Chapter 12
"Hate is the Star"
Here is the song that helped me theme out this entire chapter, a cookie to who can guess where the song is from!
It begins very small
Seems like nothing much at
all
Just a germ, just a speck, just a grain
But the seed has
been sown
And before you know it's grown
It has spread through
your life like a stain
And its power will strangle your love and
your joy
And its hunger consumes for it lives to destroy
Hate
is a star; it becomes who you are
Not the hated, but the hater has
a torment that's greater
It will eat you alive, consume you and
spit you out
Hate's gonna win that there's no doubt about
Hate
doesn't care who you are- Hate is the Star!
Learning hate is
an art, even people who are smart can be caught, can be crushed, can
be creamed
Hate has swallowed you whole
Did you think you're in
control
Hate you though, hate you spoke, hate you dreamed
All
your hate gave me substance your lives are undone
It's your eve of
destruction, your hatred has won!
Vlad paraded down the long, familiar hallway of his castle proudly, in his suit of armor made completely of gold. The armor made a clank noise every time his foot touched the ground. As the hallway started to end, he abruptly stopped and looked towards a large portrait of himself in the exact suit of armor he stood in now. His lips twitched into a vicious smile and held up his hand towards the portrait. The large picture was framed in a solid gold frame with remarkable carvings in it; on each corner was a different gem. The right lower corner held a ruby, not as magical as the one he wore on his finger, but a real ruby nonetheless. His finger pressed upon it and it slid down into place, a clicking noise followed. The large painting moved to the right, revealing a small hiding place with several books, gems, and other assortments of magical items. He simply picked up a large blue velvet book that looked centuries old. There were large gold letters embroidered into the velvet book. In all, they read "Livro Mágico". Which means magic book in Portuguese. He tucked the book under his arm and walked out, making sure to securely slide the painting back in place. He made his way to the end of the hall and opened the passageway to Rebecca's imprisoned cell.
The steady clank of metal against stone woke Rebecca with a start and she gazed up at the figure as it slowly descended to her room. She knew it was time. Her breath caught in her throat as he entered the room, a smug expression outlining features she didn't know he had. Her own were of fear and dread at what he was going to make her do. He slammed the magic book on the table and turned it to the page.
"Read." He demanded. " I hope you are good with your Portuguese."
"No, I'm afraid not." Rebecca muttered slowly. He grabbed her by the collar and glared at her in the eyes.
"You know it, do not lie!" He hissed.
"No I wont do it!" Rebecca yelled. "You can't make me!"
"That's where you are wrong." Vlad hissed and pulled out a strange device in his hand. It resembled a hearing aid but was made completely of silver and a red substance.
Rebecca's eyes flashed with fear. "No! Don't!" she pleaded.
"You know what emotion is the most powerful? You would say love wouldn't you?" Vlad whispered, stroking her hair as she trembled. He brushed hair away from her right ear and placed it into her ear. It began to beep wildly as the red part of it glowed brightly. Rebecca could feel the suction in her head and her form literally fizzled out for a second, only to come back with her face contorted in pain.
"Now now dear, don't fight it, it will only make it stronger." Vlad cooed and stood, smirking at her futile efforts to deflect the power of the small device. He continued his rant. "No, no, love isn't the most powerful. Every emotion has its own strengths and weaknesses. But one stands above them all. Bravery? Pah! I still want you to guess. You will know it soon enough."
Rebecca was never the giving up type, but as it gained strength she felt her own fading rapidly. She felt lost, alone and weak. She would not give into him, at least that's what she thought. But the anger inside her was boiling, her face turned pale as the device beeped. She suddenly knew the answer. That thought alone caused the device to take over. In her final moments of consciousness she wanted to scream, she needed to.
She did.
Jack had lost sight of Danny Phantom a few miles back, but somehow knew where they were headed. A few minutes after he was flying towards Fenton Works when he heard the explosion. He flew faster towards the building that was decaying badly with every second. As he landed inside the familiar home, a small smile formed on his lips. He remembered when this place was full of life. Especially family dinners at the table. Jazz would be talking in large words by which Jack was confused by, Danny would call her a Brainiac and she and he would start arguing non stop. Voices from the past haunted him as he walked towards the basement door. When he reached the door he heard angry yells and something crashed from below. He opened the door quickly to see three shadowy figures in the clouded room with dust and debris. Shadows played across the dirt filled room and voices echoed across every corner. As the dust settled, Jack heard several grunts and noises and Sam calling out to one of the other figures in the room. He floated there, dumb founded, watching the scene before his eyes. All the way up to when the Dark Danny held the dagger in his hands. The dagger that killed him. Fury spread through Jack like a disease. It hit every inch of his body at the speed of a bullet train. He couldn't see his body, but it was glowing a anguished red and his eyes exploded in red sparks.
Sam watched in horror as Jack slowly started to make his way to his sons. "Mr. Fenton no!" She cautioned.
Danny's body snapped to where Sam and Jack were. His first reaction was blank, and then a sickening smile slipped in place.
"Well, Well Jack, long time no see, how is the afterlife?" Danny quipped, amusement in his tone.
Jack launched himself at Danny and Danny simply flew back. Jack followed, his anger in his eyes. "How could you? You were my son! I treated you as any man who has loved a son!"
Danny's red eyes darkened. "Yeah, right. Until you found out I was half ghost, then turned your weapons on me! Not believing I was your son anymore." The bitterness of his tone was apparent and Jack felt the red boiling within him drain.
" I was scared Danny, I didn't even know that was possible, your mother sure didn't. I was afraid a ghost had destroyed your soul and taken you over." Jack said honestly.
The anger came back in Danny's eyes and he looked to Jack's face. " I don't need your pity old man, you should have trusted me. Now it is too late."
"Its never too late."
Danny turned and saw Sam standing up, her violet eyes looking at him sadly. More pity.
"Stop looking at me like I am so kind of pity wagon! You know those emotions are useless anyway! I will win this war in the end." Danny roared to them and floated up in the air.
"Son, this is dangerous, this attitude could ruin your body and mind for good! Please! Give everyone another chance!" Jack yelled.
"Chances are over old man. I'm through with love, I'm through with family, I'm through with everything! Vlad and me will take down the resistance; you all will die, because I have enough power fueling me more than you all combined! My anger will destroy you all, and there's nothing you can say to change it all!"
"Gosh Darn it Danny wake up!" Jack yelled, anger growing within him again. "Stop acting like a child! You can't hide behind your anger and hate forever! You know we are right!"
"Sorry Jack, this is my road, goodbye." The coldness in Danny's eyes made Jack's heart drop. Sam turned her head away so Danny would not see her cry.
Danny looked to Sam, then turned to Jack. Then he floated up towards the ceiling.
Sam turned her tear filled face to Jack. "Mr. Fenton! Grab the dagger before Danny goes away for good!"
Jack turned to Sam; his face never had looked so serious. "Sam, he is already gone. The dagger is as well, I have lost him." He sat down and put his head in his hands.
They all remained in silence, then Sam saw the unconscious Danny on the floor and kneeled by him. She shook his shoulders until he slowly opened his eyes. Blue orbs met Lilac.
"Sam? I had the strangest-" He stopped as he stood up then looked around. He sighed slowly and put his hand on his head. "And I'm still dreaming."
Sam gave him the smallest hint of a smile, then turned away. " Thank you for trying to save me."
The thoughts and events replayed in Danny's mind. He looked blank, then blinked and nodded, "No problem." He put his hands in his pockets and his eyes grew wide. "No! He took…the dagger! NO! It's my only chance of returning to my own reality!"
"I'm sorry Danny, but he was too strong, we couldn't do anything." Sam said softly and put a hand on his shoulder. He jerked it away, his fists clenched and his hair hiding his blazing green eyes.
" I hate this! I really do! Ever since I came here things have gotten bad to worse! Now I have no chance of coming home! I never should have agreed to help!" He exploded and picked up a piece of cement and hurled it at the wall with a angry yell. "It's not fair.." he said softly. "It's just not."
Sam stared at him hard. "You think you're the only one suffering Danny? People out there are dying and all you care about is going back to your cozy dimension where everything is safe! Let me tell you something Danny, staying safe will get you nowhere! Just because something is a little hard does not give you the right to give up on it when you cant take it anymore!" her face was bright red, her arms were ridged against her body as she yelled at him.
Danny turned to her, his own anger melted as he saw her. The marks on her body, the bruised face. She was hurt worse than anyone else. She loved this Danny and he betrayed everything. As angry as she was, Danny still saw tears hidden behind the anger. At that moment, his hate totally disappeared and his only thought was to make his friend and father from crumbling. He didn't understand why he got so out of control. He was just so angry and he…
He hated everything.
Hate.
One of humanities more disliked emotions. Hate was something that would tear you apart piece by piece. Vlad and Danny's own counterpart had the hate. It was never really their fault, but that emotion inside them all bubbled beyond hope. So much hate, hurt and sorrow. Danny understood now.
Vlad and Danny weren't the enemies.
Hate was.
