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"He loves me ..."

She plucked a single leaf off of some fern she was playing with.

"He loves me a lot."

Another leaf.

"He loves me."

The woods seemed still as she crouched against a tree, plucking the poor fern to a naked death.

"He loves me not..."

Instead of riding out the 12 other leaves on the fern, Danny lit the poor thing on fire and scattered the ashes with a wave of her hand. She let out a groan and pulled her knees to her chest, putting her forehead on her kneecaps.

She was in the middle of the Amity swamp, sitting against one of the trees and picking at ferns. For whatever reason, this was one of her hidey holes she never told anyone about. It was the one place she could be alone and think about things. Not intelligent things, mind you. No inner machinations and monologues about life were had. Just simple things, like how she felt, what she wanted to eat, how to talk to someone.

Now she was thinking about Rikki, as she so often did. She tried not to let it bog her down in front of others, but truthfully she was missing him something sorely. She missed getting to see him all the time, getting to wander into his room Now that he was busy, Danny couldn't help but feel he was avoiding her for some reason. Was she doing something wrong? Maybe he was getting tired of her antics? She knew she annoyed people.

Honestly it was just another tiff that would blow over, but Danny was still worried as teenage ghouls so often did.

No, no she had to tell herself it would be okay. This was Rikki. Rikki. Loving boilfriend Rikki. She couldn't see him leaving her without at least explaining, or ending it properly.

And yet ...

Her mind shifted to Amphi as she looked out at the big swamp expanse in front of her. Poor Amphi. Poor, poor mermaid. A hand went to rub her throat thoughtlessly as she imagined what it would be like to be mute. She hated the imagery it evoked. Not being able to yell at Roch from across the campus? Not having late night talks with Rikki? Danny was loud in general- silence was something she just couldn't cope with. Years of growing up in a big, empty, friendless house had left her as an attention seeking noise machine.

She let out a second groan and slid down until she was on her back rolling around in the dirt. Danny never minded the dirt- in fact she welcomed it. She put a hand over her eyes, blocking out the sunlight so she wasn't blinded. For a while, she just slouched across the ground like that, her thoughts churning up images of her friends and frustrations. She just wished ... everything could go back to the way it was. When she didn't have complicated hunter problems. She wouldn't have to worry about everyone and everything being a threat. No stupid horsemen mark on her shoulder. No scars from Gale. She wouldn't have to wear a scarf around her neck, terrified at the thought that someone might touch her and bring her back to the lab.

Danny opened her eyes, realizing she was trembling. Not real, wasn't real. This was why she loved the swamp. No one was around to pity her, pat her on the back, hold her, make fun of her, tell the teachers. Not to mention if she cried there was no repercussion. She could just be. It was funny really, Danny never considered herself a nature lover- in fact, most of the time she was dedicated to burning it down, but the swamp ... the swamp was special.

Still, she had to go back home sometime. With a great sigh that was far too exaggerated for her simple movements, she hoisted herself up and brushed her legs off. The freshness of the forest reflected her feelings towards her return to Amityville. A fresh start. It always was. She pulled out her phone and started typing a message as she walked along the swamp bank, the familiar path she knew so well back to school.



Then chaos struck. She wasn't paying attention so her foot jammed in between two rocks and she went careening over the edge into the abyss of the swamp. She screamed, but the sound was lost in the openness of the woods, and the splashing of the water. Her tail was dangling precious inches above the surface, and sinking lower by the second. She thrashed, trying to break free from it, but to no avail. It was terrifying, the feeling of losing herself to the water. Panic swept across her as she realized she really might not make it out.

In her frantic flail, she actually managed to hit send before the phone went flying out of her hand and thunk! into the swamp, lost forever to the water. She tried pulling her leg out, head sinking under the water as she flailed. It was so disgusting and painful, being submerged in water entirely, feeling utterly helpless against the current. Her FEAR particles began slowly unraveling in a mad attempt to dissipate.

One last tug, and her foot was free, but in the same jarring motion her tail went under, and the flame went out. Suddenly everything seemed to slow down, as if time was quickly coming to a hault. She blinked a few times, knowing she had to make it to at least make it to the shore. Her foot was twisted horrible, but she still managed to sluggishly pull herself back to the dirt, dripping wet. Her FEAR was so worn down and malfunctioned that she couldn't even dry herself off- the water just stayed on her skin like a sickly dangerous lotion. A lethargy spread over her quickly, a delicious cinnamon filling her senses. Her vision had long since blacked out as she put her head on the ground. It was so comfortable. Maybe she would just ...

Sleep.

Roch was out. He'd been trying to recruit clubs into running booths for the battle of the bands. He hadn't gotten many straight out yes's, he thought as he headed for the reaper dorm. He was getting a bit frustrated. Maybe they wouldn't have the big festival that he'd been planning, which would suck. But oh well--

He stopped as he caught sight of his ghoulfriend running towards his dorm, wondering what was going on. "Oye!! Amphi!!" he yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth. "Where y'goin?"

He blinked. Danny... was in trouble. Was it hunters?? He reached out and summoned his guitar, slinging it over his back. "Where is she?" he asked, getting ready to run as soon as she explained.

"The swamp?" he repeated blankly. "What in the hell would a fire demon be doin' at the swamp?" He was confused, and still not sure how Amphi was coming to these conclusions, but hell, mermaid powers were a go, he guessed.

He sighed silently and started for the swamp, simply because she wanted him to. What other sources of water were there? Maybe the wishing well? "You sure she didn't fall down the well or something?" he asked, unwittingly pulling a Lassie moment.

"Her tail's not lit," Roch said, cursing. "C'mon, we'll take her to her room to dry her off, maybe it'll light up there," he decided, crouching down to pick her up. "Jack, Danny, how does someone so skinny weigh so jackin' much?" he demanded of his unconscious pal as he started for the school. "Do you see her phone?" he asked Amphi.

He started for the demon dorm, wondering if he couldn't just take a lighter to her tail and see if he could start her up again. She was breathing. He could see her chest moving, and feel her body heat. Besides, if she'd have died she would have dissipated. That clearly wasn't the case.

"Let's see if we can't heal her," Roch said once they reached Danny's room. He waited for Amphi to open the door for him so he could take her in and lay her on her bed.

Jack it was hot in there.

"Far as I can tell," Roch said slowly, "if she drinks water or gets her tail put out, she gets knocked out. So I think we should look up Fire Demons and find out how to relight their pilot light," he said, digging his phone out of his pocket. "Or we could off her while she sleeps and hope she comes back lit, but that sounds a bit dirty."

He was starting to sweat. Abruptly he unzipped his vest the rest of the way and dropped it on the ground. Then he kicked his boots off. Apparently stripping in Danny's room was a hobby of his.

"Her tail," Roch said, now reading the information on the phone. "Okay... found it... well, jack," he said, scowling. "She's out," he summed up a bit too succinctly. "Looks like when the part that's always flaming is put out, the fire demon winds up in a coma for a week or so. Let's just make her comfortable and check up on her a lot--she doesn't technically need to eat to survive, so that's good."

But it sucked, he thought, looking at Danny with a scowl. "Should have never been in the jackin' swamp," he scolded her as he headed over to pull her tennis shoes off.