Dani Phantom: Life Finds A Way
by Futuramakid and Anthiena
DISCLAIMER: We own nothing.
Twelve years later... Christmas Eve.
Elle arrived home with Dani... She knew things would be closing soon... She'd just gone out to look at the lights with her sister, as they were in the custom of doing... Jazz herself had sent a card to them, though she was with her family. The fallout had been brief, thankfully. As it should have been. Danny was now teamed up with Val, though the truce was shaky in the start There had been quite a bit of yelling between the two and somehow, maybe some kissing. Or so Jazz speculated.
Joan was waiting for them.
"Ah, girls," she said, "I have some wonderful news!"
She had a melancholy inside, but, the perfect actress, it didn't show at all.
"What's up, Mom?" Dani asked.
"Your father has finally developed a cure for your condition, Dani... He's waiting for you two down in the lab."
"That's great," Elle said, keeping a facade of happiness... "Come on, sis, we better not keep Dad waiting..."
She led her sister downstairs into the lab... holding her hand just a bit tightly.
Vlad seemed to be wearing a neutral face.
"Ah, girls. Today is the truce."
Elle nodded, "Yeah, it is... all the ghosts celebrate, together... but Mom said you had something for Dani...?"
He nodded.
"This machine will help Dani on her way."
His machine almost looked like a hairstylist's chair.
Dani looked it over... "...How's it work?" she asked, curiously.
"It will scan and replace what must be," he stated vaguely.
"Okay..." she said, "anything I need to do first, Daddy?"
Vlad had aged, of course-but not noticably until the last few weeks.
"Kiss everyone and say how much you love them, of course." He smiled.
"...Don't be silly, Daddy," she said, laughing, "it's not like I'm dying or something..." She hugged him... Elle was rather lucky she was facing the other way, for that moment, she slipped... a tear.
"Humor me please, dear." Vlad spoke. "This procedure is not without risks."
Joan arrived just after this had taken place... and she held Elle's hand, supporting the girl.
Dani nodded... and kissed him. "I love you, Daddy..."
"I love you too, daughter."
She then walked to her sister... and hugged her tighly. Elle lifted her up into the air, hugging her close. "Sis... I love you..." she told her big sister.
"...I... You've been a great sister, and I love you too," Elle told her.
When Elle let go, she approached Joan...
"...Mom... I love you..." She hugged her mother... Joan hugged her back.
"It'll be okay, sweetie... You'll be fine," Joan lied.
"You know... Dani and Elle are parts of the same name... Danielle." He spoke almost in passing.
"Now, go on," Joan encouraged her.
Dani approached Vlad again... "I'm ready."
"Yes, indeed..." Vlad still seemed neutral. He decided to pick up on her favorite story. "In a czardom far from where we stand..."
He helped her into the chair.
"...there was a great forest..." His voice cracked with suppressed emotion. "and in the middle of this forest was a great oak. Around this oak..." He turned on the machine and it powered up audibly, "...was a golden chain and at the end of the chain was a most learned cat."
Danielle went as good as unconscious in the chair... Her eyes distant, her mouth partly agape.
He stopped as the machine engaged. It ran for forty minutes... and then, in the blinking of an eye, she was gone.
"She went one way and sang songs..." He went to his knees.
Near immediately, a ghost had come for her...
His expression was sadness. "...and the other..." He sprung to his feet...
"I am here to put things as they should be..." said the figure, ominous as the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come in his hood, "the girl is ready..."
Dani was unconscious still in the seat.
He punched in commands and the Mad-OS ran it. "...told stories."
"Of course..." Vlad stated, "Of course, or none of this happens."
The figure lifted the girl, and put her through a portal...
"It is done... She is gone... that she may be with you." He looked at Elle, and nodded, before disappearing... Elle herself had already been in tears...
"...I... We'll never see her again... I mean, she's me... but... I... She's not. Not really."
A capsule began filling with fluid nearby.
Elle approached her father, and held him close...
"I... I'm sorry it all had to happen this way... that we... had to lose her..."
Vlad took her into his arms. "I know... but are you not wondering...?"
"...wondering what?" she said, confused.
Joan was first to realize.
"...the machine... that... That shouldn't have taken that long..."
"Surely, you remember the time the memory machine took to read your memories. To write is the same time... now... you didn't think I would lose what is mine, did you?"
It clicked, Elle understood.
"Dad... you're a genius!" she said, hugging him, with a gleeful exuberance...
"Look. Watch..." Vlad pointed to the capsule.
Joan approached him.
"You are brilliant, dear... Simply brilliant." She pecked him on the cheek.
"Of course, of course... even an old man such as myself has turns of tactics at times..." He grinned. "Though in time... Life finds a way. It always does, my precious ones."
Elle looked at the capsule... it was... filling. There was... a mass. It was growing... rapidly... And within a couple minutes... she knew the face...
"...when... when'll she be ready?" she asked.
"A few hours. I will make sure she wakes in her bed, as if she had fallen asleep."
She nodded... "Perfect. Dad, this is... You're wonderful." She hugged him tightly, tears still flowing... but these, of joy.
"I know... Merry Christmas, Danielle."
"Merry Christmas, Dad..."