Disclaimer: Don't own Danny Phantom nor am I making any money off this.
Warning: There shall be a few characters that are not in the show. Swearing, violence, character death, and some other things. And Vlad Danny paring!
Also I am assuming you have watched Ultimate Enemy, and since I do not know what to call Danny's evil future self I shall call him Dan since most people seem to do that.
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Chapter 3: Me with a crush?
Tucker stared at his friend with amazement, along with his girlfriend Sam as they walked next to the super hero into the cafeteria.
"So I said bye and left." Danny finished his short tale and sat down at the empty lunch table in the corner of the loud cafeteria.
"Wow Danny." Tucker said barley above a whisper "All that in one day!"
"I'm surprised you made it to school today." Sam stated and began eating her vegetarian lunch that looked similar to grass, and Danny was sure it was but would never say anything about it.
The black haired youth shrugged and test tasted his mystery-meat lunch while his friends informed him of what he missed yesterday. Apparently nothing much, except Dash was meaner then usual, but Dash had been getting meaner for a while now.
"So Danny what are you planning on doing about the future?" Tucker interrupted the silence that had fallen between the friends.
"Huh? What do you mean?" The halfa asked, honestly not sure what his friend meant. But judging how Sam rolled her eyes while Tucker scowled and crossed his arms at him Danny guessed the answer was obvious.
"What do you mean 'What do I mean'? Aren't you going to do something to help yourself in the future, to help our futures?" Tucker asked in a low tone as a group of kids walked by, not that he really needed to. No one paid attention to outcast like them.
"Yeah Danny" Sam pitched in "We can't let everyone die."
"I already know that." The superhero stated grimly and poked at his food "But what should I do?"
"We should go to Clockwork and have him take us into the future so we can help!" The goth girl snapped only to regret it when her best friend winced. "Danny-"
"No Sam." Danny interrupted "There would be no 'we' if traveling to the future is what I decided. I remember what fighting with Dan was like and if I go into the future to help out, you're not coming with me."
"But-" Both started before a glare from the black haired boy stopped them.
"I was thinking about going to see Clockwork this weekend, alone." Danny added much to his friend's displeasure. "If I can help I will, but I am not sure what I can do besides making sure Dan doesn't get loose ten years from now or ever."
"Then you should do that." Sam said softly to her best friend who was looking extremely tired at the moment. The only girl in the group wondered for what must have been the millionth time since she knew Danny what the boy was thinking.
Was he worried about Dan escaping? Or how his future seemed so grim even after he supposedly saved it the first time? Maybe he was even thinking about his kid that he took to Vlad's?
Sam had a suspicion that Danny was thinking all of the above and plus some. Danny always had a knack stressing himself out by over thinking things.
"Hey Danny if you aren't going to eat then give me your lunch." Tucker reached out for the ghost boys tray only to have his hand smacked by his girlfriend who was quickly coming back to reality.
"What he's not eating!" Tucker said defensively and pointed to the other boys food. Sam glanced across the table and scowled when she saw her boyfriend was right.
"It's okay Sam, I'm not hungry anyways." Danny pushed his tray towards Tucker who greedy took it "I don't see how you can eat that Tuck."
"Its meat." The black boy stated and happily ate the mystery meat meal.
"That's what they tell you, but for all you know it can be something disgusting."
Tucker shook his head and tapped his nose reminding everyone at the table of his infamous meat smelling nose.
"I know meat."
"Whatever…" Sam huffed and began eating her own lunch, only to stop a moment later when she noticed Danny looking out the window and seeming to be lost somewhere in his own mind.
'What are you thinking about?' She wondered once more again.
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Vlad sat in his leather chair and gazed out of his private office window. So much had happened in the last day and a half. The biggest was the fact he had a son!
'A son.' Vlad thought with a small smile. The boy was defiantly his son, what little doubt he had was erased when the two of them went shopping for clothes that very morning.
Vlad Jr or Vladdy as he liked to be called had almost the same taste as he did, which was rather cute by the billionaires standers. But…
Vlad frowned, the boy was very reluctant to talk and almost shy in some cases. That was something odd considering Maddie had never been shy and neither had he. Shyness might be due to everything he saw in the future, violence of any magnitude could have had a traumatic impact on his personality.
'Ah the future.' Vlad thought bleakly 'That brings up other issues. Like what can I do to prevent that horrible future from happening with out endangering Maddie and I getting together?'
This was a rather large problem that was presented to Vlad, then again he doubted he needed to do anything. Danny would most likely see that everything was fixed.
'That boy and his hero complex.' The halfa thought, smirking at how predictable the teen was 'He will never risk Vladdy's existence despite how much it would hurt Jack to lose Maddie.'
Vlad closed his eyes and imagined Danny telling the future Jack who was old and fat, well fatter, that he could not help him and that Maddie must divorce him.
The anguished look on Jacks face, the upset look on Danny's…
'The boy shouldn't look upset.' Vlad thought with a frown 'He should be happy to be getting a new father and getting that fat oaf out of his life.'
But as hardest the evil man tried he could not imagine a happy look on Danny's face, all he could do was see the pained expression with watery blue eyes to match.
"This is giving me a headache." The man stated and rubbed his temples, he glanced over at his computer screen to see the time only to be surprised.
"Have I been day dreaming for an hour?" The regal man stood and straightened out his suit "Vladdy must be up from his nap now, maybe we should go out for lunch."
With the thought of going out to lunch in mind the villainous man walked towards his son's bedroom, smiling once more at the fact he had a son. And with Maddie no less!
"Knock, knock." Vlad said cheerfully as he walked into the brightly colored bedroom. His smile faltered when he saw the upset look on his future sons face. "Vladdy?"
The middle aged man walked over to the five year old and sat down next to him on the king sized bed. After repeating the boys name again the child slowly looked up only to look away again.
"My boy, tell me what's wrong." The five year old fidgeted before slowly opening his mouth.
"I-I miss mommy." A confused expression filled the child's face "I shouldn't miss mommy because it's his fault everyone died."
The older halfa blinked in surprise before slowly pulling the small boy into his arms and lightly thumped him on the head for saying such a horrible thing about his mother. Even though Vladdy had only been his son for a day he would not tolerate such things being said about Maddie.
"Your mother would never be the cause of any ones death. If I know your mother she would have sacrifice herself before letting anyone hurt who she loves." He said softly to the boy who remained still. His mind raced to absorb what the boy said and think of more things to say "I know this because your mother was a much better person than I, and I myself would die before letting anyone I love be hurt."
"Mommy never killed his bad self, it is his fault. He should of killed him." A small shudder escaped the frail boy at the memory "Mommy didn't help us, he just laid there and let everyone die."
Vlad was silent as he thought about what his son said. Maddie would not just lay down on the job while everyone was being attacked. And speaking of being attacked, Vlad still had no clue about what attack his son was talking about or even who 'everyone' was. And unless Maddie had an evil twin Vlad didn't understand who the attacker could be. But Vlad would hold of his questions for the moment, for now he had to convince his future son that it was not Maddie's fault.
"Was your mother hurt?" The question seemed to surprise the five year old, but judging by the silence that came from him Vlad could guess he was right thinking Maddie was hurt.
"If she was hurt then it was not her fault Vladdy, it was the person who hurt her." Vladdy looked up with a blank look. "I know you think it was your mothers fault for not killing the person who hurt her, but it isn't. Can you tell me who hurt your mother? "
"It, it was…" Vlad had to lean in closer to hear the hushed words of his son "It was mommy, but not mommy."
That was all the child said before he clammed up and shook his head as if that would rid him of the horrible memory. Vlad let it slide for the moment, putting to much pressure on the child would do neither of them good. He could only hope that whatever attacked Maddie had not killed her, but certainly Danny would have mentioned something if that had happened.
"Let's go get lunch." Vladdy nodded and pulled away from Vlad. The middle aged man watched his son pick out a black sweater and blue slacks and walk slowly into the bathroom to change out of his wrinkled clothes.
'He is defiantly my son.' The halfa thought with a smile only to frown at his next thought 'I doubt Danny, future or present, will be able to handle this.'
'Will Daniel be alright handling this on his own?'
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Danny mentally shook his head again, that was twice in English in the last ten minutes that his thoughts had wondered back to Vlad. He didn't even think about Paulina that much and he supposedly had a crush on her.
'Wait 'supposedly'? What does that mean? I know I have a crush on Paulina!' The 16 year old told himself and glared at the text book he was supposed to be reading when a voice in the back of his head told him otherwise.
"Mr. Fenton would you care to tell us what is so interesting about that section in your text book?" Mr. Lancer asked staring down at the boy with disproval.
The teen blinked in stupidly and looked over at the page Sam was on only to find out he was three chapters and five sections behind everyone else in class.
"Well Mr. Fenton?" A few people in the class giggled as the black haired youth turned pink from embarrassment.
Mr. Lancer continued to scowl as his student did nothing but shrug and look down at his text book. The balding teacher sighed and sent a warning look at the laughing children before turning his attention back to Danny who once more again seemed distracted.
"Mr. Fenton, I would like a word with you after school." Danny nearly groaned but somehow managed to keep it in and nod showing he understood.
Sam and Tucker gave their best friend a sympathetic look before going back to the text book about some dead poet, both had noticed their friend was as already loosing focusing on his work despite getting in trouble already.
Danny ignored his friend's looks and slowly waited for the class to end and school to be over. Attempting and failing again and again to pay attention to Mr. Lancer, if the teacher noticed that he did not say anything much to Danny's appreciation…
"Mr. Fenton." Danny sighed and gave a small wave to his friends who were the last to leave the classroom after the bell rang.
"I noticed you were very distracted today." The teacher stated and sat down behind his wooden desk while Danny stood awkwardly looking at the chalkboard with today's assignment; he would need to copy that down.
"Sorry about that." The teen apologized and scratched the back of his head turning his blue eyes to Mr. Lancer "I don't know why-"
"Your sister tells me you have a lot of things on your mind lately." Lancer interrupted and studied Danny closely. "You do know teachers are here to help students, if there's something you want to get off you chest you can tell me with out your family or friends finding out."
The 16 year old stared dumbly at his teacher; he was expecting a lecture or something close to that. Maybe even a phone call to his parents. But he wasn't expecting was Lancer to offer to be an open ear.
"Thank you Mr. Lancer but I am fine." Danny lied, though it should not have been a lie because there really was nothing wrong. Well besides the normal ghost problems, but well that was normal…
"Jasmine seems to think other wise."
The super hero mentally rolled his eyes, leave it to his sister to notice something so quickly. Danny had only seen her twice today and she already saw something was bugging him. Not that anything was really bugging him besides normal ghost stuff…
"Jazz over thinks things, there is nothing wrong." The teenager said with annoyance. His English teacher regarded him for a moment before nodding.
"You may leave then Mr. Fenton." Danny nodded and turned to walk out of the room only to be stopped by his teachers grief filled voice.
"My dear sister will be upset when I tell her that I failed to help another student once more again." The halfa old looked over his shoulder at the man who was staring fondly at the picture of his lovely sister. Mr. Lancer bit his bottom lip and sniffed pathetically "After all those years I have finally failed in helping my students and having them come to me with there problems, my sister will be so ashamed."
Danny stood looking at the class room door then back at Mr. Lancer who was on the brink of bursting into tears.
Well what could he do? He wasn't heartless, but he also knew Mr. Lancer was also using his sister to make him feel guilty. And it was working!
With a soft sigh Danny turned around and faced his teacher.
"Mr. Lancer, have you ever thought about someone in a way you shouldn't have?" The man blinked and instantly sobered up.
"Perhaps, but why do you think you are thinking of them wrongly?" Danny shrugged; he really didn't know were he was going with this. He didn't think of Vlad in a way that could be considered wrong, he just thought of him more than he should have.
'But aren't you supposed to think about your arch-nemesis on a regular basis?'
"I'm not thinking about them in a wrong way I guess, just a little more than I should. But," Danny added "this person kinda bullies me, so shouldn't I think about them often?"
Mr. Lancer remained silent for a few minutes much to Danny's annoyance. After all this was already embarrassing, for what reason he didn't know, it's not like he was talking about some crush, yet his teacher seemed to be taking his time.
"Then I don't see anything wrong, it is only natural to think about someone who bullies you."
"But-" Danny stopped, what was he doing? Mr. Lancer already said that it's only natural to think of someone who bullies you. And as long as he didn't think of Vlad in certain ways, what those ways were he wasn't quiet sure. So everything was alright then?
"Thank you Mr. Lancer." The black haired boy said softly before looking at the class room door "I should be going, you gave us a lot of homework."
Lancer frowned and looked at the chalkboard; the only homework he saw was to finish writing the persuasive essay the class should have been doing the past two weeks.
The teacher looked back at his student to ask if he needed help finishing the essay, and maybe about this bulling issue, only to find Danny was gone. How the boy managed to escape him with out making a sound was amazing. But then again the boy himself seemed pretty amazing when he pushed himself to be.
A sigh escaped the English teacher as he looked at the picture of his 'sister'. His previous thoughts disappeared at the sight of himself in the picture that was supposed to be his non-extant sister.
"Why doesn't anyone notice that's me in a dress?"