Chapter 4
Danny felt his insides squeeze so hard he felt he would pass out. He let out a little cry and instantly dropped the dagger, knife, whatever it was, to the floor, as if it was now some sort of hot metal that scarred him. He stumbled back and drew his hand to his chest. He had never felt so scared and sad before in his life. That dagger, that thing killed his father.
Everyone around him noticed his reaction, Sam's face turned to one of regret and turned away from Danny's eyes that were spilling over with tears.
Tucker walked over to Danny and put his hands on Danny's shoulders to steady him. More faces gazed at Danny, a mixture of hate and sorrow.
Danny put a hand to his hair and tried to steady his breathing. Guilt was flooding through his entire body. All those things he had said to his dad, to his parents, came flooding back. It was unbearable. Yet he managed to look up after minutes of silence and said, "Who?"
Sam turned her bruised face to his. "Who what?"
"Who killed my father?"
Sam looked startled, then looked down, not answering. He knew she knew who did it. He was afraid of the answer, but he had to ask.
"Sam, please." Danny walked over to her and put his hand on hers.
Her hand twitched under his. She slowly met his eyes.
"Oh Danny, I can't tell you. I can't hurt you."
"Ill be fine, whatever you say." Danny tried to say with confidence, but somehow knew the answer she would say would hurt him worse than ever.
Violet still gazed into blue. She took a shuddered breath. "You did." She managed to choke out. "You killed your father."
Danny felt like he had been slapped in the face. He took a couple steps back. He had a feeling she would say he did, but he still couldn't believe it. He shook his head. "No, no.."
"Danny…" Sam said with a tear streaming down of her face.
Danny just shook his head rapidly again. "No! no I couldn't…. I wouldn't.." He trembled and ran from the hospital room into a seemingly empty hallway. He heard Sam and Tucker calling his name, but he couldn't go back. It hurt too much. To look into their faces and see all the anguish, the pain he caused. This was HIM. He did this to everyone in that room. He felt disgusted with himself. He caused pain and suffering. The Danny that lived here was evil. Everything made sense now. The way Tucker looked at him, Dash, the fact that everyone hated him. He leaned back against the wall behind him. It felt as if it was made of plastic. It bent with his weight but also held some resistance from being broken. But he didn't care, he was still very upset with everything that happened. He never knew he could have evil within him. Now he knew he had evil inside of him. That Danny was him, only making different choices. He realized he was in a different world, a different earth, where things were different. He had heard about these theories in science class, but simply dismissed them as impossible. Only now he grasped that they were real, all too real.
He choked up a sob remembering his father and how he would hardly hurt a fly. His dad was gone. At least, this one was. His head snapped up, realizing he was still in another dimension, his dad in his dimension was still alive. A mixture of relief and guilt washed over his mind. His breathing started to become normal as he forced himself to calm down. This was no time to lose it. He also had some things to ask the others here. He had to know how he became evil, so he could avoid it from happening in his world.
He stared at the opposite wall, until a shadow passed over it and stopped. His blue eyes gazed over to the owner of the shadow and he almost choked on his own tongue. A girl stood there, her long orange hair tied in a braid behind her. Her turquoise eyes met his. She had a look of compassion and fear at him. She, like the others wore a belt with weapons. However she seemed to keep the same clothes she wore in his world. He looked at her for a minute, then looked down with sadness and regret. Then he felt a hand on his shoulder and he looked up once again to meet her turquoise eyes, they appeared worried, about him.
"Jazz?" he strangled the name, trying desperately not to break down.
"Shh, it's alright Danny. I saw what happened in the hospital wing. I know you aren't him." Her voice, as always, was soothing. Her father's death and her brother's betrayal seemed to have no affect on her personality. She seemed the same as she was in the other world.
Danny couldn't help but clench his fists. "Jazz I am him! He is me! We are the same person! How could I…I never dreamed I could… oh my god I feel sick."
Jazz grabbed Danny and forced him to look into her eyes. "Danny, you aren't him! You didn't make the mistakes he did! You are a better person than he ever will be!"
Danny's eyes watered. "How can you be so nice to me when I…." He swallowed hard.
"Danny, maybe I should tell you the whole story." Jazz sat next to him and put an arm around his shoulders holding him close.
"It started the day before your accident. You and dad were arguing about ghosts being real. You never believed in them, like I did. Dad was convinced a ghost had you, and I protected you from him. He was oblivious to the fact you were fine and you both left the room each angry with the other. The next day, when you saw dad and mom start to unveil the portal, and it didn't work, you saw how upset they were. You had felt guilty for yelling at dad the day before and tried to fix it. Only you did, while you were still inside. When you woke up later, mom, me and dad were standing over you, worried. I was so relieved you were all right. Dad was also but he showed it by telling you never to go near the portal again. It didn't occur to him to thank you for fixing the portal and making it work. That drove you farther away from him. Later that day, you realized who you had become. Half ghost, half human. It freaked you out more than you could handle. The first people you told, was me and our parents."
Danny shook his head. "In my world, I only told Tucker and Sam. I am scared of mom and dad and you freaking out and trying to capture me and dissect me."
Jazz winced. "That was our mistake. We did just that. I got scared, but remained firm you were still my brother. Mom and dad, however, got worried and excited. They tried to tie you down and.." she drifted off. "But you escaped, you ran away. Vlad found you before I or Tucker or Sam could. Vlad turned you against your own parents." Jazz has tears in her eyes. "Mom and dad had realized too late what had truly happened. You just didn't trust anyone after that. Except me, Sam and Tucker. You offered us to stay with Vlad, you warned us what he was planning, but we refused and asked you to come back to our side. You were scared. I could see it in your eyes. You shook your head and left us. Vlad was planning on taking over the world, the town, and anyone who disobeyed him would be killed. The first person he wanted dead was Jack. When Vlad started his attack, he tried to destroy dad. But you refused him. Then, he revealed something I hid from you Danny. He brainwashed you, saying I betrayed you as well as Tucker and Sam. We knew where your room was, we told mom and dad, so they were forming a plan to get you back. You made us promise to keep it secret. So in a way, we betrayed you. But you betrayed us as well. You pretended to be our friend again, just to get to dad. Then, you killed him, ignoring his pleas to spare his life." She was looking down. "After that, we knew what we had to do. We had to stop you at any costs. Danny Fenton had become Danny Masters. We thought that you were totally gone from us. That the Danny we knew was gone forever. Then, you came." She looked into his eyes.
"What!" The man growled, standing up his throne.
"Sorry Father." The red eyed boy said with regret. "they got him first."
"Daniel Masters, if they tell him what happened here, the chance of getting him to our side will be limited! The boy is too good, we wanted to bring in a Daniel from a world similar to ours!"
" I don't understand, the BloodGlow Dagger hasn't failed me before." The evil Danny muttered, looking at his feet. They still were wet with the sewer water he had been standing in minutes ago.
"It appears it had, Daniel, and now we lost that too! The other Daniel has it!" If Vlad had been an animal, he would have been foaming at the mouth. That's how angry he was.
" Yes, I know. But they are bound to bring the other me outside at some point. They would probably want to bring him back to his own world." Danny pointed out. Vlad thought for a minute.
"Good point Daniel. Watch the sewers, at least we know that's where they hide out now. When you see Daniel, call me, I will grab him." Vlad smirked.
"Why can't I do it?" Danny asked.
"Because, two Danny's can't survive in the same world for long, the farther apart they are, the less chance of the world falling apart. You two might explode if you touch. No one knows what could happen." Vlad said, matter-of-factly.
Danny sighed, rolling his red eyes in annoyance. "Alright, fine. But how do you plan to turn him over to our side?"
Vlad smirked. " I have my ways," he chuckled.
Danny raised an eyebrow, but then shrugged. " I am going to see how our guest is doing."
"Good, good. Maybe you can finally turn her." Vlad said with a hint of annoyance.
"She's a stubborn woman, but I think I am close." Danny smirked, then walked out of his fathers throne room and walked slowly towards her room. His mind was still crowded from the thoughts he had before. But new ones started to creep into them as well. What if his father's plan didn't work? Then he began thinking about the other Danny. He wished that he knew what kind of Danny they had brought into their world. He shook his head of the thoughts and continued to walk down the dark hallway.
"We should consider redecorating." Danny muttered, realizing how creepy it looked. Door after door he passed the uneasy feeling seemed to grow, his red eyes darted back and forth. Finally he sighed in relief as he reached the door where their guest was kept. He pulled the key out of his pocket, then thought for a second. He smirked and two rings appeared at his waist. Instead of whitish blue, they were a dark red. As they drifted around his body, his suit changed into a white and red T-shirt along with jeans. His eyes turned to his normal blue and his hair had suddenly darkened to a pure black. When he was finished, he put the key in the lock and turned it. He heard a click, then put the key in his pocket and turned the doorknob. He quickly shut the door behind him as he walked into the dimly lit room. A figure instantly straightened from the bed they were sitting at as he entered. He felt a smirk climb across his features.
"Hey, mom." He said as if he was a normal teenage boy.
"Hello." Was the brisk answer. The woman who sat on the bed was dressed in a dress Vlad had bought for her; she did not have any of her ghost equipment with her. She was a prisoner of them. She had a terrible look in her eyes as she stared at her once son.
"Aw, c'mon mom. Don't be like that." Danny pouted and put his arms around his chest.
"Don't call me that, you are not my son." Maddie said with hate.
"Of course I am mom. You gave birth to me, you bought these clothes I'm wearing." Danny said, taking a step towards her. She instantly straightened.
"Stay away from me." She warned.
"Mom." Danny sighed in a very teenage way. "Vlad loves you, he let the whole world turn evil just for you."
"He wanted to kill Jack." Maddie stated.
"He was ambitious." Danny shrugged.
"You killed Jack! Your own father!" Maddie was clutching the bed sheets with her hands.
His light blue eyes suddenly turned a vacant deep blue. "I had to do what I had to do." He muttered. "You all betrayed me, you wanted to kill me."
Maddie winced. "Danny… I am sorry about that."
"Its too late to be sorry mom." Danny looked away. "It was because of that portal, because of what you and Jack built, that I'm now like this! It was because of you two that Vlad is like this too!" His eyes narrowed in hatred. "And how you can still brush off all that guilt as if it was nothing, makes me sick." The deep blue looked into her frightened eyes.
Her fright turned to anger. "You didn't have to kill him just because of a simple accident! You shouldn't have been near that portal in the first place!"
"If he hadn't argued with me the day before I wouldn't have! I felt so guilty! Jazz was the only one who cared about me! She didn't want to see if I was inhabited by a ghost or force me to believe something I didn't want to believe!" Danny yelled, his eyes glowing a bright red for a second.
"Parents make mistakes Danny! We aren't perfect! We tried hard and your father was a bumbler but he loved you!" Maddie felt tears overwhelm her eyes and she was forced to close them as the tears drifted down her cheeks.
When she opened her eyes his were back to their bright blue. Those baby blues she fell in love with when he was born. Her heart stopped. Had she gotten through to him?
"No, you weren't perfect. But now you have the chance to be." He smiled a soft smile. "Marry Vlad mom. Be my mom again. I do miss you."
She looked down and shook her head while sobbing. She thought there was still a chance to save her boy.
" I can forgive you, only if you do what Vlad wants." He added softly.
She looked up sharply. "What about what I want? What about what you want?"
Danny looked stung; he turned away and slowly started to walk to the door.
" I can't have what I want."