Author's Note: Two songs are featured in this chapter. The first is Sycamore Trees from the Twin Peaks – Fire Walk With Me Sound Track. The other is called Someday and was originally written by me for an original character from my story, Cyberpunk Angel. The lyrics for Someday, however, have been altered slightly from the version that can be read at my FictionPress account, so that it fits a straight male character.
P.S. Some of you at this point may be very confused. Well, that's the point. I deliberately made it so you'll question what events are real and what aren't, just like Danny questioned the reality of first Streete Court and then the Hospital. Everything will make sense in the end, when I tie up all the loose ends, but for now, just try to think through everything slowly. Think of characters that are unaccounted for, like Zeross' granddaughter and Alex.


Chapter Eleven: Dosed

Sam couldn't understand what was going on, as she wandered the apparently deserted streets.

The last thing Sam could remember was being at the Amity Park Public Swimming Pool. She had been facing down Danny, her best friend, a friend whom had gone over to the side of the Blue Bow Army and taken control of it. Sam could still remember how she had faced him down and pleaded with him not to take the third of the Seals of the Si Ling, the very Seals that protected Amity Park from supernatural disaster of Biblical proportions. The last thing she could then remember was being dealt a terrible blow to her stomach, such a painful blow that she had lost all consciousness.

So how was it that she had come to be here?

And then there was Danny…?

Could it be coincidence that that twenty-year old had signed the paper, Danny Fenton? Could there be more than one Danny Fenton? It must have been true, though, for the Danny she knew was still fifteen-years old. She looked at her own reflection in a shop window and saw herself. She hadn't aged one bit, so it wasn't possible that she had been unconscious for five or more years.

Sam couldn't understand. What was going on and why were the streets so empty?

Could it be possible?

Was this world an illusion, like the one Fordyce had put Danny in when they Blue Bow Army first got their hands on him? If so, there had to be a way for her to escape it and find her way back to reality. Yet there was something about the world that didn't seem quite right, or rather, there was something in it that seemed more real than the rest of it.

Danny Fenton. That long-haired man that had met her near the beach. Was it possible that he was more real than the world they inhabited? Was it possible that he was more real than the Danny she had to face against at the Public Swimming Pool?

"Sheesh, what is up with that guy?" said a voice that seemed to come from up ahead. "Dr. O'Donnell looked like he was ready to chew me up. What's up with the Central Instrument Room, anyway?"

"Who knows?" was the reply from a second voice. "It's been out of bounds ever since Professor Zeross died in that accident. Not even the technicians are allowed back in anymore."

A frown appeared on Sam's face. Were those two talking about the Blue Bow Army? She remembered Danny talking about the Professor and O'Donnell, how they were at the dream school along with Fordyce. Sam had always thought that they too, like Fordyce, were members of the Blue Bow Army, though she had never met them herself and Danny had admittedly never seen them in real life. Still, she found herself running towards the source of the voices, in the hope that she could find out whom they belonged to and whether she could follow them to the Blue Bow Army's Headquarters.

"Well, I gotta get going before he gets even more pissed off with me," continued the first voice. "He asked me to bring him more enzyme. Man, he sure goes through a lot of that stuff."

Sam turned round the corner and the expression on her face fell. There was no one around. She couldn't understand it. She could have sworn that the voices came from round the corner. Sam listened and she could hear them still talking, as she looked around her. They were still around, just beyond her reach. She ran forwards in the direction she thought she could hear their voices coming from.


A new addition had been made to the balcony within the Central Instrument Room where the Ghost Powered Fate Determination Machine resided.

Danny sat calmly on the makeshift chair that acted like some kind of throne for him. It was a metallic chair with a computer built in that was linked to the network that ran throughout the entire room and all of Arcadia Tower. The computer even controlled the hydraulics that enabled the chair to turn round and currently kept it suspended above the ground by two metres.

He sighed, as he crossed his left leg over his right and leaned his head on his left arm, the elbow resting on the arm rest and his left hand clenched tightly into a fist.
"Alethea, I still c-cannot see the I-I-Image of Our Ideal F-Future," said Danny irritably. "H-How much longer will it t-t-take for those A-Ghosts of y-yours to bring m-me the last S-Seal of the Si L-L-Ling?"

"Not much longer now, sir," came the reply from Alethea, as she stood behind the chair, facing the Fate Determination Machine. "I've received reports from the Command Centre. They say the A-Ghosts have nearly captured the last Seal." She looked up at the great hulk of the machine and at the body of Professor Zeross that lay within the glass sphere. "Sir, please forgive me for my impudence, but don't you think killing the Professor was a bit too drastic?" she asked Danny cautiously.

Danny uncrossed his legs and shifted in his seat.
"B-Both Dr. Fordyce and O'Donnell insist that he's still a-alive," he replied.

The nurse looked up at the body of Streete Court's former Principal and the former Leader of the Blue Bow Army. She could remember serving him as a Matron in the school and as a nurse in the Hospital. Alethea had always been loyal to Professor Zeross, but when she found out that he had been killed… She didn't trust this Danny Fenton, not least because of his ruthlessness. There was something about him that didn't seem quite right. It was almost as if he was somebody else's pawn and she had a sneaking feeling that she knew whom was pulling the strings from behind the scenes.

"Sir, if you don't mind my asking, is it true you also sent A-Ghosts out to…" she began, only to trail off.

"Y-Yes?"

Alethea didn't know how to put it lightly. She didn't want to pry into his matters, knowing how ruthless he could be. If she pried too far, he would have her disposed of like how he had disposed of Zeross.
"Is it true, sir, that you ordered A-Ghosts to destroy your own family?" she asked Danny.

"What impudence!" cried a voice that did not belong to Danny.

There was a whirring of gears as the chair in which Danny sat turned round. Alethea turned round too, but she managed to see Dr. O'Donnell long before Danny did.

Dr. O'Donnell didn't wear a lab coat like in those mad scientist movies. He knew better than that. Lab coats were meant to be worn in the laboratory to keep chemicals or biological agents off oneself. To wear them all over the place, was to put others at risk from whatever contaminants could have been on the lab coat. Only the medical doctors in the hospital wore lab coats around the place.

"Alethea, how bold you've become, to start questioning Master Fenton like that," said Dr. O'Donnell, as he walked towards her with his arms crossed behind his back. "If it weren't for the fact that Master Fenton is so forgiving, you'd have certainly lost your position and more," he said in a threatening manner, as he brought one finger up to push his glasses back up. "You should know your place, Ms. Richmond, and stay there." He then looked past her and up towards Danny, a smile spreading across his lips. "Master Fenton, I have good news for you," he told Danny.

One eyebrow rose upwards on Danny's face.
"R-Really?" he asked O'Donnell curiously. "What is i-i-it?"

"Construction of the Life Ghost's base component is nearly complete," replied Dr. O'Donnell. "I have fused the Seals together and all I need now is the last Seal of Si Ling. Once that is fused, the base component will be joined to the base frame within the base vessel." He then looked down, as he scratched his left ear lobe. "However, I'm afraid I also have bad news," he added.

"B-Bad news?" asked Danny worriedly. "It isn't a-a-about F-F-F-Fenton Works is it?"

"No, no," replied O'Donnell with a shake of his head. "It's nothing of the sort, Master Fenton. No. It's something far more serious." He sighed, as he looked up at Danny. "This concerns Dr. Fordyce," he continued sternly. "Apparently, Fordyce has got it through his head that he could take your place."

"After he h-helped me t-t-take control?" exclaimed Danny in surprise. "Why w-w-would he want to oust m-m-me?"

"It would appear that he thought you'd be easier to get rid of than Professor Zeross," was O'Donnell's sad reply and he sounded genuinely concerned and shocked about the entire affair. "I'm as shocked as you are, Master Fenton," he told Danny, though there was something in his tone of voice that didn't sound quite sincere. "Michael has been quite a useful asset to us and a great colleague, but…" He trailed off and exhaled deeply. "Maybe it's all those ghosts he consumes. Perhaps, just perhaps, they're corrupting his mind. I think the ghost personalities he consumed may be taking over."

"I h-h-hate ghosts," said Danny. "N-N-Nothing good can c-come out of ghosts."

"Nothing, unless we have one hundred percent control over the way they think and act," agreed O'Donnell with a nod of his head. "Sir, I suggest that you take action!" he added, as he smashed a fist into the palm of his hand. "It is your duty to ensure that no one dares defy you. After all, you are the Leader of the Blue Bow Army and soon, the Blue Bow Army will rule over this world. You will be our Supreme Leader and no one can be seen defying you. It is imperative that you act now and stop him. No doubt, he will come in here on the pretence of protecting you from me, claiming it is I that is the one that is trying to usurp you."

O'Donnell shook his head.
"But I ask you, Master Fenton, who is it that helped you claim the Blue Bow Army as yours?" he asked Danny. "Who was it that advised you and kept you from harm all this time?"

"Y-You are," replied Danny with a nod of his head. He then sighed, after a while of silence. "Y-You are r-r-right, Dr. O-O'Donnell," he agreed. "Dr. F-F-Fordyce must be p-punished."

Suddenly, the door to the Central Instrument Room burst open and Fordyce rushed in.

"Master Fenton!" he cried out, as he stormed across the metallic floor towards the raised throne. "Master Fenton! I must warn you about Dr. O'Donnell. He plans to…"

"That w-w-will not work, F-F-Fordyce," interrupted Danny sternly. "Dr. O'Donnell h-has kindly t-t-told me of your p-p-plans. I w-will not f-fall for y-your schemes." He shook his head. "N-No, you will n-n-not trick me," he added.

Fordyce looked at Danny and then at O'Donnell.
"You!" he shouted, as he aimed a finger straight at O'Donnell. He swore at O'Donnell.

"Such language!" cried O'Donnell in mock horror. "Have you forgotten how young Master Fenton is? You certainly are a bad influence to him. It's a good thing that Master Fenton has decided to get rid of you now."

A smile spread across Danny's lips.
"N-N-No," he told O'Donnell. "I h-have a much b-b-better idea…"


The streets seemed so empty to Sam. Why was that? She couldn't tell.

Even the shops seemed empty and dark. Each one looked devoid of anything, as if they had gone bankrupt years ago and nobody had come to buy the retail space. The streets were amazingly devoid of litter and life. Nothing stirred. It was almost as if this world was nothing more than an unused movie set. Not even the wind seemed to blow and nothing stirred even in the branches of the trees. Everything was still and silent, except for Sam and it was depressing and the grey skies above didn't serve to help lighten the mood.

Sam couldn't understand what was going on, especially after following those phantom voices. They were the only voices she had heard in this town save for that of Danny and Erica. They were the only two people she had seen in this town. Save for those two and the two mysterious people she had never found, they were the only ones.

Why did it feel as if this town had beeln evacuated, as if a terrible nuclear accident had happened nearby or as if a terrible virus had been unleashed?

With a heavy sigh, Sam collapsed onto a nearby bench. She felt so alone here in this town. First her memories had abandoned her, then it seemed just as she had gotten her memories back, the townsfolk had abandoned her to this empty town. How could anyone feel this lonely? Sure, she had always been alone even in Casper High whenever Danny or Tucker weren't there. She never fitted in with any of the other kids at Casper High, not that she wanted to. But she had never felt lonely before. Sam had always been content in the knowledge that she had friends, good friends, best friends, friends that would never abandon her because of something superficial like her tastes and the way she dressed and acted.

But one of her friends had abandoned her.

Danny had abandoned her because of some ideal. He had gone over to the Blue Bow Army…

"Stop thinking about that!" she shouted to herself. "Stop thinking about that! I know! I know Danny's Leader of the Blue Bow Army now! Stop reminding me!"

Something didn't quite add up, though. She knew that this was a dream world. It had to be. Nothing else made sense. She knew it was a dream world, partially because it wasn't tailored to fool her. This wasn't a dream world to imprison her. It was one to imprison someone else and the illusion was designed to fool that someone else, not her. It felt, almost, as if the dream world didn't even recognise her, as if it didn't even know she existed. After all, Sam wasn't even supposed to be there.

So who was this dream world designed to imprison?

Perhaps it was designed to imprison the Danny Fenton that she met near the beach? If so, then that meant… That meant that the Danny she had seen at the pool was a fake. Could it be, that perhaps the Blue Bow Army had managed to evict Danny from his own body and replace it with a ghost fragment of his own personality? That would have explained the strange stuttering of the Danny she had had to face against at the Public Pool.

Sam began to wonder. If this Danny in this world was the Danny she knew, then if she could awaken him, would she break the Blue Bow Army's hold over him? With him back to his normal self, he would surely be able to destroy the Blue Bow Army from within and end the nightmare they had started.

Ghostly images started to appear down the street. Transparent trees and cars and vans and people suddenly appeared all around Sam, and gradually became more real until they looked as solid as she did. The shops started to change and soon they looked as if they had been in business for years and their wares looked fresh and new as did their windows and window displays. It was as if the entire world was reappearing around her.

That could only mean one thing.

"Danny's coming," muttered Sam under her breath.

The only question was where he could be. There were so many people around her now that it was almost like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Sam rose up from the bench and looked around her. She stepped up on to the bench to gain some height, but still to no avail. It was difficult to see where Danny could be, especially what with there being so many dark-haired people around. She wondered. How could she find Danny? Was there a simple way to search for him?

Well, she knew one thing for sure. If this was a prison for Danny, then there had to be someone nearby to keep an eye on him, to make sure that no external factors would awaken him. Sam thought carefully. If that was the case, then perhaps all she needed to do was look for the one person that Danny would always be with or near. If she did that, then surely she would be able to find Danny, and Sam had a sneaking suspicion that that Erica girl was the person designated to keep an eye on Danny.

It shouldn't have been too hard for her to search for someone with light blue hair, especially what with there being so few people with light coloured hair or unnaturally coloured hair around.

There! Sam spotted Erica and with her was the black-haired twenty-year old that shared Danny's name.

Sam wasn't exactly sure why Danny was so old in this world and why he didn't recognise her, but she knew she would find out sooner or later. If she continued to prod away at the seams, she would eventually tear the fabric of this illusion world. In doing so, Danny would have to realise that this world he was living in was nothing more than a lie and he would be forced to wake up.

The black-haired girl leapt down from the bench and hurried past the crowd of people that didn't seem to even recognise her existence. Many of them collided with her and got in her way. None of them seemed to see her or even recognise that she was there, even after they had collided with her. Sam found herself fighting her way through the crowd, trying her best to push her way through it in an attempt to get to Danny and Erica before they could disappear out of sight again. She couldn't allow herself to lose sight of Danny. She just couldn't.

Up ahead, Danny and Erica walked into one of the shops.

Sam followed suit, after she finally managed to find a break in the crowd. She pushed through the door and entered, to be greeted by a scene she had never expected. It was something she should have expected though. With the clinking of glasses and the aroma of tobacco smoke, the smell of beer wafted through the air along with the smell of greasy food that had been deep fried.

"I got idea man," sang the man clad in an all blue suit, as he stood on the stage opposite Sam. "You took me for a walk… Under the Sycamore Trees." He swayed slightly, as he stood there on the stage, illuminated by a harsh spotlight that looked bright enough to peel his skin right off his flesh. "The dark trees that blow, baby!" he continued to sing. "In the dark trees that blow!"

Sam looked around her carefully to see where Danny could have gotten to. It wasn't a large bar, but there were certainly a lot of people. She couldn't seem to see Danny anywhere, which was strange, coz she could have sworn she had seen him enter this bar. Was it possible that she had been wrong?

"And I'll see you," the man continued to sing, bathed in the impossibly bright spotlight. "And you'll see me…"
"And I'll see you in the branches that blow…"
"In the breeze."
"I'll see you in the trees."
"I'll see you in the trees…"
"Under the Sycamore Trees."

The song had a menacing tone to it that Sam hadn't quite anticipated. It had a captivating nature to it that seemed almost spell-binding. Perhaps it was the slow nature of it, the sadness or that hint of what sounded like an organ. Maybe it was the fact that he had suddenly stopped and started playing a saxophone in a slow, sad and slightly menacing way. Whatever it was, it made Sam feel very unwelcome as she stood there in bar, without a drink, without anyone, all alone within a crowd.

"And I'll see you," repeated the man. "And you'll see me."
"And I'll see you in the branches that blow…"
"In the breeze."
"I'll see you in the trees."
"I'll see you in the trees…"
"Under the Sycamore Trees."

The spotlight suddenly died and it seemed as if the man in blue had disappeared altogether. There was no round of applause from the bar's patrons, as if they hadn't been listening to a single bit of the song. Not that they had. Throughout it all, they had been talking and chatting, as if the song wasn't meant for their ears or as if they didn't hear it at all. Even when the song ended, they continued as if nothing had happened.

Sam frowned.

It seemed that one phrase was prevalent amongst the chatter of the customers around her.

The Phantoms.

The way they talked, it was like they were talking about a band. Each one of them was excited to be there, as if they were waiting for the band to appear up on stage and start performing. Perhaps that was why they were all there.

It didn't make sense though. As far as Sam could remember, Danny had never been much of a musician. Sure, his singing was no way as bad as Tucker's (then again, nobody's singing could be as bad as his), but it wasn't the best there was around. Maybe the Danny she had attempted to find wasn't the Danny she knew. Perhaps it was some other Danny, another Danny whose name may have coincidentally been the same as that of the Danny she knew.

"Welcome to the Blue Rose!" announced a man that had stepped up on to the stage. "Thank you all for coming tonight. I'm sure you've been waiting a long time for this, so I without anymore delay, please give a hand to The Phantoms!"

Sam watched as the curtains drew aside and her mouth hung open.

Standing there in the middle of the stage was the twenty-year old Danny Fenton, dressed in the same clothes that the Danny Fenton she once knew would have dressed in. He wore the same white T-shirt with the red spot design on the chest and the same light blue jeans with the same trainers, and the only exception was that he wore a black long-sleeved T-shirt under his white one. If it weren't for the fact that he was older and had longer hair tied back into a ponytail, he would have been the exact spitting image of the Daniel Fenton that Sam once knew.

"No way," murmured Sam, as Danny started playing.

"The Dreams I longed for are still not true," Danny began singing, as he strummed the chords on his guitar, "And this cold world seems so unkind."
"Why is it that I can't be with you?
"This question won't leave my mind."

Danny flung his head back and in doing so, the hairs that had gotten into his eyes flung backwards.
"Sometimes I wish to surrender," he continued singing. "And give up chasing my beloved dreams."
"But your smile makes me remember."
"Nothing is perfect, it would seem."

The rest of the band seemed familiar to Sam, somehow, yet she couldn't quite figure out how. The way they were dressed, their hairstyles, the shapes of their faces… All looked so familiar to her. She was sure she had seen those band members somewhere before, but from where and when?

"And by my side we will find our true destiny," sang Danny, as the volume seemed to climax. "We will both find out the truth of our reality."

"Why is it that you just cannot see?
"Why is it that we just cannot be?
"This loneliness hurts me most
"But that's life..."

"Why must we do this all over again?
"Why can't you see that I am in pain?
"Know that this isn't some phase.
"No it's not.
"I just wish that I could hold you in a sweet embrace."

Sam listened to those words. Were they expressing how Danny felt? Could it be possible that they were expressing his feelings for her? She wondered. It couldn't be possible, especially the way he kept denying his love for her and the way she did the same. Yet the way he always blushed whenever they got too close together… How could she not believe that he didn't secretly love her?

"What do you think you're doing here?"

It was at that point that Sam turned round. She recognised the light-blue-haired girl that stood near her as being Erica, the girl that had clung on to Danny so tightly. Sam recognised the utter disdain on Erica's face, the same look that she had given her back near the beach.
"I've come to take Danny home," she said, but her voice was drowned out by the loudness of the music. "I know you're the one who's keeping him here and I won't let you get away with it!"

The music was so loud, Sam hardly heard her own voice. She couldn't in fact. All she could hear was the music of the band, the drums, the guitars and Danny's voice. Why was it so loud? This was a sad song. It shouldn't have been so loud.

Erica clicked her fingers and arms grabbed Sam.

Despite all she could try, Sam couldn't break free from the grip on her. She was dragged away and before she knew what was going on, she had been flung outside of the bar and into the alley to land with a thud on the black plastic bin liners filled with garbage.

"You stay away from my Danny," said Erica, as she stopped at the doorway. "He's mine now."

Sam looked up from the trash.
"This world isn't real," she said sternly. "None of it's real. You can't keep him here forever. He'll find out eventually. Danny's smart. He'll figure out this entire world is a lie."

Erica laughed at Sam's comments.
"You're just jealous," she retorted. "You're just jealous that he's my boyfriend now. Well, you know what? You can't have him back. You should have spent more time with him when you had the chance."

"He was not my boyfriend!" screamed Sam in protest, before chucking the nearest thing to hand at Erica.

That nearest thing just happened to be a half-rotten banana peel and it landed with a splatter on one side of Erica's face. It stuck there hideously, before slowly sliding down off her face to land with a splat on the alley floor. What were left on Erica's face was some yellowish slime and a look of pure rage. It was a terrible look of rage, that seemed so familiar to Sam. It was as if she had seen it before.

Something soon came back to Sam. Perhaps it was the look of rage on Erica's face that did the trick. Yes, with that blue hair and that look… All that was needed was some white face paint.

"Ember," said Sam calmly.

The blue hair erupted into what seemed like blue flames, as Erica's skin became a pale white. Her clothes changed to the very exact same ones she wore when Danny captured her in his Fenton Ghost Thermos. All that was missing was her guitar, which was nowhere to be seen.
"That's right," she said angrily. "So you recognise me, eh, Goth Girl?"

"The name's Sam," protested Sam sternly, as she rose to her feet.

"Who cares?" retorted Ember dismissively, as she snapped her fingers.

Two bodyguards stepped around her to stand on in front of her menacingly. The two of them cracked their knuckles, as they stared Sam down, each of them glaring at her through sunglasses despite the night darkness. One of them adjusted the lapels of his suit, a suit on which the Blue Bow Army's Insignia adorned the breast pocket.

"Take care of this pest," said Ember, before she went back and closed the door shut behind her.

There was a crackle and two rings of light appeared around each of the bodyguards, before passing around their bodies. As each ring of light passed, their bodies changed, until they lost their human form altogether. All that was left was some blue ghostly form with spectral tails and the Blue Bow Army's symbol emblazoned on their chests. There faces were completely devoid of any orifices or any features, except for the Chinese characters that were inscribed in red across their visages.

Two ghosts against one human and a defenceless human girl at that.

The odds didn't look to be in Sam's favour.

Both ghosts rushed towards Sam. They flung their fists straight at her, but missed as she dived out of the way. The ghosts whirled round, looking around them for any signs of her.

Sam quickly slammed the trashcan over the head of one ghost and then kicked it over. She side-stepped another punch and then kicked it in the groin, or where the groin would have been if it were a male. But seeing as this ghost was androgynous, it didn't seem to hurt it much. Even worse was that her foot was stuck inside the ghost, as if it was made out of a gelatinous glue. She swore, as she hopped on one foot and tried her best to pull her other foot out of the ghost.

The ghost lashed out at Sam and grabbed her. It pulled her out of its body and then flung her into the trash bags again.

"Well, this is pleasant," said Sam sarcastically, as she tried her best to stand up. "Thank you for flinging me into that stuff again. Once was enough, but thanks again for giving me a second taste of trash." She picked rubbish out of her hair, flinging it aside, as she glared at the faceless ghost.

A metallic clanging noise made Sam turn round. She saw the other ghost had managed to slip out of the garbage can she had stuck over its head. Now it was going to be her against the two of them again and she was clearly outclassed and outnumbered. Sam knew these ghosts couldn't care less if she was a girl, and she was fine with that. There was no point in being selective about her own ideals. If it meant being treated like a normal guy would and being dragged into a fight, then she would have to put up with it.

After all, that was the entire point of feminism, wasn't it?

Still, there was a difference between that and being caught up in an unfair fight.

Then again, maybe Feminism was nothing more than a pipe dream…

"Dream," muttered Sam in sudden realisation. She remembered that she was in a dream world and in dreams, anything is possible. "This is a dream," she repeated to herself and then looked at the ghost behind her and at the ghost in front.

A smile spread across Sam's lips. She would show them that she was would be more of a match to them, regardless of her gender. Sam would teach these ghosts that a girl was just as tough as any guy.
"Gender's got nothing to do with it," she said. "I'll take you both on and wipe the floor with your ghost butts." She lifted her foot and then grimaced at what she had stepped in. "And this floor really needs it," she added, before shuddering.

The ghosts rushed towards her.

Sam spread her arms out, the palms of her hands aimed at each ghost. She concentrated and imagined her energy focusing at her hands. Though fear struck her, she did her best to do nothing but concentrate on energy forming on the palms of her hands. She had to concentrate. She couldn't let her train of thought be broken by something completely irrelevant, or else her plan would surely fail regardless of whether it was going to work in the first place.

Then, like Danny, she fired two blasts of energy that flew through the air. Both beams of energy struck a ghost and incinerated it, tearing off the ectoplasm that protected its controlling circuitry and frying the wires and electronics underneath.

"That was easy," commented Sam, before she rushed towards the door and kicked it in.

There was nothing inside. It was almost as if the bar was deserted, as if it had gone bankrupt years ago and was now still empty. None of it made sense. She hadn't been outside for long, so how was it possible for the bar to be empty so quickly?

Still, it didn't matter. Sam knew how to find Danny. Wherever the town didn't look empty and looked reasonably normal, that was where he would be. Wherever the illusion looked the most real, that was where Danny could be found. And now that she knew how this world worked, a dream world, where she could fly if she really wanted to, she would be able to search from the sky.


The shades were pulled tightly, obscuring the light from outside. No, there certainly wasn't going to be any clichéd waking up to the sound of birds or rays of sunlight. In fact, if the curtains had been drawn back it would have revealed a dark, damp and grey sky with rain falling down in sheets.

Danny groggily opened his eyes and he was greeted with an unfamiliar bedroom, one that didn't look like his own somehow. Where was he and what was the time?

A sleepy mumble reached his ears and then Danny found he couldn't move much.

Previous thoughts dissipated like shadows in the light and Danny found himself wondering what he had been thinking about since he opened his eyes. Had he even been thinking or was he contemplating last night? Maybe he was contemplating last night and how everything had gone.

"Danny," sighed a voice that was soft and dry, as Erica lay behind the black-haired young adult with her arms wrapped around him. She hugged him tightly, snuggling up against him as if he was her favourite teddy bear, a few strands of blue-dyed hair resting across her face and a few resting on his bare skin, as she held him tightly to her body, her smooth skin against his own and her velvety lips parted ever so slightly.

How peaceful she looked… Well, he assumed she looked very peaceful, like the other times he had awoken to her company. Danny wanted to turn round and look at that peaceful face, like he had done once before. Oh, but she was a light sleeper and he didn't want to wake her. Rather, Danny let himself relax and decided to enjoy the moment, this calm after the storm. After all, these were possibly the best moments of their love. What could be better than this?

He smiled, as he lay there. Erica was his first fan and his first love. They had been going steady for quite some time and she was the one that kept him going through thick and thin. She had been his one inspiration. She had been the one that had inspired him to write the songs for the band. She had been the one to dig him out of his rut whenever he needed it and she was the one that meant more than anything else to him.

Yet, something didn't feel quite right. It was like nagging feeling at the back of his mind. Something didn't seem right about this, as if he didn't belong there with her.

"What you thinking?" asked a sweet, gentle and melodious voice that drifted into his ear.

And the thoughts disappeared once more, like Atlantis sinking beneath the waves. His eyebrow's rose upwards and furrowed. What had he been thinking about?
"Just thinking 'bout you," was Danny's reply.

"Oh?" exclaimed Erica with a tone of feigned surprise. "Really? And what exactly where you thinking about me?"

"Did you know you snore really loudly?" blurted out Danny. "Just like this," he said and then he made a noise that sounded like a cross between a gargling pig and a snoring helicopter.

"What?" cried Erica loudly to the accompaniment of Danny's laughter. "I do not!" she protested, as she whipped the pillow out from underneath Danny's head and started whacking him with it. "You take that back, Daniel Fenton!"

Danny continued to laugh, as he tried half-heartedly to stop her from hitting him. He knew that no harm was meant by it all and he knew she knew that.
"Hey, no fair," he said to her, as he reached out to grab her wrists. "Use your own pillow!"

"Nuh-uh," was Erica's reply, as she sat down on her pillow.

"Aw, come on," pleaded Danny, as he gave her his best puppy-dog eyes trick.

Erica tried her best to look away from him, but found herself unable to. It was almost as if there was something magnetic about his eyes.
"Don't do that," she told him. "You look so pathetic when you do. Almost when the times you giggle like a girl."

"Hey, I don't do that!" protested Danny, his voice nearly breaking into a feminine squeak as he did so.

"Do too!" retorted Erica. "'Specially if I do this!" She then dove in for the attack, her fingers running over Danny's bare flesh and his flanks.

Danny was ticklish. That was a little known fact and he was quite susceptible to Erica's manner of doing it.
"Hey, stop that!" he cried out between laughs, his voice squeaking, as he curled up in an attempt to hide as much of his flesh away from her roaming fingers. "Quit it! Cut it out! Okay, I give! I give!"

"Oh no, you're not getting away that easily," was Erica's reply to Danny's words of submission.

"Okay, I take it back! I take it back!" called out Danny. "You don't snore like that. I was only kidding!"

Erica sat back with a satisfied smile on her face.
"There, that wasn't so bad now was it?" she asked him, with her arms folded across her chest.

Danny turned to look at her with a hurt look on his face, or rather, a mock-hurt expression on his face.
"You're mean," he said.

"Oh, lay off it, Danny," retorted Erica, as she looked into his eyes lovingly.

The feigned hurt look on his face was soon replaced with a loving smile, as Danny looked into Erica's emerald green eyes. He wanted to say something, but he found that he couldn't. Words seemed intangible to him. Even though they had been going steady for quite some time, he still found it difficult to tell her that his passion burned white hot with the intensity of a thousand suns. It was almost as if a cat had stolen his tongue straight from his mouth while he wasn't paying attention. His mouth would always feel dry and sticky, that is, until Erica broke the awkward stillness by leaning in to kiss him.

Danny couldn't help but feel strange as the kiss deepened on Erica's insistence. Why was it that the novelty had not worn off even after so many times? Every kiss seemed like the first to him. Every kiss seemed to burn his lips, as if her own were made from red hot coals. Yet he wouldn't have it any other way. This was what he was used to. This was what he expected from her. He couldn't possibly imagine being with any other girl. Whenever they kissed, she seemed to be the only one for him and no matter how hard he tried to think, even though he couldn't, he could never dream of being with anyone else.

Erica was the one to break off the kiss.

"I love you," said Danny.

"How much?" replied Erica, as the smile on her face widened.

"Um…" was Danny's reply.

"Enough to make me breakfast?" asked Erica in an innocent tone of voice.

"Yeah, okay," agreed Danny, as he unwrapped his arms from around her lithe body. He sat up and then looked around him. "Um… where're my pants?" he asked curiously.

Erica smiled, as she looked around.
"I don't see them," she told him. She then looked at him, as he searched around the bed naked. "Why don't you go make breakfast naked?" she suggested with a giggle.

Danny turned round quickly with a look of surprise on his face. It was a shocked look, but it soon dissipated and a smile spread across his lips.
"Oh, I get it," he said in an accusing tone of voice. "Where are they?" He waited a while. "Come on, Erica. Where are they?"

The doorbell suddenly rang.

"I wonder who that could be?" wondered Danny out loud, as he turned round. And in turning round, he failed to notice a displeased look spread across Erica's face. He heard the doorbell ring again. "I'd better go get that," he said, as he got up from the bed. He didn't get very far though, before a hand grabbed him. He turned back round. "Erica, let go!"

Erica shook her head.
"Danny, please," she whispered. "Don't go. Stay here. Stay here with me."

"I'm sorry, but I have to go get that," apologised Danny, as he wrenched his arm free from her grip. He walked out of the bedroom and stopped by the bathroom to grab a towel to wrap around his waist, before proceeding downstairs and opening the door.

Standing on the other side was a fourteen-year old with black hair. He wore the same white T-shirt that Danny wore at the gig the night before and the same jeans and the same shoes, only a few sizes smaller. The teenager also wore a mischievous smile on his lips and there was a strange glint in his eyes, as he stood there at the door with his finger on the doorbell.

Danny frowned. There was something about this kid that seemed familiar to him.
"Um… hi," he greeted the kid.

"Who is it, Danny?" asked Erica from the stairs. She then gasped. "No! It can't be!"

"Yeah? Well, think again," retorted the teenager, before a ring of light passed over his body and he changed, his hair becoming snow white and his sky blue eyes becoming an eerie green that glowed like a fluorescent light.

"But… if you're Danny, then who's this?" cried Erica, as she pointed at the twenty-year old in the towel cloth.

A look of rage passed across Erica's face, before she transformed back into her real form, that of Ember McClane. She aimed her right hand at the fourteen-year old Danny Phantom and fired a blast of purple energy down at him.
"I thought I put you under my spell," she said, as her energy blast missed both Danny's. "Well, this time round, I'll make sure you never wake up from this dream!"

"Erica?" exclaimed the twenty-year old Danny.

The white-haired Danny flew straight at Ember, but before he could even get to Ember, he was pinned down by another fiery blast from the white-faced ghost. He crashed down on to the floor and just before he could get up again, Ember landed on top of him heavily, pinning him down to the floor with her weight.

Ember glared down at the white-haired Danny.
"How?" she practically shouted at him. "How did you escape? When you arrived, I made sure to put you under my spell, to make you fall hopelessly in love with me so you'd never suspect the true nature of this dream. I was sure I had you." She turned to look at the Danny in the towel. "And who is that? Who have I been wasting my time on?"

"That's Danny," replied the white-haired Danny in a female voice, before a ring of light passed over his body and revealed him to be no one else but Samantha Mason.

A look of pure horror spread across Ember's face, as she let go of Sam and stepped backwards. She turned to look at the Danny in a towel, whom had been staring at her with a mixed expression of horror and shock.
"No," she muttered under her breath. "No!" she screamed angrily, as she watched the illusion on Danny disintegrate.

The entire world soon faded away into a black void, in which only they were visible.

The twenty-year old Danny soon regressed and became his fourteen-year old self, now that Ember's spell had been broken.

Memories flooded back into Danny's mind. He remembered everything now, from the battle with the Blue Bow Army soldiers to drinking the tea of Lady Meng Po. All the other memories, of him meeting Erica and of him falling in love with her and going steady with her and making love with her… All of them seemed to fade away and become so fake and fabricated, as if they were nothing more than the scenes from a soap opera.

"Ember," said Danny, as he lowered his head, his hands clenched tightly into fists. "You…" he began and then trailed off.

This was the second time Danny's feelings had been toyed with by this ghost. He felt as if his heart had been torn out and stamped upon, just like the last time. This time was worse though, because he had done more than just fall in love. Though he was a forgiving person, he could never forgive Ember for what she had done to him. He could never forgive her.

Danny screamed angrily. He changed into his ghost form and a wave of energy radiated from his body. It swept over Sam and over Ember, and both girls closed their eyes, afraid of what the energy radiating out from Danny's body would do. Though it did nothing to Sam, it blasted Ember apart and with a shriek of pure agony, Ember was torn apart into various ghost particles that drifted away and faded away, unlike her scream which seemed to echo around them for ever.

When Ember's scream died down, Sam opened her eyes to see Danny still standing there, but panting heavily.

"Danny," exclaimed Sam, as she rushed over to him. "You okay?" she asked him in concern.

It seemed as if Danny was too out of breath to reply, or rather, that he had not heard Sam at all. She was about to ask him again, when he turned silently to look at her wordlessly with eyes that glowed an eerie green. Though they looked so unnatural, it was clear to Sam that this really was Danny that was looking at her. Those eyes of his seemed to be a window upon his soul, a gentle soul, a caring soul. There was no coldness in his eyes, unlike the version of Danny she had met at the public swimming pool, the version that had threatened to crush her head.

A faint smile spread across Danny's lips, as if it was forced.
"I guess," he began, "I guess I'll be all right." He then looked in the direction in which Ember had once been and then back at Sam. He sighed. "I don't know… Maybe… Yeah, I guess I'll be all right."

Sam suddenly hugged him tightly.

"Whoa! Hey! What's this for?" asked Danny.

"I'm so glad I found you, Danny," she told him, as tears streamed down her eyes.


Danny was still dressed in the body armour with the blue cape, as he sat there in the Central Instrument Room. This was the physical Danny, the Danny that existed in the real world and the one that was Leader of the Blue Bow Army. He was the same Danny that had cruelly ordered the destruction of his own family, the one that had killed Suimsalp and the one that had tried to drown both Sam and Tucker. This was the Danny that had appeared the morning after the failed attempt to sneak into the Roslyn Hospital Complex to find and rescue the entity known as Alex.

He suddenly cried out in pain, his entire face wincing, as he clutched at his head. Danny felt as if something was wrong, as if there was another him trying desperately hard to force its way back into reality. He could sense it. There was another entity that was trying to take his place, to be him…


Jack Fenton drove like a maniac down the road. It was not just the thought that his inventions had been used by the Blue Bow Army for its own devious purposes, not just the fact that he had helped them willingly, but that he had been made a patsy. That was what enraged him the most, that he had been tricked and deceived, and not only that, but he had been betrayed as well, as demonstrated by the Blue Bow's attack on his home and his family.

He would not let them get away with it. No, Jack Fenton would not let them get away with deceiving him and attempting to kill him and his family. As far as he was concerned, no one got the better of a Fenton. He would drive right up to and through the gates leading to Roslyn Hospital and teach the Board of Directors a lesson they would not forget. Jack Fenton would teach the Executives of the Blue Bow Army to never mess with the Fenton Family.

Suddenly, the Fenton Family Ghost Assault Vehicle veered off course.

"Jack, watch where you're going!" cried Maddie.

"I am!" protested Jack, as the RV veered off course again. "The road's shaking!"

Cracks were appearing in the tarmac and on the sidewalk. The trees were shaking. Cracks started appearing in the walls of the apartments. There was a terrible shudder and the road suddenly split right down the middle, along the road markings. A lamp post wavered and toppled over like a drunk to crash on to the ruptured ground, bridging the gap between the two halves of the now destroyed road.

"Earthquake!" cried Tucker.

Jack slammed his foot on the brakes as a section of the road lifted up in front of them like a crocodile's jaw. The RV skidded across the tarmac, the tyres screeching and rubber burning. It screeched to a halt just millimetres away from the cavernous hole in front that would have swallowed them hole and dumped them into the town's sewer system.
"That was a close one," he sighed.


O'Donnell looked out towards Amity Park. He could see a few fires raging from split gas pipes and sections of the city blacked out from downed power cables, and that was without the binoculars he had brought with him. Seeing as everything seemed so clear from up on the roof of Arcadia Tower, he lowered the binoculars. And he smiled.

The earth around Amity Park seemed unstable.

That could only mean one thing.

"It would seem they've captured the last Seal of the Si Ling."

Finally, it would seem that O'Donnell's long life dream would come true. With the last of the ghost fragments, he would be able to complete the construction of the Life Ghost. He would be able to realise his dreams and ideals. The world would bow down to the Blue Bow Army and be united under one Leader. There would only be one Nation, a World Nation, and all wars would cease upon the unification of all races.

And he himself would become like a God.


Sam then finished telling Danny all about her encounters at the Swimming Pool.

"If you wake up, you'll be able to take back control of your own body," said Sam sternly.

Danny closed his eyes and sighed. He shook his head.
"Sam, it isn't that simple," he told her. "I'm here in this world. It's close to where Alex is, I can feel it." He looked around him. "If I can… if I can find him, I can get him out of here, as I promised."

Sam didn't like the idea of that. If Danny stayed in this strange dream world, between the conscious and the unconscious, what would become of his physical body in the real world? Would it still be inhabited by that impostor personality that she knew must have been responsible for the death of Suimsalp?
"Danny, you've got to come back with me," pleaded Sam. "You can always come back here later."

"I'm sorry, Sam," he apologised to her with a shake of his head. "I can't. Not now." He then smiled at her. "Don't worry, though. I won't be long. I promise."

"No, Danny! Don't go!"


Slowly, Sam's eyes opened to be greeted by a vast expanse of white.

For a while, Sam lay there, deep in thought. She thought about everything that had happened, about the dream world, about her encounter with Danny in the dream world. Sam thought about what it all meant. What did it all mean? Roslyn. Yes, it meant that she must be somewhere within the Roslyn Hospital Complex, after all, only the Blue Bow Army would have wanted her kept under and unconscious like that.

"You're awake!" exclaimed a feminine voice that Sam didn't recognise.

Sam sat up and then she turned to look at the woman that sat near her.
"You?" she exclaimed in disbelief.