Danny Phantom and Walker areowned by Butch Hartman. Fic is complete, so no begging for me to continue it.
The warden paced a few steps one way, then stopped. After a moment spent regarding the wall, he repeated the process in the opposite direction. He was well aware of the little black and white ghost boy who watched him with a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "You been a bad boy, punk," the warden remarked, itching to wipe that knowing grin off the boy's face.
Danny laughed quietly and nodded once. "Yep. So what're you going to do? Lock me up? You know I can walk out of here any time I want."
Walker continued to stare at the wall, mentally cursing his inability to properly terrify the boy. Any other ghost would have been sick with dread at the carefully calculated pacing, but those ghosts couldn't become human and phase through everything. Danny had been scared of him once; now, he was simply amused.
It was infuriating! Walker was a man who held great store by the rules, and here was someone who didn't obey them. Worse, the boy was half human, which meant the rules only half applied. He couldn't tolerate that, the knowledge that there was someone who didn't have to follow a definitive law, be it ghost or human. It had been a stretch to go into the human world looking for him; Walker had bent his own rules to the breaking point to do it, calling the smartest minds the Ghost Zone had to offer to help him find loopholes and alternate meanings.
But what good was it when he had no way to contain the boy, nor even the assurance that such an act within his jurisdiction. It was times like that when he almost longed for chaos, to be allowed to do what he wanted. He had never known that feeling before he met Danny.
"You know, there's a saying," a voice said just behind his left ear. He muttered an oath and whirled around to see that the boy had walked out of his restraints. Danny simply smirked again and continued. "Rules are made to be broken."
"Ridiculous!" Walker exclaimed. It crossed his mind that he should do something, but what could he possibly do? The boy was human again, and effectively untouchable, at least by the law. At that point, simply having him there was breaking the rules, and Walker wasn't sure how a sentient being would fit into the contraband allowance.
"Is it?" Danny persisted. He took a step forward, forcing Walker to step back or be stood in. The warden chose the former although it galled him to do so.
"Without rules," he tried to explain. "It would be chaos. No one would know how to act or be held be responsible for their actions." Why was the kid looking at him like that?
"Maybe," Danny allowed, shrugging. "But uncertainty is what makes life fun. You should try it some time."
Walker started to growl a witty comeback, but his knees suddenly hit the edge of a chair. He was astonished to realize that he'd been backing up the whole time and briefly wondered if the boy was mind controlling him in some way. There was an odd look in the kid's eyes that reminded him of the way Desiree looked at him when she wasn't angry at being locked up. It was decidedly unnerving, so the warden settled for simply saying, "Get out of here."
Danny spared a moment to look confused. "But…you're the one who brought me here."
"I don't care anymore. Just get out!" If he'd had a heart, it might have broken at the look of dejection on the boy's face. As it was, he was becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the situation. He was Warden Walker; he should have been the one in control. Not some cute, rule-breaking-
He did not either just think that.
Danny facial expression changed so quickly that Walker had to wonder if he'd learned to read minds as well. Something in his expression must have given him away, he decided. "You know," the boy began thoughtfully. "Chaos can be pretty fun. Tell you what." He switched back to ghost mode to shove Walker into the chair. "I'll be the warden, and you can be the prisoner."
But that was completely against the rules…
And he wondered why he bothered to care…
After a moment, Walker realized he had started to grin.