Hello everyone! *dodges rotten fruit and vegetables thrown by readers* yes i know it's been a very long time and I apologize for that! I hit an angst kick for a few months because of the fluff from the last chapter and I didn't want that to completely change the tone of this story. Some of it did affect my other Dark Gray fic but that's okay because that's where it belongs.
Not much to report beyond that. I think I responded to every review, anonymous reviews are in my profile. If i forgot you please let me know so I can fix that! Alright, Happy New Year and enjoy the chapter!
An annoying repeating musical tone roused Dan from his resting state. Scowling, he groggily opened his eyes and located the source of the annoyance.
On the coffee table, a phone buzzed as it continued to ring.
A groan sounded from beneath him as a long, dark-skinned arm reached out blindly to grab the annoying device and finally silence it with a groggy, "Hello?"
"Good morning, Valerie. I didn't wake you did I?" the smooth voice of Vlad Masters emanated from the other end. Any joy that Dan had been feeling up until this point fizzled out like a spark in the rain.
"No—I mean yes—but it's mostly because I'm being nearly crushed to death right now." Valerie wheezed, and the disguised ghost scowled lightly as he tightened his hold around her waist pulling her flush against him. What little breath had been present in her lungs whooshed out all at once.
"Oh, young Jake stayed the night? In that case I'm terribly sorry to have taken you from him. I was only wondering if you still planned on attending breakfast with me this morning. I was worried something may have happened."
"Shit! Breakfast! I completely forgot. I'm sorry, Vlad." The young woman exclaimed and clapped a hand over her eyes nearly smacking Dan across the face. He took the opportunity to press even closer, it was beginning to sound like she was going to leave.
"That's quite alright, my dear. Whenever you can make it over is fine."
"I'm on my way."
"Oh, and do bring Jake with you. I would feel just dreadful if he were left out."
He could feel her stiffen in shock just the same as he did. Seeing Vlad again wasn't exactly something he wanted to deal with. It was probably best for him to leave now. This disguise was taking a toll on his powers, as this was the longest he'd ever needed to… keep up appearances, so to speak.
Valerie began to protest, but the telltale click of a phone being hung up sounded through the receiver. Dan couldn't help the smirk that pulled up a corner of his mouth; he liked hearing her at a loss for words. Burying his face into her hair, the disguised ghost settled more firmly into the couch. With a heavy sigh, he could feel himself relax once more.
"Well, you heard all that didn't you?" the dark-haired woman asked with a sigh.
"Yes, unfortunately," Dan murmured into her shoulder.
"So you know what that means, it's time to get up."
"Nope."
"Yes! Come on, you're crushing me!"
"You are the Red Huntress, Savior of the World. Surely me holding you here is nothing compared to what you're used to?"
Valerie groaned and struggled to get out of his grip. "That's when I have my armor on. Otherwise I'm just a normal person."
Her admission sparked a dangerous thought in his mind. She was vulnerable now and didn't suspect him in the slightest. It would be so easy to just end her there and now. For good this time. He wasn't even using a fraction of his true strength to keep her here with him. Then true victory would be his.
A deep sadness settled itself in his stomach when he was reminded of how pointless his existence seemed without her, and suddenly all desire to take advantage of her weakness disappeared.
"Now let go, I have to go shower," Valerie demanded and tried to unwrap his arms from around her.
Dan's ears pricked with interest.
His arms tightened and pulled her even closer as he rested his chin on her shoulder and grinned mischievously into her skeptic gaze.
"What a coincidence, I do as well."
A vivid blush immediately colored her cheeks as her free hand reached up to flick him in the nose. "Alone. I will be showering alone."
The disguised ghost wrinkled his abused nose, "I seem to recall you saying something similar about me sleeping alone on the couch, and yet here you are."
"Yeah, well, this time I'm serious, and if you try and follow me in the bathroom, you're really going to find out why I was able to handle Phantom all by myself for eight years."
"I am appalled that you think me a lowly pervert. But if you insist on bathing by yourself, I have no choice but to respect your wishes, as disappointing as they may be," Dan lamented as he finally released her from his grip. Perhaps while she was occupied, he would allow himself to rest his illusion.
"I won't be long, twenty minutes tops. Then you can use it if you want."
Dan nodded to Valerie's retreating back as he rolled to face the back of the couch and block out as much light as he could. Last night had not been a very successful rest. The couch was lumpy, and Valerie was something of a wiggle worm in her sleep, unable to keep still for long, which kept disturbing his concentration.
He waited until the sound of running water greeted his ears before the ghost allowed his disguise to drop and reveal his true form. Making himself more comfortable, Dan settled into the couch and truly began to rest.
"Hey! Hey, wake up!" a small voice whispered frantically as a pair of hands roughly shook him back and forth by the shoulder.
Groggily, Dan awakened from his resting state to find none other than the young Danny standing beside the couch, looking panicked. It took only a moment for the ghost's brain to kick back into high gear.
"You!" he growled before, in one fluid motion, lifting the young boy up by the collar and standing from the couch.
The boy looked scared but—strangely—not of him. He kept looking over his shoulder towards the hallway—wait… if he was here… then that meant—
"It looks like chica's in the shower, so we're not going to make a mess while we wait. Right? Dann—" the annoying nasally voice of Paulina rounded the corner along with (unfortunately) the rest of her. Upon laying eyes on the scene in the living room, she stopped dead in her tracks, eyes widening in horror.
There was a beat of silence as they regarded each other. Dan in his true ghostly form, and Paulina, terrified for her son in his grip.
In the next second, she took a deep breath and before she could so much as utter a single sound, the Ravager of Worlds clamped a hand securely over her mouth. The woman began to struggle immediately, clawing at his hand and beating his arm, but he did not budge.
"Sshh!" he commanded and shook her head a little to get her attention. Surprisingly, she obeyed glancing fearfully to her son, whom Dan had yet to release.
The sound of running water persisted uninterrupted. He breathed a small sigh he hadn't realized he'd been holding; Valerie remained unaware. Directing his attention back to the Latina woman, he let his crimson gaze bore deeply into hers, "Don't scream, and I won't kill you or the boy. Got it?"
A fire ignited in her eyes as she shook her head and renewed her fight to get free. She was even going as far as to try to bite his hand. Patience drawing thin, a snarl began to lift the corner of his lip before a small hand was placed over his—the one holding the child.
"Mommy, it's okay. He saved me, remember?" The innocent voice of Danny broke through the silence, and Paulina stopped her struggle as both adults turned to stare into the innocent eyes of the child. "He's different now, right, Jake?"
One of Danny's hands put itself on his head, right amidst the flames of his hair. Dan knew they carried no heat, but there was no way the child knew that. "It's soft!" the child exclaimed happily as he continued to run his small fingers through the flickering locks. Of course his hair was soft; he was no savage! "Like a puppy!"
The villainous ghost face-faulted for a moment before he glowered at the tiny being, who only returned it with a full smile, revealing a hole in between some of his teeth where a baby tooth had fallen out. It was at this point he was at a loss for words. This boy, this child, held no fear of him whatsoever and the name of Danny… it was like he was looking in a mirror back to his own childhood. Or well, Fenton's, childhood.
Pulling Danny out of arm's reach of his hair, Dan looked him dead in the eye, "I am not like a puppy," he growled, offended but with very little legitimate anger behind it. Much to his displeasure nonetheless, the young boy just giggled and continued to grin.
Paulina watched everything studiously through wide, horrified eyes.
Turning his attention back to her, he once again stared into her face and asked, "Are you going to scream?"
Paulina glanced nervously between him and her son before she shakily motioned her head "no," and Dan carefully released her mouth.
The shower continued to run uninterrupted. If nothing else, that was going right, which was a relief.
The woman kept her word, much to his surprise, as he lowered the child back to the ground.
"Danny," she called quietly and the young boy ran obediently into her arms. "What are you doing here, Phantom. What do you want? How did you get inside the Shield?"
Dan could clearly hear the fear in her voice but she stood her ground and refused to drop direct eye contact. If nothing else, that was admirable. "My intentions aren't really any of your concern."
"They are if they involve Valerie. What are you going to do to her?" The Latina's voice got stronger with every word until Dan felt himself becoming threatened by her.
Snarling, he snapped, "I don't have time to explain myself to you. Any minute, she's going to be done—"
"I don't care! The only reason I haven't ratted you out already, buster, is because you saved Danny that one time." Her blue eyes turned to ice and bored into his gaze. "How did you get inside the Shield?"
"How is that important right now?" Dan countered, still straining to hear the sound of running water. It was still going, how long was she going to be in there? Twenty minutes, what a liar!
"Because you're a ghost and you're inside the Shield that's supposed to keep you out! Not only that, but you're Dan Phantom who supposedly killed the Red Huntress only to be found romancing her in disguise! You have some serious explaining to do, chico." Paulina seemed to have found her courage and was now in full tilt against him. All fear in her body had been replaced with a protective rage that Dan found impressive for the girl who had once only cared about herself.
The water shut off.
"Alright, fine! But not now." He hurried to placate the Latina who now held the ability to foil his entire scheme in her hands.
"Do you intend to hurt her?"
"No! And if you don't keep this a secret, woman, you'll force me into drastic measures, and neither of us wants that."
"You don't want to destroy everything?" The skepticism was heard clearly in her tone. But he was getting desperate; Valerie was likely nearly in hearing range.
"Not like that!"
"And you don't intend to hurt my girl?"
"No, I made that mistake once. I'm not going through that again." His admission was hasty, and a blush of embarrassment darkened the tips of his pointed ears.
A damnably coy smirk lifted her lips. "Now it all begins to make sense, chico. Alright, I'll play along, but if I even think that one thing might be out of place even a little all bets are off, boy then I'm telling her e-v-e-r-ything."
For whatever godforsaken reason, he believed her.
The door to the bathroom creaked open, and Dan quickly reassumed his human disguise, long black hair falling down his shoulders, bandana completely askew.
"I still hate that bandana," the Latina pouted
"Paulina? What are you doing here? How did you get in?" Valerie called from her bedroom, confusion and a slight bit of irritation coloring her voice.
"I have a key; don't you remember? But if I'd known your boyfriend was going to be here, I wouldn't have interrupted you two," Paulina teased as Danny wriggled out of her grasp and ran back over to Dan, who had fallen tiredly back onto the couch. The mother glanced worriedly over her shoulder before giving the disguised ghost a dark warning glare.
He returned it with a heavy sigh and leaning his head back onto the headrest as Danny climbed into his lap. Today was going to be a long day.
"Bye Jake, bye Auntie Val!" Danny called from the other end of the parking lot as he waved goodbye and climbed into the back seat of Paulina's black sports car. The raven-haired woman gave a small wave too, and when Valerie turned to walk toward his motorcycle behind him, the wave changed to a glare. She motioned 'I'll be watching you' with her hand before climbing into the driver's seat.
Dan winced as he turned to follow Valerie. If only he hadn't released his disguise, none of this would have happened. But then again, the child seemed to know more than he let on. For all Dan knew, he would have revealed his true identity anyways.
"Hey, hotshot, are we gonna go or what? We're already late," Valerie chided him as she tilted her head expectantly, and curls cascaded over her shoulder, bouncy and fresh from her shower. For a brief second, his power core faltered in astonishment. The way they shined in the daylight, he could barely take his eyes off them. "What is it, why are you staring? Do I have something on my clothes?"
"Your hair is beautiful." The words slipped out before he could stop them. There was a beat of silence where her cheeks darkened with a deep blush, and she bit her lip nervously. Shit, he'd said that out loud! What an idiot! A blush threatened his own complexion but thankfully managed to supress it to only the very tips of his ears.
"Thank you," she mumbled finally as she twirled a curl around her finger.
"Y-yeah, you're welcome." In an effort to end the awkwardness of the situation, Dan climbed on the motorbike and started it up with a quick twist of his wrist. Valerie got on behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. Something about the action flustered him and caused his neck to heat up.
What was wrong with him? Was he blushing? Like a pre-pubescent boy? This was absurd! How was it possible his body still carried these instincts? Hadn't he ascended past these pathetic human emotions when Vlad had ripped him from his human half?
Disgusted with himself, he revved the engine and they shot off.
A short while later they pulled up in front of the large house, obviously this was where Vlad lived. Whatever money he had left over after the explosion; he had obviously used to rebuild a portion of his mansion. Instead of a monolithic house, it was a decently sized house that was without a doubt the largest in Amity Park but was no where near as large as his mansion had been.
"I have to admit; your driving has been getting better lately," Valerie commented as she hopped off the bike, tossing his helmet back to him.
A smile split Dan's face. "I was always a good driver, what are you talking about?"
Valerie scoffed, "In your dreams, hot shot."
"As long as you'll be there, Valerie," Dan teased back, his smirk growing wider by the second.
A blush darkened her face, and she pointedly avoided eye contact. "Oh yeah, I'll be there to smack you upside the head!" Her retort was rather weak but nonetheless, the disguised ghost chuckled quietly.
As they approached the door, Valerie rang the doorbell, and the meowing of a cat could be heard on the other side. "Come in, come in! The door's open, my dear!" the voice of Vlad invited them in.
Taking hold of the handle, Dan pushed open the door with a mild snarl of disgust. Almost immediately, he was met with a rather impertinent black cat who meowed up at him demandingly with the greenest eyes the disguised ghost had ever seen. They practically glowed, they were so vibrant.
"Badger, come here and leave our guests alone," Vlad called from the kitchen area of the house. That blind old fool wasn't cooking, was he?
The cat—being a cat—completely disregarded the order and instead put his paws up on Dan's leg and continued to meow loudly at him, demanding to know who he was and why he was on his turf.
It was at this point the ghost realized the animal was not completely black like he thought at first. Each foot carried a white sock and had a white ruff all around its neck. Suddenly a lead weight sunk into Dan's stomach. The black and white appearance of the cat, combined with the name 'Badger' coming from Vlad, brought back an old nickname the old man used to call him.
"Jake, what's the hold up? Are you gonna let me in too or what?" Valerie demanded from outside the door, and the false human jolted back to awarefulness as he stepped inside to allow the young woman entry as well. The cat pushed away from his leg but continued to stay close and meow demandingly.
Valerie took one look at the creature as she put up a finger. "Hush, you," she commanded, and the cat fell silent at once, choosing instead to rub vigorously against her legs and purr loudly. She sighed, "Yes, yes I love you too. Now go away so I can take my shoes off."
The cat, however, did not listen and continued to rub against her legs even as she pulled off her small ankle boots. Dan did the same as he watched the cat wind around her. Their gazes met at one point and the creature seemed to put his body in between them as if protecting the young woman. The disguised ghost furrowed his brow in suspicion to which the animal once again meowed loudly.
"Little Badger, that is quite enough. Even though the only one you ever seem to listen to is young Valerie." The elderly form of Vlad strode proudly around the corner, his red-tipped cane sweeping the area in front of him.
A flash of movement caught the corner of Dan's eye, and upon turning his head he spotted yet another cat. This one was white and majestically fluffy with piercing blue eyes that seemed to tear through his whole façade right down to his core. It sat with perfect posture on the back of the couch staring him down, not making a sound.
"So glad you two could make it; thank you for coming," Vlad greeted the two of them finally, and Dan was snapped out of the trance he'd been in with the cat. The older man had one of Valerie's hand in between the two of his as he gazed into the general direction of her face, his milky eyes taking in nothing of her appearance.
"I'm sorry we're late, Vlad. It's been a hectic morning," Valerie apologized as he stepped back to slip an arm around her waist. This whole situation was beginning to unnerve him. Coming here had been a bad idea. Every instinct was screaming for him to run and keep running.
"Pish posh, nonsense, my dear. I understand that you would never purposefully stand anyone up like this, much less an old fool like myself." The 'old fool' turned to Dan and searchingly held out a hand, having let go of Valerie. "And young Jake, glad you could join us. I'm sure you have lots of good stories to tell over a hot meal. Speaking of which, the food is ready, and best we eat it before it becomes cold. This way."
With that, their host turned and once again started making his way back towards the kitchen.
"Hey, hot shot, are you okay?" a quiet voice asked from beside him, and the disguised ghost turned to face Valerie with surprise. She gazed up at him with concern in her sparkling teal eyes. "You're looking a little pale, and you're gripping me pretty tight."
Her genuine worry for his wellbeing caught him so unexpectedly, he was rendered speechless for a moment. Something felt funny in his stomach, like something was fluttering around in it. But a warmth began to spread throughout his whole body, and where he expected to feel irritation and offense at having someone assume him to be weak, he felt only comfort.
A genuine smile curved his mouth upwards. "I'm just hungry," he leaned down until he was almost nose-to-nose with her, "since I couldn't eat you out this morning."
Valerie blushed and smacked him, but he could only chuckle. Perhaps this meal wouldn't be so bad after all.
The secret's beginning to come out! I love little Danny, he's so pure I don't feel worthy of writing him.
(I hope someone recognises what I've done with the cat)
Thank you for reading! Leave me a review if you'd like, I'd love to hear your thoughts!