Another short chapter, as I couldn't fit many scenes into this one, I am lazy, and have a head ache. There will be a preview of part six at the end, since I am feeling generous.
Corrections Corner: I am fairly sure I got everything right in the last chapter.
Warnings/Disclaimers: Lots of my OCs in here. Sorry. Again, Danny Phantom and all related properties belong to Butch Hartman, not me. But you knew that, right? Being that this is If I owned it, this would be the plot of an upcoming episode.
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From his place on his bed, Danny's eyes snapped open. The new clock on his table flashed 3:21 a.m., though he didn't need to look at it. It was early, and that was all he needed to know.
The dreams had been different this time, and that was both a relief and frightening. Castles and death rode high in them, vast armies so great that they covered miles of land like a sea of angry, rabid humanity… and he was the leader. Images of towns and major cities destroyed by fire and reduced to smoldering piles of rubbish and bones seared themselves into even the farthest corners of his brain. There was nowhere left to hide.
And he knew. The Phantom was gone now, possibly forever. In its place was only the Wolf. Though he knew this should make him uneasy at the least, the waters of his heart were calm and still. He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
Tonight, part of him was saying, it will happen. It has to. There's got to be a first time for everything, and this is it. Why did he want it to happen? Why, despite the pain and the terror it was bound to put him through, did he want to become the wolf, to feel the new power flowing through his veins? Why did he still want to tear apart anything that moved?
He felt no aches, no soreness or nausea. His binding muscle twinges had gone, but the invisible tail was still there. This didn't bother him so much anymore. Tranquility stole down upon him.
Wednesday, 3:25 a.m. Exactly two days, six hours after the bite, and already it was taking effect. Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and it was coming into play. Actions, even reactions, have consequences. This was going to be one huge consequence.
---
"Antigoras?"
"Yes, Barty?"
"First, never call me that. Second, is Kai with him?"
"Of course, Barty. She's the best."
"Good. Gods help us if Drake gets away with this."
"Should we fix the situation ourselves?"
"Not… now. Let's see how your apprentice handles it."
"But Barty-"
"No buts! And for the last time, don't call me that!"
---
The bell rang for lunch hour, sounding out loud and clear in the crisp fall air. Though she was neither hungry nor inclined to talk, Sam Manson made her way through the lunch line and over to one of the tables. Tucker wasn't there; he was serving time in detention for playing computer games on his PDA in class. Again.
So, naturally, she was stuck with the only other person from their group that had bothered to show up that day. Surprisingly, it wasn't Danny. It was Kai.
Danny hadn't put in an appearance all morning. It wasn't like him to ditch for no reason, and if there were ghosts around… he would have told her and Tucker, right? Come to think of it, Sam hadn't seen Danny use his ghost powers since Monday. He hadn't even flown home after their study session! There was defiantly something up, and she was going to find out what.
Sighing, she sat down across from Kai. Friend of Tucker or no, there was a certain quality about the new kid that was off-putting. Also, she was spending altogether too much time with Danny.
"Hey," Kai said, looking suspicious. She knew that there was no love lost between them; what she figured was going on was a mystery.
"Where's your bag of burgers?" Sam asked, trying to keep up a semblance of polite conversation. If she was going to get any information, it probably wouldn't hurt to be nice.
Kai, who had opted for school lunch, grimaced at the tray of slop. "I decided to come on time today, so I didn't hit Nasty Burger on the way here. I'm starting to regret that; cold fast food may taste slightly worse than soggy cardboard, but at least it's better than this."
"Yeah, the school food is horrible."
"You're telling me. I'm not sure if this even qualifies as food." She prodded her salad with a plastic spork. Sam swore she saw the lettuce move. "Somebody should call the FDA on your lunch lady. This must be cruelty to children or something."
"How was the food in Ontario?"
The new kid looked startled. "Where now? Oh… right… it was better than this, but still to be avoided. I usually brought pizza."
This was unquestionably suspect, but Sam let it pass. "Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Where's Danny?"
Kai raised an eyebrow, and took a bite of her chicken sandwich. She instantly spit it out again, looking disgusted and vaguely stunned. "Fate's sakes! Any minute now Ashton Kucher is going to jump out from behind a door to tell me I've been punked."
"Yes, yes, it's awful already! What about Danny!" Sam shouted, exasperated.
There was a sigh. "I haven't seen him. It's troubling, to be sure. What with everything…" A fair amount of distress registered on her face, and her eyes glazed over. Even Sam knew what this meant.
"You like him, don't you?"
"Oh, he's a fine guy, sure."
"I meant like him like him." Perhaps Canadian exchange students didn't understand basic concepts?
"What? Heck no! Actually… I was just thinking about an old friend of mine. But that isn't the point." She paused. "Look, I don't know where he is. I don't suppose there's a chance he told you… I mean, you're his best friend…"
It was Sam's turn to be shocked. "You know? About his powers?"
"Um… yeah," Kai looked flustered. "That's what I meant. Totally. Later then? Great. Good luck finding Danny!" Like that, she was gone. Nobody saw her the rest of the day.
---
Much later…
The she-wolf sat herself on a park bench, and waited. All of Wednesday had passed without fanfare except for one thing: Danny hadn't been to school. For all she knew, he hadn't left the house.
The clouds had dissipated, and the night was clear and cold. The now leafless trees, gnarled and naked looking, blew about in the bitter wind. There was a soft whistling noise, and the she-wolf darted beneath her bench. She knew that noise. Any minute, Drake would show up.
The black wolf, fur gleaming in the lamplight, strode obliviously on, through the manicured lawns and cobbled walkways of the park. The sound came again, more like a shadow, or an echo of music than something real. It was hard to pin it down. It was almost nonexistent. "So it's decided, then?" He growled, apparently to no one in particular. "You'll help?"
A sarcastic sounding voice that was somehow disconcertingly familiar drifted like soft snowflakes over the park, where it's every word lingered in the empty space for a few seconds too long. "Oh, yes. Of course. Ask the ghost with no influence for help. That's real effective."
Drake bristled. "Don't get snippy with me! You've no idea who you're dealing with!"
"On the contrary," the voice sneered, "I know more than you would like to think. You are responsible for my exile. Why should I come to your aid." It was a statement, not a question. The air took on a flat, stale quality.
"Very well. I see how this is going to be. I'll take my business elsewhere."
"So we're done here?"
"Very much so, yes." A heavy mantle was lifted from the general vicinity of where Drake and the she-wolf were sitting, and the apparition was gone.
"You are such a hypocrite, Drake," the she-wolf snarled, stalking over to him. "You tell me not to meddle, but here you are doing just that! I ask of you: where is your sense of decency?"
Drake granted her a rather bored look. "I expect it went off to die somewhere a while back. Besides, I'm only finishing what I started."
Her eyes narrowed. Her tail puffed up and thrashed about, menacingly. "What happened to you, Drake? You used to be a real nice guy! You used to know what love means."
He smirked. "So that's it, eh? You intend to show this boy the meaning of 'true love'? What a silly concept. At best, all that ever exists is lust. He… has no chance with that girl. He deserves someone as ruthless and power-hungry as he is."
"How do you know what he's like? How have you got any idea what feelings lay buried in his heart?"
"Common sense, love. Anyone can see it. You just have to look closely enough."
---
He felt like death. Everything was slowly unraveling. The once lush tapestry of his mind had been reduced to several miss-matched threads and a sowing needle. Ideas had a hard time penetrating the thick walls of his skull.
He passed the day by sitting in a clump of bushes, curled up in a ball. Thoughts and images pushed through his head, rampaging and plundering the halls of what had once been 'conventional wisdom', and 'dreams'.
There were times when he was nearly human, and times when he was still fully Danny Fenton, unsung hero of Amity Park. This was one of those times.
Shivering despite feeling overheated, he picked himself up and smoothed out the wrinkles in his clothes. He left the park, never noticing the debating wolves so close to him. Details, even glaringly obvious ones, were beginning to get lost in the sauce. Everything blurred together, as if the world were a huge, badly developed photograph.
"Danny! Danny Fenton! Over here!" Someone was calling his name. Someone… Sam! He couldn't see her like this. He couldn't. He'd end up hurting her, or worse. He tried to ignore her, to walk away, but she started walking up to him. He was frightened, for her and himself. "There you are! Why weren't you at school? Even Kai showed up on time! Your parents are ballistic about you cutting class by the way."
"Get away!" He hissed, spinning around. His teeth were bared inadvertently, and he was half stooped over. "Leave me alone!"
She backed up a few paces, scared and angry. "Well if that's how you're going to be, I will! Jeez, Danny, I was just trying to help." All the wolfishness melted off in a stream of clarity. If the bite had been poison, Sam was the antidote. Danny felt awful, and tried to make it up.
Taking a few steps towards her, he realized his mistake. He couldn't live without her. "No, wait!" He cried pleadingly, extending an arm out to her. She pulled away, but he grabbed her arm and gathered her into a hug. "I'm sorry," he whispered, not letting go. "I've been having some trouble lately. I… don't know what to do, and I lashed out at you. I really am sorry."
Sam patted his back nervously. "That's fine, Danny. Tell you what, let's go to Nasty Burger and get something to eat. You can explain it to me there."
"What about Tucker?"
"He's at his house assembling a new mail-order computer he got. Besides, when was the last time we had a Tucker-free meal?"
Danny smiled, releasing her. "Good point. Lead the way, Madame."
The two disappeared into dark folds of the night, unaware that they were being observed by the curious werewolves. Destiny has a way of doing that. It'll let you believe everything's fine until the last devastating second when it's too late.
By then, of course, there's nothing left to be done.
---
As promised before, a preview. Everything in italics is preview, and will be included somehow in part six. Dialogue and other things subject to change at my whim.
Not wishing to tear apart his clothing as he was having urges to do, he carefully stripped and folded the articles, tucking them safely behind the toilet.
Danny lay down on the cold bathroom floor, his stomach churning. This was it. This was the transformation. He only hoped it wouldn't hurt that much.
His back was to the ground, and he could feel the vibrations caused by the feet of many people hitting the earth. For a second, he felt in tune with everything; nature, the universe, the whole package.
Then, it began.
It started as a gentle twitching, a careless flicking of one finger, and became more and more as twitching gave way to spasmodic contractions of his muscles and bones. His flesh felt like it was boiling, moving and twisting, writhing and dancing under his skin. And then, as suddenly as it started, it all stopped and Danny lay at rest on the floor, his heart beating fast and his breath coming in long, ragged gasps.
And then he Changed.