mad world.

Dani had thought about doing this for a long time, but there had always been something holding her back just that tiny bit.

Her friends.

She had come to this, admittedly, horrible place not wanting to be close to anyone, and yet there had been people who´d found their way into her heart, intertwining their own paths with hers. It was hard to leave them behind, but if there was the slightest chance that Marley was alive and out there, then she´d have to go looking for.

For a moment she had thought that it was silly to seem so dependent on a person. To fall into a depression because the person you loved was gone. But the truth was: Marley had come into her life, catching her off guard and turned everything upside down, in the best way possible.

Dani had never thought she´d be able to love someone again, let alone plan a future with them, but Marley was different, Marley was part of her life and they had promised each other they´d find the other, however far they would have to go.

And this was the time. NYADA was falling apart, and as much as it pained her to leave her friends behind, she knew they could take care of themselves, and if she was being honest then there wasn´t much she could contribute without her powers.

The funny thing about all of this, however, was realizing just how easy it was to get rid of that stupid collar. She couldn´t have done it if she would have stayed, but she wasn´t staying. There wasn´t much she was taking, everything that belonged to Marley still packed in boxes, her own things where they belonged, on the bedside table, in the drawers and cupboards.

Fiyero was sitting on the bed, watching her with curious eyes.

“So we´re really doing this, hm?” It wasn´t really a question, he knew that there was no going back from this point on. Dani had made her decision, and everything was done. She´d been talking to people from her past, making sure she´d have a couple of new IDs and identities to choose from.

She´d never actually thought she´d go back to a life of running around, but then again settling down had never really been in the cards for her until she had met Marley. And Marley was the person she had to find.

Home, Dani had learned, wasn´t a place. It was two eyes and a heartbeat.

The knock on the door pulled her from her thoughts and she opened, letting the hooded figure slip inside the room. She´d never actually dealt with people from the black market. She´d heard about it, of course, but there had never actually been the need to get something.

Not that she was getting something now.

Nodding, the figure pulled out a device that Dani eyes for a moment, before she lifted her hair up. It only took a moment before the collar clicked, falling away and into the hands of the hooded figure. It felt…strange, to not have it. Not that she was complaining, but to her it had become part of her life, as horrible as it had been.

When she found Marley, she´d have to make sure the other Shapeshifters would get rid of this thing, too. Dani had no idea how to do that, but then again she´d never really been someone who´d gone for long term planning.

The hooded figure nodded before it slipped back out of the room, leaving Dani to herself. The collar around her neck got replaced with the ring Marley had given her, tied to a necklace.

And for a moment, Dani felt as if there was nothing she couldn´t do. She hadn´t felt like this ever since coming to this God forsaken place, but now the world was wide open, and there was no way she was going to make the same mistake again and get caught.

She knew where to go. Who to look out for.

And she was going to find Marley.

She had left all of the pictures she had drawn of their encounters with monsters and dragons to Elliott. On top of those drawings was one of the two of them she had done, sitting outside Sciron Square with Fiyero and Ziggy.

She had left drawings to the rest of their friends, too. A drawing of a picture Kurt and her had taken backstage at the New York Fashion Week. Santana and her in their Snowball dresses, Matt and her at last year’s Christmas Party, Tina and her at the beach. No notes, simply because the less they knew, the better. These drawings, however, they were proof that she had existed. That she had made an impact on people´s lives.

There had never been anything like that in her old lives. No actual prove of her existence, just faces she changed and left behind like masks dropped. But Dani Harper? She had lived, and she had made friends that she loved.

Maybe, just maybe, they had loved her too.

Sam was the only one who got an actual note along with his picture. She felt as if that was something she owed him. Dani´s never had a best friend before, but Sam had been there for her from the start, and they had just grown closer and closer.

Dear Sam,

I know you might not understand why I´m doing this, or worse: You do and you´re asking yourself why I didn´t ask you to come along. You know I couldn’t have, and I wouldn´t have, asked that of you. You´ll go on to do great things, and know that, wherever I am, I will always be immensely proud of you.

I´ll never forget what you´ve done for me. I´ll never forget crying over Endgame, or your honest attempts at trying to catch me before dropping me to the floor. ;)

I can´t begin to tell you how much I love you. I´ve never had someone to call a best friend before, but you´ll always be remembered as that, and more.

I know it´s never been easy, and it probably won´t be for a while, but I know that you can do this. You´re so much better, kinder, and more wonderful than you believe.

Always remember: You can do this.

I love you 3000,

Dani.

She had attached the note to a bag full of items she was going to leave him. She wasn´t going to need most of them anyway, and whatever was coming their way, her friends would need them more.

Turning to look at the makeshift mirror she had pieced back together, the face looking back at Dani wasn´t one anyone would recognize. Her hair was black, still, but it was short and easily hide able beneath the black hoodie she was wearing. Her jeans were just as dark as she picked up her things, nodding for Fiyero to return to the tattoo, which she had hidden beneath a glamour.

All the drawings were quickly distributed, the only place she lingered for a moment was Sam´s door. It was the dead of the night, the corridors were quiet and dark as she leaned her forehead against the door for a moment.

She´d have to go. The person taking her off campus wasn´t going to wait forever, but for a moment Dani simply closed her eyes, taking a moment to just…take it all in.

She´d left her phone on the nightstand, not wanting anyone to trace her. She´d get a new one once she was safe and sound away from this place. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out the necklace, that Sam and her shared, hanging it onto the door, too.

The final thing she pulled from her pocket was another small note, which she trusted Sam to burn as soon as he´d read it.

When you get out of this place, come find me here.

Scribbled underneath was the address of a small coffee shop in downtown New York, where Dani had worked. She had no idea if either of them would survive this ordeal, or if she´d find Marley, but if she did, and got out of all of this alive, that would be where she´d be waiting.

Pushing the note beneath the door she whispered, “I love you 3000,” Again, before pulling up the hood over her head and heading down the corridor. For once, however, she wasn´t heading into the darkness, but towards the light.

It's been a long day without you, my friend And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again We've come a long way from where we began Oh I'll tell you all about it when I see you again When I see you again

Dani immediately noticed the way everything changed as she came out the other side, away from Campus and away from NYADA. The person who had taken her had stayed behind, happy with their payment.