And now ends this next generation story. Farewell!
Review replies:
Codiak - More family time here too!
kirara the great - I hope you enjoyed it.
EmberMclain13 - lol! Have an update and one of those imaginary cupcakes.
Anemonea - Thanks!
Bluemew22 - Will the rage of a nightmare version of Danny do?
Forever Spinelli - Thanks!
GhostDog401 - An update! Unfortunately, it's the very last one for this story.
Luiz4200 - Sorry about Chapter 7 yesterday. That one was just a computer error. Enjoy the real alert today!
:)
Disclaimer: I'm just a fan. I don't own anything from television.
Epilogue
The frozen corpse, buried in the remnants of the tunnel, glared up at Maddie from its unmarked tomb. Very slowly, its mouth parted and its voice, rough and cracked, crept out of its throat. "Mom," it said.
Already, Maddie could feel tears falling out of her eyes and her frame stating to tremble. Then, out of the corpse, rose a specter with the look of a madman. The spook, her son Danny, spoke and caused the entire network of tunnels and caverns to vibrate and echo back his words: "You did this to me."
She fled from the scene of the collapse, but Danny's spirit chased her beyond where he should have been confined. As she ran, she passed long-forgotten faces of those that had gone down to set her boy free from inside the mine in which he had died to save the world from a villain's scheme to create an army of the Undead.
They wore a strangely blank expression, and Maddie realized with a jolt that they were zombies, made by the power of the Philosopher's Stone. They spoke to her as she passed.
"Sorry, Mrs. Fenton, but we couldn't find your son."
"It was almost as though some supernatural force was dead-set against us getting into those tunnels."
Maddie kept running from Danny, looking for a way out of the infinite tunnels but there was none. The comments of those she passed became more and more troublesome.
"We heard some strange noises, almost like a moan coming from inside the tunnels. It sounded like the tunnel was collapsing, so we got out of there."
"We found the entrance okay, but then there were these horrible shrieks. It sounded like the mines were haunted by some deranged spirit!"
Maddie literally crashed into the last team of hikers who had brought her bad news. Their eyes were rolled and they were drooling. The girl on their team started laughing insanely. "We found him Mrs. Fenton, but we didn't dare go in there. He was completely insane and too dangerous to approach. We told the ranger station, and they forbade any more trips into that place!"
While this female zombie was speaking, she was being surrounded by all the zombified search teams, and Danny had finally caught up with her.
"Danny, Danny, Danny…." all the zombies chanted, egging the ghost on to do what he was about to do.
"Mom," Danny growled. His eyes, blue in life, had transformed into a bright red color in death. She knew that this dream Danny – a ghost cracked from suffering in solitude for far too long – was going to hurt her. "You must pay for what you've done to me!"
Maddie woke up from her usual nightmare sobbing. Her husband Jack, who shared a room with her in the retirement home, reached over from his wheelchair and patted her hand, the morning paper on his lap now forgotten. "It was Danny again, wasn't it?" he asked.
Maddie nodded.
"I'd too do anything to see Danny free and happy again," he said, voice full of regret. The years without Danny had given him a more serious and thoughtful mind. "I wish we'd never left him trapped in that place."
It was then for the first time after too many long years that in their waking moments they heard their son's voice. "Mom? Dad?" it asked. It was full of not insanity, but hope and warmth. Peacefully, Danny appeared in their room. He held, reverently, the flier they'd sent to the ranger station years ago.
"Danny?" Jack asked.
Danny nodded and hugged his parents. "You really don't mind I'm a ghost after all, huh?"
Maddie sobbed into her dead son's shoulder. "Oh Danny, we never should've left you in those tunnels. You must've spent way too long alone."
"It's okay Mom," Danny said. "I'm just glad you love me now. I feel really bad about what my death did to the family. I'm sorry about the fight between you guys and Jazz."
"Daniel Fenton, do not blame yourself for that," his mother scolded him. "Your death didn't cause the fight. It was, ultimately, our stubbornness in the way we saw ghosts back then that caused the fight."
"Actually, I was hoping I could help fix the rift," Danny said. "It may be too late to bring Jazz to a family reunion, but her son has wanted to meet you for quite a while. He and his dad are coming to visit later today – after they finish sleeping off that long flight back from Alaska."
"Danny, about being a ghost," Jack said. "You can stay here if you wish, but if you ever wish to move on, Maddie and I have found a way around the power of the Philosopher's Stone. Just give us word and we'll help you. It's the least we could do for you after you stopped Masters."
Danny smiled. "I think I'd like that sometime. Thanks."
That afternoon, Josh and his dad came in the door, and found Danny and his parents waiting for him. And so, the family was reunited for the first time since the incident in the mines so many years before.
