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: Wow... hard to believe this is it. Long-winded pretentious sounding author's notes to follow at the end of the story.
Finale: Into the Future
"I had a dream last night
That you came to me on silver wings of light
I flew away with you in the painted sky
And I woke up wondering what was real
Is it what you see and touch or what you feel"
-"You're Still Here" - Faith Hill
That was it. I stood there staring at the spot Danny had occupied just a moment prior. Now what? I was left in a daze as events caught up to me once the moment had passed. Vlad hobbled back into the room, a mildly annoyed look on his face.
"I certainly hope you're happy, Miss Grey." He stated flatly. "Your gamble has obviously failed."
"What happened to your turning over a new leaf and all that, Vlad?" I shot back at the billionaire. "I thought you saw the error of your ways and all that. If you're so hot for Danny's mom, why'd you try to kill him?"
Vlad sighed, taking a seat. "I was going to kill the boy to save her. Don't you see? If Daniel was eliminated before the explosion, Maddie would still be alive. She wouldn't have been there when that sauce detonated."
I snorted at the poor excuse. "Uh-huh. You know that how? And how are you so sure that Danny failed?"
Vlad gestured at the cavern. "Think about it, Valerie. The moment Daniel departed the present and returned to the past, that battle was decided. That battle has had to be over for ten years now. Were he successful in preventing the explosion, it should stand to reason that we would not even be having this discussion. History would have changed the instant he left."
His reasoning was valid, I'll admit. But I didn't want to believe that my faith had been misplaced. After all, time travel was supposedly impossible in the first place. How could either he or I predict its implications? How could either of us know the forces actually at work?
"You don't know that for sure." I snapped, scooping up the discarded medallion and my gear as I started for the dimly lit entrance to the cave. "I'm out of here."
Vlad didn't say anything as I stormed out into the grey afternoon. He hadn't lied- the area surrounding the castle looked little better than Amity Park, scorched and shattered. Truth be told, I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do now. I was in a daze still on the heels of the incredible events of the day, and confused and concerned by the mysteries that remained. First and foremost: Did I make the right choice? Was Danny able to change his past, or was the entire concept little more than a pipe dream? Would I ever even be able to know what the results would be? I was also baffled by how I had come to be in Wisconsin. I certainly hadn't flown myself all that distance while unconscious, which meant that someone else dragged me there. Who? And why? It couldn't have been Danny from the past, given he apparently found his way to Vlad's place well after I had arrived.
The answers to all those questions eluded me as I stalked my way through the rubble and into the ailing forest still surrounding the place. I suppose it was inevitable where I wound up after several minutes of aimlessly wandering like a lost soul. A few trees had toppled since my last visit years ago, and lay rotting in the clearing. A massive old maple had fallen against the backside of the rock formation, and moss now carpeted the dead branches, drooping over the top of the natural stone pillar to shade the grave like a green curtain. The flowers were gone and the grass had faded to a brown hue; winter was on its way.
I thought I saw movement beyond the mossy curtain as I approached the monument. I'm not sure if I was merely seeing things, just a trick of the light as the breeze rustled the foliage. There was no one there as I slipped within the dim shelter formed by the fallen tree and knelt carefully next to the earthen mound, just like I had eight years ago, the day I had learned the awful fate that had befallen my friend. Time had not been entirely kind to Danny's grave. The wooden cross was cracked and faded from exposure to the elements, the white scrap of bloodstained cloth lashed at the joint now little more than a filthy threadbare rag. A fine layer of grit had blown into the crevices of the stones and pale lichens now colored the rock several pastel shades of yellow and green.
I was at a loss. I needed to rest and by all rights I ought to have been bedridden for at least a week; but I was restless, anxious with the simple fact of not knowing what happened after Danny disappeared. Or technically before, given the entire time travel thing. I carefully brushed away the fine layer of dust that had begun to gather on the plastic covering of that old photograph, contemplating my options while held with a sort of flat melancholy.
"What am I gonna do?" I mused aloud, addressing the grave. "Man, it seems impossible, you from the past... alive and well."
I shivered as the cold breeze whipped through the clearing, causing the branches overhead to creak ominously, rustling the sparse foliage. The daylight dimmed over the clearing, I attributed it to a passing cloud overhead. But for just an instant, I thought I saw something in the low light, either a delusion or trick of the watery shadows.
Don't worry.
I whirled, adrenaline surging through me as I instinctively grabbed for one of my weapons. I crouched carefully, intensely sweeping the immediate area for danger. I found nothing however, and began to chide myself for being entirely too paranoid. Years of tangling with Phantom and six months alone in the wastelands had refined my paranoia to a razor sharp edge, I had to be jumping at shadows, my nerves still absolutely frayed from the events of the past day or so. It was likely just the sound of that chill wind through the trees.
I remained at the grave, paying my respects for another hour or so, talking to the air and telling the unresponsive mound about everything that had happened since my last visit. About the Patrol's valiant efforts, about the shield, about the end of Amity Park, about my father's death, and even about Vlad's assistance and especially about the time travel.
"Do you remember that? Do you remember seeing all this, and your promise?" I sighed. "Nothing's changed... what if nothing could change?"
I shook my head, trying to dispel those dark thoughts. It had to be that I just didn't understand how time travel functioned, that had to be it. Danny had to win, I couldn't bear the thought of all that effort being in vain, being a useless waste of time. Phantom couldn't be right that it was simply impossible for the good guys to win. I refused to believe that. I cast one more long glance over Danny's grave before I could tear myself away. I had to go back, Amity Park still needed its number one ghost hunter, regardless of the fact the city lay in broken ruins. Phantom was out of the picture for the time being, but if the past wasn't changed, then it was quite possible he would be back, and more powerful than ever.
With my injuries, the trip took far longer than I would have liked. I could only handle the rigors of long-distance flight for a few hours at a time before my exhaustion reared its ugly head and sent me to ground while there was still plenty of daylight. On the plus side though, I found pockets of unharmed civilization where I was granted food and comfortable lodging after explaining I was from the Amity Park Ghost Patrol. Plenty of places had escaped Phantom's wrath, but I think everyone the world over knew of the catastrophe. My pride was admittedly wounded from accepting charity, but common sense kept me from refusing. A few days of real food and a comfortable bed did wonders for my condition, and I was feeling almost good as new when I reached the outskirts of the ruins two weeks later.
The wasteland didn't look any worse than when I had last seen it, so I was able to assume that Phantom had yet to reappear. I even saw a few thin columns of smoke, signs of civilization that had been conspicuously absent in the first six months following the fall of the shield. I angled my sled toward the nearest of these, finding the most sizeable camp of survivors I had yet seen. They had built several rough shelters from the rubble, all out in the open instead of deep within the ruined hulls of destroyed buildings. The encampment appeared fairly active as I made my approach, and I caught several flashes of black and orange Patrol uniforms in the crowd. It was encouraging to know that there was still life in the ruin, and that it was making its first feeble efforts at rebuilding a shattered society.
A few Patrol members ran forward as I touched down at the edge of the encampment, weapons ready, but their expressions showing surprise and relief.
"Valerie!" I saw Paulina shove her way through the small crowd of onlookers. "You're alive! We thought you were killed!"
"You made it?" I yelped as the Latina gave me a friendly hug. "How many people are here?"
"Mm... well since nobody has seen Phantom in awhile, we're starting to regroup." Paulina glanced around at the crowd. "I think we've got about three hundred survivors here. What happened?"
I paused, debating sharing the seemingly impossible events with everyone. I shot Paulina a look that clearly conveyed I had more to tell her when we weren't surrounded by other people, people who really didn't need to know the unbelievable details of events. "I think Phantom may be gone. At least for awhile."
That declaration sent a wave of whispers and speculation through the crowd. These were people who had been living in conditions worse than poverty, people who had lived in abject fear since their world was so violently turned upside down. The idea that the nightmare might be over, that they could start to shed that terror was a vastly comforting one. Paulina escorted me to one of the huts, apparently the new headquarters for what remained of the Patrol, given the salvaged equipment and armory inside the rough walls. She slid the door shut as I took a seat on a small boulder that served apparently as a bench.
"So Valerie, is it true?" She leaned easily on the wall, her uniform easily more worn out than mine. "He's gone?"
"I don't really know." I shrugged as I launched into the tale of that impossible blast from the past. The Latina's eyes got progressively wider as I told her what happened. I swear her jaw nearly hit the ground when I told her about Danny, Sam, and Tucker, that I ended up helping the younger ghost go back to the past. Her face went pale beneath her complexion when I told her that he went back to try and change history, and to stop Phantom, who had gone back in time ten years.
"Is that even possible?" She finally found her voice after working her jaw for several seconds trying to produce a coherent statement. "Danny was here? The old ghost-boy was here?"
"Apparently so. I saw all three of them with my own eyes." I tossed the medallion to Paulina, and she caught it and looked at the strange trinket. "That's the medallion I had to help him get rid of."
"Maybe we can figure out how it works and go help?" Paulina piped up as she flipped the thing over in her palm, studying the strange medallion. "We could save him!"
I shook my head. "Already thought of that. I can't for the life of me guess how it works. Just that when Danny dropped it, he disappeared. I don't think it does the time travel- I think it just allowed it... I think maybe it was some sort of way to get back to where... when he's from."
"I hope it works... or worked out." Paulina frowned in thought as she handed the medallion back to me.
"You and me both."
The camp continued to grow as more survivors dug out of their hiding places and Phantom continued to remain absent. People trickled in daily, either singly or in small groups, a ragged band of people always looking skyward for that airborne shadow. A surprising number of Patrol members had survived, and we were able to form a relatively effective airborne search effort, helping locate food and water for the survivors. It seemed almost surreal, rebuilding society almost entirely from scratch. Slowly new structures began to rise, and even some heavy equipment was salvaged. Within about a month, an area several acres wide had been cleared of rubble as civilization haltingly began to lay down new roots.
I got my first information as to how Danny had fared ten years ago from an unexpected source. My arm and ribs had been declared fully healed only a few days prior, and I was flying a patrol, looking for survivors and salvageable materiel. The wind was cool on my face, pressing the medallion that now hung around my neck against my chest. I'm not sure why I had taken to wearing it, almost as if it was a good luck charm. It was certainly the most noteworthy memento that proved to me that my strange encounter with Danny was not just a very thorough delusion.
I guided my battered sled to ground near what looked to be a likely den of survivors, only realizing something strange was going on when I landed and saw the people. Five or six people, one of them an elderly man, three young kids, and one teenage boy who looked about high school age. They all stood frozen, as if someone had taken a picture of the scene, freezing the image mid-motion. I realized it was also strangely quiet as I walked over, waving a hand in front of the man's face. There was no reaction, no movement. It was most unsettling, almost as if time itself had stopped.
My ghost radar beeped, and fearing the absolute worst, I was on board my jet sled and heading in the direction it dictated, weapon ready. What I would find was not the worst scenario I could imagine, that of course being Phantom's return. No, what I would find was nearly the exact opposite. I crested a ridge formed of fallen skyscrapers and saw two figures. One vanished in a flash of blue light before I got there and I didn't get a good look at it. The other I recognized as I closed the distance, the blackened metal and green flames distinct despite the readily apparent revisions to the powered armor. I absently realized there was background noise again, the ever-present creaking of settling wreckage, the wind whipping through the canyons and valleys of rubble.
"Skulker? Technus?" I growled as I flew low, slowing to a stop several feet from the big ghost-pair. Oddly enough, no weapons were pointed at me, both faces cracking into matching grins when the spooks realized it was me.
"Just the human we were looking for." Skulker nodded. "Clockwork was right that you would come here."
"You were looking for me?" I demanded, though I lowered my own weapon when it became apparent that they weren't looking for a fight. "Who the heck is Clockwork? What's going on?"
Technus raised one eyebrow from his position in the chestplate of the armor. "You didn't know? Clockwork sent that weaker Phantom back in time. And he's the one who made that shiny time medallion you're wearing."
One hand went to the medallion I was wearing in surprise. Now that I thought about it, I did vaguely recall Danny mentioning a Clockwork to Vlad. "Okay, right. So why are you looking for me?" I glared at Skulker's face. "Come to start hunting me now that Phantom's missing?"
"Oh, he's more than just missing, hunter girl!" Technus crowed. "He got totally schooled, completely beat down, and-"
"What are you talking about?" I shrieked, effectively shutting Technus up. "How do you know? Did Danny win? Tell me!"
The pair floated back a few feet to put some distance between us, as I had gotten right in their faces, very nearly grabbing those green conduits to yank Skulker to my level while making my demands. There's something mildly funny about a big, heavily armed power armor with both hands up in a placating manner. "That's why we were looking for you." Skulker stated. "And Clockwork agreed to assist in locating you."
"Better watch that temper of yours, hunter girl." Technus warned, earning a dirty look from me.
"As I was saying, Clockwork spread word in the Ghost Zone that Phantom was beaten ten years in the past, and that he was trapped in one of those annoying thermos devices." Skulker explained efficiently. I felt my jaw drop as he continued. "And to celebrate, the entire Ghost Zone has agreed to a truce."
"That doesn't happen often!" Technus chipped in. "The only other truce we all stick to is the Christmas one!"
"Phantom's... gone?" Obviously I was still processing that wonderful news, digesting what those two little words meant. Phantom was gone? Forever? My ten-year battle was over? "Danny won? He changed the past? But... shouldn't the present have changed?"
"I know nothing of that. Time is Clockwork's business." Skulker scoffed before flashing one of those steely grins of his. "Perhaps you'll get the chance to meet him at the party."
The entire encounter was dizzying, really. "Party? What?"
"That was why we were looking for you." Skulker kept most of the exasperation from his voice, while he reached into some hidden compartment in his armor. My grip tightened on my gun until I saw he wasn't going for a weapon, the big ghost was holding what looked to be a white envelope.
"Whenever there's a truce, we all have a big party and 'get funky'!" Technus declared sagely as Skulker handed me the envelope.
"Funky... right." I flipped the envelope over while keeping one eye on the ghosts. The envelope was addressed simply to "The Huntress" in a surprisingly elegant script, held neatly shut with a green wax seal imprinted with a dragon design. With one eyebrow quirked I slit the thing open and pulled out the contents: A folded sheet of paper with more of that concise handwriting. "'You are hereby cordially invited to attend a grand ball held in celebration of the end of the ghost-boy's reign of terror. We shall remember those who fell before Phantom, and there shall be feasting and merriment to celebrate his defeat. The gala shall be held one week from today at the Mattingly estate. Signed, Dora Mattingly.' ... Why are a bunch of ghosts inviting me to a party?"
"Are you coming?" Technus inquired after I was done skimming the neatly-written invitation.
I frowned. The ghosts were inviting me, a ghost hunter and a human to a party? What had happened in the Ghost Zone to merit an apparently rare truce among the ghosts? My paranoia yelled that it had to be a trap, but for once, curiosity won out. If I wanted to know the full extent of what Phantom had done, then there was no better way than to ask the ghosts themselves. And as Skulker had said, maybe I could meet this Clockwork guy and get the details on Danny's battle ten years ago. "I... guess I'll go. How the heck do I get to this Mattingly estate, anyway?"
"There will be an escort from the Wisconsin portal to the castle." Skulker stated simply, preparing to depart.
"I have a week to get ready and get to Wisconsin?" I yelped as the wings and rocketpack unfolded from the duo's power armor, sending the black and green figure blasting airborne and receding rapidly into the distance.
I stood there staring for a long moment as the full impact of that encounter hit home. It was over. No more Phantom, no more deadly hide and seek through the ruins. The fight was finished. I could go back to the village (it didn't seem right to call those few tamed acres a city), and tell everyone that I knew for certain that we could awaken from the nightmare, that Phantom was gone and would never return. Life could go forward again. I must have stood there with a gaping expression for at least five minutes before I let out a loud whoop that ricocheted wildly off the heaps of rubble, the sound echoing back to me off the debris.
I leapt aboard my jet sled and shot back toward the village, shouting with pure delight at the top of my lungs the whole way. It felt indescribably good to engage in such jubilant antics, throwing my sled into reckless and carefree loops and spins. I saw people gawking up at me from the ground as I shot overhead sounding out the good news, crowing that the ghost was gone, we were safe, it was over.
By the time I actually landed at the camp, word had already spread that either Phantom was really gone, or that I had gone totally nuts. I could see where the latter rumor came from, I know I had to look positively wild, face flush from the freewheeling antics and all the shouting.
"Guys, he's gone!" I jumped from my sled and almost tackled Paulina and some of the other Patrol members in a giant bear hug. "He's gone, and he's never coming back!"
---
That had been a week ago. I was nearly to Vlad's estate, and I shamelessly confess that I was looking forward to being able to tell the crazy old hermit that "I told you so!"
I timed my arrival so that I would have some time to visit Danny's grave again, this time bringing a wreath of flowers I'd obtained from a small town florist not far off my flight path. I had already seen to my father's monument, a rough stone assembly, the inscription carved into the stone with a small ecto-gun. The least I could do for my friend was bring him flowers.
The grave was largely as it was when I last visited, but there was something... off. The early morning light gleamed brighter off a thin layer of dew maybe, or the breeze came warm from a southerly direction. I don't know, maybe it was just my own state of mind affecting my perceptions. The site didn't seem to have that same brooding atmosphere anymore, it felt more peaceful than sorrowful, for lack of a better description, like a great weight was lifted. I slipped beneath the green curtain, carefully draping the flowers I brought over the wooden cross.
"It's over, Danny." I smiled sadly. "We won. You won, ten years ago. It's still going to be hard, but... We'll be able to recover now. We can rebuild, start putting things right."
I felt my throat tightening up and my vision clouded with tears. It wasn't the overwhelming sorrow it had been. It wasn't tears of joy, nor of relief. Awkward as it may sound, it was a sort of sad happiness, a light melancholy. Those who survived could go on with their lives at long last, but there would always be that pale shadow of those who didn't make it. "I guess you can finally really rest in peace, knowing that monster won't hurt anybody else ever again. I do still miss you, and I always will. But I think I'll make it. Goodbye, Danny."
My piece said, I slowly turned away, striding toward the cave entrance. I wasn't certain if my "escort" was waiting already or how long it would take to get to wherever I was going, so I figured it was better to be there early in the day and have to wait near the portal in the Ghost Zone than to be late. If nothing else, this party would prove to be an experience. I still wondered why they invited me; as Paulina had noted before I left, I hunt ghosts. But while I was armed, I vowed to myself to uphold this truce thing so long as the ghosts did. Both the real world and the Ghost Zone apparently had suffered by Phantom's hand, we had that much in common at the very least.
Vlad was already awake when I arrived, the old man looking little better or worse than when I'd stormed out of the cave last.
"Mornin', Masters." I couldn't keep the smug smirk entirely off my face.
"Good morning, Valerie." He replied as we both walked into the murky darkness of the ex-villain's cavern dwelling. "Accepting a ghost's invitation and going to the Ghost Zone. How uncharacteristic of you, my dear."
"Things change. Maybe some of those spooks deserve a second chance." I retorted. "I'm guessing you already heard the news?"
Given the way Vlad exhaled in a loud sigh, I assumed he had. "Yes, I've heard about the truce and the party and about Daniel."
"I don't want to say it-" I paused, grinning. "Actually, yeah, I do. I told you so! Danny wouldn't lose that fight!"
"Yes, yes, you were correct about it, and I was in error. However, that still fails to explain why the present for us remains unchanged. Surely that is a subject for concern?" Vlad settled into his preferred chair while I climbed onto my jet sled, staring into the swirling green vortex of the portal.
"Not really. Phantom's gone, and Amity Park will recover. And that Clockwork guy is supposedly going to be at this party. Maybe he can answer that." I listened to the low whine of the sled's engines powering up. "Don't wait up for me."
"Believe me, I shan't." Vlad retorted as I shot through the portal and into the Ghost Zone.
It had been more than a decade since I last visited the ghosts' dimension, and truth be told, that place is freakishly daunting. From where I entered, I couldn't see the ground, just an endless spread of black and green, the void broken occasionally by small islands or purple doors and green plumes of... stuff. Ectoplasm clouds? I wouldn't know. My radar was beeping furiously for the obvious reasons, and after a moment of listening to the racket, I turned the device off and stood on my sled awaiting my escort.
To my mild surprise, it was Skulker and Technus that I spotted flying in my direction. It took only a minute or so for the giant ghost pair to arrive. "Welcome to the Ghost Zone." Skulker stated plainly.
"Are you ready, hunter girl?" Technus asked, though the answer should have been obvious. He noted the look on my face. "I take that as a yes."
"Mm-hmm." I glanced at Skulker. "So... where is this Mattingly estate?"
"This way." Skulker took off in what seemed to me a random direction. I fired the engines on my sled and took off after him. Boy, you could almost cut the awkward silence with a knife.
"So... I know what Phantom did to my home, but what happened here?" I decided to break the silence. A basic knowledge of the Ghost Zone's equivalent to the rampages would likely be a good thing to have before I got to this party.
"The ghost-boy did a lot of the same things he did to your city." Technus griped.
"Indeed. We may not have had the same loses as in the human world, but it was terrible." Skulker agreed. "Largely any and all authority within the Ghost Zone was destroyed."
I quirked an eyebrow at that. The place had some sort of central authority? That was news to me. "What'd he do?"
"You name it." Technus muttered. "Let's see... when he first got sent here, Walker captured him. We thought that was the end of it."
"Until he broke out of the prison and destroyed it." Skulker frowned, the expression rather imposing on his steel face. "And that was only the beginning. I was hunting him, of course. I still considered him my prey, and at the time I thought you were still looking for him."
"Yeah... I found him all right. Right before he started trying to destroy the city." I glared ahead at nothing in particular. "He killed a lot of people, tried to kill me. He maimed my father that day."
"Humans aren't the only ones he 'laid the smackdown' on, hunter girl. I was minding my own business when he burst into my lair, ripping this guy-" Technus glanced up at Skulker. "-into little bitty pieces."
"And if I recall, he was about to do the same to you." Skulker shot an irked look down at his partner. "At which point, we agreed to work together."
"Not that it did much good." Technus frowned. "The ghost-child was on a total rampage. He almost destroyed the Mattinglys' castle, and anyone else who crossed him."
"He disappeared from the Ghost Zone for a while after that." Skulker glanced at me.
"Mm-hmm." I nodded, starting to piece the timeline of events together. "I'd guess that's when he got back to the real world and was kicking the military and my Patrol in the pants."
"I guess that explains all the 'newbies' that year." Technus looked mildly thoughtful. "How bad was this pants-kicking?"
I snorted at the ghost's choice of wording and at the memory. "Bad. He killed a lot of people. I was in charge of the Patrol that was hunting him down and trying to chase him off."
"I see." Skulker rubbed his metallic chin in thought. "While he was busy dealing with you, we were planning for his return here."
"That ghost alliance you mentioned?" I assumed aloud.
"Indeed, possibly an alliance larger than the ancient one that sealed Pariah Dark ages ago. We first tried to fight the ghost-child en masse." Skulker frowned at whatever recollections the tale was dredging up. "The losses were extensive, and those who remained considered drastic measures to stop him."
"Drastic measures?"
"We talked that Clockwork guy into letting the ghost king out to fight Phantom!" Technus replied. They let that hideously powerful ghost out?
"What happened?" I asked, eyes wide. I noticed what appeared to be a castle in the distance and drawing nearer, that was likely this castle I was told about.
"We all agreed that we would rather live under a tyrant than be destroyed by a demon." Skulker sighed heavily. "It worked, for a time. Pariah was still far more powerful than the ghost-child, but the whelp was too clever, and the ghost king was unable to destroy him."
I nodded slightly. That explained why Phantom had been absent for so long. If he was too busy fighting for his own life, he couldn't have come to bother Amity Park. It was a good thing, too. It seemed to me that if not for the time the ghost king bought, the anti-ghost shield would never have had a chance to be completed. Phantom would simply have returned to the human world once his injuries were mended and resumed his rampage.
"Yeah, and the ghost-kid was always growing stronger." Technus continued the tale. "That was a bad day when he destroyed the ghost king."
"Wait, Phantom destroyed the ghost king? As in killed him?" I briefly considered how one went about killing a ghost.
"Indeed. Our alliance was shattered, and he disappeared again." Skulker seemed to be perturbed by the memory. "He didn't stay away for long."
"And that had to be when he ambushed the city in the middle of the night." I mused aloud. "And how come he got so powerful. Man, that was a bad day in the real world, too. You two saw the ruins, right? Most of that happened in Phantom's third rampage. The only thing that stopped him was the ghost shield."
"Wow. That is a lot of demolition." Technus murmured. "That goes beyond mere pants-kicking."
"I don't know what exactly he did after the shield went up. Anything outside was destroyed, but I guess he had some way to come here?" I shrugged.
"Unfortunately." Skulker glowered into the distance. "For months he would run loose here. By that time, it was everything anyone could do merely to avoid encountering him. We attempted to hunt him down, stalking him through the expanse of the Ghost Zone."
"That didn't work, either." Technus pointed out. "And then he picked up that awful shrieking attack."
"The Ghostly Wail?" I filled in the name Phantom gave that technique, angrily remembering that day over half a year ago when he introduced it to Amity Park. "He used that to break the ghost shield. After that..." There was no need to finish the statement.
By now, we were both coming down to land before the castle, having passed battered statues at the gates. The place was abuzz with activity, full of ghosts of all shapes and sizes. It looked old, ripped right out of the Middle Ages. The ramparts looked cracked and damaged, though there was evidence that the stonework had been in far worse condition some time ago. In strangely stark contrast to the medieval theme was a large device on one of the towers that resembled a cross between a satellite dish and a television antenna.
The armored ghost I was with towered over the general population as Skulker scanned the crowd for someone. I caught sight of a green figure in a pale blue dress- a female ghost of some variety- making her way toward where I stood. Other ghosts made way for her, so I imagined she was either powerful or that she was the host of the party.
"Welcome! It's not every day that we have a human guest." The woman curtsied as she got over to where I stood. "I'm Dora, the current ruler of this castle. I'm sorry I don't actually know your name, Huntress. Such details don't often get this far into the Ghost Zone."
"Ur... pleased to meet you?" I guessed. It was an awkward situation, really. Surrounded on all sides by ghosts, and the nearest living human was an entire dimension away. "I'm Valerie. I didn't know I was known at all here, honestly."
Skulker and Technus wandered off to mingle, having apparently fulfilled their obligation in escorting me to the party. Dora beckoned me to follow her, the female ghost actually seemed to have a very pleasant demeanor, considering she was a ghost. "Many of the survivors credit your work in the human world for keeping the ghost-boy away, actually."
I quirked an eyebrow as we passed several ghosts and a table heavily laden with food. How the heck did they get real food in the Ghost Zone? I pushed that pointless question aside. "That's a little funny. Skulker told me about the alliance and that ghost king. I think that kept Phantom away from the human world long enough to set up defenses."
"Then it seems we've helped each other, doesn't it?" Dora noted, a bemused smile on her green face.
"Hey, do you know if a ghost named Clockwork is coming?" I asked. If this ghost was so heavily involved in events, I wanted desperately to speak with him and find out what had happened. The ghost woman looked thoughtful, smoothing a wrinkle in her gown.
"Master Clockwork should be coming sometime later today." Dora replied. "He said he had some business to attend to first. Until then, please, enjoy yourself. Today is a celebration after all!"
I nodded slightly as the hostess pointed out several of the other guests, mentally taking note of the names. Johnny and his girlfriend Kitty off in a corner giving each other dopey romantic looks; a big ghost who I was surprised to learn was the Box Ghost I'd chased down once or twice in the past...
"Who's the little girl with him?" I asked Dora. The little ghost wasn't one I'd seen before.
"That's Box Lunch." Dora replied easily, every bit the polite host. "The daughter of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady."
Both my eyebrows shot up as I computed that one. Ghosts could do that?. "Ew."
"I remember the wedding." Dora sighed with a dreamy expression. "My brother permitted them to be wed in the castle. He started to think of finding his own bride after that."
"Past tense-?" I inquired, still trying to get past that whole ghosts-having-children thing.
"My brother, Prince Aragon, was one of the first in the Ghost Zone to try and fight the ghost-boy after Walker's prison was destroyed. He was destroyed defending the castle." Dora nodded, her expression somber.
I frowned. I know I had fully intended to kill Phantom, but I guess I hadn't given much thought to the idea. I never really thought you could kill something that was already dead. "Um... sorry to hear it?"
Dora shook her head slightly. "He was my brother, but he was quite unbearable. He fought valiantly, but I think things here have improved quite a bit. He resisted new ideas and modern things. That ban has been gone for years now."
"Is that why I saw that contraption outside?" I frowned, drinking in the knowledge.
"Yes, I've had a great deal of assistance modernizing the castle. It has been quite pleasant, really." Dora smiled as she excused herself to go greet some other ghost.
A big hairy ghost tromped over after Dora floated away, and I flinched back involuntarily. He was huge, covered head to toe in thick fur, with big teeth and claws, and a ragged green hoodie. I distantly recalled him from the ghost attack in Amity Park years ago that first put Danny in the spotlight and earned him the reputation of public ghost enemy #1. He looked a great deal more ragged than I recalled, his thick pelt crisscrossed now with a patchwork of scars.
"Vi esti la Huntress?" He asked, leaning down and sniffing at me.
I had no idea what he was saying, just that he was talking about me or to me. "Um... Yes? Can I help you?"
"Friends-" He enunciated the word carefully. "-deziri vidi vi."
Well, despite speaking some language I didn't know, and despite being a rather frightful looking giant undead canine, he seemed sociable enough. Something about being friends, I guess?
"Okay... I guess." I'm guessing my confusion was apparent, because the big ghost frowned as if concentrating.
"Follow?" His English was very heavily accented almost to the point I couldn't understand him, but he half-turned and motioned with his claws that I should follow.
"Okay..." I nabbed a glass of what looked to be punch from the table as I moved to follow the ghost. "So, what's your name? Everyone here knows me as the Huntress, but my name is Valerie."
"Mia nomo estas Wulf." The big ghost replied. At least it seemed he could understand English, even if he didn't seem to speak it. He frowned, a sad expression on his face as he continued talking. "Mia malnova amiko perfidi mi. Li provi al mortigi mi, kaj multa alia."
Well, he sounded awfully hurt about whatever he was talking about, I assumed it was Phantom. "Did Phantom attack you, too?"
"Jes." Wulf nodded. It sounded like a yes, at least. "Mi savi li de oni spirito, sed li ataki mi."
I tried to catch anything coherent from what he was saying. Something about a ghost attacking? I had fallen slightly behind the big ghost while concentrating on deciphering his speech, and nearly ran into him when he stopped walking. His bulk blocked my view as he glanced over his massive shoulder and flashed me a very toothy smile, his entire expression radiating a sort of happy smugness, like someone waiting to see a friend's reaction to a surprise gift.
"What-?" I started to ask.
"Via amiko?" Wulf asked with that toothy grin, stepping aside so I could see what was in front of him.
How can I describe my surprise? You would think in the wake of ten years of fighting Phantom, and after seeing Danny from the past that I would be somewhat jaded by now. I guess not.
"Hey, Valerie!"
"Valerie! Thank you so much for stopping Danny!"
I sputtered incoherently at the two figures that both ran... no, flew over and gave me enthusiastic hugs.
"B-b-but... how-?" I stammered around my shock as the two ghosts released me and floated back, both smiling at my shock.
I guess I should describe them, shouldn't I? Both figures were quite familiar, though time and... well, being ghosts had changed them both. The first stood about my height wearing a grey and yellow ensemble, his complexion a solid green color, short black hair hidden under a red beret, a pair of glasses perched on his nose. The other was clad in black and purple, a sharp contrast to her pale blue complexion. Her black hair was held partly up in a sassy little ponytail, and she looked me over with her sharp glowing violet eyes.
"What did you think would happen after an explosion like that?" The green ghost asked, his tone familiar despite it being ten years.
"Tucker-? Sam-?" I finally found my voice, squeaking the two names out.
"In the fle-..." Tucker interrupted himself. "Well, in the ectoplasm at least."
"We couldn't just leave Danny alone!" The other ghost, Sam grinned, her expression tinged slightly was sadness. "But things didn't work out right."
"Then... that night..." I was partly babbling from the shock at seeing the two of them. "Ten years ago, the hospital-"
Sam nodded. "We saw what happened to Danny." She shook her head slightly. "But there wasn't anything we could do then except watch-!"
Tucker frowned, likewise saddened by the memory. "Yeah, we couldn't do anything, it was awful."
I can only imagine. Ten years ago, I had been agonizing over the decision to fight Phantom, not yet knowing what had happened to him. It had to be worse for them, having apparently witnessed Danny's death and the first moments of Phantom's new existence. I at least had some power to do something, they had been helpless, only able to watch their dearest friend suffer. And after seeing that, Sam had apparently made the extremely difficult and likely heartbreaking decision to convince me that the only living remains of the boy she liked needed to die. It had been a hard choice for me, but they had a history, they'd known each other for years. Sam and Tucker had probably been right there with Danny, facing down countless ghosts before they'd been killed in the blast.
I took two steps to close the distance between Sam and I, giving her a tight hug. "Thank you, Sam. I don't think I could have fought him without your help that night."
"I would have been there, too!" Tucker declared, shivering with fear. "Except... hospital... evil hospital."
We stood there in awkward silence for a long moment. What do you say on the heels of that?
"So... what have you guys been doing?" I finally asked lamely.
"Been showing a princess the joy of modern electronics!" Tucker beamed. I suddenly had a slightly nagging suspicion that the techno geek was pretty good friends with Dora. Or possibly more. I tried to keep the "Ew." thought from showing on my face.
"We were both trying to avoid Danny." Sam looked thoughtful. "Or I guess Phantom, like you call him."
I nodded slightly. "I couldn't stand the idea of calling that monster by Danny's name."
"And we were helping the other ghosts that he did find." Tucker glanced over at Wulf. "Like this dude, he would've been toast without help."
It felt strange as we all stood there, but it also felt good. Grief at the deaths of Danny's friends was tempered by their apparent existence now as ghosts, both quite at home now in the Ghost Zone.We had ten years of stories to tell, of catching up on events. We must have talked away a good few hours. We swapped survival stories, toasted the "good old days", told stupid jokes that aren't all that funny but everyone laughs at them anyway. Heck, there was even karaoke, with a heavyset female ghost strumming away on her guitar. I was surprised to learn that pop idol Ember McLain from years ago was actually a ghost, and even more surprised to see how she looked now. She didn't sing, I was informed that her voice had been ruined by Phantom.
I was listening to Tucker being booed off stage when I felt something small and furry butt up against my leg. I looked down, surprised to see a little green dog ghost. My eyes widened as I recognized the puppy, the first ghost I ever really encountered, when I first started ghost hunting. The little dog looked a little more haggard than from my admittedly hazy memory. Years ago, the sight of the little monster would probably have been enough to send me into a gun-happy rage; now I merely looked down at him in mild surprise.
"Haven't seen you in awhile." I stated flatly, wondering if even animal ghosts held to the truce.
"Arf!" The puppy sat there, panting slightly, little tail wagging happily. On a whim, I tentatively reached out a hand for the dog to sniff. He hadn't transformed to his much meaner looking form, which I took for a good sign. He sniffed at my hand before he shifted to nuzzle his head against my palm. I was slightly surprised at how soft his bright green fur was.
"Guess he likes you." Sam noted with a slight amusement in her voice.
The scene suddenly froze, and I jumped to my feet wondering what just happened. A ghost appeared, and I fought down the instinct to grab my weapon and start blasting. He was tall, and well built, though he lacked legs. He was clothed in a purple colored outfit, with a hooded cape covering his head. What struck me most about his appearance were the clocks. He carried a staff with a clock in it, he had a multitude of watches strapped around his arms, it even appeared that he had a large clock inside his torso. In a moment, the puzzle snapped together in my mind. Clocks, stopped time... I assumed this ghost was Clockwork, and somehow he froze time.
"Hi?" I hazarded as his red eyes swept the room.
"Valerie Grey, the young woman who gave everything to stop the most powerful ghost in the world." He stated simply, with a calm, patient tone. Momentarily his appearance changed and he looked like an old man, with a long white beard. "And the medallion Danny Fenton had, I see."
I must have had a weird look on my face as the ghost suddenly turned into a toddler. That was certainly a distracting aspect of the ghost. "I'm gonna guess that you're this Clockwork guy I've heard about?"
He nodded once, returning to his original form. "Indeed, I am Clockwork, master of time. I understand you wished to speak with me?"
Not what I was expecting, I'll say that much. He seemed to be polite, if a bit distant. "Yeah... If you're the reason Danny ended up in this time... what happened? When he went back, I mean?"
"He faced his future." Clockwork replied with a cryptic tone. "And was given a difficult choice to make."
"A choice?" I raised an eyebrow, tuning out the frozen party around us.
"He won the battle, but was too weak to save his friends and family." Clockwork stated.
"Then Sam and Tucker and the Fentons-?" I gasped, horrified. After all that, everyone still died, that awful chain of events still happened?
Clockwork smiled slightly at my reaction. "Perfectly safe. Danny Phantom will not become evil."
I frowned, both relieved at the news and confused. "Wait, so he did change the past? But then... what about now? Why hasn't that changed?"
Clockwork looked thoughtful for a moment. "Closure? Fine." His expression indicated that the ghost enjoyed discussing the subject of time. "Most people see time as a straight line, a single path going only from one beginning to one ending."
I nodded, that's what I had thought. It made sense to me.
"But time is like a river." The ghost smirked slightly at something that amused him, but I didn't know what it was. Maybe he'd given someone else a similar speech? "It flows in one direction, but it can branch off, separate streams taking different paths."
I gawked at the ghost, not quite comprehending what he was saying. "Separate streams?"
Clockwork shook his head slightly at my confusion. "You are only twenty-four. The Danny Phantom of this timestream has turned evil, and has been captured." At this, the ghost revealed a battered Fenton Thermos. I gasped, recognizing it as the very one I had given Danny before sending him back in time. "The Danny Phantom you saw has changed time. His past has been altered, he will live to see a future far different from this one."
"Then... nothing's changed? Nothing could change here?" I found myself crushed by this revelation.
"I wouldn't say that." Clockwork smiled slightly. "Danny Fenton is not the only one who learned something from all of this. He faced his future. You faced your past."
I paused, the ghost's words sinking in. "I did, didn't I-?" Now that it had been pointed out, I realized that a lot of the hatred that had carried me was gone. There would always be the sorrow over Danny's death, and my own guilt for my role in events, but the hate was gone; the automatic anger directed at all ghosts had drained away when I wasn't paying attention. "You planned for all this?"
The ghost didn't confirm nor deny it, he just smiled again. "Are you satisfied now?"
I nodded numbly. "It... makes a twisted sort of sense now. But how did you know?"
The ghost smirked at the question as he raised his staff, one hand on the button atop the device. "I have all the time in the world to learn things. I know everything. And I know you have one more meeting at this party to attend to." He clicked the button on his staff, voice carrying as he vanished. "TIME IN!"
I almost yelped when the party resumed, the green dog still clamoring for attention, Sam unaware of the exchange, and Tucker being chased off the stage by a flurry of tomatoes. The ghost had mentioned the medallion I was wearing... was that why I didn't freeze like everyone else when he stopped time?
"Arf! Arf!" The dog ran in circles around my legs, stopping briefly and sniffing the air, suddenly intent.
"He's sure hyper today." Sam noted, watching the antics. "What is it, boy?"
Tucker rejoined the two of us, wiping red paste from his face. "Man, I don't sing that bad!"
Sam and I exchanged brief looks, the exchange interrupted suddenly by the dog throwing his head back and howling loudly.
"Cujo!" Sam yelped. "Knock it off!"
"What is it?" Tucker winced at the volume the little dog was capable of.
All eyes were on our little group as the dog, aptly named Cujo as I had just learned, took off running for the door.
"Should we go after him?" I asked, tapping the recall button on my armband. My sled purred to life, flitting over the heads of the other guests.
"Yeah, that's not like him." Sam frowned, floating into the air. "He hasn't been that excited since forever."
"Not since he trashed Axion Labs..." Tucker agreed, likewise going airborne. I hopped onto my sled, and the three of us chased after the hyperactive green dog. "Cujo! Heel!"
The dog paid the three of us no heed, running into the distance, clearly intent on something. I wasn't entirely certain, but it did seem we were flying through vaguely familiar territory. At least, I thought I recognized some of the doors and islands from my trip to the castle.
"Isn't this the way to Vlad's portal?" Sam asked Tucker as the pursuit continued.
"Yeah, but why would Cujo go there?" The techno-geek replied.
"I see something!" I shouted, pointing ahead.
Cujo was running circles again, barking happily, tail whipping back and forth. The green dog was occasionally jumping up and down, radiating sheer glee as the three of us finally caught up to him. Hovering there was the source of the little ghost's joy.
He looked tired, but content, even happy. His eyes shone a clear blue, the ambient light of the Ghost Zone striking glints of silver from his black hair. He was taller than I remembered, perhaps a few inches above my height, clad in jeans and t-shirt. He saw the three of us, all staring at him with matching looks of surprise, and smiled sheepishly, giving a little wave.
"Hey, guys. Sorry I'm late." He shrugged, smiling timidly. "It's been awhile."
I felt my heart skip a beat as it sunk in, and I'm sure Sam's reaction was about the same as mine. Tucker looked only slightly less stunned. On some unspoken signal, the three of us launched ourselves at him, hugging him tight, barely able to believe it.
"DANNY!"
-The End-
(Really long-winded) Closing note: Wow. Two months and 97 pages later, Jeremiad is done. Some random stats for your amusement: The average length of each chapter is 6.4 pages, and I got a new chapter completed on average every 3.6 days. (That five-chapter burst during Spring Break really boosted the average.)
First and foremost, thank you all for reading, for your kind reviews and encouragement. It's good to know your work is appreciated, especially something you've invested a lot of yourself in. When I started writing this story, I wasn't entirely sure I could pull off a multi-chapter first-person piece. I've lost a lot of sleep working on this story, and I'm extremely proud of it. It's been one hell of an experience for me to write, I honestly believe this is likely one of the best pieces I've written. It's certainly a personal record in terms of how fast I was able to write it, going from prologue to finale in 54 days. Less than two months. I hope the finale surprised you and was an enjoyable ending to a story you've been reading for the past several weeks.
It's strange, really. Plot twists sprang up and the characters did things I wasn't planning on them doing. Vlad in chapter 13 for example. That plot hole in TUE where he was about to use the gauntlets on Danny has always irked me. I didn't expect to find myself filling that plothole, nor did I expect Valerie to have that long conversation with Danny. I've been told that Vlad seemed a little "off" there, but I "heard" his voice as I was writing it, so I guess it fits. He certainly seemed to be perched on some sort of brink in TUE, I hope his dialogue in the finale was sufficient for him to explain his reasons. There was supposed to be a small scene with the Ghostwriter, but somehow that never materialized. I had been expecting Sam and Tucker to show up at the party as ghosts, but I admit that I was every bit as surprised as Valerie about the ghost of Danny's human half appearing at the very end. Rereading the story, I was honestly surprised to find I had already written tiny hints in the grave scene from chapter 6 to that effect. Heck, I was honestly surprised to be ending the story on a mildly happy note, after all the angst-o-rama in it.
I daresay I'm currently in a bit of a daze right now, as I finish this story. To be honest, the best way I can describe it is largely the way Valerie feels at the beginning of the finale- stunned, dazed, and wondering "Well, now what do I do?" Writing first-person stories is an emotional experience, I've found. I'm fond of saying that "You can't write what you can't feel", and to write scenes that are so emotionally intense, the author in a way has to mentally be the character, experience the emotional turmoil the character goes through. It's really a mind-altering experience.
Unlike Valerie though, I already know the answer to "Now what?" Valerie has shared her version of events, her tale of that ten-year span of time. Now I'll be working on Anathema, the partner story to this one. We've heard the heroine's story, now it's time for me to tell the villain's story. Needless to say, I'm mildly concerned about trying to write a first-person epic as told by an evil, murderous bastard, but I do hope if you've enjoyed Jeremiad that you will give Anathema a shot.
See ya on the flip side!
-Firefury Amahira