Chapter 1

I loved to hang around at the park, where the swings and merry-go-rounds kept me busy. I had no right to complain. I lived a very good life. I was free and had no one telling me what to do. I could go where I wanted when I wanted. I could, unlike most twelve-year-old girls, protect myself. I was half ghost. Twice I had been victim of an attempted mugging and used my ghost powers to escape. It was quite easy, really. Just turn intangible and smile as they get frustrated that they literally can't touch you. Nothing scared me.

Unless you bring my dad into the picture. He tried to destroy me. He tried to melt me into ectoplasm, which for a ghost is both blood and body. But I'm very lucky. See, I have a cousin who also has ghost powers. Unlike my dad, he never used them to hurt me. Actually, he wasn't just my cousin, he was my clone. Er...well, more like I was his clone. I didn't know if that was the reason he didn't hurt me or not, but I was glad he didn't. In fact, he saved me from my dad each time I was in danger.

But...even though living so freely and so happily was great, something inside me just wasn't satisfied. Vlad Masters, my dad? He was also half ghost (he named his ghost half, 'Vlad Plasmius'). Ironic, I know. I'm half ghost, my cousin is half ghost, and my dad is half ghost. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if another random half ghost person suddenly materialized in front of my face at this very moment. But as far as I know, we were the only three half ghosts in the entire world.

I was unique. I was free. I was protected. Yet at the same time I wasn't unique. I wasn't free. I wasn't protected. Vlad wasn't really my dad even though I had no choice but to call him that. I mean, he made me and I just had to accept that I was created from my dad's utter insanity and the DNA of his rival. Then I found out that he wanted a son even though he had a daughter right in front of him.

I guess...maybe I just wanted a different dad... One who wouldn't try to hurt me at all. One who would love me to death and hug me and let me sleep with him if I got nightmares (I may look twelve but I'm actually just a few months old). I wanted a dad who would be happy to give me a home and food (one of the things I had a hard time getting) and who wouldn't mind an extra person in his house.

But you know, my cousin Da- No, no... I was a clone. We weren't even real cousins; I was just a mockery of him. I even had the same name (well, I had the female version but when shortened, it was the same). He didn't seem to mind though. In fact, he almost seemed to like the idea of having another half ghost around.

I sighed as I slowly tapped the ground with the toe of one shoe, rocking myself on the swing. The dad I wanted was someone who would look out for me. I wanted someone who would take care of me when I was sick and even help me pick out a costume for Halloween. As good as my life is now, I've always wanted to help decorate a Christmas tree, or celebrate my birthday (which hasn't come yet, but hey, a girl can dream). I wanted family picnics in the park, and, as embarrassing as this may sound, bonding time with my dad. Or the one I wanted, anyway.

I wanted someone I could look up to, someone I could look at and think to myself, He won't let me down.

I...I wanted a dad... I had no family of my own and the ghost zone (another plus of being on your own) served as a very temporary home. I only went in there a few days at a time, maybe a week tops, and it was always awesome to see random green and black globs of ecto-stuff floating up and down like moving mold or slow-mo, gravity-defying water. But you know, life for me just wasn't complete.

Something deep inside me longed to have a loving father like everyone else seemed to have. I always watched a girl's father swing her or play frisbee or set out a picnic...and I got a little jealous of them. They always seemed to happy. My dad would never even let this cross his mind. In fact, my dad wouldn't even come see me. He chose to stay in Wisconsin while I was here in Amity Park.

Yes. Amity Park. Home of Danny Phantom, resident superhero. When I said my cousin was half ghost, I didn't mean it in a way that he lurked in the shadows like a really creepy person, I meant that he was literally half ghost, half human. My cousin was Danny Phantom. Of course, no one else knew that save for a select few people.

Danny Phantom was the name he chose for his ghost half (like my dad chose his own name). His human half had been named by his parents, and of course the last name came with it. His real name was Daniel James Fenton and the townspeople were too dense to figure out that a 'weak', 'scrawny' (I loved him but let's face it, he wasn't exactly a classic superhero image), and 'wimpy' (Lord, if only these people knew who they were picking on!) high school teenager was actually the infamous Danny Phantom himself.

Almost as a tribute to him, I named my ghost half Dani Phantom (I'm so proud of the time and thought spent on that completely original name). I had no middle name or last name, but my human name was Danielle. I just liked to be called Dani, though. I know, sooooo original, right! I knew that people would get a little confused if they were talking to Danny but I answered instead, thinking they might be talking to me, but oh well. I was Danny's clone, so why not name myself after him? I already had everything but his age and gender.

A thought, the same thought I'd had for a month now, hit me (again). Danny was the closest thing to a family I had. Every time we met he did, in a lot of ways, act like a father to me. And frankly, I had started to see him as a father ever since he wrecked Vlad's laboratory with an amazing power he called his 'ghostly wail'. It completely drained him, so much that he couldn't hold his ghost form and reverted back to Danny Fenton. He could've died. Vlad could've killed him. Vlad would've killed him. But he did it to save me, to make sure I could get away. It became clear to me in that instant that Danny was more than ready to give his life to save mine.

Wasn't that what a real father would do for his daughter?

The second time we met was probably worse (for me, anyway) than the first time. Vlad had come within mere inches of destroying me. I was used as bait, unfortunately, so Valerie could capture both Danny and myself. Danny fell for it and even I can't say what exactly happened to him. I, on the other hand, happened to wake up (after Valerie so generously knocked us out) strapped down to an examination table in Vlad's lab (the rebuilt one). He was determined to find out how and why I lasted longer than all the other clones, all the other mistakes. I didn't even know the answer to that. I was eventually moved from the examination table and, too weak and unstable to fight back, onto yet another strap-contraption-thingy. It held my wrists and ankles while holding me upright. While I was degenerating, Danny had somehow managed to team up with Valerie and he did everything in his power to rescue me. In the end he sprayed a puff of Ecto-Dejecto (his father's invention that he had to use as a last resort) on my arm. I completely melted after that. But you know what happened? Even after I had become I trough of goop, the Ecto-Dejecto worked and I was able to reform from that goop.

The look on Danny's face, thinking he had let me die, was enough to know that he truly cared about what happened to me. And not about just what happened to me...but about me period. He was so happy when I 'revived', so to speak (I had never actually died, I had merely changed in appearance), that he was able to save me after all.

Wasn't that supposed to be what a father's feelings toward his daughter were?

I sighed heavily on my little swing. It was nighttime; I was alone. I could speak my thoughts out loud and no one would ever know. I kind of wanted Danny to know though. He...he kind of...well, he met everything I imagined a father would be like. He acted like one. I even had his DNA. He was honestly more like a father to me than he would ever know. And we only met twice!

Then again he saved my butt both of those times... It was natural that I would think highly of him after that.

Okay! That's it! You know what?! This little idea of Danny being my father is stupid! He views me as a cousin at most. Besides, why in the world would a fourteen year old boy want a daughter? And a clone at that!

...

"Oh boy, I can't believe I'm doing this..." I muttered quietly to myself.

I transformed into my own half ghost form and flew high above the city...where I waited to see if there would be a blue streak across the sky followed by the angry cry of a ghost being sucked into his Fenton thermos.