Disclaimer: I own nothing from Danny Phantom

Note: I decided to give Danielle a little break in this chapter to focus a bit on our favorite fruitloop. Besides, I bet you're wondering what Vlad's been up to all this time and what he's got up his sleeve to try and win Danielle over. It's one of those things I always wondered about and I couldn't help but think "Vlad, honey, do you really expect Danny to join you willingly when you keep ATTACKING him and his family? No, if you want to win someone over there are other ways and you tend to catch more flies with honey than vinegar."

Of course, if Vlad did ever get desperate there are some much darker routes he could take to make Danny his which I might explore in a different story, but for now, he's going to try the bribery approach since Danielle is already in a vulnerable position. Because offering her some form of relief from all the stress and her troubles might just be the way to at the very least get her to start trusting you again Vlad which is a start...

P.S. Uh, this chapter is also 11 pages worth so...hope you like it? I finished what I was working on for the holidays early so I decided to dive right back into this. Especially after going over some changes in my story outline when a friend pointed out some serious flaws I needed to rework. So yep, there you have it! Enjoy!

Chapter 9: Too Good To Be True

Vlad's POV

It's been roughly three months now since the last time I saw Danielle, but as you can imagine I have not been idle during that time. A lot of careful planning has taken place since then to come up with ways to gradually win her over so she will eventually make the right decision, which is to leave her old life behind to start a new one here with me. That said, I knew better than to coddle Danielle since she needs to become stronger and regain her confidence because frankly the last time I saw the poor girl I could tell Danielle was on the brink of a serious mental breakdown contrary to what she would have me believe.

I have also been monitoring the situation in Amity Park to make sure Danielle is safe and I can step in if need be at any time should a threat become too great for her to handle whether she asks me to or not. I simply can't afford to let anything happen to her, she is far too precious to me. And just when it seemed as though Danielle was about to reach her limit once again and I considered finally intervening on her behalf, that's when I heard about a certain young man named Vallen Gray whose father had lost his job thanks to the ghost of a former Axion Labs security dog by the name of Cujo.

Immediately I saw an opportunity because Vallen had the potential to become a skilled ghost hunter because of his impressive background of winning first place in several martial arts contests from a surprisingly young age. Soon after I supplied Vallen with his very own set of ghost hunting equipment and sent him on his way to help Danielle fight ghosts as well so it wasn't just her responsibility anymore. Vallen's thirst for revenge against the ghosts that nearly ruined his life was the perfect motivation as well so I had no doubt in my mind he would eagerly take up the mantel to make it his personal mission to rid Amity Park of it's ghost problem and his actions would serve me well.

Thankfully Danielle already had the foresight to avoid being seen too often with that ghost dog to prevent any misunderstandings that they were connected to one another in any way because she knew in the end that she and Vallen both want the same thing and I'm so proud of her for that. Vallen's equipment is also rigged to scan and record his encounters with all the ghosts he comes across, including her, and as a result, I've been indirectly able to gain much more information on Danielle's status as a hybrid without her realizing it. Of course, while I'm mostly doing this to make sure she's healthy and stable, a part of me is also quite fascinated in a scientific sense because Danielle's very existence is still nothing short of a miracle.

Due to her young age, I'm hoping it has been at least somewhat easier for Danielle to quickly adapt to all of the physical changes in her body after being exposed to a full blast of ectoplasmic energy from her parent's ghost portal than it had been for me. But the key difference to remember here is that the ghost energy Danielle was exposed to was properly filtered to remove any impurities whereas mine had been raw and polluted with several different types of ectoplasm which resulted in my body gradually displaying more noticeable ghostly mutations, at least in my appearance. And if my calculations are correct then I believe Danielle's appearance in her ghost form will become at least somewhat similar to mine over time as she matures. For example, such as growing fangs and her eyes glowing solid green, but to be fair that shouldn't be for some time.

At least for now my scientific analysis has made it clear that Danielle's ghost half is perfectly stable which quite honestly is such a relief because I can imagine it must have been difficult for her to hide that part of herself from everyone when she first became a hybrid, especially her parents. And I don't blame Danielle for feeling uneasy living with two ghost hunters who have an arsenal of anti-ghost weapons that could do her ghost half some serious harm so I meant everything I told her right before she left my castle. I firmly believe that Danielle shouldn't have to live in fear of being rejected by her loved ones and feel unsafe in her own home just because those two have no idea how badly they could hurt her even by mistake with one of those weapons, that's no way to live. So basically what I'm getting at is it shouldn't just be Danielle's ghost half that's stable, but also her life at home in general which is why she will be better off living here with me where I can remove those awful feelings.

Speaking of her parents, I must say I'm shocked that even Jack and Maddie's methods are so unorthodox and rather unfair when it comes to how they discipline their children. Their punishments seem so extreme when it comes to Danielle even in my eyes while they are almost entirely lax with their son Jason as if they assume he can do no wrong. Normally it should be the other way around where more is expected of the oldest, not the youngest. That is a lot of pressure to put on a child, especially one who has to hide who she truly is to avoid losing her family, her friends, her home, everything; so I can only imagine how anxious Danielle must feel every time she comes close to exposing her secret to them.

To make matters worse, since I know Danielle places most of her value as a part of their family in being a ghost-fighting hero these days I was furious when I heard that that ghost warden Walker had the audacity to turn almost everyone in Amity Park against her as some form of revenge for undermining his supposed authority in the Ghost Zone. Skulker told me all about it, including his previous encounter with Danielle in the Ghost Zone when she met Walker in the first place which to me was actually rather alarming because anything could have happened to her in there without me knowing. Especially when trapped in a prison FULL of her enemies!

However, at least Skulker did the smart thing when he accepted Danielle's offer to help them escape from Walker's prison despite not wanting to have anything to do with her thanks to the threat I made. Skulker even claims he made sure to keep her safe for me by taking out as many of Walker's guards as he could while she faced the ghost warden directly which was enough to win back my trust, at least for now, after he blatantly attacked Danielle in my laboratory when he assumed she was an intruder several months ago. And with him back in my employ, I was able to send him to Amity Park to monitor Danielle's progress more thoroughly since Vallen is only a normal teenager who has a life of his own outside of ghost hunting so sadly he cannot be out doing that all the time whereas Danielle has very little choice in the matter since it's usually a matter of survival and self-preservation...

At least Vallen doesn't seem to view Dani Phantom as a threat and he tends to leave her alone for the most part since she's not hurting anyone, although obviously he still doesn't trust her because Danielle is only a ghost to him after all which is fine by me. Simply having Vallen there to take on his share of ghosts and record any battles he happens to witness while Danielle is also out on patrol is more than enough to serve my purposes. On that note, I was happy when I was given the opportunity to offer Danielle at least some small form of relief by creating a...helper of sorts to lift some of the burden off her shoulders of protecting an entire city of people by herself.

It still infuriates me to no end though that Jack and Maddie, who claim to be 'professional' ghost hunters, hardly ever do anything useful to help the people of Amity Park or go out on patrol themselves unless the city is in dire need and actually asks them for help directly. But Danielle...she does this out of a selfless desire to do good and one day I'm worried it will get her killed. This world is too cruel for people like her and will not hesitate to crush her the first chance it gets. And people are inherently selfish, it is our nature to be, so they will take and take and take until all that's left behind are her shattered hopes and dreams, each jagged piece cutting a little more of her heart away each time they fail to thank Danielle for what she has willingly sacrificed for their sake.

But that is not the life I want for her. I want Danielle to be happy, safe, and true to herself which is why I've been preparing a special trip just for her so she can escape from her troubles if only for a short time. And that is precisely why I've been doing all of these small favors for her behind the scenes. I'm doing it because I want Danielle to see just how much I genuinely care for her. For Danielle's sake, I will offer her my full support regardless of whether or not she decides to join me so that one day she'll realize for herself once and for all that I am not her enemy, but rather her greatest ally and in time a much better father should she come to me willingly.

I've learned a great deal from the mistakes I made in the past the last time we met so I want to make sure Danielle won't feel trapped like she did during the reunion when I confined her to my lab to keep her out of harm's way. After all, my original plan was to overshadow Jack and cause a scene to prove to Maddie how powerless he is to protect anyone, including himself while utterly humiliating him in front of everyone in the process, and I hoped that if I was lucky she would attack him once she realized Jack was being possessed with one of their anti-ghost weapons in a vain attempt to banish me which would ultimately only hurt Jack. But I didn't want Danielle to get hurt or caught in the crossfire though, especially given her tendency of preforming dangerous acts of self-sacrifice and how poorly she defended herself before during our battle in the library when I was testing her skills the night before after I confirmed Danielle is half-ghost just like me.

At any rate, in order to avoid suspicion I've been carefully arranging to have Danielle receive an invitation to the Kennedy Space Center after 'winning' the contest she entered recently according to my sources. However, instead of going to Florida, my private jet will bring her to my mountain chalet in the Colorado Rockies where we won't be disturbed and there are no ghosts to speak of for her to fight so she can relax for once. She will most likely be upset with me at first for deceiving her and using something she clearly loves against her, but once I explain the necessity of doing it this way I sincerely hope she'll understand why I had no other choice...

For one thing, it would have been far too inconvenient for both of us to have to deal with inviting her entire family to visit me again in Wisconsin when the whole point of this is to help Danielle ESCAPE her troubles, not bring them with her. And much like what happened at the reunion I'm sure that Jack and Maddie would have attempted to monopolize all of my attention which would have made it difficult to actually talk to Danielle specifically. Not to mention it would have been highly suspicious if I only invited Danielle to visit me out of the blue.

Also, if I tried to allude to the fact that I'm concerned she needs some time away from them -which sadly I actually do believe to be the case since their relationship seems to have grown much more strained as of late- even Jack would start wondering why I'm suddenly so personally invested in taking care of his daughter. And considering how long it's been since I've been a part of their lives or actually spoken with Jack and Maddie over the past several months, they'll probably tell me in the most polite way possible that it's not my place to interfere with how they choose to raise their children. Especially since I shouldn't know even half of what Danielle has been dealing with given how we have no way to contact one another and we've only been formally introduced to each other once.

If I did attempt to trick them into agreeing to my absurd request to send Danielle to visit me by herself, the only reliable way to get them to do that would be to overshadow them both and Danielle would be highly suspicious of my motives if I did that. After all, Danielle must still be wary of me given what a disaster our last encounter was, so I need to be very careful about how I handle our next one either way. Because the last thing I want to do is give Danielle another reason to mistrust and do everything in her power to avoid me when I want nothing more than to see her again and start over on better terms.

Even in my wildest dreams I never dared to hope that I would someday meet another half-ghost hybrid, let alone that they would end up being the daughter of the man who turned me into one to begin with. That is why even though she may not realize this yet, Danielle will have to accept how much she needs my guidance sooner or later. I've been through the exact same thing that she has so I know all too well how alone and terrified Danielle must have felt when she discovered exactly what she is, realized what it meant, and it dawned on her that she will never be the same again...

For you see, there is no cure for what we've become.

As hybrids, we've both had ectoplasmic energy fused irreversibly into our DNA so while we can still suppress or even short out our powers, we can never fully remove them. That is why while she may still treat them as separate parts of herself, one day Danielle will see that even in human form she will always be part ghost. She will always sense their approach, she will always be affected by whatever is designed to hurt them, and most of all one day she will notice that the aging process will gradually begin to slow until it stops entirely. At least, if my immortality theory turns out to be true.

What I've come to conclude about our unique nature is that while we may seem 'dead' in ghost form like other ghosts, we're not, we just have the same basic powers and ectoplasm coursing through our veins. And thanks to our powerful regenerative abilities in both forms I strongly believe it will eventually stop the aging process which normally causes the cells in all living things to deteriorate and die over time. If that's truly the case for both of us, then Danielle will end up outliving everyone in her life except for me and I do not wish for her to suffer the fate of such a lonely existence, not when we have each other.

At any rate, my only concern right now is the present, not whatever future lies ahead for the two of us to discover side by side. All I want is to give Danielle a fighting chance and make her life a little easier because I know how difficult it is to fight just to survive. Of course, I wasn't fighting ghosts like she is, no, I was fighting for my life after what Jack did when he infected me with polluted ecto-energy that day and it nearly killed me.

That's why I'll never forgive him. Not for that, or for taking Maddie from me. Then again, as much as it pains me to accept this about the woman I've been so madly in love with for the past twenty years, I'm beginning to realize that perhaps she is not the woman I once knew anymore...

The Maddie I met at the reunion is not the same intelligent woman I remember who had this beautiful serenity in her eyes whenever she talked so fondly about wanting to become a wife and mother someday after we finished college and received our diplomas. She was not the sort of woman who would regard her only daughter with such cold indifference in front of an old friend, least of all while blatantly ignoring the fact that Danielle only wanted them to take her problems and concerns seriously for once in their lives. Deep down inside I could see that Danielle was practically begging them to wake up and understand what she's been telling them all along because all she wanted them to do is back off a little and let her make her own decisions. But sadly, it was all in vain.

Those two kept right on scolding Danielle for not taking responsibility for her actions when they fail to realize that they've given her no reason to expect anything to come of it since they've never given her a CHOICE in the matter. From what I can tell they just expect their daughter to take over Fenton Works once she graduates high school like it's already set in stone without actually asking Danielle if that's what she really wants to do for the rest of her life. And as far as the smaller things such as getting her chores done on time, what is the point if there's no reward for staying on task and she only does it to avoid being punished...?

I mean honestly, they don't even give the poor girl an allowance so Danielle can buy decent clothes for herself that actually flatter her and aren't so old and tread bare that it's almost as if she's been wearing the same clothes from when she was fourteen! And when is the last time they've praised Danielle or given her anything she ACTUALLY wants? Frankly, I have no idea, and it breaks my heart.

That is precisely why I DID give Danielle a choice when I offered her the chance to choose a better life for herself and to learn more about her powers so she can unlock her full potential as a fellow hybrid. I knew that trying to force Danielle's hand would only make her reject me more than she has already because I've seen for myself how poorly she responds to being forced to do anything by watching her interact with Jack and Maddie. So ideally, I would have preferred to invite her to my mountain chalet formally, but I quickly dismissed the idea because she would likely only see it as a trap either way. And to be fair, what I have planned may SEEM like a trap, but really it's more of a...carefully planned surprise.

However, if she wants to risk returning home early before her supposed trip to the space center is over once she arrives, then I suppose Danielle will just have to come up with an explanation to give her parents about why she came home so early and deal with the aftermath herself because I will not force my help on her either. She will just have to learn how to ask for my help nicely when she truly needs it. If all goes well though, Danielle will see the futility in such a childish antic since it is clearly not my intention to isolate her for any nefarious reason apart from the selfish desire to get to know her better without any rude interruptions this time.

I want to know everything there is to know about Danielle, and I don't just mean what food she likes, her favorite color, or about her childhood dream of exploring the stars. No, I want to know who Danielle is because Dani Phantom is only a part of what makes her special to me. And I think once she realizes that I wish to learn more about who she is as a person Danielle will finally understand that I've already accepted her for who she is. It's not JUST her ghost half that makes her special to me, contrary to what Danielle probably believes, Danielle is special to me because she's truly everything I've ever wanted to see reflected in the eyes of my own child...

She's strong-willed, clever, a very quick learner, considerate and kind, and loyal to a fault but it still breaks my heart to see Danielle's hard work and dedication wasted on all the wrong people! None of those ingrates in Danielle's life apart from her older brother show Danielle even an ounce of appreciation or patience. They just use her shamelessly to get what they want from her such as her protection from ghosts or someone to do all the menial tasks they can't be bothered with and if I have to watch it happen for much longer I may be tempted to ACTUALLY kidnap Danielle to save her from herself and damn the consequences.

My little badger shouldn't have to put up with so much at her age. Danielle should be living a happy peaceful life right about now where she has the moral support she needs from her family. She should be dating a young man worthy of her time, as much as I loathe the idea of letting anyone near her in that capacity because like any father I feel oddly protective of Danielle, rather than getting into fist-fights with ghosts and often returning home battered and bruised. Although much to my relief I'm happy to report that she is getting much better at fighting ghosts and holding her own in most fights, however, that still doesn't stop me from worrying now that the number of ghosts in Amity Park has increased recently which is actually not my doing.

The culprit is actually her parent's portal which as far as I'm aware of still remains unlocked which means ghosts can get through it and into our world almost whenever they want. As a result, natural ghost portals have begun appearing all over the city thanks to the residual ectoplasmic energy that has been released into the lower atmosphere due to the sheer number of ghosts and all of the raw ecto-energy expanded whenever two or more ghosts end up fighting one another, which in this case is usually Danielle herself confronting them. And while it's true that natural portals only remain open for a short time, given how many there are it's no surprise she's been fighting more and more ghosts since they don't necessarily need the Fenton Ghost Portal alone to break through to this side.

In fact, I've already hired Skulker to do some bounty hunting for me either destroying or capturing as many stray ghosts as possible to make things easier for Danielle once I've brought her to the chalet so she won't have to worry about their safety and about leaving her friends and family behind to fend for themselves nearly as much. She may not even suspect that I'm the one who asked Skulker to hunt those ghosts in the first place when we both know Skulker is a well-known hunter in his own right and could just as easily have decided to for the thrill of the chase while Danielle's not there to stop him from enjoying himself. But even if she does realize it was my doing it will be seen as another small sign that I've been helping her at least indirectly to show Danielle I am a man of my word, and most importantly, I am on her side even if it doesn't seem like it just yet...

"I'm looking forward to our next meeting, little badger," I smiled, looking up at the supercomputer monitor one last time which was currently displaying one of the many images of Danielle I've acquired either through photographs or video recordings.

I'll admit that at times I feel guilty for spying on Danielle, but whenever I see her victoriously take down a ghost and capture them, her bright smile is infectious as if I'm watching my own daughter succeed at something she clearly cares about deeply. This has become rather addictive actually which another reason why I needed to see Danielle again in person before I reach my limit and drop everything to go see Danielle myself since I want to be close to her so badly. Normally I am in fact a patient man, but Danielle has become my new obsession and every waking hour it feels as though I find myself thinking of her at least once a day.

And like an overprotective parent I've been thinking things such as: Has Danielle been eating well, she looks a bit underweight. Is everything alright at school, I should send someone to scare that brat who keeps tormenting my little badger into leaving her alone. Ah, so she's finally acquired that basic ghost power, good. Danielle has grown up so much since I last saw her and I'm so proud!

However, simply thinking all those things and the longing I felt to tell Danielle all of this in person or ask her how she's been doing are not the same thing. I've given Danielle this long to accept my offer, but now it's time for me to build upon that foundation and see how else I can persuade her into considering it more seriously. After all, I've given Danielle no reason to doubt my intentions since the last time we met, even going so far as to intervene a couple of times to offer her some small gesture of kindness.

She does that whole town a kindness by sacrificing her time and energy for them without asking for anything in return, so it's only fitting that I should reward Danielle for all her hard work even if it's only in those small ways. I prefer grander gestures, however, knowing Danielle she would only see it as an attempt to bribe her or dazzle her with extravagant gifts. To some degree, she's right about that, but it's not some form of trickery on my part, I just really want to waste some of my wealth on someone who actually deserves it and much more...

Inhaling sharply when my ghost sense went off, I smirked and said aloud, "Ah, that must be the pilot I hired to fly my private jet. Perfect timing! Now everything should be ready for tomorrow so all we need now is the guest of honor."

Wasting no time, I shut down the system and teleported back to the first floor, casually strolling up to the entrance to meet them. Now, normally I only meet with new ghosts in the lab since it's out of sight but this time that seemed like a waste of time if anything since this ghost is one that has already been roaming the earth for years and there was no point of sending them to the Ghost Zone just so they could come through my portal into the lab. Besides which it was nearly midnight now and I live miles away from the nearest house so who else was going to show up at my doorstep this late at-

My eyes flew open in shock when instead of the ghost pilot floating in the doorway, it was the all-too-familiar face of a certain ghost girl I happen to know very well with her hand raised as if she was just about to knock on the door, looking equally as stunned, "D-Danielle? What are you-no nevermind, please come inside."

Letting her arm drop tiredly, Danielle didn't offer any resistance as I guided her inside from the small of her back and hastily shut the door behind us, my mind reeling, She's here? Danielle is HERE! But why? And good lord she looks about ready to collapse on the spot so what on earth happened to her?! Is she hurt? Her hands are so cold and she's shaking like a leaf. I don't understand, what could have possibly driven Danielle to come here so suddenly?

Honestly, at this point I couldn't tell whose hands were shaking more as I haphazardly took hers and led her to the lounge area then gently eased Danielle onto the nearest sofa, shooting an energy blast at the fire without a second thought to ignite it to help her warm up and without thinking I created a duplicate to fetch Danielle a blanket and a hot drink. With my heart hammering a mile a minute I let my gaze drift down to Danielle's face and my brow furrowed in deep concern when I inspected her condition more closely.

Daniel still hadn't changed out of her ghost form either even though I've obviously made it clear that I mean her no harm and she is safe now which suggests she probably feels too vulnerable to change back in case she needed to bolt at any second. Then again, perhaps Danielle simply didn't care about any of that because Danielle's eyes...they were alarmingly lackluster and unfocused as if she hasn't slept for days and she seemed almost catatonic. That would explain the dark circles under her eyes but they were also puffy and red so she must have been crying recently...

But what could have happened to make Danielle desperate enough to come to me willingly? What has happened in the past 48 hours to suddenly change her mind and actually come to me for help? Because clearly she needed it one form or another, I just didn't understand why! However, in her current state I doubt I was going to get much of a response so I sat down silently beside her and set the cup my duplicate brought on the coffee table in front of us and draped the blanket snugly around Danielle's trembling shoulders. Although whether she was shivering from fear or overexertion I couldn't say.

Hesitantly, I reached over and pulled Danielle into a gently hug, cradling her head against my shoulder without a word because what she needed most right now was someone there to comfort her, not questions she's in no state to answer. And the instant I showed Danielle an ounce of compassion, the flood gates opened and despite her exhaustion she began heaving dry sobs and buried her tear-stained face in my suit. She didn't have the energy to cling to me but I could feel Danielle pressing her entire weight against me, which again I was horrified to feel how painfully thin she seemed even for a teenager, as if silent begging me to shut out all of her pain by holding her closer.

Her voice came out hoarse and barely audible even with my ghost hearing, but nevertheless she choked out, "V...lad...I..."

"Shh, it's alright little badger," I hushed, stroking her hair with one hand and rubbing circles on her back with the other while resting my chin on the top of her head, "You don't have to explain anything. We'll talk when you're ready so just let it all out."

My heart shattered when Danielle only whimpered in response and howled in agony, mustering what little energy she had to clutch the loose fabric of my pant leg and sobbed even harder to the point of becoming utterly hysterical. And all the while neither of us could stop from shaking although for me I was now quivering with barely restrained rage.

Who did this?! Who reduced my little badger to something like this? When I find them, I will make them SUFFER! They will pay dearly for this, I swear it Danielle. I've got you. It's alright now...I'll protect you. And after making this silent oath to myself, I focused all of my attention on comforting Danielle as she wept, because that's all she needs right now...

Danielle needs me by her side, and I am all too happy to oblige.