A/N: So, here it is. The final installment of this three-shot. It shall not please all of you...of this I am certain.
As a warning: this chapter is the reason for the "T" rating. It almost crosses a line, but I think it's ambiguous enough not to be "M." I edited it a tad, but please let me know if you're still uncomfortable with the rating. I don't want to give too much away beyond that, so, please enjoy.
When I woke up, I groaned. I'd not had a pleasant night of sleep. Thoughts and theories raced through my mind; memories of times with Danny and Tucker had caused me to cry for the old times. The little sleep I had gotten consisted of horrible nightmares of Danny dying slowly before my eyes. The only consolation of the night was that Danny hadn't made any sounds of distress, and he seemed to have slept relatively well. So I was all-in-all, somewhat pleased.
Until I turned over to look at Danny Fenton and saw Phantom.
Ticked, I scrambled out of bed and shook the boy awake. "Danny!" I shouted furiously.
He pushed me away, grumbling. "Not now, Sam. So tired..."
"Daniel Fenton, you'd better wake up or I'll whack you upside the head with my Fenton Thermos."
He opened one eye to peek at me, then begrudgingly awoke. "All right, all right. Geez, you don't have to get so angry, Sam."
I tapped my foot rapidly, "Oh, don't I? Could you explain to me why you're in ghost form?"
His eyes suddenly lost all lethargy and his head shot up at me sharply. "What?"
His astonishment bewildered me, so I just pointed to my mirror to suggest that he look for himself. Quickly, he jolted from his position on the floor and ran to the mirror. Indeed, his reflection was that of a boy with snow white hair and glowing green eyes.
"Oh no," he muttered in terror.
I tilted my head, perplexed. "What?"
He turned back to me, shaking his head. "It must have happened while I was asleep. We figured it might come to this..."
"Come to what?" I questioned anxiously.
"When I used to pass out in ghost form, I would always return to human form. Now that I'm mostly ghost, I must return to ghost form when I pass out as a human."
I gaped at him in disbelief. "How are you going to go to school?" was all I could think to ask.
He shrugged slightly. "I guess I'll just have to go in ghost form. Everyone knows, so it shouldn't be that big of a deal."
But we both knew it was that big of a deal.
When we came to school, everybody looked surprised to see Danny Phantom, much as they all knew his true identity. Everyone except for Tucker appeared excited and wowed by his sudden change in appearance. Tucker, conversely, frowned and seemed to know exactly what had happened. He again spoke not a word, but continued to feign interest in English as Danny sat in the back of the class, concentrating deeply but trying not to make it so obvious
It wasn't until about lunchtime that he turned back, much to the dismay of Paulina who had been eyeing him hungrily throughout the day.
He panted in exhaustion, but Tucker and I were ready with coffee and chocolate to help keep him awake. He couldn't pass out again, not after all that hard work.
"It's so hard now," he shared. "I mean, like, REALLY hard. It's almost gone, I can feel it. It really feels like that was my last change."
Tucker and I exchanged worried looks before we silently returned to our lunches.
Finally, when the bell rang to signify the end of lunch, Tucker grabbed Danny's shoulder.
"Dude, seriously, I think you should lay off of the ghost-fighting thing for awhile, okay? Sam and I can handle it for now, right Sam?" he asked, pleading with me to agree.
I nodded furiously in response, hoping to convince Danny that he should settle down and stay human for as long as possible.
Danny cast us both looks of scrutiny and reluctance, but he nodded nonetheless. He was probably just too tired to argue.
DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP
So, for the next few days, ghosts ran rampant. With Jack and Maddie incapacitated by their need for a speedy solution to this dilemma, Tucker, Jazz and I were left with the task of ghost fighting.
Needless to say, it was a lot harder to prevent ghost attacks without Danny's help.
We ran around aimlessly most of the time, being led on wild goose chases by various ghosts who either didn't care about our plight or who felt the disgusting need to worsen the situation. They phased in and out of buildings tirelessly, terrorizing their inhabitants and forcing us to enter the buildings the hard way, as phasing was not an option for us. Our weapons, though effective, were not nearly as powerful as Danny's ecto-blasts and our resolve and strength were nowhere near the caliber of his.
Likewise, Danny had cut back on sleep even more, as he now knew that it would lead to an unwanted transformation. His ghost sense would constantly go off in school or when we were at Tucker's house during the day.
We saw the looks of failure and helplessness that crossed through his eyes when he saw the Box Ghost haunting people outside or other insignificant ghosts causing harmless havoc. Normally, he would have hurried outside and fought to let off some steam, but now he couldn't. He even left the bigger ghost fights to Team Phantom, himself not included.
I could see that his inability to help seemed to be tearing him apart more than his general situation was. It was killing him emotionally while his body was being sucked away from him physically. It was a dreaded thing to watch, but I held out a small grain of hope that Mr. and Mrs. Fenton would produce some sort of miracle drug and Danny would be cured.
But, alas, it would not last. About four days into this strenuous routine, news reports started showing up, blaming Danny for the sudden onslaught of ghosts. I guess the fact that he was an overworked teenage boy did not affect the town's penchant for blaming him. No one in Amity Park knew about his symptoms except those he had told in confidence. We didn't exactly want people freaking out and jumping to conclusions about his sudden decline...and yet it was happening anyway. This was why Danny had kept his identity a secret for so long; he knew no one would ever really understand, much as they carried the facade of pretending to.
So, I guess one night, Skulker was running amuck, chasing down people and setting fire to buildings. Tucker, Jazz and I set out to do our duty, exhausted from the past week of battle, but when we got outside, our hearts sank in mutual dismay as we saw Danny up in the sky, easily gaining the upper hand on the ghost hunter. We could tell he was more comfortable in ghost form, more powerful, too. He was passionate in his fighting tactics, as though thrilled to be back in the game. Something in his eyes shone and I knew that at least he was back in full force emotionally.
The rest of us looked at each other for a long time, then quietly returned to our homes. I hadn't been back in my room more than ten minutes before I felt the cold. I looked up at him with sad apprehension in my eyes.
He held the same expression. "I can't feel it, Sam. I can't feel my other half."
Once again, tired and weary, we took our positions on my bed and sat. This time, Danny couldn't hold back the grunts of pain as he swirled through his mind trying to find it. He seemed to be coming up against barriers and hindrances, and I winced with every cry of pain. He groaned in frustration and all I could do was sit there and mutter words of encouragement.
Talk about feeling helpless.
Finally, after one last cry of agony five hours later, Danny changed back. Even after he reverted, however, he seemed to carry the same amount of pain in his eyes. He flinched when I reached out to stroke that shining, black, messy hair of his. The pain in his eyes was only too evident, and both of us were too tired to fight back the days and days of lost sleep anymore.
"I love you, Sam," he mumbled before he keeled over backward onto my bed, head resting on the pillow I never used.
I was about to get up and retrieve the sleeping bag again, but I thought better of it. I stared down at him, still amazed by his beauty, yet knowing he would change back into his other half any moment now. I was too tired to bother and too lovesick to care. Instead, I slid beneath my covers and rested my head on his shoulder. I ran my hand slowly and guiltlessly up and down his body, telling myself I could do so because we had no more time in the future, and therefore no time to wait.
Danny seemed to be at least half-awake, as he responded in turn by kissing me and sliding beneath the covers.
We carried on passionately until we were both spent of whatever energy we had left. Finally, we fell asleep, I in the arms of the man I wished would never leave me, but I knew would probably be gone by morning.
DPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDPDP
I woke up in a panic, fearful that I would wake up with Danny Phantom and never see his alter-ego again. However, it turned out worse than my fears suggested and I woke up next to no one.
Danny was gone.
Panicked, I leaped from my bed and threw on some clothes haphazardly before running around my house in a flurry looking for him. I opened closets, rummaged through cabinets and called into bathrooms as I quested. It was very early, so my parents were not yet awake, so I tried to remain as calm and quiet as possible given the circumstances.
At last, while I was in my living room, I felt a cold draft. But for some reason, it felt colder than usual, so I turned around with greater anxiety than ever before.
He was standing, leaning in my doorway casually, arms crossed and a small smirk overpowering his face. "Looking for something?"
I smiled widely in relief. "Danny! Oh my goodness, I was getting so worried. Thank God you're all right."
He shrugged, still smirking. "Better than all right."
My face fell and I cocked my head at him strangely, wary of his answer. "What do you mean?"
He stopped leaning and stood upright, looking significantly stronger and more awake than before; empowered. "It's amazing. I just feel this unlimited power coursing through me. I'm...free. I have no emotional ties, no duties, no worries. Nothing."
I took a step back, shaken by his attitude. "No emotional ties? What about me?"
He brought his eyes up to meet mine and I saw in them...nothing. Cold, raw, emotionless green orbs staring back at me. I felt a shiver go down my spine as horror struck me.
"What about you?" he asked coolly.
I fell back against my wall, blown away by his heartless inquiry. That blow had hurt worse than anything I'd ever felt before in my life and I felt my stomach twist and wrench inside of me. Shaking my head, I answered him, "What do you mean 'what about me'? I'm you're girlfriend, Danny! I love you!"
He threw his head back and laughed hollowly. "Well, I don't love you," he stabbed. "I don't love anyone. I can't. I'm a ghost--no more human emotions to drag me down."
I continued to shake my head in disbelief, dread mounting. This could not be the same man I had slept in the arms of last night. This could not be my Danny.
And then, I remembered. He wasn't my Danny—at least, not completely.
I was distracted from my rapid-fire wonderings when I heard a large crash coming from outside. Danny and I both scrambled out my door to see what was going on. We peered out and saw a gigantic green monster terrorizing Amity Park. It was smashing down buildings and causing people to scream and run for their lives. Instinctively, I looked over at Danny expectantly.
He sighed. "Guess I should go help."
My eyes narrowed at him in perplexity. "I don't understand. If you don't have any emotional ties to anyone, how is it that you still have a sense of justice?" I asked, jealous.
But when he turned to me quickly and I met those icy, dead eyes, he sneered and confirmed beyond my worst fears, "Who said I was helping the people?"
He jumped up immediately afterward and made his way toward the blob. I could feel tears of shock sliding down my face. So, it was true. Ghosts were naturally evil and went after whatever they were driven toward...even Danny was no exception. For a brief moment, Frostbite and Clockwork passed through my mind, but I deduced they must have either been flukes or they were actually not ghosts; at least not in the sense that Danny now was.
Almost blinded by my tears, I stumbled to my living room and picked up the phone, quickly dialing the Fenton's. My hand was shaking as I tried to hold the phone to my ear. Finally, Jazz's voice answered fearfully, "Hello?"
"Jazz?" I rasped hoarsely. "Call Tucker and wake up your parents. Tell them to get the stasis chamber ready. You, Tucker, and I have to catch him."
The other line went silent for a few long moments. Finally, she replied emotionlessly, "All right. We'll be right over."
Then, she hung up and I was left sitting in my house, horrified and hurt beyond belief. I looked out and saw Phantom cackling as he shot random ecto-blasts at passers-by. But his eyes did not hold that same passion they'd held last night. They were hard and spoke of nothing from his inner soul, as they usually did before.
I grabbed my Fenton Thermos and walked outside, waiting on the curb for the rest of my team to come. This was worse than just dying. He'd lost every fiber of his moral being...and I'd lost the best love I'd ever have.
It was at that moment, waiting, drained at the corner of the road and watching Danny lose himself and everything he stood for that I realized:
Now it was my life that was steadily fading...
The end. Open-ended enough for you? I thought this was a rather good place to stop, as you, the reader, can now imagine up whatever you want as to their future. I'll leave it at that. Again, the rating--any problems? Any theories you'd like to share with me? Whatever your thoughts/opinions, I'd love to hear from you. Thanks so much for reading.
Note 3/12: This story is now continued in Devianta's "Preservations." If you'd like to read more of this story, be sure to check that out.