A/N: Hi everyone! This is my first ever fanfic for Danny Phantom (and anything ever for that matter) and I am very excited to share it with you. I'm very new to ffn so forgive me if I make any mistakes, any help is greatly appreciated! A little note about this story, it is inspired by Luciano Berio's Laborintus II so if you wanna give it a listen by all means go for it! That's all I have to say for now, enjoy!

LABORINTUS: A combination of the Latin Labor and Intus: "Internal Trial" or "Internal Labour". It also evokes the words labyrinth and laboratory.

CHAPTER 1

Danny…

Danny, are you there?

Danny! Da-…

Darkness met icy blue eyes as a groan escaped dry lips. The air was thick and left a sour taste as it travelled through the young boy's mouth. Fingers twitching, he tried to brush the grime away from his face. His arm stopped halfway, jolted by a sudden pain erupting from his shoulder. He screamed. Silence. Throat raw and stinging from the sudden abuse, he let his arm fall limply to his side as he desperately gasped for more air. Why did it taste sour? Can you even taste air? How did he get hurt? How long has he been here? His breath hitches as his thoughts are interrupted by a pleasant surprise of a major headache. Darkness was met with more darkness as the child shut his eyes wishing nothing more than to wake up from this nightmare.

Can you hear me?

He tried to say, "Yes." He tried to shout, "Yes please help!" He tried screaming once more, "PLEASE SOMEBODY HELP!" Only silence escaped his lips.

Danny!

He counted his laborious breaths.

One.

Two.

Please say something…

Th-

Hmm, what a pitiful sight.

...

Th-three.

Four.

He licked his lips and gulped tasting iron.

"Who's there?" he managed to croak out. His voice sounded broken. What happened?

DANNY!

The sound jarred his entire body to an upright position. Covering his ears, he ignored all the cuts and bruises that seemed to coat every single inch of his body as he strived to save what was left of his eardrums. Eyes shut tight, Danny grimaced as the last echoes of his name vanished. The silence was filled with his wheezing breaths and with it came his only companion, pain. Oh God the pain. It was everywhere. The questions bubbled up in his mind once more but he pushed them all away for fear of another addition to his already suffering state. The boy brought his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them trying to hold back unwanted tears.

He stayed in that position for a moment longer before finally coming to a conclusion that he should probably figure out what the heck was going on. Slowly lifting his head up from his knees he opened his eyes once more and was met with the same bleak atmosphere. The blue shimmer in his pupils was gone, replaced by a blue so dull it made grey shine like the sun. Get up! He thought quite harshly causing a small spasm of misery above his eyebrows. Slowly, he managed to support himself on the soles of his feet slightly favouring his left side. Great, he thought, At least I don't feel any broken bones. Fighting off vertigo and the constant reminder of his strained body, he scanned his surroundings.

Blink.

Darkness turned into shadows.

Blink.

Shadows turned into shapes.

Blink.

Shapes turned into…WHOOSH!

The boy instinctively took on a defensive stance despite his protesting limbs when he felt a startlingly cold breeze from the thing or whatever it was that passed right in front…behind…above him? He looked around once more, his eyes adjusting to the absence of light. The shapes turned into, what seemed like, trees and bushes. He was in a forest. Further inspection led to a circular patch of grass with tall leafless trees encompassing the circumference of which he was the center. A forest. Outdoors. That means he can look to the stars. The stars! It must be so easy to find them with the lack of light. He can easily find his way home. Home. He mustn't have been gone long. He'll be back in Amity Park in no time. A spark of hope lit up in his heart as he craned his neck back to look up into the…even blacker sky. A desolate sigh escaped him as he let his eyelids droop halfway in defeat.

After a short moment of wallowing in his self-pity, he almost slapped himself across the forehead (for which he was thankful for soon after) as he remembered, Duh, ghost powers. He chuckled at his stupidity and let the familiar rings of white light wash over his body. Halfway through the transformation, Danny's instincts bellowed a resounding STOP! Confused and bewildered about that sudden thought, the boy was left with no time to contemplate the warning as his entire body temperature dropped drastically. The white rings quickly snapped back blocking his shift to his alter ego. His body shook with the effort and sudden cold that was far from his less-than-average body temperature due to his ghost half.

Dropping to his knees, the boy wrapped his arms tightly around his shivering torso in an attempt to ward off the freezing cold. His teeth chattered fiercely. He could see the familiar blue mist emerging from his lips knowing that this was no warning of a ghost's presence. Danny tried to twist his head around searching for the source of this chilling torture when he heard a sound that sent more biting chills down his spine. It cackled ferociously. It surrounded him. He knew that if he ever escaped this place, he would never forget that noise; that voice. The wretched sound was sharp like a steel blade dragged across iron; ripping through the sound barrier like an arrow through flesh – an inescapable invasion. Worst of all, it was the voice amidst the treacherous noise that hissed in a soft, grating whisper:

I will rip your heart out in front of your very eyes Danny Fenton.

And the best part?

You will still be alive to watch it beat in your pathetic little hands.