A New Beginning

Chapter 28

The ghost king may not speak Romanian, but the words made him angry anyway. Not a second after the boy spat the venomous remark at him, the beautiful language turning sharp with his tone, the battle commenced. Danny wasted no time clasping his hands together and then separating them, creating a blinding orb of destructive energy between his palms. He let it grow to the size of a softball before throwing it directly at the king's face. It collided, sending the king backwards. The king retaliated with his own bout of ecto-energy. Danny, seeing this coming, quickly dropped down to avoid the blast.

The king shot a rapid fire assault on the boy, who did his best to avoid them but wasn't quick enough to avoid being singed. Danny dodged right to avoid a blast only to receive a blast that made him go skidding across the ground, he finally stopped sliding when his head hit a piece of ceiling. A cold liquid leaked from his nose, and when he wiped the back of his sleeve across his face, it came away green with speckles of red. Sniffing, the boy stumbled to his feet and turned his attention back to his foe. The ghost king appeared to be an additional ten feet taller that before, and his hands were smoking. Danny, seeing the fire in the king's eyes, jumped just in time to keep from frying as the entire ground erupted in green fire, looking like a pit from hell. Danny's quick eyes immediately latched onto the matching flames surrounding the small crown floating above his head and the still smoking ring.

Oh.

The crown and the ring. Skulker did emphasize the power of the king not the power of Pariah Dark. A small but significant detail.

Danny lowered himself down, icing over the ground while also raising his arms towards what was left of the ceiling. Lightening and a blue ice blast shot from his arms to form a crackling cloud. Seconds later, the electricity aimed towards the crown on the king's head, but the ghost raised his left hand, collecting the current in his gauntlet and shooting it back at the kid. The bolt hit him in the center of the chest and Danny was once again laying on his back on the cold ground. Before he could muster up the energy to get back to his feet, a large boot landed on his torso, forcing him to stay put. Looking up at the intimidating figure of the most powerful ghost of the ghost zone, that muted fear that lingered in the back of his mind resurfaced. The Halfa took a sharp inhale, the air almost making his choke, and he opened his mouth.

Danny had never really been a screamer. He used to scream, and shout, and beg, in those first few years of being with the GIW. But that habit was broken quickly and mercilessly, so now his suffering was usually silent.

So when Danny found himself trapped, crushed, in incredible pain, and facing down the final blow that would finally, finally, end his pitifully short existence, he didn't expect to make a sound. He opened his mouth, expecting nothing to come out other than involuntary whimpers and sounds of pain.

Instead the sound of a thousand screeching, pain-filled, desperate wails forced their way out of his throat in an echoing and haunting symphony. Sound waves visibly forced the king off of him and to the other side of the room, but even with the king off of him, he couldn't stop.

All of the hurt, the pain, the fear, the injustice that built up in him since his parents died, since the GIW took him, since he wandered into the portal, poured out of him in a destructive melody that made his own ear leak his freaky ecto-blood. He could feel his life force drain out of him with every second, tears gathered in his eyes and leaked over his cheeks, his vocal chords tore and he could taste metal on his tongue but the sound didn't waver. The half-ghost could feel the excruciating steps as he forced his way closer to the downed monarch. The wind started up again, and various debris gained a green aura and flew rapidly towards the tyrant, molding themselves around the king's arms, legs, and torso. The rock and metal trapped Pariah Dark, leaving only his head and one hand free. When the rockets finished piling on, they didn't lose their glow, they remained bright and unyielding. The wail finally died down, and the boy panted as soon as he was capable of inhaling. His solid green eyes reopened, and he gazed down at the struggling monarch with indifference. He raised a hand and snapped, the sharp sound echoed in the suddenly silent cave. Pariah Dark's hand jerked up and Danny brutally yanked the ring off of his finger, fighting the artifact's resistance. Pariah Dark cried out what almost sounded like pain or fear once the ring was firmly in the boy's hand, his hair and aura flickered and dimmed slightly.

Smirking, Danny was pleased that his theory was correct. He stepped a little closer, the king struggled harder and the boy let out a small grunt and stumbled, forcing more of his barely-existent energy into the rocks holding the ghost down. He reached over and grabbed the flaming crown, not flinching at the fire that licked at his hands and scorched his skin. The shock of power shot through his arm, but Danny ignored it and pulled sharply. He grunted at the force but managed to dislodge the crown. The flames immediately died as soon as they were separated from the king and the dull black and green crown ceased harming Danny. The kid let out a small sigh of relief. Pariah's aura once again flicked before dulling even more to a barely there glow.

Both the ghost and the kid were silent for a few moments.

"What now? Are you going to put me back in that blasted sarcophag--" the former king was once again silenced by the Halfa. His words cut off with a pained and shocked choking sound as pitch black eyes looked into the solid green eyes of the 11 year old child. Danny's face was a stone mask as his hands enclosed around the hot, blazing ball of light in the center of Pariah's chest. His arm was elbow-deep in the other's torso, green leaking out around the wound that was still being clogged by the kid's arm. Another choking sound emitted from the elder when Danny finally got a firm hold on the squirming core. He simply held it for a moment, not out of satisfaction or anything of the like, but simply to ensure he wouldn't fail with what he was about to do. He's never done it before, but something, deep within his own mutated core, told him this would rid him of all the pain that this being has and will cause him and his family.

Opening his mouth, Danny forced the words out of his ruined throat. The were words just above a whisper but the king hear him nonetheless.

"Nu toată lumea merită oa doua șansă." (Not everybody deserves a second chance)

And without blinking, he jerked his hand out of the ghost's chest, taking the glowing core with him. There was a third choking sound, but Danny didn't want to prolong the suffering. He didn't want to be like all those who hurt him. This was necessary, for the best. He had no other choice, he wasn't doing this because he wanted to, he was doing it because he had to. He had no other choice.

'You keep telling yourself that.'

And Danny let his fist close around the core, crushing it. Pariah Dark faded, dark eyes wide with shock and fear but no pain was evident in their depths. Soon enough, the rocks that had been holding the tyrant collapsed in a heap onto the ground.

The King of All Ghosts, the Tyrant Pariah Dark was no more. Obliterated at the hands of an undersized and malnourished eleven year old boy.

Danny stared at the spot where the king had laid. His hand was still in a fist raised in front of him, his other hand still holding the two artifacts of power. He could vaguely hear footsteps rushing in through one of various holes in the walls. Danny could feel the adrenaline and the power leak from his body and the unbearable pain returning. He was having a hard time breathing, and the voices calling out to him were warbled as if he was underwater. His vision suddenly went and his legs stopped supporting him and the child collapsed to the ground, head once again colliding with the concrete with a sickening thunk.

He supposes he turned back to his human form at some point as he could hear his stuttering and struggling heartbeat harshly in his chest. He couldn't inhale, everytime he tried the air made him choke and blood leaked from his nose and mouth and ears along with the various cuts littered on his small body. He idly noted the hands groping him, and one hand was gently tapping his cheek. He could see a large black blob hovering over him but he couldn't figure out what it was before his vision went black once more and his breathing stopped.

Then he felt nothing.