A/N: Well, this is the part were I expect you lot not to throw anything at me! Sorry! I know I take ages to update, but hey! I'm in my last semester of University life, and man it 's been tough! But I also want to remind you that I warned this story was going to take long to update...So I won't promise another chappie soon, since I don't really know when I'm going to get it done, and I don't like to update chapters as A/N, so that's that.
Now regarding the story, I apologize beforehand since there are going to be a lot of POV changes in this Chapter, and some unanswered questions n_nU
Sharkdude5, shin obin, xbox432, nightmaster000, ImaSoBored, Troper101, The Virus, grizzlybear2000, Hylian Mage, only i would know, InfinityStarblazer, rmsjms98, Nemo, Innocent Alice, writer4readers, Thanatoss413 and L... Thank you all for reading and reviewing!:3
On with the story...
Dislcaimer: I do not own The Teen Titans or Danny Phantom.
"Talking"
'Thinking'
empahsis / dreaming
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Chapter ten: "Recognition"
"Go away!"
She was running, there was fire everywhere she looked at. She only knew she needed to keep on running, running form what, exactly? She needed to get as far away from it, although deep inside her she knew it was impossible. No one, and that included her, no one could escape from it. No one had that capability, or at least she hasn't heard of anyone like that at all.
The flames were licking her feet, it was getting closer. What was getting closer? She didn't know, she just had to keep on running.
"Run all you want, but it will come, you know it will come" who was that, was that someone behind her "I'll be waiting for you…Raven"
"No!"
She bolted upright, she looked around, and she was in her room. She checked the time in her alarm clock and it was about three in the morning. What was that about? And why did she have the feeling that it wasn't a dream at all.
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Blanchard's POV
So today was the day, she was going to talk to Raven she just needed to sum up the courage to do it and just get over with it. The day was nearing and she really wanted to have her there. She needed her support; she knew that if she did this alone she would probably back out and never do it. But God was the child distracted. She had her out for lunch. They didn't have classes today due to a Teacher's conference on an upgrade or something, so she had her all to herself but she seemed to be gazing straight out the window.
They were once again at their Diner and hadn't ordered anything yet. But she looked jumpy. She never saw Rachel jumpy.
"Rae, is something the matter?"
"Huh?" that seemed o make her snap out of it a little "Sorry, I was just-" she stood up immediately, "Could you wait for me a bit I think I need some fresh air, I'll be back in a minute" she went straight for the exit and left her there.
If that child thought that she was going to leave her hanging just like that she had another thing coming!
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Raven's POV
Something was off. She sensed Danny nearby, but it felt strange, it was as if he was…no, she knew he was okay, he told her that he was going to spend the day with his parents in their laboratory. So why did have the feeling that he was somewhere nearby? Strangest of all, it was as if he was fading.
Ever since last night, or more like this morning, she felt…odd. She knew that dream meant something and since then she had been thoughtful, even Blanchard had to call her name a couple of times this morning to get her attention. And now this feeling she got that Danny was in danger somehow. She knew she felt this kind of thing every once in a while, it was not like her sensing emotions, it was more as if she could sense something was about to happen, a hunch you may call it. It didn't help that she felt Danny's presence nearby; but it felt different somehow, she didn't know how to explain it, she just felt it that way.
It was just when Blanchard was calling her (again) that she felt the energy falter, like a candle about to go out in any moment. So that's why she got up and ran as fast as she could, to the place where she felt Danny was at. She wasn't going to transform just yet, she needed to evaluate the situation first; but she knew she needed to be there ASAP!
She ran as fast as she could, she was closing in to him. But why did it feel like he was about to disappear. She knew how strong he was but he wasn't counting on him to suddenly weaken that much, or was he attacked and needed her help? She ran close to a fruit stand and stopped drifting in front of an alley way. He was there; he had to be. She went in further to look for her friend when she saw them…wait what was that?
"You are a-you are a girl…and a ghost?" It was the hunter, how the hell did Danny call that girl again? No matter that, but 'who was the girl in her lap?'. It looked like Danny, wore a similar uniform to his, she could be his little sister. She felt like Danny the first time she met him, only weaker…
"And you are welcome" said the girl tiredly.
"The ghost girl!" Raven hid herself behind a trash container. Was the girl that naïve, didn't she hear the threat in the voice of the older girl?
"Yeah, but you can just call me Dani" they even had the same name, well, now she had a better idea of who this kid was. And she needed help otherwise she was about to get vaporized.
"Oh, I will" she saw the older girl reach out for something behind her back while the oblivious girl kept her hand out for her. She needed to act, now!
"Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos!" she whispered as she levitated a bucket and hit the older girl in the head.
"Ow!"
"Run!" she yelled behind the trash container to the younger girl. She just looked confused in her direction, she looked at herself and decided to transform. Right in time since the girl in Red poked her head in that moment. Raven didn't miss the chance to shoot at her.
"Ah!" she landed on her back and tried to get up, until Raven hovered on top of her.
"Remember me?" she said in a croaky voice, the girl looked up, clearly freaked out.
"You!" she made a move to maybe shoot something at her.
"Oneirév̱ontai" (*) Raven was faster and shot the girl with a quick spell that left her unconscious "You can come out now" she turned around looking for the girl. She got no answer "I'm not going to hurt you"
"You hurt her!" she heard her yell.
"I just put her to sleep" she floated around looking for her "I promise I won't' hurt you" she said putting her hands up so wherever she was he could see her.
From the corner of the ally she became visible and fell to her knees. She looked exhausted and pale…and she knew about pale. She floated towards her and lowered herself to the ground. She took a step closer to her and the girl looked up still weary.
"Why did you help me?" asked the girl.
"I thought you were someone else" the girl looked shocked "But it's not as if I was going to let her take you away" she kneeled to her level.
"Who are you?" asked the girl.
"Raven" she held her hand out to her to help her up "I heard you are Dani"
"Yeah, Dani Phantom" the girl smiled proudly. They were too alike.
"Are you in any case related to the local hero?" she knew the answer already but I didn't hurt to ask.
"Do you know him?" Dani asked curious.
"I'm a friend of his" Raven smirked 'More like nanny'
"Rachel!"
"Oh crap" she groaned. Blanchard had followed her and her she was in an alley with an unconscious ghost hunter and a ghost girl.
"What's going on?" Dani asked weary.
"Another friend…"she turned to look at the girl "You can change you appearance, right?"
"How do you-" the girl gasped as Raven transformed back in her civilian attire letting her see her face.
"For now just call me Rachel" she asked the girl.
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Dani's POV
"Rachel Roth!" as soon as she heard the voice coming closer she decided that this girl could be trusted so she changed immediately. Good timing, a lady with short black hair was approaching with a crossed look on her face "Have you got no manners!" she yelled at Rachel/Raven? Which one was her name? "You just got up and left running, if you make this a habit you-"
"Sorry Blanch, but I had to help her" Rachel/Raven said…you know what? She was just going to call her Rae.
"Who?" and the woman finally looked at her; her pissed off look suddenly changed in a concerned one "Oh my" the woman put her hands on top of her mouth "Sweetie what happened to you?" 'Sweetie?' she looked at Rae for help.
"I saw her being followed by a group of boys; she was running from them so…I had to do something" the girl lied smoothly.
"And you thought you could handle a gang on your own!" she exclaimed looking once again pissed.
"I can take care of myself Blanch, besides I needed to act quickly" the girl sighed.
"It doesn't mean that you should do it either!" the woman took a lecture pose "I could've helped out as well" What!
"I didn't fight, I just threatened them to leave her alone Blanch" she sighed again rolling her eyes…well Dani thought she did more than just fight.
"That's not good either" this lady was stubborn. It was during their squabble that her stomach began grumbling again. They both stopped and looked at her.
"Sorry" she blushed.
"Are you okay honey?" it seemed that it was then that the lady noticed her state "Oh God, when was the last time you ate?" she asked as she grabbed her hand and started dragging her.
"Not again" she heard Rae mumble behind them.
"Oh hush you!" the lady turned to Rae "Is not as if I'm taking her in as well" Rae walked past them and started walking somewhere, where the lady seemed to know of.
"Not yet"
"Hey!"
What was going on?
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Raven's POV
"It's good to be home" sighed a very tranquil Blanchard once they got home, followed by an annoyed Raven carrying a sleeping child on her back.
Turns out, it had been a while since Dani ate anything, and as every good preteen would do, she wolfed down half the menu in 20 minutes, they realized that once she was full she started to drift off to sleep. Blanchard was touched by how young she looked then; she also mentioned the kid was very cute. But what was Raven's opinion of the little rascal? She was heavy.
"Yeah, you didn't have to walk with a kid on your back all the way here" she grumbled "Why did we bring her here?"
"She looked tired, besides once she wakes up we can ask her where she came from"
"Please don't make a habit of taking homeless children under your roof" she sighed as she walked to her room.
"Oh come on, it's just you, don't tell me you are jealous?" oh this woman.
"I'm not jealous; I'm concerned about your safety" she looked sternly at Blanchard "One of these days it might turn out bad" she pushed her door open using her hips as she carried Dani in her room. Now what was she going to do with the kid? She could leave her in the couch on the living room but the kid looked like she needed something better. Her bed will have to do for now.
"I don't think that'll happen" said Blanchard smiling as she leaned in the doorframe.
"Why do you think so?" she asked as she put Dani down on her bed and pulled a blanket on top of her. She remembered her time sleeping on benches; she knew how cold the streets could get.
"I'm good at picking them" she smiled tenderly at Raven, now realizing that she had put a kid to bed. She shook her head and headed for the living room.
"Whatever" she mumbled.
"Aw, you are so cute when you get embarrassed!" followed Blanchard.
"I'm not embarrassed" she snapped.
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Finally, some peace and quiet, maybe now she could meditate some, but on the other hand she needed to take care of some business first. As soon as she's done she was going to go off and buy a new load of herbal tea. She was going to need it with the suspicions she had. Blanchard gave her the afternoon off so she could keep an eye on their new guest, she was confident that in that bed Dani was not going to wake up for a while. So she decided that she needed to make a call.
"Danny?" she whispered in her Fenton Phones. She never knew what he was doing or if he had them close at all times (He promised her that he did) "Danny?"
"Rae?" she had to wait for a while until he answered though "What's up?"
"I have a situation with me, would you mind coming over?"
"Sure, are you at the library?"
"No, I'm home now" she sighed "Blanch gave me the day off"
"Wait, so who's at the library?"
"Blanch is"
"So you are alone at home?" he sounded nervous, why?
"No, that's why I need you to come"
"Hang on a second, if you are not alone, then who's with you?"
"Just get here as soon as you can, I really need you here" she didn't have time to argue now.
"Uh…okay then I'll be there as fast as I can"
"See you then" what was up with him?
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Danny's POV
He just escaped his parents from the lab. He loved them to death but maybe having such an amount of ghosts in the holding cell wasn't a good idea. But oh well, they were grownups, they should know what they are doing. He was back in his room when he heard someone calling his name.
"Danny?" was that Rae, oh God, now he was listening to her voice even if she wasn't there "Danny?" or maybe she was here?
He looked around for the place where the voice came from and he saw a discarded pair of jeans underneath his bed. The Fenton Phones! He rummaged in the back pocket and there they were. He put the ear piece on.
"Rae?" he hoped she was still there "What's up?"
"I have a situation with me, would you mind coming over?" a situation? Was she in trouble, but she didn't sound like she was…but what if…damn you stupid crush!
"Sure, are you at the library?" he could be there in no time.
"No, I'm home now" she sighed "Blanch gave me the day off" huh?
"Wait, so who's at the library?"
"Blanch is" hang on, so…
"So you are alone at home?" please say no, please say no. What, he just wanted to know she was safe, not that he felt nervous about the idea of being alone with her, not at all.
"No, that's why I need you to come" Good she wasn't alone, wait, so who was with her?
"Hang on a second, if you are not alone, then who's with you?" Rae never invited anyone to her place…maybe except, ell, now to him.
"Just get here as soon as you can, I really need you here" and she was losing her patience, better to comply now.
"Uh…okay then I'll be there as fast as I can" he was curious now, it wasn't just that he wanted to see the girl, he was curious okay!
"See you then"
"See ya!" he couldn't help but smile, he had it bad.
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He was at the department complex waiting outside for Rae to let him in. It was the first time he visited her at her place. It felt weird, he knew there was nothing going on between them but he couldn't help but to feel nervous. He was brought out of his musing though by the door buzzing open. Her department was 7-A on the third floor so he went up the elevator indoors and pushed the button up. Once he got out the elevator he walked down the hall looking for number 7-A; and there it was, he knocked on the door waiting for Rae to open. When she did, she didn't exactly look happy.
"Hey Rae" he smiled at her anyways.
"Come in Danny" she sounded tired too.
"So…" he said looking around the place, it was nice "this is your home"
"Yes, but I didn't call you here to look at the place" she said serious "I think your friend with the black suit wanted to hunt another one of your friends" she said as she signaled him to follow her.
"What?" 'One of my friends? What did she mean?'
"Take a look inside" she motioned for him to peek inside a dark room.
Once he took a good look he noticed that this was Raven's room and that there was someone resting on her bed. It was a small person taking in consideration all he saw was a small bundle curled down the covers. It started shifting around the bed and it turned towards the source of light, clearly bothered by it. When he saw her face he understood what had happened, and why Rae wanted him to come.
"Dani" he gasped her name. She opened her eyes.
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"I'll wait outside" said Rae as she closed the door behind her.
He just couldn't believe it, after months of not hearing a thing about her, she suddenly was here. How did Rae find her and why did Dani look so tired? He sat on the edge of the bed looking her over.
"Danielle, are you okay?" he asked as she woke up fully, she looked dazed and then she focused her eyes on him.
"Danny?...Danny!" as soon as she realized who was in front of her she threw herself at him.
"Whoa, hold your horses!" he laughed as she landed him fully on top of the bed.
"Danny, I'm so happy to see you, but how did you know where to find me…hang on, where are we?" apparently she was so excited that she forgot all previous events occurred to her. He smiled fondly and sat once again hugging her.
"You are safe, we are at a friend's home" he smiled down to her as she seemed to recall what happened "And by the way, how did you end up with Rae?" he asked, he really wanted to know about that one.
"Rae?" realization dawned upon her "The gloomy girl! Now I remember… she saved me from a ghost hunter, where is she?"
"She is outside waiting for us…" 'Ghost hunter?' "Dani, what happened?" did Rae reveal herself to her, just like that? "I think we should call her in" He got up to go to the door but as he was about to step outside to call for Rae he stumbled upon her and almost made her drop a plate she was carrying "Hey there, I was just about to call you in" he smiled at her.
"Well, here I am" she said as she went inside her room and placed the plate of sandwiches (he just noticed that) on her desk "How are you feeling?" she asked Dani.
"Better, thank you… uhm, how did I get here?" she asked Rae, apparently both of them unaware that Danny was in the room with them at the moment.
"After you devoured half the menu you fell asleep, so Blanch decided to take you home" she sounded a bit annoyed at that "But of course she decided that I should carry you here, so that's that" she shrugged "I figured you would be hungry by the time you woke up so I made you these" she pointed to the desk were the plate was at.
"Thank you, I'm sorry to be a bother" Dani said looking down to her lap, Rae sighed.
"Don't be, we were happy to help" Dani looked up then and saw Rae giving her one of her rare smiles.
"HOLD ON A SECOND!" he yelled then, it wasn't because he was bothered that he was being ignored, not of course not, it wasn't either because she was smiling out of the blue, of course that was not it…he was just, just. Oh screw it! "Could any of you be so kind to tell me, what is going on here?!" he said signaling the both of them.
"It was your friend again, what was her name" she looked at him now "Valerie, she tried to take her away but I was close by so I intervened"
"You saw her being chased" asked Danny "Why didn't you call me? I could've helped" Rae sat down at the desk chair and sighed again.
"I didn't see her, I felt her and" she looked troubled "I thought it was you in trouble, as if you were about to extinguish from life" she then looked at Danielle "Then I found her and…well, you know how ghost hunters are, so I stepped in"
"You felt me?" asked Dani making the other focus on her? "How, you are not a ghost, I would've known" she asked curious. He smirked, he knew Rae would get evasive from this point on; it took hell for her to tell the others. Rae looked at Dani in the eye and relaxed her features.
"I might not be a ghost but I'm not entirely human either" what! Come on, even with him it took longer for her to come clean! "I'm an empath, I feel things around me, and I felt you while I thought I was feeling Danny, your aura feels extremely alike to his… so I thought he was in danger" she looked at him then.
"Oh" was she worried about him, he couldn't help but smile a bit "Well, you see I think it'd be better if Danielle explained this" he looked at his cousin and saw a look of mirth cross her eyes, he lifted an eyebrow at her and she rolled her eyes "It's not only my secret"
"Then I won't ask" said Rae reaching over for the plate and handing it to Dani "I just need to know how I'm going to tell Blanch-"
"I'm Danny's clone" she said as she helped herself to the snack "There is this fruit loop that's crazy about him and wanted to have him as a son so he created a bunch of clones and then me" she nibbled her sandwich and continued "in the end he wanted to get rid of me too so I escaped" she shrugged as she kept on eating.
"Oh, I see" Rae turned to look at him now "How did he get your DNA?" she looked unsettled to say the least.
"Honestly, I don't want to know" he shuddered.
"So, how did you two meet?" asked Dani with an innocent look on her face, she might look weak but her eyes were a different story.
"I was a wanderer until I came here and Blanchard took me in, but I met him when a ghost was attacking the mall, after a while we decided to partner up" she said as if she was talking about the weather, ever since when was Raven chatty? "Danny, you might want to close your mouth, a fly might go in" she told him grabbing a sandwich for herself. He shook his head and stood form the bed.
"How come you are so at ease with this!" he snapped at her. She just raised an eyebrow.
"Well, she'd already seen me transform and use my powers; there is no point on hiding who I am"
"That's…a very good point" he conceded and sat once again on the bed.
"Why are you so worked up?" Rae asked "normally you would've been the one with the cool head"
"I'm not worked up, I'm just- I'm just-" he was interrupted by some giggling.
"You argue like an old married couple" Dani was now downright laughing.
"Anyway…"Danny was blushing now, but he tried to regain control of his giggling cousin by clearing his throat and changing the topic "What are you doing here? Last time I saw you, you flew off kind of dramatically" now that he saw Dani, she was really pale.
"Well, you see; that last battle with Vlad left me really wiped out" she looked at her hands worriedly "As much as I've tried to keep my strength since then, I keep getting weaker" she looked up at him once more "I needed your help to see if you could make me stay whole, but-"
"You were being hunted" Rae intervened.
"Yeah, and I think Vlad is behind it" she looked worried, very worried.
"He's not gonna touch you, Dani; come on I'll protect you" he kneeled in front of her and held her close. He needed to get her to his house; there could be something to help her stay strong.
"No you won't" Rae stood in front of the door blocking their way "You forget that she's under Blanchard's care" she crossed her arms in front of her "If she comes back home and finds it with one less homeless girl she's going to flip and you don't want to see her mad" she stated with finality.
"Then what do you suggest we do?" he was not going to leave his cousin defenseless.
"You seem to forget that I am not defenseless" she sneered at him, as if she could actually read his mind…which was kind of creepy.
"I wasn't thinking you were-" she glared harder "stop reading my mind!" he shouted defeated.
"Can you read minds?" asked Dani suddenly very interested
"Not without permission, but I don't' have to; it's written all over his face" Dani sniggered "And he also seems to forget that Valerie is afraid of me"
"Is she?" he asked "I don't remember you telling me that bit" he looked at her accusingly.
"Well let's say that when we parted I wasn't on the best of moods" he knew then what she meant since she didn't look all that proud of it.
"Okay then, Dani can stay here" he sighed; he knew he lost that argument from the start.
"Are you okay with that, Danielle?" Rae asked her.
"Sure" she smiled at both of them.
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Dani's POV
"Very well then"
"Uhm…excuse me, Rae right?" the girl looked annoyed for some reason and Danny was trying to hold back a chuckle "Did I say something?"
"While we are on our own, you may call me Raven, when there is someone else outside Danny's circle of friends, you will call me Rachel" she said very serious all of a sudden.
"Uh…why?" she was bound to get the names messed up "Wouldn't it be easier to just call you one way so I don't accidentally give out your identity?" she shrugged, it was so much easier that way. And Rae looked exasperated now.
"Now I confirmed that she is your clone, Danny" she glared at Danny for some reason "You two have the same thought process" she walked out of her room.
"What happened?" She asked an amused Danny.
"Oh well, is just that she is not fond of the nickname, but I just get away with it" he winked at her and followed Rae to the living room. If she knew better (or stayed for more than a couple of days) she would say that her cousin has a thing for gloomy girl.
"Do you have any plans right now?" asked Danny to Rae. She was sitting on the couch with her eyes closed.
"No, but we have to keep an eye out for any attack that Plasmius might have" she said her head leaning on a cushion with her eyes still closed. Somehow, Dani didn't think Danny was asking about that kind of plans. She couldn't help but giggle, but seeing that her cousin looked a little down she decided to help out.
"Well, since I can't really go out Danny could stay here until Blanchard comes home, you know so you two can watch over me" she suggested not so innocently "We could watch a movie or something, it's been a while since I've been able to just relax for a bit" she was tired but not so tired to refuse some more food, and spending time with her cousin without someone trying to tear them down, molecule by molecule.
'I think its okay, I mean I'm rested now and if they keep taking care of me, I might hold on just a little longer' she thought.
"Okay" Rae looked unsure, as if she was uncomfortable with this, she went to the T.V. set and rummaged around some drawers "But I don't know what kind of stuff Blanch has in here" she picked out a DVD "'Rise of the Living Dead', really Blanch?" she sighed and headed to the kitchen area.
"Do you want some tea, Danny?" she asked looking at the both of them who were now sitting in the couch, but she could detect some sarcasm directed at Danny.
"No thanks" he answered quickly freaked out "Do you need a hand?"
"I'm fine" she looked at them then "We still have some sandwiches left" she looked unsure "Blanch usually gives out hot chocolate" she said out loud as she looked for the stuff in the cupboard.
"So, what can you do Rae?" she asked her "I'm sure you can do a lot more, not just knocking out people with some magic words" she asked as she watched set water on the stove.
"Did you knock Valerie out?" asked Danny now interested on this topic.
"Well, it was either that or turn Rage mode on her" she said as she waited for the water to boil, she had put some milk on the stove as well. Rae then looked back at her and smirked "But if you are curious" her hand were encased in black orbs then, the cupboard opened and cups came out flying, as well as a drawer were spoons flew out too. She made them dance around her for a bit, her face void of any signs of emotion, but she could see something in her eyes.
When their beverages were ready she levitated them towards them, handing her a mug with steaming hot chocolate. Raven sat next to her leaving her between her and Danny. She could get used to this, well not all the time, but it was nice to be looked after.
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Raven's POV
They spent the rest of the afternoon watching the movie. It was weird the taste that Blanch had, but who was she to judge. By sometime near the end of the movie, Dani fell asleep again. She couldn't help but feel the relief that emanated off of Dani, she was quite content, if only she didn't need to be running around like that, or at least not totally defenseless and out of control; she knew firsthand how bad that could be.
"You know, I'd like her to stay" said Danny suddenly. She looked up to him and he was watching fondly at Dani "But she won't stop anywhere near Vlad, I know that for sure"
"Seems like that man has too many tricks up his sleeve" she couldn't believe that he would go that far just to capture her "He's got a real bad attachment issue, why couldn't he just let her go"
"By now you should know how much of a control freak he is" said Danny looking annoyed as well "we have to find a way to help her somehow"
"Don't your parents have something that could help her get her strength back, or something in the Ghost Zone?" she asked.
"I really don't know, wait…there could be something but-"
"Danny…" Dani tossed in the couch talking in her sleep.
"I should get her to bed" she said. She made to grab Dani but he beat her to it.
"Let me" he had her in his arms "Where is she going to sleep" he looked around.
"In my bed…I don't really use it that much anyway" she signaled for him to go to her room.
"Why?" he looked really confused. She just rolled her eyes; he wasn't going to leave without an answer, was he?
"Because I need to meditate more than I need to sleep" he still looked at her confused "I levitate while doing it"
"Oh" they were in her room now and he was setting Dani in the bed. She could feel her stable now, but she was still in danger.
"I wonder if I could heal her" she mumbled lowly but apparently Danny still heard her because he turned around as they closed the door to the room.
"I'll go look for something and I'll try to be back early in the morning, be it in my parents lab or in the Ghost Zone we'll find a way to help her" he placed his hand on her shoulder, possibly trying to reassure her.
"I hope you are right, all my books are hidden in the library now" she began pondering the possibility to leave, but discarded it "I better stay here, in case Valerie finds her" she sighed. Why was she all worried about that kid?
"If that happens we'll keep in touch" he showed her the Fenton Phones he carried "I'll be here as soon as I can"
"Are you implying that I can't-"
It was then that Blanch decided to appear, while Danny still had his hand on her shoulder and she looked worried.
"Oh…sorry, did I interrupt something?" she said as she laid some grocery bags on the kitchen counter. She went to her to help her out.
"Not at all" she started unloading the things Blanch bought "Danny was just about to leave"
"Good evening Ms. B" he said shyly.
"Good evening Danny, and you can call me Blanch, as dear Rachel here has taken to call me" she smiled mischievously at her, what? It wasn't her fault that her name was too long. Besides, Blanch suited her.
"It's alright Ms. B, I should be heading back anyway" he went to the door waving back "I'll call you later Rae" he smiled at her, she just rolled her eyes.
"I'll see you tomorrow" she turned around and bid him goodnight. As soon as he was out of there Blanch turned her way with a huge smile on her face "What?"
"Well, how did it go?" she smiled slyly.
"How did what go?" she couldn't understand this woman sometimes. Blanch just groaned.
"Your date!" she threw her arms around "Oh, come on, don't give me that look, even when I was younger I used the babysitting someone as an excuse to have a date" she looked utterly excited… pity she didn't know what about.
"Why would anyone call babysitting a date?" she said in the most bored tone she could manage, honestly, who was the adult in this household? "We just discussed some stuff from school"
"Yeah right, as if I'm going to believe that" Blanch stopped Raven from what she was doing "It's okay to live your life Rae" she looked all motherly all of a sudden "You don't have to be ashamed" she held her at arm's length.
"And why would I be ashamed?" she really didn't get Blanchard's point.
"Ugh, how could you be so clueless!" she hung her head defeated.
"You are going to wake Danielle up!" she hushed Blanch.
"Yeah mom, change the topic now" Blanch complained loudly anyway.
"You are reversing roles again!" she complained.
"Well someone has to act youthful in this house" Blanch said as she skipped to her room, trying to make as little noise as possible.
"You are impossible" said Raven as she massaged her temples, she felt the headache coming.
"You love me like that!" shouted Blanch from her room.
"Dear Azar, keep quiet!"
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How did Dani managed to sleep through all of last night without tossing was a mystery to Raven; after all the racket that Blanch kept on doing she was sure the girl ought to wake up at some moment and yell at them for disturbing her, but that didn't happen. To her luck Blanch gave her another day off to take care of Dani; Raven promised that they'd go and look for her family and have things sorted out. That left her with the whole day off to try and help her out. Apparently Dani was extremely debilitated and she needed as much rest as she could get.
She really felt bad for Dani; it might have to do with the fact that if it wasn't for Blanch, she would've been the same. She owed the woman so much and yet she had endangered her in so many ways. But she couldn't keep away from the strange family she had now. She would pay for her selfishness one day.
She looked back at the kitchen table were Dani was eating a bowl of cereal. That kid needed a family too, but Raven wasn't sure how to help with that; they needed to fix her first. At least she looked better that last night, she had more color on her skin and ate a little less that the day before. Sure those were signs that she was better, but she knew she was not out of any danger. If Dani didn't stabilize herself soon…well, she was not going to let that happen.
"How long is Danny going to take?" asked Dani form the table which broke Raven from her musings.
"Huh...oh, well I expect him to call me sometime soon and he might be coming over again, we can't chance Valerie finding you out, for what I've seen of her, she might still be out looking for you" she said as she sat with Dani with a cup of tea on her hand.
"I see, well it's going to be boring to stay here all day doing nothing" complained Dani as she mixed the stuff in her bowl.
"Thanks" said Raven as she sipped her tea. She knew she wasn't Miss Congeniality, but she didn't have to point it out.
"Oh, sorry! I didn't mean it like that! Is just that I'd like to have the strength to keep on traveling" she said as she looked away ashamed "I don't like to be stuck in one place"
"It's okay, it's not my business anyway but-" but she could help but feel there was something else was making her say that, she was going to regret this later but she just couldn't help herself "what are you running from?"
"Huh?" Dani got startled by that "what do you mean?"
"Nobody gets to travel alone without a reason, especially someone so young" she was being a hypocrite "people who don't like to be stuck in one place either have already experienced everything that there is in one place or…" she took another sip before continuing "are running away" she looked at Dani with determination.
"I'm not-" Dani started.
"Don't worry I'm not judging you" she set her cup down. Dani sighed frustrated.
"I don't want them to get hurt" she mumbled.
"Who?"
"Those I care about, I just couldn't live with myself if I ever saw them suffer because of me" that stabbed at Raven's insides.
'She's better than I'll ever be' she thought. 'Selfless…' But she knew those who cared about her would never forgive themselves if something happened to her "It's not like me to butt into someone else's life but" she sighed "There are people here who want to help you" Like Blanchard, like Danny.
"Like you?" She just looked up at Dani, who was waiting for her to elaborate "You wouldn't be telling me this if you didn't care, would you?" Dani looked hopeful at her, she smiled dejectedly.
"Maybe I do" Dani perked up "Or maybe I've been right where you are" or maybe she still was, but she was running away in a different way. She looked at the kid in front of her, she looked lost and confused "I realize I'm not one for pep talks"
"No kidding" Dani huffed trying to not look at her.
"What I mean is, sometimes you need someone to share the burden you are carrying" she shrugged.
"I-" she never got to hear what Dani tried to tell her because a little ball of iron broke one of the window panels and landed in the living room "What the-"
It exploded in a beam of rays extending towards them, just before it hit them Raven managed to flip the table and place it like a makeshift shield. The rays didn't hit them but they were pushed a few feet back.
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Valeries's POV
"Oh no" she gasped as she saw what she caused. That was meant to be a gas grenade, not a beam one! She wanted to lure the ghost girl out not kill everyone inside the apartment.
"Are you okay!" she heard another girl shout inside, perfect; she not only shot a civilian's house but also a civilian. She hadn't made mistakes like that since she was a newbie. This ghost sure was much more trouble than she was worth. Well, she'll make sure that the house gets repaired once she charged her fee from Mr. Masters.
She flew in through the broken window and she saw the back of the ghost girl just out the exit door. She was not going to let that ghost get away, not again. She was not going to fool her with her little trick of looking human.
She flew out once again waiting for her and when she did she realized she was with a girl from her school. She was Danny's new friend, she had seen them together quiet often lately. Great, she didn't want any friend of Danny's to get hurt but it seemed that this one was protecting a highly dangerous ghost.
"Hey you!" she shouted to the girl "Get away from the ghost girl and everything will be all right, okay?"
"After you bombed my house?" she saw her taking the hand of the ghost girl "See if I care, bitch!"
"What!" she saw the girl giving her the finger and started running away from her "No you didn't"
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Dani's POV
She was panting as she was running, well, more like being dragged by a pissed off Rae. She didn't think she had that kind of attitude. They were in front of the park now, boy she was fast. She was impressed and tired, she let go of Rae's hand to try and get some air in her.
"What's the- the rush?" she asked "I don't mind a dramatic departure but-"
"Sorry" she looked up at Rae, she was biting her lower lip "come on" she turned her back and kneeled in front of her "I'll carry you, we'll get there faster" Dani was too tired so she complied.
"Where to?" she held herself on to Rae.
"I need to get you to Danny's fast" she started running once again and Dani almost fell, she had to held on tighter "I can't transform while she's chasing us but if we get a head start we might have enough time to-" She was interrupted by a blast coming ahead of them, it didn't hit them but it prevented them from going further.
"Now you see, you are making my job very difficult" the hunter, Valerie, was in front of them now, and here she thought she was all right "So if you could please leave the ghost girl behind I won't need to harm you" she hovered in front of them in her board pointing a gun at them.
"Rae, please leav-" Dani started.
"If you think the aim of my life is making this easier for you; you had another thing coming" Raven seethed at Valerie, she saw her glaring, man if looks could kill.
"Look, sister I'm resisting from shooting at you right now, so just drop the ghost and leave"
"Rae, it's okay, you can leave me here" she tugged at Rae's sleeve, why was she doing this, she was going to reveal herself if this kept on going.
"I won't!" Rae looked at her with anger in her eyes "You don't need to be so selfless, I will protect you!"
The look in her eyes told her that she did care about her, she just couldn't figure out why. Rae lowered her to the ground near a tree.
"If you want her, come and get her" she signaled for Valerie to attack as she stood in front of Dani "just don't expect it to be easy"
"You are getting on my nerves girl" she pointed the gun again at them "I really don't want to hurt you"
"Sorry" suddenly Rae sounded very calm and serious "The feeling is not mutual"
Rae leaped, as in leaped thought the air almost as if she was flying and held onto the hover board. She then tried to climb over it and with her weight she managed to toss Valerie off it, as well as herself. Dani couldn't believe what she was watching. Was she some kind of ninja or something?
Once the two of them were on the ground, Rae didn't wait for Valerie to regain her bearings and tackled her to the ground. Valerie looked really stunned by that but Rae was still in motion. She reached for Valerie's' hands that held the gun and started slamming it against the ground, finally Valerie let go of the gun and tried to punch Rae off of her, she managed to punch her in the stomach and quickly got up from there and went to grab the gun again. Rae was not going to let that happen, her face was composed but her eyes looked livid. The fight was far from over. Rae tackled Valerie once more and they went stumbling around. Valerie kicked Rae and made her do a back flip.
"You are good" Valerie conceded gasping for air.
"I'm not that good" Rae glared at her, from what Dani could see she was glad that Rae was not mad at her that second, because that look promised pain.
Valerie grabbed her gun once again and tried to aim it at Rae but, again, Rae tackled her down again. They were struggling. Valerie and Rae were fighting over the control of the gun and Rae almost got it free from Valerie's hands; but Dani saw that the gun was pointing a little bit too close to Rae's right side of her head if they didn't stop that now, she would-
There was a loud bang, three voices screaming, two in shock, and one in pain. Then someone cried.
"Stop!" Dani was crying she got up from were Rae left her and ran to her side "Please just stop" she turned to look at Valerie with tears in her eyes "I'll go with you but don't hurt her anymore" Valerie looked dazzled, she was standing with the gun in her left hand, she looked shocked. She turned to Rae, luckily the gun missed her eyes and her ear was just a little burned on the top bit, a good part of her hair was burned off and her skin was a stinging red, apart for being nearly unconscious, she looked fine.
"I just-" she shook her head and headed towards Dani; she took out a glowing stick that materialized cuffs for Dani's hands and feet "Let's go" the hover board came to them and as Valerie got on with Dani she looked at Rae "I didn't mean for this to happen" and she took them away.
For a second, Dani thought that she heard Rae call her name.
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Danny's POV
He was rummaging through the lab's cabinets looking for that formula his Dad had just developed. What was it called? Ecto-something… well he needed it now! As late as it was, he knew Raven wouldn't appreciate it if he took much longer; but it wasn't as if Val would burst through the window and chase after them.
Now where was that thing…?
"Danny?" not again, he wasn't thinking of her in that way to just hear her moaning his name "Danny, are you there?" okay, now that didn't sound like moaning, that sounded like wincing…The Fenton Phones!
"Rae?" he asked as soon as he put the ear piece on.
"Dani was taken" she said bluntly "Valerie showed up, I'm going to follow her"
"What!" what happened, it wasn't even past noon! "How the hell did that happen, exactly?"
"I'll tell you once I see you; I'll call you later and tell you where to meet me at, come in your Ghost Form" she paused "Danny, did you find anything to help her?" she asked sounding tired.
"I think so, I expect you to tell me everything that happened, okay?" he said losing his cool. How did she expect him to be calm and collected after she delivers news like that!
"Yeah, I will" she paused "gotta go" she cut the com.
What the hell happened! He had to hurry; things were looking dark if Raven was so shaken.
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Raven's POV
Her head felt like it had been stomped by an elephant. And it stung too, what happened? The gun, she remembered she was fighting over a gun…Dani! How could she be wasting her time here laying down when Dani could already be on the hands of that crazed man! She had to go now, but…she was going to need help. She was never going to hear the end of this after the call.
She had called him and kept her situation as ambiguous as possible, she was wasting time, and she intended to make up for it. She needed to track Dani; she couldn't be that far, could she? She tried to reach out but… somehow she couldn't tell if she was close or not…if she wasn't then…
"Valerie" she needed to settle down some scores with her anyway.
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Valerie's POV
She was finally done with it! Sure, she wasn't much too proud of how it all went down but in the end, she caught the evil ghost and was about to finally get her Dad out of that hellhole. Their lives were going to change for good, once and for all. Then of course if certain Ghost Boy disappeared it would definitely be a better day. But what she wasn't counting on was to suddenly be attacked by a huge bird like thing.
"Whoa!" she nearly lost her footing there, but what was that.
She got her answer soon enough as the bird began chasing her; she had the feeling that she'd seen something like this before, but she just couldn't place her finger where. Whatever, the thing was coming a little bit too close to comfort and it obviously wasn't human-friendly since it was about to lash out at her again!
"Hey! Watch it, don't know what you are but I'm not going to let you roam around my city just like that" she said as she aimed a wrist laser form her suit at the bird.
"Your city, huh?" that was the voice of a woman, so the thing was a she? It charged against her once again and it nearly hit her this time.
She shot at the bird but the laser just went through it, leaving a whole in the middle of its shadowy shape. The bird circled around her, taunting her.
"So, you are the law around here or something, or is that helmet a little too tight for that big head of yours?" the voice echoed around. She was getting a sense of Déjà-Vu again.
"As long as there is a threat to this city, I'm going to prevent it from harming anyone" she locked her laser on the bird once again "And that includes creepy know-it-all birds!" she shot her laser once again but this time the bird formed a shield to block it. She wasn't expecting what happened next.
In front of her was one of the few things that actually got her scared ever since she started her job as a Ghost Hunter. In front of her there she was floating, the girl with the blue cloak and the white eyes in the shadows. Why didn't she figure out sooner who this was, she had nightmares about those claws that nearly killed her fro weeks! That shadow bird was the exact same thing and the worst of all, she looked extremely pissed off at her.
"Not to burst your bubble or anything" the girl said as black orbs formed around her hands "but I'm not the one who has been harming people" she shot the black beams at her, she was caught off guard for a second and she fell off the hover board. Just to be encased in a black…well, bubble. "I know what you've done" the girl commanded her prison close to her and she sneered at her.
"What are you talking about!" she shot the bubble with her wrist laser but nothing happened.
"Oh really now" the girl in the cloak crossed her arms "because I could've sworn that I saw you chasing two girls not even half an hour ago, one left knocked out and the other one gone missing" the bubble of energy was growing smaller and smaller and then that same energy encased her frame like a second skin, only leaving her head free of it, unable to move the rest of her body. The girl made a hand sign and then they were just a foot away from each other "Care to explain?" she winced, how did she knew that! "Thought so, Oneirév̱ontai"
Everything went black.
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Danny's POV
He was beyond confused now, one moment Rae tells him that he need to get a whole bunch of stuff and wait for him to meet up with her and rescue Dani, the next she calls orders to meet her at some run down building's basement. It was late afternoon when she called him and asked to bring everything she told him to. To say that he was shocked to find her with an unconscious Valerie tied up on a wall was an understatement!
"What is going on!" he yelled at her. "Are you out of your mind" he stomped towards her and took her by the shoulders "when did it seem like a good idea to kidnap Valerie!"
"When she barged in my house, blew half of it, chased us and shot me in the face and then took Danielle away" she stepped back in the shadows him following her.
"Uh"….hang on, she got shot? "Rae-" she glared "-ven, are you okay?" he let go of her shoulders and tried to cup her face but then a groan behind them stopped him from it.
"Wha-" she gasped "What happened?" Valerie woke up fully "Where am I?" she sounded mad now. He always had to deal with girls with anger management problems.
He looked at Rae and noticed she was tensing up, she was actually shaking, and he didn't want to see her going Rage mode now so he put his hand on her shoulder to try to calm her down. It surprised him how affected she was because of Dani's situation.
"We'll find her" he whispered next to her, reassuring her with a light squeeze on her shoulder.
"Of course we will" she stopped shaking and stepped into the light "good to see you are up" she was on Ice Queen Mode; he didn't know how he was going to help here. Valerie looked up in rage.
"You!" she yelled trying to break free from the chains (he needed to ask Rae where she got them from) she was bound to "that's the second time you use that cheap trick on me" she seethed at Rae.
"It's not cheap, its effective and harmless" she stepped closer to Valerie "unlike some of the tricks that you pull of" Rae was talking her down as if Valerie was just a lousy peasant, gee she could get into character, he would give her that. "Now, would you like to tell me why you chased innocent civilians and harmed them?" she was questioning her with that regal air of hers.
"As if that's any of your business" Valerie scoffed looking away from Rae.
"Well, it is our problem since you attacked the people from the city that you claim to be protecting" Rae put two of her fingers under Valerie's chin and made her look at her "I saw it, if it wasn't for the fact that I had to drop the older girl at the hospital I would've followed you sooner" their faces were inches apart now, but somehow Rae was still acting calm; so far so good.
"The hospital?" Valerie winced. He was wondering about that too, who got hurt? Rae was standing there.
"Now you remember" she let go of her face with disgust and paced back a couple of steps.
"Who's in the hospital?" he stepped out as well.
"YOU!" Valerie yelled at him in anger "You work with this monster!" she asked looking at Rae still enraged.
"She is not a monster!" he defended her quickly "And could anyone tell me who's in the hospital!" apparently he was losing his cool.
"A girl with purple hair" answered Rae…but that was her "she had a portion of her head and a bit of her face burnt, so I took her to the E.R." Valerie looked down.
"I didn't mean to do it" Valerie was still angered "She was on the way and threw herself at me, if only she handed the Ghost Girl from the beginning she wouldn't be hurt now" she tried to defend herself "And why am I even trying to explain this to you"
"So you hurt that girl, what happened to Dani" he asked, he was confused Rae seemed to be okay, pissed off, but okay.
"Oh so you know her" Valerie smirked.
"What did you do to her?" he came closer to Valerie, for someone who was trapped she seemed pretty sure of herself.
"Oh, she's getting what's coming to her" she mocked.
"Tell me you didn't hand her over to Vlad" he pleaded to her.
"Well, that would be a lie, now wouldn't it?" he sighed, why was she so difficult?
"I'll tell you what's not a lie" Rae came from behind him and gently (why was she so calm?) pushed him aside so she had a clear view of Valerie.
"What, you think I'm afraid of you?" Valerie taunted "It looks to me that you are a little over protective of your kind!" she made to move forward but she was restrained by the chains. In less than a second Rae was in Valerie's face still a little too calm to his liking.
"You still think I'm a ghost?" she…giggled? Okay this was creepy. Rae bent down to talk to Valerie's ear "I don't think you are afraid of me, I know you are" Rae cupped Valerie's face in her right hand, making her sweat "and you are right in doing so" she faced Valerie again and tilted Valerie's chin up with her fingers "now where is she?" she asked in a kind tone.
"Wh-why would I tell you?" she stuttered. Okay this was his queue.
"Because she's not one of our kind, she's one of yours" he took Rae by the shoulders again and made her back off, putting some safe distance between them "A human"
"What?" Valerie looked shaken and confused.
"She's not just a Ghost" he said trying to break the tension in the air "She's also a girl"
"But, but Vlad said that the ghost part of her was out to get him and Amity Park" she frowned.
"And you believed him" Rae scoffed behind him, he shot her a look, then looked at Valerie again.
"Valerie! You saw her, did Dani really look like she could destroy anything?" he tried to reason with her, it seemed it was working.
"Look, the facts are that Danielle's ghost half is unstable, Vlad is out to destroy her" Valerie looked up to him "And if he destroys the ghost half the human half is destroyed along with it"
"No!" she shook her head "That's not my problem, she is a ghost and I destroy ghosts!" okay it wasn't working.
"You really are cold blooded" Rae said out loud as she approached Valerie "Could you live with it? Could you live knowing that maybe you helped murdered a little defenseless girl?" she asked in her icy tone then laughed "I guess you really could, after all you seem to blast anything and anyone who comes in your way"
"I'm not like that!" Valerie cried in her defense.
"Then prove it!" Rae said raising her voice "Because if anything happens to that child, I'll make sure that you taste the agony she had to go through" she yanked Valerie forward "And then, you'll wish it was you who was dead"
Both Danny and Valerie gulped at that last statement.
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They were outside of Vlad's mansion once it was dark. It felt very awkward to have two girls glaring at each other. Well more like one girl glaring at the other one and the other completely ignoring the presence of the first one. Why did this stuff seem to always happen to him?
"Are you sure that stuff will help her" asked Valerie pointing to the Ecto-Dejecto.
"Well the Fenton's are known to be a bit of help from time to time" he answered "I keep an eye on them to know what they are up to" he smiled her way reassuringly "I know this will help"
"Are you two done or do you want me to leave you alone for a minute?" asked Rae still in her icy persona "We have a child to rescue" he sighed.
"Okay, here we go!" he shouted.
They all barged in the mansion and hear Dani's calls for help. Just then Vlad appeared in his ghost form and immediately charged at them with a ghost beam that sent the three of them backwards. As soon as they recovered Vlad had them surrounded with clones.
"Look what we have here" he taunted "looking for someone?"
"Let her go!" Danny yelled at Vlad.
"I'm afraid I won't" the three of him said "You see, her whole existence intrigues me"
The eyes of the three Vlad's shone red and then he attacked again. Rae brought up a shield but the attack was too close to them which sent them flying once again, Valerie managed to materialize her Hover Board but Danny and Raven crashed against a bookshelf that fell on top of them.
"You are going down!" yelled Valerie as she attacked him with a dart launcher that came out of her Board. Vlad just stood there and right before the darts hit him he expelled a wave of energy that backfired them "What!"
"You think you can take me down with your little toys?" he said as he went intangible through the ground and beneath.
"No you won't!" she said as she shot the floor and went down to a screaming Danielle.
Just then his gaze came back from being fogy and stopped being a bystander. Rae was next to him just coming to as well and then he realized he changed back to his human form. He quickly transformed and hoped Valerie hadn't seen him like that.
"Dani!" he looked at Rae "Are you-" She blasted the bookshelf with a black beam of energy and set them free.
"No time, go to her!"
"Yes Ma'am!" he saluted and flew down the whole only to find a screaming, and a melting Dani. She was tied up against a plank and there was a container underneath her.
"Valerie!" he saw her floating watching the whole scene "Why are you just standing around?" then he heard it.
"Help!" it was Vlad's voice "He's going to destroy the girl!"
"Vlad?" Valerie asked as she neared a locked door.
"Hello?" he pointed to the mad man "He's right in front of you"
"Not him, Vlad Masters!" she flew down "This is his mansion" as soon as she opened the door a weak Vlad Masters fell on top of her.
"What is she doing?" he turned around and saw Rae eyeing the scene.
"Don't mind her, we have to get Dani out of here!" he said as he flew down only to be attacked by Plasmius.
"Not so fast" he said as he cloned himself again. One of the clones attacked him, but Valerie shot him giving him the chance to go for Dani.
The other clone though, charged straight at Raven. He kneed her quite roughly and then tossed her against a wall. Rae was embedded in the wall but she charged against Vlad as if nothing had happened. Valerie saw them and joined them soon after. While the girls were fighting Vlad (and not each other) the other clone recovered.
"It's going to take more than your little plasma rays to break those ties, child!" at that moment the other clone crashed against Vlad pushed by a beam of pink and black rays.
"Ah!" Dani was in pain, he needed to cut those things, but it seemed it wouldn't work. "I can't break them Danielle, there is only one thing left to try!" she was almost half way gone. He sprayed her with the Ecto-Dejecto but she kept on melting.
"I think is too late" she gasped out as she melted "Bye, Dani…thanks for-" she never got to end her sentence, she was gone.
"No, NO!" he collapsed in front of the puddle that was left of Dani "Dani…" he couldn't believe it, his little cousin, was gone and he didn't prevent it from happening.
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Raven's POV
She saw beginning to see red; Danielle, she was gone. But she was so young, she could tell that she had the most intense will to live, and now that pesky little smile was lost. No, she wouldn't allow it, this was not happening! She levitated down to where Plasmius was lying; she picked him up by the collar.
"Bring her back!" she past at his face, he only smirked.
"No can do, sweetheart" his eyes glowed red as he shot her.
"Hey!" was that the Huntress? She was a bit shaken at the moment so she couldn't really tell, but it looked like she was helping her out "Leave her alone!" Plasmius started chasing after her then-
"I'm me again!" was that…she shook her head to clear the cobwebs and she saw her, whole. Danielle was hugging Danny. She didn't know how she did it but in the blink of an eye she was holding Danielle at arm's length looking her over.
"You are alive" she let out a sigh of relief, and then did something very uncommon. She embraced the little halfa "Thank Azar!"
"I'm glad to see you are fine too!" Dani broke the embrace "I thought that-"
"A little help here!" that was Valerie, she looked down at Dani and saw her smirking.
"With pleasure" and she set off after Vlad. It looked like it was payback time.
She watched her blast Plasmius to the roof, and then threw him at the pillars of the underground lab. She looked like she was enjoying this, good for her. Raven smirked all the way as she watched the pummeling little Dani was giving to her creator.
"Guess that'll teach him to pick on a defenseless girl" said Dani as she glared at him.
"There is no such thing" sang Valerie looking quite proud of what Dani accomplished. And now she seems to see the good on her.
"Get Danielle out of here Valerie, you too Raven" Danny signaled her to go "I'll be right behind you" he looked back at Vlad and she knew they were going to have a little talk.
"Let's go" she said. Besides, she wasn't going to leave Danielle alone with the hunter, as if.
They followed her out and they waited for Danny to come out. She kept a watchful eye on Valerie, but it seemed that the girl didn't appreciate it. They weren't allies or anything of the sort, she had to keep Dani safe.
"Ugh fine!" Valerie glared at her and then looked at Dani "I'm sorry I misjudged you, I guess I got carried away by the job" she looked remorseful.
"Uhm…it's okay" Dani smiled at Valerie "Besides, you came back to help me in the end" she hugged the girl briefly.
"Thanks" she looked away guiltily. But of course she did, she threatened her to come here. But at least she wasn't shooting anyone now. Dani looked at her, as if wanting to ask her something, but she refrained as they heard Danny coming back.
"Dani!" he shouted as he came closer "That was awesome!" Dani leaped at him and they hugged.
"Thank you, all of you" she said looking them over "Vlad would've baked me into a puddle of nothing if you hadn't saved me"
"That's what family is for cos!" Danny smiled at his cousin.
"Well, I better head off" said Valerie as she flew away "I'll see to it that the girl's department gets fixed" she said as she waved away.
"See Rae, she's not that bad" Danny tried to lighten her up.
"I'll keep my distance from her" she answered flatly.
"Rae, are you okay?" asked Dani, looking worried "I mean…"
"I will be fine" she reassured the girl putting a hand on her shoulder "I'm tough" she smirked a little.
"Thank you!" Dani threw herself at her and gave her a bear hug, and she found herself returning the hug…and nothing was exploding around here at least "For everything" Dani let her go then "You didn't have to do all that, you know"
"I know" Raven answered her "But I wanted to" she regained her flat tone and broke away from the hug "you remind me of someone else"
"Me? To whom?" Dani asked confused.
"My self" she smirked and Dani beamed at her "
"Uhm…sorry to break the bubble" Danny interrupted "So, uh…now what?" he smiled at her "Heading off?"
"Yup" she had a daring look in her eye "Now that this phantom is fixed, she's got places to go"
"Just be safe, okay" he told her clearly worried about her.
"Oh Danny, nothing can hurt me now!" she winked at him and gave him a kiss on the cheek "See ya!" she floated away but the turned around again and approached her. Dani lowered her hood and grimaced looking guilty "Sorry for this" and gave her a kiss on her temple "And thank you, Raven" she said softly at her.
"You are welcome, and if you want a place to stay sometime I'm sure Blanch wouldn't mind to have you over" she smiled at her.
"Sure, tell her I said Thanks" and she flew off towards the moon. A bit cliché but it was all right.
"Will do" She turned to look at Danny but she found him gaping at her. "What?"
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Danny's POV
"What?"
"Valerie did this to you?!" he shouted suddenly angry. She was about to reply but he took her by the writs and dragged her away from there.
He really didn't believe that Valerie would hurt anyone like that, but seriously? He looked for a place to land and saw and empty rooftop, he needed to take a better look at her head and since she had her hood down... so they went down and he had her sit right there.
"What are you doing?" she sounded annoyed, probably for being handled like that, but right then he didn't care much.
"Why didn't you tell me!" he chastised her.
"Why are you so angry?"
Why wouldn't he! When he saw Danielle pull her hood down he was shocked! She had been roaming around all day like that, the hair on the right side of her head was almost all gone, and even with this lighting he could see it was a reddish color. If Valerie really shot her in the head then she must have a terrible head ache and be disoriented as hell. Why was she so careless? He sighed.
"Raven, why didn't you tell me you were hurt?" he asked taking her by the shoulders and making her look at him.
"It's not a big deal, it'll be healed in the morning" she answered not caring much about her injury.
"Rae" he said expecting her to elaborate.
"I'm fine!" she snapped "I was more worried about Danielle, so it was not a big deal" she shrugged. He was never going to win an argument, was he? He leaned closer and rested his head on her shoulder.
"Danny?" he felt her tense.
"You are going to give me a heart attack one of these days" he conceded his defeat and felt her relax again.
"Don't be so dramatic"
He was a sucker for her, he didn't know if he could take any more of her recklessness.
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Valerie's' POV
She couldn't believe she was so careless! She forgot all about Mr. Masters, she was so focused on getting away from that girl that she forgot about her employer. Well, now she was going back to him, she hoped he wasn't mad at her. She arrived at the place and it was a wreck, luckily the guy was rich so he wouldn't have a problem fixing the place. But now that she thought about it, why did he have a lab underneath his mansion?
"Mayor Masters" she shouted, hoping he could hear her "Mayor Masters, are you okay?"
"Valerie?" she heard him call her. He was fine! Thank goodness "Over here!" he shouted for her.
She flew over the debris that littered the place and she found him trapped under some sort of computer. She helped him get out of there and sighed; he then looked at her full of gratefulness. She knew he was a good person!
"Mayor Masters are you okay?" she asked helping him to his feet.
"Yes, my dear" he looked around the place "But it seems that my research has been put on hold"
"What exactly is this place doing under you house, Mayor?" she asked him a bit accusingly. He looked tired.
"I've been trying to create defenses for the town" he walked around the place, over to a column "This town seems to attract an awful lot of ghost so I was trying to come up with new ideas to defend it" he turned around to face her "Once you brought me the ghost girl I found out she was, well…"
"A human" Valerie finished for him.
"Indeed, then that Ghost came in here and…" he signaled the rest of the room "you know the rest"
"Yeah, I do" she looked down, remembering that she had to ask for a favor from the Mayor "Mr. Masters, I know it all kinda blew in the end, but I have to ask something of you"
"What could it be dear?" he looked at her confused.
"Well, there was this girl that got in between the scramble and…her apartment is sort of smashed now" she said with a guilty look o her face.
"You wouldn't be referring to a girl with purple hair, would you?" he asked in urgency.
"How did-" she looked up, to see him frowning "You know her?"
"I'm afraid I do" he sighed "She's a friend's child you might say" he explained to her "and she has been getting involved in a little too many ghost affairs lately" he looked pensive now, pacing around the place "I worry about her"
"She seems to like them a lot" she muttered under her breath, but he seemed to hear her.
"Valerie, I'll help her out but I need you to do something for me in return" he looked serious about he was about to ask of her.
"Sure, anything" it was the least she could do since she…well that.
"Could you keep an eye on her, I know she goes to your school, I think she's about your age" he said placing his hand under his chin in thought "I know! You could try to befriend her and protect her, if you see anything suspicious, report it to me immediately"
She was going to what!
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To be Continued...
A/N: Ho ho ho! Consider this as an early X-mas present :D Now I know I left out a lot of unanswered things around but that's just to keep you guessing :P And sorry guys, but no Sam and Tuck on this one.
(*) That little bit means 'Dream on' in latin :DWhat is the important something that Blanch wants to talk about with Raven?
Why did Vlad ask Valerie to look out for her?
Will Raven's hair grow back?
When am I going to update this thing?
Guess, you'll have to stick around to find out ;)
Please R&R! (I love those! :D)