Surprise surprise! It's a chapter! Mak, I hope you don't mind I didn't ask for your betaing this time. I wanted it to be a surprise!
And I've realized I've reached 300 reviews on Bleeding Hearts! THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH!
A unsettling feeling overcame both of them.
Sam and Tucker stood on the doorstep of FentonWorks, unsure and wary. Danny had texted them last night, letting them know the party was canceled, and they rushed over to find out exactly why the Fentons arrived home early.
Tucker bet $20 that the party was ruined by Hollows, which Sam agreed to. She was a millionaire after all, and Tucker used the chump change more then she did.
But what worried them was the strange energy. They were nowhere near as good as Danny was at sensing energy. He could wave his hand, and tell you who was there within the last hour, and regularly tracked his friends all over town, enjoying the surprise on their face. Sam was better then Tucker, but they were limited to sensing the different energies from people. Sam could tell who was going to come around the corner, while Tucker was content with keeping people from sneaking up on him. They could sometimes sense powerful Hollows, but relied mostly on Eiji for that.
The strange energy was so strongly radiating from the building, that even Tucker shuddered at it.
"It just feels so wrong." He commented, looking at Sam for her opinion.
"Its ghost, but its not. It's like...both. Which is impossible." She said, unsure if it even was impossible. "I don't think she's being overshadowed."
"What makes you think its a girl?"
"Tucker, the energy is pink."
She paused, her face scrunched up in concentration. "Hey, do you feel Danny from here?"
"Uh...no?" Strangely enough, he couldn't. Danny usually kept his energy tight, but at this close a range they should have been able to feel something from him. Either his comforting warm protectiveness, or his cold depression. But nothing? That was strange.
And strange was never good.
"What if he's not here? What if he already left?" Tucker said, trying to think of a logical reason why.
"We would have seen him, or he would have texted." She bit her lip in worry.
"Well, let's find out. Eiji? Anything we should worry about?"
A muffled noise came from the backpack, which sounded enough like 'nothing'.
With that, Tucker opened the door to greet whatever sat on the other side.
"Morning Mrs. Fenton, Mr. Fenton, Jazz." Tucker said as they headed to the kitchen.
The entire Fenton family was in the kitchen. Jack was slurping down food, Jazz was reading, Maddie was cooking, and Danny was...drooling? Another man sat at the table, looking quite out of place.
The teens kept the snickers to a minimum. Pink energy from a obvious male. That was new.
"Good morning to you too." Maddie smiled weakly at the friends, as she flipped pancakes, her white apron stained with past cooking mistakes.
The teens first focused on the man. He was well dressed, with his white hair pulled back into a pony tail, which matched his short goatee. The man looked mildly surprised, and he quickly scanned over the newcomers as well. They next focused on Danny, who was staring into space, in his hand a half eaten piece of...toast.
"Uh, Mrs. Fenton? Is Danny OK? Because he's eating toast." His friends and family knew the only thing Danny hated, other then Hollows, bullies, ghosts...Ok. Maybe not the only thing he hated.
Toast.
FLASHBACK
"Have some toast Danny." The said bread was placed onto the 4 year old's plate. Maddie left the room to fetch the rest of the family, unaware that the bread was glowing. The adorable boy went to take a bit, only to have the bread jump up, and attack him, teeth snarling. It latched onto his hand, and almost took a finger off. (He still bore the scar from its teeth.)
The other pieces of slightly warm toast on the table also attacked him, leaving the now faded scars on his ears. His chair fell backwards, and the whole family rushed in, and quickly went to work subduing the wild bread. A trip to the ER for stitches (which the doctors just nodded blankly after hearing the story, and made a notes in the files about various mental issues) and IHOP for breakfast.
Needless to say, the psychologist had fun that week.
PRESENT
"Yes he is, Tucker. Its one of those days, unfortunately." Sam made her way over to Danny, and waved a hand in front of him. His eyes were glassy and unfocused, and he took another bite of toast, chewing loudly.
"He's been like that ever since he woke up, unfortunately." Maddie filled them in.
"This doesn't seem like a very healthy thing." The man commented, as he picked up the next newspaper and started reading.
"I've already told you Vlad. We've done all the tests. There is nothing wrong with him psychically, or mentally. But he must be improving, because it has been a couple months since his last attack. He'll be fine tomorrow, like he always is."
Sam and Tucker knew why he hadn't had a attack. The town's protection was on his shoulders, and it was a heavy burden to bare. Last time he had a attack when he was unable to protect a building from collapsing, and killed everyone inside. That had also been the first one that he 'came out of it', and the last one since he became a Reaper.
So something had happened last night to cause this. They glanced nervously at each other, each coming to same conclusion.
"Well, while we're talking about ghosts, this is my old friend from college, Vlad Masters!" Jack blurted, stuffing more pancakes into his mouth as fast as they came from the pan.
"We weren't on the topic of ghosts, sweetie." Maddie commented, placing more pancakes on the table.
"We're always on the topic of ghosts!" Jack replied.
"I'm Tucker Foley." Tucker introduced to the man, who stared at both of them, his glare slightly unsettling.
"Sam Manson."
"Ahh yes. Manson. The creator of the deli toothpick cellophane-twirling device. Made millions, correct?"
"Uh, yes." She answered, caught off guard at the knowledge. Not many people knew that...
"I thought so. I can see your grandfather's genes very prominently. And his sense of fashion as well..."
"You knew my grandfather?" Surprised, she ran through the people who could have knew her grandfather, each result coming up short.
"Indeed. He worked for me for a short period of time before he died." He folded the paper and put it back down on the table, focusing on them.
"He really helped DALV CO grow. He was the driving force in our plans to set up our recycling plants." The man smirked ever so slightly, and the teens realized who it was.
DALV CO was owned by a billionaire. Named Vlad Masters.
THE Vlad Masters.
"You mean you're THE Vlad Masters?" Tucker blurted, staring at Vlad. "And you know the Fentons?" This meant that he and Danny knew a millionaire and a billionaire! Damn, what luck was that?
"We went to college together, until a horrible accident left me bed stricken for years." The contempt was dripping from his voice, and they both caught the evil glance over to Jack.
"Yup. His castle was destroyed, so he's staying here with us until he finds a temporary home!" Jack finished, completely missing the glare from Vlad.
$20 exchanged hands.
"Well, we'll wait out here until Danny's done." They grinned cheesly, and left the room towards the privacy of the lab. They stomped downstairs, silent in thought.
"He seems normal enough. But the energy is there, there's no mistaking that." He listened to Sam and pondered the explanations as she went to empty the semi-full Thermos. He watched Sam remove the cap and place in it the hole designed for it on the Portal. With the press of a button, it emptied the weak ghosts that they caught while Danny was gone. It beeped, and spit the Thermos back out, which Sam caught and recapped.
They both stood in front of the Portal, feeling the energy held within it pulsing and vibrating with life. Tucker placed his hand on the cold metal, still amazed at the power the doors held back.
They caught Danny standing down here, hypnotized by the swirling movements of the green many times.
They had no idea exactly how long he stood there sometimes.
This invention was also the same one that stole his life away in a flash. It was hard not to hate the thing, and wish it destroyed as revenge for what it stole.
"He sounds like a nice guy." Eiji piped up, finally free from the confines of the backpack.
"Don't you watch any TV? The nice ones are always the crazed murderers!" Tucker spat back, annoyed at the whole thing. Danny probably knew everything, but he was in no condition to tell them. And they couldn't just ask Masters. That would only end bad for them.
"Tucker! Stop putting bad ideas in his head!" She scolded, withdrawing from her silent thoughts as well.
"I doubt he's being overshadowed. The Fentons would have noticed the different behaviors. They are ghost experts." She continued, after placing the Thermos back into her backpack alongside Eiji.
"They also thought Jazz was being overshadowed." Tucker reminded.
"Point taken." She agreed, and pulled out the doll fully, and zipped up the bag. She placed him in her arms, ready to alert them in a second.
"The list of what we have to go on is slim. All we can do is act normal, and wait until Danny snaps outta it, and let us know what to do."
"Vlad, you don't have to do this."
"Of course I do Madeline. I cannot let my closest friend's son walk to school like this. The least I can do to repay your hospitality."
"Vlad, that's very...nice of you." She said, sounding suspicious.
"Its the least I can do." He almost whined, but it did the trick.
"Alright. I'm sure San and Tucker won't mind." She relented, and went to clean up the breakfast dishes, leaving a smug Vlad.
He stepped into the living room, just as Sam and Tucker came up from the lab to meet Danny, who was staring blankly off into space on the couch. A black doll hung loosely but carefully in her arms.
"Come on, its time for school." She pulled Danny up from the couch, a backpack loosely hung from his arm.
"Indeed. If we don't leave now, we'll be late." Vlad put on his best smile. He knew little about Daniel's friends, and what if Daniel refused to say anything for fear of putting them in danger? It seemed exactly like what the cold, protective teen would do. That would only complicate things. A noble thought, but now Vlad was in a situation that he wished he knew something about them. He couldn't tell if they could see Souls or not, or if they knew about Daniel's other half.
"We?" The teens both asked, glancing at each other nervously.
"Of course. I'm going to walk with you to school, to ensure that Daniel arrives safely."
"Uh, that's really not necessary..." Both said, a little too eagerly.
"I'm leaving with you and that's final." He sternly said, shutting off anymore attempts. Sam growled and pulled Danny out the door. He was pulled behind her, and with a misstep banged against the wall. Danny either didn't feel it, or was really out of it, as he didn't even flinch.
Only Vlad saw the dent in the wall which remained. He sighed, and followed after them.
He grumbled, loudly. These half visible people with chains had been following him and Daniel since they left the apparent safety of FentonWorks. (Scratch that. He had seen a few following Daniel around even in the house. Nowhere was safe from the Souls.)
They moaned, groaned, cried and complained about everything, from shoes to dogs to lawnmowers. He had doing his best to ignore them, hoping to keep the friends from realizing he could see them. It was harder than he thought.
He saw the doll hanging from Tucker's shoulder move, and 'whisper' something in the geek's ear. Which he first thought as impossible, but then tossed the entire idea of 'impossible' out the window. Nothing was impossible now, considering the walking zombie in front of him was a Death God, and he was a ghost, and both were being stalked by dead souls.
He half expected unicorns and trolls to appear somewhere in the town.
He had also seen the nervous glances from the teens, aimed at the souls which persistently followed behind. They were excellent at ignoring them, but they probably had more training then he did.
But, seeing how expertly Sam kept Daniel from crashing into various objects (he seemed to do it a lot), he decided on one thing.
Daniel and Sam were very close. Close enough to probably know the whole story, and were possibly there when the accident happened.
(He had checked out the Fenton Portal that morning, and Jack was more than eager to tell him everything about it. Jack also had no idea about the ON button inside the Portal.)
The Souls complained louder, and circled around him, obviously done with his ignoring tactics.
"Enough! I'm tired of listening to you bicker! What will it take for you to leave me alone already? Must I blast you?"
The outburst silenced them, and he realized both of the teens were staring at him, as were the nearest people, who quickly looked away from him and walked faster.
He felt quite embarrassed at himself, and laughed silently at himself, almost feeling foolish from the stares he was receiving from the few who dared meet his eyes. They all thought he was crazy.
"Its hard huh? Imagine living with them since you've been born." Sam glared, gripping tighter on Danny's hand, the anger apparent on her face. Danny blinked once, oblivious as ever.
That sentence hit him. He had listened on the phone as Maddie ranted about Daniel's problems soon after they started. He had always written off Daniel's 'problems.' They weren't any concern of his. He didn't need to deal with trivial issues like a 4 year olds imagination. He had never seen a Soul until very recently, and even then he assumed they were different ghosts, writing them off as mere annoyances.
But now...Vlad actually regretted not doing more research on them. If he had realized that the Souls were different from Ghosts, and that no one else could see them, he might have believed Daniel's story earlier. He could have saved the boy from a year in the mental hospital, and the boy might just be alive, not just a soul inside a shell, who spent every minute fighting for his or someone else's life.
...It was a humbling thought. Just one different decision on his part could have altered someone's life drastically.
Vlad sighed. There were not many mistakes that he made, and those that he did could easily be corrected, with a little extra pay or the use of his ghost powers. But there was no easy fix for this mistake, even if it wasn't his fault.
"We'll cut this short. I know all about Daniel's little 'secret'. We traded information until my house was blown to smithereens. But I do admit this is the first time I've seen so many of these...Souls. And I have no idea on how to get rid of them. He failed to mention that to me."
"There's no reason why we should help you." Both sternly said.
Vlad snarled. "I'm only doing this to repay Daniel for potentially saving my life, and everyone else at the party that night, even if he did destroy my mansion."
"Not intentionally."
"Correct. But until I get more information from him, I'm going to protect him. And in return, you should get rid of these damn Souls!"
"And the Hollow which is coming this way." The black monkey spoke from Tucker's shoulder, worried.
"That reason we can't deny, Sam." Tucker finally admitted.
"...Fine. I'll do it. And then we need to get out of here. Danny's in no shape to take on a Hollow."
She walked up to the Souls, who quickly surrounded them, dragging Danny behind her.
"Look. There's only one way to break this to you. You're dead. Kicked the bucket, Shinda, morto Muerto,Twyt,Sǐ, mort. You get it?" The anger was apparent in her voice, and the Souls quickly backed away from her outburst. Within seconds, they all vanished from sight.
Sam grinned, and straightened her skirt out as she turned back to the boys.
"Sometimes it takes a couple minutes before they finally realize it. The best way is to make them realize they are dead." She admitted, looking towards the now drooling Danny.
"Or they follow you all day, and finally figure it out as your eating dinner, then scream and scare the crap outta me, and make everyone think I'm crazy. That's what usually happens with me." Tucker pouted, upset at the unfairness of how easily she could convince them.
"Danny has it the easiest. He just hits them with the end of his sword and they turn into a butterfly and go away." Sam shrugged, seeing this was a normal occurrence, and also the least dangerous of his jobs. Vlad raised a eyebrow.
"Hollow!" Eiji yelled, its energy appearing on his radar for the first time. "It's close!"
A black wave of energy passed over all of them, effecting everyone except Danny, who faced the other side of the street, unaffected by the pure evil energy. He jumped up into the air, and 'ran' towards the other side of the 4 lane street, high above the traffic.
The group watched as Danny was aiming for the only person on the other side of the street. His Zanpakutō materialized in his hands, and he flew downwards towards the apparent Hollow.
The Hollow never saw it coming. The sword sliced through him, and the Hollow exploded into smoke. The Reaper kept going with too much momentum, and crashed into the brick wall behind him. His sword vanished from sight, and his body went limp from the force of crashing and fell to the ground in a lump.
Someone grabbed their shoulders, and in a flash the landscape changed. Not like Flash Step, where everything moved, but when one second they were there, the next not. They landed next to the fallen Danny, pink smoke floating around their feet. They looked up at Vlad, who only smirked in response.
That certainly wasn't a Reaper trick.
Ignoring that for now, they quickly assessed his condition.
"Danny? Can you hear us?" Sam asked, after finding his vitals fine. She shook him once, and she yelped in surprise as a hand grabbed her wrist.
"Ugh. What the fuck happened?" Danny blinked in pain, rubbing his head, and looked up at them. "What?" The three friends looked back in surprise and shock.
"Wait, Sam? Tucker? Where the hell did you come from? I thought I was still at..." He dropped off, eyes wide with worry. He sat up, and looked surprised to see that he was not at home like he thought, but in the middle of town. Which was never a good sign.
"Ugh. My head is killing me. Can we move somewhere less bright? Please? And hopefully I'll figure out what's happened..." He gratefully grasped the hands offered to him by Sam and Tucker, and rose from the ground. Eiji was hanging from Tucker's shoulder, and they were in the part of town that he recognized (thankfully).
"Indeed. I think we should move. Not many people would believe you flying across traffic, and killing a person with a sword, Daniel." Vlad stated.
"Or your little trick." Tucker spat back at Vlad. They remained silent, as they helped Danny towards a quiet part of the town.
The school bell rang, signaling the start of a day without 3 certain students.
Danny took a seat on a bench, and Sam and Tucker sat around him. Vlad leaned against a pole, staring at Danny with suspicion. They were in the quiet and shady area of the park. Danny was looking quite sick.
"Kami. Is this what a hangover feels like? I feel like I'm going to puke..."
"No, that's what crashing into a brick wall does for a person." Vlad said, turning away to look for suspicious activity.
"Uh, what?"
"What is the last thing you remember?" Sam asked, curious.
"I remember coming home, and going to bed." He was worried now. Memory loss was never normal, even for him.
"Not waking up?"
"No?"
"And what?"
"Uh...Obviously a long story, that I have no memory of, but you guys apparently know, from the worry on your faces." He swallowed in fear. Did something happen? Did he lose a battle? Did he make a mistake?
What if he hurt someone? What if he did it intentionally? What if he killed someone?
"We don't know." Their faces... They were scared of him!
He had done something to scare them. Something horrible. He had done the only thing he never wanted to do, and he couldn't remember it. The self-doubt was eating at him.
"Well, I'll get back to you on that. I need to make sure everything's OK inside." The coldness in his voice hurt his friends as his world went black, eager to escape.
He slumped over onto Sam's shoulder, breathing slowed and steady.
"What's wrong with him now?"
"Nothing. Hopefully."
You're lost, Danny. Find your way back, or forever be lost.
Black
Kuro
Nothingness
Kyomu
Empty
Sora no
Hopelessness
Zetsubō
Inhuman
Reikokuna
La-dub.
...La-dub.
Each was a word he thought of the describe the emptiness. The darkness, the empty space, which swallowed his memories, his feelings, his identity, his hope. The darkness didn't care who you were. If you were lost to the darkness, you would never return. Fight it, or be lost forever.
Red
Aka
He didn't care about losing himself. Blinking, he realized that it wasn't black that surrounded him. It was dark red. So dark it looked black. Which was also a bad sign. His cores were blue and green, not red. The light pulsed, at a steady rate.
La-dub.
...La-dub.
What was that sound?
Evil
Waru
Red. Red was evil. Red was bad. Red was bad for him. Red meant he did evil things. That laugh...was red. Evil. Bad.
Bad
Warui
La-dub.
La-dub.
What was he doing in here? How long was he in floating in the darkness, alone?
Lost
Ushinawa
He was lost in the darkness, it swirling around him, blocking his vision. No smell, no sight, no taste, no touch.
The only comfort was the consistent sound of
La-dub.
La-dub.
Alone
Tandoku
La-dub.
La-dub.
He was so very alone.
Cold
Kōrudo
La-dub.
La-dub.
It was cold. So very cold. He shivered, drawing himself into a ball, feeling the rough fabric of his robes for comfort. Didn't he usually like the cold? Wasn't it a good sign?
Now...it wasn't.
Hurting
Kizutsuke
La-dub.
La-dub.
Why was he here? Was this some form of torture, or punishment? Did he do something wrong, that made this OK?
Punished
Basse rareru
La-dub.
La-dub.
What lesson was he supposed to learn? Did they want him to do something? Was he supposed to say something?
Silence
Chinmoku
Nothing. His yells were silent, as were his claps. Nothing made noise in the darkness.
Confused
Konran
La-dub.
La-dub.
Why was he here? He swallowed in fear. What was his name? Did he even have one? Was he a person who had one? Was he important? The darkness didn't care.
Name
Namae
La-dub.
La-dub.
What was that sound? Was that his only comfort in this world, with no gravity, light, or touch? That sound, over and over again like clockwork.
Light
Hikari
Something. A sound...A name. It was a name. His name?
Sam.
No. It wasn't his name.
La-dub.
La-dub.
It was his light in the darkness. The one thing that kept him going day in and day out. Him? Who was he? What was he? Was he nobody, who would only float in the darkness?
Remembrance
Kioku
La-dub.
La-dub.
Him. Daniel Fenton. 16 years old. Sophomore at Casper High. Ice cream. Maddie and Jack Fenton. Jazz Fenton. Sam Manson. Tucker Foley. Toast. Eiji. Vlad Masters. Friends. Family. Hot dogs.
Hope
Kibō
Shinigami. Death God. Reaper of Death.
Him. Part ghost. Part Shinigami. Part human.
La-dub.
La-dub.
Human
Ningen
La-dub.
La-dub.
Realization
Jitsugen
That was his heartbeat. He was human. He fought Hollows and Ghosts to protect everyone he could. It was his duty, and nothing would stop him. He would never hurt anyone. He was the protector of Amity Park.
His memories came flooding back, leaving a grin on his face.
The red shifted to green and blue, swirling around him. The cold left him, replaced with human warmth.
He knew what to do to fight the darkness.
Doubt only dulls the mind. Step forward, bare your chest, and enter the light. Anyone can fight alone without caring. But we fight to protect the things that are dear to us.
Breathing in, he brought together all the Reiatsu around him, further lighting up the darkness.
He compressed it, into a basic shape. One very familiar to him. One very precious to him.
He gripped onto the hilt of the energy sword, and sliced through the air in front of him, a large slash mark floating in front of him. It split, revealing a blue sky on the other side, calling for him. Cold air bloew in, comforting him.
He cut through the darkness and the doubt of his heart.
The energy sword was replaced with metal, and he stepped through.
Uh, I have no idea where the weird style came from. But no worries, I don't think it'll be back for a while. So Danny defeated the darkness in his heart, from doubting himself. I thought you guys would want a longer chapter, so here you go!