Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom.
Thank you for all that still read this story. I apologize for the slowness, but I have found some inspriation... Now. Finally...
:D
Well, on with the show!!
A low, soft gasp of intense, sheer pain splintered through the small room's silence. A thin dehydrated boy lay on a hard concrete floor, and a middle aged half ghost gasped in shock at the non-deadness of the child.
Yes, everything was going as planned. All of the pawns were moving as planned, so they could meet their fate. The chess board, however, was itching to close. It wanted it to end, but the players must keep playing. The chess board must not close, for that would send them to their doom, however, it will be that board's decision at the end whether to close early or not until its time. It all comes down to one choice: Danny's.
The young half ghost could turn the game to oblivion in one unexpected move, and after the child makes his choice this time… Clockwork cannot help him. So, if he chooses the wrong road… the Time Master will not spare him: no matter how much he would want to.
If the wrong choice is made, Danny Phantom must die.
Some people would say that Danny was a good person. That he was a lazy person: but a good person in general. Some would say that Danny was a bad ghost. That he torments the innocent, steals for his own gain, and kills for the enjoyment of killing. It doesn't matter, however, what their opinion of him was, because good or bad, Danny was in trouble.
And what trouble was he in?
Well, for starters, there is the little problem with being stuck in his own head with the ultimate, cunning enemy… and Vlad. Oh, and there is that small issue on the whole torture room thing. You know, the one that's really freakin' hot? Yeah. Now just for fun, we had to add the syringe filled with mystery liquid.
The question present at the moment is who the heck has it out so bad for Danny? Is it the mysterious Serena? Is it the all powerful Time Keeper, Clockwork?
That is exactly what Danny wasn't pondering as he lay unconscious next to a tired, grief stricken Vladimir Masters. In fact, about the only thing Danny would be pondering at the moment was the color of the inside of his eyelids.
Vlad wasn't even weighing his options like any kidnapped billionaire would. He simply stared incredulously at anywhere but Danny's 'dead' body with a look of a deer in headlights.
It was probably not the best strategy.
It might have cost Danny his life.
Danny knew something was wrong the second he came to for the second time that day. For one, there was no psychopath killer standing over him laughing, as he had expected. Two, he had not been drug off into another room to be dissected by said psychopath. Three, the temperature had gone up at least twenty degrees, making the small room become sweltering hot to a point where the walls had condensation rolling down them. That one definitely had the most terrifying results.
The teenager felt heat as it waved through his body, making his insides twinge at the hot temperature. The air had to be at least a hundred and ten degrees Fahrenheit, and it was taking its toll on Danny's body. He could feel his blood try to rise closer to the surface of his skin in a feeble attempt on cooling the arteries, but it was futile. A few more degrees and Danny knew it was going to be over. He couldn't even make it over to the water and ice packets that Vlad had found.
Wait… Vlad! Danny let a weak smile cross his face. He had a hope. If he could just get the billionaire's attention… He might have a chance at some water.
"…" The halfa tried to rasp out the man's name, but he couldn't find the energy to get even the smallest vocal cord to move. He felt the hope run out of his soul, and leave him with nothing but pain.
Nothing.
He could feel the rapid dehydration now it seemed to feed on his hopelessness and lack of determination. The dryness made his throat feel like it was full of sharp glass shards and sand that rubbed against his windpipe every time he tried to take a breath. His internal organs felt as though they were shriveling up too. That… was painful. But not even having the energy to thrash about, screaming… Danny had to silently moan and groan with only small rasping sounds coming out of his mouth in place of screeches of torment.
And then he felt what was left of his stomach flip. Muscles contracted into cramps painfully in result, and sent stomach bile pouring out of Danny's chapped lips as it burned his sensitive throat. Any liquid that Danny had left in him was now yellow on his chest and trickling down to the floor. He felt the need to scream again, but there was nothing left in him to scream with.
Nothing.
He didn't even hear when the occupant across the room gasped as he ran to him. The searing pain eventually sent him back to the oblivion.
Vlad turned his head away from the corpse and inched himself to the farthest corner of the room to put distance in between him and the corpse. The Corpse… It was much easier to call him – no – it, that instead of the name of the halfa. It was like if he said the name in relation to the sad, frail body before him then it would be final. It would really mean that his strong willed almost apprentice had…di- passed on.
And there was no way that he could admit that.
But one thing he could admit was the empty void type thing that had settled in his stomach. It seems that keeping an eye on the boy for the past few days had really made him… attached. Then again, Vlad did do more than just look after him. No, he did much, much more. He had reset his rib, and found him water when the child was dehydrating. Vlad sat and listened as the boy poured his heart out during that story of his future. He watched the teenager sob in his sleep and had performed CPR when he thought he could help. Most of all, though, Vlad realized that he might have been a comfort to the halfa. He was someone to blast when something wasn't going right and someone to rant to during their stay together.
It was strange.
He had comforted his archenemy until the very en- end of the beginning. He had cared... He wanted the boy to be all right and be... Safe. It was something that Vlad had no even allowed himself to have, but desperatly wanted the child to keep. It was not just because he wanted an apprentice... No. It was because... Because... Because....
He wasn't sure, but it didn't matter now. Proof of that was The Corpse lying in front of him.
Now that The Corpse was gone… Well, Vlad just wasn't sure. His whole life had been stationed on two goals: getting the girl and getting the apprentice. That apprentice had just turned his life upside down, shaking his logical mind and calm thoughts. He couldn't even form pros and cons like he had always done in past situations. Vlad could only feel the emptiness and hopelessness growing inside, and threaten to burst.
Oh, and the heat! Vlad could most definitely feel that torture. It served as a reminder to him. A mental picture would flash in his head of the child thrashing in pain at the heat, screeching and crying with hot boiling tears streaming down his face. It pained him to watch it.
Vlad sighed at the memory, but almost immediately chocked on what felt like pins and needles rushing down his throat as it reacted to the dryness in the air. The billionaire grabbed his throat in pain, and ran over to the jugs of water. He grasped a two gallon jug and put the bottle to his lips, drinking as much as he could fit down his throat. This left him gasping for air after nearly two minutes.
As he tried to get his lungs to expand, he felt momentarily confused for what seemed like no reason what so ever. It was like a strange foreboding sensation. But nonetheless, he felt his eyebrows furrow and his eyes dart around the room, accidentally falling upon The Corpse. To his intense surprise, The Corpse looked to be gagging and chocking for air.
Vlad gasped as he felt his eyes widen and his legs start to run on their own accord toward Daniel…
Who wasn't a corpse?
Good? Bad? Did I get Vlad in character? Good emotions?
Oh... And for those of you who haven't looked on my profile, there is a preview for a new Danny Phantom story and a preview of my new Harry Potter story. Don't worry, though. They won't be posted until after these are completed to their fullest! So push me to finish this so I can do those!! :D
PLEASE REVIEW!!
PLEASE REVIEW!! And I apologize for the long wait. Please tell me if it was worth it!
kirby