Danny's conversation with Dark Danny had left him shaken. He didn't know what to think. The introduction to his dark side left him worried. Was he in danger of turning into alternate version of himself? The future he fought so hard to prevent from happening?
*"You think I'm going to let us turn evil?" The voice asked. "Listen, I fought Dan alongside you. I'm not going to let all that fighting go to waste"*
By now, Danny decided to just play along with it. If he was going crazy, no use in fighting it.
"How can I trust you?" Danny asked. "I mean I just 'met' you last night… in a dream… in which you attacked me in the end"
*"So we got off to a bad start, that's no reason not to trust me" the voice replied.*
"Yeah, because being attacked by my alter ego totally makes me want to trust him" Danny said, rolling his eyes.
*"Aside from me attacking you, what other reasons do you have to not trust me?" The voice asked.*
"You said you were tired of doing things my way, that you were calling the shots from now on, and that you'd get revenge by any means necassary" Danny argued in deadpan.
*"Do you know how much energy it takes to enter your dreams?" Asked the voice. "I was simply tired and I let my emotions get the better of me, OK?"*
"Furthermore, in your own words, you said that you were a personification of my negative emotions including my guilt, anger, and despair" Danny pointed out.
*"Yes, but that doesn't mean anything" Dark Danny futilely tried to argue. "Listen, I'm not a super villain. All I'm concerned with is revenge"*
"Exactly!" Danny said. "What are you going to do after we get our revenge?"
Dark Danny fell silent, unable to think of a reply.
"Add in the fact that you've grown powerful enough to take over my body against my will and you know why I don't trust you" Danny continued.
Dark Danny decided to quit trying to argue. Danny was so busy arguing with the voice that he didn't notice his sister standing in the doorway, listening to every word he said. Jazz knew he blamed himself for Sam's death and that he felt extremely guilty, but was he so upset that he started arguing with people who weren't even there? Danny barely heard her come in.
"Uh Danny, who were you talking to?" Jazz asked.
"Uh, no one" Danny said real quickly.
Danny debated whether or not he should tell her about the nightmare he had last night and his confrontation of his dark side. But she'd probably just brush it off as a side effect of his stressed mind. Which would inevitably lead to more 'therapy'.
"I don't expect her to believe me; best case scenerio, she sits me down for another therapy session. Worst case scenerio, I end up in a straitjacket" Danny thought.
*'She lives in the most haunted town in America, if not the world, deals with ghosts on a daily basis and has actually met your evil self and you're telling me she would have a hard time believing this"*
"Shut up, you're not exactly helping the situation" Danny mentally replied.
"But I saw you talking to yourself" Jazz said. "Something about not being able to trust them"
"I was just, uh… rehearsing dialogue for a script writing assignment" Danny lied.
"Then where's your script?" Jazz asked.
"Well, I" Danny stammered, trying to think of a lie.
"Danny," Jazz said, knowing he was lying.
Danny sighed and decided to come clean. He told Jazz about his nightmare, describing every detail. He explained that now he was starting to hear a nasty voice in his head.
"So, now you think I'm crazy, right?" Danny asked.
"No I don't" Jazz said to his surprise. "This type of thing is actually common among relatives and people close to the deceased. They feel as if they could've done something to prevent their death. The figure in your nightmare himself said he was a representation of all your negative feelings, including your guilt. As for the voice in your head, that is you subconsciously blaming yourself for Sam's death."
"But what about the fact that he admitted that he's responsible for my black outs and my violent mood swings?" Danny asked.
"Simple, people under heavy stress frequently faint and/ or experience blackouts accompanied by short periods of memory loss." Jazz explained. "And the violent mood swings could be chalked up as part of the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance, although they do not always occus in that order. You seem to be switching between anger and depression."
"Are you saying that this is all in my head?" Danny asked.
"Precisely" Jazz answered.
*"Go ahead and listen to her advice and keep deluding yourself" Dark Danny hissed.*
"Shut up!" Danny whispered quietly under his breath, although not quietly enough as Jazz could hear him.
"Did you just tell me to shut up?" Jazz asked. "I'm only trying to help"
"No, no; I was talking to the obnoxious voice I mentioned earlier" Danny explained. "Speaking of which, I have another question: if this is all in my head then is it possible for me to control the voice in my head?"
"Of course it is; you say the voice/ figure in your dreams introduced himself as your anger and guilt. In order to regain control, you've got to sto blaming yourself" Jazz advised. "Anything else you feel like talking about?"
"No, but thank you for your help" Danny said.
Despite how annoying his sister's 'psychology' could be, he had to admit she was good. Maybe it all was in his head.
*"There's just no reasoning with you, is there?" Dark Danny scoffed.*
Or maybe he really was crazy. Danny wasn't in the mood for another arguement so he ignored him. Heard a tapping at his window and saw a face he hadn't seen in a long time; his genderbent clone Danielle. Danny hadn't seen her since he and Valerie teamed up to rescue her from Plasmius. Danny had planned on convincing his parents to let Danielle stay with his family, but she had disappeared before he could ask.
"Hey Dani," he greeted as he opened the window to let her in. "Where have you been? How have things been going for you?"
"Things have been going pretty good" Dani said. "I've been staying in Chicago. I didn't have any ID so I kinda had to use my powers to scavenge for money"
"You shouldn't be using your powers for evil" Danny told her.
"Don't worry, I didn't scam or pickpocket bystanders" Dani explained. "In fact, I used my powers to help get predators off the street"
"What do you mean?" Asked Danny.
"I had no money so I posed as a prostitute and lured clients and pimps into an alley. Then when they tried to rape me, I knocked them out, tied them up, took their money and called the police" Danielle explained.
"That's very dangerous, you could've been killed or worse. You don't have to live like that, you could come live with us" Danny offered.
"No, no; I couldn't" Dani said. "I wouldn't want to be a burden on you and your family"
"What makes you think you'd be a burden on us?" Danny asked.
"I'd just get in the way" Dani replied. "I'm not here because I'm looking for a new home"
"Then why are you here?" Danny asked.
"Because I heard about Sam's death and I wanted to see if you were OK" Dani stated.
"I'm fine, there's no need to worry about me" Danny insisted.
"I know you want revenge and I'm letting you know that if there's anything you need me to do, I'll be there for you" Danielle promised.
"It's too dangerous for you to get involved" Danny said. "Vlad's gone off the deep end and I don't want him coming after you"
*"That's right! Get rid of her." Dark Danny said. "She's part of the reason Vlad killed Sam in the first place"*
"What're you talking about?" Danny asked his dark counterpart.
*"Remember? Vlad said the reason he wanted revenge is because we ruined his cloning project by rescuing and saving Danielle" Dark Danny reminded him. "If we hadn't saved her, Sam might still be alive today"*
"Quit being so selfish" Danny replied. "I wasn't going to let an innocent child die all to satisfy some fruit loop's obsession"
"Danny! Danny!" Dani yelled, interrupting Danny's train of thought.
"Huh? What?" Danny asked, confused.
"I said that I can take care of myself and that I'm not worried about Plasmius" Dani told him.
"I know you can hold your own, but I don't want anyone else getting dragged into this," Danny said. "However there is one person that I think you can stay with?"
"Who?"
### ###################################################
Valerie was still busy investigating the mysterious double life of Vlad Masters. Ever since she had discovered the existence of halfas, she'd been curious. According to Phantom (who she still didn't fully trust), Vlad had been participating in several illegal activities including kidnapping, robbery, extortion, and human cloning. Unfortunately, since he was half ghost he easily managed to cover his tracks and all evidence of cloning was destroyed along with his mansion.
He knew that she knew his secret identity so going undercover by pretending to work for him was out of the question. Lately, he had been acting more suspicious. He appeared happier and often wore a gloating smirk whenever he appeared on television as if he was taunting someone. Coincidentally enough, this attitude change started shortly after the murder of Samantha Manson.
Why was that so suspcious? There were about 46 murders a day in the United States. But Amity Park was different. A murder was a rare occurence, with there being maybe 1 murder every 6 months. And just because Vlad appeared gloatful didn't mean he was the killer.
Valerie was sitting in her room, polishing her equipment when he heard someone outside her window. She was surprised to see Phantom floating outside. Hoping he didn't see her face, she quickly put on her mask.
"Phantom? What are you doing here?" She growled.
"I'm here to ask you a favor" Danny said.
"Why should I help you?" She asked.
Danny simply sighed and stepped aside to reveal Danielle.
"Dani? What happened to you?" Valerie asked. "I thought that maybe Plasmius had got his hands on you"
"I didn't want to be somebody else's problem so I moved to Chicago" Dani told her.
"I came to you because Dani needs a place to stay and I don't want Plasmius coming after her" Danny said. "He's already killed one person,"
"What do you mean, he's already killed one person?"
"He's the one responsible for Sam's death" Danny said. "He killed her as revenge against me for saving Danielle and spoiling his cloning scheme. If he finds out Dani's back in Amity Park, he might go after her to so I was wondering if she could stay with you."
Valerie was surprised to find out her suspicions were right. However, neither of them had evidence of any of his crimes. She wanted to ask Danny how close he was to Sam since he had said Vlad killed her for revenge. Valerie put that aside. She had helped rescue Dani and she certainly didn't want to see anything bad happen to her.
"Sure, she can stay with me" Valerie agreed.
"Thanks" Danny said. "I owe you one"
"Yeah, yeah; just get out of here before-" Valerie started to ask before having another thought. "Wait, how did you know where I live?"
However when she turned around, Phantom was gone.
*"You know if she didn't hate us, we could have gotten her to help us" Dark Danny said.*
"I thought you wanted to be the only one to get your hands on Plasmius" Danny argued.
*"I am, but she could at least help us weaken his empire" Dark Danny said. "By the way, when are you going to tell your friends about me?"*
Danny's eyes widened as he hadn't even thought of that. They were probably the only ones who'd believe him. At least he hoped they would believe him.
I've just had a surge of creativity lately. I hoped you enjoyed this chapter and as always, have a wonderful day.