When Danny
next awoke, he was stiff and aching worse than ever. He could hear
his mother, and she seemed to be talking to someone. Danny groggily
opened his eyes, wincing as his head throbbed. She had his back to
him, she was on the phone, and she seemed to be shaking a little with
silent sobs. Her voice to the person on the other end of the phone
however did not betray her state. She sounded anxious yet
determined…
"…Yes Jack… don't you worry about that, you
just get to Wisconsin and get Vlad to help us… no dear, of course
not… don't worry Jack, I can handle him, you know how hard it is
to fool me. I'll get it out of him sooner or later and then we can
retrieve Danny with Vlad's help… take care sweetie…oh don't
worry about that, I'm not falling for those lies…ok …bye
Honey." She hung up.
"W-wait… he's going to …Vlad's?
No… no, you've got to stop him... Vlad will…you've gotta call
him back and get him to come home-"
"SILENCE GHOST!" Maddie
yelled, wheeling around to face him. Her hood and goggles were off
and her puffy red eyes rested angrily on him. "I'm not falling
for your LIES. You don't even know Vlad… but my son is out there
in the ghost zone, and you know where HE is, and one way or the other
I'm going to get it from you…" She went over to the bench with
the torturing device on it and turned it on. Danny's eyes widened
and he tensed, drawing himself in a little, though his hands and
ankles were still bound to the chair. "No! No please… please…
not again…" he said pitifully in a voice he would never have
allowed Sylvester Screech hear him use.
She let out a hard
mirthless laugh that was like a slap across the face. "HA! You're
not fooling me Phantom, ghosts don't have emotions, you can't
make me pity you. But I know you can feel pain, and if you want that
to stop, you're going to have to tell me where my son is, or I'll
do more to you than just this…" She said, holding the glowing
tipped instrument up.
"I'M right HERE!" He shouted in
frustration, desperate, "It's ME, you've got to believe me,
just let me explain, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!"
She had turned the
device on him again, her face twisting in anger. "YOU CAN'T BE MY
SON! THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A HALF GHOST! Stop stalling Phantom, I
told you I'm getting the truth out of you, no matter how long it
takes, but you better give me some answers or I'll make your
afterlife HELL."
Danny slumped when the beam was released,
panting and twitching with pain.
"You've…you've got to
believe me… Vlad wants… to kill… Jack… if he goes… alone…
there's no time, you've got to…"
"I don't have to do
anything ghost, except get you to tell me where my son is. I'm no
fool; if you were really half ghost, you would already have proved it
to me by changing back, but you can't, can you, because it's not
TRUE! You're going to run out of lies eventually, and
I'm going to make the process as quick as possible."
"MOM,
LISTEN TO ME! VLAD'S GOING TO AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!…"
She
stuck the device into his chest again and held it until his screams
died. When released he slumped again, shaking… but his head rested
on the back of the chair and his shaking was from sobs… tears
rolled down his face.
She let out a hard laugh again. "Haven't
you understood a word Iv said? You can't trick me into pitying you.
Ghosts have no emotions. No amount of crocodile tears are going to
save you…" she trailed off with a disgusted tone
Danny made no
reply; he just let the tears roll down the side of his face. This
would be the end of him… there was no way he could become human
again after this, he would be so broken he couldn't bare to let her
know she had done this to him… he would have to let her destroy
him… better she believed him lost than knew what she had done. But
apart from that, Danny regretted that she would never know the truth,
that he was sorry for lying, he was sorry for all those times he had
been short with her and Jack, and they would never know it wasn't
their fault… and he could never say goodbye to Tucker and
Sam…
"Your son…is… dead." He muttered quietly… but she
didn't hear him, she was over the other side of the lab. He heard
her return. Next moment he felt something at his waist. He looked
down through blurry vision and squinted. Maddie was strapping
something around his waist, and when she drew away, he saw it. She
had put the spectre deflector on him. His eyes widened in sudden
fear, he opened his mouth to say something, but she pressed the
button and whatever words he might have had in mind were drowned in
his piercing screams. Electric shocks shot up his spine, arching his
back, it seemed a fire was searing through him, it was unbearable,
there was no way he could survive this, with the bonds keeping him a
ghost, no way of changing back, it would obliterate him. His
screaming died as he was overcome with all consuming agony. It
increased to a pitch were Danny felt as if his neck, wrists and
ankles were being burnt off his body… and suddenly, he went beyond
pain, and an almost familiar tingling washed over him as he numbed to
the agony… he went limp. This must be it... he must be dead. That
tingling was familiar because it was like changing into Phantom form…
it was the sensation of becoming something dead… Through the dull
aching that seemed to return, Danny realized something… If he was
dead, and he was still thinking… he hadn't thought of that, he
was now all ghost… it was not the end he had longed for, she would
now never believe him, he was doomed to endure more.
Danny moaned
very quietly… it was never going to end for him, there would never
be a release, he was in hell.
He heard Maddie suddenly, as though
from far away… she gasped shakily, then frantically muttered… "Oh
god no…oh god no… Danny…"
Danny suddenly realized he
tasted blood… and the aching in his body was worse than ever, like
he had been burnt alive then had a building fall on him. Dead ghosts
didn't feel like this did they? Ecto-plasma didn't taste like
blood… and his heavy arms were limp at the sides of the chair…
not bound behind it… that meant… the bonds… he must be…
"Mom?…"
He whimpered in a tiny broken voice. He heard quick stumbling
footsteps and suddenly he was in someone's embrace. He felt her
tears start to soak his shoulder.
"I'm… sorry… I should
have… told you… but I…"he croaked.
"No, Danny no… you
have nothing to be sorry for, I…I didn't mean to… I… I'm so
sorry… oh god, my little boy…how could I…"
"I …forgive
you… you didn't …know… this isn't… your fault" Danny
whispered, his voice now broken and barely audible. It hurt to talk,
but Danny had to tell her. He needed her to know he didn't blame
her. How could he? She was his mother, she accepted him no matter
what, how could he not do the same?
"Oh Danny…" She sobbed
into his shoulder, but he heard her only as a half dream as he
slipped into unfeeling darkness again… finally, his ordeal was at
an end…
Jazz arrived home with Sam and
Tucker. She knew her mother would be home, but hopefully she would be
easy to sneak past, assuming she wasn't in the lab… then they
could go and search for Danny some more. Jazz opened the door as
silently as she could. "You two wait here. I'll make sure the
coast is clear, then I'll come back and get you…" The other two
nodded and Jazz slipped inside her house. She couldn't hear
anything… she crept silently into the kitchen… nothing here
either. She just had to check the lab. Jazz tiptoed towards the lab
door, but halfway there, she heard noises… someone was coming up
the stairs slowly. It must be her mother. Jazz knew there wasn't
time to hide silently, so she took a few silent steps back and tried
to look like she had just innocently arrived home from school… that
was kind of what she was doing anyway, school was over, about two
hours ago and all… they had been checking off places they had
looked for Danny at Tucker's house, as he had the ghost zone map
digitised on his computer. But what Jazz saw emerge from the lab door
wiped all thought of the ghost zone from her mind… Her mother
emerged, sullen faced, carrying Danny in her arms… and it was Danny
in a state Jazz had prayed she would never see him in… he was
terrible… blood-strewn, beaten, and he had a defeated, pitiful sort
of air about him as Maddie walked past the silent, horrified Jazz.
Neither of them said a word… Maddie just took him upstairs,
sniffing once or twice. Jazz couldn't think… her mind drew a
blank for once…
"Jazz, is she there… what's wrong?" Sam
whispered, sticking her head in the door. Jazz looked at her, tears
welling in her eyes. She swallowed, trying to find her voice. "Danny…
he's… back…" was all she could manage in a small voice.
"WHAT? Where? How?" said Tucker, bursting through the door,
looking around as though he expected to see Danny standing there in
Phantom form with a few bruises and a cocky grin, making some witty
remark on how they shouldn't have worried. But Danny was not there,
and one look at Jazz's face told him there would be no cocky
grin…
"W-where is he?" Asked Sam a little shakily, coming
into the house and closing the door. Jazz could only point to the
stairs. Tucker led the way, Sam not far behind, and Jazz came last…
unsure she could actually face the sight again…
When Tucker
reached Danny's open bedroom door, he froze, his mouth hanging open
slightly. Jazz's face had told him this would be bad… but he
could never have imagined just how bad…he didn't even know how to
react… he just stood there, staring, unable to really comprehend
that that was Danny… lying there…pale and broken…
Sam walked
slowly into the room, over to Danny's bed, where he lay, lifeless.
His mother sat on the other side, silent tears streaming down her
face as she ran her hand through Danny's unkempt black hair, biting
her trembling lip. Sam sunk to her knees by Danny's bed… no… he
couldn't be… this wasn't happening… not Danny… not
dead…
Sam actually gasped when his face twitched, in either pain
or from a nightmare… but he WAS alive… he was as pale as he was
when in Phantom form, Sam had thought he must be-… but she was more
relieved than ever to see she was mistaken. Tears ran down her face,
both from relief, but also in grief, and fear… She slowly reached
over and put her hand on Danny's… it was not cold as she had
expected, but slightly over-warm… Sam didn't really notice it…
she was anxiously contemplating the same thing Jazz was, who stood by
Tucker, her hand on his shoulder.
Danny had returned… but had
the Danny they known returned? After all this…was the Danny they
knew still lost in the ghost zone, never to return?