"Danny!"

Maddie jumped into the passenger seat, followed by Jack who took his place in the driver's seat.

"Hit it!" Maddie buckled her seat belt and prepared to take off.

Jack pressed down on the peddle and they shot off farther into the castle.

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Danny clenched his teeth to try to avoid screaming. Screaming would only tell Vlad that his plan was working, and he knew that was what he wanted. He wasn't going to let that creep get control of him.

"You know it only hurts because you refused to obey, right?" Danny was beginning to fight with his mind, "Just obey him! Everything will stop if you do. All the pain, all the doubt, everything will go away."

"No! I…won't obey him!" Danny yelled at himself, but immediately shut his mouth when a scream threatened to release itself. This was too much for him.

"Obey him! It'll fix all of this."

"No! No it won't. It'll only make things worse."

"What, Do you like pain?

"Stop it," Danny closed his eyes and raised his head towards the ceiling, "Vlad! Get out of my head!"

"Why are you so sure it's Vlad?"

"I said…get out of my head!" Danny clenched his fists and tried to break free of the barrier holding him, but to no avail. He was stuck with the person he hated, to be cruelly manipulated in his own mind.

"You will do as I say, boy, and I must say, this way is much more efficient" Vlad laughed, causing Danny to cringe.

He refused to talk to the older man any more. He was just messing with him, and if he held out long enough Vlad would leave him alone.

"Don't you want the pain to stop?"

Danny tried to blur out his voice, but he desperately wanted to end the pain that continued to torment him. Vlad was going to pay for this and it wasn't going to be pretty.

"Obey me and it will all end."

"No!" Danny screamed, unable to hold it back any longer. His body shook as all its pain was released and his muscles tensed.

Vlad laughed as he watched his little experiment cry out on agony.

"You're time will come, boy. Just wait."

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Sam held on to the seat cushion for dear life as the speeder shot through the castle at a lightning fast speed.

"How can you guys even see where you're going?" Jazz asked.

"We don't need to, Jazzipants. The scanner shows it all." Jack kept a firm grip on the wheel, making sure not to swerve into a wall.

"I hope Danny's okay," Sam looked at Jazz, "Cause I'm not so sure we'll be." The speeder made another jerk, adding to the occupants' jostled annoyance.

"Doesn't he have a cell phone? Why can't we call him?" Tucker asked from the back.

"Yeah, Vlads just gonna let him answer his phone, Tucker," Sam narrowed her eyes and brought a hand over her head to show emphasis.

"Well, we could at least try," Tucker pulled out his cell phone and dialed Danny's number.

"He's hopeless," Sam turned back towards Jazz.

Tucker held the phone to his ear to hopefully await an answer from his best friend.

-------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------

Vlad had left Danny alone for a few minutes, giving Danny time to gather his true thoughts. He had stopped screaming and his body was limp. He was on the edge of going unconscious because of the pain, but that wasn't on his to do list.

"Alright…I'm stuck…in a room, and the only other living thing is…Vlad. I can get through this." Danny squeezed eyes shut and took a deep breath. This seemed to drown out some of the pain in him.

He was aroused out of his thought when his cell phone rang. "Vlad didn't take that away?" he gingerly reached into his pocket and pulled it out. He flipped it open and brought it to his ear.

"Hello?" his voice was weak and cackled, and he knew the person on the other end could hear the pain he held inside.

"Dude, you're alive!" Tuckers loud voice made Danny cringe.

"He answered?" Sam jumped from her seat and put her ear by Tucker's cell so she could hear the entire conversation.

"Tucker!" Danny gripped the phone harder.

"You sound horrible. You okay?" Tucker sounded concerned.

"That depends on what 'Okay' is," Danny glanced around the room to make sure Vlad wasn't there, "How's…my other half?"

"He's asleep. After this ghost girl tried to melt him, he's pretty tired," Tucker leaned back on the seat to avoid being smashed by anxious girls.

"Good." Danny groaned as the pain made another surge through him.

"Danny, where are you?" Sam managed to wrench the phone away from Tucker so she could talk to her friend.

"I don't…know. But Vlad could be anywhere," Danny was a bit relieved to hear her voice. He knew he could count on Sam to be worried about him, "I don't see him right now but-" a sudden jolt of pain shot through him. It was worse than the other and caused him to scream out in pain.

"Danny? Danny answer me!" Sam held the phone with both hands, making sure not to miss a thing he said.

"Sam… get…Vlad," That was all he could say before the phone fell to the floor and an exhausted Danny Fenton was floating unconscious in the barrier Vlad had made.

---------------------------- ------------------------------------- -----------------------------------------

"Danny? Danny!" Sam screamed into the phone, but got no answer. She hung up and squeezed her eyes shut to prevent tears from falling.

"Sam? Sam what happened? Is Danny alright?" Jazz put a hand on the Goths shoulder.

"I don't know Jazz." Sam avoided the red heads gaze. She couldn't let anyone see the tears forming in her eyes.

"We're almost there kids," Maddie was still facing forwards, and she still had the determined look on her face, "We're going to get Danny out."

"Are you? Are you really?" the speeder came to a screeching halt as the ghostly figured floated in front of them.

"Vlad, where's Danny!" Maddie glared at her newest enemy.

"No where you're getting to, woman."