Ladybird

Danielle Phantom smirked as she sailed through the tepid green skies of the Ghost Zone. Endless emerald stretched out around her, broken only by the occasional peppering of purple doors. Months had passed since she had been stabilised, lending her newfound strength that she hadn't ever imagined being possible.

During that time she'd travelled the world, gaining experience both as a human and as a ghost. Her limited time with Vlad had taught her many things, not the least of which was how to use her powers to survive. Theft was a necessary part of her life, the only way for her to survive. Any compunction against that behaviour had long since been abandoned. The things were there, and would stay there, being wasted, unless she took them. It was a sort of... unknowing charity. So really it wasn't as though she was doing anything wrong.

Most of her time she spent in her ghost form, existing alongside the ghosts. She had always felt more natural in this form, probably because she was made up primarily of ectoplasmic material which was then forced into a human form. Of course she didn't mind being able to switch, in fact it was quite a useful ability as far as things went. But her true form had always been her silver haired, more powerful, ghost form.

What little time she spent in the human world was mostly sightseeing; exploring the world and learning as much as she could about it. She'd visited Paris twice now, but found it kinda blah. City of love and dreams... didn't quite cut it. Cancun was more exciting with its late party nightlife, and she'd loved the time she'd spent in Japan; mostly because she'd managed to find a sensei who'd taught her more about how to fight.

And okay, yeah, she admitted that she didn't have many friends or anything really to call home. But to her it didn't really matter; her home was the world and the world was her oyster, she'd slept on the shores of the Seine and in the Amazonian rainforest, and traversed the Ghost Zone from the Carnivorous Canyon to The Acropolis of Athens.

Dani laughed, firing off an ectoblast at a passing ghost. It was just an amorphous blob, and they never did anything much more interesting than getting in the way. Dani loved getting to use her powers, and it was fantastic to be able to do so without worrying about fading from existence for trying. Danny always said that fighting ghosts was a good focus for misplaced aggression, and every day Dani found herself agreeing with that verdict.

The ghost shrieked in indignation, and Dani chuckled as she fired off another round, sending the green blob skittering further off into the depths of the Zone. She floated down to a rock platform, forming a ball of ectoplasm in her hands and tossing it between them as she decided where she was gonna go next. Exploring the Ghost Zone was fun and all, and traipsing the globe was awesome, but even that got boring after a while, even if Dani had never been one to put down roots.

But at the same time...

There had always been a part of her that wanted what Danny had. Danny had friends and a family and a place to call home. He was loved and could laugh with friends, he had a mom and a dad and a sister. And Dani wanted that. She wanted a family and a place to call home, and sometimes she just couldn't understand why she couldn't have that.

She existed, right. She was conscious.

Sentient.

Didn't that mean she had rights? Even if she was a clone, a copy of the original and a replication of his being, she still existed. And even if she was half ghost, she still had human sentience, so she should have equal rights.

More than that, she had experience. She'd seen the world and all the hardships in it. She'd seen cruelty in Vlad and family in Danny. The ghosts had taught her about strength; that power was key in staying on top and surviving, and humans had taught her of the persistence needed to do it; giving way to cunning when strength wasn't enough. In a way she was more worldly than Danny, than the original. Despite physically being his junior, Dani knew more of the world than her elder original would likely ever experience.

That was to his detriment.

Dani frowned, flicking the ball of ectoplasm up into the air and dispelling it as she made her mind. Taking to the skies once more, she angled her body towards the Fenton portal. Her legs morphed into a spectral tail as she picked up speed; perhaps not as fast as her elder original, but she knew she would exceed him in time. It was in her blood, literally.

Dani was a halfa, yes. But of the three she was the most closely related to the ghosts. Sometimes it was easier to look at herself as a ghost with human powers since it was the best way to explain how she felt in the depths of her core. But that was her true advantage over the other halfas. For them, their human half distracted them; they lacked the true focus needed for ghosthood because little human interruptions would disturb their path. Dani didn't have that, maybe she wasn't as pure as the full ghosts, but she was a heck-of-a-lot better than Danny and Vlad.

Part of her couldn't help but wonder how much different things would be if she was the one protecting Amity Park. After all, Danny was often waylaid by human concerns, letting the stress of homework and friends and 'hanging out' keep him away from his goals. It was such a human thing to do, and Dani really wondered what purpose it served. Danny was supposed to protect Amity, but he failed because he let his human half get in the way.

Dani shook her head and slipped out of the portal, drifting invisibly out of the house and out over the town. She suspected she'd find Danny at the Nasty Burger or the movie theatre given that it was just hitting sunset on a Saturday. But she didn't really want to go looking for him, at least not yet.

She cruised high the Amity Park skies, a white haired angel as she sought out any rebellious ghosts. Being based on Danny, part of her had always been drawn to protecting the town, although she'd never really spoken to him about how much he really felt it. A shrill scream pierced the early evening air, and Dani immediately drifted over towards the source of the trouble.

It was just a petty ghost that had taken to hassling a couple of eighteen year olds as they tried to find some privacy in a back alley near the theatre. Dani rolled her eyes and fired off a pot shot, forcing the ghost away from the two as she drove it off. It wasn't even a minute later that the ghost was gone, running away like a coward as it recognised her superior power. Dani smirked, waving to the pair as she drifted back up into the skies.

"Hey Dani." A familiar voice spoke, and Dani whirled around in the air to face a beaming Red Huntress. "You didn't tell me you were back in town."

"Just floated in." Dani replied, smiling at the dark skinned young woman. Valerie was Danny's age, she knew. And she had equally been Vlad's pawn, for longer even than Dani had. But that didn't matter right now, instead she gestured towards an alleyway so that they could talk on the ground.

Valerie Grey was one of the few people that had been kind to her. She was also one of the few people who knew she was only half ghost and had protected the secret all the same. The two of them landed, Valerie taking her dark suit off to reveal long locks of brown hair, and Dani shifted into her human form.

"So what are you doing here little ladybird?" Valerie asked. Dani sorta liked the name, it sounded sweet and innocent. Valerie had started using it when Dani had tried using the puppy dog eyes to get her to take her to the movies two months before. They'd built quite a rapport, and she would go so far as to say that the African-American teen was her closest friend. Not Danny.

No, Danny had a different place in her heart; after all, she was his clone.

Valerie had even gone so far as to say that she didn't mind partnering up with her, more so than her 'cousin'. And that thought always managed to bring a smile to her lips. It gave her confidence that she relied on and made her feel like she had something to call her own. That she was more than just a genetically identical copy of a boy two years her senior.

"Not much," Dani replied eventually, sending a sweet and heart melting smile at the elder girl. "Still just floating wherever the wind takes me."

"Sounds better than being stuck here." Valerie replied, shoulders slumped slightly. "There's been a solid run of ghosts lately, and I've been flat out. Phantom's practically useless."

"I thought you had a truce?" Dani pressed.

"We do, but that only counts if I can find him." Valerie replied, slightly angrily. "I've got a whole bunch of tests I'm supposed to be studying for, and instead I get stuck pulling the slack for Mr Perfect Ghost Boy."

Dani scoffed, rolling her eyes. Danny, no doubt, was using the time to study on those same tests at the expense of the dark skinned girl. What sort of ghost was he if he let stupid human concerns like that get in the way? He was practically useless if he decided that studying was more important than letting other ghosts intrude on his territory, especially since he had made a name for himself in defending the town.

"Can't help you with that." Dani replied with an emphatic shrug. "He's always been pretty scatterbrained." Val smiled, laughing as she shook her head at the comment. Phantom and the Red Huntress would never fully get on, quite ironic, considering how well Valerie got on with Danny's human half.

In a way, that was another area where Dani exceeded the elder original. Danny couldn't manage friendships or alliances well between his halves. He was too scared to try. Dani was Dani, didn't matter how she looked; that was who she was. So she didn't really see the sense in keeping a secret identity, it seemed kinda stupid with how much trouble it caused her elder counterpart.

Dani and Val didn't spend much longer together, Valerie eventually conceding that she needed to get work done and left the ghost hunting to the half ghost girl. Dani was all too happy to kick some ghost butt, and prove just how good at it she was. It was probably approaching midnight when Danny came out, looking slightly worn but grinning as he bore down on a larger ghost.

Dani frowned, a strange thought slipping into her mind as she watched Danny fight. He was... bad at it. Sure he had power and everything, and he very quickly beat the larger ghost down into submission and sucked him up into the thermos.

But he sucked.

He made sloppy punches and relied on brute force. He let the ghost slip past his defences on an easy hit and took more damage than he'd needed to. He'd overcompensated on power, dealing heavy punches early on that left him tired as the ghost fought back. And most importantly, he had absolutely zero situational awareness and had allowed the fight to progress through the main street causing uncountable damage instead of directing the fight to a less inhabited area.

And Dani felt something in her mind snap.

Quietly she drifted down into the alleyway where Danny was recovering. His glowing form was panting slightly, seemingly exhausted from the fight. He shouldn't have been. He was supposed to be better at this. He was the original one, the wanted one. The one that got everything right and solved every problem. He was supposed to be the perfect one, to whom she paled because of his insurmountable perfection.

But he was useless.

Dani clapped her hands together slowly. Four sharp taps that cut through the silence of the alleyway and drawing her original's attention straight to her. She stepped out of the shadows, slipping to her human form, knowing that it would make the original feel more at ease. She grinned as he followed suit.

"Dani!" The now black haired boy grinned, running over to her and catching her in a clumsy hug.

"Hi Daddy." She said, looking up at him with wide blue eyes.

Danny shook his head and ruffled her hair. He'd always hated it when she called him that. Dani knew it only too well. At first she'd thought that it was because it made him seem like Vlad; after all, Vlad had been the first man she called 'daddy'. But now she saw something different. It was because Danny was still a kid himself, he didn't understand the responsibility he'd been given and he wasn't ready to be a father. He didn't comprehend exactly what he'd done when he'd taken up the role as Amity's protector.

He was still just a boy.

And Dani, physically younger and dismissed for all her imperfections, she knew more than he did. She had seen more of the world than he had, and could take more on. She knew she was still growing in strength, but already she knew more of how to use it than Danny could ever hope to.

Danny... he wasn't necessary.

He was a boy pretending to be a ghost and failing at both. And Dani couldn't help but wonder if perhaps it was time for a change.

"You know I hate when you do that." Dani commented, pulling away and scrunching her nose in distaste.

Danny grinned at her; a warm smile that used to make her feel safe and now left her feeling disappointed. "But you love me all the same, don't you little ladybird." Danny teased, pinching her nose briefly.

Dani cocked her head, feeling slightly repulsed by the presumptuousness of her original. She had never been so expectant, she was sure. She knew better than to just expect people to like you; it had to be earned. And the more she looked into her original's blue eyes the more she was repulsed. He was so innocent. He wouldn't know how to survive or how to endure. He didn't know the first thing about being a proper ghost for all that he masqueraded as one.

And Dani couldn't stand it anymore.

If Danny couldn't be perfect, if Danny couldn't be flawless, then maybe he wasn't needed. Maybe Dani was really the perfect one, she certainly knew more and was a better ghost than the elder boy. She knew the responsibilities and knew how to handle the role as Amity's protector. And the more she looked at it, the more she realised it was Danny who was the imposter. He was a fake, pretending to be more than what he was and stealing all the glory for a life he didn't deserve.

A life that Dani deserved.

She had earned the right to be loved and to be wanted. She was better than the original, exceeded him in every way that mattered. And Danny, well, he was failing. Amity Park deserved better than him, and it was time that someone who knew what they were doing stood up to the task.

Dani stepped forward looking sweetly up at him; innocent as a sweet little ladybird as she looked up into his eyes. She drew close as though hug him, moving almost as though to wrap her arms around his. But she stopped short, moving her hand in a quick motion that caught the elder boy entirely by surprise.

She couldn't do much in her human form, but she had strength enough for this.

Intangible fingers slipped into the boy's chest, through the bones of his ribcage and wrapping tightly around his heart. She smiled lustfully as the dim flickers of his core sparked out around them, so similar to her own and yet so very different. She could feel the human in him as well as his ghost and they were both entirely in her hands.

A strangled sound escaped his throat, betrayed eyes looking confusedly at her as the boy struggled to make a sound. She felt him try to pull away; try to escape, but she held him tight. She knew so much more than he did or ever could.

"Did you know, daddy dear, that there are some species of spider which eat their parents after hatching?" Dani smirked at him, a cruel look passing into her eyes as she gazed into the eyes of her inferior original.

It was nature, the young surpass the old and the progeny survives the parent. An overshadow here and a subliminal message there and Danny Fenton would never have existed. Memories of the imperfect boy would fade and she knew she could easily grow into his place. She was superior to him, knew more and fought better. She was the perfect one and she knew the world would be better with her 'daddy' out of the way. It was the circle of life, after all.

Dani leered, squeezing his heart tightly as he gagged, falling limp around her unflinching hand. She felt as the heart stilled, as the last vestiges of ectoplasmic energy faded from his core. A dark laugh escaped her throat as she watched him die, watched the life fade from his eyes and his face set into the stillness of death.

She laid the boy down, standing emotionlessly over him. She was his clone, his genetic twin in every way but she was better than him. Even in the stillness of death he was imperfect, too pale for any human but lingering, unlike any true ghost. A halfa in life and a halfa in death, she supposed. But that hardly mattered. His place was now left open, ready for his true heir to stand up and take his place; waiting for a superior, more ghostlike protector to guard the barrier between worlds.

The world was ready and waiting for Danielle Phantom; it always had been. Danny had only ever been a stepping stone, a hurdle in the path towards her own true perfection. She was necessary where he was a failure, and now it was her turn to walk in the light.

Danielle smiled as she looked down at her original's cooling body, crouching down as once more her fingers slipped around his heart. With a quick burst of intangibility she pulled, removing the organ seamlessly from his body and tossing it lightly between bloodstained fingers. It was light, like a ball of ectoplasm, and rather entertaining; the body of her 'daddy' sustaining her even now after his death.

She was his little ladybird. She always had been. He just never knew that she was his little ladybird spider.

AN: Flame this if you will, but I personally grow weary of the insistence on calling Dani Danny's 'daughter'. Canonically she believes herself to be a cousin, genetically they are siblings. The relationship was never paternalistic...

So this is a more... sinister look at the Danny/Dani Father/Daughter relationship.

And this is why I don't write Dani.

Cheers,

Bluerose