Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman does. I would never dream of making money off his work, this is but one fanatic's homage. So please don't sic the rabid lawyer hordes upon me, there's not much for them to sue out of me.

Author's Note: And thus does our tale enter its final phase! Four chapters to go, and as always, reviews are appreciated. Heck, if you like the story, point your friends to it!

Chapter 10: The Fall

"From this grey prison I look at you

My lost and beloved wasted holy town"

-"Steelgods of the Last Apocalypse" - Rhapsody

"Valerie? Got a minute?" Paulina asked me as I landed my sled, freshly returned from the now-daily ritual of checking the shield towers. The Latina looked a bit fidgety, as though something was weighing on her mind. Come to think of it, she had been a little off her game since Phantom's siege began.

"Sure, I guess. What's up?" I hopped off my jet sled, barely registering the latest explosions outside the shield's perimeter. It had been over two years since the shield went up, and despite the raging ghost's best efforts, Phantom had yet to find a way to pierce the shimmering barrier. Sure, he could damage a tower and take it offline by throwing some big chunk of debris, but he couldn't damage enough towers that way quickly enough- we simply got them repaired before he could bring down enough of the generators to take the shield offline. And no matter how strong an ectoplasmic blast was, it couldn't get through the barrier to the towers.

"Well, I've been thinking. About the ghost." Paulina fell in step with me as I strolled toward the Nasty Burger 2 for lunch, everything washed to a blue-silver color by the ever-present barrier.

"He has lightened up on the rampaging outside the dome, hasn't he?" I mused aloud. "The last salvage teams haven't run into him at all."

"It's not about that." Paulina frowned, obviously pondering how best to voice whatever seemed to be bothering her. "I've been thinking, remember the last fight?"

I nodded, how could anyone forget that awful battle, early in the morning of my 20th birthday? "Of course. I doubt anybody could forget that."

Paulina's frown deepened. "Remember what he told me? That I used to like him?"

I frowned, realizing the conversation was likely about to take a turn I really wish it wouldn't. "Phantom's said a lot of things, mostly to tick people off. I wouldn't think about it too much."

"I tried to forget it." Paulina crossed her arms. "But I watched him. Through the shield."

I stiffened. She knew, she had to have figured it out then, otherwise we wouldn't be having this conversation. What could I tell her? By the way, Phantom is the ghost-boy you were all ga-ga over in high school?

"Valerie, I want you to be honest with me." Paulina looked over, though she did keep her voice low so as not to be overheard. "I know you told us that the ghost destroyed Danny Phantom, or Inviso-Bill, whatever. But that's not what really happened, is it?"

I cringed as she gestured vaguely in the direction of the most recent explosions. "And don't lie to me. His outfit is similar, he knows things that I don't think he had a way to know, and he has the exact same emblem on his chest! You even call him 'Phantom'! That ghost we've been fighting, that is him, isn't it?"

"Paulina, I-" I opened my mouth, but paused, unable to find a suitable lie. I slumped. "... yeah. That is him... kinda. Or what's left of him."

"Why did you lie to us back then?" The Latina demanded, whirling on me. "You lied and said that ghost had killed Danny Phantom!"

"I didn't lie!" I bristled. "That monster is only what's left of him. The ghost-boy you liked is gone, and he died a horrible death!"

"How do you know that?" Paulina was trying to remain relatively calm, but I could tell that this was obviously something she cared about a great deal. "And why did you lie? You said that ghost killed him, not that he was part of that ghost!"

"... If you knew, eight years ago that monster was Danny Phantom, would you have been able to fight him?" I asked flatly. That thankfully brought her up short.

"Well, I-"

"When he first attacked, I couldn't fight him." I stared at the ground. "I thought he was still someone we both cared about, and the idea of pointing a gun at him made me sick. My dad, and the city paid for it."

"You cared for him?" Paulina raised an eyebrow at that statement. "But you hate ghosts, you were hunting them way before it became fashionable."

"Yeah, then he told me who he was." I frowned, feeling that old sadness coming to the surface. "And I reacted badly and chased him off."

"Who he was?" Paulina's anger had thankfully subsided in the wake of her confusion and curiosity. "Valerie, how much have you kept from everybody?"

We got our lunches, and I motioned for her to follow me to the park. She deserved the truth, I guess. She had proven herself time and again on the battlefield, when I had never thought the former cheerleader capable of such depth of character, putting her life on the line for love and revenge and for other people. Maybe I just couldn't bring myself to outright lie about it in addition to all the part-truths I'd told over the years.

"You remember that explosion at the Nasty Burger eight years ago?" I asked as we sat down near one of the fountains. "The one that killed Mr. Lancer, the Fentons, and Sam and Tucker?"

Paulina nodded as she started on her meal. "What's that have to do with Phantom?"

"More than you know." I sighed. "Remember Danny Fenton? The only survivor?"

Paulina was confused now. "That loser? What about him? I thought he moved away after that."

I looked the Latina in the eye. "That loser was Danny Phantom."

I admit, the look on Paulina's face was absolutely priceless. She just froze, burger halfway to her mouth, eyes wide with blatant disbelief. "Wait, you're kidding, right? Danny Phantom was a ghost, everybody knew Fenton was a..."

"A kid who was always running off, had unexplained absences, was often caught in the middle of all the weird stuff that happened, and often disappeared whenever the ghost-boy showed up?" I filled in for her.

The Latina paused, obviously still trying to process this. "But... how?" She finally managed to squeak around her gaping.

I shrugged. "I don't know the details. Just that Danny had an accident... and that was the result. I was an idiot when he told me, and he disappeared afterward."

"... Now it makes sense why the ghost-boy kept saying I should go out with Danny Fenton..." Paulina stared, the pieces ever-so-slowly falling into place. She glared at me again. "But if Danny Fenton is the ghost boy, what happened? Why did he turn into a crazy ghost? Was it because you were always shooting at him?"

I shook my head, hoping to blunt Paulina's anger about my having been hunting the object of her affection. "After he skipped town... something happened between his ghost self and human self." I felt she didn't need to know the gruesome details. "Another ghost... corrupted him, I guess."

"Corrupted him?"

"Drove him mad, made him insane." I clarified. "His human self didn't stand a chance."

Paulina gasped at what I was implying. "You mean he-?"

I nodded, wiping a stray tear. "Yeah. Danny Fenton was killed. I saw the grave with my own eyes. Anything and everything that was good about the ghost-boy died with him."

An unsettling, sober silence settled over the two of us. I'm sure, had this been eight years ago, that Paulina would have been all over the place declaring the news, sharing this new gossip. As it was, we just sat there as the new knowledge sank in. Everyone had been forced to grow up a lot thanks to the rampages, I think I heard it tossed around that every single person in town was no more than one person removed from at least one of Phantom's victims. Everyone knew someone who had been killed, or knew someone who had lost a relative or a friend.

"That's... awful." Paulina finally broke the silence. "And you didn't tell anyone all this time?"

I shook my head. "Like I said before, would you or anyone else have been able to fight him then, if you'd known?"

The Latina stayed silent for a long time. "Probably not." She finally admitted, and I caught her wiping her face on a napkin. "I didn't know that Fenton was... well. Gone."

I nodded slightly, letting a fragment of my own grief come to the surface. "I didn't know until two years after it happened. I found out from the guy that's been paying for our equipment. I mean, I had a feeling that was the case but... it still hurt to find out and have it confirmed."

"You really liked him, didn't you?" Paulina raised an eyebrow at me. "I always thought he and the goth girl would get together."

I shrugged. "If things had gone differently, they would have."

We sat in silence again, contemplating our own thoughts and the sun, tinted blue through the ever-present dome above. I had to admit, I did feel a bit better having told the truth. Well, having had the truth, minus a few unnecessary details, dragged out of me.

"It's been eight years... but feels like it was just yesterday, doesn't it?" Paulina broke the silence, not looking at me.

I shrugged, nibbling at my salad. "Yeah, to be fourteen again. To give myself a well-deserved smack upside the head."

"Wow. You really do blame yourself, huh?" Paulina quirked an eyebrow. "So, how many people know about all this? About the ghost-boy being Danny Fenton and now that ghost?"

"As of now, you, me, my Dad... and, well, Dash, wherever he is now." I shrugged, closing my eyes against that particular recollection. "You were out cold at the time, but Phantom taunted Dash with that, right before the end."

Paulina shook her head slightly. "I thought I was hearing things after he hit me." She rubbed her face, obviously remembering that particular blow she'd taken during Phantom's first rampage. "And I thought he looked a little like the ghost-boy but..."

"From what I was told, Danny had been dead for almost a week by the time we fought him." I glanced over. "So you were sorta awake when he killed Dash?"

The Latina nodded. "Now I wish I wasn't. I thought I was hallucinating after that hit." She cringed. "I didn't think it was possible. The ghost boy would never have done things like that!"

"He wouldn't have, either." I frowned at my meal.

"Well, I won't tell anybody." Paulina declared, her tone indicating she meant it, too.

I raised an eyebrow, surprised by the declaration, and vastly relieved. "You won't?"

Paulina shook her head. "I won't. Besides, it's not nice to speak ill of the dead, right?" She grinned at me, a humorless smile. "Maybe if our entire way of life hadn't gotten turned upside-down, I could have fallen for Fenton, not just the ghost-boy. But we've got more important things to worry about now, right? We're not kids anymore."

I set my fork down, surprised at this sudden show of depth from the Latina. Maybe Sam had been wrong all those years ago about her. Under the right circumstances, anybody could mature. "Wow, Paulina, I didn't expect to hear something like that from you, no offense."

She waved a hand at my surprise. "The ghost-boy was always saving me, right? But now we can't count on that, so we have to save ourselves. And I'll save his reputation." She sighed longingly, reminding me of how she used to moon over Danny back in high school, back before we had to worry about these things, before Phantom had up-ended our entire way of life.

Life took on a new routine, as it tends to do. Phantom disappeared for a time, but everyone was well-conditioned by then. The shield meant safety, to go beyond it meant a very dangerous risk. The city gradually became self-sufficient, since we had become effectively cut off from the outside world. I heard from Vlad Masters once or twice shortly after the third rampage, but soon after, all I got was silence on the line when I tried to call him. Then the money stopped coming in, it had no way to, with communication and transit cut off.

The entire society of Amity Park had to rearrange itself. We suddenly had limited space, limited resources, and a strict set of priorities. Instead of growing outward, the buildings grew taller while manufacturing built down, creating an underground warren of factories. Thanks in a large part to the technology Vlad had already given us, Axion was able to develop the technologies we needed to build an existence in the wastelands, a giant splotch of civilization in the middle of a vast wasteland. It really was an impressive feat. In just three years since the siege began, Amity Park had gone from a modern city to a futuristic arcology, self-contained, self-sufficient, and for the most part, content.

In order to obtain some basic building supplies, the bold, desperate, and reckless formed salvage teams- groups of men and women who would slip out from under the safety of the barrier and venture out into the wasteland. The Patrol aided these efforts, flying interference and decoy missions to keep Phantom busy. Under the cover of these intense firefights, the teams would scour the ruins for useful materials- steel, concrete that could be powdered and recycled, aluminum, anything. In the first two years of the siege, many of these brave fools met messy ends, as did many of the Patrol members who tangled with the ghost. But were it not for them, we wouldn't have been able to last as long as we did. A shame it couldn't last.

It was a grey afternoon, the threat of a storm looming dark overhead, flashes of lightning crackling through the air, occasionally setting small fires out in the ruins. The aerial cars crept along their routes, as the city maintained it's normal level of bustling activity. I was going about my daily routine, checking the towers. It had been months since anyone had last seen any sign of Phantom, the fear was beginning ever slowly to fade. I did a flyby of my old alma mater, acknowledging the waves of the students with a quick salute before I shot off on my way to the next tower. My 24th birthday would be coming up soon, and I'd heard rumors about the Patrol planning some sort of surprise. I was actually in a fairly chipper mood that day, my grief from the past pushed back from my thoughts as I approached one of the massive towers, listening to the distinct crackling noise from the massive generators.

I hopped off the sled as I reached the maintenence platform, leaning my sled on the rail and quickly closing the distance between the railing and the tower structure, where the status box was. Sure, all thirty-four towers reported their status directly to FentonWorks via both wireless communications and ground lines, but the Patrol was trained to be paranoid, hence my daily manual checks, a ritual that took most of the morning and occasionally into the afternoon. With practiced ease, I flipped the box open, verifying that all the power gauges were within acceptable limits. How could I have known what was about to happen that bleak afternoon?

I tapped a button on my wrist band, reporting back to my father at headquarters. "Ghost shield tower nine, one-hundred percent operational." We had some minor problems earlier in the day with towers thirty-two and thirty-three, and calling that in had put my routine slightly out of order.

My father sat down in a chair back at headquarters. "Great sweetie." He had aged fairly well, though he had the look now of a soldier who had seen the worst the battlefield had to offer. "Check the last tower and get ba-"

The tiny screen cut to static suddenly, and I tensed as I felt the familiar rush of adrenaline as my worry instantly mounted. "Daddy? Daddy!" I demanded, getting no response. The screen cut to black, save for two gleaming red eyes. No, what did he want now? What did he think he could do? The shield had stopped him every time in the past, why was he contacting me now?

"Hello Valerie." That voice, silky smooth, I could almost see him smirking as he addressed me.

"You again?" I snapped at my communicator, glaring at the tiny screen. I was confident in the shield's ability, otherwise I might not have been quite so talkative to Phantom. "I don't care how powerful you are, ghost! You can't break through the shield!"

Famous last words of a fool. I should have known better than to tempt fate, to tempt karma. But no, like every other person in that city, I had come to view those giant silver towers as an impregnable fortress, a barrier that no ghost could ever hope to breach. I didn't count on Phantom's strength ever giving him a way to take out at least fifteen of the towers at the same time. After all, to accomplish that would require an attack with a blast range some twenty-seven miles wide, and several miles deep.

"Until today." Phantom stated, a trace amount of smug glee in his tone, and it sounded for an instant like he was taking a deep breath.

That's when it all fell apart. The deck beneath my feet rumbled and the most hideous, piercing wailing I could ever imagine sounded out. I winced and covered my ears as I staggered on the suddenly unsteady footing, the gesture useless against the bone-grating cacophony. It was like an earthquake, the entire city quaking from top to bottom. The wailing was soon joined by fearful cries and panicked shouts; a literal explosion of glass and a chorus of explosions as aircar drivers lost control of their vehicles amid the confusion, smashing into each other, into buildings, into the ground.

I gasped when I heard tower nine's status box beeping a warning, the sound almost inaudible amid all the noise. I glanced up at it, gaping in horror as I saw the power gauges plummeting. With a yelp I looked up at the generator several dozen stories above me, watching the blue-white bolts crackling along the massive structure. To my absolute horror, I watched as the explosions began, first at the uppermost part of the generator, and running steadily down the massive silver structure. Looking up all the while, I ran to retrieve my jet sled. I had to get away or I would be caught in the blast!

With a shout I leapt from the railing, my grip on the sled torn as the deck behind me exploded, propelling me wildly through the air on the shockwave. I tumbled midair before realizing I was now on a crash course with one of the buildings in the distance. It was reflex, I hit the recall button, already thinking of what needed to be done to address the emergency even as I fell. It was only one tower, there had to still be time!

Thankfully, my sled caught me just inches before I would have plowed into the glass side of an office tower, the remaining glass shattering in the jet wake. I pulled myself up to a sitting position, straddling the sled as I regained the lost altitude. It was bad. The wailing had tapered off, but tower nine was in ruins, smoke billowing from the top. I was only briefly relieved to see the blue dome still shining. Very briefly, because then tower ten exploded in much the same way as nine. Then tower eleven, then twelve, then thirteen. Smoke curled into the air as the explosions continued, and I knew in that moment we were doomed. I saw in the distance as the towers continued to explode, counting in my head the number of them that still functioned. Twenty-two, twenty-one, twenty... nineteen.

It began at the base of the dome, the blue bubble slowly lifting skyward, the comforting glow diminishing as the shield faded, revealing the grey sky to the masses. For a moment, there was silence as the shield winked out completely directly overhead. I knew it, every single person in the streets far below me knew it. Our time was up. The strange silence lasted but for a moment before it was replaced by the screeching of the emergency sirens and the cries of panic as people began to flee. The automated emergency system kicked into gear, shelters emerging to take people underground, where hopefully they might be spared.

"Like the new power?" Phantom's voice issued from my wristband, and I glared uselessly at the device, at the ghost's taunting. "I call it my 'Ghostly Wail'."

I was distracted from saying something suitably nasty in response by the sound of a blast from above and behind me. I spun just in time to catch sight of the massive violet orb, and took the hit head-on. I plummeted, too dazed to recall my sled. Fortunately, I plowed through a few trees which slowed my fall before I crashed to a halt near the Nasty Burger 2, battered and bruised, but thankfully nothing broken. Phantom didn't launch purple blasts, his were green! Did that monster team up with someone?

I opened my eyes slowly, though I snapped back to alertness at what I saw. "You?"

"Yes, me." The ghost floated down, cloaked in an ominous purple aura, his voice quite possibly more smug than Phantom's had been a moment ago. I recognized the ghost- he was the right-hand man to that ghost king years ago. Fright Knight, if what I found in Danny's old computer was accurate. "And I serve a new master now."

I climbed back to my feet, keeping an eye on the ghost as he charged another purple blast. With a glare, I hit the button to call my sled again, the silver board whisking me out of the way just before that shot could land. I heard it detonate behind me, likely taking most of the fast food place with it. "Gotta get to Dad-!" I muttered, my voice full of worry. The Patrol would be mobilizing to fight the ghost, but the Fright Knight was small fry compared to the real threat. Phantom had to be close by, it was just a matter of time before those green explosions would rip through the city.

I stayed low to the street, avoiding the blasts coming from the pursuing spook. I cringed every time I heard an explosion behind me- the Fright Knight was pretty quick, even without that monster horse of his. Fortunately, his aim was pretty lousy as I shot vertical alongside a building wall, explosions behind me ripping into the structure. I could still hear the panic in the streets, it would be a miracle if the casualties were less than half the population. As I cleared the building, I cut the engines, letting my momentum carry my sled on an arcing course until FentonWorks was visible straight ahead. With a roar of jet engines, I shot toward the structure, the ghost still hot on my tail. Thankfully Fright Knight's overall destructive power was several orders of magnitude lower than Phantom's terrifying strength.

I heard another shot charging behind me, and risked a glance back. Fright Knight was about to launch a blast easily bigger than he was. With a yelp, I jerked my sled out of the projectile's path, watching it slam into the op center atop FentonWorks. With a shriek of tortured steel, the upper structure bent and broke, hanging askew off the roof of the op center, tearing a gaping hole in the roof and ripping the FentonWorks ghost shield to pieces before we could brace even that small defense. I had no time to waste on that loss though. If we somehow survived this, we could always rebuild. I had to get to my dad, and fast.

Forgetting the Fright Knight for the moment, I dove through the new skylight, tearing through the house on my sled at speeds best stated as utterly reckless. In seconds I was down the stairs, flitting through the kitchen, and into the basement, to the lab where the portal stood sealed and where my dad was waiting for me. The emergency lights were flashing, and I could hear the equipment beeping out urgent reports on the situation.

"Dad, the Fright Knight's here. Which means he can't be far behind." I exclaimed as I spun my sled to a halt at the base of the stairs, jumping off it. My dad was busy at the terminal, looking over the flood of data as my panic began to rise in a way it hadn't in years. "What do we do? What do we-"

I was cut off mid-panic as the ground lurched beneath our feet, that otherworldly wailing rocking the building. I wobbled, almost falling over, and caught the serious look my dad gave me.

"Valerie." He said, his voice serious. "Run."

There was no more time for words, we both heard the sound of concrete snapping and looked toward the portal. A massive crack was ripping through the floor, an eerie green light pouring through the huge fissure. With a blast of energy, my nightmare incarnate leapt forth, not ten feet away from where my dad and I stood. While some of the ceiling fell from the blast, he landed softly, the green light shining sickeningly on the white of his suit, cape, and flaming hair.

"Hello Valerie." Phantom stated flatly, that hateful sneer plastered on his face, red eyes shining in the now darkened and silenced lab.

I gasped, gawking at the ghost. He had filled out drastically since our last fight, and even without equipment, I could literally feel the cold power pouring off his pale form. This was it, this was the end of it all, I knew it. The grim reaper had decided to take me at last, and sent this demon to do it.

"And goodbye."

"NO-!" I yelled, throwing both hands up in front of my face as I saw the green blast coming. Something knocked me to the floor in that instant, sparing me the direct blow. Instead, my shout was lost in the sudden cacophony as the explosion ripped through the building. I felt something warm manage to shield me from the falling debris. I later realized that my dad had saved my life at the hands of Phantom yet again. The blast seemed to go on forever, though it had to have only been an instant. As I lost consciousness, it was to the sound of the ghost's maniacal laughter.

The end had come. Our doom was upon us, and there was nothing more we could do to keep it at bay.