:: 8 minutes ::

Danny swam out of blackness into ice and fire. A molten fist twisted into the raw nerve endings of his chest. He gasped, and tasted a weird antiseptic burn. Cold. Blistering cold and a sick sense of wrongness. Something held his arms stretched over his head and kept his legs flat. He tipped his chin down, the only motion he seemed capable of, and instantly wished he hadn't. Instead of his familiar jumpsuit, he was met by pulsing masses of green swimming in red liquid. Black gloves reaching inside him blocked his line of sight. He flinched, jerking in the restraints.

"Don't move."

Mom's voice. Short and taut.

He felt a sickening pressure somewhere below his throat and under his breastbone, and then something moved . Fear and betrayal twisted in his gut. Tears prickled in his eyes.

Jerk. Twist. Energy darted up his body, drenching him in icy sweat-suddenly hot, suddenly dizzy and faint and ready to vomit. A raw iron smell filled his nose. A muttered curse. The hands groped, pulled. He felt a flow of warmth through his limbs, then-jerk, twist-warmth vanished.

"-please- stop -" The words barely choked past his lips. He shook so hard his teeth rattled. "-ple-ase-"

"I'm trying sweetie," she said. To who? Dad? The glaring light made the world around him a well of blackness. "It's in deep."

:: 2 minutes ::

Maddie sat alone in the lab, fiddling with the innards of some device and running through the most creative curses her inventive mind could muster on all things that existed in Wisconsin. Great lakes. The packers. Cheese. Asshole millionaires. Her wayward husband.

She set the tools down with a bang and glared at the photo of Jack pinned to the corkboard behind her desk. Jack's image grinned back, blue-eyed and unshakably happy. Why was he such a big-hearted optimist? Why couldn't he see that Vlad was self-centered and conniving at best, dangerous at worst?

All the gilded invitations in the world wouldn't sway her to set foot in that ridiculous castle of a house. Danny had volunteered at the last minute to tag along; more to keep an eye on his father than any desire to revisit the Masters household, she suspected, but really neither of them should have gone. She wouldn't be happy until all the Fentons were back, safe, underneath their own roof.

A thud sounded upstairs. Maddie glanced up, cautious and curious. Her hand strayed to the ectogun sitting on the table. Jazz had gone to the store. Danny and Jack were-unfortunately-still in Wisconsin. What could…

She stood up to investigate, but before she could take a step, Phantom appeared through the ceiling. He drifted down, not quite falling, and she had plenty of time to take in his ripped jumpsuit, his face and arms covered in scratches, a spectacular black eye. He glowed like a beacon in the mostly-dark lab.

Training the ectogun on the ghost, Maddie waited, watchful. Whatever this was, she wasn't fooled. Phantom must be up to something.

Vivid green eyes locked on hers. He had such a wide-eyed, desperate look that it made her pause. "Mom- help -"

Maddie faltered. "What?"

The ghost boy bucked and curled in on himself, red lightning arcing out of his chest and racing across his limbs. He let out a ragged yell. There was a bright flash that left Maddie blinking spots out of her eyes, then the ghost's body went dark and dropped with a thud onto the hard laboratory floor.

Maddie raised her ectogun, willing her eyes to readjust to the sudden change in light. What came into focus was a crumpled green sweatshirt, dirty jeans, red sneakers, a mass of messy black hair. The sweatshirt had 13 emblazoned across the back. A shiver ran through Maddie; her heart pounded as she crept closer, ectogun clutched in her hands even though she knew exactly who it was.

The boy… ghost? ...person lay face down, one arm folded under his body, unmoving.

"Danny?" she ventured softly.

Maddie thought she heard a moan in response. Her hesitations crumbled. She threw aside the ectogun and dashed over to the boy's side. Grabbing his shoulders-warm, definitely human-she rolled him over gently. Danny. The same black eye she'd just seen on Phantom bruised his face, in shades of red and purple now instead of green; that was the only color in his stark white face. His breath came in short, shuddering gasps. The eyelid over his good eye fluttered.

"Danny? Danny, honey?" Maddie cradled his head and looked him up and down, searching for what-how - this had happened. Wasn't he in Wisconsin? And-wasn't it Phantom who had fallen through the ceiling ten seconds ago?

She didn't have time to process the thought. Danny stopped breathing. She yanked off her heavy hazmat glove and felt at his neck. A faint, erratic beat met her fingertips. His lips tinged blue.

"Oh no you don't," Maddie snapped. She ran for the defibrillator they kept beside the stairs. Her baby wasn't dying on her watch.

::15 seconds::

The salty cold air off Lake Erie hit Danny's left cheek as he raced over the treetops, the only sign that he was still flying the right direction. He ought to check the stars. The glass embedded in his skin stung, sharp pin pricks against the larger patchwork of pain, but he couldn't stop to pull them out. He had to keep flying. Get as far as he could before-

Pain. Red light. Falling. Crashing through splintering branches. Shivering in shock as a friction burn blossomed up his leg. The cool night swirled around him. Danny listened to his own heartbeat thunder in his ears-then stutter, then stop.

A moment of sheer vacuum. Sound and light and touch constricted into a tight knot of pain in his chest, a cramping muscle that wouldn't release.

It roared and stuttered back.

Danny gasped at the icy November air, shuddering to his core with the knowledge that he'd been dead-actually dead-for a few seconds. He stumbled to his feet and staggered between the trees until he was dragged back into ghost form.

One thought pulled him along, driving him to force his aching body back into the sky, accelerating until the stars streaked silver.

He had to get home.

tbc...

Do I remember how to write fic? Not really? But we're gonna give it a shot! I wrote the majority of this little angstathon back in 2017, but never got around to finishing it since I was busy at the time. Something something of a doubt I think? Anyway. Here it is now. Dedicated to my dear friend Derpy, who is awesome.

-Hj