Okay. There will be more story-related things discussed here. Then, if everything plays out properly, there will be some other things here. Let us hope for the best. For now…

Disclaimer! I do not own Danny Phantom or any references that pop up. Quite a few might pop up this chapter, so heads up!

Here the Chapter Starts

Valerie never thought her home was much. A few trinkets and knick-knacks that expressed bits of her if anyone ever looked at them long enough. A few pictures of her family and friends on the walls. Everything was a neutral color, which made it easier to collect things without having to worry about anything jumping out with a burst of color that could make anyone stagger. It is a simple home, big enough for her and a guest, with a decent size backyard, a pool right in the middle of it.

But the way Phantom was looking around almost made her self-conscious about it. He showed her how his home looked, the wondrous mesh of colors from coral, fish, and crystals all melded together in the deep blue with the sunlight dancing across them as it penetrated the waves. Her home must seem dull in comparison.

Sighing, she locked the door behind her, hoping none of her neighbors noticed the naked, turquoise man that came out of her car and followed her into her house. "First of all, you're wearing something," she declared, walking around the merman that was staring at a picture on the wall. "I will not have you walking around my house naked!"

"Why are you humans so obsessed with covering yourselves?" he asked incredulously as she entered the bathroom and grabbed a towel. "Especially you, Valerie. You are a true beauty. It is a shame I cannot see more."

She threw the towel at him, earning a curious look. "Wrap that around your waist while I find something that may be better for you to wear," she instructed as she stepped into the guestroom. Normally her father would spend the night in this room if there were late nights and she didn't want him driving home dead tired. Because of such, any clothing for men would be in here. "And humans wear clothes because walking around naked is considered indecent. People get into trouble." She kept the knowledge of nude beaches and communities to herself. "People also get embarrassed about how they look, so they don't show off. Especially people that get body shamed."

"Body shamed?" Phantom repeated, entering the doorway while holding the towel on his waist.

"Yeah, cruel human thing," she growled, remembering Paulina doing such to her when they first met before finding out she came from money. Star, at least, didn't do it. But Paulina? Whole other story. "The thin and beautiful make fun of the fat and ugly, even if they aren't that fat or ugly. Then they go sharing it with everyone to embarrass them. People have gotten into trouble for body shaming, but it hasn't been classified as a real crime, maybe a misdemeanor. Depends." Pulling out a pair of boxers, she handed them over to the merman. "Put those on."

Phantom regarded them with a sneer, but did as he was told begrudgingly. It was loose on his hips and didn't hug his legs, so it wasn't rubbing his skin wrong like that 'towel' was. Bundle of strings sticking out kept catching onto his sharkskin and making it itch. "You have nothing to be ashamed of. You have a magnificent figure. Your breast as nicely shaped and well supported, and your hips are perfectly proportioned to your slim waist. Not to mention how you move. It is entrancing!"

"Okay, not discussing this with you!" Valerie exclaimed, covering his mouth with her hand. "You don't just go talking about someone's body like that!"

He cocked his head to the side, pulling her hand off his mouth. "Why not? It is a common topic among my people. One of the first things Skulker told Ember was how pleasing he found her body."

Valerie rolled her eyes and shook her head. "We're not talking about this," she informed firmly as she pushed him out of the room. "So long as you have your junk covered, I think we'll be fine."

"My… junk?" he repeated, brows knitting together in confusion before he realized what she was talking about. "Oh, you mean my penis."

"Oh my god, you don't do that!" she exclaimed with a startled laugh. "Inappropriate to humans!"

"How so?" he asked. "Do you find me inadequate? Because I will have you know, even among my people, I am considered-"

"Dan! Stop right there!" she shouted while poorly stifling any laughs from the merman's comment. "First of all, not checking you out. Second, even if I was -just to shut you up- to humans, you're bordering huge. Not that I was looking! But you sure as hell don't hide it." Clapping her hands together and ignoring his smug look, she directed him to the living room. "Now, sit down and tell me what you were doing all day."

He regarded the couch curiously then eased himself down into it, his red eyes widening in surprise when he sank into the cushion. Valerie swore he looked ready to bolt off it if he wasn't so baffled. "I was searching for Fright Knight," he explained, looking over the couch and pressing random points on it. "I thought it odd that he, as the king's guard, was so easy to defeat. Either he was simply weak, or he allowed me to defeat him easily. I wanted to make sure which it was. He told me he did not care for Pariah Dark, but he does find me a worthier king to follow than him."

"So he let you get by him and to Pariah Dark?" she asked, bringing a knee to her chest and resting her cheek on it.

"Not without injury," he replied, his hand tracing over the scarred flesh on his side. "He had to make it convincing, you see. While we spoke, Clockwork also arrived." Here he paused, looking away in slight shame.

"Did something happen?" Valerie pressed, nudging his hip with her foot.

"I told him that he will change you when I demand him to," he admitted.

"What?" she hissed, glaring at him. "You said you don't care!"

"Just as you worry for me, I worry for you," the merman informed sternly, meeting her glare with his own piercing gaze. "You do not seem to understand the way of my people. If anything were to happen to you, yes I will be enraged. I would kill whoever harmed you! But if you met anyone other than Skulker or Ember in the water today, someone like that eel Desiree or that clingy thresher Spectra, you could have been killed! Any mermaid would want to be my mate simply because I am the king! If you just accept the change, you could defend yourself against them if you encounter them in the sea."

"People have ways," she stated. "I generally have something on me for protection. I would have been fine."

"Not if they broke your metal tubes of air," he pointed out. "Then they could have kept you in the water and watched you drown. As a mermaid, you would not have to fear drowning or rely on open air all the time. You could breathe above and below!"

"Uh-huh. And what did Clockwork say?"

"He said that he will not change you unless you wish it to happen. And that I should be more observant of you because he could sense something that I, apparently, am unable to sense." Looking over her curiously, he asking, "Were there any merfolk in your lineage?"

Valerie shook her head. "Not that I'm aware of," she answered. "Both my parents are human, their parents are human, and so on down the line. I did a project on my family tree in high school and there was nothing unusual about it."

Phantom hummed then shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Something tells me the way he speaks is going to aggravate me," he commented, leaning into the backrest and crossing his arms. Frowning, he wriggling against it and rolled his shoulders before leaning forward again. "It's itchy."

"Is not!" she protested. "This, mister, is made of polyester nylon. It may be synthetic, but it is not itchy!"

"It irritates my skin," he commented sourly, glaring at the furniture.

"Whatever. So, the king has a guard? I thought all merfolk fight their own battles."

"Usually, yes. But the king is different. Most fights for certain things can be handled by myself, but challenges for the crown are a different matter. In order for the king to not waste his time on a weakling with dreams of royalty, the guard fights the challengers first to get a feel for them. Should the guard be defeated or believe the challenger is worthy of the king's time, then they will concede, like Fright Knight did with me."

"Doesn't the challenger also get weakened, though? And tired?"

"Sometimes. I was, yet I still won."

"You ate him from the inside out."

"I only swallowed a mouthful when I was hungry enough," he muttered, turning his head away. "We try our best to not resort to cannibalism, but some things are difficult to avoid. Skulker told me when I emerged that I was inside Pariah Dark for nearly two weeks. I got hungry and needed to eat in order to keep up my strength."

"Okay then," she sighed, her eyes wide. "Tasted bad, huh?"

"Absolutely disgusting," he grouched, his lips twisting in distaste.

She snickered into her knee, though he knew she was smirking in amusement just from the light dancing in her eyes. "So, want to tell me why exactly you're after Vlad Masters?" she asked. "I know you said he's a threat, and I figure it had something to do with him killing your mom. But I keep feeling like that isn't the whole story."

Phantom shook his head. "It isn't," he confessed with a low sigh. "Vlad Masters is a descendant of a merman or mermaid. I never bothered to ask him, but I could smell it in his blood, though badly diluted. Many generations ago, most likely. In his company is an exile by the name of Plasmius, a giant ray merman."

Valerie's leg lowered as she looked to the merman in confusion. "Whoa, you have to slow down a bit with the information because that little bit just threw me off," she stated, earning a chuckle from him. "Vlad Masters has a mer-ancestor?"

"Yes. Until it reaches the point of the gene being overpowered by the human gene, merfolk can still smell it in the blood of a descendant."

"Okay. Now, an exile?"

"Exiles are merfolk who committed terrible crimes, but not grave ones. Grave crimes are punishable by death. But exiles are expelled from the oceans for a certain amount of years, depending on the one who sentences them. If an exile were to return to the sea before their sentence is over, merfolk will smell them in the water, hunt them down, and kill them."

"A little harsh."

"Most consider it a mercy," he brushed off. "A lot of exiles end up losing their minds, or are so desperate for the sea that they are willing to die just to get back to it. It is a harsh punishment. Few exiles last long enough to return after their sentence. Those that leave the water of their own choice have an easier time adjusting, and can still return to the ocean to keep in touch with themselves."

"But how does anyone know if an exile is returning before they're supposed to?" she pressed, leaning closer in anticipation.

"They are scent-marked as exiles with a special salve that cannot be washed away, only worn down," he explained. "All merfolk know the scent of the exile, so when they smell it, they surge to kill that exile. Judging from how thin the salve is made measures the length of time for the exile. But when it is used without any dilution, it will last a lifetime. Plasmius has such a salve on him. He is forbidden from returning to the sea for the rest of his life."

"Wow. So who is he and what did he do?" Valerie inquired worriedly. A merman being exiled from the ocean for life? Whatever it was must have been extremely serious.

"His crime should have resulted in his death," Phantom snarled darkly, his hands clenching tight enough for him to feel the bite of his claws digging into his palms. "He raped several mermaids and slew their younglings, some he sired himself if rumors are to be believed. No one knows why he was exiled, though, instead of killed. Clockwork said it was a group called the Observers who decided, even though others called for death."

"Shit!" she exclaimed in shock, her eyes wide and back straight in her shock. "And that guy is around Mister Masters?!"

"Worse, he's manipulated him," the merman corrected. "Masters was the one who captured my mother and I because Plasmius was targeting her before his exile. Fuck, before I was even born from what she said. I don't know what he said to that human to get him to work for him, but because of him, I was beaten to near death several times trying to defend my mother from him. Sometimes, I felt I was unsuccessful."

Her heart broke as Phantom bowed his head and let out a shaky sigh. Though unsure how he would react, she eased herself over until she was pressed against him and placed her head on his shoulder, one hand on his bent elbow and the other on the opposite shoulder. She could feel his body trembling, though from withheld sadness or rage was unknown.

"I would be beaten to unconsciousness, hearing her beg him to stop. When I would wake, she would be curled up in a ball with new injuries, reeking of fresh blood. But she always… always wrapped herself around me when he was done with her. Like she was protecting me. And all I did was fail to protect her!"

"How old were you?" she whispered softly.

"Nine at that time, ten when we escaped, but it doesn't matter," he growled, glaring at nothing in particular.

"Phantom, you were just a kid at that time," Valerie point out soothingly, petting back the hair hanging over his forehead. "What could you do against a full grown merman?"

"Whatever I could!"

She sighed sadly, the hand on his elbow rising to his bicep and squeezing reassuringly. "You did do what you could, and she did what she could to save you," she pointed out softly, her thumb caressing his skin. "You were all she had, just as she was all you had in that place. If she didn't draw him from you, he would have killed you. Even if she survived, she would probably never forgive herself for failing you. Because you are her child and it wasn't your job to protect her. It was her job to protect you."

He growled lowly in his throat, but moved his head over to the side to nuzzle against her. "It doesn't matter anymore. She is dead and gone. He killed her. But I will avenge her death. Both Masters and Plasmius will die by my hands." He huffed, his breath pushing a few stray strands of her hair. "We both got out of the cage. We were running to freedom when he showed up."

Closing her eyes as she listened, Valerie found herself on a stone patio in the middle of the night. Panting as she looked over her shoulder to see the tall, worryingly scrawny woman following her. Thoughts not her own we're close, so close screaming in her head. But then a black-haired merman stood between them, grinning wickedly as he blocked them from their only escape. Then she –no, Phantom- snarled, getting between him and the woman - his mother.

The blue merman with the insane red eyes charged and Phantom was pulled down to the side by his mother, both falling to the ground. They were closer to the wall now.

"Run," she ordered, pushing him to the wall before getting up and facing Plasmius.

"No, Mom! Get back!" he argued.

Her hand was on his shoulder and she gave him a sad smile before kissing his forehead. "I love you." With as much strength as her weak arms couldn't possibly possess, she shoved him back. He tripped backwards over his feet, tumbling over the wall and falling into the water.

His legs changed into his tail, quickly pushing himself back to the surface. "Mom! Mom!" He tried climbing the wall, but it was too slick for him to cling to. "Mom!" He dove down as deep as he could go then surged back up to jump from the water. The wall was only fifteen feet. He can make it! But his hands only scratched the stone halfway up. "No! Mom!" Diving again, he shot back up for another jump, but his second attempt was no better. "MOM!"

A crack in the air, thunder without the flash of lightning streaking across the sky. He froze, the water moving around him to strike at the wall he failed to jump. "Mom? …Mom!" A body flew over the wall, falling to the water. Recognizing the teal skin and red hair, he dove down after her. "Mom!" Why wasn't she shifting? Why is she still carrying legs and not her tail?

Why was a thin cloud of blood coming from her?

He grabbed hold of her, shaking her. Her eyes, open and unseeing, stared back as the water played with her limp form. "Mom? Mom, wake up. We can go home now. He can't get to us here." She wasn't moving. Wasn't answering him. He shook her in his arms, eyes spotting the hole in her chest where the blood was coming from but not wanting to register just what it could mean. "Mom, wake up!"

Valerie gasped as the vision cleared, a cold hand on her face stroking her cheek. She pulled away, wiping her face with her hands. No surprise, she was crying.

"She didn't wake up," she said, her voice cracking.

"No," Phantom confirmed. "Those things you humans use, guns I think… Masters must have done it. Plasmius never used anything other than his own claws and fangs." He looked to the young woman that cried over the fate of his mother, something he was honestly surprised by. "Valerie." She looked to him, her eyes red and puffy with sparkling lines trailing down her cheeks. "You know about Plasmius now. You know what he looks like. If you see him, you run. As far and as fast as you can. If possible, jump into the sea. He won't be able to follow you there without risking every other merfolk coming at him to kill him."

"What if you're there, too?" she asked, her voice unsteady from the tightness of her throat.

"You run," he repeated sternly. "He will use you to get to me. He will kill you in a heartbeat if he believes for a second that it will give him the upper hand. So if you see him, you run. Even if I am there, especially if I am there, you run."

She wanted to scoff, but just the memory Phantom showed her sent her body into a fearful tremble. Phantom said exiles go insane sometimes, but they mostly return to the ocean to get killed. Plasmius was just psychotic! He went insane before his exile, most likely. Like hell she was going to abandon Phantom against something like that. She'll run all right… to the closest weapon she can get her hands on.

"I think that's enough for tonight," she informed, glancing to the clock. "It's eleven and I'm not even tired enough to sleep. We need a better subject. Something not so upsetting." She got to her feet and browsed over her movies.

"What are you doing?" Phantom inquired, surprised by the sudden change in Valerie's demeanor. He could still tell that she is upset, but if she needs something happier as a distraction, he won't complain.

"Exposing you to human wonder," she replied, pulling a movie off the shelf. "And this is mostly for my amusement." After this conversation, she needs a decent laugh before bed.

Here is a line!

"This is how humans see us?" Phantom asked incredulously as the colorful screen portrayed a red-haired mermaid with a green tail dancing around with fish while some red crab sang. He looked to Valerie in shock, ignoring her quiet laughter that shook her whole body. "This?! This is an embarrassment!"

"It's mostly for kids," she managed to say through her giggling.

"We are nowhere near this musical," he grouched, crossing his arms as he leaned against the couch Valerie was stretched across. He found the floor much more comfortable than the itchy fabric. "This has been, what? Twenty minutes? And they sang three times?! No! This is… abhorrent! And they are all the same! The only difference is their colors! Also, fish and crabs do not talk. We are not friends with our food. What do they think we eat? I would have eaten that damn bird the second I got close enough!"

Valerie burst into laughter, holding her ribs as her legs kicked the air. She knew The Little Mermaid would upset Phantom, but this was not what she was expecting. He hasn't stopped ranting the entire time and it was hilarious.

"Okay, okay, I'll put something else on," she coughed as she rolled off the couch, barely avoiding the merman's lap. She stopped the movie and staggered over, her body still shaking with her amusement while Phantom grumbled under his breath. That was a lot funnier than she imagined it would be. "Alright then. How about we try Pirates of the Caribbean?" she suggested, holding up the mentioned movie.

"Pirates? Hmm…" He looked at the cover in thought before nodding. "Very well. I wonder how you humans remember them to be."

"Probably not completely accurate," she replied with a shrug as she switched out the movies. Once the movie was going, she went into her kitchen, well aware of the eyes on her. "I'm getting a drink and snack. Want something?"

"I do not know what you even have," he reminded as he got to his feet and followed after her, the girl singing softly nothing more than background noise to him.

"Well, do you want some water?" she asked, looking at him over the top of her fridge door. "What do merfolk drink, anyway?"

Phantom shrugged. "Blood from our kills, mostly," he answered.

Valerie stared at him blankly, reaching into the fridge then pulling out a shining red can. "Try this," she dared, holding the can over for him to take.

He accepted it, looking over the thin metal curiously. Seeing the tab, he scraped it until his claw caught and pulled it open. The can hissed and let out a multitude of soft pops. The scent made him rear back, but seeing Valerie's expectant face coaxed him to taking a sip of the brown, bubbling liquid. He took one gulp of it then started to cough, holding it back out to her. "What is this?!"

"Coke," she replied, wiping the can before taking her own sip. "We could try something else, you know. There's some bottled tea in here, some milk-"

"From what?" he asked warily.

"From cows."

"Cows?"

"Better than goat milk, if you ask me, and lots better than some of that milk made from nuts and soy beans," she commented, pulling the jug of white liquid from the fridge. "A lot of recipes ask for milk in order to cook them properly. And a lot of things taste better when you add milk to it or when you dump it in milk. Like these!" She picked up a blue package with two dark brown disks open to show a white disk between them. "Oreos! Now this, this is movie food."

Taking one out, she held it to him, but he shook his head. "What is it?"

"Chocolate cookies with cream between them," she explained, popping one of the cookies off then licking the white filling. "Come on. Try one!"

Groaning lowly, he took the next one handed to him, looking over it with a curled lip before throwing it into his mouth and biting down. His face twisted into confusion then thoughtfulness before his brow rose and he gave a faint nod. "Okay, that wasn't bad. What else is there?"

"Sweetheart, you best get ready to be exposed to the world of junk food," she cackled, scooping up a bowl with one hand while throwing a flat brown bag into a metal box.

Here the Chapter Ends

Oh god, she's gonna feed him popcorn… O_o

Sorry, this wasn't how I hoped it would go. It got a little serious and dark for a bit, so I had to add in some humor to lighten things up. This is probably one of my longest chapters for this story. I've been trying to keep them short and sweet, but then I really get into it. Seriously, I've been writing scenes out at work.

As for the whole 'here is something sad so now we are going to talk about or watch something funny' thing I pulled here, it's a defense thing that my family does. When something bad happens, we try to think of humorous things so we don't dwell on it too much. It's a distraction method, I guess you could say, until we're calm enough to actually handle things without having meltdowns.

Anyway, let me know what you guys think! ^^