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"You know what? I'm going to get some snacks for us. I'll be right back." The words felt fuzzy and far away even to his own hearing, Danny just managing to choke them out as he stumbled to his feet. He was barely able to get around a clustering of bookshelves before he was clutching at his chest and breathing heavily.
Okay, Fenton, okay, it was okay, this didn't have to mean anything. It didn't have to mean anything. Alright- Okay, so, yeah, Andrew was supposed to die this year while studying for finals. That could be in a few days or even weeks! Andrew had always studied ahead of time so it was probably a fair few weeks until finals came along. There was no need to worry. It wasn't- It wasn't like Danny's time powers would send him back to the night Andrew died.
Except what if they had? There was a reason this library felt so familiar to him and that was because he had spent the last two years practically living in it. Danny knew Vidya so well at this point and even now he knew that the library he was standing in was her - or at least, it was the library that would become her. God, Andrew was going to die soon.
Why would his time powers bring him here? It wasn't like he could be the cause- God, no. Maybe this was his powers punishing him? Getting into a fight with his mates and making him hate them and now here he was talking to an Andrew who didn't even know him and never really would could be nothing but a punishment. Although, thinking on it, it could also be his powers trying to help him.
He was too scared to try and work it out with Andrew and Randy and face the fear they had looked at him with so instead he was sent to the past where he could calm down and be comforted by an Andrew that wouldn't pry or worry about him.
Huffing out a laugh, Danny tried to stop his shaking as he shook his head. Of course the only two choices could be punishment or protection. That was his kind of life, wasn't it? Well, he said life…
Why was he here? If this library was meant to be Vidya then that meant Andrew would die in here, but it couldn't be now at this moment. There was no purpose to Danny being here as he couldn't stop something like this. To stop it would mean to risk Andrew never forming. Besides, Danny didn't even know what had really killed Andrew.
He had said he died in a library, but he hadn't said much more than that. Danny had always just assumed the Sect of the Crow had returned. Or, he had, until he had met Randy and gotten to know him. Randy was far too careful and far too in love with Andrew to ever risk his safety. Considering what he knew now, it was unlikely the Sect had found him.
There was always the possibility grief had finally overtaken Andrew. If Andrew and Randy 'died' then Danny wouldn't want much to live anymore anyways. Except, no. Just as Danny had his friends Andrew had his dreams. This was an Andrew who was trying to so badly carve out a new life for himself. This Andrew was fueled by misery and pain and was using it to try and find a way to truly and honestly smile. Andrew would never throw that away no matter how much love he held for Randy.
It couldn't have been an accident, either. This was only a few years after the Priest of Death. Those days of killing were behind him, but the Priest lurked underneath Andrew's skin. At the moment in time Danny was there it was probably stronger than he had ever seen it before. Besides, Andrew wouldn't have been vague and cagey about his death if it was an accident. He would have made self-deprecating jokes and laughed the pain off every time it was brought up. So what happened?
It couldn't have been the Sect, it wouldn't be Andrew taking his own life, it wasn't an accident, so how had Andrew died? The way he talked about it, it was almost as if Andrew had never been able to remember the actual death itself. Fuck. Fuck. Why had Danny never asked more about Andrew's death? God, he never thought he would need to know the exact date and circumstances of his mate's death.
Okay, okay, just, take it easy. It wasn't the Sect. Good, the last thing Andrew needed was to be murdered when he became a ghost. It wasn't Andrew who did it, which, yeah, that one was obvious enough. Andrew had never been the type to run. It wasn't an accident - Andrew was far too careful and the Priest was far too deadly.
That left murder, then, just not by the Sect. Andrew said it happened in the library. That meant the library had to be destroyed - Vidya had to be destroyed. How? No, not how, the real question was what could destroy a library. An explosion, of course, a natural disaster- Could it have been an earthquake? No, Andrew would have laughed that one off. It was definitely murder. That would explain his silence if someone had managed to defeat the Priest of Death.
Who could ever be strong enough to kill the Priest and destroy a library, though? The only other way to destroy a library so thoroughly would be a fire, but… An arsonist, maybe? If it was an accidental fire then Andrew would complain and rant about it all the time. It had to have been a fire set during or after Andrew had been attacked and killed. By who, though? Who was powerful enough to kill Andrew?
Even as the questions whirled through his head, Danny felt his breathing grow shallow again. The thing was- The thing was that he remembered Andrew's reactions around fire. It was never too bad, but he always closed up or went quiet if it was too out of control. Too big and only fear could be seen in his eyes. The same fear that…
It was the same fear in Andrew's eyes when he looked in fire as when he had looked at Danny right before he had fled Vidya.
God, Danny had almost forgotten, but Andrew had looked at him with terror. A person didn't look at someone else with fear like that unless it was genuine. It wasn't fear for Danny or what he was going through. No. It was fear for his life. Except- Except that didn't make sense! What had changed to make Andrew look at him like that in such a sudden way?
He had been avoiding the library and the only difference he had since he had last seen Andrew was his cut hair. He looked completely different with his hair cut like this… Or he looked very, very familiar. Had a part of Andrew remembered this meeting when Danny had seen him last? Why wouldn't he tell him though?
Okay, alright, granted Danny had run off as soon as he was able, but if it was just Andrew remembering his meeting with him then why would he look at Danny with such fear. It was like Andrew had been looking at… At…
At Death.
Heh… Spectra couldn't have been more right about him if she had tried. Danny was such a- He was such a fuck up. He had never thought to ask Andrew or press for details and now the thing he needed to know most- Well, no, he didn't need to know because a part of him already did. A part of him had known since he realized just when he was.
No matter why or how his powers reacted like they did they were still time powers. There was no loss of control with the handling of time. Portals were formed for specific and definite reasons and purposes. If a portal formed it was for a reason. A portal had formed and delivered Danny to the past on the very night his mate was to die when there should be no cause or reason for him to die. But now Danny was here. Danny was here on the night his mate died and that meant… That meant…
Danny didn't even notice as his legs gave out, the pain of hitting the floor not enough to jar him out of his thoughts. How could it be? How could any pain be worse than the pain he felt right now? It made sense, though. It all made sense in some sick and twisted horrible way that just wasn't fair.
Danny would have to kill his mate. If a time portal had formed and dropped him here then there was really no other choice. This was the night Andrew died and changing it could change everything. Danny didn't need Clockwork to tell him just how dangerous it was to not follow time's path. He had learned that lesson well enough with Dan, after all.
Danny would have to kill Andrew tonight and the worst part - the worst part - was that Danny wouldn't even be able to tell Andrew what would become of him. He couldn't. There had been no recognition when Danny Phantom and the Ghostwriter met and so Danny couldn't tell Andrew what would become of his future.
Andrew would die and he would never know that better days were coming. He would die without knowing that he was going to see Randy again and that they would become so much more than he had ever dreamed of- That Andrew himself would become so much more! Things were going to be so amazing and so beautiful in the future and it was a future Danny wasn't even sure he would be part of anymore but Andrew was going to be so happy and so safe and…
There could be no memory of the strange teenager that had met Andrew in the college library during a late night study session. It was too risky to everything for Andrew to remember Danny in any way, shape, or form. That should be- It wouldn't be easy, but it was something that could be done.
Danny remembered his own death. Danny remembered dying and he knew how fuzzy all memories and senses could be in those moments between life and the after. It would be fuzzy, but things still remained. Danny would need to be very, very careful. Andrew couldn't… Did he have to be awake? If nothing else Danny could knock him out and let Andrew have a peaceful death he wouldn't remember-
God. He was fucking planning his mate's death- He had to, though. He had to. It wasn't just Andrew, either. Vidya was meant to go with him and that meant she would need to burn. They would both need to burn for this to work.
"James?" Once again it felt as if his ice had turned against him. For a moment, just a moment, Danny felt the very air inside his lungs freeze, ice crystals swirling and forming in the silence before they were breathed out through fogged breath. "Are you alright?"
"Guess I'm just a little tired." Danny looked at the moderately worried Andrew, drinking in the sight of him. He would never see this living version of Andrew again. "It's been a long day."
"Yes, it seems it." Andrew tilted his head, eyes narrowed a sliver. "I'd be interested to hear the true story if you feel up to it." Ah… His sweet Priest of Death.
"My lie was that bad, huh?" Some things didn't change. Danny never had been able to lie to Andrew, or at least, his lies had never been believed.
"Like you said, it seems like it's been a long day." Fingers warm with blood and life gently brushed against the fringes of his hair, Andrew hesitant in the way he smiled at him. "Why don't we go back to my dorm so you can get some rest. You can tell me the truth of what you're doing here in the morning."
"That sounds great." Danny was sent here to kill his mate and he had no choice in the matter. How fucking cruel. If that was the way it was… If that was the way it was, then Danny wasn't going to allow Andrew to die afraid. "That sounds great, but I can't do that."
"Oh?" There was a touch of genuine hurt in those eyes and god. If Danny could hurt him this much after just meeting, then how hurt was his Andrew at remembering what Danny was about to do? Because he had. Andrew had remembered. Andrew now knew that his murderer was Danny. "I suppose I can't blame you. We are strangers, after all, and it would be-"
"No, no, your offer of letting me stay with you was sweet." Danny wasn't going to let Andrew die afraid and fearing what might come next. He couldn't stand that thought. Besides, fear wasn't always an assurance. To come back as a ghost required more than fear. "If circumstances were different then I would have said yes quicker than a heartbeat."
"Circumstances?" Andrew frowned, Danny letting himself smile as he saw the Priest stir behind his eyes. That was right… Let him come out to play. He would survive this even if this Andrew didn't. "What circumstances are keeping you from saying yes?"
"You." Oh, he knew all the stories. He knew how so many of his ghostly friends had died and it wasn't just fear. It was rage. He knew the stories, he knew his friends, and he knew himself. It was anger, and wrath, and bitterness, and the need for revenge. To come back was to have a reason to come back. So… So, Danny would give him that reason. "Did you ever read the book White Fang?"
"Where's this coming from?" There he was. Dark and vengeful and ready for a fight. "I did actually read it recently for a literature class. I'm surprised someone as young as you-"
"He didn't put up much of a fight." The air was still. Stale. It already tasted like death. "Randall Nicolas Beaumont." He knew more about them than he had a right to know and he would use it. If he was forced to do this, then he would burn all his bridges here and now. Maybe they would light the way into the hell he was going into for using this against him.
"Who are you." Andrew- No, the Priest was getting angry. Good. Anger was what would save him. "I don't know who you think you are-"
"You honestly thought you could run? Your brother was clever in the way he hid you two, but surely you realized the truth, didn't you? You can never run from the eyes of God." Hate him. Hate him.
"And you're a fool if you think you're enough to defeat me." Hello, Priest… Ah. Maybe this was why Andrew was alone when Danny had first met him. He had run all the way across the world and had just started to trust and had met a sweet boy that he could have loved, yet still- Still-
In the end, Death would always find a way to claim her children.
"Andrew Claude Riter… No, Priest of Death." Andrew would die in this library and Danny would do everything in his power to make sure he returned. It didn't matter if he never got to see or touch this man again, but Danny would not let him disappear into nothing. He deserved better than that- They both deserved far better than something like that. Randy and Andrew were meant for each other and Danny wouldn't get in the way of that. He was just…
Danny was nothing more than a substitute that was at it's end. Like he had told Andrew in one of his games, a substitute was temporary. They came and then they went once they finished what needed to be done. This… This was what needed to be done.
"The Lord bids your work done and complete. It is time for you to return home to the glory of His kingdom."