Disclaimer: I still don't own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman does, and I somehow doubt that will be changing any time soon. Since I'm not making any money from this, there is nothing for the law-ninjas to sue out of me.
Author's Note: Merry Christmas, everybody! I had to battle writer's block and sleep deprivation to do it, but I wanted to be sure I got you guys the next chapter on schedule... which whaddya know, just so happens to put the update on Christmas day! Hard to believe that this story is almost over. Next chapter is it, the finale! As always, reviews are appreciated. Thanks for reading!
Chapter 10: A Chance Taken
"One night I dreamt a white rose withering,
A newborn drowning, a lifetime loneliness.
I dreamt all my future. Relived my past.
And witnessed the beauty of the beast"
-"Bless the Child" - Nightwish
"Danny!" Jazz shouted, the first to take off running for the wreckage at the center of the parking complex. Which Danny she was shouting about wasn't clear, but it didn't really matter. Sam echoed the older teen's shout, barely a second later.
"Oh man, he'd better be okay!" Tucker yelped, pelting after the redhead and goth.
The asphalt surface of the parking complex was cracked from the stress, a deranged spider's web of faults and seams. Miraculously, the parking structure itself didn't seem overly damaged. The main structure was at least standing, though it was likely that only structural engineers would be able to fully assess the damage done by the tripled-up Ghostly Wail that Vlad had been pounded with.
Speaking of the billionaire, he was lying sprawled in the center of the demolition, black business suit caked with dust thrown into the air from the attack, limbs sprawled limply, expression frozen in a pained grimace. Vlad Masters was most thoroughly unconscious, though at a glance it seemed the man hadn't sustained any terribly grievous injury.
Danny was already on his feet, a bit bruised and in human form, but by and large the teenage half-ghost was the least harmed of the lot. He looked quite frankly relieved, though he yelped in surprise when Jazz and Sam both very nearly tackled him from the sheer delight that he was safe.
"You guys did it!" Tucker gave a cheer, the shout dying on his lips when he caught sight of the remaining two combatants. "Um... that can't be good."
"What-?" Danny pried himself loose from the attention of his sister and friend to see what Tucker was gaping at.
It could almost have been a repeat of the scene a week ago when Danny had split his alternate future self in half with the Ghostcatcher. Plasmius was lying sprawled on the asphalt where he had plummeted from the sky, the older ghost badly battered and dazed and evidently in a great deal of pain based on the grimace distorting his otherwise stern features. Not far from him, Phantom was laying where he had fallen; curled up tight, a black-clad form caked with electric green ooze from a multitude of injuries.
"Fudge brownies!" Plasmius managed to bite out between hissing intakes of breath. "There's no more time!"
"No more time-?" Danny ignored his own injuries to give the older ghost a confused look.
"Yes, you fool!" Plasmius snapped, slowly managing to bring himself to a kneeling position. "If I'm in this condition, he must be several times worse!"
All eyes followed the direction the older ghost pointed, Phantom becoming the center of attention once again. While Plasmius was evidently in a great deal of pain, he was at least staggering to his feet. Phantom looked for all the world as if he was at the very frayed end of his rope. It was understandable; the ghost had already been in bad shape by the time Danny and Plasmius had arrived, and his antics in helping knock Vlad out had clearly sapped the dregs of Phantom's dwindling strength.
Jazz was the first to respond, gasping and kneeling by her alternate timeline brother. "Danny, say something!"
Phantom managed to choke out a whimper as the redhead gently helped the ghost uncurl to lie on his back, eyes clamped shut. Upon closer inspection, it was clear that Phantom had very little time left. If he was lucky, he barely had an hour left; and that guess was extremely generous.
"The decision is yours, boy." Plasmius growled at Danny. "You're the only one who might possibly have a chance to retrieve that device before time runs out."
Danny fidgeted under everyone's stare after that declaration. He was understandably still not convinced that fusing the split ghost halves back into that fire-headed nightmare was going to yield any other result but said fire-headed nightmare. On the other hand, Plasmius had rather masterfully guilted him out of simply letting the two ghosts fade to nothing.
"No!" Phantom's weak protest interrupted Danny's trepidation.
"Are you mad, Daniel?" Plasmius snarled at the injured ghost, patience dangerously thin from tension.
"That's enough!" Jazz planted herself between the quarreling ghosts. "Making him do something he doesn't want to do isn't going to fix anything! Danny, why don't you get the Ghostcatcher, just in case."
"Are you sure, Jazz?" Danny frowned, still not liking the situation. "What if Vlad wakes up?"
"Oh, I think we've got that covered." Sam grinned malevolently, tapping one of her combat boots for emphasis. "You guys got him down, I think we can keep him there."
"You just want to kick him in the head, don't you?" Tucker glanced at Sam.
"And you don't?" Sam retorted.
"Point."
"While you get that, I'll talk to him." Jazz gestured at Phantom, the ghost biting down on his lip to keep from crying out. "… And meet us at the park, we should probably move away from… well… this."
A quick gesture at the battered parking structure, with several cars in various states of smashed reminded everyone that while most people would be running away from the mall, there would be at least three people running toward it, weapons loaded. With the fight over, lingering too long would be a bad idea, generating awkward questions that none of the teens wanted to try and answer.
"That's a good idea." Danny reluctantly admitted. "Then if Vlad comes to, he won't know where everyone is."
"Then stop dawdling and get going!" Plasmius hissed, cringing at what probably another burst of pain.
"Alright already, keep your cape on, geez!" Danny grumbled as he transformed and took off.
"Moving him is all well and good, now how do you propose doing so?" Plasmius inquired of the remaining teens as he clambered to his feet, grimacing as he did so.
"By driving?" Jazz pointed at her car, the machine thankfully only sporting a few new dents from its proximity to the earlier battle. "Tucker, Sam, I'll need some help to lift him-"
The redhead trailed off when Plasmius walked over and scooped the injured ghost up, lifting Phantom with far more ease despite his injuries than the teens would have been able to manage. Jazz trotted to her car and got the door open without further prompting, enabling the older ghost to maneuver Phantom into a reasonably comfortable position laying across the back seat.
"Ur..." Tucker glanced at Plasmius uneasily. "How are you going to get to the park-?"
All eyes turned to the older ghost. With Phantom taking up basically the entire back seat of Jazz's car, Tucker would be sitting in the passenger seat, while Sam would ride in the back with Phantom's head basically in her lap. There just wasn't any room in the compact car for the tall spook. None of the teens were particularly comfortable with the idea of Plasmius riding in the car with them to the meeting point, either. Sure, he'd proven himself to be... well, not a threat to them if not exactly one of the good guys; but even haggard as he was, Vlad Plasmius was an imposing figure. It was still difficult to separate the Vlad they knew of in the present from his more mature future counterpart.
"I still have enough strength to get there under my own power." Plasmius stated simply, lifting into the air and trying hard not to let the pain the simple action triggered show on his face. "Barely."
Phantom whimpered from the backseat while Plasmius limped into the sky. Time was running out, the teens could only hope Phantom would hold out long enough for Danny to arrive with the Ghostcatcher. And that they could somehow talk Danny, present and future into agreeing to take what really was an insane chance.
"Ooh..." Vlad groaned where he was still sprawled on the ground, apparently beginning to come to.
"Guys, hurry up!" Jazz yelped, diving into the driver's seat and gunning the engine.
"Oh, I don't think so." Sam bit out, marching over and fulfilling her earlier implied threat of keeping Vlad down with a swift kick to the head.
"Ouch." Tucker cringed.
Thankfully for the group, Vlad went still after a combat boot was introduced to his skull, a nearly comedic lump rising where Sam had kicked him.
"That's for hurting Danny. BOTH of him." Sam declared, pleased with her handiwork as she got into the car, careful to position herself so that Phantom was lying as comfortably as could be managed.
"Aren't your parents going to wonder about the bright glowing green stains all over the back seat?" Tucker glanced over at Jazz.
"Probably not." Jazz replied as she navigated the car through the debris and got the vehicle to the ground floor of the parking complex. "I'll just blame it on one of their gadgets or something."
Silence fell as Jazz sped around a corner, the teen's driving eerily reminiscent of her father's maniac antics behind the wheel. Sam braced Phantom as best she could as Jazz wove through the heavy traffic fleeing the mall, trying not to cringe at the ghost's pained whimpers whenever a jolting turn bounced him against the seat.
"So how are we going to talk Danny into going through with this?" Tucker glanced around the back of his seat to look at Sam and Phantom. "It is pretty nuts."
"Well we can't just abandon him!" Jazz protested.
"Yeah." Sam agreed quietly, running her fingers through Phantom's wild hair. "From a messed up future or not, he's still Danny."
"But he-" Tucker gestured at the semi-conscious Phantom. "-doesn't seem all too keen on the idea."
"I'll talk to him when we get there." Jazz stated plainly. "A lot happened today, we did make a lot of progress, even with the fruit loop showing up. We just need to convince him that he's made a lot of progress."
The rest of the trip was spent in uncomfortable silence. Time was steadily running out; Sam could see plainly that some of Phantom's injuries seemed to be slowly expanding. If they were going to talk Phantom into taking the chance on going back to that fused state, they weren't going to have much time to do it.
After what seemed nearly an eternity, Jazz pulled her car onto a service road into the park; one of many "secret" routes she'd learned that Danny and the others used regularly when they needed a shortcut. The park caretakers wouldn't be around until after nightfall, so there would be no one to look askance at a bunch of teenagers and one badly battered ghost slipping in through that gate. In moments Jazz shut the engine off, the car hidden from view above by overhanging tree branches, just in case Vlad came looking for them.
"Well, we're here." Tucker looked around the immediate vicinity after climbing out of the car. "Anybody see the future fruit loop?"
"I should certainly hope not." A voice declared from right in front of the techno-geek as Plasmius appeared.
"AAH!" Needless to say, Tucker hadn't been expecting it, and nearly jumped into the overhanging branches in surprise.
"Tucker-?" Phantom tried to get upright at the sound of the geek in distress, a bolt of worry momentarily overcoming the now-constant pain.
"He's fine, just surprised." Sam rolled her eyes. "Hang in there, younger Danny is getting the Ghostcatcher."
The reminder sent the mangled ghost scrambling weakly, trying to get away. "No! What if-"
"Sam, could you go peel Tucker out of the tree? Let me try talking to Danny. Alone." Jazz peered into the back of the car, having already climbed out of the driver's seat.
Sam looked ready to protest until she met Jazz's gaze. Sure, she was worried about the ghost, but as a friend; and even that was tinged by the horrible things she'd seen in that future, that he'd been responsible for. The worry in Jazz's eyes went beyond the mere concern of a doctor for a patient, beyond the worry of a best friend; this was the sort of deep-rooted concern and protectiveness of an older sister for her baby brother. Regardless of the technicality that this particular instance of said baby brother was actually eight years older than she was.
Reluctantly she climbed out of the car and went to talk to Tucker, the two teens soon scouring the sky overhead for signs of Danny. With Sam out of the way, Jazz slid into the vacated seat, shutting the vehicle door to give her some privacy with the ghost. Phantom stared at her with wide eyes, having pulled himself into a sort of sitting position huddled against the opposite side of the little vehicle.
"Does it hurt?" Jazz asked, lightly laying one hand on Phantom's arm.
His only answer was a tiny nod, flinching at the physical contact. Jazz could clearly see that Phantom's injuries had only worsened over the course of the short drive from the mall to the park; she had precious little time to convince him of anything.
"That's not all that hurts, is it?" She pressed on, ignoring the occasional questioning glances from outside the car. "You're afraid, aren't you?"
Another nod. This wasn't going to be easy.
"Of what?"
This time the response was a slight shrug. Likely a more expressive motion would have hurt a great deal, given an injury near one shoulder had gone from just a rough scrape to a gaping green gash over the course of the short trip.
"Are you scared of dying?" The question was a lot more pointed than Jazz would have liked, but time was a precious commodity now. The redhead didn't have the time to play the situation like the psychologist she was studying to become. So she had to settle for playing it like an older sister, on instinct.
Phantom's gaze jerked up in surprise at the direct question. Apparently it had pierced through the veil of pain and the fear that seemed to always be present in the ghost.
"But...I'm... I'm a ghost already." He squeaked out.
"But you still have a life. You still exist. You're afraid of losing even that, aren't you?" Jazz leaned back against the car seat.
"I... yeah." Phantom's gaze drifted down again, fixating on his white boots in between increasingly visible cringes of pain.
"So why are you so scared of doing what it takes to prevent that?" Jazz pressed, silently hoping that taking the blunt approach wasn't going to scare the ghost into doing something irrational.
Phantom winced, this time not from the now almost constant pain. "If it doesn't work right..."
"You're worried that you'll go back to that? The past ten years?" Jazz picked up when the ghost fell silent.
Phantom nodded, not meeting the redhead's gaze. "I don't want to... go back to that, I mean. I don't want everyone to die."
"Nobody is going to die." Jazz stated in a very matter-of-fact tone. "You told me earlier today that you acted the way you did because you were upset with yourself, that you didn't think you were any good, because you couldn't save anyone."
Green eyes peered up slightly through a mess of white bangs. What was Jazz getting at? He didn't want to die, to cease existence; the not knowing what was beyond that was terrifying. Yet the thought of willingly going back to that existence... just no. He was certain that if he took that second trip through the Ghostcatcher, that nothing would change. It just wasn't possible.
"Well you did save everyone today." Jazz pointed out in a gentle voice with a trace of... what was that? Pride? "If you hadn't acted, who knows what Vlad would have done. You saved me, you saved Tucker, you saved Sam... and you saved your humanity, too."
Her choice of wording made the ghost look up at her again, jaw hanging open slightly in shock. "My... what?"
"Danny... other Danny, would have been toast. He didn't stand a chance against Vlad alone. You saved him." Jazz let herself smile slightly. "That has to count for something, right?"
Phantom stared openly at Jazz now, hardly daring to believe what he was hearing. Just a few short months ago, he knew the thought would never have occurred to him. The entirety of his life had been focused on trying to purge the painful memories. But maybe... He knew he would never forget that terrible day; the screams, the smell, the noise, that all-consuming sense of fear and loneliness. The only way those memories would ever die is if he went with them.
"Things can change, Danny." Jazz pressed on, seeing that something she was saying appeared to be getting through. "You proved it not even an hour ago. If you can come that far in just one day... Do you really want to cheat yourself out of a chance to do better?"
"But if it goes wrong-" Phantom tried to protest.
"What if it goes right?" Jazz countered. "You're being too hard on yourself. You aren't what you were ten years ago when this all started. We're all here and safe, you're not the same upset teenager you used to be."
Phantom stared at her again, struggling to process what she was saying. He was frankly terrified of what would happen on the other side of the Ghostcatcher, he had a difficult time trying to compute the idea that the results might not be a repeat of that day in Wisconsin ten years in his past.
"You're a grown man, Danny. Sure, you've had problems, but who hasn't?" Jazz continued, shifting to lay a hand on the ghost's shoulder. "You can change, just today alone has proven that."
"Jazz..." Phantom stared, still at a loss. It distantly reminded him of her conversation ten years ago when he first met Spectra. Always wanting to help him, trying to support him in her own way.
"Whatever happens, I'm sure you'll do the right thing. I believe in you, and I'm proud of you. You just have to give yourself a chance." Jazz smiled then, even though she knew she was out of words. If she hadn't convinced him... nothing would.
---
"Okay, I got it!" Danny declared, touching down not far from his sister's car, Ghostcatcher in hand.
"Unfortunately, things appear to be in Jasmine's hands right now." Plasmius declared from where he was sitting against the tree trunk, trying to expend as little effort as possible to slow his own deterioration.
"Yeah, she's been talking to him since we got here." Sam frowned in the direction of the car, trying in vain to discern what was going on inside the vehicle.
Danny frowned as well. He still had his reservations about the situation. If it went wrong, he knew he was in no shape to take on that fire-headed monster again. The half-ghost may have gotten off the easiest in the fight with Vlad, but he had still taken quite a beating. The only reason Danny was in far better shape than the two split ghost halves was clearly the simple fact that his life wasn't ticking down on some sort of death clock. The battle had taken a great deal out of the reserves of the two ghosts, while he didn't share that restriction.
Still, Plasmius' taunting remark earlier in the day was fresh in his mind. More than anything, Danny absolutely refused to be anything like his alternate future self. The older ghost had rather handily laid the situation out; if Danny let his alternate ghost self die, even if only from inaction, it was a death on his head. A murder. If Danny simply did nothing, he would be no better than Phantom was, a killer.
"Okay, Plasmius." Danny addressed the older ghost. "If we do this, what if the result is the same as before I hit you guys with this thing? What then?"
"Yeah." Sam cast a worried glance at Danny. "We definitely don't have anything to fight that with."
"Especially after that whole mess with Vlad." Tucker cringed. He knew Danny was probably going to be stiff and bruised for another several days as a result of that fight.
Plasmius remained silent for a long moment, considering Danny's concern. In all honesty, the tall ghost was likewise concerned as to what could be done in the event of the worst case scenario. Much as he didn't like the idea of plotting for his own demise, it was something necessary to plan for. Particularly if he even wanted to take the chance; if Danny decided not to permit the attempt, Plasmius knew that he was in no condition to force the issue.
"If that is what happens, think about it for a moment." Plasmius finally replied. "The halves make the whole, and if you'll recall Daniel, both halves are in rather poor condition right now. It stands to reason that regardless of the outcome of the fusion's psychological state; the result will not be anywhere near as powerful, at least not for some time. Certainly well within what one of your father's Thermos devices could trap."
"Right, because the Fenton Thermos worked so well the last time." Sam quirked an eyebrow.
"Perhaps so, but it did take several months to break free of it." Plasmius countered easily. "And that was in a far better physical state than I suspect we'll be in this time. At the very least, it would serve well enough as a temporary measure until a more... permanent... solution was found."
"Well, that's better than nothing." Danny admitted reluctantly.
This wouldn't be the first time he'd taken a chance best deemed reckless, but certainly none of his previous gambles had carried such high stakes with so small a chance of a good result. Given the circumstances, the options were extremely limited. Either he did nothing and tried to ignore the guilt he knew would come about having actually ended something's very existence, or he could take the gamble on the Ghostcatcher. There was simply no time left to even begin to find a more palatable solution.
"Something else is bothering you, Daniel." Plasmius quirked an eyebrow, the declaration startling the teen. "Oh, don't look so surprised. You're still quite terrible at hiding your thoughts, it's written all over your face."
Danny looked momentarily annoyed by the older spook's declaration. Alternate future or not, Vlad was still Vlad, and Vlad always got on his nerves. "Yeah. What are we going to do if other you shows up wanting to pick up where we left off?"
Plasmius again didn't respond immediately, a look of deep thought crossed his stern features as he considered that. The teens could almost see the light bulb of an idea click on, the ghost's expression slowly shifting to a wry smirk.
"I never thought I would confess this to anyone, much less you, Daniel-" Plasmius beckoned Danny over, lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "But if you threaten him with this-"
Plasmius whispered the rest in a voice too low for Sam or Tucker to overhear. Given the way Danny's expression shifted to a huge grin, with perhaps just a slight tinge of malicious glee thrown in for good measure, it was clear that whatever Plasmius had in mind had to be pretty good.
The sound of a car door slamming interrupted the group, all eyes turning to the vehicle and the two figures who emerged from it. Phantom was on his feet; the ghost leaning heavily on Jazz for support, face set into a sort of grim determination. Jazz's expression was somewhere in between relief and worry, the front of her shirt sporting several green smudges that must have smeared off of Phantom's various wounds. Silence hung over the gathering for a long, tense moment, waiting to hear whatever had been decided.
"I'm ready." Phantom broke the silence in a barely audible voice that while soft still carried the steely determination that his present day counterpart often displayed when his back was against the wall.
"Well, I'm glad that's decided." Plasmius hauled himself to his feet, biting his lip with a hissing intake of breath at the pain the motion sent shooting through him. "Daniel, I would assume you know how to work that wretched device, if you would do the honors?"
"Yeah, just... get lined up or something." Danny frowned, checking to make sure he had the gadget turned the right way.
Plasmius closed the few feet of distance to stand next to Phantom, the older ghost finally showing some of his own trepidation at this gamble. Phantom ignored the taller ghost, instead turning his attention to the faces of his sister, who gave him a reassuring smile and a careful hug; and of his friends, Sam giving him concerned smile; Tucker forcing a large grin and flashing the spook a thumbs-up.
"Remember, I trust you." Jazz whispered to Phantom as she moved away, leaving Phantom standing shakily on his own.
Danny looked at the split halves, some flash of intuition tugging at him. He looked right at Phantom and forced himself to grin at his alternate ghost self. "Thanks for the save back there, by the way. I couldn't have done it without you guys."
Phantom's eyebrows both shot up at the declaration of gratitude from his past self, a tentative smile tugging at his mouth. "Uh... thanks to you too... I mean... everybody and... well, thanks."
"Here goes." Danny took a deep breath to steady his own nerves, hefting the Ghostcatcher with both hands and lifting slightly into the air.
A quick glance showed Sam had the Thermos uncapped and ready just in case. Tucker had his fingers crossed, while Jazz simply maintained a calm eye contact with Phantom. In one swift motion, the glowing green webbing of the Ghostcatcher came slamming down over the two ghosts, and the chance was taken.
There was a flash of light, the scene nearly a perfect reversal of events a week prior. Two voices yelped, briefly silenced, replaced by one. Danny immediately jumped back, the unwieldy Ghostcatcher held like a giant tennis racket, watching and waiting with bated breath. If this doesn't work...
In an instant, it was done. Where two fading ghosts had been standing just a moment prior, now stood only one; the evening breeze toying with the burning white hair, jagged cape fluttering slightly, glowing red eyes narrowed to wary slits. A moment of silence passed, and he finally spoke; his voice the same cold mocking tone Danny recalled entirely too well, the voice that made his blood run cold.
"So, that's it, is it?"
Author's Note: Okay, I'm going to start running now. You think I wouldn't end the second-to-final chapter on another nasty little cliffhanger? Is Dan still the psychopath we all love (or love to hate?) I guess you'll have to wait for the finale to find out, won't you?
Anyway, in various assorted news, I've got a little Christmas one-shot story up if you haven't seen it already. A little piece of madness I like to call "Christmas in Wisconsin", and I do hope you'll take a gander at it this holiday season.
Now, the big news... I've mentioned it a few times already, but I already have my next big fanfic project planned, titled Indemnification. Unlike Benediction however, to fully enjoy the story you will need to have read my other big fanfics- Jeremiadand Anathema, as well as Benediction here. In fact, keep an eye on Jeremiad, I actually plan to write a transition chapter or two to better connect it to Indemnification. I'm sure some of my long-time readers will appreciate finding out what happens to future Valerie after the party. Basically though, Indemnification is going to be one wild ride, bringing this plot bunny that started in March 2006 with an idea to tell future Valerie's story full circle. To give you an idea of how massive this is going to be: I make hand-written story timelines in my notebook before I commit to a fic. The timelines for Jeremiad, Anathema, and Benediction are each about one page long. The complete timeline for Indemnification is a full TEN pages long, and that's not including another ten pages of character notes, maps, and building floor plans. I tentatively estimate this story to end up over 250 pages total at least. (Keep in mind the total page count for the other three stories is 287 COMBINED.)
Anyway, enough of that. I'd like to as always thank my super-awesome reviewers and lavish them with virtual candies and such; so without further ado, gingerbread ghosts and candy canes go to: StarsOfTwilight, Sapphire Wolf Master, Sasia93, tenamanda1988, The Fluff Ghost, Anne Camp aka Obi-quiet, PotterPhan21, Tornada Silverwind, CharmedNightSkye, Arabic Blessing, Punker88, WTFWonder, and i AM the Random Idiot! You guys kick butt, and I hope to see you all next time!