Dark Prince

Chapter 2: Awakening

Holy crap on a fuck stick, O got a LOT of reviews just for a 300-word prologue? People must really want this story... so who am I to deny them? *downs my coffee* Bring it on.

On a side-note, I was about a fourth of the way through this chapter when the PAGE EFFING EXPIRED! WTF! *sighs* Oh well...

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CHAPTER 1- Awakening

Danny shot up in bed out of a deep sleep, clutching his chest where his heart was beating frantically and skipping a beat or two from the shock. He stared around the room wildly for a few moments before remembering that he was safe in bed at home, and then fell back on his sweat-soaked pillow with a heavy sigh.

It had been a nightmare that had woken him; he had dreamed of sarcophagi and cracks, and oozing from those cracks was pure malice. Malice he could FEEL. Malice he swore he had experienced before.

He glanced over at the clock next to his bed. Close to four-thirty. Only three more hours until he had to get up for school. Damn it. Danny stared holes into the ceiling for what seemed like an hour before sitting up and pulling his sweaty pajama to off and tossing it into the dirty clothes bin and transforming into Phantom. He jumped out the window and took off into the crisp, cool air, sighing with relief as the cool breeze washed his senses clean of the heavy nightmare residue.

As he flew high in the air over his town, Danny's mind refused to get rid of the lingering sense of dread, as though the nightmare was leaving behing a warning for himm to heed. The warning of what, he didn't know, but it was disconcerting all the same.

Watching the sun rising over the buildings of Amity Park let Danny know how late it was getting, and he turned back toward home to get ready for school. He took a shower and got dressed, then grabbed his backpack and went downstairs for breakfast, all the while consciously forgetting the warning that nightmare had left him just hours before.

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"Bye, Mom! Bye Dad!"

Danny shouted hhis farewell to his parents as he skipped the steps of Fenton Works and headed down the sidewalk toward school. Halfway in route, he saw Sam and Tucker ahead, and held back a moment before catching up.

He recalled the time he and Sam had gotten together a little less than three years ago; it had started out sweetly enough, but a mere seven months into the relationship had reaped absolutely nothing to hold onto to make it work. So they had ended it mutually, even though Danny thought it had been more in Sam's favor than his own; the reason that Sam already had someone to fall back on.

That someone turned out to be Tucker.

Not that Danny was really surprised; he saw the way Tucker would look at Sam. And during the last few weeks of their relationship, he could also see the way Sam looked al Tucker. But they were his best of friends, so he gave them his blessing to be together.

Quite honestly, Danny often hated his hero complex that put others' happiness before his own.

Just as Casper High came into view, Danny hurried to catch up to his friends. "Hey, guys!" he said, smiling as genuinely as he could.

"Hey Danny", Tucker replied.

"Hey..." Sam pausedd and took a closer look at Danny. "...Danny, have you been sleeping okay?"

Danny shifted a little sheepishly. "No," he replied truthfully. "I've..." He ran a hand through his hair. "...I've been having thesse weird dreams... scary dreams. Really, guys, they're creeping me the hell out."