Warning: Major Character death ahead.

Stranded at the edge of the Ghost Zone, Sam and Tucker hang precariously from a ledge, about to fall to certain death. Danny can only save one of them - and Tucker has a sinking feeling it's not going to be him.
Rating: T / Major Character Death, survivor's guilt
Pairings: Danny x Sam

Left Behind

The Ghost Zone was a wretched, ruthless place, one that showed no mercy for any creature, living ones especially. It wasn't a game of life and death, here. It was a game of death—or obliteration.

Tucker hadn't understood that until now.

"Danny, help us!" Sam screamed from beside him, dangling precariously by one hand from the ledge of their crumbling plateau.

Phantom, eyes feral in the heat of a brutal onslaught, yelled in pain and effort as he shot down the foes that rushed at him. The larger, wolflike enemies had already fallen or fled, but the tiny, pirhanna-esque ones still swarmed and multiplied. Alone, they were like flies: harmless, annoying, and easily squashed. Together, they were a legion, and keeping them at bay was rapidly depleting Phantom's vital strength.

"Danny!" Tucker yelled, but to no effect. It was like Phantom couldn't hear them.

Tucker's feet dangled helplessly above the pit. They were suspended above the edge of the Ghost Zone, a vortex of darkness and void. Panic boiled in Tucker's throat as he thought of falling into it. Falling into that ocean of abyss wouldn't be a death sentence. It would mean anihilation.

Tucker desperately dug his blunt fingers into the rock, his support and lifeline. His arms shook with the effort of keeping him up - he couldn't hold on much longer, much less climb up. His feet kicked and flailed for any support and found none. He was stuck.

He glanced to Sam. She was crying, teartracks leaving streaks in the grime on her face. Her violet eyes widened as she stared upwards. Her lips were moving, in desperate pleas or silent prayers, he didn't know.

All he knew was, when she dug her fingers into the flat top of the crumbling plateau to haul herself up, the ledge cracked and, ever so slightly, gave way.

They both screamed. The rock split. Tucker felt himself drop two feet closer to the abyss before the splinter of rock beneath his grip settled. The stone he clung to was barely wider than a tree limb, and wasn't stable at all.

"DANNY!" Sam screamed again, nothing but wild panic.

Phantom jerked in alarm, and chanced a glance behind him. The second's distraction was enough; two ghosts latched on to his arm. Danny screamed and threw them off, spearing them with two thin ectoblasts. Then, he stopped, heaving, and looked up at the green sky dotted with a thousand foes.

He took a deep breath in.

The Ghostly Wail was ear shattering, tearing through the festering air like a sharp knife through flesh. It slammed upwards and outwards and everywhere, disintegrating foe on contact and shaking the very fabric of the Zone.

The stone beneath Tucker's fingers cracked, crushed, crumbled.

The rock gave way.

Before the sickening drop kicked in, something seized his wrist. And there was Danny, the hero, the savior, who'd dove across the curmbling plateau to catch his friends, one in each hand. They swung there, practically by a thread, as Phantom caught his breath.

"…You—okay?" Danny choked out, voice rough. His eyes were not on Tucker, but Sam.

She nodded, and green eyes flickered over to Tucker's face. Tuck nodded curtly. "Yeah, just—get us outta here."

The aftermath of Danny's attack still rocked above them, making ripples in the sky. The pirhanna ghosts were still being ripped into bits by the aftershock. Danny drew in a shaky breath and nodded, ignoring the bits of ectoplasmic ash falling around them. "—kay, yeah, I'll just…" he mumbled, tightening his grip on their wrists.

The rock shuddered again. "…Danny," a tremor was in Sam's voice.

"I know, I know, I just…" Danny tried to get to his knees, to haul the two of them up to safety, but even his arms shook and went limp after a moment, breathing hard. He blinked away sweat, eyes weary. "I—"

Danny didn't finish. He hung his head, and a bright light flashed, as rings around his waist parted. Danny's superhero form fell away, and Tucker found himself staring up into Dannys blue eyes, the green ectoplasm fading as the panic in them grew.

"—No," was all Danny could say. "No—no, no, no—no."

Tucker went numb.

Danny tried again, trying to tow them up one at a time, first Sam, then Tucker. He only managed to raise them a few inches, not enough to succeed. "No, this—this has to work, it has to," Danny insisted, pulling again. The stone cracked again, underneath Danny's prone body this time, and the three of them started to slip.

"You—can't lift both of us," Sam said slowly, her voice dawning with terrible reason.

"I can, I can, just let me—" Danny insisted, but the fear growing in his eyes said otherwise.

"You can't." Sam said, another tear leaking out. "You'll be dragged down, too. It's too much. We won't make it. Danny, you… you have to drop one of us."

Tucker's chest tightened. No. This couldn't be happening.

"NO!" Danny snapped, "I can't! I…" fingers clinging desperately to them. But Sam just shook her head, more tears falling now.

"We'll all die if you don't." she said. Tucker looked at her, the fear bitter in his mouth as he realized she was right. Danny couldn't hold them forever. And even if he could, the plateau was crumbling beneath him, cracks growing in the rock like it was rotten ice, threatening to plunge them into icy death.

Could Danny even haul one of them up? Did he have enough strength left? And if he could—which one of his friends would he choose?

Tucker looked up at Danny, and froze. Danny's eyes were wide, locked with Sam's, the hope waning in them as his options rapidly dwindled.

Danny kept his gaze locked, staring at Sam and only Sam.

Because it was always about Sam, Tucker realized. It was Sam that made Danny take up the hero title and Sam who he came to rescue. Sam who Danny loved. Tucker was just the third wheel, always had been, always would be.

Suddenly, he felt sick.

It made sense, didn't it, though? In a bitter sort of way. Danny would always save Sam.

"I…" Danny choked, and the rock gave a little bit more, cutting him off. The panic was raw in his eyes, now, clouded with shock. Finally he broke his gaze with Sam and glanced at Tucker, the light in his eyes fading. Hope crumbling as fast as the rock beneath them. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I—"

Tucker swallowed, his breath shallow. "Just do it," he whispered.

Danny blinked away a tear, his terrified gaze looking once more at his two friends. He nodded, took a shaky breath, and his shoulders tensed.

Tucker squeezed his eyes shut and flinched. His world jerked, then slipped. His body went numb in an instant. Someone gasped, And—

A splash.

From below.

Another hand wrapped around his wrist, and Tucker's eyes snapped open. He was still there, still dangling from the ledge, Danny resettling a grip on him.

"W—" what? Trembling, Tucker looked over to Sam. But Sam wasn't there.

Tucker's breath hitched, and eyes flickered down, numbly. The dark abyss below was rippling, a halo of light sizzling into nothingness. He could still make out her faint outline in the darkness.

"Sam?" Tucker asked, and suddenly reality hit him full force. "Sam! Sam, No!"

Danny dragged him upwards, slowly but surely. Arms shaking, muscles straining. Tucker's chest, then knees, scraped past the ledge, and with a final grunt, he was disposited hard on solid ground. Danny slumped to the ground beside him, shaking head to toe. Exhausted.

Tucker gasped, surprised he was still alive, and scrambled to his feet, shaking. "You dropped her!" he shouted, turning on Danny. The halfa was curled in on himself, eyes wide and vacant. "YOU DROPPED SAM!"

Danny just stared ahead, limp, in shock. Like even he couldn't believe he'd dropped her.

Breathing heavily, Tucker grabbed Danny's shoulders. "What were you thinking!" he shouted. "You were supposed to save her! You were supposed—why! Why did you do that!?"

"I don't know!" Danny shouted back.

They both stopped, eyes locked, Danny shocked and shattered. "I—I don't know," Danny whispered again. "I don't know why. I don't know."

Slowly, Tucker let Danny fall from his fingers. He fell to his knees, a numb echo in his body. 'I don't know'. Danny didn't know? He could've saved Sam, his crush, his love, his drive—but instead saved Tucker, the third wheel, the nobody, who was never meant to survive?

Why?

They just sat there for a moment, Danny curling tighter on himself as he shook his head and stared into the distance.

Tucker released a breath, the tension escaping his body. The air was cold and still, the echo of Phantom's Ghostly Wail long gone. The plateau was still unstable beneath them, cracking under his feet. They should move, but—

But—

Swallowing hard, Tucker carefully crawled his way to the ledge, looking over. Just to see, one last time.

The edge of the infinite realms yawned below him, black as a void. Nothing met his eyes. There was no light, no ghosts, no Sam. Not even a corpse was left to save. And no matter how hard he tried, Tucker didn't understand.

Tucker inched back from the ledge, releasing a shallow breath.

Danny had rescued him.

Him. Not Sam.

…So why did Tucker still feel like he'd been left behind?