AN: this is my idea of what happened during the "some things, my boy, are better left unsaid" scene in The Ultimate Enemy.
I'm from England but I tried to write this in American-English so if there's any spelling mistakes then please let me know.
Angst in the Danny Phandom is triggers galore so warnings for;
Major Character Death,
Violence,
Blood,
Guts n Gore,
Torture,
Murder.
I think that's it but tell me via reviews if I missed anything and I'd love to hear your thoughts as well!
Quick and painless; that's exactly how Vlad said it would be. He knows that after eight months of being half ghost and fighting Amity Park's daily invaders, that Danny Fenton has a high tolerance for pain. It seems he was right. The young halfa feels the metal claws pass through him but they don't pierce any skin, it's the same feeling as moving through a wall - a slight shiver, as though someone is walking over your grave - and that's it.
In a daze, he opens his human eyes and catches sight of - himself, his ghost half. Phantom's Hazmat suit is torn at the front from where the gauntlets caught him, ectoplasm slowly oozing out, but that'd heal fast. The ghost clearly wasn't bothered by it either, there was a glint in his eyes unlike one the ghost has ever had before now as he carefully picks up the technology discarded at his feet, well, tail actually. Lips breaking into a smile, Danny Phantom puts the gloves on.
For the last few weeks Danny had been weighed down by emotions from his human half; guilt, regret, and depression. It was insufferable. Phantom was the lucky one, he didn't have to deal with that anymore, he was finally just a ghost. Meanwhile his humanity was behind him, unnoticed and strapped to a metal table with aforementioned hopeless emotions intact.
Danny had told Vlad he'd had enough, it hasn't been long since the accident but to Danny it has felt like years. Every second without his family and friends was a second he didn't want to exist in. This was the solution Vlad had proposed, by splitting his biological halves for a third time only one of the halves would have to deal with the pain, the other could return to an afterlife back in Amity Park, protecting the city and generally being a ghostly annoyance to it's citizens.
What Vlad didn't count on were the personalities that would be assigned to the Dannys during this separation. When Phantom lay eyes upon the only other half ghost in existence, who had just ripped his soul apart, he felt vengeful and empty. Feeling a deep psychopathic hate drip through his ghostly core, he floats to the older man and tears him into his own halves. A taste of his own medicine is what the fruitloop deserves; he had always been a burden; well, not anymore, not without his powers.
Two bodies slam into walls on opposite ends of the lab. While Vlad's human half rubs his sore head, his ghost half has little time to recover before Phantom decides his new existence as a full ghost would be much more pleasant if his soul were whole.
He possessed the fruitloop's ghost half. Danny Phantom already felt angry and vengeful before; but as he fuses to Plasmius, the darkness and urge for power began to overwhelm the spirit. Their combined aura glows brightly like a supernova. Phantom began to scream. His appearance contorting, cold burning across his nerves, his skin fades to white, fire morphs from his hair, and as his eyes sink into his skull, the iris' glow a deathly red.
Vlad Masters was shaking, horrified by the being writhing in the air before him, he cowers into the shadows. Danny Fenton is fixed to the spot, literally, he's still strapped to the metal table, more awake now as the screaming comes to an abrupt stop.
"You shouldn't have possessed Plasmius." Danny speaks softly with raised eyebrows, reminding Phantom that he isn't alone.
"Oh really, and why's that?" the ghost rises from the floor and floats over to the human.
"He did you a favor, now you can go back to how things used to be without feeling so guilty all the time, you're lucky."
"I wouldn't describe anyone in this room as 'lucky'."
Fenton sighed.
"Maybe. Anyway, could you let me out of these things? I've been thinking. I don't want to just stay in Vlad's mansion for the rest of my life. I could still help people, go outside, volunteer; I could work in a charity shop or build houses for the homeless. You don't have to be the only superhero, I can do my bit. Being alone sucks and if I can still help people then I'll stop them from ever having to feel like we did."
Phantom crosses his arms but stays where he is.
"Who says I have to be a superhero. Been there, done that, got the lame hazmat suit. It's tedious and no one ever thanked us, why should I bother," he chuckles lightly, "I can do what I want and right now, I don't particularly want to let you out."
"Then what do you want?" Curiosity is in his voice as he quirks an eyebrow. The ghost in front of him shrugs,
"I'm bored, you've cooped us up in this place for weeks and I'm sick of it."
"We could go out somewhere if you wanted-"
"Oh yeah, that'd be brilliant, that Fenton kid who killed everyone he cared about, with Amity Park's local ghost menace, both out for a stroll. That's not fun - that's humiliating. Quite frankly I wouldn't want to be seen dead with you." Phantom's eyes narrow as he pokes Fenton's chest. His human half smirks slightly,
"Very funny."
The specter bares his teeth, fangs glinting in the basement lights.
"I mean it. You're a waste of space. Weak. Human. Selfish. Idiotic. The mere knowledge that I was once part of you is honestly sickening. One day a ghost will attack you again; and you, nothing without your powers, without me," his eyes began glowing a vicious red "will finally die like you should have eight months ago."
"Danny Phantom couldn't wish death on anyone. We know how it feels. Even if I couldn't defend myself, you'd save me."
"Danny Phantom is dead," the psychotic glint from earlier returns to his eyes as he moves towards the controls, "maybe it would be fun if I got to finish the job." A flick of the switch and Fenton's binds are released.
The human didn't move, his wide eyed gaze locked with the spirit. He could hear his heart beating rapidly in his ears. Realisation hits, paralyzing him.
"Kindness and hatred" he mutters.
Phantom grins, moving closer. Fenton side steps and slowly walks backwards at equal pace. His heart told him this was a joke, it clung to the fact that he was a good person, but his head was scared. He knew he couldn't defend himself from a ghost as powerful as, well, himself. There's no emotion in those eyes, no empathy. The teen shivers in the basement chill and sinks to the floor as his back hits the wall behind him. The ghost was right, he should've died.
He can't. Adrenaline courses through him as Phantom hisses, revealing a long snake pointed tongue. He knows Phantom is too powerful, he knows if he or Vlad had ever wanted to truly destroy Amity, it would be nothing but rubble and corpses by now. If this really is Danny's hatred, and Vlad's evil, there's no way in hell he's letting him leave this mansion. Fenton clenches his jaw and fists, he can't die now, he has to save himself, to protect anyone else on his other half's bad books.
Fenton leaps forward, surprising the specter and allowing him the brief opportunity to forcefully push past. He sprints towards the stairs, Vlad Masters stands in the corner, unmoving as the boy rushes past. Phantom follows, failing to notice the stunned human still in the shadows as he creeps up the stairs, smiling like a child playing a game.
The human's breathing becomes erratic as he runs through the study and begins to weave through the long corridors of the mansion. He can't hear any noise behind him and yet he wouldn't dare to glance around.
Dashing into a spare room to his right, Fenton searches for something of use. A weapon or a.. He moves swiftly to a cupboard, throwing it open and climbing inside - a hiding spot.
His heart pounds in his chest but he stays as still as possible, holding the wooden doors against his face by gripping the grooves in the wood with his short bitten nails. He's crouched, muscles tense and ready to pounce out the second Phantom gets too close.
"Where are youuu?" the echoed voice eerily chirps from down the hall. There's no footsteps, likely because the spirit is floating.
"You can run but you can't hide," the sing-song voice begins again. "I can hear you breathing… I can smell your sweat…" taunting the freak, Phantom scrapes his gloved hand across the wallpaper of the room he's just entered.
"I can taste your fear, your anxiety…" Fenton's jaw sets in anger as Phantom scratches a finger down the cupboard, gripping a handle "and isn't it just delicious."
Fenton leapt from his position as Phantom flings the door open. The spirit grabbed him before he could slip past, dragging them both to the floor.
His evil half laughs, pinning him down on the wooden floor. He leans down and tears through Fenton's shoulder with his glistening fangs. Muscle ripping, teeth scraping against his bone, white cold flashes. Blood spurts from the wound and pools on Danny's shirt. His throat is hoarse, he's not sure when he started screaming.
He pushes his legs upwards to wrap them around Phantoms waist. Locking them together, he forces his attacker backwards.
"I was joking when I called the fruitloop a vampire in the past, jeez, you could've killed me!" He rasps, face contorted in pain.
"That's the point, dumb-ass"
Fenton brings his hands level with Phantoms and swiftly forces them off. Using his right hand he grips the right side of phantoms collar quickly followed by the left. He tries to force a choke hold but the ghost simply phases backwards through his arms. He recovers quickly throwing a punch that connects to the specter's jaw, forcing his centre of gravity farther back.
The human seizes his chance to scramble to his feet, clutching his torn shoulder as he flees. Behind him, his spirit is still smiling. Sitting up, licking the blood from his chin with his long forked tongue, and then standing. He wanders from the room, following the spots of blood on the rich purple carpet.
He stops just before the corner, taking a second to soak in his surroundings.
Then he lashes out. Hand moving around the corner, it pierces Danny's abdomen.
"Do you ever wonder why mom and dad so badly wanted to tear you apart, "molecule by molecule"? Because this looks like the perfect opportunity to find out." He laughs again, that sickening echoed chuckle that made the hairs on the back of Danny's neck stand on end.
He's frozen to the spot, he realizes, pupils constricting to a pinpoint despite the shadows of the hallway. Phantom pushes ecto-energy into one of his fingers to burn further along the freaks skin. Fenton's jaw clenches as more blood gushes from the new wound.
The ghost's finger changes direction at his breast plate, the human's eyes clench shut. He heaves a few quick breaths to mentally prepare himself, before turning and sprinting down the corridor. As he does so, his clavicle catches on the finger, the ecto-energy lacerating his chest even more.
The spirit merely shakes his head, legs morphing into a tail, speeding towards him in a matter of seconds. He crashes into Fenton's back causing the human to fall forward. Reflexively, he moves his arms out to cushion his fall but collapses onto them with a sickening crack from his left wrist.
The of imbalance of strength and ability between them is painfully clear as Danny scrambles to get back on his feet, biting his lip to sidetrack him from the agony. They both know that Phantom is drawing this out and the second the spirit gets bored of him, Danny's as good as dead. He knows he can't let that happen but there's virtually nothing he can do in this -quite literally- powerless state. The only hope is to arm himself. There's no way that in all of Vlad's mansion there's not a single weapon. He just has to find them and fast. On reflection, it would probably have been a better idea to stay in the basement lab.
In fact, the ghost gauntlets will still be in the lab too. He can do this, if he can just get back to the lab, surely he could separate his and Vlad's ghost halves with them. There must be some way to fuse back together. Sure he'd still have to live with the guilt but anything is better than this situation.
"Isn't running fun?" chimes the specter behind him. He can hear feet hitting the ground in time with his. Far too close for comfort. Fenton intakes a breath sharply and continues to run towards the study with tear stained cheeks and blood stained clothes. Phantom simply chuckles, lifting his feet from the floor and speeding into the teenager.
Just as they enter the study, the human's jaw drops as he feels the familiar icy chill of intangibility around the lower section of his spine. Everything seems to move in slow-motion. The ghost perches his head on Danny's shoulder to watch his reaction as he turns his hand tangible again and tugs sharply. There's a pop and a crack but other than that both of them are silent. Phantom removes his hand and Fenton's legs buckle without the support.
From the moment Danny hits the carpet he's using his arms to claw his way forward. To somehow get away from the creature behind him. Phantom stood with his arms folded, a smug smile across his face, he raises one of his boots and pushes down onto one of Danny's ankles.
The human felt nothing as his tendons tore under the pressure. Paralyzed from the waist down, he merely pushes harder against the floor with his elbows to pull away from Phantom. At this point he doesn't care if he has to rip his own foot off to escape the spirits hold. As long as the spectral being exists in this way, Fenton has to survive. For once in goodness knows how long, the human has to find someone else to help him, so that he could fix yet another one of his stupid mistakes.
Carpet burning against his elbows, he yelps as he's pulled backwards and flipped over. The teenager's hands lashing out to turn back around, Phantom straddles him and manages to grab his wrists. Roughly, the ghost pulls Danny upright slightly before slamming him back onto the ground. With his vice grip, the specter pins Danny's right arm to the floor. Meanwhile he twists Fenton's left wrist, which is already likely broken. Half of his lower arm is purple and already swollen. The only thing Danny is able to do, is scream.
Phantom stares with what can only be described as childish glee as cracks from other bones sound with each full twist. Tendons and ligaments rip apart and blood breaches through pale skin. Harshly, he tugs on the hand, excited to see how many rotations it would take before the extremity would come off completely. The specter also tightens his grip on Danny's right hand until he can feel the droplets of the human's life force running between his glowing fingers; intense with energy from anger, excitement, and sweet relief. Dragging his claw-like digits up the arm to extend the laceration to the elbow, his face hurts from smiling. He can finally destroy the thing that held him back, that tied him to this disgusting human world, he can finally be free to do whatever he wants, whenever he wants. Green energy pools around the air from his sheer joy. A "schlick" noise bounds through the room as Danny's left hand is separated from his lower arm. Dark red continues to spurt in fast repetition from the wound, Phantom tosses the hand to the side and moves back to the large laceration along the adolescent's chest.
Everything's going hazy. He's lost so much blood and no longer has any form of ghostly healing to regain it fast enough to stay alive. A glove soaked with the thick liquid slaps him across his face to get his attention. All Danny can feel is pain, everywhere, physically and mentally. His skin is being torn apart, his lower internal organs are being tugged on and ripped. He's too busy coughing up something vile tasting to scream anymore. His head is pounding. He has to get away, he has to move.
Phantoms maniacal laughter is louder than the boys own thoughts now. Thoughts of pain and regret and wonder of what could've been. He can't breathe. Something's wrong. He can't- why can't he? Why is his head so hot when freezing cold deathly energy is invading his system. He doesn't even have the energy to lift his neck, his eyes are pulsing and stinging no matter how often he blinks. His broken ribs scrape against his lungs while the spirit shreds his diaphragm to pieces. Why can't he see anything? Phantom is yelling something joyfully but Danny can't discern the spectral sounds from each other. Upper body convulsing uncontrollably, his eyes roll to the back of his head. Is there an alternative after-life? Would he become another ghost? Would he ever see Sam and Tuck again? If- If he ever met his parents once more... how badly would they despise him? He should've told them about the accident. He should've told everyone everything from the beginning... they wouldn't have let him become so.. powerful. He should've just died.. like everyone else. Oh God... he should've... just...