In the end, your fears will reign supreme.

The Nightmare
A Danny Phantom FanFiction by Cordria

Chapter 11 – The End of Things

It appeared at the bottom of the stairs, still wearing its Danny disguise. It looked surprised to see his mother sitting next to his side. But then it shrugged, and continued forwards. In its hand was that stick-like object with glowing green swirls running up the sides. It stopped in front of him and dropped into a squat.

"This," it said, "is a very powerful device that I appropriated from Pariah Dark a few centuries ago. It allows me to take over the life of another ghost, for however long I wish to." It flipped the stick from one hand to the other, watching his green eyes following its path. "You, ghost, are going to be the most powerful being in the ghost zone one day. I want that to be me. You should be proud."

He didn't feel proud. He felt slightly sickened. "If you are going to kill me, do it already," he snapped. He didn't like people or ghosts that went on and on.

It rocked backwards on its heels and grinned menacingly at him. "Oh, don't worry. Your death is coming quickly enough." It turned to look at his mother. "Why don't you go upstairs and I'll deal with the ghost?"

He turned to look over at his mother as well. She was staring at the creature, thoughts flickering behind her eyes. She glanced back at him, then back at it, her forehead furrowing in thought. It soon became clear that she wasn't going to answer its question.

It sneered softly. "Fine. I'll destroy him with you here. It's not like there's anything you can do about it lady. I still don't know why you are here with me, but it doesn't matter."

"What do you mean by that?" he spoke up. "She's not supposed to be here?"

It laughed. "It's your dream. I've never had another person in the dream-world before with my hosts. It was diverting way to pass the time, anyway."

"What are you going to do with her?" he asked. This was interesting… she wasn't supposed to be in this dream? Where did she come from then? A vague thought clicked in his mind. Perhaps there was something to that.

"You shouldn't care." Its eyes seemed to glow red for a moment. "Enough of this. Say goodbye, Danny."

He closed his eyes and braced himself for the ending of his life. He still couldn't believe it was going to end like this. He was supposed to grow up and become a hero, not die as a teenager in his own basement. He…

"Danny!" he heard his mother scream, interrupting his flow of pitiful thoughts. He snapped his eyes open just quick enough to see the blast of ecto-energy slam into the creature's side. His mother was standing over on the other side of the lab, steaming Fenton Blaster in her hands. She stared at him for a moment, then turned back to the creature impersonating her son.

"You kept me locked up in this dream for months!" she seethed, punctuating her sentence with blasts from the ecto-weapon. The creature snarled at her, but it was being pushed backwards with each blast. "You tortured my son! You lied to me. And then you tried to kill him!" Her last blast lifted it off its feet and onto the stairs leading up to the kitchen.

He struggled to his feet, following his raging mother up the stairs. The creature was retreating, tipping the kitchen table over and hiding behind it. It snarled at his mother as he got to the top of the stairs and leaned against the door jam. He was so tired. But he was in the position to see it pick up a discarded ecto-weapon off the floor. He could see the grin on its face. One shot was all it would take. She, a mere human, wouldn't be able to take more.

He didn't even think. He didn't even realize he was moving until he was half-way across the kitchen. He didn't have the energy to do more than barrel straight into the creature. That would have to do. He was just steps away when it noticed his approach. With a gleeful shout, it swung the stick around and slammed it into his side just before they collided.

He screamed at the mountain of pain brought on by such a tiny stick. His mind felt like it was about to explode. "Mom!" he shrieked.

"Danny!" he heard his mom call faintly, and then the universe exploded into a million colors. The colors flickered around his mind like butterflies for a few precious moments, then the world went black.

To be concluded…

I still can't decide if I love or hate those three words.

Poor Danny. Couldn't find the key. Hm... wonder if a fourth word needs to be added to my list of D's about this story: dark, dismal, depressing, and (now) death.

YES! (Dances and sings and throws her hands in the air) WE'VE PAST 1000 HITS! A first for me, by the way. (wipes tears from her eyes). As this story is near and dear to me (at least, it is now) I would love to be able to thank each and every one of you who has opened this story and contributed to that tremendous number. But that would take forever. So, if you are part of that AWESOME accomplishment, give yourselves a pat on the back from me. I thank you.

Those of you who have stuck with me through to this chapter (especially those of you who are reviewing for me), this ones for you. Thanks to Nonasuki-chan, Icepaw, and purpledog100 for reviewing.

It's the end of things. (yup, the title tells all and is not very creative. That's the way the cookie crumbles some days.)

AND - those of you who are enjoying this story who have not yet had a chance to read my other, fabulous, wonderful, and awe-inspiring story called Darkness, I think you should. Get hooked on that one too. :-)

Can not, will not, and should not own Danny Phantom. Too much work. I'll stick with minor plot lines.