A/N: Hello, readers. I would like to present to you a story of love, loss, and tragedy.

Or not. Seriously though, I think this is best story I've ever written. You may think differently, but I really really like it. I've worked long and hard on this piece (like, literally, years). I took a huge long break from writing it, then started all over from scratch and actually finished it. Yes, you read that right. This story is finished, so there is NO chance of it mysteriously being put on hiatus half way through!

I sincerely hope you enjoy it.

Timeline: AU. Therefore, it doesn't matter!

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, or any character related thereof. I shall never own Danny Phantom, or any characters related thereof.

Quick Note: Many people don't like stories that feature OCs. This story contains important OCs, but the focus isn't necessarily on these OCs. Patty Craven, who begins this story, is the main OC. Hopefully, you will come to love her as I have. Seriously though, even though she starts this story, this isn't how most of the story is. Thank-you!


The Amity Park Star


Introduction: Patty Craven


Patty Craven watched the two little children. They were new to her foster home. It was just this month that their parents had given them up for adoption.

Patty shook her head. How could a mother leave her darlings behind so she could go out to hunt ghosts? How did that make sense? Patty didn't know and didn't want to speculate at the moment. The children were talking.

"They're coming back, right Jazz?" four year old Danny Fenton asked his six year old sister. He was holding two pictures. One was of Jazz and Danny. The other was of their parents.

"Course, Danny," Jazz answered. Patty saw the look in her eyes though. Even though Jazz was a mere six year old, she was smart—very smart. Smart enough that, in fact, Patty wouldn't have been surprised if she had already figured out her parents were not coming back. "They wouldn't leave us behind forever."

Jazz was smart enough to know that her little brother didn't need the facts right then. He needed to be encouraged.

Patty put on a big smile for the children—five in all—and announced, "Supper is ready!"

Four sets of happy feet scuttled across the floor. From upstairs, Patty heard a loud thumping as thirteen year old Hannah Elizabeth responded to the dinner call.

After a hearty dinner, Patty was playing with the three youngest children, which included the two newest ones, when a knock sounded at the door.

"Excuse me partner, but I need to answer that there door if ya don't mind it," Patty told seven year old Ryan, who currently had her locked up in an old western jail.

"NO! Never! Don't let the prisoner escape!" Ryan ordered the other two.

"Ryan," Patty warned, returning to her normal voice.

For a moment, Ryan looked as if he were going to retort, but he knew it was a useless plea that would get him sent to the corner. Instead, he moved out of Patty's way just as the visitor knocked again.

Patty had a pretty good idea of who was at the door. It was someone wishing to adopt. Patty had gotten a call from a social worker earlier that morning telling her that a—oh, what word did she use?—unique candidate was coming by to see the children.

As soon a Patty opened the door, she understood what the woman on the phone had meant by the word unique. This was not the kind of person one expected to be interested in adopting. The person had not even opened his mouth yet, and Patty already knew this would be a strange experience.

I suppose that's the first thing, Patty thought. It's a man. Not a woman, not a couple, just a man.

"Hello," Patty greeted before any more awkward seconds of silence slipped through.

"Hello, Miss, how are you?" The response almost sent Patty to the ground. His voice—it was so precise and so...so...elegant? Yes, elegant. Elegant summed the guy up completely in Patty's opinion. The man was wearing a fine, crisp suit, and his white hair (which looked oddly out of place for his age) was bright and pulled back nicely into a flattering pony-tail.

"Very well. And you?" Patty asked, feeling silly in her jeans and button down shirt.

"The same. I believe introductions are in order. My name is Vlad Masters."

Patty smiled and shook his hand. "Patty Craven." A moment of silence passed before Patty remembered herself. "Oh, please, right this way. I believe you are the one the agency called about?"

"Yes, I am," Vlad answered as his hawk-like eyes scoured every inch of the dwelling place.

"Well, she said your situation was unique. Are you...by yourself? I mean, do you intend to raise a child by yourself?" Patty asked.

"Yes, I do." Patty ushered the man into the kitchen, and for thirty minutes they sat and talked over the technical terms and agreements that he insisted he had already covered with the agency.

When she was satisfied, Patty smiled. "If you would come this way..." Patty led the very nice gentlemen into the living room. "The youngest child here is four and the oldest thirteen. What age were you hoping to adopt?"

"Age is not really a matter for me. Tell me, though, the number of boys and girls." Patty happily explained that there were two boys and three girls. Vlad nodded thoughtfully at this.

"Kids, there's someone I want you to meet," Patty called. Jazz, Ryan, and Danny scampered up from their positions on the floor. Hannah and Jessica peeked down from the stairs, exchanged a look, and drifted down the stairs. "Vlad, this is Hannah, Jessica, Jazz, Danny, and Ryan." Patty introduced the children as she moved her gaze down the line. "Jazz and Danny are brother and sister and..." Patty trailed off when she noticed he seemed to not be listening to her anymore.

His attention was completely transfixed on Danny. He was looking at the boy with a sort of intense want in his eyes. The look suggested to Patty that Vlad wanted to adopt Danny, but for some reason, that thought made her uneasy.

Deciding to act now before it was too late, Patty continued her explanation. "Vlad," she began, attempting to pull his attention back to her. It worked. He looked at her with a confused expression plastered on his face. She smiled. "I see you like Danny. Well, he and Jazz are brother and sister, and it would be in the best interest if they were not separated."

Vlad smiled warmly. "Oh, I completely understand, Miss Craven." After he said that he spent a good five minutes with each child, talking to them and asking them questions. Patty sat back and watched, relieved that he seemed not to be focusing only on Danny.

Once finished, Vlad said a few words to Patty and left with a promise of sleeping on his decision.

Patty smiled and hoped for the best.

. . .

Thoroughly shaken, Patty could no longer sleep. She glanced at the clock on Jazz's bedside table. It loudly proclaimed in red block numerals that it was 2:00 AM. Patty sighed and ran a hand through her hair. She figured she might as well get to packing Danny's things.

Patty didn't realize her hand was shaking until she grabbed hold of one of Danny's shirts. That's odd, she thought. Why is this shirt dancing? It took her only a moment to deduce that her hand was the thing "dancing."

She gritted her teeth and held back tears as she folded the small shirt and placed it in an open suitcase sitting on the floor. Looking at the child sleeping on the top of the bunk bed, she only wanted to take him and run as far away from this place as possible. She wanted terribly to protect him—but it was a futile hope.

Patty switched her gaze to Jazz, sleeping on the bottom bunk. Would this child grow to hate her? She would. It would be the only plausible direction in which she would grow. No other direction would make sense, not after her brother was gone.

Barely able to contain a sob, Patty went back to her packing.


Saturday morning dawned normal and beautiful. Five unsuspecting children gathered early to sit down for breakfast. Patty prepared extra pancakes and gave half the batch to Danny. Hannah waved goodbye to Patty around nine o'clock and headed off to an end of the summer pool party with her friends. Ten year old Jessica was subjecting Ryan to playing dress-up with her.

Patty threw her complete attention onto Danny and Jazz, who were still too new and shell-shocked from the abrupt move to be very sociable.

A tugging at her pants brought her attention to Danny.

"Yes?" Patty asked, squatting down to his level so she could look him in the eyes.

"Are you gonna get the door?"

Patty thought the question a strange one until she heard the knock on the door. How long had that been going on? Then Patty realized who it most likely was, and she panicked. He wasn't supposed to be here until late. It was only noon!

A quick glance at the clock revealed it was close to 6:00 PM. That's not right, Patty thought. We didn't eat lunch.

"Danny, are you hungry? We didn't have lunch." Danny's little eyebrows furrowed.

"Yeah we did. You let me have extra sweets."

Patty shook her head. She couldn't remember any part of the day. It had flown by tremendously too fast and now...now nothing would be the same.

The pounding on the door grew more urgent and angry. Patty was going to have to answer it eventually.

She moved toward the door. Jazz chose that moment to ask Patty why Danny's things were all packed up. Patty didn't answer.

Patty wasn't impressed this time by either the sharp suit, perfect hair, or amazingly articulated voice. She noticed things about this man that she hadn't the first time: his eyes, that seemed to hold some possession of evil behind them; his mouth, that was curled up into what Patty had mistaken last time to be a smile. It wasn't though. It was an evil smirk.

"Ah, good evening, Miss Craven, how are you?" Vlad asked, stepping into the house as if he had been invited.

"Not well, thank you," Patty answered in a chipper voice. The answer caused Vlad to turn and look at Patty with a quirked eyebrow. "What? Did you expect me to lie?"

"Frankly, yes." Vlad looked around until his eyes found Danny. A look passed over his face that gave Patty the same uneasy feeling she had felt the night before, and the look suggested to Patty that Vlad would kill to possess that kid.

Considering what happened last night, I'd say that's a fact.

"You found the money?" Vlad questioned, not taking his eyes off Danny.

"Actually no, I haven't. I haven't done much of anything today, I'm afraid."

At this, Vlad looked a Patty. "You'll find it." He allowed a moment to pass. "Can we please move along with this?"

Unwillingly, Patty obliged and made her way over to Danny. She bent down and ran her hand through his hair.

"Danny, sweetie, this nice man has come to adopt you and take care of you." Danny looked confused for a moment.

Then he asked, "Here?"

"Ah...no honey. He's gong to take you to a new home."

Danny looked up at Vlad, then back to Patty. He shook his tiny head. "I'm okay here."

Patty wanted to swat at the tears pooling in her eyes, but she refused. "It's not a choice, sweetheart."

Danny nodded as if he understood. He looked to Jazz. They linked hands. "Ready," Jazz stated, smiling expectantly.

Patty bit her lip and looked at Vlad. He was simply standing there, giving Patty the privilege of delivering the bad news. She looked back at the siblings, sucked in a breath, and went for the plunge.

"Only Danny is going."

Little eyebrows lowered, and protests erupted.

"No!" "I'm not leaving!" "Danny stays here." "NO!"

Vlad cleared his throat. Patty took that as a sign to hurry. She took hold of Danny and pulled him away from Jazz with little trouble, even though the young girl pulled with all her might.

"Give him back! Give him back!" Jazz yelled. Danny's wailing was now an unintelligible cry. Patty's heart broke, and she could no longer see through her tears.

Vlad ripped Danny out of Patty's arms, and Patty felt like shouting the same thing Jazz just had. Vlad wrapped his arms around the small boy and whispered comforting words. "It's alright. Vlad will take care of you."

No longer caring whether or not any of the kids saw her crying, Patty turned toward the stairs and ran to get Danny's things. She stuck a copy of the two pictures from the day before in Danny's suitcase. That way they'll both have them.

By the time Patty was back downstairs, Vlad had Danny outside and Jazz was nearly out the door herself. Patty rushed to Jazz. "Honey, you can't," Patty heard herself saying.

Jazz turned around to face Patty, face blazing red. "I hate you!"

Patty sighed. She had known this was going to happen.

Jazz raced around Patty and up the stairs while Patty went out to Vlad's car. Danny was already strapped into a car seat in the back, still bawling his eyes out.

Being sure to take much care of Danny's belongings, Patty set them in the trunk of the car herself. Vlad suddenly appeared beside her. She narrowed her eyes. "You're despicable."

Vlad didn't answer. Instead, he shut the trunk and smirked in Patty's direction. At that moment, as Patty looked into the eyes of evil, she knew without a doubt that this man and the...the thing from last night were one and the same. She didn't understand how it was possible, but she knew it had to be true.

She watched the man drive away until she could no longer see the tail-lights. After that she went back inside, and later that night she found the money stuck underneath the towel she used to dry off with after her shower.


A/N: So, that begins The Amity Park Star. Hope you like it! I will anxiously await your thoughts!