(Why do I keep forgetting this? I don't own Danny Phantom…but I'd like to…)

It was hard enough having to deal with a mentally unstable teenager, but to deal with ghosts potentially messing with said boy's state? If his hair wasn't already gray, he would no doubt be graying faster than normal.

Vlad was back in his study pacing in front of Ember, who was sitting with her legs hanging over the arm of the chair, smirk planted on her pale face. He brought her there after seeing the panicking look Daniel had on his face; the last thing he needed was to send him into another fit.

After many minutes of watching the billionaire grind a hole into his study floor, Ember decided to break the silence.

"So, what's the deal with Dipstick?" Vlad paused in front of her, his gaze planted on the floor a few feet in front of him. When he looked to her, he wore a glare that clearly said she had done something wrong.

"You aren't supposed to be here." After Amity's disappearance and Daniel's reappearance, Vlad had taken extreme measures to ensure the boy's safety until he was ready to associate with other people. Said measures included sealing as many portals to the Ghost Zone as possible and having guards at every entrance that could not be closed.

By doing so, he would minimize any damage they might cause in other towns as well as keep them from causing any trouble that might attract the hero side of Daniel. The boy could barely sit up in his own bed, let alone fight ghosts all day. Not to mention his inability to even get near people without having a mental break down.

Ember gave Vlad a flat stare that stated 'like I care.' Rubbing at the bridge of his nose, the billionaire paced another lap around his study. Rolling her eyes, the pop-star continued.

"Look, I just wanted to know what was goin' on 'round here, especially with Phantom. And I wanna know what's up with the portals. It's not every day someone goes through so much trouble to keep the ghosts in the Zone. It just so happens I found the kid before I could snoop around your stuff to find any real answers."

"You were going to go through my stuff?" exclaimed Vlad with a furious glare. Ember held her hands up in an innocent fashion and leaned deeper into the chair.

"Hey, if anyone's to blame here, it's your trusty little sidekick, Skulker. He's the one that wouldn't tell the rest of us what he knew. If he would've told us, I wouldn't be here right now. If ya ask me, Pops, you should give him a real scolding," she said, ending with a smirk.

Vlad growled in frustration, his eyes flashing a dangerous red at the teen ghost's antics. At least she was off the subject of Daniel, though, not that his private plans were any better a subject.

"So, what's up with the Dipstick?" Noticing the twitch in the halfa's eyes, Ember continued, "Yeah, thought ya had me there, huh? There's no way I'm lettin' go of Phantom's beaten state."

"That is nothing you have to worry about; I have the situation completely under control. Now, if you would be so kind as to leave me alone, I would be very appreciative," Vlad retorted. He was sick of having to deal with the stubborn pop-star and her nosing into his personal affairs. He needed to end the encounter before he really lost his temper.

Ember gave him a long stare. Maybe if she tried hard enough he would give in and spill the beans…or burst into flames. Unfortunately, the stare of a teenager could not out-last the stare of a long time businessman. With a huff, she dramatically lifted herself from her seat and floated high enough so she could be face to face with the taller half-ghost.

"Fine old man, have it your way. I'm outta here, but you're gonna regret not tellin' me now."

With that, she brought her boots back to the ground and promptly stomped out of the study to God knows where. For all the elder cared she was going out to take over the world with that hideous racket she called music.

Deciding to put the unmanageable teen out of his mind, Vlad walked to his desk and collapsed in his heavily cushioned chair. He was going to have a talk with Skulker and the guards when he saw them again.

It had been a few hours since Ember left his study and Vlad had finally gotten to the paperwork he'd been putting off. He was proud to say he was actually being productive and moving through the ominous pile of wasted tree quite fast for all he had on his mind.

Despite her leave, Ember kept making appearances in his train of thoughts. She pulled a daring move invading his castle and his business like she did. If she were still alive he would put plans in motion to socially ruin her like every other person that moved in on his private matters. That did enough damage to grown men, but with the way teenagers valued their social status she would be wishing she was dead.

That girl also left Daniel in a fragile state. He looked absolutely panicked when he walked in on them earlier that night. He had a difficult enough time trying to deal with the bare minimum of people Vlad had to send in his room, the last thing the boy needed was another person added in his life. Vlad counted himself lucky the boy hadn't broken down when he came in and dragged the pop star out.

The businessman paused in his reading of yet another contract and rubbed his stinging eyes. While doing so he let out a yawn and stretched his legs out underneath his desk. Noticing how dry his throat was, the halfa reached for the glass of water sitting on his desk.

That's when his ears caught an almost distant sound. If Vlad had closer neighbors he would assume the sound was coming from them; there was no one in his residence that would be making such loud noise so late at night.

Sitting as still and silent as possible, Vlad perked his ears to distinguish what the noise was. It couldn't be a plane; it would have passed already. The same goes for a car or truck. This particular sound was constantly going.

In the stillness the billionaire realized his seat was vibrating. Confused, he looked at his glass of water, bringing his eyes even with the surface of it. There were tiny tremors rippling through it indicating the desk was vibrating as well. Added to the noise was the slight rattle of small statues and lamps moving on the coffee table and side tables, indicating the entire room, and probably house, was vibrating.

The noise had to be near. If it was causing his entire castle to shake, Vlad decided it had to be coming from within the building. But who would be stupid enough to sneak in his house and cause so much noise, unless that was the plan all along. In which case, he found no point to such a plan.

Suspicious, the halfa grabbed a remote from the lower drawer in his desk and aimed it over the fireplace. Pressing the power button on the remote, a TV revealed itself and flickered to life showing a live video feed of the entry hall of the castle.

Seeing no one on the screen, Vlad pressed another button that changed the screen to the living room. That being absent of intruders, he clicked the button again to show another room; Daniels room to be exact.

The boy seemed to have noticed the noise as well. Vlad thought he would be freaking out from the vibrations and noise, but instead the teen was almost in a trance. He was above his covers sitting up with his knees pulled to his chest and his arms wrapped around them. His eyes were wide open, staring ahead at nothing. Considering his breathing looked normal and he wasn't shooting or stabbing his surroundings, Vlad decided to let him be. No need disturbing him with nothing too visibly wrong.

Vlad glanced around the rest of the room and again saw no one with Daniel. With the click of a button, the screen changed to a different room. The billionaire repeated the process, checking every room for intruders or any source of the obnoxious noise that Vlad realized had a rhythm to it now. Once through all the rooms, he turned the TV off and leaned back in his chair.

His brief search through the castle led him nowhere. Running a hand over his silver hair, the man resigned himself to listening harder to figure out what the sound was.

From his study the noise was muffled and he couldn't even pick out the exact rhythm. Pulling out his enhanced ghostly hearing, Vlad listened again.

It sounded up-beat. There were definitely drums and a guitar.

Your heart, your heart has mended

Your wrong, now bear the shame

He was beginning to hear some words now. Turning his chair around Vlad found the music louder towards the windows. He got up and cracked them open.

Like pleasant dreams, in cold December

Nothing but ashes remain

The music was a lot easier to hear from outside where it was no doubt coming from. Now that he could hear it clearly it sounded sort of familiar to him. It sounded like something a teenager would want to listen to.

Oh, Ember, you will remember

Ember, one thing remains

Ember, wins the medal

You will remember my name

Vlad felt his blood boil. He told her to leave him alone thereby meaning leave his property! Now that infernal teen was blasting her retched music somewhere around his castle and he had a feeling it was just to push his buttons. Was she honestly that set on having her way?

His face twisting in rage, the billionaire let two dark rings pass over his body to transform him into Plasmius and grabbed the edge of the window. With a growl he threw the window the rest of the way open and charged into the chilling night air. A quick scan of the area told him there was no one on that side of the building, so he flew to the next side and the next.

Ember wasn't anywhere on the ground or in the sky from what Vlad could see. Deciding to get a better view of the grounds, he bolted high into the sky right above the castle to gets a bird's eye-view. There was no one floating above the expansive woods and no ghostly glow coming from inside the woods.

Now Vlad was becoming frustrated. How could that girl be hiding from him? If she was really trying to get his attention, she wouldn't bother keeping her band invisible, so maybe she was higher up than him? Or would she go to such lengths as to be stationed at the nearest town or force her music onto every radio and TV she could get to? No, she would need Technus's help for that.

The halfa growled again and his hands came aflame with ecto energy in his frustration. Maybe he just missed her in his initial search of the castle. Still from his higher position, Vlad slowly turned and carefully scanned his blood red eyes through every crack and crevice he could see around him.

Nothing.

That is until he caught a glow at the corner of his eye and snapped his head towards it. Glowering, Vlad made his way to the source of the glow which happened to be a teenage pop star with her ghostly band just finishing their song on his rooftop.

The fact that she was so out in the open and in an obvious spot just made the businessman angrier and he shot down to the band. Trying to show his anger and authority, he zoomed right up to Ember, towering over the girl and glaring down at her. "What in Heaven's name do you think you are doing here?" he ground out.

The undead teenager was unfazed by the man's dramatics; if given the proper motivation, she could be ten times more dramatic considering her teenage rock star status.

"Ms. Mclain, you have ten seconds to-"

"Oh no you don't, old man, you have ten seconds to tell me what is going on around here or so help me I will release 50 years' worth of neglected teenage drama on your half dead ass." There was no way Ember was going to let the man in front of her brush her off again and continue keeping his little secrets. She, and every other ghost in the Zone, wanted answers and she was going to get them.

Unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen anytime soon. Plasmius now had the girl over his shoulder and bound with ecto energy binds on her hands and legs. As an afterthought he had added one to her mouth, too, so he wouldn't have to listen to the vile words coming from it.

As Vlad fazed them down to his lab, the pop star tried to kick and worm her way out of his grasp to no avail. With one arm he held her waist and with the other he pressed some buttons on the control panel of his portal. In a heavy whoosh, the doors opened to reveal the swirling green of the Ghost Zone behind it.

Vlad then hefted Ember off his shoulder and held her in front of him by her own shoulders. He leaned in close and narrowed his eyes at her. "It would be best if you minded your own business, child, and stay in the Ghost Zone until I deem it necessary for you to come back out. Understand?" he warned her.

Her only response was a heated glare. They stayed in a stare down for a few moments before Vlad unceremoniously threw her into the Zone. When the portal doors closed, he released his energy from the bonds, so they would break easily off the girl.

Knowing Ember would be out of his hair, the billionaire took a deep breath to calm himself down and floated up to his room for some well needed sleep.

When morning came around, Vlad found it increasingly hard to get up. It had been a late, stressful night and his bed was swallowing him up at the moment, so he didn't really see any reason he should remove himself from it. That's when he remembered the state Daniel had been in when he checked on him through the hidden camera.

Heaving a sigh, the halfa forced himself up and looked at the clock by his bedside. It was almost time for him to go check on the boy. He could lie in bed a little longer and come see the younger halfa later, but all the time Daniel had spent in his care had been carefully scheduled and constant. Missing that unspoken appointment for even one morning might do more damage to the teenager than Vlad wanted to think about.

After a brief shower, Vlad was on his way to Daniel's room. As he came to the door he greeted Erickson who was on his way out with a tray of dishes. "He's a bit off today, sir," the butler informed him in passing. Before he could ask what was wrong, the older man walked off to drop the dishes off to the kitchen.

Concerned, Vlad entered the room. Inside, Daniel looked up at the other man with an expression bordering worry. In turn, the businessman matched his expression and came closer slowly hoping to not send the boy into any panic attacks. The teenager didn't move, just followed Vlad with his blue eyes.

The older halfa took a seat in the chair always by the younger's bed. There was a moment of silence between the two as they stared at one another.

"The humming came back last night. I think they moved me back to my old cell," stated Daniel in a raspy whisper. This caused Vlad's eyebrows to furrow.

"The humming?" he inquired. The boy simply nodded his head in response.

"It's nice there. They don't hurt me in that cell," he continued. "In the new one they hurt me a lot. I had to hope in that cell and it hurt." Here he paused as if thinking about that cell. His face changed from worry to sadness to fear in a matter of seconds.

Suddenly Daniel was shaking and wrapping his arms around himself, his eyes unfocused. Noticing the signs that the boy was close to hallucination, Vlad quietly left. Maybe if he didn't see Vlad, Daniel would be able to bring himself back before anything bad happened. The billionaire stood outside the boy's room to make sure the silence stayed and was reassured when it did. Slowly, he made his way to his study to do some much needed thinking.

It was a few days later, while he was watching football in the theater room, that Ember Mclain (who he swore he'd thrown back into the Ghost Zone a few days previous) came bolting in yelling something about "breaking the Dipstick." With a promise to break the pop star later, Vlad rushed up to Daniel's room to find the boy hyperventilating and on the verge of a mental breakdown.

Thank you to all my subscribers that didn't look at the notification for this story and go "eh, I'm over that story now." I love you all very, very much. There's no way I can express my gratitude enough, and to all the favoriters and reviewers. I'd give you excuses, but I know you don't really care about those, so if you don't hate me too much, please leave a review.

I do not plan on abandoning this story in any way. I'm just having a hard time writing through this section because my mind is stuck at the end of the story already. The middle is just little scenes and ideas that need to be connected right now.