A/N - still own nothing but Alira
my god, i hate this story's summary more every time i read it. if anyone can come up with a better one PLEASE tell me. it really sucks and i'm too sleepy to rewrite it :( hmm, well nevermind, i guess...this is the last chapter.
i know. :'(
well, i have like eight story ideas floating around in my head...just gotta get one down!!!
anyway, le fin...
Thirteen
Vlad shot to the side just in time to dodge a powerful green blast from Danny. But the barrage continued, and it was only a matter of time before one of the shots made contact. A green flash hit him right in his stomach, and sent him falling to the ground. He slammed into the cold stone floor with a groan, but instantly rolled over and heaved himself up onto his feet.
All he had to do was distract Daniel for eleven more minutes. Then it would be midnight – and as soon as it was, he would kill Daniel, rid himself of Jack, that bumbling idiot; and Maddie would finally be returned to him.
He grinned, his resolve renewed, and he floated up to be level with his adversary. The boy's chest was heaving, and his fingers were splayed fiercely around his palms, viridian energy crackling around them. His cloak was nothing more than a charred strip of fabric hanging from the emerald clasp at his throat. Even as Vlad hovered opposite him, his arms crossed imperiously across his chest, Danny reached up and ripped the clasp off, letting the remains of the fabric fall to the floor. The front of his black shirt was pulled open, revealing a slash across his chest that was seeping greenish blood.
Danny's white hair was mussed and full of debris, his face scratched from his descent through the castle. The vibrant green eyes were glowing ferociously, his anger and his hatred for Vlad radiating from them.
Neither of them did anything, just waiting for the other to make the first move – the first mistake. Vlad was just wasting time without wasting energy, but Danny's whole body was on alert, his human instinct for self-preservation still present, after all those years.
Vlad snuck a glance at the clock behind Daniel. Ten minutes.
It was now time.
With no warning, Vlad charged up his hands with energy and launched himself at the tensed ghost, not expecting him to react fast enough – fully prepared to pin him down before he could even lift a finger.
But he underestimated his foe.
Danny, with lighting reactions, grabbed Vlad on either side of his chest as he flew at him and tossed him to the ground below, flipping the older man over onto his back. Vlad heaved a pained groan, and only just managed to roll out of the way before Danny's fist slammed into the marble where his head had been.
Vlad, worried now about his timing, threw himself clumsily at Danny. He managed to grab him around the neck, and triumphantly pounded him down into the ground.
Despite his younger age, Danny could not match Vlad's strength, and could not shake himself out from under the halfa's grip. His legs whirled wildly as he threw himself at the older ghost. He punched Vlad in the face, and though Vlad roared in pain, his head thrown backwards by the force of the blow, he retained his hold on Danny's neck.
Danny gritted his teeth. He didn't know what Vlad was hoping to accomplish by doing this, but he would not let him get even close. The backs of his hands resting on the floor, he summoned all the energy he could spare into his fists. They started glowing furiously, and he closed his eyes, concentrating on getting all the energy he could into his hands before releasing it straight into Vlad's face – probably incinerating them both, along with most of the room.
But whatever the cost, he would not let Vlad get away with whatever he was doing – because knowing Vlad; it could not bode well for any of the people in this castle that he cared so much for.
He was just about to let the energy go, right into the center of Vlad's smug face, when he suddenly heard a faint sound, and he froze.
Vlad, too, was surprised, and although he did not release his hold on Danny, his head whipped to the side in the direction of the noise.
Danny seized his chance. He let go of some of the energy in his hands, just firing enough at Vlad to blast him up off of him and half-way across the cavernous room – where he lay completely still. Danny scrambled to his feet and turned, as Vlad had, to the source of the noise.
His mouth dropped open at what he saw. Tied to a chair across the room was a small, dark, hunched figure.
Sam.
He knew it was Sam – but she was barely recognizable. Her face was tattered and bloody, her hair rumpled all over her shoulders and face. Her black nightdress was ripped across her torso and across the bottom, stopping now only just shy of her knees. One arm was lying on her lap, but the other was hanging limply from its socket. As he moved closer he could see vicious bruises over the porcelain skin, and purple discoloration around her wrist.
She was tied to the chair with a golden tasseled rope that looked like it had come straight off one of the curtains, snaking under her chest tightly. Danny distantly noticed, as he shot over to her, that the curtain behind her was unfixed, and hanging loosely.
He stopped just before her; setting his feet silently down on the marble floor. Gently he traced his fingers down her face, pushing back the hair covering her closed eye tenderly, brushing the pad of his thumb across her eyelid. The skin on her cheekbone was split in two places, the wounds leaking dark red blood that trickled down her face and dripped onto her chest.
He did not realize that his teeth were gritted behind his lips as he looked over the damage to her face. He finally moved his focus down to her stomach, where he wrapped his hand around the rope tying her to the chair and burned it away in a flash of green. He lifted her into his arms, hugging her limp body into his chest, his eyes pressed shut in anger.
He would kill whoever had done this to her.
He reached up with one hand, balancing the tiny girl in his grip on one arm, and tore one of the curtains right from the rod high above him. It crashed heavily to the floor, but he dodged nimbly and carefully out of its way. One it had settled, he laid her broken form down on the thick, soft material, and kneeled beside her.
The backs of her legs were covered in blood, spilling from countless wounds all over her body – and though he could feel her heart beating, the pulse was slow and weak. Her skin was icy cold and almost as pale as his. Shivers racked her body periodically, her lips blue and trembling. His hands were curled into tight fists on his knees.
Suddenly he heard the faintest noise behind him. His teeth crashed together and he whipped around to grab Vlad by the throat. He lifted the shocked halfa into the air, his eyes spitting green fire at the older ghost, and then he brought him right in close to his face.
"Leave us alone, Vlad."
It was only then that he remembered; and he turned to the clock in alarm. There were only two minutes left until it was midnight. He turned back in fury to Vlad.
"Why are you bothering? In two minutes we will all be dead!"
"That is exactly why I am bothering!" Vlad snapped. "I will have Maddie as my wife, and killing you at midnight is how I am going to do that!"
He immediately scowled and pressed his lips firmly together – furious with himself for blurting out that information.
Danny was shocked. And although he didn't really understand all of what Vlad had just revealed – he had heard that he was going to kill him, and get his mother. For that his father would have to be dead. For that, his sister and his friends would have to be dead – for if he died, so would they, as he was the key to this curse.
With one final snarl, Danny threw Vlad into the air and shot the most powerful blast he could muster into the old ghost's chest.
Vlad crashed through the window with a chilling scream and an explosion of glass. Green blood flew from his body as, mortally injured, he tumbled down the mountainside into the black mist swirling far below the castle.
Danny stood before the shattered window morosely, his hands hanging heavily by his sides. It was the only way. Wasn't it?
What have I done?
A gentle moan from Sam suddenly grabbed his attention. He whipped around and shot over to her side. He went down onto his knees beside her, and slipped his hand into hers. Her skin was almost as cold as his own, and pasty white, tinged with blue.
Gently she turned her head to look into his face. Her purple eyes shone out to him from the mess of her skin, a faint smile tracing onto her lips.
"Are you…alright?"
Her voice was cracked and croaky – as if she had been screaming. However, as Danny looked down on the bruising around her neck, he figured that that may not have been the reason.
He nodded vaguely before answering her. "Yes."
"Good."
Her head fell slowly back onto the fabric beneath it, her neck obviously not able to cope with its weight. Danny's grip on her hand tightened almost imperceptibly.
"What are you doing here, Sam? What happened to you?"
She snorted at him. "I came to save you." Her voice was heavily sarcastic, but he wasn't sure why. "Great job, huh? I knew that Dash was coming here…and…" She started coughing, and it was just then that Danny noticed the trickles of dried blood at the corners of her mouth.
"Sam…" His voice caught.
For once in his long life, he knew exactly what was going on. Frantically, he turned his head to the clock.
One minute.
He breathed out painfully. He couldn't leave her now. It had taken him all this time to find her, he just couldn't go now – not now that he finally had her. Her threw his head forwards, burying his face in her shoulder.
Her hand gently came up. He felt her cold fingers lacing through his hair. He was vaguely surprised to find tears leaking from his eyes as he held her – holding her as close to him as he could, as if he wanted to be a part of her.
He suddenly heard a slight rustling. His whole body tensed as he listened keenly, braced to protect Sam if the need arose.
He then heard what was definitely a footfall, and he whipped around, while keeping his hand laced with Sam's.
Standing behind them was a man with brown hair, mussed clothing and wild eyes. Danny did not trust him the second he saw him, and he drew back his body until he was leaning right over Sam, while not breaking eye contact with the man.
The brown-haired man's hand suddenly moved, reaching into his cloak. Danny sprung backwards, grabbing Sam in his arms. They both stared at the man, and Sam's lips moved weakly.
"Uncle."
Danny's eyes immediately narrowed. He didn't have to know the man at all to know that the way Sam spoke his voice told him everything he needed to know. Danny took a step backwards, pulling Sam in closer to his chest protectively.
"Put me down, Danny."
"No." He did not look at her, but his teeth were gritted, and he never dropped his eye contact with her manic-looking uncle.
"Yes, Danny. Put me down – now, please!"
Begrudgingly, he lowered her legs until her feet brushed the floor. He did not understand why she wanted to be put on the floor – she could hardly stand; gripping his arm like a lifeline.
But he understood completely when she raised her eyes to her uncle's. She did not want to look weak in front of him. Her eyes were fierce and furious, and just her glare seemed to madden her uncle further.
"Are you 'Danny'?"
Danny did not answer, but the narrowing of his eyes told Philip enough. With a terrible silence, he retracted his hand from inside his coat, revealing a curved-blade dagger. Before Danny could react, he lunged forwards, aiming straight for his heart.
But Danny felt a harsh pressure on his arm, and he was suddenly falling to the floor. But as he fell he whipped his head up. He saw the uncle still swiping the knife. He saw Sam stumbling, off balance from pushing him, pain etching into every line of her face.
The knife sunk into her chest silently and immediately, and the hilt hit her skin with a hollow thunk.
Danny crashed to the floor already rolling, and leapt up instantly – his hands already aimed, green energy already crackling between his fingers. He fired a blast into the dead center of the monster's chest, and sent him soaring across the room, halting as he slammed into the wall opposite, and tumbling to the ground, unmoving.
Behind them, the great grandfather clock chimed deeply.
Danny was by Sam's side just as the double doors to the ballroom were thrown wide open, Tucker, Valerie and Jazz shooting in. All three of them banked sharply when they saw the pair before them. Jazz moved silently over to where Danny was hunched over Sam's body on the ground, holding her hand tightly in his, his other arm under her body and lifting it up of the ground, her torso cradled in the crook of his elbow. His hand stroked across her face almost desperately as the clock tolled once more.
"Sam," he choked. "I–I'm so, sorry."
"Don't be sorry, stupid ghost," she murmured, her eyes flickering open, and a faint smile tugging on her lips.
The clock continued to chime behind them.
She heaved a breath. "I did that because I wanted to."
A drop of blood leaked from between her lips.
Danny glowered at the knife in her shoulder, and gently pulled out the curving blade, incinerating it in his hand as soon as it was free of her skin. Blood poured from the gash, but suddenly a pale hand appeared, and was pressed urgently against the bleeding.
Danny looked up into the eyes of his sister, silently thanking her, and then they both turned their attention back to Sam. Her violet eyes were trained on Danny, and she squeezed his hand gently.
"Danny," she whispered. "I'll miss you."
One tiny tear fell down her cheek, rolling down onto her neck as her hand slowly went limp in his.
Danny wanted to shout out, to scream – to beg her to come back. But he was frozen, trembling – unable to take his eyes off of her face as her head lolled down against his chest. His hand gripped the side of her face, his thumb moving across the skin, feeling the wetness of her tear on her cheek.
His eyes were pressed shut, and the only sound in the room was that of the old grandfather clock, chiming two last times. The last toll echoed in the silence of the room, three of the four ghosts bracing themselves for whatever they knew was coming; Tucker's hand slipping silently into Valerie's.
But nothing happened.
They started to look around them, and even Danny looked up from Sam to exchange a glance with his sister.
Suddenly all the doors of the room were blown open by a strange wind. It shot around the room overturning tables and chairs and billowing out all of the curtains. Danny hugged Sam's body closer to his own, squinting against the whipping wind.
The wind then began to swirl smaller, concentrating on the center of the room, creating a small flurry there, a few meters from the five huddled figures. Though the door at the end of the room the rest of the castle inhabitants then burst, summoned by the noise – or something else.
And in the middle of the vortex in the center of the room a bright white light suddenly began to shine. It intensified as the speed of the wind did, and suddenly exploded blindingly. Everyone in the room had to shield their eyes from the glare.
When they could open them once more, standing before them in the wake of the light was a ghost they had not seen for over a century.
Alira gazed out over the people she had come to know so well – though they had had no idea that she had been watching them in her gargoyle form from above, observing them as they found lives in the desolated castle. Her golden hair moved about her shoulders in an invisible wind, as did the light fabric of her glowing white dress move in it.
In her hand she held the black rose, one white-stained petal still clinging to it.
"The curse has been fulfilled."
Her voice echoed in the silence, all eyes trained on her – mostly in fear.
"The curse was broken before the last petal fell." She held up the flower in her hand as evidence. She suddenly smiled, and her young-looking face became beautiful. "Daniel Fenton, you love this girl. I know you do – I can see into your heart. And she loved you in return. Not only did she declare her love for you aloud, but she gave her life to save yours. She loved you with all of her heart.
"As such, the curse will be lifted, and all will be returned here to the way it was before."
She paused, and then dipped her head to the people in the room. As soon as she did, she was enveloped in that blinding white-green light once more. It then exploded, rocketing through the whole castle and shining out. The wave of light rolled down the mountainside, gaining speed as it flew out to cover the whole Amity area before dissipating into nothing.
Danny groaned. His head was pounding, but then the pain suddenly vanished. He sat up in surprise. Lying unconscious beside him were Tucker, Valerie, and his sister. In fact, they looked as though they were sleeping.
He gently rose onto all fours and crawled over to them. He put his hand on Jazz's shoulder, and tousled her lightly.
"Jazz? Jazz!"
She murmured softly, and then lifted her head, peeking sleepily through her hair at him. Her eyes then widened in shock and she jerked herself up so that she was sitting on her feet.
"Danny! Y-you're human again!" Her smile stretched right across her face as she threw herself into his chest, hugging him tightly. She ruffled his hair as she pulled back, still grinning broadly. Danny looked at his hands, and was shocked to find that the faint glow around them was finally gone, and that they had turned a human color once more.
He looked up into Jazz's smiling face, a grin catching on his own.
The pair stood up, and looked around. All the inhabitants of the castle were human once more, sleeping where they had fallen. Danny looked down and saw that he was wearing the same clothes he had been, only that the injury on his chest was gone, along with all the aches from his fight with Vlad.
"Danny? Jazz?"
The pair suddenly whipped around. And standing behind them, wondrous smiles on their faces, were their parents – looking as good then as they had a century ago. Jazz squealed and ran forwards, throwing herself into her parents' arms. Danny walked over more hesitantly, his steps faltering.
Jack looked up from his daughter to his son, standing a foot from him, looking almost longingly at the trio. He silently held out his hand to the son he had not seen for one hundred years. Danny stared at the offering, and then at his mother who was now, too, looking at him with tears in her eyes.
"Danny," she whispered.
And with that, Danny launched himself into the huddle, savoring the long-lost feeling of his parents' embrace.
It was a long while before they broke apart. Danny looked down at his mother, and up at his father, who ruffled his hair affectionately.
"We missed you," Maddie told them unnecessarily.
And just like that, Danny remembered.
"Sam!"
Jazz's eyes widened as she, too, recalled.
"What happened to Sam!?"
"Danny, the ghost said that, that all would be returned to the way it was before…Sam isn't here."
Danny gritted his teeth and looked out of the window, where Amity Park could be seen nestled hundreds of feet below.
"But I know where she is."
The door slammed behind her as she fled once more down the hill. A scowl was set firmly on her face, dust billowing around her feet as she ran down the hill from her uncle's house. A string of curses was being muttered from her lips, as she drew near to the town finally and stomped along the street.
She was not sure where she was going, or what she was doing. But her hand was firmly latched onto her opposite arm, protecting the bruise below from the people jostling her all over the place.
Suddenly her face smacked right into something. She bounced back, and would have landed on her butt in the middle of the street, if someone had not caught her.
She looked into the azure blue eyes of the man she had bumped into. He was young – maybe a year or two older than her, and very handsome. He had pitch-black hair, like her own, and his eyes were hauntingly blue.
For some reason, she felt as though she should recognize him.
"Sorry, Sir," she said, noticing that he still had his hands on the small of her back. "My fault."
"Sam."
She looked in surprise at his face.
"You know me?"
He said nothing, but nodded slowly, his eyes seeming…longing? She frowned.
"Do I know you?" Do you stalk me, or something?
"You did. I-I don't know if you remember, if you remember me."
He suddenly removed his hands from her back, as if it was a great struggle, and she felt a strange pang of loss. He took up her hand gently and pressed his lips to it for a moment.
Perhaps a moment longer than he really should have.
"Danny Fenton."
"Oh, I know you!" She smiled up at him. "Your family owns the castle up on Amity Mountain!" Then suddenly her smile disappeared and here eyes widened. "Y-you have a sister, Jazz. And your best friend is called Tucker. He loves Valerie and…your hair…"
She unconsciously reached up, heedless of the people bustling around them, and ran her fingers through his hair. "I-It's black, but…and, your eyes…." She stared right into the blue orbs, shining with some emotion she did not recognize. Stronger than fondness, deeper than affection. They were burning, and suddenly in her mind they flashed to green.
She blinked in surprise, and wanted to take a step backwards, but instead found herself slipping her hands up his arms.
"I do know you, don't I?"
He nodded silently, his eyes beaming at her. They just stood there, their arms linked, staring at each other – heedless of the dozens of people meandering around them and giving them disapproving and displeased looks.
"Danny."
Her voice was an almost inaudible whisper. He grinned and nodded once more, and her own face broke into a wide smile as all her memories flooded back to her – as if remembering a dream.
She rose instantly onto her toes and slipped her arms up around his neck to pull him down. She touched her lips to his almost feverishly, relishing the feel of his own arms snaking around her back to pull her up closer to him.
He turned his face to kiss her cheekbone, relieved to find the skin there intact. She rested her head in the crook of his neck, and he set his own on top of hers, still hugging her in close to his body.
"Do you mind?!"
"There's an inn across the street!"
Danny scowled at the voices, and slipped his hand into Sam's.
"Want to go home?"
Sam thought instantly of her uncle's house on the hill and scowled. "No."
He grinned. "Well, how about mine, then?"
She reached up to kiss him on the nose. "Race you."
And with that she turned and raced away from him, weaving through the crowds and dodging around corners, Danny hot on her trail. The laughing pair streamed past an open-top carriage, not bothering to note the people inside.
Jazz sighed as she watched her brother chase Sam towards the forest, confident that they could take care of themselves. Then, with a long-suffering sigh, she turned to the two teenagers next to her on the driver's seat, practically rolling around with laughter.
She was pretty sure they were in hysterics.
"You two are incredibly immature, you know that?"
"But Jazz!" Tucker cried between laughs. "Did you see the look on Danny's face when he heard us?"
Valerie slapped him on the back as she started choking with laughter.
Jazz rolled her eyes. "You two deserve each other."
She then sighed and turned once more to watch Danny and Sam, who were now just on the edge of the forest, wrapped up in each other's arms.
She smiled and took up the reins.
please review!!! reviews make the Fish happy!!!
well, what do you think of the ending...is it a bit?...i dunno. if you don't like it please tell me and give me a suggestion? that's just kinda where my muse died :D
until the next story! thanks to every single one of my reviewers - as always you are what helped me go on!!!
adios,
FunkyFish1991