GHOST PROTOCOL {JLU/DP}

• SPEAK •

TUCKER FOLEY WAS MANAGING just fine without speech. At first it had just been severe shock, not believing his best friend had just died. Then it had been that he felt he couldn't tell his parents anything about what really happened six months ago and why Sam, Danny and Tucker had been in that area during school hours. Then it had been that Sam was out of school and offline for a month, probably because of a combination of her parents not wanting her to leave the house and end up like Danny and the offline because Sam was grieving and didn't want to get online.

By the end of the first week, Tucker stopped seeing the point in talking. He knew it was stupid, but right before everything had went sideways, he had said, "It can't get much worse than this!"-- what if that was what caused it? What if he was the reason Danny was gone?

It wasn't the first time that thought went through Tucker's head.

"...Tucker, it's time for school," His mom says quietly. "C'mon, baby... it's time to get up..."

'I don't want to,' His mind mumbled, but his body just got up and started going through the motions. Suddenly, he was ready, and he was stopping by the mirror, but not to check how he looked like he would've six months ago. No. He was stopping to see the photo of him. Tucker's throat tightened.

Danny looked so happy.

They all did.

Oh, if only Tucker could go back and tell them what would happen.

His phone buzzed.

IDA MANSON
Sam will be out again. Have a good day, Tucker.

Tucker sighed a little, but then again, he had been expecting it.

Jazz graduated early with honors and was taking college online, meaning she was never seen except for on a few, rare occasions and Sam had been a mostly online student even before the Amity Mall explosion. Now she only came in when she felt like it.

That wasn't very often.

For some reason or another, Tucker still attended, though no one, not even Tucker himself, knew why.

After a few moments of pity, he moved out the door, down the stairs and past his parents, scooping his bag up along the way. He was completely silent. He swung open the door and bolted down the street, trying not to focus on the bright green glow the large FENTON WORKS sign slew across the entire block, lest tears make their way to his eyes. He ran all the way to school, something that, along with his intense exercise regimen (something he picked up after Danny... left), had given him a leanly muscled physique, something he once would've said was for attracting the ladies, but now would admit that it was just a desperate attempt to keep his mind off of Danny being gone.

He wouldn't say dead.

No.

Just gone.

Danny wasn't dead.

Of that, Tucker was sure.

BAM.

Tucker's head snapped up so fast, he probably got whiplash, his feet slamming down so hard on the pavement that it left skid marks behind him. He ignored Fenton Works to the best of his abilities, focusing solely on the explosion behind him, eyes wide.

It glowed green like ectoplasm, taking on the shape of a mushroom cloud.

That color made the blood drain from Tucker's face and his heart pound in his ears.

For the first time in six months, Tucker spoke. "No..."