Ooooh! The big moment is here! hehehehehe! I am so evil. The good side is you guys get and extra long chapter! I'm so happy my last chapter was received so well, I need to shake the thermos more often! Thanks for all the wonderful reviews! I hope you like this one too!
To Dee: Thanks for the review! You're prediction was so close, yet so far, but you'll find out now! I'm sorry that this is going to get a lot more angsty (I edited some out though), just remember that I labeled this hurt/COMFORT for a reason. Darn spoilers. I'm not saying when, and I'm not saying how! :D Please tell me if this is over the top, and I will try my hardest to make it better, unless other people reallly reallllly want to see him angsty.
To Helen: This story will later on have a pairing. Danny/Sam, but nothing tooooo much, maybe a bit a flying involved... No I didn't *cough cough* plan out the whole chapter in my head before writing it! That would be ridiculous! :D
Anyway enough of my ramblings!
Enjoy the third chapter! (And review please!)
Danny walked through a dark hallway. It seemed endless. Torchlight lit the bare stone walls for as far as he could see. Just when he was wondering if he would ever get out Danny stepped through a stone archway.
The world turned pitch black.
"Where am I?" he whispered to himself. Suddenly a chill fell over the room, and more than ever Danny wished he had a flashlight on him. He paused, then smacked his forehead. "Duh." He said to himself before going ghost and lighting up the room with a ball of ecto-energy.
It was a large round room. A purple bench jutted out from the walls, covered in an assortment of papers and beakers, all filled with strange bubbling liquids. At the far end of the room there was a break in the wall, and what looked like a doorway into a parallel room. But in that room stood his worst nightmare.
Dan.
Danny yelped and ran for the door behind him. But to his horror it was gone, a smooth stone wall with a purple bench in its place. In a panic he blasted the wall. His efforts only creating craters, not openings. Then he realized he had been missing the obvious. He turned intangible and attempted to fly through the wall. With a resounding CRACK! Danny bounced back. There was no way out, there was no was no escape!
Danny spun around, his fight response now kicking in. He crouched down into a defensive stance, eyes scanning the room. But Dan was in the same place, he hadn't moved. He was just sitting there, in a position that mirrored Danny's.
"Why aren't you attacking old man?" Danny asked, but to his surprise and horror Dan mimicked his every movement and sound. His deep voice sent shivers up Danny's spine.
But Dan shivered too.
Danny knew something was terribly wrong, his stomach was doing flips in anticipation and fear. But with Dan in such close proximity he had to attack. Danny sprang up and flew at top speed across the room, and once again Dan mirrored him. Danny pulled up short and shot an ecto-blast at his foe. It ricoshayed off Dan's blast and almost hit him in the face.
The last time Danny checked that wasn't possible.
"Wha-" he and Dan began. And then he saw it. Around the doorway was a wooden carved frame, and in that frame there was a thin glass panel. Danny got it; it was a mirror. He turned even paler and shut his eyes. "No, it can't be, I'm not going to be like him! Its not a mirror, this is just a bad dream and I'll wake up it a minute!" He very slowly touched his- no Dan's- no... his... hand to the glass. Flinching before opening his eyes to see the absolute truth. He had become Dan. "NOOOOOOOOO!" The yell came out like a roar in the hateful deep voice. "Its a dream, its got to be!" He shouted desperately. He pinched himself and... imagined pain, but it was foggy, not quite there. Letting out a sigh of relief he pinched himself again, it was much harder to feel. "Let me wake up, I don't want to be this monster." He whispered while looking into his blood red eyes.
"Danny, please wake up, its just a dream again!"
"You're fine son."
"It was just another nightmare sweetie."
The voices fell through fog, and slowly Danny felt himself awaken. It was like swimming through molasses. Almost impossible, but the voices were a lifeline, pulling him through. The image of Dan- no- himself in the mirror swam out of focus, and his family's faces swam into view. Danny blinked and sat up, his head still spinning. He was disoriented, but slowly became more and more awake. More alert. When he was awake enough he groaned. "Did I scream again? I'm sorry I woke you guys up."
Maddie tried to dispel his worry. "No Danny, don't be sorry, you're having nightmares of something terrible!" She took a deep breath and continued. "Please tell us what's going on, maybe we can help!" she pleaded with him.
He turned his head away from her, imaging all the things Dan had done, all the terrible things that he Wasn't Going To Do! "No mom, you can't help, sorry."
"Common son. Why can't you tell us? We're a family!" Jack chipped in his two sense, once he had seen the depth of his son's fear he too really wanted to help.
Jazz finally spoke. "Danny, I think should you should tell th- us everything. " She said this earnestly, giving him a meaningful stare.
Danny realized what she meant and his eyes widened to the size of saucers. She wanted him to tell their parents everything. His secret, that he was half ghost. About Dan, his evil alternate future. Everything! He couldn't do that, he just couldn't. His parents would think he was some half dead, half evil freak. Even if they did accept him, they probably wouldn't love him anymore. At least not much.
He glared at Jazz, outrightly stating No. If she decided to tell them she might find herself on the wrong end of some not-so-harmless pranks. Bearbert Einstein would be the first victim.
He avoided their eyes, thinking rapidly for an excuse. "I'm sorry guys, I can't tell you. It would hurt too much to talk about it and you wouldn't understand anyways." he said, using the oldest excuse in the book.
"Oh Danny, I wish you would tell us sweetie." Maddie said while smoothing back his hair.
He smiled apologetically up at her. "Sorry. I'm going to try to get some sleep now, ok?"
And with a few more sentences of encouragement his parents were gone. Off to get more sleep. But Jazz remained. No doubt wanting to have another one of her talks with him. But Danny got there first. "Jazz, don't you dare tell mom and dad."
She frowned. "I won't, but I think you should Danny. You need help, and they can give it."
"No, they can't know. I'm going to go back to sleep now Jazz, please-" Danny was cut off by his ghost sense. "Why now? There's a ghost." He explained.
She sighed, "Go, but I still want to talk to you when you come back!"
He grimmaced. Then he transformed into his ghost half, moving upwards as his feet left the ground. Jazz gasped and looked up at him in... shock and.. fear? Danny looked around, maybe the ghost was behind him. For a moment nothing was there, but then Skulker flew through the wall.
"You're pelt shall rest on my- wait, where is the ghost boy?" Skulker asked, his head swiveling around in confusion.
"Duh, right in front of you dimwit." Danny said. Then he told Jazz: "I'll be back soon, let me just take care of Skulker."
"Bu-but you, you're-"Jazz stammered in confusion . But before she could finish he pushed Skulker through the wall to battle. She starred at the wall for a moment then collapsed on the bed and put her head in her hands. "What was that? Am I going mad?" she muttered to herself.
Out in the open the battle had started.
Skulker shouted in confusion, "Who are you, where is the ghost boy?" He shot missiles which Danny easily dodged.
"Uh, aren't you supposed to be the ghost zone's greatest hunter? Don't tell me you can't recognize your own 'prey'!"
"You're the ghost boy? No matter, I will still capture and destroy you!
Danny was very confused, but he didn't show it. Any sign that he was losing concentration and Skulker would triple his efforts. Danny dodged another group of missiles before deciding that it was time to go on the offensive. He shot three ecto-blasts at Skulker. One hit, but to his surprise Skulker came out unscathed.
"Haha! Whelp, I made a new shield. It can take anything you throw at it. What do you think?" Skulker gloated.
"I think," said Danny, shoting another ecto-blast every few words. "that you should stop bugging me in the middle of the night!" With the last word he sent a huge gob of energy right at Skulker, and with a loud bang the shield went out, leaving him defenseless. "Whoa!" Danny exclaimed, extremely surprised by the huge amount of power he had expended, and it hadn't left him feeling drained at all. "Awesome!"
Skulker starred at him with wide eyes. "How did you do that whelp!"
"Like this!" Danny shouted and shot another huge blast at him.
It hit. Skulker's suit was immediately obliterated. and he squealed in a high pitched voice: "Whelp! How did you do this to me? You can not get away with this! For I am the ghost zone's greatest hunter!"
Danny pulled out the Fenton Thermos. Soon a blue beam encased the tiny ghost. As he was sucked in, Danny sighed. "And leave me al-" Danny whipped around, head swiveling back and forth, looking for the source of the voice. He had heard Dan. But Dan couldn't have escaped! If he had Clockwork would have warned him. Then it dawned on Danny. This is what had happened in his dream. Maybe he was going crazy, his nightmare couldn't be real! It couldn't be! Danny was trembling. He slowly looked down at his hands, praying to see the white gloves and a black jumpsuit as usual.
His gloves were a deep black, his arms white and muscled.
"No." Danny whispered, and flinched, for it was the deep voice. He craned his neck around, and low and behold there was a cape. The outside was white, and even though he couldn't see it from that angle he knew the inside was black.
Danny had to be sure.
He flew to the nearest skyscraper window and looked at his reflection. Blood red eyes starred back at him. He had long flaming white hair, and upon opening his mouth he discovered that he had the fangs, and even the long forked tongue. But he would never become the image in front of him, he had promised himself and his family!
"I CAN'T BE! NOOOOO! I'M DANNY! I'M NOT HIM! I'M NOT EVIL!" He yelled in the hateful voice, startling several residents in the upper-class neighborhood to wakefulness. Danny desperately tried to return to normal. But to no avail, it wasn't just a new power, it was his form.
Danny felt a lump forming in his throat, in Dan's throat. "No." whispered the deep voice "Please n-"
All of a sudden everything froze, Danny froze, fiery hair stopped mid-dance. The breeze froze with the signs of its coming permanently engraved in the soft objects of the world. Then a purple clock materialized next to Danny (although he never knew it), the hands traveling around before it opened into a portal. Out of which stepped the ghost Clockwork. He sighed upon seeing the devastated figure before him and placed a time medallion around his neck.
"-o." Danny finished. Then jumped and twisted around to face Clockwork, who had suddenly appeared in the corner of his vision. "Clockwork!" He exclaimed, but instantly winced afterwards, again forgetting what his voice sounded like.
"Yes Danny, I have come." he stated gravely.
"What-" he winced and then gulped, swallowing down his fear at hearing his own voice and continued. "What happened to me? How did it happen?"
Clockwork sighed. "I have turned your ghost half into the image of your alternate future self."
Danny starred at him, shocked. "But why? Why did you do this?"
"To save your future as it is now, to save all our futures. Your sister was right, when you mature you will look and sound very similar to Dan. "
"But I can't! I promised my family and myself!"
Clockwork shock his head. "Watch." He created a portal with his staff. It showed Danny Phantom in his younger form, but before their eyes he slowly grew. First his shoulders widened and he became taller, with some muscles beginning to show. Then the changes were more pronounced. Suddenly he had flaming hair, which grew longer and longer. A cloak appeared behind him, and his jumpsuit's colors shifted. Finally his skin turned a pale blue-green. But his eyes were the same, and when his mouth opened so were his teeth and tongue. "These changes take place over three years. Your human half goes through something similar I believe, though not as dramatic." He paused, then told him kindly. "That will be you in five years, and not all the changes are easily seen, you will become much more powerful as well."
"Can't I stop it! Or at least change it, please! I can't live as... this." he said, gesturing to himself.
"No, this will be you, nothing can stop it. You must learn to accept yourself Danny, for the sake of the future. Otherwise-" he created a portal which quickly shifted through images of older Danny destroying himself. Then powerful evil ghosts killing humans. Finally it showed a missile that in desperation the Guys in White sent into the ghost zone, destroying both worlds. "-we're all doomed."
Aren't cliffies evil? The more reviews I get the quicker I update. Please tell me what you think!
Oh ya, his voice didn't sound different at first because it was one of the last changes to take place, I'm not sure how obvious I made that...
Also I want you all to go check out the story Second Chance, by HANAJIMA UCHIHA, I'm enjoying it, and I think most of you would to. GO CHECK IT OUT!
MWUHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!