Dark knew that Danny was awake when the halfa started screaming from a nightmare. It was the kind of scream that would petrify a normal man, but Dark merely saw it as progress. The boy needed comfort, and he'd seek it out from the nearest source eventually, no matter what. And even if his human half wouldn't admit it, his ghost form most certainly would. After all, a ghost can't survive without an obsession for very long, even if they are only half.
Danny crept out of his room a moment later, seemingly having been scared into ghost form. His green eyes were glancing around nervously, before they fell on Dark's figure. Swallowing the lump in his throat, the halfa shut his door behind him and walked up to the ghost, whose gaze never left the time stream.
The boy was clearly scared, but he hid it as best as he could. Standing up straight, the boy spoke up. "Hey, can I… go out?"
"Of course you can, Daniel." Danny frowned at the use of his name, being vaguely reminded of Vlad. "Am I allowed to know where you're going?"
Danny narrowed his eyes at the back of the man's head. "You know everything already, so you already know where I'm going."
The dark time master shrugged. "Humor me."
"I just want to go out into the Ghost Zone for a while, alright?" Danny explained, floating up to leave.
"Very well. Take a time medallion with you, and I'll see you when you get back." When Danny went to ask why, the ghost answered before he even had the chance to open his mouth. "It's so you won't be attacked by any ghosts who know better. Have fun, Daniel."
Danny stared at the ghost for a moment, unsure of if he could trust those words. For all he knew, the time medallion could be some sort of mind control device. Still, Danny really needed to let off some steam after what had happened yesterday, so he took the time medallion and flew out into the Ghost Zone.
Despite the lack of ghosts, the Zone hadn't changed much in two years. There were more islands, and more doors, but that was mostly it. And it caused a pang of sorrow to spread through the halfa. With so few changes, so many things reminded him of what once was. He remembered mapping out the Ghost Zone with Sam and Tucker, exploring it in his free-time, showing it to Jazz for the first time, and so much more… There were so many memories.
When Danny started to cry, he let off an ecto-blast and smashed a floating rock into pieces. It hurt so much, but he'd be damned if he let it get to him. His loved ones wouldn't want that.
Quickly gathering some rocks from some of the nearby islands, Danny proceeded to throw them, one by one, and blast them into smithereens. It was a great stress reliever, and helped get rid of some of his anger and sadness. Once he'd run out of rocks, however, he still had some fight left in him, so he decided to train.
Duplicating himself, 3 Danny's now circled each other, preparing to fight. One of the clones moved first, and the original Danny countered the blast with a shield. This went on for about an hour, before the halfa finally decided it was time to head back to the tower and lock himself in his room a bit more.
If he was remembering correctly, the scroll one of the Observants had read to him said food would be served at 9 o'clock, Amity Park time. That would be a while, but he didn't mind. Although, now that he thought about it, he was kind of hungry, seeing as he wasn't able to have dinner yesterday.
Trying to think of where he could get a good meal, seeing as his world was overrun by ghosts, and the Ghost Zone was practically deserted and hated him, the boy decided to stop by the Far Frozen. Frostbite probably had some kind of food, being a Yeti of some description, so it was worth a try.
On the way, however, Danny came across another ghost. "Skulker?"
The mechanical hunter stopped floating towards… wherever his destination was, and turned to face Danny. When his eyes fell on the time medallion around his neck, he visibly stiffened. "What is it, Ghost Child? I don't have much time for talk."
"Uh… Where are you going?" Danny asked, feeling oddly uncomfortable with not being attacked by the hunter. It just left a feeling of wrongness in the halfa's chest.
Skulker bit back any cruel remark, and responded while constantly glancing towards the time medallion. "To the clock tower. I assume you're also doing work for… Master Dark."
"No, I was just heading to the Far Frozen… What is he having you do?" Danny questioned, eyes full of concern. He didn't even bother wondering about the "Master Dark" thing.
Skulker glanced towards the direction of the clock tower, eyes wary, before he explained the situation. "The entirety of the Ghost Zone is being used to destroy the inhabitants of your world, including myself. Master Dark has also ordered us to bring to him any artifacts we may come across, or else. We cannot defy him either, for he is in possession of the Ring of Rage and the Crown of Fire. The entire Ghost Zone even witnessed him slay Pariah with our own eyes."
Danny's skin became pale, as his eyes widened. "But I didn't see him wearing either of them."
"We watched him place them inside of his chest. We don't know what he did, but his power increased greatly, and with his abilities, none of us planned to defy him. Now, I must go, Ghost Child. I hope we will be able to continue our chase in the future." With that, Skulker flew past Danny, leaving the boy to momentarily think about what had just been revealed to him.
Shaking his head to regain his focus, the boy flew into the Far Frozen and proceeded to look around. Spotting a cave, he flew towards it and peered inside. Frostbite was there with some of his friends, all of them discussing something. When Danny cleared his throat, they turned to face him. Frostbite then approached, eyes focused on the medallion around the Halfa's throat.
"Oh, Great One, I see you've started wearing the symbol of our oppressor." He said, making Danny glance down at the object.
"Not really out of want… Umm, I wanted to ask you guys some stuff, and maybe get something to eat?" Danny asked, deciding to remove his time medallion.
"We currently have no food to offer you, but we can provide you with information." He said, and Danny nodded, while shoving the fact that, if he wanted food, he'd have to go back to whatever was left of Amity Park out of his mind. "What would you like to know?"
"Well… Umm… It's about my obsession. See, yesterday, after-" Danny paused, cutting himself off. He'd rather not dwell on those events too much in the presence of others. "…Well, yesterday… "Dark" said that my obsession was shattered. So… What happens to a ghost without an obsession? Especially when I don't even know what my obsession was."
Frostbite looked at the halfa, pity now present in his eyes. "I'm deeply sorry, but if you have formed an obsession, and then lost it, then there will only be pain until you can find a new one."
Danny swallowed, nervous as to what that could entail. "What do you mean by pain?"
"Emptiness, to sorrow, to madness. Unless you can find another thing to hold onto, I fear you will only hurt. I'm sorry, Great One." Frostbite placed his icy hand over the halfa's shoulder, as the boy now realized what Dark's plan was.
"He's gonna choose my obsession for me…" Danny muttered, only to look up when he felt the yeti shake his head.
"A ghost's obsession cannot be chosen for them, no matter how powerful the force is that tries to do so. If you do find another, then it will be something that you find comfort in." Frostbite explained, making Danny breathe a sigh of relief.
"Well that's good... Thanks, Frostbite. So, how will I know when I have a new obsession, anyway?" Danny questioned.
"It is a feeling. Something you simply know. I'm sure you'll find one soon." Frostbite said, and Danny nodded.
"Okay. Well, I'm going to go find something to eat… Later guys." With that, Danny flew off, leaving Frostbite and his kind to watch him go.
One of them then spoke up. "You should have told him that his obsession will most likely be the exact opposite of what it once was, to forget about the first."
"That wouldn't help him." Frostbite stated. "He'd just run towards that path faster… He must fight it and choose to stay where he is. And at a time like this, he doesn't need any more worry. There is already pain of loss and fear of the future in his eyes. He doesn't need the stress of knowing he might get a horrible obsession as well. After all, a savior doesn't want to think they could become a traitor. So long as he focuses on being the hero, he will be fine."
