Preevyet! I'm back on 2/7 with the last chapter of TCfSR! The major climax! This has to be the longest chapter yet and I haven't even started! WHOO! Prepare for an ultimate surprise. That, and more. I'm gonna recap everything for you at the bottom. But so as to not ruin it for you, I'm going to warn you: DO NOT GO DOWN THERE! And as a side note: I may be Jewish, but I'm not really religious. However, I still believe in God, and I want to say that I do not mean any harm or anything insulting in this story.

Hurry up and read, because one month after it's posting, this whole thing will be taken down to be edited from your suggestions. It will be up, but after a long while. Why? A) Revision and editing. B) More people will be added by that later time, so they will get a chance to read it off the first page.

DISCLAIMER: I don't own DP or MCR. Doy.

RATED: T for language, violence, and d e a t h.

Chapter 12

"I Never Told You What I Did For A Living"

"Time I get a real job…one I've been doing for years without even knowing it…and this time, it's going to be real."

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Danny sighed exasperatedly; he needed to finish it off. His retirement job, and then he'd leave permanently. Finally see Sam. He wanted to leave his mark on Earth with his last person. This one was going down with him and there was nothing he could do.

Mikey Perez.

He was going down with him. After the high school years, Mikey had gone on to become a multi-business tycoon. Danny was on the bottom of the chain, and worked for him. However, he was mistreated under his rule; he was beaten repeatedly for his 'condition' and regarded as a measly peasant in a tyranny. Danny was getting his revenge. Mikey was going to learn his very last lesson tonight.

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"Where is he?" murmured Danny, intangible. He sighed; Mikey lived in the even bigger mansion across the street, then. Either way, though, Danny was going to get the job done. Suppressing old memories like he did for four years, he approached the mourning victim in the backyard, where Amity Cemetery was located. He was just like Danny…he lost a loved one, his wife…but Danny lost all he had…

At last, he silenced his memories and grinned. This was his last dying wish as the world around him had become a permanent shade of black and white…and it would all be back again with this last job. He approached Mikey stealthily, not making a single noise. He slowly reached him and grabbed his neck. As Mikey began to lose oxygen, his eyes grew wide and his face became blue, he strained out one single word.

"Why…?"

Danny answered that mentally, an unchanging expression on his face. Because I did it before as a kid. Because I can't get a better job. Because I need to get rid of the bad guys. Because you mistreating me doesn't help.

But he didn't speak, and only stared at the red-haired man as he fell on top of his mother's grave. Danny's facial features may have spoken harshly, but his eyes, stuck in the past, said it all…and the man felt no disdain towards him in the last throes of his life. His eyes shut, and, with understanding, his life, his soul, was destroyed.

Danny felt immensely guilty. But…there was no other path for him. He graduated school, sure, but he didn't go on to college. There was no point to it; he had no willpower to learn, and with no willpower he couldn't do anything.

Danny did feel sorrow at times. This path he chose…was not the best one, and he knew this. But it was the only one he had left. All the others had been demolished. Danny did keep a book of all the names of his victims. He pulled it out. On page 278, he added the name Mikey Perez underneath Anthony Marshall. He knew it wasn't a good memory, but it was the best he could do. These names…would be forgotten the very moment the book would be lost. Buried with the single corpse that would receive no remorse.

Many times in his life, in his isolation, he would imagine red all over his body. The blood of his victims. Many times he came back to the alley he called home covered in blood. Occasionally they put up a fight. And occasionally, another quarter of his sheets would be in red. No matter how hard he tried, the stains stayed, just like the memory of the victim would be imprinted in a loved one's mind.

He used to be religious. Used to be. He turned against it, forgetting it all. Revenge was a more powerful force than religion. Praying, he knew, would not get him money and food. Praying would only give him false hope, as God had long forgotten casualties like Danny.

The last thing that this God had given him as compensation was a picture of Star. It didn't help that much, but it was the one last thing he had to preserve of anyone he knew. Every night, he fell asleep holding this picture with an unbreakable grip, falling into a blissful, dreamless sleep where he felt no guilt and lived with Sam.

In the graveyard, Danny was brought out of his revelations, eyes on the body, by a voice. The body still had the same expression on its face: disbelieving, wondering, appalling, and (the one thing in that face that made Danny turn away in horror) understanding.

"Sad how everyone leaves you, isn't it?" sighed a voice. Danny recognized it. His head shot up, his eyes cold and hard, but still blue.

"Vlad," he acknowledged. However, it wasn't an acknowledgement of superiority. Just a notice to tell him that Danny was paying attention even when he wasn't worth it.

"I know for a fact that you loved Sam." Danny's eyes hardened more. "It's a shame she was killed."

"You were behind it!" he yelled uncontrollably.

"Why, Danny!" gasped Vlad in mock horror, his arm on his chest. "I'm appalled you would say that!"

"Come off it! I know what's going on!"

"Why, Daniel, how could you say that? I don't have a clue of what's going on!"

Both fell silent as tension grew to the point neither could stand it anymore. It seemed like the other was just about to attack when they were both waiting for the worst from each other.

"I also know for a fact that you loved Valerie after Sam." Danny stayed silent. "That's very rude, you know. To turn on the one you love. Even if she did die." Danny could tell he was talking about his mother.

"Shutup," he muttered quietly. Vlad must have not heard it because he continued.

"It's a shame, however, that she's gone, too. And Valerie…tsk, she was your fault. Your responsibility." Danny's eyes were as hard as diamond, and just as sharp if not sharper.

"And then you went with Star. And she's on your hands, too. By the way, Danny, what page are you on now? I think it's 278 with two columns a page, 40 names a column. That would equal 22,240 people." Vlad clucked his tongue. "That's a lot of people Danny. In fact, I would bet you all of your fortune from this business that more than half of this cemetery is occupied by people killed by you."

Danny knew this was true; in fact, they had expanded this cemetery to three times its original size to hold the people. But he wasn't about to speak.

"For all of the people in this cemetery, I think it would be a favor…to add one last person. Do you know who that one person is?" Vlad said softly. Danny could guess.

"You."

Two loud shots sounded through the air. All Danny had the time to do was turn around, but it didn't help. The bullets sliced through the air and cut into his skin. Blood streaming out of his neck, his last dying thoughts were that he would finally be happy with all his family and friends up there. With a loud screech, the almighty master of life and death fell to the ground, never to wake up again.

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LYRICS TO I NEVER TOLD YOU WHAT I DID FOR A LIVING:

Stay out of the light. Or the photograph that I gave you. You can say a prayer if you need to. Or just get in line and I'll grieve you. Can I see you? Alone. Another night and I'll see you. Another night and I'll be you. Some other way to continue. To hide my face. Another knife in my hands. A stain that never comes off the sheets. Clean me off. I'm so dirty, babe. The kind of dirty where the water never cleans off the clothes. I keep a book of the names and those. Only go so far. 'Til you bury them. So far and down we go. Touched by angels, though. I fall out of grace. I did it all so maybe. I'd live this every day. Down we go. Well never again. And never again. They gave us two shots to the back of the head. And we're. All. Dead. Now.

End

Oooh…anticlimactic. Now, for the recap: Vlad wanted to get rid of Danny, but noticed a trend in the victories. Danny won because he always went in headfirst. So he decided to do this indirectly and discreetly. All he had to do were a few things. The main thing, though, was just get Tucker into the accident, and from there everyone spiraled downwards.

And why Danny went through so many phases after Tucker: he was enraged because it was his best friend. But prison changed him completely. Then, he realized he loved Sam and after chapters 5 and 6, becomes extremely depressed because both of his friends aren't too well. Then, when Tucker gets out, life spirals out even more because of his 'problem'. Then, when Valerie was about to get rid of Tucker, he had to save Tucker because if not, he would lose them both and that was the last thing he wanted. And as a note: this plan is really ingenious. I mean, Vlad barely had to do anything. All he had to do was get Tucker in the hospital, kidnap Sam and release her, and just shoot a really depressed Danny. Well, chapters 2 and 3 were really just him acting. He was never really crazy; he just wanted to make Danny funked out.

Yeah. And I just got my appointment. Ack. I'm officially the human magnet. They gave me two springs, a new wire, a twisty wire thing, and four hooks. Hell, there was so much metal they couldn't even put on the rubber bands on some teeth! But I did get black and green. And good news: I'm really close to getting these damn things off! One month and a week to my next appointment!