A/N: HEY, GUYS! Lookie here! Original work! No more requests for this girl, no siree. It was a blast to write other people's ideas, but my own stories feel abused and neglected. Like this one here!

Everyone's done a version of this (and I've hinted at it before), but I actually liked how this one-shot turned out. Besides, I didn't have time to write a quality anything before the year ended, so you get something that's been sitting on my dash for a while now. But I like it (might even continue it—eventually) and can only hope it makes a good comeback. :3

As always, review, review, and REVIEW. Oh, and Happy 2012!

"Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other."
~Carl Jung

Absent

His brisk pace continued, his heels softly padding against the floor. The sharp contrast of Dani's heels clacking behind him served him well, making the guards slightly flinch before turning their heads away fearfully. As always, as when he was in the Ghost Zone, he let no emotion cross his face, his lips in a tight line.

When they reached the door of their destination, Danny glanced at the two ghosts guarding it, indicating with a flick of his wrist for them to open it.

They nodded, and one turned to unlock the shielded, anti-human and -ghost door with a glowing key, which looked more like a complicated invention than the key it was. The bolt disconnected with a loud thud, and both guards gestured widely into the room's recesses. "Your Majesty," they both said respectfully, bowing at the waist.

Danny barely acknowledged them. He walked into the darkness without preamble, Dani following obediently a step behind.

The dungeon was lighted only at the end corners by two torches, both flickering weakly with a green, spectral fire. At first glance, it appeared the room was empty, but then chains rattled, and an exhausted white glow drew their attention. The prisoner eyed his regular visitors with wary, red eyes, his body an unrecognizable black lump on the floor.

"Have you reached a decision?" Danny asked, as the door behind him closed.

The crimson eyes narrowed, and the captive hissed. "Yeah, I have," he spat.

Danny didn't even blink. "And what is that?"

"Yes."

Danny almost smirked, amused. "Yes, what?" he prompted.

The figure growled. "You're going to make me say it, aren't you?" At the silence he received, he huffed, crossing his arms, making some of his black-and-white suit visible in the ghostly light. "Fine. Yes, I'll—" he had to force the word out "—work with you."

"Was that so hard?" Danny asked jovially.

"Harder than pulling teeth."

Danny barked a laugh, but then quickly subdued himself and turned to his female clone. "Dani, I must commend you," he congratulated her. "I didn't think you'd get him to be submissive in under a month."

Dani laughed lowly. "You'd be surprised what a little" —her eyes flickered to the crumpled form on the floor, and she was satisfied when he flinched away from her reflexively— "physical encouragement can do." She grinned.

"Very true," Danny agreed with a nod. He pulled a key from his back pocket and started to walk towards his prisoner.

"What are you doing?" the captive asked distrustfully, scooting back slightly.

"Releasing you from your chains," Danny replied easily. "If you're going to work with me now, then I can't have you in the dungeon, now can I?"

The figure stayed silent, watching as Danny pressed the key to the mechanical chains that bound his hands and feet. Slowly, each of his limbs were freed from their constrictive hold. A smile started to spread across his lips, a wild gleam in his eyes. "Big mistake." He jumped up, curling his hands around Danny's neck, and in the process revealing his full form into the light—cape, insignia, flaming hair, and all.

Danny didn't struggle, merely stared into Dan's maniacal red gaze with his own calm, blue one. Without truly thinking about it, his neck constricted against the hold, shrinking in on itself, allowing air to continue to pass into his lungs harmlessly. His chest fell and rose steadily, not at all hindered by the attempted asphyxiation. "Are you done yet?" he asked conversationally after a long beat, not choked in the least.

Dan Phantom—a colorful array of bruises on his face and body—gasped, his hands flying from Danny's neck. "How—?" He couldn't finish the question, though, as a powerful punch to his nose sent him sprawling into the concrete wall of his prison, making his head smack against it, disorienting him in a flash of pain.

Danny wiped his fist on his shirt, quirking an eyebrow. "You seriously don't believe that during your ten years in that blasted thermos I didn't improve, did you?" He shook his head, rolling his eyes towards the ceiling. "I thought you'd be smarter than that."

Dan growled, an instinct reaction to being talked down to.

Danny moved to fix his ruined shirt collar, flicking the cloth. "I see you were not all that serious about our partnership," he said in boredom, sighing. "Such a shame. It'd make my plans so much easier." He looked up at Dani, who had stood, stoic, throughout the short struggle. "Schedule an extermination date, will you?"

Dani nodded, taking out the clipboard from behind her back. She clicked her pen and scribbled something. "Right-o, Danny."

Dan's eyes narrowed. "Extermination?"

The half-ghost glanced down at his alternate self. He nodded. "Extermination," he confirmed. "We can't have two of me running around, not when the other might hinder my conquest. You don't have much of a conscious—obviously—and you're definitely more twisted and apt to killing than I am; but you might interfere anyway." He shrugged. "Can't take the chance."

As Danny turned on his heel, Dan suddenly flew up, aiming to tackle him onto the floor. All he tackled was air, though, and he hit the floor painfully. Immediately, he rolled onto his back and jumped up, landing in a fighting crouch as he looked around. "Where did you—?"

A voice breathed harshly behind him, making his neck prickle, "Don't try that again—"

Dan spun around instantly, shooting a flaming ecto-blast with an extended hand. It hit the wall. Nothing was there.

"—or I'll make sure your death is not swift or merciful," Danny finished. He took Dan's shoulder, flinging him up and crashing him to the stone floor in the same move, a heavy crack sounding out as he did so. His foot pressed against the familiar symbol, crushing Dan's chest as ice started to form, making the ghost gasp for breath and shudder.

Danny leaned down, his eyes flashing dangerously. "You can't stop me, Dan," he said to the full-ghost. "Maybe, so many years ago, you could beat me to a pulp, but not anymore." He shoved his foot deeper, making the ghost wheeze as the glowing ice started to encircle his entire torso. "How does it feel—to know that even when you win, you still lose?"

The ghost cried out in pain, trying to push himself up, but failing as the ice started to restrict his limbs. He tried to phase through it, only to find it was impossible.

"Because you were right, in a sense," Danny continued. "I didn't turn into you—not completely. Vlad's death, and my keeping my human half ensured that. But you were still right."

It wasn't necessary—Dan knew it wasn't—but he found himself gasping for air, shivering violently as the ice made his limbs numb.

"The death of everyone I loved did drive me over the edge." Danny's voice had grown quieter, solemn, and the ice stopped trying to cocoon his enemy. "You ensured that—when you came back the second time, when you escaped from the thermos—that they would all die... And that I wouldn't be able to stop it.

"You were right. I did want to lose my humanity. I wanted to give it all up, and just die." He chuckled darkly, and the sound seemed to echo hauntingly against the damp walls of the dungeon. "But I found out, humans can be just as cruel as ghosts, if not more. Humans can push aside emotion, can completely ignore it, and settle their focus on other things.

"So I snapped. Without anything to live for, I decided, why not take all I wanted? Why not revel in the power I knew I had?" He shook his head, and a parody of a smile played on his lips. "But that would have been stupid, would have ended me up on the same path you were on."

Dan growled, but it sounded pathetic, more like a weakened groan than a growl.

Danny looked down, an eyebrow quirking up. He removed his foot from the ghost's chest, though he continued to stare down at Dan. Finally, blankly, he said without emotion, his voice rising from the soft tone it had taken, "You can't beat me. That's a fact." He turned on his heel again and started to walk out. "I'll come back tomorrow, to see if you take the offer of my partnership far more seriously. If you do not, your execution date is set."

"You can't kill a ghost," Dan disagreed vehemently, struggling under his cocoon. It cracked slightly, but not by much, still holding firm.

Danny paused, before turning his head to glance down at the alternate future that never was. "A ghost can't kill a ghost," he stated matter-of-factly. "A human can't kill a ghost." A sickening smile found its way onto his face. "But I can kill a ghost."

"That's impossible!"

Danny turned back around. "Believe what you wish. Your execution is still set if you do not agree to my plans. The ice will hold until tomorrow, when I will come back and expect a serious answer."

"You want a serious answer? It's no! Never! The moment I start to do somebody else's dirty work is the day I—!"

But Danny and his clone had already gone out of the room, the impenetrable door closing with the same loud thud it had opened. The bolt connected, and Dan was left alone yet again.

"Your Majesty," the door guards greeted again when Danny emerged from the dungeon room, bowing the same way they had before.

Danny merely shook a hand at them, attempting to get the creases out of the cuffs of his suit. Satisfied with another flick of the cloth, he continued on his way, his heels padding yet again. "I will be in the War Room," he informed Dani, who nodded briskly at the subtle order and promptly left him alone, walking off to another part of the castle.

With that, the orphaned half-ghost—High King of All the Undead—stalked off to further review his plans to take over the human realm. After all, the Ghost King who wasn't fully ghost would never be satisfied with what he had, not when what all he truly wanted was already completely gone.

A Danny Phantom motion picture by Sundae Cinema.

Review.