Mr. Lancers POV

The soles of my shoes slammed loudly onto the dirt covered tiles of the Casper High floors, the dark, empty hallways stretching impossably far as the echoing of my steps grew ever quieter the farther they traveled. My body was heavy and sore, my arms curling against my chest as the folders of papers stacked upon them caused them to ache.

I could only assume how long I'd been up, the last few days being somehow crystal clear, while also being in a haze. My internal clock was completely off, and I sure as Shakespeare couldn't remember what I had for breakfast this morning, let alone get a clear thought into my head. My mind felt like it was in knots, each thought a string that weaved in and out, over and under each other. I was a mess, I knew. My usually ironed, crisp shirt was a wrinkled disaster, my goatee went unshaven, stubble dotting my face. The bags under my eyes were darker than usual, and my eyelids drooped with the weight of my thoughts.

How must Daniel feel? If I am like this after only a few days, how has he gotten by for years without breaking?

Or maybe he has broken, and I just never knew.

I flailed, my arms shooting forward to catch me as I rapidly and unexpectedly decended towards the hard surface below me. I took a deep breath, steadying my heart beat as my papers settled onto the floor, the once neat piles now scattered throughout the hall.

"Need a hand?" I nearly screamed as a pair of familiar black boots came into view, a slender, pale hand reaching down towards me.

"Daniel, what are you doing here so early?" I asked him, grasping his hand so he could haul me to my feet. He knelt to the floor as he answered, neatly stacking my papers in their correct folders.

"I don't need as much sleep as normal people do, so I mostly patrol during the night when I have nothing to do." He stood, his muscles rippling just underneath his baggy shirt, if you looked close enough.

"What about the ghost zone? Your... your castle?" The question felt wrong, foreign on my toungue.

"This is as much my home as that is. I grew up here, my sister, best friends, grandmother, they're all here. Many of the people I know are here. I can't just... cut myself off from this place." He stayed silent for a moment, but I swore I could hear his mind, his thoughts dark and jumbled, yet in an orderly fashion. Almost as if he'd figured out a method to the madness of his mind.

It was only then, walking into my darkened classroom at lord-only-knows what hour in the morning, that I noticed, I could only hear a single pair of footfalls. I glanced down at Daniels feet, the soles of the heavy boots clearly stopping against the floor, but no noise was coming from the typically loud shoes. A shiver travelled down my spine, an unconcious warning, I supposed, to warn me about a potential predator.

"Sam says that keeping this place safe might be my obsession. Says that it's the only thing that makes sense." I lifted my hand, pinching the bridge of my nose to fight off the upcoming headache. "Right, sorry. I guess this is a bit hard for you, huh?" I flinched as something cold came to rest on my temples, my eyes opening to find Daniel standing in front of me, his eyes blue, white swirling about in his irises. It was almost... hypnotizing. "Sorry, shoulda warned you." He gently brought his hands back down upon my temples, the headache fading away almost instantly.

"Thank you."

"Its the least I can do." I watched carefully as Daniel suddenly shivered, his breath coming out cold and cloudy. He smiled down at me, looking almost sheepish in posture. "Duty calls. See you in class Mr. Lancer. Or at the very least, detention."

"Yes, of course." I paused, my brain suddenly doing too many things at once. I couldn't just let him leave to do this on his own, could I? But I know nothing about any of this, so would I just get in the way if I tried to help? "Erm, Daniel?"

"Yes, Mr. Lancer?"

"Just..." I sighed, running through what I could possibly say to make any of this any better. "Just try not to get thrown around too much, okay? When we got back from the trip I bought a first aid kit for my desk- the biggest one the store had, since I'd seen what happens if a ghost gets a hold of you- but I'd really rather not have to use it." He blinked owlishly at me for a moment, before grinning at me, the sight sadly strange on the boy.

"I'll try Mr. Lancer!"

"And come to me if you get so much as a paper cut, understand?" He nodded rapidly.

"Of course! Bye, Mr. Lancer, and thank you!" My hands instinctively raised up to my eyes as a flash erupted from Daniels midsection, my eyes automatically closing against the bright light. My hands lowered as soon as the light faded, my eyes opening only to find Daniel gone, the spot he'd been in shimmering as the light hit it. I walked over, reaching my hand out to whatever was shining on the floor, my fingers curling around something slightly cold and smooth, my fingertips fitting perfectly into the grooves.

I lifted the item up to my eyes, the beautiful white-blue color turning slightly green as the darkness of my palm enveloped it. I ran my eyes over the delicate edges and grooves, realizing with a start that it was not a random shape or item. I gazed at the odd substance in my hand, unlike any glass or plastic I'd ever seen. It was see through, almost like it wasn't even there, but if I focused on it and not through it, it was a blueish-white color, glowing green in the dark. The peice fit perfectly around my wrist, King Phantoms Emblem etched into the top, designs decorating the rest.

I'd have to ask him what it was for later, but for now I have some classes to prepare for.

Kwans POV

I could hear my heartbeat in my chest, the rapid, thumping pressure against my ribcage doing nothing to calm me down. I had barely slept last night, finding myself tossing and turning for hours, unable to quiet my brain. Every time I closed my eyes I saw him, always kind, always smiling, but that made it that much worse. The few hours of sleep that I happened to manage were plagued with nightmares, that one singular scar that ran across and down Danny's- Daniel's? Phantom's? Mr. Phantom's? It felt wrong to call him 'Danny' after all this. Do I even have the right and privilege?- chest haunted my every thought, always in the back of my mind no matter what I was doing.

My mom had noticed, I knew. She was worried, but what could I tell her? Certainly not the truth, I couldn't betray Daniel like that. Not after knowing what he's been through for me, for us. I had always hated how Dash, the others, and I treated the other people at Casper, but I couldn't honestly tell myself that I'd thought of any of them going through anything so severe before or after our bullying. How many people were going through something- perhaps not as intense as Daniels experiences, but just as damaging to them- when us "A-List" came over to give them a hard time?

That thought made me sick.

THE ONLY BETA THIS HAS IS ME!!! So please, if you see any mistakes, intentional on my part or not, point them out! You're not being mean, you're like a beta after the fact!

So this one was a lot more Lancer-centric than I intended it to be, but no worries! Other characters (and Kwan, again) will show up in the last however many chapters there will be. I would like to give a shout out to my friend bellakitty2003 who offered up ideas for these chapters I'm writing. Without her, this chapter would not be posted right now!

Speaking of bellakitty2003, she recently tagged me! (The picture is in media!) (Also, this isn't cheating my rule, it's in a chapter!) So, here we go!

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And all of you reading! Include yourself!

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