paixaorpg | Dreamscapes (complete)

Entry tags:

Dreamscapes (complete)

Characters: Valerie, Misha and Dan.
Content: Valerie in dreamworld and some visitors.
Setting:Haja o Que Houver, Vanaheim, night time.
Warnings: Trauma, drama and other 'auma's applicable

After checking on Misha and leaving her the muffin she hadn’t eaten (she’d gotten too full) Valerie hopped into bed.

Valerie had thought that a good night’s sleep would put everything in perspective. She was well fed, drowsy, and had a really good time just eating with Danny. A part of her was happy she could keep an eye on him now: she got the feeling that he hadn’t been in a very good frame of mind the past few days. She was still, of course, forcing herself to forget about Dan. He was messaging her outright now, and was doing the same with Misha. She had to make sure that Danny never heard a word of it, and intended to keep it that way. This included thinking too much of Dan before bed.

Her subconscious, however, was a different story.

It started out the way it always did: she was at the Nasty Burger, at the site of the explosion. She’d gone there the day after the accident, and had stared at the wreckage, and had looked into the sky that day, wondering what went wrong. In the dream there was still the smell and smoke coming from the place much like that day: the firemen had been there, but this sort of thing always happened after an explosion and fire like that. She was walking through bits and pieces of what was once a family restaurant: the head of the mascot for the drive-thru, a piece of a table, some strewn condiments full of so many preservatives not even an explosion could reduce it to liquefy. Valerie kept on walking as if in a trance, and then she saw him, somewhere in-between a broken booth, shivering. He was pale and blood and dirt matted his face, but she’d know him anywhere. She moved the booth out of the way, but his back was to her, and he didn’t even respond. She moved to put her hand to his back, and heard the scream, half in anguish, half in anger.

“DON’T TOUCH ME!”

“Danny? Please! Snap out of it!”

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The funny thing about angels falling asleep, is that they kept sleeping until something or someone woke them up. Maybe it was because time in Heaven was different than time on Earth, which explained why an apprentice who was over 1000 years old looked like a child still.

She didn't stir when Valerie came back to the room and fell asleep in the other bed, but as with Danny's nightmare the other night, Valerie's troubled thoughts soon roused the angel girl and she opened her eyes, blinking sleepily.

"Valerie-san?" Misha asked, sitting up. She looked at the clock and was surprised... she hadn't meant to sleep that long. That must mean that dinner was long over.

But the other girl's sleep didn't appear to be restful at all. Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Misha slid off her bed and made her way across the room, reaching out to touch Valerie's shoulder and make sure that she was okay. Just as she made contact, however, the world went dark and then cleared to show a new place.

Oh no'su, Misha thought. It happened again'su! I got pulled into a dream'su...

Really, she had to figure out how to stop this from happening. She couldn't go snooping around on people's dreams all the time, it wasn't nice.

Except this didn't look like a very good dream...

"Valerie-san?" Misha called, a bit more loudly.

Why does this look familiar'su? Oh no'su...

There was a faint voice calling: Valerie could hear it, but at the moment it was faint and Valerie was still trying to coax dream Danny from his position. She reached over to him again, and while he shifted away from her, he didn’t yell at her again. Valerie tried, like she always did, to console him.

"I’m sorry Danny. I wish I could have helped you, that I could have done something."

"What do you care?" His voice was cold and sad, on the verge of tears. "You didn’t like any of them anyway. They weren’t your friends or your family."

"It’s not true that I don’t care! I may not have known them, but they were your friends and that mattered! They meant something to you! Don’t…don’t turn away from me. I want to help you!"

"You can’t help." His voice was dead, no, dying. "No one can help. This is mine to carry alone. You shouldn’t even be here."

"I am here! I…" Her voice caught in her throat as she saw Danny slump over, dead to the world. Valerie choked, and just as she was moving over to him, she heard the voice behind her.

"He’s right, leave him alone. You don’t know what he’s been through. You can’t help him." It was ghost boy, Danny Phantom, Inviso-bill, whatever name he went by. "You don’t know what he’s been through."

He had said this all before, Valerie remembered, except that dream Danny had looked dead then, and now he just looked emotionally gone. The last time, Valerie had just looked at him and not known what to say. Now, she bent over to Danny and picked him up by his arms. She looked deep into his blue emotionless eyes, and sadness filled her
heart
and she turned to Inviso-bill. Behind him she saw that cloud of black, looking almost like tar, and she could almost see eyes beyond the dark, glowing, almost needy. All of this didn’t matter though. That ghost could forbid her until he was blue in the face, and those eyes could stare at her ten ways until eternity. Her resolve: this was where it was from. This is where it started.

"No." It was simple, but Valerie felt her answer boom out at the boy ghost. "I won’t leave him alone. He needs help, and they took it away from him. I failed before, but not again. I’m here. I’ll follow him. I won’t let this happen."

She turned to the heavens, and now her voice filled the air. "YOU HEAR ME DAN?! I WON’T LET THIS HAPPEN!"

And now she could hear the faint voice a little more clearly, even in the muck of that rising blackness and the smell of smoke and the uncertainty of the day.

Misha followed the sudden yelling that she heard, running over the debris-strewn ground. She was filled with a sudden fear, recognizing this place as the same setting for Danny's nightmare.

Why are Valerie-san and Danny-kun having the same bad dream'su?? the angel thought frantically. It must be that bad person'su!

But things didn't look exactly the same this time. For one, Valerie was present. Second, only she and Danny were present for the moment, but... what was wrong with Danny?!

"Valerie-san! Danny-kun!"

Dan appeared over Valerie triumphantly, staring at his younger self in her arms.

"Why Valerie, how caring of you," he said. "But unfortunately, without this happening, I would not exactly exist," he said, somewhat sympathetically. "Amity Park is my home, my turf. In fact, I had all the same teachers you had. For that matter, I knew you in school, Valerie." He grinned smugly. "I may or may not have been a classmate, that is for you to decide yourself, but I was most definitely still in Casper High when you were a freshman."

Dan turned and floated a little lower when he saw a pink-haired little child running towards the scene. "And this must be little Miss Misha. It's a pleasure to run into you," he said nastily. He threateningly created another ectoplasmic grenade in his hand.

"Tell me Valerie. Have you figured out every phenomenon of Amity Park?" he asked jauntily.

Valerie turned and finally got a good look at the figure whose voice had been n her dreams. She could hear the sneer in his voice as he tried delivered his diatribe, but the moment she realize that Misha was now here with her, her body froze.

Not only could he see her, he seemed to be aiming straight at her now. Valerie swore internally: Misha could get hurt, and no matter if this was a dream or not, she remembered what had happened to Misha’s wings before. Not fully thinking about it, she dropped Danny gently and got in Dan’s path. The suit was on now: she barely understood how it happened, but it was there. Misha was going towards Danny, and that was fine with her as long as she was engaging Dan.

"I’m not one for mysteries," Valerie said coldly, looking him up and down.
"So this what you look like, huh? Funny, you remind me of a ghost I saw once when Pariah Dark came to Amity park. I don’t remember seeing him again, but your similarities are all there. I don’t know why you’d tell me you were a student, but then I doubt I’m supposed to believe in the things my enemy tells me, am I?” She looked over at Misha. “Leave her out of this. This has to do with you and Danny and me. There are a lot of things I want to tell you, but here’s one I want you to know: I won’t let you exist. So long as you threaten Danny’s existence, I’ll be your enemy. Think and say what you like, but know that for a fact."

She moved over to where Misha was holding Danny, glad to have her jet sled on her. She turned and activated her Ectograde Launcher.

Everything was happening very quickly, and it confused her. When Dan addressed her and showed another ectogrenade, she flinched instinctively, remembering the object as what had nearly blown she and Danny up the last time, what had injured her wings. But that didn't stop her from running over to where Valerie had put Danny down.

But what was wrong with Danny? It wasn't just that he was staring blankly -- because he was, and that was a little scary -- but...

His aura'su... it's not the same'su... In fact, it wasn't even the right shade of green, so much. It looked all washed out, the same as Dan's had looked during Danny's nightmare. The angel girl stole a glance around Valerie (and her bright orange aura) to look at Dan -- but his aura was definitely strong now. So why was Danny's faint and everyone else's strong this time?

I don't understand'su...

"Valerie-san, please be careful'su!" she cried. "That's the bad person'su!"

I definitely won't let anyone be hurt this time'su...

Dan smirked as Valerie's suit automatically covered her in it. He flew close in, stroking her chin as he said, "It's been a long while since I've seen you do that, dear Valerie." He flew back to his original height and continued.

"If you aren't up for a good mystery game, I can most definitely give you a few clues. But no telling you while Danny isn't up," he said tauntingly as a clone of Dan fell to the ground, two black rings appearing over him. In his place stood Vlad Masters, walking up to Valerie calmly in his typical rich-man way.

"Ah, Valerie, what a pleasure to see you again. I assume the weapons I've provided you with are still in perfect condition?" he said, leaning in with his hands tied behind his back, dressed in his traditional black suit.

Dan smirked once more, keeping Misha's presence in mind. "As for my appearance, well, it's probably attributed to dear old Plasmius," he spat the name out disdainfully. He smirked again, Vlad leaning back out in unison with Dan.

“Don’t t-!” Valerie barely got the words out before Dan ascended and showed her the face of the man that she now despised almost as much as him. Pained as it was to admit, Dan was playing with her now, and he was having fun too. She looked at Vlad and grit her teeth. It was probably obviously that this wasn’t the real Vlad Masters, but at this moment, Valerie wasn’t in a happy understanding mood. Without even a thought she reached over and slapped Vlad hard in the face and grabbed him by the collar.

“You! How dare you come here like this is a stroll for you! You did this to him! I should have known. What made you do it, huh? Did you need to get back at Danny’s father that badly? Was he just another toy to you?!” Valerie was shouting now, in spite of herself, and she wasn’t aware that the darkness that she had seen earlier was now darkening the sky. She was dimly aware, but she didn’t feel like acknowledging it now. Now she just wanted to yell, but something made her stop. She was glaring angrily at Vlad and then Dan, and saw the emblem on Dan’s chest. It looked very familiar to her, and it made her throw Vlad down as if he didn’t matter.

“How do you have that? That’s impossible! You’re Vlad, you have to be, unless…”

Something was wrong with this. She knew he looked like Vlad, but that mark wasn’t something she’d ever seen Vlad wear. She’d seen it before though, she knew that. She had to rack her mind. It would come to her, it had to.

And it did.

“No, not just Vlad.” Valerie glared at him. “You’re him too, aren’t you? You’re that ghost boy Invisobill! That’s why you know me! That’s why you act like you’re familiar to me!”

To say Misha was totally lost was pretty accurate at this point, watching Dan morph into some strange (albeit human looking) man. It was obvious that Valerie had some kind of grudge (was THAT ever putting things lightly) with him/them, but what it was, of course there was no way she could know.

Was this just another trick of Dan's? After all, hadn't he changed into Danny to try and confuse Misha before?

Amd why wasn't Danny waking up? Was he hurt?

Taking her eyes off Valerie for a moment, Misha pulled Danny into her lap. "Danny-kun, please wake up'su..."

Dan laughed at Valerie's confusion. Ah, how it was sweet. She thought Vlad was actually there, how sweet! He lifted one finger and the Vlad spoke.

"Valerie, why would I ever dream of doing such a thing? To your best friend? Why..." he said, all of a sudden somewhat lustful and reminiscent, "I would never let Maddie slip through my clutches that way, no matter how much that big fat oaf Jack Fenton needs to be killed," he said angrily again. Vlad was thrown to the side, but Dan couldn't really care much. It's not as if it hurt, really.

"Very bright, Valerie, very quick!" he said, verbally praising the teen. "I'm very proud of you...I'm afraid, however, that you've only gotten half of the story still," he said. Then, smirking in his typical fashion, "See, you have yet to figure out who Danny Phantom is."

Dan made the grenade rather weak and contained, throwing it at Misha when she began consoling Danny. He made sure it would only hurt her, and not Valerie, and even then it was still rather weak in comparison with the previous one.

"You lousy…! No!" Valerie ran for Misha, turning her back completely on Dan. It was a stupid move, especially when you were facing an enemy, but she had no idea if Misha knew how to protect herself, and there was no time to find out. She rushed over to Misha and shot her shoulder ectoplasmic laser beams. They crossed out each other, but the impact was enough to send both her and Misha sprawling. Valerie’s mask came off, and Dan could see her fuming, looking at him with hatred in her eyes.

"I know he wasn’t there," she said softly. "I’m just a little mad at the guy, if you’d believe it. Now I already told you before to leave her alone, but if you really want to be so callous you attack a little girl, fine by me! I’m going to show you exactly what…"

Valerie stopped short when she heard the sky rumbling loudly, and now it seemed as if a hurricane had descended upon them minus rain. The winds blew hard, and Valerie started to see the source of the disruption: the darkness she had encountered was now trying to get her attention. It began to start sucking in everything as if it were a kind of black hole, and it seemed very keen on obtaining both Dan Phantom and Valerie.

"What is this? No!" Valerie knew it was all coming back to her now: she was so stupid! In meeting Dan face to face, she’d completely forgotten the other part of her dream that constantly showed up: that ever-hungry engulfing dark mass that she had no name for. She looked over at Misha, who seemed rooted on the spot.

"Misha, run! Don’t get sucked in by this! Don’t get hurt!"

Misha stared at the black gaping mass, and was struck by an awful rememberance. It looked like the same sort of thing that had taken Shia-chan away, when the demon had disappeared. Had it now come back to take more of her friends away?

Desperately, she held Danny tight. She heard Valerie yelling at her to get away and not to be hurt, but she wouldn't leave them.

"No'su," she yelled. "No more disappearing'su!"

The angel girl suddenly began to glow with a bright, magenta light... and it didn't exactly look sweet and pure.

Dan turned around to stare at the sky, frowning that his plans were interrupted. What in the Ghost Zone was that?

Dan instinctively went intangible, but found himself still being swept in by the hole, if at a slower rate. Dan quickly landed on the ground, both he and his Vlad-clone gripping the ground with their hands deep in the earth.

He looked up just in time to see Misha glow with a magenta light...it didn't look like the glow Danny had burned with in trying to defeat him, it didn't look heroic or any of those other things the child stood for...instead, it appeared like something entirely different, something of a darker theme...

Valerie was confused. What was happening with Misha? It didn’t look like something that even Valerie had the time to understand: but then, Valerie had very little time period. She hit the ground and crawled over to where Misha was projecting the light. She decided she’d ask about the light later, because whatever it was, it was bound to be better than whatever was trying to engulf her now.

The blackness seemed to want to tug even harder, and Valerie felt as if she were being pulled in two different directions. She grimaced and held her ground, practically clawing into the dirt until she was close to Misha. The pull was hard, and she could barely hold on. Finally, with a last burst of strength, she threw herself into Misha’s magenta dome of light and gasped, holding onto Misha for dear life.

She could have laughed at the irony.

Fear was not something angels were accustomed to feeling. By rights, they shouldn't have any reason to feel fear, but Misha was far from the average angel -- even if she was still an apprentice. It wasn't to say that angels didn't have negative emotions, because they worried, and sulked, and maybe even got jealous from time to time.

Angels weren't supposed to feel fear, and there was a very good reason for that.

"I don't want anyone to disappear'su!" Misha wailed, clinging rather childishly to both Danny, and Valerie as she managed to push inside the dome of light. The light grew stronger and brighter, almost red. "Please'su! I don't want to be alone'su!"

A wide beam of light erupted from the dome and lanced into the very heart of the black void, shoving it back as though it were a spotlight eradicating a tiny shadow.

Tears trickled from Misha's eyes. "Stay away'su!" she cried at Dan. "You're bad'su! You're bad'su! YOU'RE BAD'SU!"

Another stream of glowing light shot out, aimed for Dan.

The glowing light sped straight at Dan. He grinned at first, expecting it to go through him (intangibility was always a good power to have), but when the nerve-numbing pain shot through him, he realised that it hit him. He didn't exactly have time to ponder what was going on, but was definitely startled by the amount of pain. His sense of pain had been numbed over the years, mostly by the fusing of Phantom and Plasmius to begin with.

He growled a bit, gritting his fanged teeth together in pain to prevent screaming, but found that when it was all over, the pain lingered somewhat. He looked up, and found that...he was two people. It was like having a clone, except instead of having transformed at will, they were stuck in the same exact forms Phantom and Plasmius had been in from before the fusing.

Phantom Dan, as it was best to describe it, stood and walked over to the two, frowning immensely. Plasmius Dan still curled up on the ground, coping with the aftereffects.

"I won't be going easy on you two anymore," he said angrily. His voice, strangely enough, sounded just like Phantom's had back then, somewhat even melancholy, but much more fearsome than anything else. "You'd best be watching out for yourselves." And, as if his "good-natured" personality returned (if his regular personality could be called that), he smirked once more at Danny, hidden by the two girls.

He turned back, grabbed Plasmius Dan by the collar of his cape, and flew off in a fit of rage at 359 miles an hour.

Valerie blinked, and realized now that it was over. No more remains of the Nasty Burger, no blackened sky, no fallen Danny. Just her in a room, and adjacent to her, Misha, the girl that had stopped her from being swallowed by whatever it was that had tried to take her. The fan was spinning, the raindrops were falling, and Valerie was just there, gasping as if she'd almost been drowning. She slowly got up and looked over at Misha.

Valerie opened her mouth to say something-she wanted to, and there was an awful lot to say and think about- but what came out was a choked sob and she walked over to the girl and put her arms around her. There was no other way of trying to interpret what had just happened other than summarizing: Dan had come, that darkness had wanted them both, and Misha, who she kept stupidly thinking needed to be defended all the time had saved them, even if it was a dream. She closed her eyes and sighed: how that little girl had managed to make her feel like she did was still beyond her comprehension.

She laughed quietly, and looked at Misha. "Well," She said softly, "there's another power I guess I didn't expect. You really are an angel, aren't you?"

"It's okay'su, Valerie-san," Misha said softly, hugging the dark-skinned girl back tightly. "It was just a bad dream'su..."

But it hadn't really been just a bad dream. The same thing had happened, not once but twice -- first to Danny and now Valerie. Each time, Dan had tried to play another round of cruel tricks on them, and had almost succeeded.

Danny-kun... he was never there'su... Misha realized, when the dream dissipated and he was not in the room. That's why his aura was so faint'su... it only was the memory'su of Danny-kun...

"Just an angel apprentice'su," she laughed a little, but it was more of the nervous, 'oh my god, what just happened' laugh then one of amusement.

"Valerie-san... are you okay'su?" She wanted to make sure, and she wanted to check on Danny too.

Valerie looked into the concerned eyes of the smaller girl and laughed, but like Misha's it wasn't an amused laugh, more of a "God-I'm-pathetic" kind of a laugh. "Yeah sweetie, I'm ok, or I will be anyway. I'm sorry for getting all clingy, but well, it was the first time I got to meet the bad man that has been after Danny. I guess you could say he scared me a little bit. But I'll be ok soon. Let's just make sure Danny doesn't know, all right?"

But it wasn't all right. It didn't feel alright either, and Valerie knew, after everything that happened, that there was no point in trying to keep things from Misha now, at least not the things that mattered. She may have cared about Danny a lot, but he was keeping things from her that Dan loved trying to throw in her face. In her mind, there was a connection she had to make that she didn't want to, and when she did she wasn't sure she'd ever look at Danny the same again. That, she figured, was the reason Danny didn't tell her things.

"C'mere Misha," Valerie said gently. "I want to tell you a story. I know Danny already told you some of his, but I have one for you too. It involves him a little bit, and it'll explain why you saw him in my dream."

Misha nodded. She could understand why Valerie didn't want to tell Danny what had happened. Thankfully, because Danny hadn't actually been IN this nightmare, he wouldn't have any memories of it. For that, the angel girl was very grateful.

When Valerie beckoned her over and said she would tell a story, the angel girl complied. But first...

"Wait a moment'su, Valerie-san," Misha said, reaching up and unfastening one of the stuffed rabbits used to pin up her hair. She addressed it nicely, "Bunny-chan, please'su go to Danny-kun's room and watch him, okay'su?"

And the rabbit floated up, out of her hands, across the room, passed through the door, and was gone.

"What kind of story'su, Valerie-san?" Misha asked, as though what had just happened with the rabbit was utterly normal. "It's about secrets, right'su?"

Valerie was flabbergasted for a moment as the stuffed rabbit passed through the door, then burst out laughing. She didn't stop for a full thirty seconds, after which she wiped the tear from her face and smiled. "Man, you really never do cease to amaze me Misha. Ah well, if I could use cuteness to my advantage, I think we'd take down Dan a lot easier."
She cleared her throat and changed into more comfortable clothes: she wore light blue shorts and a light nightgown over it. She sat cross-legged next to Misha and began her story.
"I told you before, a long time ago I was an angrier person. You saw that in the dream: I attacked a man who wasn't really there. The reason is because this man made me my suit, which you've already seen. It helps me to fight bad ghosts, though back then I hunted indiscriminately. But that man, he had his own ideas, and he wanted me to hurt people with the suit. You see, I used to work for him when he told me he could tell me who hurt Danny. He disappeared from my world, and I wanted to know why. People said Danny had hurt people, and I didn't believe them. So I did all that I could to find out who HAD hurt those people they said Danny had hurt."

Valerie shook her head. "Now I think the man I did work for is a part of Dan, the ghost we just fought. I got mad, Misha, because I realized I was tricked. But Dan reminded me of someone else too...a ghost boy I used to fight all the time."

Valerie shook her head. "Normally, I'd try to keep these things to myself, but after today, I think you deserve to know the truth, especially if you see our dreams. Danny and I are friends, but we're also tied together by the same painful things. Do you understand?"

Misha smiled when Valerie laughed. It was good to see that, because it meant that even though she'd been scared, she was okay on the inside. People didn't laugh when they hurt on the inside. That was something Misha had learned about Kotarou-kun.

The angel girl was quiet and attentive during Valerie's story, much like the child she was often mistaken for. When the other girl was done, Misha nodded slowly.

"Yes'su," she said. "I think so'su..."

So the human man in the black suit was part of Dan? Maybe that's why Dan's aura was such a funny colour, which it looked so bad. And... the human man, and the other ghost -- the one that didn't look at all like Danny -- was part of Dan? It was all terribly confusing!

But then Valerie said that he reminded her of another ghost boy that she used to fight. And Misha, who had been slowly putting both sides of the story together, got a funny look on her face. "Umm'su... Valerie-san?"

But Danny had made it clear that he didn't want Valerie to know...

"It seems to me'su... everybody has secret'su, even between friend'su. And even though we want to protect our friend'su, you shouldn't keep secret'su..."

Valerie smiled. "Exactly. I know you know that pretty well too, otherwise Danny wouldn't let you get so close, would he?"

Valerie had a sadder expression, but it was more pensive than it was pained. "I think when it comes down to it, we all have our secrets to keep, because it protects us a little bit, doesn't it?"
She reached over and patted her on the cheek. "Anyway, I hope you noticed the muffin I brought from you. I had to save it from Danny, otherwise he would have eaten it all up!"

She smiled. "Hey, I'm going to try to sleep again. Um, if its all the same to you, would you mind us sharing a bed? I don't want to be a nuisance, but well, I don't really feel very comfortable sleeping by myself today."

Sadly, Valerie meant every word of that. She would have never asked that of anybody else, because she had been popular once. You never showed weakness, you just exposed it in others. Luckily for her, she wasn't popular anymore.

Misha beamed. "Thank you for the muffin'su!" she chirped. She would definitely eat it later. Right now, she was still a little shaken up to eat anything.

"I don't mind'su, Valerie...-chan," Misha said shyly, climbing into her bed and laying inward so that her wings hung off the edge behind her, and not in the middle of the bed.

"Thanks," Valerie said, and climbed into bed herself. There was something comforting, and not at all weak, about sleeping next to someone who had an inclination to be good. All the same, she was strong, and Valarie had been stupid not to see that. She'd still try to protect Misha, if for no other reason than she didn't want anyone to take advantage of her caring nature.

Because, Valerie thought sleepily, angels can be trusted. Human beings are a different story.

And anyway, she felt so warm.

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Dreamscapes (complete)

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