A/N: Sorry. There's no excuse. Just plain laziness. And the chapters seem to be getting shorter as we near the end.

Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.

Executioner

Again Danny woke up in the ghostly green and purple room, but this time feeling warm and comfortable, lying under the covers of the king size bed. He always loved this moment between sleeping and waking, knowing he was almost waking up, but not quite. Wondering what time it was he breathed deeply and froze, feeling someone move beside him. With some difficulty he opened his eyes and turned his head, to see a flurry of long blond hair on the pillow, her face turned away from him. He brought his hands to his face and rubbed his eyes, yawning.

"What just happened?" he muttered to himself.

"Yes Daniel, I would very much like to know that," Vlad said.

He shot up and pulled the covers close to him, trying to keep both himself and Vesa, who lazily opened her eyes, covered. Plasmius was floating a few inches above the floor, his arms crossed, his expression unreadable.

"Ehm, I ehm...," Danny stuttered, turning bright red.

"Hello Vladdy," Vesa said lazily, "We were just having some fun. You should try that. It would make you less uptight...Aaarch!"

She yelled as Vlad knocked her off the bed, sending her sprawling on the floor. One hand still on the bed, she pulled herself up on her knees, touching her lip, her eyes blazing. But she remained quiet.

"Don't ever call me Vladdy," he hissed and turned to Danny. "Get up!"

Slowly Danny got up and looked at the floor, not daring to look up. He had angered father, again, and he felt the fear churning in his stomach, paralizing him.

"Look at me!" Vlad yelled.

Danny slowly looked up and saw the two black rings appear around Vlad's waist, one traveling upwards, the other down, revealing Vlad Masters. Or what was left of him.

Danny gasped in shock when he caught sight of Vlad's ruined face. Half his hair was gone, and so was part of his nose. His face was scarred beyond repair by a massive burn wound.

"You did this," Vlad yelled at him, "And you're going to pay for it! But first..."

He turned to Vesa, who had now climbed to her feet and seemed to be hovering slightly behind the bed, somehow looking more ghostly than before, her hair waiving around her as if she was under water. She looked like a mermaid, except for the fish tail.

"You just made a fatal mistake my dear. I don't need you anymore."

Vesa backed away somewhat and her expression changed from annoyance to outright fear.

"You can't kill me," she said in a shrill voice, laughing half-heartedly, "The ring won't let you!"

Vlad smirked at her and it looked horrible on his face.

"I can't. But he can."

He pointed at Danny who felt a shiver run up his spine. Kill her? You can kill a ghost? He started shaking his head and Vlad pressed a button on the device that controlled the wristbands. Danny was on the floor instantly, screaming.

"Get up!" Vlad said when the pain had stopped.

Danny jumped to his feet as fast as he could. He stood, swaying and shivering, fearfully waiting for Vlad's command, knowing he would obey no matter what.

"I suggest you go ghost now, before she conjures up any more of her pets," Vlad said mildly.

Danny swirled around and jumped out of the way of the charging demon. He transformed in a flash, rammed his fist into the demon's head and released a massive ecto blast. From that distance, the effect was devastating. The demon's head exploded, it's black blood splattering across the room, hitting him in the face and darkening his gloves. It's remains dropped on the bed, staining the crimson sheets so that it looked like somebody had spilled a bottle of ink over it. Immediately the thing started smoldering, producing a thin streak of smoke and he wondered if the bed would catch fire. He turned and saw Vesa standing with her back against the wall, her face contorting in fierce concentration.

Two more demons shimmered into existence in front of her and he had no trouble with those. He looked at her frightened face and saw the realization there that she couldn't win. He backed away, shaking his head.

"I don't want to kill you," he said to her, but it wasn't true.

Though the thought of having to kill her revolted him, he desperately wanted to please his father, to regain his approval. He knew he couldn't technically kill her, because she was already dead, but since he could destroy her demons easily enough, that probably meant he could do that to her as well. He looked briefly at Vlad. She snarled at him.

"But you're going to anyway," she hissed, "He'll make you."

She raised her hands and blasted him across the room, slamming him into the purple wall. He was used to that though, so he was on his feet instantly and blasted her right back. She screamed and lunged at him, at the same time creating two more demons that attacked him from either side, their claws extended, their expressions matching Vesa's snarl. They were part of her, he realized, she commanded them.

Jumping sideways he managed to evade one of them, it's claws only grazing his leg. He slammed into the other, grabbed it and flung it at Vesa. She didn't stop, brushing it aside as if it were a puppet. More demons popped into existence behind her and Danny realized that now he was in trouble. He had to get her to stop.

"Kill her," the familiar little voice in the back of his mind taunted, "She manipulated you."

He pushed his anger back. With a sick feeling he raised his right hand and formed the sharp arc of sizzling ectoplasm that could cut through almost anything. With a swift sweep he beheaded the two nearest demons and advanced on her.

"Please stop," he said, "We don't have to do this."

For a moment they both stood still, panting. He looked at her, the woman, no, ghost he had held close not five minutes ago and was now a deadly adversary. She looked back at him and for a moment he thought she looked sad.

"Daniel," Vlad said, a warning in his voice.

He tensed, hardening himself, knowing he couldn't stop now. She opened her mouth and screamed, creating ten demons all at once.

He couldn't help himself, he reacted instantly. Jumping forward, he ran his green, sword-like arc right through her chest. A feral grin appeared on his face and he stepped even closer, pushing her backwards. Her eyes widened in surprise and he let go of the arc, dissolving it. She staggered backwards and landed on the bed, black blood streaming out of the wound and he realized that she had that in common with her demons. She opened her mouth to say something but a gulf of black blood came out, choking her.

A tingling feeling went through his arms and he looked in wonderment at the wristbands. Could he do it again? Could he push himself over the edge again? If he did, would he ever get back? The darkness in his head receded and he realized it didn't matter, he could never escape his father, it was wrong of him to even consider it.

He stared at the ghost laying on the bed. The demons popped out of existence, leaving the room quiet but for the choking sound that came from Vesa.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, "I'm sorry."

Her eyes glazed over and she grew quiet, the red fire in her eyes extinguished. Then she dissolved, her form fading into a green mist that dissipated quickly. He shuddered when it touched him momentarily, then it was gone.

Danny let out a scream as a shock went though him and reverted him to his human form. He stumbled forwards against the bed and sank to his knees on the slippery floor, one hand desperately grasping the edge of the bed. Vlad advanced on him and threw something at him.

"Get dressed," he said coldly, "You have work to do."

He leaned closer, grabbed his hair and yanked his head backwards, bringing tears to his eyes.

"And if you think you can do that neat little trick to remove the wristbands again, just try. It will be very unpleasant."

She tentatively opened the door of the Nasty Burger and looked inside, doubting whether she did the right thing by looking for her brother right now. He had been very upset earlier and she wondered what it was that Mrs Spectra had wanted to accomplish by humiliating him like that. But she was a very respected psychologist and she herself only a junior in high school, so she had no real right to question her.

She spotted her brother and his friends instantly, sitting at their usual table by the window, arguing over something, so she stepped inside and walked over to them. When Danny saw her approach, the scowl on his face deepened and she quickly tried to reassure him that she meant well, that she was only interested in his well being. Instead of listening to her he seemed distracted for a moment, a surprised and frightened look on his face as he started to look around the restaurant. Then he yelled at her to take his friends, why don't you and ran off.

Determined to have him hear her out for once she followed him outside and got the biggest surprise in her life. He was standing there, his fists clenched, a determined expression on his face and he... transformed. Two white rings appeared around his waist, splitting and as they traveled over his body, the goofy, clumsy teenager her brother was changed into the elusive Danny Phantom.

Jazz stared out of the small window in the back of the specter speeder, in shock. She had been fretting over Danny, who was her lost brother, whom she didn't remember despite her trying. She had grudgingly accepted him in the beginning, with the proof of his Fenton DNA opening the portal, although she still had worried about what it did to her mother. She had come to know him the past few weeks and had discovered he was a very complex person. She had liked him.

Then last Friday she had discovered that he was Danny Phantom. And it hadn't surprised her half as much as it should have. So she must have known before and she somehow remembered that. That was encouraging. To help Danny, she needed to be able to compare his present personality with who he had been. She was sure there was something wrong with him, his happy presence being alternated with dark bursts of anger and depression. If only he would talk to her...

They had traversed the ghost zone for hours now, following the Boomerang. They were all there, none of them had wanted to stay behind. Sam and Tucker had convinced her parents easily, they had been in the ghost zone many times before and knew what to expect and of the dangers. Of course they had never been in there without Danny.

Her parents had been adamant at first that she should stay behind, that it was dangerous, but she had flatly refused.

"If Sam and Tucker are going, then I am too", she had said and that settled it.

So they had all entered the specter speeder, taking some supplies and blankets with them as they had no idea how long they would be. When they had passed through the portal, they had opened the front screen and Sam had thrown the Boomerang. It took off without hesitation, the tiny red light on it blinking. It had found Danny.

So for the past hours, having nothing else to do, she had been worrying about what could have happened to him. He had told them about the demon like ghosts that had attacked the town lately, the same ghosts that Vlad used to... train him? What if they had attacked him again while he was out? What if they had killed him, turning him full ghost? What if that was the reason he was in the ghost zone? It was that last thought that did it, firing off a chain reaction in her head, like the falling domino stones at the spirit week speech.

She had seen him transform. And she had kept that to herself for the longest time, until he finally found out when he was trapped in the future and she had sent him a message.

She started to cry. Now that she finally found him in her memories, she had lost him all over again.

I actually went and watched the episode again where Jazz finds out... funny, I never do that anymore.