Catalyst: A Story about Change

Author's Note: Warning, violence and a little bit of language ahead. I'm fairly certain it still falls cleanly under "T" however.

Also, special thanks to a certain someone (cough…family member…cough) who helped me bash this chapter into shape by being the harshest critic ever…in a good way. :)

Der Doppelgänger ("The Spirit Double")
by Heinrich Heine
Adapted for music by Franz Schubert

Still is the night, it quiets the streets down
In that window my love would appear
She's long since gone away from this town
But this house where she lived still remains here.

A man stands here too, staring up into space
And wrings his hands with the strength of his pain
It chills me, when I behold his pale face
For the moon shows me my own features again!

You spirit double, you specter with my face
Why do you mock my love-pain so
That tortured me here, here in this place
So many nights, so long ago?

Chapter 15: Retribution

December 23rd

Even as his eyes were locked on the figure standing in the doorway, Danny's arms remained around Sam's waist, his cheek was still pressed close to her abdomen, and his mouth was open in an unfinished plea for understanding and forgiveness.

He'd been near tears an instant ago, croaking out his words, desperate and hopeful at the same time. These emotions were all still there, just arrested momentarily as he and Sam both stared at the newcomer.

It was…himself. Danny Fenton stood half-crouched in the doorway, his hand still on the doorknob. He'd grown up, and was now more clearly his double than ever before.

The phantom was revealed inside his human half through the green light pouring from his eyes, and the strength of that light made his entire face strangely inhuman as the glow obscured his pupils completely. Danny recognized the overpowering fury in that gaze; it was a ghost's equivalent of seeing red, a state he'd been all too familiar with in the past.

Then the moment of shocked silence, in which everyone simply stared and took in the sudden change, passed. Danny closed his still open mouth, never to finish his previous sentence, and let his arms drop from Sam's waist even as her hands fell away from his shoulders.

His younger self was the first to speak. "I'll kill you." It was a breathless gasp, barely audible, but the vehement promise, the agonized loathing in it was unmistakable. A second later he fully transformed, and things were thrown into fast motion as he flew forward screaming the death promise. "I"LL KILL YOU!"

Danny barely had time to stand up and push Sam out of the way before he was caught around the waist by his younger self and phased through the building.

Then he hesitated; this was the first time in his memory he could recall doing so in a fight, but even as he was thrown up into the air by his enraged doppelganger the impossible nature of the situation came clear. He'd taken an oath never to fight again; had just reaffirmed it in front of Sam, and now here he was facing a powerful opponent head on! How exactly did he avoid fighting back without getting beaten to a…

All thoughts were temporarily blown away as the ghostly wail ripped into him from below, tearing into his eardrums and tossing him up like a feather. After a few moments it stopped, and he took a defensive posture in mid-air, looking around for his younger double. There was no sign of him…

"K-hah!" Danny rocketed toward the ground, momentarily out of control after taking a hit on the head from behind. Crud, crud, crud… He spun further out of control as ecto-blasts hit him from above, and a moment later he crashed straight through a car, only just managing to go intangible as it exploded. He sank into the concrete below and floated there for a bit, trying to pull his thoughts together.

How did he get behind me…? Could his younger self teleport now? Or had he just moved really fast while he'd been recovering from the ghostly wail? In any case, the double attack had gotten him to focus on the fight; he needed to figure out how to deal with this, and now. Danny frowned darkly to himself as he gingerly felt the back of his head; it felt like someone had taken a nail gun to it.

One thing was certain; this was not going to be a repeat performance of the last fight he'd had with him. His eyebrows shot up momentarily. Does he have a Fenton thermos on him…? No, he'd been empty handed in the doorway to Sam's room. Danny blinked and shook his head, trying to clear it, and his jaw tightened as he thought about what to do.

There were two options: run away, or stay to confront his younger self…without fighting back. But he knew that running away would be absolutely meaningless; besides, the very idea grated against his nerves. And above all, it wouldn't prove anything in his younger self's eyes, except maybe that he was a coward. So he'd stay, try to get him to calm down, and hopefully…talk with him. He was hardly optimistic about how responsive he'd be, however; the kid seemed entirely too serious about wanting him dead.

He cautiously rose out of the ground, still invisible, and looked around. There was nothing; his younger self had probably gone invisible as well. Danny crossed his arms and grimaced. This was going to be tricky…and potentially painful.

A moment later, he jerked back slightly in surprise as his younger self phased in only a few feet away. He watched, eyes widening slightly, as the boy turned in jerky circles, looking around wildly, his fists clenched in frustration.

"Show yourself, you bastard!"

Here goes. "I'm here." Danny became visible as he spoke, watching as his younger self spotted him. He could see the shock literally jolt through his other self's body at their proximity, but he recovered almost instantly, coming at him again. His punches and kicks were wild, though, so Danny was able to dodge them easily; judging from his bright eyes and crazy attacks, the kid was still seeing red. When a hit came too close, Danny would simply phase out momentarily. Maybe just letting him run down for a bit would be a good idea…

But before long his younger self roared with frustration and then suddenly stopped, and Danny could see him literally reigning in his emotions. Apparently he'd finally realized that letting his anger blaze out of control wasn't helping him achieve his goal: namely, beating him senseless.

Then he was charging forward again, seemingly unaware or unconcerned that Danny hadn't attacked during the brief pause. This time the punches came closer; the attacks were more controlled and subsequently more dangerous, and Danny found himself phasing out more often.

Suddenly his younger self phased with him as he punched at his stomach, and a hit connected. "Guh!" The nature of the fight changed immediately as it became a dangerous contest of instinct and reflex action as Danny was forced to think and move faster and faster to avoid the boy's phase shifts. Whether intangible or tangible, it didn't matter, if they were both in the same phase his younger self could make contact. Danny had to react nearly instantaneously to avoid being hit. Unfortunately, any slight advantage he had in terms of speed was curbed since he was always forced to react, never act, to defend but never attack. This wasn't a good thing…

"Argh…!" Danny grunted as his younger self managed to make contact with a fist to his stomach again, with a particularly fast phase shift. Grunting in pain, he was slow to react when an instant later he was grabbed by his arm and leg and violently thrown into a nearby building. He turned intangible to avoid the impact at the last moment, and instead passed safely through the wall into an office of some sort. He caught himself about twenty feet in, just in front of the receptionist's desk, which was thankfully empty.

This was not going well. Danny tried to clamp down on his frustration as he turned back around, but getting hit in the gut and then thrown through a building was hardly enjoyable, damn it! He grimaced; his younger self was still too incensed to notice or care that he wasn't fighting back.

Damn! Danny grunted as a blast of ecto energy threw him into and through the desk. He caught himself in mid-air, and watched, hunched over slightly, as his adversary's disembodied face seeped through the wall, his burning hands visible a few feet below. The sight was strangely mesmerizing as the light played across they boy's murderous face; it was like a disturbing glance into his own dark past.

His younger self paused for an instant, still half in and half out of the building, and then came quickly through, speeding up to attack again. Danny immediately zipped through the ceiling and headed for the roof, intent on getting out.

Horrified shock radiated through him as he realized that the floors below him were disintegrating under the power of another ghostly wail; he hadn't considered the possibility that his younger self would actually take down a whole building just to get to him...then the shock wave caught up with him. Quickly, Danny curled into himself and created an ecto-shield around his body, riding the blast up and into the night sky.

He squinted down after it abated, ears ringing, and lowered his arms. He felt shaky and sick, and fought to remember if the floors he'd gone through had been empty; he thought that they had been.

A fire was spreading through the ruined building, and he could see his younger self in the middle of it, hands on his knees, struggling to catch his breath, but even this high, Danny could still feel his malevolent glare.

He turned as his double started up toward him, and began accelerating away as fast as he could. He had to get out of the city. He needed to get them both as fast and as far away as possible. The boy was too angry to control himself, and in this densely populated…

Danny's eyes widened. Sam! What if that had been Sam's apartment building, the fool! It wasn't, obviously; it had been an office building, but still they hadn't been that far away from her, and the idea that she could have been collateral damage…arrg! Danny made himself clamp down on the anger; he couldn't afford to get angry. But apparently his other self was willing to go through things, maybe even people, to get to him.

He was just starting to put on some speed when a fist came out of nowhere and caught him solidly in the left temple, and once again he was spiraling down, out of control. Damn it all! He skidded as he hit an empty street, tearing up an asphalt trench thirty feet long. Shock and anger radiated through him. How had the boy gotten behind him? Of course! Teleportation! How stupid of him to forget he might know it now!

Danny didn't have time to mull it over, however, as he heard a noise from behind, and he twisted around just in time to miss a kick aimed at his head. He instinctively caught the foot, only to let it go and phase out, temporarily invisible and intangible, in an attempt to gain a little distance.

Not fighting back was so…unnatural! He'd almost thrown his younger self then, almost raised his hand to send an ecto-blast to gain some time that way.

He clenched his fists as he floated there. He knew he couldn't do that; wouldn't. The life he wanted, the promises he'd made; they would all crumble if he did! The good habits he'd slowly started forming might be crushed, overpowered, and even if they weren't, any trust Sam might have in him would die, any chance for redemption in his other self's eyes would be lost…

"Coward! COWAAARD!" He looked up, startled out of his churning thoughts, to see his younger self turning in circles in the street as he screamed into the air, the muscles in his neck standing out. Danny watched, not sure what to do. His younger self was still so distraught, the idea that he could reason with him right now seemed ludicrous.

As if to prove his point, the boy continued to scream in fury, ghostly energy crackling around him. "Damn you! I …," he grabbed a nearby lamp post in his rage, bending it down with both hands, "…am going…to kill you!" A final yank had it snapped off at the base, and he threw it away from himself like a javelin as hard as he could, already turning in circles again as it hurtled through the air.

Danny watched in semi shock as it went through a building and kept going into another building, like the gigantic makeshift spear it was. His younger self was acting like a mad man! The irony of this thought wasn't lost on him as he flew closer, still invisible.

"I don't want to fight you…" His younger self swung around in an instant, firing off an ecto-blast that barely missed his head, and screamed again briefly when he realized Danny hadn't materialized himself. He threw another ecto-blast out randomly, and a moment later an explosion came from behind as something blew up, probably another car.

Obviously his younger self needed a target, and unfortunately he was the most durable thing around at the moment. He became visible in order to get his attention. "Stop it! You're destroying things!"

His younger self stared at him for a single moment, his eyes widening even further, then came at him, even more furious than before. "RAAAAH!" Maybe that hadn't been the best choice of words, considering his past?

Danny made the split second decision not to go intangible and to block the attacks instead, in the hopes that the rough contact would help to wear his younger self out sooner and maybe calm him down. He almost immediately regretted it, as the boy furiously kicked and punched at him as hard as he could.

He grunted in pain as a particularly hard kick connected with his shin, and suppressed a growl of frustration as his younger self redoubled his attacks. This had to be hurting him too, but it only seemed to be making him angrier!

Suddenly the kid caught his forearm, having changed his last punch into a grab at the last instant. Ah, shiii… "Guh!" The air was forced out of him as he took a knee to the gut, and even as he was doubling up in pain he was elbowed on the back of the head, right on the same tender spot as before; for an instant his vision was filled with a red haze.

Then he was being kicked repeatedly between the legs, and the world melted into pure agony; all he could do at first was scream silently as he crumpled into the fetal position, still in mid-air. Then he managed to turn intangible, knowing he had to stop those kicks, and forced his eyes up through the haze of pain, desperately tracking his younger self's motions.

The contest from earlier began again, as his double attempted to catch him in the same phase, and Danny knew that this time he couldn't afford to screw up. The pain, which was pulsing outward to his finger tips and back again, still had him stuck in a fetal position at present, suspended in mid-air, and thus more vulnerable than before. Unable to move, he was forced to watch his younger self like a hawk and avoid his attacks purely through phasing himself intangible and back again.

He recovered slowly as the dangerous dance continued, his teeth clenched tight in concentration, careful not to give away his recovery by changing positions. When he could move freely again he caught his younger self's foot during one of his kicks, getting him by surprise, and used it to throw him back a few meters. It wasn't an attack, he decided, just an attempt to gain time.

Then he was off like a rocket, his speed such that a small impact crater was left behind in his wake. He had to make it out of the city, fast! Then he'd have more options…

Danny could hear the scream of rage from behind, but he continued to accelerate, not giving him the chance to catch up this time. Soon a sonic boom resounded behind him as he passed the speed of sound, and another boom announced his younger self's pursuit. Danny pushed himself to go faster still, as the city sped by below him. The kid could keep up, he had no doubt; if he was fast enough to get through his defenses in close combat, then he was fast enough to match his speed.

Damn it. That had hurt like hell. This was so incredibly hard! Never, not even at age fourteen, had he ever forced himself to not punch, to reign in a kick, to stop himself from bringing that familiar energy to his fingertips.

He'd briefly thought about simply forming a shield around himself in order to recover, but knew the obvious counter to that. His younger self would use another ghostly wail, and that would probably take out a city block, or ten, more likely. He'd gotten a lot stronger.

Yet going invisible for a while wasn't an option either! His other self would wreak havoc on the environment, his anger apparently too great to keep inside. Danny grimaced, that familiar guilt whipping through him briefly; now he knew what the Valerie from his time had had to deal with for so long.

Maybe this high speed flight would help wear him out some? Danny pushed himself even faster, and in a few moments another sonic boom exploded behind him. He did a double take as an answering boom matched his an instant later. His double was closer than he'd thought!

The terrain below was now filled with rocks, woods, and snow; they'd passed out of the city. Danny glanced around, trying to see exactly how close his other self was…

"AAAAG!" He was careening, screaming towards the earth like some sort of torpedo, blinded and dizzy. He'd gotten hit in the face with an ecto-blast, but the energy stayed stuck to his face, distorting his vision, and now he was spinning out of control as an unceasing barrage of ecto-blasts kept him from regaining stability, and for the first time that night real fear coursed through his body as the wind screamed in his ears…

He couldn't hit the ground going this fast, it'd tear him to pieces!

Danny turned intangible, and the shift wasn't a moment too soon as he felt himself drive into the ground. He slowly calmed back down; he was fine, he was fine. So his younger self really, truly, wanted to kill him; he could deal with that. He drew energy into his hands and pulled at the stuff on his face, dissipating it after a few moments, while slowing himself to a halt deep under the earth.

So, his other self had picked up another one of his attacks. Though, he had seen it before, Danny realized, when he himself had used the same stuff to bind his family to the Nasty Burger and cover their mouths…he grimaced to himself. But the guilt didn't come; instead he simply felt shocked.

Maybe it was a bit too much; the fact that his other self really was trying to kill him. He cringed. When had he changed so much? Wasn't he still the goody-two-shoes kid from three years ago? It was one thing to say you were going to kill someone; entirely something else to do it. There was no doubt about his intentions though; if he had hit the ground going that speed…he'd be a smudge on the planet surface right now, nothing more.

After a moment Danny started the ascent back to the surface, thoughts whirling. He couldn't blame him. He'd probably be doing the same thing…actually, exactly the same thing, because if they were sharing a soul and he'd been the one to have the semi-normal life and was stuck fighting his evil future self, technically he'd behave exactly the same, right…? Or not? Danny started to rub the back of his head only to stop immediately as the sore spot protested, and put those thoughts aside. Now definitely wasn't the time.

He blinked as he finally rose out of the ground, invisible and intangible, and looked around for his other self. He was nowhere to be seen, though that didn't count for much. Deciding it was time to get a little more creative, Danny split himself four times and spread out.

He made one copy of himself visible, and started calling out. "Danny! Where are you? If you haven't noticed, I'm not fighting back! I've taken an oath! No more harm, no more fighting! It's over! Why else would I refuse…!" He stared as his other self became visible just a few feet in front of him. "…to fight back."

"Good for you." His younger self's nostrils flared as he came at him, face still furious. In one ear and out the other! He wasn't listening. Danny countered by going invisible while simultaneously revealing another copy of himself some distance away, and continued speaking.

"I'm sorry. I was wrong. I've been the ultimate fool! The most evil, manipulative, disgusting, violent, psychotic, stupid person! I'd be attacking me too…" He was forced to phase out and move the one sided conversation to yet another double as his younger self started throwing ecto-blasts at him "I know where you're coming from, but you've got to listen, Danny." Using his name felt distinctly weird. "I know you want revenge, but when have you ever attacked someone who wasn't fighting back? Have I hit you once? Fired a single ecto-blast? I'm not the same person you fought before; I really hav..uuh!"

Even as his younger self stared at him from a distance, another had appeared just in front of him to punch him in the stomach! Things became complicated as he defended against the punches and kicks of that copy. He brought another of his own copies to help, but as he became visible that one was immediately engaged as well by another copy of his younger self! The boy had obviously mastered splitting his form.

His younger self looked distinctly frustrated though, since, strangely enough, they'd both thought to use the same technique at the same time. As such, neither had an advantage.

Danny knew what his other self was thinking. He'd thought it too on occasion; splitting your form was no fun when your opponent could do it too. It just made things confusing.

Then they all broke apart, and it almost felt choreographed as everyone who was still invisible appeared simultaneously. They were left staring, all eight of them, as silence descended momentarily. It was four against four, perfectly matched.

A surreal moment passed, and then again as if by some silent cue, they both drew their duplicates back together, making it once again one against one.

There was a long pause as they stared at each other, both floating a few yards apart, misty tail from the waist down, shoulders slumped forward, and arms dangling loose as they rested. His younger self was finally tired out somewhat; unfortunately, so was he. The strange mirroring of action and thought from a moment ago, though, probably had just as much to do with the temporary cease fire. It was just one of those things that made you take pause.

Danny knew this was the time to attempt a talk with his younger self, but instead he found himself staring, studying him, the strange moment bringing back Clockwork's words; that they were the same individual in two bodies, two minds. He was right; they weren't all that different. And physically, if you just changed the skin color, added the pointed ears, the fangs…he really would be a mirror image. They were just like a ghost who had split himself temporarily…

He swallowed, shaking himself mentally; his other self wasn't attacking! He needed to use this time to try and get through that thick skull of his again. His gaze shifted subtly, taking in the emotions playing across the kid's face. He still looked angry, but a little tired and maybe a little confused, too. Other things were just below the surface, though. Disgust, sadness, a deep, deep pain, and frustration.

Danny smiled softly and sadly, and the guilt he was so familiar with came over him again. "I'm sorry. It's hard to believe, but I want to tell you that I…"

His younger self narrowed his eyes, cutting him off. "Stop it."

He blinked, caught by surprise. "Stop what?"

"Stop pretending you care! Stop playing like you don't want to fight anymore! It's all you did for ten years, and you expect me to believe you're suddenly different?"

"I'm not fighting back, am I? I've…"

"It's too late."

"What do you mean?"

"It's too late. You can't just come back and promise to be good! Stop pretending you feel bad for what you did! I see that look in your eyes! You think I'm going to fall for that…act? You tried to kill my family! You destroyed Amity Park in the future! You attacked Sam!" His face twisted more as he went on, fists clenched as he yelled at him. "And then you have the nerve to pretend you care!" He came forward then, grabbing Danny by the shoulders, hard, and shook him back and forth twice.

They stared at each other for a moment before he threw him backward and away, and Danny caught himself in mid-air a moment later, face tight, the guilt he was "playing at" still showing through a little.

His younger self was right; he had no reason to believe he'd changed. Danny remained silent, waiting to see what his younger self would do, and a few moments passed as they both fell to watching each other again. His younger self was silently fuming, and Danny didn't want to set him off again, but he also wanted to try and convince him, somehow…

"Clockwork let me out, you know."

"Heh! Right. Clockwork's dead. Don't lie."

Danny's eyes widened. "No, he isn't. I talked to him earlier tonight." Was that really earlier tonight…?

"I've searched for almost a year. You killed him. Which is another reason why I don't believe a word that comes out of your mouth!"

Danny looked up at the sky, momentarily at a loss for words. "Look…let me tell you something about Clockwork. He's strong. I couldn't touch him if I tried. He has time on his side! Do you know what that means? He's faster than…" He paused, sighing. "He can be behind you before you even think about whatever it is he knows you are planning to do."

His younger self stared at him, eyes hard and unblinking. Danny went on. "I'm not sure why, but it sounds like he's just been avoiding you. And you know if he doesn't want you to find him, you won't. All he has to do is hang out a hundred years in the future, after all." He paused, becoming more serious. "Danny, has there been any indication of chaos in the Ghost Zone, or in the human world?"

Silence was his only answer, but he thought he might've seen a glimmer of acceptance. No, there hadn't been anything especially nasty going on. His younger self had just said he'd been scouring the Ghost Zone for Clockwork after all, he should know…

"Why? Why would he let you out? You're a monster."

"I'm…you."

His other self flinched. "I'm nothing like you. You're pure evil…you're half Vlad!"

"No. Listen, Clockwork was put in charge of looking after Danny…Phantom and Fenton. I'm you; I'm just all Phantom. When I merged with Vlad…it's true I absorbed some of his looks…but we, he and I we didn't become one person. Our souls didn't merge! I'm still all me, or…well, you."

"Stop saying that! What do you mean, or me? We're two different people!" The look in his younger self's eyes wasn't a good one, and Danny knew that he shouldn't continue, but somehow he wanted his younger self to know…

"Yes, and no. Clockwork told me that a soul…a soul isn't affected by time or space. Time, or space. Do you understand? We have the same soul! We're literally two parts of the same person, with different memories, different habits, but essentially the same…," he was speeding up, somehow unable to stop now that he'd started, "that's why he couldn't leave me in the thermos, because you'd be trapped there too, when you merged back with me after you eventually died someday. We're actually destined to merge…" A sort of madness was coming over him, he was sure, as the words poured out of his mouth like molten lava, unstoppable, and he watched in slow motion as his other self came forward, insane with fury, denial, hatred, and loathing. His face was twisted into a mask of horror and fury, hardly recognizable, his eyes so bright green that he once again couldn't see the pupils…

Then Danny was being slammed against the ground, again and again, the shock keeping the pain from fully registering, his other self incoherent, screaming, his hands around his throat like a vice grip, digging deeply in.

An insane fury was fueling his younger self with supernormal strength, and Danny realized abstractly that right now he was too slow to get away, to phase out and avoid the blows, and the insane thought passed through his mind that he was killing himself.

And maybe it was appropriate? The memory of the destruction of his human self floated in front of his eyes, imposed on the raging beast of his younger self above him, and he couldn't help thinking that maybe this just might be the perfect end to his miserable life…

But then the pain finally started to register, and his instincts kicked in. He needed to get away!

Just then his double struck him in the face though, and Danny was momentarily stunned as the punch snapped his head to the side. Then his head was snapping back and forth as his younger self continued to hit him…he could feel his nose break, blood running everywhere, his lips cut, before he finally found the strength to reach up and grab his other self by both wrists. They were still for an instant, staring into each others eyes again, and time slowed down.

The pain he'd felt that day long ago, when he'd attacked his human half, was mirrored in his younger self's eyes, and Danny found himself falling into it, feeling what his other self felt, hearing what his other self was thinking…somehow, he was temporarily inside his head…

He was confused and furious, reeling in denial at what he'd been told, reeling in pain at the loss of Sam's innocence, her love, as he saw it, Danny realized…his younger self thought Sam hated him now, since even though he hadn't attacked her personally he was still partially responsible. Danny could see the thought clear as day, and knew it wasn't his own, yet it was…

And Danny realized intuitively that things had been festering inside of his younger self ever since Sam had left, just as his family's deaths had sat in the pit of his own stomach all those years ago, growing over time into a violent urge to lash out at everything.

Then the moment was over, and Danny realized suddenly that he was hurting all over, bleeding, bruised, he had a few broken ribs, and a dozen other things were wrong…and he knew that he didn't want to die like this. It would be the worst outcome, the worst for both of them if his younger self killed him today.

Danny attempted to throw his younger self away, since he still held him by the wrists, but he was weak from the beating, and suddenly the tables were turned as his younger self overpowered him, twisting his left arm behind him.

Crack.

"AAAAAAAAAaaagggh!" The white hot pain radiated out from his newly broken elbow; it had happened so fast, and he hadn't thought his younger self would do that…and now he was thrashing mindlessly because of the pain, too out of it to do something sensible like phase out...

His younger self kept twisting, the limb pulling further out of the joint, out of anything close to a normal shape, and the bone gave again, further up. "AAAAAAAAgaaghaaa!" The pain was paralyzing; his limb might as well have been torn off, but somehow it managed to get worse as it broke yet again; in the forearm this time. "GrughhAAAA!" Then he was sailing though the air, limp as a rag doll, having been kicked away by his younger self. He landed on the damaged arm, and his vision slid in and out of focus as it was crushed under his own weight. He had to…get away!…

But the shock had addled his brain and before he could do anything his other self had flown over and kicked him…in his broken, twisted, excruciatingly painful arm. Danny was screaming again, his voice forced out of his wind pipe into the most unnatural sound he'd ever heard, and he realized, in some sort of crazed, surreal daze, that his other self was screaming too, tears running down his face as he kicked him again and again.

And then he finally stopped, Danny crumpled into a heap of meat and bone on the ground as his other self put his foot on his shoulder, pushing slightly, and one last ghost of a scream escaped him. He was too hoarse to make sound, so only air came out, but the pain, the horrific anguish was still conveyed.

There was silence for a moment, as Danny wished he would just pass out, that the pain would just stop…please. But when the silence stretched to over a minute, his eyes were drawn slowly and fearfully up to his other self's face.

It no longer held the white hot fury from earlier. Instead it held confusion, intense pain, fear, disgust… Danny's own eyes widened in fear, and despite the physical pain, he felt himself tensing slightly, readying for a mad attempt at escape.

Something in this look was far worse than the fury from before, because he felt himself recognizing it. The memory of his own state of mind when he'd killed his human half rose in his mind, and he realized in horror that it was like a mirror, reflecting the same emotions now present in his younger self. Danny made himself look away as panic set in. No! It couldn't end this way, the cycle would only begin again…

He jerked in pain as he was drawn slowly up from the ground by the front of his jumpsuit, and his eyes involuntarily turned to his other self's again as he was drawn face to face, only inches away.

"I should kill you." It was whispered, his voice hoarse. "If there's one person in the world that deserves to die, it's you. I…have to kill you." The terrible look in his eyes promised death, but…not only for him. Danny knew that look; he knew the boy was only one step away from killing something precious inside himself as well, from breaking the promise he'd made to his family and friends at the Nasty Burger to never turn into the monster he'd faced that day…

And Danny gathered up the last of his strength, knowing he couldn't let it happen. If he could just escape, give his other self time to take a few steps back and realize how close he'd been to the brink…

His younger self was shaking; tiny, jerking, involuntary movements that shuddered down his arms and into him. Then he finally threw him away one last time, and began gathering energy into his hands, his face desolate, the promise of death in his eyes, even as the pain and confusion and horror still played beneath the surface.

Danny didn't wait for the blow, doing what he'd been too addled to do earlier, and sank through the inviting earth, intangible and invisible, letting gravity pull him down.

Then he started searching for the familiar tingling that meant the Ghost Zone, as he felt his other self begin plowing through the earth nearby, hunting instinctively. Since they were both intangible, he could find him by touch, and the thought was terrifying, but this couldn't be rushed…still, his eyes were wide in fright, his body crumpled and shaking, blood running over his face and into his eyes as he tried not to panic…

There. He finally found it, just as the fear and pain became almost too much to bear, and he used his good hand to open the weak spot, slipping through in the blink of an eye, his broken body responding clumsily to the commands of his frantic mind, until the hole was closed behind him and he had finally escaped from those terrifying green eyes.

Back in the human world, Danny slowly stopped his search, somehow sensing that his future self's presence had grown distant. He refused to question how he knew, unwilling and incapable just then of dealing with the things he'd been told.

He felt almost dead, his emotions strangely hollow and empty, and he floated silently immobile in the earth for a long while, still intangible and invisible. Then he slowly flew up and further into the countryside, wandering aimlessly. All he knew was that he had to stay away from the city. He felt ashamed of himself, and of his actions. Of his other self's actions, since he was, he was…had once been him. And even if everything was a mess in his mind- about what he'd been told, what to believe and not believe, he knew that he couldn't face Sam, or Jazz and Tucker right now, not after what he'd done tonight.

Tucker was walking along the road toward Sam's apartment. It was bitterly cold, and he'd only managed to grab a coat before racing outside earlier that evening after Danny and his evil double. He took his hands out of his pockets to cup his frozen ears.

Sam had been determined to chase after them and stop the fight, but he and Jazz both knew a frantic Sam running after those two was an incredibly bad idea. Though honestly, Tucker didn't see how she could catch up, not when Danny could do Mach 2, for goodness sake.

Still, one of them had had to go, if only to stop her from going and, with her luck, successfully exacerbating the situation. So Jazz had thrown him the Fenton thermos, even as she wrestled with Sam, verbally and physically, in an attempt to get her to see sense, and he'd gone off a moment later, knowing he didn't really stand a chance of stopping the fight.

Tucker sighed, thinking about the catastrophic chain of events leading up to his trudging around at this ungodly time of night.

He and Jazz had gone out for Chinese take-out and groceries earlier that evening, while Sam had stayed behind to get some sleep. Danny hadn't returned yet, so they'd only gotten dinner for three. They'd only been gone for about an hour, and upon returning they had entered quietly so as not to wake Sam.

It had been such a pleasant surprise to hear Sam and Danny talking quietly in the bedroom, and they'd hunkered down in the living room so as not to disturb them, thinking it was a stroke of luck that they'd entered so quietly. It had been wonderful, thinking that Danny had returned after disappearing for over twenty-four hours, which was more than long enough to make them all worry, and was finally talking things out with Sam. It had been a quiet conversation, just a murmur of voices, really.

Then…then Danny had phased through the front door. They'd stared at him, dumbfounded, and he, Tucker, had pointed stupidly to Sam's bedroom door. "But you're in there…"

Tucker shook his head in mortification. It had clicked with them all at the same time. Danny's other self, the evil monster from the future, was alone with Sam in her bedroom. In retrospect, Tucker didn't know what he and Jazz would've been able to do to help Sam even if they had realized, but it didn't change the fact that they'd been sitting there complacently while she had been trapped in the bedroom alone with him.

Danny had phased out into the night along with his evil self, before he and Jazz had even reached the bedroom door.

Tucker sighed as he climbed the stairs to Sam's apartment. Now it was really, really late, probably closer to really, really early, and he was dead on his feet, the adrenaline from earlier completely gone. He sighed as he came to the door and knocked.

The door opened to Jazz's worried face. "Anything?"

"No. Sorry." He slipped in and pulled off his coat. Sam came out of her room carrying Nathaniel.

"Nothing?"

"Nope. But I did go around to the local hospitals and a couple of emergency clinics. There aren't any…there's nothing unusual there, at least."

Jazz spoke up. "We've been listening to the news. A building was completely leveled just a few blocks away. Was it…?"

Tucker rubbed his face with his hands. Oh yeah, that. "Ghostly wail." It came out muffled. "I took off in the wrong direction and heard it from behind. By the time I got over there they were long gone, though."

Jazz frowned worriedly. "Any idea which one…?"

"I'd assume his evil self…"

Sam cut in. "No. It had to be Danny." She didn't look happy about it; her face was drawn and worried.

Tucker made his way over to the kitchen table, and sitting down, he put his head in his arms. "How do you figure that?"

She looked away. "He…promised. I mean, his future self." She looked embarrassed at her own words.

He looked up at her, grogginess falling away somewhat. "Say what? He promised? And you believed him…?" His voice died out; he wasn't sure he wanted to hear the convoluted logic behind this.

She looked back at him after a moment, a little angry. "Look, Tucker, I know the situation, you don't!" She sighed, and added more softly, "It's just a gut feeling, okay? I'm almost sure he won't fight Danny. Hopefully he just…ran away." She didn't look like she thought he had, though; her face held no hope, only faded distress and sadness.

There was a moment of silence as Tucker tried to formulate the question on his mind without sounding like a jerk. "Sam…did he…what did you…?" No, he wasn't going there. He cleared his throat. "So he kind of flew in and told you he promised not to, you know, try to kill us all anymore…," he looked up at the ceiling, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his voice and failing, "Yeah. Woohoo, and now it's all better?"

He looked up at her sideways, propping his chin up on his forearms. He'd left so quickly earlier, he hadn't been sure exactly what had happened to Sam. He did remember the tears on her cheeks, though, and, well…Danny had been really, really mad. A cold chill ran up Tucker's spine.

He glanced over to Jazz. She seemed watchful, ready to jump into the conversation if it went downhill.

Sam stared listlessly into space for a moment, obviously tired. "Actually Tucker, you're right…sort of." She raised her eyebrows, voice dull, and weary. "He said he swore to never fight again. That he's changed, and won't attack us…or anyone." She shook her head slowly, and looked over at him blearily. "He wants to make up for all the bad things he's done, give back to the world, that sort of thing."

They were all silent for a moment, and when Tucker glanced over at Jazz he couldn't help but notice that she didn't look surprised by this revelation. They'd probably talked earlier that night.

He didn't know what to say, really. There was a release of tension somewhere deep down, knowing that…it looked like the bastard hadn't done anything to her this time. But beyond that, his mind was pretty much unresponsive. It didn't matter whether this last piece of information was important or insignificant, his brain was too dead to concentrate on it. So instead he just watched dully as Sam swayed slightly in place, looking equally dead on her feet.

"Okay, we're all really, really tired." That was Jazz, the voice of common sense. "It's time for sleep. Sam, here, I can take Nathaniel for a little bit." She walked over, and the infant, quite wide awake and chipper, was passed over to her. "If he needs to eat I'll wake you up, but I can baby sit for a few hours, okay?"

Sam nodded, making a slow beeline toward her room. "Jazz…thanks." She turned back for a moment, smiling softly, and something more seemed to pass between the two girls. Tucker looked away, feeling strangely depressed. Sam looked so sad.

He turned back to Jazz after Sam had left. "I can help some. You know, burping him and stuf…"

"No. Tucker, you sleep too. I'll be fine. I'm the least tired." Jazz wasted no time settling down in her makeshift bed, which was a sleeping bag cushioned with extra covers, as she spoke, and soon she was leaning up against the wall, Nathaniel in her lap. She pulled out a book, looked up at him, and smiled slightly. "Sleep."

Tucker didn't bother responding. He just smiled back wanly, and slumped over to his own pile of covers. As he drifted off, the thought occurred to him about how ironic it was, Danny fighting his future self the night he came to tell them he'd sworn off fighting. He wondered at that, and a touch of worry crept in. If he'd kept his promise, why wasn't Danny back by now…?

The forlorn figure floated in the depths of the ghost zone. He was beaten and bloodied, and his left arm hung at several unnatural angles. He was unconscious, almost comatose.

His face, even in sleep, was twisted slightly in pain, his blue skin paler than usual, and his body, upon closer inspection, was covered in bruises and cuts. He had two black eyes, a broken nose, and split lips. Someone had done a real number on him; he was hardly recognizable anymore.

Not that Vlad had any doubt about who it was. The insignia on his chest was a dead give away, in any case.

Plasmius carefully hooked an arm around the other ghost's waist, and started back home. This was going to be interesting.

Author's Note: I got to this chapter and realized…I'd never written a fight scene before. Ouch. It's hard! I changed perspectives, scrapped pages and pages of work…anyway, this was very tough to write. So…hopefully you guys like it:)

Reviews, of course, are greatly appreciated! And weird comments! And flames, too, if you thought it was too violent…heheh, sorry about that. Er…which reminds me. Don't feel too sorry for Dark Danny. He deserved it! Especially the kicks to the groin. Sorry…(blushes).