Flashback: When Sorry Doesn't Say Enough
November 15th, 1985, 2:19pm.
Los Angeles, California
Saint Garry's Mod Catholic School
Christmas decorations were already cluttering the hallway. Dan hated that; why did Christmas have to be such an obnoxious holiday? The people, especially at his school, always started putting Christmas decorations up way too early. On top of that, they seemed to do it earlier every year. Even after Independence Day in July, Dan could swear that radio stations started playing Christmas music, just to annoy him. Or, maybe it was because of that one random Christmas in July special, but that only made it more annoying. He hated Christmas, hated Christmas decorations and thought that anyone who went overboard with them should be tossed out of a plane.
He pretended he was ignoring them as he walked through the halls. In reality, he was focusing on them, trying to think about how much he hated them, be as angry as possible. But of course, the tears found him again. The real emotions always found their way out, even though he'd only been battling them the past few minutes, he knew they would always find a way out. It didn't stop him from trying to fight them but it also didn't stop them from coming out. Still, he fought on.
"I want you to know, you can call us whenever you want," the officer said. "For anything. There'll always be someone on the line who can talk to you, I promise."
Dan, a ten-year-old boy, was dwarfed by the officer. Still, the young man felt like striking him, saying something scathing but restrained himself He fought himself. "Thank you," he replied, his voice stoic.
The officer led him back to the principle's office. Dan had wanted to be alone but instead found himself with his own police escort when he'd asked to use the bathroom. In reality, he'd just used it as an excuse to try and get some time to himself. Maybe to cry, he didn't know what his body subconsciously wanted. He only knew he wanted something that none of them could give him.
He sat back in the small chair in front of the principle's desk. The principle, some sort of high Catholic nun Dan hadn't bothered to remember, was still on the phone. "Yes... well, until we can reach someone, I guess that's the only option. Thank you for all your help so far. Yes, good-bye."
Dan didn't try to make eye contact with her. He didn't ask her what she was doing, what she had been talking about. He didn't care.
"They... can't seem to reach your uncle or your grandmother at the moment, Daniel. I'm sorry," the nun apologized. "Would you... would you know of anyone else?"
He said nothing, kept his eyes focused on the tiles of the floor. The tile was so clean it showed his reflection; it had just been cleaned. But there was no "Caution: Wet Floor" cone nearby, no safety precaution. That was irresponsible, he thought- someone could easily slip and get hurt. He hated such irresponsibility. He hated everything about it.
The nun walked over to him, her dark robes reflected in the floor's surface. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Do you know of anyone else we could call?"
Maybe the act of physically touching him was enough to stir him from his seething, maybe not. Either way, Dan, still fixated on the floor said, "Teddy. He's... he's my friend. Chris knows him."
The nun leaned over him. "Do you think maybe Teddy's parents would take you in?"
Dan shrugged. "I know his phone number. We could try it."
"Okay, then," she said. Dan gave her the number, she called and very soon, Ted's mom was on her way to the school. The situation was explained to her, meaning Dan had to hear it again. The nun had tried to whisper it into the phone. He hated that, hated that she was trying to hide it from him, as if she could possibly spare him more pain. He hated people like her, who didn't face their problems. His fists balled as he sat in the chair but only wound up crying again.
Ted's mom and the nun talked as the cop took Dan to the entrance of the school. He was happy he couldn't hear their voices as they repeated what had happened yet again.
"We don't know exactly if we'll be able to find anyone at this time but he did say he still has his uncle and his grandmother."
"There's really no one else?"
"He hasn't mentioned anyone... but, with the state he's in, I can't be sure of anything. Do you know if he has any other relatives?"
"No," Ted's mom shook her head to the nun. "I did know his father, though... I can't believe this happened. Did they... did they catch who was responsible?"
"They did- it was a few teens, apparently students of Dan's father. They were trying to shoot up the school for some reason. The police are still investigating but, apparently they tried to force their way into Dan's father's classroom. He wouldn't let them through the door, though, so they... shot through it. The other students escaped through the windows and the shooters were apprehended," the nun explained. "They... found him slumped against the door. Dan already knows."
"That is... I'm so sorry," Ted's mom apologized.
"We are, too," the nun said. Neither of them were in any way responsible for what had happened; Dan's father was a chemistry teacher at Garry's Mod High School on the other side of the city. His parents had been divorced since he was five and Dan's mother had passed away two years ago, leaving his father as his only parent. Until today, an hour and a half ago.
Dan had only been told what had happened once but he'd only had to be told once. The cop had already called Dan's dad a "hero", having sacrificed himself to save his students. What none of them knew was that Dan knew why a pair of his father's students had tried to shoot up the school. Not that it gave them justification for what they had done, not that anything ever would, not that any of that mattered now at all. Nothing mattered.
The cop walked Dan all the way to the front of the school. "We can get you in touch with a group," he casually said. "There's other people who... can help you through things, know what you're going through. We can call them, if you like."
"No," Dan said flatly. "Thank you," he quickly added.
"Well, I'll still get you their number, just in case," the cop said. They were both silent until Dan got to Ted's mom's car. Even though she was still talking with the nun, Dan was able to identify it parked on the curb and took a seat in the back. He closed the door behind him, finally alone.
The officer tapped on the glass. After only a moment's hesitation, Dan rolled down the window.
"Hey, uh, I want you to know... I'm sorry this happened," the officer said. Was he really? What did sorry even mean now? What the hell was he even apologizing for? Did anyone know? "I know what you're going through is going to be really tough. But you can get through it, I promise. I know right now it can seem like nothing will help, and it's really easy to want revenge at those times but we... we have to understand, we can pull through."
Dan finally looked up at the officer. "Why would I want revenge?"
"I know," the cop said again. "But you gotta understand it never helps anything, believe me. And things will get better. We'll do our best to get everything set up for you, okay?"
"Okay..." Dan said. Finally, the cop left him alone. He rolled up the window and sat in silence and thought about how he would avenge his father. He thought about all the things he would do, how he could make the ones who were responsible suffer. How he could get justice... how he could take revenge. It was about that time, Dan realized... he wasn't crying.
What no one had known and what only Dan would ever know from then on, was that his father was a drug dealer. Dan's father sold marijuana to minors at the school he taught at, one of his primary sources of income. The students who had shot him were not so much as disgruntled students as they were disgruntled customers. He had sold them a harder narcotic, something called Stin a few weeks ago. But shortly after that, Dan's father decided he was done selling drugs after he was nearly caught by Chris's dad.
Unfortunately, the disgruntled teens had not taken too kindly to being cutoff like that. They'd threatened him, threatened to go to the police and when he still refused, had tried to get him to show them how to make it. Unfortunately, Stin isn't the easiest substance to make and so, after many attempts, they had tried to force Dan's father to get them more. They had brought a pistol with them to school and after Dan's father refused to let them in his classroom, they discharged the pistol through the door, trying to shoot through the lock. They ended up shooting through both the door and Dan's father a total of eight times.
Dan's father had refused to let his class be endangered, instead propping himself against the door when the lock was finally shot off. His last act was to sacrifice himself so his students could evacuate via the windows. He had been found still propped against the door, his own body not letting it budge. A memorial was already being planned in his honor and all school had been closed for the next few days. The police had notified Dan approximately one hour after it happened.
Since then, Dan had heard apologies from half a dozen people who supposedly were going to help him. But nothing any of them said did any good. Their soft spoken words were empty to him, no matter how sincere they were. Actions spoke louder than words. They always spoke louder... and it was time for the world to hear Dan's voice.
The two teens were being held in a lockup. They had both already spoken to Gregory Edgeworth, a defense attorney about possibly pleading insanity or addiction influence to lessen their consequences. They were both lies but were dealing with the ramifications of their actions and also the guilt of having killed their high school teacher. They would stand trial the next day... or at least, they would have.
It was 1985 and Dan was ten years old when he took his first real act of revenge. To this day, exactly what he did to the two teens is known only to Dan but neither of them made it to trial. They were committed to an insane asylum where they would spend their days, walking shakily, escorted by people trying to comfort them down corridors forever. The hallways were never that clean because no one from the outside ever saw what went on in there. And there were never any Christmas decorations.
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R.I.P. Dan
So Dan Vs and the Ace Attorney series are in the same universe?
Well... shit, this got dark man. Like, wow... I know what Dan's dad did is not exactly... a good thing but still, no kid deserves to go through that.
I think I saw what you did there.
Also I do believe I saw a reference to the beginning of this story in this chapter somewhere.
Nice job
Shit got dark.
Nightmare Dan On Ash Avenue.
New chapter, yay!
*begins reading happily*
Oh wait *re-reads last part* Dan already got them, good man Dan. To quote a certain (justifiably) angry man:
... Oy vey! This is one of those ultra rare instances where I am not happy exactly after reading a new chapter (forgive me Barro Brony!) even rarer than the Pokemon Illustrator card! (Only about 37 were made and unsure how many are still around so super-super rare!)
Oh Dan we love you and support you forever! May your long road of vengeance be paved with the tears of your wrong-doers! See you next chapter dude, have a Chibi Hug from me!
*Launches Chibiterasu at Dan to deliver adorable hug of adorableness, will you:
A) Accept Chibi-Hug and all the emotion it contains, gaining temporary boost in morale
or
B) Dodge by ducking, let Phoenix be glomped by flying wolf pup and both will stumble into Fluffle's fluff and be lost for 3 turns
The choice is yours!
7726047 I'm very sorry you didn't like it
But it did happen a longggggggg time ago. Dan has had 17 years to perfect the art of revenge. This is about as dark a cloud as we're gonna get though and we may not keep it in the end. That is to say, the events still happened but if too many people are upset, we'll rewrite it so that it wasn't Dan's dad that was killed but someone people thought was his dad. Or that Dan's dad faked his own death. Both his parents, maybe. There's a lot of possibilities. It may be something we're already referencing.
This scenario actually makes sense because Dan hates stupidity. I'm so sorry you didn't enjoy it but there are more bright and happy things on their way. And more mysteries and intrigue, more action and adventure and more instances where a lawyer and a jerk save a world of colorful ponies from armageddon. Also, Fluffle will get pets.
7726378
Oh no, please don't take my first review as an insult or anything less than complimentary! Yes it hurt reading about Dan's hurt but it also explains his character in Equestria so much, every hero has some kind of tragic backstory: Superman, Green Arrow (tv version), Dick Grayson and of course the most famous of all: Batman. They all use their hurt to punish the bad guys and Dan is an expert at this!
Don't get me wrong, I
Dan in his titular TV show! But he only references the rest of the Dan Clan once in that episode of Dan vs The Lemonade Stand Gang (I think) in that 'just stick your kid in front of the TV, the way my parents raised me!' or something to that effect. I think Dan hates stupidity whatever world he's in (see Dan vs Stupidity), while in this universe Dan is much more motivated because of his tragic backstory. Don't change anything because of my comment, if you do end up changing it just know I think you made Dan that much more relatable. Everyone worth their salt would want revenge if their loved on was hurt! Now I can sit back and imagine how Dan made those two druggos scared of Christmas decs!
Thanks for the reply and eagerly awaiting the next update, I was just re-reading the Judge, Jury and the Guy Who Will Strangle You chapters, still laugh at that title btw!
Awesome as always and laters
^_^
7726416 I can guarantee this story loves you back, thank you as always
7726451
Thank you Barro ^_^
Oh I nearly forgot: FLUFFLE GETS A PET?! If it turns out anything like the Fluffy Mixer video of: My Little Foodie I'll just crash from Kawaii overload! Fluffle makes everything better! Whatever happens next I'll love and adore it like always
P.S Does Dan choose to accept a Chibi hug or let Phoenix take the fluffy bullet? Just remember the second option loses you Phoenix Wright for 3 turns haha ^_^