Paranoia

IT'S DONE!
DONEDONEDONEDONEDONE!!!!!!!!!!!! I'M SO EXCITED I'M ABUSING THE CAPSLOCK!

Anyway, if you hadn't realized it before now: It's done.

Paranoia is complete, 10 chapters. Just like I had wanted all along. I'm so happy, and emotional, and oh my god I finished a fic :'D

Well, I'm sure you didn't come all this way to listen to me ramble in my happiness.

Here's the fic :'D

Warnings for this chapter: Pretty obvious if you think about my 'unhappy ending' warning at the beginning. And sex.

---

Have you ever been so obsessed with getting free of something that it just pulled you in deeper? Wanting out so badly, yet you can't leave. A person. A place. A possession. Realizing you want it so badly, it hurts you to keep it, keep going to it but you can't stop.

Your obsession controls you. You say you don't want to do that, you can't do that though you're walking toward what you know you should be desperately running away from.

Dark.

I hate him. I hate him so much. If I had the chance I would kill him in a heartbeat.

Obsession.

I need him. I need him so much. I can never lose him, no matter how far away I get.

He'll always be with me.

---

Danny opened his eyes slowly, blinking the sleep out of them. He didn't feel any pressure beside him but turned over anyway to confirm that Dark was already up. With a sigh Danny turned onto his back, not wanting to get up yet, to go through this little play.

How long had he been here? How long had they been doing this? There was no way to tell time, no clocks, no sun, not even their sleep patterns to see how many weeks, months, years he had been trapped in this hole.

Sometimes he wondered if Clockwork stopped time for them, he really couldn't imagine that he hadn't done that. Though if that's what he was doing Danny also had to wonder if he was just keeping them for a certain amount of time before letting them go. Assuming both of them went, of course.

Danny shook his head as he sat up in bed and brushed his hair back. No one would ever be able to understand Clockwork, but really there was no reason in any possible future that it would be good to let his homicidal sadistic self out in the world again.

Sighing as his thoughts ran in a circle he wondered where Dark was. He usually got up before Danny but was back soon enough after he woke up. Danny supposed he could have decided to do something else today, but he had a feeling that wasn't true. Something about how today felt was different than normal and it made him nervous.

He almost chuckled at that. Why would doing something different than usual make him nervous? It wasn't as if Dark hadn't already done everything imaginable to him, and other than just blatant bodily harm Danny figured he shouldn't have anything to worry about. All the damage that could be done was done and nothing could change that. Whatever difference might happen wouldn't matter at all.

Pulling on a pair of boxers and a t-shirt Dark had left for him, apparently he was feeling nostalgic, Danny left the room. He found Dark on the couch watching a movie. Clockwork had apparently decided that it really was too boring to just have the two of them there with little else, so an entertainment system had appeared one day. Danny had thought about checking the movies for a date of release, but it was always blurred out somehow.

He stopped in the entrance way, just watching Dark for a moment. Neither of them had aged or changed physically since they got there, except when Dark decided to look human which he apparently did today, but still they both seemed different. Dark had relaxed a little since he had all the time he could want, and maybe more, with Danny, and what little hope Danny had had left abandoned him.

Sure hope would make an appearance once and awhile, but that was unusual. He tried to keep it at bay most of the time because whenever Dark talked to him it would just crush it again and again.

Dark turned his head, noticing he was there and raised an eyebrow at him before turning back to the movie. Sighing quietly Danny walked over and sat down next to him. Without looking over Dark put out an arm, wrapping it around Dannys shoulder before pulling them down to the couch, back to chest with Darks arm around Dannys waist

They lay like that for awhile, neither of them moving or talking. It wasn't a comfortable silence, there was no such thing with the two of them, but it wasn't uncomfortable either.

Finally Danny moved, tilting his head back so he could look at Darks face and try to figure out what he was thinking. Dark looked down at him and raised an eyebrow to which Danny just half shrugged and said, "Is this all you're doing?"

Dark shrugged, "What else might I do?"

Danny felt a sudden rush of anxiety at the nonchalant tone. Had Dark finally gotten bored of him? He'd had thoughts like this before, what if Dark did get bored of him? Would he kill him? No, Clockwork wouldn't allow that. Then would he just ignore him, or...

Danny's thoughts trailed off as he sank deeper into worry and contemplation.

---

Seeing the troubled look on Danny's face Dark sighed. He didn't understand the boy, for all they were practically the same person. Danny seemed to have a lot more insecurities, and not only because of what Dark had done to him.

It seemed like Danny was different than Dark had been even before his parents and friends had been killed in the explosion. He wondered what had happened in the time between when everyone was supposed to die and when Dark showed back up.

What a way he decided to show up in too. Dark wasn't sure what he thought about that now, looking back. It seemed like a good idea when he had fist done it. After thinking about it it seemed like Clockwork had been the one to set everything up in the first place so apparently it was supposed to happen, but...

Yes, he was evil. He reveled in that fact. He loved slaughtering innocents, creating chaos, terrorizing the masses. He had thought he had it almost perfect in his reality. Dark had chosen exactly what he wanted to do and exactly when he wanted to do it. Danny hadn't had that choice.

Looking down at the younger boy Dark felt a pang of something, regret? remorse?, course through him and he scowled. He wasn't supposed to feel anything like that. He supposed that spending every day together with someone you might come to feel something about them but he hadn't counted on this happening.

For a moment Dark wondered what it would be like for him to have a normal teenage life. Well, relatively normal, even if he still had ghost powers. What might have happened if Danny had been able to go through school as normal, college, girlfriends, dating. Maybe getting married and having children. Would any children he had have powers too?

Maybe in another reality those questions might be answered. This one though, it was already set. Dark was sure even if he disappeared now that nothing would ever be normal or all right again for Danny.

For the first time since he had absorbed Vlads ghost half Dark felt some regret for his actions.

"I'm sorry Danny."

---

"I'm sorry Danny."

Danny flinched in shock, accidentally falling off the couch and onto the cold floor. He must be hearing things, there was no way Dark could have just apologized. How could he apologize for anything after all this.

Still trying to convince himself he was having auditory hallucinations Danny didn't notice the older man come down off the couch and sit next to him. He was laying on his back looking up at the dull gray ceiling when suddenly Dark invaded his vision, leaning down for a kiss. It only lasted a few seconds and when Dark sat back up Danny blurted out the first thing that came to his mind.

"So you're not bored of me?"

He quickly covered his mouth and wished he could melt into the floor. He didn't care. He didn't want to know, that was just what had been on his mind. He did want away from Dark. He did.

"Bored? Whatever gave you that idea?" Dark chuckled and Danny sat up so they were sitting across from each other between the couch and television.

Danny closed his eyes and took a deep breath, slowly letting it out as he tried to figure out what to say. Maybe this was what he had been sensing when he got up. The change that was taking place, something shifting in the air.

"You weren't there. In the morning." Danny finally said. "When I came out here you just wanted to sit. I..." he trailed off biting his lip.

When they had first came here Dark had made a point of doing sexual things to Danny every day. Sometimes less, usually more until it seemed Danny had gotten addicted to the feeling. He had slowly started doing it less often, but still often enough that to not be touched was unusual. It made Danny uncomfortable to think that the reason he was so anxious was that Dark had made no move to do anything to him.

---

Dark would touch me every day. He would make sure he touched me in one way or another. In the early days it would always be for sex, or some derivative thereof. He would find a way to work me up, make me want it so bad that he seemed to be doing me a favor relieving the pressure.

As time went on those touches became less frequent and then he would only touch me in passing. A touch to the shoulder, a pat on the head, a stroke on the arm. First it only made me nervous, wondering what he was waiting for, wondering if, when, he would do something more.

Slowly my wondering just became frustration. Instead of 'When will you touch me' it became 'Please touch me'.

I found out what he was waiting for one day when it just became too much. I was so frustrated, so out of my mind with the need he had implanted in me that I did it.

I touched myself. Masturbated. Wanked. However many terms there are for it. And it felt good. Really good, and I was doing it to him.

He walked in on me of course, all flushed and needing. I realized it then, with that smile, that way he sort of swaggered over to where I was that this was what he had been trying to do. I realized at that moment he had complete control over me, what my body did, what pattern my thoughts took.

I realized I was his.

---

Dark sighed and brushed a hand through his hair. Bored of Danny? How could that happen? Danny obviously thought it was possible though, with the way he had reacted to the kiss and his question and half-answer afterword.

Sure he intentionally ignored him sometimes, after all the boy did deserve a break after all he did. Then the other half of what Danny said registered. Had he changed Dannys consciousness to think that if he wasn't doing anything sexual to him that he was unwanted, unneeded?

Shaking his head Dark pushed away those thoughts. He should not be worrying about this kind of thing. He shouldn't be worrying about any type of thing, he had gotten rid of his emotions years ago and he did not appreciate them trying to make another appearance.

Still, though, he felt like he needed to reassure the boy. He liked him with a bit of spice, and the way he was moping around right now was not doing anything for either of them. The only way he could think of doing it though, was to give him the sexual attention he had apparently been withholding.

He honestly wasn't opposed to it, in fact he liked it quite a bit. The only problem he had with it right now was what it was doing to Danny's mentality.

As they sat there on the floor staring at each other Dark made his decision. He would give Danny what he needed. He had a feeling that something else might happen too, and he decided that whatever it was he wouldn't do anything about it.

---

Danny wasn't all that surprised when Dark stood up and put a hand out to help Danny up as well. He also expected, anticipated, going down the hallway to their room.

Their room where so much had happened. A place to start everything, and a place to finish everything as well. Danny wasn't sure what had brought these thoughts on and it was kind of making him nervous.

Maybe this was what Clockwork had been waiting for. Maybe he would appear any minute to give them instructions on what their roll was in the timeline.

Danny mentally shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts as Dark pushed him gently down on the bed, crawling on top of him. The younger boy wasn't used to that type of precious, soft attention and it almost embarrassed him.

Things were usually fast, rough, hard, no time to really think about what was going on, just to feel. Slowing it down made things different though. It gave him time to think about what was going on and how things had changed from the time before they had come here.

Dark slid his hands up Danny's shirt to remove it, exposing his torso. He leaned down and nipped at his collerbone making Danny whimper slightly, in pleasure, Dark knew, before licking up his throat and kissing him deeply.

Danny felt himself becoming turned on as Darks tongue entered his mouth, moving around and encouraging Danny's to move as well. Danny moaned and wiggled his hips, still trying to keep movement at a miniumum since he was confused. Dark hadn't acted like this before, and the closest it had been was the first time they'd had sex when they were trapped here.

Dark took a moment to break the kiss and take off his t-shirt, tossing it carelessly to the side. Danny's hand automatically moved up to rest against the older mans chest, just taking a minute to feel the abnormal cold that radiated off of him. Danny sighed softly when Dark moved again, his thigh between Danny's legs so that the next time Danny wiggled he would be moving against him.

One of Darks hand was stroking Danny's torso, every once and awhile pinching a sensitive spot to make Danny gasp or twitch and Dark could tell that Danny desperately wanted him to do something else, something more. Dark kissed him again and to his slight surprise Danny kissed him back, raising his head for more.

With an inward smile Dark moved back a bit and slid his hand lower down Danny's chest to the line of his boxers, and lower.

"You want me." he said, pushing down Dannys boxers just enough to grab his member and start stroking it slowly.

Danny nodded silently, biting his lip, knowing Dark was going to say something else as well.

"Does it still seem like I'm bored of you, Danny?" Dark said with soft intensity lowering his head so his face was inches away, "I could never be bored of you, not even if I wanted to."

Danny could feel his face heating up at those words. In one way it almost sounded as if Dark felt something for him, but in another it was just like they were stuck together no matter what.

Swallowing Danny replied, "N-no. I'm, um," he licked his lips nervously, trying to think of a way to say what he was thinking that didn't sound awkward, "Thank you."

Dark smiled, a gesture so rare, not at all like his smirk, that it shocked Danny into an even deeper silence which didn't matter because Dark was kissing him again. Some abstract part of Dannys brain registered that something significant had just happened but it was pushed away with another part saying that he just lost his boxers.

Pulling back again Danny felt a slight trail of saliva coming out of the corner of his mouth. He was sure his face was flushed and he could tell he was panting though it seemed as if he was watching what was going on instead of it happening to him. Everything seemed sort of surreal, even when Dark kissed him softly on his jawline and pressed a finger into him.

Danny found it odd that he still couldn't use his ghost powers, and it seemed that Dark could only use two. The one that allowed him to change his form, and the one that allowed him to create ectoplasmic lube. The latter was more disturbing, and sometimes distressing, than the former, but at times like this not necessarily unwelcome. He had learned the hard way that being taken dry was quite a bit more painful than when Dark used his makeshift lube.

Like everything about the ghost it was cold, making him flinch in shock of that as well as the intrusion. He had gotten more used to it, but this time still seemed odd. When Dark added another finger he gasped and bit his lip again.

Dark removed his fingers and slicked himself up, spreading Dannys legs even more and getting into position. Danny made another sound low in his throat when he felt Dark against him, not entering him yet.

He knew he had never wanted this. Danny knew he would have never wanted this. Dark had changed him to want this, but still. He wanted it. He wanted it now, and if that meant exerting a little force in whatever they had, he would do it. Even if it meant something was happening between them, he had to.

In a movement that somehow managed to surprise himself, who was doing it, as well as Dark he wrapped his legs around Darks legs and pulled him forward and into him. Though he had been expecting it the sudden stretching and feeling caused Danny to throw his head back, his mouth opening to release a cry of mostly ecstasy.

He heard Dark bite back a gasp as well as they both lay there panting. Dark closed his eyes and let out a low moan of pleasure. He would always love this, the tightness, the warmth of someone so alive.

After a moment he moved and grinned at the small 'Ah!' Danny let out beneath him.

Pulling almost all the way out he slammed back in for another quite vocal exclamation from the boy under him. He did this a few more times, finding the spot he was looking for which made Danny scream, before settling in on a medium set pace. Danny started pushing back against him with more than just the instinctual movements. Dark could tell it was completely intentional and it was just one more odd thing that had happened this time.

Dark could count on his hands the number of times Danny had consensually participated in their activities, at least without other prompting.

Slipping a hand between their bodies Dark grabbed Danny's member again and stroked it slowly making the boy arch against him even more. Leaning down to kiss him Danny responded enthusiastically. Their tongues slid together sensuously mimicking the movements of their bodies.

A few minutes later Dark had Danny on sensory overload, so when he bit his neck, and squeezed his cock, and hit that spot all at the same time it was all Danny could take and he came, arching up with a choked cry. Dark came a few moments later with a low moan and Danny shivered as he felt him release inside of him.

They lay there panting for a minute, thinking about what had happened. What had lead up to that happening. The things that seemed to change between them, making everything so much more confusing. They should talk, but neither were sure what to say.

Dark pulled out, but didn't really move, just staring down at Danny.

"I realize now that I was wrong about a few things I had previously assumed." Dark said suddenly.

Danny started, he wasn't expecting Dark to say something and the only thing he could say was "What?"

---

Time to decide.

---

A greenish gray glow spread through the room, freezing everything. The apparition glided into the room, examining their contents. The 'contents' however were a pair of males, the smaller with a look of slight apprehension and curiosity and the other had a look of contemplation, quite the unusual expression for that one.

Clockwork decided it was a good thing he had lost all sense of awkwardness or modesty centuries ago or else the position the two were in would be very uncomfortable.

Gliding over to the pair Clockwork dropped a Time Pendent over Danny's head, the boy coming out of the time freeze with a start. He looked around confused for a second before his eyes settled on Clockwork.

"W-w...Clockwork?" Finally stuttered out, his eyes widening as he realized exactly what position he was in, and that Clockwork was there as well. He had only seen Clockwork a few times since they had come here, and both times he hadn't bothered to stop time.

Suddenly Danny got a sick feeling in the pit of his stomach. What was going on?

"It's time, Danny." the ghost said and reached out a hand. Danny swallowed when he saw there was a small gun sitting on his palm.

"N-now? I mean...why? If this is why we..." he trailed off, unable to speak, looking between the gun and the ghost on top of him.

Time. It was time. He was going to kill him, or at least try to. Why did it feel so horrible though? He swallowed again against the lump forming in his throat.

"Danny," Clockwork said, getting the boys attention before he panicked. "It's time. You can do it, don't worry. You want this."

Slowly Danny reached his hand out for the gun. Somehow he knew as soon as he grabbed it he would have to act. No time to think. No time to decide. No time to regret.

---

No time.

---

Dark opened his mouth to reply when Danny flickered. It confused him for a second, but then his eyes widened as he saw Danny now held a gun. He didn't make a move to do anything, remembering what he had promised himself earlier.

'Clockwork.'

They stared at each other for a moment, both still frozen in shock when suddenly Danny whipped the gun forward so it was pointed at Darks chest, where his heart should be.

"I realized," Dark said at the same time, "That you do still have a spine."

---

As I lay there under Darks dead body, blood oozing out of the chest wound I created I realized something as well.

I had just killed somebody. He may have been evil, he may have been doing things to me against my will. He may have destroyed the world, murdered countless people, but still.

I killed him.

My shock was as brilliant as the redgreen of his blood mixed with ectoplasm splashed across my upper body. I told myself as I sat there shaking I had wanted this. I wanted to be rid of him, rid of his influence, rid of his actions.

Free.

I freed myself from my physical prison and secured the bolts on my mental one. Somehow, ever since I killed him, no, ever since I saw the gun in Clockworks hand I knew what would happen. Everything is inevitable.

---

A little girl with dark brown hair and brilliant violet eyes played with a ball in the front yard of her house. Getting distracted for a moment she accidentally let the ball roll down to the road. She chased after it, making sure to check both ways before going into the road to get it.

As she glanced left, right, and left again she noticed something odd, and a little scary. There was a boy coming down the street. He didn't look very good, kind of sick and he looked like she felt when she had a fever.

She watched him with wide eyes as he came closer and as he got to her driveway he stopped and looked at her. The little girl took a step back, afraid, before the boy suddenly collapsed.

She repressed the urge to scream and ran inside calling for her mom.

---

When Sam heard her daughter calling for her she knew it wasn't just a normal summons. There was something, an edge to her voice that made Sam hurry even more than normal. When she caught her and she was kneeling with her daughter grabbing her around the shoulders babbling about a boy who had fallen down outside Sams eyebrows snapped together.

Gently prying off her small child she told her to wait in her room and she would go see what was happening. Sam grabbed a baseball bat and looked through her curtains first before going outside.

Her heart leapt for a second when she first saw the small black haired boy but she forced herself to calm down. That was impossible, Danny had been taken thirteen years ago, there was no way that could be him.

Swallowing thickly she opened the door and crept outside, glad that her neighbors were all either asleep or at work already. The closer she got to the boy the more convinced she got that it was Danny though. When she got right next to him she knelt down and tapped on his shoulder and by the reaction she got if the boy had been healthy he would have bolted, instead he just let out a small sound of shock and rolled over, his eyes wide.

Her eyes widened as well, as did his if that was possible, as the recognized each other.

"Danny?"

"Sam?"

---

Sam was in shock. She couldn't believe that Danny had appeared after all this time, not looking a day older than when he had been taken away. A million questions were running through her head, how did you escape? what happened to you? are you ok? She knew that the last question was probably stupid to ask, but she wanted to anyway.

Currently Danny was resting in the guest bedroom in clothes she had borrowed from her husband. The ones he had been wearing had been dirty. It was odd though, it seemed as if there had been something on his skin and it had soaked through his shirt other than just getting on him.

She was sure Danny had questions too, after all it was obvious that it had been awhile. Getting a cup of coffee Sam went back to the room to find Danny sitting up, his arms around his knees staring down at the bed.

Sam was struck by how young and vulnerable he looked, and it made her her want to reach out and touch him. Pat his arm or stroke his hair like a child to make him feel better. She remembered the phobia he had developed about being touched before, though, so she restrained herself.

Danny took the coffee from her with a small grin of thanks and sipped it, smiling more when he realized she had used Tuckers special blend. Tucker. He wondered where he was now, and Val and Jazz and his parents too. Especially his parents, they had had no clue about what had been happening and arrived just in time to see him be taken away.

His curiosity got the better of him even though he wasn't sure he wanted to know but he asked anyway, "What happened to everyone? Like my parents and Jazz and Tucker?"

Sam took out the chair of the desk in the room and sat on it and Danny thought about how different she looked, but it was so similar at the same time. She had her hair a little longer than shoulder length but didn't put it up. It seemed like she didn't work today and her casual house clothes were a little more modest, aka longer, version of what she wore in school.

Sam took a breath and said, "Well, Tucker and Val ended up getting married, which nobody really saw coming. Jazz moved to Las Vegas and started her own detective/psychiatric consulting agency."

"Vegas?" Danny asked and raised an eyebrow. He wasn't too surprised about her occupation, especially with everything that had been going on before he was taken away, but he couldn't imagine her living in a place like that.

Then again it could be a completely different place for all he knew. As he thought about that he realized he didn't want to know how long he had been gone. It wasn't like it mattered anyway.

"Yeah, we were kind of surprised as well," Sam said sending a timid smile at him that he returned, but it faded after a moment.

"What about my parents?"

Sam resisted the urge to chew nervously on her bottom lip. Finally she said, "They...were really confused. They didn't know what was happening. The only thing they knew was that there was a ghost, Vlad had just been killed, and you were gone. Jazz tried to explain a little to them, but it didn't really seem to do anything." she paused, "They stayed in Amity Park until Jazz graduated but then they moved. I don't know where they went, but Jazz might."

Danny took this news in silence, but it was more of the reminder of Vlad dieing than his parents doing anything that upset him. Though Dark was the first person he had really killed first hand, Vlads death had been entirely his fault. If only he hadn't acted so suspicious, kissed him, told him everything.

Blinking away the sudden burning sensation in his eyes, why should he cry, he hadn't in years, he lapsed into silence again.

Sam couldn't contain her curiosity any more, she had to know. "Danny, um, how...how did you escape?"

She saw him suddenly stiffen and his head turned violently to the side so she couldn't see his face. This made her feel a little bad but she really did want to know.

Danny mumbled something she couldn't hear so she got up and knelt next to the bed and prompted, "What?"

The mumbling stopped for a second and Danny slowly turned to face her. His lips moved for a second without any sound and finally he said, "I killed him."

---

Admitting something out loud is a normal occurrence. Our language is spoken and we say so many things all the time that even our darkest secrets will come out eventually. There are things so hard to say that when we do say them we go into shock although we've already admitted it mentally.

I was raped by Dark Phantom at age fifteen. I had admitted that in my head, but when I had to say it out loud it seemed so much worse.

I killed Dark Phantom at age fifteen after being trapped in a timeless place for years. I admitted this to myself a few seconds after I had managed to roll his corpse off of me where it had fallen.

Saying 'I killed him' was the hardest, most shocking thing I ever did to myself.

It brought emotions and thoughts to the surface, things that normally would have stayed buried.

I killed him, and in more than one sense of the word I killed myself.

---

Sam said she was going to go make some calls and she would be back. Danny didn't notice, he had started silently crying.

It was too much. Everything had happened at once, and there were no answers for any of it. Why had Clockwork kept them for that long? What would have Dark said if they had talked? What else could they have done in the tower to make things happen differently? What if he had stopped protesting for the sake of protesting and started telling Dark he really didn't mind?

He let out a choked sob. Danny wasn't sure what to think anymore, he would be glad if he just didn't have to think any more. He wanted to talk to Dark, see what he had to say about everything.

That was impossible though. He was dead, just like Vlad.

Dannys emotions were in turmoil and he didn't notice at first when the little girl from earlier crept into the room holding a box of tissues. He did notice her when she set them on the bed and started to creep away again.

He let out a little chuckle under his breath, only kids, and gave her a watery smile that she hesitantly returned.

"Thank you," he said.

Now that the boy had said something he didn't seem so scary any more. "I'm Dante." she said boldly.

"Thank you, Dante." Danny replied accordingly and the girl puffed up in pride at his voice. She liked that and as she walked out of the room she decided she wanted to do something to make everybody proud, but now she had to go to school.

Looking down at the kleenex box, all bright colored with Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore he thought about how that's how life should be. Smiles and cheerfulness. Sometimes a little gloomy, but there would always be friends to cheer you up and show you the brighter side. He didn't have any of those any more.

Technically he still had Tucker and Sam, but they had grown up without him. He didn't know anything about their lives now, as they didn't know anything about him. Could they still be friends with such a vast difference between them? Danny didn't think so, at least not like before. The only thing that could happen would be like having a mentor to look up to, or for them a nervous child to reassure.

He didn't want that. Now that he could have a life again he realized he didn't want one. In his opinion there was no point. What could he do? Go back to school? Not likely.

He was still to 'young' to get a job, so that was pointless.

Glancing around the room he noticed the desk. Getting up he shuffled over to it and went through it taking out some paper and a pen. With another quick glance at the clock Danny started writing. When he was done he folded it, but then after a second thought uncreased it and set it on the desk.

Danny felt he owed them a little bit in the way of explanation after all, seeing as how Sam was probably currently in the process of calling people to tell them he was back.

Sitting back down on the bed he was unsurprised when a gun, the gun appeared. Just like before he knew as soon as he grabbed it time would be up. No time for regrets. No time for thoughts.

"I'm sorry, I love you."

No time for sadness.

---

The future is secured. The past was inevitable. The present is as it should be.

---

Sam jumped when she heard a sharp loud, yet oddly muffled sound coming from somewhere in the house. Immediately she thought of Danny. Telling Tucker, whom she was on the phone with, that she would call him back she set the phone in the receiver and started quickly but cautiously towards where she left Danny.

The door was slightly ajar and she had a feeling that Dante had gone to see him before she left for school. She seemed a little different, more confident and it made Sam happy though she was a bit confused as to how it had come about.

Opening the door her eyes widened in shock and she let out a whispered "No."

Rushing into the room to the bed where Dannys corpse lay she couldn't speak. What had happened? Why had this happened? He was supposed to be back, everything was supposed to be good again!

How had it happened? Sam couldn't see the gun, for obviously it was a gun of some sort that had left that unmistakable hole in Danny's chest. Something was strange about it though, almost as if it was one of the guns Danny's parents used to own to use against ghosts.

Looking around the room, still in shock, Sam noticed a desk drawer was open and a sheet of paper was sitting there. Swallowing, wondering what was going to happen now, she went over and picked it up.

Glancing through the letters a hand came up to rest against her mouth as horror filled her. Her eyes misted up as she glanced from the letter to Danny and back again. Loss, sadness, anguish, anger, all rushed through her. This shouldn't have happened.

Nothing should have ever happened, everyone was supposed to have their happily ever after.

All of her emotions were released in one scream before she broke down on the floor the already slightly crumpled paper being crushed in one hand.

"Danny!"

---

There are a few things nobody can escape. Society, obligations, and other things like that people can pretend to escape, but still they're always still there.

Death is always there.

Darkness is always there.

Nobody can get away from either. You can hide from Darkness, surround yourself with lights. Live in a city where there is never true darkness, sleep with a light of some sort.

You can think you know true darkness, closing your eyes or covering them with hands or a pillow.

Those can't even compare to true darkness. Being hundreds of feet under the surface of the earth in a cave with a flashlight off. Impenetrable inky blackness that as soon as it appears you feel instinctual fear. What's out there? Will I really see when the light comes back on?

My light didn't come back on.

My fear was there, but it was subdued by other emotions.

Dark was my light, as ironic as that seems. He implanted himself in my thoughts so my fear of losing him was so strong I didn't know it was there until it was gone.

When you take away everything there's only dark.

When I take away everything there's only Dark.

I'm sorry, I tried. I lived, I was trapped in a circle of emptiness, I escaped to become trapped within myself.

When it comes down to it there's only one thing I can't escape from. Only one thing I need. Only one thing I can't live without.

Dark.

---

End Paranoia