Author's Notes: Happy Valentine's Day, I tried to get date with Valerie but she rejected me. Thank you to all who read my fic.
Miriam1: Yes Pandora is tough and I remembered the Greeks didn't like to be improperly buried. Oh yes, Danni did enjoyed that prank and Skulker never forgets his prey. Thanks for the complement it as Dante said in the Inferno 'abandon all hope ye who enter here.'
Mystery Writer5775: He did laugh at it but he was starting to cry causing it to rain so he had to stop. Good luck with the Talent Show.
Smallvillegirl2: I love the Phantom of the Opera, 'She is singing to bring down the chandelier' –laughs like an insane Michael Crawford. - Stephanie is a rarer prize than Danny and so he hunts her now. Not a fan of romance are you Smallvillegirl2? Neither am I.
Thunderstorm101: You'll have to continue reading to find out.
HollywoodXoX: Glad you like it and you'll have to continue reading as well to find your answer.
Chapter XXXVIII: Clouded Vision
Pandora
We sailed across the bloody river of hatred until we came to a small tributary that seem to be choppy.
"Why is the water different here?" Arachne asked as we steered towards it. Phlegyas seemed to be having hard time rowing in these waters as if it was thick and syrupy.
We could soon see the reason why, there were people fighting in the water. They were pushing, pulling, biting, scratching, punching, and kicking each other as they screamed in agony. Also we noticed the water bubbled up and we could see what looked like faces underneath the waves.
"We are now in Dantea, this branch of the Styx is technically in Dantea and this is where those who were consumed by anger in their lives that nothing else mattered are punished. They are condemned to these so waters fighting with each other. Also here are those who were slothful and did nothing with their lives they are ones beneath waters indulged in their laziness," I explain to her calmly.
Arachne looks on to the waters until she feels something pulling on one of her legs, "Pandora!" she screams as a hand drags her in the water. I try not to laugh as she resembles a spider trying to get out of pool of water.
"Hang on," I tell her as I look ahead, "Phlegyas stop at once," I order our guide angrily.
"I will not I was once king until that accursed Apollo struck me and sent me to these cursed waters. I hope all those Olympians fall from their glory into Tartarus will they locked up their predecessors ages ago," he said as he pushed me to the floor.
"Listen you filthy Lapith, you got what you deserved for your crime. You were so mad that Apollo fathered a child with your daughter that you went and torched his temple at Delphi. You should be considered lucky that he didn't plunge you head first into these filthy waters for your sacrilege. You sure deserve it, now go back and let me rescue my friend or I will personally talk to Apollo and make sure your punishment is increased tenfold," I shout as he bows his head and goes back.
"Help Pandora!" Arachne screams as she tries to avoid being dragged under by the vengeful souls.
"Hang on," I say as I reach out and pull her towards me, "don't let go, my friend," I said as I pulled with all my might. I could see souls clinging to her. "Get back, you filthy souls go back to prison and let us pass us," I say as I tend to my friend.
"Arachne can you hear me," I say as expel the water from her and she starts to cough and spit up water.
"Pandora, thank Zeus it's you, I was so scared," she said trembling, "I couldn't see or breathe; all I could do is fight. Is that how they spent their lives," she asks nursing some wounds on her legs.
"Yes and now that's all they can do," I tell her as Phlegyas guides through the tributary and onto the Acheron and Dantea proper.
Danni
After Stephanie's performance I was ushered to an autograph both to sign autographs, "I am sure the kids will be delighted to meet you," Mayor Knightly said as the first kid came up and handed me a notebook to sign.
"Where did you come from Miss Phantom?" he asked innocently as I thought of something to tell him.
"Uh, on another planet, yeah me and Phantom are the sole survivors of a dying planet and our parents sent us here but because we're so super intelligent we didn't need anyone to look after us," I tell him nervously.
"Cool," he said as he ran back to show his friends.
After hours of signing and what will be an eternity of Writer's Cramp I was finished, "boy am I glad that's over," I said as I sat against the wall exhausted.
"Another planet, Danni?" I heard a voice say as I looked up and saw Danny looking at me from above.
"I'd like you see come up with a story, Mr. Star," I told my cousin sarcastically as he floated down and smiled.
"Well at least explains why you don't go to school," he said as he ruffled my hair and laughed.
"True," I said as he handed me a can of pop, "Thanks," I tell him as I took a sip.
"Anytime, I have to go, so stay out of trouble," he said as he flew off and that intern came back in.
"Ms. Phantom, Mayor Knightly would like to see you for a second," he said as I got up and followed him sighing.
Edgar
"That was genius," I told Ellen as Danny came back, "How is your cousin," I ask him.
"She's doing good, I think Mayor Knightly took for pictures or something," he says as he sits down, "you're lucky you ran into her and not Sam," he says chuckling.
"Is she the scary one," Ellen asks curiously.
"Yeah but she's nice once you get to know her," Danny says as class begins.
Pandora
"Here ye are, Dantea's dreadful plains," Phlegyas hissed as we stepped out of his boat on to the land.
A disgusting sludge of hail, snow, rain, and dirt pelted us. In the distance we could hear moaning and growling sending a chill up our spines.
"What is this place?" Arachne asked as she shook the filth off her legs and shuddered.
"The Valley of the Gluttons, they are pelted with the garbage that they filled their lives with," I explain to her as we continue walking until we come to a gate, "wait a second," I tell her as I hear something approaching.
Soon a demonic three headed dog come forward. Its body was covered in scales and saliva dripped from each of its mouths. Its tails was brood of hissing snakes that writhed.
"Cerberus," Arachne said as she crawled behind in fright as the dog eyed us up and growled.
I knelt down and scooped up some of the fowl earth and threw it at him, "Eat this vermin," I shout as the sludge sedated the beast allowing us to continue on our way.
Frostbite
Pain racks every fiber of my being even the sensation of the sweat upon my brow is painful.
I look at my oldest friend who his tending to me, I can see in his ever changing face flash with concern. Here in Dantea the master of time is powerless as time ceases to exist.
"How are you feeling Frostbite?" he asks with concern seeping into his calm voice.
"In pain," I tell him weakly as he comforts me, I am grateful for such a loyal friend. Clockwork and I have been friends a long time.
We met during the war against Pariah Dark, at that time my people were considered barbarians not worth time, even Pariah held in us such a low esteem that his armies passed us by.
It was Clockwork himself that reached out to us in the Ghost Zone's darkest hour. It was the Far Frozen that eventually repelled the Ghost King and his legions, but we were still seen as backwards, but noble Clockwork sought to understand us and in his eternal wisdom brought us into a new golden age.
Now, I lay here in Dantea, where the darkest and most evil souls are punished in endless, timeless darkness. The timelessness is what makes it unbearable, it could take eons for the process to end and by then we would be forgotten as the Ghost Zone's inhabitants would surely by then have destabilized back into Ectoplasm save for Nocturne and Clockwork sentinels in a desolate Ghost Zone condemned to watch as Eternity passes them by and the only hint of civilization would be this accursed realm.
"Just relax and remain hopeful for we lose that we are as doomed as these pathetic souls who are tortured here," he says trying himself to remain hopeful but isolated from time, even he who knows all is left in the dark increasing our fear all the more.