Here's Chapter 10, everyone!
Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom or its characters.
Warning for blood scenes, just in case.
Enjoy!
The Phantom Prince of Egypt
Chapter 10: The River of Blood
Dan led Danny to the throne room and laughed as he took off his crown, "Alright, Dan. I know you. What's this really about? Tell me, brother to brother."
Danny looked at his staff, then at the monuments where the Hebrew slaves were working restlessly as slave drivers whipped them as if they were just animals. He said to Dan as he showed him, "Dan, look. What do you see?"
Dan came over and watched the slaves work. He replied with a grin as they look at Egypt, which was far different than when Danny left many years ago and beside the statue of Pariah Dark was a statue of Dan himself only twice as big, "A greater Egypt than that of my father."
"That is not what I see." Danny said to him. "You know what I meant."
Dan placed his crown on the arm of the throne as he sat down and chuckled, "Danny, my brother, I cannot change what you see. I have to maintain the ancient traditions. I bear the weight of my father's crown, rest his soul."
Danny couldn't believe his adoptive brother was acting that way. To think they grew up together, only for the two of them to meet in very different point of views. "After all these years, do you still not understand what Pariah Dark was?" He asked him in disbelief.
Dan sat up straight and replied, "He was a great leader."
"His hands bore the blood of thousands of children!" Danny said to him.
Dan shrugged, "Hmph, slaves. Nothing more."
"They're my people!" Danny shot at him. "And I can no longer hide in the desert while they suffer!" He finished with a sigh, "At your hands."
It was at that moment that Dan realized Danny didn't come back to be with him as brothers again, but only to free the Hebrews. He said in shock and disbelief, "So, you have returned... only to free them."
Danny nodded sadly and looked at the ring Dan gave him at the banquet years ago before he ran away from Egypt. "We'll always be brothers, but I can't rule by your side and I'm no longer the Phantom Prince of Egypt." He took it off his finger and sighed as he placed it on the arm of Dan's throne, "I'm sorry."
Dan took the ring and said in betrayal and heartbroken as he held it in his hand, "Yes, I had hoped... that..."
Then after a few seconds, his look turned to anger and he got up from his throne and puts his crown back on. "I do not know this 'God.'" He said to Danny as he walked over to him. "Neither will I let your people go." He roughly shove Danny aside.
Danny tried to assure the Ghost Pharaoh, "Dan, please! You must listen-"
Dan cut him off and yelled as he pointed at him with a glare, "I WILL NOT BE THE WEAK LINK!"
Danny watched with a frown as Dan stormed back to the hall. He called to Danny as he opened the doors to the hall where the dancers were entertaining the guests again, "Now tell your people as of today, their workload has been doubled, thanks to your 'God'."
Danny gasped at how cold and heartless Dan had just best become. "Or is it thanks to you?" He glared as he shut the doors.
Later that day, Sam and Danny left the palace and wandered around the building sites where the Hebrews were working on another temple. They were all exhausted from all the hard work they were put through.
An elder slave looked over to them and glared, "It's Danny!" He grabbed some mud and angrily threw it at Danny. It hit him in the face and he fell into the mixing area, getting covered in mud.
"Danny!" Sam gasped in alarm as she ran down to help him. A familiar voice spoke up, "So, Danny, how does it feel when you get struck to the ground?" Danny and Sam looked up and saw Ghostwriter standing above them and glaring. Danny looked away in shame and said, "I didn't mean to cause you more pain. I'm just trying to do as God told me."
Ghostwriter exclaimed in disbelief, "God? Since when did God start caring about any of us? In fact, Danny, when did you start caring about slaves?" The other Hebrews gathered over and Ghostwriter continued, "Was it when you found out you were one of us?"
"Don't listen to him." Sam assured Danny, but he just sighed, "No, he's right. I did not see because I did not wish to see."
Ghostwriter sarcastically said, "Oh, you didn't see because you didn't wish to see. Oh Boy! Well, that makes everything fine, doesn't it?"
"Writer!" a feminine voice shot at him. Ghostwriter gasped when he saw his foster sister Jazz standing in front of him, staring at him with a glare. "You shame yourself."
She came down the mixing area and Danny was happy to see his sister again. "Jazz." He hadn't seen his sister since the day he found out about his true heritage, and he kept thinking about her since he left Egypt.
Danny looked down at him with a soft and gentle smile. Danny said to her sadly, "I'm so sorry." He didn't know what else to say and he put his hand over his face, ashamed of what he had put her through.
Jazz felt sorry for her brother and knelt down to him and softly said, "Danny, hear what I say. I have been a slave all my life, and God has never answered my prayers until now. God saved you from the river, 'He' saved you in all your wanderings, and even now, 'He' saved you from the wrath of Pharaoh." She gently lifted his chin up to look at her. "God will never abandon you, so please, don't you abandon us."
They both looked over and saw Ghostwriter and the Hebrews looking at Danny. His sadness turned into determination as he grabbed his staff and used it to help himself off the ground. He looked over and saw a river boat on the Nile. He knew it belong to Dan and thought he might on it.
With determination, he walked over to the shores of the river and Ghostwriter watched as Jazz followed him. "Jazz, where ya going?" She didn't answer and Sam and the other Hebrews followed her. He wanted to know where everyone was going and followed them to the shores.
Once Danny and the Hebrews reached the river shore, he looked over and saw the boat nearby. On the boat, Dan was relaxing on his throne drinking wine while being fanned by two servants, while watching Hotep Ra and Walker entertaining his son. The young prince laughed as Hotep Ra hid a ball in one of the cylinders on the table between them and moved them around.
"The ball disappears. Now, where is it? In his hand." Walker took out a small ball from under his hat and into his hand his hand. The boy laughed at their trick and he and Dan applauded.
Danny ran down to the shoreline and called to them, "Dan!" The royals looked over to see him standing there. "Let my people go!" Dan chuckled at his poor attempt. "Still gnawing away at that bone, are we?" He said to the priests, "Carry on."
Danny followed the boat, trying to plead his brother again. "You cannot keep ignoring us! Sooner or later, you will release the slaves!"
Dan said in annoyance, "Enough! I will hear no more of this Hebrew nonsense." He said to his guards, "Bring him to me." Fright knight and a couple of police ghosts brought out their sword and clubs respectively, jumped into the water, and started swimming to shore.
Sam yelled in shock, "Danny!" She tried running over to the shore, but Jazz and Ghostwriter grabbed her arms and held her back. "No, don't!" The Hebrews, including Dan's son, all watched as the guards started making their way to Danny, but Danny just stood there on the shore, not moving an inch.
Dark clouds started gathering to the land. Danny looked up and remembered what God said to him.
"Take the staff in your hand, Danny."
He held his staff in front of him and slowly got in the water as the guards got closer. He dipped the end of the staff in the water and suddenly, the water turned from clear to bloody red. The guards stopped to a halt at the water changing. Sam, Jazz, and Ghostwriter arrived at the shore when they came to a stop at seeing the water changing.
The red water reached the guards and Fright Knight dipped his hand in it to get a closer look at it. At the boat, Dan's son dipped his own hand in the water to feel it. He brought his arm back up and nervously said to Dan, "Father,..."
"It's..." Jazz gasped as she, Sam, and Ghostwriter backed away in shock.
"BLOOD!" Fright knight gasped in horror.
The guards were horrified and swam back to the boat, screaming and yelling at the top of their lungs. The Hebrews watched as the guards swam back to the boat and flailed about frantically. Dan got off his throne and the guards came back to the boat and frantically tried to get on the boat, splashing blood all over him.
Dan gasped in disgust at the blood and called to the priests, "Hotep Ra! Walker! Explain this to me!"
The priests were startled by his outburst and shocked about this sorcery. Walker said to him calmly, "Rest assured, Your Majesty!"
Hotep Ra got out a bowl and filled it with water from a jug he brought. "Uh, yes, were going to demonstrate the superior might of our gods." He turned around to make sure no one was watching him, and he brought out some red powder from his mummy tendrils. "By the power of Ra!" he said as he threw the powder into the bowl and in an instant, the water turned red like the Nile.
Dan dipped his hand worriedly into the water and watched as it dripped off his hand. He chuckled in amusement and called out to Danny, who was surrounded only by clear water instead of the blood, "Abandon this futile mission, Danny! I've indulged you long enough! This must now be finished!"
The Hebrews all watched as the boat rowed away and Danny said quietly, "No, Dan. It is only the beginning."
Ghostwriter came over to him and said, "But, Danny, d-didn't you see what happened? The priests did the same thing. Pharaoh still has the power over our lives."
Danny came over to his brother and said as he put his hand on his shoulder, "Yes, Ghostwriter, it's true. Pharaoh has the power." He said to the other Hebrews, "He can take away your food, your home, your freedom. He can take away your sons and daughters. With one word, Pharaoh can take away your very lives. But there is one thing he cannot take away from you: your faith." The Hebrews all felt a little better and Jazz smiled.
"Believe, for we will see God's wonders." Danny added as they all watched as dark clouds gathered all over Egypt.
Hope you like it!
The battle between the Pharaoh and God has already begun. Will Dan ever be persuaded? Find out later on.
Please leave reviews!