When Danny arrived at his house, he showered and changed. This was nothing unusual – he had developed this as his after school routine, and, in the midst of his chaotic life, his routine helped to steady him, and kept him that much saner. What was unusual was the fact that he spent a full seven minutes – a record for him – in front of the mirror making sure he looked good, and, he had put on cologne, which was something he never did. He then promptly washed the stuff off, and came up with another Superman flying type idea, though this one was rather more random, or at least he thought so. His parents left earlier that day for a ghost hunting convention, and wouldn't be back all weekend, and Jazz was out for a shopping trip with a friend of hers. He called Sam, and said "Hey, Sam? Change of plans."
"Oh, okay then." She sounded quite disappointed.
"No, it's nothing like that. My parents aren't home, and I wanted to know if you wanted to hang out at my house…" A pause, then, the clincher, "for dinner. I'm cooking Chinese."
Sam giggled a bit on the line. "Danny, you're cooking?"
"Yeah. What's so odd about that?"
Sam, thinking he was likely ordering takeout, then faking cooking – wait a minute, why would he do that? To impress her? Nah. "Yeah, okay Danny. I'll see you there."
"Kay. Oh, and Sam? There's no reason we have to go back on our usual plans, just because Tucker's not here and we're hanging at my house. We can probably catch a movie afterwards. Whatya think?"
"Fine by me. I'll be over around six."
"Cool. Bye."
"Bye."
His heart leapt, as he leapt into action preparing the perfect dinner. Okay, perfect dinner, followed up by a movie, and, he was even planning to pay for their tickets – a thing which the broke teenager would never try. What was it that made him want this time with her to be special – unique? Well, never mind. He would do this whether or not his mind had any idea what he was doing.
Dan continued to observe his younger self. His brain, no longer working with a conscience, this left more room in his mind for cold calculation, and, as he went over the events that would lead up to the one he was observing becoming him, he realized he would have to be precise in his action, or he would re-alter history, and destroy himself. Therefore, he continued his waiting. The right moment was coming. He would just wait it out until then.
The moment was coming. As Danny finished up cutting the garlic and ginger He always added those two last, so that would be the smell that remained on him, when the others were washed off – this is a bit obsessive, he supposes, but the habit just stuck, and now, he couldn't not put the garlic and ginger in last. Sam had noted once after Home Ec. in middle school that she liked the smell the two produced, and Danny had not forgotten. He had taken up cooking in the eighth grade, after a full year of denying the fact that it was one of those things he liked to do best. He had a natural talent for it, and in the five times he had cooked the more complex meal recipes he kept in the cookbook he had – he kept it on the bottom of an old box of comic books he no longer read, so no-one would find it. He was a little paranoid, he guessed, but as long as the paranoia was just between him and him, he didn't mind – he had never once messed up the recipe. Tonight was the best dish he could find, and it was no exception – he pulled it off as flawlessly as an untrained-home-cooker-person could. Sam came in just as he was throwing the garlic in. She was a full 30 minutes early, not that he wasn't happy to see her. He smiled and went out to greet her. She was surprised to see that he was actually cooking dinner. And, to top that off, it smelled delightful.
She said as much. "It smells delightful."
Danny, slightly surprised by her appearance, which, though there was little different about it, seemed to dazzle him anyway, nodded, smiled dumbly, and said nothing.
"Danny? Anybody in there?"
"Huh? Oh, right. The food will be ready in a minute. It was a surprisingly quick recipe. You, uh, look really good."
She started to blush, then realized how absurd this was – she was wearing the exact same outfit she had when he had flown home. Well, not exactly the same. She had also showered and changed, and this was a new outfit, it was just a habit of hers to wear her favorite outfit when she was around Danny. Although he never said anything, out of fear of saying something stupid, he never failed to notice. At the time that he had appeared to space happily into another world, he was actually thinking back on all the wonderful times he spent with Sam. He supposed it was a combination of the realization that he could die at any time, coming from the mastery of the touch, and the fact that he was completely dazzled by her today. As to the latter, he had no particular reasoning, but he liked being dazzled by her anyway. As he stood before her, she managed to also look back over the last year of growth and change between them. Danny had gotten taller, his face elongated a bit, angled a bit more towards manhood than when he had become half ghost the year prior. His thin and gawky teenage body had gotten somewhat stronger, with the help of his ghost fighting. He had abandoned the red and white tee for a red tee shirt, and an unbuttoned white button-down over it. Okay, so he hadn't changed much in the clothing style end of things, but, what was that smell on him? Was it cologne? No, it couldn't be. He hated the stuff, and it smelled more like what he was cooking – mainly garlic and ginger. She liked that smell a lot. It just seemed to fit with him.
As for her, she wore what she usually did these days. Her usual black and purple shirt, a purple choker, and her normal makeup combination. She had also grown a bit, and although she was not Paulina ('Thank god', she thinks each night, looking in the mirror, 'and yet, Paulina holds Danny's eye, and I… what the hell am I thinking this stuff for again!'), she had an attractive figure, and she had let her hair grow. It was now shoulder length, but she still kept the ponytail, in an emerald scrunchy that no longer matched her outfit, and she had no idea why she kept it, although deep down, she really did, just as she knew why she kept an ice blue pendant on the silver chain Danny had gotten her for her last birthday (the chain was all he could afford at the time, being broke as he was, and unable to get a job that he wouldn't lose in five seconds because of ghost hunting incidents. Engraved on it was a single word. "Forever". He said it was because he didn't have enough cash to buy the word "friends", but she felt that the necklace as it was held an even greater sentiment for her, and had given him a hug.), both the necklace and the scrunchy matched his eyes. Even deeper in her subconscious, she knew that though this seemed a bit obsessive, she knew why she kept the pendant hidden by her breast, close to her heart. That was the part of him she cared for most. That shy, kind of clumsy Danny Fenton. The other half was an addition, an augmentation that only served to make the other even better. As to the rest of Sam's outfit, there was a pair of tight fit dark blue jeans, her usual knee high boots, on her arms, several pairs of purple bracelets, and these thingies that Danny could never remember the name of. They were black, like her shirt, went slightly higher than elbow length, and ended slightly below her wrist. Danny was happy, as always, to see that she was wearing the chain he had got her last year. And, with his keen sense of smell, he detected a faint sense of lilacs, a smell that suited her perfectly. To be honest, his comment about her looking good was an outright lie on his part. To him, she looked drop dead gorgeous. After they were done with using their peripheral vision to look each other over, as Danny finished cooking the meal, they sat down. Although the meal was amazingly fancy, Danny, in a subconscious effort to quell the feeling that this was a date, he had set the table simply, bowls, forks, knives, and plastic cups.
"If you want, Sam, I'll explain to you the ingredients as we go along." He said, blushing slightly, but proud of his achievement. As they ate, he explained how he had sautéed lotus root, lily buds, and dried mushrooms, with chopped garlic and ginger, in extra virgin olive oil (the olive oil and the garlic and ginger made the flavor, in his opinion) he soaked the bean thread, and that was served cold under it.
"Well, it's one of the best home cooked meals I've ever had. When did you learn to cook?"
He blushed, and said, "Well, you kind of told me in the eighth grade that I'd look good in an apron, and, I guess the idea stuck."
They both burst out laughing, even though they knew he had spoken the truth. They spent the rest of the night laughing and talking, joking about things, and simply enjoying each other's company. They totally lost track of time, and it was 10:30 before they realized they had totally missed the chance to go see a movie, and get back in time for their non-existent curfews. Danny decided to walk to Sam home, just in case of ghost attacks. Despite his ability to easily dispose of such minimal threats, he prayed there would be no box ghost this night. As they strolled down the sidewalk, passing between the light and shadow of the lampposts, the moon full, the night so clear that the stars shone almost as bright as day themselves, they both realized something their hearts had known all along. They cared for each other, and in a way that went far deeper than friendship. The joint thought of the moment being 'only one hurdle left, then.' That hurdle being the other's feelings. Neither would risk their losing the friendship they had for the sake of something greater. It was too great a chance, that the other would not feel the same way, and that they would forever be uncomfortable around each other – their fellowship broken.
When they reached Sam's house, Danny, riding on the feeling that he was immortal as long as he was around her, caught her up bridal style, went ghost, and flew her to her balcony. Surprised at first, and then content with being in his arms, Sam let him do so. She knew this was no daring, dangerous new Danny surfacing. She could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and she knew he was just as nervous and timid as ever, he was just going with the feel of the night. When he put her down, so did she. Leaning forward on the railings and standing on her toes to reach his levitating figure, she kissed him lightly on the cheek.
"Thanks, Danny. This was a wonderful…" a slight pause. What was it then? A date?
"…dinner."
He grinned boyishly, said goodnight, and then flew off, only to reappear moments later back where he had left from.
"Hey, Sam?"
"Hmm?" She was tired and stifled a yawn.
"You think, maybe, we could do this again, maybe later this weekend? You know, without Tucker?" The words he had been looking for were "just the two of us", not "without Tucker" but the former carried far too much of a hint of where they were going with this for his comfort, so he stuck with the latter. She smiled, that wonderful shy smile that was at times the only thing Danny believed was real, in this fantasy world in which he lived. As beautiful as that smile was, it was just surreal enough to be totally real.
"Sure." She said.
"Kay. See ya, then."
"Bye."
They waved and he flew off. As soon as he was out of eye and earshot, Danny flew as high and as fast as he could, into the clouds, and gave a laugh, and a cry of elation. As Sam collapsed on her bed at the same moment, she too gave a laugh, and a sigh of content, yet ecstatic happiness.
Within the dark observer, a silent battle was waged. The other emotions he had were reawakening. The first to crawl up from the depths – lust. With it came its brother, jealousy, and it was relatively clear they were both here to stay. This posed a problem. In order for the Danny before to become the Danny after, Sam had to die, and, on top of that, the jealousy could cause Dark Danny to do something irrational, and alter the past in a way that would destroy him. Well, never mind the small things. He would deal with his former self and destroy Sam later. Now, he had an appointment with another hybrid. This one just happened to possess a weapon of destructive power that would be exactly what he would need to complete his plan. He focused on his destination in the past, saw the portal change direction, and stepped through.
As Vlad Masters, AKA Vlad Plasmius made some final adjustments to his nether-vortex generator, a dark figure stepped into his lair.
"Vlad Plasmius!"
The malevolent, if not evil half ghost was startled from his work on the minute circuitry. He turned, and never made it the full 180 degrees to turn around, before true evil grasped him by the throat, and hoisted him off the ground.
The entity grinned, and said, "Hello, Plasmius."
To Vlad, the resemblance to another halfa was quite obvious. No matter how different this being was, it was Danny Phantom. His face bore Danny's features, his hair; the same shock of flyaway, perpetually caught in the windswept sideways position, if grown down to his shoulders and gone dark gray from its usual white. Even his costume, though changed some, a small part between shoulders and elbows white, with black elbow length gloves, his lower torso white to the left and right, his abdominal muscles black, which connected with the black of the chest of his uniform. And, of course, the trademark "D" of his uniform (leave it to Vlad to notice the most obvious sign last). His character, however, was far from the naïve boy of fifteen that Plasmius was perpetually at rivalry with. From the face of this dark manifestation, there poured a hatred, malice, and evil unparalleled. And yet, the face held no direct malevolence. It was, indeed Danny's face. The evil in his features was the kind that could easily be masked by a compassion that was once true, but no longer. In fact, the only true way to see through the features of that face, preserved by the lack of emotion in it to an indeterminable age, to the true evil below, would be to look in the eyes. In other worlds than these, they would be called bullshooter's eyes. Cold, blue, emotionless. However, the eyes of one in those other worlds that wears eyes like these could not parallel the emptiness in this Danny's icy silver glare. It was by these eyes that Vlad was temporarily paralyzed. Even in the long years since he had become half ghost, he had never encountered such a chill sensation, as when his ghost sense sent an icy blast through his lungs. He found himself unable to breathe for several seconds, and when he finally did speak, it was with a sputtering cough.
"Hello 'cough!' Danny. What brings you to my humble home?"
"You have something I want, old man."
Vlad could tell he would not be able to free himself from this ghost's grip, so he decided he would have to play the frightened old man, if he were to get free enough to escape this Danny.
"Very well, Daniel. What is it I can do for you?" He was sure to let the fear quiver slightly in his voice, and Danny seemed to fall for it – his grip loosened, and Vlad had just enough breathing room to send an ectoplasm blast at the machine behind him. The machine, however inactive, swung towards them both. Vlad, being lower down, was unharmed when the cannon barrel swung and hit dark Danny bluntly in the head. The dark future being was knocked back, and relinquished his grip on Vlad altogether. Plasmius wasted no time in flying to the controls, finishing some rough modifications, and blasting dark Danny into the next dimension. When the smoke cleared, there Danny stood, still in this world. Vlad gasped, and stumbled back. Dark Danny (lets call him Dan from now on) held up his diminished arms, which were decimated from the forearm down. They regenerated with a look, and Daniel started forward.
"H-how?"
"That machine works to kill humans – and send ghosts into the abyss of the nether. I am neither human, nor ghost any longer, at least not in any comprehensible manner. As for your part in this, you have done it. I should kill you now, but for the idea that it might affect how the future – my present time – turns out. Now that I know the machine is functional, I will take my leave. I will return for it soon enough."
After a moment's pause, Daniel turned to leave, and Vlad found his voice.
"I could destroy it, you know! Then your future would be gone forever!"
Daniel turned, and smiled terribly. "You won't." And he was right. How could Vlad destroy his greatest accomplishment? When Daniel flew away, Vlad, a nasty sense of impending doom in the pit of his stomach, for once in his life hoped that Danny – the Danny he knew; his nemesis, Danny – would win this one.
