Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom!
Claimer: I own Marina and any other OC's that pop in this story. Once again, Steal and I'll BURY you.
AN: Sorry. The chapter's kind of short…
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Plagued
(Bleed)
Chapter 7
Danny was silent as he stared at the Tucker-lookalike doll. It was almost as if he was waiting for it to move or talk. It didn't. Danny turned to look at Sam, who was staring at the floor no to far from him.
"What do you mean?" he asked her. "It had to have been a dream…"
Sam's head turned up and her violet eyes met his. "I'm sorry, but…Tucker's…" she struggled for the right words "he's...gone"
"How is he gone?" Danny said confused "Where did he go?"
"Are you serious? You don't remember anything that happened yesterday?" she said in disbelief.
"Yeah, I remember. I had to carry you to my room because you passed out after punching a mirror" Danny told her.
"That…that happened the day before yesterday, Danny" She said slowly
"No… no, I'm pretty sure it was-"
"Yesterday Marina played hide and seek with you and Tucker won the game, remember?" She asked slowly and calmly.
Danny's eyes widened and he blinked in confusion. "How did…"
"How did I know? Because I was there. You couldn't see me, but I was there." She said "You and Tucker got stuck in Marina's Playroom and she forced you to stay and play with her. Right?"
Danny stared at her for a long time with his eyebrows furrowed. His breathing suddenly started to become uneven and he swallowed loudly.
"But…but that couldn't have really happened! If it did then that doll of there-"
"Is Tucker…" Sam finished for him "He's gone, Danny"
"No." Danny started to back away from her "No, he's not gone. He's not gone! Don't say he's gone, when he isn't"
Sam took a step towards him, but Danny gave her such a vicious glare that she stopped. She slowly sat down on Danny's bed beside her and only watched and listened as he yelled at her.
"This is all your fault!" he spat at her "Your sister's a demon and you don't even care! Tucker's never coming back and all your fault, you witch!"
Sam stared at her folded hands. "We can get him back" she whispered.
Danny paused. "What?"
"We can get Tucker back." She looked up at him with serious eyes
"You…you know how to bring him back?" Danny asked slowly "There's a way to bring him back?"
"I came back, didn't I" She said
Oh yeah… she was a doll for awhile too!
"So, then how do we get him back?" Danny questioned
"We have to find Marina" she stood from the bed and began walking to the door.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Marina's the one that did this!" He yelled furiously
"Which means she should know how to bring him back. We'll have to make a deal?"
"What kind of deal/" Danny asked suspiciously
"Never mind. Just let me handle it, okay?"
Danny nodded slowly and followed her into the hallway. He watched her walk over to a nearby closet and, after throwing some things around, took out two flashlights. She handed one two him. His hand brushed against hers slightly and she pulled back like she had been electrocuted. She looked at him confused, like she he had done something strange.
"What?" he asked after her staring finally got on his nerves
She blinked and looked away. "Nothing. Sorry"
She walked ahead of him and started down the hall. He caught up to her easily. "So, what are we doing again?"
"We're looking for Marina"
"Riiight…" he said slowly "And what do we do when we find her?"
"Get her to turn Tucker back into a human" she said calmly
"There's no way it's that simple" Danny said as he stopped walking causing her to stop and look at him.
"Trust me, it won't be simple." She sighed "Come on"
They walked through the hallways of the large house. Sam, every once and awhile, would call out Marina's name. No response. They decided to check downstairs and headed for the dining room.
"Hey, listen, can I ask you a few questions?" Danny said as they walked down the large staircase.
"What? What kind of questions?" she said warily "What makes you think I have to answer them?"
"Technically, I can't force you to answer them. But…come on, shouldn't I know about the ghost I'm living with and the house I'm living in?"
Sam paused at the bottom of the stairs. She seemed to be having a small argument going on in her head. Then she slowly nodded.
"Yeah, I guess you should" she stated "Okay, what do you want to know?"
Danny thought of what he should ask her first. He had a lot of questions, but some he knew were a bit to personal and possibly a bit painful. So, he wouldn't ask those. Yet.
"Why was the house abandoned?" he asked her as she opened a walk-in pantry and pointed her flashlight inside.
She took awhile before answering. "Well, after my parents died, I went to go live with my Godfather, who lives pretty far from here. I had no other relatives that I could give the house to and I'm too young to live here on my own, so it went up for sale. I guess the rumors must have spread pretty fast, because no one wanted to buy it. Plus, it is a pretty expensive house. It cost almost 800,000."
"Huh. That's a lot less interesting than the things they say at school" Danny mumbled
"So, technically, the house isn't really abandoned. It's just… no one wanted it, except me" Sam explained "But I was 11 years old, there was no way I could take care of myself"
"Oh…Hey, umm… I don't mean to make you upset or anything, but…" Danny started "how did your parents die?"
Sam stopped what she was doing and froze completely. She didn't twitch or blink. Danny was sure that she had even stopped breathing. She, very slowly, turned her eyes in my direction. Than she slowly let out a breath and looked down at the floor.
"I'm sorry. I'll answer any question you have…Just…not that one" she said.
"Right. Sorry…" Danny apologized.
"It's fine"
They didn't speak for awhile. Than Danny suddenly thought of another question.
"I wonder how my parents are doing." He murmured to her softly "Their probably worried sick, since I only told them I'd be at Tucker's for one night"
Sam's expression immediately turned guilty and she turned to look away. Danny saw, though, and it made suspicion cloud his thoughts.
"What?" he asked her "What's wrong?"
She inhaled deeply and turned back to him. "Umm…your parents may not be as worried as you think…"
Danny blinked. "What do you mean?"
"Well…Marina's spirit can do a few things…that she couldn't do when she was alive" Sam said nervously. She started to fidget with the zipper of the black hoodie she had on.
"Like what?"
"Well, um, she…"
"She what?"
"Has powers…"
Danny stood in stunned silence. It had never occurred to him that because Marina was a ghost that she may have a few new abilities. "Powers?"
"Yeah" Sam avoided eye contact
"What kind of powers?" Danny asked nervously, his stomach began to knot up.
Sam was hesitant. She stepped into the living room and sat on a nearby couch. She scooted to the edge of the couch so Danny could sit next to her. He slowly sat down, his eyes never leaving her.
"Have you ever heard of the power Persuasion?" She asked him.
"Umm..I don't think so" he replied
"It's when you can force someone to do or think what you want them to" she explained quickly
"Marina can do that?"
"Yeah…and she also has the power of Illusion" she explained "You know where she can make you see stuff that's not there"
Danny swallowed a lump in his throat. "H-how powerful is Marina, Sam"
"Let's just say that, if she wanted to, she convince a pacifist to brutally decapitate their best friend with an axe and than create the illusion that the friend committed suicide" she said
Danny stared at her with a funny expression.
"What?" she asked "I'm a Goth! I watch a lot of horror movies!"
"Riiight" Danny smiled.
Sam smiled a little too, but turned her gaze to the coffee table in front of them. Danny's smile suddenly flipped into a frown.
"But what does that have to do with my parents?" he said, confused.
Sam winced. "Well, let's say that Marina wanted a boy to stay with her. She would want to make sure that no one would be looking for him, so she might find the family of the boy during the night. She might find that family and persuade them into thinking that their son never existed. She might also create the illusion that his presence had never been in that house. Their family wouldn't even miss him because…there was no one to miss…"
Danny stood abruptly from the couch. He was shaking with rage and his hands clenched into fists. He glared at Sam with such hatred that Sam thought, for a moment, that he might hit her.
"She. Brainwashed. Them." He said slowly.
Sam nodded slowly, her heart racing and pounding against her chest. She could have sworn Danny's eyes flashed to green, but it happened do fast that she felt she must have imagined it. She nervously licked her lips as she waited for him to start screaming at her.
"You knew" he said
"I didn't know until after she had done it!" Sam said quickly
Danny shut his eyes and clenched his teeth, grinding them together. He let the overwhelming hatred, pain, sadness, and anger wash over him again and again. They fueled his fury and he grinded his teeth harder. He opened his eyes and glanced at Sam.
She looked scared.
He was scaring her…and, really, she hadn't done anything wrong. She was stuck here just like he was, she didn't really deserve for him to take out his anger on her. After seeing her frightened amethyst eyes, the anger suddenly evaporated.
He relaxed his body and let out a deep breath. He now only looked at Sam with sadness and pain.
"Sorry" he mumbled
Sam slowly relaxed, her heart slowing back into its normal rate. "I'm really sorry" she murmured softly.
Danny didn't say respond. He only picked up his flashlight and headed towards the staircase. "C'mon, lets keep looking for Marina"
"Okay" Sam said quietly as she silently trailed after him.
When the reached the second floor, Danny looked at her. "Is there any room up here we didn't look at?"
"Yeah, but I doubt Marina would be there. She never goes into my room or our parents' room. The only other room is her room, but if she was there than we would have heard her when we passed it."
"We would have?"
"Yeah. Every time she goes in there she starts singing this song she made up. I'm not sure how it goes though" Sam explained with a shrug
Danny thought about all the rooms he had been in while he was here and realization washed over him. "Wait! There is a room we didn't check!"
Danny didn't wait for her to respond as he ran down the hallway and turned into the next one. At the end of the next hallway was the door that led to the attic. He touched the doorknob and, sure enough, it stung him with a burning cold feeling.
"Bingo" he whispered.
"Danny, wait!" Sam yelled as she caught up to him "Stop! You can't go up there!"
"How come?" Danny asked
Sam shifted from foot to foot nervously. "She wouldn't be up there anyway. She never goes up there."
"I saw her up there." He blurted
"What do you mean?" she almost yelled "You went up there!"
Danny didn't respond at first. He thought of everything that had happened yesterday. He thought of the last time he had seen Marina…
"Sam, who lives up there?" he asked suddenly
She stiffened. "W-what?" she stuttered
"Who lives in your attic?"
"No one!" she yelled at him, her eyes turning angry.
"Look, I went up there and someone knocked me unconscious" Danny said "Marina…called her mommy"
Sam's eyes widened and she shuddered. "Oh god…" she murmured, rubbing her arms.
"Sam, can you please tell me what's going on?" he pleaded
Sam shook her head quickly. "No, I can't"
"Why not?" he questioned
"You wouldn't understand!" she yelled at him. Her eyes were getting glassy and her voice was shaking slightly.
He grabbed her arms, gently, and pulled her a closer to him. "Try me" he whispered.
Sam only stared up into his eyes for awhile. He could see that she didn't exactly trust him, that much was clear, but they needed to work together and that wasn't going to work out well if she didn't tell him what was going on. Sam chewed her bottom lip nervously as she thought it over. If she told him than he may be put in more danger, but not telling him could also put him in danger. She didn't know if she was ready for someone to know all the secrets of her family yet.
Than, she spoke. " Do you remember when I told you that I didn't know how Marina died?"
Danny's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Yeah…"
"I lied"
Danny stared at her for a long time. "You mean…You do know?"
Sam nodded slowly, hoping that he'd let go of her soon. She was having a hard time keeping her eyes away from his lips and she couldn't, for the life of her, understand why. She didn't like being this close to him. It made her feel safe, which was something, she had learned, always came with a price.
"You know what happened to Marina?" he asked again
"Yes, Danny!" she abruptly shoved him away from her "I was there!"
Danny only flinched slightly when she tore herself away from him and gazed at him in anguish. He had stepped away from the attic door and was now leaning against the wall next to it.
"So, then…"
Sam leaned slightly closer so she could hear is voice, which was barely above a whisper.
"How did she die?" Danny asked her softly.
"Would you like to see?"
Both Danny and Sam whirled around to see Marina, who was standing in the middle of the hallway, not to far from Sam. She was holding another doll with her. This one had darker skin and sewed on glasses.
Tucker…
"Hey, put him down!" Danny yelled at her. His rage from earlier on was starting to come back.
Marina ignored his command and asked again. "Do you want to see?"
"What?" Danny asked in confusion.
"I can show you" Marina whispered. A smile began to spread across her face. To any one else it could have looked adorably sweet. Her eyes twinkled with delight.
Danny thought that both the smile and the glint her eyes could only be described as one thing.
Demonic.
"Marina!" Sam screamed at her "Don't!"
Marina frowned, her icy blue eyes flashing angrily. "Quiet, Sammy. You're not allowed to talk until I say you can"
Sam gasped as she tried to yell at her, but no sound came. She looked like she was struggling in place, like something invisible was keeping her from moving. Marina turned back to look at Danny with a smile.
Danny suddenly crumpled to the floor as something hard slammed into his head. His vision swam and he dizzily stared up at Marina, who was standing over him. Pain shot through him and he quickly sank into unconsciousness.
"Nighty night, Danny"
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Please Review!
Oh and in case anyone is confused, since Marina as the power of illusion, she can make people think they are in pain. No one hit Danny in the head. Marina just the illusion power.
Next chapter, you will find out how Marina died!
Oh, and the next chapter's probably going to be a bit short. Sorry!
