Edit: There's a new chapter before this one! Take a look!


The sky was clear that day. No clouds, sunlight shining through the reds, blues, yellows and greens from the kid's kites. Birds were chirping somewhere. Seemed like summer was going to be there very soon.

Valerie stared out of her window, watching the life outside with a lazy longing to be a part of it. She then turned back to her computer screen, reading the last sentence she'd written:

"After a while, Europe was able to be reconstructed with the economic help of the United States, but that somehow turned into an american crisis because of something Ms. Trelley said and I didn't listen."

Welp, couldn't hand that back to Ms. Trelley. Valerie leaned back against the chair, tired. She'd been working on that essay for two hours, but the last 30 minutes had been completely unfruitful. She needed some air if she wanted to produce something actually useful, so she decided to take a break. A short walk around the neighborhood should do it.

She left her bedroom, closing the door with a tad more strenght than she was going for, and made her way to the living room's door, eager to leave the apartment.

"Valerie? Going out?"

Oops. The door must've closed loudlier than she thought.

"Yes, daddy! Don't worry, I'm almost done with homework; I just need a bit of fresh air to clear my head, that's all!"

"Okay, dear, but if you're already going downstairs, you might as well clean up the trash bin in your room. It's been months since you've last done that."

"Ah, no problem. Thanks for reminding me, daddy". That was sort of a relief. Her father was still suspicious of her sometimes, and kept a close eye on her activities. But since the Revelation™, she'd been pretty much a regular teenage girl, ecto-guns and similar all brushed under the rug. Or, in her case, stashed above the wardrobe.

Besides, he was right, she'd forgotten. She hardly ever threw anything out in that bin, and nothing but paper. It was hard to remember when it didn't get full or smelly after a while. Valerie walked back to her room, heading straight to the trash bin under her desk. She looked through it's contentes, making sure there was only recycling material: paper note, paper sheet, dried pen, another sheet, paper, paper, pape...

Oh yeah. She threw that out here.

Damn, it must had been five months since the last time she saw that little notebook. About one month after that she had changed her haircut, hoping the new appearance would help her cope with all the other new stuff. Stuff like finding out her former boyfriend – no, her former friend – was a ghost all along.

The past five months flew through her mind: one month spent avoiding Danny Fenton at school, at the street and even at her own house, when he was still trying to reach her; one month avoiding everything ghost-like, especially the hero of Amity Park; two months coming to terms with the half-ghost concept in every way she could without having to contact Danny or his friends; finally, one month returning to the normality of her routine, even occasionaly indulging herself to some quick ghost-hunting.

Valerie'd come a long way. She wasn't mad at Danny anymore. She wasn't scared of what he thought of her actions as the Red Huntress, even though she did regret a lot of things she did under the suit. But that feeling of regret only served to make sure she would never do any of those things again. She'd taken the time to think and grow as both a person and a ghost Hunter, and she had really matured in that while. But she wasn't there yet. She wasn't ready to talk about it to Danny, Sam or Tucker. At least not yet.

She took the notebook. She was not gonna let that one be recycled. Instead, she sat on the bed and browsed through it, all the way to those three old columns she never finished to fill in.

There it was. Danny's page. She blinked, and let out a single chuckle. Even in her thoughts, it wasn't Phantom anymore. It wasn't even Danny, the jet-haired, pool-eyed boy. It was just... Danny. Danny, ghost-boy and human boy. Danny, who had two faces, two identities, and only one stupid sense of humour, one awkward personality and one kind heart. And still, she couldn't bring herself to go over and just talk to him...

She sighed, looking back at the notebook and turning back the page absent-mindedly, stopping right as she laid her eyes on it. Her mind instantly conjured the image of the female Phantom, along with the young girl's lively and care-free nature. The last time Valerie had seen her, she was flying away from Vlad, saying something about having places to go... Wait, if Danielle was Danny's cousin, wouldn't she have gone back to her family, maybe paid a visit to the Fenton's sometime or something like that? Why did she act like an actual ghost, with no bonds to anyone but Danny in the human world?

With her natural curiosity teased, the girl felt the sudden need to grab her gear and glide straight out of the window, mindlessly leaving all unfinished essay and trash-cleaning for her future self to deal with. Be smarter than that, Val. She did mature, didn't she? Now was the time to prove it.

Dropping the notebook on the bed, she picked up all the paper she'd spread through the floor and put it in a plastic bag. First, I track down Dani's location and get her to talk to me. She walked through the living room's door, heading for the stairs (the elevator always took too long to get there, it was never worth it). Then, I find out Dani's real relationship with Danny and, if I'm lucky, why they're like that. She entered the small hall of the building, turning towards the side entrance. And finally, I...

She stopped in front of the huge paper recycling on the side of the building. Yep, that was as far as she went in her plan, and her feet happened to accidentaly mirror her mental block. But it didn't really matter, did it? Valerie shook her head once, snapping out of her immobility and deposited the plastic bag in the bin.

The thing was, she wasn't secure of herself enough to talk to Danny yet. For Valerie, insecurity was usually fixed with a weapon of sorts placed in her hands, but the scenario of her holding yet another gun to Danny's face was something she was trying to avoid with all her will. However, if she got her hands into information and formed a solid root to support herself in a conversation, she was sure she'd be able to muster the courage to face him.

And now, her sources of information had gone from one ghost-kid (friends of undying loyalty aside, since they weren't going to help her and she wasn't going to ask) to two ghost-kids, she sensed she could really fix things up if she spoke to Danielle. Additionally, the kid was pretty cute, and Valerie actually felt like seeing her one more time under happier circumstances.

A smile spread through her face. Not a cunning grin, nor a smug smirk, but a real, hopeful smile.

Sounds like a plan.


Author's Note: Heey! Here it is, after a long end of semester and nearly no winter break =(

This is really the end of the story. Hope you guys enjoyed reading it as I enjoyed writing it! I really liked all the positive feedback and reviews, and a special thanks to those who helped me with grammar mistakes and shared their minds about the characterization and progression of the plot. Thanks a lot!

And don't forget to let your imagination loose; this might be the end, but there's always a new beginning ready to follow through ;)