Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom, its domain or any of its characters and copyrights. I own Stitch Witch, Lily Belladonna, and any other Original Characters found herein.
Nyaa.
Author's Note: There was a little confusion as to Danny's age as of the beginning of this fic in the reviews. At the end of Vlad's Son, he was ten; now, Danny is fourteen.
Nyaa.
=^-.-^=
Chapter 2
Whether a feline or a human, there was just something absolutely glorious about lying on a sunlit window perch for a light afternoon nap. Thanks to the benches built into several of the kitchen's windows, there was plenty of room for even the tallest or widest visitors to sit at a window and be completely bathed in sunlight. Of course, Ashley was certainly neither of those things as a human, being eternally a short, scrawny redhead with porcelain skin and black stitchwork holding many of her limbs to her body; she was contently stuck on her back, hands and feet still in their 'paw' positions. The fact that her black ears and tail were still present as well gave away what had happened – she had been basking at some point and, before completely transforming into… well, whichever form she hadn't started in, she had slipped into slumber.
Lily Belladonna chuckled as she sat with a cup of tea. Whether the so-called Stitch Witch grew to be 50 or 5,000 years older, she could only ever see the five-year-old wild child who had first learned to be a kitten, long before she could learn to be a human or a ghost. That had always been the way of her people, though, before Pariah had destroyed it. Ironically, of course, he hadn't destroyed it on purpose; it was merely the taint of evil and malice that his later ruling style had created, infecting the lands she had once called home in the mortal world. She had been killed near the same time – her daughter's younger years had been marked with a tremendous amount of pain for both of them. She had even given her life trying to save her daughter back then. That was why Lily was still around, far longer than many other ghosts could claim. Her ghostly obsession had always been watching over her children and making sure that no harm could ever come to them again.
Ashley was immortal, though. By association, that made Lily immortal as well. Oh, a far-stronger ghost could cause Lily damage, but as long as there was a reason for her to reappear, she would do exactly that – same as any ghost. She had had other children aside from Ashley as well. They never shared their elder sister's immortality, and had always faded away with time, as all ghosts did.
The two of them had yet to tell Vlad or Danny that the half-ghost lived for millennia. The boys had been warped through scientific means – and pure accidents, at that! Ashley, on the other hand, had been born a halfa, through natural means… albeit before the laws of nature had been set. Who was to say if Vlad Masters and darling little Daniel were immortal as well?
Who was to say that the newest arrival would be like them, or like her older sister…?
"You always have such a wonderful glow about you."
Lily snapped to attention, her forest-green eyes moving to Vlad quickly. She giggled. "You managed to sneak up on me!"
"Really? You must be having some very deep thoughts, then." He looked pointedly at Stitches. Her tail twitched in her sleep. "At least she doesn't have whiskers this time. If someone were to just walk in, that would be very difficult to explain."
"Yes, it would!" Lily looked amused. "Did you know that she used to get stuck between forms, just like this, all of the time when she was just learning how to use her human abilities? By the time that she was learning to be a cat, she was doing it on purpose, of course."
"Well, the cat does seem to be her favorite secondary form. I don't think I've seen her as anything else, outside of her ghostly form."
Just then, the kitchen door opened, and Danny came hurrying in. "Stitches! Are you in here…?" He stopped short upon seeing his parents. "…I'll bug her later!"
"Daniel! What's the rush, Little Badger? Stitches is right here, and I'm sure she could use some time being awake." Vlad smacked one of the Witch's feet as he passed, moving to sit beside Lily.
Ashley's throat emitted a feline-like chirp. She coughed and hummed. "Awake? And risk actually doing something today?" Her body resumed its reshaping until she was once again a sleek black cat covered in ancient golden jewelry. She stretched her warm tummy. "Ohhh; that would have felt divine if I had finished the shapeshift before I dozed off…"
"No, seriously! Wake up!" The fourteen-year-old picked her up by the scruff of her neck so that he could look the sleepy feline in the eye. "I have to show you something!"
With that, he rushed out of the kitchen, and he didn't stop until he was in his space-themed bedroom. His black walls and ceiling were littered with tiny specks of plastic that gave off light at all hours, dimming and brightening throughout the day and nighttime. He kept his orb-shaped main light off in favor of dropping onto his belly and crawling under his bed, dragging his step-sister along with him. For the Masters boy to feel he needed to hide in such a place, he must have had some reason for it… It was the only closed-in space that he ever willingly subjected himself to.
"What the heck are you doing?" Stitch Witch chirped, her tail twitching as she tried to swivel her tiny, black head around to look at him.
Danny let her go and flicked on a flashlight he kept stored away. Shuffling through his pockets, he finally fished out an envelope and flattened it out. A deep frown etched across his face. "Some guy stopped me and my friends on the walk home today. He said he knew you. I-I didn't look at it or anything, but…"
Tilting her head, Ashley stepped on the envelope and dragged it closer. Her paws quickly became hands, with fingers that curiously ripped open the paper quickly and pulled out the polaroid photograph inside. It was a picture of herself, four short years before… give or take five years out of a decade when she'd jumped into a different timeline. She stared at the disturbingly familiar scene: Her, wild and angry as in the days of her father, bludgeoning a human to death with a rock. A survivor of the Dan Apocalypse, to be precise, and a zealot of what had come to be called the Church of Dan. As their namesake may have suggested, the 'church' and its followers were comprised of very violent, confused individuals in a timeline that, now, would never come to pass.
So, how had the picture found its way to Danny?
"Op. Spring Break, 1966. Knew I shouldn't have had that much to drink." She smiled brightly, tucking the picture in her back pocket. "Don't worry. I'll get this all straightened out. Sorry you had to put up with the grump, kiddo, but I've gotta go!"
She turned to leave, but Danny instinctively grabbed her wrist. "Wait! Are… Are you alright? Are you in trouble, or…?" Poor kid – his instincts were abnormally spot-on and he was too smart for his own good.
Ashley snickered, bumping her forehead against his like her feline self would. "I'm never in trouble, remember? I'm a cat. I make the trouble!"
"Got that right." he muttered, giving her an accusing stare. He was clearly worried.
"Exactly! Now, if you don't mind, I'm off to make some more. I think I'll start with stealing and hiding a single sock from each pair you own, then move on to your model rocket collection… Hm… I think I'll paint them purple and blue this time."
Before he could call her on not taking the situation seriously, the elder halfa had vanished through the floor. Danny sighed and rested a cheek on the floor, staring ahead blankly. He just couldn't shake the feeling that everyone was keeping something from him, and that it was due to his age.
It wasn't a very good feeling.
"Let me out of here! Let me out!"
Dash had been in the locker for at least an hour now. Of course, it felt longer, and even if it wasn't, anything beyond ten minutes was too long. Someone should have missed him and come looking, or heard him, or something! He was on the football team! He was popular, dammit!
Plus, the darkness was sort of starting to get to him…
Someone knocked lightly on the other side of the locker. At first, he wasn't sure he had heard it. Then they knocked again, a little louder this time.
Dash started pounding on the metal frantically. "Hey! I'm in here! Help!"
There was a pause. "Ah, yes… Dash Baxter."
Now Dash paused. It wasn't the voice of anyone he knew…
Suddenly, the metal bubbled inward, and five fingers jabbed holes right through the metal. They closed together, and the next thing he knew, the door had been ripped off its hinges and tossed aside like scrap paper, and the monster on the other side reached in to pull him out by the collar of his shirt. Dash started to feel as though his chest were constricting in on itself, making it hard to breathe. He hadn't paid enough attention in Health class to realize he was suffering the early stages of a panic attack.
He was smart enough to know he had good reason to be afraid, though.
A grin formed slowly on Dan Phantom's face, and it got the wanted reaction: He watched Dash begin to try jerking out of his grip, feet kicking so that they didn't just dangle helplessly in the air. The jock was probably on the verge of pissing himself. "Oh, goodie, it is you. I thought that I was going to have to just internalize not being able to kill my young target, but you… Well, I had loads of fun killing you the first time." He craned his neck closer to the teen, grin growing ever wider and more foreboding. "Tell me, Casper does still have a woodshop class and an auto class, right? All of the best tools are there."
Now Dash had definitely lost control over his bladder. Dan recognized the dripping sound… and the smell.
"He's a coward, Dan. His sort is only fun to torture and maim for so long. The crying gets old fast."
Dan didn't even repress a purr at the sound of the Witch's voice, although he didn't bother to break eye contact with his terrified victim, either. If she wouldn't let him have fun killing the teen, perhaps he could do it now, quickly, through sheer willpower. Hey, people had died of heart attacks in his hold before…
A pair of thin arms wrapped around his neck from behind. She leaned against his back, her cheek brushing against his ear. "Honestly, are you so desperate for a victim that you would scrape the very bottom of the barrel?" Stitch Witch asked.
He knew that she was just baiting him away from Dash. She could give a rip if the human died at his hands, or if it happened in a particularly colorful way. She just didn't want it to happen in Danny's world, or Vlad's world, where either of them would be forced to take notice. He was determined to wait her out, until her true nature began to break through as it had so long ago. But then she suddenly let go, jumped off of his back and rushed away.
Damn that woman!
Dan dropped the traumatized teen and disappeared through the ceiling after her, flying away from the high school. Stitch Witch wasn't far ahead of him. She whisked her way towards the small forest that the park provided. Even in the early sunset, there weren't many people out and about to see the two ghosts, which was good – she didn't think to be invisible, and he just didn't care if he was seen.
He landed beneath the trees after her, catching her by the wrist when she moved to dart away. She quickly turned her head to fix him with a cold stare. He didn't have time for her games; he pulled the Witch close, holding her by the arms now. "Must you spoil my fun? Or have you become a spoiled little princess, being Vlad's daughter? Is it too much to watch a boy being skinned alive, now?"
She got a slightly deranged little smirk, leaning up on her toes so that she could get close enough to hiss, "I would have suggested replacing that little bastard's head with a muffler, a la The Mask."
A devilish grin caught on his face, and he couldn't help loosen his grip on her slightly. "Perhaps we should go back, then."
"No." Ashley frowned, backing down onto her heels again coldly. "I'm satisfied just to let my children pick on him without his ever realizing it."
Dan smirked knowingly. "Is that how he got in the locker in the first place?"
"You didn't do that?" She looked surprised, tilting her head slightly. He could see the gears working behind those innocent-looking eyes. When she got a mild look on her, he chuckled. "Danny Masters… I am impressed with you, little brother…"
Dan Phantom winced angrily. "Don't call him that. Just don't."
Ashley narrowed her eyes and studied him. When she had last seen the poltergeist before her, the goatee was little more than a baby soul patch and his hair wasn't yet long enough to be tied back. It was bizarre, seeing the build that Danny Fenton would have had if Vlad actually had been his biological father. What made it even more bizarre was that, given Maddie's physical prowess and Jack's physical girth, it wouldn't be too surprising if Danny did end up looking similar one day.
She sighed hopelessly. "Well, at least he probably won't think like you. Probably. Clockwork hasn't griped about the Observants griping anytime recently…"
"I'm going to pretend that I know what you're talking about, and I'm going to change the subject anyway." he said, frowning at her. "Very disorienting, having the world literally fall apart and disappear around you; I must say, I'm offended. I thought that we got along better than that."
He had leaned forward slightly, so they were nose to nose. She pretended not to know exactly what he was insinuating. "Cats and women change their minds all of the time, Dan Phantom. I happen to be both."
Dan smirked. She hated it when he did that sometimes. "You shouldn't be so dishonest, Ashley. It doesn't suit you. You're much prettier when you're howling with anger and covered in blood."
"Fine. Care to donate yours?" She crossed her arms.
"In a heartbeat." He licked up the side of her face. She yelped and jumped backwards, rubbing the spit off of her cheek with a wild, agitated expression. "What? It's only okay when you do it?"
"Yes!" Ashley huffed haughtily. "Well? Out with it! Why are you here? Is it to kill Danny, Vlad, or both?"
He faked a sweet smile. "Can't I be here to see my pretty kitty?"
She made a face. "No… And that's… creepy."
"Yes, it is, isn't it?" He quickly dropped the mockery, scratching at his chin. "Now, if I was going to kill either of my blood donors, don't you think I would have snuffed out Danny today?"
"No. I would have killed you. You haven't turned me yet."
"Yet." He grinned, exposing his fangs. "I'm glad you admit that it's inevitable."
"I know it's a strong possibility." She stood on her toes again, doing her best to get in his face. "But I also have waaay too much fun with just generally pissing you off."
Dan swiped, trying to grab her, but she ducked out of range, still literally on her toes. Ashley gave him an indignant look. Part of him adored it. Part of him also wondered if she'd look so indignant and proud after a good slap in the face.
"Stay away from my family, Dan." she warned, before taking off through the trees.
He frowned after her, folding his arms across his broad chest. If there wasn't so much to do to begin with, he would probably just vacuum her into a thermos and deal with her later.
=^o.o^=
Well, isn't it just adorable when two psychopaths flirt? You can tell they're in love by just how badly they want to hit each other! Lol, I kid.
OMG, I'm back!
Nyaa!
I know, I know – bad kitty is bad. I've been so slackish lately. Luckily my Gargoyles fandom relapsed and kicked my butt back into gear. Also, I'm near the sea now! And NOT in Alaska! Woo! That means that there's equal night and day hours no matter what time of year it is.
Of course, being a cat, I nap at all hours, and I get into mischief at all hours. For example, it's almost 1 AM, and my brain just said that adding to fanfiction was a good idea. I think I'll be staying up a little later to see what other shenanigans I can get into. Maybe catnip. And then, caterwauling outside a hated neighbor's bedroom window once 3 AM rolls around.
Nyaa.
*meanders off for adventure*
