As per the request of one reviewer, the first part of this chapter delves deeper into Kai's past. You're free to skip it, but that's up to you. There is some actual story here, too, though.

Warnings/Disclaimers: Sigh. Another chapter, another week chock full o' OC's. Also, I don't own Danny Phantom. Can I stop saying this now?

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The moonlight burst through the window, spilling over the dark room and falling over Danny, turning his skin a pale, sickly white. His dreams were disturbed, and his sheets, once tucked neatly in around him, had been churned up and tossed overboard. But for now, at least, he lay face up on the bed, peace stealing over him. At least, it seemed that way.

His shoulder was aflame with pain again, despite the fact that he wasn't awake to feel it. Though his body was human, his spirit dwelled in that place between waking and sleeping known to some as the Dreamtime. And he wasn't alone. Thoughts and dreams drifted across his consciousness, flashing before his eyes…

It was dark. Dark enough that it was impossible to see his hand in front of his face. Given his anatomy, he couldn't have anyway.

His eyes adjusted. The cave was damp, and alive with the smells of the sorts of things you get in shadowy caverns that happen to have a lot of wet in them. Moss and slime clung to the walls. The cave was circular, for the most part, with only a small strip of what could have been called 'land' by those unconcerned with accuracy that circled the lake. The icy tarn's black sheets of water lay still and undisturbed, punctuated by occasional splashes as a bleeding, morphing body crashed into the surface.

Sounds, too loud for his wolfish ears to accept in good faith, reverberated over the smooth worn walls and accumulated like cobwebs in a condemned house. They met his senses unpleasantly for a moment, and then lined themselves up in an orderly fashion to form coherent words.

A flash of steel, another crash of warm flesh on water, and more harsh words exchanged among the culprits. A clang of steel on iron; a prison door shutting, mild cursing from the captives. The air in the fissure turned different, like the atmosphere of a crypt once the bodies had begun to fossilize. It was a final feeling, as if the door of the world had slammed shut.

For an instant, a brief second, Drakkus Bacchus stared directly at him and grinned. Then, the world tremored and changed…

He was standing in a wide, trampled clearing. This was, he instinctively knew, a time far before the one he knew. This was where dreams were forged, where, for good or bad, historic things happened. This was the sort of placed that hopped around a lot, now in the forests of India, now in the barren deserts of Mongolia.

He shivered. The Wolf, now what he was once more, feared this place. Another Wolf had been brought into being here.

The undergrowth crunched under the feet of two children, not much older than the Wolf's host. One of them, a boy, seemed in the lead. "Come on, Kai!" he shouted, bursting through into the clearing. "You've got to see!"

A girl, very familiar, pushed through a curtain of bushes. She looked wary, her slightly cat-like eyes darting around. "I don't know," she murmured, taking in the space. "This wasn't here yesterday, or even last week. This whole place stinks like magic."

"Oh, and you can tell, can you?" The boy crossed his arms and stared her down. What're those, then?" He pointed at a pile of granite rocks, huge boulders with white painted streaks along them. Not waiting for an answer, he raced over to them, and jumped up on the largest. "Come join me! You can see half the woods from here! Well, not really, but it's a good view."

Kai's eyes widened and the Wolf could hear her heart beating out of her chest. Fear for her friend outweighed fear of herself, and she was pounding across the field of flattened grasses shouting, "Get down from there! Get down, hear me! Hurry! That's not safe…"

There was an earth shaking blast, which sent violent vibrations rattling under the ground, tossing clods of dirt. A great chasm was opening up and closing, a rippling tear in the sod that chased Kai and overtook her, searching blindly for the one that dared trespass on sacred ground.

It reached the rock and hit it, causing the boy to topple from his perch. There was a sickening crack, like bones snapping, and in a flash of blue light, a black wolf appeared. Not any wolf; a Wolf. Alongside him was a hooded figure. The wolf charged at the boy, but Kai tackled it with an inhuman roar.

"Now, Drake," The robe said calmly, raising a glass of tea to its' hidden mouth. The black Wolf twisted around and threw Kai off, sinking his fangs deep into her leg, which gushed blood. She lay still, allowing the scarlet liquid to pool around her.

"I told you she was right for the job," the hood said happily, clasping his hands around his wide gut. "Look, she even tackled you when she went for her friend. That's what I call class."

The black wolf spit. "I'll come back for her tomorrow. For now, we have a meeting with Bartholomew to attend. Right, master?" Too much emphasis was put on the word 'master' for anyone to believe that he was truly in servitude. There was another crack, and they were gone.

The boy crept, limbs shaking like a tree in a hurricane, towards his fallen friend. "Kai?" he whispered, gripping her hand. "Kai, are you okay?" The leg was healing, but dangerously slowly. "This is all my fault," he cried, attempting to move her. "All my fault. I'm so sorry, Kai. So, so sorry."

The dream faded in a flash as Danny woke with a start, his arm awash with the fires of the Curse. It had been bandaged neatly, but blood was soaking through. He sat up, rubbing life into his limbs. It had felt real. So very real, that he wondered if he hadn't actually been there.

Before the sleep had come, he'd been stabbed. That was what always happened to end a night's werewolfery. There was enough silver left in his system to last a while, but why did he still feel as if he was an animal? Short answer: he still was. The Wolf would never leave him completely. Not after this.

There was a startling truth to what of the dream he could remember. Taking a deep breath, he swung his legs out of bed, slipped on his tennis shoes, and got unsteadily to his feet. He needed to resolve things. He needed the truth.

---

Truth is hard to nail down, and hard to understand, but when Danny knocked on Kai's door for the second time in one week, she was well prepared. Danny, standing in the hall, and not so much as raised a hand when the door swung open and Kai pressed a cup of the coffee-that-wasn't-coffee into his chest. He was then hustled into the room, and shoved into a musty chair that squeaked oddly when he sat in it.

He opened his mouth to speak, but Kai shushed him. "I know what you want," she growled, "and I'm not telling you."

"But I saw it in my dream! You can't deny that! Are you…" he stopped, trying to find a polite way to phrase it. "A werewolf?"

He eyes narrowed, and she ran a paw over her face. As he watched, her body changed and warped, condensing into one smaller body. "Yes," she barked from the floor, tail wrapped around her gangly legs. "I am a werewolf. I have been for many a year, Fenton. I'm here because of what you are. Now, I am afraid, I can tell no more."

She shifted again. There was no better word for it; the motion was like a confused, jerky shrug. She was partially human again, with clothes and all. Danny became fascinated with the pictures and things she had spread over her desk. "What's this?" he asked, indicating a shard of what looked like a doubled mirror. It appeared to be a mirror looking in on another mirror, except that there was only one of it.

She sniffed. "You have good taste. Your wolf-sense must be highly developed. As if I'm surprised… that would be a scry glass. Like a crystal ball, but it actually works. It shows you what you truly need to see; not what you want to see, or would like to see. Depending on the situation, it can either be damn annoying or very, very useful."

Danny observed it with growing interest. Swirls of what appeared to be liquid smoke traced patterns over the surface as he looked on; ribbons of ethereal light that danced and played. "Eternity webs," Kai explained. "They catch the image of whatever you need, and tie it to the glass."

"How does this thing work?" Danny asked, eyes stuck fast to the device. It seemed to be operating of its own accord.

"Wave a paw over it and concentrate. Go on, give it a try." He did. The surface wavered, and the image changed. It showed a black room, with black carpet, black wallpaper, and black curtains. He gulped. The room was Sam's. Dread settled in his stomach, sloshing around and getting his adrenaline pumping.

She was just getting home from somewhere, bags under her eyes. The evidence pointed to long nights for her in recent times. She fell on the bed and slept instantly, the picture fading again.

"Why does she look so tired?" Danny asked Kai, perplexed.

The wolf gave a short cough. "That falls in the category of things I can't discuss. But may I make a suggestion?"

"Sure."

"You should tell Sam."

"I'm going to. Tonight."

"Make sure you do." There was a faltering silence.

"I'll go, then," Danny said, stepping towards the door.

"You do that," Kai sighed morosely.

"See you tonight?"

"Yeah. I don't have a date, but I'm planning on just showing up."

"You could always go with Drake," Danny joked, earning him a slap over the head and another stay in the hall. The lamps flickered. The rats squeaked, much in the manner of Kai's chair. A scream was uttered by the occupant of one of the other rooms.

It was Saturday. No school. No other obligations. Good. This would give him some time to plan his evening. He was determined that nothing would go wrong.

The worst mistake anyone can make is assuming that, if they try hard enough, nothing bad will happen. The universe will always make this so, just to spite you.

---

The moon rose again, this time obscured by clouds, this time at regular night, not early morning. Below the fog-dappled sky, joyful children of the younger persuasion marched from house to house, scaring witless old biddies and earning caramel coated apples for their efforts.

Danny was searching for a treat, of course, but one of an entirely different consistency. He shuffled down sidewalks and across parking lots, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead. The moon was hidden, keeping him more or less human, but he was still sort of an animal.

It was a masquerade dance, being Halloween, and Danny had, exhibiting less than good judgment, had decided to go with barely disguised wit for his outfit. A fake muzzle covered his nose, brown cat ears were affixed to his head, and a sheet of fake fur was draped over his back. He was regretting tying the tail around his waist; it kept getting tangled up in his legs and tripping him.

A cool breeze kissed his burning cheeks as he reached the Manson household, and he stood fidgeting on the steps for a few seconds as he waited for someone to answer the door. There was a brief scuffle and shouting match from within, the noise of which only would have eluded him if he'd been two miles away and listening to hard rock at volumes high enough to blast his eardrums in. Sam, looking ruffled and slightly flustered, opened it and grinned at him. "Ready to go, then?" she asked, slamming the door behind her.

"Yeah," Danny breathed, staring. Sam was decked out as a vampire, complete with the typical gothic black dress and boots, complete with cape and fangs. She grinned, showing her now pointed teeth.

"Like my outfit? It's not that different from what I usually wear, honestly."

Danny snapped out of his short-lived astonishment. "It's great," he gasped, beginning to creep back down the walk. "We should be going… I'm a little late coming…" he neglected to mention that he had almost not come at all on the basis that he might end up killing someone.

"Yours is good too," she said, falling into step next to him as they walked. "It fits well with your night job. You know, the one where you run around tearing up streets?"

Danny almost fell over. "You know?"

"Yeah. Who do you think's been healing you this whole time? Magical bandage faeries from the land of werewolves?"

Danny was smart enough to be sheepish. "I don't know. I didn't think about it much." There was expectant silence as they continued the trek, with Danny mulling things over. "I meant to tell you, you know," he told her, knowing full well he should have owned up to the fact before. "I was going to do it tonight, actually. It's just been hard, you know. At first it was just me, but now I learn that there are lots more, along with two others here in Amity…"

"I know about that," she said, nodding. "Kai explained it all. You should know that without us, you would have died."

"When?"

"After Kai stabbed you."

No one spoke for a while. The wind whistled in the naked trees. Children scampered about merrily. Far away, a wolf howled, and Danny had the inexplicable urge to answer it. He resisted, but only just.

There was a small crowd gathered outside Casper High, waiting for the moment to arrive and the doors to open. Without thinking, Danny let an arm droop over Sam's shoulders, feeling her shiver slightly under his touch. He wasn't thinking; it just happened. He wanted it to happen. The part of him that was the Wolf was taking over; it may not like his choice of love, but desire was a topic that it stood firm on. If you wanted it, it was yours, it said. Be it a woman, a country, or a sum of money. It was yours.

And the world was his.

---

There was a brief period of quiet in the cell, broken by Bartholomew. "Antigoras?"

"Yes, Barty?"

"Please stop with the pious silence. You're no better than me."

"On the contrary, Barty, I rather think I am. You deal in death and despair. I work with happy things."

"Like cookies?" Bartholomew snarled mockingly.

"Yes, Barty. Like cookies."

Bartholomew's tail puffed up in a manner which, given any other situation, would have been knee-slapping-ly hilarious. "Antigoras, you are a buffoon. Life needs me. It is my job. Why, Anti. Ask me why."

Antigoras, naturally inquisitive, gave in. "Why, Barty?"

"Because the world is full of dependants. Without darkness, there can be no light. Without sun, there is no shadow. Without death, no life. Without depression, there can be no way to measure happiness. I define you, so without me, you could not be. That is why I do what I do."

There was a mollified "Oh," from the general direction of where Antigoras was sitting.

"That is also," Barty added, "the reason why I'm breaking the bloody hell out of here."

---

Kai was ready to go. She had everything. One quick glance at her scrying glass and she could be off…

What most people don't know about the glasses is that they come in pairs, one attached to the other. And now, what Kai really, really needed to see was a note that Drake had taped to his. It read, "You gave her the wrong flowering weed, young wolf. I have won now."

"Damn," Kai cursed, and soon there was nothing left where she had been before but a stack of shed clothes, resting on the newspaper-strewn flooring. The door was gaping open, revealing to anyone who cared a light brown wolf streaking away in the direction of Danny and his date.

---

"Here you go, Danny," Sam said jovially, hading him a glass of punch. She was giddy. Well, maybe that wasn't the word- no self respecting Goth would ever be giddy –but she was certainly happy. She'd ground up the wolfsbane and slipped it in his drink, making sure that he wouldn't notice anything amiss.

"Thanks," he replied distractedly, accepting it and taking a deep quaff. He set the drained paper cup on the refreshment table, and leaned on it. Sam squinted her eyes and looked hard at him. It was strange but, impossibly enough, his skin and flesh seemed to be boiling, changing. His face scrunched up in pain as he tried to restrain something…

He roared, losing control. Many people in the crowd turned towards him, wondering what was going on. He bent double, and Dash shouted, "Look guys! Fen-turd's sick! What's wrong, man? Spent too many nights out with your loser parents?"

Danny straightened up slightly, his fangs bared, his eyes utterly inhuman. "Stay away from me, Baxter," he screeched, a wolfish tenor stealing into his voice. "Go!" No one moved, frozen in terror. Nothing observed before in this city of ghosts could compare to Danny's transformation. "Go!" he shouted, louder, but he had a captive audience.

Agonizing minutes later, a creature not quite wolf, not quite human half stood, half crouched in the center of a dispersed ring of onlookers. The wedge shaped head swung around on its furry neck, seeking a quarry. It found it. "Baxter," It snarled, a smirk plastered in a deranged style upon the sharp snout. "You tormented me. You hurt me. You made me a fool. You will pay, Baxter. In blood."

An unearthly wail, part howl, part ghost shriek, ripped from his throat as Dash pushed through the crowd to get away. There was no arguing with a monster that wants to tear your heart out and eat it for dinner. You just run. As the throng of students was paralyzed in horror, he found this amazingly hard to do.

The circle expanding to encompass Dash, which was odd because nobody at all seemed to move. It was as if space-time warped around them, driving away the other players in the event.

The Wolf, for the part of Danny that was still Danny was lost in a haze of purple fog, unable to do much to stop what was essentially himself, pounced upon Dash. Both remained standing, with the latter pressed up against the wall. Fangs nipped softly at his throat, the Wolf savoring the power exerted over his victim. The jock whimpered, not trying to protest. That would make death come faster.

Sam watched, not believing what she saw. How could Danny do this? And what had caused him to Change? Kai had guaranteed he would stay human if she slipped it in his drink. Had she lied? Why would she?

And how, without and silver on her person, could she stop this?

---

Kai cannoned into Drake, who was sitting by a fire in the school lot. She stood over him, mad as she had ever been before. "Why did you do that?"

Drake grinned. "I did nothing. You gave her the wrong thing."

"But… monkshood? I don't even keep any of that around."

"Ah. Yes. I may have given it to you, in the spirit of goodwill."

"Good will my fuzzy wolfy arse! They look exactly the same!"

"Precisely."

"Damn."

"Going to be the big hero, now?"

"No," she muttered wretchedly, flopping on her back and focusing on what of the stars could be seen. "I can't. I'm not allowed to fix it, and, really, I probably couldn't stop it. I could put it off, sure, but something like this was bound to happen eventually."

"Good," he declared, signaling with his tail. A pack of other wolves materialized out of thin shadows. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a world to dominate."

The world is a strange place, to be sure. Devious things happen every day. Wars break out. Innocents starve, or are caught in the crossfire of some unfortunate misunderstanding. But this, possibly, was the most horrid thing to ever happen in Amity.

Because, to be sure, it nearly ended the Great Story.

What story? Antigoras had once asked, upon starting work as Fate.

The story of everything, Barty had replied. And when a story like that comes to an end, you can bet there are going to be complaints. Namely, from the people who have to give their lives for it to be over.

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I don't really like how this chapter turned out. It seems like the more I attempt to phase out my OC's, the more of them I end up putting in. It's a vicious cycle. Again, reviews would be appreciated. I thrive on them… it's sad.