Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.
Note (01/06/2018): Ugh, I hate being sick. It makes it so hard to focus and I feel like Nocturne is giving me insomnia or something so I CAN'T sleep because I've been so feverish and coughing like non-stop. Anyway, sorry in advance that this chapter won't be written as planned with a face off between Vlad and Nocturne, this keep is pretty big and fairly dark so for the sake of the plot lets say he got lost or something and Nocturne decided to turn tail and run away, uh, spoilers I guess? I was planning a big fight scene but now, I just want to get this over with and reunite Owen and Vlad then decide what to do about Dani...and possibly Dan. Dun Dun DUH!
~Chapter 9~
A Hollow Victory
"Vlad! I'm here, where are you?!" Owen called, dodging Nocturne's attacks switching between lashing out with his tentacles and shooting fireballs overhead.
"Don't be a fool child! Things will be better for everyone if you remain safely hidden here, with me. Now stop resisting!" Nocturne called, warping in front of him and forcing Owen to skid to a halt.
He tripped though over some fallen debris and with a wild cry, Owen flung his arms out in front of him and braced himself for impact. But then Owen opened his eyes in surprise when he phased through the floor and landed safely on the ground the next floor down in the basement of Nocturne's keep, completely unharmed.
"What the...?" padding himself down as if to check if all his limbs were still attached, Owen scoffed. "Whoa...I haven't changed into my necromancer form so how did I just-" testing his theory Owen pushed his hand through the nearest wall and it phased right through it too. "Ok, well THAT'S new."
Nocturne wasn't far behind him and tried to catch the boy off guard from the shadows before he realized the truth about something that only humans could do here in the Ghost Zone, but before he could do much of anything a black and white blur flew past Owen and punched him into the wall to their left, knocking the non-existent wind from his lungs. "Hey goat-head, looks like you're the only idiot around here thinking we'd let you get away with this. I think instead of a sleeping pill you need to take a CHILL pill!"
Nocturne was just about to recover from the blow the young halfa landed on him when all of a sudden his lower half and entire right side was encased in ice as Danny shoot a beam at his body, his eyes glowing an icy blue. Once he knew Nocturne was down for now, Danny turned to Owen and asked seriously. "Hey, you ok?"
"For the most part, you?" Owen replied while eyeing Nocturne as he backed away further out of his reach.
Rubbing the back of his neck Danny shrugged, "Yeah, I think so. I still seriously think Vlad overdid it a bit when he busted down the door though. Because if the bump on my head is anything to judge by I think one of those pods fell and hit me on the head. I must've blacked out after that. Thanks for getting me out of there by the way, I owe you one! While I was out I had the weirdest dream too but I guess that's what happens when you take a nap in the haunted house of the Ghost of Sleep. Speaking of which-" Flying over to him and crossing his arms, Danny frowned. "-you've got a lot of nerve picking a fight with Vlad Plasmius when he was already cranky. Not the best idea dude. So since I'm the good guy here I'll give you a piece of advice, if you seriously don't want to get the worst wake up call of your afterlife then I suggest hightail it out of here while you can. Because I'm telling you right now Vlad won't be as generous. Doubt he even knows the meaning of the word to be honest sometimes. As for me, I'm willing to let this slide just this once..."
"Do not patronize me, ghost boy," Nocturne snarled, breaking his arm free and grabbing him by the neck. "You caught me by surprise before but now I know where that strange energy was coming from. It was from you! And here I was wondering why Owen's mind suddenly felt so different, so muddled and obscure as if it was being hidden from me. I had assumed he was calling upon his ancestors to shield his mind from me but no, it would seem the younger halfa has been briefly wading through the land of dreams, thwarting my plans. Perhaps I shall grant you the chance to visit it again, boy! But don't expect any pleasant dreams this time!"
With a threatening growl, Owen charged a fire attack of his own and demanded, "Let him go, I'm warning you Nocturne!"
Glancing over at Owen Nocturne only laughed. "Oh are you now? As I recall, you were fleeing from me mere moments ago. Why the sudden burst of bravery? Is this ghost boy a friend of yours? Or is he yet another sacrifice doomed to die so you'll continue to live?"
Owen flinched. "Shut up! He's not a sacrifice! Take that back! Danny is...he's my..." trailing off though, Owen faltered because he wasn't sure what to call Danny.
Were they friends...? Owen wanted to think so but at the same time he kind of forced himself into Danny's life. If it wasn't for his connection with Vlad, Danny never would have known Owen even existed. He never would have come to the rescue out of the blue, thinking that Owen was just another one of Vlad's pet projects. And now even Danny's own clone had the same idea about him being a clone as well because she assumed Vlad would never want anyone else to become his 'perfect son.'
Vlad was a man of vision; a man who desired nothing less then what he thought the world owed him because of his misfortune and his status as the only other halfa in the world. He had power. He had control over almost everything in his life now. But when he already had someones as capable as Danny around did Vlad really want to keep wasting time on someone like Owen who had a hard enough time controlling his destiny when time and time again someone came swooping in to either save him or force their ideals on him...? Would Danny want to be friends with him if he didn't want Owen to turn his worst enemy into a good guy? If he wasn't a necromancer, would either of them care one way or the other about any of this?
"D-don't listen to him!" Danny struggled to say, prying Nocturne's fingers off his windpipe as his grip on Danny's throat tightened and he gagged, struggling to breathe. "Of course we're friends Owen! Don't let this weirdo tell you otherwise! If it wasn't for you Vlad wouldn't be trying to change. And you...you want want to be part of a family again right? Well that's all Vlad says he's ever really wanted so let him prove it to himself and to you! Let him prove that you really do mean the world to him now and he doesn't want to take over our world anymore! You ARE his world! Why else would he be willing to die for you?"
"That's exactly what I'm afraid of!" Owen admitted before he could stop himself, clenching his fists tighter and letting the flames lick the skin further up his arms. "I don't want him to die protecting me like so many others have and I don't want you to die either Danny or face a fate much worse then that. Luna's soul has already been captured by Lilith because she saved us and Azrael's demon. Nocturne even said Azrael has put himself in some kind of self-induced coma because he's trying to make sure he doesn't create a new demon. Well you know what, I don't need anyone sacrificing themselves for me. For once I want to be the one who protects you! I'm done playing by everyone else's rules! Now let him GO!"
Seeing that Owen was about to transform Danny yelled, "STOP! That's exactly what Nocturne wants you to do! Don't you get it, humans are the ghosts here in the Ghost Zone so if you stay human, he can't touch you! The only reason he could before was because you were already transformed. Didn't it seem odd to you that he kept missing you with his attacks once you changed back? It's not because he didn't want to hurt you, it's because his attacks couldn't-! Wait, duh! I can just show you! Check this out!"
To prove a point to Owen once he realized he could have just done this in the first place when Nocturne snatched him, Danny changed back to his human form and then promptly slipped right through Nocturne's fingers, much to the ancient ghost's surprise. He'd forgotten that this boy was half human as well. As for Danny he coughed a few times and rubbed his sore throat, keeping an eye on Nocturne every step of the way as he made his way over to Owen.
Grabbing his arm, Danny croaked, "He can't do anything else to us now. Let's go find Vlad before the whole place goes down in smoke."
"But what about...!" Owen began and flinched when Nocturne roared in fury and swiped a clawed hand at them which did absolutely nothing.
He even tried charging an emerald flame attack of his own but it rebounded off of Owen now that he was fully-rested and had the full protection of his necromantic blood. That, and the moment Owen recovered from his surprise he instinctively made a shield to protect them both.
Feeling confident again, Owen glared at Nocturne and turned his back on the ghost, saying, "You're no better then Azrael was, you know that? He tried to force his good intentions on me too but I think we both know that in the end this is my fight and whether I want to or not I'll have to face Lilith sooner or later. She'll never stop coming after me until we end the cycle and she can't chase my soul anymore when it goes beyond her reach. Until that day comes and I find a way to claim this life entirely as my own I have to stop running from and face my problems. I can't rely on Danny and Vlad always coming to save me forever. As for you, well, I hope you're smart enough to save yourself before Vlad finds us. You got your wish, Nocturne, from now on you'll be remembered. But are you sure it's for the right reasons...? Death trusted you, but now look at you? He'd be ashamed if he saw you now."
With a snarl just as the keep gave another violent shutter, Nocturne brushed off the remaining ice from his starry skin and with his solid red eyes, he bore them into Owen's and promised, "Mark my words young princeling, you WILL come to regret not taking me up on my offer of giving you a momentary sanctuary built only of your fondest dreams. Before long word of your return will spread throughout the Ghost Zone and I will not be the last ghost who will seek after your power to further their own aims. I promise you that any nightmare I might concoct as vengeance for today's events will pale in comparison to the real one that awaits you! Farewell, Owen Ravenwood, until the next we meet."
In a swirl of sparkling black vapor, Nocturne vanished completely. Owen couldn't sense him at all anymore which meant he'd left for real this time. As for the two of them, Danny and Owen exchanged a weird look and then decided to wait there for a bit to catch their breath, hoping that Vlad still had enough sense not to bring the place crashing down while Owen was still somewhere inside.
Even with all of the lesser shadow-like duplicates he sent out to track Nocturne down, this place was a lot larger then it first appeared on the surface. It was a dream-like labyrinth with many false passages and doors that led to nowhere, or even if they did lead somewhere it was usually to an empty room designed to create its interior based entirely on the dreamer's imagination...
Any ghostly patients Nocturne had allowed to stay in his keep prior to plotting against the other world to reclaim his title as the King of Dreams had long since woken from their slumbers and fled when the walls began to shake and the castle started falling apart because of Vlad's violent onslaught.
He ignored any ghost who obviously wasn't a Sleepwalker or Nocturne until Vlad suddenly decided to corner one that was lagging behind the others and told them to spread the word to every ghost it saw that Plasmius wasn't going to tolerate anyone standing in his way or stealing from him again. The poor spirit Vlad had snatched from the end of the line looked like a disheveled preteen with small horns curled over his pointed ears and cloven feet who had woken up terribly confused and had followed the others blindly out of the keep. But even this ghost kid instinctively knew that this ghost in front of him was the alpha and nodded, signaling he was going to do exactly as he was told before making a hasty retreat to catch up with the others.
Maybe if Vlad hadn't been so angry, perhaps he would have felt bad for frightening the young ghost. Although Nocturne's plans were far from benevolent anymore, there were a few ghosts he took genuine pity upon and agreed to help ease their suffering. Like that preteen ghost for instance. As misguided as his actions were, Vlad could have been a bit more considerate of the other ghosts that had nothing to do with Nocturne's plans. Too late now though.
All Vlad could think about was finding Nocturne and testing out his theory about killing a ghost by ripping out his core, which was in fact his soul. Those thoughts were forgotten however when one of his duplicates spotted Owen and Danny then alerted him to their location in the lowest chamber of the keep, aka the basement where most of Nocturne's discarded dreams, sleep pods, and other failed inventions lay scattered about.
And it was while they were in there that Owen finally had to stop and see why his back wouldn't stop sending waves of pain through him every so often when he twisted wrong, so he lifted his shirt and asked Danny to take a look after telling him about his encounter with a ghost named Venom. Vlad made a mental note of that name since Owen had obviously neglected to mention it before and then he followed the presence of the duplicate in question to teleport straight to where it was...
He literally appeared right on top of it and sent a message for the others to return to him as well, pausing only to reabsorb them and their memories then reorient himself before slowly easing his way to ground level to approach the pair, careful to keep his anger in check so as not to spook Owen or spur Danny into attacking him out of habit. Owen sensed him long before Danny's ghost sense went off and while lowering his shirt, he glanced over his shoulder and said in a slightly anxious tone, "Vlad's here. You don't have to go ghost Danny, he won't attack you..."
"What? Where-" Danny asked when his ghost sense finally did go off and he spotted Vlad's familiar red eyes gleaming dangerously in the darkness. "Oh," was all Danny said as Vlad stepped into the dim light and stared Owen down with his eerily calm and composed posture.
Sparing Danny only a brief glance, Vlad rounded on Owen and threatened in a low voice, "You disobeyed me Owen."
"I know," Owen replied, turning around to look at him before turning to Danny. "I think we've got it from here Danny. And I'm sorry about doubting you before," gripping his shoulder, Owen smiled boyishly, "Thanks for watching my back man."
"I'm not a hero for nothing you know," Danny smirked. His face fell a bit though when he added, "Speaking of watching your back, you better let Vlad take a look at that wound. It's not looking too good. Good thing we were right about Vlad having enough common sense not to drop the whole place down on top of our heads, not for lack of trying though. Ugh, I need a serious nap myself but I'll feel safer once I do it at home and not in this creepy place. I need to check in on Dani anyway so, if you're really sure everything is ok..."
"Wait," Vlad called just as Danny transformed and was about to fly off back to Clockwork's.
"Yeah?" Danny blinked.
Heaving a deep sigh, Vlad continued, "Thank you for protecting Owen and please give Danielle my regards. Once the excitement of tonight's events dies down I'll begin researching a cure for her...ailment. I trust you'll keep me informed of any changes?"
Danny rolled his eyes in response, "And we're back to this again. Fine, I'll keep you posted but I've got my secrets too so I'm not telling you where she is. I left her with Clockwork so she'll have plenty of time to rest. As for me, this whole thing has worn me out too. So before you do your father son talk thing I'd suggest getting out of here before something else happens or Nocturne decides to come back. Anyway, I don't think Clockwork will mind passing along any news to you about Dani since he can kind of see any possible future she might have in store. Hope he doesn't mind me being a little selfish not wanting to deal with anything else tonight, or today I guess since it's probably almost sun up. Great. And I have a pop quiz today too..."
