In which Danny makes significantly less bad decisions and Vlad has a very important ghost job. Neato.


Part 5;

The typical reaction to waking up alone in a strange room is to panic. Danny was sure he'd have been no different, but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to. Being scared would take too much energy, and Danny couldn't find the will to do any more than lay there and watch the ceiling spin. There was a ticking noise somewhere by him, and his arms felt as if someone had pricked them with hundreds of needles. And judging by the bandages which coated his arms, that was entirely possible.

Wait, bandages?

Something was moving by his side, and Danny felt something pressed to his lips. It was dry and tasted a bit like garlic, but felt more like a dried leaf. It took Danny a lot longer than it should have before he could swallow even a small piece of it. A rush of energy ripped through Danny as his heart skipped a painful beat. He rolled over, one hand on his chest, and spit the remains of the thing in his mouth on the floor. It looked almost like one of the petals from those Blood Blossoms.

"Oh dear," A voice said, low and calm. Danny looked around, trying to find the speaker, but found that his eyes wouldn't focus. He was reduced to looking at a mysterious and ticking broad-shouldered outline. "It seems someone gave you something to counteract those poisons you've been force-fed to keep you from fighting back. How incredibly tragic."

"Tha…" Danny's words wouldn't form. He coughed, beating a fist into his chest, and took in several deep breaths before he tried again. "Thank… you."

There was a pause in which the figure was still. "Don't say that. Go up the stairs and to the left. Do not confront anyone. You will lose and it could be years before I'm able to help you again."

"Wow," Danny muttered, squinting as he tried to get a clearer view of the other being. "Nice."

The ticking grew quieter, and Danny could see the outline shake. "I'm sorry," He disappeared, and Danny was left in silence.

His vision cleared a few moments later. Sitting up now, Danny took in his surroundings. The sweater he'd gotten from Vlad had been folded up for use as a makeshift pillow, and he was lying on top of some dusty old rag. His arms were coated in various somewhat bloody bandages and there were quite a few stains on the t-shirt Vlad had gotten him. The room he was in didn't seem to be much of a room; it was more of an island floating in green nothingness with twisted stairs leading to a random door.

Right. He was in the Ghost Zone. This was probably a normal dead person way of decorating or… something. It'd just be better if he didn't think about it. Danny moved to his feet, stumbled and fell, and sucked in a breath as his stomach grumbled. Okay, he grabbed his sweater, reaching into one of the pockets. Eat first, run for my life later. He grabbed onto the first thing he could and shoved it into his mouth, spitting it out a moment later.

What had once been some sort of delicious pastry was now an absolutely disgusting ball of mold. Danny grabbed his sweater tighter and shook it, the rest of his snacks falling from his pocket and onto the ground. Each and every one of them was covered with mold.

"Oh my god," Danny whispered, dropping the sweater. "Oh my god I had that in my mouth." He was on his feet again, backing up towards the stairs. How long have I been here? How long have I- he stopped, clenching his fists. "Elijah."

Danny didn't turn left as the ticking being had instructed. He ran right, screaming the name of that slimy little liar. At one point, some sort of shadowy ghost tried to stop him. Danny punched them right in their stupid face and man, did it feel good.

More shadow or blob ghosts came, and though Danny was starting to feel woozy, he attacked every one he could reach. They'd kidnapped him, they'd done something to his body, and they'd kept him locked away. They could all burn for all Danny cared, but there was one he personally wanted to see suffer.

But logic began to overpower his rage when Danny realized he was losing. There were more ghosts appearing every second, and it was getting harder and harder to stand. He fell when he tried to run, and couldn't find the strength to get back up.

"You're not very good at this, are you?" One of the blobby ghosts said. "Contact Elijah, tell him his little pet has escaped."

"Pet?" Danny struggled to push himself up, "Pet?!"

For a moment, he thought it would be like the movies. Those words would give him the strength to get up, to keep fighting, to get home. But as weird as Danny Fenton's life was, it wasn't some story. It was real, and as he fell to the floor once again Danny was sorely reminded of that fact. The laughter which echoed as a result of his feeble escape attempt drove it in a little further.

"Yes dear," The blob said, "Pet; short for pet project. He wants to get rid of the Master of Time, and what better way than to use what is basically an acid which only affects Timey ghosts?" They lowered their voice, as if their message was some sort of secret. "Human blood."

"You took my blood?!" Danny could barely breathe; everything seemed to get caught in his throat. "You- you-"

"We- we-" The ghost mocked him, clasping their hands. The laughter increased and Danny wanted nothing more than to sink into the floor. For a second he thought he would, and his heart skipped another beat. Instead the ghost reached forward, pulling him off the floor by the front of his shirt. "You're adorable."

Danny replied the only way he could at this point; he spit at them.

And apparently his spit had magical demon-summoning powers, because all around him an army of green ghost skeletons popped up. Danny shrunk back, and much to his surprise, saw the other ghosts do the same. They didn't try to fight against the skeletons that swarmed through their ranks, though for a moment Danny saw fear in the eyes of the blob that had taunted him.

The skeletons spoke as one, "For conspiring against the King of all Ghosts and the Master of Time, you are all under arrest. Do not resist or you will be destroyed."

"We have committed no crime!" One shadow shouted, "You all look down on us because of our weaker forms and seek to end our existences! This raid is only happening because of that fact! We have committed no crime!"

"So- so stealing blood is legal then?" Danny said, "That's- that's nice." The blob who was holding him slapped him.

There was a moment of hesitation before the air around them twisted and another ghost appeared. He had a cape, blue skin, and hair styled into two giant points. "I assure you, that is not the case. If you are not guilty as you claim, you will face no-" The ghost turned, and Danny noticed three more things about him; he had a green skull pin-thing on a sash, he had fangs, and the ghost was staring straight at him. "Daniel?"

"Oh god," Danny whispered, his voice barely audible, "A vampire." How does he know my name?!

The ghost who had been holding Danny dropped him, holding up their hands. "General Plasmius, I can explain-"

"The rumors were true," Plasmius said, floating over to Danny and picking him up. He addressed the skeletons now, ignoring Danny's weak hits as he attempted to escape. "Kill them all."

The world twisted and Danny found himself having a coughing fit on another island. The vampire-like ghost was beside him, muttering something that Danny couldn't quite catch. Several minutes had to have passed before Danny could breathe clearly again, and there was a glob of ectoplasm on the ground by his mouth. Plasmius placed a hand on his back in a motion that, had he been human, would have been comforting. Instead it caused Danny's heart to start pounding again. He jerked away, biting down on his lip. The words his parents had said all his life echoed in the back of his mind; "All ghosts are evil."

Some part of Danny has always had doubts about that theory. But if nothing else, Elijah had certainly proved it. There was no way he'd be making the mistake of trusting one of those monsters again.

Plasmius pulled his hand away and stood, watching as Danny struggled to even sit up. "I'm not going to hurt you," He said.

"Right," Danny whispered, just like Elijah was going to take me back to my parents.

Plasmius watched him for a moment longer before he said, "We need to get you out of here."

"You need to get away from me," Danny's voice was hoarse, and the small rock he threw in an effort to enforce his point landed just in front of the unimpressed ghost. "Get- get-" His words failed him once again.

"No," Plasmius said. "I'll take you somewhere to heal, and if my suspicions are correct the King will want nothing more than to hear what you have to say-" He cut off abruptly.

"Walk off the edge of this island," The too-sweet voice said, "Fall until you hit the bottom. Break something, please." Danny watched in horror as the ghost nodded and moved past Danny, revealing the blob behind him. "Hello, my friend."

"You lied to me," Danny said, his anger replaced by a terrifying numbness.

"Yes, I did; I did that for quite a while, and to be perfectly honest I'm surprised it fooled you for as long as it did."

"You were never-" Danny's voice failed. He tried again, with a different phrasing. "My parents-"

"Gone," He said, "Terribly tragic, too. They spun a tale that could break even the emotionless shell of an Observant. But King Pariah is not an Observant," He grinned, "And I bet he loved to hear them beg and scream to be returned to their home while he painted the walls with their blood. It makes a very nice finish, I've heard."

"No," Danny whispered, no no no no no- "I saw them."

"You saw what I wanted you to see, based on what I pulled from your recent memories." Elijah's grin widened, "Didn't you wonder why they looked exactly like they had in your little fantasy?"

Danny hadn't. Too caught up in the chance that his parents could be alive, he'd ignored every little feeling about something being wrong and followed Elijah's claims blindly.

He wouldn't be making that mistake again.

Danny moved back as much as he could, fixing Elijah with a glare. He could feel the edge of the island under his fingers, and felt his heart pound in his chest. "Burn in hell." He dropped off the edge.

Elijah threw himself forwards, hand wrapping around Danny's wrist and pulling him back onto the island. He threw him, and Danny felt his skin peel back as he slid across the ground. "Did you honestly believe I'd let you escape like she did?!" He grabbed Danny by his shirt, lifting him off the ground. "I own you now, friend. You're my ticket to getting my revenge on that mistake; did you really think I'd let you leave?" He threw Danny back onto the ground, and the teen found he didn't have the strength to even sit up. "You are mine."

"I'm nobody's," Danny said.

"I don't care how long it takes," Elijah said, "I'm a very patient man. I will break you, piece by piece. And I believe I'll start with your arm." He reached down, putting his hand on one of the bandages where the blood hadn't completely dried. Danny took great pleasure in hearing Elijah scream and watching the ghost pull away, clutching his damaged hand.

Again a phrase echoed through Danny's mind; that ghost who'd been mocking him said that human blood was like acid to Timey ghosts. If Elijah had been in line to become something called a Time Master, was it really so much of a stretch to believe that he was one of those?

Danny bit down on his hand until he tasted blood and shoved it against Elijah. The ghost screamed, but Danny made no move to pull his hand away. "This is for my mom," He said, putting as much force into his words as he could muster. "And this is for my dad. This is for Sam, Tucker, Jazz, Vlad, and all those people you killed. I hope you burn!" He kicked the ghost away and moved back to the other edge of the island. Danny watched as Elijah struggled to stand, fury drowning out his pain. "You don't own me."

He fell back, and once again ticking surrounded him.


Ah yes, a mysterious ticking noise. Well, at least it wasn't a pipe bomb!

Thoughts?