Hey all. First paragraph has some sentences in parenthesis, those are Danny's confused thoughts. Okay, onwards.
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Chapter Eight: And One Must Die
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Danny moaned softly and sat up, hand clutched to his forehead. He looked around, confused. Jazz and Tucker were in the corner of the gym (how did we get here again?) slumped back-to-back and knocked out cold (why were they unconscious?). Rhiannon was curled up in a little ball, groaning softly in the silence (where was Joanna?). Where was Sam (I can't feel her anywhere.)? He was freezing (when aren't I?). And his head hurt like hell. He turned slightly and found that Sam's hand was clutched in his (oh my god it's freezing and she's not moving. . .). Memory flooded back as Danny choked back a sob.
"Sam!" he murmured and crawled over to her. He listened for breath and felt for a pulse, but found nothing. She looked as though she was asleep (I can't disturb her she's so beautiful.) but he knew the worst had happened. Tears staining his cheeks, Danny leaned over her and began to pound on Sam's unmoving chest (please wake up Sam you have to.).
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Rhiannon slowly recovered, uncurling herself and slowly standing, floating, watching. She watched as Danny slammed on Sam's chest, and was shocked be a forgotten memory. . .
The girl, dressed in a page's uniform with long quicksilver hair, slowly floats to her feet. She falls again, groaning. She drags herself over to an unmoving form in the middle of the room, crying. She gently touches the figure's face and brushes back the short black hair. She leans over the boy and kisses his cold lips.
"A pity. He had such a long life ahead of him." The voice is cold, emanating from a dark part of the air. It bears no hate, and the girl looks up at it, recognition in her eyes.
"I loved him."
"There's always someone who does, youngling. I just do my job." The dark shimmer moves closer to the two, and the girl jumps to her feet, standing between the boy and the darkness.
"Ignore your job this once, Reaper, please. His is a good soul. It doesn't deserve to burn in torment."
"He knew what he would give up, girl." The voice sounded amused. "But I will help you. For a price, of course."
"Name it." The look in the girl's eyes is cold, matching the feeling in the air before her.
"You will never see full rest. He will never see the First Afterlife. He will go straight to the end, and you will linger in this Afterlife stage until that being is released, and you will help capture her again." The voice was still amused, although in a cold way.
"Agreed. Just tell me what to do." The girl looks at the still body, silver tears in her eyes.
"You must not tell anyone of what I will now tell you. As long as you stay in this stage, you will be bound to silence. Agreed?"
"Just tell me." The girl's eyes burn softly with an unreadable emotion. She is now floating half a foot above the floor, hands balled into small fists.
"Yes. It is told in a poem I learned, long before your time." The darkness pauses for a second, shimmering slightly. "Yes, I remember it now. Save one soul from the dark torment/ Cast it from the light of Afterlife/ Energy falls from one to another/ Not for the faint of heart. One soul saved from endless pain/ One kept to save another/ Both keep the heart locked and still/ Awakened whence the need comes 'gain. Power entwined with the capture/ Once freed it dwindles again/ Look to the one with raven hair/ For love overcomes all. I did not know what it meant until a moment ago, and some still remains a mystery, girl."
"What does it mean, Reaper? How do I save him?" The girl speaks evenly, though her form wavers. The voice chuckles softly.
"Patience, youngling. It has already begun." The darkness moves away from the body and settles downwards until it sweeps along the floor. "Kneel. Place your hands on his heart." The girl does as the voice instructs and a silver light blooms around her fingers, sinking quickly into the boy's cold body. The girl recoils, staring at her hands.
"What magic is this?" she cries, panting slightly. The voice laughs.
"And a walking soul is not? Place your hands over his heart." The girl realizes how foolish she has been and replaces her hands, and the silver light is rekindled. There is a flash and she is thrown across the room. A tiny golden locket follows her, falling into her outstretched hand. Her page's uniform is gone, replaced by a silver dress, shining and flowing like her hair. She slowly sits up, staring down at herself.
"That hurt." she whispers, shaking her head and looking at the locket. "And this locket burns me."
"Joanna Nightshade shall be placed in the care of a magician, Merlin, perhaps. You shall come with me." The voice sighs. "I do not trust you, girl."
"You should not fear, Reaper. I will not tell anyone." The girl looks away, though, and her voice wavers.
The voice chuckles. "I do not believe you, young one. I will erase this event from your memory until a time when it can not be used to your advantage. You will know only that your friend is safe, and not know why."
"Reaper, no, stop!" she cries, but the darkness twists around sharply and she falls to the ground, hair fanned behind her. The voice sighs as the room begins to darken.
"A pity that I can not take your word for it, Rhiannon Quicksilver. A pity. . ."
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Rhiannon caught her breath. She remembered, for the first time in a long time, who she was. Rhiannon D'Artan Quicksilver, former Rebel of the Order of Nightshade, friend of Ronald D'Kenran Goldsand. The boy in her memory. The living one who had given up his Afterlife for the good of the world. And she had saved him from eternal torment by. . .
"Sam. . ." Danny moaned, breaking into her happy thoughts. He was collapsed over Sam's still body, lost in his sorrow. Rhiannon understood a line of The Reaper's poem.
"Look to the one with raven hair/ For love overcomes all." she whispered, and gasped. Danny did too, snapped out of his stupor by the sound of another voice. He lifted his head off of Sam's chest and looked at the floating girl.
"Rhiannon?" he asked, looking her up and down. Her eyes were still a metallic gray, shining with hidden light, but her hair had grown into a soft halo of quicksilver. Her dress was gone, for now she was dressed in what Danny recognized as a Page's uniform, from the middle ages.
"Yes. And I know how to save Samantha."
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Joanna floated in the darkness, seething. She couldn't feel anything, hear or see any light or sound. She was starved for a mortal's terror, but knew that she would find none. She would wither here in the darkness, or so they thought. The darkness made her strong, it would feed her anger and nurture her lust for revenge until it drove her insane, and then some fool would reopen the locket and set her free into an unsuspecting world. She would have her revenge, she would destroy the ones who left her in this solitude. She smiled, knowing that the Halfa would be writhing in torment from the loss of his beloved Sam. That thought, and that thought alone, would keep her power stable in her time in the darkness. Alone.
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"You can save her?" Danny's voice was hopeful. Rhiannon looked him in the eyes, noting the sorrow. She looked deep inside herself and nodded. Her mind was made up.
"It's a simple transference of energy." she said softly, savoring the taste of the words on her tongue. "I give her my life force, and it replenishes hers."
Danny frowned. "How can you give life when you don't have any to give?" Rhiannon could see the gears in his mind beginning to turn.
"Don't even think about giving up your own. And it's quite simple." She floated downwards to kneel by Sam's still body, and Danny followed. "Life force, or life energy, is simply energy. There is a rationed amount of Pre-Life Energy, about nine months for each person. Then, there is a determined amount of Life Energy, the time when you are 'alive'. Sometimes, a person dies before their Life Energy runs out, like when they are murdered. This amount just gets added in to their After-Life Energy. Once Life Energy runs out, it's gone and you get a new kind of energy, After-Life Energy. This is an enormous amount of force, that can last for millions of years."
"So? They're different kinds of Energy." Danny whispered. "It doesn't work."
"Oh, but it does work." Rhiannon smiled, and, for the first time since Ronald had died, was truly happy. "This energy is interchangeable, very unstable. If you try hard enough. . ." She focused momentarily and a plume of silver fire encircled her hand. "You can change After-Life Energy into Life Energy." The fire turned to a mist and settled over Danny. He felt strength return to his limbs and the fog of sleep-deprivation and sorrow lift a little from his mind.
"And you have enough to save Sam."
"And I have enough to save Sam."
"What happens when you run out of After-Life Energy?" Danny asked, searching Rhiannon's eyes for any clue.
"We aren't entirely sure. You go on to Heaven or some other view of Eternal Life or whatever. All I have heard is that it's absolute bliss." Rhiannon smiled, and it even entered her eyes. Danny looked away. Rhi placed a hand on his shoulders. "Daniel, I want to do this. I need to do this. Don't worry about me, friend. I'm a ghost. I'll always be okay."
"If you insist. . ." Danny murmured, looking at Sam.
"I do."
"Tell me what to do."
"You don't do anything, Danny. Just watch." Rhiannon placed her hands over Sam's heart, and the silver fire moved around them, changing into the soft mist and sinking into Sam's skin. The two sat in silence for a while before Danny stood up and picked up the locket. He twisted it in his hands, letting the light catch on it's glimmering surface.
"It looks so harmless." he said quietly. "But Joanna is so deadly."
Rhiannon laughed slightly. "Isn't that just a magician's way of thinking? Something deadly simply must go in a beautiful package. Oh, ouch." She blinked a couple of times. "I should hurry with this. When I'm done, Sam will be Keeper of the Locket. You will probably need to encase it in something so that it doesn't get opened by accident once you and your friends aren't around to guard it. Ahh. . !" She grimaced.
"Are you all right, Rhiannon?" Danny asked, concerned. She just smiled and shook her head.
"I'll be fine once this is over. Listen, have you thought about my riddle, Daniel? Do you have an answer?" Her voice was hurried, forced by desperation.
"A conscience isn't right, so no, I don't." Danny replied. Rhiannon laughed softly.
"It's a good guess, boy. Closer than I would have gotten. But, before I answer, you have a question for me." She looked at him expectantly. He smiled sheepishly.
"You were so solemn before. Now you seem almost. . . Excited. Why?" He glanced down. "If you don't mind. . ."
"Not at all, Daniel." She took a deep breath. "I was trapped for so long, trapped by the thought that my dearest friend was dead and writhing in torment somewhere in the bowels of Hell. But now I know differently. After I give up my Life Force to Sam, I can go free and be with him, my Ron. I am not being entirely selfless, you see. . ." Rhiannon smiled and shrugged. Danny only hugged her.
"Thank you Rhiannon. You don't know how much this means to me." He looked down at Sam. "To us."
"I know how much it means. I've been here before." She laughed at his confused glance, and then looked thoughtful. "I think I can explain how you got your powers, Danny."
His eyebrows shot up. "My DNA was changed by an explosion of sorts when I was in the Fenton Portal. There's not much more than that."
"Actually, I think it's a little different. Maybe you were infused with some After-Life Energy during the explosion. Maybe it didn't cancel out you Life Energy and just stayed with you." The two teenagers exchanged a glance, and fell silent. It was only broken by the soft sighs of Jazz and Tucker as they slept on.
"About that riddle. . ." Danny was cut off as Rhiannon's eyes grew wide.
"Oh, ouch! Oh ow, oh ow, oh ow!" she yelped, struggling to keep the power flowing between her hands and Sam. Danny fell back with surprise, catching himself at the last moment.
"Rhiannon! What's wrong?" He quickly stood, looking around the room, half expecting Joanna to leap out of some shadowy corner.
"I was wrong." she whispered, eyes filling with tears. "I don't have enough energy to bring her back and give her as much Life as you have. I don't even have enough to bring her back, period. Once that's done, it will take a second to give her enough to live as long as you, but. . ." Her eyes squeezed shut and she moaned.
"What happens if you run out and Sam isn't full yet?" Danny asked quietly, not wanting to hear the answer. Rhiannon met his eyes with a baleful gaze.
"She dies and stays in torture for the rest of eternity. I go there, too. You become the Keeper of the Locket, and, since you're half ghost, are put to sleep until Joanna is released. It's not good, Daniel. Not good at all." She closed her eyes and started to slow the flow of power.
"Can I give Sam some of my Life Force?" Danny asked suddenly. Rhiannon snapped to face him, surprised by the stony look in his eyes.
"You're serious." A statement, not a question.
"I am."
"Then come down here." Rhiannon watched him kneel, and knew without a doubt, that true love could overcome all. "Place your hands over her heart. Focus on bringing up the energy within you, but don't shoot it at anyone."
"Done." Danny whispered as a green glow surrounded his hands. Rhiannon sighed and willed the silver power around her own to grow stronger.
"Use your mind to force some of it into Sam's body. I will tell you when to stop." Danny focused the power until it disappeared into Sam, and Rhiannon nodded. "Good. I have about ten seconds before my After-Life Energy runs out." She stood and looked upwards, followed by Danny.
"Thank you, Rhiannon. For everything."
"You are welcome, Daniel Fenton. I hoped you learned not to let your fear rule you." A silver light began to surround Danny, and she began to rise. Danny realized something at the last second.
"Rhiannon! What's the answer? What is the hardest thing to have, the thing I most want to keep, and yet the worst thing I can have? Rhiannon!" Danny shouted, looking after her with confusion. Why did he want to know the answer to that stupid riddle?
Rhiannon smiled slightly, looking down at the boy below her with tears in her eyes. She could almost feel Ron's arms around her, almost. . .
"Rhiannon!"
"The answer, Daniel? It's simple really." Rhiannon smiled wider, stretching her arms to the sky. "It's a secret, Danny Phantom. A secret!"
The silver light faded and Rhiannon disappeared. Danny blinked and let out the breath he had been holding.
"A secret." he mused as he knelt next to his fallen love. He felt for her pulse and found it. It leaped and raced, along with her breath, but she would be okay. "A secret." he whispered, lying down next to her and clasping her hand in his own. He slowly closed his eyes, a contented smile on his face. "A secret. . ."
Daniel Fenton fell into a blissful sleep.
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One more chapter left, so review like you never have before! The next chapter is basically wrap up on everything, but it's going to be pretty good. It will be up within two weeks, so check back soon!
Grey R. North