Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Edward had been teaching at Casper High for long enough to know that on days when he was taking his class on a field trip, he always needed to pack his migraine medication. Every field trip, without fail, always had something go wrong, even before ghosts started attacking the city on a regular basis. So far the record for the school’s worst field trip was the time they lost one of their students who ended up in Spain somehow, despite the group only visiting the local community theater, but with Edward’s current batch of students he knew it was only a matter of time before that record was broken.

Case in point, the group had barely been at Amity Park’s brand new aquarium for more than an hour before security had needed to come get him to deal with an incident between three of his students. Edward had sighed deeply, pinched the bridge of his nose, and then turned to Ms. Tetslaff.

“If you wouldn’t mind keeping an eye on this group,” he drawled. “I have a feeling I know which of our usual troublemakers is involved, given Mr. Foley and Miss. Manson are right there, and I’d better handle this myself since Mr. Fenton is usually my problem.”

Chuckling, Ms. Tetslaff gave him a nod. “Go deal with ‘em, Ed. Sarah is just on her break but she’ll be back soon. Between the two of us, we should be able to handle things here.”

“Thank you, Debbie.”

The rest of his students taken care of, Edward approached the security guard lingering nearby, waiting for him to finish.

“After you,” Edward told the man politely. The security guard nodded to him, and then led him back through the halls of the aquarium towards the front of the building. Just before they reached the main entrance, however, the guard turned towards a pair of double doors marked ‘employees only’. He swiped the badge on his belt to unlock them, and then pushed through, leading Edward into the back halls of the aquarium. Several twists and turns later through a series of identical featureless beige hallways, the guard stopped in front of a door marked ‘security’.

“They’re waiting in my office,” the security guard explained as he swiped his badge again, unlocking the security office. Inside there was a small desk area, and then three doors along the back wall. “Given what happened I couldn’t let them hang out too close to the fish tanks, but one of them also looked a little flighty so I didn’t want to risk dealing with a runner.”

“May I ask what exactly they did before I go in there to hear their highly edited version of the story?” Edward asked.

The security guard snorted. “I mean, they were a bunch of teenage boys being stupid, of course. The big blond kid was helping the scrawny one try to dip his head into the shark tank, and the other one looked like he was egging them on.”

Edward’s eyebrows rose up to his non-existent hairline. “Moby Dick! They tried going into the shark tank?!”

“Don’t worry, they didn’t actually manage to get in the water before someone stopped them,” the security guard quickly reassured him. “And even if they had, our sharks are well-fed. They would have been fine. Our fish were more at risk than your students.”

“I’m equally worried about both!” Edward insisted, his mood darkening. “Of all the foolish, idiotic things!”

“Oh yeah, it was really stupid,” the security guard agreed with a laugh. “But it also happens, like, once a week here. Don’t get me wrong, all three of them are permanently banned from visiting, but the good news is at least no actual harm was done.”

“Thank you for filling me in on the situation,” Edward said, pinching the bridge of his nose again to stave off the oncoming headache. He took a few deep breaths to regain his calm, knowing that he’d need to keep his cool while dealing with his three misbehaving students. “I believe I can take it from here.”

“I’m short staffed today, so I’ll have to leave you here to go make some rounds. If you need anything, though, Annie’s at the desk in the room to the left of the security office, she can get me on the walkie talkie.”

“Sounds good. Thank you,” Edward told him. With a nod, the security officer took his leave, heading out to keep an eye on the rest of the building.

The moment he was alone, Edward took a final deep breath to find his center, and then he pushed into the small security office. As soon as he entered, three heads whipped up, each of their faces displaying various levels of apprehension and/or annoyance.

“Boys,” Edward said as he closed the door behind him. “Care to explain just what in Chaucer’s name you thought you were doing?”

“We were just trying to help!” Dash Baxter immediately cried, jumping up to his feet. “Fenturd — I mean, uh, Fenton was trying to look at the sharks but he was just too short and scrawny to see them properly, so Kwan and I offered to help by giving him a boost! He’s the one who insisted he wanted a closer look! We were just helping out!”

“No I didn’t!” Daniel Fenton protested. He looked more annoyed than fearful of repercussion, perhaps because at this point, getting in trouble was like second nature for him. “I wasn’t even looking at that tank, I was trying to see if I could spot the octopus in the one next to it!”

Edward gave both of them a flat look, but neither of them backed down. That left him dealing with the final student in the room.

“Mr. Park.” Edward looked to Kwan Park, who was still sitting quietly in his chair, visibly squirming with anxiety. “It seems we are stuck in the middle of a classic ‘he-said-she-said’ situation. Care to weigh in on the events?”

Kwan startled a little at being addressed unexpectedly, looking up at Edward like a deer in the headlights. His eyes darted nervously between Dash and Danny as he swallowed thickly. “Uh…”

“Mr. Park. I’m asking you, not Mr. Baxter and Mr. Fenton.”

“I, uh. Think Dash is right,” he said meekly.

Edward wasn’t an idiot, and he wasn’t blind. He was well aware that Dash was lying, and that he and Kwan had likely tried to force Danny into the shark tank. Dash’s history of bullying Danny was well known to him, but between the school’s reliance on the football team doing well for funding and Dash’s mother being the chair of the PTA, his hands were often tied when it came to actually punishing Dash for his behavior. Thankfully the young football star was starting to mellow out as he got older and schoolwork took up more of his attention, but he was still prone to occasionally tormenting Danny whenever the opportunity arose, and Danny standing too close to the shark tank must have been too hard to resist.

Edward was also well aware that Kwan was much more uncomfortable with lying compared to his friend, and would likely crack if he put on just a teeny bit of pressure. So Edward just continued to stare at him, one of his eyebrows slowly rising as the silence stretched and stretched past awkward to the point of becoming uncomfortable. The longer he waited, the more Kwan seemed to twitch, his brow beading with sweat and his fingers clenching on his knees, the perfect picture of discomfort.

At the three minute mark, Kwan finally snapped. “A-actually, Mr. Lancer — ”

He didn’t get a chance to finish his sentence, because at that moment Danny suddenly went stiff, his head whipping towards the doorway. “Oh no,” he groaned, expression pained.

“Mr. Fenton?” Edward frowned at his most troublesome student. “Is something the matt — ”

Edward’s question was cut off as a loud siren abruptly went off, a set of safety lights beginning to flash overhead. The four of them all tensed, recognizing the sound of the ghost alarm that was standard in all buildings in Amity Park now. Sure enough, a second later a woman’s calm voice came over the PA system.

“Attention all visitors. Ghost attack in progress. Please proceed to the nearest exits in a calm and orderly fashion.”

Edward didn’t have to strain his hearing very hard to make out the sounds of panicked screaming and stampeding in the distance as the aquarium guests all started to flee the ghost attack. The sound was muffled in this small out of the way office far off the beaten track, but they could still feel the tremors of the rush of hundreds of footsteps pounding through the building, even from this distance.

Edward sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, well aware that he’d have to put their punishment on hold until the ghost attack was over. “The Crucible,” he cursed under his breath, before lifting his head to face the students. “Alright, we’ll have to pause this discussion for now until we reach the evacuation point, but once we’re there we will resume our little chat. Come with me, you three. I’m not letting you out of my sight until we’ve talked about your lack of respect for the aquarium facilities.”

“But Mr. Lancer — !” Danny started to protest.

Knowing how slippery Danny could be when it came time to face the music about his troublemaking, Edward made a point of placing a hand on Danny’s shoulder to guide him forward just so Danny couldn’t sneak away. “No time for arguments, Mr. Fenton. We need to get out of the building.”

Edward led them out of the small side room and into the little main lobby of the security office. He glanced around, but there was no one there at the moment that he could see. Guiding his students forward, he led them out of the hallway, letting the door to the security office close softly behind them.

All at once, Edward realized that they had a bit of a problem. The security guard who had led them here was nowhere to be seen, and Edward couldn’t remember which way they’d come from anymore. The plain beige hallway looked the exact same stretching out in either direction, and the doors that stood along either side in regular intervals were poorly marked. Frowning, he glanced both ways, trying to remember where to go. Hadn’t the security officer said something about someone who could help them next door?

Deciding that as long as they picked a direction, they’d make it out of the building eventually, Edward turned to the left first. He tried the next door over, and found it to be unlocked, but when he poked his head inside, all he found was an empty office space, the desk chair tipped over like someone had stood up from it in a rush.

“Hmm, I was told someone would be in here who might be able to help us,” Edward murmured to his students. “But she must have evacuated already.”

The three boys were starting to look nervous now, though Danny, oddly enough, was more tense than anxious. Dash and Kwan shared a look, before glancing back up at Edward.

“Which way should we go, then, Mr. Lancer?” Dash asked, eyes darting down the hallway.

Edward had been about to suggest that they just follow the hallway until they found an exit sign, but suddenly the low level tremors that had been rocking the building since the alarm had gone off seemed to ramp up drastically. Edward let out a cry of surprise, knocking into Danny as the floor jumped and he lost his balance a little.

“What was that?” Kwan demanded, definitely starting to look scared now.

“I’m not sure,” Edward admitted slowly, struggling to maintain his calm as his own fear grew. He had assumed that the low level rumble that he’d been feeling up until now had been the echo of fleeing people running through the building nearby, but now he wasn’t so sure. For one, the ghost attack alarm had been blaring for long enough that most people should have made it out of the building by now. Even if they hadn’t, a stampede shouldn’t have caused that sudden jolt. Whatever was making the walls and floors shake this badly, Edward was starting to suspect it wasn’t caused by people.

“Uh, Mr. Lancer. I need to go to the bathroom,” Danny suddenly announced, unable to meet Edward’s eyes. He started to move away, but Edward just reached out and grabbed Danny's shoulder again, locking Danny in place. What had started as an attempt to keep Danny from escaping punishment had just turned into a method to keep him from stupidly getting himself killed.

“Mr. Fenton!” he shouted. “There is an in-progress ghost attack! Now is not the time for a bathroom break!”

“But I really need to go!”

“Hold it until we get outside,” Edward growled, starting to move out of the office doorway and back out into the hall.

Just then the building shook again, this time hard enough that Edward stumbled into the wall. Behind him, Kwan actually lost his footing and hit the floor, Dash scrambling to pull him back up.

At the same time, a loud cackle rang through the air, the voice muffled by distance but loud enough to be heard clearly. “That’s right, you little minnows! Cower before the Duke of the Depths! The Sultan of the Seas! I shall bring the fury of the ocean down on you all, and free my briney brethren from these barbaric prisons you have trapped them in!”

“Oh great, not this guy again,” Danny muttered under his breath, almost too quiet to be heard.

Edward glanced towards Danny in surprise. He couldn’t say he was the most well-versed on the ghosts that regularly haunted Amity Park, but he’d seen most of them, and he didn’t recognize the ghost’s voice that they’d just heard. A quick glance at Kwan and Dash showed they looked equally confused, but Danny seemed to know exactly who they were dealing with. Had Danny somehow run across this new ghost before?

He quickly decided that was a question that could be asked later. Right now their priority should be getting out of the building.

“It sounds like the ghost may be up ahead,” Edward said quietly, fighting to keep his voice level. “Let’s head back the other way to avoid it.”

Dash and Kwan nodded in agreement, but Danny’s expression only grew more pinched. “But Mr. Lancer, I, uh, think I saw an exit sign up ahead that way. Maybe I can run ahead and check it out? Just in case?”

“Mr. Fenton! There is a ghost attacking the building!” Edward hissed, giving Danny a stern look. “It is my job as your teacher to protect you during an emergency such as this, and that means not letting you out of my sight! Now will you please cease this tomfoolery, and stop trying to wander off!”

Danny paled, his eyes darting back towards the end of the hall. “But — ”

What was it with these Fentons and their lack of self-preservation instincts? Edward had seen Jack Fenton literally stick his head into the mouth of a ghost lion once to ‘get a better look at its dentition’, and it seemed that he’d passed on those same survival instincts on to his son. “Mr. Fenton, you are already in enough trouble. If I hear you ask about leaving again, you will be in detention until you graduate, do I make myself clear?”

For a second, he thought Danny might still try to escape. His eyes darted back towards the end of the hall as if he was thinking about it. But then Edward made a furious warning sound in the back of his throat, and Danny slumped in acceptance. “Yes, Mr. Lancer.”

“Now come on.” He gave Danny a gentle shove forward, propelling him down the hall back in the direction they’d come from. “I’m sure there’s another exit this way.”

The four of them hurried down the hall, heading away from the ghost’s cackles. Edward winced when he heard something go boom back behind them, and he felt a small hint of relief that he hadn’t decided to press on in that direction after all.

But that relief was short lived, because a moment later the whole hallway shuddered hard enough to knock all of them off balance, sending them crashing into the wall. A series of loud crackles and booms followed, making the floor jump and tremble even more.

“The Last Days of Pompeii! It sounds like the whole building is coming down!” Edward cried.

Almost as soon as he said it, a loud snapping sound came from above them, and Edward whipped his head up to see a long crack appear in the ceiling overhead, working its way down the length of the hallway. Dust began to rain down on them, and the fluorescent lights flickered. He’d been exaggerating before, but now his eyes went wide as he realized that his statement might have been more accurate than he’d expected.

It slipped out before he could stop himself. “Shit.”

At once, his mind flashed back to what he could recall of the building’s layout. The security officer had led him closer to the front at first, but then they’d turned left, which meant they were likely deep in the administration part of the aquarium building. If Edward was remembering what it had looked like from the outside, that meant they were on the first floor of a three-storey tall portion of the building, with who knew how many floors below. If this place was no longer structurally sound, they needed to get out of here now.

“Time to pick up the pace boys,” Edward instructed them tensely, helping Kwan to his feet and giving him a push to get him moving. “We need to evacuate immediately.”

“Mr. Lancer?” Dash called, his voice shaky. “What’s happening?”

“Please just run, Mr. Baxter!” Edward shouted urgently.

Dash shared a worried look with Kwan, but then the two of them thankfully followed Edward’s directions, breaking into a jog to race down the hallway.

Danny, however, started to slow down almost as soon as they’d started running, falling behind. Without breaking stride, Edward reached back and grabbed the boy’s wrist, tugging him forward faster. “We do not have time to dawdle, Mr. Fenton! I know you aren’t a fan of laps in gym class, but this has become a matter of life or death!”

Danny made some sort of noise of protest, but Edward wasn’t listening anymore, too focused on guiding his students out of danger. He pulled Danny along, rushing after Dash and Kwan until they’d passed the security office again and almost made it to the end of the hallway.

Just before Dash could turn the corner, however, the building shook again. The crack above their heads widened and split off into a dozen other fractures, until a huge chunk of masonry suddenly broke free from the ceiling and nearly crashed down on Dash’s head. Only Kwan’s quick grab managed to save Dash from being crushed under the rubble. The two jerked back with a yelp that quickly cut off into harsh coughing as a cloud of dust blew up into their faces.

Edward stumbled to a halt as well, his stomach sinking as he realized that their escape route this way had just become cut off. His eyes flew to the hole above, noting the way that the cracks were continuing to spread, and he felt himself grow pale.

“Get back!” he shouted, reaching with his free hand for Kwan. He grabbed hold of the back of Kwan’s jacket and yanked, pulling him away just as another piece of the ceiling caved in. He and Dash both screamed in fear, stumbling away from the rapidly collapsing ceiling.

“Back this way!” Edward ordered, pulling both Kwan and Danny along now. Kwan grabbed Dash as well, and then, running in a long chain, the four of them charged back down the hallway.

Overhead the cracks were continuing to grow, however. Edward’s eyes landed on the nearest door, and he lunged towards it, praying that it didn’t require a badge to open. Thankfully it swung open as he crashed against it, allowing them to stumble into what looked to be a small, dark meeting room illuminated only by the emergency lights, just as the walls started to crack as well.

“Under the table!”

They dove as one under the table in the middle of the room, shoving the surrounding rolling chairs aside as they crawled beneath. Edward dragged them as far under as he could, before pulling the boys as close as possible to him, shielding their heads the best he could manage with his own body. The sound of cracking and heavy things falling grew louder as the room they were hiding in started to tremble as well, the sound of little bits of stone hitting the table over their heads as loud as hail on a tin roof. Edward squeezed his eyes shut, bracing himself over the boys as the cacophony of the building collapsing grew and grew.

Just then, there was a deep groan, and then a particularly loud cracking noise sounded underneath them. That was all the warning they got before the floor suddenly tilted and then dropped, the world falling out below them. Edward only had enough time to tighten his grip on the three students so that he could hopefully protect their heads as much as possible, and then they were falling into noise and dust and darkness.

Chapter Text

Edward didn’t think he’d actually lost consciousness at any point, but there had definitely been a period of time there where he had no idea what was going on. It had felt like they had been falling both forever and for only a few seconds before his body suddenly hit something hard, making his head spin and knocking the breath out of him. Another impact against his upper back made him swear in pain, his entire left arm going numb, but he did his best to tighten his grip on his students with the strength he had left on his other side. They rolled and collided with a few more surfaces, until Edward didn’t know which way was up or down, or where they were going to end up. All he knew was that he could still feel the warm bodies held in his arms, and he needed to do whatever it took to hang onto them.

Eventually, however, the shaking and the falling and the crashing seemed to stop. Edward’s ears were ringing like a bomb had gone off right next to his head, and his body was so banged up and bruised that he could barely feel anything past the pain, but it slowly hit him that they were no longer falling. He’d come to a stop on a tilted surface, something rough poking into his hip, but he could also feel something pushing and squirming against his chest.

He squinted one eye open and looked down to see Kwan and Danny still pressed against him. Kwan’s eyes were squeezed shut, his expressions pinched, while Danny was trying to get up and shake off the layer of dust coating his head. Edward nearly sobbed in relief when he realized that both of them were miraculously alive, that he was miraculously alive. His head was spinning and he was in more pain than he’d ever experienced in his life, but they were alive. He let out a low groan and let his eyes slip shut once more, exhaustion mixing with relief and making him slump.

But then realized that there were only two students accounted for, and he felt his blood go cold.

His eyes snapped open, and he struggled to push himself upright, despite the agony wracking his entire body. Danny and Kwan fell back, both letting out low groans, but Edward spared them little attention, too focused on locating his missing student.

“Mr. Baxter?” he tried to call, but almost as soon as he started to speak, he was forced to break off into a coughing fit as his lungs filled up with all of the dust in the air. He felt Kwan and Danny push off of him and scramble away to give him some space, but he was too busy trying desperately to clear his airway to see where they’d gone. His lungs burned as he coughed and coughed and coughed, struggling to catch his breath.

Eventually he managed to hack out the worst of it, and he quickly tugged the collar of his shirt up over his nose to hopefully prevent breathing in any more dust. His eyes were streaming with tears, but he looked up to survey the area, desperately hoping that Dash hadn’t gone far.

At once, he noticed that they’d apparently dropped down into some sort of locker room, presumably for the aquarium staff to store their belongings, because a row of them lined the one intact wall that was left standing in the small space they’d landed in. Behind Edward’s back, a chunk of the meeting room’s floor had fallen down into the locker room, creating a slope that Edward was currently resting against. Another piece of the floor had fallen against it at an almost perfect right angle, and that piece of floor acted as the roof over their heads. He was also pretty sure it was the only thing that had kept them alive, because around the edges of their little bubble, Edward could see nothing but broken bits of masonry and twisted rebar in the dim glow of the one emergency light on the wall that hadn’t yet burnt out.

A pained cry drew Edward’s attention away from studying their surroundings, and he whipped his head around to at last find his missing third student. Dash was sprawled out across the uneven floor, his face twisted up in pain as he shoved uselessly at a large chunk of concrete that was currently pinning his leg to the ground.

“Dash!” Kwan cried, rushing over. Thankfully he’d followed Edward’s lead and pulled his shirt up over his nose as well, so he wasn’t sent into a hacking fit as soon as he’d spoken. He dropped to his knees next to Dash and started pushing, trying to lift the concrete away.

Edward coughed one more time, and then achingly pushed himself to his feet, stumbling over towards them to try to take charge of the situation. “Let me help, Mr. Park,” he wheezed. “Mr. Fenton, we’ll need you to drag Mr. Baxter out, can you do that?”

He glanced over towards Danny to find the boy looking shaken, but thankfully unharmed aside from a few scrapes. Edward inspected Kwan next, and found him to be in similar shape, a small cut on his cheek bleeding sluggishly but otherwise no visible major injuries. Looking down at Dash showed that he was the most banged up of the lot, his blond hair matted with blood and his jacket and shirt torn, but he was helping to push along with Kwan so Edward suspected that he was about as well as could be expected after surviving a building collapse.

Edward himself was likely the worst off, but he put those concerns aside as he turned his attention to freeing Dash’s leg. He got down on his knees next to the concrete block on the opposite side from Kwan, bracing his shoulder against the lip of it.

“Alright, Mr. Park, on three you and I are going to lift. Mr. Fenton, as soon as Mr. Baxter tells you that the pressure is gone, you’ll need to drag him free, understand?”

A chorus of ‘yes’s followed, each of his students nodding their confirmation.

“Good. Alright, ready Mr. Park? One. Two. Three!”

He and Kwan started to push with all of their might as Danny reached down and hooked his arms under Dash’s armpits. Edward’s back screamed in protest at the pressure being put on it, but to his surprise Dash almost immediately started to shout, almost before it felt like the concrete had even shifted.

“I don’t feel it anymore!” he declared through his clenched teeth. “Pull!”

Danny didn’t waste any time. He heaved backward, dragging Dash back with unexpected speed and strength until they were well clear of the broken hunk of rock. Edward had thought that stories of hysterical strength and adrenaline-fueled acts of fitness were tall tales, but perhaps there was some truth to them after all.

As soon as Edward saw Dash’s leg was free, he relaxed, Kwan doing the same. All at once, the pain that Edward had been ignoring hit him, and he was forced to curl over for a moment, breathing through his gritted teeth to try to get through the worst of it while across the small space Dash moaned between hacking coughs.

“Here, man, let me look at it,” Edward heard Kwan murmur as he shuffled over to Dash’s side. Dash whimpered something, but Edward couldn’t quite make it out, the sound of his heartbeat pounding in his ears loud enough to drown them out. A moment later, though, Dash yelped, and Kwan hissed through his teeth.

“Yeah, that definitely looks broken,” Kwan reported sadly.

“Shit.” Edward finally managed to look up to see Dash staring down at his leg with a mix of horror and resignation on his face, Danny still supporting him from behind while Kwan braced his calf. The fabric of Dash’s jeans had been torn, either when the concrete had first fallen on him or when he’d been pulled free, revealing that from the knee down his leg was a swollen mess mottled with bruises and cuts. It was hard to tell in the dim light just how bad the damage actually was, but to Edward’s relief he didn’t see any protruding bone, so at the very least the injury wasn’t immediately life-threatening.

“I can’t tell how bad the break is,” Kwan said with surprising calm, before he started looking around. “We should probably splint it, at least, though. Do you guys see anything I could use?”

Danny gently released Dash from his hold, and then jumped up to start searching the area. Edward was relieved to see that he was moving easily, no sign of any major hidden injuries that Edward could detect. Somehow Danny had come through the building collapse in amazing shape; even his cuts looked a little less deep now that he was up and about.

Turning his attention away from checking Danny for injuries, Edward scanned the small bit of room they’d landed in, trying to help with the task at hand. His eyes landed on something near the corner of their little bubble, and he drew in a shaky breath.

“There’s a loose bit of rebar over there,” he suggested in a raspy voice, gesturing towards the long piece of metal that had come free from one of the chunks of wall that had caved into their little space.

“That’ll work,” Kwan agreed grimly, and Danny scurried over to snatch it up and bring it back over. He handed it over to Kwan, who placed it next to Dash’s leg along his outer thigh. “Anyone got anything I can use as bandages?”

Edward coughed and raised one of his hands, while the other worked to undo the buttons of his dress shirt. “My shirt. It’s pretty torn already.”

He managed to get the buttons undone, but when he tried to roll his shoulders back to slip the sleeves off, a fiery bolt of pain suddenly shot up his back again, leaving him hunched over and wheezing.

“Mr. Lancer!” Danny cried, rushing over to catch him before he collapsed.

“I’m fine!” Edward hissed, forcing himself back up until he was sitting on the ground against the slanted chunk of meeting room floor, his head hanging between his knees while Danny hovered over him. “I’m fine, just…a little sore.”

He saw Danny frown before he suddenly disappeared behind Edward’s back. There were a few scraping sounds as Danny tried to get behind him on the slope, but he seemed to find a way to balance, because a moment later Edward felt faint pressure on his one shoulder.

“Oh, man, Mr. Lancer. Your…your back is a mess.”

Kwan’s head jerked up in concern, even as he kept his hands firmly locked around Dash’s leg. “How bad is it?”

“Hard to say,” Danny admitted slowly. “There’s…there’s a lot of blood.”

“Just…take care of Mr. Baxter, and then we’ll worry about me,” Edward told them wearily. He was unsurprised to hear that he was injured — his back had been screaming in pain this whole time — but he also had a feeling it wasn’t as bad as Danny feared. He’d been able to move around, after all, so he doubted anything was broken, and he wasn’t dizzy so he didn’t think blood loss was going to be an issue. The biggest concern was likely infection at this point, but there was nothing they could do about it now, so it was probably better to focus on the problems they could solve.

Still, he felt Danny hesitate. Sighing, he glanced back over his shoulder at the boy, and gave him a gentle smile. “I’m fine, Mr. Fenton. Nothing that can’t be addressed once we’re out of here. But we don’t know how bad Mr. Baxter’s break is, and I’d rather not have it get any worse, so let’s deal with that first, shall we?”

“I guess…” Danny said reluctantly, still looking uncertain. Edward made a point of keeping his expression as calm as possible, and eventually he saw Danny begin to relax. His student even managed to give Edward a quirky smile of his own. “I hate to break it to you, Mr. Lancer, but you didn’t need to deal with all of those buttons. Your shirt’s basically ripped straight up the back, I can pretty much just tug it off at the sleeves.”

“There’s a sliver of good news,” Edward said softly, his smile just a touch more genuine now. “Perhaps you can help me with that.”

Danny nodded, and then slid down the slope until he was resting back on the flat ground of the locker room floor. Once he’d landed, Edward held out his right arm first, then his left, letting Danny grab onto his sleeves at the wrist. He’d thought Danny had been exaggerating when he’d said that Edward’s shirt was all but torn in two from behind, but when Danny pulled back, his shirt came off so easily it almost felt like it had just slipped off straight through Edward’s skin, leaving him just in a plain white undershirt.

The moment the shirt was free, Danny handed it off to Kwan. Kwan immediately started tearing the ruined fabric into bandages to tie the rebar to Dash’s leg, but Danny’s eyes were still locked on Edward. “How are you feeling now, Mr. Lancer?”

“Just fine, Mr. Fenton,” he said reassuringly. “I’ll be able to help you and Mr. Park out in just a moment.”

“No you won’t,” Kwan said firmly, much to Edward’s surprise. “If you’re as injured as Danny says, moving around a bunch could open any cuts and cause you to bleed more. You should stay still.”

Edward’s eyebrows rose. “I wasn’t aware you were so knowledgeable in terms of the medical field,” he admitted, a little bemused. “I take it you’ve picked up some things from your mother?”

“She and my dad both want me to be a doctor like her, yeah,” Kwan said, his expression tense as he finished dealing with Dash’s leg. “She’s been making me do practice quizzes and drilling me on different medical conditions since I was, like, eight. I didn’t really have much of a choice.”

Edward saw Danny blink at Kwan in surprise. “Your mom is a doctor?”

“She works at Amity General,” Dash informed him, his eyes squeezed shut as he tried to block out the pain of his broken leg. Sweat was visibly beading up on his forehead, and his breathing was coming in short pants. “In the ER.”

“Yeah,” Kwan confirmed with a nod, his brow furrowed with concern as he reached out and rested a comforting hand on Dash’s shoulder. “Hey man, I know it would be stupid to ask if you’re okay, so I won’t, but is there anything else wrong? I want to go check on Mr. Lancer, but I need to make sure you don’t have any other injuries first.”

“I can check him over,” Danny offered, dropping down into a crouch next to Dash. He very notably didn’t look at any of them as he added, “I’m familiar with patching up injuries.”

Dash’s already pained expression twisted up into a grimace, and even Edward couldn’t help but flinch a little at the awkward reminder of the history between his two students. Still, Danny showed nothing but calm professionalism as he offered to help Dash remove his jacket so that Danny could better see any other wounds. Dash had just been starting to struggle out of one of his sleeves when Edward’s view of them was cut off by Kwan approaching him.

“Let me take a look at that back, Mr. Lancer,” Kwan offered quietly. “Before we lose our light.”

Edward glanced towards the emergency light overhead with a grim frown. He’d noticed that it was decidedly dimmer than it had been when they’d first landed here as well, though it was hard to say how much longer it would last. It could stay on for another few hours, or it could die any second; it was impossible to tell. Kwan was right; best to take advantage while they could.

But as Edward shifted so that Kwan had easier access to his back, he couldn’t help but clear his throat. “And when will we be checking you for injuries, Mr. Park?”

He couldn’t see Kwan’s face from this angle, but he felt his student’s hands pause in the middle of tugging Edward’s undershirt up to get better access to his back. The tugging resumed after only a second though, the fabric pulling just until the point Edward felt a sharp burning sensation. He hissed and jerked, and Kwan immediately let go.

“Oh shit, sorry Mr. Lancer, are you alright?”

In any other circumstances, Edward would have said something about the language that was being thrown around, but given the situation he quickly suppressed that reflex. “Quite alright, Mr. Park,” Edward forced out through clenched teeth. “That was…a bit painful though.”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to do it again,” Kwan quickly reassured him. “It looks like your shirt is stuck to your back; it’s probably been worked into the clots. We definitely shouldn’t try to take it off or you’ll start bleeding again.”

“That seems…not ideal.”

“No,” Kwan agreed with a shaky laugh, sounding slightly hysterical. “Yeah, no, that would be really bad.”

“Let’s not do that then, shall we?” Edward suggested calmly, swallowing down his anxiety about his wounds and pushing it to the back of his mind, along with all of his fear and worries about their situation. He needed to stay calm. Panicking would not help them right now. He needed to keep calm and make it seem like he was in control.

Hopefully if he wasn’t freaking out, his students would be able to keep their heads as well.

Thankfully it did seem to be working, at least a little, because Kwan took a shaky breath in, and then spoke in a much more even tone. “Agreed. From what I can tell, it’s not bleeding anymore, so as long as you don’t strain it or reopen it, I think we’ll be okay.”

“That’s good. Thank you Mr. Park,” Edward murmured.

He heard Kwan start to move away, so Edward turned again to face his student. “You still haven’t answered my question, Mr. Park, about your own injuries.”

“Me?” Kwan blinked, before ducking his head and rubbing the back of his neck. “I-I’m fine. I mean, I’m sore, don’t get me wrong, but I’m okay. Pretty sure you took the brunt of it, Mr. Lancer.”

That was when Danny piped up, drawing their attention back towards the other duo in the room. “I think Dash is concussed,” he reported dutifully.

Edward let out a weary sigh. “Unsurprising,” he murmured. “I’d bet good money that all of us are concussed to some degree.”

He took a moment to study the pair. Dash was slumped over, leaning heavily against Danny’s shoulder, seemingly unaware or uncaring of his proximity to his usual victim. His eyes were half-lidded, and looking a little glazed, his lips moving as he muttered something quietly to himself. Danny, in contrast, was wide-eyed and alert, supporting Dash’s larger body as best he could to keep him from slumping over. His expression was pinched with concern, his hold on Dash surprisingly protective.

Kwan looked over, and then back at Edward, visibly torn. It seemed that while his mother might have drilled first aid into him from a young age, she hadn’t yet taught him about triage, and Kwan was visibly growing overwhelmed trying to figure out who needed his attention more. Thankfully Edward had taken a few first aid courses of his own, and he decided it was high time he took charge back of the situation.

“Has he lost consciousness, Mr. Fenton?” Edward asked.

“No,” Danny quickly replied, glancing down at Dash. He seemed to listen to Dash’s mumbling for a moment with deep concentration, and then he looked up again. “He says it hurts his head to talk too loudly, so he’s stuck whispering.”

Ah. And their hearing was still muffled from all of the noise of the building collapse, so none of them could hear Dash speaking. That made sense.

“Anything else?” Kwan prompted when Danny didn’t add anything more.

To Edward’s relief, Danny shook his head. “A bunch of scrapes and bruises, of course, but nothing else major that I could find.”

“That’s good to hear,” Kwan said, some of the tension seeping out of him. “Not great about the concussion — he’s had one before and it’s not good for someone to have multiple — but all things considered, it could be worse.”

Edward had to agree. A broken leg, a torn up back, and a couple of concussions between the four of them, while certainly nothing to sneeze at, was a pretty short list of injuries to incur from surviving being buried alive by a collapsing building. Once again Edward was struck by how lucky they’d been. It could have been worse. It could have been so much worse.

There was a brief pause as they all collectively took a moment to catch their metaphorical breath now that the urgent issues were taken care of. The space around them was stable and no one’s injuries were critical. They had a moment to just stop and think.

Of course, having a moment to think meant that they also had a moment to finally consider their situation. Edward found himself glancing upward at the slab of broken floor that rested over their heads, preventing them from being crushed like bugs under who knew how many tonnes of rubble. While the small pocket of space they’d landed in was by no means tiny — even Edward as the tallest would be able to stand up straight at the highest point of their slanted roof without hitting his head, and it stretched about fifteen feet across at its widest — being surrounded and trapped so utterly was absolutely triggering some claustrophobic feelings. Edward could feel sweat begin to bead at his temples as his heart rate started to pick up, anxiety kicking in.

So naturally, that was when the dreaded question came.

“S-so what do we do now?” Kwan asked, sounding horribly lost. He glanced between his fellow students for a moment, before ultimately looking to Edward. Of course. Edward was the teacher, the adult in this situation. He would be expected to take charge, to know the answers and be able to come up with solutions.

Unfortunately Edward couldn’t say that being buried alive had ever come up as a topic in teacher’s college, nor had they ever covered it in any of his professional development seminars. Aside from reading about characters being trapped by rockslides in various adventure novels he’d consumed over the years, he was in completely uncharted waters.

The longer he hesitated, the more he could see the fear growing in Kwan and Dash’s eyes, but Edward was at a loss. They were buried, with no way to escape until they were rescued. What could they even do but wait and pray?!

As his mind swirled with his own growing panic, he couldn’t help but look over his students, a sense of profound failure looming over him. But then he paused, caught off guard. When his eyes landed on Danny, he couldn’t help but notice that his most troublesome student actually looked more frustrated than anything. The unexpected sight knocked Edward out of his brooding, and he felt a flicker of hope grow in his chest. If Danny was frustrated rather than scared, that meant he was still thinking about ways to escape, ways to survive. He wasn’t panicking yet.

And if Danny wasn’t panicking, neither could Edward. These were his students. He was responsible for taking care of them, and if that meant doing what it took to get them through this, then so be it. If Danny could be strong, so could he.

With renewed resolve, Edward turned his thoughts away from dwelling on their situation, and onto the next steps for their survival. Their injuries were dealt with, the air was stale but fresh enough that something must have been getting through, and the collapsed building seemed to have stabilized for the moment. They wouldn’t be able to escape on their own, so for now their focus would have to be on staying alive until help came. Their biggest priority would be water. Despite being trapped in the remains of an aquarium, they still might not have any available.

Edward’s eyes landed on the row of lockers standing intact along the one surviving wall.

“What do we do now?” Edward murmured, plans finally starting to form in his head. “First things first, let's see what supplies we have to work with. Mr. Park, Mr. Fenton. See if you can break open those lockers, and bring whatever’s inside over here.”

“You want us to steal someone’s stuff?” Kwan squeaked, sounding almost scandalized.

“It’s a matter of life or death, Mr. Park,” Edward told him flatly. “I’m sure the owners of the belongings will understand.”

“Just do it, Kwan,” Dash rasped, his voice only slightly above a whisper. Kwan glanced at his friend, looking uncertain, but Dash just rolled his head to the side, letting it loll against his shoulder. “Come on, man, you’re not going to get in trouble.”

“...okay,” Kwan agreed reluctantly. He glanced at Danny, who nodded back at him before carefully disentangling himself from Dash’s side. Dash slowly slumped back against the ground with a groan as Danny helped him lie back until he was braced on his elbows.

“Do you want a pillow?” Danny asked quietly. “You can use my shirt, if you’d like.”

Dash was silent for a moment, considering Danny’s offer. Uncharacteristically subdued, he eventually made a soft noise of disagreement. “No, you need it to keep the dust out of your lungs.”

Danny twitched. “Oh yeah. I, uh. Forgot about that.”

“Maybe you’ll find something in the lockers,” Dash suggested as an alternative.

“Do you want me to stay here and let Kwan do the searching by himself?” Danny offered. “You seem kind of unsteady, I wouldn’t want you falling over and hitting your head again.”

Dash let out a self-deprecating huff. “Surprised you care. Shouldn’t you be saying I deserve it?”

“What do you mean by that?” Danny asked with a frown.

“Since it’s kind of my fault we’re all down here,” Dash said. His voice choked off just as he finished speaking, his eyes squeezing shut in pain and self-loathing. “If I had just left you the fuck alone — !”

“Mr. Baxter,” Edward cut him off sharply before he could say anything more, and Dash’s eyes flew open to stare at him in surprise, as if he’d forgotten Edward was there.

Once he saw that he had his student’s attention, Edward softened his tone. “Mr. Baxter, it is not your fault that we are trapped here. This is the work of a ghost who attacked the building and caused it to collapse. You had absolutely nothing to do with it, understand?”

“We only got stuck because we got dragged all the way to the security office,” Dash argued angrily. “And that only happened because I was messing with Fenton.”

“While you are correct in that you shouldn’t have tried to push Mr. Fenton into the shark tank,” Edward replied, his voice level in the face of Dash’s frustration. “There was no way that you could have known it would lead to all of this. This is not your fault.”

“But — !”

“No buts!” Edward interrupted Dash’s protests. “You did not cause this. This is not your fault. I need you to understand that.”

Dash looked unconvinced. Sighing, Edward prepared to reiterate his point, when Danny suddenly cut in with a humorless laugh.

“Yeah, don’t worry, Dash. If anyone’s to blame, it’s Phantom for not stopping the ghost in the first place,” he said, his voice strangely bitter.

Edward gave Danny a sharp look, not expecting this turn of events. Why on earth was Danny blaming Phantom of all people for this mess? Yes, the ghost hero was the one who usually dealt with the ghosts who threatened Amity Park, but Danny couldn’t honestly expect that Phantom could have predicted this and somehow gotten here before the ghost destroyed the building and prevented it, could he?

“Mr. Park, why don’t you start searching the lockers?” Edward suggested absently to Kwan, before slowly shuffling over so that he was sitting a bit closer to Danny and Dash. His mind distantly noted as Kwan picked up a fist-sized chunk of broken concrete and started stalking towards the lockers with a determined expression on his face, but most of Edward’s focus was on his two other students.

“Boys,” Edward said softly, making sure that he had their attention. “I know that we are in a very stressful situation right now, and that things are very uncertain and scary at the moment. But none of us are to blame for what happened. We didn’t knock the building down, a ghost did. Whether you had dunked Mr. Fenton in the shark tank or not, Mr. Baxter, the ghost would have still attacked and the aquarium would have still collapsed. Perhaps we wouldn’t have been trapped here, perhaps we would be even worse off. There’s no way to be certain. But this situation is not your fault.”

“And Mr. Fenton.” Edward turned to Danny. “I can understand if you feel let down that Phantom wasn’t able to prevent this disaster from happening and that he didn’t arrive in time to stop us from getting hurt. But Phantom, for all his powers, is not omniscient. He’s a hero, but you need to remember that he’s also a person. While I know it can hurt to find out that your hero is fallible, it’s important not to place him on a pedestal. He saves the day often, but he can’t save everyone all the time.”

Edward had meant his words to be comforting, but to his dismay, Danny only looked more devastated.

“Are you saying that he shouldn’t be saving people, then? That he should just let people get hurt?!”

“Not at all,” Edward calmly replied. “What I’m trying to say is that you shouldn’t blame him for what happened either. I know you may feel disappointed that he hadn’t come in time, but Phantom just can’t be everywhere at once. That doesn’t mean that he’s a bad hero, or he’s to blame for our situation. He just wasn’t able to save us this time.”

“Besides, he might still come,” Dash pointed out hopefully, giving Danny a little nudge with his shoulder. “He’s probably up there right now dealing with the ghost, and once he’s done taking care of it, he’ll come get us.”

“Exactly, Mr. Baxter,” Edward agreed with a nod. “We just need to be patient.”

Danny didn’t respond, but Edward could see from the way his jaw was moving that he was chewing on the inside of his cheek, his whole body tense with frustration. Clearly he wasn’t totally convinced. With a sigh, Edward reached out and rested a hand on Danny’s head.

“Let’s just focus on staying alive for now.” Edward gave Danny a reassuring smile that hopefully his student could see past the shirt collar pulled up over his nose. “Someone will come to rescue us soon, I’m sure. Whether that’s Phantom or emergency services, either way, we want to be ready for them.”

“...I guess,” Danny eventually allowed.

Just then their conversation was interrupted by a loud clang. They all jerked towards the lockers just in time to see Kwan wind up and then once again smash the concrete chunk down on the cheap combination lock holding the first one shut. The lock bent, but didn’t break, so Kwan smashed it again. Then again. The sound of concrete crashing against metal filled the small space, making Edward wince.

The fifth strike was the one to crack it, and with a cry of triumph, Kwan pulled the mangled lock off of the locker and tugged the door open. He started digging the contents out, bundling them up into his arms and then bringing them over to the rest of the group.

“Here, let’s see what we’ve got,” he said with a bit of excitement. He placed the items carefully on the ground in front of them one by one, laying them out side by side. A black puffy jacket was the first item, followed by a lunch bag, a metal water bottle covered in cat stickers, and a small purse. Edward grabbed the water bottle first, giving it a little shake, and was pleased to find it felt almost completely full. While a single water bottle wouldn’t be enough to sustain all four of them for long, it was still more than they’d started off with.

He grabbed the lunch bag next, undoing the zipper and peering inside. There were a few snacks and treats, a tupperware container full of what looked to be some sort of pasta making up the majority of the meal. Edward took note of the contents, and then placed them back inside, setting them next to the water bottle.

The purse was where they really hit the jackpot, however. While most of the items inside wouldn’t be of much use, Edward was pleased to find both a lighter and a small battery powered flashlight tucked away inside. He tested them both, smiling when he saw they were both working, and then placed them alongside the food and water. Now at least they’d have some source of light if the emergency light eventually died on them.

“Here, Dash. We can use the jacket as a pillow,” Danny offered quietly, once Edward had finished picking through the belongings and identifying what would be useful. “You can finally lay down for a bit.”

“Maybe we can find something to elevate his leg as well,” Kwan added, looking back at the lockers. “That might help bring some of the swelling down, at least.”

He started to scoop up his chunk of concrete, but Danny abruptly shot to his feet, waving him off. “That’s okay, Kwan. I, uh. Actually know a trick to breaking into combination locks.”

Edward’s eyebrow rose. “You do, do you?” he asked flatly.

Danny froze like a deer in the headlights. “Uh. I mean…”

Edward let him squirm for a minute, and then let out an amused huff. “It’s all about surviving at the moment, Mr. Fenton. As far as I’m concerned, whatever happens down here, stays down here after we’re freed. Do we all agree?”

“Yeah,” Dash said with a small smile. “Yeah, I can live with that.”

“Me too,” Kwan added.

“Oh…okay, that’s…that’s good,” Danny said weakly, his grin shaky and crooked.

That sorted, he turned his attention to the lockers. Edward couldn’t see exactly what it was he was doing to them, but to his amazement, in no time at all, Danny had the first one opened, almost as if he’d somehow just pulled the lock straight off of it.

“Here, Kwan. You grab the stuff while I open the lockers,” Danny suggested, focused on his task now.

Kwan pushed himself back up to his feet and started over to him. “Got it.”

The pair made quick work of emptying the lockers and bringing over everything inside. Slowly their pile of usable supplies grew, the stack now containing several pieces of clothing they could use for warmth and bandages, as well as a variety of food items. The greatest find, though, actually came from one of the bottom lockers; its owner had apparently bought a case of disposable water bottles to keep at work rather than bring a reusable one, and only three had been taken so far. Having a decent supply of water had gone a long way towards making Edward feel like they might just make it out of this mess in one piece after all.

Kwan and Danny took the time to absolutely strip the lockers bare. Within minutes, they’d gathered everything they could, bringing it all back to Edward for inspection. Danny had even managed to somehow squeeze his arms through whatever tiny gaps in the broken concrete he could find to grab a few things out of the lockers that were partially buried, despite how tight those gaps must have been.

“Who knew those noodle arms would come in handy someday?” Dash had teased when Danny revealed his spoils from the furthest locker he could reach. Danny had looked over at him sharply, but when he saw that Dash was smiling at him, taking the sting out of his words, Danny began to relax. Edward couldn’t help but feel a small amount of pride in the two of them; though it had taken a near-death experience to get them to this point, he had a feeling that they had finally come to something of an understanding. He wouldn’t be surprised if Dash’s days of bullying Danny were finally over, after all of this.

Clearing his throat, Danny brought the last of the goods over to their pile and dropped down to sit on the floor across from Dash. “Alright, it looks like that’s everything.”

Kwan sat between Danny and Dash, across from Edward, completing their little circle. “What do we have?”

“More than I was expecting,” Edward told them honestly, sorting out the last few items. “We have a healthy supply of water, all things considered, and although it would be tough and we’ll have to ration, there’s enough food here to last us at least a few days.”

“Days?!” Danny squawked in alarm. “We can’t be trapped down here for days!”

Dash and Kwan looked equally shocked, but Edward merely sighed. “I have no idea how deeply into the building we’ve fallen, or how much rubble is above us. Best case scenario we’re not too deep, but unless Phantom arrives, it will take some time for the emergency workers to even find us, let alone unbury us. We may be here for a while.”

“But…but…but what if we have to go to the bathroom?!” Dash cried. It was the most animated Edward had seen him since they’d landed here.

“We’ll have to designate an area for waste.”

“I don’t want to shit on the floor!” Dash wailed, his hands coming up to clutch at his face in dismay.

“Especially since we’ll probably have to help you do it, since your leg is broken,” Kwan added weakly.

“Not helping, Mr. Park,” Edward said through his clenched teeth as Dash started to properly panic.

“Dash! Dash, it’s okay!” Kwan quickly reassured his friend, reaching out to rest a comforting hand on his shoulder. “Mr. Lancer said that’ll only happen if Phantom doesn’t come save us first, and I’m sure he’ll come. He always saves the day, right?”

Dash’s anxious fretting cut off as he considered Kwan’s words. “Oh yeah. Good point, Kwan.”

The two began to discuss what it would be like when Phantom inevitably swooped in to save them, but Edward couldn’t help but notice the way Danny had flinched when Phantom had come up again. He had hunched in on himself, growing more and more morose the longer Dash and Kwan gushed, and it slowly occurred to Edward that there might have been more to Danny placing the blame on Phantom for their misfortune than he’d first thought.

Edward had believed that Danny’s bitterness had been due to having to confront the reality that his hero wasn’t as perfect as he’d once believed, but now Edward was starting to wonder if that wasn’t the case at all. To Edward’s knowledge, Danny had never spoken out against Amity’s resident superhero, but the boy’s parents were some of Phantom’s greatest detractors. Had Danny secretly been sharing their views this whole time? Had Danny blamed Phantom not because he was disappointed, but because he actually thought Phantom had somehow caused this? Did the boy think that Phantom was somehow directly responsible?

Deciding that, if Danny really was anti-Phantom, that bringing it up might incite an argument between him and the two others, Edward quickly decided to change the subject.

“Regardless of how we get out of here, I’m sure that we will,” Edward told them, cutting off Dash and Kwan’s discussion. “But for now, perhaps we can try getting some rest. We’ve all been through a very traumatic event, and I’m sure you boys are feeling just as tired as I am.”

“Yeah, good point. Dash for sure should be resting,” Kwan agreed. “Given his concussion.”

“As I suspect all of us may have concussions to some degree, I think that means we should all try to sleep, at least a little.”

“I’m not tired,” Danny said sullenly, curling up to wrap his arms around his knees. “I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep.”

Kwan gave him a rueful smile. “Yeah, I don’t think I’ll be able to either.” He then looked at Dash and Edward. “It’s more important that you guys sleep anyways, you’re more hurt than us.”

“Your health is a higher priority than mine,” Edward told him, his expression pained.

“Yeah, but Danny and I don’t need the rest as much. You guys do,” Kwan argued right back. “Besides, even with all the clothes we stole from the lockers, I don’t think there’s enough for all of us to sleep on. We’ll have to take turns anyways, you guys might as well get the first rest.”

Edward wanted to dispute it, but he had to admit that Kwan had a point. “Oh…very well.”

“Here, Danny. Help me set up the beds.”

“Sure,” Danny said quietly, assisting Kwan in gathering up the pile of clothes.

The two worked for a few minutes, separating out the clothing to create two little bundles to make a set of makeshift beds. While they weren’t much to look at, at least they’d allow Dash and Edward to stretch out with something soft to separate them from the cold, hard floor. It wouldn’t be restful sleep, but at least it would be rest.

“Here, you help Mr. Lancer, I’ll help Dash,” Kwan instructed Danny.

As Danny approached with his arm held out as an offering of support, Edward tried to wave him off. “I’m fine, Mr. Fenton. I can manage on my own.”

“I’m sure you can,” Danny told him, “but you don’t have to. Please let me help. It would make me feel better.”

Well, if he was going to put it like that. “Oh, very well,” Edward grumbled.

He allowed Danny to guide him over to the pile of loose clothing, and then assist him in lying down on his side to keep the pressure off of his back. It was the furthest thing from comfortable, but Edward didn’t exactly have a lot of options at the moment, and he was tired. He did his best to settle down, listening to Kwan helping Dash to curl up on the makeshift bed behind him.

“There you go, bro,” Kwan murmured. “Try to get some sleep. You’ll feel better afterward.”

“Thanks, man,” Dash whispered.

Edward glanced up at Danny, who was still hovering nearby, looking lost. “You’ll wake me if you need anything, won’t you Mr. Fenton?”

Danny startled a little, knocked out of his thoughts, but then he gave Edward a flat look. “You need your rest, Mr. Lancer.”

“It would make me feel better and help me sleep easier to know that you’ll get me if anything happens,” Edward told him, unashamed of laying the guilt on extra thick. He knew he’d successfully hit his mark when Danny’s nose wrinkled, before he let out a quiet sigh.

“Alright, Mr. Lancer. I promise to wake you up if anything happens.”

“Good. Thank you, Mr. Fenton.”

Satisfied that he’d made his point, Edward shuffled and squirmed until he’d managed to make himself a little bit more comfortable, tucking a bulky sweater tighter under his head to act as his pillow. Danny silently got to his feet and moved away to give Edward and Dash some peace, making his way over to where Kwan had taken a seat next to their supplies. Edward heard them start to chat quietly between themselves, though their voices were pitched low enough that he couldn’t really make out what they were saying.

Over Edward’s shoulder, he could already hear Dash starting to snore softly; he must have been exhausted to drop off so quickly. Somehow Edward doubted he’d be far behind. He fluffed his pillow sweater one more time, let out a tired sigh, and then let his eyes drift closed as the weight of the day dragged him off to sleep.

Chapter Text

Edward couldn’t say that he actually slept per-se — the ground was far too hard and rough for him to have really fallen asleep — but he at least got a little bit of rest, his mind drifting in and out of awareness for a time. He was vaguely aware of Danny and Kwan speaking softly to each other from time to time, Dash’s snores effectively drowning them out so that Edward couldn’t actually hear what they were saying, but for the most part it was quiet. But eventually his body began to protest being laid out on a hard concrete floor for too long, and he was forced to sit up with a low groan.

Danny and Kwan’s heads both whipped towards him as he rose, both shooting him concerned looks. Still, they waited patiently for him to sluggishly push himself upright and stumble over to them, taking a seat next to them so that Dash could continue to sleep.

“How long was I out?” Edward asked, his voice hoarse.

“Hard to say,” Kwan whispered back. “There was a watch in one of the purses, but it’s cracked, and it’s hard to tell if it’s working properly. Maybe an hour?”

Well, it was more than Edward had expected. He grunted as he tried to stretch out his sore muscles, but he quickly had to stop when it started to pull at the wounds on his back. “Well, that’s about all I expect to get, I suppose. How are you gentlemen doing?”

Kwan and Danny shared a wordless look.

“We’re okay,” Kwan replied, apparently designated as the spokesperson. “The emergency light went out for a bit, so we had to pull out one of the flashlights, but it came back on after a minute or two. I think we’re both getting a bit hungry and thirsty, but we didn’t want to take any of the supplies without checking with you first.”

Edward glanced towards their haphazardly organized piles. He did a bit of quick mental math as he tried to estimate how much water they had, how much they’d need, and how long it might take to be rescued. Best case scenario, Phantom would show up any minute, but the longer they were stuck down here with no appearances from the ghost hero, the more Edward suspected that Phantom wouldn’t show. If he was going to swoop in and save them, Edward figured he probably would have done so by now. No, they were likely going to have to wait for plain old humans to get them out of this, and that would absolutely take a lot longer.

He paused for a moment, straining his ears to listen for any sounds of search parties overhead. He could faintly hear what sounded like a low rumble, perhaps the sound of digging equipment? There also sounded like there was something rushing by, almost like water flowing down a river, but given that they were stuck underneath a collapsed aquarium, that could have just been water in the pipes or leaking out of the broken fish tanks. He listened as hard as he could, but unfortunately he couldn’t make out the sound of human voices.

He slumped, realizing that his earlier expectations were correct. They’d likely be down here for a few days, and therefore they’d need to make their supplies stretch.

“Let me make note of what we have, and do some quick math,” Edward told them tiredly. “And then once I know how much we can spare, we can have a little snack.”

He shuffled over to the food and water pile, picking up a scrap receipt and a pen from one of the purses they’d salvaged to start taking notes. He decided to estimate that they’d be down here a week at least, and did some quick calculations to figure out how best to keep them all alive and well with their limited resources. They’d have to ration like crazy to make it through, and it would be highly unpleasant, but, with a bit of luck…

He finished scribbling down his math, circled his final numbers, and then set the pen and paper down with a tired sigh. “Okay. Alright, I believe we can make this work.”

That taken care of, he reached over to the case of water bottles, pulling two out from the pile and handing them over to Kwan and Danny.

“Here,” he said as the boys took the bottles from him. “This will have to last you for the next couple of hours, so drink it slowly, but we should be due for refreshments, I believe. We’re going to have to make these last for a few days, so be careful and don’t spill any.”

Kwan thanked him and cracked his bottle open, but Danny just stared at him with a mixture of confusion and disbelief, the water bottle held loosely in his hands. “Sir, you can’t seriously believe we’re going to be down here that long, right?”

Edward could only give him a tired look. He hadn’t realized that Danny was still in denial about their situation, though that did go a long way towards explaining why he hadn’t seemed as worried as the others. “Yes, Mr. Fenton. I suspect that we will be waiting a while for our rescue. The rescue teams will have to prioritize their own safety, so they won’t do anything until they’re sure that it won’t put more people at risk.”

“But…but the ghost might still be up there!” Danny protested.

“You’re right, which also may cause a delay,” Edward said gently in agreement. “So yes, please prepare yourself to be patient.”

He then turned to Kwan and added, “Mr. Park, would you please go wake Mr. Baxter? I’m sure he could use something to drink and eat too.”

“Yes, Mr. Lancer,” Kwan replied dutifully, before getting up to go wake his friend.

As he walked away, Edward looked back at Danny to find him anxiously chewing on his lower lip, his eyes darting over the broken debris that surrounded him, and Edward felt his stomach drop. Oh no, he should have seen this coming. Now that Danny was beginning to fully understand their situation, he was likely to start freaking out. He’d been remarkably calm up until now, so Edward supposed this should be expected.

Edward couldn’t exactly do anything to change their circumstances at the moment, though, so hopefully a distraction would help. “Here, Mr. Fenton, perhaps you could help me get our meal ready while Mr. Park wakes Mr. Baxter.”

“Huh?” Danny turned to look back at him, his eyes wide and lost as he was knocked from his spiraling thoughts.

“Help me with the food, Mr. Fenton,” Edward repeated patiently, gesturing towards him with the tuna fish sandwich he’d pulled out of one of the lunch boxes. “We’ll need to bring it over to Mr. Baxter so he doesn't strain his leg.”

“But I…”

“You’re probably hungry, too, Mr. Fenton,” Edward told him gently, still holding out the sandwich towards his student. “I’m sure getting a bit of food into you will go a long way towards making you feel better.”

“...okay,” Danny eventually agreed quietly, his shoulders slumping. He took the sandwich from Edward’s hands and started to shuffle over towards where Kwan was helping Dash sit up. Edward grabbed a small container of blueberries to accompany their meager meal and followed after him.

They all sat in a circle again as Edward divided up their food. A quarter sandwich and a handful of berries didn’t make for much of a lunch, but Edward also knew they had much less food than water, and they’d need to ration it carefully. He took his time eating his tiny meal, trying to stretch it out to hopefully make his stomach feel more full, but even with his best efforts, he’d soon finished. The boys had all polished off their portions as well, and so now they were stuck sitting in a circle, trapped in a small space with nothing to do but wait.

This seemed like a very good way to create a panic, so Edward quickly tried to think of something to distract them. His eyes lit up as an idea hit him.

“Well, I was going to cover this in class tomorrow, but given we will probably not be there anymore, I suppose we can go through it now,” Edward said mildly, brushing the crumbs off of his shirt and straightening up as best he could. When the boys just gave him questioning looks, Edward gave them a smirk. “Who wants to start our discussion on Macbeth act three, scene five?”

Silence was his answer. Sighing, Edward prompted, “The latest chapter on Macbeth? The reading I assigned your class for the weekend? The topic that I am quizzing you on at the end of the week?”

At once, the boys’ faces went blank. He could see them all thinking hard, before their brows started to twist up in surprise, and then dread. He watched them all share looks, as if hoping one of the others would be the first to speak up.

As the silence stretched, Edward could feel his own expression fall in dismay. “Did none of you do the reading?!”

The trio of shamefully hanging heads that faced him were answer enough.

“I…picked up the book,” Kwan offered weakly. And then added under his breath, “...to move it off of my GameBoy.”

“My dog ate it?” Dash coughed, though it came out sounding more like a question than anything.

“I, uh…was busy this weekend,” Danny said evasively, rubbing the back of his neck.

“We have a test in two days, are you telling me you haven’t even started reading act three?!” Edward cried, slapping his forehead. “Starlight Brigade!”

To his surprise, Danny suddenly perked up. “Wait, you’ve read the Starlight Brigade books?”

Caught off guard by the sudden change in subject, Edward could only blink at him. “Yes?”

Danny immediately brightened, looking like a kid at Christmas. “I love that series! Have you read all of it?!”

“I have,” Edward confirmed, easing into the new topic with a few more blinks. He hadn’t taken Danny for much of a reader, and while the Starlight Brigade series was aimed at younger teens, there were quite a few books published already, and Edward was surprised that Danny had taken the time to pick them up. “Several times in fact. You’ve read it, Mr. Fenton?”

“Yes! I love sci-fi, and I’ve been a huge fan of the series since it started coming out! Jazz even helped me pre-order the next one, I’ve been dying to get my hands on it.”

“Wait, what are we talking about?” Dash asked, glancing between the two of them in confusion.

“It’s a book series,” Kwan replied.

“Wait, have you read it too?” Danny asked, turning his excitement on Kwan.

Kwan flinched back for a moment, not expecting the intensity of Danny’s enthusiasm, but he quickly rallied. “Only the first one,” he admitted. “But I really liked it. I’ve been meaning to read more.”

“You really should!” Danny told him, nodding energetically. “The first one is good, but it’s a bit slow to set everything up. Book two is where it really takes off.”

“How many books are in the series now?”

“Eight,” Edward answered before Danny could, drawing the attention back to him. “Though the fourth book is more of an anthology of the character’s pasts, so it can be skipped.”

Danny’s nose wrinkled. “Yeah, I guess, but then you miss out on a lot of the character’s motivations. Like, it makes Commander Meouch’s issue with journalists make so much more sense if you read it, otherwise the part where he picks a fight with Mr. Ink seems really out of nowhere.”

“Spoilers, Mr. Fenton!” Edward quickly cautioned, his eyes flicking over to Kwan.

“Oh, shoot,” Danny winced. “Sorry Kwan.”

“It’s okay, I don’t think I’ll remember by the time I actually get around to reading them all again,” Kwan assured him.

“Commander Meouch?” Dash echoed, looking at them all disparagingly. “Mr. Ink? Are you serious?”

“The series is a bit campy, I’ll admit,” Edward said with a chuckle. “But if you can get past the cheesy names, it is a fun read, I will admit.”

He started to say more, but suddenly he became aware of a low groaning sound that seemed to be coming from off to their left. His mouth snapped shut and he turned towards the noise, his students glancing over as well. Their little bubble fell silent as they all strained their ears, trying to listen for what the sound was and where it was coming from.

Edward’s brow furrowed as the groan eventually tapered off, followed by silence. He listened patiently for a few seconds longer, but soon enough it became clear that whatever had made the noise was done for now.

“What was that?” Dash breathed.

“Do you think that was the rescue teams?” Danny whispered quietly, glancing over at Edward.

“I’m not sure,” he admitted slowly with a frown. He deliberately didn’t add that he suspected that it wasn’t the rescue teams, but possibly the building shifting. It was a bit soon for any sort of rescue to be coming for them, he believed, but there was always a chance that something had moved up above them, making the noise they’d heard. He wasn’t sure though, so he kept that little theory to himself. No point in worrying them needlessly.

“Anyways. As we were saying,” he prompted, trying to get his students’ attention off of the possibility that their safe space might not be as stable as they’d first hoped. “The Starlight Brigade series is a bit silly at times, but it does have some excellent themes, and the stories are generally well written.”

“You’d like the characters, too, Dash,” Kwan added. “They’re a team, working together, kind of like the football team. And one of the characters, Ninja Brian, reminds me a lot of Matt.”

“Our Matt?”

“Yeah, Matt Zucker.”

“Huh.” Dash looked like he was chewing it over. “So, like…what’s it even about?”

Danny perked up again, so Edward gestured towards him. “I’ll let Mr. Fenton explain, as he seems eager to tell you. Just remember, Mr. Fenton, keep the spoilers to a minimum.”

“Yes, yes, of course,” Danny quickly agreed, practically vibrating with excitement, before he faced Dash and threw out his hands wide. “So! Starlight Brigade follows the main character, Strive, and his team as they try to stop the evil entity known as the Dark Prism after it stole all of the stars in the universe. They travel to distant planets, gathering intel to track down where the Dark Prism is hiding so that they can break into it to free the stars and return their light to the universe.”

Dash’s face screwed up in confusion. “Wait, aren’t stars really big? And aren’t there a lot of them?” He glanced over towards Edward for confirmation.

“Yes they are and yes there are!” Danny confirmed brightly, just as pleased to be discussing space as he was about the books. “Realistically, you’d never be able to actually condense them all into a single spot without creating, like, an insanely massive black hole. And in the book, the people on the starless planets are still surviving even though they should all be freezing to death.”

“I hadn’t even really thought about it,” Edward mused, rubbing his chin, “but you’re right. That is a pretty significant plot hole.”

“The author kind of tries to give an explanation,” Danny said with a wince. “With the nega-drive and the gravity remnants, but honestly it’s a bit weak and hand-wavey. I try my best to ignore it, just assume it’s magic.”

“Fair enough,” Edward conceded with a nod.

“The focus of the story isn’t on being hard sci-fi anyways,” Danny added. “It’s more about the characters.”

“Do you have a favourite?” Edward asked.

Danny ducked his head bashfully. “I actually really like Strive. I know he’s not as cool or experienced as the others, but I find him much more relatable.”

“That makes sense, given he is the main character,” Edward pointed out. “You’re supposed to relate to him.”

“I really liked Ninja Brian,” Kwan said, giving Danny a little smile, “because he reminds me of Matt, but Strive is really cool too.”

Danny smiled back at him bashfully, before looking over Edward. “What about you, Mr. Lancer? Who’s your favourite character?”

“General Jupiter,” Edward replied without hesitation, anticipating the question.

“Who?” Kwan asked, but Danny was openly staring.

“General Jupiter?” he echoed in disbelief. “But she’s only in, like, three scenes in the second book!”

“And she absolutely stole those scenes,” Edward told him with a sniff. “She took charge, whipped them into a team, and set them on their path. I respect a strong female character in any story, and while her part was small, it was very significant for the series as a whole.”

Danny made a considering noise. “Huh, I see your point.”

“She also reminds me strongly of Ms. Tetslaff.”

“Oh.” Danny’s eyes went wide in understanding. “Oh yeah, I see it.”

Just then, there was another groaning sound, although this time it sounded much closer. It was also accompanied by a deep rumble that they could feel shaking through the ground, leaving them all slamming their hands down flat on the floor for balance.

“What’s that?” Kwan whimpered.

“Why is the ground shaking?” Dash asked, his eyes darting towards the ceiling overhead. And then suddenly his eyes went wide and his face paled, just as Edward heard something crack somewhere above them. “Oh no. Look out!”

Edward glanced up, but that was all the time he had to do before a piece of the floor overhead that had been protecting them up until now suddenly broke free and dropped, directly above him. He gasped, his eyes going wide as a chunk of concrete the size of a bar fridge rushed towards him, too fast for him to escape.

“No!” Danny screamed loudly, lunging forward. His hand wrapped around Edward’s wrist just as the debris reached him, his vision filling with his oncoming demise.

His body went cold and numb.

The chunk of concrete hit the ground where he was sitting hard enough to crack it, the impact as loud as a gunshot. Edward’s eyes instinctively squeezed shut as he waited for the pain to hit him, hoping that at least it would be quick.

But then he realized that he’d closed his eyes after the stone had fallen. And as he sat there, his eyes shut and his body tense, no pain seemed to be coming. He also wasn’t dead, because he could still feel himself breathing; in fact, he was nearly hyperventilating, his pulse racing in his ears as the adrenaline rush filled him.

Completely stupefied, his eyes flew open. He let out a little squeak of fear when he looked down and found himself somehow sitting inside the chunk of rock, the top of it coming up to his waist. Had it had a hole in the middle and it had somehow miraculously gone around him? But no, Edward could see no gap in it, and he could feel his crossed legs sitting where the rock should be. How the hell was this possible?!

His eyes landed on the hand clamped so tightly around his wrist that he could feel his bones grinding together, and his gaze trailed up the arm until it landed on the terrified face of Danny Fenton. Edward glanced back down at their joined hands, and then back up to Danny’s face, understanding slowly coming to him.

“Mr. Fenton?” he said breathlessly.

“A-are you okay, Mr. Lancer?” Danny asked, his voice trembling.

“Y-yes, I — ”

Just then, there was another loud sound. They all looked up to see more cracks appearing in the ceiling, the pieces sinking down as something overhead shifted and finally threw off the delicate balance that had kept them safe so far.

“Oh no,” Danny gasped in horror.

“Oh shit!” Dash screamed, falling back.

Edward saw it happen almost in slow motion. Danny looked across at each of them, his face screwed up in dismay before his expression abruptly hardened. His jaw tightened in determination, and then he quickly dove forward, dragging Edward along with him. Edward let out a squawk of surprise, finding himself squeezed tightly in Danny’s arms as he scooped up Kwan and Dash as well. Dash let out a yelp of pain as his leg was jolted, but the sound was swiftly swallowed up by the cacophony of the roof beginning to cave in.

“Hang on,” Danny shouted grimly.

That was the only warning they got. There was a sudden flash of light, painfully bright after being trapped in the darkness for so long, and then suddenly it was Phantom holding them all, his glowing eyes glancing upward towards the collapsing ceiling above. He tightened his grip, hard enough that Edward was actually starting to have trouble breathing, and the numb chill that had washed over him a moment ago grew stronger. And then abruptly they were shooting upwards, through what had to have been thousands of tonnes of broken concrete and twisted steel, until the world suddenly opened up around them and Edward found himself staring down in shock at the ruins of the aquarium from what must have been a hundred feet up in the air.

He wasn’t ashamed to admit that he screamed in terror, but that was only because Kwan and Dash were screaming along with him. Thankfully Phantom seemed just as eager to get back down to solid ground as they were, because he quickly floated them downward until they’d landed on the roof of the office building across the street from where the aquarium had once stood.

“Are you guys okay?” he asked as he set them back on their feet, his words short and clipped. Kwan and Edward stumbled back, but Phantom took the time to help Dash to sit, since his leg wouldn’t support him. “Did any of you get hit?”

“N-no,” Edward choked out, feeling completely shell shocked. He glanced over at Dash and Kwan, finding them staring at Phantom with their jaws hanging open, but otherwise looking unharmed. “No, I think we’re okay.”

“Good,” Phantom said in a low voice. “Wait here. I need to make sure that everyone else is safe.”

He didn’t wait for them to reply, flying off so fast that Edward almost didn’t see him leave. The three of them were left there, reeling. The sun shone down on them and the birds were chirping in the trees far below, but the change of scenery had been so quick and sudden that it almost didn’t feel real.

“Mr. Lancer?” Kwan suddenly spoke up, sounding very lost. “Did that…seriously just happen?”

“...yes.”

“Did Danny just…turn into Phantom?”

“It appears that he did.”

“But that…that means that Danny is Phantom.”

“So it would seem,” Edward agreed, his mind a complete whirlwind as he tried to comprehend all that had just happened. They’d nearly been crushed to death again, but Danny had saved them and rescued them. He had carried all three of them out of the collapsing building, into the air, and then flown them to safety. Danny, who had just transformed into Phantom. Was Phantom? Edward supposed there could be some element of possession going on, but something about that just didn’t seem right. Had Danny honestly been Phantom this whole time?!

When he stopped to think about it, it all started to make a horrifying amount of sense. Whenever ghosts attacked and Phantom arrived to save the day, Danny was never anywhere to be found. And Phantom’s known closest associates were Sam Manson and Tucker Foley, Danny’s two best friends. Now that Edward had seen the transformation happen in front of him, he also couldn’t deny how similar Phantom and Danny looked, though Phantom’s ghostly aura still made some of his features look different enough that they weren’t identical. The more he considered it, the more he realized that in hindsight the truth could not have been more obvious.

Danny was Phantom. And he had been the whole time.

“But…but I’ve been shoving him into lockers and dunking his head in toilets for years!” Dash squeaked, sounding more panicked now than he had when they’d been trapped under the building. “Are you telling me he was Phantom then too?!”

Kwan and Edward just shared a helpless look, neither wanting to be the one to say it.

Ignoring Dash for now, Kwan shook his head. “I just…don’t understand why he never said anything. Why has he been keeping it a secret this whole time?”

“Only Mr. Fenton will be able to answer that question, I’m afraid,” Edward told him, looking towards the edge of the building’s roof. For a moment, he thought about walking over to look down and see if he could spot Phantom down below, perhaps fighting off the ghost that had attacked the aquarium, but then his knees started to tremble and he realized it would probably be wiser to just sit down for a while. He made a point of doing just that, dropping down heavily with a tired groan to sit next to Dash.

“You’re awfully calm about all this,” Dash commented, giving Edward a side-eye.

“Oh, don’t you worry, Mr. Baxter. As soon as this is all over and settled, I’m planning to go home, draw a bubble bath, make myself a really big martini and then have a good, proper meltdown over a Jane Austen book.”

“That actually sounds kind of nice,” Kwan admitted, sitting down as well and drawing his knees up to his chest. “Although I think I might try to re-read the first Starlight Brigade book again, instead of Jane Austen.”

“An excellent choice,” Edward told him with an approving nod. “Although you may wish to consider Macbeth instead, given your upcoming quiz.”

Kwan and Dash both looked up at him in dismay.

“Wait, you’re still going to make us write the quiz on Friday?” Kwan cried.

Edward shrugged, glancing up at the sun shining overhead. “We were only down there for a few hours at most, by my estimate. We’ll likely have to go to the hospital to be assessed, but I doubt they’ll keep us for long. We’ll all be back to school by Friday at the latest, and you’ll have plenty of downtime to catch up.”

“We were trapped under a collapsed building!” Dash protested.

“Mr. Baxter, if I cancelled tests every time there was some sort of disaster, we’d never write any,” Edward said flatly. “Amity Park sees a different ghost attacking every two days. Your classes are impacted by that enough as it is, it’s my job to make sure that you still get the best education possible, despite the challenges.”

Both of his students let out low groans.

“But,” Edward added, deciding to throw them both a bone. “I might try to add a few bonus questions to the test to help you get some extra marks.”

They relaxed, slowly smiling.

For a while, they just sat there in silence, each of them taking a moment to process the events of the day. Edward found himself constantly glancing upward at the soft fluffy clouds floating overhead. A bird flew by, and Edward found tears starting to prick at the corners of his eyes as it really hit him that they were out of that awful situation. They’d survived. For a while there, he’d had to grapple with the idea that they might not make it, while simultaneously trying to keep his students’ spirits up, so the fact that the sun was now shining down on him from above left him wrestling with a relief so profound it left him shaking.

They’d survived. They’d made it out.

For a moment, he just squeezed his eyes shut, focusing on the breeze on his face and the sun on his skin as everything suddenly hit him at once, leaving him breathless. But then the rush of emotion passed, and he was able to open his eyes again, looking up once more at the sky.

Because his gaze was trained upwards, he was the first to spot it when Phantom returned. Edward brightened as the familiar figure appeared overhead, lifting his arm to wave, but as Phantom approached, Edward quickly realized that something was wrong. Phantom’s form was hunched over, his arms wrapped tightly around his middle, and his face was pinched with pain.

“Phantom?” he called, struggling to his feet so that he could meet Phantom when he landed. “Phantom, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

“N-no,” Phantom choked out as his white boots hit the rooftop. His voice was thick with phlegm, and it took Edward a moment to realize that Phantom’s face wasn’t twisted with pain; he was crying.

“Phantom. Daniel,” Edward said softly, reaching out to rest his hands on the ghost’s shoulders. “What’s wrong?”

Phantom let out a short sob, before jerking out of Edward’s gentle hold. “I — I screwed up!”

Bewildered, Edward could only gape at him. “What do you mean?”

“I screwed up so bad!” Phantom cried, tears running down his cheeks now. He stumbled back a few more steps before his legs bumped into the raised ledge around the edge of the roof, and then he sank down to the ground, his hands coming up to clutch at his hair. There was a flash of light, and suddenly he changed back to Danny Fenton, his blue eyes watery and bloodshot as he sobbed. “How could I have let this happen?!”

“Daniel,” Edward murmured again, slowly making his way over to Danny’s side. “Danny, please tell us what happened. I’d like to help, but I can’t if I don’t know what’s wrong.”

It took Danny a few false starts to speak, but eventually he managed to force the words out, though his voice was still choked. “I f-flew down to check on what had happened. It sounds like…the ghost that destroyed the aquarium is g-gone, he took all of the fish and…and left, without attacking anyone else, but…”

Danny’s voice cut out, his eyes squeezing shut in pain as he started crying harder. Edward sank down next to him, ignoring the way that it strained his back, and threw a comforting arm around Danny’s shoulders. Danny whimpered and buried his head into Edward’s chest, his whole body shuddering with the force of his sorrow.

“What happened, Danny? I doubt you’d be this worked up about the fish.”

“...someone died,” Danny admitted, the words coming out so strangled that Edward almost didn’t understand them.

But he did understand them, and hearing them made his blood run cold. For all that Amity Park had to deal with ghost attacks on the regular, there had been surprisingly few fatalities over the years, and so any death from a ghost attack was a big deal. And now that he knew Danny was Phantom, Edward could see how they’d weigh extra heavily on his student’s shoulders.

“Oh, Danny, I’m so sorry,” he murmured, tucking Danny in tighter against him.

“I went looking for him,” Danny choked out. “The emergency workers said he was the only other person not accounted for, so I went looking for him. I thought he might have…gotten trapped like us, but…”

Edward went still. “Danny…did you…did you find him?”

“...what was left of him.”

“To Kill A Mockingbird,” Edward said softly in dismay. He could only imagine what that would have been like. “Oh, Danny. I’m so, so sorry. That must have been awful.”

“I just…it’s all my fault,” Danny whispered, slowly pulling away from Edward’s hold. “If I hadn’t been so scared of hiding my secret, I could have just changed into Phantom and gone to save him! But I was a coward, and now he’s dead, and it’s all my fault!”

“Mr. Fenton, you are not a coward,” Edward said firmly, reaching out to grasp Danny’s shoulder again. “And you are not to blame for what happened. As I said down there under the rubble, you are not the one who knocked down the building. None of this is your fault.”

Of course, he’d actually said none of this was Phantom’s fault, but apparently they were one and the same, so Edward figured it still counted.

Danny shook his head in protest. “But if I hadn’t wasted so much time sitting down there being scared…”

“Danny, as much as it pains me to say this, if the man was crushed to death, then he was likely dead from the moment the building started collapsing. You couldn’t have saved him.”

“I could have,” Danny protested, almost petulantly. “I fly really fast.”

“Then you would have had to leave us behind, and we would have all been crushed to death,” Edward argued, which made Danny draw up short. Actually, looking back, it hit Edward that his words were more true than he’d first realized. When he’d nearly been crushed by the falling stone, Danny had grabbed him and turned him intangible with his powers. That’s how he’d managed to fly them out of the collapsing building as well. It stood to reason that he’d also used those same powers on them from the beginning and protected them from the worst of the initial building collapse. “I had thought it was a miracle that none of us was more injured when the building came down on our heads, but now I understand that it was you protecting us from the worst of it, wasn’t it?”

Danny flushed and ducked his head. “I lost my concentration at one point, and then I lost my grip on Dash. That’s why you guys got hurt. If I’d been more focused, both of you would have been completely fine, but I screwed up then too.”

Edward just stared at him in disbelief. “Danny. Without you, we’d be dead. I am more than happy to have a few scratches on my back compared to the alternative. You saved our lives. Again.”

“Yeah, man.” Edward glanced up to see both Kwan and Dash watching them cautiously, Kwan’s arm wrapped around Dash’s back for support. Dash gave Danny a crooked smile and continued. “I mean, yeah, it sucks that my leg got smashed, but at least the rest of me didn’t.”

“We owe you our lives,” Kwan told Danny quietly. “It looks like for a bunch of stuff, too.”

Danny glanced between them, his eyes searching their faces for any sign of rejection or dismissal, but as they all continued to watch him calmly, slowly he began to relax. He sniffed loudly, dragging his sleeve across his face under his nose to wipe away the snot, and then gave them all a tiny smile.

“I am really glad you’re all okay,” he murmured. “And I guess I’m glad I was able to protect you guys, at least.”

Edward just gave Danny a proud smile, and another comforting shoulder squeeze.

Just then, Dash cleared his throat. “So like…” he began, before cutting himself off, looking uncomfortable.

“What is it, Mr. Baxter?” Edward prompted, expecting Dash to offer some other comment about Danny’s heroics. But when he saw the way Dash’s eyes kept flicking towards Danny before glancing away, he started to understand what Dash was about to ask was probably going to be something much less polite. He tried to interrupt, but Dash just blurted the question out before Edward could speak.

“So are you, like…dead?”

Edward winced at the blunt delivery. Even Kwan looked pained. But to Edward’s surprise, Danny actually just huffed out a laugh, and shook his head.

“Not exactly,” he hedged.

“You don’t have to tell us if you don’t want to,” Edward said quickly, offering reassurance. “Given everything that’s happened today, I understand if it’s not something you wish to discuss.”

After all, they’d all nearly died. If Danny was a ghost, at least to some degree, then Edward had a strong suspicion that this hadn’t been Danny’s first brush with death, and reliving his first experience so soon after this one might be a bit traumatic. But once again Danny surprised him, letting out a huge sigh and shifting around until he was sitting more comfortably on the rooftop.

“Well, if you guys know the truth now, I might as well explain everything,” Danny said resignedly. He waited until Kwan had helped Dash scoot a little bit closer, so that they were all sitting down to hear the story, and then he launched into his tale. “It all started when my parents built something called the Ghost Portal in our basement…”

As the story unfolded, Edward found himself absolutely riveted. But unlike his two other students, who were watching Danny with wide eyed amazement as he explained how he came to become a ‘halfa’, Edward was slowly growing more and more horrified. Danny hadn’t just had a brush with death, he’d actually died! And in a manner so terrible that Edward didn’t even want to picture it. At least if they’d been crushed under the collapsed building, it would have been quick! But electrocution? A portal between worlds opening up on top of Danny’s body and ripping him apart at the molecular level? It made Edward sick to even consider it.

As Danny finished speaking, Edward opened his mouth to ask how Danny could possibly go about his day-to-day like nothing was wrong when he’d experienced something so traumatic, when something even worse occurred to him.

“Mr. Fenton,” he said slowly as his horror only grew. “Do your parents know?!”

He was desperately hoping that Danny would say yes; that his parents were in on the whole masquerade and only played at trying to catch Phantom to help him cover his trail. But then Danny winced, and Edward felt his heart plummet.

“No, they don’t,” Danny admitted. “And you can’t tell them.”

“They don’t know?!” Kwan gasped.

“But dude, they try to shoot you all the time when you’re Phantom!” Dash protested.

“I know, trust me, I know,” Danny groaned. “Those ectorays hurt.”

“You gotta tell them!” Kwan insisted earnestly. “You can’t just let them keep trying to hurt you! They’re your parents!”

“Kwan.” Danny could only stare at Kwan as he spread his hands wide in a helpless gesture. “How the hell can I tell them? They hunt ghosts for a living, and I’m half ghost.”

“But you’re their son,” Dash pointed out. “They love you, everyone knows that.”

“But do they love me enough to accept me for what I am?” Danny’s back bowed, and his head dropped to hang low between his shoulders. “I don’t know. I want to believe that they do, but I don’t know. And even in the best case scenario, I still have to break it to them that the ghost they’ve been shooting at and trying to capture for study and torture for years is their own damn kid. How can I do that to them? How can I put them through that guilt?”

Breathing deeply through his nose to maintain his calm, Edward shook his head sadly. “Mr. Fenton, they’re sure to find out eventually. And they’ll be even more heartbroken if something serious has happened in the meantime.”

“I’ve hid it from them for over two years,” Danny said grimly, glaring down at the rooftop beneath him. “I just…can’t bring myself to tell them. Or anyone else, really. I’m just…scared.”

Edward slumped. As much as it pained him to see Danny in such an unhappy situation, he could recognize that Danny was in no mood to discuss the topic any further. “Very well, Mr. Fenton. I understand. But I do believe this will be something we need to discuss later, once everything has settled.”

Danny peeked up at them through his bangs. “Please promise you guys won’t tell anyone about me being Phantom. I — I can’t let anyone else know. It’s not…it’s not safe.”

To Edward’s surprise, it was Dash who managed to reply first.

“Of course, man,” he said quietly, uncharacteristically subdued. He glanced over at Kwan, who nodded in agreement. “Your secret is safe with us.”

“Yeah, Danny. We won’t tell.”

“As I said before, back when we were trapped,” Edward said, giving Danny a small, sad smile. “What happened down there, stays down there. We will not share your secret.”

Danny glanced between each of them, searching their faces, before he slowly started to relax. “Thanks, guys,” he whispered, the corner of his mouth twitching upward.

“Now that being said, you and I will have to have a discussion about what this means for your classes,” Edward added.

“What do you mean?” Danny asked, going tense.

“Well, your attendance record is abysmal, and it’s been impacting your grades,” Edward pointed out. “Now that I know why you’ve been absent so often, however, I can make arrangements to accommodate you better, given your…extracurriculars.”

Danny stared up at him in shock. “Wait…you’d do that?”

“You’ve saved the lives of everyone in the city multiple times. This is quite literally the least I can do for you, Mr. Fenton.”

“And the guys and I won’t be giving you a hard time anymore,” Dash added, reaching out to clap Danny on the shoulder. “I’ll talk to ‘em, keep them off your back.”

“You guys…” Danny said softly, looking like he was getting a bit choked up.

“We survived getting buried alive together,” Dash said with a grin, giving Danny’s shoulder a friendly squeeze before glancing at Edward and Kwan. “That means we’ve got a bond now. We stick together, right?”

“Right!” Kwan agreed cheerfully.

“Speaking of being buried, though,” Edward cut in smoothly. “We should probably go down and report to the emergency services so that they don’t waste any time looking for us in the rubble.”

Dash blinked. “Oh yeah.”

Danny, on the other hand, winced, cringing away from the wall at his back that faced the former aquarium grounds. “I don’t want to go back down there,” he admitted reluctantly. “I had to bring the man’s body out, and…I don’t want to see it again.”

Edward couldn’t help but wince as well, though he tried his best to mask his reaction. Bad enough that Danny had been confronted with the man’s remains, but to have to handle them as well? “Danny. Do you…have anyone you can talk to about the things you go through as Phantom?”

Danny looked up at him with a confused frown. “I have Sam and Tucker,” he said slowly.

Edward had suspected as such, but he’d been hoping that Danny had some sort of support outside of other children. “Of course, but is there anyone…older?”

“Jazz knows too,” Danny replied, completely oblivious to how his responses were just leaving Edward more and more upset.

“Anyone else?”

Danny’s face screwed up in thought for a moment, before he shrugged helplessly. “There are some ghosts who are my friends.”

“The Metamorphosis,” Edward muttered under his breath, pinching the bridge of his nose. Children. All Danny had to rely on were other children and ghosts, who from Edward’s experience, rarely had the same morals as the living. Good heavens, Edward could only imagine how much trauma the boy must have been suppressing. As brilliant as Jasmine Fenton was, Edward highly doubted she’d been able to manage Danny’s mental and emotional wellbeing on her own, though he suspected she was probably largely to blame for Danny still being as well-adjusted as he was, despite everything he’d been through. Either way, he had a feeling that he now had a date with his old notes on counseling from his time at teacher’s college.

When he was sure he could speak without either raging in despair at how much Danny must have been suffering on his own, or breaking down into horrified tears, Edward lifted his head to face the boys again. “I’m sure that the authorities have taken care of the man’s body by now. Either way, we will likely need you to carry us back down to the ground level, Mr. Fenton. Mr. Baxter can’t walk, and I don’t think any of us are in any state to take the stairs, assuming we can even find the roof access.”

“Huh?” Danny glanced across the roof, as if realizing for the first time that they were on the top of a building. Given that he could fly, Edward could imagine that it probably hadn’t even occurred to him that the rest of them might have trouble getting back down. “Oh. Whoops. Yeah, I can fly you down.”

Edward flinched back as Danny’s body suddenly flashed, transforming him back into Phantom. Edward couldn’t help but stare in open fascination, taking the opportunity to study Phantom’s features now that Edward was sitting right next to him. Once again, Edward could only marvel at how obvious it was in hindsight that Danny had been Phantom this whole time.

“Attention all passengers, Air Phantom flight one-oh-one is now ready for boarding,” Phantom quipped as he opened his arms wide.

Shaking his head at his student’s antics, Edward reached out to wrap his arm around Phantom’s neck, while Kwan helped Dash cling to his other side. It was a bit squishy as Phantom scooped them all up, but he showed no sign of straining under their combined weight, merely lifting off with them into the air as soon as his grip was secure. Edward was, for a moment, once again treated to a birds-eye view of the demolished aquarium, but then the vertigo kicked in and he quickly squeezed his eyes shut and kept them closed until Phantom had safely brought them back down to the ground.

The ghost hero deposited them carefully onto the sidewalk just outside the building, and then turned invisible and flickered out of sight. A moment later Danny emerged from the alleyway behind them, coming to a stop next to them like he’d never been gone.

Edward looked across the street, spotting a fire truck parked nearby, with an ambulance lined up next to it. He jerked his head towards it. “Let’s go see about letting everyone know that we’re alright.”

“Here, Dash, put your arm over my shoulder,” Kwan instructed his friend, hunching over to make it easier for Dash to grab onto him.

“Thanks, man,” Dash said quietly.

“Here, I’ll help too,” Danny offered, ducking under Dash’s arm on the other side. Dash and Kwan both looked at him in surprise, before breaking out into grateful smiles.

For a moment, Edward could only stare at the three of them with pride. Just this morning, right before all of this had gone down, the three of them had been at each others’ throats. But now, after surviving such a hellish experience together, he could see that a connection had been formed between them, a bond tying them all together as Dash had said. Edward was pleased to know that, after all that they’d been through, at least there was one silver lining to be found; they’d all learned and grown a little from the experience.

“Are you boys all ready?” Edward asked them as soon as he was sure that they were settled.

“Yeah.”

“Yep.”

“Yes, Mr. Lancer.”

“Good.” Edward gave them all an approving nod. “Then let’s go say hi to the nice paramedics.”

With his head held high and a light, warm feeling in his heart, Edward herded his students ahead towards the ambulance. The moment the paramedics and firefighters caught sight of them, they started shouting, the noise echoing as more and more people rushed over. Edward saw a pair of EMTs pushing a gurney in their direction, and for the first time since the building had started to come down around their ears, Edward felt himself start to relax.

They’d made it. They’d survived. He’d kept his students safe.

His work here was done.