A/N: hA! GUESS WHO'S NOT ONLY LATE FOR THE PHANNIEMAY SEGMENT BUT ALSO STAYED UP PAST MIDNIGHT TO BRING YOU GUYS A LATE STORY THAT MAY OR MAY NOT BE OVERLY DRAMATIC AND INVOLVE THE DEATHS OF SEVERAL CHARACTERS? THIS PERSON.
My eyes hurt and I just spent the last five hours writing this fic between telling myself not to procrastinate by playing Transistor and looking on Tumblr. I don't know if I regret it, but I kind of like the idea I had behind this fic. Originally there was gonna be a lot more to it, but I'm out of time and stuff so this is all for now. If you guys really like it though, I'll consider doing more parts. I really love the idea behind this.
So, let's play a game, shall we? I call it the "how many times can I kill of these characters before people start screaming at me?" game. It's a bit strange, really; I started off in fanfiction loving angst, then I began to dread and sort of avoid it, and yet here I am writing it myself. It's strange how things come in such a circle, isn't it?
And also, I admit. The second last piece was an excuse for me to write another cruel Vlad bit. I regret absolutely nothing. This fic isn't the most spectacular thing I've written, but it's not bad.
Warnings in this fic for Severe Injuries and Death.
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or any characters mentioned in this story.
Once upon a time there was a boy...
"Over there, Jack!"
"I've got it Mads!"
The whining sound of an ecto-gun preceded the blast that tore into his side, sending him careening into the ground with a scream, skidding along the ground with a terrible crack. The ghost he'd been chasing spun around with a growl, its red eyes finding the ghost hunting duo before a similar blast struck it, a second shot opening a portal and pulling it back into the ghost zone soon afterwards.
"Good shot, sweetie." Maddie pat her husband's arm with a smile before turning to look at the fallen black and white figure at the end of the street, ectoplasm splattered across the street like rain. The couple shared a look before approaching, guns at the ready as they stepped over and around the thick drops of glowing green. The ghost boy landed on his front, his hands and body cradling itself around the burnt gash in his side as he wheezed. It was an anomaly, ghost-wise, but the duo ignored it; they were full aware of just how strange Phantom was compared to other ghosts. It was why they were there right now, after all.
Knowing and seeing were two completely different things, and everything they knew couldn't prepare them for when Phantom lurched around, flipping onto his side and choking on a mix of red and green. They froze at his movement, prepared to fire but caught off guard at the pain that Phantom seemed to be in. The injuries were gristly; his entire torso was a mess of green and, strangely enough, red, one hand clamped against gashes that had been torn open in his landing; the other glowed blue and was pressed against his other side, where he had been hit just moments before.
Light flared and flickered in and out of existence around his waist, bright blue and nearly blinding. His body spasmed, and more blood and ectoplasm was spit up, adding to the mix already pooling on the street. The two could only stare, because this wasn't right. Ghosts couldn't feel pain; they didn't bleed, they didn't choke or wheeze or need to breathe. Ghosts didn't feel pain or have bone structures and you weren't supposed to see bone through slashes in their side or red blood in what was supposed to be pure ectoplasm, they weren't supposed to try and scream only to be cut off and choked by their own ghostly version of bodily fluids, yet here he was. The light brightened then coalesced, bringing forth short flashes of black hair and pain filled blue eyes underneath his glowing green and white.
It was probably a security measure. A shapeshifting change that Phantom triggered when injured to prevent further injury, an appearance he'd taken from a random passerby of Amity. That had been what they thought. It didn't stop his momentary change from bringing images of their son to mind, stop them from rushing forwards to try and stop the bleeding because he was losing too much ectoplasm and blood and this wasn't right it wasn't supposed to go like this-
It was too late.
Once upon a time there was...
The ghost laughed, mocking and loud. Danny wondered how it was no one else woke up at the sound, but then again, the place was also massive. The ghost, though Danny was starting to call him Plasmius in his head, grinned down on him.
"What's wrong, boy, aren't you going to shove me into that stupid thermos of yours?" He growled, his tone sending chills down the halfa's spine.
"N-no. I-I don't want to fight you." Danny ground out, floating back. He wasn't stupid; Danny knew that he didn't stand a chance against this ghost, and he wanted out of there right now. He watched the blue-skinned ghost carefully, prepared to bolt at any moment...
"No. You don't." Faster than Danny could have reacted the ghost lunged, pink light flaring in his hands as he struck with all his might. A punch shattered his nose, sending flecks of green into the carpet below. Crack, a kick broke a few ribs. No sound preceded or followed the burning ectoblasts, but it didn't make them hurt any less as they seared into his skin.
Tears leaked from his eyes in pain; his injuries had never been so terrible before. Each breath was a struggle and his bones sang with pain as he collapsed onto the plush carpeted ground, vision swimming. He saw the ghost standing over him, sneering down at him, hands glowing.
"You shouldn't have left Amity Park, you foolish child."
Once upon a time...
Vlad watched emotionlessly as Danny writhed inside the pod, the transformative rings whipping around his midsection yet never moving any further despite the electricity streaming through his body and the ghostly clone overshadowing him. The Maddie program turned up the dial, the screams escalating with the power, and ever so slowly the rings shuddered and solidified, inching across his torso despite his best efforts. The machine quickly took the midmorph DNA sample, the rings finally passing over his head and the electricity dying down as they vanished.
Danny slumped against the shackles and the back of the pod he was in as the clone pulled itself from him, body trembling as he tried to catch his breath. The green dot shakily floated out, Vlad ignoring it as he gazed at the data flowing across the computer screens.
"Ah, yes, the midmorph sample... Thank you so much for your cooperation, Daniel," Vlad said, flashing the boy a smile as he spoke. He turned on his heel, walking up to the prime clone's chamber. "Activate process three-four-two-alpha-three."
"Yes, my dear."
The lab hummed to life once more, the DNA sample being scanned before passing into a process to multiply the cells. Vlad watched upon a screen as a sample was tested on a small half-ghost animal, watching as the creature, instead of destabilizing once being let out of its chamber, became stronger. It worked. He smiled before turning back to Danny, still leaning against the back of the chamber he was in and struggling to breathe.
Danny glared as Vlad walked towards him, standing in front of his little prison. "What now?" He spat.
"No need to be so vitriolic, Daniel, I just wanted to thank you again for providing me with the means necessary to replicate the process that allows us to morph from human to ghost." Vlad moved to stand in front of the control panel, tapping on something. "But I'm afraid that since I've got what I needed, you are now obsolete, at least to me."
The shackles expanded to encompass his arms, pinning them to his body as the machine opened and dragged him out with a loud "hey!". Vlad walked alongside the machine as it pulled Danny towards an enclosure of sorts. It tossed him inside, Vlad sealing the entrance before Danny could rush back out. Another tap, and Danny found himself caught in a rope trap, ectoplasm tying him down.
"What the hell, Vlad! What are you doing?!"
"My apologies, but these ones are still a bit... unstable. I'd prefer you didn't tear them apart in trying to escape." Vlad continued to tap at the panel, several capsules inside opening with a hiss. "I haven't had the chance to look after them in some time, they must be starving." He smiled coldly.
"Have you ever heard of ghost hunger, my dear boy?"
Danny's eyes grew wide and he shook his head frantically. "No way, you aren't actually..." His eyes darted to the cages, fearfully looking between the malformed beasts dragging themselves out and the man standing beyond the powerful transparent doors. "No, no way, no no no you can't actually be serious about this Vlad, you can't!"
"Now now, don't give me that look, Daniel," Vlad said, starting to turn away. "I told you, you're no longer any use to me alive. But these little experiments of mine, well, they certainly still have use for you, don't they? I'm sure you'll prove to be excellent sustenance for them."
"No... NononnonononononoNONONONO YOU CAN'T ACTUALLY BE SERIOUS VLAD YOU CAN'T DO THIS! NO, DON'T DO THIS!" Danny thrashed, straining against the ectoplasm but unable to muster the strength to break free. The creatures advanced on him. "This can't be happening this can't be happening this can't be happening..." he muttered desperately, his voice raising to a shout as his panic escalated
Vlad never looked back, his eyes locked on the clone sealed away even as the screams echoed through the rest of the lab. Idly, he wondered the merits of reanimating corpses. Frankenstein's monster and whatnot. He decided to look into it later.
Once...
"C'mon, Danny, its a gateway to a whole other world! You can't tell me you aren't even a little bit interested in this." Sam said, waving the camera in her hand. "You should totally check it out."
"Well, I guess you're right. Who knows what kind of super cool things are just waiting to be found, right?" Danny grinned nervously at his friends, looking down at the suit in his hands and pulling it on.
He stood in front of the great metal maw, hand braced against the side.
"Well, here I go."
"Be careful in there, dude." Tucker called out to him as he stepped inside, wary of the loose wires across the ground. Danny ran his hand across the side, his heart beating in his chest. This seemed a lot bigger now that he was actually inside it. He wondered how far it went, how much power the thing would even take if it worked properly, how it was supposed to even turn on at all-
Click.
Electricity charged the air and Danny barely had enough time to realize what was happening before energy surged through his veins, burning his body from the inside out. He was barely aware of his screaming, his ears ringing from pain and the light flashing before his eyes. He wasn't sure how long he was stuck in there, how long he drifted knowing nothing but agony before he finally dragged himself out of the portal, crashing to the ground with a grunt.
Danny lay there, shaking and panting as the pain slowly ebbed away, leaving only exhaustion. He looked up, seeing Tucker and Sam staring at him through blurry vision. They looked afraid, eyes wide and skin pale.
"Hey, guys. Wh-what's wrong with you two?" He forced out, pulling himself to his knees. "You, you look like you've seen a ghost or something."
After a pause, Tucker spoke up. "Actually Danny, somehow I don't think that's too far from the truth."
Danny blinked. "What?"
Sam looked around before grabbing a pane of glass from a table, holding it aloft for Danny to look into. "See for yourself."
So he did. And when Danny saw himself he felt his breathing falter and his heart seemed to stop. Although at the time, it seemed fitting.
"Oh my god." He breathed, terror surging through his veins in lieu of tiredness.
"Am I dead?"
A/N: It's 12:50, my eyes ache, I have to wake up at seven thirty tomorrow morning, fix lunch, go to school, stay late for Vocal Jazz afterwards, come home at five, take a shower, and collapse in my room.
This was totally worth it as of right now.
Does exhaustion make me more sadistic and prone to writing angst? Possibly, it does seem to be a trend, doesn't it? I'm too tired to edit this right now, so feedback would be absolutely lovely. Even if it's just to scream at me for this. I'm cool with that.