A/N - no, shockingly enough - i still don't own Danny Phantom or Beauty and the Beast

Three

Samantha pulled back from the wall with which she had become very friendly a few seconds ago. She rubbed her jaw in pain and whipped around to yell at her attacker. Whoever it was was lurking in one of the deep shadows the advancing hour and lack of light in the prison caused.

"What's your problem?" she shouted, wincing at the pain that stabbed through her jaw as she spoke. "What have you done to my father?"

"He was trespassing. As are you." A green glow suddenly sprang to life a few feet off the floor, and she guessed with some surprise that it was coming from his hand. Curiosity stabbed through her, but she was more afraid for her father.

"He's hurt! You have to let him go!"

"No."

She bared her teeth in frustration. She looked at her father, at the gaping wound on his head. He needed medical attention. And this beast didn't seem to be listening to reason. A desperate idea sprung into her mind, and made its way out of her lips before she had time to think about it.

"Take me instead."

The person was silent for a long time, in a startling contrast to her father who, within his cell, began protesting vehemently against her statement. She ignored him, and kept her eyes trained on the figure in the shadows.

"You, you aren't going to plead for him?"

She snorted, ignoring his ridiculous question. "What's your answer?"

Another silence, more profound this time, as her father realized that no-one was listening to him and silenced.

"You will give up your freedom in exchange for his? You will sever all ties with the outside world, for the rest of your life?"

Her resolve weakened. When he put it that way…it sounded so much more sinister, and she found herself doubting her decision. But then again, what would she be losing? An abusive uncle? A mundane fiancé? A practically nonexistent father?

But the rest of her life…. She raised her head, unaware of when it had dropped. She needed to know what she was getting herself into.

"Come into the light."

She watched with bated breath as the shadowy figure moved forwards almost reluctantly into the thin beam of light cast by the glowing moon. First a foot appeared, encased in a heavy black boot, followed by a long leg in black breeches. He – she was certain it was a he, judging from his voice and his large foot – moved forwards, his other leg coming into view. Her eyes traveled up his body. He rose to over six feet; and he wore black gloves, his black shirt covered by a floor length black cape that encased his shoulders and arms completely.

His hair was long, almost reaching his shoulder blades, and a brilliant white. His skin was deathly pale, almost transparent. His cheeks were gaunt, and smudges of black decorated the bottoms of his eyes.

But his eyes. They gripped her. Underneath black eyebrows they were green, vividly green, but seemed to be alive, the only part of him that appeared so. They looked as though they were glowing in his face, piercing her soul.

His age was impossible to determine. Even as she backed away unconsciously, she realized that although his face was young, his eyes held years of age, knowledge, power, hate. A hate that burned in the very depths of them, for her, for her father, for everything and anything around him. She had never seen anyone with so much loathing for anything. It scared her – and that fact frightened her further. After all those years spent living with Philip Manson, it took a lot to scare her.

She did not notice her retreat until her back connected with the wall behind her. She swallowed quickly, overcoming her fear, stood up straight, looking the living corpse right in the eyes, and spoke.

"You have my word."

"Done."

Her father's door swung open after he blasted the lock with some sort of green energy from his hand. Samantha was just about to run to his crumpled figure when two guards floated in and grabbed him under his armpits.

"Wait!" She cried, holding out her hand. "Wait!"

They ignored her, and dragged her father from the room, ignoring too his screams for her to take it back, not to do it, to leave him there. Her heart ached, and she suddenly fell to her knees, her chest heaving with emotion, wrapping her arms around her body, unaware of the door slamming before her, only hearing her father's cries as he was dragged away from her forvever through the castle.

"Take him to the village."

The guards nodded at their master's command, taking the weeping man outside. The white-haired young man watched them take to the skies, the pathetically mewling old man between them.

He turned and walked back into the castle, his coat sweeping out behind him. He stormed through the castle towards his chambers, bumping unceremoniously into someone on his way.

His hand glowed green and he raised it to incinerate the idiot in his way, but dropped it again when he saw who it was.

"Tucker, get out of my way."

"Uh, okay," Tucker said, falling into step beside his friend, having to take an extra step every so often to keep up with the long stride of the seething man beside him. "Um, I was just wondering, that girl in the prison?" No answer. Tucker took this as a sign of encouragement and continued. "Sh-she's going to be here for a while. Maybe, maybe we could give her somewhere, a little more suitable to–"

He was cut off when the young man beside him halted and turned to him, his green eyes glowing. "She is my prisoner, and she will be treated as such." He turned and began walking again.

Tucker sighed and leapt after the retreating figure. "Danny, look, I wanted to be more subtle about this, but I guess subtle isn't my thing."

"You can say that again."

Tucker whirled around to glare at the young woman behind them, her hands imperiously attached to her hips. "Be quiet Valerie."

She ignored him and put her hand on shoulder of the tall youth beside him, and spoke in an accusatory tone. "Danny, what's this I hear about you keeping a beautiful young girl locked up in the prison?"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "There is not beautiful girl in the prison. There is a trespasser who just assigned herself to a life in that prison of her own free will."

That seemed to stump Valerie for a second, and she stood, blinking at Tucker, as the pair watched their friend stalk off down the corridor. They flew after him and stood before him. Valerie crossed her arms and Tucker stepped forward to talk to him.

"Did you ever think that she might be the one to break the curse?"

"No." His voice was dangerously low. Both of the dark-skinned teens knew that that was a warning signal for them to stop and walk away. But not this time.

"Danny, don't be so pig-headed." Valerie snapped. "You have thought about it and we all know it. But there is absolutely no chance whatsoever that that girl can do anything for us if you keep her locked up in that God-forsaken tower!"

He glared at the girl, before stepping once towards her. She only reached his nose, and he used his imposing height to his advantage. "What's the point? Besides, you didn't see the way she looked at me. Like everyone else does." He turned from the pair and walked away once more, having managed to keep the hurt from his tone.

Tucker flew forwards and put his hand on Danny's shoulder. "Please, man. At least let her out of the tower."

Danny stared at his friend's pleading face, and finally sighed crossly. He pushed past the dark-skinned boy and stalked back down the hallway. He wound through the castle until he was outside the prison door. He was loathe to go in, as he hated seeing people cry. But he pushed open the door nevertheless, and walked inside.

She leapt up as soon as he entered, and he was surprised to see no tears marring her face. Rage distorted her features however, and she was advancing on him as soon as he closed the door behind him. She walked up until she was mere inches from his chest, and looked right up from her tiny height at him, her eyes practically spitting fire.

"You monster!" She shouted furiously. "You didn't even let me say goodbye! I am never, never going to see him again – and you didn't even let me say goodbye!" Her hand rose to slap his face, but to her shock, it passed right through it, sending her off balance from the force she had put behind the action. She halted her stumble and turned surprised eyes to him, and something inside him smiled at the expression on her face. But that inner smile died with her next words.

"What are you?" She breathed in curious wonder.

His eyes narrowed once more, the green intensifying. "Come with me."

She peered at him suspiciously. "Why?"

"I'm taking you to your room."

"But, I thought…"

"What – do you want to stay in the tower?"

She scowled at him. "No."

"Then follow me." With that he turned, his cloak whirling dramatically behind him. He heard her move after him after a little while, and follow him through the castle. He wanted to glance back at her, but for some reason he didn't want her to see him doing so. She kept her silence as they walked, but he could practically feel the antagonism radiating from her. She definitely had spirit.

"The castle is your home now." He spoke gruffly.

She sneered. "I thought it was my prison."

"It is. I hope you like it here." She fell silent, and somehow he knew she was glaring fireballs at his back. That strange smiling feeling crept back into his stomach, though he squelched it immediately.

"You can go anywhere you want, except the West Wing."

Her reply was instant. "What's in the West Wing?"

He wheeled around angrily. "If I wanted you to know why would I tell you not to go in there?"

She scowled at him. "Why would you think I would go there anyway? Now you've just made me curious!"

He ground his teeth. She was exasperating beyond reason. He turned back around and stalked down the corridor, fully aware of her smugly triumphant smile behind him, and hating it.

They reached the smallest guest room in the castle, and he pushed open the door. She walked past, ignoring him completely, then turned to glare at him once she was inside, her hands on her hips.

"When's dinner?"

That caught him off guard. He had forgotten that humans needed to eat. He scowled at her, knowing already that she would be trouble.

"You will eat in one hour."

"You won't eat with me?"

"I don't eat."

Her eyes narrowed at him. It was right then that he noticed the vivid purple color of her eyes. He stared at them in shock. He had never seen purple eyes before. He suddenly caught himself staring at her, and embarrassment flared through him. He had forgotten that uncomfortable feeling. He didn't like it. He scowled at her.

"One hour."

He slammed the door in her face, imagining the enraged expression that would be on it right then and once more, that strange smiling feeling crept into his chest. He pushed it away and stalked down the hall, ignoring the thump against the door behind him.

Sam blinked at the slammed door for a few seconds, then her lips turned down into a snarl. She lifted her foot and took off her shoe, hurling it as hard as she could at the closed door. It hit the middle panel with a satisfying thunk, but it did nothing to lighten her mood.

"That, arrogant, selfish, egotistical, pig-headed freak!" She hissed to herself, walking briskly around the room. "How dare he treat me like a, like a, a…" In her current fuming state she couldn't come up with a good word, and snarled some more instead. She flopped backwards onto her bed and shut her eyes, her fists tightly clenched.

Briefly her chest constricted when she thought of her father. Was he okay? Did he get back to Amity Park alright? More importantly – would he be foolish enough to come back for her? While a part of her hoped above hope that he would, she was afraid that he, and anyone else he brought, would be incinerated by that monster who was now, what? Her jailer?

She rose into a sitting position on the end of the bed and looked around the room. It was modest, not ugly, but not wonderful. Judging by the exterior of the castle she guessed that the whole place was in serious disrepair.

Sleepiness pinched at her eyes. She blinked it back. She wasn't tired. She was fine.

A huge yawn escaped her. Oh, yes, she was. Her body, her mind, her heart, were all aching. She lay down on the bed, pushing off her boots and curling under the covers. She wrapped herself into a little ball.

So this is where I'll spend the rest of my life, she thought dismally, before slipping into an erratic sleep, her hand wrapped around the silver locket she hid under her collar.

"Hello?" Knock, knock, knock. "Hello?"

Samantha groaned and buried her fist in her eye, peering blearily out from under the blue bed sheet at the door. Someone on the other side knocked once more and she sat up straight.

"Go away," she hissed, getting off the bed and backing away from the door, certain she knew who it was. But, she thought, would he really knock? That doesn't seem his style.

Whoever it was knocked again, and she found her nerve and walked over to open the door. She started slightly when she saw the floating girl before her. The girl was dark-skinned, with dark hair and eyes. She wore a brown dress with lacing up the front, and her brown shoes hovered about half a foot from the ground.

Samantha closed her mouth and glared at the newcomer.

"What?" She snapped.

The girl's eyes flashed with anger and she put her hands on her hips. "Dinner's ready. Come and get it – now."

Samantha narrowed her eyes at the intruder. "Is the freak down there?"

The girl's eyes widened in surprise and anger, then narrowed to match the lilac ones before her. "His name is D-Phantom.

"'Duh Phantom'?" Samantha mocked.

Valerie clenched her fingers, annoyed both at her slip and the girl. "Phantom. And yes, he is waiting for you."

Samantha turned up her nose. "Then I'm not going." She put her hand on the door frame and slammed it shut in the girl's face. She put her back against the door and sighed to let out some steam.

Suddenly her head came up. She murmured to herself. "Was she floating?"

"Yes, I was." Samantha's eyes snapped up to stare at those of the girl floating before her. She turned and looked at the closed door, against which she had been leaning, then at the girl inside her room, then at the door, and the girl again.

She spluttered unintelligibly for a few seconds before the girl interrupted. "If you are quite finished, dinner is served – and you are going."

Samantha clamped her teeth together. "If you think I am going to do anything that freak tells me to do, I've got news for you. I don't listen to anyone but me, anymore."

Valerie's eyebrows came up slightly at the last word. There was an almost unnoticable pause before the girl said it. She wondered what that pause meant. Her hands went once more to her hips as she glared at the stubborn girl in front of her. "Think again. You're gonna be here a while, so you'd better stay on Phantom's good side."

"Or what? He'll punish me? What could be worse punishment than being forced to spend any time in his company? He'll kill me? So what? – I have no life anymore anyway."

Valerie blinked at the girl's pessimistic words, before her dark eyebrows came together. "Fine," she snapped. "Fine." She floated to the side of the girl and phased out of her room, leaving her open-mouthed in front of the still safely closed door.

Valerie dropped through several floors until she came to a stop in the dining hall. The room hadn't been used in many years, but the cleaning staff, elated to have something to do, finally, had gone all out in making it presentable.

At the end of the huge table, sitting in front of an empty place setting, was her friend come master. She floated to his side.

"Well, is she coming or what?" He snapped.

Valerie shook her head. "She isn't coming."

He was speechless for a moment, though he didn't let his shock show on his stoic face. "What?"

"She. Won't. Come. Down."

His teeth gritted together behind his lips. Not only was he saddled with an obnoxious teenage girl until he died – which, granted, wasn't a prospect too far away, but he couldn't think about that right now – but she was going to go out of her way to be a pain. Perfect. That's just what he needed.

He briefly contemplated just going up to his room and ignoring her until that last petal fell and he would be free, in a sense, but he had a niggling feeling that if he let this go that she would just get worse. It was like training a dog. You couldn't let anything go or they would start taking liberties.

Plus there were those haunting lilac eyes. One eyebrow rose at his ironic choice of words, but it was an apt description.

He rose from his place, drifting into the air and phasing through several floors, halting at the door to her room, Valerie close behind him. He stopped just outside her door, debating the wisdom of just phasing inside. Why not? – It's not like she could hurt him.

He stepped through her bedroom wall and looked around the room. He couldn't see her, and his whole body clenched. Where is she?

Suddenly he heard a feminine grunt and looked to his right in time to see a lamp hurtling towards his head. He simply stayed still and the lamp went right through him. It was followed by a jewellery box, a pillow, a vase, and finally a shoe. He watched the woman's shoe fall to the ground, then looked up at the fuming girl beside him, her chest heaving with anger and exertion.

A tiny grin crept into the corner of his mouth, but he turned it back down and walked up to her. He grabbed her by the arms and lifted her off the ground. He was surprised to find that she didn't squirm, but froze and stared at him.

Or glared at him.

"Why is it that I can't hurt you, but you can still hurt me?" She hissed through her teeth.

His eyes widened very slightly and he looked almost guiltily at his hands. He hadn't thought he was holding her that tightly. He let her fall to the ground, her shoeless feet hitting it silently.

"Why didn't you come to dinner?"

She turned up her nose at him. "I'm your prisoner – not your slave."

His eyes glowed acid green as he fought to control his temper. "Let me make this clear right now, girl. If you don't eat with me," he bent down to her eye level. "You don't eat at all."

She glared at him, her eyes still snapping her refusal. His face slackened completely and he nodded slightly. He turned, but stopped when she threw a comment at his departing back.

"Samantha."

"What?"

"That's my name. Not 'girl'."

He nodded. "Sam."

"Samantha!" She spat.

"Fine. Sam." He stepped backwards and phased out of the room. He turned to Valerie, who had been waiting outside.

"Guard the door. Make sure she doesn't come out."

She nodded at him, though she did not look pleased with his order, and he walked away down the corridor, silently seething, though that internal grin was back, and this time he couldn't make it go away.

The moon and stars had long since appeared, glowing bravely in the late night, and the sky over the mountains was as black as death. The forest surrounding the mountain and the castle in its side was completely still, and the inhabitants of the great castle had all been silent for quite some time.

But Samantha was wide awake. She had stopped fuming quite a while ago, and was now suffering from a serious case of righteous indignation. She sat on the floor in the center of her newly trashed room, looking unseeingly at the various shattered pieces of furniture and ornaments, the torn curtains, the mussed bed, and the wardrobe door lying against the opposite wall.

Her knees were pulled up, her arms looped around them. Her right hand still gripped the silver locket almost desperately, and her face was vacant.

"Sammy! I'm home!"

A small black blur sped down the stairs and flung itself into the waiting arms of the man who had just come through the doorway.

"Father!" She squealed into his lapels. He laughed and eventually pushed her back gently.

"Sammy, I have a present for you. I found it in your mother's jewellery box."

"It's mommy's?"

"It was. Here," he delved into his pocket, and his fist finally closed around something. "Alright, Sammy, close your eyes!"

He waved his hand in front of her face and then, satisfied the purple eyes were firmly shut, pulled his hand from his pocket. "Hold out your hands." He then dropped the object into her tiny, outstretched palms. "Alright, now, open!"

The violet eyes flashed open and gazed down at the silver necklace in her hands. She squeaked happily and grabbed it by the clasp, lifting her hand and letting it dangle before her. She gently put her other hand against the pendant to stop its spinning and to have a better look.

"It's a locket!"

"Yes, it is. But I'm afraid I can't get it open."

Her clumsy fingers went immediately to the clasp on the silver pendant, fumbling with it for a little while before also admitting defeat.

"Thank you, Father." she sighed happily, flinging her free arm around his shoulders, as he squatted before her.

He helped her fasten it around her neck, and her little fingers stroked it adoringly in front of the mirror. "I shall never take it off."

"Never?"

"Never."

He smiled at her, but she was not even looking at him. She traced her miniature index finger up the stem, around the outside, and delicately into the fragile swirls of the inner petals.

The locket was shaped like a rose.

"Excuse me? Miss Sam?"

"Samantha!" She snappily corrected, completely automatically, standing up crossly and dropping the necklace back underneath her collar.

"Sorry. Miss Samantha."

"What?" she barked, fully intending to be as annoying as possible. Maybe then he would become unable to stand her and let her go.

The person on the other side of the door was silent. Samantha cocked her head and strode towards it. She flung open the portal and glared at the girl floating there.

"What do you want?"

The girl had turned, as if to leave, but when the door was so violently opened she whipped back around in surprise. She extended a hand.

"Hello, Miss Samantha. My name is Jazz. Welcome to Fenton Castle."

Samantha stared incredulously at the hand. "Are you kidding?"

"Um, no." The girl seemed taken aback.

Samantha's hands went to her hips as she studied the floating girl. She appeared to be a little older than herself, with translucent hair that may once have been vibrant red. A soft blue headband was in her hair, matching her simple blue dress. Like the other girl from before, her feet hovered some inches off the ground.

"You do know I'm a prisoner here, right?" She asked venomously.

The girl called Jazz dropped her hand, and looked almost ashamed. "Sorry about that. My brother can be a bit, well, antisocial, I suppose. You mustn't blame him – he's had a hard life."

Samantha snorted indelicately. "And mine's been all sunshine and joy? You know nothing about me Jazz." She said the girl's name derisively, and the redhead flinched.

"No, you're right." She seemed to suddenly notice the state of Samantha's room and she sighed unhappily. "I see you got him angry."

The black-haired girl peered over her shoulder into her demolished bedroom, realizing with a start that it was almost morning already, and shrugged, turning back to the floating girl in the corridor. "No, that was me."

Jazz's translucent blue eyes flew open. "Really?" She floated past Samantha into the offending room and looked around in shock.

Samantha shivered in the doorway. The person, ghost, whatever she was, had touched her arm gently when she brushed past her. Shivers began coursing through her body. She had felt the same thing when the Phantom touched her, only his touch had been more painful, as though all the anger and hurt in him shot into her veins and poisoned her slowly. When he had held onto her arms earlier, the longer the time he spent touching her, the more pain it cost her. Her fingers and toes still ached slightly from the exposure. Jazz's touch was a little like having ice water thrown on her head. Phantom's was like being thrown into a blast furnace.

Jazz picked up a corner of the torn curtains lying on the floor. "Wow. Remind me to stay on your good side."

Samantha recovered from the unexpected sensation and moved back into the room, shutting the door behind her. "What are you doing here?"

"I just came to see you."

The violet eyes narrowed slightly. "Wait, did you say Phantom was your brother?"

Jazz nodded. "I'd love to say he isn't usually like this, but…." She trailed off and began to right the room as best she could, picking up objects and putting them back where they belonged. "He didn't use to be. A long time ago."

"How long?"

"Oh, quite a long time."

Samantha's eyes formed little purple slits. She knew the girl was lying to her, skipping around the answer, but she didn't know why. This whole place was weird, and it was giving her the creeps.

Jazz bent down and picked up some pieces of a shattered vase. "You might try to be nice to him, since you'll be here for a while."

"You mean until I die?"

"Perhaps." Jazz said ambiguously. Samantha wasn't sure but she thought she detected remorse in her voice. What on Earth did she mean by that?

"What do you mean?"

Jazz just sighed, dropping the china in the bin. Samantha soon realised she wasn't going to get an answer.

"Why should I be nice to him? He's horrible to me."

"Maybe if you're nice, he'll be nice."

Samantha snorted.

"You could try?"

"I don't want to try!" Sam shouted, her control snapping.

Danny sat alone in his black room. The remains of the thick curtains were all drawn, letting none of the pre-dawn light into the tower. He was in the middle of the practically shredded room, staring into nothingness.

Suddenly he lifted his hands in front of him. They began to glow a very pale green, almost white, and the glow finally detached itself from them. It swirled into the air in front of him, moving and twisting and becoming more substantial. The gentle mist finally cleared and a small, glimmering crystal floated in the space between his fingers.

He grabbed it in his right hand and let it rest on his palm. His lips barely moved as he spoke.

"Show me Sam."

A glow appeared in the center of the crystal, and a beam of light shot out of the top a few inches into the air. It fanned out and became an image. It showed Sam standing in her room, facing Jazz.

He narrowed his eyes at his sister. Why was she there?

He finally picked up their words.

"You mean until I die?"

"Perhaps."

"What do you mean? Why should I be nice to him? He's horrible to me."

"Maybe if you're nice, he'll be nice. You could try?"

"I don't want to try! I don't want anything to do with that freak!"

Danny's chest tightened painfully and he let the image fade. He crushed the crystal in his palm and it turned back into energy, seeping back into his body.

He stood and walked over to the window, pulling back the heavy curtains to let the fading moonlight stream in. It was a full moon. He phased through the double glass doors out onto the balcony. The balcony was wide and sweeping, and there was a great distance between its bottom and the sloped roof of the next tower down. He walked into the center of it and looked out over the forest, feeling his heart thump painfully once every few minutes. He didn't bother breathing anymore. He walked right up to the edge of the balcony. He didn't fly unless he needed to. It required too much concentration.

It was a full moon. He stared up at it, his expression very slowly morphing into one of hatred. If Jazz's prediction that the curse would endure one hundred years was correct, then they had four months left, beginning today.

His eyes pressed closed. They flashed open again, uselessness and resignation glowing within them. He turned to look back into the darkened room.

He was just in time to see a petal fall from the wilted black rose floating there in the center of the room.

wow, that was a long chapter.

review please! feel free to tell me anything you want to see, anything you definately don't, what you think of it so far etc. until next time!

FunkyFish1991 xXx