappointed that her camera is set up so that she has only a blank wall behind her [it turns out the secret service is very touchy about where you take video calls]. She also gets officially hired and given a security clearance for the sole fact that she’s one of the only people allowed to be near her dad who is tech-literate. She ends up doing some of her reading on the couch in his office so that she's on hand for when he's supposed to be skyping with the senior staff and can't figure out what link to click. She spends a lot of time worrying about Ellie, who helping do research about the virus, and texting her friends.

The President: is not happy to be closed up away from people. He also thinks that Abbey is overreacting where he's concerned. He misses actually getting to be around the younger staff. He and Zoey do a cooking from home video at C.J.'s suggestion, so that the country can see he's alive and to encourage people to not go out. They make chili and fight over whether it needs more cumin or oregano while Abbey records it and pipes in from behind the camera. The country is treated to a history of chili and a diplomatic incident nearly happens because apparently Mexicans deny having any association with it, even though most food historians say it has Mexican roots. The flaming debate doesn't stop a second episode at Thanksgiving where the country is treated to the history of the yam and all the secret spices that go into the President's stuffing. A large portion of the country gives him flack for putting Oysters in his stuffing. [In a small bedroom in an Illinois apartment a woman finally figures out why Joe Bethersonsen sounded so familiar.]

Leo: moved into the Residence because there was no way he was going to talk the President off ledges via skype for however long this lasted. He can only do so much. Zoey helps him learn to use Skype and he finds himself missing Margaret desperately even when he spends most of the day with a computer dedicated to having her on Skype so he can turn to it and ask her questions. She insists he get exercise and eat healthy (something he thinks she’s collaborating with the first lady on behind his back—they say very similar things much of the time). He skypes with Mallory on Sunday mornings over breakfast in his room and they pretend they’re at a hotel having a fancy brunch.

Charlie: is not particularly happy. He got sent home with everyone else because he’s not particularly necessary to have on hand if the president isn’t going anywhere. He’s still getting paid and he does do some work (the most important bit being hanging out on the phone with the president so he can ramble about history so Zoey can get her own reading done, Leo can browbeat the staff, and the first lady can do her own job) but he’s been ordered by the president and first lady to focus on getting extra school done while he can.

Donna: started freaking out the first day there was a rumor of a new disease in China. Then the White House shut down and even senior staff got sent home unless they absolutely needed to be in the building (basically just C.J. and some of her staff). And her roommate (not the one she'd really liked, who had a cat, but one she hopes is only temporary) works for a GOP congressman who thinks the whole thing is a hoax and bans masks in his office, so Donna is not at all happy and spends time she should be working cleaning things her roommate touches and that's sixty percent of how she ends up living with Josh.

Josh: is struggling with not being allowed to leave the house on pain of the first lady taking him to task (something about his lungs and the bullet). Even when he was putting his nose to the grindstone to make it through college and law school, he liked being around people while he studied, so he was usually in the library or a cafe rather than his room. He works best when he can bounce ideas off people and take in new ideas. When he was grounded after surgery it absolutely sucked and that was why he drove everyone crazy calling them all the time. Yeah he was bored, but he was also lonely. Plus he's not the best with technology. He very nearly went on national tv with his boxers showing, if not for Donna skyping him beforehand and making sure he fixed the camera. Between needing not to be alone and needing his assistant to be able to actually help him, the invite for Donna to stay with him slips out when she's complaining about her roommate. She shows up two hours later with two suitcases of clothes and two suitcases with pasta, toilet paper, and flour.

Donna and Josh: are handling the pandemic much better now that they're together. Josh can bounce ideas off Donna without it tying up his phone line. And she can listen in on his calls to the various members of congress about the stimulus package that they're working on. It's an even better look at Josh's job than she had before, and while it makes some of her work harder to focus on, she feels like she understands some things better than she ever has before. Josh even starts listening to her about how to sway certain congressmembers to their side. When they're not working, Donna forces Josh to cook with her so they're not entirely subsisting on delivery. They tried making bread and managed to spill half a bag of flour on the floor in the process but they ate all of it, even though it tasted pretty bland. Josh finally got Donna into baseball when it came back. Toby spit out his beer when he was on speakerphone with them and he heard Donna accurately yelling at the Mets for screwing up. Donna wears Josh's clothes more than her own, since she doesn't have to be on camera most of the time. They're platonically sharing a bed because they haven't found a convertible sofa for his living room that they like, they say, and it doesn't make sense for one of them to sleep on the couch, which they say has a spring that makes it uncomfortable to sleep on, even though Donna lounges on it all day with no problem. They are absolutely not dating and so they tell all their friends.

C.J.: spends five minutes laughing every time she gets off the phone with Josh or Donna. She loves her friends but god they're so completely in denial. It does, however, give her a much needed break. Her job has always involved a lot of people and knowing what venue to meet them in to ensure that she gets or passes on the information she needs. COVID protocols mean no more one-on-one meetings with journalists in her office, no more gaggles following her through the halls. The press corps were not happy when they moved all briefings outside and insisted on face masks and shields in addition to everyone sitting six feet apart. She gets asked about the president's health at least once a day and they start doing weekly waving from the balconies just so the press corps can get footage of him, healthy and shouting down to Danny and some of the others. Someone makes a cartoon of the president in the tower, with Abbey as his dragon keeper and though no one is willing to justify a cartoon with a comment, privately C.J. thinks it's accurate. She's always admired Abbey's fierce protectiveness of her family, even when she doesn't agree with every way it expresses itself or when it interferes with C.J.'s job. She has to come up with new ways to push the White House agenda (keep the economy afloat, stay home, no, don't listen to the GOP governors or those running for the primary, those ideas are not good, go the fuck home and stop having parties) and while some work, others bomb. It would help if everyone would stay on message and not screw up.

Sam: would like to make it clear that he did not know how many people would be at that gathering. He thought he was going for an outdoor meal with just a few old friends who could help raise money for the democratic party, not a fifty-person birthday party. The media fallout nearly gets him fired. Instead he gets yelled at by C.J., then by the First Lady. Mallory even sends him a card about how stupid he was. He's pretty sure that having Donna around is the only reason that Josh hasn't made the same mistake by now. It had to have been a toss up as to which of the two of them would screw up. Sam just isn't lucky enough to have a Donna (Sam is very happy that Josh has a Donna, Sam just wants Josh to realize that he talks about Donna the same way most men talk about their wives, because it's really hard not to respond to "why do I put up with finding her hair clogging the shower drain" with "because you love her and can't live without her, stupid"). He instead has adopted a cat for company. It tries to scratch him every time he tries to pet it. Sam spends his days trying to find a way to say "fuck the economy until we've beaten the virus" in a way that is palatable to the American people while trying to remind Toby that they can't actually say that outright. This is not an easy task.

Toby: would like to tell most of the American public to shut up, stay indoors for two months, pretty much nobody excepted, and if you don't, then you get tossed out to sea. He's come within an inch of telling anti-mask people they deserve to get sick on the record and is strongly advocating that the federal government figure out a way to mandate that every person in the country, minus those with legitimate medical exceptions, get the vaccine as soon as possible. He is also about to get evicted because it turns out his neighbors do not appreciate having rubber balls bounced against the walls for hours on end. Apparently, the thud is rather annoying. He worries about everyone, though this is delivered brusquely. Out of everyone he's taking the new work from home situation the best. No one can pop in to distract him, or comment on his eating habits. And if he doesn't want to talk to someone, he can always turn his phone to silent and pretend not to have seen they called. He's not pleased the Yankees lost to the Rays (necessitating rooting for either the Dodgers or the Rays, one of which beat his team and the other which betrayed New York), but he can at least take solace in the fact that the Mets didn't even make the playoffs.

[going-dead]

Phic Phight:Ghostly Inconvenience

Words:1672

@currentlylurking Team Human My First 2021 phic phight phic 

Prompt from @Slyph-feather :Would love to see Danny dealing with some of the minor inconveniences/differences in being a ghost; slower heartbeat, sickly pallor, maybe not showing up correctly in photographs, etc... bonus points if this is like in the school setting (because I think that would be funny)

Danny thought he had all his ghost problems figured out, or at least was aware of all of them, at this point. Afterall he’s had his powers for almost a year now. He was wrong, oh was he wrong. 

It was the first day of his sophomore year, no longer at the bottom of the high school food chain. He stood in line to get his picture taken for his school ID. Sam and Tucker had different classes for first period so they were off getting their pictures somewhere else. After a few minutes of board waiting it was his turn. Paulina skipped past him to get her ID and look at the picture she just took. 

Danny told the photographer his name and she entered a few things into her computer before gesturing for him to stand in front of the camera. Danny tried to make a few last second adjustments to his hair. “Okay smile!” The camera woman called out as he was blinded by a flash of light.

Danny started walking over to the ID station but was stopped. “Oh hold on dear the photo came out pretty blurry I’ll have to retake it. It’s no big deal don’t worry you probably just moved too quickly after the flash went off, stay still after the picture is taken okay?” 

Danny sighed but did what he was told. After another blinding flash and staying as still as possible Danny looked towards the woman. The camera woman bit her thumb staring at the computer in front of her. “Okay it still was blurry stay there I’m going to take a few at once one of them will turn out good.”

Danny was pretty sure at this point he was going to go blind as he blunk the spots out of his vision from the repeated flashes. Honestly this was getting pretty tiresome already. He walked up to the woman silently praying at least one picture turned out fine. She clicked through the photos face growing more and more confused with each one. “Uh is something wrong?” He asked.

She shook her head. “I’m not sure. Almost all of the photos turned out blurry and the ones that didn’t are weird.” She saw his questioning face. “You’ve heard of red eye right? What happens when you take a picture and sometimes the eyes of the people in the picture show up red? Well I can’t say I’ve seen this version of it in all my years of photography.” She turned the computer to face him more. On the screen it was a photo of him. The area around him was blurred, the only thing in focus was him, almost too in focus, and what really shocked him was his eyes in the photo. His eyes were glowing green in the picture, almost like when you took a picture of a cat in the dark. 

Danny felt like a deer in headlights, what were the chances that she would make the connection of him not being human? The woman just shrugged. “Well it looks like we won’t be able to get a proper photo today. You can use your school photo from last year for your ID for now until retakes in a week.” He let out a sigh, it wasn’t too bad though he didn’t really look much different from the year before. At most he grew two inches. Though it was weird that it happened. He wondered  if it was because of his ghostly half. He didn’t exactly take many or really any photos of himself. Danny walked over to the ID station to explain his situation and hoped that this wasn’t how the rest of the day would go.

During second period it was time for the sophomores to get their health checks done. Though most students were pretty sure it was mostly just an excuse for the local college’s medical students to get some more patient contact hours and hands on practice. This time he did share a class with his friends which was nice. Though it wasn't like they could go into an exam booth together. Calling them booths was a bit of a stretch though really they were just four curtains with equipment to take vitals and a chair inside. There were about a dozen or so lined up in the gym. 

“Daniel Fenton come to booth five please.” A man called stepping out of one of the booths as he pulled a pair of gloves on. 

Danny walked over to said booth and pulled the curtain shut behind him. The man motioned for him to sit down in the chair. Danny obliged and sat down he bounced his leg as he watched the man prepare the equipment. “Alright good morning Danny. I’m Josh, I'll be doing your check up today. It’s just a simple overview of your health no need to be nervous. All I’ll be doing is taking your vitals and checking your reflexes and the sort. Any questions?” 

Danny shook his head. He was nervous though, he couldn’t help it. He had tried his best to avoid any type of medical setting ever since the accident. It would be the first time since then that someone actually took a close look at him. But it would probably be fine right? Not like he would be giving a blood sample here or anything. 

It went fine at first as the man -Josh- checked his reflexes, checked his ears, eyes, nose, and mouth. He then affixed a blood pressure cuff to Danny’s arm and stuck a temperature probe in his mouth. Once the results appeared on the machines screen his head tilted a bit. “You usually run a bit cold? Hm your pulse is a bit slower than average than normal too.”

Danny silently cursed. “Uh yeah that's normal for me.”

“Well as long as it’s within your baseline there’s nothing really to worry about. I’m going to listen to your heart and lungs now okay? The stethoscope is a bit cold so be prepared.” Josh warned. When he started to listen to Danny’s heart he seemed at a loss again. “Give me one second okay? I’ll be right back.” He stood up and walked out through the curtain. Well that probably wasn't a good sign. 

Josh returned a minute later with an older man in tow. “Danny, this is Dr. Bears he’s just going to double check something for me.” 

Danny nodded his head giving the doctor an awkward smile. The doctor pulled out a stethoscope of his own and placed it over Danny’s chest. He seemed to listen for a few seconds before moving onto a different region. He gave a small grunt before motioning Josh over. “It’s faint but he does have a heartbeat.”

“Well I know that. He’s clearly alive, he's going to have a heartbeat Doc.”

Danny laughed awkwardly as he continued to watch the two interact. “Try listening again. You’ll probably have issues with the mitral and tricuspid regions though, even I could barely hear it.” The doctor motioned towards Danny before walking out of the booth.

A few minutes later a bunch of other medical students filled into the tent to try to listen to his heart beat. Danny wasn’t sure how he felt about being a case study for a bunch of med students but as long as they didn’t figure out his secret he wouldn’t worry about it too much. 

By the time the bell rang to signal the end of the period half the college students there had listened to Danny’s chest. After emerging from the booth he was met with confused looks from his friends he waved them off promising to explain it to them later.

By the pattern that was emerging Danny was dreading third period. It was english with Mr. Lancer. After everyone took their seats Mr. Lancer stood in front of the class and clapped his hands to bring the classes attention to him. “Alright  class I hope you all enjoyed your summer break. I have exciting news for this school year. Due to the grant given to our school we now have laptops for you all to use during class.” 

The class broke out in whispers and Danny started to have a bit of hope for the rest of the day. Once the laptop cart was wheeled in and each was assigned and passed out to each student they were instructed to make accounts for them. The moment Danny turned the laptop on it gave him a shock. He let out a yelp and barely managed to restrain himself from knocking the thing off of his desk. He shook his hand trying to dispel the pain. He gave the laptop a hesitant poke, no shock. He started on his task of making an account, but was quickly interrupted by the screen glitching out. Danny groaned, occasionally electronics would bug out around him if he was in a particularly sour mood, of course it had to happen today. He waited for the screen to return to normal before trying to continue. 

He just managed to get the account created when it gave him another shock. He yelled in shock once more. Immediately after the lights flickered and all the laptops in the room shut off and the one in front of him started to smoke. The whole class was staring at him and he shrunk under their gaze. They all had bigger problems though as his laptop caught fire and set off the fire alarms. 

“Great Gatsby! Everyone out of the building now!” Mr. Lancer yelled ushering the teens out and leading them to the parking lot. 

Once Mr. Lancer made sure they were all accounted for Sam elbowed Danny in the ribs. “Nice going Danny.” Danny just put his head in his hands and groaned while Tucker pat him on the back. Why couldn’t he just have a normal life? Or just a normal day for once in his half life.

[anntoldst0ries]

shinrin-yoku (Ethan x MC)

Book: Open Heart Pairing: Dr Ethan Ramsey x F!MC (Dr Noelle Valentine) Word Count/Rating: ~1.7k, PG Summary: When life's difficulties hit, Noelle navigates her way through them by turning to the nature. Category: Hurt & Comfort Warnings: mentions of trauma

A/N: May is a Mental Health Awareness month and here in the UK the theme is nature. My MC, just like me, runs to the woods when things get tough. It helps her clear her head and reconnect with inner strength.

I struggle with mental health myself and it’s important for me to speak up and address the subject. There is nothing worse than shaming or discrediting someone’s difficult feelings. It’s fine not to be fine.

If you struggle alone, please don’t. My inbox will welcome you with open arms. Two heads are better than one, even if we just complain, at least we can complain together 💜

For @choicesmaychallenge2021 Day 13 - Mental Health

SHINRIN-YOKU - A Japanese term for ‘forest bathing’ or the sense of well-being you experience while in nature.

~~

It all starts with a seed. This tiny element which, without aid, is sentenced to certain death. But give it the right soil. Give it water, sun. And it can grow. Into something big. Powerful. Scary.

~~

She is five years old.

They live in a townhouse, a classy Victorian era building. Undistinguished, one of many merging into the background of a typical London street. The colors are also very standard,  dirty white married to ivory beige, bar for the deep green door - their rebel child.

For the random passerby, it’s nothing special. But for her, the walls of a storey house encapsulate the whole world.

The garden behind the house is neat and clean, visibly well taken care of. She doesn’t remember exact details anymore, but she remembers begging her parents to go camping in the garden with her brother. The ticklish feeling of long and slim blades of grass on her tiny feet. Looking at the stars with pure awe and delight, that only the unspoiled mind of a child is capable of.

The plot of land that the house has been built on borders a beautiful forest. A wooden fence separates the two.

To her, it’s a passage to a magical world.

A world without any particular order, living its own life, unconstricted by rules. Not in the slightest does it resemble the garden on her side of the fence, where things grow according to the rules laid out by the adults.

There is a feeling inside her that she’s too young to name, to throw it in lingual context. It’s not until years later that she realized what it had been. Freedom. To grow however you please. To be what you want to be.

Robust, effuse trees tower over her, making her feel so small. As if she hasn’t already been feeling small enough, living in a world full of giants.

But they mean something else too. They bring a secret and a promise. Promise of a bigger world out there, far from the confines of the place she calls home.

The forest draws her, singing a melody that only her heart can understand. One day, she will be a part of it.

~~

She lives the teenage dream life.

That’s what everyone says.

She doesn’t have any real problems. She’s lucky not having to worry about money. She’s got friends. Her family is great. She just needs to stop whining. Her life is perfect.

Their words, not hers.

None of them know what happens behind closed doors.

The childhood forest is a cloudy memory. Her home is now thousands of miles away, in a city with a giant red bridge, which for some bizarre reason has ‘golden’ in its name.

But the call from nature doesn’t care about distance. It can find you about anywhere. It’s different and yet the same.

Because nature beats in one rhythm and speaks in the same language, everywhere.

The morning is chilly and humid. She’s wearing a wooly coat, carelessly threw on a pair of PJs hiding underneath.

Her steps are brisk, breathing short and heartbeat elevated. Something’s bothering her blanched face.

The voice, again.

When it first appeared, she thought it had her best interest at heart. Used to give her advice and like a good friend, ream her out when she did something bad.

Over time, things took a turn for the worse.

Snarky comments. Casually mentioned wrongdoings. Feedback on what she could have done better, differently.

Noelle hoped the voice would go away on its own.

It hasn’t.

Not only did the voice not go away, but it was actually growing stronger with each passing day. Became more vocal. Judgmental. Openly hostile.

It fed on her fears.

It’s your fault - it told her - that your parents are getting divorced.

You are not good enough.

Even a lie, repeated enough times, will finally become the truth. And so it did for her, to the point where she couldn’t distinguish her own voice from the voice of the tormentor. Sounds faded into one.

Whoever said words can cut like a knife was right. But those who knew thoughts could leave scars that are much deeper, were truly wise.

The young, beautiful girl who never hurt a soul, became a hostage. A prisoner locked in the jail of her own head.

A giant tear rolled down her face. Made of all the words her heart couldn’t say.

She hugged the tree tightly and inhaled the woodsy aroma, the scent filling her lungs fully.

It’s sensuous.

Just like that, she is small again.

~

She’s got all that she ever wanted.

Degree from one of the best medical schools. Graduating with honors and glowing recommendations from even the strictest professors, who kept assuring her that her future in medicine is so bright it’s actually blinding. Then, a dreamy residency in one of the most prestigious hospitals in the country.

Pretty impressive, right? Even a fool could see that. But the only fool whose opinion she cared about, couldn’t. All these things were clearly not good enough for Ethan Ramsey to stay.

She wasn’t good enough for him to stay.

Not longer than a year ago he was just a concept, an ideal without a face, body and voice. To her, he was a celebrity, a hero, someone whom mortals don’t have access to.

It was preposterous to consider for even a second Dr Ramsey could actually see something in an intern.

Standing among the moss-covered trees, every fiber of her being was filled with the thought of him.

Did the Amazonian forest remind him of her, just like every forest around reminded her of him?

Just when she won the battle for her career, she lost another. Because life had to be a zero-sum game.

As painful as that would have been, she wished she had something to hold onto. A scene she could replay in her mind. An image of him walking away. Or saying goodbye.

But he left without a word.

That was the pattern. That was history repeating itself.

She took her shoes off and stepped on the soil frosted with morning dew. It’s cold and wet. It’s refreshing. She is grounding. Reconnecting with Earth.

Tunes in with the rivers of grass, towers of trees, fences of bushes.

If the trees could speak, they’d tell stories not many people would believe in.

Tales of heartbreaks. Parables of spirits.

They are all nature’s poems.

Hauntingly beautiful. Riveting. Written without a single word.

Because nature speaks its very own language that only the soul, not the mind, can understand.

Pain is ripping her apart. But it reminds her that she’s alive. And this, in itself, is a miracle.

~~

She doesn’t know who she is anymore.

Some people call her a survivor. But it doesn’t feel like the right word. So many things in her died. So much was lost.

The attack took a lot from her. Danny. Bobby. Sense of security. Identity. Direction.

Right and wrong, good and bad, righteous and vicious. These are all just words. Someone needs to come and teach her the meaning of them anew. Draw lines, mark out frontiers. Save her from herself.

The ground is soaked. Torrential rain turned the soil into soft mud, warm and easily slipping through her fingers. She falls on her knees, praying for the ground to consume her.

Fill every part of her. Silence the internal cacophony. To sink into oblivion.

Not many people knew about the panic attacks and recurring nightmares. They’re always the same.

She’s standing in the middle of a swamp. Danny and Bobby are drowning, their arms reaching out for her. She knows she can only save one of them. She runs out of time trying to figure out how to save both. As a result, they both die. Time stands still and yet everything is spinning, moving, racing. The reality is a riot of overbright colours.

Suddenly, a ring breaks the silence. A polyphonic intruder. She looks at the screen through hooded eyes and notices the caller’s name. It’s him. He’s petrified. Worried to death. Asks her to stay where she is.

Some time later, maybe 10 minutes, maybe an hour - who knows? - he emerges from the gathering of stocky oaks.

The moment he catches the sight of her, he starts running. She notices a lab coat underneath the jacket. He’s soaking wet.

Even though he is so close, he doesn’t slow down. Crashing into her, he scoops her in his arms. Catches her in the tightest of embraces.

Asks her if she’s fine. No. Not that question again. She’s tired of people fussing over her and gets angry.

Had it not been for the attack, would he even be here? The voice asks mockingly. It doesn’t matter to her. He’s there now.

Deep baritone is gentle and full of concern. It’s not like that. It’s not his intention to fuss. He’s simply worried. Because she is the most important thing to him in the whole world. Yes, he wasted so much time. That’s why he refuses to lose even one more second.

A dam breaks within her. Eliciting a quiet sob. She clutches his shirt, holds onto him for dear life. Moments later, she’s screaming at the top of her lungs. Singing her poignant birdsong.

How is she supposed to cope? Will things ever go back to normal? What is normal anyway?

In the confines of the infamous patient room she never felt more scared in her life. But here, out in the open, she feels so safe. As if she’s had a silent agreement with nature, which vouched to protect her at all costs.

And this time, nature had an ally. Because Ethan will protect her, even if it’s the last thing he does. Holding onto each other, they stand in the nothingness.

It keeps them grounded. Connected to their roots. Turning over new leaves. Bending before they break. Growing.

They get lost. Mother Nature has a reward for those who do. They have a chance to find themselves. Over and over again.

~~~

If you made it this far - thank you & you're awesome 🥰

Tag list: @genevievemd @gryffindordaughterofathena @terrm9@starrystarrytrouble @the-pale-goddess @jamespotterthefirst @lisha1valecha @writer-ish @maurine07 @drakewalkerfantasy@iemcpbchoices @liaromancewriter @lem-20 @lucy-268 @oldminniemcg @queencarb @qrkowna @mercury84choices @lsvdw-blog @utterlyinevitable @stygianflood @udishaman @romewritingshop @romereadingshop @alina-yol-ramsey @stateofgracious @xxsugarplumfluffsxx @binny1985 @tsrookie @fayeswiftie @archxxronrookie @tinkertailorsoldierspy @schnitzelbutterfingers @wingedhairstylemusicweasel @theinvisibledreamergirl @custaroonie @irisofpurple @chasingrobbie @ethandaddyramseyx @quixoticdreamer16 @coffeeheartaddict @takemyopenheart @aworldoffandoms @potionsprefect @choicesficwriterscreations @openheartfanfics

[k1ng-for-a-day]

Hello!!! I was wondering if you have any fluffy relationship headcanons for Danny Johnson (Ghostface), plz? Thank you.

OH MY GOD IM SO SORRY THIS IS REALLY LATE ITS JUST I HAD SCHOOL AND STUFF AND A BIT OF BLOCKAGE, BUT DON’T WORRY I GOT YOU COVERED-

Also (F/S) means favorite survivor!

A fluff relationship with Danny.... hmm... I’ll feature survivor since I think that would be fun.

🩸💔When you first encountered Ghostface, you were scared to say the least. From what you heard from your other team members he is known for being very, very stealthy, and will do anything to catch his prey. Nevertheless you had to put on a straight face before entering this hell hole.

🩸💔As you almost complete your Gen, you heard a very strange noise. It was like wind blowing against a bush, but everything was still. Nothing was out of the ordinary; so it seemed. You decided to check the area around you in order to remain ‘stable’. Though you were absolutely terrified of this killer, looking around shouldn’t be a bad idea... right? It would definitely eliminate the chances of sudden death, (and possibly relief your stress), but is it truly worth it?

🩸💔Upon further inspection there was absolutely nothing. Everything was fine, except that your generator was lower than last time. Wait... how is it lower? There was no one around from what you could tell, so how did this even happen? Maybe it was because of hex ruin, but you even checked if that was the case before doing the Gen. it must mean one thing; he’s here. He must be staring at you right now.

🩸💔With this realization in your head, you decided to hide somewhere near that area. What you wanted to do is wait until he lost interest to do it again. Your other teammates had already completed a Gen, but strangely enough none of them were getting hurt. It was immensely strange, unusual, and very intriguing. You decided to go back to your generator, and finally complete it. Two gens were finally completed, but no killer; Or so you thought.

🩸💔Suddenly, there came a noise in the distance. You jumped a bit, and slowly walked away from it. The more you walk away, the louder it got. You ran to the other direction, but it was still getting louder. You kept looking behind you, searching around the area, hiding in lockers, and hell you even screamed a bit, but there was no Ghostface. Nothing at all. At this point you were... confused to say the least. You decided to see if your teammates were doing alright, and your eyes beamed opened. Everyone of them were on a hook besides you. Somehow you were alive throughout this torment, while the others were being chased. It was strange how he kept you alive to begin with.

🩸💔You decided to unhook your teammates, heal them, and attempt to get some gens done before Ghostface would catch up to you. You checked if your teammates were alright, and they seemed to be fine- ‘wait... what is that heart beat? Aren’t I working with someone?’ You thought for a quick minute, and turned around slowly. There was nothing. You check the opposite side of the Gen, and there he was. Ghostface was staring right at you, probably smirking underneath his mask. You screamed.

🩸💔You quickly got off the Gen, and sprinted as fast as you could! You stared behind you, noting how close he was, and attempted to loop him as much as possible! You tried to distract him as much as you can, while noting how well the others were doing, but you were becoming weak! Your legs were becoming tired, and you were running out of breath. For a good 10 minutes you and Ghostface were at each other’s necks! Until you vaulted.

🩸💔At that single vault he picked you up gently. He put you on his shoulders and carried you to presumably a hook. You attempted to wiggle your way out, trying to find a branch or something to help you escape, but to no avail. You were helpless. There was nothing you could do. Fortunately, a teammate of yours were able to shine a flashlight at the killer, causing him to drop you instantly! You quickly ran away from him again, and he stared back at you with a possible frustrated glint.

🩸💔After a while you checked to see how many gens were done and there was one more to be completed. Strangely enough two people had died already, and one of them was about to be hooked. Sadly you were on the opposite side of the map, which made it difficult to save him. It was his last hook anyway. Now it was up to you to live through this nightmare, but why did it have to be you? How were you going to live through this? Questions like these spiraled around your brain for a moment, but you had to do something. You needed to escape quickly before he comes...

🩸💔You slowly removed yourself off the Gen you were working on, and attempted to find the hatch. Unfortunately enough the figure you implored not to see was right there standing on the hatch. He stared at you with a teasing glint, and was about to close it. You quivered, slowly approaching him, and tearing up. You didn’t know what to do at all. Everything you did for this team was for nothing. You put your fucking life into it while the others were doing nothing. But was it even worth it? Was all that hard work worth the punishment? What were you even living for? It certainly wasn’t for Ghostface, nor was it for yourself. You might as well give yourself to him and let him take it.

🩸💔Oddly enough he didn’t kill you. Instead he slashed you to the ground, picked you up, and spun around. It was really strange, but you didn’t mind. It was kinda fun to spin around until you were a bit dizzy.

🩸💔After that fun little moment of his, he finally spoke to you, “I finally caught you! You’re all mine!” He giggled childishly, and you kinda laughed along with him. Mainly you were a bit terrified of being slaughtered, but that wasn’t his intentions currently. He was just happy.

🩸💔”You looked so terrified dear! I kinda feel pity. But don’t worry, I’ll give it to you. You can have the hatch.” He said in a cheerful tone, and took a quick photo of you. It was weird how he quickly pulled it out just for you, but you didn’t mind. You quickly went through the hatch, but would regret it later on.

🩸💔Once you returned to the lobby, you decided to talk to your fellow survivors. Your friend group consisted of Claudette, Steve, Feng, Dwight, Felix, and (F/S). When you told them about what happened, they were all immensely shocked. They even thought you were joking. Usually Ghostface is such a terrifying killer, and him just sparing you like that? Unbelievable. However, one of your friends did believe you, and that was (F/S). They were completely convinced about it, and tried to even convince the others. The only one that was somewhat naive to believe this was Claudette, however Dwight convinced her that this HAD to be false. Steve and Felix were quiet, (and probably overthinking), and Feng was rolling your eyes at you.

🩸💔Later on Claudette, (F/S), and Dwight decided to join a match with you, however it wasn’t that fun. You didn’t see Ghostface and there was an insane Michael Myers after you. How great....

🩸💔In the end, you lost the match. It was really, really awful. When you told Felix and Feng about it, they felt empathy towards you. Hell Feng tried to teach you some new tricks, and Felix decided to give you a flashlight for your effort. He also tried to teach you one of his perks, however that didn’t go so well...

🩸💔You decided to go into another match with Felix, Steve, and Feng in order to find Ghostface. Again you were set with another killer; the pig. She was somewhat annoying, however you got used to it after a while. Her patterns were somewhat repetitive, and overall the match became simple.

🩸💔This repetitive joining matches, being disappointed, and ending up ranting to your teammates kept repeating on and on. It was getting annoying. And finally there was one last match. This had to be the luckiest one.

🩸💔The people with you were Felix, Dwight, and (F/S). Strangely enough (F/S) seemed more nervous than usual. They had some sort of warm blush on them, while the other two were simply talking calmly. You notice their blush and went up to them, trying to see what was going on with them. They stared at you and smiled. You asked, “are you ok? You scared?” but they didn’t say anything. They just smiled and chuckled a bit. Was there something on you? Then they replied, “Y-yeah I’m fine. It’s just somethings on my mi-“ suddenly the match was about to load. You could feel a cold shiver down your spine, and that sudden cliffhanger made you subtly intrigued.

🩸💔Luckily someone must’ve put in shroud of union because you were with (F/S). They slowly went up to you with that cute blushing face of theirs and spoke, “Hey S/O... I wanted to tell you this for a while, and it’s really hard to say this but,” they paused for a bit, “I like you a lot.”

🩸💔You blushed at that sudden confession. Where did this even come from?! How long did they have these feelings for?! Nevertheless you decided to stay quiet, practically stunned, and shook your head.

🩸💔You finally spoke, “well I...um...” you said nervously, but then you heard a slight vault. No, not a slight vault; a rush. The killer was near.

🩸💔”We have to get out of here now!” (F/S screamed, and you two quickly ran. Suddenly you saw Felix and Dwight making out completing a generator and you look behind you. There he was; Ghostface in his full form.

🩸💔As (F/S) ran for there life instead of protecting you, you stared back at Ghostface and decided to loop him for a bit. It lasted for about five minutes until you tripped on something. And he caught you right then and there.

🩸💔”Who was that person you were with? I heard what you two were doing....” he spoke in a very furious tone. It was strange since you only saw him once.

🩸💔”S-stalker,” you said accidentally, “why does it matter? They’re just my friend anyway.” He stared at you again, putting his knife against your throat and chuckling deviantly.

🩸💔”It’s so unfortunate that you’re my obsession, and that I could kill you right here right now,” he warned, “but your lucky I’m nice for today. I’ll let you go if you decline that dumbass love interest of yours.” Within his speech, you could sense a heap of fear lurking on your throat. You didn’t know what to do but oblige.

🩸💔As you tried to find (F/S), you spotted Felix opening a chest. Classic Felix, never change. You went up to him and asked if he saw (F/S) and he replied with a somewhat joyful response, “Actually yeah I did. They’re with Dwight right now working on a generator... I hope...”

🩸💔”Thank you Felix.” You bowed and left to find (F/S). Suddenly you heard talking from both of them, which was... strange. You slowly eavesdropped on them only to find (F/S) and Dwight having some sort of... fun...

🩸💔”(F/S) what the hell?! I thought you liked me!” You screamed out, and they stared at you guiltily. “Well, you didn’t say yes or no so...”

🩸💔”That’s no fucking excuse for your actions. You know what? No. I’m not accepting your confession. Hell Dwight, I thought you were better than this!” You yelled and quickly ran out of the area.

🩸💔Felix saw you running, and so did your biggest enemy...

🩸💔As you ran away, you could hear someone approaching you, but you were afraid of who it was. You took a peak and saw none other than Ghostface. Felix was about to approach you, but saw him in front of you. He was shaking from a distance.

🩸💔”So, you must’ve said no Hmm..? Good child. You deserve a treat.” The masked figure flirted. “Y’know, I think I want (F/S) to be camped. Hell, even moriied.” You told him straight to his face. He seem to smile under the mask and nod along. Hell he was even clapping. “Good good! I’m so glad! I’ll deliver your request in no time-“ you stared at him and spoke, “before you do, what’s your name?”

🩸💔”M-my name?” He asked, and looked around for any survivors. Felix was hiding behind a bush. Luckily Ghostface was smarter than to say his first name. “My name is Danny. Nice to meet you...”

🩸💔You replied, “S/O. Nice to meet you as well.”

🩸💔Felix then slowly walked out of his hiding place, and decided to keep quiet about what he heard. Once Danny was gone, he went up to you.

🩸💔”S-so how was (F/S) and Dwight..?” He asked. “Oh,” you spoke, “they were having some type of “fun” without us.”

🩸💔Felix raised his eyebrow and spoke again, “What do you mean by fun..?”

🩸💔”Well, (F/S) confessed to me, and then Dwight and them did things...”

🩸💔”That is such a bitchy move. I-I’m so sorry.”

🩸💔”Don’t worry. I’ll get my revenge, and maybe you can help my little technician.” You winked and told him the plan.

🩸💔Once you and Felix found the perfect Gen, you lure Dwight and (F/S) to it. As you were doing the generator, Felix ‘accidentally’ messed up, and you two went out of the area. You waited till Ghostface approached them with his stalking abilities and strike! They were both down within seconds!

🩸💔He then hooked them both, slashing them with his weapon one more time for good measure. Throughout the rest of the game, you and Felix completed other generators while the other two slowly died.... Or they disconnected.

🩸💔Back at the lobby, Dwight and (F/S) were mad at both of you. They also told Claudette, Steve, and Feng about the situation. Feng and Claudette sided with you two since they either felt bad, (or thought it was pretty intriguing). Steve, on the other hand, decided to side with Dwight and (F/S). Since then you never really talked with them too much.

🩸💔Ever since then, you tried to join matches to find Danny and chat with him for a bit. Sometimes Felix would join in with you and chat with him too, but he wouldn’t bother you two that much.

🩸💔When you talked to Danny, you started to learn more about him. He was actually really cool and loved to photograph things. His photography was AMAZING, and his overall aesthetic was spectacular. Additionally his writing was also very interesting. He mainly wrote in cursive, but without it was still very impressive.

🩸💔Sometimes, when the entity was resting or in a match, he would bring you to his old “shack”, and show you the articles he wrote. They were all beautifully hand crafted, and yet this seemed something like a story. It was like a fairy tale come to life, but this was a more murderous story. It was... thrilling. Besides that he seemed to show you more at any chance he could get. He should you photographs, articles, stories, scripts, and practically anything he could find that had his signature. Some of them, however, weren’t shown to you for whatever reason. Nevertheless you were patient enough to wait it out until one day...

🩸💔”Hey... Danny,” you spoke, “why won’t you show me some of your articles? Some of them even had this Jed Olsen person on i-“

🩸💔”I-it’s nothing! Absolutely nothing! It’s just a-an interesting name for a guy I know! Yeah! YEAH!” He chuckled nervously, with his obvious lie.

🩸💔You glared at him slightly, and he sighed. “Fine. Jed Olsen is my actual name. Some of the articles actually had my real name on them, and I didn’t want to tell you since I’m afraid you’d snitch. Since I kind of though you were a bitch.”

🩸💔”Whatever Jed,” you spoke, “why couldn’t you just trust me before? Like a week ago or something?”

🩸💔He paused for a bit, but finally explained, “Well I was afraid that you’d tell the other survivors since most of them are like that. Like I could tell Steve that Michael Myers is a man child, and he would tell the whole entire army of you. And then we’d get humiliated, shattered, and be live stock!” He posed dramatically, and you simply laughed at him,

🩸💔”Oh my god Danny- s-stop!” You cried.

🩸💔He giggled shortly after, with a slight smile underneath his mask. “I’m guessing you’re also craving something... else...?” He winked with a hint of flirting.

🩸💔”And what would that be?” You asked flirtatiously, somewhat replying.

🩸💔He chuckled chaotically calm, “you want to see what’s underneath the mask don’t you?”

🩸💔”Sure. If you’re in the mood.”

🩸💔Slowly he took off his mask, and revealed who he truly was. He shook his head a bit, and stared up at you with his dark, hazel eyes. His hair was this dark brown, he was overall a bit of tan. Just a slight hint,

🩸💔”Not what you expected huh?” He giggled. His voice was a bit more higher than what you were use to. It was somewhat cute actually.

🩸💔”Actually I kind of thought you would look like this. But not like... a twink per say.” You chuckled a bit, and Danny simply blushed in response.

🩸💔”S-shut up!” He exclaimed cutely.

🩸💔”Then,” you smirked, “make me, Jed Olsen.”

🩸💔”Bet.” He then slowly approached you, somewhat menacingly, and kissed you on the lips. His lips were soft, but tough in its own way. His kisses were a slight bit skinny, but overall enjoyable. He slowly hold you as you two kissed. His touch was mesmerizing; soft, and rough. He was so warm, cuddly, and just immensely cute! You scored big this time around!

[cabinofimagines]

Will’s ABCs

A/N: Today is sunny’s day -Danny

Request: I don’t think so? I didn’t find any

Words: 1,417

Activities - What do they like to do with their s/o? How do they spend their free time with them?

Will never has free time. Meal times and campfire nights it’s what he counts as such, but he makes sure both of you enjoy every second.

Beauty - What do they admire in their s/o? What do they think is beautiful about them?

Your bravery and generosity, you’re always ready to help and cheer your friends up and that’s something Will values a lot.

Comfort - How would they help their s/o when they feel down/have a panic attack etc.?

Will’s almost as good as an actual doctor, he quickly focuses on calming you down and help you feel comfortable and safe, he works so fast your panic attacks don’t even get to last more than five minutes lately

Dreams - How do they picture their future with their s/o?

He wants a place when you two can exist freely, whatever it is that you want to do with your life, he wants you to be able to do it without feeling judged or unable to, he’s promised to find your safe haven, and you know you will, together.

Equal - Are they the dominant one in the relationship, or rather passive?

Quite bossy when he thinks you’re not looking after yourself, but on a good day he’s actually happy to let you take the wheel and decide for the both of you, as long as it doesn’t tire you out.

Fight - Would they be easy to forgive their s/o? How are they fighting?

Will is extremely chill about fights. He does get mad, and he’s stubborn, but he forgives quickly and decides to focus on working to find a solution to the problem. He thinks there’s no use on sulking about it, and he’s right.

Gratitude - How grateful are they in general? Are they aware of what their s/o is doing for them?

I like to say that Will’s heart is a hippie’s heart lmao he makes sure the first thought in his head as he leaves bed is ‘Thank you’. Because life isn’t easy when you’re a demigod, but he’s got many wonderful things in life, and he knows he’s lucky.

Honesty - Do they have secrets they hide from their s/o? Or do they share everything?

Will is an open book about everything, he doesn’t have time for secrets, but he understands is you’re not ready to share all of you with him, he’ll wait, just know that he trusts you and loves you.

Inspiration - Did their s/o change them somehow, or the other way around? Like trying out new things or helped them overcome personal problems?

I think Will changes you more than you to him, you’re healthy now, in more than just one way. Although you do make sure he takes a break from time to time, rushing through life won’t get him where he wants to be faster, he should enjoy the road.

Jealousy - Do they get jealous easily? How do they deal with it?

He only gets jealous when you react to other people’s flirting. Even if you’re just joking. He can’t help it, he wants to be the only one who makes you laugh like that.

Kiss - Are they a good kisser? What was the first kiss like?

Will is a gentle kisser, almost as if he were asking for your permission every time he does it. 

Love Confession - How would they confess to their s/o?

Probably he let you know he liked you since day one, but was very respectful and gave you space so you could make up your mind about him. Once he was sure you were ready to reciprocate, he asked you on a date, something easy, a picnic at the beach and then you guys just talked for the rest of the day. It was beautiful.

Memory - What’s their favourite memory together?

That one time you received really amazing news and the first person you looked for was him, that’s when he realized you value him as much as he values you.

Nicknames - What do they call their s/o?

When his talking with others he makes sure to call you ‘his partner’ at least once in the conversation. When he’s with you he probably like to call you some short version of your name, or honey, even if it makes you cringe. Especially if it makes you cringe.

On Cloud Nine - What are they like when they are in love? Is it obvious for others? How do they express their feelings?

It isn’t really obvious, but he carries this cheerful air, he’s usually energetic but once he’s dating you it’s a contagious kind of energy, he’s brighter

PDA - Are they upfront about their relationship? Do they brag with their s/o in front of others? Or are they rather shy to kiss etc. when others are watching?

He doesn’t have any reason to hide so he doesn’t hide. If he wants to kiss you he’ll kiss your cheek or the top of your head, if you’re the one who wants to be a bit more discrete he’s happy with just holding your hand or lightly tap your arm when you’re sitting together.

Quirk - Some random ability they have that’s beneficial in a relationship.

If you lose something in the middle of the night and you don’t have a light with you he just pulls a glow-in-the-dark-boyfriend move.

Romance - How romantic are they? What would they do to make their s/o happy? Cliché or rather creative?

You never remember when you told him you like certain stuff but somehow he knows all of it??? Like one day he gave you your favorite candy and you couldn’t even remember ever mentioning the name to him. One time you asked and he just smiled. Ngl that was kinda creepy but it’s okay bc he’s really sweet.

Support - Are they helping their s/o achieve their goals? Do they believe in them?

Will is your biggest fan no doubt, whatever it is you are dreaming of achieving he does everything in his power to help you get it. 

Thrill - Do they need to try out new things to spice up your relationship? Or do they prefer a certain routine?

He usually wants to make your dates interesting and exciting, the hospital tends to make life a bit plain, so he’s always trying to make your relationship the adventure of his life.

Understanding - How well do they know their partner? Are they empathetic?

He knows you like the back of his hand. He is legally obligated to share your pain and joy no matter what, he just has to, that’s who he is.

Value - How important is the relationship to them? What is it’s worth in comparison to other things in their life?

You are one of his priorities but if there’s an emergency he needs to attend he will definitely cut a date short. But you understand, he wouldn’t be himself if he didn’t constantly help others to stay alive. It’s okay, at the end of the day he always comes back to you.

Wild Card - A random Fluff Headcanon.

He doesn’t sing much but he memorized all of your favorite songs so he can sing to you if you can’t sleep or are a bit sad.

XOXO - Are they very affectionate? Do they love to kiss and cuddle?

He LOVES IT.  He loves you, why wouldn’t he shower you with love?

Yearning - How will they cope when they’re missing their partner?

He doesn’t want you worrying about him so he takes care of himself while you’re gone. He’s really mature about it, knows that you think of him even if you’re not around, and once you’re back he welcomes you with open arms to a warm home.

Zeal - are they willing to go to great lengths for the relationship? If so, what kind of?

I think he would do everything in his power if you were at risk, but he values the lives of others as much as your own, it’s complicated for him to admit it, but you know he doesn’t mean to hurt you, he’s a healer, taking care of large groups of people is what he was born to do, and sacrificing that for his s/o feels too selfish. You love him a lot for that, he’s truly the bravest guy you know.

Taglist:   @beneaththeiceandsnow,  @bandshirts-andbooks

[anna-justice]

Lost or Found - 24

Summary: As Jay, Hailey, Kim, Adam and Kevin start their junior year in the wake of a tragic summer, the past year of their lives comes back to haunt them. If you enjoyed Pretty Little Liars, this is for you! *UPSTEAD/BURZEK High School AU

...

24 - Evermore  ...

“Your dad should have killed you when he had the chance…”

Hailey whimpered, her eyes clenched shut and beads of sweat appearing on her forehead.

“So you want to play hero one more time?” 

She flinched in her sleep, her heart beating out of her chest, so fast that she thought it was going to explode. 

“That works for me.” 

Hailey shot up, screaming. The last thing she saw was the barrel of a gun. She clawed at her chest, trying to get a good breath. “Hailey?” Someone yelled, and then right after, her Aunt appeared in front of her. “Hailey, it’s okay.” Trudy reached out to grab her hand, but Hailey pulled it back, looking at her with scared eyes. 

It had been a month since she had heard those words muttered aloud, but they plagued her dreams frequently. 

The two weeks following that day, all five of them took turns rotating through the police station. Everyday there were new questions, more people to explain things to, more statements to clarify, it was never ending. Then, it just stopped. There was nothing else they could do, they had to wait for trial. And in the meantime, Erin was placed in a psychiatric hold facility, and her lawyers were defending her actions as a symptom as psychosis.

It bothered them all, that technically she was free, all because they could blame her attempted murder on a psychotic break. Especially when Kelly Severide was looking at time. A few days after, two detectives showed up at Hailey’s house, wanting a full recount of the last five months, and that included the night that she was attacked. When Severide was questioned, he had no alibi and he confessed to strangling Hailey. His excuse was that he was threatened the same way that the rest of them were, only in person. He claimed that he knew Erin was alive the whole time, but she threatened to kill his mom and sister if he didn’t cooperate. 

Unfortunately, the only way to corroborate the story for a jury is to prove Erin mentally competent, meaning she was capable of carrying out her threats. To all involved, even Kelly, it was clear that she knew what she was doing, she was a mastermind, but to everyone on the outside, they were just a bunch of teenagers wrapped up in a murder. 

The girl that everyone thought was Erin still hadn’t been identified, they had to dig up the casket for the second time. The only way they were able to ID it the first time was by the previous fracture and bracelet, but there are a lot of people in the Chicago area that have broken their left wrist. 

So, with no new information and the date for the trial to begin still months away, they all lived life normally. Well, as normal as it could be after everything they went through. And normal for Hailey meant waking up every night screaming. 

Trudy looked at her husband, who was standing in the doorway. They shared a look, a very familiar one. They repeated the same steps every night, like some cruel rehearsed dance. Trudy waited patiently for Hailey to calm down, just seated on the floor next to her. “Hailey, sweetie, you’re safe.” She repeated. 

Every night it was the same, Hailey would snap out of whatever daze she was in and apologize profusely. “I’m sorry, I got scared…” She started.

“Shhh,” Trudy said, placing a hand on her leg, “It’s okay.” 

Hailey nodded, swallowing hard. “I’m good, you all can go back to sleep.” She said, glancing at her uncle. 

Trudy just nodded, she learned many nights ago not to fight her on it, “Alright. Goodnight Hailey, we love you.” She said, squeezing her shoulder. 

“Love you too.” Hailey said, watching them retreat back to their room. They left the door open like they always did, Hailey sighed rolling over and grabbing her phone. She sent a quick text to her boyfriend. 

Hailey:      :(

It was a system that they started a few weeks ago. The first few nights Jay would stay up with her on the phone, or she would call him after Trudy and Randy finally left, but the lack of sleep began to play a part in their relationship. So, they decided that every time Hailey had a nightmare (or Jay, he wasn’t clean of them) they would text the other a frowny face, so that in the morning they would know what the other had gone through the night before without having to talk about it. It has proved to be useful.

Hailey laid down again, willing herself to close her eyes, but she couldn’t. Sleep was too vulnerable, so she laid there awake, just waiting for the sun to rise on (hopefully) a better day. 

…

“What do you mean you haven’t picked out a costume?” Kim asked, as Jay slammed his door shut. Like every morning, they were all crowded around his truck, waiting until the last minute to head to class. The gossip still hadn’t died down, they were still the topic of every conversation, so they avoided it as much as they could. 

Hailey shrugged. “I thought we weren’t dressing up.” She said, looking up at her boyfriend, who nodded in agreement. Halloween was tomorrow, and of course Kim had plans for all of them.

“No, I said we weren’t dressing up as the characters from scooby doo…” Kim said, giving Adam a pointed look. 

Adam held up his hands in surrender, “Like I said, I’m sorry, it’s too soon.” He said, stifling a laugh. 

Kevin rolled his eyes, “Yeah, you all know I’d have to be scooby. And I’m not dressing up like a dog.” He snapped. 

“But Kev,” Adam said, faking a frown. “I thought you were my dawg.” Kevin glared at him, faking a punch as Adam jumped back. 

“Anyway,” Kim started, looking back at Hailey and Jay, and ignoring the antics behind her. “I promised Stella we would all be at her party tomorrow night, you guys will be the only people without a costume.” 

Hailey sighed, “Kim, we will get costumes, I promise.” Kim opened her mouth, but the warning bell cut her off. Hailey smiled, grabbing Jay’s hand. “We’ll see you guys later.” She said, before pulling him away. 

“Please tell me you have costume ideas,” Jay said quietly. 

“Nope.” They rounded the corner, Jay leaning down and stealing a kiss before they entered their classroom. Criminal justice was a little harder to sit through than it was before, but somehow Jay had managed to get his grade up. 

They took their normal seats in the back of the class, waiting for the teacher to begin. “I have an idea,” Jay said, leaning on his hand. 

“Okay?” Hailey said cautiously. 

“I’ll be a firefighter, and you be a Dalmatian.” He said, wiggling his eyebrows. 

Hailey scoffed, “No.” 

“Okay. You be the firefighter and I’ll be the Dalmatian.” He said, smirking.

Hailey shook her head, “Try again.” Jay fake pouted, retreating back to his half of the shared desk. 

Finally, their teacher decided to start class, cutting their conversation off for the time being. After about 30 minutes of notes, he passed out an assignment, leaving them to work on their own. Jay turned to face her, smiling. “I’ve got another idea.” He said, Hailey gave him a pointed look. “Squints and the lifeguard from the sandlot.” 

“Why? So every time someone asks us who we are you get to lay on the ground and make me kiss you?” She questioned. 

“Exactly.” He deadpanned. 

“Jay-”

“Okay, okay.” He said, laughing. He loved it when she got all riled up. “Peter Pan and Tinkerbell, cause you’re so short-”

“Jay!” She said, smacking his bicep. 

He laughed harder, “Okay, in all seriousness...we can be Jack and Rose from the titanic…” He watched Hailey’s face slowly morph into slight agreeance, “And Kev could be the iceberg.” 

“I’m done with you.” Hailey said shortly, stifling her own laugh. 

Jay laughed at his own joke, watching his girlfriend pretend to be aggravated with him. “You love me, you know it.” 

“Unfortunately…” Hailey said under her breath. She took a deep breath, “What about Danny and Sandy from Grease?” 

Jay smirked, “You in leather pants? Perfect.” 

“You’re hopeless.” 

…

The next day, Hailey sat in Kim’s bedroom getting ready. They had about an hour before the boys were supposed to come pick them up. Kim and Adam were going as Romeo and Juliet, while Hailey and Jay had finally settled on Rapunzel and Flynn Rider. Kevin had grouped up with some of the boys from his team, they were going as zombie football players, very original…

“Kim, you’re going to have to do this.” Hailey said, laughing in defeat. 

Kim smiled, taking over for her. She was waiting for her to ask for help, she’d been struggling to french braid her hair for almost twenty minutes. “I got it.” They sat there for a while in silence, Kim carefully laying pieces of blonde hair over the others, she glanced at Hailey in the mirror, noticing the blank look on her face. “How are you doing?”

Hailey’s head snapped up to meet her eyes, she caught her off guard. “Uh,” She shrugged, “I’m okay, I guess…” 

Kim scoffed, shaking her head. “I’ve said that word so many times recently that I’m not even sure it’s a word anymore.” 

“Yeah…” Hailey said, letting her thoughts wander. “I get that.” And she did, it was like she used the word as a shield. It was her response to everything, and she wasn’t okay, not that it was really a secret. None of them were okay, but saying it made it feel like they were. And deception was something worth clinging onto. 

“You know, we never talked about-” 

“We don’t need to.” Hailey said, cutting her off. 

Kim eyed her cautiously, “Okay.” She wanted to talk, but she didn’t feel like she had any right to push Hailey to. Not after what happened. “Done.” She said, a few minutes later, taking a step back to admire her work.

“Thanks,” Hailey said with a genuine smile, picking up the jar of flower clips they had bought that morning. “You think I should just put these everywhere?” 

Kim nodded, “Yeah, I think so.” She reached down, clicking shuffle on a playlist, a random Taylor Swift song playing. They were both done talking. 

An hour later, the two of them were sitting in Kim’s kitchen talking to her mom when Jay and Adam arrived. Adam just let himself in the front door, Jay choked on a laugh as he waltzed in like he owned the place. 

The boys appeared in the kitchen, “Honey, I’m home.” He said, passing Kim and hugging her mom. Kim rolled her eyes as they all laughed, Jay’s hand finding Hailey’s back like it always did. He was so happy, even though life was still crazy, he was ridiculously happy. Watching Hailey smile and Adam joke around like he used to (before they used it as a distraction) was so nice, and familiar and just so damn good. 

Hailey peered up at him, grinning as he pecked her lips. “Alright, let’s get a picture so you all can get out of here.” Claire said, ushering them together. Jay stood next to Adam, both of them holding their girlfriends securely against their waists. They all smiled brightly, relaxing after the click. 

They quickly bid their goodbyes, making their way out to Jay’s truck. Hailey slid easily into the passenger seat, despite her nude heels (that she was already regretting), while Adam and Kim got in the back. They pulled out of the driveway, and somehow Adam ended up with aux cord. Somewhere in between an old Maroon 5 song and the Weekend, Jay’s hand found hers on the center console. 

Hailey looked down at it and smiled. It was a simple thing that they did every single time they rode together, but it really symbolized how much things had changed. Hailey thought back to the day that he kept his eyes trained on the road, back when she cut him off when he tried to apologize. It was only two months ago, but they were different, everything was different, everything was better. 

 Jay followed her gaze to their conjoined hands, mimicking her smile. She didn’t have to say anything, he knew exactly what she was thinking. Part of him wishes he could go back and stay with her then, he felt like they had wasted so much time, but the other part of him knew that they were better for it. Neither of them were ready for what they have now, then. And what they have was worth the wait. 

Finally they reached their destination, Jay having the park pretty far away due to how many people were already there. They got out, Jay rounding the truck to help Hailey down, even though she hadn’t needed it in a long time. The four of them headed towards the decent sized house, they could hear the music thumping from outside. Hailey slipped her hand in Jay’s, gripping his forearm. 

Jay noticed the look of discomfort on her face, leaning down. “Hey, you okay?” He asked, eying her. 

Hailey nodded, holding on a little tighter. “Yeah, just don’t want to get lost in the crowd.” Jay nodded, believing her lie. She couldn’t really explain it, but she had a terrible feeling in her stomach and the thought of being lost in a sea of people made her want to throw up. Even though it was over, Hailey still found herself looking over her shoulder and watching out for her. And even though all of that meant she was nowhere near being in a party mood, she wasn’t going to bring everyone else down, they all needed a fun night. 

They made their way through the crowded makeshift dance floor, and found Kevin in a living area near the back of the house where he was sitting with Stella, Conner, Matt and Sylvie. “Hey guys,” He called, jumping up and clapping Adam’s back. 

Stella stood, hugging Kim tightly, “I’m glad you guys could make it.” 

Kim squeezed her, “Me too.”

Stella backed away, touching Hailey’s arm affectionately and giving her a kind smile that she returned. “I know it’s kind of crazy,” Stella laughed, “If you need something or just a break, the keys to the upstairs doors are hidden right under the doors, just inside the rooms.” She glanced at the obvious couples, winking. “I trust you guys.” 

They all nodded, Kim blushing, a chorus of “great” and “thanks” sounding. The group dispersed, the five of them huddling up. “Obviously Hailey and I are gonna stick together, if we get lost, meet back here at midnight and we’ll head out?” Jay suggested.

“Sounds good,” Kev said, nodding.

Adam agreed too. “That works for me.” 

That works for me…

Hailey flinched at those words, instinctively squeezing her eyes shut. Her breath caught in her throat. The image of a pulled gun flashing through her brain. She grimaced, trying to push the thoughts away. “Hailes…” She took another deep breath, doing everything in her power to keep her fear at bay. “Hailes.” Someone said, harsher, snapping her out of her daze. 

“Yeah?” She asked quickly. 

Kim eyed her cautiously, “I asked if you wanted a water…”

“Oh,” Hailey shook her head, “No, I’m good, thanks though.” She watched as Kim and Adam slowly disappeared into the crowd, her eyebrowed cinched together. 

Jay stepped in front of her, blocking her view of the rest of the room, “Are you sure you’re okay?” He asked, concern clear in his bright green eyes. 

Hailey nodded vigorously, “I’m good, I promise.” She said, his face didn’t change. He didn’t believe her. Hailey reached up, pulling him to her level and attaching their lips. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she deepened it, pulling him even closer. Jay did his best not to get lost in the kiss, but with her it was so hard. She pulled away slowly, peering up at him. “Jay, I’m okay.” Kim was right, it didn’t sound like a word anymore. 

Jay sighed, admitting defeat. “Okay.” He laced their hands together, leaning down and kissing her slowly before guiding her to the dance floor. They stood near the edge, Jay’s hand sitting on her hips as they swayed in sync to the fast music. They danced for a while before some of Jay’s teammates interrupted them. 

Hailey stood securely at his side as they spoke, absently listening to the trashy rap music that was playing loudly throughout the room. “Fuck, shit, bitch…” The sound of a gun being cocked rang through the speakers and Hailey screamed. Suddenly the eyes of everyone around her staring at her. She was frozen in place, forcing the terrible memories away, but she couldn’t. 

“Hailey.” Jay said, but her feet had a mind of their own and she was running towards the staircase, her lungs burning, she couldn’t get in a good breath. “Hailey!” Jay called after her, not even bothering to say goodbye to his team before taking off. 

Hailey booked it up the stairs, dropping to the ground in front of the first door she saw, grasping aimlessly for the key. She slumped against the door, tears streaming down her face as she fought to breathe. Jay booked it towards her, crouching down and finding the key easily. He unlocked the door, then swept his hysterical girlfriend off the floor, carrying her into the room and setting her on the bed. She was still heaving in front of him, and Jay placed two hands on either side of her face. “Hailey, Hailey look at me.” He said, but her eyes stayed trained on his chest. “Baby, you’re safe, look at me, please.” She clenched her eyes shut, more tears falling down her face. When she opened them again, they met his and she launched herself into his arms. 

Jay held her to him, rocking them gently as she cried into his neck. “I-I thought-” She stuttered, sobs wracking her body. 

“I know, I know.” He said, trying to calm her. 

“I thought it was over…” She said, and Jay felt his heart clench in his chest. 

He ran his hand through her braided hair, no doubt destroying it. “It is, it’s all over, you’re safe. We’re safe.” For some reason that made her cry harder, maybe because she hadn’t for the past month, she had been bottling up her feelings to protect herself and everyone else. Because even though she was, she hadn’t felt safe in a long time. 

Hailey pulled away after a long time, utterly exhausted. Jay couldn’t take the look of defeat on her safe, she looked so tired, so broken, that it scared him. How could he not have known how much pain she was in? 

She couldn’t bear to look at him, so she kept her gaze fixed on her lap. He placed his hand on her thigh, and Hailey laid one on top of it. She sniffled, using her free hand to wipe the never ending tears from her eyes. “I’m okay.”

…

The following Monday, Hailey sat in the passenger seat of Jay’s truck. After the events of Saturday night, Jay had no choice but to loop in Trudy and Randall, he had to after he had failed to do so before. They spent the rest of the weekend convincing Hailey to see someone, to talk about everything they had been through. 

It was probably the trauma left over from her parents, but the stigma that therapy made you weak was ingrained in Hailey’s mind, and convincing her to make an appointment was no easy task. 

That’s how they ended up sitting in the parking lot of a private practice right after school, Hailey’s leg bouncing nervously up and down. Jay lifted their intertwined hands off the center console, kissing the back of hers. “I’m going to be here waiting, all I ask is that you go in there and try.” He said, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. 

Hailey smiled softly, nodding. She leaned across the console and kissed him slowly, hoping that she was able to portray just how much love she had for him and trust she had in him through it. Jay pulled away, taking her in. “I love you, Hailey Upton.” 

“I love you, Jay Halstead.” She said. 

“Now, go kick some ass.” He said and she laughed, opening the truck door. She shut it, giving him one last look before walking inside the doors. 

She sat down in one of the waiting room chairs after signing in, a few minutes later an older man with big glasses popped his head out of the back. “Hailey?” 

She stood, “Yes sir.”

The man smiled, “Come with me.” He led her back to an office, gesturing for her to sit on the couch while he sat in the chair across from her. “I’m Dr. Charles, but you can call me Daniel or Dan, or really whatever makes you comfortable.” He explained. 

Hailey nodded, shifting nervously. “So, how does this work?” She asked.

“However you want it to, we can talk or not talk about anything you want.” He said, leaning back in his chair. 

“Okay,” Hailey glanced at the ground, “The-There’s a lot…” 

“That’s okay.” 

Hailey grimaced, finally looking at him. “Where do I start?” She asked.

Dr. Charles smiled. “How about the beginning?”

Hailey sighed, taking a few deep breaths, ready to start confronting all the demons that she had been fighting for so long. 

“Tell me everything.”

...

A/N: This is long but please, please, please read it!!

First, this is the end of this story, but it is not THE end! There will be a sequel and if you want to see a sneak peak, you can find it HERE. I am so so excited to continue exploring this version of these characters, and don’t worry, the next installment will be just as exciting as this one! 

Second, thank you so so so so much to everyone who has shown love to and supported this story. It really means the world to me, you have no idea. This has been such an amazing experience and I have learned so much from writing this, so thank you so much for reading. You guys are truly incredible, and writing has helped me through a tough time in my life. I’m going to say thank you a million time, but thank you, thank you, thank you <3

This story evolved so much lol: in the beginning I had no plan, and then it changed like five times, and we ended up here, so here’s a few things that didn’t make it in.

Nadia was supposed to die in chapter 19, but I decided against it…

I debated Kevin and Stella getting together, don’t hate me for this ahaha

I almost made Kim lose her hearing, but I wasn’t sure I could do the storyline justice with everything else going on

I debated killing Adam (I’M SORRY, i’m sorry…)

And finally (cause you don’t need to know all of my secrets) I ALMOST broke up Upstead at the end

Anyway, there’s some behind the scenes action if you’re interested. 

Back to the point: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SUPPORTING ME AND THIS STORY, I LOVE EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF MY HEART, and i cannot wait to embark on this next journey together!!

So much love,

Anna

@lissethsrojas @puckluck28 @fuckyeahkillianemma @chilly7188 @thebigapocalypsewolf @karihighman @ruzek-halstead @anotheronechicagobog @snowwhite013 @tracysupton @angelsjedi @carissalizz​

[echoghost1]

Happy 10 years to Teen Wolf (the tv show)!

So my One True Fandom is Danny Phantom but that won't stop me from dabbling in a crossover from time to time.

I thought of this crossover between Danny Phantom and Teen Wolf and when I was doing a bit of research I found out when the anniversary was and I just had to make sure the first chapter was ready by that date, aka today June 5th!

Story Title: Under the Full Moon

Summary: The Nemeton has just been reawakened and Beacon Hills is all the more attractive for the supernatural creatures of the world. Scott and his friends thought they had more than enough on their plate and then Lydia finds a boy in the woods. Something about him seems off, but they aren't sure what it is.

All they know for sure is that his name is Danny Fenton, and he's a long way from home.

Chapter Title: Meet Me In The Woods

Word Count for chapter 1: 1,653

Anywho, you can read it on AO3 or down below the cut!

Lydia sighed as she shut the cupboard door. How they had already run out of dog food for Prada, she had no idea. She could have sworn her mom had just restocked when she had gone shopping last.

With nothing better to do, she decided she may as well pick some up herself. She left a quick note for her mom on the fridge before heading out.

It didn’t take long to get to her destination but when she got out of the car she froze.

This was not the parking lot for the pet store. She was parked on the side of the road surrounded by woods.

“Not again,” she whined as she stalled near her car.

She really didn’t want to find another dead body. She was so tired of finding dead bodies. Since she was alone she allowed herself to let out her frustration by stomping in place, like a toddler throwing a silent tantrum. Then she took a breath to compose herself, dug her phone out of her purse pocket, and held it like a lifeline before heading off into the forest towards whatever it was she was called to find.

She was thankful it was still daylight, even if the sun was starting to set now. The forest wasn’t quite so ominous in the light. The trees broke way into a clearing and she hesitated again.

She bit her lip wondering who she should call. Normally she wouldn’t hesitate to call her friends, but they were having a rough time right now with the whole recently dead sacrifice thing. Then again, she could call the police. Now that Sheriff Stilinski knew about the supernatural he’d realize the importance of finding a body here off all places.

Although, he had just been here too.

She took a few steps closer to the body. If she was going to call this in, she should at least be able to get close enough to give a description. It’s not like this was her first time.

She got as close as she dared, slowly circling the area for any clues while she did her best not to touch anything.

The body appeared to be of a young teen boy, it was hard to tell how old exactly with his youthful face and because of how he was laying, curled up in the fetal position. With how he was positioned perfectly in the center of the large stump it reminded her too much of an offering being made. And considering where they were and what had recently happened here, that wasn’t exactly a good sign. She was glad there wasn’t any blood at least. Actually, now that she was looking, he didn’t appear to be hurt at all. If anything, he looked like he was sleeping.

She stopped moving and just watched him for a moment.

Part of his dark hair that hung in front of his face fluttered momentarily.

She held her breath and listened.

He sighed.

She dropped her phone and covered her mouth to keep herself from screaming. He was alive?! She found someone who was still alive? How? Why? Who was this kid?

She had to wake him up.

“Hey. Hey kid,” she called gently not wanting to startle him too much.

He groaned in his sleep and rolled over, “five more minutes.” he mumbled.

Did he just-? Did he think he was sleeping in his bed at home? How was that even comfortable?

She marched around the stump and carefully made her way around the gnarled roots so she could get in close, “I am not your mom and you seriously should not be sleeping here!”

He mumbled something unintelligible but she ignored him and reached for his arm instead.

“Would you just wake up already?”

The instant she touched him, his eyes shot open and he sat up ramrod straight. His fists went up in a protective fighting pose which made him come across looking more frightened than frightening.

She carefully stood up doing her best to keep her balance and not move too fast and scare him more.

“Hey there, you okay?” she asked cautiously.

He slowly looked around taking in the woods around them, checking himself over for injuries, before finally looking down to see what he was sitting on.

She used his momentary distraction to quickly look for her phone while doing her best to keep him in her sights.

“I think so?”

She slowly walked toward her displaced phone and picked it up.

He froze when he saw her move and she made a show of being non-threatening, “I just dropped my phone when I saw you is all.” She held it up and wiggled it in her hand, and smiled when he relaxed.

“Where are we?” he asked looking around the open area with nothing but confusion on his face.

“The woods just outside Beacon Hills,” she said matter of factly. “Did you need a ride home? I’m Lydia by the way.”

“Hi, Lydia. I’m Danny.” He was quiet for a moment, taking his time with something before he spoke again, “I’m probably going to sound really dumb right now, but,” he reached up and rubbed the back of his neck as he gave her a nervous smile, “Where exactly is Beacon Hills? Like State-wise?”

She blinked at him a couple of times. That certainly was an odd question. “California.”

He blanched, “California?!”

“Not from around here then?”

“No!” He pulled his knees up to his chest and threaded his fingers into his unruly dark hair, “I can’t be in California! I can’t!”

“Hey, it’s okay,” she tried to console but that only made him panic more.

“It’s not okay!” he pulled his hands free and he looked about one second away from bursting into tears, “I don’t know how I got here!”

Well, that wasn’t good.

Nothing about this situation was good or made any sense at all. But they weren’t going to figure anything out if they just stayed here. “My car is just back there,” she pointed in the general direction of the road, “why don’t we get out of these woods and we can figure this out and get you on the way home?”

He was still breathing too hard but he did seem receptive to the idea at least, “yeah I guess hanging out in the woods at night isn’t the best idea.”

“It really isn’t.”

He started to scoot off of the stump but paused, “Is it really that dangerous out here?” His eyebrows rose as he realized something, “Oh wait! California is the state with the bear flag, right? Are there really bears here?” he asked in alarm but then dropped his voice to more of a whisper and added, “I thought it was a metaphor.”

Lydia sighed, “I’m not worried about bears, Danny.”

“Oh.” his shoulders slumped and he picked at the hem of his faded NASA t-shirt, “so what are you worried about?”

She wanted to say, the copious amounts of were-people, but instead settled on, “I just don’t want to be out here at night.”

“Are you afraid of the dark?”

“What? No!”

“Because it’s cool if you are! I won’t make fun of you for it!”

“I’m not afraid of the dark, Danny,” she restated firmly.

“Okay, okay. Sorry. Forget I said anything.” He held his hands up in surrender.

“Are you afraid of the dark?” that might explain why he was so adamant about it?

“What?” he waved her off with a smirk, “No, that’d be silly.”

She put her hand on her hip and stared at him, “it’s okay if I’m afraid of the dark but not you?” if this was a gender thing she would kick his scrawny little ass.

He immediately figured out her line of thinking and back-peddled so hard, “Oh no! I didn’t mean it like that! I just- I uh,” he stammered for a bit before he was able to find the words again, “I just forgot you didn’t know me that well.”

“You forgot we just met?”

“I just mean that,” he stopped mid-sentence to think, “How do I explain this?” he asked himself, “Oh! Okay, so I didn’t mean it like ‘I’m a big strong guy and you’re a weak silly woman’. That would be awful and super incorrect. You could probably kick my butt into next week without even trying!”

Lydia smirked in approval.

“I just meant that it was silly to think that me, personally, being afraid of the dark was ridiculous. You see, I want to be an astronaut and space is like mostly darkness so it’d just be weird if I wanted to go to a place that was made up of something I was afraid of. It’d be like a fashion designer that was afraid of fabric.”

She laughed, “alright, apology accepted. Let’s go.”

He smiled back and used the edge of the stump to steady himself as he found his footing among the roots. “Man, this must have been a huge tree,” he said with his hands still holding on to the edge of the ancient oak.

Lydia stayed quiet and wondered if he was going to say anything else but instead he just pushed off the tree to stand up fully. He spun around to face her with a smile before it quickly vanished.

He swayed ever so slightly and held his hand up to his head, “I think I spun around too fast.” he took a couple of poorly coordinated steps towards her before he tripped over his own feet and landed hard on the dirt below.

She was on her knees next to him in an instant, “whoa, are you okay?”

“I don’t think I’m going to make it to the car,” he admitted as his words started to slur.

“Why not?”

“‘cause I’m gonna pass out,” he said before doing just that.

[daisybeewrites]

Academy Blues

avoi-dance!

word count: 3.7k

warnings: nightmares

ship: dousy (daisy johnson/daniel sousa)

ahahaha dousy is becoming a spark

Shaking.

Quaking.

Rubble falling.

Bones snapping.

Something dark on the floor.

He’s gone.

He’s gone.

He’s gone.

Daisy bolted upright, ribs expanding and contracting rapidly. The bed was shaking. A small cacti was on the floor, sand and pebbles thrown across the rug, pieces of the decorative pot shattered. She looked over at her clock.

2:14am. Great.

Daisy quickly rose, gathering her rug in one hand and a sweatshirt in the other. She walked down the hall, quiet as a mouse, still shaky.

Breathe, Daisy, She told herself.

She reached the bathroom without encountering anyone. She set the rug on the counter, gathering the tiny cactus and shaking it out of the soil.

“Ouch,” She inhaled sharply. Cacti are prickly.

The mirror rattled a bit as Daisy shook the sand and pebbles into the trash. She held back tears, the aftershocks of her nightmare hitting her.

A presence in the doorway caught her attention.

“Daisy? What’re you doin’?”

Jemma sounded like she had just woken up, her accented voice thick and scratchy with sleep.

Daisy opened her mouth to respond, but her voice cracked on the first syllable. Jemma’s eyes widened, registering the sight before her. She rushed over, enveloping Daisy in a tight hug. Jemma could feel Daisy’s chest racking with sobs. At least she could comfort her now, like she wasn’t allowed to before.

Jemma slowly pulled away as Daisy’s cries became quieter and less frequent. The small cacti was still resting on the counter, the rug discarded on the tiled floor.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Jemma asked gently.

Daisy looked up, the rattling of the mirror lessening as she exhaled.

“I broke my cactus,” She sniffled, a few tears escaping as she stared at the broken succulent. She was really looking forward to watching this one grow.

Daisy shook her head, wiping her eyes with her sweatshirt sleeve. Silently, the pair picked up the rug and walked back to Daisy’s room. Daisy saved the small cacti, not quite able to just throw it in the trash. Jemma surveyed the furniture, making sure that nothing else had fallen. Her room was in its usual messy yet organized array. It made Jemma’s skin itch, but at least Daisy knew where everything was. Daisy collapsed onto her bed, pulling a fuzzy blanket around her shoulders.

“Do you want me to stay?”

Daisy thought for a moment, watching Jemma fidget with her fingers and rub her neck, noting her under eye circles and the sluggish way she smiled.

“I’m good,” Daisy said.

Jemma raised an eyebrow, tilting her head. “Are you sure? I don’t mind, really,” She offered.

Daisy nodded. “I promise, I’m good.”

Jemma hesitantly nodded, then left, softly closing the door behind her.

Daisy flopped backwards onto her pillows. She wasn't sleeping anytime soon.

Daisy woke at 9:36 later that day, her alarm buzzing softly and her phone screen lit with several missed calls from Elena and May.

7:04–May

Are you otw?

7:10–Yo-yo

daisy, you’re late

7:15–Missed call from May (2)

8:02–Yo-yo

may is pissed

get your best sorry ready

Daisy sighed. Fuck nightmares.

She had already missed half of second period, not that it wasn’t anything she didn’t already know how to do. Might as well take advantage of the empty canteen.

After speedily brushing her teeth and getting dressed, Daisy grabbed her backpack and headed out.

True to routine, the canteen was void of people, save for a group of fifth-years chatting in the corner. Daisy grabbed her usual cinnamon raisin bagel and coffee and found a spot near the back doors. If May came in, she would run. It was too early and Daisy was too tired to deal with May’s concern.

Daisy glanced up as the doors across the large hall opened again, almost spitting out her coffee at who walked in.

Ohmygodhe’scomingoverhere, don’t be an idiot!

“Hey, Danny Boy,” Daisy greeted. Smooth, very good start.

“Hey, Dais,” He said, morning voice rough and low. Daisy ignored the rising number on her biometer watch and quickly hid her hand under the table, resting on her bouncing knee.

She cocked an eyebrow. “Just getting up, are we?”

Daniel shrugged, “My alarm clock is broken, and I’m ahead in all my classes anyway. Missing one to trade for sleep won’t hurt me.”

“Aren’t you in May’s class, though? She hates when people skip,” Daisy asked.

Daniel thought this over for a second before responding, demeanor a tad sheepish. “I might have already asked for the notes for this week, everything she’s teaching today I’ve already been studying.”

Daisy smiled. Nerd.

“Well, in that case, would you care to join me in my avoidance of classes?”

Daniel checked his analog watch, second period was almost over. “Sure. My third is calculus, and all we do in there is textbook work anyway.”

Daisy stood up, stretching a bit. Daniel followed her out of the canteen, across the grounds, and around the girls’ dorms.

“Uh, Daisy, where exactly are we going?”

Daisy grinned. “Ever been on the roof, Sousa?”

Sousa looked up at the top of the building. “Are we allowed up there?”

Daisy furrowed her brows, responding with a noncommittal hum. Did he not want to go up there?

“To master the art of avoidance, you must be unpredictable. Go where no one will find you. Dance along the edge of expectations,” Daisy exclaimed dramatically. “That’s why it’s called avoi-dance. We don’t have to, if you don’t want to.”

Daniel laughed, eyes smiling. “Ladies first,” He offered.

Daisy clambered onto the iron fire escape, waiting for Daniel on the first landing and giving him a hand. They started up the stairs together, wind blowing softly over their faces.

“So,” Daisy started when they reached the top, “This is it.”

Daniel watched as Daisy made a grand gesture, crouching down near an outlet to plug in the lights.

Putting on her best realtor voice, Daisy led Daniel around the space.

“In this corner we have a lovely, absolutely gorgeous three-hundred-sixty degree view of campus. Look! There are students in their natural habitat!

“And over here, we have a wonderful assortment of plants, both alive and barely clinging to life, just like most of the human inhabitants of the building!”

Daniel chuckled, nodding sagely. “Now, let’s talk money. What is the price per square foot, and how much are you suggesting as a down payment?”

Daisy’s grin faltered, not sure exactly what Sousa was talking about. Daniel’s smile grew wider at the slightly confused, completely adorable look on her face.

“Were you planning on getting work done?” Daniel asked.

Daisy shrugged, setting her backpack down and leaning against the low wall surrounding the edge of the roof. He joined her, sitting with one leg out and the other bent at his knee.

“It won’t take me long to finish this,” Daisy said, opening her laptop.

Daniel watched on as Daisy coded, taking mental notes of how her fingers glided over the keys, typing at a speed he could barely comprehend. She bit her bottom lip in concentration, pausing for a moment to assess her work, then continuing to circumvent the little red error messages that appeared at the top of her screen.

“How do you know what all that means?” Daniel asked. Daisy stopped typing for a moment to look over at him, tilting her head a bit.

“I guess I just picked it up pretty quick. When I was still living in my van, before Coulson found me, I had to make money somehow, so I started building codes and programs for people who needed it. They were definitely shady, and it got me into a couple tough spots, but I could always just move my van away, drive somewhere else.”

Daniel didn’t press for more information. Daisy seemed not to want to talk about it, as she turned back to her computer and let her hair fall into her face. A few minutes later, she pressed enter, and threw her hands up.

“Yes! Finally!”

Daniel peeked at her screen. Instead of a red error message, there was a small check at the top of her screen.

“So what exactly did you just do with the numbers and the symbol things?”

Daisy laughed lightly. “Sometimes SHIELD creates programs specifically for Academy students to hack into, so we can practice getting around firewalls and beating different layers of protection. At the end is usually some redacted file or just a blank document. Sometimes the Professors let the advanced students hack into companies and emails if they need help. It gives us ‘a wide range of practical experience.’”

Daniel scrunched his eyebrows, checking his watch. “So does it normally only take you fifteen minutes to complete assignments like this?”

Daisy smirked, “I don’t mean to brag, but yes. Most kids in my class can do it in forty-five, but I like to challenge myself.”

Daniel’s jaw dropped, amazed. “Wow. So in a couple years I’ll be doing that? I can keep up with CS 1, but that is…” He trailed off, not sure exactly how to describe it.

Daisy nodded, “It takes awhile to get used to, to understand. It’s like learning any other language, it helps if you start young, and I practically depended on coding for survival when I was in my teens. It gave me a huge leg up.”

Daniel let his gaze wander over Daisy’s face. She had a lot more to her than meets the eye. He looked into her eyes, finding her already staring at him, an intent look on her face. She opened her mouth to say somethi—

Briiiiiiiiiiing.

The bell cut her off. Daisy looked away quickly, cheeks tinted pink. Daniel made no move to get up, and neither did Daisy. They waited until it was over to speak again.

“I guess we should probably get going?”

Daisy agreed, standing up and reaching out a hand for Sousa to take. They walked back to campus together, parting ways to get to their classes.

Daisy passed by May’s room on her way to Physics, walking quickly and staring straight ahead.

“Daisy!”

Daisy stopped, walking backwards to stand in the open door of May’s classroom. No one was there but May.

Daisy slowly approached May down the rows of desks, smiling rather guiltily.

“Hey, May! How are you?” Daisy asked, voice an octave higher than normal. May had on her ‘Mom Face’, as Daisy called it, eyebrows slightly raised and lips pursed in a straight line.

“You know, leather jackets look great on you!” Daisy tried, picking at her nails, unable to maintain eye-contact without her chest constricting. May stayed silent.

Daisy dropped the cheery façade, sighing. This would get her nowhere.

“I’m sorry. I had a rough night and slept through my alarm. If it makes you feel better, I also missed my first three periods,” Daisy rushed out, exhaling sharply.

May sat back onto her desk, patting the space beside her.

“Call me next time,” May said, voice soft. “Asking for help isn’t weak, Daisy, and I don’t know how to help if you don’t tell me. I don’t have a class next period.”

Daisy nodded, a slight sting in her eyes. May continued, “You’ve had a rough year. I get it. But Daisy, running from those you love, who love you? It doesn’t work. Trust me, I’ve tried. The only thing that will work is facing your fears head-on, and keep running at them until eventually they’re powerless. You need closure.”

Daisy rested her head on May’s shoulder, unable to look her in the eye.

“I’m sorry, May,” Daisy apologized, voice small.

May wrapped an arm around her in a side hug.

“You don’t need to apologize. Let’s go work out some problems, my way.”

In the canteen, Jemma and Fitz sat in their usual spot by the back windows, both munching on spaghetti and rolls.

“Fitz! Tell me you didn’t!”

Fitz looked up from where he was tinkering with a piece of tech that looked suspiciously like an ICER with a small cloaking device attached to the side.

“I didn’t,” He replied. He kept tinkering with the small gun until it made a loud pop! and shocked him.

“Ouch!” Fitz winced, promptly dropping the modified ICER on the table, empty cartridge bouncing onto the floor. He bent to pick it up, reassembling the tech and taking another bite of pasta.

“Have you figured out the problem?” Jemma asked.

Fitz rolled his eyes. “It’s not a problem, Jemma, it’s just that I, uh, I can’t get the…” Fitz paused, waggling his hands in the air as if he was grasping for the right word.

“The concentration? Weight? Bullets?” Jemma supplied.

“The bullets work! Non-lethal, heavy stopping power, break up under the subcutaneous tissue. Same ones from when we were working on The Bus. No, it’s the, um, the safety. It keeps going off without my permission,” Fitz finished.

Jemma took a bite of her roll. “Are you using one-hundred nano-liters of dendrotoxin like I suggested?”

Fitz nodded. “That’s in the bullets. This is just the design. I can’t figure out the balance, with the addition of cloaking, it’s thrown my whole design off.”

“Maybe Daisy has an idea? She’s listened to us ramble on for years, she’s actually used them.”

Fitz and Jemma looked around for Daisy. It was 6, dinner started at 5, and they always ate together.

“Usually she’s here by now,” Jemma frowned. The three of them had fallen into a comfortable routine, meeting at lunch and dinner and making plans to study after.

“There’s that guy she’s been hanging out with, er,” Fitz paused, snapping his fingers, “Sousa! Maybe he knows something,” Fitz pointed to where Sousa was eating a plate of chicken and rice near the entrance to the canteen.

“Are you going to go talk to him?”

Fitz looked back at Daniel, considering his options. On one hand, he had never talked to the guy. What if he said something wrong and made a bad first impression? On the other hand, Fitz needed to make sure Daisy was okay. They had a routine they had agreed to stick to, and if she was off routine, it meant something was wrong.

“Let’s go together,” Fitz half-suggested, half-asked.

Jemma nodded, getting up and walking with Fitz across the cafeteria to stand in front of Daniel.

“Hello,” Jemma started, “Have you seen Daisy lately? We’ve noticed the two of you together recently.”

Fitz stood slightly behind Jemma, fingers weaving themselves together.

Daniel took in the two of them, noticing Jemma’s thumb swiping nervously across her palm.

“Would you like to sit down?” Daniel offered.

“No, thank you, we’d really just like to find Daisy,” Fitz rushed out, looking slightly above Daniel’s eyes as he talked.

Daniel nodded. “Are you guys Fitzsimmons? Daisy talks about you a lot, I’m glad to finally meet you. But to answer your question, I haven’t seen her since third period. Is something wrong?”

Jemma sighed. “She had a bad nightmare last night, but when I left she said she was fine. I went to check on her this morning but she didn’t answer, I assumed she was out for a run.”

Daniel furrowed his brows. Daisy hadn’t mentioned a nightmare. “Is that why she was missing her morning classes?”

“She’s sleep deprived and has a tendency to entirely abandon routines if she doesn’t get off on the right foot. I bet she’s with May,” Jemma said, looking to Fitz for confirmation.

Fitz just nodded, staring at Jemma.

“Great,” Jemma clapped her hands, “Should we go find her?”

It took Daniel a moment to realize the question was directed at him. “Oh, uh, yes, sure,” He stammered, getting up and jogging a bit to catch up to Fitz and Jemma.

“Oof!” Daisy exclaimed. She and May had been sparring for the past couple hours. Hours. Daisy was absolutely exhausted. May was feeling fine.

From the mat, Daisy reached a hand up so May could pull her up. Instead of getting up, though, Daisy pulled hard, flipping May over. May rolled rather chunkily, ending in a position that was half-squatting, half-sitting.

Maybe she was a little more tired than she let on.

“Good one. Next time, roll with the flip, too. If your attacker is faster than you, you could’ve just given them a free shot.”

Daisy got up slowly, dusting herself off and extending a hand out to May.

“Truce?”

May nodded. Then Daisy’s world spun, and she was flat on her back.

“Ughh. I deserved that,” Daisy panted.

May smirked, staying on the floor with Daisy.

“Feel any better?”

Daisy shrugged. “I’ll at least sleep hard,” She said, still catching her breath.

“There you are! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”

Daisy lifted her head off the mat to see Jemma and Fitz walking into the gym. Daniel was behind them.

Daisy sat fully up, allowing Jemma to help her to her feet.

“Sorry guys. I should have called,” Daisy grimaced.

Fitz shrugged, “It’s okay, Dais, we got Daniel to, er, tag along with us. He was a good ‘replacement you’ for a while.”

Daisy looked over to Daniel, who was trying to hide a blush by clearing his throat and looking anywhere but Daisy.

Oh, right. She was wearing nothing but a sports bra and spandex training shorts.

Daisy walked over to the edge of the mat, stretching out her arms and grabbing her SHIELD sweatshirt, tugging it on.

“Thank you, guys, I appreciate the concern,” Daisy checked her watch, “You already ate dinner?”

Jemma and Fitz nodded.

“Okay, I’ll grab something with May and see you at the dorms?”

Fitz gave her a thumbs up and left, Jemma right behind him. May grabbed her water bottle, letting Daisy know that she’d be in the canteen.

“And then there were two,” Daisy laughed nervously, threading her fingers together and shifting from side to side.

Daniel smiled, “And then there were two.”

An uncomfortable silence settled over them.

“Thanks for hanging out with me this morning. You didn’t have to,” Daisy blurted.

Daniel shrugged, frowning, “I wanted to.”

Daisy turned away from Daniel, face heating up. He wanted to hang out with her?

Daisy bent to grab her gym bag. When she turned back around, Daniel was waiting for her.

“You can tell me, you know, if you’re having a rough go of it. I won’t judge,” He stated, calm and collected.

Daisy nodded, unsure how to respond. She rose up onto her tiptoes and rocked back, once, twice, three times before letting out a slow exhale.

“Have you eaten dinner?” She asked.

“Sorta. I was about to eat before I left with Fitz and Simmons,” He said.

“Well, you’re welcome to eat with me and May,” Daisy offered.

Daniel grinned.

“I’ll take your bag.”

They arrived a number of minutes later at the canteen, Daisy offering to take her bag every couple minutes and Daniel readjusting the black duffel on his shoulder, refusing.

May thought they were exceptionally cute.

“Took you long enough,” The short woman said, amusement lacing her words.

Daisy plopped into a seat before Daniel could pull one out.

“I’m gonna go get some grub, I’ll leave you ladies to it,” Daniel announced.

May raised an eyebrow at Daisy, whose face promptly went pink.

“He’s a dork,” She said, “He was awed by my CS homework.”

“Was it the homework, or was it you?”

May shot Daisy a very pointed look, to which Daisy rolled her eyes.

“Whatever.”

“He’s very square” May observed, watching him over Daisy’s shoulder.

Daniel came up behind her, holding a plate with a cinnamon raisin bagel in one hand and a plate of chicken and rice in the other.

“I didn’t know what else you’d like, but I felt bad for not grabbing you anything.”

May hid a laugh by clearing her throat. Daisy reached out to accept the bagel, avoiding eye contact with May.

After dinner, back at the dorm, Jemma and Daisy were sprawled out on Daisy’s bed. Jemma held her flashcards in her hand, quizzing herself while Daisy talked.

“May says I need ‘closure’, whatever that means. I thought I had closure. I went to his funeral. I hugged his sister!”

Jemma set her cards down, accepting that she wasn’t going to get any more studying done.

“But you don’t know what happened. You were being controlled, you weren’t here. Daisy, you’ve always needed answers. You’ve never been able to leave a problem alone if you didn’t have the full story.”

Daisy sighed. Jemma was right.

“Well… On to happier subjects. Tell me about the new marine bio elective. How’s that going?”

Daisy smiled softly as Jemma’s face lit up and her hands came up to flap excitedly. Jemma went off on several different tangents about the professor’s experiences as a wildlife photographer and the different coral reefs they were studying in class. Daisy tried to listen, really, she did, but she found herself stuck in her head, responding with passive hums and ‘yeah’s.

Eventually, Jemma seemed to run out of steam, her smile still wide and face slightly flushed from how she had been ranting about climate change’s effects on the world’s reefs.

“It’s 10. I’m going to head up to bed.”

Daisy nodded. She had a plan.

She walked with Jemma back down the hall to her room, bidding her a good night. Daisy got back to her room, breathing in the quiet, then settled onto her rug against her bed, laptop sat in front of her. Lines of code danced on the screen, the light from the computer highlighting her face.

“You have to do this. You need closure,” Daisy murmured.

Daisy sat up, stretching. She changed positions several times, finally landing upside down on her bed. She craned her neck to read her clock, 11:23. Last chance to turn back, you know the consequences. You could get kicked out of SHIELD. They won’t trust you anymore.

Daisy pressed enter.

[flutteringdreams-matw]

Out of Time (11)

First/Last Read on AO3 Word Count: 7411

Previously: Danny and Sam narrowly escape Dan - but not before a large blast hit its target.

Now: The fallout.

Link to the next chapter will be in the replies once posted. As always - please let me know what you think!

"Of course she did," Jazz said, sighing through the Fenton Phones. Tucker imagined Jazz's frustrated face, pinching the bridge of her nose. He fidgeted in his chair, looking at snack and energy drink covered console as he waited for them to say anything else.

"When was the last time you spoke with her Tucker?" Maddie asked worriedly.

Tucker frowned, looking at the time. It was Noon. "A few hours ago," he said, scanning the radar again. No Fenton Phone in range outside of the city. "She went out of range about a mile out. She was supposed to be back by now."

"And you're sure you had found Danny? Sam wasn't going in blind?" Jack confirmed; his voice tight.

Tucker glanced at Clockwork who still stared at the screens intently, eyes darting through each screen but staying expressionless as ever. He waited, hoping for some clue that they were okay, that he hadn't let Sam walk into a trap before responding. "Yeah, there's no question."

Jack sighed tiredly. "Danny's shield is still up," he said matter-of-factly. "And Sam is a capable girl. Between the two of them, they'll look out for each other. We're needed here - once we get rid of these Shadow Copies then we'll head out after them."

"Dad," Jazz started worriedly. "What if Sam was right? How can you be so sure they'll be okay?"

"Because we have to Jazzy," he replied simply, his normally booming voice quiet and reserved. "We have to believe it."

Tucker bit his lip nervously in the silence that followed. "Another thing," Tucker added uncomfortably, his hand twitching above the keyboard. "I think I figured it out."

"Tucker - that's great!" Jazz exclaimed.

"I knew you were good Foley!" Jack boomed.

"Except…" Tucker started worriedly. "It's not exact." He pulled up the ecto-signature code he had been working on all morning, looking at again with a thoughtful frown. "If I'm wrong and Danny's still out there, we'll strand him. Worse - if he's injured or hurt, he'll be a sitting target."

The line went silent. Tucker let out a deep shuddering breath, hands shaking as he ran them over his face.

"How sure are you?" Maddie asked him. He couldn't tell from her voice what she was feeling.

"Eighty percent," Tucker admitted bitterly. He glared at the screen. "Eighty-five if I'm optimistic." The line went silent again. The implied "what do I do?" hung in the quiet.

"Tucker," Maddie said gently. He heard her let out a shuddering breath of her own. "Danny trusts you. We trust you," she told him. "Whatever decision you need to make, do it."

"But-" he started.

"She's right," Jack agreed softly. "We'll stand by it. It needs to be you."

"He's your son!" Tucker blurted out anxiously. "I'm just-"

"His best friend," Jazz told him smoothly, trying to get him to calm down. "One of two people he trusted from day one. You have as much right as any of us. Tucker, you've been working on this straight for three days - taking everything into consideration. You are the best person to make that call."

Tucker swallowed nervously, staring at the button to launch the shield. He was silent for a few minutes before he answered. "Danny's shield is still up. I'll keep working on the code. Unless we know for sure that this will work, I won't use it." He looked at the radar again, shaking hands curling into fists. "Mr. Fenton's right, let's keep at those Shadows in case Dan shows his face in the city. I'll keep an eye out for anything out of the ordinary."

Tucker disconnected the line, rubbing his temples. He was starting to crash. "Did I make the right decision?" he asked conversationally to the ghost beside him. Clockwork, again, stayed quiet, making Tucker sigh again. "Come on, you must know something!"

"Even if I did," Clockwork replied with a hint of annoyance. "It wouldn't be much help."

"But slipping the Ecto-Enhancers to Sam is fine?" Tucker shot back with an eyebrow raised. When Sam had told him she took the enhancers and there was a note on them, he kept thinking how she would know where they were… until he remembered who suggested the lab bench to begin with.

"I did nothing," Clockwork replied, turning slightly. "I reminded her to arm herself in battle. What she decides to take with her is her choice. As this is yours."

Tucker sighed, annoyed. "Sure." They were silent again, Tucker looking hopefully at the radar again. "Anything interesting?"

Clockwork's frail hand pointed to one of the screens close to the school. "Another crack," he said with a frown. "Perhaps we need to contact the human in charge of that evacuation housing area."

Tucker frowned, looking at the list Mrs. Fenton left him and groaned. "That's Mr. Lancer. I'll-"

Clockwork gripped his staff tightly, falling to ground as a desperate piercing scream echoed through his mind. He gasped as the world slowed violently around him, feeling it fraying the fabric of time. "Tucker," the Time Master called urgently. When he got no response, he looked up with wide eyes. Tucker was moving slowly, the Time Medallion reflecting the lights of the console in front of him. The Time Master gasped as time shifted again, returning it to normal and left him out of breath on the ground.

"I'll tell - Clockwork!" Tucker exclaimed, jumping out of his seat over to the Time ghost. "What happened?"

Clockwork's eyes narrowed, mind racing. "Time just slowed." Tucker looked at him, down to the medallion around his neck and back at Clockwork. "I'm aware of that, yes" the ghost snapped irritably, before Tucker could comment. "Whoever just manipulated time also managed to affect anyone wearing the Time Medallions."

Tucker's eyes widened as he helped Clockwork up, the latter barely able to stay floating without his staff. "I thought you were the only who can stop and start time. Master and all that."

Clockwork's intense red eyes found the young teen's. "I am," he replied worried.

Tucker swallowed, looking at the screen and back to the ghost in front of him.

Clockwork waved him off. "I'll be fine," he assured, wincing slightly. "We need to warn the others. Quickly."

Tucker nodded, heading back to the console just as Ethelwulf and Frostbite came through the portal.

"Clockwork!" Frostbite cried, running to the Time Ghost, Ethelwulf at his heels.

"I'm fine," he dismissed, frowning at both of the ghosts. "We have bigger problems to deal with."

"That's why we're here," Ethelwulf replied grimly. Frostbite nodded vigorously, grabbing Clockwork's chest and helped steady him. "All of those Shadow Creatures just disappeared from my shield."

"What!?" Tucker exclaimed, looking at the wolf ghost before he looked back at the screens. "Why would-" Tucker paled, watching more of the shadows appear toward the East part of the shield. "Oh no…" he stood frozen for a second before switching the line of the Fenton Phones on again.

"We've got incoming!" Tucker told them urgently. "Those Shadows are concentrating on one point of the shield - they're trying to break through."

"Ethelwulf," Clockwork called, getting his attention again. Ethelwulf whipped his head around, yellow eyes trying to figure out what was wrong with his friend. "Sam went after Danny; if that shield breaks-"

His eyes widened briefly. "Ancients," he swore, looking at Frostbite. "Frostbite-" The Yeti leader nodded.

"You must go," Frostbite told him. "I can tend to the wounded in your absence - the Great One will need you more."

The ground rumbled under their feet as alarms sounded. Tucker gasped, staring at the various monitors. "The shield," he said quietly as they watched part of it explode and various shadows came into Amity Park. "Danny…"

:-=-:

Danny and Sam landed with a thud, skidding across the earth. With a small groan, Danny pushed himself up slightly, blurrily looking for his friend. His whole body burned in protest as he moved. "Sam," he murmured, coughing.

His blood ran cold when his eyes found her; she was sprawled across the ground, unmoving. No. "Sam!" Danny called hoarsely, coughing at the rawness of his throat. No response. Dread pooled in the pit of his stomach as he called out again. His vision swam, making him groan as he pushed away anything he was feeling. Please let her be breathing. He managed to pull himself across the ground, letting out small cries of pain as he made his way over to her. "Sam, wake up!"

With extreme effort, Danny reached her, hovering in the air slightly as he looked her over. She was covered with scrapes and bruises but nothing too serious. In fact, the worst injury she seemed to have was the large hand sized bruise on her wrist from where Dan held her captive. "Come on," he whispered desperately, shaking her gently. Eventually, he saw her chest rise and relief washed over him. Danny let out a small laugh; she was alive – the blast didn't hit her.

Relishing in his relief a little more, Danny looked around their new surroundings. He could dimly see the town from where they were in the forest, a little further away from where they were previously. Or maybe they were closer - he could make out some of the buildings now. Thankfully, the shield was still intact but Dan was still out there.

And currently, they were sitting ducks.

Danny turned back to Sam with a frown, before landing and pushing himself upright, ignoring the sharp pains going up and down his body. Focus. Find cover. He managed to grab Sam under her arms and dragged the both of them to a small cover of trees. Finally reaching a suitable spot under a large oak tree, Danny collapsed with a grunt of pain, sending both teens to the ground. Worriedly, he looked over at his best friend as he gasped for air; she was still out cold. He pushed himself up from the ground, arms shaking in strain as he lugged himself closer toward the tree. "Figures," he wheezed, leaning back against the tree for support. His chest burned as his breathing recovered slightly. "You always were a late riser."

He pulled her close to him, feeling her chest rise and fall steadily against his against his ragged one. She made no move of waking, making him frown in thought. Dan's ectoblast hadn't hit her – had it? He made it in time right? He checked her over again, looking for anything he could of missed the first time.

Dread bubbled in the pit of his stomach as he saw a dark pool of liquid started to stain the side of her jumpsuit.

"How could I have-" Danny berated before stopping himself suddenly with a gasp. It wasn't blood - at least not anymore; dark green ectoplasm gushed out of his side and onto the both of them. "Shit," he whispered, wide eyed. The blast hadn't hit Sam – it hit him.

Panicking slightly, he brought his left hand to his side to try and stop the bleeding; groaning as he finally realized the situation they were in. He bit back a scream, throwing his head back against the trunk of the tree as he gasped for breath. Everything hurt. How the hell could he not notice? Dan was still out there, the shield was up, Sam was still unconscious, the ghost shield wasn't fixed and he apparently was bleeding out. Clockwork had said there was one favourable outcome – there must be a way out of this. They needed more time.

Glancing toward the city again, Danny frowned as his breathing became more ragged. His vision seemed to go dark around the edges as he focused internally, trying to sense whether the shield would hold. He felt something stab at his core, crying out softly as the pain moved through him. He looked at the unconscious girl briefly before looking back toward the shield. There was no sight of his evil self.

If that goes down, the city would be in jeopardy, he thought bitterly. But if Dan finds us, we're screwed. He contemplated his next move, trying to figure out what would make the most sense. He looked down at his side – his white glove was coated in too much ectoplasm. Grim realization caused him to let out a shuddering breath. There wasn't much time. Concentrating, he focused what he could on making them invisible, biting back a groan as his core fought against the abuse.

Danny closed his eyes, his breathing coming out in small gasps. Come on Sam, he thought hopefully. You gotta wake up. He felt his body weaken as ectoplasm continued to ooze through his fingers. His core continued to send sharp pains and sparks through him as he tried not to panic. Okay. You're losing ectoplasm. It could be worse right?

Danny bit back a scream as his core sparked to life. His mind left his body, back toward the shield protecting the town. He could see Dan's shadowy minions attacking the shield, their attacks bombarded his senses. He tried to put energy into the shield to hold it, but his core violently protested against him. The shield cracked, crushing pain against his ribs and electricity coursed through him. He vaguely felt his back arch against the attack as he bit back another scream. It was too much - it needed to stop. The invisibility was starting to wane slightly as he lost a grip of his powers. Making a split second decision, he released his hold on the shield. Danny gasped as he was thrown back to his body, hearing the explosions in the distance. He opened his eyes dully, still gasping heavily as part of the dome on the Eastern side of the city shattered, creating the opening Dan's forces needed to attack his home.

He groaned as he felt the shield crumble more."Still could be worse," he quipped darkly, wincing at how raw his voice sounded.

It was getting harder to breathe as the time passed. He closed his eyes again, trying to keep the invisibility going for as long as he could. He already failed the city; he wasn't going to fail his friend. He wondered briefly if this was what dying was supposed to feel like – slow, agonizing defeat. Clockwork warned me this would happen. It was always a possibility. He hugged Sam tighter with his right arm.

Relief washed over him as Sam finally stirred. He didn't move, still trying to focus on staying conscious for a little longer to keep the invisibility. Suddenly, she jerked in his grasp, making him hiss in pain. "Sam – it's me!" he whispered urgently, vaguely aware of how faint he sounded now. "It's okay!"

Sam stilled against him. "Danny?" she questioned, relief, worry and confusion coming through the one word.

Danny swallowed. "I need you to check if we're safe," he pushed. He scrunched his eyes tighter as he tried to suppress any show of pain from his injuries. "Okay? Let me know if I can drop the invisibility."

Sam nodded against his chest as she moved. She didn't let go, crouching low as she surveyed their surroundings. Sam frowned as Danny's breath hitched slightly, but made no comment. "Coast is clear," she told him. She broke away, feeling herself become visible as she waited for Danny to drop his powers. The slight smile on her face slid off as Danny reappeared in front of her.

His head was thrown back against the oak tree, facing upwards to the sky. He breathed hard, almost as if he couldn't get enough air in his body. There was a large hand shaped bruise that curled around his neck, turning purple against his pale skin. As Sam ran her eyes over his battered body, they stopped dead at his left side at the sight of the ectoplasm running through his gloved hand. Breaking out of her stupor, she moved quickly, putting her hands on top of his and applied pressure. Danny let out a strangled gasp, filling Sam with dread.

"Don't move," she murmured, her voice wavering. "That's… there's…"

"Sam," Danny gritted out. Green eyes fluttered open, staring up at the sky. Sam felt unnerved at the reserved look on his face as his aura flickered dimly. "It's too much."

"No," Sam told him firmly. "We're going to get through this. You're going to get through this. We're going to get you back to Ethelwulf okay?" Eyes widening slightly, she looked down at her jumpsuit, letting go of Danny's wound as she tore through the pockets. "Where the hell…" she whispered frantically before letting out a cry of triumph as she pulled out a sleek, black pouch. Opening them quickly, she took one of the syringes and hesitated, looking between the syringes and the fallen boy in front of her. Had Ethelwulf checked these out? Were these safe? Danny had his eyes closed again, breathing becoming ragged. She couldn't chance it. Making her decision, she injected the contents into his leg.

The effect was instantaneous; Danny's back arched as he took a deep gasping breath. His aura shone brighter as his body relaxed against the tree, panting in exertion. Sam put pressure back against his side, trying to stop the bleeding as he composed himself. She sighed as his breathing became more normal, looking him over some more. His chest had a large burn, his left leg had a large gash and she was pretty sure she saw ectoplasm from behind his ear. The trail ectoplasm she had noticed earlier stemmed from a gash just under his hairline. They sat in silence for a long time, Sam quietly assessing how to help as she continued to apply pressure to his side.

Eventually, Sam noticed the slowing of ectoplasm from his wounds and some of the smaller scrapes and bruises healing. He didn't speak, out of exhaustion or pain Sam didn't know, but his aura flared up again and he let out a soft groan.

"These Ecto-Enhancer seem to be helping," she told him quietly, moving one of her hands behind his head. Whatever head wound that was there had scabbed over slightly. "You're healing faster than you normally do."

Danny chuckled, coming out more of a wheezy cough. "Fat lot of good that'd do me," he said hoarsely.

Sam frowned, moving her hand towards his neck. He winced as she brushed against the purple bruise. It wasn't healing at all she noticed. Faint explosions from the town broke through the silence as she put her hand against his cheek, wiping away some dried ectoplasm from a small cut under his eye. "Thanks for getting us out of there," she said, guilt rising up from within her. "I should have run when you told me to; you took that blast for me."

Danny grunted, opening one of his eyes to look at her. "If you ran, I would be dead twice over by now," he told her, slightly coughing. "I would have bled out." He scrunched his eyes tightly as he released a shuttering breath. "Still might."

"Don't say that," she scolded, worriedly looking him over again. He let out a small grunt of pain but said nothing else. "What happened? Frostbite told us you were headed back when you disappeared. I thought -"

"He ambushed me," Danny told her, wincing in pain. "My ghost sense went off went off, was going to tell Frostbite but was knocked out before I had a chance. Next thing I knew, I was in that clearing. It was too far to teleport in one go. Thought I could distract him enough to get away," Danny coughed, wheezing slightly. "Didn't work." Sam frowned, watching him shudder slightly as a wave of pain hit him. She took out the first aid kit, grabbing an anti-septic wipe and started to dab one of his head wounds. He hissed painfully. "Stings," he grunted, inhaling deeply as he kept his eyes closed. "Realized what he wanted too late - he wanted me away from the shield to weaken it. Guess it worked."

"Danny," Sam whispered before she sighed. "Don't beat yourself up about it - you kept it up for hours after… that." She shuddered as she remembered his screams, Dan's hand through his chest. One of Danny's eyes opened, watching her worriedly. "I'm still amazed you were able to keep it up when he was blasting you with all that energy - it was at least an hour."

"What?" Danny asked, confused.

Sam's frown deepened, continuing to wipe away some of the dried ectoplasm from his face. "You don't remember?" He shook his head. "After you passed out, he wanted to wake you - to … you know," she gestured vaguely, implying their last encounter with the ghost. "But you wouldn't wake up - at least not coherently. Dan got frustrated and decided to forcefully wake you." Her eyes hardened slightly. "I played right into his hands - got a few hits in before he got me. I tried escaping, but couldn't get past the damn duplicate; I'm sorry I couldn't get you out earlier."

Danny closed his eyes again, a small gasp of pain escaping before he chuckled. "Sam Manson is no damsel in distress," he wheezed in amusement. "Kicking ghost butt one handed."

She glared half-heartedly, smiling slightly as she got another anti-septic wipe and started to clean the scab behind his ear. He gasped, shaking slightly as his fist curled. Her smile fell, searching for the source of his pain. She checked his side again, watching as the ectoplasm started to clot and breathing a small sigh of relief. "The Ecto-Enhancer is working," she told him soothingly. "Once Tucker gets that ghost shield up, you can take down the shield and we can get you back to FentonWorks."

"Sam," he said forcefully, green eyes finding purple. He sighed, pushing himself more upright despite his protesting body. "There's a good chance I won't make it."

"Says who?" the Goth replied angrily. She looked to the shield briefly. "If we get close enough I-"

"Clockwork," he said softly, making Sam stop, turning toward him slowly with wide eyes. "He told me there were three outcomes of this fight. Only one of them is favourable for the timeline."

Sam stared, their conversation back in the Ops Center starting to click. "What does that even mean!?" she exclaimed angrily. "One favourable. His view of the future is skewed anyway - you're here, you're going to be fine."

"Clockwork can't see past this moment," he continued, smiling sadly as he looked up at the sky. "There are three ways this goes down Sam. The best chance I have is to take Dan down with me."

Sam stared at him, lost for words, before an intense look of anger came across her face. "For once in your life, stop being such a self-sacrificing idiot!" she yelled, making Danny wince at the volume.

"Sam, look at me," Danny said seriously, gesturing to his body. "Even with the Ecto-Enhancers, I'm not healing enough. Dan will attack again and we're not ready for him – I certainly wasn't." He smiled ruefully. "He wants to break me Sam, and worse - he can. I won't be able to heal fast enough to face him before he tries again. There's only one way out of this to save the timeline. I'm - "

"Who cares about the timeline!?" Sam exploded. Danny's head turned to her quickly with wide-eyes; Sam's eyes were shining with tears, hands curled into fists as she shook with rage. He rarely ever saw her like this. "What outcome saves you Danny? Have you even considered it? Or did you just automatically just assume you wouldn't make it? Between you and Clockwork I'm sure one of you can figure out a way to defeat Dan while saving yourself. Tell me!"

The tears that threatened to fall did as her chest heaved from her outburst. Danny watched her, recognizing the worry underneath the anger. There was something else hidden there, something deep and raw that he didn't recognize just yet. "Sam," he whispered, reaching out to comfort her, but wincing in pain from the movement. They stared at each other, only the distant sounds from the city intruding in their conversation.

"Do you want to die?" Sam asked him dangerously quiet, silent tears still falling down her angry face. "Is that why you're giving up so easily?"

"No," he answered quickly. "Of course not!" Danny fought against the pain and pushed himself closer to her, grunting with exertion. Sam moved quickly, grabbing him slowly as he settled closer to the tree. She stayed by his side, waiting for Danny to regain his breathing as she checked the blast wound. It had stopped bleeding, thankfully, but now she could see how far the blast had hit. If that hit him as a human… She let out a soft sigh, releasing her anger and worry as he composed himself.

"You never give up," she said to him softly. Danny blinked back at her. "Never. You could've earlier, when Dan was attacking you. No matter how much you insist you aren't afraid of Dan… you are afraid Danny. You're doubting yourself, playing into his trap." She swallowed slightly, strengthening the conviction in her words. "Don't let him get to you - you can do this. Believe in yourself. Like everyone does - Like I do."

Danny stared at his best friend for a long time before he realized what he was missing; Sam wasn't just worried or angry… she was scared. She was scared of losing him. "I'm not sure I can do this Sam," he admitted softly, closing his eyes briefly. When he opened them again, they flashed green for a moment as he looked at her. "Dan is… I don't think any of us are ready to face him."

Sam let out a deep breath. "I think you are," she assured, surprising Danny with her confidence. "You're letting Dan and Clockwork get in your head. Our plan is working, Danny. Those Shadow Ghosts? They're slowing Dan down. Amity is fighting with you Danny, you aren't alone. So think; if anyone can figure out how to save the timeline and survive it, it's you."

Danny stared at her for a second, before a look of determination crossed his face. "I'll give it my best shot."

She smiled sadly at his resolve. "Let's just focus on getting you to Ethelwulf," she said gently. "We can figure out how to face him later." She shuddered as she remembered the last time she saw Dan. "Danny, you need to figure out what you want from all this timeline stuff. I'm sure you'll make it happen somehow."

Danny frowned slightly, taking in the girl's words in front of him. What did he want? He looked at Sam, her face inches away from his. He was taken back briefly to their conversation back at FentonWorks, before he realized what was at stake. He wanted to defeat Dan. He wanted to live. He definitely wanted a nap. Most of all he wanted….. Danny remembered what she said - about him regretting decisions; He didn't want to regret anything.

So what did he want? A strange expression came across his face as he really looked at her. Sam's violet eyes were staring at him, like he would disappear at any moment. There were dried tear stains down her face, mixing briefly with a small cut across her cheek. His heart jolted; suddenly full of nerves and adrenaline.

He acted on instinct – closing the gap between them and kissed her.

Time seemed to slow as he moved, feeling freer than he ever felt. All of his injuries seemingly disappeared as he moved up toward her. Sam stiffened in surprise for a moment as their lips met before relaxed into the kiss. His brain went all fuzzy, no cognitive thought running through it other than the euphoria of the moment. She smelled like lavender and ectoplasm. It was nothing like he could imagine. His heart felt like it was doing somersaults in his chests. Their foreheads rested together as they broke apart, their breathing hard yet in sync. He had kissed her – actually kissed her.

"You did say later," he joked breathlessly, suddenly feeling self-conscious. They stayed like this for a few more moments, relishing in their bubble for a little longer before Sam moved her hand to his cheek.

"Promise me," she murmured breathlessly, looking him directly in the eyes. "Promise me that you're going to do whatever it takes to defeat Dan. Promise me that you're going to do everything you can to come back to us – alive. Promise me you'll win."

Reality brought him back to the severity of the battle to come, what it could mean for him. Determined green met worried violet ones. "I promise," he told her softly. "I'll do whatever I can to survive and defeat Dan." He frowned worriedly as he held her gaze. "But I will do whatever it takes to protect the people I care about. Sam, if there's no other way-"

"I know," she whispered, distraught. She closed her eyes, pressing her head against him. "I know. Please, just try."

He nodded, feeling her relax slightly as he did so. "I'll -" his attempt to reassure her was cut off when Sam kissed him. This one felt different, more grounded in where they were but it didn't matter. He was here, with her, kissing her and it felt wonderful. Better yet, she kissed him. That had to mean something right? He moved; trying to deepen it before reality, again, dragged him back from his bliss. Pain shot through him as his core sparked to life, sending ripples of electricity through his body. He broke their kiss with a cry of pain, hunching over as it grew in intensity.

"Danny!" he heard Sam cry out, feeling her hands push him back against the tree. He breathed through the pain, gritting his teeth as more electricity passed through him. Eventually, it subsided, leaving him panting against the tree once more. "What was that?" Sam asked worriedly. "Was it the shield?"

Danny shook his head. "Dan did something to my core," he told her. She noticed that his voice was stronger now, less raspy than before but the claw like bruise on his neck was still a deep purple against his pale skin. "I think that was the Ecto-Enhancer trying to heal it." A large explosion and screams drifted toward their ears, making Sam whirl around toward Amity Park. She frowned as she watched a ton of shadows flock into the Eastern part of the city. Above it, a figure with flaming white hair floated triumphantly.

"Dan," she whispered, eyes widening before turning back to the injured half-ghost beside her. "He's attacking the city."

Danny nodded. "I couldn't keep the shield up after I got blasted," he said bitterly. "How close was Tucker with the Ghost shield when you left?" Sam shook her head; Danny sighed. "We need to get him away from the city."

Violet eyes narrowed. "Yeah, and how are we supposed to do that?" she asked sarcastically. "In case you weren't aware, we're both covered in your ectoplasm from when you were bleeding out. There's no way you're up for a battle by yourself."

He cringed. "He's going to go after them Sam," he said worriedly, pushing himself in more of a sitting position. Sam's sarcastic glare melted, hands moving to his shoulders to help support him. "I can't lose them."

"I know," she agreed. "But you're not going to last in another full battle on your own if you fly in there like this. You just said he wants to break you; don't you think he wants this?" She cupped his face gently with one hand. "Danny, you could have -"

"I know," he said softly. He leaned into her hand, relaxing slightly. "I know, Sam. He almost got me. But I don't want to live through any of those visions." He sat up straighter, steeling his resolve. "I never want to live through it again."

Sam's face softened slightly as she tried to think of a way to convince him before a voice called them from above.

"Sam! Danny!"

Both teens looked up to see Ethelwulf flying down towards them; his black leathery wings flapping majestically under now the green clouds. Sam waved at him as zeroed in on them, touching down softly on the grass. His yellow eyes widened as he took in the two teens, quickly noting the injuries on Danny and the amount of ectoplasm covering the both of them. "What-"

"Dan," the boy replied quickly. "I'm fine."

"Like hell you are," Sam argued irritably.

Danny winced at her tone. "Okay, more fine than I was," he amended. He frowned worriedly, turning to Ethelwulf. The wolf ghost moved toward him, already assessing injuries. Sam pointed to the huge blast mark on his side. Ethelwulf frowned as he touched it, making Danny flinch heavily. "How's the city?" Danny asked, looking for any clue from the shapeshifter on the wellbeing of his loved ones.

Ethelwulf frowned. "Dan's forces got in through the Eastern part of the shield; thankfully Frostbite's forces and some of the other ghosts are holding them back while the human volunteers get the people to safety. Dan is facing off between Vlad, the Red Huntress and the smaller Phantom."

"What about my Parents? Jazz? Tucker?" Danny urged, concerned.

"They're all fine," Ethelwulf assured, tilting the boy's neck slight to look at the bruise with one of his claws gently. Danny sagged in relief, allowing Ethelwulf to address more of his injuries as Sam put a comforting hand over his. "I went looking for Sam when the shield started to fall. I was worried I was too late."

"Perfect timing actually," Danny replied. Moving out of Ethelwulf's reach, he grabbed onto the tree trunk, attempting to stand.

"Danny no!" Sam cried, scrambling to her feet as Ethelwulf moved backward in shock. Danny continued to rise; small grunts of pain escaping him as he did so. Sam rushed forward, supporting his injured torso as he pushed forward. "You're still hurt!"

Once on his feet, Danny tested his weight on his left leg. Seeing that he could support it, he nodded toward Sam to let go. She let go reluctantly, watching Danny in concern as she stepped back.

Ethelwulf's frown deepened as he watched the halfa stand. He could sense the pain and exhaustion from Danny from here, but could see the stubbornness across his face. Whatever the boy was planning was going to be a terrible idea.

"Danny, your core -"

Danny nodded, swallowing slightly as a small wave of pain moved through him. "It's healing," he said quickly. "Sam used one of the Ecto-Enhancers. I'll manage."

"You're not going to fight him, not like this!" Sam argued desperately.

Danny shook his head. "You're right," he agreed. Danny turned to the wolf ghost. "Ethelwulf, with the shield up around the Ghost Portal, do you think you'll be able to teleport us into the town? Even if we're a few miles out?"

"Shouldn't be an issue," Ethelwulf replied, frowning slightly at this line of reasoning.

Danny nodded. "Stay with Sam," he told his mentor. "Wait for me here and teleport us back."

Sam frowned. "Where are you going?"

Danny sighed, looking grim. "We need to lure Dan out of the city. The only way we do that is if he sees me."

"You can't be serious," Ethelwulf said disapprovingly. "There's no way you can go into battle the way you are now."

"I know," Danny repeated. "But we don't have a choice. I'm not going to fight him – just use myself as bait. Get him to chase me out of the city. I can use my core powers to teleport and defend if I need to." Sam's eyes narrowed. "Trust me, I don't want to do this either. If you're right, then destroying those shadows are our best option - the last thing we need is if Dan joins in. I can bait him out, buy Tucker more time to get the shield up and be far away before he realizes."

Sam stepped forward, biting her lip. "Danny, this is risky," she said finally. "There's no way you'll get back here without needing to defend yourself. We barely got out of there last time."

He gave a reassuring smile. "I'm okay," he told her. "The Ecto-Enhancer is working still, my base powers are a little more stable. I can fight if I need to." Sam looked down, crestfallen at his response. "Hey," he said softly, grabbing her hand in his. She looked up at him with wide eyes, sad and confused. "Still believe in me?" he asked with a small smile.

Sam smiled in response. She squeezed his hand tighter. "Always," she replied. She glanced to the discarded pouch on the ground. Breaking away, she picked up the rest of the Ecto-Enhancers and offered them. "Take these with you. They may come in handy."

Danny nodded in response, taking the pouch. "Thanks," he said, stuffing it on of his jumpsuit pockets.

Sam watched him worriedly, uneasy at his resolve. "Danny," she started, making the half-ghost look at her expectantly. She threw herself around him in a hug, nearly toppling them over. He staggered backward, stunned as she tightened her grasp. She smiled into his shoulder, trying to reassure him of his decision. "You made me a promise Ghost Boy."

Danny wrapped his hand around her, chuckling into her hair. "I remember." He turned to Ethelwulf as they broke apart, smile sliding off his face. "Keep her safe," he said.

Ethelwulf nodded. "We'll be waiting."

Danny nodded, not trusting his voice. He turned towards the city, watching the explosions from afar. They were both right; he would need to fight to get to Dan. He frowned in thought, before he summoned enough energy to teleport.

Ethelwulf and Sam watched him vanish; staring at the spot he was just in for a few moments. Sam balled her fists, the wheels turning as she thought of a plan. She picked up the rest of the first aid kit hurriedly as she heard Ethelwulf sigh.

"We're not staying here," he asked. "Are we?"

Sam's eyes narrowed. "No," she admitted. "We're going to destroy some Shadows. If Danny's fighting - let's make this a fairer fight."

Ethelwulf sighed again, kneeling down. "Hop on then," he told her. Sam gave him a quizzical look. "We can take out more from the sky."

"You're not going to stop me?" Sam asked, climbing onto his back apprehensively. Ethelwulf laughed, a dark eyebrow raised skeptically at the girl.

"The one thing I've learned after all these months," he said, yellow eyes sparkling in amusement, "is that Danny will not stop if he feels his friends and family are in danger -A trait that he shares with many people in his life. He's too afraid of the outcome. So if I can help save him from himself, I will."

Sam frowned, taking in the ghost's words. "Save him from himself…" she whispered a small determined smile formed on her lips. "Sounds about right."

[eleanorbloom]

When You’re Ready Ch. 18

Pairing: Bryce Lahela x f! MC (Eleanor Bloom) x Ethan Ramsey.

Word Count: 7.4k  (I’m making up for my almost three weeks of absence!)

Warnings: Angst, cussing and nudity. Rated T.

A/N: Please excuse me the fact that I’m mixing past and present tense in this chapter. I tried to write it all in past tense as usual, but it didn’t feel right aesthetically in some parts, so I just let it be XD

Taglist @utterlyinevitable​​ @binny1985​​ @shanzay44​​ @choicesficwriterscreations​​ @starrystarrytrouble​​ @lahellacute​​ @lucy-268​​  @cinnamonspongecake​​ @romewritingshop​​ @bratzlahela​​ @mrs-raleighcarrera​​​   @mercury84choices​​  @curiousconch​​

______

Chapter 18: Into My Arms.

 So keep your candles burning

And make her journey bright and pure

That she will keep returning

Always and evermore

Into my arms, O Lord

 Bryce had never been a man of strong faiths, but he wasn't a cynical either.

He was just practical. He respected people who needed something to believe in, but preferred to put his beliefs in science because that's what was closer to infallibility compared to religion. After all, that's why he decided to become a surgeon, he believed in the power of medicine to heal people against all adversities.

However, he knew medicine wasn't enough. At least not when he's not the one holding the scalpel and giving everything he has to save a life, but holding the hand of the person he loves the most, and her life is hanging by a thread.

Doctors have medicine. They do everything they can with their knowledge and skills to save lives. But patients? All they have in the waiting is hope. And all they can do is pray.

After spending hours awake, not missing a single second of her breath, of her arterial pressure, of her oxygen levels, all the indicators that could assure him that she was alive, the passing of time inevitably starts kitting uncertainty upon him. Would it be enough? Will they do it on time? Will they do it at all? Because he knows the possibilities and limits of medicine. He knows that sometimes there won't be an answer, there won't be a cure, there won't be anything that could be done.  

Sometimes, medicine is not enough and death is inevitable.

Bryce had never been a man of strong faiths, but he wasn't a cynical because maybe, just maybe, he was just waiting for the time he would need something to believe in. When his optimism and science combined wouldn't be enough. When the waiting would be so long, excruciating, and painful that he would need something to hold on to. A refuge.

Just like now.

Just like now when there's nothing left to do but pray.

To God, Allah, Buddha, Yahweh, Jehovah, Kāne.

"Please, please, let them find the antidote. Please, let them find it on time so Eleanor, Rafael, and Danny can survive. Please. Please."

There's no logic in asking the unseen something only medicine can give. But it doesn't hurt. It actually feels like a warm blanket that envelops in the middle of a tempest. At some point, it will soak with rain and it will no longer provide warmth, but it will do for a while. And that's all that he needs. Temporary comfort. Temporary faith to go through the night.

"Please protect her. Don't take her away. Don't take her away from me. Please. Please."

And then he begs like God is doing all this. As if they don't make the antidote, is because God moved his thread to not make it happen.

As if he needs to have someone to blame in case things go wrong.

Because blaming God is universal.

"They'll make it, they'll make it. They'll find the cure. She will live. They will live. Everything will be alright."

And then he just holds onto hope. He desperately forces himself to stay positive. To not think in a scenario where they don't make the antidote or where it's too late. And he tries to remain in that state, not daring to move his thoughts even a single inch, fearing that the slight movement could send him to the abyss. So he just locks himself in that state of mind. Hoping. Pleading.

Sunrise was dimly percolating through the blinds when a shriek startled him. Bryce turned his gaze, previously fixated in the monitor, and found Eleanor tossing on the bed, shuddering.

"Eleanor, what is it? I'm here, baby."—He asked, standing up from the chair and leaning over her, studying her reactions. Her breath was ragging and all of a sudden, she sat up, clutching her stomach desperately.

"It… Owww! It hurts so much…"

"What hurts?"

"My stomach and… my chest… My… My lungs and… heart…"

Her voice went mute and then hunched on the bed, her cries growing desperate.

"It's okay babe, take a deep breath."—He pated her on the back in a soothing way, hoping that the slow movement could ease her pain somehow.—"In half an hour someone from the team should come to administer the next dose of your treatment. How much it hurts? Do you think you can hold on?"

After a few moments, Eleanor nodded, thriving to breathe as deep and slowly as she could.

"Seven."

"Okay, you can do this, beautiful."

Bryce forced himself to take a deep breath too. Even if had passed several hours since Eleanor fell in that state, he could never get used to the idea of her suffering and not being able to do anything to stop her pain.

"Do you want some water?"

"Please."

Trying to ignore the lump in his throat, Bryce walked to the other side of the bed, poured a glass of water, and offered it to her, sitting behind her to give her support.

Eleanor received the glass and brought it to her mouth her hand quivering. Bryce hurried to place his own hand over hers to steady the glass and then watched her intently, waiting for her reaction.

A moment later, her eyes widened.

Fuck.

"What is it? It… it feels hot for you?"

She nodded, slowly and solemnly.

His whole body froze for a second.

"I'm doomed."

It was an affirmation, not even a complaint.

"Babe, you are not doomed. You're still standing, there's still time, and I'm sure the team will find the antidote soon."

"Stop this crap, Bryce. Let's be realistic here, it will be less painful for you in the … Owwww. Shit!"—Her face flinched and a hysteric sob escaped her mouth.—"Fuckkk, it hurts so much now…"

"How much?"

"A nine."

"I'll page Ramsey."

Bryce took Eleanor's pager and wrote frantically. He didn't know how he steadied his hands because his whole body was trembling, and his mind was feeling unbearably dizzy.

"COME NOW."

It had taken him just a few seconds paging Ethan, but when Bryce looked at Eleanor, her face was glistening with sweat and the only reason she was still staying upright on the bed, was because he was holding her from behind.

"I'm sorry Bryce… I'm… not strong enough."

"Baby don't say that. You're incredibly strong and brave."

Even through the latex, Bryce could feel how cold her body was, and when he placed a hand over her forehead, she felt even colder.

Desperate, he took her in his arms and placed her on his lap, cradling her protectively.

As she felt his warmth enveloping her, Eleanor curled up over him, grasping the fabric of his suit instinctively, and pressed her face to his chest.

He had never seen her this fragile and weak.

"I'm so tired…"

Her eyelids seemed heavy, making her incapable of keeping them open, but she was resisting, trying to see him through the window of his suit.  

He looked into her chocolate eyes, tired and pleading, while he was tracing soothing circles on her temple.

"It will pass, babe, I promise. Ethan will put you to sleep, but please, please stay with me. Stay with me."

How much he wanted to place a kiss on her forehead and soothe her pain with his caresses, as so many times he had done before. When she was feeling sad, angry, frustrated, sick. He had always found a way to make her feel better.

But now…

The lump in his throat was so painful that he couldn't hold the tears anymore.

He felt so useless.

So hopeless.

He couldn't do anything right. He couldn't stop her pain, he couldn't find the antidote. And now he couldn't even hold his emotions and stay strong for her, while she was trying so hard to keep her eyes open and stay with him.  

He was an utter fiasco.

And then… her body felt heavier in his arms and her grip on him loosed.

Bryce panicked.

"Babe?"—His voice was barely a whisper. He looked at the monitor, her vitals were dropping. —"Babe? Please…"

He didn't know if he was pleading to her or to the unknown.

"I'm… ssso…tired…"

His whole body relaxed when he heard her voice. She was still with him. She just couldn't with her body anymore.  

He embraced her more tightly, pressing her head to his chest, and stroked her hair softly.

"Keep fighting, babe, I got you. You're doing great, gorgeous."

He didn't know how much time passed, but suddenly the sound of the decontamination tent door woke him up from his pleading state. When he looked up, Ethan was standing in the entry, frozen.

It was a shocking view, undoubtedly. Her body motionless in Bryce's arms, while he was fighting the sobs with pleading words.

"What happened?"

Baz asked, slipping behind Ethan, with an evident tremor in his voice.  

Bryce cleared his throat and breathed deeply.

"She… Uh… experienced the hot-cold reversal a while ago and her pain has escalated. Started with a seven and now is a nine."

Only then Ethan could react, taking a step toward the bed, studying the bundle of bones curled up over Bryce's lap.

"Her vitals had dropped but are still better than Rafael's at the moment he fell into a coma."— June commented, inspecting the numbers in the monitor.—"Any other symptoms?"

"Cold sweat and loss of strength."

"Did she sleep?"

"Yes, about five hours. She woke up minutes before I paged."

June nodded, adding the new information to the chart.

"Eleanor, are you still with us?"—Baz asked, holding a needle with a crystalline liquid inside.

Eleanor hummed.                          

"Good. Excellent. I'm gonna administer a higher dose than last time, okay? This will put you to sleep and hopefully when you wake up the pain will have decreased."

Baz injected the dose into the IV. After a few minutes, when Bryce felt she had fallen into a deep slumber, he stood up and placed her on the bed, covering her with the duvet. Then, turned to Ethan, who was witnessing the whole process silently.

"Any progress with the antidote?"

"Yes. There's a chemical that we are synthesizing that seems to be our best option so far. We are expecting to have it ready in a couple of hours."

Bryce nodded, hope resurfacing again after such dark and tortuous hours.

After a few more exchanges, the Team left, leaving him alone again, praying with all his strength that the chemical is the answer.

Minutes feel like hours. And hours an eternity. His hand had gotten atrophied by holding hers, but letting her go isn't an option, scared that she might go if he leaves her even for a second.

He's drugged by fear.

*

"We did it!"

Bryce isn't sure if he's imagining it, if he's daydreaming about the moment when their friends and the team will find the cure, or if it's true. If it's really happening.

But when he sees Ethan entering the room again, his eyes glistening with pride and hope, smiling, he knows is not his imagination.  

"We made an antidote."

It feels surreal. His whole body feels lighter and suddenly a burst of laughter attacked him.

Happiness, relief. Hope.

He knew there was a chance the antidote couldn't work. But he chose to believe it would.

And then he can't stop thinking about all the things they talked through the night. All their plans, all the places they would go, all the things they would do.  All the things he would say to her, but he kept inside for fear.

All the love he had to give to her.

There was so much to explore and learn with her. Life was giving both of them a second chance. Not only to Eleanor but to him too.

And then all he can do is thank. Thank to whoever accompanied him through the night. To whoever held him and filled him with hope.

To whoever put a blanket over him, to keep him warm until he reached a shelter. A safe place.

Bryce was now full of hope and optimism.  With the optimism he knows so well and that comes naturally to him. He's sure everything will be alright now.

And he thanks his friends and the doctors who helped. He knows words will never be enough to thank them for what they've done, but he decides to do it on the brink of his emotions, when they are more genuine, and retributions and gratefulness is all that people need after such a long night giving everything of themselves to find the antidote. To save the lives of their friends and colleagues.

*

The waiting in the next hours was nothing like the last one. They're full of hope.

Benjamin joined him in the room once he gave his parents the news. After a while he forced him, with the same persuasion and stubbornness that Eleanor would do, to take a break.

"Bryce, you should have some rest."

"I can't leave her side."

"I get it, I really do, but at least you should take some air, eat something, have a coffee. You haven't left the room in like ten hours. I'm sure you wanna be in your best conditions when Eleanor wakes up and not pass out of exhaustion after five minutes."

Bryce stared at Benjamin, the determination set in his eyes was the same he had found so many times in Eleanor's. Where would that come from? From their mother or their father? Hopefully, he was expecting to find it out that night.

An hour later, after catching up with his friends in the cafeteria and calling Keiki to give her the news, he returned to the room with renewed energy and a lot more confident than before.

It only takes him a minute to start talking with Benjamin as if they were old friends.

Hours flied by.

"Man, I'm not saying that Kobe doesn't have his merits, but let's be honest: without Michael Jordan, there is no Kobe."—Bryce stated, both sitting in chairs at the end of the bed.

"But we are not discussing who came first or their legacies, we are discussing objective facts. For example, Kobe beats Michael in career poin-"

"Shut up you two, we all know Lebron James is better than Michael and Kobe."

Bryce and Benjamin's eyes widened in shock and turned to the bed, where Eleanor was awake and smiling.

"Andrew! You're awake!"—Benjamin jumped up toward her side and hugged her affectionately. –"I'm so happy to see you okay, sis."

"And I'm glad to see you again, bebé."

Bryce sat on the other side of the bed and caressed her cheek.

"Hey, babe."

"Hey."—She smirked—"I should've asked you if you were team Kobe or team Jordan before agreeing to be your girlfriend but… I think it's too late to give you back now."

Bryce chuckled, giving Benjamin an amusing glance.

"I'm sure we'll be able to keep the debate on civil terms, right, Benji?

"Absolutely."

"How are you, beautiful?"

"I'm feeling… surprisingly good. Did they change the treatment?"

"No, must be the antidote that's working. And probably you're still high for the morphine."

"Did you say antidote?"

Eleanor was a mix of confusion and amazement.

"Yeah. The team created an antidote. They injected it like… about four hours ago."

"And why didn't you wake me up?"

"Because Baz put you to sleep, you don't remember?"

"No? What happened?"

Bryce looked at Benjamin who shook his head subtly.

"You were in deep pain, so Baz put a higher dose of morphine. It would have been like… humanly impossible to wake you up considering the dose."

Eleanor frowned.

"I don't remember any of it, honestly. How deep are we talking about?"

"You reached a nine, but the Team came quickly so you didn't suffer too much."

"A nine? Shit. That's pretty bad. Maybe that's why I don't remember a thing. "

"And you had a fever too."

She nodded.

"And how they did it? The antidote, I mean."

"In simple terms, they created a compound that binds to the maitotoxin and prevents it from attaching to the plasma membranes. So far has worked very well and your levels of the toxin had decreased significantly since the administration."

"And they beat the stupid Government. How embarrassing—She giggled., and how has worked with the boys?"

"They are still in a coma, but their levels had dropped too. Very slowly, though."

"I'm glad Danny is still with us. I really thought he would…"—Eleanor shook her head—"He's such a fighter."

"Yes. You all are, Elle."

"What about mom and dad, Benji? Have you spoken to them today?"

"Early in the morning, before they took their flight here. And luckily for them, they were at a stop in Lima when the news of the antidote came, so I texted them right away. They'll arrive at about 11 pm."

"Great. Great. Poor things, at least they are traveling knowing the worst has passed."—Benji nodded—"And you, kiddo, have had some rest?"

"Yeah, I could sleep a few hours during the night, but then I went to Lab to see how was the searching. It was really impressive watching all those brilliant minds working."

"Oh, yeah. I would've loved seeing Ethan working with Tobias. Those to hate each other, you know? I don't know how their egos fit the room."

Eleanor laughed, imagining the picture.

"And what about you, mister?"—He directed to Bryce—"I got the feeling you didn't sleep a wink last night."

"I didn't. I had to monitor you, but I went for a coffee and some food a few hours ago under the strict orders of my very good friend Benjamin."

"You're the best, Benji, thank you for taking care of him for me."— Eleanor squeezed his hand approvingly and blow him a kiss.—"Well then. Now that I'm feeling better, and under my strict orders, you're gonna go home, have some sleep, and spend a few hours with your sister, alright?"

"But babe... I ca-"

"Bryce Golden Lahela. I know you want to stay with me, and I swear if I were in your position I'd never want to leave your side, but please, pretty please, do this for me, okay? I bet you haven't seen Keiki since when…? the day before yesterday? Because I'm sure she was completely asleep when you left your apartment yesterday morning"

"Yeah, she was."—Bryce replied sheepishly.

Eleanor was still weak, and he could tell she was doing an incredible amount of effort to stay lucid and strong, but even like that, she had enough energy and strength to take care of him and Keiki. That selfless side of her would always marvel him.

"Please, I'd feel a lot better if you go to sleep and spend the afternoon with Keiki. But…"—She stared at him seriously and then her whole face transfigured in a wicked, almost psycho, smile—"If you don't do it, don't worry, honey, I won't be mad, but I'll kick you out of my room."

Benjamin giggled.

"Dude, do as she says. You know she means it literally, right? Because I'm already seeing her getting up from the bed and kicking your ass."

"Okay, okay, I'll go."—Bryce stood up from the bed, lifting his hands in surrender—"There's no need to use violence. Any special message for your beloved Keiki?"

"Yes, tell her I'm sorry I had to borrow his brother for too long and that I hope I can see her soon because I miss her."

"Yes ma'am."

*

When Bryce opened the door of his apartment, the smell of sauteed veggies gave him a warm welcome.

It'd always cheered him up having his sister receiving him when he got home, but today was different. Today he was grateful for having her after the living nightmare he had been into in the last 24 hours.  Her sole presence was enough to soothe him.

"Bryce?"—Keiki poked her head out of the kitchen and then ran towards him.—"Ohmygod, what are you doing here? Is everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's okay, don't worry. Elle's awake and getting better. She's so well that…—He chuckled, collapsing on the couch.—" she made me come here to see you and have some sleep. She was worried you were too much time alone… And she's right, of course.  I'm sorry Keiki, I know how abandoned you must have felt."

Keiki shook her head, sitting beside him.

"It's okay, Bryce. You needed to be with her, I totally get it. Not knowing what was happening was worse."

"I know."—He gave him a sad smile.

"Do you wanna have lunch? I have mashed potatoes pie in the oven. It should be ready in like twenty-five minutes."

"Ooh, are you serious? The one you cooked the other day? Because that was superb, Keiks"

"Yeah, the same. I actually was thinking about bringing you some to the hospital. I know you told me not to go, but…"—She gave him a sheepishly smile, shrugging,  but before she could continue, Bryce hugged her, warm and tightly.—"Woah, woah, is just mashed potatoes and ground beef, no need to do such fuss."—She added instantly, patting him nervously in the back.

"Keiki, I was an ass with you for years, and now you're taking care of me like this? I don't deserve it."

"Nonsense. You know we are okay now, and you care a lot about me too, this is nothing."

Seeing Benjamin and Eleanor together had put a lot of things in perspective for him. How caring they were to each other had reminded him of his own relationship with Keiki before he moved to California. They were very close, so close, that he had no doubt that if he hadn't distanced himself the way he did, they wouldn't be much different from how Elle and Benji were.

Even if she was a six-year-old princess living in a fantasy world and he was a teenager soon-to-be a college student, they used to spend a lot of time together back in Maui. Entire days at the beach, swimming, playing hide and seek, playing tag, building sandcastles, doing races, finding forms in the clouds during the day, and looking at the stars at night.

He even learned about constellations just because she liked the stars.

But all that ended when he left and never came back.

He knew closeness and affection were still there, even if had passed ten years, even if she wasn't a kid anymore, but a teenager with a strong character that pretended to be too cool for affection. Because if it weren't like that, Keiki wouldn't have risked what she risked at coming to Boston. She wouldn't have forgiven him how she did weeks ago, and things wouldn't be as good as they were now.

After all those years, Bryce was still her refuge. The only person she could come to. And after all those years, Keiki still managed to bring out the best of him. She was making him thrive to become a better brother, a better man.

"What is it?"—She asked, as Bryce was staring at her tenderly.

"Nothing, I was just remembering those days at the beach. You were so little, and you're so grown up now… and you're even taking care of me when I should be the one taking care of you…"

She smiled sheepishly at him again.

"That's what siblings do."

"That's what I should've done in all these years and I didn't, and what I should be doing now…"

"Bryce, how many times I have to tell you…?"

"Okay, okay, I won't say it again. But… the thing is..."

He breathed. It wasn't easy for him. In fact, he used to avoid at all costs this kind of conversation because there were still a lot of issues he had to resolve with himself, but he felt like he had to say it now, without thinking it too much.

"What?"

"Look… I know things cannot be like they were before, but… I want you to know that you're the most important person in the world to me, Keiki, even if it seemed otherwise for ten years.  Nothing has changed between you and me, okay?"

He didn't know how else to say it but in the way he was feeling it.

And for the first time in weeks, Bryce saw Keiki let her guard down. Her eyes swelled with tears at the mention of those memories at the beach, but after hearing his last words, her lips quivered.  

"Okay,"—She said, wiping a tear from her eye—"But, gosh, what's gotten into you?"

What had gotten into him was that almost losing Eleanor also put a lot in perspective regarding how much he kept to himself. And he couldn't let that happen, let alone with Keiki. She deserved better. She deserved so much more than what their parents (poorly) had given to them, emotionally and affectively. He had to make things right, starting now.

"I love you, Keiki."—Before a sob could escape from her mouth, Bryce hugged her again, this time more tightly. –"Don't you ever doubt about it, okay? And please remember that, at heart, we are the same Bryce and Keiki playing on the beach. No matter the years."

He felt her fighting the sobs, but then she just let it flow.

"I love you too, Bryce."

Bryce breathed contently at hearing those words. That's all that he needed to hear.

After several seconds, Keiki parted from him, wiping the trace of tears off her face.

"This is a one-time bonding moment, right? Because if you're going to be this cheesy and make me cry everyday…"

Bryce chuckled.

"No, no. I know this is not your thing. This is just for today, a cathartic moment after what happened with Elle. But now we return to our regular sibling's relationship, where I'm obviously the cool one."

"HA! Dream on, Bryce. Let me inform you that today I award you with the title of the weirdest and most sentimental brother of the year."

He smiled fondly.

"I guess that makes me even cooler. I'm a total winner. Thank you, sis."

"No! You're the… You know what? Nevermind. After what you did yesterday with Kyra, and considering you're a very caring boyfriend with Ella, yeah, I'll let you be the cooler sibling, but only for this week."

"Oh, thank you for your generosity, loser."

Keiki rolled her eyes, and before sauntering to the kitchen, she ruffled his hair affectionately.

"Take a shower, weirdo. By the time you finish with all your beauty care routines, lunch will be ready."

*

He wasn't sure how many times he'd pleaded for that moment, how many times he'd imagined it on his mind, but it was finally happening. And it felt a thousand times better.

Bryce opened the door of Eleanor's room just as he had arrived at Edenbrook. With a navy-blue hoodie, light-blue jeans, and black and white sneakers. No hazmat suit, no gloves, nothing.

She was asleep. Her chest was moving harmoniously under the sheets, and the vitals on the monitor were almost on normal levels.

She was alright.

He walked to the other side of the bed and carefully laid behind her, placing an arm around her waist. She wasn't as cold as in the morning but still wasn't at her usual warmth. He buried his nose in the crook of her neck and breathed deeply, smelling the natural scent of her body mixed with some very faintly remnants of her shampoo. The sweetness of the pomegranate added even more joy to the fact she was safe.

His hot breath must have woken her up because, after a few seconds lost in her scent, she started stirring on the bed until she finally turned around and faced him.

"I'm dreaming? Why you're not using the hazmat suit?"—She muttered in a slurry voice, looking equally surprised and confused.

He smiled, sliding his index over her cheek softly.

"No, you're very much awake. And safe. Toxin-free safe."

"Toxin-free? Are you for real?"

"Absolutely, the last two blood tests have shown you have no traces of the toxin in your bloodstream."

"Oh my god, I can't believe it… I thought I would die here…"

"And I told you you would live."      

"Yeah, and I've never been happier to be wrong."

They both chuckled

"And I've never been happier to be right."

After a moment, Eleanor started caressing his just shaved and very smooth cheek, but suddenly, she stopped, staring at him expectantly.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Are you gonna kiss me or not?"

"I was just letting you contemplate me, I'm sure you missed touching this flawless skin."

She snorted.

"I know last night I said I don't find you cocky anymore, but I can change my mind any minute, you know?"

"But you won't."

Bryce parted from her slightly and took his phone out of the pocket of his jeans. He scrolled a few seconds and then a piano melody started playing.

"Is that…?"

When I fall in love it will be forever

Or I'll never fall in love

"You said you wanted a kiss just like Isabella's…"

"Oh my god, I should've known you'd do this."

She placed her hands around his neck.

"The problem is… If I remember this right… you were the one who kissed me that night…"

"Yes, now you will. Period. You're talking too much."

"Now you realize I talk too much?!"

"Bryceeeeeee"

He laughed heartly.

"Okay, okay, miss impatience..."

Bryce tightened the grip around her waist and placed a hand over her cheek. After a few seconds of looking deeply into her amber eyes, he brushed his lips over hers. It was sweet and slow at first, but then he deepened the kiss, capturing her lips in his teeth and playing with her tongue just as she liked it.

Eleanor wanted a kiss like the one at Isabella's, but so much had changed since then, so much he had learned since then.

He knew the way she liked his kisses, how much pressure to use or how deep his tongue could go, so he was going to give her exactly that,  a dreamy kiss, because honestly, he didn't know any other way.

After several seconds, he parted from her.

"Happy now?"

"Mmm… I'm not sure… Maybe you can give me another taste?"

He shook his head and kissed her again, harder. And this time he left her breathless, and giggling, and with the goofiest smile he had ever seen in her.

"Wow. 100/10."

"I'm amazing, I know."

And then, she couldn't help but look at him adoringly. Because yes, yes, he was indeed amazing. And she was completely in love with that amazing man.

"Te amo."—She said with warm candor, and then kissed him enthusiastically and incessantly for several seconds. –"I love you... god, I love you so much… Telling I was in love with you… without being able to kiss you… was a nightmare! But now I can... Finally…Kiss you…As much… as I want…"

Once she stopped, Bryce looked at her, marveled.

"What? Too much?"

He shook his head, biting his lower lip.

"No, it's perfect. Feel free to act like that whenever you want."—He kissed her forehead—"I love you, beautiful."

After receiving the official information from Ethan, June, and Baz, and being filled with kisses and hugs from Benjamin, Bryce wheeled her to her new room so she could take a shower. She didn't want to spend another second in that damned room.

"This is mine?"—Eleanor asked, inspecting the light blue bag over the bed.

"Yeah, I swung by your apartment before coming here, I thought you would need some fresh clothes."

Eleanor stood up with difficulty and wrapped him in her arms lovingly.

"Thank you, my love."

He smiled, melting by the words, but before he could say anything, she clung to him clumsily.  Her legs failed her.

"Mmm, I think someone's going to need some help in the shower."

"Ooops, too bad that someone has a boyfriend with magic hands to help her."—She replied teasingly.

"C'mon, princess."—He whispered, picking her up in his arms and taking her to the bathroom.

Once he collected her shampoo and conditioner from the bag, he returned to the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

When Eleanor looked up at him, he felt the air changed instantly.  

It's the intimacy.

The formula is simple. It has always been simple between them. It's just the two of them present at the moment. Whether they're alone or in a group, it doesn't matter. It can happen anywhere. It could be just an intense look; a simple touch; even a hug without saying a word. They only need to be focused on each other.

Bryce took a few steps until his lips were inches apart from hers.  His hand took with precision the hook of her gown, and after untangling it, he threw it to the floor.

When his hands touched her waist, her whole body trembled, and a soft moan escaped her mouth, but soon she shut herself up by kissing Bryce delicately, sinking a hand under his shirt, craving for his skin. He conceded to her desires instantly, of course. After tugging his hoodie and shirt out, Eleanor roamed her hands roam over his bare chest, and leaving a trail of kisses up his chest, until she reached his jaw.

The heat radiating from his body had always soothed her. Even before realizing she was in love with him, being in his arms was her favorite place in the world. But when Bryce pulled her closer, enveloping her arms around the small of her back, and pressed her body flush to his, this time, Eleanor felt like she was coming home.

He wasn't her favorite spot anymore.

He was her home.

The supreme feeling of comfort and tranquility. A safe haven where she could be herself and where she's the happiest.

And where she can be at her lowest too. So she let it all go.

She let go of all her fears, all the what-ifs that had been torturing her mind; all those questions wondering how much she would've missed…

Millions of kisses and hugs; thousands of showers together; thousands of hours of amazing sex; thousands of nights talking, drinking, dancing. Adventures. Movies, movies interrupted by his unstoppable talking, by his kisses, by his innuendos. Sleepovers on the couch with Keiki. Countless moments just staring at each other without saying a word, because sometimes even for Bryce words wouldn't be necessary.

She wouldn't have lived the life she wanted to have with him. The future she wanted with him. She couldn't have known him as she always wanted, with all his wonders and terrors.

A sob echoed in the immaculate bathroom. Bryce gripped her more firmly to calm her shaky body.

The idea of dying with so much left to give was devastating.

Because she was so full of love. The moment she realized she was in love with Bryce she felt like she was going to burst. When she told him she was in love, she was choking with words because her heart inside was bursting with her purest feelings and sensations. And thinking that she could've died without giving him everything she wanted to give him, without giving him everything he deserved, was maddening.

Even if it was in the past, the fear was still too vivid.

"Let it go, love, I got you"—He whispered, his hands always drawing soft patterns on her head and back.

Love.

She could've missed that too. Bryce calling her love. Bryce calling her in so many ways.

She had always wished for a beautiful love, just like their parents had, but for some reason, it was always out of her reach despite her best efforts.  And she could've died without experience it to the fullest with him. With the most wonderful person in the world.

Eleanor wrapped him more tightly, as if she's scared that he could go any minute now.  

"I'm here for you and I'll always be, babe. We have now a whole life ahead of us to do everything we dreamed last night, that and much more."

How? How could he know what she was thinking? How he could know her so well?

"But… we need to start somewhere, right?-- —He whispered, pulling her gently from him.—"We need to start with something small."

He looked into her puffy and reddened face and wiped the tears off her face.

"We'll start with a shower. You need to get rid of all the traces of that fucking toxin. You'll let me take care of you, and then, if you want, we can make a visit to see Kyra and the rest of our friends, who must be waiting for you expectantly to fill you with hugs and tons of love."

"I'd like that."—She replied softly.

"Perfect."—He said before leaning in the shower to turn the faucet on.

After a few seconds, Bryce led her to the shower, and both hummed at the feeling of the hot water running through their bodies. Then he turned and looked at her, deeply.

"Are you feeling better, gorgeous?"—He asked softly and sweetly

"Yeah, so much better. Thank you, my love."

He chuckled and then bit his lower lip.

"God, I love it when you call me like that"

"My love? Well, you are my love."

"Yeah, I guess it's just that… now I understand why you were so reluctant to all this pet name situation."

"Yup, I wanted to say it just when I was 100% sure I was in love with you."

"Makes sense. Now I feel guilty for being too annoying with it."

"You're a Goldie, being annoying is part of your DNA."

He raised an eyebrow, seriously.

"But don't worry, my love is my main pet name for you now. And mi amor. Or maybe you prefer that in the first place?"

Bryce narrowed his eyes, thoughtfully.

"Tough question. I like that too, Spanish sounds so sexy in your mouth."

She smiled mischievously and then planted a chaste kiss on his lips.

"Te amo, mi amor"

"Feel free to call me however you want, but I'm warning you, I feel things when you speak to me in Spanish."

"What kind of things, mi amor?"

Bryce roamed his hands over her back until he reached her tights. Then, he lifted her effortlessly in his arms and pushed her against the wall.

"Things that… "—He kissed her hard.—"even if it's tempting to do here, I'll save it for another time. I'll create a whole kink of you speaking in Spanish in the meantime"

"Mmm, a new kink. My, oh my. I'll exercise my pronunciation, then, because it has gotten a little rusty over the years."

She kissed him hard this time, pressing her legs and heels against his back.

"Okay, as much as I want to keep going, let's slow it down, babe. We should be doing some cleaning, you know? Or you'll stay as a koala indefinitely?"

She giggled.

"Yes, I'm a koala now."

"Oh, well, then thank you for simplifying me the choice. I was always divided between calling you a sloth or a koala, but koala is perfect. It wouldn't be too romantic of me calling you a sloth."

Both cackled.

"Only in the bed."

"Specify that? In bed like sleeping or like…—He raised his brows suggestively.

"I'm multifaceted, I can be both."

Bryce chuckled.

"Of course you can, babe."

Eventually, Eleanor gave up her dream of remaining as a koala forever and returned to her feet.

Bryce took the shampoo and massaged her scalp softly and dedicatedly, relaxing her. His hands were magical in so many ways.

Then he helped her clean some parts of her body she couldn't reach, teasing her once in a while, until she was all cleaned.  

Once he dried himself up and put his clothes on, he helped Eleanor getting out of the shower and took her back to the room.

He dried her skin delicately. At first, she tried to dress up by herself, but the shower had relaxed her so much, that Eleanor finally gave up, letting Bryce taking care of her as he wanted.

Even if she was feeling a little sleepy, that didn't stop her from feeling amazed with his dedication and the tenderness with whom he was pampering her.

His soft hands spread ever so softly the cream over her arms and legs, and the massaged her so exquisite on her back, that after a while she wondered if she was actually dead and that was heaven.  

Once she was all moisturized and dressed in a mint green pajama, he took the towel wrapped around her head and began combing her hair softly and delicately. At some point, she felt like she was six again, when her mum would bathe her and then comb her long wavy hair patiently until she was free of knots.

"Gosh, you could be a stylist or a massagist, and you'd do it wonderfully."—Eleanor moaned, feeling his fingers combing her hair as Bryce was directing the hairdryer to the nape of her head.

"Of course, I'd be wonderful in anything I pursue, especially with these magic hands."

After five minutes, her hair was completely dry.

"Ponytail or braid?"

"Braid."

She was about to lift her hands to make herself a braid when Bryce asked.

"French or normal?"

She turned around with her mouth agape.

"Wait, besides all your many talents, you also know how to braid?"

"Yeah, you didn't know?"—He chuckled

"No! When did you learn?"

"When Keiki was like… four?—Bryce replied as he was dividing her hair into three sections.—"She's always been bossy, you know? And one day after a day at the beach her braid was a mess, so she said: Bryze, fixit! You're a grown-up, you shud know how to braid hair... And of course, she was right! How incompetent of me not knowing how to braid hair, right? Especially since I had a little sister with very long hair."

"Awww, love, this is so cute! Little Keiki asking for a braid. I'm melting."

A couple of minutes later, Bryce took the hair bun from his wrist and use it to secure the end of the braid.

"There, my princess. All done."—He announced, kissing her crown.

Eleanor brought a hand to her hair and felt the patterns with her fingers.

"This is perfect."

"Why the tone of surprise? Of course it's perfect! I don't do anything that's below perfection."

"I know, I'm just admiring your beautiful work, love."

Bryce gathered all her things and placed them in the closet.

"Ready to see our friends?"

"Honestly? Not yet.

"Hey, you don't have to go if you don't want to. Do you want me to call the guys?"

"No, no…  besides I have to go to see Kyra."

"But you don't have to if you don't feel in the mood for that."

"I know, I just want to lay down a bit with you."

"Of course, babe"—He replied, laying beside her.

Eleanor turned to his side.

"I'm completely melted inside, you know?"

"Why?"

"For the way you've taken care of me, how you pampered me… you even braided my hair…"

"It's the less I can do for you, babe. This is nothing, actually."

She kissed him on the lips and then rubbed the tip of her nose on his.

"You know, if boyfriend lottery exists, I'm sure you're the biggest prize in history, and I'm the lucky winner."

Because she could win the biggest money prize in history, but not even that could compare to the feeling of having Bryce loving her.

Nothing compares to it.

______________________

A/N2: Make Bryce even more perfect than he already is? Achievement unlocked.  Like I love to hurt him (I love angst, actually) but I also love to make him more perfect and more god-tier than he already is. Pure self-indulgence here.

A/N3: As you can see, I'm cheesy/corny not only in romantic relationships but in fraternal relationships too. I have a good relationship with my brother, in fact, we have the same age difference Keiki and Bryce have, so I know firsthand the kind of relationship they could have. And I want to give them that, despite their personalities and the fact that maybe Americans, in general, are not as caring as we the Latinos but… being this caring is something you can learn, you know? So Bryce is learning that from Eleanor. Anyway, it won't be easy, Keiki and Bryce have a lot of issues to explore yet, but Bryce had to take the first step.

Thank you so much for reading. I appreciate each and every one of you for supporting my story ❤❤❤

[ayamari-no-goshi]

Verboten 16 | (T)

ff.net | AO3

Fandom: Danny Phantom (DP)

Summary: AU. When Danny was five years old, he went missing for 2 weeks. In the years that follow, his family tried to make sense of what happened, only for the truth to be discovered years later.

Warnings: rated T for violence, mentions of death, language. Be prepared for some very weird things

Parings: Danny/Sam

Notes: originally uploaded to Ff.net. Cross-posted to AO3 and tumblr. This fic is very heavily inspired by folklore surrounding mysterious wilderness disappearances

Chapter 16

As Danny waited outside with the rest of the guests, his parents and Vlad met up with him. After they handed him a bag filled with one of his favorite Nasty Burger meals, he gave them a quick rundown of what he knew, save for the appearance of the ghost. While frustrated, his parents shuffled him into the RV so he could eat and warm up a bit. It was a chilly fall day after all.

As he ate, Danny vaguely wondered how his parents managed to convince Vlad, the man with the limo, to go across town with them. His dad’s driving prowess… well, lack thereof… was famous in the area. The townsfolk and even the police steered clear of any known Fenton vehicle. In actuality, he had no idea how his dad hadn’t lost his license.

After a couple hours, the fire department cleared the building with the exception that rooms on the second floor could not be used until the police preformed an investigation to verify whether or not arson occurred. The rooms on that floor would also need cleaned. Thankfully, little damage ended up being done from the fire: a few pieces of furniture and some scorch marks. The majority of the damage ended up being from the hotel’s sprinkler system.

After collecting their items, his parents drove to a large house on the outskirts of the housing plan where Sam lived. After asking what they were doing there, Vlad matter-of-factly stated he just finalized the payment on it. Danny’s utter confusion had to be evident as his parents explained Vlad recently decided to purchase a house in Amity Park since he would be around more to help with the research.

Well, it explained why it took his parents so long to get food. While the act itself didn’t seem that strange for Vlad, he did own a castle in Wisconsin after all, something about the timing bothered him. With the rare exception of a day when there was a major experiment malfunction, Vlad tended to stay with the family upon his visits. Exactly how long would he be in town if he needed to buy a new house?

After getting a quick tour of the house, Danny retired to his temporary room and called his friends. The three way call ended up being hectic as he explained what happened. “Guys, I’m telling you, I saw a ghost, and then somehow the hotel caught fire.”

“Calm down, Danny,” Sam instructed. “I know you’re telling the truth, but geez, how in the world did you end up being the center of so much trouble in two days?”

“My mom said something about me possibly attracting paranormal things now.”

“Makes sense, in a weird sort of way,” Tucker agreed as typing could be heard on his end. “I’ll see if I can dig up any stories of ghosts like what you saw this time.”

“Don’t worry about it, Tucker. You’re already looking into those files.”

“Nah, this’ll be easy. It’ll only take a couple minutes at most to set up a search and have it run in the background while we talk. Any specific things that stood out?”

“Other than the blue flaming hair?” He sighed and collapsed on his bed. “If she hadn’t been a ghost, she would have looked right at home in one of those bands Sam likes. She said she wanted to make people remember she still exists.”

“So she looked like a goth?” Sam questioned.

“Yeah, but with some, uh… I think you’d say she’s more punk.”

“Woah! That’s weird,” Tucker stated after something on one of his tech devices beeped in the background. “So, apparently there have been a series of spontaneous fires that seem to occur about every ten years, but they started after the death of a local girl. Some people think it’s her ghost that causes them. I’ll send you the articles.”

It took only seconds for the article links to be sent. Danny nearly dropped the phone when the picture of the mentioned girl appeared on the screen. With the exception of the hair, the girl’s face matched that of the ghost. “That… that’s her! Wow, she really doesn’t look that much different as a ghost.”

“Wait, you’re serious?” Sam hummed as she reviewed the information. “Says here while she was unpopular at school, she was in a local band. She was found dead after her house burned down mysteriously. The police thought it might of been an arson, but officials were never able to verify anything. After her death and around its anniversary, there were reports of fires in the city. Sometimes, entire buildings are engulfed, but other times the words ‘you will remember’ appear burned into buildings.”

“I kinda remember hearing my dad mention something about ghost fires growing up, but with it being my dad, I never put any stock into it.”

“My mom said something about it once.”

“I have no idea why I keep forgetting your mom works for 911,” Sam interrupted. “You know, we might be able to use that to our advantage.”

“I mean, you can try, but she refuses to talk about anything other than the occasional funny call. The one about the ‘bambulance’ still brings me to tears.”

“Tuck, you’re getting distracted.”

“Right. Anyways,” some typing could be heard on Tucker’s end, “my mom thought the fires were from the girl’s bandmates. They had just recorded a song called ‘Remember’ which got some local play before she died. Since I know asking Mom for anything else is pointless, I think I’m gonna see if I can get into the files of those fires. The news articles all have explanations, but some of them seem a bit over the top.”

“How long will that take?”

Danny snorted. “Sam, it’s Tucker. Knowing him, he’s already looking at them.”

“I’m hurt, Sam. Do you really have that little faith in me?”

“I know you’ll be able to get them eventually. You’re track record hasn’t been all that great recently. You’ll still working on those files you got from Plasmius, after all.”

“Oh, I’ve finished the review on those. Some of it isn’t pretty, but I wanted to verify information directly from Vlad Master’s companies. That’s been slow going ‘cause he has some impressive firewalls, and I’m really trying not to get caught. As for this,” Tucker briefly shouted in triumph, “I’ve already gotten what I need. Hmm… that’s weird. The official investigations regarding the ‘Ember fires’, as they’re called, all state there was no known cause of the fire. There wasn’t even evidence of an accelerant… which is…?”

“It’s something used to make a fire go from a few flames to a roaring fire. Think of what happens when you add gasoline to a fire,” Sam explained as tapping could be heard on her end. Was she at the computer too? “Most arsonists use one. If they don’t, unless the flames start where there’s something like tissue paper, sawdust, or something else really flammable, the fire usually takes a lot of time to grow and become a problem. Tuck, is there anything about flammable materials?”

“Hmm… no, not really.”

Danny sighed as he got off the bed and paced his temporary room. “Great, now there’s a fire starting ghost on the prowl, on top of Plasmius, that thing… and possibly whatever is wrong with that girl. Tuck, do you have any updates on anything?”

“On the Plasmius front, no. Like I said, I’m trying to cross-reference those files against the files from VladCo and DALV, but that’s taking a while due to his security. For the creepy thing that attacked you, I have a notification set up for any potentially related attacks. I think that’s all I can do for now on that… As for Maura, I got distracted a bit when Plasmius had that chat with you, but I can tell you she stopped posting on social media right after her disappearing act. That’s pretty weird for girls in her clique. Give me a couple days to get her medical chart.” Something beeped in the background. “Oh, it looks like I might have a pattern for our fire bug ghost.”

“At least that’s something. Can you send them to me?”

Sam snorted. “What, you’re gonna try to figure out where she’ll be and talk to her?”

“I mean, it’s worth a shot. Maybe she knows something about Plasmius or that thing? And… maybe I can nicely ask her to stop lighting fires?”

“I think you’re just gonna end up with your ass kicked, but go ahead.”

“Thanks for that wonderful vote of confidence,” Danny deadpanned. The ghost was nice enough to give him a warning so she couldn’t be all bad. “I think if I open up with a ‘thank you’, she won’t outright attack me.”

“It’s your funeral.”

“Actually, Danny, can you die?” Tucker hesitantly asked. “I mean… your situation is kinda weird.”

He thought about it for a few moments. “I think so. Clockwork told me I’m alive, so that’s good enough for me. But, to be honest, I don’t really wanna think about it too much.”

“That’s fair.”

…

Danny’s conversation only lasted a few more minutes after Tucker asked the awkward question as his parents called for him over an intercom system. Uncertain if the correct response to the intercom should be to cringe or be impressed, he pushed it from his mind as he meandered down the hallways to attempt to find his parents.

Something about the décor of the mansion seemed familiar, but Danny found it difficult to place it. Vlad loved the Green Bay Packers, and he commonly used their colors of green and gold for accents. He stopped in his tracks as he glanced around. Plasmius also had green and gold splashes in his home. It had to be a coincidence.

Not wanting to think about it more, he raced down the halls and eventually came to the main foyer. His dad shot him a questioning glance as his mother stood and moved towards him.

“Hi, sweetie! How are you adjusting? It’s been a hectic couple days.”

“I’m okay. I’m just a bit tired,” he told her as he dodged a hug. “I let Sam and Tucker know we’re fine. I’m not dealing with Jazz until after you guys talk to her.”

“I trust the room is to your liking?”

Danny jumped as Vlad’s voice came from behind him. How did he miss him? “Yes. Thanks for letting us stay.”

Vlad waved his hand dismissively. “It’s no trouble at all. My house is yours.”

“Vlad, you mentioned you had a workshop we can use?” His mother asked as she abandoned her attempts at hugging her son.

After staring at her for a second, Vlad shook his head and regained composure. “Surely that can wait until tomorrow, my dear. You’ve been through quite a lot in the past twenty-four hours.”

“No can do, Vladdy!” Jack boomed as he excitedly stood. “You heard those policemen. They want a Fenton product, and I can’t sit still when that spook is still a threat to my family. Say, do you want to help?”

The billionaire grimaced before forcing a smile. “I must politely decline, but I will gladly look over any blue prints in the morning.”

“Don’t worry,” Maddie told him while giving her husband a fond grin, “I know how… enthusiastic Jack can be when he has a new project. I’ll also make sure he sleeps tonight. We don’t want any accidents.”

“That would be greatly appreciated.”

Danny glanced between Vlad and his parents. There was some sort of story he was missing. “Should I ask?” he hesitantly questioned.

“I was badly injured when we were in collage when an experiment went wrong,” Vlad explained as his expression hardened. “As a result, I’ve made it a rule to not be in a room when someone is actively making experimental items or preforming experiments. However, I’ll gladly double check procedures, blue prints, set ups, and results.”

“I… yeah… That… that makes sense. But you’re okay now?”

“Absolutely, my dear boy. You could say I gained a different outlook on life as a result.” Vlad gave a predatory grin which sent shivers down Danny’s spine. “Why, if I hadn’t gotten into that accident, I probably wouldn’t have ended up so successful.”

“Right…” His mother must have caught something off in Vlad’s tone as she furrowed her brow in confusion. “It’s gotten pretty late. Danny, will you be alright?”

“Huh? Probably. I mean, I could use a snack.”

“The kitchen and pantry are just down that hall.” Vlad pointed towards the hallway opposite of the way Danny originally came. “Will you be alright to be back to your room once you’re done? If you wait, I can escort you back once I’m done showing your parents where the lab is.”

“Thanks, but I think I’ll be alright. ‘Night everyone.” Chuckling as his father couldn’t contain his excitement anymore and bounded down the hall followed by his amused mother and wary Vlad, he just made his way to the kitchen. It thankfully was easy to find, and after making a sandwich, he meandered his way back towards his room.

….

Around midnight, Danny decided he would attempt to sneak out of the mansion. Luckily for him, Vlad put him in a room on the ground floor, saying something about how the upper floors weren’t ready yet. Luckier still, there were no bars on the windows. Sam’s parents tried doing something like before due to how many times she snuck out, but it was struck down by her Grandma Ida, who still had control of the deed at that time.

Escape ended up being a piece of cake. There didn’t seem to be any type of security system or guard which seemed strange, but that would probably change once the mansion was officially finished.

He had an idea of where the ghost might end up appearing thanks to the articles Tucker forwarded to him earlier so he booked it in the direction of an older housing plan near the city’s boarder with Elmerton. The majority of buildings in the area were row houses in disrepair. While there were still a few low income families in the area, most of the houses were considered condemned. Danny remembered hearing talk of tearing the houses down at one point, but either the project was shelved or abandoned.

As he approached, he decided to shift to his ghostly form. While it seemed unlikely he would encounter anyone, the area did have a reputation for crime. While he didn’t know what sort of protection being a ghost would give him, it seemed a better option. And, if that thing tried attacking him again, maybe he could float to safety. He really hoped that thing didn’t appear; his trust in his abilities honestly was non-existent.

The soft glow of his ghost form provided the majority of the light as he silently found his way to the road where the girl used to live. The few street lamps were either broken or burnt out, and some even seemed melted.

His destination, Garnier Avenue, seemed worse than the surrounding streets. At first he thought the houses were just gutted, but a second look said otherwise. Most of them had some evidence of fire: melted windows, ash marks, and collapsed roofs and walls. Ash and dust could be found on the road as well as the sidewalk, and in some places, they almost looked like outlines of people.

The area seemed dead. No noise. No sound. No movement. As he continued to move forward, his hair stood on end and his breath misted in front of him. It was almost as if he walked into some sort of wall of static electricity.

“So this is what you actually look like. You’re not that bad looking after all,” a curious voice called to him, making him jump. Danny spun around to see the ghost from earlier materialize in front of him. Her appearance hadn’t changed, but she seemed more solid. Even her voice seemed closer and more natural. “Do you know how many of us would kill to be able to blend in that well?”

“Uh… I really wouldn’t know. This is really new to me,” Danny relied as he held up his hands in what he hoped was a submissive manner.

Her eyes narrowed. “So why are you here, baby pop? Do I interest you?”

He gulped at the undertones of her applications. “A little? I mean, you were nice enough to let me there would be a fire, and I wanted to thank you for that. And maybe ask a couple questions?”

“You just happened to be there at the right time,” she responded offhandedly though her satisfied smirk suggested his thanks was welcome. “It would be a waste to see someone like you get destroyed by accident. But, I would like to know how you found me.”

“I mentioned you to a friend of mine, and he was able to find out about your legend.” Danny hoped he sounded genuinely curious and not creepy. Wait, was it possible for him to not be creepy? He was a ghost after all.

She nodded. “I like to come back around the anniversary of my death. It helps strengthen me.”

“You do seem… I think stronger is the word I want.”

“Glad you noticed, and that makes you more observant than most of the guys I’ve met over the years. Call me, Ember.” Grinning again, she walked around him almost as if she was examining him.

“I’m Danny.”

She snorted. “Bet that’s your real name. Don’t met too many ghosts who remember theirs. You really must be new. Anyways, you had questions?”

“Yeah. I was hoping you might know something about this thing that’s been seen around the town. It attacked me, and it’s caused enough trouble to get the police interested.” When she didn’t immediately respond, Danny took that as a sign he could continue. So, he quickly explained his interaction with whatever the thing was. When he finished, Ember expression turned stony.

“You’re telling me something like that has been seen in my town?” she demanded. Her hair, which had been gently waving in an invisible wind, suddenly blazed in a blue flame. “Are you telling me one of those things have been seen here?”

Danny gulped and nodded. “Like I said, it attacked me! What are they? Plasmius doesn’t know what they are either.”

“Plasmius? Plasmius is here too?” The temperature around them spiked as she shrieked. “Are you working for him? You better answer me, Dipstick.”

===

Notes: ghostly fire is usually considered insubstantial and doesn't tend to cause damage. Actual paranormal fire damage is usually associated with poltergeists, and more modern theories classify poltergeists as creations of psychokinesis (PK) agents (normally living people) instead of spirits.

Ember's background is directly taken from information provided by one of the show's directors.

"Bambalance" is a reference to an old but hilarious 911 call. You can find it on YouTube under the title "the guy, the deer, the dog, and the bambulance." There is some foul language in it.

Also, there is a very subtle 'Phantom of the Opera' reference in this chapter.

[terrm9]

CHAPTER 3 - Waiting

Keiki was sleeping peacefully in her hospital bed with Sienna, Jackie, Rafael and Elijah surrounding her, waiting for a slightest hint of... something. Rafael couldn't let go of Sienna's hand, not when now, instead of crying, she just kept whispering "it's going to be okay, everything will be just fine, everything must be alright". She was clearly fighting with enormous anxiety and used the positivity so typical for her to deal with the situation. Jackie sat on the chair next to Keiki's head, her head propped on her knees. She was now looking at the ground, finally able to look around the room she was in, but she couldn't bring herself to say a single word. She wanted to badly to snap at Sienna for repeating those stupid words full of hope, she wanted to scream, to make her stop, but she was physically incapable of saying a single 'shut up'. Elijah just stared out of the window, trying to find some sort of distraction on the busy street under the hospital room.

The door suddenly opened and obviously exhausted and uncharacteristically serious Bryce Lahela walked in, the scrubs he was still wearing bringing odd mixture of disinfection and sweat to the room.

"Hey guys. Thanks for staying with Keiki. I met Dr. Mirani on my way here and he said that she suffered from concussion but should be okay within week. I got here as fast as I could."

"How did the surgery go?" Elijah asked nervously.

"Ugh... as well as such surgery can. She is alive."

"What are her chances of actually staying alive?"

It was Jackie, finally able to find her lost voice.

"As for now, I have no idea. Dr. Emery was fantastic, guys you should have seen her, she simply didn't allow Chiara to die on that table. But it was brutal. She has so many injuries, lost such huge amount of blood..."

He trailed off, not knowing what else to say.

"It's really bad, isn't it?" Sienna whispered.

"It is really bad, yeah. Dr. Emery told me not to get my hopes up, because the chance of survival or chance of recovery is very low. But she doesn't need to be always right. Very low does not mean none and if there is even glimpse of hope, I simply believe in full recovery. I already got my hopes up, because if someone can get through this, it's Chiara Ray. I mean, she's been through so much shit, in her early life, in her intern year, in her med school and she always, always pulled through and got stronger on the way. She is a fighter and she will fight this. We just have to keep believing in her."

There was a long silence after Bryce's speech, everyone dealing with their emotions on their own. Sienna's cheeks were soaked with silent tears again, Jackie played with hem of her shirt and Elijah just kept staring out on the street.

"I'm gonna get us some hot chocolate," Sienna declared out of nothing

"On the wheelchair?" Rafael raised his eyebrow, looking at her freshly casted leg.

"I need to do something."

"I'm coming with you."

Sienna and Rafael left the room without any other word and Bryce followed her, intending to change into clean set of clothes. Shortly after they left, the door flew open again revealing Aurora furiously walking in.

"What the hell, guys? What happened? I came home after the night shift expecting all of you to be home and the flat was empty! So I tried to reach Chiara, then Sienna, then Jackie and Elijah and none of you responded, so I tought maybe you went to the beach or something. I called my aunt, who is supposed to have three days off and she picks up at last telling me she just got out of the surgery of Dr. Ray? What does this mean? I ran all the way from home."

As Elijah started to fill her in on what happened, Sienna, Rafael and Bryce came back with five cups filled with hot chocolate.

"Ah Aurora, hi! Sorry I didn't know you would come, I'll go for another one," Sienna was about to go get another hot chocolate.

"No need. Just tell me what happened."

Aurora was left speechless when they finished. She grew very fond of Chiara and admired her as a doctor but also as a person. She couldn't imagine her lying on the cold operating table, more dead than alive.

"How about you girls? Sienna, Jackie?"

"We are fine. I have a broken leg, that's all," Sienna answered.

"Oh, I look much worse than I feel. I'll be back to work in a day or two," Jackie said angrily, not wanting to talk about herself at all.

"You think we could go and see her?"

"I don't think they would let us, not now. But when I went to get the chocolate, I talked to Danny and he told me that Dr. Ramsey is staying with her."

They all shared a silent look deciding whether they should talk about Dr. Ramsey or not.

"He really cares about her, right?"

Elijah broken the silence with sincere question.

"Oh he does," Rafael nodded. "I mean, I knew he had a soft spot for her when all it took for her to convince him to play softball was to ask him, but damn this was something different."

"Of course he cares about her. He is her mentor, she is important part of his team. And she saved Dr. Banerji's life."

"I guess he really does respect her for that," Rafael admitted. "But still, this was something else. He was going to lose it in the E.R."

"What happened in the E.R.?"

Aurora and Bryce asked at the same time.

"His whole body was shaking when he heard the news. I didn't know if he was going to punch someone or faint. And when he heard she was in the operating room, he just stormed off."

"She means a lot to many people."

Sienna closed the discussion up with only one sentence and the group remained silent. Every person in the room felt the same heavy feeling on their chest, but somehow sharing their fear has brought some ease into their breathing.

On the other side of the third floor, there was nothing nor someone that could possibly bring ease into Ethan Ramsey's breathing. He was sitting on the wooden chair as close to Chiara as he could get, his hands resting in his lap helplessly, afraid to touch even her finger, scared that he would cause more harm to her. Ethan kept staring at her, failing to swallow the bulge that formed in his throat hours ago. He hated crying. He hated it so much that he learned how not to cry even when needed to. Sitting here next to her, he wished he could just cry. Cry and scream, let some of the emotions out of his system, share them with someone. But the only person he could imagine sharing such grief with was the very same person that made him feel this way in the first place. And so he didn't make a move or a sound, remaining motionless on the chair, his jaw clenched.

 How could I let this happen? If I wasn't such coward, I would start the speech I was preparing myself for and she would never leave the office.

 Damn the speech, I could've just kissed her and she would stay with me.

The thoughts of what if's and what could and should have been were costing him his sanity, but Ethan couldn't just stop thinking. He couldn't forgive himself for losing so much time. For not expressing how he really felt. Oh, he should've done that long time ago, but he was afraid of admitting that he cared for her enough for them to be more than just star crossed lovers. How much he wanted to be with her, to call her his, his Rookie, his Chiara and yet, he couldn't bring himself to talk to her about them, guilt eating him up for being so selfish. He wanted her despite their potential relationship being unprofessional, unethical, so wrong on so many levels. Still, he longed for her.

 She deserves better than me.

He couldn't help but think so, knowing that she expects much more from relationship than he could provide. He could give her his time and attention and physical affection, he would adore her and push her to be the best doctor she could be, but that would never be enough. She needed him to love her the way she loved and he wasn't capable of love. He didn't believe in such thing in the first place. Caring for someone, liking them, wanting to spend their time together, those things made sense to him. But love, love was like hope or faith, there were zero science explanations to back those feelings up. To make them valid. He couldn't tell her he loved her, because he didn't believe in love.

Not like any of that mattered now. He never told her how he felt or how scared he was of ruining her career and her life by wanting to be with her, he never expressed his belief that she should find someone better for herself, someone who would shower her with 'I love you's' every day. He never said a word and now she could die any minute.

Ethan lost track of time or of any outside situation for that matter, therefore Harper's presence in the room took him by surprise.

"Ethan, I need to check in on her, so please leave us. And I think Naveen would like to talk to you before he heads home today."

"What time is it?"

"8 PM."

"Can I come back when you are done with examination?"

He needed Harper to say yes. He couldn't leave her.

"You need to sleep Ethan. What was the last time you slept? Or eaten for that matter?

"I'll sleep when I feel like sleeping. I'm staying with her overnight."

With that he left the room, determined to find Naveen without talking to anybody else.

Dr. Banerji was sitting in his office, waiting for the younger man to come. As the door opened and Ethan entered room, he noticed just how devasted he looked. He hasn't seen him like that ever since his own dying.

"Ethan. Thank you for coming. Can I get you something to eat?"

"I'm not hungry. Thanks, anyway. You wanted to see me?"

"I wanted to check on you, dear boy. I see that this situation drained any life from you and I am concerned."

"I'm just scared okay? And hopeless. So fucking hopeless."

Ethan thought he would lose it now. That the tears would finally come. They didn't.

"I know you are worried about Chiara and I know that you would raise the hell if that would help her. But starving yourself or refusing to sleep will only destroy you too."

"Maybe I want to be destroyed."

"Ethan, don't say that."

"I don't know Naveen. I just... the last time I felt like this, it was when I thought you were dying. But at the time at least I could do something. I ran tests and studied not-so-known illnesses and I tried to save you. Now all I do is sitting on the damn chair and wait for her to wake up or die. It's killing me."

Naveen took Ethan's hand into his own and squeezed it with all the emapthy he had, hoping that the brilliant doctor in front of him could feel that he knew. He knew how Ethan felt about Chiara. He knew how much she meant to him and that it was her who saved his own life, after all. Dr. Ray stood by Ethan's side everytime he faced tragedy and when he needed her, she was there. Naveen knew that very well, without ever needing to talk to Ethan about it.

"I called her mother. She said she would catch the first flight in the morning and should be here by the noon."

Naveen broke the silence with the statement.

"You expect me to talk to her."

Ethan didn't ask, he knew it was true.

"I think it should be you. You know Chiara very well and her mother needs to hear the truth from someone who knows her pain."

"And what exactly the truth is?"

"Oh, Ethan..."

"Okay, I'll talk to her mother. I'll be in the I.C.U. with Chiara."

He left, expecting Harper to be done and without stopping anywhere, he found his way back to the I.C.U. room, spending his sleepless night there.

~

"Mrs. Ray, hello."

Ethan shook hand of the woman in front of him, trying not to stare at her hair. Hair with the same colour as Chiara's.

"Dr. Ramsey, it's nice to finally meet you. Chiara talks about you all the time."

She tried to smile and failed miserabely. Her eyes were puffed from crying and she was holding her purse so firmly as if it was her own dear life she was holding onto.

"Oh?"

"All the good stuff of course. Dr. Emery informed me about the surgery. Now you tell me... and I need the truth... will she get through this?"

At this point, she was crying again and Ethan couldn't help but hug her.

"She is a warrior, Mrs. Ray. I know Chiara very well and she fights whatever comes to her life. Nothing is certain, but I believe in her."

Ethan didn't know if he was trying to convince Chiara's mother or himself.

"I can't lose her too, Dr. Ramsey. Dr. Emery told me the driver that caused him was drunk. Is that so?"

"Yes, it's true. He has some broken ribs and waits for his time in jail."

"Is that some kind of curse?"

Ethan motioned for them to sit down before asking: "What do you mean, curse?"

"Oh, I should have guessed Chiara never told you. She doesn't talk about it and she would never bear the idea of you pitying her. But you already do pity her now, so I can as well go on."

Ethan nodded with his eyebrows high, holding hand of the woman who looked like she needed to throw up.

"Chiara is the oldest of my children. She had younger brother and sister, both adoring her. She was always such a good kid, taking care of her siblings, doing her homework, helping other kids at school. She wanted to apply for med school since forever and her father couldn't be prouder. He supported her every step, not to my delight. Chiara is excellent painter, art is huge part of her and as an artist myself, I always hoped for her to follow my steps. I thought being doctor wouldn't make her happy. But she applied for the med school, got in and I realized that the special spark she holds inside of her is only released when she talks about medicine. When she was in her second year, her father and brother died in a car crash. Drunken driver on the truck crossed the crossroad on the red light... they were both dead immediately. She lost her spark then, nothing could bring it back. But she stuck with the medicine because she wanted to make her dad proud. She finished the school and when she was accepted to her programm here in Edenbrook, that's when her spark returned. I remeber her screaming: 'Mom I'll get to work with Ethan Freaking Ramsey!' I hardly understood what that meant, but the expression she held at the moment was enough for one of my many wounds to heal. And now... now I am losing her too."

She was crying again, leaning against Ethan's chest, as he tried to soothe her pain by hugging her tightly. The bulge in his throat got bigger, even though he didn't consider it possible.

"You're not losing her. She never gives up and she won't give up this time either. I'll be here, Mrs. Ray, I'll take care of her and I promise you, Chiara doesn't die, not on my watch. I am Ethan Freakin' Ramsey after all."

He felt his own strenght coming back at his words. He started to see what Naveen and Harper were saying about him needing to eat and sleep. At some point, Chiara might need him and he needs to be ready to save her. Mrs. Ray managed to create a small smile, wiping her eyes.

"Thank you, Dr. Ramsey. I can't stay here, Alicia - Chiara's sister - needs me back to San Francisco. Just... just promise me to take care of her, okay?"

"Of course. Here, this is my number," he handed her a piece of paper with his quickly written number. "Call me anytime. We will inform you about everything. Now, I'll let you see her for a few minutes, if you want."

~

Two weeks have passed and Dr. Emery stood side by side with Dr. Ramsey, consulting results of Chiara's new CT scan.

"Pretty impressing, I must say. The swelling on her brain is retreating and as far as I can see, there's no evidence of irrevisible damage on the brain. Of course we'll know better if she wakes up."

"When she wakes up," Ethan muttered under his breath, not accepting the possibility of her not waking up.

Harper looked at him with raised eyebrows, but never said a word.

"However, we are far from winning this, but so far, Dr. Ray here convinced me that nothing is ever as hopeless as it seems. With her lungs working on their own completely now, I propose transferring her from the I.C.U. to your wing of the hospital, Dr. Ramsey. As a surgeon, my work is done her for now. Her brain needs to start working and that's your field. She's all yours."

Oh how I wish she was all mine, Ethan tought but didn't say a word. He just nodded and left the I.C.U.

One would say that Ethan Ramsey's life was back to normal. He was back to work, giving interns hard time, reading journals, cracking cases, avoiding people. Looking more tired than usually, his hair longer and more messy, his stubble slowly turning into beard, everyone knew that he wasn't completely okay, but how could he be after all? Little did they know that for the past two weeks, Dr. Ramsey only left hospital once. He slept on the couch in his office every night so that he'd be close in case Chiara's state changes. Little did they know that every time he had some spare time, he'd spend it next to Chiara's bed, looking at her. Naveen's heart was breaking for Ethan's pain. He was probably the only one to notice how much weight Ethan lost, eating two raw bars a day at best.

The very same evening Chiara left I.C.U., all of her friends decided to spend evening in at Donahue's again. Sienna spent last fourteen days at home, not being able to work with a broken leg and Jackie with Elijah came straight home after their shifts. But tonight, they let themselves feel certain bliss of normalcy and met at the bar. Aurora was already waiting for them and Danny decided to join them too.

"Shouldn't Bryce already be here?"

"I'm sure he will come any minute now."

They ordered beer for everyone and tried to talk about work, about their patients, about anything but Chiara's still critical condition. Not too long after their order arrived, Bryce walked in and after long time, he looked like himself, smiling brightly while winking at the group of interns.

"Whoa there, scalpel jockey. Enjoying yourself? Did someone make you feel so cheerful?"

Jackie furrowed her brows at him.

"Oh you better believe someone did," he smirked.

"That's why you are late?"

"Exactly. I needed to check one very particular woman's chest, in case you need details."

"Ugh, no thanks, Lahela."

"I waited for Kyra's surgery results," he rolled his eyes. "I wanted to make sure I got it right before spilling the news."

"Are you saying-"

"Yes! The surgery worked! I mean, she's going to be in so much pain for the next few weeks, but the chances of recovery are amazingly high and the cancer is gone."

Sienna started to cry and even Jackie's eyes shimmered with tears.

"Holy crap, so there are still good news available in this world," Elijah sighed and finished his beer. "We are drinking to that. And we should let Rafael know. He might be on the other side of the States, but he still cares, right? Oh I am actually feeling happy right now. Have you talked to her?"

"I haven't. I thought we should all talk to her together tomorrow, since she still doesn't know about Chiara. I know we needed to protect her before the surgery, but she needs to know now. Will you go with me?"

Everyone nodded, except Aurora who sighed: "I don't think Carrick will let me switch shifts. But you guys say hi from me and tell her that I'll come to see her on Saturday."

"Sure thing."

They ordered another round of beer and for the first time in what felt like forever, they didn't feel the heavy stone on their chest. They felt victory.

Later that night, as the young doctors leaving the bar allowed themselves to laugh at some stupid joke Bryce said, Dr. Ramsey laid on the not so comfortable couch, scotch in his hand, looking at the ceiling above him. He missed her. The sound she would make when she cracked some particularly difficult case. The laugh when she teased him. The smile she saved for him and only for him. He missed even her temper that could drive him crazy at the times. Without giving it a second thought, he unlocked his phone and opened the Pictogram app. He needed to see her with her eyes open. He needed to see her full of life. Clicking at her profile transferred him into completely different world, the one where she laughed on the beach, smiled proudly with diploma in her hand, posed for a selfie with her roommates. He scrolled to the end of her feed and starting to observe the photos from the oldest one to the last one she posted. He swallowed hard when he realized that she posted the photo only few hours before the crash, smiling carelessly into the camera with her friends surrounding her. The photo was clearly taken at the concert they attended. She looked so happy, so relaxed, so very much alive. He just kept looking at the photo, memorizing every single detail about her, imagining she was still there, dancing to music and laughing with people she loved. And there it was. After all, Ethan felt a single tear streaming down his cheek.

~

Days passed in some bizarre blur, summer nights turned into ashy evenings of fall, sun gracing city of Boston with its presence only exceptionally. It was exactly one month since the accident and as the end of his shift arrived, Dr. Ramsey found himself sitting next to Chiara's bed again. It became some kind of bittersweet routine for him to come to her room anytime he could and talk to her about work. Chiara was actually doing good, considering everything. Her lungs worked perfectly, her broken spine was slowly but surely healing. Her brain's swelling was gone now, however the brain itself wasn't working the way it should, putting her into state of coma.

"Mrs. Potter is going home tomorrow, the treatment worked exquisitely. I wish you could see the face of her son when we told him she would be okay. I think even Baz had tears in his eyes when the little boy hugged him."

Ethan realized quite well that what he was doing was stupid and he laughed at himself for being this pathetic. But it helped him keep her sanity, so he came everyday and talked to her about every single patient.

"I almost yelled at Hirata today, though. She asked if I was looking for someone else to take your place at the team. I mean, what the fuck is she thinking?"

Repeating the scene with June Hirata in his head made him wrathful all over again.

"She just kept saying that the team needs the fourth member to work. I told her that we were fine, with Naveen helping us when there's too many difficult cases. But she was really determined and I couldn't listen to her, so I snapped at her, I told her to shut the fuck up. It was... intense. Definitely not my proudest moment but what else could I do? How would I even offer the position? 'Hello, we need a new member for our diagnostics team. The only problem is that we have no idea for how long we can provide the spot for you. Maybe for two weeks, maybe for two years, maybe we'll keep you for good. Nobody knows.' Huh? No one would even accept such position. Listen Rookie. I know I've been telling you the other day that you should take your time and heal, but life is pretty hard without you, so could you wake up? Could you do this one last favor for me and just wake up? Please?"

~

Elijah, Sienna and Jackie were standing next to the nurse station, too deep into the debate to notice someone watching them.

"...what are we going to do? I tried to talk to Farley but he said that he couldn't afford to lose those money. It's been five weeks since the accident which makes two checks. And none of us actually has that much spare money."

"We don't have that much even if we put our savings together."

"Should we call her mum?"

Sienna asked nervously, biting her lip.

"Nope, that poor woman is going through hell. We'll find a way, okay? We could ask Aurora."

"Mass Kenmore has cut its budget just like Edenbrook. She basically works for free now."

"We'll figure it out guys, okay? We always figure it out somehow. I gotta go, but I promise to find a solution."

The three of them went their separate ways, Jackie determined to get some coffee from the cafeteria.

"Dr. Varma? Could I talk to you for a second?"

Ramsey's voice snapped her our of not so bright thoughts and she turned on her heel to face him.

"Yeah? Is something wrong with Chiara?"

"No change. It's just... I didn't mean to eavesdrop... well..."

"Get to the point, Dr. Ramsey."

Despite feeling anxious and nervous for the past few days, she found some weird sense of satisfaction on how the tables have turned now. She still remembered clearly how he said those exact words to her in her intern year.

"Right, sorry. Look, I heard you talking about Chiara and some money problems. I understand that it's... rather difficult for you to pay for her checks?"

Jackie raised her eyebrow, surprised, but didn't deny what he said. She nodded and let him continue.

"I don't mean to offend any of you by my offer, but would you let me pay for her checks? I've been second year resident once and I know how much you get paid. And I know that Dr. Ray's mother is going through a lot. Paying for your apartment is, well, no problem for me and I would like to help at least this way."

"Wow, I expected you to talk to me about that woman who can't stop vomiting in the room 232. Look, Dr. Ramsey, what you are offering is really nice and, uhm, surprising, coming from you, but I am not sure it would be appropriate."

"Consider it a loan, then. When Chiara wakes up and gets her life together again, she can pay me back."

"I need to talk to my roommates about that, it's not my decision to make after all. Thank you for the offer, though."

"Okay. I'll be happy to help. Oh and Dr. Varma?"

"Yeah?"

"I am sorry for how I acted the night of the accident. I yelled at you and that was wrong."

"It's okay, Dr. Ramsey. We've all got our ways of dealing with pain."

With that she left, leaving Ethan alone with his thoughts. He automatically turned towards Chiara's room and after the door closed after him, he started to talk.

"It's not work today. I just need to let this out. I miss you, Chiara. I really miss you. It's gotten to the point where I just keep staring at your photos and hope that it could wake you up. I never confessed to you about the photo I have of you. After the first night we spent together, day before your ethic trial, you sat on the floor in my apartment, wearing one of my shirts, reading some random history book you found. I was making some coffee for the both of us, watching you from the distance and in that moment I couldn't resist the urge to take photo of you. So I did. And I was too embarassed to admit it to you, that I found you beautiful and wanted to have the moment immortalized. I never found the strenght to delete the photo though. And now that you are here, I find myself looking at the damn photo every day, not believing that I was once lucky enough to have you in my shirt reading my book in my apartment. I really miss you. And I can keep missing you, knowing that it won't last forever, knowing that you'll wake up. I can handle missing you as long as I have hope."

He indeed did sound desperate. He never even believed in hope. But after the long weeks without her, feeling only fear, allowing himself to feel something as pathetic as hope was enahncing.