Chapter Twenty-Five

I kept staring at Danny's still form, screaming out his name as if by some miracle he would get up. A part of me was wishing that this was some horrible nightmare that I would soon wake up from, but the whole scene kept dragging out. Someone came and gently pried my hand from Danny's and pulled me into their embrace. I don't know who it was, nor did I care. I turned and buried my face into their torso screaming. The person then lifted me up off the ground and carried me away. I didn't care. I couldn't stand this much longer.

Over my sobs, I could hear voices.

"Where are you taking her?"

"To the Benbow Inn. She needs time to grieve."

That second voice rumbled from the chest I was clinging to and recognized it as Tulio's.

"Who was it? The one that just..." That was Alyss.

"His name was Danny. He was her best friend," Tulio replied. I screamed even louder and clenched his shirt into my fist, my fingernails digging into the palm of my hand.

After a while I heard the voices of Mrs. Hawkins, and Jim and a few other people.

"Aralyne! She's back!"

"What's wrong with her?"

I could hear Flynn quickly explain what had happened, but Tulio carried me away from it all.

Finally, he deposited me on a soft surface and I peeked up just long enough to see I was in my room at the Benbow Inn. There Tulio continued to hold me as I sobbed into his chest. My head was starting to hurt, and I felt sick from crying so much in such a short amount of time. A few minutes later I had managed to calm down a bit, buy my heart felt as if it was being torn apart. Danny was dead!

There was a knock on the door.

"I'll get it," said Alyss.

Then, "How is she?" Grandpa?

Tulio stiffened, and he growled out, "What's that bastard, Hatori, doing here?"

"I brought him in case the deed needed to be done again. I know how close she was to Danny," Grandpa replied.

Tulio tried pulling away from me, but I didn't let him go. Then a soft hand pried my fingers loose from his shirt.

"Come here, Aralyne," said Catherine softly taking me into her arms instead. Peering over her arm, I watched the whole exchange.

Grandpa and Hatori stood in the doorway with Tulio and Flynn blocking their way into the room.

"What do you mean 'in case the deed needed to be done again'? You may have erased her memories of me, but you can't do that to her best friend!" Tulio practically shouted.

"Tulio, she can't be distracted by something as trivial as emotions! With her gone, Siren has attacked several times already! More people have died!" Grandpa said through clenched teeth.

"You don't understand do you?!" Tulio roared, "She needs to be able to feel these things! Without her emotions, she might as well be Siren!" I was surprised that he would defend me in such a way. "Neither one of you will be coming near her ever again!" And with that, he slammed the door shut, shaking the room.

Aralyne had eventually cried herself to sleep, and Catherine left her on the bed to sit on the floor with her sister. Tulio and Flynn were pacing the room, keeping others from entering.

"Tell us about Siren," said Alyss tucking the skirt of her dress under her legs, "I'm curious to know more."

"What's to know?" Flynn muttered, "She's an evil, conniving, bitch."

Tulio shot him an angry look, but didn't say anything.

"Aralyne had told us that Siren was her dark side," Catherine said.

"She is Aralyne," Tulio said coming to a halt and staring at the sleeping young woman.

"What?" the girls asked in bewilderment, blinking up at him.

"I'm sorry did you just say what I think you said?" Alyss demanded.

With a sigh, Flynn said, "Yes. In a way, Siren is Aralyne, but at the same time, she's not."

"Wait, wait, wait. So let me go over what Aralyne told us," said Catherine, "Siren is Aralyne's dark side, but after they were separated she is now her own person and is causing havoc?"

The men replied, "Yes."

"How did you figure that out so quickly?" Tulio asked.

"And Siren looks exactly like Aralyne, except with red eyes, correct?" added Alyss.

"Okay, let us explain from our point of view," said Flynn, "A couple of months after her arrival in Incantationen, Aralyne was kidnapped by Rothbart and taken to the Horned King. She had gone missing for a month.

"Yes," Catherine nodded, "She said he had taken her heart and that's how Siren came about.

"When they shared a body, you could always tell who was in charge. When Siren surfaced, her eyes would turn an eerie scarlet colour and she would go on a killing spree for no reason," said Tulio, "I was able to keep her under control until we got her heart back. That's when we thought Siren vanished forever."

"A bit before Aralyne's memories were erased, Tulio vanished and we all thought he was dead. Aralyne had hit a depression, and that's what caused this whole mess," Flynn explained.

"But as you can plainly see, I'm not dead, but I couldn't return right away, either," said Tulio, "I had been attacked by pirates."

"Who we later found out were working for Siren," added Flynn, "And that's how we discovered Siren managed to acquire her own body."

"Hmm," said Alyss rolling her eyes upward in thought, "I wonder what would happen if one or the other feels a particularly strong feeling?"

"Well, the other must feel it at some level," said Catherine, but if Siren discovers this, then she could use that to her advantage and might be able to control Aralyne."

The men stared at them in confusion and slight alarm. "What?!"

"What are you talking about?!" Tulio demanded.

"Control Aralyne?" Flynn inquired, "Not possible! They're two different people! There's no connection between them!"

"It's just a theory," said Alyss calmly, "And, yes, the two of them are still connected."

"How can they still be connected? They have separate bodies!" Flynn insisted.

"Siren was a part of Aralyne, yes?" Catherine said patiently.

"Yes," the men said.

"Separate bodies or not they are still connected. Siren is Aralyne's dark side with a life of her own but is still a part of Aralyne," Alyss explained, "No one can truly be rid of their dark side. If my theory is correct... you can't destroy Siren without killing Aralyne."

Once again, they both shouted out, "What?!"

"You're saying if we kill Siren, we'll kill Aralyne?" Tulio demanded horrified.

With a nod Catherine said, "The only one who can kill Siren without killing Aralyne is Aralyne."

"I hope you're wrong about this," Tulio said turning to look at the sleeping woman once more.

When I woke up, I wasn't that all surprised to find Alyss and Catherine asleep in Melody's old bed. What did surprise me was finding Tulio slumped against the door completely knocked out. Everything that had happened the previous day came crashing down on me. My heart physically hurt like it was being ripped to shreds. I started to hyperventilate. Jumping out of bed, I raced to the bathroom, locking the door behind me. Falling to the floor, I started crying all over again.

Danny!

A few minutes later, I heard knocking on the door.

"Aralyne? Are you okay?"

I silently cursed myself. I had gone to the bathroom to try and muffle the sound of my sobbing, but I guess that didn't help. Damn!

"I'm - I'll be fine," I sniffled making a great effort to not make my voice crack.

"Are you sure?" Catherine inquired.

"Yes," I replied.

Tulio's voice came out muffled as he said, "I'm going to my house for a bit. Do you think you can look after her until I get back?"

"Yeah, we'll take care of her," said Alyss.

It got quiet on the other side of the door, and I cried until I had a headache and was no longer able to produce tears. Instead, I just stared a the wall, remembering every time I had spent with Danny - the good and the bad.

Finally, I heard Tulio return.

"Is she still in there?"

"Yes," answered the sisters.

"She stopped crying a while ago, but we can hear her sniffling," Alyss said.

"Aralyne," said Tulio approaching the bathroom door, "Aralyne, the Fentons were going to have Danny's funeral today if you wanted to go."

The funeral!

I slowly stood, my legs feeling like jelly, and unlocked the bathroom door. Opening it, I found Tulio and the sisters waiting for me.

"I want to go," I croaked out, "I have to go for -" My lip started trembling and I bit it to make it stop.

Tulio left the room so that I could change into a black dress, and I returned to the bathroom briefly to wash my face and use water to comb out the tangles in my hair. Leaving my hair down, the girls and I left the room where we found Tulio waiting for us in the hall. Together, the four of us left the Benbow Inn, and were soon joined by Flynn Rider.

Over at the cemetery, we stood with the Fentons and everyone that had loved Danny. There were many I recognized, including Grandpa. I wasn't the only one to notice him. Tulio had shifted closer in my direction.

While Jazz spoke about how great he was, my gaze wandered over the other graves. A majority of them were looking fresh, and a part of me wondered what had happened while I was gone.

Then without warning, I could feel anger swelling up inside of me to a boiling point...

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE DEAD?!" Siren shrieked glaring down at Prince Eric from her throne.

"The fish are terrible gossips," said Eric, "that's how I found out about this. Aralyne is responsible for Flotsam and Jetsam being zapped... again, and some prince from the Southern Isles had killed Ursula. As for Morgana, Aralyne had frozen her in a block of ice."

Siren's eyes narrowed in thought. Flotsam, Jetsam, and Ursula could be brought back from the dead with the help of Chernabog, no problem, but Morgana? She wasn't technically dead, so she couldn't be brought back to life. And if she was buried somewhere in the ocean, it would be nearly impossible to find her! Aralyne was so meddlesome! She had to get rid of the Queen... but how? And who was this prince that killed Ursula? Siren would have to deal with him, too.

"I don't care how it's done, I don't care who does it, but I want Aralyne DEAD! Am I understood?!" Siren yelled, her eyes flashing dangerously.

I blacked out for a moment, and suddenly felt dizzy, nearly falling over if Tulio hadn't caught me. Looking up I saw everyone staring at me in what could only be horror. Catherine and Alyss looked worried. What happened? Did I miss something? My head felt like it was full of cotton, and my legs shook.

"I think I... need to lie down," I muttered pressing a hand to my forehead.

Tulio scooped me up into his arms and took me off to the side, away from everyone else. Flynn, Catherine, Alyss, and Flynn followed.

"Aralyne, are you okay?" Tulio inquired brushing strands of my hair away from my face.

"I... I don't know," I said, "I don't feel..." Everything became fuzzy, before blacking out once more...

Lao Shi stared after Aralyne, his eyes narrowing a bit worried. During Jazz's speech, Aralyne's eyes suddenly flashed red and she shouted out, "WHAT DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE DEAD?! I don't care how it's done, I don't care who does it, but I want Aralyne Dead! Am I understood?!" When Aralyne's eyes faded back to a golden brown, she had a confused look upon her face as if she were lost and then Tulio took her away. A suspicion began to grow in his mind.

Catherine and Alyss knew that their theory was correct: there was still a connection between Aralyne and Siren. And they knew everyone at the funeral noticed this.

"How is she?" Catherine inquired moving closer to Tulio.

"She... fainted," he replied looking back at her.

They stayed off at a distance until the funeral was over and everyone - well, almost everyone - left. Lao Shi stayed behind and walked over to them.

"Tulio, we need to talk," said Nesidy's leader.

"About what?" Tulio demanded shifting his body so that he stood between the old dragon and Aralyne.

"We just need to talk if you value Aralyne's safety as it concerns her too," said Grandpa.

"What?" Tulio growled out suspiciously.

"I believe that Aralyne and Siren are still connected in some way," said Grandpa. Turned out he had the exact same theory as Alyss and Catherine. "If either of them are feeling a particularly strong emotion at the same time, the connection between them intensifies, and if it continues, Siren may notice and use it to her advantage. As far as I know, neither one of them is aware."

"We kind of figured that out," said Catherine exchanging a look with her sister.

"And we explained it to Tulio and Flynn," Alyss added.

Grandpa continued, "She looked deadly for a few moments when her eyes flashed red, like she wanted to kill someone during her outburst."

"How do I protect her from this?" Tulio demanded, "If Aralyne finds out about the connection, it will destroy her!"

"Don't tell her," Alyss suggested, "but don't lie to her, either. She's still having trust issues."

"For all we know it was a fluke," Catherine said, "It only happened once. So we will consider it a fluke. Understand?"

"Of course I won't tell her!" Tulio said sounding exasperated, "You have no idea what we went through the first time we dealt with Siren! What she went through! She nearly killed herself!" He cringed recalling that day, before they had gotten her heart back from the Queen of Hearts.

He heard the screams and pushed his way through the crowd to see Aralyne with scarlet eyes trying to kill Danny Phantom.

"What's wrong, Danny?" she simpered sweetly, "You're not going to fight me? Afraid of killing the love of your life?" When he didn't answer, her sneer widened. "Well, I have no qualms about doing this." She started heading towards the right, and as he moved out of the way, she suddenly changed direction, and stabbed him in the chest before he could turn intangible.

"ARALYNE, NO!" Tulio shouted running forward, grabbing her below the shoulders.

"Danny?" she said as Danny backed away. The Phantom boy became intangible for a brief moment so that the sword left his body and she released the hilt with a shriek. The weapon clattered upon the ground. "DANNY!" Aralyne cried catching him in her arms as he fell, blood pouring from his wound. His weight was too much for her to bear, and they both collapsed to the ground and she cradled him in her arms, wailing like a child. "Danny! Danny, I'm so sorry!"

"Aralyne," Danny said weakly, blood dripping from his lips, "You're back." With what little strength he had, he lifted himself up slightly, placing a hand upon her cheek. He then leaned forward and kissed her. Danny suddenly fell back, his eyes shut, and no longer moving.

"Danny?! Danny!"

Others in the crowd were surrounding them, and Tulio gave them a warning look as they began to speak.

"Did you see that?"

"She killed them!"

"Aralyne slaughtered them all!"

Aralyne's head shot up and through the tears, she could see everyone glaring at her or looking terrified. She herself looked horrified, her eyes widening, unable to believe what she had done. Keeping Danny on her lap, she picked up the sword once more, and everyone gasped. She then poised the weapon so that she may stab herself, but before she could make a move, however, Tulio quickly reached forward and grasped her wrist. Startled, Aralyne looked up at him. He took the sword from her as several people rushed forward to take Danny from her.

Tulio blinked, returning to the present.

"And what if it's not a fluke?!" Grandpa demanded of the sisters, "You've never dealt with Siren before and don't know what she's capable of!"

"Stop yelling, or you'll all wake her!" Catherine ordered, glaring the men, "Look, I know Alyss and I are going to face her at some point, but good always wins over evil!"

"You didn't answer my question! How do I protect Aralyne from this?!" Tulio snapped at Lao Shi, "If anything happens to Aralyne -"

"Then we're all doomed," said Grandpa before turning to leave.