ew, i feel sorta gross after writing this.
TUE?
Chapter Twelve
Flashback From the Future
Alternate Timeline
Madison, Wisconsin, ten years in the past:
Vlad briefly fell into unconsciousness after he was flung under the lab counter and had hit his head against the tile floor. He was brought to when he heard the screaming. The pitiful screams of the innocent human girl penetrated the lab and what sounded like probably the whole of Madison, Wisconsin. It was the most piercing, blood-curdling screaminig he had ever heard and Vlad's fear mounted as he practically felt his heart stop. He clamped his eyes shut so as not to see what he knew was taking place right in front of him, but even so, he felt something warm splatter on his face.
Eventually, the screaming stopped and the room became silent, but Vlad stayed where he was, curled up on the floor, eyes closed, for several more minutes. He slowly brought himself to his feet and surveyed the room. He had never seen anything that had made him feel as sick as he felt now. He knew that the ghost business had the potential to be dangerous and maybe even deadly, but when he signed up all those thirty years ago, he never expected anything like this…the worst possible outcome. The fear in his eyes disappeared as they hardened into their normal grey glare and he clenched his teeth. Quickly and cautiously, he made his way to the stairs. He had to find and warn Daniel.
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"Danny," Vlad heard her sob with fake tears into Daniel's shoulder from where he stood, watching them from door frame. He was slightly out of breath from climbing the three flights of stairs from the lab to Daniel's room. "I did! Just what everyone says, I killed them and told them it was you! I was too scared to take the blame, Danny, I never m-meant to, I'm so-sorry!"
"Wha-? What do you mean, killed them?" he was surprised, the first expression Vlad had seen from him since the depressed and lost look had completely taken over his face weeks ago. Somehow, after the explosion and her temporary disappearance, Danielle had managed to track her cousin down to his mansion. Which was somewhat surprising, considering Daniel had taken great care to hide from her after she told the press that he had killed his family and friends.
"Danny, I know you didn't kill them. I killed them," she repeated sullenly, tears slowing down. "I cheated on the CATs when Mr. Lancer brought in that Steve 'Third Degree' Burn guy. I didn't want to end up like him, Danny! I wanted to be able to get a job after I graduated and live my own life. I wanted to be a person. Mr. Lancer called them to the Nasty Burger and-"
"Don't say it." Daniel was closing his eyes and swallowing a lump that had formed in his throat and Vlad's heart went out to the boy.
Daniel had been less than happy about the deaths of his family and friends (and his teacher,) and that was obviously to be expected. But what Vlad hadn't counted on was the way that the boy had reacted. He had stayed in his room most of the time, but whenever he wandered the mansion, he aimlessly sulked around almost defeatedly. And Vlad didn't know much about children, but he was pretty sure that young boys were supposed to have stopped having night terrors at least by the time they reached their teens. But Daniel's terrified voice could be heard every night, practically throughout the whole mansion, crying out against some nameless ghost that was always trying to kill his already late family.
"You hate me." Danielle's voice was soft and filled with what Vlad knew was fake fear. He knew he had to warn Daniel about her before anything happened, but he couldn't bring himself to interrupt the moment. His voice stuck in his throat as he leaned against the doorframe, paralyzed and unnoticed. If she saw him, he knew she wouldn't hesitate to kill him. And Daniel wouldn't bother to help, as he believed that Vlad was still whole and could take her full on. "You hated me for hurting your family and now you hate me even more for blaming it on you!"
"Of course I don't hate you," Danny's eyes snapped open and he moved to hug the girl. "Danni, I'm sure it was just an accident. It was no one's fault. And I would have been scared about the press, too."
Danielle suddenly sobered up. The scared, innocence was wiped clean off her face as she stiffly stepped away from her cousin's embrace. "Why?" she asked with surprising amount of force.
Danny blinked.
"Why, what?"
"Why don't you hate me?" Vlad saw a flash of what could only be described as insanity flash through the girl's green eyes (Vlad guessed she now had the ability to change their color from red to green at will) and Daniel became disconcerted.
"Why do you want me to hate you?" Like Vlad, he, too, noticed the look on her face and began to back away. Which was all just as well, because Danni's hands suddenly became encased with the formation of a glowing green ecto-blast. She took a step towards him. Vlad would have sworn that the voice that came out of her mouth wasn't her own.
"So that this is justified."
She released the ecto-blast and it hit him square in the chest. Still human, he was flung across the room and landed, gasping for breath by the back wall.
"Danni?" he panted through teeth clenched in pain, his eyes wide.
"Daniel!" Vlad cried as Danielle prepared for another attack. "Watch out!"
"Vlad, stay out of this! What are you even doing here? I thought I took care of you!" the girl cried before turning back in order to Daniel to answer him. "I hate you, Danny. Why don't you hate me?"
Danny gasped again and rolled out of the way as another ecto-blast hit the carpeted floor next to him, singing the spot where he had just been sitting only moments ago. He quickly became Danny Phantom, matching his black and silver suit with Danielle's.
"Why do you hate me? Danni, what's wrong with you?"
"I've hated you my whole life, Danny. My life should have been just as good as yours, but you got the good family. You got the good friends and the great life! What did I get?" she screeched and suddenly twisted around, firing an ecto-blast at a surprised and unprepared Vlad. He was flung out of the room and hit the wall of the hallway with a grunt. "I got a no-good, evil ghost for a father! As soon as I'm done with him, I'm coming for you, too, Vlad!" she shreiked and turned back to again resume her attack on the boy in front of her.
Did she really feel she had it that badly? He knew no one would describe him as a 'loving, caring father,' but he felt that he was at least a sort of father figure to the girl... Vlad looked at her strangely from where he lay, slumped against the wall outside Daniel's room.She reminded him of a young girl, throwing a fit. But this, he reminded himself. Is no ordinary girl, and she's definitely not throwing a normal fit.
His eyes drifted from the girl and her cousin as the boy dodged the powerful and crazy ecto-blasts she shot in every which direction, pleading, begging for her to stop- to the floor of the bedroom, where a gleaming metal caught his eye. The Plasmius Maximus. Danielle must have seen it on the shelf of the lab and taken it with her… And Vlad had a pretty good idea as to how she planned to use it. She clearly wanted her cousin to join his family. It was no small surprise that she still had yet to attempt to take the life of her father. No, wait, she already had... Vlad slowly picked himself up and crawled to the doorway, extending an arm as far as he could in order to stay as far away from the fight as possible and still grab his invention. His fingers brushed the device just as the door glowed a ghostly green and slammed shut on his fingers, effectively blocking his entrance into the room. He quickly pulled his fingers away with a yelp and stood up, now intent on getting into the room. With the sickening feeling of dread, he grabbed the door handle and turned it as hard as he could. Of course, it was locked. He called their names and continued relentlessly twisting and pulling on the handle until he heard their voices.
"…Danni, I don't know what's gotten into you! You have to stop!" Danny pleaded with more vigor in his voice than Vlad had heard him use all month. "Are you being controlled? Is it Vlad? He wouldn't do this…not after-"
Vlad cringed when, instead of Danielle answering in reply, he heard a zapping noise that could only have been the Plasmius Maximus in action. It was accompanied by a long, pained yell from Daniel. A few moments of relative silence passed behind the door Vlad was leaning on, the only noise being the slight steaming sound of burnt ectoplasm-turned-human flesh and Daniel's short, heavy breaths. Then, "…Danni?" Daniel's voice was hoarse and pleading. "Danni-" The last words the boy ever spoke before his voice was cut off forever.
"I promise you that I'll to destroy every single last person you've ever loved," Danielle's voice said darkly, causing Vlad's heart to drop to his feet.
"No..." His voice was a whisper heard by no one but himself and the empty hallway.
What followed was the second worst scream he had ever heard, and it echoed off the walls of his spacious mansion. No-!
But there wasn't time for him to think anymore. Vlad bolted down the hall to the stairs in fear of what was to come next as the boyish wailing scream of Daniel's agony reached an even higher pitch. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, sprinting down two, three, four, steps at a time. He flew as best he could without his powers into the lab and, with one last fleeting glance around his blood spattered lab, he flung himself into the Ghost Zone in a desperate search for help.
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Amity Park, ten years in the future:
"I don't understand how two people can have the same future."
Phantom and the future Danni had given up physically fighting when it became obvious that they were both equals in strength and technique. They were down to the effectiveness of their own words and they stood with crossed their arms, glaring at each other, both of them panting slightly and covered in various cuts and bruises.
"So, let me get this straight," Phantom ignored her, choosing instead to rehash the situation in his drawling voice. "You're a clone of me that that cheese-headed fool created? Why wasn't my life this interesting before everyone decided to up and die?"
Future Danielle stiffened and Phantom mentally took note that the fact that she was a clone seemed to be a sore subject. "I doubt they just decided to die. More like, someone decided for them."
Phantom would have tensed at this, had he cared any longer about his family's death. Is she implying that I killed them?
"And you're saying that the same thing happened in this time line that…wait, what year is this?" Future Danielle curtly nodded and mentioned the date. "That's eleven years after they died in my…" Phantom trailed off into his own thoughts, thinking hard about what he could possibly do now that would benefit himself. He decided there was nothing he could gain, save for the satisfaction of killing his archenemy and weakness all over again, now that he lived outside of time. All he had to live for now was destruction, annihilation, chaos…and it didn't even matter what timeline he was in. Hell, if he had the medallions he could destroy all three timelines, his own included. He smirked. Perfect.
"If I help you, say, make sure this future comes to pass, will you let me destroy myself and my archenemy?" He could always dispense of his clone later.
Future Danielle's brows furrowed. He was going to help her? What could he possibly have to gain besides the credit for killing two mutual, weak enemies from their past? She put herself in his shoes, thinking it through logically. Well, if he really was from outside of time, there would be nothing except the sadistic pleasure in death and destruction. If she was herself, ten years in the past, she would have shrugged. It was more than enough of a reason for her.
"You're driving a very hard bargain... I was so looking forward to killing them both. But as long as they're dead..." she trailed off, hesitating with what she was about to say next.
"As much as I'm supposed to hate you, I have to admit," she added, smiling horribly, fangs glinting. "You're no Danny Fenton."
Phantom smiled at this, his face an exact copy of hers. "Good. That's what I was going for."
Complete lol moment, that last line. lololololol
And ahaha did you like how when you first started reading it was all of a sudden BAM, blood and guts? I mean, seriously, i could have slowly eased you into brutal murder, but no, it hits you smack in the face as soon as you start reading. Can't get any cooler than that.
Anyways, thanks always to reviewers. You guys are awesome. Some of your stuff is really inspiring and it really does help me write faster (hint hint reviewsomemorecough) um haha. But it would be nice if we could get something constructive in the house.
IJ: Ummm yeah, cause them joining together would be totally sexually awkward. Hahaha I can just imagine it now. She would be so much more messed up than she already is... And if I had to choose, I'd say Johnny would definitely be the coolest supporting character. Ember can sing, though, that's for sure. Heh, i can see why you like ember. you wrote a whole story about her!
Next chapter- Hey, Skulker's in the next chapter, if only for a couple of lines. He's also a dick. Bigus Dickus. Oh well. Back and forth between the present and Vlad's ten year old quest for help. More focus on Danny in the beginning, 'cause I like him. He's stupid though.
