Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom or any of its copyrights and trademarks.

Nyaa.

Warning: Ideological sensitivity ahead. It's just a plot device, and I mean no offense by it.

Nyaa.

=^-.-^=

Chapter 34

"You destroyed Spectra, then?" Stitches the cat was picking through a rolodex with her claws as she sat in the library. Thomas, sitting at her table in his human disguise, nodded and she gave a huff. "Well, that certainly puts a wrench in things. She would have been a great adversary for Danny to defeat on his own someday… Then again, it was more likely that Vlad would have gotten ahold of her. Congratulations, son; you've performed a mercy killing on some wench who probably didn't deserve it."

"You and I both know that neither Plasmius nor Phantom could have ever been nearly as creative as a bushel of Witchkins." Thomas frowned. "Your lack of faith in my abilities alone are hurtful. I don't think Hitomi would like that very much, either."

"Aw. Such a sweet big brother!" Stitch Witch smiled at him, then swished her tail and returned her attention to the rolodex. "Do you suspect she'll make a recovery within this century?"

"Unlikely. Kenny was there. Her psyche was being attacked from many different angles to begin with. The chaotic confusion and disorientation that he creates only amplified that." He tapped his fingers on the surface, clearly brooding. "You should have seen Hitomi's face when the woman slipped through the veil without any major lacerations. I thought that she might actually weep for once…"

"The outright death of an enemy like Spectra would be too noticeable, anyway. Especially since every member of this family seems to have one very recognizable signature in their modus operandi or another. Even the thought of someone finding her completely stupefied brings me worry…" Stitches paused for a moment, sitting very still with her paws on the rolodex. "…We need outside sources. Vlad is smart, and now he'll be paying attention. Sooner or later he'll realize that some of you are siblings with one another, and that's assuming he doesn't recognize all of you are siblings."

"Well, you're certainly not dragging your grandchildren into this." Thomas seemed to bristle, jaw set and fists tightening.

He suddenly wished he hadn't; the look in those feline yellow eyes turned deadly, and if he was bristling before, his mother's fur very well could have been made of pins and needles. "Did I say to bring them into this? Do I ever ask them to come into this sort of situation?!" she hissed venomously, a loud, low growl vibrating from her throat.

Thomas turned pale and lowered his head a little. "Yeah, well… Aaron's on his way."

"Aaron." It wasn't a question. Stitches' ears drew back and she softened immediately. "The prodigal son returns, then, hm? Here I thought that it would be bad enough with my more wraith-like children helping me…"

He watched the black cat as an uncomfortable silence fell between them. "Are you alright?"

"I don't want Vlad to meet Aaron." Stitches said softly. "It's inevitable, considering his relationship with Mom, but I still haven't prepared for that."

"Aaron's no different from Danny." Thomas tried to point out. They both needed the persuasion. "I mean, granted, he's several decades older and at least appears to be an adult, but he's just as pure and unchangeable."

"Danny's not unchangeable." Stitch Witch's thoughts lingered on the image of Dan Phantom from Clockwork's tower.

For a moment, she wondered why she didn't just show Vlad what his son might turn into if he continued down his current path.

Lily watched Vlad work as she floated in a corner of his lab. The human man was meticulous and silent, with a somber frown on his face. He hadn't enjoyed his fight with Daniel – no decent parent would – and afterwards he had begun to work on his weaponry with a quiet fervor beneath his calm expression. She recognized the madness that was threatening to sink in and overtake him, and all because he worried over the well-being of his child.

It was a familiar sight to her.

Something on his workbench sparked and was followed by a hiss of pain. Vlad backhanded the would-be firearm away, rubbing his hand as he brooded further. For a man who had something so good in his life, the sour expression was unusually at home on his face.

"Perhaps things aren't working for you because you should be trying another path." she mused, alerting him to her presence.

He sighed and turned his head slightly, keeping his back to her. "There are precious few ways to protect my son, Miss Lily." he muttered. There was a pause. "I've created a terrible world for him. If I do not finish my work, he will always be in danger."

"You craved power over love. It is something that humans and ghosts do, which, I'm afraid, means you're particularly normal." Lily soon appeared directly behind him, putting her hands on Vlad's shoulders as she tried to talk to him. She had to stand on the tips of her toes to rest her chin on one of those shoulders. "You don't need to continue this, though. You have free will! You can change your mind! Don't you see, Vlad? You have power enough to protect your family as you are at this very moment. Please, do not become like the husband I lost. I would hate to see you reduced to such a senseless end."

Her voice was almost a whisper due to the desperation in her voice. Vlad wondered how she could manage to show her emotions so openly, almost as if she didn't fear exposing weakness. Lily Belladonna was a strange dove. "There will always be those looking for revenge for the things I've done already. Things I did before Daniel was even born. There once was a time when I would have stopped and cowered away, but I can no longer afford that. My son has given me focus; who knows what sort of madman or lunatic I might be if he had never survived the accident! I would still be so focused on revenge against Jack Fenton, so goodness knows that I probably would have never married for appropriate reasons, and the same goes for having my own children!"

"Well, you don't necessarily need a spouse to have your own young these days." Lily pointed out with light mirth. "Ashley uses cloning and genetic engineering to create many of her own children."

Vlad finally looked at the woman, so that he could give her a flat, unimpressed look. "That sounds incredibly ridiculous. I mean, honestly… cloning?"

She smiled. "There's my dear friend." She lowered her hands so that she could hug him tightly around the middle, laying her cheek against his back. "You shouldn't work while you're so stressed. Nothing good can come of it. If work doesn't bring happiness, then it cannot possibly be worth doing."

The halfa sighed, placing his hands on hers as he gave a chuckle. "I must disagree, but with the utmost respect for you, my dear. Still, you're right. I cannot focus on two problems at one time. So…" He paused for a moment, clearly struggling with the words that he was about to say. "…I will cease my pursuit of the Behemoth, and the Skeleton Key."

Lily's head jerked up so that she could stare at him. She tried to reply, but words escaped her for the moment. Finally, a young voice behind them both said, "That sounds like a wise decision."

Vlad turned quickly, breaking from Lily's grip so that he could plant himself between her and the intruder who had just stepped through the Ghost Portal. The ghostly young man was wearing a black suit, with a black tie, white dress-shirt and black shoes that made him look very professional-looking for his perceived age. His hair was tied back in a ponytail, and a pair of sunglasses covered his eyes. Vlad scowled hard at him, silently demanding to know what he was doing there.

"No, wait!" Lily gasped, peering around Vlad. "That's my oldest grandson! That's Aaron!" She sounded delighted.

"Grandma?" Aaron smiled as his head turned and tilted, pointing an ear in their direction. Then he began folding something up in his hands. It was a cane.

"You're blind." Vlad said intelligently. As Lily giggled at him and swept over to the young ghost, Vlad proceeded to mentally kick himself. "That was rude of me."

"Rude? It sounded like a very accurate observation to me." Lily wrapped her arms around one of Aaron's and he patted her hands. His fingers fumbled over hers a little. "Grandma! We don't see eachother face-to-face in a year, and you still haven't married?! At least have a hand-fasting, or whatever it is that our people would have done during your lifetime!"

Lily gently smacked his shoulder before leading him over to Vlad. "Aaron, now's not the time for that. You are in Vlad Masters' house. He is your mother's employer, and my personal dear friend."

"Dear friend?" Aaron looked both confused and pleased as he shook hands with the halfa. "I suppose that I like the sound of that. Now, what's this?" Instead of letting go of Vlad's hand, he instead began using both of his own to feel it, from wrist to fingertip.

Vlad was baffled. "What on earth are you doing?!" he asked, trying to pull his hand away.

Aaron was unusually strong, but he released his host nonetheless. "There are those of us sightless folks who wish to feel a person's face to judge their appearance, and then there are those who would rather feel a hand, to judge their character. For a businessman in the Living Realm, you have a hand surprisingly similar to a gladiator, Mr. Masters – save, of course, for the absence of calluses. I recommend that you get some as soon as you can. Every hard-working man has them." Like his grandmother, Aaron was somehow unable to sound pushy or insulting. He kept a friendly smile on his face as he spoke, too.

Still, he was equally as bizarre as his mother. "I'll… keep that in mind…" Vlad muttered, clenching and unclenching his hand. "So, Aaron. You're one of Stitch Witch's brood, are you?"

"That's right. I am her oldest." Aaron removed his sunglasses, revealing green eyes that were strikingly pale. It would be hard for him to pass as human if it relied on his eyes alone. "And you are her employer, Vlad Plasmius. I think I prefer Mr. Masters, personally. Like Grandmother, I prefer humans to ghosts. A side-effect of living with so many of them, I'm afraid."

"Er, yes, I've heard that there are twenty of you or so."

"Twenty-two. Some of us with children of our own, mind you. Of course, I doubt you will have to remember all of our names. Many of my younger brothers and sisters are rather aloof, and they like to come and go as they please with as little contact with the living as possible." Aaron turned his head in Lily's direction. "Grandmother, could I trouble you for a glass of water? It's been a long journey for me."

"Oh! Of course!" Lily kissed her grandson on the cheek. "At least I know you won't start any fights, Aaron."

Vlad watched her leave. "…What did she mean by that?" He eyed the blind man defensively.

"Many of my family members are antagonizers at heart. Luckily, I'm just the opposite. I prefer to keep the peace among them." Aaron's expression turned serious as he straightened up, hands in his pockets. "I'm afraid that my visit isn't entirely for personal purposes, Mr. Masters. I have come to warn you about my younger siblings."

"I see. And exactly what should I be wary of?"

"Jealousy, mostly. Even though mother has been playing with life since her friendship with a Gregor Mendel, I'm afraid ghosts just don't mature the same way humans do. Sometimes it seems you're either born with it, or you're not." Aaron sighed and shook his head. "There are those in this family who are jealous of you and your son for having so much of my mother's attention. I've tried explaining why it's so important to her that she meddle in your lives right now, but that does little when the listener is not listening."

"Why is it so important that she 'meddle in our lives' right now?"

"You don't know?" Aaron frowned forlornly in Vlad's direction. "I shouldn't be surprised that she wouldn't want you to worry about it. The truth is, Mr. Masters, your son may potentially become the next great evil after Pariah Dark, my grandfather. She is trying to ensure that that doesn't happen."

Vlad's eyebrows shot up. He was glad that Aaron couldn't see his surprise. "Daniel? The next great evil? My boy, you must be sorely mistaken. The little badger hasn't got an evil cell in his entire body!"

"Anyone is capable of anything, Mr. Masters. As a half-ghost, you should realize that." Aaron gave him a serious expression. "People may be creatures of habit, but if my long years on this planet have taught me one thing, it is that they are also incredibly unpredictable, and usually at the most inopportune of times."

"Point taken." Vlad's mind puzzled for a moment. "Why, then, would my boy be at risk from your family? I've heard your mother spends long periods of time away from home…"

"She's not neglectful, in my honest opinion. However, when humans are young, she has a habit of spoiling them with her attention, and ghosts are treated very much the same way. Whether they went through a period of independent rebellious behavior or not, the day comes when they suddenly realize that she doesn't focus solely on them anymore, and they just don't know how to react to it. Time usually helps them, but… Well, we are the children of our mother, not to mention the descendants of Pariah." Vlad winced at the thought a little. "Surely you've noticed that mother assumes the form of an animal around you and Danny? A cat, perhaps? Humans – even children – will mourn the loss of a pet less than the loss of a close relative or friend most of the time. When the day comes that she is finished looking after your son, it may be centuries before you see her again. And, as halfas, you will probably see her again."

"What do you mean?"

"Halfas do not die. Humans die, but ghosts are already dead. Ghosts disappear, which humans cannot physically do." Aaron shrugged. "At least, that is why Mom has never died. You and Danny were made halfas through science, so maybe different rules apply to you. I am a man of belief, not science."

"I see." Vlad studied Aaron critically. "…Aaron, how on earth do you know all these things? I mean, certainly you've had a fair amount of time longer with your parent than the average person, but I would think it's impossible to really, truly know so much unbiased information about one's mother or father."

"The simple answer to that is, I wasn't born blind. In depth? My father was a fallen Archangel, back when such beings shared the realm with ghosts and humans and other such creatures, with precisely the same level of physical and spiritual presence. Clockwork did a great deal more than just 'setting time in place' with his timeline." Aaron smiled pleasantly. "My father did terrible things to my mother, in spite of his beautiful human guise. When I fought him, I faced him in his true form. Coincidentally, I also broke the supercontinent that was in place at the time. I'm very old, Mr. Masters."

"You… don't say." Vlad looked at Aaron suspiciously. "So, let me get one last thing clear: If you are who I think you are, shouldn't you be a bit more… evil? Destructive, perhaps?"

Aaron chuckled. "We are who we choose to be, Mr. Masters. Our experiences may mold and shape us, but at the end of the day, everything is our decision. Sometimes, those decisions are very difficult."

"What are you two talking about? Philosophy?" Lily had returned. She swept over to Aaron, placing the glass of water in his hand while she smiled at Vlad. "I hope he hasn't bothered you any. He's a very opinionated young man."

"Are you talking about him, or about me?" Vlad mused. "He's quite a bit older than me, from what it seems." Still, talking with Aaron had been a very enlightening experience.

=^-.-^=;;

Again, I would like to reiterate that I mean no offense to anyone of any spiritual/religious viewpoints. My aim by using the fallen Archangel Lucifer (yes, that Lucifer) as Aaron's father was to drive home two points: Reinforcing Pariah's curse on his daughter to "attract/fall in love with evils as great as himself", and by demonstrating, through Aaron, that society-created roles are not things that one has to live up to. Like Danny's possibility of becoming Dark/Dan, it's more of a challenge than stone-cold fact that a person will turn out a certain way.

I thank you for your consideration and understanding, and again hope no one is offended in any way. You all seemed to take it pretty well when I
touched on Earth Religion/Pagan/Wiccan spirituality. This is fiction, after all. And I am a cat.

Nyaa. *runs away*