The Eidolon's Taint
Summary: They were separated. Fighting the same enemy on two familiar but very different worlds. Each had something of value at risk; Danny, his loved ones, Sam, her sanity, both of them, the world. Loosely based on American McGee's Alice.
Rated T for: Violence
Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is owned by Butch Hartman, American McGee's Alice is owned by, well, American McGee. Any similarities to any previous type of literature are completely coincidental and unintentional, except for, of course, Alice in Wonderland.
Note: Redistribution is not allowed without notification and consent. There is absolutely no cursing or nudity involved in this story (unless you consider crop tops nudity, and if that's the case, never set foot in California, you might go blind). This was done in order to keep the rating down to T. There will be violence, but obviously, not so much as it was in American McGee's Alice. It's used where necessary, not excessively.
Set in place of Reality Trip.
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"You know, Edgar W. Howe once said that if there were no schools to take the children away from home part of the time, the insane asylums would be filled with mothers."
"Stop trying to find the silver lining, Sam."
As students poured out of the two front doors of Casper High School, Samantha Mason and Tucker Foley pulled off to the side of the stairs in an attempt to avoid being trampled. It didn't take long before the onslaught ceased, as the last of the school year's students moved on, some of them for good as they headed off toward college.
It had been a long, trying year. Filled with struggling grades, fluttering popularity, and a certain best friend's new transformation, there was rarely a day where the two teens had a chance to relax. Nevertheless, the school year was finally over; they had three months to catch up on all the missed hanging-out time that they had used catching renegade ghosts. With clear blue skies, and a promising rising heat that signaled the perfect weather for hitting the beach waves, what else could they have asked for?
"All I'm saying is that driving the 'rents crazy should be considered a real hobby," Sam grinned mischievously. In response, Tucker laughed.
"Then maybe Danny and I should do your mom a favor and drag you out of the house everyday. You know, for the greater good and all."
"I thought you'd never offer."
"Speaking of Danny," Tucker began, taking a moment to look around, "Where is he? An ectopuss isn't exactly hard to beat."
"It wasn't one ectopuss!" Came a defiant call from above. The goth and techno-geek instantly looked up, both feeling a bit of relief at the sight of their unharmed half-ghost friend. Danny Phantom lowered himself to the ground and, with one quick look around and then a flash of white light in the form of rings, changed back into his other "normal" half, a black haired, blue eyed boy by the name of Daniel Fenton.
"It was five. And some sort of llama goat thing, too." He sheepishly grinned.
"A llama-goat, Danny?" Sam mocked, unable to keep the laughter out of her voice. "Not just an animal, but an endangered one, too? For shame!"
"Hey! The only thing endangered around here is me! I'm one of a kind!" He threw his arms up into the air for an over-dramatic effect.
Tucker crosses his arms, adding in, "Good thing, too. We've already got a female clone of you. That's enough for one planet." Danny dropped his arms and smiled, gently pushing his friend.
"Come on, I'm not that bad! Okay, so I may be a hand full to take care of-" "You have no idea," interrupted Sam – "But just think, that's one Danny for each of you!" He couldn't help but grin at the thought, while Tucker and Sam shot each other glances.
"No thanks, man. We tried that once, remember? And we nearly put your sister in the nut house. Speaking of houses, if we're still heading to my house, we'd better get going. I don't think I can stomach looking at this place anymore." Without even a backward glance, the three started off, Tucker's two friends nodding in agreement.
"There's no rush," Sam stated. "I mean, we have all summer. Why don't we take the long way through the park? It's a nice afternoon anyway."
"You mean, you actually want to enjoy the outdoors?" Tucker gasped, taking on the accent of a southern belle in the middle of a heated plantation. "Well, ah do declare! Ah think that there school has finally stirred something funny in that young girl's head! Next thing ya'll know, she'll be wearing them doll dresses her mamma buys."
Danny laughed as Sam replied, glaring, "You want to see something funny?" She pulled the rim of Tucker's hat over his eyes.
"Hey! Okay, okay, you win! No more pink dresses, now does someone want to help me here? It's stuck!" With a simple pluck, Danny picked it off Tucker's head, setting it right.
"Come on, she's got a point," Danny offered. " About the park I mean, not so much about the pink dresses." He laughed again, full of mirth as he earned himself a smack in the back of his head, and took off running toward the park, a girl in black and purple chasing him, a boy in a beret attempting to catch up.
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Tucker held the door open as Danny and Sam exited his house, their laughter slowing melting away as the cooled air sobered them.
"Dude, it's been a long time since we last watched movies together," Tucker stated.
"Not to mention Crazy for my Neighbor's Cat is hilarious," added Danny. He grinned darkly. "Remind me to tell Vlad about it. Maybe it will get him to leave my mom alone for a while." Without warning, the three broke out into chuckles again.
"So," began Sam as they calmed down once more. "Are we still up for hitting the mall tomorrow?"
Tucker nodded. "Of course. Just call me with a time and I'll be there. I have to pick up a new program for my computer anyways."
"Sounds good to me. See you tomorrow, Tuck!" With a wave from Danny and a "Bye!" from Sam, Tucker closed the door behind them as the two started down the steps and onto the street. It had grown late, already ten thirty in the evening (thankfully for Danny, his parents had finally swayed on the "curfew at ten o'clock", if only for the summer). The moon was full, keeping the ground lit with moonlight. A cool breeze brushed through the two teens' hair, leaving them comforted in its ease.
As they continued down the sidewalk toward Sam's house, Danny turned to the girl, a nervous air about him. "Um, hey… I still have thirty minutes before I need to be home… You up for some night flying?" He couldn't stop the sheepish grin from spreading over his features, even though he did his best to hide it.
It took a moment for Sam to comprehend what he just offered, then nodded, a blush staining her cheeks ever so slightly. "Sure! Uh, I mean… Okay."
If it was even possible, his grin widened, and he nodded, stepping back as the two white rings appeared again, spreading apart and changing him into Phantom. He stepped forward once more and put an arm around her waist. She in turn put one around his neck, and he pushed off the ground, taking them into the skies.
It had been a full fifteen minutes, and neither of them spoke a word, both enjoying the cool silence as well as the darkness of the sky and the stillness of the city. Sam herself felt as if she was gently being led into a peaceful sleep, and try as she might to keep herself awake, the comfort emanating from Danny's presence lulled her into a state that she could not name. It was when she was almost pulled into dreamland that she felt the uncanny coldness, soon followed by Danny's voice.
"Oh no…"
Sam looked up, and saw his face, a mixture of worry and aggravation. He looked down at her.
"Ghost." And she nodded, understanding, and smiled.
"Then come on, let's get this over with. Wouldn't want you to lose your curfew privilege on the first night of summer vacation."
He smiled slightly, nodded, and looked to see where the threat was located. As much as he hated to admit it, he wished there were some sort of explosion, or the terrified screams of the city folk, something to give him a bearing on where to find the ghost. Lost in his sense of hearing, he was pulled back to his other senses by a pull on his sleeve. Turning to look at the cause, he saw Sam trying to get his attention, pointing with her other hand at the dense woods below them, it's trees' dying limbs scratching against each other, sounding like nails on a chalkboard.
Wait… Dense woods? In the middle of the city?
"Danny, that's the park…"
He began lowering himself to the Earth, and upon reaching it, gently eased Sam onto the ground. Before them were one of the many sets of gates into the park. Thick, limp vines intertwined with the metal; the walls could barely keep in the dying vegetation that had over run the park, so dense was it, the entrance was entirely sealed.
"What is this?" Danny inhaled. He stepped up to it, placing his gloved hands on the branches. Even with his hands protected, it still felt real beneath his fingertips, albeit cold. And I'm a ghost…He pulled back from it, turning to her. "It's real."
Sam gaped as she looked up, the trees scaling high into the night sky. "There's no way…. This is the park for sure, and trees can't grow and die in just a few hours."
He shook his head. "It's definitely real." Danny turned to the wall of plants and grabbed one of the smaller limbs that stuck out. Even in ghost form, it took quite a bit of strength to break it off. He tossed the piece to her, watching her as she inspected, gently prodding at it from time to time. She looked up at him, dropping the branch to the ground. "Could it be the ghost?"
He nodded. "Most likely. Come on. I'll phase us through." He outstretched his hand toward her, and she took it, intertwining her fingers with his. Together, they took off running at the wall. Sam noticed the feeling of emptiness over taking her…
WHUMP!
The two bounced back from the wall, Sam managing to keep her balance while Danny, who had been in front of her, fell backward, taking the brunt of the shock. Just as she turned to ask if he was okay, Danny groaned.
"Not again…" She helped him to his feet as he continued. "Last time this happened was when Dad shrunk Dash and I… What could it be this time?"
She shrugged. "Maybe it's the ghost's power? Try phasing through the ground." He did as she requested, his body effortlessly sliding into the cement. A few minutes later he reappeared, calmer if not still disgruntled.
"It's like a dome; I can't get in underneath." He stopped for a moment to check along the sides of the entrance for an opening. Alas, there was none. "So you're right; it must be the ghost's power." Without warning he lifted his hand toward the entrance, firing a blast of ectoplasm. They watched in horror as the hole he made covered itself almost instantly, the vines creaking against each other.
"Okay…" shuddered Sam. "That's creepy, even on my terms. Maybe we can get in from above?" Danny nodded, grabbing her around the waist and pulling them both up into the air and over the park. Expansive as it was, it took a while before Danny finally caught an opening. There was no need to state the obvious to Same as he began to descend. They watched as the canopies passed them by, then the trunks. It took nearly a minute for them to land in the darkness, the only light coming from the moon that peered through the hole in the trees above. It shone down in a circle the size of his room, though he had the feeling that this arena-like setting was bigger than what he saw, it's edges lost in the darkness.
From what he could see, the ground beneath their feet was an odd shade of purple, an unrealistic dirty color he couldn't even put a name too. It seemed to move as well, the color never staying stationary for longer than a second. Shuddering in disgust, he looked up, finally noticing that the light was not as pure as he thought it was. Instead of its glistening pearl shine, it was tinted a dull grey.
"Ugh," muttered Sam, sharing his dislike for the new décor. "This has creepy freakzoid written all over it."
"What? Not enjoying my style?"
The two teens gasped simultaneously, turning on the spot behind them, where the ghastly voice came from. The man stood proud in the light. His crimson, straight hair contrasted against his pale skin, while his eyes reminded the younger ghost of bleak obsidian ores, a perfect match to his malicious expression. His long sleeved, dark red coat let the wind brush its tattered ends along the ground. In front of his black pants and boots was some sort of cane, simple and brown, just like the many rings he had through his pointed ears. The man grinned, his fanged teeth revealing themselves, and Danny instantly recoiled, instinctively pushing Sam behind him in the process. The last time he had seen teeth like that was on himself, or rather, his darker side ten years into an alternate future.
"If this is your attempt at exterior design, you might want to hold onto your day job. It's a good thing Martha Stewart doesn't live in this town, or she might have just had a hernia."
The man cackled. "So, you do enjoy bantering, just as that moronic halfa in Wisconsin said. He also said you couldn't hold your own in battle. Would you like to prove him wrong?" With out even the breath of another word, the man kicked off the ground, charging – No, thought Danny, Flying…- toward the two, dropping his cane, which disappeared instantly. Danny had little time to pull Sam out of the way as the man flew by. He turned to her, whispering, "Hide!" right before he took off himself.
"Where!" Came Sam's defiant cry, fading off as he charged off into the darkness.
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It was all Danny could do to avoid the man's punches. He was stuck on the defensive, and the man knew it. Even in the pitch-black scenario, it was like a bright light was being shone on his opponent. He could see the calculating gaze pinpointing his weakness (weaknesses he himself didn't know he had) and using them against him. What was worse, every moment or two, the landscape itself seemed to attack him, and with him unable to phase through it, it was almost as dangerous as the man in red.
He needed to switch tactics. At this rate, the man was going to wear him down before he could even throw a blast his way. His opportunity came just as the man brought his hand down at him. Danny reached out and grabbed both of the man's hands in his, attempting to hold his ground. "Who are you? And why are you doing this!" He gritted his teeth as the man pushed back, fighting him for his better.
"Have you not heard of me? Such a famous ghost as yourself should know of Dominick Ignatius Dolon! Why, I am, after all, the only half ghost that can be dated back to the times of Pariah Dark!"
"What!" Danny pushed away, putting distance between the two, the battle ceasing for a moment as shock swept over his features. "A half ghost? But the only three that exist are Vlad, Danielle and I!"
"Hmph," snorted Dominick, repugnance evident in his eyes. "Don't flatter yourself. I would not dare share my other half as a human, even if it meant having an other half. But those are tales for another day. I'll make sure to tell your sweetheart so that she may relay the message to you in what's left of your after life!"
The energy that Danny felt he had lost in the fight instantly seemed replenished. Rage filled him like the water of a broken dam upon the valley it had once been sealed from. "Leave… her… OUT OF THIS!" And with that, he clasped his forearms together, his palms away from his body, green energy forming in an instant. The resulting blast nearly knocked him off of his feet, and sent Dominick flying further into the darkness, out of his sight. Slightly winded, Danny listened for any sound at all, and for the first time, he realized he couldn't hear Sam either. Oh no… He couldn't have… So soon? His heart practically stopped in a moment of realization. He had left her there all alone. What if…?
Danny didn't waste a moment longer. He took off, dodging trees that blocked his way, the clearing of light appearing just up ahead, not quite in sight…
And WAM! Almost as if out of nowhere, Danny was his by a blast of violet energy slamming into him from behind. He crashed and rolled into the clearing, the blinding white pain sending him out of his change, switching him back into his human form. Dazed and confused, he sat up, rubbing his head, relief the only emotion present when he finally registered Sam's voice, felt her presence near him, her hand on his shoulder.
"Danny, are you alright? What happened?" Her voice was nearly rocky with concern. He shook his head, trying to remove the ghost vultures that were flying around his head from his sight.
"Dunno…. He did something… In his blast… Knocked me out of my ghost mode…" Pulling himself together to concentrate, he watched as the white rings appeared around his waist, only to disappear. "Great… I can't change back! What are we going to do now?"
"You won't be doing anything."
Sam and Danny both turned toward the steely voice as Dominick reappeared in the light. Before either of them could move, Dominick held out his hand, which began to glow a swirling mixture of red, blue and green. A root the size of an anaconda broke loose from the ground, its bulk smashing into Sam, knocking her away from the beaten boy.
"Sam!" He called out, reaching for her, even as the root receded back into the depths of the Earth. He could say no more as Dominick reached down, grabbing him by the shirt and pulling him to his face. "You have bigger things to worry about, my child."
With little effort, he threw the boy over his shoulder. Danny skidded across the ground, finally rolling to a stop in the center of the light. With a groan, he pushed himself to his hands and knees, half-lidded eyes regarding the dangerous man that towered above him with fear. Dominick held out his hand once more, the same effect occurring yet again, except this time, no root blasted up from the ground. The aura simply kept growing in size.
"With you out of the way, there will be nothing left to hinder my plans. Thank you for being the last puzzle piece, Danny Phantom. I hope you enjoy the effects of my Pathodeci blast; after all, you're the first human I've ever used it on. Farewell." And with that, he fired.
What happened next Danny could barely register on his mind. He saw the blast heading at him in slow motion, felt helpless and angered and miserable in an instant, felt himself pushed away to the side, saw Sam's black hair glisten valiantly against the dull grey light, her face hidden, let this body roll across the ground. Shaking himself from his delirious state, he realized that even though mentally he had prepared himself for death, his body was in no worse condition. He looked up, and saw Dominick's face twisted in fury. Danny then looked around, unable to think. Sam was nowhere in sight, but somehow, he knew that she was lying just beyond the limits of that impending darkness. He turned back to Dominick, his thoughts that had finally formed stuck only on malice. Dominick's anger had melted away, a pondering look gracing his feature, and then he grinned mischievously.
"Not the intended effect I wanted, but never the less, as Machiavelli once said, the means mean nothing as long as the result is the same. Okay, he didn't say it like that, but that's beyond the point." He easily drifted to the side as Danny fired a palm blast, seething. "Now, now, best not to let your anger control you. Would you like me to beat you again? Or would you rather save your friend?" The world swirled around them, the dusty purple, the decaying trees and bushes, even the plagued moonlight itself, mixing into red, blue and greens, then evaporating into nothingness, taking Dominick with it, revealing the usual Amity Park, the park they had spent that afternoon chasing each other like fifth graders.
And there was Sam's body, lying in a crumpled mess, face down in a growing pool of her own blood.
A strangled cry escaped Danny's lips, his eyes wide as saucers, and an uncanny mist clouding his vision as he took off in a stumbling run toward her, falling to his knees by her body. Afraid to touch her, afraid to cause any more damage, he reached into his pocket for his cell phone, fumbling with the buttons, calling the first person that came to his mind.
And still, in the back of his mind, behind the anguish and the fury and the guilt, he could still hear Dominick's taunting cackle…
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There, the first chapter has been completed, proofread and all. And before anyone asks, I'M NOT SAYING WHAT KIND OF SHIPPING THIS IS. If you can't even bother to pay attention to the story, or if you're too busy reading stories based on their shipping and not their actual value, don't bother asking me the question. First of all, it's obvious. Second of a, even if I ship a certain pairing, it doesn't stop me from reading or writing other shippings in a story. I write the story for the plot, and the shippings tie in as they fit. Pft, I could write a Vlad/Maddie if I wanted too. After all, if it fits the scenario, then why not? You don't like it? Deal with it, no one is holding a gun to your head and making you read this.
Ahh, now that that is out of the way. Criticism is accepted; flames will be dealt with accordingly and harshly. Updates will be sort of far and in between, as I am currently moving to Arizona, and I prefer quality to quantity.