Disclaimer: Danny Phantom is property of Butch Hartman and Nickelodeon.
Imma be honest guys, I've had this done for three days, I was just being lazy.
Chapter 10: New Development
A dark chuckle filled the cell they'd released Dark Dan in. Danny took a deep breath and walked in. He sat at the table in the middle of the room. He felt a presence behind him, yet he didn't move. Eventually the presence moved and Dark Dan appeared in front of him pouting.
"Come now Danny-boy, just look a little startled for me, for old times sake."
Danny keep an impassive look in the face of his long dead future self's jokes. Dark Dan began to pace the room and Danny waited patiently, remembering Sam's words of warning.
"Sometime I can see Dark Dan in you. When I see that glimpse of Dan, you're easily aggravated, you hate silence, and you have no patience. What I do when you're like that is sit and wait. That's all, and it works, because you always make the first move. So this time Danny, don't."
Dark Dan started become more aggravated in the disconcerning silence. Secretly Danny did too.
"WHAT? Why did you pull me out of my nice, comfortable, hellish, eternity?"
Grateful Dark Dan had finally filled the silence, Danny simply stated "You wanted to know what I had changed."
"No, that's not it, you'd never release me for that. What do you want from me?"
"Yes, I do need something from you, a favor, but I'm willing to tell you what I changed in return for that favor."
Dark Dan seemed to mull over the offer, and in this moment of calm, Danny could see how Sam could see Danny in Dan.
"Fine," Dark Dan smirked at Danny, "Who do you want me to kill."
Danny corrected, "Protect, and my daughter."
Dark Dan began to sputter, "Daughter, we have a daughter?"
Danny almost found Dark Dan's expression funny, "No, I have a daughter, you're from a long dead future Dan."
Dark Dan scowled, "Just tell me what i need to know."
Danny left, leaving Dark Dan in the room by himself. He was sure to lock the door behind him; he doubted that Dan wanted to leave. Danny had seen the way he'd looked to find out Danny was a king. Finding out he now had a ghost mother and a daughter with Sam, who was a halfta now, not to mention, when he found out about Jazz. Danny found Sam waiting for him a little down the hall.
"If this works," Sam started.
"We'll have a very powerful ally," Danny finished.
Clockwork floated up besides them, "We must hope it works then. I have sent out the signal, it won't take long for everyone to arrive. Although Jasmine did ask if you would want her to bring along young Danielle. I concluded that after what you saw today, the idea of her being left alone was one you didn't agree with," at their nods he continued, "Youngblood returned from his meeting with his pirates while you were talking to Dark Daniel, he was unharmed."
Danny sighed in relief. Once he had found a family, Youngblood no longer had any need or time for his pirate gang, but Danny knew those pirates and he had doubted they would be willing to let Youngblood walk away, Danny had offered to come with him, but Youngblood had asked him to not even follow him as if the pirates sensed him, they would hurt Youngblood for sure. So Danny and Dani has sat this one out.
"However," Clockwork continued, "He says his group found something while they were exploring and he needed to tell you immediately."
Danny had the feeling this was connected to the great conflict they had coming up, "Have him bring it up at the meeting. Sam and I need to get over to the castle. Can you bring Dark Dan, if he agrees to the terms."
Clockwork nodded and floated out of the room.
Danny and Sam flew out of Clockwork's tower to their castle. When their guards saw them, they saluted and lowered the drawbridge simultaneously turning off the ghost field. Danny warned them that allies were coming so they could leave the drawbridge down.
Their families were already there. While Sam was usually closed off, even she couldn't stop herself from wapping Dani into a large hug. Danny watched on, attempting to be impassive, but secretly absorbing every emotion Sam feed him though the link. Sam let go of Dani, who went to her father and snuggled into his side the way a small child would after a nightmare. Dani didn't know what happened, but she could feel the fear radiating off her parents.
Once Danny and Sam were calmed and reassured, they welcomed the rest of their family properly.
Danny floated up to rest his forehead against his mother's. Sam hugged her father drawing comfort from the familiar presence. Dani rested in her Aunt's arms confused about what was happening.
"What's happening, Danny?"
Danny turned to Jazz, "We'll tell you when everyone gets here, just know that Clockwork showed us something pretty unpleasant in the timescreen."
Their families left it at that and sat in their designated seats. Waiting for everyone else to arrive so they could begin the meeting. Allies arrived one after another with their guards and bowed to their King and Queen before taking their seats. Clockwork came in latter with Dark Dan trailing behind him. His appearance caused quite a commotion that died down only after Danny acknowledged him; showing he knew Dan was coming. Dan paid no heed to Danny's acknowledgement, nor the whispers that followed his entrance. He only had eyes for the women sitting equal to Danny at the head of the table and the small child in her lap.
He fell to his knees in front of them and felt a small piece of his soul began to heal. They weren't his, but he could still feel the connection: family. He bowed his head with a smile, then stood and walked to his seat with Clockwork, he wasn't bound, and there would never be a need for him to be ever again, he would do whatever it took to ensure his family's safety. Danny watched Youngblood come in with a few of the pirates. He looking frightened. He was the last one. The guards closed the meeting door.
Danny rose and everyone followed, "Let us convene this meeting."
The allies sat as one, everyone except Danny, Sam, Youngblood and his friends. Youngblood was quick to sit when he saw everyone else doing so though, and his friends followed.
Sam's voice echoed across the room, "We have summoned you all here for this meeting, because Clockwork learned of a threat to not only us, but our connected plane, Earth. Clockwork if you would?"
Sam and Danny sat, now that the initial address was done.
Clockwork floated out of his chair at the introduction, "The timeline has branched once again into a seperate path leading away from the determined future into a possible future one that is much worse than the possible future of Dark Dan. This possible future offers no viable solution and shows no sign of joining back with the original timeline. If this possible future comes to pass, then it will come to pass in five months with the permanent death of our beloved princess, Danielle."
Everyone in the room froze and the temperature dropped metaphorically and literally, seeing as ice had begun to creep along the edges of the room. The was a loud growl from Dark Dan, and a frightened whimper from Dani, who could only think about how much she cherished her half-life. She wasn't ready for it to end. She had always thought that when she died she would just become another ghost of the zone. She never thought for a moment that her death wouldn't end that way.
A permanent death for a ghost was a bit like retiring for humans. A ghost would go to the edge of the zone and enter a space many called the Void. No one who went ever came back, but what every ghost could gather was this: for a while you wondered the Void, remembering your post death life, then slowly those memories started to fade until you became nothing but a shell, after which your ghost body began to fade. They only knew as much as they did because once someone did return from the Void; during Pariah's time as king. His queen, or at least the ghost he had hoped would be his queen, went in wearing a long since lost royal jewelry that was much like the ones Danny and Sam wore. Pariah had given it to her as a courtship gift. It was meant to be given to the King and Queen's daughter or son so that the power of the Zone was divided equally into three or four parts. It was a locket that could be split down the middle that was shaped like a heart called Love Hart. The ghost had wandered into the Void for reasons unknown to this day. She was loss for centuries, leaving Pariah to believe his one true love was dead. However, she came back. She was dazed and disoriented and intangible. No one could hold on to her for very long and she remembered nothing not even Pariah. The locket had been left in the Void and some reports speculated that she had lost a heir to the throne that many believed she was carrying. Eventually she went insane from lack of touch and interpersonal relationships. Pariah did the one thing he could for her and guided her back to the Void.
Everyone began to talk in panicked voices that rose gradually in volume. One of Youngblood's friends began to twitch, and Youngblood gently placed a hand on his shoulder. The friend shook off his hand and began to pace.
He took a deep breath and quietly said the words that everyone would remember, "We saw something stirring in the Void."
Danny stood instantly and in the same millisecond everyone stopped talking, "What. Did. You. See."
The pirate removed his hat and began to play with it looking at the ground with tears, "I'm not sure my King. I was just goofing off around there, we like to because no one ever comes that close to the Void. I was about to leave when I heard it, it was this haunting sound like, like, I don't know? Nails on chalkboard maybe. I went to see what was making the noise and all I saw was the shadow of a hand reaching out of the Zone toward the old Keep, and this locket, this locket shaped like a heart and I heard someone ask for help. I tried to help them, I did, but I couldn't touch them, I couldn't even see them!"
Danny took a deep breath and glanced back at Sam. She had the same thought: The heir. Danny knew he had to find them.
He turned to the pirate and stated, "I'm sorry to ask this of you, but take me there."
The pirate shook, but nodded.
Danny left the room and Sam took control of the meeting, "We need to plan to prevent anything from happening in five months. My daughter will not die on my watch."
There was a general agreement and they began to strategize.