In the Dead of Night You Went Dark On Me

There's No Pain That I Won't Go Through Even if I Have to Die For You

(A/N: Title is from Die For You from Starset. There's a few deeper happenings for this one, so be careful, mentions of attempted suicide, character death (kinda it's Danny), verbal abuse, etc. If there's things I've missed I apologize. Just let me know and I'll add it up here.)

Sam lifted her head from the linoleum tile, her mind groggy, and she looked around. Her and the rest of their makeshift group were lying on the floor. Everyone except for Danny and Valerie. Danny was swaying slightly as he stood, almost as if he were asleep, and Valerie she knew was asleep if the snores coming from her helmet were any indication. There was something warm on her lip, and she wiped it away, coming up with a bit of red blood dripping from her nose. Probably from smacking her head on Dash's sneaker or the floor.

She sat up, and looked around. They were still in the school, near the cafeteria hallway. The decor was similar to how the school looked nowadays, though this version had a distinct lack of a construction crew, and all the wall decor was from a few years ago. It looked like the school from when they were freshmen. Tucker was lying on the floor just next to her, and she gently shook his shoulders. Eventually everyone else began to wake up. There was a loud ringing, similar to that of the school's bell, but this time with an eerie echo accompanying it. Students began pouring out of the classroom doors. She covered her ears as their voices filled the space, and she flinched as the people walked toward them. There were so many students, and they were going to get trampled. She squeezed her eyes shut and braced for the impact. Nothing.

After a few moments, the loud commotion in the halls was dulled to a few students in the halls. She opened her eyes just in time to see a sophomore she had creative writing with walk right through Mr. Lancer and Star. Just phased through them. As if they were ghosts. Danny turned to the group, and held a hand out for Sam as Valerie started helping everyone else up. "You all okay?"

Everyone answered in the affirmative in one way or another. No one seemed to have any injuries, at least nothing worse than a slight bloody nose. There was a loud bang from the end of the hall, similar to a locker being slammed shut or punched. A screeching of tennis shoes could be heard, and rounding the corner toward the group was Danny. A younger, less traumatized Danny, but Danny nonetheless. He was wearing his white shirt with red accents, a shirt Sam swore he owned over twenty of, and a pair of red and white sneakers.

She remembered when he showed up to Tucker's house wearing them for the first time. His parents had given them to him as a reward for all As throughout all of middle school, and for getting a first prize medal for his astronomy project he did for the space program he went to. He was so excited for the new shoes, and she remembered his excitement for the new school year. They were going to be high schoolers in less than one week, and he had the perfect shoes for it. He was extremely optimistic for their future. That optimism lasted until around the second month of school. He'd gotten sick with the flu for about a week, and his parents had pulled him out of school. That was when he'd started to withdraw himself from his friends and school.

The younger Danny ran toward them, looking back periodically, with a mix of determination and fear in his face. As he got closer to her, she could hear a distinct wheezing as he breathed. She needed to get him (and Tucker for that matter) to work out with her more. The slamming sounded again, and this time she could see the offender. Dash and Kwan were chasing after the boy, hitting lockers as they ran. Well, they were more briskly jogging while Danny was pulling a full on sprint. "You're dead Fenton!"

Sam had no clue what Danny could have possibly done to offend Dash so much, but she figured it probably had to do with an assignment or something similar. Maybe this was when he'd asked Paulina out, and Dash wasn't man enough to realize he had feelings for her yet. Who knows?