And here's the reason I should not be allowed to write fanfiction after 11 o'clock at night!
Warning: Character death and blood (RATED T FOR A REASON!)
Pairings: Mentions of Gray Ghost (Danny x Valerie)
TUE Timeline
Slightly based off of one of my personal headcanons that Dan uses his Danny Fenton form around people he knew when he was alive because it emotionally scars them more.
I don't own Danny Phantom.
Valerie couldn't remember what had knocked her out. She'd been patrolling the city when suddenly—BAM!—she was out cold.
When she woke up she was tied to a chair. And not with ropes but with chains. Her mask had been removed but she still wore the rest of the costume. She wasn't injured, that was good. Whatever had knocked her out and kidnapped her wanted her untouched it seemed.
Dread filled her stomach. Or maybe they just wanted to injure her while she was awake.
Okay, Val, she thought. First step is observing your surroundings.
Looking around, she gasped. She'd only been in this place a few times but she still recognized it.
It was the Fentons' lab.
She glanced around wildly. Who would bring her here? The Fentons (minus Danny) had died a week before in the Nasty Burger explosion with Manson, Foley, and Lancer. Danny had left to go live with Vlad Masters a few days later.
Maybe the Fentons had come back as ghosts.
The thought was ironic. The Fentons were ghost hunters and coming back as ghosts would go against everything they've ever known.
If they did come back as ghosts, why would they want her? Maybe they wanted to talk to her, have them fill in for them now that they were gone.
No, it wasn't them. They would never knock her out and tie her up if they wanted to talk to her.
So who was it then?
"Danny and Vlad climbed up a hill to fetch a pail of water," a voice sang from the darkness.
What?
"Danny fell down and broke his crown and Vlad came tumbling after," the voice finished.
"Who—Who's there?" Val stuttered, mentally cursing herself for sounding so scared.
The voice laughed, a sound that frightened her to her core. "Red is a nice color."
"Uh…"
"It is the color of anger… the color of blood."
"That's—that's not what I represent."
The voice laughed again. "Suuuure." He—she was sure it was a he by now—sounded unconvinced. "What's the reason you took up this job?"
"To rid this town from ghostly menaces," she answered.
Another laugh. "You wanted to rid this town of Danny Phantom. You blamed him for ruining your life. You were angry at him."
That—that was true.
"Like I said, red is a nice color though. There's just one problem with you wearing it…"
A pair of blood red eyes snapped open and peered out from the darkness. Valerie would've screamed if she wasn't so transfixed by those glowing orbs.
"Red is the color of evil." The eyes started moving, circling her but not moving into the light. She could very faintly make out a dark shape that looked like a teenager. The only sound in the room was her breathing and the sound of his boots hitting the floor as he circled her.
He paused in front of her and observed her with his demonic red eyes. "You're not evil."
"No, duh," Val muttered.
"You're simply misled."
"What?" she asked, confused.
"That dog was not Phantom's." He paused and she knew that he was grinning. "Last names sound so formal, don't you think? His first name's Danny, short for Daniel."
She growled.
He laughed. "It annoys you that he shares a name with your friend, doesn't it?"
How did he know about Danny?
"So we're going to refer to Phantom as Danny for this story!" She knew he was grinning again as he clasped his hands together. "The dog wasn't Danny's. And yet you blamed him for everything it caused. When he tried to explain himself, you called him a liar. Isn't the first step to learning listening?"
He's got a point, Valerie thought. I never did hear Phantom's side of the story…
The red eyes peered at her. "Whose funerals did you go to?"
That was a random question.
"Answer it," he hissed.
"Uh… Mrs. Fenton's, Mr. Fenton's, Jazz's, Sam's, Tucker's, and Mr. Lancer's," she responded truthfully. She'd been so upset that she'd never missed a single funeral and had stayed the entire time at all of them. There had been no bodies to bury but they still acted like it was a normal funeral. The coffins had been filled with some of their prized possessions and letters from friends and family to them.
He was silent for a minute before speaking again.
"Prepare for another funeral, my dear."
Crud, he's going to kill me, Valerie thought in fear.
"It won't be your funeral, don't worry," he said. He must've seen the fear on her face.
"What do you mean?" Valerie asked. "Who are you?"
The boy didn't respond. He stepped back into the shadows so that she could no longer see his outline. The crimson eyes watched her for another second before closing.
She tensed, waiting for him again.
She jumped when a hand was placed on her shoulder. She looked at the pale hand before gazing up at its owner.
It was Danny Fenton. His icy blue eyes were filled with fear and he was shaking. There were dark bags under his eyes.
"Danny?" she asked.
"Valerie…" he whimpered, his voice seeming as if it was coming from far away and not from the boy looking down at her. "Please…"
"Please what?"
"Help…me…" With those words, cuts and gashes started forming all over his body, oozing red blood. He collapsed, the skin around his eyes appearing to crack and glow…blood red.
"Danny!" Valerie yelled. Suddenly, the chains were gone, as if they'd never been there. She quickly got up and ran to her unconscious crush's side.
Unnoticed by her, a pair of crimson eyes watched her from the shadows.
"Danny!" she yelled again, gently picking him up and placing him on her lap. Please don't be dead! Please, please don't be dead!
She rolled him over and gasped.
"NO!"
Where his heart should've been, there was a gaping hole in his chest, as if someone had reached in and just tore it out.
She started crying, sobbing over her friend's lifeless body. Through her tears, she failed to notice that Danny was slightly see-through.
The red-eyed boy snapped his fingers and Danny vanished into thin air. Valerie gasped and rubbed away her tears. She turned to the boy.
"What…"
"That was an illusion of what Danny used to be."
She was confused.
There was more laughter and Valerie could just barely see the outline of the teen, sitting on a one of the counters. He clapped his hands.
The lights turned on. Valerie rubbed her eyes before blinking a couple of times, adjusting her eyes to the lighting.
She turned to the boy, wanting to take in his full appearance.
He still sat on the counter, holding a vial of ectoplasm in one black-gloved hand and a vial of blood in another and grinning like a Cheshire Cat. She took in his snow white boots, his black pants, his black and white shirt with the Danny Phantom symbol right in the center, and even his black and white cape that hung from his shoulders majestically.
She found herself unable to breathe.
"Hello… Valerie Gray," Danny Fenton said, flashing his newly developed fangs. "How are you this evening?"
She couldn't take her eyes off of the glowing blood red orbs beneath his raven hair.