i hope this chapter makes some people happy, Valerie finds out a little more about our favorite halfa. don't own DP!

Line break

They had been walking for only ten minutes before Valerie had to stop.

She gingerly felt her leg, it had recently begun to swell.

Then she looked over to Phantom who wasn't putting weight on his right leg.

Guiltily she looked at his gash and winced when she saw it had begun to bleed through the bandages.

The worst part was she knew that she had caused the injury, when he had fallen through the trees.

Quietly she looked at her surroundings and then looked back at Phantom and sighed "you had better rebandage that" she said her voice echoing eerily in the dark forest.

Phantom turned around in surprise "what" he asked, surprise clear in his tone.

Valerie looked away "I understand I won't make it without your help and I know you need to rebandage your leg before you bleed to death considering your part human and can actually die" Valerie said, but she absolutely hated having to.

Phantom sighed in a slightly relieved way and got out his first aid kit.

Quickly he redressed the gash "this is really going to hurt tomorrow" he muttered.

Valerie giggled "your telling me, I might even skip school, of course my dad might make me anyways" she said.

Suddenly Valerie started to panic "oh no, dad is probably worried sick" Valerie cried out.

Phantom sighed and dig into his book bag and tossed a cell phone at Valerie.

She looked at Phantom in disbelief "you have a cell phone" she asked.

Phantom shrugged and dialed her home number.

After the second ring her dad picked up "hello" he said in a panicky voice "hey dad it's me" Valerie said.

She heard a crash "what, are you okay, where are you, didn't I tell you not to go" he asked.

Valerie sighed "in order yes I'm okay, I'm about five miles out of town, and yes you told me not to go, but dad before you say anything, I need to do this, it may get me to quit hunting Phantom and even form a truce with him, we have to walk so I won't be home for a long time, and we have to walk slow" she told him.

She heard her father yelling into the phone "bye dad" she said as she hung up on him.

She then handed the phone to Phantom who had just finished wrapping up his leg "thanks" he muttered.

Then he quickly dialed something "um hey mom it's me, I'm staying at Tuck's tonight…okay bye" he said.

Valerie looked carefully at Phantom "did you mean Tucker Foley" she asked.

Phantom stared at her "yeah, one second, gotta create the alibi" he said.

He then dialed another number "hey Tuck it's me, my mom calls I'm at your place…no I'm fine, I just got stranded and it will be a long walk home…okay see ya" he said and hung up.

He sighed and dialed another number "hey Sam, I need you to call my sister, tell her I'm stranded in the middle of nowhere and she needs to give me an alibi until I get back, oh and don't panic if I'm not in school tomorrow" and he hung up.

He put the phone in his book bag and slumped against the tree "why can't life be easy for once" he muttered under his breath.

Valerie chuckled "come on hot shot, I need your help so we can get home sometime" she teased.

Warily Phantom crawled to his feet and helped Valerie stand.

He then helped her walk through the cold empty forest.

Hesitantly Valerie opened her senses for danger, she saw the eyes of things watching them, she felt the cold branches, wet with water, slap against her body, she heard the wind from the ever constant storm howling through the trees, and she heard a gunshot every time her or Phantom stepped on a twig.

She shivered "are you cold" Phantom asked, startling her from her observations.

Valerie looked down "just a little, I'm mainly just scared" she whispered.

Phantom chuckled "what" Valerie asked annoyed.

Phantom chuckled again "well it's just hard to believe a girl who hunts ghost is afraid of the dark" he teased.

Slowly Valerie looked around again "it's not the dark that I'm afraid of" she said slowly.

She shivered again "it's what's in the dark" she whispered (AN: this is my fear and I decided to give it to Valerie as well so I'm not alone)

Phantom looked around as well.

Valerie could see fear, worry, concern, and even a small trace of curiousness.

He turned to Valerie "to be honest, your not the only one" he said in a reassuring tone.

They walked on and Valerie attempted to put more weight on her injured leg.

She hissed in pain "are you okay, I can carry you if you need it" Phantom asked.

Valerie looked at him "with your leg? I would say that's impossible" she said.

Phantom winced as he looked down "I've had worse" he muttered.

Valerie decided to drop the subject.

Then Phantom turned to look at her "so do you need me to carry you or not" he asked, his annoyed tone intensified by the echoing forest.

Valerie shook her head "it's my fault the both of us are injured, the least I can do to make it up to you is to live with the pain" she said in a determined voice.

Phantom smiled and she could have sworn she saw a hint of respect glinting in his bright eyes.

She smiled to her self as the slowly continued limping along.

After awhile she began noticing that Phantom was starting to wince every time he stepped on his right leg.

She shot a look down and saw it was seeping through the bandages again.

She stopped suddenly which caused Phantom to stop.

He turned to her "what's wrong" he asked worriedly.

Valerie rolled her eyes "I hope you have enough gauze cause your bleeding through the bandages again" she said.

Phantom took a look down a groaned.

Quickly and carefully he helped Valerie to sit on a stump.

Then he once more pulled the first aid kit but this time after undoing the bandage he pulled out a vial that held a glowing green liquid and a cotton swab.

Valerie cocked her head "what's that" she asked.

Phantom gave her a calculating look "it's a special potion my sister got from the Fenton's, it's only supposed to be used in emergencies but it heals ghosts" he said slowly.

Valerie watched curiously as Phantom wiped the stuff gently on his gash.

Valerie watched curiously as it began to grow deeper until it rapidly began healing itself.

After five long minutes there was only a scar there, though the scar still looked nasty and you could tell it was a deep gash.

Phantom sagged to the ground in exhaustion afterwards "are you okay" Valerie asked quickly.

Phantom nodded warily "I'll be fine, that just took a lot of strength, I didn't realize it would use my strength to heal that" he said with a shaky voice.

Valerie smiled warmly "if you want we can take a rest and just talk" she said.

Phantom's head shot up "you mean talk talk or I hate you talk" he asked nervously.

Valerie chuckled "I mean random talk" she said.

Phantom sighed and looked at her "so what do you want to talk about" he asked.

Valerie grinned "well I know one thing we have in extreme common" she said.

Phantom smiled "hunting ghosts" he asked.

Valerie smiled and they started talking.