#I read Crime and Punishment and like clockwork events very similar to what had happened in the book started happening to me

[theres-whump-in-that-nebula]

Uh-oh. This is bad

[ectowaves]

Trapped

Prompter: @ghostlyhabato

Prompt: Amateur Novelist: In the events of the Christmas special, Ghostwriter unknowingly kidnaps Danny in his book rather than release him at the end of the episode like he thought. The canon events are all actually Danny making up stories for himself and slowly learning he has no limits, and getting information about ghosts and other events from books around him through osmosis. Meanwhile, Ghostwriter is being hunted down by Danny’s friends and family for kidnapping him, and doesn’t know how ton undo his deed.

Words: 2111

Warnings: unedited, 

“Maybe this is the moral: In the same way my parents love their old Christmas quarrel – everyone celebrates in the way of their choosing. I started abusing the one I love most, and I ruined their cheer. I’ll try to be better come Christmas next year.” Danny smiled as he had his arms around his closest friends.

Sam shrugged off Danny’s arms, “Uhh… nice sentiment, but what are you, a greeting card?”

Tucker smirked, “Yeah, why are you talking in rhyme?”

Jazz giggled as she fluffed her brother’s hair. “Such a dork.”

“We’re not talking in rhyme?” At the look at Danny’s face, his friends and sister took a step back. Danny raised his hands high into the air then cheered, “WE’RE NOT TALKING IN RHYME!”

Ghostwriter smiled as he shut the book on his lap. His prize work was complete, and better than before. He sighed in contentment and looked at his fellow cellmate.

His cell mate inched closer to him and snorted a puff of smoke. Ghostwriter backed away and stopped at the bars.

“Orange?” Walker grinned, holding the fruit close to his prisoner.

“Get that thing away from me!” Ghostwriter screamed curling into a fetal position. The pure white ghost howled in laughter at his prisoner’s distress, The Ghostwriter could hear the jeers coming from his fellow prisoners as he clutched the book close to his chest. Soon Walker was out of hearing range.

Once he could no longer hear the footsteps of his jailor, the Ghostwriter uncurled from his position. The prison time was absolutely worth it, if he could have the glory of one book.

Danny smiled at his friends while they laughed. Maybe… Christmas wasn’t really all that bad.

“Come on Danny, Dad’s going to eat all the chocolate again!” Jazz called from the steps. Danny took one step forwards before he froze. Something felt wrong, like the moment should not have happened. Before his very eyes time froze. Sam, Tucker and Jazz faded away.

“Guys?” Danny cried. He received no comfort or any indication that the ghosts were playing a cruel prank.

Danny watched as the world’s colour faded away. It was like something out of a horror film. All plant life died. The snow melted into nothing. The buildings around him crumbled.

“Mom? Dad! Anyone?” Danny yelled, “Clockwork? What’s happening?”

The ruins of the buildings started to crumble further. Soon they were no more than dust that blew away in a nonexistent wind. Around Danny was nothing but plain white. It was hell, in a different sort of way. Then he felt himself falling, or he thought that he was falling.

Black markings raced by him. Danny found himself screaming again. Finally, he found himself on the ground. Danny stood up and looked around him. He spotted more pitch-black markings. Danny walked towards it.

The black markings turned out to be letters. Danny frowned as he read “the end”

It didn’t take long for Danny to put the pieces together, “I’m still trapped in the story!”

Ghostwriter hid the book underneath the bed. He did everything he could to make it invisible or only visible to his eyes. The book did not respond to his abilities. It was like the book was immune to his will.

Ghostwriter pulled out the book, hoping to read it once more. To his shock, the once purple, green and red markings the cover had been designed with had turned to different shades of blue. Quietly, Ghostwriter opened the book to its dedication. The book no longer said that it was written for his brother Randy, or the infernal boy. Instead it was dedicated to Sam, Tucker and Jazz.

Danny didn’t know how long he sat down and thought. He wondered how he ended up trapped and if he deserved the fate. The poem was supposed to set him free when the lesson was learned. Danny had clearly been taught the joys of Christmas.

It was unfair. He only destroyed the poem by accident. Why did he have to be punished for an accident? Who would condemn someone else to hell because they destroyed their ‘masterpiece’?

Jazz had just told him that she knew he was Phantom. Danny had just defeated an awful future version of himself. Why had he been forced into this?

Danny found himself wishing he could go on another adventure, if only with his sister.

“Hey Danny!” The ghost boy watched as the world started to fade back. He turned to see his sister waving excitedly at him.

“Why is she so happy?” Sam hissed in his ear.

Danny beamed.

Ghostwriter refused to look at ‘his’ book after seeing the change in cover and dedication. He was afraid to see anymore changes. Who knew what was happening to his book?

The other prisoners made sure to mock him at any chance they got. He couldn’t blame them. It wasn’t reasonable to be afraid of fruit. As much as he tried to convince himself of that fact, the Ghostwriter still had the phobia.

His cell mate had been released a few days after his imprisonment. Now Ghostwriter found himself lonely. He tried imaging adventures for himself. He thought about the ghost kid living wild and free.

“You’ve got visitors.” One of the guards clanged on the bars of his prison. Ghostwriter gasped in surprise and relief.

Who would want to visit him?

The guard then noticed something hiding underneath the bed, “And give me that book! It’s going back to the library!”

Reluctantly, Ghostwriter handed the now completely black book to his captors. The guard passed the book to another guard passing by. The two nodded in understanding.

Danny frowned as he finished his newest adventure. It was depressing, but something that Vlad would do.

If a similar situation happened in reality, would Danny allow his clone to fly away? He wasn’t very sure. He would have to give up his secret and that could potentially mean being rejected by his parents. But of he kept it hidden, an innocent girl would be condemned to live on the streets.

Despite knowing the situation was fictional, Danny had a new dislike for Vlad. He needed something that would balance what had just occurred. He wanted to humiliate the billionaire for the fictional crimes he had done. A couple of pranks were an order.

“Danny, I don’t think this is a good idea.” Sam warned.

His world came back again.

Ghostwriter was brought into an interrogation room. Inside were three extremely angry teenagers.

“Where is he?” the goth girl snarled. Ghostwriter pushed her away, doing his best not to hurt her. The girl didn’t let go, but Ghostwriter earned a punch from one of the girl’s friends.

“It’s something that the whole zone has been wondering.” Walker boomed as he entered the room. The goth girl let go, and the prisoner was forced to sit in the only chair in the room.

“I have no idea who you are talking about!” Ghostwriter defended himself.

“Liar! He said that you had him trapped in a poem. I didn’t believe him,” The goth fell on the ground. Her male friend put a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort. Ghostwriter watched this happen with a growing understanding of what had happened.  He stood up.

“I think I know where he is,” Ghostwriter frowned.

Danny frowned as he felt different. Once more he was in the waste land. He felt that he had a new influx of power. Danny looked as new words filled the screen. It started reading it, then smirked. The whole article was about ancient civilizations.

Danny noticed some other words appear a little further away. He stared in awe as he discovered that the paragraph was talking about some ancient artifacts.

“I wonder if there is any information about ghost tribes?” Danny asked aloud. To his surprise, a new paragraph appeared out of thin air. Danny quickly scanned it and laughed. He had a new adventure in mind.

The world started to appear, but instead of Danny being in his town, he was in the Ghost Zone. Danny grinned at the map he was holding in his hands. He would soon get to experiment with another.

Walker slammed open the doors to the library, “Everybody out!”

The prisoners grumbled but obey the warden’s command. As the prisoners left, Ghostwriter and the ghost kid’s friends fanned out to search the numerous shelves of books. Each book looked to be incredible old, it shouldn’t have been that difficult to find the newest book. Still, the group couldn’t seem to find it.

Ghostwriter wondered if the book was thrown away. That would mean punishment from the goth girl. Ghostwriter had overheard stories about what the girl was capable of and did not want to feel it first-hand.

Then, out of the corner of his eye, Ghostwriter noticed a group of three books glowing bright green. He approached them, and his eyes widened. He had found what they had been looking for.

Danny smiled as he waved good-bye to his ‘cousin’. He hoped to see her again one day. Danny put his wrist out towards Valarie. She shook her head and told him to leave. It was the perfect end to another perfect adventure.

Danny allowed himself to sigh in contentment. Then he watched the world fade away. What adventure could he come up with next? Danny decided that he would take a break and rest. He wondered if he could sleep. He received his answer when he began to snore.

The books stopped glowing as soon as Ghostwriter appeared. The ghost picked up the newest looking book. He noted that the book was in between Legends of the Living World and Legends of the Ghost Zone. To his horror, it no longer read The Fright Before Christmas. Now it was called The Adventures of Danny Phantom. The Ghostwriter wanted to cry at the destruction of his latest work.

“I found it!” He yelled. The warden and the boy’s friends came to his call. They stared in shock as they spotted the book in the Ghostwriter’s hands. Then the goth girl flipped through the books.

“Do you write this?” the goth girl asked, flipping through the book. Ghostwriter shook his head.

“Only the poem, and even that I did not finish writing.” He tried to keep the depression out of his voice. The red-haired girl shot him a pitying look anyways.

“How did he manage to do all these adventures in five days?” The boy with the yellow sweater asked, “And how do we get him out?”

“Isn’t it obvious? Write him an ending!” Walker ordered. After he saw the group’s bewildered glances, the warden frowned, “I have a life beyond this prison.”

The red haired girl grabbed the book from the goth. She opened to the blank pages then pulled out a pen from one of her pockets. Then she began to write.

“What are you-” the boy began to ask.

“She needs to concentrate.” Ghostwriter warned him. Everyone became silent as the girl continued her tale. Ghostwriter hoped she knew what she was doing. If the warden was right, the tale would have to fit Daniel, if even on a surface level.

Danny smiled at Sam as the two of them lounged against a tree. He finally had his happy ending. The world was saved from the Disasteriod, Vlad was in space, his parents accepted him, and Danny was in a new relationship with Sam. The ghosts would come but it wasn’t anything Danny couldn’t handle. Amity Park would be safe for years to come.

Danny leaned against his girlfriends, wanting to hug her one more time before she disappeared into the abyss. He didn’t want things to fade, but it always did at the end of the story. Then the process started.

Danny watched the world freeze. This time, Sam didn’t disappear. Confused, Danny looked down at himself and saw his body fading away.

“What?” he whispered. There wasn’t much more to say. Would he forever be gone, like the stories he had previously told? Danny had a feeling he would. He closed his eyes.

The eldest girl smiled, “It’s done!”

The group waited in silence for anything to happen. Moments passed and nothing happened. He was just about to apologize when the ghost boy appeared in the room.

“Danny!” His friends cheered.

“Guys?” Danny whispered, opening his eyes. He looked so sad, like he didn’t think what was happening was real. Ghostwriter couldn’t blame him. It would take a lot of time before the Phantom would accept that he was in the correct reality.