Chapter 7: 11 years (pt2)

An: Up! goes the rating :)

Whoops, really left you guys on a cliff hanger. Honestly forgot about this for… over a year? I actually cringed when I saw the last update date, because I personally wont read any incomplete fics that havent been updated within a year. I have decided that if I write another fic after Inevitable, I'm taking a different approach to it. Write out the entire thing, then update on a regular period as it's edited/finalized, instead of the system I have now. Which is writing whenever the hell I feel like it and have time to. Like when laying in bed at 1 in the morning while both of my cats are trying to suffocate me. I honestly had to go back and read it to remember what my plans were.

On with the show!

Ghost Zone

6 years ago

That was how Vlad found him; ectoplasm dripping down his chin and his veins flooding with raw energy.

Vlad stared at him, his red eyes wide with shock. "Daniel…?" He had been following the loud sounds of battle, hoping to find some sort of entertainment. Coming across the melting body of the feared Ghost King and his Little Badger- who had been missing for five years- covered in ectoplasm was certainly… exciting.

A deep growl reverberated in Danny's chest as he licked some of the bright green liquid off his lip. "Hello, Plasmius."

Silence hung between them for a few minutes before Vlad shook himself from his shock. "Where have you been, dear boy…?" He only got a half crazed laugh from Danny.

Vlad's Mansion- Wisconsin

6 years ago

Just hours later, Danny found himself agreeing to live with Vlad, under the condition that Vlad told no one of his whereabouts, and Danny followed a few of Vlad's rules. He had nowhere else to go, anyways, so why the hell not? He got a roof over his head, and his own room again.

Though pleased with this, he wasn't all that fond of Vlad's few rules. He had to inform the elder Halfa of when he left, where he was going, and when he'd be back. Danny clearly didn't care about himself, but he was still not allowed to reveal Vlad's identity. He had to keep his room clean, and was in charge of his own laundry. Vlad had plenty of money to buy him new clothes as well as anything he wanted.

Wisconsin

5 years ago

It hadn't taken long at all for Danny to get accustomed to… human life again. He got back into an easy routine of wake up, shower, pick some old clothes, eat, go out all day and just enjoy himself, return back to the mansion, sleep, repeat. He could easily lie to Vlad about where he was going, but didn't see any point in it. It wasn't like he ever did anything interesting.

Most of the time, at least.

When Danny grew bored, he often sought out some sort of excitement. But… his version of excitement was different than most people's.

Wisconsin

5 years ago

"I've been away, searching for a reason, another purpose to find… I've sailed the seas, fought my many demons, I've looked to gods in the skies…"

In the darkness of night, a lone figure walked down the streets. He sang quietly under his breath, filling the silence. An occasional car's headlights light up his built figure. "I've stood in hell, where many had to suffer, I stared the devil in the eyes. Walked many roads to witness ancient idols, and found the great gates of fire."

"Had many storms question my conviction, gave armies reason to rise… The hangman's searching for bones he can borrow, while I escaped in the night, fight or flight…" Danny smirked lightly as he scanned the few faces walking in the night with him. They often glared at him for openly singing. "Live again, all roads end, I'll be coming home. Tend your light, 'cause on this night, I'll be coming home..." His eyes stopped on a man leaning against a brick wall, his head tucked down to avoid wind as he lit his cigarette. Brown hair, brown eyes, a thin beard, and a long jacket.

Target chosen, Danny turned the corner the stranger was near before phasing right into the building. It was some antique shop that closed hours ago. "Escaped the hail of calculated mortars, then drank the blood of a king. The desert rain has washed away direction, had angels looking after me, so it seems." He walked up to a wall and phased partway through it. His hand clamped over the mouth of the unsuspecting human before Danny dragged him through the wall and into the empty shop.

"W-what the hell?!" The guy looked around in shock, his eyes wide. "How did I get in here? Who are you?" He looked up at Danny, who only smirked. The human backed up into the wall when Danny's eyes flashed red. "Are you some kind of vampire?! Y-You wouldn't want my blood, I have- uh- HIV?"

Danny rolled his eyes. His hand shot forward and grabbed the man's throat. "Live again, all roads end, I'll be coming home. Tend your lights, 'cause on this night, I'll be coming home…" He sang quietly and he lifted the human up and pinned him to the wall. The human choked and grabbed at Danny's arm, trying to loosen his grip. Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath, absorbing the fear radiating off his victim.

The red of his eyes burned brighter, causing the human's fear and panic to increase. The more he struggled, the tighter Danny's grip grew. His face was red from the lack of oxygen.

"My story ends not far from where it started, my weary limbs have grown old." Danny watched spit dribble from the man's mouth as his struggles gradually lessened. He fed on as much of the fear as he could, savoring the feeling of the slowing heartbeat beneath his grip. "I've seen the world through the eyes of a nomad, home is where the heart is, I've been told, so I go." He let go, letting the body drop limp to the ground. Adjusting his jacket, Danny turned intangible and phased through the wall without a care of who saw him.

"Live again, all roads end, I'll be coming home. Tend your light, 'cause on this night, I'll be coming home…" He walked back down the street in the direction he'd come from, heading back to Vlad's mansion.

The body wasn't discovered until two days later.

Wisconsin

4 years, 3 months ago

Danny went out at least twice a month to… feed. He always chose those who wouldn't be missed as his victims. Drug dealers, prostitutes, the homeless, a runaway police already figured to be dead. The string of murders didn't go unnoticed by police, but there was no evidence of who could be doing this. The body's were always found in places where there was no sign of a struggle or a break in. Though Vlad assumed it was a ghost, none of his resources knew who it was. Skulker didn't go after humans and didn't know any who would only kill one at a time.

So of course Vlad went out to investigate.

Imagine his surprise at seeing Danny walking the streets. He'd always assumed the boy went do what anyone his age would- drink and party until the crack of dawn. He decided to follow the younger Halfa until he had a chance to approach. He frowned when he heard Danny humming and singing softly under his breath.

"What have I done? What have I done? How could I be so blind? All is lost, where was I? Spoiled all, spoiled all. Everything's gone all wrong." Heading back towards the mansion, Danny turned down an empty street. "What have I done? What have I done? Find a deep cave to hide in. In a million years they'll find me, only dust and a plaque that reads, 'Here Li-" he cut off when Vlad landing in front of him and turned visible.

"Daniel… What are you doing out here? You do realize there is some dangerous ghost on the loose, right?"

Danny rolled his eyes and answered honestly. "Feeding."

"...feeding?" Vlad raised an eyebrow, his arms crossed.

"Yea. Yanno, like on emotions and stuff?" Danny shrugged casually.

Vlad's eyes slit. "You know it's unnecessary to feed on such. It's easily supplemented with pure ectoplasm, which I can obtain for you whenever wanted."

"Yea, yea, fruitloop." Danny yawned. "I'm headin' back. You comin' or what?"

"...Daniel, I don't want to see you out doing this again."

Danny stopped in his tracks. "What was that?"

"You heard me." Vlad sighed. "You are no longer allowed to go out and freely feed on emotions like this. It causes damage to the human mind, and could be what's leading to all these deaths…"

The younger Halfa's eyes slit. "Very well… I won't go out anymore." He turned his back to Vlad and headed back to the mansion.

Wisconsin

3 years, 8 months ago.

Naturally, Danny didn't listen to a word Vlad said. He tried to feed off ghost emotions for a while, but it simply wasn't cutting it for him. Vlad was able to get small ghost cores for him when he wanted, but it was never enough. He wanted more.

To Danny, the answer was simple. He disobeyed Vlad and went out again to resume his practices. And again. And again. He started to mix up his usual prey. Instead of going for the obvious choices, he would occasionally put up a challenge for himself to see if anyone would notice. For example, a woman trying to wave down a cab.

Her bright blond hair and chocolate brown eyes caught his attention. She was the type of woman any sensible man would go for- though of course, Danny was not one of them. There weren't too many people around, so it shouldn't be too much of a challenge. So, keeping his steps silent with a touch of intangibility, he approached her from behind.

"Excuse me, ma'am? I think you left your phone back at that shop." Danny vaguely pointed a thumb behind him in the direction she seemed to have come from.

"Huh? Oh, thank you!" She smiled brightly at him before heading away, leaving Danny amused that she hadn't even checked her purse for her phone.

Following her with the same silence, he waited for the perfect moment to slip invisible, grab her arm, and yank her into an empty alley, his other hand over her mouth. The woman's eyes widened in shock as she looked around, trying to find this invisible force holding her against her will. She struggled all she could, but it was no use.

A deep chuckle rumbled in the air as the halfa made himself visible once again. The woman's wide eyes turned into a hateful glare, recognizing him as the man who had told her about her phone. She yelled at him from beneath his hand, though it only came out as muffled gibberish.

"I'm sorry, what was that?" Danny chuckled. "I'm afraid I couldn't hear you." He grinned, showing off his new fangs. That caused her to abruptly go silent, her hating glare mixed with confusion. Danny tilted her head to the side as he studied her. He raised his other hand, where his nails sharpened into the claws of his ghost form. He couldn't resist chuckling again when he felt fear begin to rise from her.

"Vlad never did approve of my… late night excursions…" Danny laughed, though the woman in front of him had no idea what he was talking about. He ran a finger along her jawline, smirking as he felt her tremble with fear. "Then again, he thinks I stopped months ago. But how could I? Humans are just as fun as ghosts, even if they don't taste the same." She whimpered beneath his hand when he tightened his grip, his nails digging into her cheek.

"Why don't we take this nice and slow…" He practically purred as he dragged his nails down her arm. She gripped his other tightly and desperately tried to pull it off. Danny closed his eyes for a moment as he took in her raw terror. "Or I could end it quick." He gripped her side and let his claws pierce her shirt and skin, then slowly dragged them down. She screamed beneath his right hand as he slowly tore open her side. "Either way, you die~" he hummed to himself. He moved his left hand away, examining the bright red blood that clung to his fingers. His nose wrinkled lightly when he smelled it. "Do you have any clue how many diseases you have? That's disgusting." He flicked his hand, splattering the blood on the ground. "Quick it is, then."

Using only his right hand, Danny slowly started to push her head into the brick wall. The woman screamed and struggled again. He grinned, a mad glint in his eyes, as he watched blood leak down the bricks and felt her skull begin to crack beneath his hand. A sickening crunch echoed over the block seconds later, followed by his laughter.

It didn't take long for someone to find the body.

Wisconsin

2 months ago

There was something very wrong with the Ghost Zone and Vlad knew it. He just couldn't quite put his finger on the exact situation. There was a strange… pulsing in the air that was difficult to describe. The majority of ghosts had made themselves sparse and hid away in their layers. Though Daniel had been living with him for years, he still didn't trust the boy, but he did care for him. So, unsure of what was going on, he forbid Danny from going into the zone. The younger halfa didn't seem to care either way. Vlad searched high and low throughout all the Zone he was familiar with, but found nothing that could explain the pulsing air. Disappointed with his lack of results, Vlad headed back to the human world.

Wisconsin

2 months ago

It was barely a week before Vlad noticed there was something… wrong with him. He didn't feel sick, exactly, but something was definitely off. His core felt as if it were gently pulsing. It wasn't uncommon for a ghost to physically feel their core, since the small spheres constantly spun. They did not, however, pulse. The feeling vanished shortly after it started, so he didn't put much thought into it.

Wisconsin

1 month, two weeks ago

The pulsing kept recurring, and gradually grew stronger each time. When Vlad felt his energy drain with each occurance, he started to put more care into it. Retreating to his lab, Vlad researched all sorts of core ailments and ghost sicknesses, but turned up with nearly nothing.

With Vlad distracted by this weird issue, Danny took the chance to get as much time away from the older halfa as he could. Without Vlad paranoia watching over him, he was once again free to do what he wanted. He resumed taking lives to satisfy his hunger. Feeling their life seep away by his hand and their delicious fear did so much to fuel him.

He was once a hero who saved lives, and he couldn't care less.

Wisconsin

1 month ago

The sickness was rapidly growing worse and Vlad wasn't a single step closer to solving it. He stayed in his human form after discovering being Plasmius made the pains worse. The random attacks didn't occur at regular intervals and nothing he tried could lessen the pain. All his years of research failed him in this instance.

Wisconsin

1 week ago

It took a full three weeks for Vlad to convince Danny to seek out his family for help. Vlad couldn't trust himself enough to leave the lab without having an attack and putting himself at risk. On top of that, he was beginning to worry for Danny as well. The younger ghost had ventured into the Ghost Zone and returned with the same soft pulsing Vlad had begun with.

"Fine, fruitloop." Danny growled. "But I'm not telling them who I am, and I'm not staying there for more than a day."

AN: *casually screams*

Just finished up finals week for my fifth semester… I just want to sleep for a full month. But nope. Got commissions to finish before Christmas and a giant drawing for a friend.

Anyways, I'm still alive? I know it's almost been two years, but… ah, well. I cant really promise anything. It takes me a bit to get back into the writing mood, since my brain is programmed to draw instead. I only have Tuesday/Thursday classes next semester, so… given I don't kill myself first, I'll try to get another update out quicker than this one did.

Also don't have a beta reader, so…. Sorry for any misspelling or inconsistencies.