PhantomNatural

Ch. 7

The first thing Danny noticed when he started to come to was the fuzziness clouding his mind. Well, honestly, the fuzziness felt like it had made a home in his bones. Almost like when a limb falls asleep, only to turn into that odd pins and needles stage. He half expected to wake up in his room, only for him to realize he wasn't at home when he fell asleep anyway.

Asleep.

When did he fall asleep?

Oh, right. He didn't. It was more like he was knocked out cold. That would somewhat explain the fuzzy feeling pricking across his body. He cracked his eyes open, keeping them close to shut to avoid being flashbanged by the light fixture clinging to the ceiling. Slowly he started to pick up voices drifting towards him. Voices, which had sounded muffled and mixed together until now.

"-it doesn't matter, we should be taking this kid to a hospital right now Bobby, but instead, he's laying comatose on your living room couch." Dean, that must've been Dean.

"Yeah, because bringing a beat up teenager to a hospital with next to no explanation will get us real far. We can't help the kid if he's wired up to a hospital bed for a week." Bobby retorted gruffly. 

"Guys, just... relax, ok? The soul eater is gone, and the warding sigils are up. While I think he does need medical attention at some point, this is the safest place for him right now, until we can figure out where to go from here. Back to what you were saying before, Bobby. Something with his eyes?" Sam asked, his voice oddly calmer than the other two. Danny listened, too exhausted to get up and interject. For now he'd wait and listen.

Bobby let out a heavy sigh, running his hand down his face, before having it come to a rest under his chin. "I... I'm not sure. Right before he passed out, I could've sworn I saw something green flash across his eyes. Maybe a trick of the light, maybe residue from that soul eater, but..." He paused, uncertainty in his voice. "I don't know. Something about that was just eerie."

If Danny had the strength to curse, he would. All this time he was trying to lay low with these guys, only for that soul eater thing to trigger something less than human in him. He reached up to grab a hold of a stool, only to slip and knock the glass of water sitting atop it off. His movements were slower than normal. He couldn't even catch it before the glass shattered on the floor, splaying out little shards of glittering glass across the wood. God, how Sam hated glitter. Danny could only stare in frustration before slowly sitting up to stare at the floor. He shouldn't be thinking of her right now, he should be finding a way back to her. It only took seconds before the three men came rushing in from wherever they were holding their little meeting. Sam picked up a piece of cloth and came over to pick up the pieces of glass.

"Sorry.." Was all Danny could manage to say. He felt tired still, but he couldn't just wait around for this to get solved by itself. Another day away from home was another day his friends and family had to wonder where he was, or if he was even alive. Well, half alive at least.

"No, it's okay. I'm surprised you're even moving. Taking an attack like that, at your age no less, you should've been down for at least a dozen or more hours." Sam informed him, before carrying the cloth over to a bin and disposing of it. The three men's previous conversation seemed to have been forgotten, or at least shelved for later.

"Lucky me?" Danny said with a small smile, before it slowly faded. It seemed his energy was slowly seeping back into him. If he were in Amity, it'd be easier for him to be back up on his feet. Out here, it was more difficult.

"You okay, kid?" Bobby asked, returning with a bottle of water. He must've retrieved it from the kitchen when Danny wasn't paying attention. He set it on the stool where the cup had once been.

"I should be fine. Nothing that time can't fix." He had heard that saying from Clockwork. Anytime Danny went to visit him in the Ghost Zone, Clockwork was always ready to offer Danny some sort of advice, even if it was cryptic. Clockwork couldn't help him here though.

"You took a pretty heavy hit from that soul eater." Dean spoke up from his spot near the wall. "Speaking of time, I think we should get this thing taken care of. If this is what it's capable of, we don't want it out there." Dean pulled out Sam's laptop, much to his brother's dismay, and booted it up. "Right after you went out, I tried to look up any abandoned places we'd be able to store this thing away."

Even though Dean had a tendency to act off-putting or stoic, Danny noticed, he had a soft spot for kids. Danny couldn't guess what kind of history Dean had to have to act the way he did, but judging from the brother's occupation, it wasn't good. He watched as Dean turned the laptop towards the group.

"An old sewer system. The place has been checked and cleared already, they're just waiting to cement it up the day after tomorrow." Dean said matter-of-factly. Sam picked up the laptop, scrolling through the webpage.

"Something like this would be perfect to hole up the soul eater. It shouldn't be touched for at least a couple decades after being cemented." Sam studied the page, surprised that his brother had actually done the research for a case instead of himself. "It says here that this place is only a few miles away from here, in a small town called White Lake. Should be a straight drive there, if we take the highway."

Danny felt a sense of relief begin to creep into his chest. They finally had a way to get this thing tucked away for good. Then he'd be able to go home, without the fear of that thing hunting him and his family down. "When can we leave?" He asked, looking from face to face.

"Tomorrow. You still need to rest." Sam told Danny, with no intention of changing his mind. Danny picked up on this and begrudgingly agreed, picking up the water bottle to drink. At least he couldn't break this.

{{A/N: Whew! Lots of dialogue in this chapter. I just want to thank you all for reading, and to say that any and all suggestions or ConCrit are welcomed!}}