A/N- I just want everyone to know that I feel really horrible about this taking forever... Sorry, but life got really hectic for a while, which left me with no free time and even less inspiration to write with. It's been... crazy lately, and I'm sorry.

I hope this chapter makes up for it!

You guys have been amazing! 97 reviews! You guys are... I couldn't have asked for better fans. Thank you!


I want to give a huge thanks to Pheek and IceDragon19! You guys are amazing, and this story would not be half of what it is without you.


If you recognize it, chances are, I don't own it.


The flashback faded slowly, my senses gradually coming back to reality. The lights dimmed from brilliant white to the red glow of light filtering through my closed eyelids. The restraints changed slowly from metal clamps to something warm and giving. The pain started ebbing away, from unbearable to just a phantom ache and the pain from injuries that my superhuman healing had yet to heal. The sounds echoing around in my head lulled, fading from screams to soft voices that I could tell came from above me.

But it didn't stop the tears I could feel trickling down my cheeks. The memory was still too fresh and there for the tears to stop. I felt a warm hand brush hair out of my face, fingers gentle as they lingered around the hair at my ear.

"Have you known her since she was… since she was created?" an unfamiliar voice said, the same one that had yelled for Danny.

Created? She knew? Oh God, what did she-?

Calm down, Dani, she won't hurt you, Danny won't let her.

I felt fingers tighten around my hand, on my arm, and it took everything in me not to recoil from the touch.

They won't hurt you.

While not unwelcome, it was definitely surprising to my affection-deprived senses.

"She's not just some random clone, Mom." Danny said from beside me, his voice turning hard. I hadn't heard his voice take on that razor-sharp edge since we'd last faced off against Vlad together. His voice held something soft too, something that said that to him, I wasn't just anybody.

Not just a random clone.

Suddenly, the tears rolling down my face weren't just from the pain. I could feel Danny's hand against my bruised cheek, wiping away tears that I couldn't seem to keep at bay, and I could feel the relief wash through me again. I was here, and even if the memories just kept coming back, I was safe.

"So, she's kind of like my daughter then, isn't she, if she's your clone and all?" Danny's mom said, and the words knocked the air out of my lungs like a punch to the chest. She knew I was a clone? Just a copy? Since when did they know?

Her daughter.

Did she really mean-?

Danny sighed above me, and I pictured his face in my mind. Blue eyes looking at me instead of his mother, mouth set in that thin line but still managing to look tired too. His shoulders slumped like he hadn't slept in days, dark circles under his eyes. I know he looked as tired and as frustrated as he sounded.

"That's up to you, Mom." he said, "Biologically, genetically, yes, she's your daughter. You'll have to talk to her about that and whether that's what she wants to do and everything else after… after all of this is over."

I don't know if it was the surprise or the fact that the memory had almost completely faded, but I was able to wrench my eyes open, the salty tears stopping if just for now. Danny was looking at me, his blue eyes wide and relieved and concerned all at the same time.

"Really?" I asked, not sure if I was asking about the daughter comment or the idea that I wasn't just a clone, but very sure about the fact that my voice was way too weak and hoarse for my liking.

Danny smiled down at me, his eyes concerned and happy all at the same time. He opened his mouth to speak, but his mom beat him to it.

"How are you feeling, Dani?" Danny's mom asked, drawing my attention away from her son.

At some point she had taken her hood down, revealing red hair and a kind face. But it was familiar, all too familiar, and I had to bite down on the fear that tried to rise up and pull into another pain-filled memory I would much rather forget.

She's not going to hurt you. Just because Vlad has a hologram of her doesn't mean she going to hurt you.

I must've flinched or frowned or something because her eyes flashed with something like guilt and she backed up a bit, sending me a reassuring smile. Danny's hand tensed on my arm, but whether it was because of my reaction to his mom or my lack of an answer I didn't know.

"I'm fine, Mrs. Fenton." I said, sending what I hoped was a smile at her.

That's when I tried to sit up and my act of feeling fine was erased immediately.

Not even Danny's helping hands could help as my arms wobbled. Head-spinning agony ripped its way up from my left elbow and into my shoulder to spread like wildfire along my skin while the muscles in my right arm were so stiff and unused that it made the entire appendage practically useless. Cuts stretched, bruises protested, and my body gave, sending me falling back onto the table's surface despite Danny's firm grasp on my arm. I felt the cuts along my back reopen, the shock sending pain through my ribs and chest, the air being knocked out of my lungs for the second time in minutes. I couldn't help the gasp that was torn from me or the tears that formed in my eyes.

"Dani?" Mrs. Fenton's voice questioned from much closer to me, and I could hear someone rummaging through something.

I opened my mouth, the words spilling from my lips before I had a chance to stop them. "It hurts."

"I know," Danny said soothingly, his fingers gently checking the back of my head, presumably for knots. "Where's it hurt the most."

Everywhere. I thought, biting my lip. Swallowing past the lump rising in my throat, I force out, "My arm."

His mom is standing beside him, and I watch as he takes my right arm and holds it up to unwrap the bandage there, every bruise visible in the light. I notice that my elbow is almost black, worse than any other bruise on my arms. I hiss as Maddie probes it lightly, making the entire appendage throb, and she draws back, reaching for the bandage that one of them have laid beside me.

"It's not broken, just badly sprained. You got very lucky." She said, wrapping the bandage around my elbow and snapping a clasp onto the material.

Lucky? Since when have I ever been lucky?

"Mom, I don't think…" he cuts off.

"I don't think I'm someone you would normally count as lucky, Mrs. Fenton."

She seems to be shocked, her eyes darting to mine and sending me that apologetic look that I've seen from Danny millions of times, and I force a smile back at her. The silence that follows is broken only by our quiet breathing, the muffled sounds of bandaging, and footsteps from above us, but I'm pretty sure only Danny and I can hear those. His mom is the one that eventually breaks that silence. "You can call me Maddie, you know."

Tearing my eyes away from where she is bandaging up some cut on my arm, I blink at her.

This time, I don't have to force the smile that tugs at my lips, and she grins as she adjusts the last of the bandages.

"If Danny is anything to judge by," I hear Danny snort, "then your arm should be perfectly fine in about three days."

Wiggling the fingers of my right hand, I look up at her. "That's definitely a relief."

She frowns, and I can tell she doesn't want to bring whatever is on her mind up. "Dani, I'm not saying that you're going to be completely healed in three days. As much as I wish that was the case, whatever it is that you went through, it's not going to just go away. Your body's going to need time to heal."

She doesn't mention that my mind's going to take time to heal too, but I understand it as plainly as if she'd said it.

"Dani," Danny's eyes are closed, and I have a feeling that whatever he's about to say is going to hurt us both. "Who did this to you?"

He opens his eyes and I can see that he knows, or at least guesses.

The name hurts as it leaves my lips. "Vlad."

His fingers clench, his muscles tense, and for a moment I honestly think that he's going to fly off right this moment, just to confront him, but then he relaxes. He doesn't seem happy about it; the farthest thing from happy comes to mind when I look at him, but he stays where he is.

Maddie's hand tenses where it's laying on my arm and her eyes are narrowed into slits. I look back at her son.

"Danny?"

He clenches his fists, and I see his eyes glow green before calms down and looks back at me. "Did he… Is he the cause of… all of it?"

I swallow, and, not trusting my already hoarse voice, nod.

He closes his eyes, but I can see him fighting not let his powers take control. I can see it on his face, and I glance at his hands. I'm almost surprised that they aren't alight with green energy.

Which reminds me, I haven't changed back since Vlad's. Too much pain coursing through my body to even fathom going through… that while human, so I had stayed ghost, something that was more draining that I had ever thought possible, but it had kept me sane.

Or, at least, as sane as you can be after that.

So, keeping my eyes on Danny, I reached into my core, letting the rings take shape around me and the transformation began. The feeling of cool-warm water washing over me settled, and I glance up to see black hair falling away from my face, and I know Danny's looking into exact copies of his own eyes.

Maddie gasped, and I jumped, having momentarily forgotten she was standing there. I looked at her, and I can tell she was seeing me, really seeing me, for the first time. She blinked blue-purple eyes at me, examining my face with something like awe.

"You two look," she swallows, and I can see her coming to terms with… something, "extremely alike."

I smiled at her, glancing at Danny, who winked at me before turning back to his mom.

"Well, we do come from the same DNA," he quips teasingly, but I can tell he's trying to give his mom time to process it all.

The cold chill didn't run along my spine like it normally does and my ghost sense didn't go off, but something in me told me to look up, and look up now.

Looking past Danny, who is following my gaze, at the stairs that his mom came down, I search for what it is that my senses say to look for. Not a moment later, it happens. The door is thrown open, the metal slamming against the wall in an almighty CRASH! and a figure steps through.

It's Tucker, holding up a large silver gun that's pointed straight towards us.

His normally blue-green eyes are glowing red.


Did someone say evil cliffie, or was that just me?