Part Two: Shadow Man
Chapter Ten: Vague Identity
The outburst rumbled throughout the air. Danny Phantom and his look a like fought with a ferocity that rivaled pure madness. There was a brilliant, violent display of lights as an ectoplasmic whip cut through an ectoplasmic beam. Shots were fired from rays, to balls, and circular blades that moved at an unearthly speed. Danny brought out every trick he had been saving all this time. There were moves, weapons, and all around skill that Sam had never seen or even heard of until now. She knew the boy could make certain things, but he was fighting Shade's trademark whip with a large sword that gleamed in the moonlight: it was astounding and all she could do was watch, mouth agape in shock, as the two men she cared for tried to kill each other.
Shade flew for Danny, and hurled an ectoplasmic shot the hero's way. Danny stubbornly knocked the attack aside with his sword and blocked the whip that came after the blast; strangely enough, it seemed the whip had a life of its own, and snaked around Danny's sword, making its way to his wrists. He dropped his weapon and it fell to the ground, point first, and imbedded itself in the ground not more than two feet away from Sam. She looked at it, her eyes widening in surprise. Danny turned back to his opponent, growling at the fact that his precious Sam could have easily been killed from his carelessness. He gripped the whip that tried to hold his wrists in place and sent out the largest amount of electrical energy he could muster. It hit Shade and the man cried out in pain and the whip disappeared in a cloud of vapor.
The two stared at each other: the clashing light and darkness, the representation of right and wrong, men battling for a woman's heart. They seemed like complete opposites, yet they were completely the same for the fact that they just couldn't give up.
Then, Danny unleashed his all powerful ghostly wail, and the effect was Shade falling from the sky, curled up into a ball. He fell right into the pond, and there was a tremendous splash, as if someone had dropped a bomb. Danny flew down into the water as well, creating another great splash and moments later he came out with a coughing Shade and threw him on the ground. Sam picked up the material of her dress that dragged along the ground and ran to them.
"How'd you get here?" Danny asked. His eyes blazed with anger as he choked Shade who was still struggling to get the remaining pond water out of his lungs. Apparently ending up in reality meant he was able to be hurt just like everyone else was, and that was good news for Danny. "Huh? How come you're here? I thought you couldn't exist here! What happened? What the fuck happened?" He didn't answer, merely looked over to Sam and she curled the hand that she was about to reach out with into a fist so neither could see the indecision that was battling within her. Danny punched Shade. Blood flew from Shade's mouth and into the sky in a glittering arc. "Tell me!"
"You would like me to tell you how I came here, how I came to be in the first place?" Shade chuckled, and then he threw his head back and let out a wheezing laugh, an after effect from the ghostly wail. "You wouldn't understand. You wouldn't want to understand." There was a strange sound, as if something was sliding into flesh. Danny felt a strange pain in his abdomen and when he looked down, he dropped Shade and fell back, staring in horror at the sword that went into his gut and out the other side. He let out a gasp as he fell back, clutching the hilt. Sam screamed in dismay as she saw Danny fight for his life as he changed back to his original form. Shade gave a sexy sly grin. "Poor little man…you must understand." He bent down so he could whisper into the youth's ear. "I accept what I am while you struggle with yourself, afraid of everyone because you are different. I do not give up so easily like you have done and I do anything to win." He pulled to sword free from the flesh, and the sound was sickening as the metal slid against intestines and clothing. "I have never lost." He adjusted his hold on the sword and held it high so that when it came down, it would sever the head from the body. "You did, and now you pay for it…with your life. Game over."
The blade fell and stopped inches before hitting a sobbing Sam Manson draped over Danny Fenton's body. "No, stop it." She looked up, tears in her eyes, begging, pleading. She had formed a human shield that even Shade could not, would not, destroy. "Don't kill him." She pulled Danny up against her and held his limp body with determination that was only present when a person was desperate. She trembled. "Don't let him die." It was begging, and it was also a demand. He looked into her eyes and saw that if he let the Fenton boy die, she would stop loving him, and he would die because she was the only thing that kept him alive, kept him tied to this world. "Please…"
He looked away and down at the sword. More than anything, he wanted to see Danny breathe his last because he hated the boy with everything he was. After all, he was the young man's dark side, something that had been hidden and locked away for so long. He hated Danny because he had never once been allowed to be let out, to roam free, to confess the pent up feelings for Sam. He also hated Danny because he ignored Shade, always using the desire, the anger, the obsessions, to fuel his strength and fight for the greater good. It was the equivalent of dangling a carrot in front of a rabbit and not letting them have it: keeping the wonderful taste of freedom just out of reach.
Then he saw Sam's eyes, the love for Danny held in there, but there was also love for him in there as well. She still couldn't choose. She couldn't say she loved one more than the other, and that, above all, hurt and infuriated him.
That was where patience came. He had waited before. He had waited to get out for so long, and he could wait again. It was true that patience was a virtue and he was well versed in its frustrating ways. He would wait: for Sam to love him and only him, and then to kill the ever tiring Danny Fenton. It might take a little while, but he had nothing else to do, nowhere else to go. Everything he was doing was revolving around these two. It had always been that way…but it wouldn't always be that way in the future, would it?
He sighed and the sword disappeared and the wound stopped bleeding. All that was left was a large gash, not life threatening any longer, but it still hurt like hell. At lest he was still alive. She sobbed in relief. "Thank you. Thank you."
"You owe me." He bent down and picked her up, angry now: angry at Danny, angry that Sam stopped him, angry with himself for loving her like he did. "You come with me and leave him alone." His grip on her was shaking, as if it was taking everything in him not to hurt her. "You stay with me because I didn't kill him." She opened her mouth the protest, but his lips crushed hers with a sort of desperation and silenced her. He stepped back and looked at her, long and hard. "I love you Sam, but I'm not a good guy." His hand stroked her face. "I don't play by the rules and I take what I want when I want. I don't lose and…" He kissed her once more. "I'm ruthless, so if you know what's best for you and especially Danny, you'll stay away." Just one more time he kissed her, and it was a light, sweet one, just to tell her how much he cared for her. "You belong with me. You have to see that. You just have to."
Then, he took a better hold of her and they were suddenly flying in the air, flying so fast that they were but a speck. The last thing Danny remembered before falling into the bliss of unconsciousness was hearing Sam's desperate cry of, "Danny! I love you! Danny!" That was it for him. He didn't hear anything else.
The object of my affection
is the object of my obsession.
She looks at me, but doesn't see my eyes.
I hide in the shadows of lies,
of self-doubt and darkness.
Yet seeing her gives me never ending bliss.
But not being able to touch, to be,
she doesn't even really know me.
She's always around.
I wish she had never been found.
I would never feel this,
such a yearn for just one kiss.
Any thoughts of happiness, of peace, of normalcy…it was all gone. They knew that life was different for them, that fighting ghosts- one of the gang even being a halfa -meant that their lives weren't just like anybody else's. But this, it all finally caught up to them. All the weirdness caught up to them and now, they couldn't handle it, not anymore.
It wasn't fair.
It just wasn't fair.
Then again, that was what life was, wasn't it?
Nothing could go right for them, nothing.
She was forced to grab a hold of him by circling her arms around his neck. If she hadn't, she most certainly would have fallen. No, that wasn't true. He wouldn't let that happen. She was just scared shitless, very shitless, and she had a good reason for it too.
They landed in front of her house. She didn't know what to do, but numbly followed him inside her home. They stopped in the entryway that had the busted vase from her and Danny's previous spur of the moment passion. She blushed at that, for recalling the memory recalled the scent and feel of his flesh. Recalling the memory recalled the warmth that he gave to her…just as Shade had done; for some reason though, that moment and the one in the park, she had felt more heat, more…something. She had felt just a bit more and now it made her question how she felt about Shade.
Did she truly love him or was it, as he said himself, an attraction to evil?
"I wish you'd make up your mind Sam. I know I have showed patience, but sooner or later, you'll have to choose." He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest and God help her, but hormones took over and she had the suddenly sinful urge to tackle him and taste every part of him possible. "Sam?" He gave his trademark sexy sly grin at the realization she was indeed staring at him, longing after him. "You know, I've been thinking, maybe you're having such a hard time because I look too much like…him." The last word was spit out with contempt. "Maybe I should show you what I really am. Maybe you'd like to see what Shade really is." She audibly gulped, in both nervousness and excitement. To see what Shade really looked like? She would see what he was? Would his hair change, his body? Would his eyes stay the same, beautiful, haunting green that they were now? "Watch, my kitty." He pushed himself off the wall so that he could stand up straight and closed his eyes in concentration. At first, it seemed like nothing was happening, but then she could see the change in him: height, muscle, even the bone structure of the face as it became longer, more defined. His hair grew from the unruly mop into long, beautiful curls that fell just past his shoulders. He became taller until he stood at what must have been 6' 2", and acquired a tone that exuded strength and masculinity without going overboard. To simply put it, he was gorgeous, and when he opened his eyes, they were still the same dark green with gold flecks. "Well?" The outfit slowly changed to accommodate and suit his real form: black suit pants with a silky white dress shirt and a dark green tie with a matching belt. He crossed his legs. "What do you think of this real me?"
She had to remember to breath and inhaled deeply.
God he was gorgeous. He was beautiful. He was sexy. He was Shade.
"Now, I was thinking we could do a repeat of your dreams, but in your bed." He scooped her up in his arms. "Tonight." It was a thought or a suggestion. It was a command.
She could hear her heart beating faster as he took her up the stairs to the second story where her room was, but for some reason, she wasn't feeling as much anticipation as she thought she would (watching someone she loved almost die sort of put a damper on that). Yes, she was worrying about Danny, of course, but there was something else, like she didn't want this now. But she had to and she knew that even if she didn't want to do anything, Shade would, and there was no way she could stop him, so she might as well try to enjoy herself; she wanted Shade, yearned for his touch, lusted after his skillful hands, and…and all she saw was Danny, even when Shade laid her on the bed and kissed that special part on her neck that usually sent her spiraling south.
Danny.
He slowly lifted up her dress so that it rested mid-thigh and spread her legs so that he would place himself between there, and then returned to her mouth with a renewed vigor. She returned the kiss and he deepened it, giving a wonderful, low groan. Her hands grabbed at his shirt and ripped the buttons off so that she could reach that smooth expanse of chest, and felt the skin there, felt the heat that was within him now. He shuddered and she stopped kissing him so that she drew a wet trail from the stomach to the collarbone. This sent him over the edge and she saw how it affected the rest of his body, but still… She just couldn't stop thinking about something else.
Oh Danny.
He took a moment to sit up and take his shirt off and she pulled the dress up and over her head so she only wore her lingerie. He looked at that body, his eyes full of amorousness. They drank each other that way, and then he was on her again and they didn't stop: touching, caressing, kissing, inhaling the scents, moaning, groaning, and feeling all the other pleasures that sex offered a person. It was amazing, mind blowing like always, but there was something missing from it all: the right person.
I miss you, Danny.
That's what she thought as she began to nod off, with a resting Shade spooning her at her back. Yes, she enjoyed the feel of Shade. Yes, she loved the way Shade treated her when they had sex. Yes, she loved so many things about Shade. He was ardor, he was sexy, he was obsessive, and he was dark. He was what had tormented her dreams. He had tried to kill her and Danny. He had done so many horrible things and she still couldn't stop that attraction, that passionate heat she felt towards him, and she was calling that love. Or at least, she thought it was love. She was pretty sure it accounted for love, so why was being with him so wrong and scary?
Did she really love Shade, or was it something else she couldn't name yet?
Was it that appeal to darkness? Was it because he was evil that she felt something for him?
After all, sin was always attractive.
Did she just like that idea?
Maybe, maybe not, but she couldn't decide, not when he held her so close to him and sighed her name as he slept.
She couldn't tell him no, and so she fell asleep with tears gently running down the length of her face.
Danny.
He sat up and resisted the urge to hurl from the sudden motion. This really sucked, because Danny Fenton, phantom or otherwise, did not like losing. It had sucked when Dash beat him up so much, but it was even worse when an evil version of him had been ready to kill him, only to be stopped by the love of his life that was now off somewhere romantic and probably getting screwed by said evil version, and that's what made losing suck all the worse: he had just lost the girl of his dreams.
Ouch.
That hurt. He was hurting both mentally and physically. Mentally for the fact that it was wrong of him to think that Sam was whorish in any way and physically because he just had the shit beat out of him. With those two things weighing him down, it was not looking like it would be his night after all. "Damn it, Fenton. Think!" He massaged his aching skull and did just that: he thought. "Wow. This is bittersweet." The fact he was a C average student and rarely thought things through…that was quite ironic, but getting back on track, he tried to think about what Shade was all about and if there might be any way to beat him. "Okay, so he's the darkness itself, the inner evil everyone has but never wants to admit." He sighed. This might be harder than it seemed. "Well, he's evil and he said that evil's really alluring, so that's why I kind of liked it when he showed me affection." He frowned. "I wanted evil to recognize me, maybe? Would that mean everyone wants to be recognized by evil in some way?" No, that wasn't getting him anywhere. "A different point, then…" Wow. Thinking out loud was helping him more than to himself. Well, at least he was by himself. Then again, he was by himself, which meant Sam wasn't by his side. No! He couldn't be thinking of that. He needed to concentrate. "So, he first showed up in Sam's dreams, but he came from me. Still, it could mean he has a deeper connection with her or something. He being close to her was more important than coming from me." Wait a minute. He might have something! "Since it seems he's sort of centering everything on Sam, she would probably be the key in defeating him or sending him back, or whatever I can do to get rid of the bastard." But to use Sam, he sort of needed her at the moment, and that wasn't looking too likely. "Could I put him away in the Fenton Thermos?" He shook his head. "I can't risk the chance of him coming back, though." This was getting to be really frustrating. "So, he's a bad guy that basically came from me and he's totally obsessed with Sam. How does that…?"
Suddenly, it hit him.
He knew it. He knew how to get rid of Shade!
"I've got it!" He jumped up in the air excitedly, and then fell back to the ground, wincing at the pain that was in his body. While it always seemed he healed faster in ghost form, the strain that had been put on him was more than usual and his body was finding it hard to compensate for the extra wounds, and when that happened, he usually changed back and he was a normal as everybody else at the moment. "Suck it up man," he told himself sternly. "No one likes a crybaby." Slowly, he stood up and smiled when he didn't fall back down. "Good. Now…I know how to defeat Shade. At least, I'm pretty sure I know how to get rid of him."
The change came back over him, and his legs turned into a ghostly tail and he shot straight up into the night sky, flying off into the city.
He knew what to do.
Everything could go back to normal, or at least as possibly normal as it could be.
All he needed was Sam.
That might be a little hard, but he was Danny Phantom and everything had to be possible with him.
After all, he was the superhero.
End Chapter
Author's Notes: Okay, you officially have the right to beat me. I'm sorry, but I've been gone and I've encountered the worst writer's block since I can remember. I was absolutely lost on this story, so please forgive me that it was 1,000 words shorter than the last and was just anticlimactic. It's confusing, it's retarded. Yeah, I know, I suck. So if you want to hurt me, go ahead and do it, but do it with a review, because we all know that I love my reviews! And you know if you have any questions or something else bothering you, a PM is fine too. You all know I reply and I guess I want to really say I'm sorry for taking so long and I hope that you could still find it in your heart to read all this. Until the next chapter which will come out sooner (I swear, or at least I'll try), I'll see you all next time. Ciao.
P.S. Forgive grammatical and spelling errors because I typed this up as fast as I could and didn't read through it. I know. I still suck.
