Don't have anything to say? Say it anyway. (skipping ahead a few days, here) Warning: this chapter may contain slightly disturbing images. Thank you.

Five: Dreaming of a Nightmare

"You forgot, didn't you?" Alex crossed his arms, ZeE snickering in the background, "We have cleaning duty tonight! I told you that yesterday! Geez, Danny, don't you listen?"

"No." Danny smirked, leaning against the door frame, "Well, sometimes. When did you tell me?"

"Lunch time."

"Then I was definitely not listening. List3ning is n0t l33t."

"ZeE, darn it all, have you been teaching him l33t!?"

"M3?" The hacker chuckled, ducking a swing from the brown-haired boy, "N3v3r!" He laughed again and dodged to Danny's side, making a stupid face, "Ph34r m3!"

"Shove it!" Alex grinned and tackled the other two to the floor where they got in a wrestling match, tugging at one another and pushing each other around. Danny had been at Ed's School for almost a week; five days to be precise; and, aside from the occasional chore, he was enjoying it. It was like no school he'd ever attended. There was breakfast in the huge cafeteria, then they went into the huge recreational hall or the giant gym or the swimming pool, then lunch, then they got time to do whatever they wanted in their rooms, then supper, and then bed. Sometimes this schedule of events was interrupted by a medical examination or something of the like but no one thought much of it. And the black bracelets on his wrists didn't bother Danny anymore.

"Stupid bunch of morons…!" Alex sniggered, holding ZeE's scarf in one hand (the boy still attached) and the back of Danny's shirt in the other, "Come on, I don't want to get into trouble…!"

"The Great Hacker ZeE get into trouble!? The very idea!?" ZeE bounced out of Alex's grasp, swinging his arms wildly, "Great Hacker ZeE never gets into trouble!"

"Alright, no more Megatokyo for you, buddy!" Alex gave him a shove from behind, egging him onwards.

"Squ33k!" Danny said loudly in his ear and roared with laughter as Alex rounded on him, "It was the 3vil on3! Spar3 m3!" He laughed at Alex's reaction and weaved around him to leap in front of ZeE and the two started racing each other down the hall, their music loving friend shouting in their wake.

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Nothing. They had come up with nothing for five days. Danny Fenton had just ceased to exist. And Danny Phantom had gone right along with him. Most of Amity Park had given up and gone on with their lives like the rest of the world. Kids disappeared all the time, what did one more matter? But he mattered to several people.

The 'hunting party' had started out as just Sam, Tucker, and Jazz but soon Valerie had joined in and eventually Jack and Maddie. Of course, the first person the original trio searched was Vlad. But the millionaire was going about his own business in Wisconsin, plainly unaware that his arch rival had been kidnapped. From there, everything went downhill. There were no leads, no clues, not anything. They were searching blind; groping in the darkness for someone who seemed to no longer exist.

But they weren't giving up. They weren't going to stop looking, even if it meant sleepless nights and horrible waking nightmares they'd keep going. That was how much Danny meant to them. They'd sacrifice everything to get him back. And they knew he was doing the same to get back to them.

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Danny was exhausted after the cleaning duty. He didn't even want to think. He tossed his cloths in the dirty laundry basket by the main door and slumped under his covers, welcoming sleep. ZeE and Alex continued to giggle softly in the darkness about some private joke but Danny closed his eyes and blocked them out, sighing contentedly as he sank into his own mind. The dream came as quickly and as abruptly as reality.

He was in a house. A nice house, not grand or anything but homely and a little on the small side. But it felt warm and welcoming like he belonged there. Realization hit him; this was his home, his living room, his life. This was where he lived. But he didn't smile. It was empty. No one was here to see him come home. Perhaps they'd forgotten about him. He tried to recall who it was who should be here to greet him but all he could think of were titles; best friends, mother, father, sister; and no faces came to mind.

Troubled by the strange hollow feeling he was getting, he walked out of the living room and turned his attention to the stairs. They seemed long, haunted by a presence he couldn't quite put his finger on, stretching inevitably onward and upward forever.

"Daaaaannnnnnnnnyyyyyy…" It was a soft whisper, like a voice carried by the breeze, trickling from somewhere up that huge staircase, hissing teasingly familiar in his ears, "Daaaaaaannnnnnnnnyyyyyyy…"

Tentatively at first and then with greater confidence, he began to climb the stairs. It seemed to go on for hours but time has little meaning in dreams and to him it was like a blink of an eye. But his legs hurt terribly and he was worn out. He glanced back at the stairs, glaring at them, and then turned to look down the hall, hoping it was going to be some terribly cliché going-on-forever-stretch-of-hall that led to nowhere. It wasn't. It was the usual hall. The only thing out of place was the strange light coming from behind his slightly ajar bedroom door.

He walked forward, grabbed the handle, and pulled it open, spilling a pool of neon blue light onto the floor, illuminating himself and the hall. His eyes widened. Instead of his room there was a flood of glowing water, the only thing stopping it from dumping into the hall appeared to be a membrane extended over the threshold of his door.

Someone drifted by, pausing, turning to look at him. He didn't remember her name, for some reason, but he remembered the feeling he got when he was around her. It bubbled inside him now, like a pot of boiling water, frothing at the edges.

"Danny…" Her voice sounded strange, hollow and echoy, "You…you're here…? Why?"

"Huh?" He was confused, he didn't understand how she knew his name when he obviously knew her put she herself had no name, "I…don't know what you mean."

"Danny's back…?" Came another voice, equally eerie, and a boy with dark skin floated up beside the girl dressed all in black, "When…why…he cares…?"

"I don't know who you people are." The words came out before he could stop them and the two people in the water-like substance blinked sorrowfully at him before moving forward, their hands out stretched.

"You forgot us?" The girl asked, "After all we'd done for you? You forgot?" Her hand passed through the membrane but it was no longer covered in flesh; it was a rotted skeletal hand, reaching for his face. He screamed and threw himself back against the wall, trying to run down the hall, but there were walls on either side of him now. He was trapped.

More people were reaching for him, their decayed hands grasping at his shirt, his hair, anything they could get a hold of. He struggled against them as they continued to call his name and ask why he forgot them, pulling him, moaning like zombies from a horror film. They converged on him, spilling out, pressing against him and he in turn was pressed back against the wall, crying out in terror at these horrible things his memories had become.

And then he came out and made it worse. He just floated out of the water, through the membrane, not changing into the undead creatures like the others had, hovering in the air just above the mob. His brilliant green eyes were sad, flooded with tears, his white hair was limp and dirty, scuffled, and his outfit was torn, ripped. He looked like he was covered with a thin layer of dust, like an old toy doll someone had left in the attic and forgotten about for years.

"It hurts more than anything," He whispered and it rang above the groans of the others, "Because you forgot me…"

Danny woke up screaming, sweat beading on his forehead, breath ragged, the cries of terror ripping at his throat, the dreadfulness of the dream-turned-nightmare pounding in his mind right in step with his furiously beating heart. He didn't even notice the lights flicker on, ZeE dive to his side as Alex rushed to get help, all he could do was scream and scream and let the tears burn at his eyes. It was true; he had forgotten them all. He was a monster. And that was what made him scream.

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I am such a dark and twisted person. Look at that nightmare! I have to say, thought, it was partially influenced by a movie I saw called 'X'. Whew! Talk about bloody! And I think no more Megatokyo for yours truly as well, dang, the l33t is fr3aking taking 0ver! Ah! L00k! It's h3r3! Run for your lif3!

No, seriously, l33t belongs to Megatokyo. Not me. And Danny Phantom and co belong to Butch Hartman. But Alex and ZeE are my buddies; please do not take them…! Thanks! Please leave me a review! Byes!