Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

Note (10/16/2017): If I don't end up writing from where I left off this morning writing this then sorry this chapter is so short! But I think it's better that way in the end because it's another loose end tied off. Besides, I'm still looking up pictures of how I want the estate to look. After all I want it to stand out from Vlad's castle but also sound like something built sometime in the 1600's.


~Chapter 44~

The Ravenheart Legacy


Maybe it's just because it was his first time, but being teleported gave Owen a bad case of vertigo and he needed to regain his footing again before the two of them made their way to the hidden chamber where Owen took refuge in from Azrael before. It was weird being back here again after everything that happened but it was something he needed to do. Something they both needed to do, together...

And while they were setting things up and he watched Vlad replace the old candles with new ones, Owen couldn't help but laugh a little. "It feels like we're setting up for a séance with my dead relatives. Talk about creepy."

In response, Vlad raised an amused eyebrow, "Aren't we though? After all, this is the entrance to your old family home so my guess is there may very well be a few ghosts bound to the property that served your family. With this you will be acknowledging that you are the last living heir to their legacy and for all rights and purposes inheriting the entire estate and all of their secrets."

"Whoa, pressure much?" Owen laughed nervously, holding The Grimoire in his arms. "I hope they won't expect me to live there since it hasn't been refurbished or taken care at all of for who knows how long!"

"Well I for one think it would make an excellent project, after all, didn't you tell me before that you wanted to grow up to be an architect?" Vlad asked, taking him by the shoulders and stepping off to the side as he spoke, envisioning the whole endeavor. "I'm sure there are documents hidden in there or perhaps your mother had her own copies to prove that you legally own this place now. And I would be more then happy to fund the project and let you oversee the process. Given what we've seen of the place depicted in The Grimoire the estate is rather large. You can think of it as an early birthday present."

Owen turned to look at him, impressed that he remembered about that from when he first arrived at his castle. "I'm surprised you remembered that. Then again, I did tell you that the heating system in your castle could use an upgrade." Smirking, Owen's eyes flashed and the candles Vlad set up on the stone table burst into flame and cast everything in a pale blue light, reminding him of their training session too.

"Show off," Vlad scoffed, dramatically rolling his eyes.

Owen just shrugged and smiled, "Well it's hard not to when my future dad is watching. Besides, I learned from the best."

"That you did," Vlad said proudly, ruffling Owen's hair before stepping away and invited him to go ahead with the final stage of the ritual. "After you my boy."

Taking a deep breath and repeating the process in his head on how to make sure Vlad could go in with him, Owen reverently placed The Grimoire down on the book stand and took the quill and ink that Vlad offered him. And of course to add to the irony Vlad had purchased a quill made from a raven's feather. The weirdo. The book never said it HAD to be a raven's feather, any pen would have worked as long as the ink mixture was done correctly.

Just to be safe once Vlad was positive that Owen's powers had flushed out all the foreign blood from the transfusion, even though it was the same type genetically, he suggested that they add a little fresh blood to the ink just to be certain there were no complications after getting this far. Owen could see the logic in that so with a quick little jab, he pricked his finger and added a few drops of blood to the ink which glowed blue for a second before going back to normal. He took that as a good sign and after given Vlad a curt nod to let him know it worked, Owen stared back down at the blank page before him...

Unbidden, the song Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield came to mind and Owen snickered. When Vlad gave him a quizzical look Owen just waved him off, "Sorry, I just thought of something funny but I'll tell you about it later. Just ignore me."

"If you say so, but now I can't help but feel curious," Vlad smiled before he fell silent and resumed watching Owen with growing interest. Owen knew he was only delaying the inevitable so after taking in another breath and shaking his head, he began writing his name...only to pause after getting his first name down.

Should he write his name down as 'Owen Masters' since that's what it was going to be legally changed to once Vlad adopted him? Or should he keep the last name as Ravenwood because that was still who he was right now? Then there was that whole thing about keeping the family name alive but...did he want it to be? Would his first name be enough since Owen felt so unsure or did it not count unless he wrote down the whole thing? Damn it, after all this why did he have to suddenly have all these silly doubts NOW when they were at the threshold?!

Noticing his hesitation, Vlad smiled tenderly and said, "Owen, it doesn't matter what name you use. It already knows who you are from your blood. The name is just words. Don't let it bother you."

"I know," Owen sighed shakily. "It's just, this is so important and I don't want to mess it up so-!" Suddenly, something Azrael told him before he passed out from tearing out the Blood Blossoms came to mind:

Owen blinked, wondering if he'd gotten the name wrong in his crazed ranting and pointed out. "Wait, don't you mean Ravenwood? You said it wrong, my last name has always been Ravenwood."

Smiling without looking back down at him, Azrael explained, "To you perhaps, but long ago your family name was Ravenheart. I knew you as such during the time when I still lived back in the late 1600's. My family and yours were close allies, you and I even closer friends. We were practically brothers. As you can imagine though, some of those ancient family names were basically a dead-giveaway to those damned Witch Hunters who were weeding out all those who, in their eyes, were either heretics or possible devil worshipers. And so, it made sense that at one point the most notable families among the clans attempted to conceal their true nature by changing their family name. That's what your family did, and ever since then you have been known as the Ravenwoods."

"Owen? What is it?" Vlad asked, tensing a little when Owen cut off his own sentence.

"Ravenheart..." Owen muttered under his breath.

But since Vlad heard him he took a step forward and asked, "Pardon?"

Turning to face Vlad, Owen explained, "When I confronted Azrael after he kidnapped me he told me that my original family name was Ravenheart. Not Ravenwood. It was changed after the Salem Witch Hunts started so, this was never the Ravenwood estate, it's the Raven-HEART estate. So if we want to get in I have to go back to the beginning..." Without waiting for a response, Owen finished writing his name and it came out as...

Owen Ravenheart.

And the instant the name was completed both Owen and The Grimoire started to glow and a phantom wind swirled around them, flipping the pages until the book snapped shut and the candles were snuffed out. No less then a minute later runes appeared on the wall directly in front of them along with the Ravenheart family crest and a passage opened in front of them.

Once they both stopped glowing, Owen exhaled a deep breath and swayed and gripped the front of the table. He could feel it, the finality of his choice and it was like a physical weight had been lifted from his shoulders only to be replaced by a new one, the weight of his future now that the ghosts of the past had finally been dealt with...