"lo! If you didn't see, chapter five is different from a reviewer check in now. You should read it if you haven't, or else you will be very very confused. Okay, anyways, the next chapter!

Oh, and I am soooo sorry about the huge wait. I was waiting for some reviews, but none came (tear). So I updated! Oh, and there's the fact that teachers seem to think that we have no life besides school. . . Argh. Um, okay! This switches to First Person partway through. . .

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Chapter Six: Riddles

"Danny?" Jazz gasped as he and his friends, including a strange, tired looking girl, appeared in front of her. Danny looked around, slightly confused, before his eyes settled on Jazz.

"Hi." he said weakly, then glanced at the girl. She looked back evenly. "Rhiannon needs to lie down. . ." Jazz jumped off the bed and the girl collapsed onto it.

"Please explain." Jazz said finally. Danny looked away, as did Sam and Tucker.

"I wish I could." he muttered, rubbing his temples. "We were trapped by Jo. . . That gold ghost that showed up at school, but I. . . Inviso-Bill, I mean, he saved us." Jazz raised an eyebrow, but stayed quiet for a minute. She stood and started to leave the room, but peeked back in.

"Mom and Dad have been worried sick. Can I tell them that you and Sam and Tucker are here?" she asked, glancing at the girl on the bed, and then at her brother's slightly panicked expression. "They're pretty busy, probably won't have time to come see you, and I can tell them that you're taking a nap. . ." Danny raised an eyebrow.

"You would lie? Why?" Sam asked finally. Jazz pointed to the bed and shrugged.

"Just be quiet, okay? There's enough noise as it is. Half of the school is taking shelter here, and everyone is freaked out." She closed the door. Danny, Sam, and Tucker let out a collective sigh of relief and sat on the floor. Tucker closed his eyes.

"It's been a really tiring day." he muttered, leaning back against Danny's set of drawers. Sam glanced at Danny's alarm clock and gasped.

"It's earlier than when we left!" she exclaimed, jumping to her feet. Danny blinked slightly and swiveled his head towards Rhiannon.

"We were trapped for a little less than two days." he said finally. "No wonder my parents were worried."

"What about ours?" Tucker asked quietly, standing and walking over to the window. He glanced outside and paled slightly.

"Dude, what's wrong? Did you see a ghost?" Danny joked, walking over to stand next to Tuck. His eyes widened. The street was absolutely empty, and small craters pockmarked the asphalt road. A wispy dark mist clung to the ground, giving the early dawn light a nightmarish appearance.

"I think our parents have a little more to worry about right now than where we are." Sam said bitterly. And then, half to herself, "And this was one of the few times mine were home." She wiped away a tear, clenching her teeth to keep from sobbing. Danny noticed her sadness and moved next to her, putting an arm around her shoulder in a comforting embrace. Sam smiled thankfully and hugged him back.

"Ahem." Tucker said quietly, snapping the two lovebirds out of la-la land. "Maybe we should go downstairs and see who made it through?"

"Good idea." Danny said, tearing himself away from Sam, blushing madly. Sam smiled even more and glanced at the floor, blushing too. They walked out of the room, flicking off the lights as they went.

Rhiannon slept soundly on.

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"Danny!" Maddie exclaimed happily when she saw his bedraggled figure walking down the stairs. He looked bewildered, staring at the fifty some-odd students milling around in his living room. Each person had been fitted with a miniature Fenton Bazooka and had been taught how to use them. Each face was grim and hard-set, as each person had seen a friend or family member taken by Joanna and hated her even more than they hated Inviso-Bill.

"Hey, mom, dad. What's up?" he asked tiredly. They hugged him so hard that he thought he was going to be crushed. A little ways up the stairs, Tucker and Sam stood, hopefully scanning the throng of people milling around below them. Both sets of parents were missing.

"What happened to you three?" Jack asked once Jazz had pried him off of Danny. In bits and pieces, the trio explained about Joanna Nightshade and her terrible powers, leaving out the parts with Rhiannon, not divulging their deepest fears, and substituting Danny Phantom with Inviso-Bill. When they had finished, dawn had broken.

"Have you seen my parents?" Sam asked quietly. Jack and Maddie shook their heads.

"Sorry, kids. These are the only people we could gather." Maddie said, gesturing around. Tucker and Sam nodded slightly and walked back upstairs into Danny's room. Jazz was right, Sam thought. It was way too noisy down there.

"Are you sure you didn't leave anything out, Danny. You saw Bill fighting Joanna, not working with her?" Jack asked, pushing Danny for an answer. Danny nodded.

"Look, I'm really tired and I need a nap. Could I go now?" he said testily. Maddie nodded and he walked upstairs. Tucker was already asleep on the floor and Sam was standing by the window. "Hey." he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Hey." she replied, turning slightly and frowning. "Look out there. It hasn't gotten any lighter. It's like Joanna is shielding the city from the sun." Danny looked and found that Sam was telling the truth. The light was a dusty grey and everything seemed washed out.

"Yeah. Creepy." he said finally. Sam nodded and looked back outside. The two stood in silence for a moment before Sam felt a cold hand on her shoulder. She jumped and turned, but it was only Rhiannon.

That's one of her strategies. She steals away what matters, your family, your friends, your life. She stared off into the distance, and then continued bitterly. Once she has broken down the remaining people, she comes in for a crushing blow. She steals the sun away, and with it the rest of your hope. It seems impossible, but just the loss of light can hurt a person terribly.

"Yeah." Sam looked away moodily and then back into the room. "Look, I'm going to hit the hay. It's been a while, you know?" Danny and Rhiannon nodded and she stumbled off to fall into a chair, asleep almost immediately. Danny sighed and sat down on his bed. Rhiannon floated over and sat beside him, raising an eyebrow.

You need rest, Daniel. Why don't you sleep? Danny looked away.

"There are way too many questions running around in my head to sleep. And too much responsibility. I have to get rid of Joanna, whatever it takes." Rhiannon shifted uncomfortably.

One of your questions is about me, is it not? She smiled faintly as Danny nodded. I thought as much. You wish to know what Joanna and I have against each other. You want to know how, Rhi paused, composing herself, how I died. And how to defeat Joanna, how it was managed all of those years ago. But first, I have a question for you.

"Shoot."

Do you know what is the hardest thing to keep, the thing you most want to keep, and yet the worst thing to have?

"No. . . Um. . .a conscience? It's hard to have and you don't really want it and. . ." Rhiannon shook her head.

I will tell you later. You still wish to know about my life. she noted flatly, almost disappointed.

"Well, yes. If you wouldn't mind." Danny said quietly. "I won't fall asleep or try and compare my life to yours, I promise." Rhi smiled.

I wouldn't have thought you would. she said wanly, and then frowned. It is not a story with a happy ending, Daniel, and you won't like the solution to Joanna, not one bit. Do you still wish to hear the story? Once I have begun, I cannot stop, nor can you cease in listening. And it will not help ease your responsibilities. It will most likely make them even more of a burden. Danny nodded, wondering what the heck she was talking about. Rhiannon saw his new question in his eyes. You are certain?

"Yes." Danny said finally. Why was she warning him not to listen when he obviously wanted her to tell her story. "Please start."

Fine. You have made your choice, be it for better or worse. I fear the latter, Daniel, but we are bound now to the telling of the story. I am still weak. Rhi said, closing her eyes. But this I can do. Her eyes snapped open, glowing a soft silver, like twin moons shining from her face. Danny stared into her eyes, the world fading away behind them. Rhiannon's voice echoed around him as she started the story. Pictures began to run through his head, mirrored in the silver eyes he could not look away from.

"It started long ago. . ." Danny said softly, and the light flared in Rhiannon's eyes.

Yes, boy. It started long ago. . .

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It started long before recorded history, in a time scientists can only begin to imagine. Time runs in circles, so long and wide that there is no risk of learning from our past mistakes. Before the dinosaurs, before the amoebas you believe to be the first organism on Earth, there was a civilization not unlike yours. And, before that, there was a version of the Middle Ages, the darkest time in our history. At this time, the Ghost Zone had not yet been created by the sorcerers and necromancers. No, that happened after the Time of The Fright Knight, to imprison him and Joanna, and all of the dead, in a place they could not escape from. It didn't work quite the way they wanted it to, but that is another, longer story.

In this time, I lived in a small stone hut, in a relatively peaceful land. When I turned seven, a man named Wolfe overthrew the king with a sword called Soul Shredder. He took on the name of the Fright Knight, and many titles after that. His daughter, Joanna, was eleven at that time. She was playing in the armory one day, and she found the sword. She was cut by it and entrapped in her worst nightmare. She was completely alone for the next eight years.

When I heard about her accident, I felt sorry for the poor girl. Little did I know that her years alone gave her time to plot revenge on the people that did not try to help her, and to think of the day she would go and destroy her father for letting her touch the sword. Her mind became warped, her soul steeped in hate. When I turned fifteen, it was her nineteenth birthday. She died in her nightmare and was released into the world. She went straight to the castle and murdered her father. I don't know where he went after that, possibly to a southern land to rule in bloodthirsty pride.

Joanna seized the land, tormenting everyone of it's inhabitants, including me. Her power is drawn from the people she tortures, the stronger the pain they suffer, the more power she gains. Two of my friends and I decided that we could overthrow her, but she caught wind of our plan. She killed one of them ought right, kept the other in the way she had Tucker, and put me in the middle of my own fear. My living friend was subjected to a memory of hers, the moment her parents had died, and was forced to relive that over and over. They were killed in a fire, so she was kept burning for a supposed eternity. . .interesting, just like Tucker. . .

My worst fear was to die. Joanna kept me wondering what she would do until the last second before she did it. I must have almost died one hundred times, and my pain helped her take over even more land, even more people. One day, I decided to end the pain. It was the moment she had been waiting for, the moment where I would subject myself to my very worst fear. She even supplied me with the knife to do it with. . .interesting, like with Samantha. . .

And I did, hoping that it would be an end to my suffering. How wrong I was. Instead of letting me go into the peaceful bliss of darkness that usually happens to her captives, Joanna freed me. I was dead, a ghost, fated to wander the Earth for all eternity. But I was angry. I no longer had a fear, seeing as I had already died. Now, I could fight.

I went to see a wise man, and he told me that one could not defeat one as powerful as Joanna. One could only entrap her for a while, stop her progress for as long as possible. He gave me a locket, telling me that, with the correct type of sacrifice, Joanna's soul could be placed inside it. He was not hopeful, however, for one had to be alive to die. I left his hut moments before Joanna attacked him and destroyed him.

You remember how I got into the Dark Hallway, the place with all of the doors? I went in and rescued my friend, telling her what the wise man had told me. She volunteered to die without a second thought. You see, this death would be different. There would be no hope of becoming a ghost, or of the blissful empty after Joanna's torture. It would be, quite literally, Hell. An eternity in pain and suffering, unless a simple action was done. The man did not know the action, but my friend did not care. We went to Joanna, and I fought her.

We fought for many days, until we were both too weak to even stand. That was when me friend came in, and opened the locket. Joanna was trapped, and my friend fell to the floor. There was nothing I could do.

Now, back then, the Grim Reaper did not shirk his duties. He came to claim my friends soul, but I intervened. I asked him how I could save her from the suffering, and he told me. I then swore to never repeat what he told me to anyone, and then did what he told me to. He did not trust me, so he wiped the action from my memory. The next thing I knew, I was in a white room, falling asleep. . .

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"I'm sorry." Danny whispered, finally tearing his eyes away from her gaze. Rhiannon blinked, and the glow faded.

Don't be. I am sorry for adding this story to your burden. Danny blinked.

"The only way to defeat her is to get the locket and then die, right?" he said softly. Rhi nodded.

It does not have to be you, Daniel. He shook his head forcefully.

"Yes, it does. No one else knows how to do this, and I can not, will not, be responsible for someone else's death. I. . ." Danny's voice faded as he fell asleep, still sitting up. Rhiannon stood slowly and walked to the window. A few lines of a poem drifted through the centuries to blaze in her eyes;

To save the world when all is in fright,
To save the world from constant night,
A life must give up it's energy,
A soul must give up eternity.

And in the heart the evil shall rest,
Though it's pain shall always fly,
One must pass the final test,
Quietly, lovely, one must die.

And one must die, Rhiannon thought sadly, thinking of her lost friend and of poor, poor Danny. She could understand how angry Joanna could be, but something must have happened inside her nightmare to cause her to twist in such a way. Maybe it was the fact that she was already damaged when she took her own life. Rhiannon had still been strong when Joanna supplied her with a knife, but Joanna had not. Rhiannon sighed slightly. Whatever the reason, Joanna was the evil talked about in the poem. And Joanna was drawing ever closer. . .

"Rhiannon." The voice startled her. Sam was now standing, eyeing her with distaste. "What were you and Danny doing? I saw you two just staring at each other." Her voice burned with barely contained hate.

What are you saying?

"You should know!" Sam yelled, eyes wild. Rhiannon narrowed her eyes and saw a pale gold aura around Sam, and she blinked slowly.

Sam, I assure you. . .

"You're trying to take him away from me. I heard what he said, about the locket and. . .and. . ." Her voice broke as she began to sob. Rhiannon placed a hand on Sam's shoulder and Sam opened her eyes to a new place. They were standing in a circle of light, surrounded by a darkness so deep and impenetrable it gave her shivers.

Samantha Manson, I am not trying to steal your boyfriend away from you. I grudgingly told him the story of my life and death, and could not stop for any reason. If I had a choice, I would have Joanna continue ravaging this land then send an innocent boy to his death! Rhiannon's voice rose to a shout, and Sam shivered again. She expected to see hate burning in Rhiannon's eyes, but only saw a soft regret. Sam felt something slip off of her shoulders, like a sigh in the night. All of the former fury was gone, and Sam felt strangely drained.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean. . ." Sam was cut off as Rhiannon raised a hand, eyes narrow. They widened and Sam was back in Danny's room. Rhiannon stood in the center of the room.

Joanna is coming! she screamed. She is Coming HERE!