A/N: Hello, I'm back and I'm rearing to go…I have a steady truce w/ my TT fans so this fic gets my full attention! Thanks to everybody who reviewed…though, for over a hundred views I only got a few reviews? That's just sad on my part…but, I'm not going to demand a certain number to get me to update, but please, let me know what you think! It kind of bums me out when I see other decent writing getting hardly any reviews and stories that have no plot getting over a hundred. To those who did, you guys seriously rock my world! Thank you so much!
I hope you guys like this one…it is, so far, my favorite to write to date. Warnings: It gets gritty here, I'm not going to lie…there is definite physical abuse, swearing, minor mentions of sex, and also mention of child abuse. Sorry if this makes some of you squirm, but I did warn you in the beginning though. It will be done tastefully though, I can promise you all that. Enjoy this one!
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Ashes to Ashes
Part Four: Blaze
Sam stood where she was for a moment, unmoving as her brain processed what her mouth had just said. Had she just spoken aloud that she was really inside the mind of another living being? Danny Fenton's mind, her best friend and now boyfriend, no less! She raised her amethyst eyes and looked around her, noting for the first time the swirling lights that made the sky above her. Images, like clouds, hung above her head, playing out memories of the young man's life like a film about ghosts; she briefly wondered how she had not noticed it before. She smiled despite her current situation at a flicker of a thought where Danny, Tucker, and herself were all playing in Tucker's backyard; playing make believe and fighting off enemies like they were super heroes. But, it was gone as soon as it had appeared, and Sam tore her eyes away from Danny's memories and thoughts, not wanting to invade his privacy more than she already had.
Turning her attention back over towards the yellow clad Danny look-alike, Sam let her shoulders droop and whispered in an almost defeated way, "I think I need to sit down now." She brought one hand to her temple and began massaging her forehead while the other wringed the loose material of her tank-top over her stomach.
"Then I think we should head somewhere not so out in the open," the self-proclaimed Knowledge said with an amused voice, quirking his eyebrow at the distraught girl. "It would not be prudent for us to have the sort of conversation you need where anyone can hear you."
"Uh," Sam replied with a confused look on her face as she waved around at their surroundings. "In case you haven't noticed, we're in someone else's thoughts! Who are we supposed to be hiding from?"
"No one," Knowledge replied as he adjusted his glasses and approached her. "However, the one who you recognized as Dan Phantom is not the only negative emotion in here…he may be the worst, but not the only one. That and I think you deserve some peace and quiet as I tell you what you want answers for…we'll be badgered by others if you decide to just sit out here."
"Oh," Sam snapped back, already annoyed at how condescendingly this guy talked to her. "And you know somewhere that I can go and not be bothered? Again, in case you haven't realized yet, we are in Danny's mind! How the hell are we supposed to find a place where no one else can bother us when everything here can disappear and reappear whenever they want to!"
Knowledge regarded her with a crooked grin before shaking his head in gentle laughter. "You really do need to calm down…I suppose it is partly my fault for not meeting you when you first arrived. However, I was…preoccupied…and could not get here as fast as I wanted to. Come on Samantha, let's go and find you a calm place to rest."
"Where?" she asked as he took her hand and started leading her down the path, knowing exactly where he was headed.
"Even in the mind, you create places where nothing can disturb you…where you can remain undisturbed from other thoughts and feelings," Knowledge replied as he sent her a cryptic smile, one that in turn made her smile even though she was still annoyed with him. "Now, who else did you meet on the path before you came across me?"
"Uh, I met a crazy blue Danny," Sam said after she took her attention off of a very Pink Danny who was running in what looked to be a field of flowers. "And after he said I was boring, I met this really depressing gray Danny who kept apologizing for things he'd done that might have made me angry."
"Oh," Knowledge said with a bit of a grimace. "Well, I'm sorry you had to come across Fun, the blue one, like that…most of us try to avoid him as much as possible. He keeps saying that I remind him of a beehive…and well, the gray one was Despair, so that's to be expected. To be honest, you could have had worse luck than those two."
"What, that Rage guy wasn't enough?" Sam asked sarcastically, looking at an orange colored Danny burp loudly as he watched what looked like a memory.
"Well," Knowledge conceded as he led Sam down a different path that branched off from the original one. "You did have rotten luck with him…but you're not a soulless corpse so no need to worry about that any longer. While we're on the subject however, I might as well explain a bit about that one in case we run into him again…he's not really Rage, at least not solely. The form you saw is a rather nasty combination of Rage, Greed, Pain, and Lust that creates something called Darkness…at least, that's what he calls himself. Usually, they aren't to bad when separate, but they can be a problem when all are combined together like that…that's why most of us try to keep them away from each other."
"Oh," Sam said, wondering to herself what would create Darkness inside her own mind. She also was wondering why Lust, attraction to her, would be such a bad thing, but another question formed in her mouth instead. "Who were the two that helped me? I know one was Danny Phantom, but the other…"
"Neither were Danny, Samantha," Knowledge interrupted giving her a small smile. "The green one who was fighting so heroically was just that…he was Bravery. In all honesty, he's quite annoying and I was happy he didn't insist on staying and helping you…but then, I suppose he also was preoccupied like I was. And the black one, you'll meet that one soon enough."
"And the Pink and Orange one tagging behind us?" Sam asked with a groan as she shot another glance behind at the two emotions that had been following them for a few minutes, curious looks on their faces as they stared at her.
Knowledge looked behind his shoulder and waved a dismissive hand. "Happiness and Leisure respectively. They're both bored right now, and have nothing better to do. I assume that's why you also ran into Fun and Despair as well…Danny must have sent Bravery away for a moment when he felt you were in trouble."
"How did he know?" Sam asked, a bit frustrated that he kept alluding to something but never answering it for her. "How did I even get to be here? How do I get out? Can you please just tell me what's going on already?"
"Here we are!" Knowledge said as he clapped his hands and displayed a small cave to her startled lilac eyes. "Head on inside my dear, I'll send Happiness and Leisure away and join you in a moment."
He gave Sam a gentle push inside the alcove, and started speaking to the other emotions in an authoritative way. Sam turned around and gave a startled gasp at her surroundings…it looked just like her room; it even had her posters lining the cave walls. She sat down on her four poster bed and gazed around, wondering if anything was ever going to make sense again once she woke up from her dream. She was about to call for Knowledge when another form sat next to her on the bed, making her yelp in surprise and whirl around to face the unknown emotion.
Her lilac eyes met a pair that matched hers exactly, and the face of Danny Fenton smiled back at her in a child-like way. She was still staring at the black-clad Danny who had helped save her from the Darkness earlier when Knowledge entered, straightening his glasses as he looked over at the two of them.
"I see you've met Love, Samantha," Knowledge said as he took a seat on the chair she had by her desk, smirking at her in a knowing way. Sam looked back over at the emotion in astonishment at how darkly dressed he was and that was still smiling at her as he rolled off the bed and laughed soundlessly on the ground at her expression. "I believe he is happy to see you."
"This is Love?" Sam asked after she overcame her initial surprise. "I was expecting someone a bit more…colorful I guess. Why is he all covered in black and not making any noise? Can't he talk like the rest of you?"
"Love can take on many forms Samantha," Knowledge answered as he gave a gentle smile to the now cart-wheeling Love, displaying to Sam that Knowledge was also a little bit of something else…wisdom maybe. "Love is dressed the way he is to offset the happiness he exudes…for, isn't love both painful and wonderful? Your Danny's image of Love is everything positive about the emotion, but he shows that love is also painful be dressing him in all dark colors. And as to why he doesn't speak…Love as no reason to speak…he expresses."
"And he has purple eyes because...?" Sam asked a she smiled at the tricks Love was now performing for her with apparent ghost abilities.
"To signify that it was the love Danny had for you that awoke him fully," Knowledge answered, not noting the deep blush that now colored the pale girl's cheeks. "That is also why the other emotions are drawn to you…they recognize you as the one who Love exists for. Love as only been around for a little over a year, but only recently as he been set free about the mind and it interests the others that it was you who caused that. Darkness in particular was very interested, and used the fact that most of the stronger emotions were busy to come and try to dispose of you…he especially hates Love because Love is his major obstacle in claiming dominance here."
"Not you?"
"I told you," Knowledge answered with a sigh. "Danny hardly listens to me…I'm not much of an opposition over Darkness unless I'm paired with Love or someone as powerful…but we aren't talking about what we need to and time is short. I promise, you'll have your new questions answered another day, but now we have to talk about what we originally needed to. I believe you wanted to know how you came to be in Danny's mind in the first place."
"Yes I did want to know," Sam answered with a smile as Love sat back down next to her, holding her hand with all the warmth that Danny could. "Does it have something to do with all the weird glimpses into Danny's head I've been getting lately?"
"Yes," Knowledge replied as he rested his head on his propped up hands, fixing Sam with a look. "And everything that those have to do with is directly caused by the pendant hanging around your neck."
Sam's hand flew to the small gemstone hanging at the nape of her neck, her eyes going wide. She looked back up at the yellow clad emotion and started to voice a million questions but he held up a hand to stop her. "Please, just let me finish. It's imperative that I tell you everything you need to know before Love and I are called away again.
"When you guessed that the necklace was from the Ghost Zone, you were correct, but only partly. It actually was part of the human world for a long time…made by a particular powerful human that has been fantasized by popular culture, a young wizard by the name of Merlin. Before he died, a ghost you know as Clockwork came and took possession of it, to keep it safe for someone that Merlin thought could use it. Clockwork has given it to certain humans throughout history during times of struggle, because of its power; this small stone as the power to connect two people together who strongly care about each other. It does not need to be between a man and a woman; it can be between any two people as long as the feeling is strong enough. In fact, it can even create a link between two people who hate each other…in theory.
"Clockwork gave the pendant to Danny after a major battle with Plasmius, the one that resulted in his small hospital stay that you all said was because of a car accident the had gotten in. He told Danny about the power of the pendant, and on your eighteenth birthday, he gave it to you as a gift to forever have a connection between each other in case you ever did end up returning his feelings. Luckily, you do, and the pendant was activated, so now you have a connection with him like he does with you. This is very useful for all of us a bunch right now.
"Now, when you wake up, you need to head back home, no matter what your parents say, and find Tucker immediately. Trust in the pendant and what your heart tells you, and everything should be resolved soon enough to save them both…"
"Save who?" Sam asked quickly, getting up from her seat, but still holding Love's hand as he looked at her in concern. But then Love looked suddenly to the left, as if something was calling to him, and the emotion let go of Sam's hand and looked sharply at Knowledge, giving his head a short nod.
"Danny's in a spot of trouble Samantha," Knowledge said as he rose up from his seat and strode over towards the entrance of the cave. "And we need your help more than anything else…you need to find Danny, Samantha, before that pendant goes cold. We need to go now, our time is up…to get back, just focus on the pendant and you'll find your way."
Love turned back around and cupped Sam's face with a tender hand, looking at her in hope and trust with those purple eyes mirrored after her own. He leaned his head down and gave her a soft kiss that sent shivers throughout her whole body and made her heart beat faster before turning around and exiting the cave. Knowledge paused for a moment and gave Sam a warning look and spoke to her in a low voice before also leaving.
"I want you to remember something Samantha…no matter what happens in the future, promise me that you'll do everything you can to keep Love alive in here. As I said before…Darkness is only able to be confined when Love or Trust is present when he attacks. A dark time is fast approaching the world of the living, and you'll be forced to question everything you believe in, but don't question the feeling you have towards Danny…believe in it Sammy."
Sam stared at the spot where Knowledge had been for a while after he left before whispering to Danny's mind as she gripped the amethyst tightly, "I won't forget Danny…I promise." With that thought, Sam focused all of her energy into the small gemstone in her hand and getting back into her body. With her eyes closed in concentration, Sam didn't see the purple blaze explode from the stone and she last remembered a tug around her navel before her mind went blank.
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Sam opened her eyes and sat up from the carpeted floor with a jolt, her breathing fast and her eyes darting back and forth across the plush hotel room she was staying in for the week. She looked down at the pendant in her hand, noting the indents it had pressed into her flesh from squeezing it so hard, and looked down at her body, finding no trace of the glow around her anymore. She narrowed her eyes as she saw the vibrant purple light fade to a steady violet glow, and she rose from the floor in a fluid motion and wrote a letter to her parents using a pad of notebook paper provided by the hotel and a complementary pen as well.
She knew in her heart that all Knowledge had told her was true in a sense, even if she couldn't figure out a way how he knew all of what he said. Danny certainly wasn't clairvoyant or anything, but perhaps Knowledge was when in complete use, as he was deep inside Danny's mind. It puzzled Sam and caused her to wonder aloud to herself as she wrote about what her mind must be like. As she finished explaining to her parents that she was sorry about leaving without saying good bye in the note, Sam's thoughts floated once again to Dan Phantom, or the Darkness in Danny's mind as Knowledge put it, and wondered why Lust and Fear made up a part of that being. She could understand Rage and Greed, and even to an extent Pain, but Lust…wasn't that just attraction?
Sam hoped to whatever God was up there that she in a way wasn't strengthening Darkness by encouraging Lust. She had to admit, her and Danny had been pretty physical when they showed each other their affections, and now she was thinking that that may be a problem. She really hoped that wasn't the case, but she figured she'd be cautious until she had a chance to talk with Knowledge again, if she ever did. Sam signed her letter and looked it over to make sure it didn't make her sound like a runaway or suicidal in any way and, in a satisfied way, folded the note over and addressed it to her family.
She snuck over to her parent's room, even though she knew they weren't home yet and very quietly put the note on their bed stand where they both would be sure to find it. She hurried quietly back over towards her room, called a cab to pick her up at the hotel, and began packing her clothes in a flurry of movement. She was busy shoving her toiletries into her bag when she heard the familiar jingle of her cell phone, in the ring reserved for Tucker. She hurried over and answered it, knowing deep in her heart that Knowledge would end up being right again about Danny being in trouble; this call was proof.
"Hello?" Sam answered in a worried tone, rushing back over to finish packing her things, nearly tripping over one of her boots in the process.
"Sam?" Tucker asked her back through the phone, his voice scared and hoarse, as if he had been yelling for a long time. "Sam…I don't know how to say this but…but Danny's been…he's…"
"Mance Riley has him doesn't he?" Sam asked as she pulled her boots over her socked feet and picked up her duffel bag.
"Him and Jazz," Tucker answered, his voice cracking over the phone. "Sometime today…The police think about a few hours ago, like around--"
"Midnight?" Sam interrupted, knowing that was when her vision had first appeared.
"How did you know?" Tucker asked, disbelief in Sam's knowledge of what was happening a thousand miles away drowning out some of the worry and sadness from his voice. "Sam are you, are you outside or something?"
"I'm getting into a cab right now and heading back there," she said as she did just as she said and gave the cabbie directions. "and as to your first question, it's way to complicated to get into in a cab…let's just say that Danny's pendant that he gave me for my birthday is giving me a link into his mind and I just knew what had happened. I blacked out…and something else happened…but now I'm heading back home, do you think you can pick me up from the airport Tuck?"
"Sure Sam…" Tucker replied in a confused voice, not knowing how she was so calm about everything when he best friend and his sister were kidnapped a few hours ago…gosh, he was glad they didn't have school anymore it was so early, or late depending on how you viewed it. "Sam, aren't you worried at all? I mean, you're acting freaky calm about this and I'm over here, trying my best to not run outside and start screaming for them again and--"
"I am worried Tucker," Sam said as she watched the airport approach and felt the cab pull to a stop. Giving her money to the cabbie plus his tip as she got out of the taxi and made her way over to the ticket booth, ignoring the questions Tucker kept asking her and his aloud wonderings if she was still no the phone. "I'm still here, I'm just trying to hold my bag, buy a ticket, and talk to you at the same time…can I give you a call back once I'm up in the air?"
Tucker told her that was fine and she ended the call with a push of a button, stuffing the cellular into the front pocket of the jacket she threw on before leaving the hotel. Thanking God that it was so early in the morning, she hurried through the many stops and turns of the airport, not delayed as long as she usually was whenever she came here before. She found her specified gate, gave the very tired looking receptionist her boarding ticket, and waited on one of the chairs for her flight to start loading. She glanced at the watch strapped about her wrist, noting that she only had about ten minutes or so and glanced around to see the astonishing two other people waiting to get on a flight to Amity Park at three in the morning.
It amazed her that some people actually took flights like this in the morning…but then again, maybe they had a serious issue like she had come up too. Who was she to judge? For crying out loud, she spent most of her free time hunting ghosts with a paranormal being who she also happened to be dating…she had no room thinking about how weird other people were.
After what seemed like eternity, one of the stewardesses finally started to board passengers, and Sam hurried on board and waited for the plane to take off. Her phone gave a jingle and she looked down to see her parents calling her, probably also wanting to yell at her for leaving and heading home claiming that an emergency came up. After all, how was she supposed to explain the exact reason why she was leaving…they'd think she was crazy if she started spouting off 'nonsense' about how she was told everything by an emotion in Danny's head. She let it keep ringing, and then turned it off as the plane started to take off…she was going to get grounded for sure when her parents met back up with her.
She waited until the plane was completely up in the air before she called Tucker, making sure with one of the flight attendants it was okay to do so. She turned back on her phone and called the worried young man, who answered after only one ring.
"Sam?"
"I'm on the plane Tuck," Sam answered as she looked out the window into the early morning sky. "I should be there by eight…can you still pick me up?"
"Sure thing," Tucker replied. "But now that you're just sitting there, I think it's time you explain to me how you knew what happened and everything else that may help. I'll relay everything to the Fentons and Valerie after we're done here…what the heck is going on here Sam?"
"Okay," Sam said with a deep breath as she began to tell Tucker everything that had happened that night. "Well, you remember that necklace that Danny gave to me? Yeah, that one. Well I guess it started after that night with the fire and what happened when I kissed Danny wearing the pendant…"
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Danny opened his eyes slowly, feeling as if they were glued together, and was met with a deep darkness that hurt his eyes as much as bright light probably would. He recognized that he no longer was on the soft carpet of his house, but instead lying on his side on cold concrete that sent shivers up his spine now that he was awake. He tried to push himself off the ground to a sitting position, but he discovered that his hands were bound behind his back and he couldn't shift too much or his chest started to hurt. He thought that a few of his ribs were cracked, but he just shrugged his shoulders and focused his energy.
"I'm going ghost," he muttered in a dry voice that sounded weak even to him. However, right when the two white rings appeared around his slender waist, hot prickling bolts shot through his entire body, forcing him to curl up into a ball and gasp out in both shock and pain. He screwed his eyes together and focused on turning back to human, trying hard not to yell out as the bolts seemed to fry the nerves along his spine, and let out a sigh of relief and hurt when he succeeded in turning back to normal. He took deep, shuddering breaths as he let his shaking limbs calm down after the hell they just went through and he craned his head back painfully to see the still glowing blue ropes around his wrists before forcing his head back to its original position.
"What, what was that?" he asked himself in a quiet voice, that was all he could manage, after a few minutes passed and was only left with a dull throbbing sensation. He forced himself with his legs and shoulders to sit propped up against a wall behind him, hissing through his teeth as pain shot through his chest. He finally settled into a position that didn't cause breathing to much a problem and also helped relax his neck, which he felt had some sort of band around it.
He scanned his small prison for a second, faintly seeing a small window facing towards what he guessed was a hallway, but nothing else…just the cold floor and walls. His brain, now able to process just what sort of predicament he was in, started to think of a thousand things at once, asking itself questions that he didn't have any answers to. He let his thoughts focus on why he wasn't able to use his ghost powers, and one person immediately came to mind…the only other person other than his parents who had enough knowledge about ghosts to short-circuit his powers.
"Plasmius," he growled angrily, eyes going a shade of green before pain shot through his head. He gasped at the sudden but quick twinge and shook his head slightly, reminding him that any of his ghost abilities triggered…whatever it was to hurt him. He could just see Vlad Plasmius, also known as Vlad Masters, constructing this sort of plan…he certainly had the money and ghosts working for him to make it happen. However, Vlad had left him alone for the most part after their last battle at the beginning of senior year; Danny had come out as the definite victor, proving to Vlad his worst fears come true, a very powerful Danny who still refused to join him.
"Are you so sure it's something to do with Vlad?"
Danny tried to ignore the logical voice in his head, not wanting to face the other possibility if he didn't have to. "Who else could've caught me off guard like that?" he asked himself, not caring if that classified him as a crazy person at the moment.
"Why don't you think about it? Have you even tried to recall what happened at the house before you awoke here?"
Danny had no choice to concede to the voice, knowing full well that he hadn't tried to analyze the situation, but he did with a frown on his face. "I only remember Jazz…Jazz was yelling for me to get out…but I didn't listen to her. I can't remember anything else, it's all just a big blur."
"Well, maybe you need some help then…just focus and it will come to you."
Danny did as the voice instructed, something in his heart, Sam's voice maybe, telling him it would be all right. His anger at the situation calmed down and he started to feel a calm sense of detachment as the familiar scene of his home appeared in his vision as he closed his eyes. It was hazy and definitely out of focus, but he could see everything as if he was watching it from another's perspective…
"Danny," Jazz screamed in fear as two goons in all black crashed through the front door and made their way over towards her. "Danny! Get out of here! Go find Mom and Dad, and get out of here!"
Danny saw himself run over towards the top of stairs and look down at the men surrounding his sister, muttering things to her that made her turquoise eyes go wide in fear. He saw and remembered his eyes flashing green in anger and then changing into ghost mode to help his sister. He flew down and hit both of the men with a green ectoplasmic blast that sent them careening into the wall, knocking both of them senseless for a minute. Three more men came in, these one with weapons of a sort, but Danny took care of them, and grabbed Jazz to pull her to safety in the kitchen.
"Of all the days for Mom and Dad to get a ghost call, it had to be today!" Danny cursed to himself as he heard others, or the same men, moving around in the front room. After he used his ghost strength to move the fridge over to cover the doorway, he used a green beam of energy to weld it over the door way to give them both a second to think of something. He glanced back over at his terrified older sister and whispered in her ear that everything would be all right, but she just shook her head wordlessly.
"We need to get out of here and head for help," Danny heard himself say as he grabbed Jazz's wrist and turned them both intangible and invisible. He started for the kitchen exit, but a blast of cold, powerful ectoplasmic energy hit him squarely in the chest and flying back through the walls and into the living room. He flipped up and floated in the air as he heard his sister scream and then go silent, which caused him to yell her name in worry and try to fly back towards the kitchen, only to be hit again, hard, and sent back crashing into the wall. This time when he got up, he turned himself visible again, and felt that a few of his ribs were probably cracked, but the figure who was fighting him appeared before him and he did a double-take at what he saw.
She was obviously a ghost, her sickly pale skin and floating form giving her away instantly, but she wasn't like any other ghosts he'd ever seen. She had an ethereal appearance about her, her rainbow hair floating around her face gently and her eyes were black as night, but her form looked every inch a fighter. She wore what looked like a hunter's garb, complete with a bow and quiver strapped to her back and boots on her feet, but they seemed a mixture of clothing from different seasons. She looked like winter and all the other seasons rolled up into one, and she was regarding Danny as an insect who was in her way. He never liked that look.
He saw the strange looking ghost, or spirit, send more cold blasts at him, and then she sent one that was so cold it felt like searing heat directly after…watching it all happen again, Danny could feel the prickles against his skin in remembrance. He saw himself fly up, gritting his teeth in pain, and the two specters exchanged spars for a minute or two before Danny saw another black clad man enter the house, a piece of cloth in his hand. He came up behind Danny and, before he could do anything to defend himself from the second attacker, the man covered his mouth with the cloth. Danny could remember the sickeningly sweet odor that the cloth had. He saw himself sway, and the heard the man whisper in his ear something that confirmed his fears.
"I told you I'd see you soon Danny," the man said gently as Danny continued to struggle and then turned back into his human form. The man deftly snapped what looked to be a blue choker around his neck and took hold of his arms once more in a vice-like grip. "And, I always keep my promises…put him in with his sister, we only have a few more minutes before those cops realize the false alarm we sent them on."
Danny watched himself pass out as a huge, hulking man with thick and wild dark hair grabbed him and whispered something to Riley…something that made the man's lip curl and Danny's stomach turn. The chloroform, or whatever was on that cloth, finally took its effect on him, and Danny watched everything fade to black, faintly remembering someone yelling his name in the back of his mind before the darkness took him…
Danny snapped his eyes back open to the present and the cold prison room he was now in, and gave a shudder at something besides the cold. He wished it was Vlad now who had captured him, or Warden, or anyone else for that matter but it wasn't. It was the one person on the entire face of the earth who Danny thought he couldn't beat, the person he promised Sam and his parents he would stay away from. Well, he had, and he'd found him anyway…and what's worse, he had Jazz too.
"Jazz," Danny whispered to the darkness, as he started to force himself up to stand against the wall. "I'll get you out of here…wherever here is, and everything will be fine, just like I promised."
He started to try and wriggle his wrists against the blue ropes, feeling his skin breaking from the friction and blood dripping out slowly, but he didn't care. He'd need Danny Phantom to get out of here, not Fenton, and the only way that was going to happen was f he got rid of this junk that Riley put on him to keep him from using his powers. He wondered briefly how the hell Riley and his cronies got a hold of this kind of equipment, how they had a ghost helping them, and how they even knew about his powers in the first place; however, events started to turn for the worst and Danny's attention was turned quickly to the door in front of him that started to open, the light from the hallway straining his dark-accustomed eyes and making him squint. He heard a laugh that made his blood go cold and tried to shrink into the wall further, trying desperately to get away from the laugh and the man behind it.
"Looks like our little guest as finally decided to wake up," a booming but harsh voice said as he stepped into the room, his large frame blocking out most of the light and letting Danny see clearly the man's features and adjust to the light better. The man was huge, even by his father's standards, but was almost all muscle and didn't look at all as kind as Jack Fenton. His coarse, mangled black hair covered his head and part of his arms, giving Danny the impression of a gorilla that was on steroids, and he had cold, pitiless gray eyes that seemed to be eyeing him in a way that made Danny shiver visibly. "Your lovely sister woke up about an hour ago, but I suppose you needed you're beauty sleep eh?"
"Where. Is. She?" Danny asked in a brave voice, the mention of his sister quelling the fear he felt for this man. The man, however, just gave a cold laugh, yanked Danny up by his shirt, and slammed him against the wall so hard it made Danny see stars. The man leaned his face so close to Danny's that he could smell his putrid breath and see the rotting teeth.
"I'd worry more about yourself little boy," the behemoth hissed back in reply to Danny's question. "You're pretty sister is fine…waiting with Mance for you to wake up…but, the Boss never said that you had to go the same way."
As the man said the last word, he snapped his fist back and hit Danny in the stomach, knocking all the wind out of his diaphragm and forcing him harder into the wall with a loud crack. The man had on a feral grin and let Danny slide to the ground, taunting him to use his freakish powers and then cuffing Danny upside the head and sending the black-haired boy sprawling against the adjacent wall. The man didn't even let Danny try to get to his feet, striding over and kicking the halfa in his already injured ribs and making Danny gasp in pain.
He felt the man haul him back to lean against the wall in his pain-induced dizziness, and the man wrapped a hand around his throat chocking off his air supply. He couldn't claw at the man's hands due to their bonded state behind his back, and all he could was weakly jerk his feet and legs as the man lifted him off the ground and said to him, "This is for biting my hand you little piece of shit! I had to get stitches because of that, and the boys kept saying that I tried to take candy from a baby that bit back…I was ridiculed because of you! You humiliated me you little brat…so now I'm going to do the same thing to you…payback's a bitch kid."
Danny felt a sense of panic flow through him as he continued to choke off the ground, and before his higher brain functions could warn against it, he used his ghost powers in a survival instinct. He went intangible to slip from the man's grasp and then angling himself properly, he shot an ectoplasmic beam at him and sent him flying into a wall. He was amazed for about half a second that he used his powers in human mode to that extent, but then mind-numbing pain started to wrack his body and he collapsed to the ground with a painful cry. He continued to shake after it subsided, feeling as if every nerve was in agony, and couldn't shrink away when the beastly man walked over and picked him up roughly by the arm.
"Looks like the little boy grew a backbone," the man hissed in something that was a mixture between respect and anger, and he wiped blood off from his forehead; looks like Danny had hurt him enough when he hurled him into the wall after all. "I'll enjoy breaking that, but that's for another time. Now, let's go and see Mr. Riley…he's been expecting you for quite a long time…"
The blue ropes binding his wrists together were cut off, not that it made any difference at the moment, and two other associates each grabbed one of Danny's arms and hauled him out of his small prison. They followed the hulking man down winding corridors, and Danny tried to make a mental note of where things were in case he was offered a chance to escape one night. Danny's legs felt like jelly, and he had difficulty breathing because of his now definitely broken ribs, but after what seemed like an eternity, the large man turned into a large chamber full of what looked like fishing crates and Danny forced his head to look up and see him.
He was sitting calmly with a smirk on his gaunt face that reminded Danny so much of Vlad that he wanted nothing more than to blast that smirk right off, and was tapping the arm rest of his seat with the patience of a man who had waited a long time for something. He had his nicely groomed clothes and brown hair, the latter combed back in an elegant fashion that showed off his pale blue eyes. He was a handsome man, but there was something about his demeanor that would make even a blind man shudder, and to his left, bound and gagged was Jazz, looking a little worse for wear but otherwise fine.
Her eyes went wide at the sight of Danny's battered form and she let out a soft moan as her younger brother was dragged directly in front of Mance Riley, the homicidal man placing a perfectly charming smile on his face. Jazz felt the gag around her mouth taken off and she immediately asked in a high pitched tone, "Why did you let them hurt him! Leave him alone please…please, you promised you wouldn't hurt him!"
"I promised I wouldn't hurt him if he cooperated," Riley answered in a smooth voice that had a hint of madness in it. "It seems he was a stubborn young man…How are you Daniel? You look a little, dead on your feet I daresay."
Jazz's eyes went wide at the reference, realizing that Riley knew about Danny's powers somehow, but Danny just narrowed his brilliant blue eyes and his lip curled in a feral snarl as he regarded their kidnapper. He started to answer when he felt a sharp pain hit him at the back of his head and he went crashing to the ground. Jazz cried out in worry and fear as the large man she knew as Charles 'Skeeze' Martino haul up her brother roughly, causing her eyes to tear up when she saw how much pain her little brother was in.
"Yes, definitely stubborn," Riley said as he trailed a finger down the blue-eyed boy's cheek, causing him to flinch at the touch. "But my my…how you and your sister have grown! When I last saw you Danny, you were barely tall enough to reach my stomach and you were a skinny little thing, but now look at you. You've grown up into a fine looking lad with superpowers! You even got yourself a pretty little girlfriend…she'll probably be worried about you when she finds out your in the hands of a lunatic."
"She's out of town, you'll never get to her," Danny spat back, his voice hoarse but finding strength from something inside himself. "And I swear I'll kill you if you even touch her…"
"Making threats now are we?" Riley interrupted with a cold laugh as he drew his finger away from Danny's cheek and pressed his hand against his own. "I don't really think you're in any sort of position to be doing that. Not with the Spectral Inhibitor Collar around your neck in any case…which I must say, goes wonderfully with your eyes Daniel."
Jazz's eyes went wide as she noticed the electric blue band fastened around her brother's throat, the same color that match the bands around his wrists (which he didn't notice with his hands behind his back no doubt). "Where did you get those and how do you know about Danny's powers?" she asked in a scared voice, almost ashamed that she had turned into a blubbering seven year old instead of the twenty year old woman she was.
"Oh," Riley said as he waved a hand and lifted up a glass of red wine, which had been sitting on the arm rest with the other, sipping with a refined manner that seemed impossible for a man who had spent the better part of the last twenty years in prison. "I have a mutual friend to thank for that…he seemed quite eager to tell me everything about your little brother as long as I handed him over in the end. He made no promise for you though my dear…but I don't know how I'd ever be able to hurt a beauty like yourself…"
Jazz shrank away from his charming smile and the hand he ran through her hair, almost feeling Danny's anger. Riley continued on, either unaware or not caring about Danny's reaction saying, "He even gave me a rather handy tool to ensure I'd capture young Daniel in the first place. I'm sure you don't remember her, my dear Jazzmine, but perhaps Danny does. Allow me to introduce the magnificent and powerful, Bruma."
The ghost-like thing that Danny remembered from his flashback entered the room, her myriad hair flowing behind her and her skin blue as ice in the light and her beetle black eyes staring at the scene with disinterest. It was only then that Danny noticed a similar band around her neck…one just like his. She stood beside Riley, her face expressionless and uncaring, causing the area around her to drop several degrees in temperature.
"Her name means 'winter' in Latin," Riley continued in his slimy voice. "You see, the collar around your neck has much more power over beings who are fully ghosts…they merely suppress your powers while they put hers under my complete control. My friend, I believe you call him Plasmius, captured this spirit of winter and gave her to me to use…which I have to a marvelous extent."
"She's why the weather around here as been so cold and stormy isn't she?" Jazz asked, her curiosity momentarily overriding her fear.
"Yes she is," Riley answered with a wicked smile. "And she'll be what I use to keep any of your parents lackeys or the police from getting into this place. Now, I daresay that I've kept Charles waiting long enough…you and the boy are dismissed. Have fun Martino, and don't be too rough with him…we don't want to mar that youthful face now do we?"
Jazz saw her brother start to get dragged out by the huge, beastlike man, a feral and hungry grin playing on the latter's lips. She hadn't studied human behavior for over six years to miss a predator when she saw one, and from the way that man carried himself to the way he even looked at her brother, she knew what he was. Danny obviously didn't notice because he was to busy trying to yell obscenities at Riley to notice anything else, but hadn't Riley told her something about this Martino man being humiliated by her brother? She would be damned if she let that man hurt her brother in the way he wanted to…
"Please don't Riley," Jazz said suddenly, looking over at the older man with desperateness she was hoping he would exploit. "Don't let that man hurt Danny…please don't!"
Riley regarded the older Fenton sibling for a moment with curiosity and eagerness and then signaled for Martino to stop, which the huge man did with a grumble. He turned back and took Jazz's chin in his hand, looking at her kindly and making Danny struggle weakly against his captor. "My dear girl, what would you have me do? Mr. Martino has been looking forward to this for quite a long time, and I must say, so have I. Your dear brother reminds me much too strongly of your father for my taste. Martino's…methods, are much more efficient to wipe that smug look off of his face, I cannot just let him off without reasonable incentive."
"Well," Jazz whispered as she locked her eyes with the cold ice blue ones, a little disgusted with what she was about to do, but her concern for her brother's well-being was completely dominating her thoughts. "I offer myself up in his place…I'm sure I'm not exactly Mr. Martino's type…but what about yours?"
Hearing his sister's conversation with Riley, something clicked in his brain and he knew what she was doing, what she was sacrificing herself to do. He shook his head at her, trying soundlessly to tell her not to, that he could defend himself well enough without his powers, that he would be okay…but when Riley nodded he knew he just lost.
"Jazz, don't!" he yelled out hoarsely as she looked over at him with sad, but determined eyes. "I'll be fine, don't do it! Just stay out of this, don't do what he wants you to do!"
"Danny," Jazz answered quietly with a brave smile as Riley said something to the large man about Danny not to be touched until he said so. "It's fine…it's not like it's my first time. Don't worry about me, I'm just doing my big sister duties and looking out for my little brother."
"Jazz…" Danny said weakly as he was carried out, watching her fade from view, not caring that seconds ago he could have been molested…only caring that she had agreed to do something horrible to save him from that fate. He felt numb inside with guilt as he was dragged back to his cell, and didn't even care that he was thrown back in and landed awkwardly on his wrist, possibly breaking it. He kept trying to tell the little voice inside his head that hissed it was his fault and he couldn't focus on anything else until he felt a familiar shadow settle over his huddled form.
"You got off lucky this time," Martino hissed in anger. He marched inside, cuffed Danny upside the head again and slammed into the wall like he had earlier, but this time pinning him there with his two beefy arms. He lowered his head to Danny's head and whispered threateningly in his ear with hot, rancid breath, "But your luck will only hold out so long as Riley gets along with your slut of a sister, and when he finally does get tired of her…"
Martino let the threat hang in the air, trailing a large digit down Danny's bruised arm to get the already clear message across, and let Danny drop to the floor and swept out of the room as quickly as he came in. Danny's world was plunged into darkness again, and the most he could was huddle against the wall to try and keep his hurt limbs from aching. He let the brave face he had put up when facing Riley and that huge man, Martino, fall and he let the fear wash over him and the situation he and his sister were trapped in right now. And thinking about what his sister had just done to save him from Martino, he felt something form behind his eyes he hadn't felt sense he was a little boy running away from the bushes to his mother.
"I'm sorry Jazz…" he whispered as a lone tear traced down his cheek and rested his head on his upturned knees, wrapping his sore arms around his hurt ribcage and legs. "I'm so sorry…"
"It's your fault."
"It's you fault."
"Hold on Danny…"
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Sam arrived at the Fenton's household a little past nine in the morning on Thursday, not caring that she was still in her pajamas or that her eyes were red and puffy from crying almost the whole flight as she and Tucker exchanged stories. She was met immediately by Valerie who engulfed her in a hug and with a fierce, albeit shaky, vow said that they'd get Danny and Jazz back. Sam let Tucker guide her into the front room, knowing her needed her as much as she needed him right now.
The front room was worse then the kitchen was, and she felt a small sense of pride when one of the police officers near her said it looked like Danny put up a fight…she knew he did from the feelings she had felt that night. She hugged Maddie and Jack Fenton, both muttering that they shouldn't have left the house that night because of a stupid ghost call. The police were comforting them saying that Riley had tricked them as well with a nearby 911 call, and that no one could be blamed for this besides Mance Riley. He had obviously been planning this for some time.
"What I can't understand," Tucker said with a sad sigh as he ran a shaking hand through his short, dark hair. "Is why they were able to capture Danny in the first place? I mean, he's got ghost powers for Christ sake! It's obvious he put up a fight, just look at this place, but how did he get caught?"
"Riley has a ghost working for him," Sam answered suddenly, remembering the pale woman who looked like winter from the vision. "I just remembered…Riley must have known about Danny's powers…"
"How though?" Valerie asked, shaking her head back and forth, her brown eyes filling with tears all over again. "Danny's so careful! How did this guy know about his powers when not even his parents do?"
All three were silent for a moment, trying to think of an answer to the question when suddenly, they all looked up at each other. They had their answer…
"VLAD!" all three said in unison, knowing that he probably had something to do with all this if it meant he could get his hands on Danny. Tucker and Valerie started to talk more animatedly than they had all morning about how it had to be him and all the proof they had, but Sam gripped her pendant. She felt the familiar pull in the back of her mind, and looked deeply into the purple gem watching it flare to life as she felt pain start to overwhelm her stomach, causing her to double over.
"Sam!" Tucker and Valerie exclaimed as she fell to the ground, but were soon distracted by the bright blaze the stone was giving off. "What the hell is that?" Tucker asked while Valerie just shook her head in confusion.
Sam stared to shake as a million different pains wracked her frame, not sure how long it lasted, but then she started to see a hallway and smelled something that smelled like rotting fish. She felt fear roll into her and rage as well, and she could see a dirty, but unhurt Jazz staring at her in shock. Everything became a big blur, but she felt a sickening terror as she caught a glimpse of a man who could only have a smile that evil if he was Riley himself, and then guilt crashed into her subconscious. She felt more pain, and her head started to spin until she felt something hot and musty blow on the side of her face. The last thing she felt before pain blocked her out again was a sickening finger trail down her arm…Danny!
"Hold on Danny!" Sam yelled out loud as she snapped her lavender eyes open to look at two very concerned teenagers in a room that didn't look like the kitchen. She steadied herself and shook the remaining vestiges of the vision from her head before she asked, "What happened? Why aren't we in the kitchen anymore?"
"You've been out for two hours Sam," Tucker said as he continued to look at her with scared green eyes. "You just came to and shouted something about holding on to Danny…we took you up to Danny's room and told everyone else that you passed out because you were scared for Danny and Jazz. Sam, what was that violet blaze coming from the pendant? You seemed to be in so much pain, we didn't know what to do…"
Sam didn't answer his question, but instead she swung her legs over the side of the bed she was lying on and looked down at the now pulsating amethyst, raising her own to stare at her two friends. "I can find Danny with this thing Tucker…he's somewhere outside of town in a fishing factory…I just saw him. Or, I saw things through him…I think I was experiencing his pain…we need to help him!"
"Well," Valerie said as she too got up and started hunting around for her ghost hunting equipment she kept in Danny's room. There was no need in her opinion to inform the Fentons that she was a ghost hunter, but she wanted her equipment there in case something came up. "Then I guess we better go get him. We should probably head out soon, go get your car Tuck and we'll meet you back here in--"
"NO!" Sam shouted suddenly, understanding something Knowledge had told her earlier that morning… "Trust in what your hearts tells you…" "We need more than just the three of us this time Val. We need the police and Danny's parents to help."
"Are you suggesting that we...?" Tucker began, looking at the dark-haired girl as if she had lost her mind, as Sam started to march out confidently and down the stairs. "Wait! Sam!"
"Mr. and Mrs. Fenton?" Sam asked as she walked down the stairs, still aware that Tucker and Valerie were hissing at her to stop and that the police detectives were still there, including the detective who had questioned Danny the last time she was here. "I need to tell you something…something important that I think can help us find Danny and Jazz."
"What!" nearly every adult asked in shock, both Maddie and Jack bounding over towards her, hopeful expressions covering their grief-stricken faces.
"You know something Sam?" Maddie asked, her eyes shining with unshed tears for her missing children.
"Does it have something to with ghosts?" Jack asked, completely serious, but earning a look of contempt from some of the officers in the room.
"Yes and yes," Sam answered as Tucker and Valerie stopped midway on the stairs, unbelieving she was about to tell everyone here Danny's secret. "I think you both better sit down because this will come as a bit of a shock…okay. Danny…Danny's the…oh hell, I'm just going to say it. Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom…"
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A/N: End part one of this chapter. I had to split it up or else it was going to be way to long…it was bad enough like this! I know this was rather evil of me, but I promise to have the next one out soon!
Concerning the questions I'm going to get about Jazz's decision…I had her do what I think any sibling would do. I would do what she did in a heartbeat for my sister, so I made that decision…sorry if I made some of you squirm. Remember, please review guys! They make me feel so much better, and not that I'm bribing, but I'll try to get the next one out before the weekend in out if I get over ten reviews or something wink! Not bribing, just saying! Until next time!
Osco