Chapter 11! You kinda get to see Danielle though Jazz's eyes, and I'm really excited about it. Hope you enjoy! Oh, and Invader Jonny, if you thought the last chapter was emotionally draining, you ain't seen nothing yet ;) Buckle up for the ride.

"My name's Jazz Fenton, age 26, and I fight ghosts. Well, to be specific, I track ghost as of right now. I do on occasion, still fight them, but I leave that to the rest of the family. It's a strange life but a good one.

"Standing next to me during all of it is my fiance, Roy. He's kind of a clutz, but in a lovable way. He helps with all our families inventions and has been vital in the last 5 years. Without him, we wouldn't have even half of the things we do now.

"It's really been a long time since the days where it was just a four-person team fighting these spectators. Things were really going great, it was like we had this routine down to a science, then Vlad came down from the sky and from that moment on things were in overdrive for us.

"Crazy things have been happening since. It's only been a little over a week since we got Dan back, my brother's alternate timeline duplicate, and honestly, a brother to myself. Then Valarie sacrificed herself and became atoms with Vlad so that he wouldn't continue on with his plans, to which we're still lost on for the most part. But we got her back; along with him, but we'll deal. We always do.

"But yeah, that's normal for us.

"But, even with him back, things have never been this crazy. You see, with Vlad back we now have the task of finding him and having to stop whatever evil plot he has developed in the past 8 years. But that's not all. From what Danielle could find out, he has followers all over the world who are supporting him and funding his madness.

If that wasn't bad enough, now that he is back it seems all the small time ghost who we had stopped are taking advantage of the chaos Vlad has brought with him and are running amuck all over. They're causing so much panic that we haven't had a lot of time to look for Vlad or any of his goons."

"Honey? What are you doing?"

Jazz jolted from her spot in her chair, swiveled around and was met with a questioning look of her fiance as he stood just feet away from her. With her voice kept quiet, she spoke, "Writing…. in my journal."

His eyes narrowed as his brows shot up, a hint of playfulness pulled at his lips as they took the form of a smirk. "But, you were just narrating."

"It's an audio journal." She quickly corrected and clicked her recording and placed it between the cushion of her seat and the armrest.

Folding his arms together, shifted his weight back and forth between his left and right leg as his lips grew on his face, his tongue swiftly skimmed the length of his mouth. He obviously had her. "How long have you been-"

"Three weeks."

Jazz scowled as he pressed his lips thinly together in an obvious way to suppress any laughter that wanted to pass. "Ah... Okay." He slowly backed away, fingers pointing up the stairs as his means of direction to where he would go. The playfulness in his steps that he took was as if a victim slowly getting away from their to-be-murderer. "I'm, just going to get some lunch so…"

In a meek voice, Jazz added, "Can I get some chicken nuggets.

As Roy slowed his steps, he refused to drop the smirk. "I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you."

Jazz rolled her eyes, but raised her voice nevertheless at his childish behavior. "Please, get me some chicken nuggets. With honey mustard!" She yelled the last part as he bolted for the stairs as he heard her order.

Jazz waited for a moment, cranked her neck to make sure he wasn't hidden behind a wall, then continued with her journal. "We're not sure how much longer this will go on for, but so long as we hold on to hope and stand up to this unrelenting darkness, we can move forward and become stronger as a whole."

Roy could be heard laughing just outside the door of the kitchen entryway. "You're so dramatic!"

"Just get me the nuggets, you butt!"

Once she could hear the door that leads outside was shut, Jazz clicked a button on her phone ending the journal entry. "Now, what do we have going on around town?"

Looking at the monitor, Jazz saw what looked to be an orange spec appear above the Nasty Burger. "Dang it, why can't this crap ever happen above a Taco Bell?"

Jazz pressed her com piece. "Dannielle, you're closest. We have another portal opening above the Nasty Burger. Go see who it is. Also, make sure if you see Uncle Roy, that he actually remembers my honey mustard this time."

For the most part, it reminded her of when they were still in high school. How all the ghost were still trying to fight the halfa and one after another, all of them tried and one after another, all of them failed. Back then things were different. People didn't die in those feuds.

The only time that it came close to anyone being killed— her family or otherwise— was when Dan first visit, and now he was a member of the family. Danny had that effect on people. Even Skull-Tech had a daytime job on the agreement that he got one day a year to hunt Danny, but they both knew it was just for fun now.

But this was different. Everything had been leading up to this. Everything was just a part of one big chess game and they were the pawns. Danny was especially upset by this but it didn't bother Jazz in the slightest. Danny was always a go with the flow kind of kid when he was growing up, the same went for Sam.

Jazz thought this might be one of the reasons Danielle turned out as well as she did with her circumstances. She had the freedom to choose and after what she went through at the start of her life she really needed that. Jazz, however, was not her brother. Every moment of her adolescent life, had been planned out to the tiniest detail and if something went wrong, it would drive her crazy until she could fix it.

When Jazz finally moved out and made it to college, she soon found out that the world she had prepared for was a lot more chaotic and random than what she could have ever planned. She had just about lost it when she bumped into this scrawny ginger fella who was carrying a lot of books. She had been so nervous and out of it in general, but when he helped her up, it seemed to calm her.

He had smiled and told her that he used to be the same way. He said that life is a string of unpredictable mayhem and the best you can do was, "hope for the best and work with the rest." While very cheesy, that was just what Jazz did. She had been so focused on planning her life that she didn't realize she wasn't enjoying it.

It took a while to get used to, but Jazz had adjusted well to the new lifestyle and soon, the two high school valedictorian's hit it off and not long after that, the sparks flew. Quite literally, as the two of them worked non stop inventing things and rising to the top of their class. After a rather large explosion due to sleep depravity, the two moved to Amity where they have been busy upgrading Team Phantom with the latest and greatest tech imaginable.

When even Tucker complimented them on their tech, they knew they were doing something right. All this brought a smile to her face and built up her confidence even more. So, if this really was one giant chess game, then whatever force was on her side knew darn well how valuable her pieces were.

"Aunt Jazz!"

"What's up, Fighting Pomeranian!?"

"We have Ember at the Nasty Burger, wait... What the heck did you just call me?"

"The Fighting Pomeranian, it's your code name."

"Why a pomeranian?!"

"Because everyone thinks 's there just the most adorable thing until they get angry and then they become this vicious beast tearing up anything that gets in their way."

"You know what... I like it."

That was Danielle for you. She was always such a surprise to Jazz from the moment she crashed into their lives. No one expected this little girl to have such an impact on their family. While Jazz had learned to change upon entering the real world, the real world was thrust upon Danny and Sam in the form of Danielle.

The Danny that Jazz grew up with was always a little reckless and the thought of him one day becoming a parent gave Jazz the shakes.

But that all changed with Danielle.

All of a sudden her little brother had a responsibility that didn't involve punching things. On top of that, this happened just three months into his relationship with Sam after years of them hiding their feelings for each other.

Jazz was absolutely amazed at the effect that Danielle had on those two and how they're relationship grew because of it. Danielle herself was probably the most amazing thing Jazz had seen in her life. This little girl created by the evilest man on the planet finds out she is a failed experiment, has parents only two years older than herself, and yet, she has become something more than she was ever intended to be.

She has pushed past every obstacle in her way and while she does have some scars on her, she never lets it stop her from living.

That's why it's been so hard for Jazz, seeing Danielle the way she was. From a therapist standpoint, it did make sense that after so many years of growth in absence of her abuser, that she would feel this way when confronted head-on. But even with her degrees, it didn't make it any easier to see her niece feel so helpless. They came from a strong stock, but nothing can prepare you for these kinds of things.

However, no matter how much Jazz hated to admit it, she saw the questioning in Danielle's eyes. She was at that age where she was finding out who she was, a young woman now stood where a little girl used to. And that entailed what she wanted.

Jazz wasn't stupid, far from it. Her niece was figuring out in her head on whether she wanted to go down the road Danny had, or find her own. Jazz hoped she would find her way one day. It was a hard choice, and a harder world out there, and the territory that came with it was brutal. And what she endured her first couple of years, Jazz knew Danielle deserved a lifetime of peace with whatever she desired to do in life and how she'd shape her own way.

Jazz's thoughts were interrupted when she heard a knock coming from the door. "It's open!" Jazz yelled.

Slowly opening the door, Izzy popped her head in. "Hey, Izz. How's it going? Dan still giving you a hard time on bed rest?"

She rolled her eyes, keeping to standing awkwardly as there wasn't a seat nearby."Yeah. You saw how he got out of bed and stayed on the couch for Danielle, that man sure is stubborn. But whatever that creep did, it messed with his ghost powers, that's for sure. He's just now starting to heal like he should but the fact that his powers took this long to come back in. full scares the death out of me."

Jazz hummed in agreement edging to the end of the seat, her elbow resting on her knees and hand supporting chin. "Whatever that fruitloop 's up to it really isn't good. I'm just glad we got to him in time. Anyway, I assume with the way things are right now you didn't stop by just to chat about boys."

"Well yes and no. I've had this thought for a long time and it's really been eating at me."

"And that thought would be?"

Izzy dug her hands into her pockets as she pivoted on the balls of her feet. "How old do you think Danielle really is?"

Letting her arms fall back on her lap, Jazz straightened at the question. "What do you mean? She's 22, well technically 12, but she's no child."

Izzy's teeth subconsciously pulled at the bottom of her lip. "That's what I'm getting at. Even in sci-fi, people don't just have 12-year-old bodies like Danielle had overnight. It takes time for cells to divide into that large of an organism, even with speeding up the process."

Jazz's eyebrows shot up at Izzy's words. "You're not saying there's something sinister with Danielle, are you?"

She quickly shut down the idea. "Gosh no! The girl is a saint with the mouth of a sailor. No, I'm thinking of something far worse. In order for her to be the way she was when Danny and her first met ten years ago, she had to have time to develop."

Giving a boneless shrug, Jazz's eyes were splashed with a hint of weariness. "Yeah, I see what you mean, but he's a crazy dude with advanced tech. He must've somehow found a way to advance her faster, along with her body being assembled quickly."

"Still, what if she's been around— at least was being made— longer than we thought. What if she existed and was being tortured by Vlad before the Nasty Burger explosion?"

"Oh my gosh..."

"Yeah."

"That's awful."

Izzy moved closer, steps heavy with guilt. "When Dan merged and became his purely dark self, he left Vlad a broken man. He stopped all of his research seeing as he had no more powers."

"So, there was a chance that if that never happened, that if Vlad still decided to continue, that there might have been a Danielle from your timeline as well."

Izzy inhaled, slowing her words. "Yeah. But that's not the thought that bothers me. Vlad had everything he needed and who's to say he didn't just wait for Danielle to be the proper age to stand a chance against Danny. If we had investigated, maybe if we took him more seriously, she could have had a chance. Danielle could've been happier, and she would've have turned out completely different, and not haunted by an abused past. We could've found her sooner."

Izzy looked at Jazz with tears in her eyes. "Maybe if she was around when I passed, maybe if he had known that she existed before I died...or even if he had found her right after I was gone and not when Vlad already had his claws into her, maybe Dan wouldn't have gone down that path. Maybe she wouldn't have so many scars as she does. They would've had each other."

Jazz held Izzy in a tight embrace as the tears flowed like floodwater. "Izz, you can't do that to yourself. We can't change what happened and you two now have two beautiful children. Dan has his scars, but when we talk, I can see the progress he's making. You did the best you could and frankly, you're doing amazing."

With her head buried in her sister-in-law's neck, Izzy's voice was small, scared as she spoke. The words trembled with agony. "But if Danielle was around for him, he would've had someone to keep a hold on his humanity. Clockwork almost killed himself to bring back his human half. If she were there-"

Jazz stopped her train of thought. "If she were there and Dan would have stayed human than that timeline would have been solid meaning that everyone Danny loved including you would have stayed dead. He would have Danielle and only Danielle. He would never love again in the way he loved you. He would have her and she would have him. Eventual she would've grown up and taken steps on her own. No matter what, you'd still have a man covered in scars."

Izzy's nodded her head in understanding, she had yet to pull away from the embrace.

Jazz continued, "At least the way things did turn out, he has a gigantic annoying family to distract him from those scars.

Roy entered the door, carrying two large paper bags. "Hey, sweetie! Guess what? The crowd Ember brought to the Nasty Burger worked up such an appetite during her brainwash concert that when Danielle sent her packing the crowd all bought food there. So, for helping them one of their slowest days this month, they gave us two free meals and all the honey mustard you can dip!"

It took a moment in the dimly lit room for Roy to see Izzy sitting next to Jazz in a chair she had scrounged up from the living room. "You know, what I'm just going to leave these here and let you two have some time."

Jazz smiled, brushing off his almost hasty retreat to give them privacy. "It's okay, Roy."

Izzy tried to give a happy smile, but it fell short of a broken one. "Yeah, besides, we just get to rent her for an hour. You're the one who keeps her sane after we leave."

Jazz laughed. "Oh please. I grew up with Jack Fenton as a Dad. Sane went out the window long ago."

"How do you do all this?"

"You know Izz, I should be asking you that. You're so strong and you keep three children in line all day long."

Izzy tilted her head at the word three that came from Jazz's mouth. "Unless you've been gossiping with Lilith, I'm pretty sure I only have two kids at the moment."

Jazz placed a hand on the younger girls shoulder, giving it a pat with her fingers. "You forget, I grew up with Danny. It doesn't matter what timeline he's from, he's always gonna be a kid at heart."

Roy took the moment to step up and hand Jazz her meal, while saying, "You know, how both of you grew up to be semi-sane individuals is a miracle. There are people with way more mundane lives that turn out to be complete nutters."

Just as Izzy was about to put some of the fries that she stole from Jazz's meal, she lowered the food as a questioning look sprung on her face. "Nutters?"

"He spent a semester in the UK before we met."

Roy rolled his eyes as he took a bite of his own food. "Besides, it's way more fun to say nutters than crazy."

Izzy looked between Jazz and Roy for a moment. "Okay, now I can see how you fit into this family."

"DANIELLE" PHANTOM:

Subject: 178

Artifical Age: 12

Height: 4'2"

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Black

Powers: Yes

Days Stable W/O Chamber: 26

Overall Success: Negative

Danielle looked at the 10-year-old piece of paper and crunched it up, throwing it against the wall and leaving it to tumble to the floor and collect dust in a forgotten part of her room. The world's from the newswoman playing over and over in her head.

"How do we know we can trust you?"

Danielle hated the press. Why couldn't they stop? How does one handle them and be okay in the end? How do they not cry behind closed doors where no one can see the pain? It was suffocating at best.

The press didn't understand, they never would. They didn't know the confidence that she showed them over the years was shaky. She wasn't the Danielle that Vlad pictured in his mind— while a monster— knew who she was and had the backbone to carry through.

She wasn't the million other Danielle's that Lilith showed her over the years in the multiverse. They had their lives figured out.

She didn't know who she was exactly at times— she wasn't an abomination, or something horrible. Those thoughts were long gone. She was loved, wanted, and a good person, she had a family. But she felt lost in a sea of who she wanted to become and what she wanted to do with the choices ahead of her.

And it felt like time was racing against to figure out her entire life in five minutes. The news already had asked that long ago: if she planned to follow in her dad's footsteps, Danielle always avoided the question.

And with the news wanting to pin her with Vlad, it only made things more time sensitive to show she wasn't with that monster. "I'm not him! I'm not Vlad! I'm Danielle Fenton. I'm Danielle Fenton! I'm Danielle Fenton!"

She sunk to the ground as her fist shook the floor. Her sobbing drowned out the sound of the traffic bustling outside through her opened window. "I'm a Fenton." Danielle slammed her arm against the wall knocking over one of Jazz's old piggy banks she had left after the move. She winced upon hearing the impact.

"Dang it."

Tucker walked in upon hearing the thud. "Pookums, what's wrong?"

Danielle sighed, pushing herself off from the ground. "So many years of people accepting me and cheering for me every time I fight off a ghost and it's undone the moment Vlad shows up."

Tucker wrapped his arm around Danielle, resting his forehead against hers. "Don't weep for the stupid, you'll be crying all day. I know it seems like some people believe that nonsense but it's just because they're scared. You gotta remember: they don't have powers. That's the problem with seeing a titan fly over you every day, it reminds people how small they really are. We do our best to protect them and to give them hope, but it can only go so far.

Fear can bring out the worst in people, but that doesn't mean that they are bad people. It just means they're human."

Danielle shivered in his embrace. "Yeah well, that guy at the police station he was "Bad people." The way he was looking at me the whole time…. I played it off like I owned the room, but I had to. That creep wanted me to... Ugh."

Tucker pulled back, looking her directly in the eyes, "Wait, he what now!? Oh, now I'm gonna head to that station right now and pun-"

She caught his arm before he could make his way out the bedroom door. "And what, get arrested too for beating up an unarmed man. Sweetie, I love where you're coming from, but there's nothing he can do. He's just a creep in a box."

Tucker sighed, clearing his head. "Please, honey. Don't let one negative voice speak for the millions who love you." With that, Tucker took his leave, heading downstairs to get some lunch.

She pressed herself against the wall and pushed herself up. "I can't just keep moping in here. They're people out there right now who need our help and sitting on my ass isn't going to do anything." Danielle transformed and flew out her window. "Alright, Vlad. Let's see if I can find any of your goons."

Just as she was about halfway done with her citywide sweep, with no luck, and sunset drawing down quickly on the town, she heard the chirping of her com unit.

"Danielle, you're closest. We have another portal opening above the Nasty Burger. Go see who it is. Also, make sure if you see Uncle Roy, that he actually remembers my honey mustard this time."

Danielle made a quick u-turn and made her way to the fast-food haven.

Upon arrival, the Danielle saw Ember surrounded by a swarm of followers. Amongst the crowd was Roy as he pushed through the madness trying to get Aunt Jazz's beloved nuggets. "That's smart. One person in a hundred not hypnotized by Ember and all she cares about were the people screaming her name. I guess he really is prepared for anything. I don't even have my Fenton phone on me."

Danielle presseed her com unit. "Aunt Jazz!"

The familiar voice of her aunt crackled through."What is it, Fighting Pomeranian!?"

"We have Ember at the Nasty Burger...wait..." The odd phrase hit her like a flying ice cream truck. " What the heck did you just call me?"

"The Fighting Pomeranian, it's your code name."

Danielle froze for a moment, stunned by her aunt's weirdness. "Why a pomeranian?!" Yeah, because the dog breed was the weird part of that name.

"Because everyone thinks 's they're just the most adorable thing until they get angry and then they become this vicious beast tearing up anything that gets in their way."

She was about to object until she remembered the time Tucker was chased for a mile by an angry Pomeranian. "You know what... I like it."

Danielle pressed the D on her chest, ending the conversation. Looking down at Ember she cracked her neck as a smile formed on her face. "Time to take out some misplaced aggression."

Floating to the top of the Nasty burger where Ember and her Haunted chorus were set up Danielle unplugs the sound system. "I'm in a bad mood today, Ember so this is your only warning. Take this show on the road, otherwise, this song is going to turn into a violent duet."

Ember gave Danielle a wink and with a stroke from her guitar, Danielle was thrown from the rooftop stage.

The fire burned in Danielle's eyes as she looked down at the stage. "Fine, you want a show. I'll give you one you'll never forget."

Ember signaled for her band to continue and soon, the band was playing full force as Ember rose to meet Danielle above the Nasty Burger. "Are you sure you want to do this softy? I wouldn't want you to blow up, like Daddy."

Danielle snapped. She ripped the guitar out of Ember's hand and let out a powerful wail as she stuck the cords. The roar of the ghostly guitar and Danielle's wail combined sent Ember flying to a nearby building as she broke free of the soundwaves just in time to catch herself before impact.

It took only a few minutes to collect herself and brush off the bruises and cuts that imprinted into her pale skin from the blow. "Heavy metal... Like your Mom... I can respect that, kid. But let me show what a real player can do."

Ember threw her hand in the air as sharp looking guitar materialized from the blue flames above her head.

The two locked eyes as they raised their axes and flew toward each other colliding in an epic musical showdown as the beat got faster and more intense with each swing.

Sweat fell from their brows, clinging to their skin before pinching off and dropping to the ground below. The two were growing tired of their fight, but neither one giving any ground as the crowd below cheered.

Ember eyed Danielle once more before she broke out in laughter. "You know you're way cooler than your stick in the mud Dad."

Danielle froze mid-strike and looked at her in a confused awe. "What!?"

The guitarist lowered her own weapon. "I'm saying, your Dad would never do this kind of thing. You rock girl. You know what," Ember looked down at her ghoulish band, "wrap it up, boys. The battle of the bands is over with for today."

Danielle looked to Ember, wondering if the teen ghost had gone insane, or if she herself had. Maybe both. "What the heck is going on!"

Ember floated closer, obviously not a threat anymore, but Danielle still stayed wary. "Your mom called and told me you were a little down. She figured a good showdown would brighten your spirits, but considering your dad and grandpa, she didn't expect you actually be any good. She should really take into account that you're her daughter too. Some of those genes had to rub off."

Well, thanks Mom

Ember gave Danielle a quick punch on the arm. "Ya got heart, kid. Don't ever let anyone take that away from you. Take the time to figure yourself out before you listen to what others want from you, ya hear me? You only have one life. Make it for you. Things aren't so black and white all the time."

Saying her goodbye, a ghost portal opened behind Ember as she and her band slipped inside.

Shaking her head, the halfa sighed. "What the hell, Mom. What the hell."

"Free nuggets!"

Danielle took in a deep breath of embarrassment. "He's gonna make a fine Fenton."

Danielle walked into her Grandparent's house with a blue raspberry slushie in hand. A reward for a job well done... well for surviving the week with her sanity intact. "There's no way aunt Jazz could have known about that. She sucks at keeping secrets from anyone other than Grandma and Grandpa." Danielle pressed her fingers against the sensor unlocking the door to the lab. looking through the slightly cracked door Danielle saw both Jazz and Aunt Izzy talking to one another.

"I should wait 'till their done talking."

She was closing the door when she heard Izzy say something odd. "Vlad had everything he needed and who's to say he didn't just wait for Danielle to be the proper age to stand a chance against Danny. If we had investigated, maybe if we took him more seriously, she could have had a chance."

Danielle's heart skipped a beat upon hearing her name. "What are they talking about?"

Curious, Danielle turned intangible and walked into the room out of sight from her aunt's. She could see Izzy was filled with grief. "Maybe if she was around when I passed... Maybe Dan wouldn't have gone down that path. He would have someone to keep him-"

Jazz threw her arms around Izzy, cutting off the rest of her sentence.

"She thinks I could have...helped..." Tears filled the entire room even from its hidden occupant.

Danielle had been so focused on all the negative voices that had been filling her life lately she had never considered that someone she didn't consider how much of an impact she had made on Izzy.

For someone so strong to find this in herm brought a glimmer of hope to Danielle's heart.

Because, in the moment, it didn't matter what the reporter said, it didn't matter what road she chose in the end. She had them. Ember was right.The rest would come in time. She wasn't in a sea of decisions, she was surrounded by love. Time could spare a minute.

And there we go. See you guys next chapter, I'm really excited for you guys to see it. Bring tissues.