Author's Notes: Yeah...so, the Christmas story was a bust. Never got past the half-way mark on it. Bummer. What I get for working retail during the holiday season. But oh well! Back to my main project! Yay!
Of Ghosts and Guardians
Ch. 11 "Waking Up To A Nightmare"
Danny's head was spinning. When she woke up she found herself lying down in a patch of dirt. She hoisted herself up and examined the area around her. everything around her looked like it was crumbling and forsaken. Like the place had been abandoned for years.
She tentatively took a steep forward. The dirt patch she'd woken up in was in the middle of a broken down street road. In fact, everything was broken and decrepit.
The air around Danny was thick and heavy from smoke. It scratched harshly at her throat. Danny covered her mouth as she coughed out the smoke. She raised the collar of her shirt over her mouth. Not the best mask but it helped.
Danny slowly proceeded forward. She carefully studied her surroundings. Everything looked so desolated. It reminded her of those Armageddon and dooms-day movies. Seeing all the fallout up close greatly unnerved Danny. It sent cold, sickly shivers up her spine.
Danny continued to wander around the place. She shivered again. taking in the surroundings was takings its own toll on Danny's psyche.
Why am I even here? She asked herself. What is this place? How did I get here? What's going on?!
Danny slowly began to remember things. Things like finding Baby Tooth, fighting the Fright Knight, and fighting Pitch.
Wait a minute! It all suddenly came back to her-she had been fighting Pitch Black!
She han been fighting Pitch and he'd won, sort of. He did capture her after all, or did he? Did Danny escape? She couldn't remember after the avalanche of nightmare sand came tumbling down on top of her.
Danny took another look at her surroundings. She was too scared to approach the buildings. Looking at everything made her feel queasy.
"Look! There it is!"
Danny jumped nearly ten feet into the air-figuratively speaking. She spun around to face the source of the voice. It was a random person, some one she'd never seen before, sticking his head out of a blown-out window of a dilapidated building.
Soon enough, several other people started appearing from inside the buildings. The numbers steadily grew. Danny felt a certain amount of comfort in seeing so many people. She could feel her lips curl into a small smile as the various people stepped forward. Even seeing Dash among the crowd gave her a feeling of elation.
Danny stepped forward and approached Dash. The stupid, annoying jock who made her freshman year of high school pure hell. And she was happy to see him. Heck, she was ecstatic! She reached out her hand as she closed the distance.
"Hey, Dash! Man, I've never so glad to see you-"
"IT'S PHANTOM! GET HER!" Dash roared. Danny froze mid-step. Her blood ran cold from hearing the fierce intensity in Dash's voice. It wasn't anything like the intensity he'd put into all the football games at school. No, this intensity was full of a murderous intent. And all of it aimed at Danny.
The rest of the crowd followed Dash and roared to life. All of their eyes were sharp and harsh. Aimed squarely at Danny.
Danny was frozen from her fear. She couldn't believe that everyone was looking at her with such hatred. And did they call her "Phantom?" How did they know? More importantly, why wasn't she running for her life when everyone began to charge at her?
Dash was leading the charge. He was shouting horrible curses and vowing for her blood. Danny was terrified-petrified with fear. She could understand what was happening. Why was everyone trying to kill her? What could she have possibly done to warrant all of this?
As the mob closed rank on her, explosions erupted all around Danny. The mob was driven back by the explosions. Some were even thrown back by the force of the explosions. Danny was also one of those who been victim to the explosion's concussive force.
Danny went flying backwards. She rolled across the cracked black-top asphalt. Once Danny stopped, she tried to recollect herself.
She raised her head and watched the horror tha befell the angry mob. Those explosions had wounded them all. Several had minor cuts and bruises. But others, like Dash, had shrapnel protruding from their bodies. There were even a few who weren't moving at all.
Dash struggled to his feet. His whole body was shaking terribly. Blood poured from his wounds. His face was scarred severely. Flesh charred black in some places. Danny could smell the burnt flesh.
"Y-you," Dash spurted out blood as he talked. "This is all your fault," Dash glared at her intensely. Danny shuddered to see such an expression on his face.
None of this was making any sense. What could she have possibly done?
A deep, low chuckle filled Danny's ears. She turned around to see a certain person was standing above person was here.
Danny gasped aloud. What was SHE doing here?! It shouldn't have even been possible!
"Oh, shouldn't it be possible?" She asked of Danny. As always, she read Danny's mind. But she couldn't really do such a thing. She just always knew what Danny was thinking of. "After all, I am you."
She was right, Danny told herself. She was Danny. A part of Danny that shouldn't exist anymore but does. Locked away in a Fenton Thermos that's been stored inside of Clockwork's castle.
"Dark," Danny growled. Only she could be capable of this kind of destruction.
"There she is! Its Phantom! KILL HER!"
Danny's head whipped around. Dash was leading another mob attack. The group charged forward despite their wounds. Even Dash, with a hole in his belly and pieces of asphalt sticking out of him, ran straight for Danny and Dark.
"No-NO! STAY AWAY! DON'T COME OVER HERE!" Danny screamed at them but no one listened. The mob continued the charge.
Dark sneered at them. She raised a hand and green ghost flames erupted forward. The flames swallowed up the mob. Danny screamed aloud in shock. She covered her ears in hope that it would stop the mob's cries of pain from reaching her. But it didn't.
"No, no, no! Please! Make it stop!" Danny curled into a ball on the ground. Her eyes clamped shut and her hands over her ears.
Dark laughed at Danny. She kicked Danny in her stomach. Danny choked on the pain. She coughed horsly as she rolled over onto her back. Dark took the opportunity and jumped on Danny. Danny struggled against the older woman who continued to laugh at her.
"So pathetic. So wasteful. Just imagine what you could become. What WE could become!" Dark goaded her on. As usual, trying to sell Danny on joining the dark-side.
"AS IF!" Danny hollered at the woman. "I won't ever become you!"
"How can you be so certain, when we're the same person?" Dark's voice was smooth and coy. A languid smile crept across her face as she slowly morphed back into a human form. But it wasn't any human form-it was Danny as she was now. Dark changed into a mirror image of Danny's 14-year-old self. Everything was the same, except for her eyes. Dark's eyes were still red and burning like the darkest hell fire.
Danny suddenly felt all of her strength leave her. Something cold and foreign enveloped her body. It made her feel sick and light-headed. Her arms went numb and soon slumped down to the ground.
Again, Dark took advantage of another opportunity. Her hands wrapped around Danny's neck and her fingers pressed firmly into the young flesh.
Danny's vision turned clouded and blurry. It was getting hard for her to breathe and she no longer had the strength to fight back.
"Why don't you just 'go ghost?'" Dark taunted her. "It always worked before. Or, are you afraid that you'll never be able to back anymore?"
"St-stop," Danny barely managed to say.
Dark erupted in a maniac laughter. Danny's vision continued to darken. She no longer felt any pain throughout her body. In fact, all sensations had left her entirely. Dark's laughter flooded her ears as everything around her went black.
Just before Danny blacked out, she could've sworn that she heard Dash's voice one last time. Telling her that everything was all her fault.
"NOOOOO!"
Danny screamed at the top of her lungs as consciousness returned to her. Her body spasmned wildly upon awakening-or would have if her hands and feet weren't shackled down. Danny yelled out her frustrations as she struggled against the bonds. After several minutes of banging her bonds against the ground, Danny remembered her powers. She felt the ectoplasm in her veins surge and to her surprise the shackles suddenly buzzed to life. The shackles zapped Danny. Large amounts of electricity cracked through Danny's body.
"Crap," Danny gasped for breath when the electricity died down.
It was anti-ghost technology. Danny was locked away in a dark cage and bound by latest anti-ghost tech. Moments like these made Danny hate her life.
Danny rolled onto her back and stared blankly at the cage's ceiling. She took a few deep breaths and started to think about her situation.
She was fighting Pitch earlier. That much she remembered. Obviously she lost. And Pitch must've still been in cahoots with Vlad and the Fright Knight, otherwise he wouldn't have any technology. So, as Danny figured it, Pitch caught Danny and now she was somewhere in Vlad's manor again. Only she had no idea where she specifically was.
There were so many aspects of Vlad Masters that were a mystery to Danny. Although she'd prefer to keep it that way. Knowing some of Vlad's dealings and secrets greatly helped her. Danny knew next to nothing about the layout of any of Vlad's manors or properties.
Danny mentally summed up her situation. She lost to Pitch, got caught, is wrapped up in anti-ghost tech, and she had no idea where she was. Basically she was screwed.
Once again, Danny screamed out loud. Venting her frustrations. She yelled a flurry of curses and banged her shackles against the cage's walls.
"My, my! Aren't we just so full of rage?" A fear-filled scream involuntarily escaped from Danny's throat when Pitch's face suddenly appeared through hole in the cage. Pitch leaned close in. His hands weighed against the cage and pushed it back. Old and rusted metal hinges creaked as the cage rocked back. The movement greatly startled Danny. She kicked at her bonds again, trying to sit her self upright. Pitch took delight in her fear.
"Ohh. Scarred are we?"
Danny raised her head and glared at him. Through all of her fear she felt genuine anger for Pitch. Not that it really mattered. Danny's fear was too great. Pitch's golden eyes gleamed vibrantly as he took in her fear. It was so delicious.
"Where in the heck am I?" Danny demanded of the man. She quickly sat herself upright and pressed her back up against farthest side of the cage.
"My domain." Pitch hissed at the girl. He disappeared into the shadows and reappeared on the opposite side of the cage where Danny sat. He shook the cage and was rewarded with another involuntary scream from Danny.
Her fear did him good. It was rich and flavorful-a beautiful concoction of repressed tensions, anxiety, and several haunting near death experiences. Not to mention the fear from her nightmares. Those nightmares of hers were on a whole other level. he'd never felt so much fear from a single person. Danny turned out to be a very useful power source for Pitch.
Danny fell forward as Pitch violently shook the cage. She cursed herself for screaming again. Danny pushed her torso up and shot a glare at Pitch over her shoulders. Pitch sneered at her and shook the cage again. Danny cried out in pain as her chin crash landed against the metal floor. Pitch cackled as he glided through the air. He moved back to the other side of the cage to continue tormenting Danny.
"Imagine! What dark corners lie in your heart. The power and destruction you crave." Pitch's voice rang through the cold air. It reverberated around inside the cage. Bouncing off the walls and assaulting Danny's ears from every angle.
"Shut up! That's not true!" Danny shouted at the man.
"Everyone lives in fear of the little ghost girl, the menace to human society." Pitch continued to say.
"Stop it. Stop it!" Danny's eyes burned green with ectoplasm as her rage boiled. Her face felt hot and her visioned tunneled out-focusing squarely on Pitch's snarling face.
"All of the chaos and discord caused by one so little, so unassuming." Pitch gripped the cage as he pressed his face into the slim opening that allowed air flow. His eyes blazed with a renewed energy and his heart danced. The sound of Danny's pounding heart was music to Pitch's ears.
"I SAID SHUT UP!" Danny screamed. Ectoplasm surged throughout her whole body. She would have transformed into Phantom but the anti-ghost shackles shocked her into submission. Pitch laughed his sickening laugh at her. Danny raised her head and glared dangerously at Pitch.
The corners of Pitch's lips curled into a twisted, maniacal smile. This is what he appreciated most about Danny. Unlike so many others who'd feign their courage and proclaimed to be fearless, Danny would try to face her fears and dive straight into them. Fortunately for Pitch, Danny's fears were beyond what a normal teenager could handle. All Pitch had to do was wait. Danny would make that proverbial rope of valiant efforts and good intentions. Then Pitch would string her up with said rope.
"Little could people ever imagine the true form of their great monster. The freak child whose half-dead. Masquerading around as the living. So terrifying! So disgusting! Half the world knows and fears her and YET-yet she's the one whose most terrified! Fearing what she really is and what others would think of her." Pitch slammed an open palm against the cage's slim opening and shot nightmare sand straight into the cage. It instantly took the form of Danny's greatest fear-Dark, the person Danny was once destined to become.
Danny's voice catched in her throat. She wanted to scream but couldn't. Fear had completely paralyzed her. All signs of anger on her face melted away as her eyes widened and filled up with tears.
Dark was no longer a part of her life. That woman had been forcibly removed from the future and was locked up in Clockwork's castle. She was sealed away forever. Clockwork had personally assured Danny that things would stay that way. Danny believed in Clockwork and his words but the guilt eroded Danny's conscious. Dark was her. Every sin Dark committed fell on Danny as well. Danny made it her life's work to atone for everything that Dark did.
Pitch inhaled his next breath sharply. He could see the wheels spinning wildly inside of Danny's mind. His eyes widened with delight as Danny broke down. She let out a painful, primal howl that echoed all across the caverns. The man laughed joyously at Danny's defeat. He glided through the air and proudly clenched his fists. Her fear pumped raw power into his veins. With Danny to feed on, Pitch felt like he was invincible.
Danny was trying her damnest to block out the images from her nightmare. But nothing stopped the sight of Dash's broken and bloodied form from appearing in her mind. In fact, it seemed like the harder she tried the worse it got. Soon Dash's face was replaced with Sam's and Tucker's. Things went further down hill when Danny started seeing the faces of her family among the blood and flames.
Danny curled tightly into the ball as she let out another series of ear-shredding cries. She raised her shackled wrists high to cover her head and her knees were tucked firmly against her chest. Everything was getting worse and worse by the second. The nightmare was becoming too much for her to handle.
But Danny was awake. She was completely awake but the nightmare still consumed her. It grew like a malicious cancer. Eating away at her sanity. Pitch revelled in every second.
Little did Pitch realize that by pushing Danny to her limits he would awaken one of her hidden faculties.
Without any of Danny's conscience efforts, her cold core ran rampant. An icy aura steadily leaked through her body. Frost began to build up on the shackles. The cold seeped through the sleek metal and covered the wires. More ice spread along the floor of the cage. The ice continued to spread across the floor and even climbed the walls of the cage. Neither Danny or Pitch ever noticed until it was too late.
The nightmarish images proved to be overpowering. Danny screamed in agony. She flew into a fit and started banging her shackles against the floor. Never realizing that her cold core had eroded the circuitry of the anti-ghost shackles. The extreme cold had weakened the metal and made it brittle enough for Danny to break. After a few swings against the cage floor, the shackles shattered.
In that moment time seemed to stop. Pitch's moment of glory fell away. The sound the shackles shattering echoed loudly through the air. He quickly turned back to the cage that held Danny. Pitch watched in horror as ice crept out from the breathing holes of the cage. Within a matter of seconds the entire cage was covered in ice.
Pitch drawed closer to the cage. He peered through the breathing hole to look at Danny's. The teen's expression made him falter.
Danny's eyes became like those of a wild animal's. Having been wounded and cornered, and soon to be caught by the hunters. Her eyes desperately searched for an opening-a golden, elusive opportunity to escape. And she'd found it.
Pitch raised a wall of nightmare sand to encapsulate the frozen cage. But Danny proved to be quicker. She unleashed a powerful wave of ice and cold air. The frozen walls of the cage splintered. Pitch was knocked back from the cold shockwave and wounded by the cage's shrapnel.
The bottom of the cage fell and Danny went tumbling down with it. In all of her panic she'd forgotten how to fly. Her first reaction was to extend her hands and shoot more ice out. The ice flowed from her hands and quickly built up a platform for Danny to land on. Danny crashed down onto the platform. She heard Pitch moan loudly in pain. Fearing that she would get caught again, Danny tried to transform into Phantom but it didn't take. Instead felt an incredible burning sensation shot through her body. Danny cried out painfully. It felt just like the anti-ghost shackles' electric shocks.
But that shouldn't be happening, she told herself. The shackles were gone so why was this happening to her?
Pitch's voice suddenly roared out. Danny gasped aloud. She hadn't actually heard what he'd said. Not like it mattered anyway. The guy was more than likely pissed and Danny didn't feel like sticking around. With flying no longer an option, Danny raised her hands and summoned more ice. The ice rapidly spread from the platform and arched across the floor of a dark cavern.
Any other time, Danny would've appreciated how dark and terrifying Pitch's lair truly was. The only natural light within the place were the pools of eerie blue fire that littered the cavern's floor. The flickering blue lights danced across the stone walls. Shadows jumped at the corners of Danny's eyes, making her even more scared than before.
Danny quickly rushed to the first tunnel that she saw. She could hear Pitch yelling and cursing behind her, but didn't pay him any attention. Instead she continued to run forward. The only time she stopped was to raise a wall of ice inside the tunnel. Hoping it would hinder Pitch's efforts somehow.
The ice continued to form a ramp beneath Danny's feet. She scaled the ice and followed the tunnel. After some time going down the tunnel, its stone walls gradually became loose and damp soil. Danny quickly found herself crawling through a tight dirt hole. The walls squeezed Danny's side. She had to stop her ice from flowing otherwise she'd never fit through.
Her pace slowed down but Danny never once stopped. The fear of being caught by Pitch again was more than enough motivation to keep her pushing forward.
Danny clawed her way through the tunnel. She could smell the fresh air-she could even feel a slight breeze pass by. The air was crisp and cold and tantalizingly refreshing. Danny hungered for that fresh air. Inside the tunnel the air was heavy and dusty. Her throat tickled and she coughed harshly from all the loose soil. She had to-just had to get out of here, she told herself. It was maddening to be stuck inside this stupid little place.
Danny wondered how long this tunnel went on for. It already seemed like she'd been crawling around forever. Did she even choose the right one to go through? After all, she'd just jumped into the first one she saw. Not like it mattered too much. She could always carve her way out with her ice if she really had too. Besides, getting away from Pitch was her biggest concern.
Danny raised her hand to shield her eyes. The light had suddenly become blinding-the realization hit her. Light! The was light at the end of this tunnel. That meant she was close to the surface!
Having caught her second wind, Danny pressed forward with renewed speed. A silvery light shone brightly. Danny could've sworn that the light spoke to her-beckoned her forward.
She chose to ignore such thoughts and decided to concentrate on breaking free of the tunnel.
Once she was at the tunnel's end, Danny reached her hands out and dug her nails into the grass outlining the tunnel's opening. She pulled herself forward and breathed in deeply. The air was clean and tasted almost delicious. Danny felt like she'd deprived of air like a dehydrated person was without water.
Danny barely crawled out from the tunnel before collapsing onto the ground. She was exhausted-both mentally and physically. All she wanted to do was pass out and pretend that she was dead to the world. The only thing on her mind was sleep. Not caring that she might have nightmares again if she tried to sleep.
A voice called out to Danny. It was sweet and gentle and quite possibly the softest voice she'd ever heard before. This voice was quiet like a whisper but firm and sure. It roused Danny from her exhaustion. She looked around to find its owner but there was no one.
The voice called out to her again, but this time to look up. So, Danny did just that. She looked up and saw the moon. It was full and glowing brightly. Silver beams rained down around Danny.
Those are my moon beams. The voice told her.
"Moon beams?" Danny repeated. Was she dreaming? She couldn't really tell anymore.
The voice continued to beckon her. It asked her to move forward, away from Pitch and his nightmare realm. Danny listened to the voice and walked where the moon beams showed her to.
Danny was guided through a forest. The trees were densely packed but the moon beams bent and curved through the air. They, the moon beams, reached the forest floor and glowed brightly. Drowning out the green of the grass in their silver light. Danny was amazed by these moon beams. They were very small, about the size of her fist, but they could do so many incredible things.
One particular moon beam was feeling spunky. It jumped before Danny and did something of a jig. Danny stopped in her tracks and watched the moon beam dance. It reminded Danny of an overactive child dancing for their parents. At the end of the dance the moon beam jumped. It was asking Danny to join her.
"No, no thanks, little guy." Danny laughed as she shook her head.
The moon beam jumped even more vigorously. It really wanted a partner. But Danny declined a second time. This time the moon beam ran circles around Danny. It teased her and urged her to give chase.
Without giving it a second thought, Danny followed the moon beam. Something inside her stirred. A childish impulse had taken over her. Now Danny was running after the moon beam.
The other moon beams followed suite and before Danny even knew it, she was playing a game of "follow the leader."
The spunky moon beam was the leader, with Danny a close second, and the other moon beams right before her. Danny followed the first moon beam down an overgrown walk path. next she cautiously walked across the fall tree that bridged the gap of a wide stream. Past the stream were a series of jutting rocks. The moon beams weaved through the rocks. Danny followed the moon beams direction.
Danny continued this game with the moon beams for some time.
It was strange. Earlier, she'd been dead tired and barely had any energy in her. But now she felt like she had the ability to do anything. Danny figured that it had something to do with the moon but didn't give it too much thought. She was busy having fun chasing the moon beam.
Danny followed the spunky little moon beam up one last hill. At the top of the hill, all the other moon beams dashed right past Danny. They all gathered further down the hill to a pond.
Danny carefully made her way down the steep slope of the hill and approached the pond. The edges of the pond were frozen, where the water was most shallow. Frost tinted the nearby foliage. It looked beautiful. Like a winter painting, everything was prestige.
I need you to wait here. The voice told her.
"Why?" Danny asked.
Some friends will come by to get you. The voice answered.
"Friends? You mean Tucker and Sam?" Danny felt excited to see to think that she could see them again so soon. All the moon beams danced around her. They felt her excitement.
No, no. I mean my friends. But they're your friends too. The voice assured her.
"Really? Who are they?" Danny wondered.
One of them happens to be Baby Tooth. The voice calmly replied.
"Baby Tooth!" Danny grinned from ear to ear. So they had escaped!
I'm truly grateful to you for rescuing her like that. Not many would have done what you did. Go to all those lengths that you reached. All of that and just for her. The voice praised.
"I-it was nothing," Danny blushed. She wasn't used to so much compliments. Outside of Frostbite, there really wasn't anyone who lavished her with such kindness.
That's not true, Daniella. It was everything. Now please rest here. Your new friends will arrive shortly. The voice said.
"But, wait. Just who are you?" Danny asked of the voice.
I am the Man in the Moon. With that, the voice vanished.
Danny looked around. The moon beams were still there. Looked like they'd be waiting with Danny until everyone else showed up.
The moon beams danced around the pond. They hid behind rocks and ducked through the trees. Danny laughed at their antics. Those moon beams were exactly like children, she thought. Forever playful and energetic and unable to hold still for longer than a minute. Of course, there was that one especially spunky moon beam who goaded Danny along.
That spunky moon beam dashed across the surface of the pond. Ripples trailed behind the moon beam as it moved along. And when it picked up some speed, there were small waves flowing behind the moon beam. The moon beam danced its little dance, hoping to entice Danny into following it.
Danny, however, didn't follow. She smiled kindly at the little moon beam and shook her head. Danny had a lot of fun playing with the moon beams. She was grateful to them for making her briefly forget about Pitch and his horrors. But now she was tired. She'd gained a second and third wind all in one night and was now feeling officially spent.
Hearing that sweet and calm voice had soothed her frayed nerves. All of the stress and fear Pitch imparted onto her had melted away when she'd arrived at the pond. Danny felt safe enough to go to sleep.
She rubbed her tired eyes and yawned loudly. The moon beams gathered around Danny. They all urged her to follow a trodden path around the pond. Danny was lead to a small nook between a few trees. Inside of the nook was patches of soft grass and moss.
Danny laid down, using the moss as an impromptu pillow. The moon beams stood watch over Danny as she fell asleep. The moon beams' light covered her like ethereal blankets. They felt like light weight silk against Danny's arms. Their silver light warmed up the air inside of the nook and steadily lulled Danny into a peaceful sleep.