Sorry for the extra day's wait for this chapter. I managed to write two and get started on another while at camp last week, but didn't get a chance to type anything yesterday. I'll update with the next one soon to make up for it.

Thankeys everyone for all the wonderful reviews. I did have a good time at both camps, and I'm home for good now, so updates should be frequent unless this somehow drags out until after school starts. I'm not entirely sure how in the world that could be even remotely possible, though. I have the next several chapters pretty planned out to make up for writer's block (hehe, hence my name) for about a week and a half.

Dash is such great comic relief in the show, and I am trying to drag a little of that over into this story as well. I am also trying to reveal a slightly deeper side to him. Nobody is THAT moronic... except for maybe Technus or the Box Ghost...

Anyway, this chapter was originally titled Paulina Phantasies, but I didn't really think it fit by the time I was done writing it, so I renamed it. Paulina only plays an extremely small role, so I didn't think she deserved an entire chappy named after her.

So, on to Chapter 5: Shadowed Hearts.

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During the ten minutes that Dash had spent pondering these questions about Fenton, Danny's mind was racing as well. He was trying to think of any possible questions that Dash may ask in the future and what his responses should be.

The jock was walking a few feet ahead of him, so he was extremely surprised when he felt a small hand on his shoulder. A voice with a slight Spanish accent purred in his ear with a soft, "Hello."

Danny whirled around just fast enough to receive a kiss directly on the lips. His startled yelp was partially cut off by Paulina's lips on his.

Dash was broken out of his thoughts by the muffled sound and turned around just in time to see a very surprised and somewhat scared Danny falling against the wall with Paulina pressed against him.

Danny struggled for a moment before managing to lift his arms from his sides to Paulina's shoulders to push her away.

It had only been recently that Danny had realized that Paulina really was as shallow as Sam had always said she was. When he had liked her before it had been because of her beauty, not because of her "shining" personality.

Last month he had experimented with dating Valerie, but she could never love both sides of him. The same was true of Paulina.

Only three normal- err, somewhat normal…they were all a little insane- humans in the world knew about him, and they accepted him for who he was.

He was still sort of confused about his feelings for one of them. He already knew that he liked Sam as more than a friend; he just had to come completely to terms with it and figure out just how he did feel. Besides, he was still unsure of if she would ever return his feelings.

When he broke away from Paulina there was hurt in her eyes as they seemed to give off a faint angry glow. Realization dawned on his face.

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Dash felt extreme anger, jealousy, and hatred such as he had never felt before bubble up from deep within, even though he knew that Danny was not doing this on purpose. This much was proven when Fenton shoved the girl away before seeming to realize something.

"Kitty, get out of her!"

A very unnatural growl came from Paulina's throat as she snapped back, "No! And you can't make me!"

Danny's eyes narrowed dangerously as he shot back at her, "You know I can. Get out of her."

Paulina crossed her arms stubbornly. "No way. I'm not leaving."

Danny sighed, "What is it with you guys and always doing things that hard way?" He took a firm hold on Paulina's shoulders again and closed his eyes.

Moments later, a blur of green and red flew out of Paulina and against the far wall. The Latina girl crumpled to the ground and dissipated into the air, yet another creation of this abnormal world.

The girl slowly shook her head back and forth to clear it, messy green locks swaying. She glared at Danny as he asked fiercely, "Where's Johnny?"

He had only barely heard the faint sound of an engine before Shadow wrapped itself around him. The black matter pinned Danny's arms tightly to his sides even as he began to struggle and thrash to get free.

A blond boy decked out in leather pulled up on a motorcycle. "Shadow, heel!"

With a reluctant grumble, the Shadow released Danny as it returned to its master.

"Yo, punk! Whacha doin' hangin' wit' my girl again?"

Kitty scoffed at him angrily, "Ugh, I am not your girl. I don't belong to anybody."

Danny groaned. "Why is this looking more and more familiar with every passing second?"

Dash was just getting more and more confused with every passing second.

These new people were ghosts; there was no doubt about that, judging by their faint auras. They both looked like they had been teens when they died; there was no telling exactly how long ago that had been. Though the motorcycle definitely set a few limits on the time frame.

The two ghostly teens began to bicker like an old married couple, and Danny rolled his eyes.

He turned to Dash, "They'll keep at it for hours. We can go ahead and just leave."

Together they turned and continued down the path in companionable silence, something the two boys had never experienced in each other's presence.

The hall suddenly filled with dark red and black smoke, and an evil chuckle permeated the air. "You weak and defenseless mortals, you may have passed my first series of tests, but how well will you do when nothing is an illusion anymore, and everything you face is reality?"

A misty picture appeared in front of the two. One side showed Mr. and Mrs. Fenton gagged and tied together, dangling from the ceiling on a rope over a pit of bubbling lava.

The other side showed Mr. and Mrs. Baxter in a similar predicament over a tank of piranhas that were already jumping out of the water and trying to get a bite.

Both ropes were slowly being lowered, bringing the two sets of parents ever closer to their awaiting doom.

Despair laughed again. "They are at opposite sides of the maze, so chose wisely in who you will save."

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I'm mostly focusing on Danny's fears, not so much on Dash's, just because Danny's are what will lead up to how Dash finds out in the end... well, duh, of course he finds out, has nobody been reading the reviews or what I posted about the votes?

The next chapter is called Cutting Loose and should be posted sometime between Tuesday morning and Thursday night, no promises on when.

Reviews earn a kitten! (I have a cat that just gave birth to 5, and another cat that is pregnant and ready to explode at any moment-- BTW, the 5 are named Snoopy, Fido, Scooby, Rover, and Spot! hehe)