Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.
(Chapter Updated 03/06/2018)
~Chapter 8~
Lost And Found
"This should do nicely," the hooded figure stated after carefully setting Owen down in the middle of the woods. Then, taking his shoulders and steering Owen to face the direction of the densest selection of trees, he smiled, leaned forward, and whispered silkily in his ear. "It's alright, look, you can unleash your soul-fire here without concerning yourself with the possibility of harming any living creatures now. Well, perhaps not directly anyway. I promise you'll feel much better once you do. Go on Owen. Release your power, set it free..."
Taking a few unsteady steps forward Owen instinctively lit his hands up with the same blue fire as before and let it spread to the rest of his body. The dry grass beneath his feet was the first thing to catch fire after that, then the bushes, then the trees, and before long, roaring flames surrounded Owen but he began listlessly walking further and deeper into the forest, urged forward by the spell over his mind. Stumbling every so often and setting another tree on fire when he touched it, which faded from the blue ones licking his body into natural scarlet-colored flames.
Once he was satisfied with Owen's progress his mysterious guardian teleported away to allow the rest to unfold on its own, mainly because he couldn't risk the half-breed stopping him from doing what must be done to stabilize Owen's condition. Owen wasn't far from the hospital so he could have feasibly wandered out this far on his own and that's exactly what he wanted Vlad Masters to believe. In the meantime as an extra precaution he also overshadowed enough people to make it seem as though Owen simply wandered off into the woods during some sort of hospital-related confusion while delirious from the fever rather than emotional shock and they failed to notice him gone until it was too late. As to the fire that was now spreading, the half-breed was a smart man, he'd find a way to throw everyone off the scent.
Thankfully Vlad had already begun to suspect at least some of the truth about Owen's current condition. This wasn't brought on just by extreme stress alone or the emotional trauma Owen was reminded of setting him off. The fact of the matter was that Owen wasn't used to having this kind of power, the kind meant for combat, and his normal-human-body just didn't know how to channel it properly yet since this was the first time Owen had ever used it. Up until now his powers were centered around sensing and repelling ghosts. Owen had never used something so powerful and destructive before that came from such a deep forgotten place inside of him. That's why Owen needed to unleash it at least once before the strain became too much for his already weakened body to endure and it would killed him…
So this little excursion was for his own good.
If it had been otherwise, the owner of the voice who had been guiding Owen almost his entire life wouldn't have interfered with him directly. At least, not until Vlad served his purpose and helped Owen realize his potential as more than a mere human or a half-ghost hybrid. No, Owen Ravenwood was so much more than that…
He was to become the living bridge between this world and the next and was unknowingly a true master over death. Both in bringing it down upon his foes, and commanding any ghost foolish enough to think they could invade his world without facing dire consequences. That was Owen's destiny. And what kind of loyal servant would he be if he didn't want to bask in his master's glory and help Owen to realize what he was capable of and guide him to that most glorious future?
"You can't seriously expect me to believe anything you're saying Plasmius. I STILL think you've lost it for real this time. Either that or you've finally snapped and because you wanted a son so badly you-" seeing Vlad's expression though, Danny realized his was only making up excuses not to believe him and clammed up after that.
Danny wasn't kidding about coming all this way just to make sure that Vlad couldn't get away with screwing up someone else's life because of his hidden agendas though. He was surprised that Owen wasn't a clone after all. And since his other theory seemed even more unlikely about Vlad taking in an orphan just to recreate one of the portal accidents that made them half-ghost, Danny never would have guess that Owen was a normal person BORN with powers.
At the same time, as much as it killed him so-to-speak to believe Vlad was telling the truth, Danny knew Vlad was right that the only person Vlad seriously wanted dead was Danny's dad, Jack Fenton. Vlad was still a jerk, of that Danny had no doubt, but he wasn't about to resort to outright murdering some random kid's parents just to get a son of his own with powers when he had literally MADE several before.
There was no way Vlad was lying about someone or something else being responsible for making Owen an orphan, but the rest was up for debate as far as why Vlad was so interested in him and what he planned to do with Owen. Still, even though a reluctant part of him DID believe Vlad's story the fact remained that since he knew what the older halfa was capable of, Danny didn't want to put Owen in danger. That was one thing that they could both agree on. Danny didn't know much about Owen aside from what Vlad just told him but it sounded like he'd had a pretty hard life so far after losing his only family. But staying here with Vlad wasn't going to make his life any easier that's for sure, in fact it was probably making everything worse if this latest trip to the hospital was anything to go by…
Speaking of which, when smoke started rising in the direction of the hospital and their enhanced senses caught a whiff of the fumes Vlad's eyes flew wide open and the decision he had just made to compromise with Danny regarding Owen's situation was forgotten in an instant as if it too had gone up in flames. All Vlad could think about was getting back to him before it was too late! There was no other explanation as to why there'd suddenly be-!
"Owen! Oh butter biscuits! I have to get back to him! I'm sorry but we'll have to sort this out later Daniel." Transforming back into his ghost-form, Vlad was about to fly off when Danny grabbed his arm roughly, halting his progress.
"Oh I don't think so. You've done enough damage, let me go," Danny offered with a hard glare, playing the role of hero as usual to which Vlad could only roll his eyes in annoyance as the teen continued, "Listen, I think between the two of us I can protect Owen much better than you have. He's only in this situation because of you Vlad. For all we know, that little stunt you pulled getting him plastered all over the news attracted those very same ghosts that tried to kill him that you just told me about! So if you actually do care about someone else for once in your miserable life, then prove it now. Let me help you fix the mess you've made and after that you have to promise to leave him alone so he can go on with his life without all your baggage, Deal?"
Scowling darkly at him, Vlad countered, "This is no time for your little morality games, Daniel! I have no doubt in my mind that that fire we're seeing was caused by Owen's power spiraling out of control and he may very well die because of it! I've already told you, I am fully aware that I've made a grave mistake with him and I was TRYING to correct it when YOU meddled with my affairs! As always, you understand nothing, Little Badger. Unlike you I have over twenty years worth of experience, especially with the dealing with new powers for the first time. And these new powers I've awoken within Owen, they are nearly as explosive and destructive as my own were whereas the most you've ever had to deal with are things such as phasing through things or turning parts of your body invisible at random. When my powers first manifested themselves, not only did I have THOSE problems but without meaning to I short circuited every electronic device I touched, burnt out light bulbs and made car alarms go off whenever I strode past them while in a bad mood, my god boy I've even woken up in the middle of the night with my bed sheets on fire after waking from some nightmare about my accident! As impressed as I've always been by the astounding progress you've made with your powers thus far, as you can see I am FAR more equipped to handle unstable Owen's situation than you will ever be. You've never had to suffer through learning about your powers alone the way he and I have, and from the looks of it he's still gaining new ones. I wouldn't expect you to understand what that's like, not that you've ever bothered to ask. Mark my words Daniel, I do intend to make things right with him, somehow. After all, Owen's the first person in my life besides you that-"
Giving him a quizzical look, Danny dared to ask, "That you what Vlad?"
Seeing no reason to answer that question at this point when there were more important things to worry about, Vlad turned on him, crudely grabbed Danny's wrist then flung him in the opposite direction. Before Danny could recover from his shock Vlad was already flying at top speed to get back to the hospital. So fast you'd think that the devil was at his heels. And if he'd been thinking clearly, Vlad would have just teleported instead. To bad his rationality, like his patience with Daniel, was already totally and utterly spent.
As for Danny, for once he felt bad for being so close-minded about Vlad's reasons for not wanting to let go of Owen just because he couldn't understand what the elder halfa was thinking at all. Not to mention for the first time since they've known each other, Vlad actually told Danny about some of the struggles he had with his powers. And those problems did sound like they'd be pretty scary for Vlad to deal with alone, forced to keep them hidden not only from his doctors, but from the rest of the world. That can't have been easy. And here Danny thought he had it bad when really he only had to worry about things at home and school and Sam and Tucker along with Jazz were there to watch his back.
Vlad had no one. And from the sound of it, Owen was on his own too.
Now Danny kinda understood why Vlad always kept his emotions hidden and in check most of the time. Back then Vlad's ghostly reactions to things were more dangerous then his own 'scary eyes' as Vlad put it, and if the elder halfa hadn't learned how to keep his cool then eventually people would have keyed into the fact that things only seemed to go wonky whenever Vlad was upset about something. Either way, speaking of emotions, Danny had honestly never seen Vlad look so…legitimately scared before. Not scared of losing or being caught in a lie, of being made a fool of, but scared FOR someone. Was it really possible that Vlad was serious about feeling guilty for all this after all…?
When Owen next opened his eyes he was lying on the ground next to a river somewhere in the woods and his hospital clothes were completely covered with ash and soot. He blinked a few times to clear his vision then sat up slowly. After that it was like someone suddenly decided to crank up the volume and the loud roar of flames reached his ears. The deafening roar was so loud it even drowned out even the soft gurgle of water flowing beside him from the river next to him that was thus far unaffected by the forest fire aside from the hot ashes and debris falling into it.
Coughing slightly because of the smoke wafting in his direction when the wind changed course Owen pulled up the collar of his shirt up to cover his nose and mouth and looked around. This definitely wasn't a dream so how'd he get all the way out here? The last thing Owen remembered was seeing that hooded figure that used to appear in his dreams right in front of him and then feeling drowsy and like his body was really heavy, as he was sinking deep underwater, falling deeper and deeper into the murky darkness. At least aside from his throat feeling like sandpaper from inhaling so much smoke, Owen felt lighter on his feet and his mind was clearer then before so maybe his fever had finally broken. Though that still didn't explain what was going on right now. Did he do all of this...?
"Hey! Is anyone out there?!" Owen shouted without thinking, hoping to run into a firefighter or something.
It was only after Owen tried calling out that he realized that it might be hard to explain to them how he wound up here or how the fire started since Owen couldn't remember. They might start to think that he was some kind of crazy pyromaniac or something who started it on purpose after escaping the nearest mental hospital instead of a normal one, which would explain the hospital clothes he was wearing.
After realizing that, Owen shut up and stopped trying to call for help. Shouting would only get more smoke in his lungs anyway. I don't even know where I am let alone how long I've been out. As for the how I got here my guess is that ghost had something to do with it. Well whatever, I can't afford to worry about that now. I need to get out of here before-?!
Owen's thoughts were interrupted when he heard the loud groan of a tree trunk falling from somewhere above him and jumped out of the way just in time. It landed with a loud thunderous thud into the river and sent a huge splash of water his way, soaking Owen completely from head to toe.
"Whoa, that was close! Too close," Owen said in a shaken tone, pulling himself off the ground and covering his face again with his now drenched shirt. Looks like I'm going to have to go the other way then. If I follow the river, it should lead me out of the forest and I'll be safer from the fire too as long as I stick close to the water...
Concentrating on nothing else but getting to safety Owen followed the river for a good forty-five minutes until it took a sharp turn then dropped down into a waterfall. There was nowhere left for Owen to walk alongside it on this side of the bank, and it was too dangerous to try swimming to the other side with that waterfall so close. Owen tried looking back in the direction he came from for another route to take, but the sky above him was an angry red and the flames were still roaring strong on both sides of the river. And unless there was another way out of his predicament that Owen just couldn't see, despite everything being well-lit by the firelight, he knew he was trapped…
Searching for a way to climb out of the riverbed after deciding what to do from there, Owen thought for a second that he heard someone call his name. He paused for a moment just to make sure, but when he didn't hear it again Owen dismissed it and eventually found a good place to climb up. It was hard, especially given the fact that Owen was currently barefoot and his feet were already sore and blistered from walking over so many loose stones. He was still making pretty decent progress up the wall though.
At least until the last foothold Owen stepped on decided to slip just enough to nearly send him crashing back down to earth. Reflexively, Owen clung to the wall for dear life while his heart began hammering painfully against his rib cage. Once he felt confident enough that it was safe Owen turned his head to see if there was any chance he could climb back down and try something else. Owen wasn't normally afraid of heights but he could do the math and knew a fall from here would break most if not all of his bones on impact.
Figures Owen just HAD pick the hardest place to climb up without many footholds, but in his defense despite the fiery red glow in the sky it was pretty dark everywhere else. It was then that Owen realized, he really was trapped. There was nowhere to climb up the rest of the way and going down wasn't an option either.
In other words, Owen was screwed.
"Thanks a lot you stupid jerk!" Owen shouted angrily at his not-so-imaginary-ghost-friend. "If you weren't already dead I'd kill you! You know, back then I really could have used your help, you could have helped me save my parents but no, you decided to hide out for two years and thought that hey, now is a great time to stop by and tell me 'Oh, by the way Owen, you were right, I was a ghost all along! And now I'm here to kidnap you!' I'm not sure why I can't sense you like all the other ghosts, but if you're there I could REALLY use a hand here! I don't think you want me to die any more than I do!"
As if the universe wanted to give Owen another heart-attack, just to be a smart aleck the ledge where he was standing pressed against the wall was starting to give out underneath him. There was no way he'd be able to get out of falling this time so Owen braced himself for the fall. And quite possibly his immediate death by gravity. In the end, it wasn't a ghost or Vlad that killed him, but Owen's own stupidity for ever thinking it was a good idea to come here. Oh well, at least he wouldn't be alone anymore when he reunited with his parents on the other side...
That's when the helping hand Owen asked for suddenly reached out right through the dirt wall in front of him and grabbed him by the wrist. Successfully catching him before Owen fell to his certain death.
While recovering from the shock of being saved at the last minute Owen's head jerked up in surprise when a booming voice bellowed, "YOU ARE IN A HEAP OF TROUBLE YOUNG MAN! WHAT IN BLAZES WERE YOU THINKING?!"
He blinked, confused for a moment because a different hand seemed to be holding his wrist and yet Owen sensed that Vlad was actually floating behind him. At first Owen figured that maybe it was just another one of Vlad's duplicates that grabbed him and sighed in relief. When Owen turned back in front of him and looked at the hand's owner though, he was astonished to find that it belonged to the ghost-boy from earlier there instead who was wearing white gloves instead of black…
"Dude, I so would not want to be in your shoes right now," Danny laughed, pointing behind them with his free hand at Vlad who looked positively furious.
In response, Owen couldn't help but laugh nervously too and replied, "Yeah, no kidding. Good thing I'm not wearing any shoes at the moment then..."
Seething, Vlad grabbed both Owen and Danny by the collar of their shirts and flew them a short distance to safety before towering over Owen. Vlad looked nearly as mad at Owen right now as he did when they were talking about his old college buddy and Owen could feel it radiating off him as strongly as the heatwaves from the forest fire behind them. He fearfully backed away a couple of steps just to get away from it when Vlad roughly grabbing him by the shoulders and began shouting again.
"Don't you DARE try to make jokes at a time like this Owen Ravenwood! You nearly scared me half to death!" Looking over Owen's shoulder and glaring at Danny when he heard him snickered at the 'half-to-death' part of his comment, Vlad snapped at the other boy, "As for you Daniel, you'd best get out of here before I change my mind about destroying you today. I told you this earlier, I'm in no mood for your childish games."
Sticking his tongue out childishly at the older halfa just to spite him, Danny replied with an impish grin,"Ok ok, chill out will ya? I'm leaving. My friends are probably wondering where the heck I am right about now anyway and Owen's safe, at least for now, so I'd say that's mission accomplished in my book. Oh, and by the way, no need to thank me for saving his life, you're so totally welcome Plasmius!" Turning to look at Owen, treating this as their first real meeting instead of what happened earlier, Danny rubbed the back of his neck said sheepishly, "Hey uh, I'm sorry about earlier. I forgot that you were stuck in the hospital for a reason. And I also should have given you a chance to tell me your side of the story too instead of blowing up like that. Anyways, good luck dealing with the fruitloop dude. You're gonna need it! I'm sure he's going to give you an earful for running off like that and I for one don't envy you. See ya!"
After that Owen didn't have the chance to reply to Danny this time either before the ghost boy suddenly took off to go take care of the fire. On the way here Danny had reluctantly promised Vlad that he would put it out the fire with the help of his friends as long as Vlad made truce with him and help to look for Owen too. And now that the latter one was taken care of he needed to check in with them and get the fire put out the fire, after that they had to get home before they were missed.
Remembering that Vlad was still mad at him, Owen made himself look small and began in a subdued voice, "Mr. Masters, I can expla-?!"
His words were cut off -along with most of his air supply- when Vlad wordlessly pulled Owen into a tight hug. Owen blinked, taken aback by the sudden and unexpected display of affection. Vlad honestly hadn't expected do do this either and yet he simply couldn't stop himself from doing so. The mere thought of losing Owen troubled him greatly for reasons Vlad had yet to fully understand himself. Either way, Vlad's anger quickly subsided and it was replaced with this inexplicable feeling of relief and Owen, sensing that sudden change in him and not sure what else to do, decided to take a chance and hugged him back.
