Konichiwa mina-san! This is Katie Sparks here. Don't get me wrong. I'm not coming back and writing more fanfiction, at least not for this fandom. This is just a contest entry for cordria's Pit's contest. Hope I win, but if not then at least I can say I tried. Once again, sorry for cutting off all my stories, I just lost all my muses for them.
The song used is the Light Before We Land by The Delgados.
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or The Light Before We Land.
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Danny sat scrunched up in the corner of his cell farthest away from his bed. He refused to talk to figments of his imagination. He wanted to be alone. Every minute with them drove him closer to complete insanity. And if he went insane he would never get out of the Pits and back to his family. Not that he really even thought he could get back now, but fools' hope is still hope, right?
To avoid sleep he had taken to watching the ghost lights again. They were flying around his cell, like normal. But they seemed strange, they were going slower and were avoiding making sharp turns as they played their twisted little game of ghost light tag. It almost seemed as though they were trying to lull him to sleep. Well he wasn't falling for it. No way, nuh uh, not happening.
"I'm not going to fall asleep." He said out loud. But his body chose that moment to defy him as he let out a yawn.
The lights seemed to pause when he spoke but soon continued to zoom around. Danny knew watching them would put him to sleep. He suddenly got an idea, though in retrospect it was a bad idea. It seemed logical at the time though. Cut him some slack, he's half crazy and half asleep, don't say you wouldn't have done the same thing.
"I'm going to close my eyes. You can't make me fall asleep if I can't see you." He told them and his eyes fell shut.
He was out of it in under a minute.
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He was in a cave or something like one. The walls were rough and made of stone and water dripped off the ceiling.
Danny moaned. He must of fallen asleep seeing as he didn't remember escaping to some creepy cave that he defiantly didn't recognize. Suddenly he heard a voice. A girl's voice. And she was...singing?
"In cases such as these I'd like a hand
Don't wake me up without a master plan"
"Where is that coming from?" Danny thought. So seeing as he had nothing better to do and didn't know where he was anyways, he followed the voice.
"With sight and sound becoming fragile
Don't you understand?
When things that once were beautiful
Are bland"
He followed the haunting melody into a side tunnel. It grew slightly louder, but since this tunnel was smaller than the one before, the sound echoed off the walls making it harder to trace.
"And when I feel like I can feel once again
Let me stay awhile
Soak it in awhile"
This part of the song was sung more confidently, like the person singing knew the words better.
"If we can hold on we can fix what is wrong
Buy a little time
For this head of mine
Haven for us"
Danny picked another tunnel and was satisfied to find the voice had grown louder, meaning he was getting closer. The singer had gone silent for a moment making him wonder if the song was over. He was almost glad when he heard the voice rise up again. It seemed that it wasn't done yet. If he had to guess he would say whoever it was knew this part better than the other parts of the song because her voice was steadier and stronger.
"In truth there is no better place to be
Than falling out of darkness still to see
Without a premonition
Could you tell me where we stand?
I'd hate to lose this light before we land"
Danny turned down another tunnel and got the feeling that next time he turned he would find this mysterious singer.
"And when I feel like I can feel once again
Let me stay awhile
Soak it in awhile"
He turned again and saw a figure at the end of the tunnel and quickened his pace slightly.
"If we can hold on we can fix what is wrong
Buy a little time
For this head of mine
Haven for us"
He came out of the tunnel to find himself inside a large cavern. The ceiling was so high he couldn't see it and the walls were jagged and slick with water.
The person singing was a girl who looked about his age. She was leaning up against the cave wall adjacent to the tunnel, oblivious to the water or the jagged rocks. She had blue eyes that were clouded over with wisdom and pain beyond her years but beneath it lay a hidden happiness. Her hair was brown and came down to her mid-back. In her arms was a child that was the mirror image of the girl. But her eyes were closed and she seemed to be sleeping, though he doubted she could be asleep in that position. The older girl's arms were under the child's armpits and her hands were clasped at the small girl's chest. The only thing that seemed to be holding her up was her arms draped loosely over the older one's arms. It didn't look like the way you would hold a child, it looked more like how he'd seen girls hold their baby dolls.
The older girl raised an eyebrow at him as he watched her but continued to sing.
"Before we let euphoria
Convince us we are free
Remind us how we used to feel
Before when life was real"
Danny started to speak but as he opened his mouth he was fixed with a glare from the girl that clearly said 'Do not interrupt my song! Wait until I'm done.' Danny could only slide his mouth shut, feeling that crossing her would be a bad idea.
"And when I feel like I can feel once again
Let me stay awhile
Soak it in awhile
If we can hold on we can fix what is wrong
Buy a little time
For this head of mine
Haven for us"
She then leaned further back against the wall and eyed Danny with a curious look. He took this as his queue to speak.
"Who are you?" he asked for lack of better words.
"Katie." She answered simply.
Danny looked slightly annoyed that she hadn't provided more of an answer. "And who is she?" he asked pointing to the girl.
"Katie." She said.
"No mean the girl, or doll, or whatever she is." Danny explained.
"I know. Her name's Katie, too." She said smiling slightly at the face he was making.
"So your name is Katie and her name is Katie too?" Danny said, confused.
"No, not Katie Two. Both are names are Katie." She said.
"That's what I said-never mind. So you names are both Katie but you're two different people? Doesn't that get confusing?" Danny asked.
"We aren't two different people. We're the same person. She's me when I was seven. I'm fourteen." Katie, the older one, said.
"That's not possible." Danny said.
"Just like being half ghost isn't possible?" She said plainly.
"How did you-" Danny started only to be interrupted.
"You imagined me bone-head, of course I know about you're little accident." She said to him.
"I imagined you?" Danny asked, wondering why he would imagine some like this.
"Kind of, not really. I'm a prisoner in the Pits. But by doing LJ this favor, I'll get to go free. But everything you know, I know as long as I'm inside your head." Katie explained as she moved the smaller Katie around in her arms.
"Who is LJ?!!? He's that guy Walker was talking about! Do you know him? Could he get me out too?" Danny asked, more hopeful now than ever before. But hope is something that always backfires on him.
"No."
"What? Why?" Danny asked, but Katie was walking away, towards a tunnel near the back of the cavern.
"Fate is cruel and so am I, Trapped within the folds of time, But I take pity upon you, For to you fate has been too cruel." Katie sung softly as she walked and Danny followed her for some reason.
"Why can't LJ get me out if he can get you out?" Danny asked.
"Because, one, your cell is always heavily guarded because you are a threat. I may have won all of my battles but I 'm not a threat to Walker so I'm not guarded by more that one guard at a time. Two-" Katie started only to be interrupted.
"Wait, you've won all of your battles? How many times have you fought? And how did you win? You're just a human." Danny asked.
"I'll show you." Katie said and suddenly went limp. In her arms the other Katie's eyes opened and she smiled and climbed down.
"I go in and act all cute-like and they let their guard down and then I switch back to being big again and-" The little Katie went limp and the big one started talking where she left off. "-then I kill them using the blades on my arms. I cut their head off with the blade on my left arm and cut straight down from the center of their neck with my right arm." She changed back to the littler one.
"They let their guard down because I'm just a little human girl and they didn't even put the weapons on my arms. And the girl following me looks completely brain dead. They think we can't hurt them. But as soon as we finish them they take the blades away so we can't hurt the guards. What they don't know is you have to kill both of us at the same time or we won't die." She smiled up at him and grabbed the big ones hand.
"Let's go." She said and led him down the tunnel that they had been standing at the mouth of.
"What favor did this LJ person ask you to do?" Danny asked the little girl.
"He asked Neechan to make sure your ghost half and you not-future self left you alone so you could get enough sleep that you could fight tomorrow. As long as me or Neechan are talking with you they'll stay away."
"Neechan?" Danny asked.
"It's what I call her so we don't get confused. It means "big sister" in Japanese." Katie said as she skipped down the path.
"Where are we going?" Danny asked after they been walking, or skipping, for a couple of minutes.
"Nowhere, really...Hey, Danny?" she said suddenly.
"Yeah?" he responded.
"Don't lose any of your battles, okay?" she said.
"Okay. Why?" Danny asked, knowing that there was a reason behind this sudden command.
"Well, my bestiest best friend lives in Amity Park and she said Phantom had saved her a couple of times. She'd be dead if you hadn't of been there. I hope she's okay since you've been gone so long. So promise me you'll keep on winning so you can go back and keep Lizzie safe." She pleaded with him.
Danny looked at her and nodded. "Okay, I promise."
The cave and both the Katies were starting to fade.
"The guards are waking you up. Don't forget your promise Danny!" She called as she waved with the hand not gripping her older self's hand.
Danny waved back. "I won't! Bye Katie!"
"Bye Danny!"
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"Wake up Phantom!" the guard said and shocked him.
Danny resisted screaming in pain and stood up.
'I promise, I won't lose. Thanks Katie for giving me a little more than Fools' Hope to hold on to.'
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...Is it possible to write fangirlish stuff when you're not a fan anymore? Apparently, it is. I doubt I win with this, I really do. But wish me luck anyways. I'll need it. 'Cause this sucks. A lot. Really. I mean it. Anyways, review if you want, I guess. And if you're into Detective Conan check out my new Detective Conan fanfics. New fandoms are fun to mess with:)