Chapter 6: Nightmare

Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukkah or whatever else you celebrate this time of year. This is my present to y'all. Let's see if I can bring Raven and Danny closer in a realistic manner.

Danny POV

Multiple questions were filling my head as I followed Raven to the ops room.

What happened for me to gain control? What did Robin want? Will the Titans ever forgive me?

My thoughts were cut off when the door slid open.

"Surprise!" all of the Titans except Raven yelled.

I jumped from the unexpected noise and immediately glared at Raven.

"You knew," I accused.

"I didn't say I agreed with them," she shrugged," but yes, I knew."

"It was very last minute. No one expected you to recover so quickly, but you did and that's all that matters," Cyborg said, patting me on the shoulder.

"Uhhh, thanks," I said, uncomfortable with the situation.

"How do you feel?" Robin asked me.

"Sore, but I should be fine in a day or two," I replied.

"Good. I'd like for you to stay with us awhile longer, James. At least until we catch Phantom," he said. "I'd like to see how you do on the course too," he added.

Truthfully, I didn't want to stay. They wouldn't accept me if they knew who I really was; but in these circumstances I had to.

"Yeah, I'll stay. Thanks for the offer," I said, attempting to smile back.

"Oh, glorious!" Starfire exclaimed, rising a few feet in the air. "We have a new friend staying in the the Tower! Is that not most wonderful?" Starfire asked.

"Is she always like this?" I asked.

"More or less, but I wouldn't have it any other way," Robin grinned at Starfire, who grinned back.

Shortly thereafter, the party started. It wasn't much, but we had pizza and cake and danced to some pop songs Starfire was obsessed with. Beast Boy and Starfire were the only continuous dancers, but Cyborg would join them from time to time.

Despite how nervous and uncomfortable I was, I found myself having a good time. At least until Robin pulled me away from the party.

"Thanks for everything you did, James," he told me after leading me into a corner a little ways away from the dancing.

"It was no problem," I said, trying to end this quickly.

"Regardless, you helped us… saved me. Even though I attempted to attack you after the thermos failed."

"It really wasn't a problem, Robin. You would have done the same, I'm sure."

"Maybe. How's the thermos going?"

"I haven't had time to fix it, but I think I know why it failed."

"Good. So you've only teleported twice?" Robin asked.

"Uhh, yeah. I don't really know how it works. I just knew I had to reach you and flying wasn't fast enough. Then I was there. Same thing when I teleported away."

"What else can you do?" He asked, and I could see the calculations he was making.

"Well… I fly, heal fast, apparently teleport, and I have these," I said charging a red ectoball before dispelling it.

Robin nodded," let me know when you're better. I want to see you on our course. Good night, James. And thanks again," he said before leaving the room.

"Good night," I said before he left.

I turned towards the party again and saw Starfire and Beast Boy still dancing while Raven leaned against the bar counter in the kitchen. She gave me a look, so I walked over to where she stood.

"What'd Robin want?" She asked.

"To thank me and ask about my powers. He really wants to see me on whatever course you have."

"I figured as much, though not this soon. But you're building trust and that's good."

"To what end? Once they know who I am it won't matter. I tried to kill all of you, Robin twice," I whispered.

"I know my friends. They'll be bitter, but once they realize you weren't doing any of that intentionally they'll come around. Right now you just need to build your case."

I nodded, deferring to her judgement. They were her friends after all. Then I realized how tired I was and asked," where am I going to sleep? The medical room again?"

"No. You don't have to stay in the med bay again. You can sleep on the couch tonight."

"Thanks," I said, then walked over to it.

I sat on the end with Starfire and watched Beast Boy and Cyborg play some ninja game. A few hours after that, everyone had dismissed themselves and I finally laid down and fell asleep.

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I was in a desolate town. Everything was destroyed or to damaged to use or inhabit. Ash was still descending from the sky and clouds moved to block the sun. Several bodies littered the street on which I tread. Then, I heard my name.

"Danny! Danny!" the voice called to me. "Why'd you do it, Danny?" it continued.

"Do what?! I shouted back.

"Kill everyone! Destroy the town… kill me," it whispered.

"I didn't!" I yelled.

"You did," the voice accused, suddenly behind me as opposed to echoing everywhere.

I turned around and flinched, stepping back as a gasp escaped my lips. "Sam?" I asked.

"Why'd you do it, Danny?" she asked.

"I didn't," I whispered, trying to stop my legs from collapsing.

"You killed me, killed Tucker," she continued.

"I tried to save you… Sam I… I loved you! I loved all of you," I cried.

"Then why did you kill us?" she whispered, caressing my cheek.

"I didn't," I choked out again.

"You did, dude," Tucker said, walking out of the ash a few yards behind Sam.

I said nothing. I couldn't. My throat closed and I fell to my knees, unable to stop myself from collapsing any longer. But the accusations weren't done.

"Danny," my mom said, appearing next to Tucker along with my dad and sister.

"You could have saved us, Danny-boy," my dad said.

"But you let us die. Why, little brother?" Jazz asked me.

"We loved you, Danny, but you killed us all," Sam said.

I shook my head. This couldn't be happening. They couldn't truly be blaming me.

"Mr. Fenton, do you refuse to acknowledge the truth?" Lancer asked me, completing the sextet that I allowed to die… that I killed.

"Now you see, Mr. Fenton?" Lancer asked.

"You killed us, Danny," Sam said.

"Why, dude?" Tucker asked.

"It wasn't him," a new voice said.

I looked up to see my savior descending, but quickly became horrified when I saw who it was.

"It was me!" Dan laughed. "But you are me, so technically you did kill them."

"Why'd you do it, Danny?" Sam asked, caressing my cheek again.

I whimpered. Why wouldn't they listen?

I felt Sam's caress vanish and I raised my head to see them all tied to the sauce warmer of the Nasty Burger.

They all stared accusingly at me. Then Dan appeared next to me and said," do it, Danny."

"No… No! I'm not you!" I yelled.

"Ah, but you are," Dan laughed, making a mirror of ice in front of me before vanishing.

I looked into the mirror and saw my reflection. I was Dan… flaming white hair, blue skin, fangs… all of it was there. I was no longer me.

"Why, Danny?" Sam and Tucker asked me as I raised my arm against my will and fired an ectoblast.

The resulting explosion engulfed everything around me. Everything was orange and through the flames I could hear six voices asking why while a seventh voice chuckled.


Someone was shaking me, then I heard a voice with it. I shot up, doing a front flip and charging an ectoblast. I turned around, tears coursing down my face while I hovered in the air. I discharged the energy when I saw who awoke me. I realized it wasn't who had plagued my dreams and lowered myself to the floor.

Her wide eyes returned to normal, but worry was evident in them.

"Danny," She said.

I shook my head. I couldn't talk. I wasn't ready to talk about it. They blamed me for it. I was him…I killed them. It was all my fault.

I dropped my head into my hands and felt my shoulders shake with the grief and guilt I was feeling. I felt a hand on my shoulder, but I didn't look up.

Even though they were different, I could still see Sam's accusing eyes in her amethyst ones.

"Danny," she said again, softly.

I could still hear them accusing me. Why couldn't they understand that I loved them and tried to save them?

I felt anger course through me and I welcomed it. Any emotion was better than the hurt and guilt I felt. Only problem was I still felt them. They were just moved to the back burner while anger took the front.

"Danny!" she said again, this time alarmed.

I looked up, and saw my eyes change from blue to green in her eyes. Then the rest of my body caught up.

Two rings appeared at my waist and traveled in opposite directions. When they finished their path, I stood in front of Raven as Phantom. I turned intangible and floated through the roof, leaving behind a startled and alarmed Raven.

I turned tangible again and took off over the bay, flying to the ocean. I kept flying, hoping to get secluded and forget my emotions.

I flew until I couldn't hold them back anymore. I stopped flying, raised my head to the sky, and screamed, pouring all my emotions into a ghostly wail.

After what felt like an eternity, I stopped and panted, trying to catch my breath.

Once I caught it, I turned to go back. I felt slightly better, but then I saw Raven. Levitating hundreds of feet away from me and I knew she saw. Before I could do anything else, the emotional trauma, physical exertion, and lack of good sleep caught up to me. I fell, transforming from Phantom to Fenton as my eyes drifted close.

Raven POV

I sat up in bed, not knowing what had waken me. Then I felt it… fear, guilt, and denial were radiating around the tower. For a moment, I couldn't tell where they were coming from. In my groggy state, I didn't realize who the main suspect should be until I pinned the location to the ops room.

I waved my hand as I got out of bed, making a black portal in my floor that I walked over and seconds later appeared in the ops room.

I didn't know why I was checking on him, but I decided it was because I wouldn't be able to sleep feeling emotions this strong. Even with that excuse, I knew it was a lie.

I didn't dwell on it because I found myself standing behind the couch Danny was sleeping on. I went to wake him, but my curiosity got the better of me. Even though I shouldn't, I placed my hand on his head and saw what was troubling him.

"It wasn't him," I heard Danny's future self say," it was me. But you are me, so technically you did kill them," he laughed.

"Why'd you do it?" a female whispered. I placed her as Sam when I saw her eyes and taste in clothing.

I heard Danny whimper and faded out to wake him from his nightmare. On my way out, I saw the 'Nasty Burger' and the six from my last trip into his mind tied to something inside the destroyed wall.

I re-entered my body and tried to wake him as quickly as I could. He was making progress. he was getting better. He couldn't afford to see it again.

"Danny," I said, giving him a slight shake. "Danny," I said again and his eyes flew open.

I could see the glazed look his eyes had, as though he wasn't totally here. I was proven right when he somersaulted in the air, charging an ectoblast in the process. But it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared as I saw recognition appear in his eyes as he lowered himself to the ground.

"Danny…" I said again, placing my hand on his shoulder while he bowed his head and cried silently.

I called his name again instead of embracing him like most people would have. Physical contact wasn't my thing and just placing my hand on his shoulder made his emotions all the more powerful to me. Not to mention I failed to see how a hug would have helped him anyways.

So I softened my voice, hoping to sympathize with him. after all, I had the same style of nightmares after I unleashed Trigon and Hell on Earth. My friends would accuse me. The world did too, but their accusations hurt the worst.

I became alarmed when I felt a new emotion. One that could be dangerous when thrown into the mix of emotions he was already feeling. I tried one last time to get him to open up. Let him know he wasn't alone.

"Danny," I said. Then I had no idea what to say when he looked up at me. Ice blue eyes gleaming to green before he transformed. In a matter of seconds he was Phantom and had disappeared from the room.

A few moments passed before I decided to follow him, not knowing what he would do in this state.

I was relieved when I saw him flying over the ocean and away from the city. That helped prove he wasn't a bad as I once thought. As bad as the Titans thought.

I followed him, keeping several hundreds of feet back so I didn't disturb him. He stopped abruptly and raised his head to the heavens.

Nothing could have prepared me for what happened next. Danny screamed, but this wasn't any scream, this was…

'His wail…' I thought, covering my ears and remembering the day we first captured him and he threatened us with it.

I looked up and saw red waves leaving his mouth and slowly expanding as they were pushed further away from him. They reminded me of a sonic wave and I suddenly wondered how long he could perform this attack. And how powerful it was.

Some time later, he stopped and bent over in the classic 'need air' stance. Then he turned around and upon seeing me stopped. His eyes widened, then closed as he morphed back into his human half and plummeted to the water thousands of feet below.

I caught him with my magic and pulled him to me before making a disk for him to lay on while I flew us back to the tower.

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I had to keep up appearances so the other Titans didn't ask questions. I made my tea and sat in the corner of the ops room reading until I thought enough time had passed. Then, I declared I was going to mediate.

But even though everything went as normal, there was one question everyone asked upon entering the ops room. Where was Danny?

Unknown to the others, he was currently sleeping in front of my bed. He had yet to awaken since he lost consciousness after his wail.

When I opened my door, he was leaning against my bed, staring at the red orb that triggered his memory last time he was in my room.

I approached him cautiously, not knowing him well enough to know how he would react.

"Thanks," he said, turning to look at me.

"For what?" I asked, voice devoid of any emotion.

"Everything I guess. But mainly saving me. I probably wouldn't have woken up after all the power I used."

"So that was your wail? It's a high power attack?"

"Yes. My 'ghostly wail' if you would," he chuckled. "It's my power of last resort. It's dangerous and it almost always drains me of my power for several hours. I use it out of fear. Well, mostly anyways. Last night I found it was a good outlet."

"Your emotions were so strong they woke me… What happened for you to be so distressed?" I asked, testing to see if he would open up.

He seemed to battle with himself before sighing and dropping his head.

"They blamed me. All six of them blamed me for the accident. And Sam wouldn't stop asking why. Then Tucker started asking too—" his voice cracked.

"I understand," I told him softly.

He looked at me with both disbelief and hope in his eyes, so I continued.

"When I was responsible for the xenocide of the human race. I had dreams of the entire human population accusing me, but my friends accusations hurt the worst. The entire time my father laughed and praised me for doing my deed.

"But you reversed the effects. No one died," he said, bowing his head again.

"Yes, but it still happened. I still did it. My friends were the only humans left on Earth and they reversed the effects."

"Do they stop? The nightmares?" he asked.

"Mine did, eventually. I think it was mainly because of Robin and Beast Boy. They didn't blame me, none of my friends did. But Robin always made it a point to tell me that. Beast Boy just kept inviting me to things. I declined most of them, but knowing I was thought of and they wanted to include me helped me get over it. Bottom line, I wasn't shunned and my friends made it clear how much I meant to them."

"But I'm alone," Danny whispered. "I don't mean to make my situation sound worse than yours, but everyone died for real. I couldn't reverse it. Even Clockwork wouldn't allow me to. I can't bring them back and they blame me…"

"Danny, I don't know you that well. I never met your loved ones either. But I can tell you that you're not alone. You have Clockwork. You have me. Even the other Titans are here. And based on what you've told me about your friends and family, the way you speak about them, they would never blame you."

Danny was silent. I moved to his side and settled into my lotus position, hovering just a few few above the ground. I hoped that, somehow, it would help him.

"The other Titans are only here until my identity is revealed. And I can't say I would blame them after what I've done."

"They'll come around. I destroyed the world as we know it and they still accept me."

"They knew you before everything happened though. They don't know me."

"They know your human half. They'll know how you are without outside influence," I said, turning my head and looking at him.

He turned his head and looked at me. "What you said before… about me having you. Is that permanent?"

I was silent. What if he really did turn into his future self. Would I put him down or try to help him?

"Yes," I whispered, surprising myself with the sincerity of my answer. Then I realized two things.

The first was that he wouldn't turn into his future self so long as he wasn't alone and despised.

The second was that his evil half was no worse than mine. I was actually the worse of the two. I killed an entire race because I had no faith or determination to stop it. His loved ones died and he tried to ease the pain by removing his human half. An action that backfired, but had no evil intentions.

Danny's eyes widened at my revelation and his arms were around my waist before I could stop him. I was so startled that I fell out of the air, but I, shockingly, didn't mind. Even more shocking, I hugged him back. Gently, but it was a hug nevertheless.

'Nevermore has a lot to answer for,' I thought.

"Thanks, Raven," Danny whispered.

My cheeks reddened slightly,"You're welc—" I started, but the alarm cut me off.

We jumped apart at the sound. Then I moved to the door to learn about the emergency that the city was facing now.

I reached the door, then remembered Danny had "disappeared".

I opened a portal and quickly explained the situation to Danny.

"No one knew where you went. Step into it and come to the tower. Say you were swimming in the bay to clear your head and came to the tower once you heard the alarm," I instructed.

"What?" Danny asked, confused.

"Just do it!" I said, walking out and towards the ops room.

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Danny POV

I fell into the bay. I guess I should be upset that Raven made a portal that dropped me in the bay, but I was more relieved that she was there for me. Plus it fit the story I was supposed to tell.

As I made my way up to the tower, I couldn't help but think that Clockwork still hadn't been wrong. Raven and I shared more than we knew… Although I'm still waiting to "flourish and for my life to be better".

When I entered the ops room, everyone except Raven looked at me, stunned. Then everyone started talking at once.

I don't know where my calmness came from but once Robin quieted them down, I said what I knew they wanted to know.

"I went to the bay for a swim. It helps clear my head, and I lost track of time. Then I heard the alarm and came running up here to see what it was."

Robin looked at my still wet clothes and nodded. Apparently Raven's story checked out.

I sneaked a glance at her and she nodded in approval.

"So what's the emergency?" I prompted, startling myself with my boldness.

'When did I get this comfortable?' I thought

"It's Slade. He's planning something again. And knowing him it's something big," Robin said and everyone gasped.

"Uhhh… who's Slade? I asked.

So a small cliffhanger? I mean y'all know what arc is about to happen. But how will I go about it?
I'm hoping for one more update before spring semester starts so be on the look out guys. And please be thinking of the ones affected in my region of the U.S. with the tornadoes, at 5am and earlier on Christmas Eve no less. My area was lucky, it passed right over me.
Anyways, I hope y'all enjoyed and Happy New Year!
'Til next time.