In the Dead of Night You Went Dark On Me

This Antigravity Taking Over Me

(A/N: Title is from Starset's Antigravity)

Throughout the many years of seeking out and bullying and attacking Danny Fenton, Dash Baxter has never seen the boy cry. Get angry? Sure. Fight back? Absolutely. Shut down? Occasionally. Snark his way through it? Of course. Cry? Never.

Danny Fenton did not cry. So seeing the boy finally break down stirred something in Dash, something he'd never felt before. He knew he would never be able to pay back all the horrible way he's treated Danny, and he wouldn't ever be able to make up for it all, but he would be damned if he let Danny believe he was not a hero.

Paulina and Kwan were the only ones who knew about his dad, and his chest felt tight since he told everyone else in the room, but he needed to say something that would let Danny know that he was more than the media made him out to be. He'd been protecting their city for three years, and he got nothing for it, other than bruises and scorn from the people he was protecting. No one else in Amity Park would have continued to do what he did. Even Valerie, who apparently was the Red Huntress, didn't receive the scorn Danny did. She was praised for dealing with the spooks that came from the ghost portals and terrorized the town. And whenever she would get into a fight with Phantom, she was the one who got cheered for.

As time passed it clearly got better, people started to get better with him and the other ghosts, but he was always looked at as if he were the villain still. He got into truces with the Fentons, and Red Huntress, along with making deals with the other ghosts to help them complete their obsessions while not creating as much damage around town or hurting others. Danny Fenton never cried. He never showed anything was bothering him other than making a snarky comment back. If anyone had a reason to not be okay, it was Fenton. Hopefully he will be okay soon. He now has all the A-Listers backing him, a teacher, and his friends. If he accepted their help, they would make sure he was okay.

Fenton's voice kept ringing through Dash's head as they wandered the green and purple void. He kept hearing him talk about being dissected. That is a fear no one should have. He wouldn't be surprised if Fenton had nightmares about getting dissected by his own parents; they had been the leading experts in ghosts since before their portal had opened.

Valerie donned her Red Huntress armor again and positioned herself at the back of the group, ready to protect them from anything that might come from behind, and Fenton floated in front of the group, ectoplasm hovering above his palms, ready to be fired. It was strange seeing the boy Dash always thought of as weak and small like this. Seeing him flying, using ghost powers while still looking extremely human was terrifying. It made the hairs on his arms and on the back of his neck stand up. The kid he'd been shoving into lockers since sixth grade radiated power and control. He could have killed Dash countless times, yet he allowed Dash to countlessly shove him into the lockers and push him around.

Fenton shot a blast of ectoplasm at one of the walls and a large hole appeared. There was a large black void with what looked like purple and green stars within it. The group followed the half-dead boy toward the hole, and watched as he floated out of the wall. After a few moments, he poked his head back in and nodded. "Be careful, the ledge isn't that big out here, but it should be enough for you all to fit out here. I can see Far Frozen pretty close to here, so we can get some help. Don't fall, I don't want to have to carry you back up."

With that, Fenton flew back out of the hole, and Dash watched as Manson and Foley stepped out of the hole without any hesitation. Paulina squeezed Dash's hand briefly before she climbed out as well. This was not going to go very well for him. Heights were not his strong suit. Mr. Lancer helped everyone out of the hole, and Dash tried not to feel as embarrassed about how thankful he was for the steady hand to help him out of the uneven, still smoking hole in the disorientating wall.

He felt a wave of nausea come over him as he stepped onto the edge and saw the night sky coming from every direction. He felt himself get dizzy as he thought about falling. If he stepped off that ledge, he wasn't even sure what direction he would fall. A firm hand latched onto his shoulder. He was pushed forward gently as another hand found his hand and pulled him along the ledge. Paulina ran her finger gently across the back of his hand as she walked, and he felt himself get grounded slightly. The black and red gloved hand on his shoulder helped him feel more stable on the strange ledge they walked on, though he was more than ready for them to be back on steady ground.

Everyone followed Fenton along the side of the wall, though Dash couldn't pay attention to any of the surroundings. He kept his gaze firmly on the back of Paulina's head, and walked. He didn't know how long they walked for, or how far they went, but at some point the strange purple and green swirls they'd been walking on transformed into an icy blue and white landscape. A painful chill bit through his lettermans jacket, and his hands were so cold they felt like they were going to fall off.

Though he knew he would rather keep it on, he saw how badly Star and Paulina were shaking, so he quickly removed his jacket and placed it around both girl's shoulders. He was large enough, and they were small enough that it fit easily over both of them. He pulled the sleeves of his black long sleeve shirt down a bit to cover his hands and crossed his arms. He placed his hands between his arms and body, trying to conserve any body heat.

The only one who seemed unaffected was Danny, who seemed to be doing perfectly fine in his t-shirt and jeans. In the bright light of the snow, the Lichtenberg scar seemed more pronounced, and he could have sworn certain parts of it glowed green. Fenton turned to look at them all and he froze. His eyes quickly scanned around all of them, taking in their appearances. Quicker than he could have imagined, the younger teen flew to each of them, turning their faces in his hands, spinning them around. "Shit, shit, shit shit shit. Fucking shit. Val, mask off. Now."

Valerie removed her mask just like he asked, and Dash didn't understand what he was seeing. Valerie's cheeks seemed to be sunken in, the bags under her eyes deeper than she'd ever seen them. She looked like she hadn't eaten anything in months. Dash looked at the rest of them and suddenly he could see it clear as day. They were close to death. Seemed fitting seeing as though they were already in the ghost zone. If they died, would they just stay there?

Almost all at once, each and every one of them collapsed to their knees, struggling to stay standing. Whatever was keeping them upright throughout the entire time in that room was no longer keeping them alive. Dash looked up from the ground just in time to see bright white rings appear around Fenton's waist and Phantom appear. It was surreal to see his hero coming from the person he'd treated horribly. Phantom shot a bright green blast of ectoplasm into the sky. A beacon. Dash's arms started to shake, and he couldn't hold himself up anymore. The ground was cold on his cheek. Strange white, furry creatures appeared in his view. Noises were dulled, nothing was clear.

He closed his eyes for a moment. He opened them and was in a dark brown room with a blanket over his shoulders. He closed them again. He was lying on a strange table. An operating table. He closed them. He was in the snow again. There were yetis in his view. He saw Phantom. He saw more of the terrifying ghosts. He didn't know what was happening. He wanted to sleep, maybe he would allow himself to sleep.

He opened his eyes. Suddenly, all senses of wrongness left his body. Okay, that was a lie. He still felt absolutely horrible, his entire body way too weak, no energy anywhere in his body. But he no longer felt like he was getting suffocated by the very air surrounding him. He looked around briefly and saw he stood in a large fire pit. People surrounded all of them, staring with shocked expressions on their faces. He didn't know what had happened, but he did know one thing. They weren't in the ghost zone any more.

His knees gave out on him once again, and Dash felt himself leaning on his hands and knees. He saw Fenton walk up to each of them quickly to check on them. He looked up at the crowd. Tears started to well up in his eyes, but he didn't let them fall. His mom. She was there. Dressed in a blue cardigan he'd only ever seen her wear at his grandmother's memorial service. Her hair was pulled back in a green and blue flower bandana, though it looked like she hadn't had much time to tame her blonde curls. Her eyes were red and puffy. How long had they been gone for?