Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom.
Losing it
He was standing in his cell, chained to the wall, unable to sit down. Thirst took away every other thought but the question of when Vlad would come with the water.
He was running through the woods, Skulker on his heels. He turned suddenly and hit the metallic ghost in a sweeping kick that sent it flying. As he approached carefully, the ghost lifted his arm and blasted him against a tree. In his human form, that hurt.
Sam kissed him.
The three demons closed in on him. He managed to avoid one but the other two slashed his arms with their claws. He screamed in pain as they grabbed a hold of him, shredding his suit, his skin, his flesh. Then they suddenly dropped him and hung still. He fell to the ground hard and reverted to his human form. "Pay attention Daniel," Vlad said.
He was sitting on his bed in his room. Sam and Tucker stared at the scars on his wrists. Sam grabbed his hand and he started to cry.
Black blood flooded out of her mouth as she fell backwards on the bed. The bed she had been in only minutes ago. She was choking on her own blood and he watched in fascination.
His mother looked at him from the front seat of the GAV. "Danny? Don't you have something to tell us?" He transformed into his human form and his father hit the brakes. Then they both took out their guns and started shooting him. He raised his hands and blasted them out of the GAV.
Father opened the door and stared at him in surprise. He raised his hands and blasted him out of the room. He followed him into the hallway and looked down on the severely burnt man lying against the wall. He raised his hand again and let out another of those red blasts, setting his father on fire.
He was walking down the street, minding his own business, when he was suddenly surrounded. "Your wallet," one of the boys growled. He responded automatically to the threat, jumping at the boy. He took him down with one blow, jumped sidewards to grab another and kicked a third in the process. It was over in less than a minute and he picked up his bag. His eyes were glowing red.
Valerie was chasing him. He turned around and blasted her ecto gun from her hands. As she took out an even bigger gun he rushed into her and pushed her off her hover board. Then he blasted the hover board's engines and watched her fall to the ground. She hit it with a sickening thud.
Sam kissed him.
Danny was staring at the wall. He was losing it, he knew, voices in his head talking to him, hissing, arguing. There was that familiar presence, that dark spot in his head that he had battled so successfully the past months, but it was back full force now, taunting him, laughing at him, telling him to give up, give in, he should know what he was. The other side of him just wanted to scream at everything, to let go of his mind so he didn't have to see the memories again. He couldn't decide which one was right.
Father had told him to stay here and he did, he hadn't moved, he just stood there, staring, trying to push the images out of his mind, trying to keep the insanity at bay. He didn't know what was real anymore and what he had made up. Had he killed Valerie? Had he killed Vesa? Had he killed those boys who were trying to rob him? Had he killed...his parents?
Had Sam kissed him?
He was standing in what was left of Vesa's liar. He looked up briefly but the painting on the ceiling was gone, as was the bed and all the other things that had been in the room.. It all seemed to fade away now that she was gone and already he could see the swirling green of the ghost zone through the walls as they became transparent, moving away from him, as if the liar was expanding outwards.
Black blood splattered on him as he pushed the sizzling arc further into her chest, feeling surprisingly warm on his hands through his gloves.
He looked at his hands. They were clean now, but they would be since he had transformed back into his human form. Maybe it didn't happen. He wondered how long he had been standing there. His back ached, every now and then he had to catch himself from falling down.
"Real world item detected."
Tucker jumped up. "We're getting close," he said.
They were going through a part of the ghost zone that didn't contain as many doors. They had passed through very weird places, ever following the spinning Boomerang in it's wake, sometimes quietly talking to each other, but mostly quiet. Tucker, who was sitting in the front seat next to Jack, looked at the monitor to find out what the 'real world item' was.
"It...looks like a gun," he said.
Maddie peered over his shoulder. He was right.
"What does a ghost want with a gun?" she asked.
At that moment the Boomerang came to a full stop in front of a pale purple door that seemed to waiver a little, as if it wasn't really there. They all looked at it, Jazz hanging over Tucker's shoulder, Sam squeezing herself between Maddie and Jack. The door looked old and worn and it seemed almost transparent.
"How do we get in?" Maddie asked.
Just as she said that, the door opened. She looked at her husband, who shrugged. He had been uncharacteristically quiet the whole trip, stupefied by the ghost zone. Carefully he pushed the lever and the Specter Speeder moved forwards, following the Boomerang inside. They watched as the tracking device flew straight across the room and hit the person standing there. He didn't move.
"Danny," Sam whispered.
Before anybody could stop her she ran to the door, opened it and jumped out.
"Sam wait," Tucker yelled, but she didn't listen to him.
Tucker grabbed an ecto blaster and ran after her, followed by Jack, Maddie and Jazz who didn't want to be left behind. Throwing all caution in the wind they rushed up to Danny and stopped in front of him.
He didn't seem to see them. His vacant eyes seemed to look straight through them as he was swaying on his feet. He was wearing a loose fitting black coverall and around his wrists were silvery wrist bands that seemed to glow slightly.
The room they were in was empty. It seemed out of focus somehow, like it wasn't really there. It was also huge. Maddie approached him carefully.
"Danny," she said, waving her hand in front of his face. He didn't flinch. "Danny what's wrong?"
"Daniel if you please."
The voice came from behind them. Before they could turn around however, Danny was moving. He yanked the ecto blaster from Maddie's hand, took two quick steps and floored Tucker who was trying to blast Plasmius. He kicked the ecto gun out of his hand and grabbed Sam, hooking his arm around her neck, but let her go when he found no weapons on her. He moved with a silent efficiency, the stony expression on his face never changing. Jack and Jazz moved away from him, but he ignored them as they were empty handed.
"Very good my boy," Plasmius said.
Danny walked up to him, carrying the two ecto blasters. He put them down on the floor and turned to stand next to the vampire like ghost, his hands on his back and his gaze on the ground.
Plasmius floated a few inches above the ground and smirked at them.
"You took your time in getting here," he said, "Danny has been waiting for you for ages, haven't you my boy."
Danny remained silent, knowing he wasn't to speak. It was so much easier just following orders, less painful.
As Tucker slowly picked himself up from the ground, Maddie stepped forwards, shaking with fury.
"You...you monster," she hissed to the ghost, "How dare you take my son from me! How dare you hurt him!"
Plasmius was in front of her in an instant, grabbing her face in his hand and bringing his face close to her's.
"I'll show you a monster," he growled.
He backed away from her a little and two black rings appeared around his waist, one traveling upwards and the other down, similar to Danny's transformation, turning him into Vlad Masters. Maddie stared at him in shock, taking in his ruined face, strangely out of place over the immaculate black suit.
"Your precious little boy did this," he said menacingly. Maddie tried to move away from him but he grabbed her throat and pulled her close. "I have no chance with you now have I," Vlad growled.
"You never had a chance," she choked, "I love Jack!"
From the corner of her eyes she saw a green ecto blast and she heard Jack cry out in pain. She tried to turn her head but Vlad held her in an iron grip.
"Thank you Daniel," Vlad said as he glanced sidewards to look at Jack. "Daniel is my son now. He'll do anything to protect me. Including shooting his former father."
He pushed her away from him and she stumbled backwards.
"Danny," Maddie said to her son, trying to see him behind Vlad, standing perfectly still again as his father was moaning on the ground, "Please. Don't do this. You don't have to listen to him. We love you."
She thought she saw a flicker of unease cross her son's face before it went blank again.
"He's still there," she thought.
"Ah, but you're wrong there my dear," Vlad said.
He nodded at Danny who raised his hands and sent out green glowing ecto ropes that quickly twisted themselves around them, binding them tightly.
"He'll do anything I tell him to do, don't you Daniel."
He took out the small device from his pocket and pressed the red button. With a groan Danny fell down on the floor, but he didn't scream. He just laid there, twitching.
"Stop it!" Maddie yelled, "Stop it! Don't hurt him!"
The others were screaming too, but she hardly heard them as she got to her feet and crashed into Vlad, but since her arms were bound tightly against her body he pushed her back easily. He bend over to her.
"What would you do to make it stop hmmm?" he asked her.
Maddie looked at her writhing son. "Anything," she said, looking into Vlad's eyes from up close. "You're insane," she whispered.
"I am not insane," he yelled at her.
To her relief he pressed the red button on the device again and Danny stopped twitching. He just laid there, panting, sweat trickling of his brow, his fists clenched.
"Get up," Vlad ordered him, moving away from Maddie.
Danny didn't move right away and Vlad's finger hovered above the red button again.
"Danny move," Sam said hoarsely behind her back, "Please try!"
He lifted his head slowly and stared at Sam, his eyes unfocused. He placed his hands on the ground and pushed himself up. Shakily he managed to get to his feet, swaying, taking short, quick breaths. Maddie's heart ached, seeing him like that.
"Is that what you went through all those months," she thought, "No wonder you're so messed up. In fact, you've been doing great, considering."
Vlad walked over to Danny, taking something out of his pocket and placing it into Danny's hands. Maddie felt a new wave of fear coming over her when she saw what it was. Danny looked at her for a moment, raised his right hand and pointed the gun at Jack.
Vlad stepped aside and grinned madly.
"He really is insane," Maddie thought.
She couldn't utter a sound and she looked at her husband. He had managed to get on his knees and was breathing heavily, staring directly at his son.
"He's going to die by the hands of the son he doesn't remember he has," Maddie thought desperately.
"Danny!" she yelled at him, "Danny snap out of it! You did it before, remember!"
Danny was swaying on his feet, gripping the gun tightly. She could see him hesitate, almost lowering the gun and for the first time an emotion showed up on his face: fear.
"Daniel," Vlad said menacingly to him, "remember what happens when you disobey me."
Time seemed to stop. Maddie could feel her heart beating in slow thumps, unable to breathe, unable to speak. She turned to look at Jack in slow motion, seeing the sweat trickling down his face as he sat there, staring at his son. Jazz was yelling something, but her voice seemed to come from afar, not making any sense and Maddie turned back to Danny and started moving towards him in an attempt to put herself between him and Jack, knowing she would be too late.
Danny whirled and pulled the trigger, his eyes flashing red for a moment.