Lord Pugsy here. I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone who read and reviewed this story. It means a great deal to me. Sadly, this is the final chapter so I hope you enjoy. For the final time, I do not own Danny Phantom or the Teen Titans or various other characters, only the story.
As the portal continued to grow, so did the storm surrounding it; relentlessly striking the city of Jump with green lightning bolts of ectoplasm, as the black clouds above swirled around the portal like moths to a flame. The city's inhabitants could do nothing but watch in horror at the events unfolding in front of them over the bay. The two Phantoms, the Titans and the Justice League stood just as transfixed by the sight before them as the people of Jump were.
"It just keeps getting bigger." Danny said out loud, more to himself than anyone else. It was true; the portal was easily a mile in diameter now, becoming darker with each passing minute. At the rate it was growing, a full size building could comfortably fit through it.
Or a castle thought Danny, as he finally realised what Mortuus was going to do.
"We need to get to the bay NOW!" Shouted Danny. "Everyone grab hold of each other." Once everyone was in contact with each other, Danny teleported them all to the shore, just in time to see the portal turn pitch black as something large started to descend from the void.
"Friend Danny?" Asked Starfire nervously. "What is that coming down from the darkness portal?"
"Are those rocks?" Asked an equally nervous Dani, as more appeared from the portal.
"Phantom. Please tell me that isn't what I think it is." Stated Batman, figuring out what was happening.
"I would if I could but I can't." Danny said in a small voice. Robin charged over to Danny.
"What is going on?" He demanded. Danny just pointed to sky.
"Just watch." After what seemed like an age, Pariah's Island with his Keep finally emerged from the portal, slowly making its way down, until it touched down into the water, only a few yards from the city itself; the Titans and League thinking that this couldn't get much worse. This, however, was the moment the Keep's doors opened and a lone figure slowly floated out. The heroes watched as the figure cleared the island and stopped where the island met the water. Danny could tell, even from this distance, that it was Mortuus. He turned to the rest of the heroes and gave them a reassuring nod and smile, before floating out to meet Mortuus. The closer he got to the ghost, the more he could see what damage the bomb had done to him. His once human-looking face was horribly disfigured as the left half of his face was covered in burn scars, with most of that side's ear gone. Worryingly though, his armour had barely a scratch on it, putting Danny on edge at the lack of damage their bomb had actually done.
"Good morning Daniel." Said Mortuus, his inhumane eyes penetrating Danny's very soul.
"Our opinions on 'good' seem to differ Mortuus." Danny said, trying to sound braver than he actually was. Mortuus gave a humourless laugh.
"Indeed. Again, I must congratulate you on the way you handled yourself against your future self-." Danny cut him off.
"Ex-future self." Danny said, anger replacing his fear.
"We'll see." Smirked Mortuus. "Clockwork was most informative when it came to details about your experiences in the future. With some proper persuasion of course." Danny's stomach dropped.
"What did you do to him?" Mortuus laughed again.
"Nothing too serious. I am saving that for later. Along with the rest of your ghostly allies who you conspired with."
"Are they alive? Where are they?" Demanded Danny, his hands lighting up with green ectoplasm.
"Temper Daniel." Mortuus said calmly, his own hands coated in black ectoplasm. "Remember what happened last time?" Danny gritted his teeth, but forced himself to calm down.
"Much better." Smirked Mortuus. "Your allies are 'alive', so to speak. As for where they are; they are currently being kept in my throne room as my pets. Not that they will be around much longer to be anything else." He turned and started floating back towards the Keep. "You have fifteen minutes to surrender before I lay waste to this city." Danny watched him until he was sure the ghost had re-entered the Keep, before turning away himself and flew back to where his friends were waiting for him. As he landed, Dani rushed him and held him tightly.
"I tho…thought he was going to…to kill you." She whimpered through tears. He knelt down so he could hug her properly.
"Hey." He said softly. "I'm ok. Everything's going to be ok." He patted her back comfortingly as the others made their way over to him.
"So what's the situation with Mortuus?" Asked Robin.
"Let's just say he could give Two-Face a run for his money." He joked. The rest of the Titans just groaned.
"Sorry, force of habit." He said apologetically. "All he did was a bit of ego-flexing and that if we don't surrender in the next fifteen minutes, he destroys the city."
"So what's your plan kid?" Asked Green Lantern.
"We're obviously not going to surrender to the hands of a madman, so what do we do?" Asked Wonder Woman.
"Just let me think for a second." Danny said exasperatedly. He turned away from the other heroes and floated in mid-air; bringing his legs up and crossing them, he tried to clear his mind.
Ok, thought Danny. He has an army, stronger and larger than Dan's. No point going against Mortuus until his army is taken care of. There will be a lot of damage. Meaning we need to evacuate most of the surrounding area. But then there are the ones in the Keep. We need to get them out somehow, which means sending in a team. Dammit it, thought Danny. He landed and faced the Titans and League again, who had stood still waiting for him.
"Alright, here's what we're going to do." He started. "We have a little over ten minutes so we best make the most of them. Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash and Más and Menos; I want you guys to fly/run as fast as you can to one mile from here and start evacuating as many people as possible. Tell them to get as far away as possible. The rest of us will take the surrounding area. You have five minutes; after that, meet us back here. GO!"
Five minutes passed too fast for Danny's liking, but he felt confident that the area surrounding the bay was empty. He turned to the heroes, thinking over what he was about to ask of them.
"Do you guys trust me?" He asked them all, but predominantly aimed at the League. All of them within seconds nodded, encouraging Danny to continue.
"I have a group of allies trapped in that Keep, who could seriously help us. I need a group of you to sneak into the throne room and get them out undetected." He could hear them all gulp at what he just suggested, but nodded nonetheless; you couldn't win a war without taking a few risks.
"So who did you have in mind?" Asked Cyborg. Danny took in a deep breath.
"Speed is going to be our best weapon in this case. So I want Flash and the Twins to get in and get out within minutes." He turned to look at Dani, who seemed to know what he was going to ask.
"I want you to go with them."
"You can't be serious Danny." Said Aqualad.
"I'm deadly serious Fish. Speed is all well and good, but they're going to need ghostly help in case they run into trouble." They wanted to argue, but none could fault Danny's logic.
"Dani?" Danny asked, kneeling back down to her. "Can you do this for me?" She took a moment to gather herself, before finally nodding. He hugged her tightly and walked over to Flash.
"You look out for her, you hear me?" He whispered to the League member, with danger in his voice. Flash gulped but agreed nonetheless.
"Alright." Danny started again, addressing them all again. "I want you guys on that island for when the skeleton soldiers come out. Stay hidden and do not engage them under any circumstances. Once they're out, that's your opportunity to go in. Make your way to the throne room once inside. Dani, keep them hidden." He said. Understanding what they had to do, they turned to leave, Danny pulling Dani back into one last hug.
"Be safe." He whispered.
"You too." With that, they left. Danny then turned to the others.
"Batman and Robin, I want you to use whatever traps you have left and make a perimeter. This is where we try and keep the fighting, but these skeletons can be unpredictable and we don't want any to make it into the city." They too, left to complete their task.
"Raven, Starfire, Bumblebee, Wonder Woman, Superman and Green Lantern." Danny started again. "I want you all in the air and firing whatever you can at the skeletons. Also, I want you to take it in turns every few minutes to quickly fly around the perimeter and locate any breaches in Batman and Robin's defences. It will be your job to maintain this location. Now, we've only got a couple of minutes left, so I want you to quickly move anything and everything to block off the streets; use cars, rubble, whatever. Just make sure nothing can get through them easily." Danny turned to Cyborg, Beast Boy, Aqualad and Speedy.
"You guys, as well as Batman and Robin when they get back, are going to be focused on the ground here. I want Cyborg with Aqualad, and Speedy with BB. I have an idea for you two." He said, gesturing to Speedy and Beast Boy. He leaned in and whispered his idea into their ears, both their faces lighting up with excitement.
"Deal." Said Speedy, giving Beast Boy a high five.
"What about you Danny?" Asked the changeling.
"I will be spending most of the time giving you air support. I'm going to need the high vantage point so I can see when Mortuus decides to enter the fray."
"You don't reckon he'll be in the thick of it with his army?" Asked Cyborg, checking his power levels.
"Not a chance. Back in the Ghost Zone, he let us tire ourselves out before he decided to do anything. I'll also need to be high up for when the others return with my allies; just in case they run into trouble trying to get off the island." No one else spoke for the remaining time they had left; the others returned from their tasks just as the Keep's doors slowly opened, the sound of marching from within beginning to become deafening, until Mortuus' black-aura skeleton army swarmed out and headed straight for the city. Danny turned to his team mates, battle weary, but still prepared to fight with everything they had.
"Here they come."
Carnage. Skeleton soldiers were falling like dominos, but they just kept coming. Danny had frozen the area where the soldiers were entering the city, hoping to get more time before they were rushed. Danny let a small smile cross his face as he saw Speedy and Beast Boy charge past him; Beast Boy had morphed into a Tyrannosaurus Rex, taking out ten soldiers with every step; twenty whenever he swung his tail out, whilst Speedy rode on his back, firing arrow after arrow. When Danny realised the flying heroes were holding their own and succeeding at holding the perimeter, he spent most of his time flying above the ground team, giving them air support when a skeleton would get too close for comfort. Fatigue was setting in quickly though, Danny realised after almost an hour of constant fighting, with no chance of rest any time soon; the army's numbers kept replenishing every time one skeleton was defeated. Out the corner of his eye, he saw the Green Lantern speeding towards him.
"Phantom!" He panted. "We've got a breach. We need your help." Firing off another ice blast surrounding the ground team, he set off after Green Lantern. What he saw made him gulp; the skeletons had gotten past the barricade and were making their way down the street, smashing windows and cars as they went. Danny flew ahead of them and made a large ecto-shield and forced it down the street at the approaching army, pushing them back inside their quarantine zone. Once sure there were no stragglers, Danny created a massive ice wall which spanned the entire street. That should hold them off for a while thought Danny. As he flew back to the main area, Danny realised how much power that had taken, and it was starting to take its toll. Upon his return, Danny realised the battle had taken a turn for the worst; the ground team were injured as more and more soldiers came off the island. Realising they needed help, Danny flew off to find the air team.
"GUYS!" He shouted, once he reached them. "The ground team needs your help. Go to them."
"But what about the barricades?" Asked an exhausted Bumblebee.
"Don't worry about them. I'll take care of them and meet you back there. Now GO!" They were all slightly apprehensive at leaving, but followed Danny's orders. Danny did what he had done on the previous street to the three streets left. Confident that nothing short of Mortuus himself would be able to get through; Danny struggled to fly back to his friends. He kept dropping every few feet as exhaustion was setting in. He made it to his friends, only for his vision to turn hazy as he dropped to the ground; landing hard. As he cleared his vision from the mini crater he had just created, Danny saw about a hundred skeleton soldiers charging towards him. He picked off a few with ecto-blasts, but they kept surging. He was about to give up all hope when a dozen missiles, a pink fist and a green ecto-blast shot over his shoulder and took the rest out. Danny looked around, a dumbfounding expression on his face, as he saw Skulker, Ember and Dani, slightly worse for wear, standing there. Dani flew straight into him and hugged him as the others walked closely behind her.
"Saving your pelt once again Ghost Child. This is starting to become a habit." Said a smug looking Skulker.
"I never thought I would say it," Started Danny, hugging Dani tightly. "But I am seriously glad to see you guys. What happened?"
"Your clone here and some humans in tacky outfits got inside the throne room and set us free." Explained Ember.
"She is quite formidable in battle Ghost Child. She is definitely your clone." Said Skulker, firing off more missiles.
"Thanks. I think. Wait, you're still calling me Ghost Child? I thought I was your General?" Asked Danny. Skulker just laughed.
"Last time I checked whelp, Generals fight, not take a little nap." Smirked Skulker. Danny's eyes burned brightly at this taunt.
"I'll show you a fight Skulker." He said, standing up. "With me!" The four of them flew back to the centre and Danny was stunned to see all of his ghost allies fighting alongside the Titans and the League; even Vlad was helping out by sending pink ecto-blasts in all directions. The moment died, however, when Danny saw Vlad fall. Adrenaline running, Danny soared to the ground and froze a large path leading to Vlad; he landed and slid along, creating his ice-scythe again and taking out about fifty soldiers. He put out his hand which Vlad gratefully accepted.
"Nice of you to join us Fruit Loop." Danny jeered, spinning around, taking out more soldiers with his scythe.
"We couldn't let you have all the fun Little Badger." Vlad taunted back, firing off ecto-blasts. Everyone's sprits had been lifted at their back up, that they fought harder, and soon, the numbers of skeleton soldiers began to dwindle until finally, no more were standing. Meta-human, hybrid, human and ghost alike stood next to each and cheered. They had faced what seemed like an unstoppable force, but triumphed. Everyone was hugging each other, but Danny made a bee line for Raven; she saw this and smiled and ran to the ghost, embracing him tightly. Some of the ghosts snickered, but the couple were beyond caring at this point. They were alive, and that was all that mattered. Even some of the people of Jump, who had had been watching the battle from a safe distance, came out and started celebrating with the heroes. All thoughts of Mortuus were gone from Danny's mind until he heard a faint whistling sound, getting louder and louder. He broke away from Raven, much to her disappointment, and began to push through his allies until he stood on the shore, looking at the sky where three faint black spheres were steadily getting closer to the city. Horror overcame Danny as he realised what they were, and shouted to his team mates.
"EVERYONE GET DOWN NOW!" The heroes got down just in time as the spheres sailed over their heads and hit the buildings behind them, sending them sky-high in an explosion of black fire. They all looked back at the Keep as ten black spheres started hurtling towards them.
"DANI, RAE, VLAD, LANTERN" Shouted Danny as he flew into the sky. "WITH ME! WE NEED TO MAKE A SHIELD!" The five of them linked hands and created the strongest shield they could muster, just as the spheres impacted them. Even with all five of them, they were still forced back by the sheer power of the small spheres.
"KEEP IT GOING!" Shouted Danny, beginning to buckle under the pressure. He looked forwards, and saw something horrifying. A black sphere the size of a car was speeding towards them, with Mortuus inside of it.
"BRACE YOURSELVES!" Mortuus' impact shattered their shield completely and sent them crashing into their team mates.
"A futile attempt Daniel." Boomed Mortuus from above them; he waved his hand and the island was coated in a black fog. Everyone who was still conscious blinked in shock as what looked like millions of shadow skeleton soldiers emerged from the mist and marched towards the city. The heroes could do nothing but watch in horror as the army set foot on the ground, falling in line behind their leader. Before anyone could make a move, Mortuus created another black sphere and sent it at them. The resulting explosion sent them flying backwards knocking them all unconscious except for Danny who was on the verge of blacking out. Danny faltered as he felt something wrap around him; looking down he saw black tendrils constricting him and started lifting him up into the air, before tossing him into a building across the street, effectively bringing it down on top of him. After a few moments, Danny broke through the rubble and saw Mortuus about to fire another black sphere at his friends and those civilians who hadn't quite manage to run away. Reaching into his belt, he brought out four silver, metal balls and desperately tossed them at the others. Upon hitting the ground, four ecto-domes surrounded Mortuus' intended targets, only just protecting them from his attack.
"Quick thinking Daniel." Commended Mortuus. "Your ingenuity never fails to surprise me. Even against all odds." He said in a patronising tone, as Danny escaped the decimated building and started to limp towards the evil Halfa.
"However," he continued. "I feel that your actions were once again in vain." Mortuus floated up higher, raising his hands and created a much larger black sphere; one that could overcome Danny's shields, aiming it at the heroes. Realising that his friends wouldn't survive Mortuus' onslaught, Danny did the only thing he could think of; he flew as fast as he could in front of his friends and took the attack. Extreme agony racked through his body as he let out a gut-wrenching scream of pure pain, awakening his allies, just in time to see Danny crash to the ground as darkness took over.
When he regained consciousness a few minutes later, time stood still for Danny as he looked around him. Buildings lay in ruin, roads ravaged and civilians encased in his ecto-domes. He looked behind at his team mates in their separate dome; the Teen Titans, Justice League and his ghostly allies were all captured and beaten. The attack he had taken for them left him almost fully dead, his coat now ripped to shreds and hanging off of him. Blood trickled down the side of his face, his eye scar was inflamed and his right arm was badly broken. He looked ahead at the army of shadow skeleton soldiers, with Mortuus at the helm, an evil grin plastered across his disfigured face.
"Don't you see little Halfa." He started. "You have made a gallant effort, and you have achieved far more than I anticipated. But surely you must realise this battle is lost, just as it was back in the Ghost Zone. Look around you; the human realm's mightiest heroes lay beaten and you alone are not enough to defeat me." Smirked Mortuus. Danny didn't respond. He knew Mortuus was right. He had given it his all, and it wasn't enough. I failed thought Danny, just like I failed in Amity Park. I can't beat him.
"Join us, and the Halfas of this world can rule forever. Your friends will be spared and act as slaves, and your little clone will of course rule with us as she is also a Halfa." Grinned Mortuus evilly, knowing that he had won when Danny glanced back at the ecto-dome where his cousin was lying in human form, struggling to stay conscious. Danny was about to give in when he paused, Clockwork's words running circuits through his mind.
Flashback:
"The only thing stopping you is your mind. Your heart will always find a way to fight, but your mind is holding you back. The moment of truth will come on the day that you say you are not scared. Believe Danny. Believe in your human and ghost half, and unlock your ultimate power."
"Well child?" Asked Mortuus, condescendingly. "What is your response?"
"My response?" said Danny, flinching slightly as he aggravated his broken arm. "You are an even bigger fruit-loop than Vlad is." He shakily got to his feet and carried on.
"You destroy my home, you threaten my world, you imprison my allies and you hurt my family!" Shouted Danny, his voice growing stronger with each word. Golden strands of power streamed from his fingertips, and began to flow through and around Danny, healing his wounds. His eyes slowly started turning gold; the white flames on his now fixed trench coat now shining a dazzling gold colour. A flash of fear crossed Mortuus' face as his friends and the city and looked upon him with awe.
"You want to know my response Mortuus?!" Danny asked viciously, now completely healed and energised, surrounded by a golden ghostly glow. "Here it is. You have seriously pissed me off!" With that, Danny launched himself into the sky, leaving an even larger crater in his wake. He reached the clouds and concentrated his telekinesis; the dark clouds began turning green and swarmed Danny, until he was in the eye of a swirling, green vortex thousands of feet in the air. He used his cryo-kinesis to chill the maelstrom even further, as well as the surrounding area, and plummeted to the ground, with a roar filled with so much power and ferocity, chills of fear ran down everyone's spines. He stopped a hundred feet from the ground allowing his power to build and build; the storm cell a dark green and continuing to grow in size.
Danny's voice was heard from within the vortex. "MORTUUS!" Shouted Danny, a golden orb the size of a truck appearing in the vortex, spinning.
"YOU CAME TO THIS WORLD LOOKING FOR WAR?! YOU FOUND IT!" A second golden orb formed and span with the first.
"YOU CAME TO THIS WORLD LOOKING FOR BLOOD?! YOU FOUND IT!" A third orb came into existence, following the previous two. With this, Danny's golden silhouette could be seen, a stark contrast from the green storm.
"YOU CAME TO THIS WORLD LOOKING FOR VICTORY?! BEHOLD. MY. VICTORY!" Danny unleashed the golden orbs at the army and their effects were spectacular; each orb took out several thousand shadow skeleton soldiers. Mortuus didn't escape harm as one of the orbs hit him head on, shattering his armour with a scream, draining him of all his power.
Back in the energy storm, Danny conjured several thousand mini golden orbs and released them to take out any soldiers daring enough to press an attack. When whatever remained of the army retreated back onto the island, Danny pushed his arms out, forcing the storm onto the Ghost Island and sucking the army into it.
"YOU CANNOT DEFEAT ME GHOST CHILD!" Mortuus shouted over the noise. "I AM MORE POWERFUL THAN-!" He was cut off as he too was sucked into the storm.
Danny floated a few feet forwards, golden aura still surrounding him, as he tapped into both of his cores and created one more golden orb. He then pumped his green ecto-energy and ice powers into it until it glowed a brilliant white. He levitated it forwards and took the deepest breath he could, and let loose his Ghostly Wail. Normally his Wail has a power level of twenty, but when it connected with the white orb, its power was magnified one hundred fold. Mortuus and his army, incapable of escaping the tornado-like storm, were struck with a two thousand power level attack. The storm lit up as the ghost army and their leader were struck by the white Wail. Danny kept it up for a full minute until he was completely drained, and slowly descended, transforming into Danny Fenton once he touched down. Struggling to look up as darkness threatened to take him, Danny saw the storm start to dissipate until only Mortuus was left, unconscious and broken on the ground at its centre; the castle nothing more than a smoking pile of rubble. Danny floated slowly over, thermos in hand and hovered over the first Ghost King.
"Goodbye Morty." He murmured, blue light covering the ghost and sucking him to the thermos which held Dark Dan, his vision turning black as he finally succumbed to exhaustion.
It was three days before Danny regained consciousness in the infirmary. He was beginning to think he should just move in with the amount of times he visited, as his vision slowly began to return to him. He snickered as he looked around the room and saw that Cyborg had taken his advice to heart; the room was now painted with mixtures of white, black and green swirls. On the far wall, Danny noticed, was what looked like a mural of what happened in the fight against Mortuus; it showed a golden Danny with a blue scythe in one hand and a thermos in the other, pointing it at a lying down Mortuus, whilst a green tornado could be seen in the background taking out the Keep. Danny looked above the door to the infirmary to see a bit of cardboard with the words 'Danny's Place' in bold, capital letters. This time, he did let out a laugh, which was heard by Cyborg.
"Back from the dead again I see." Said Cyborg, but Danny could hear the underlying relief in his voice.
"Looks like it. I like what you've done to the room." Commented Danny, struggling to sit up.
"Easy there Spook." Cyborg said, borrowing Aqualad's nickname for Danny. "Let me unhook you from the machines first." Danny narrowed his eyes at the robot teen, but let him unhook him nonetheless. Now sitting up, he turned to Cyborg.
"How long was I out this time?" Danny asked.
"About three days. Give or take a few hours." Responded Cyborg, checking over Danny's chart.
"At least I'm getting better." Joked Danny.
"Yeah. Better at getting yourself injured. Seriously, I think you have broken nearly every single bone and ruptured every single organ in your body since we've known you." Said Cyborg, trying to be serious, but failing as a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Well what can I say? I've always been clumsy. How do you think I died, or half-died?" Cyborg shook his head, but said nothing; Danny saw that he was still grinning though.
"Where's everyone else?" Danny finally asked.
"Probably in the main room or asleep. The day after it ended, we all went out and helped clear up the city. Surprisingly, there was hardly any damage; it was mainly contained where we were fighting." Cyborg said. "The ghosts left that day with Skulker promising to get your pelt another day, and the Justice League and the Titans East left earlier this morning. They didn't want to, but they were needed elsewhere. They left a heart-felt thank you though." Cyborg added. Danny nodded, relieved that everyone was ok.
"Ok, now tell me honestly. How mad are Rae and Dani with me?" Cyborg laughed.
"Oh you have no idea. Both have been in here with you for the best part of the three days. They only left a couple of hours ago to get some rest and food." Danny frowned.
"You're avoiding the question."
"Well, I think Dani is more worried about you than angry at you. On the other hand, I think Rae is torn between jumping on you as soon as you leave this room, or putting you back in this room for a few weeks as soon as you leave this room." Danny let out a nervous laugh, as pain shook his body.
"I guess it's time to face the music then."
"You're right about that. Just let me give you a once over and prepare my stuff in case Raven does the second option." Once Cyborg was done, with his aid, Danny hobbled out of the infirmary and headed towards the main room, where he saw the rest of the Titans in the kitchen eating and looking thoroughly exhausted. Before he could say a word to announce his entry, a black and white blur crashed into him and sent him to the floor. The other Titans looked up to see Danny on the floor being crushed by Dani's hug.
"Dani…can't…breath…crushing…lungs." Danny struggled.
"I don't care." She said through tears. "I thought you weren't going to make it. I thought you were going to die all the way." She broke down completely and couldn't continue; Danny just gripped her tightly.
"Remember what I told you after Amity Park Dani? I promised I will always be there for you, and no jumped up Halfa is going to stand in the way of that." Dani laughed through her sobs as she realised Danny was referring to Vlad as well. Just as Danny managed to pry Dani off, he was bowled over again by Starfire.
"We are so happy that you are not full ghost friend Danny." Squealed Starfire.
"That can still be arranged." Came a monotone voice. Danny looked towards the kitchen to see Raven stood there, her expression unfathomable. Everyone held their breath as Danny approached Raven apprehensive at what she was about to do to him.
"Rae, I'm sorry, but-." She cut him off as she slapped his face, hard.
"You idiot!" Raven shouted, as she slapped him again. "You rash, careless, stupid idiot!" She hit him with every word. Danny prepared himself for another verbal lashing, but was pleasantly surprised when she pulled him into a hug which could rival Starfire's.
"We thought we'd lost you." She whispered as she began to cry, not caring that everyone was watching them. "I thought I'd lost you." He hugged her just as tight.
"I'm sorry Rae, but I couldn't let him hurt you." His own tears starting to spill. "I've already lost everyone important to me to a psychopath before. I wasn't going to let it happen again." They just stood there hugging each other, until Danny felt several other pairs of arms embracing the pair. Danny looked over his shoulder to see that all the Titans, his family, were hugging him, all thankful that Danny had come to be a part of their lives.
That night, Danny had taken Raven to the roof for some alone time after everyone else had gone to bed. On a blanket, they were staring up at the sky with Raven laying on Danny's lap so she could look at him too. Danny stretched out his hand and created shapes out of his new golden ectoplasm and swirled it around his fingers.
"Show off." Muttered Raven in a kind tone.
"I thought I was an idiot?" Joked Danny as he absorbed the energy back.
"You are, but you're my idiot." Smiled Raven. Danny looked down into her amethyst eyes.
"I can live with that." He said softly, before kissing her. "I can definitely live with that."
Well there it is. I sincerely hope you enjoyed this story. The amount of positive reactions I have received from this story is astounding and I just wanted to say thank you very much. Until next time.
Lord Pugsy.