Danny flew for only a few minutes to Pariah's Keep, flying at his top speed. He was anxious to see if Mark had been telling the truth.

It's just a misunderstanding probably.

Maybe Ember is throwing a concert? What does she do in her free time? Whatever.

Why did I volunteer for this? Wait. I didn't. Thanks Frostbite.

And now I'm just talking to myself in my mind. There nothing else to do though! I could shot random beams of ectoplasm into who knows where, but that's too much work.

Am I there ye- OH LOOK! I'm here!

After wasting his time for a few minutes, Danny floated to the entrance to the Castle of the ex-Ghost king. It's dark red door had been ripped off its hinges, not like someone was entering with extreme force, but like someone had been trying to escape. The door was nearly twenty feet from its frame, and upon closer inspection dents in the form of fingers were imprinted on the sides. Someone had been holding on for their survival. Looking up and away from the door, Danny walked over to the throne. He saw a shadow move, and he needed to know if someone was in trouble.

Once at the throne, Danny remembered something very important. The Sarcophagus was supposed to be in its place. Gasping Danny flew a few feet away and started to notice simple details that had been changed since he had fought Pariah. The Fright Knight's Pumpkin was nowhere to be seen. While he was free at the moment, he made a deal to not attack the ghost boy if ever in a dire situation. Such as the rise of his ex- king if ever awoken. It was free game otherwise, but the pumpkin was always meant to be present in Pariah's Keep should should the ghost go completely bad. Its reason for absence was something that Danny could only guess.

Next, Danny noticed the Ring of Rage on the floor near the foot of the stairs up to the throne. It sat on the ground, no longer glowing. The power had been drained from the ring, leaving but an empty shell of what it once was. A memory of power. Danny picked it up and dropped it in the thermos. Even without its power, it was important to have for later in case it ever returns.

The last thing Danny noticed was the hand that hardly poked out from behind the throne at the top of the stairs. Flying up the stairs to the throne once again, but with caution now, Danny slowly looked around the throne and was startled by the sight in front of him.

Pariah Dark was leaning against the throne, taking deep and shaky breaths, a habit to all ghost, even ones that had been created in the Ghost Zone and not through a human form of passing on to the next life. Pariah's leg was bent in an odd position, which Danny found strange. All ghosts have a healing factor that helped to heal them when large amounts of physical damage have been applied to them. It only stops working when the ghost is near fading or their power has been taken... much like the ring.

A shaky breath startled Danny out of his revaluation, and a raspy voice nearly scared Danny the other half to death. "So you have come to taunt me, showing yourself in your childish form? Just let me fade in peace. Even a coward such as yourself should have at least a remnant of respect for the fading!" The once strong voice that commanded leadership was now weak, rendered to a whisper.

Danny tried to speak, but found that he didn't have the strength to speak. He cleared his throat, and a shaky whisper came out. "W-who did this t-to you?"

Anger flashed through the ex-ghost king's eyes. "You find this funny? You have won! I admitted defeat! YOU WERE THE ONE THAT DIDN'T LIVE UP TO OUR DEAL! YOU SAID YOU WOULD GIVE ME A PAINLESS FADE!" Pariah coughed up ectoplasm, his rant leaving him even weaker than before. Pariah's red eyes bore into Danny's glowing green.

Scared of what could have done this to the ex-ghost, Danny wanted to do nothing more than fly away. To fly back to the Far Frozen, in the safety of his girlfriend's arms, his parents' presence, best friends jokes, sister's physiological sayings(he could use a few right now, with this experience to leave a few mental scars). He'd even accept Dash's bullying for the rest of his life and then afterlife, if he could forget what he was seeing now. To leave this castle and any scars that will remain with him. Before he could move an inch though, the fading ghost in front of him took a raspy breath and whispered to Danny,

"Long rule King Dan."

With those final words, the once powerful ghost king, disappeared in a black and green whisp, and Danny feel to his knees.

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(I should have ended the chapter here.)

It felt like hours had passed since Pariah had faded, but it had only been a few minutes in reality. After a while, Danny finally found the strength to stand up. The Keep echoed around him when his boots hit the ground. Danny realized that the Keep now seemed empty without the sounds of the faded ghost king's last breaths. Every movement sounded too loud to the ghost boy, every step down the stairs sounding like thunder, ringing louder and louder. As Danny walked past the door, he understood the hand indents on the door. Pariah had been trying to escape... him. Danny didn't even want to think of the name to his greatest fear, but his name became to much for him to stand as Danny flew as fast as possible, the fastest he's ever flown before, trying to get to the Far Frozen as if his life depended on it.

Dan.

Dan.

Dan.

The name rang in his head, and with every repeating of it, Danny wished he could fly faster. He needed to know if while he was gone, he had put his family in danger. Had the light been a distraction to get him away from his loved ones? As the Far Frozen came into view after a while of flying, Danny ran his white gloved hand through his snow white hair. He pushed himself to try to fly to the cave faster, he needed to check on Dani and Frostbite and every other ghost in theFa Frozen. If Dan did come, he would get rid of anyone that could possibly try to stop him first.

Danny landed in front of the cave to fast, marketing an explosion of snow around him. Stumbling to get up, he ran into the cave. He saw the same people he had seen when he left the cave, and when his eyes landed on two of the ghosts he wanted to see most.

"Dani! Frostbite!" The teenager ran to them and tackled them in a hug. Dani tried to squirm out of his grasp, but Danny only held onto her tighter. Only a faint whisper could be heard from Danny. "You're okay. You're okay."

"Great One! What is the news of Pariah's Keep?" Frostbite looked to the distressed boy in worry, but knew that the reason was because of whatever he had seen at the castle.

Danny floated away from the large yeti and looked at looked straight into his eyes. Worry once again filled the ghost boy's eyes and in the calmest voice he could manage, he said, "Dan's back."

----------------

After explaining what he had seen, Danny was free to go back to his friends and family. He promised Dani they would hang out later. When nearing the hut, Danny switched back into Fenton form, but turned invisible and intangible. He phased through the door and started to float around the rooms to find his friends. He found the room where the a-listers stayed, the room where the nerds and Mark and his friends had decided to bunk together, and even the room where his parents and Lancer were talking about where they could possibly go next, but could not find Sam and Tucker anywhere. He started to worry before he flew back into the main living area of the hut and saw movement in the corner of the room.

There was a blanket fort made from the pillows and blankets of the many couches around the fireplace. Danny knew right away that it was his friends that made this, and turned visible and phasing through the blankets.

It was a terribly built fort once you were inside, but it stayed up. Inside, Sam and Tucker were doing their own separate things: Sam was reading the only book she brought on the trip and Tucker was on his PDA. Danny's clone was glitching at his arms and legs and Danny immediately fused back into it. The small amount of exhaustion that Danny didn't realize he had went away now that he didn't have to use his energy on the clone. His friend hardly spared him a second glance, and Danny was fine with it. They knew he was tired and were willing to let him rest and wait to ask questions later, as much as they ached to ask everything that came to mind.

Danny knew though, that it was important to tell his friends now and to not wait. He smiled before starting his explanation with, "You ever hear the saying you either die a hero, or live long enough to become the villain? What if I'm both at the same time?"

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Can I end this chapter now? No? I'm only at 1,622 words? Dam. Still need to get to 700. Ugh. You know what, this actually seems like a good sized chapter and my usual chapter word minimum i have set for myself is 1200 words so i think I'm good. So comment what you think. The cover might be changing soon, so if you haven't voted on what you like most, go pick your favorite. I'll give the result by Friday.

SO LONG MY CHICKEN ARMY
YOUR LEADER,

-Bella

(Honestly as I'm proof reading this, I realized this all sounded a lot better in my head, the chapter.)