A/N: Eh, turns out Ojeda is totally bailing on reading this fic. You guys remember him, right? Mention him earlier in the End Notes. The other person's internet broke down. RIIIIIIIIIIIGHTTTTT! Anyway, one with the chapter!

Chapter Twenty-Five

It's You're Fault

Danny quickly wiped away the tears from his eyes with the back of his hand. But they wouldn't stop coming. He tried to slow his breathing and get his heart beat into a regular pattern.

"It is okay, Daniel," came the sorry voice. Danny didn't move. His gaze was downcast, not wanting to show Vlad his plan had succeeded. He had taken away his powers and had taken away his best friend.

Danny didn't even make a sound. Vlad neared him, his forlorn figure. He looked so vulnerable and, better yet, so angry and filled with great sadness. He smirked, but kept it from showing up in his voice. "I cannot say it was quick, but I can say it was not your fault," he said. No answer. "Daniel, why don't you come with me. You've been at this for nearly six and a half hours, you must be tired." He put a hand on the boy's shoulder, but felt a shock run up his arm. He yanked it away.

Danny felt something snap within him as he felt Vlad's hand on his shoulder. He felt his insides grow cold, his sub-consciousness take hold of him. "Don't touch me," he said, teeth clenched, fists forming his hands. His voice was cold, ragged, uneven. Even more noticeable yet, his voice had a tone that sent chills spiraling up Vlad's spine. The boy had finally lost it. He only grinned as Danny stood up without so much as a moment's hesitation. He was worn out, Vlad knew, weak and vulnerable. He would not be able to fight if it was for his own life.

Perfect.

Danny turned to him. Vlad gasped. This wasn't part of the plan! Danny had only turned to him so he could see his face, and Vlad was horrified. The boy's eyes were blood red, not green. His hands, balled into fists, seemed to change color, the green becoming overwhelmed by a horrid gray color, then focusing on green again, then glowing black, and so on. The boy had snapped. He was using his ghost powers. But not his entirely. Vlad had read about this many times before. A power that could not entirely be controlled. That the power controlled you. It was unstoppable and could beat anyone.

But he did not know the entire story. All he knew was that it was controlled by emotion and was called upon only by the strongest of beings. It was only called upon by the strongest because then the host would not be able to control it, and it would control him instead, turning the host into its puppet of destruction. If this was really Danny speaking, and not the power, then Danny must be more powerful than he had ever expected.

He heard, from far off, an alert flaring on and on and on that an unknown source of power had entered the lab. And it was taking over and messing up the system of technology. His plan was ruined now. He needed Danny to feel grief and anger only so that he could accumulate all the emotion and turn it into energy and power for himself. Too much power would cause an over-flow and destroy the system.

But that was not his only problem. Danny was advancing towards him without a word. His teeth clenched, fists glowing a warped gray-black color, and his eyes gleaming with hatred. "It's your fault," the boy whispered raggedly. His voice sounded hollow, yet filled with such hatred it burned at Vlad's mind. What had he done? "You hurt Sam!"

Danny brought a fist up and thrust it right to Vlad's gut. Unfortunately for Vlad, he was in human form and was not up to a battle just yet. Vlad was sent hurtling to the opposite wall, knocking against it with a great, loud thud. Danny didn't even seem to notice what he was doing. He just kept advancing towards Vlad.

Vlad looked up, wincing from the pain of the punch. Danny had grown impossibly strong. And he didn't even seem to notice this change at all. "You killed her," Danny continued. He reached Vlad, pulled him up to his feet. He pulled him up even higher until he was off the ground an inch or so. "And you didn't even feel a thing," Danny accused. "You cold-hearted bastard!" Danny threw him to one side again, Vlad hitting against a wall. He was throwing Vlad around like a rag-doll. It didn't seem to him an effort whatsoever.

"Daniel, listen to me!" Vlad insisted.

"The way you listened to me?" Danny asked. "When I told you to let Sam go? The way you always listened to me when I said I never wanted any problems? No, Vlad, this is your fault! It was your fault what happened to Sam!" Danny towered over Vlad, who was on the floor against the wall. He stood there, glaring angrily at him. "And now, you're gonna pay!"

Danny leaned forward and grabbed hold of Vlad's suit jacket. Stupid, why did he always wear a suit? He pulled him up to his feet. "So, how does it feel to be powerless?" Danny asked. "To know you're playing right into your opponent's hand?"

Danny knocked him forward. Vlad looked so weak now, drained. "To feel like you can't do anything, to feel like you're so innocuous, it only amuses your enemy?"

Vlad hit against the wall, but kept on his feet. "Daniel, look at yourself," he said, then watched as the boy stalled in his steps. "You are letting this entity control your thoughts."

Danny glared at him still. He didn't understand. He noticed that he didn't understand most of what he was saying himself. Lies, the voice mumbled in his head. You're perfectly capable of taking him out, do so!

Danny's eyes still glowed red. His hands glowed a more menacingly. He backed up, away from Vlad.

"Daniel?" Vlad asked, wondering what was going on this time. Danny only grinned evilly as he brought both hands up, palms facing Vlad. Vlad's eyes widened. Danny's eyes, something about them told him he was not himself. This was no the Danny Fenton/Phantom he'd grown to know. This guy was pure evil and uncaring, knowing only the pain in others. It had taken control. "Daniel, stop! Its taking control of you! Stop it now!"

Danny couldn't hear him. He couldn't see, couldn't understand. His thoughts were more jumbled than ever before. His vision was hazy, and the words coming out of his own mouth were incomprehensible. He didn't even know any of what he was doing.

Vlad saw Danny pause, but not for long. The waves of power radiating from the boy were nearly suffocating him. But what came next was both awe-inspiring and frightening. Danny's hands glowed the same warped black/gray color, but this time was different. Danny shot at him a black-gray beam very much like a ghost ray but it was continuous and hit its mark directly. Vlad howled out in pain as the ray hit. It was draining his power, making him weaker. Killing him.

E/N: I know. Compared to my other chapters this was short. But I needed it to once again be perfectly reasonable and comprehensible. I can't have chapters rolling around that aren't even intelligible! Even with all the practice from my role play, I still couldn't get the power to work the way I wanted. Darn everything except for reviewers! and Axel. --grin-- Hope you liked it. Oh, and this power is mine too, my creation. You can't steal else I'll come after you!

Hehehehehe, I feel really stupid now! Okay, ignore the last part up there about the power. Axel owns the power too. She came up with the whole consume you thing. But I put it a little different because it's not exactly consuming him as it did Fairplay in our role play. It's pretty different. Plus the story about it is different too. I need to stick to what I'm actually supposed to say. Now where was I... And so I won't blather on about something not even I can make sense out of, Axel owns some of the power. So there. I came up with the foundation, we exploited it in the role play. Anyway, until next time.

--Airamé Phantom