Disclaimer: I own nothing from Danny Phantom
Note: To "Dp-Marvel94" I'm glad you liked the last chapter, and yeah things have really gotten intense so I decided to start winding down a bit before the next big event. Still, things have certainly been put into motion now because of Nocturne so there's no going back now. But at least Danielle has Vlad's support through all this and knows how to help keep her mind off of the doom and gloom so moving forward he has plans to continue where they left off to help her regain her confidence and some normalcy in their lives. Not only that but clearly they need to prepare for other enemies showing up in the near future who might try to pull something in the name of saving the future too and unjustly thinking Danielle's going to turn evil someday because in one timeline she actually did and the results were devastating...
Chapter 28: Irreplaceable Moments
(Chapter inspired by If Only by Dove Cameron)
Vlad's POV
It's been a little over a week now since I rescued Danielle from Nocturne's lair and we began our improvised miniature vacation in the Rockies ahead of schedule without her friends. Or rather, since she rescued herself and I simply brought her to safety once the ordeal with Nocturne was over. However, while her throat has long since healed thanks to all of my treatments, Danielle still ended up losing her voice for an entirely different reason. At first, I assumed it was due to how despondent she had become to the point of only speaking to me when spoken to which unfortunately escalated to her losing the ability and willpower to speak at all. As such, it is Danielle's spirit that's still wounded and not her body...
I've done everything in my power to comfort Danielle and I can tell she's trying to dispel whatever dark thoughts have been haunting her, but when she smiles at me it no longer reaches her eyes which have grown distant and lackluster, and whenever Danielle eats she barely touches what's on her plate unless I strongly insist that she at least eats some of it for my sake. But the worst part is the nightmares. I know for a fact that Nocturne hasn't been able to enter our dreams since we began taking the medicine I developed to counteract his dream-influencing powers, however, Danielle appears to have developed a severe case of Somniphobia, otherwise known as the fear of going to sleep. During the day Danielle does everything in her power to stay awake as long as humanly possible because she's been waking up every night in tears tormented by these dark thoughts or memories of whatever Nocturne put her through.
I've woken up several times to the sounds of Danielle weeping and once after a particularly bad nightmare she climbed into my bed on her own like a frightened child and curled up beside me in a fetal position. This can't go on, but due to the emotional trauma and fear of talking about what happened I've been unable to ask Danielle about what's been troubling her so much which is infuriating because I only want to help her! Just the other day I grew so angry that I told her I was going to go to the Ghost Zone to beat the truth out of Nocturne but the horrified look on Danielle's face when she lunged at me and hugged me from behind to stop me is the only reason I didn't go.
Things couldn't go on like this though. Danielle needs to face her fears since I know she's stronger than this and I need to know what happened so we'll be better prepared in case any of these other guardians come after Danielle because they wrongly assume she's a threat to the entire planet. That's why, after I calmed down and promised not to go into the Ghost Zone without her, I told Danielle I would only do that on one condition. And that condition was that she needed to tell me everything she remembers about what Nocturne showed her and explain what she meant about her new power belonging to her future self.
I felt guilty for giving Danielle an ultimatum like that, however, for her sake I have to know what she's so afraid of so she doesn't have to carry the burden alone any longer. I already promised that I will never let anything bad happen to her so if I know what this so-called future entails I can prevent it from coming to pass. I can't do that if she won't tell me and I'd rather not take desperate measures to help Danielle get better by resorting to finding some way to remove her memories of her ordeal with Nocturne myself because I refuse to let them keep haunting Danielle to the point where it's like I've already lost her...
After that, Danielle pulled me aside, and with a great deal of effort, she forced herself to recount what happened by writing it down for me since she still couldn't trust her voice. I suppose that was the best I was going to get until Danielle got over her fear of confessing her true feelings to me not to mention reliving the memory of the nightmares Nocturne subjected her to. As expected, Danielle clearly omitted a few key details, but once I had a general idea that helped put my own mind at ease at least somewhat...
So according to what Danielle wrote, Nocturne had tried several different tactics to unravel the thread woven into her dreams while keeping her trapped in a sort of second sleep. First, he tried to deceive Danielle into thinking the abduction was a figment of her imagination by mimicking reality and what we had been planning to do originally by performing a medical exam and then testing her powers. But when she noticed that I had nothing negative to say and that she was doing everything a bit too perfectly that made her realize something was off and when Nocturne made a mistake replicating how I speak to her he forced Danielle to forget this dream and pulled her down into an even deeper slumber. After that Danielle openly admitted that the details become a bit hazier after that since Nocturne essentially brainwashed or bewitched her into exploring her memories and dreams alongside him willingly while claiming he would bring her home safely once they found what he was looking for. She could barely remember her own name at that point which concerned me, but while exploring a snowy landscape Danielle was abruptly separated from Nocturne and thrown into a vision of the future that he had no intention of actually showing Danielle.
It was at that point that Danielle struggled to make herself actually talk again since she couldn't bring herself to write down what she saw since her hands began trembling violently and the pen fell to the floor with a clatter. I gave her a few minutes to find the right words to express her feelings at last, however, I would soon wish I hadn't when Danielle finally told me what she saw. As soon as I heard the truth for myself I wound up just as speechless as her and had to stand up for a moment to process that information.
My hatred for Jack and Maddie runs very deep now after what they did to me and to Danielle so I'll admit there have been times I wish they would die, but the fact that Danielle had actually seen their cold lifeless bodies in that vision made me realize that even though she's living with me now Danielle still loves them very much and she doesn't want to see them get hurt or worse. And even though she chose to leave them behind herself, seeing their deaths play out in the future is the reason she's been waking up so often in the middle of the night sobbing because right now she feels torn between fixing her relationship with them to save the future and staying with me which she clearly wants more. And while Danielle mercifully didn't actually see her future self in that vision, she felt something awaken deep in her core that told her she's the one who killed them unintentionally. As such the guilt of a deed she has not even committed yet has been eating away at Danielle's heart little by little each day. Especially since it wasn't just her parents who died, there were others in Amity Park who had frozen to death after the entire city, possibly the world, was encased in ice and became a frozen wasteland...
Since I needed to handle the situation with care so as not to alarm Danielle, when I sat down beside her again I gentle held her hand and told Danielle not to worry about hurting my feelings by saying she wants to at least see her parents again. Of course, given how those two clearly ARE up to something as I feared, Danielle is under NO circumstances allowed to visit them alone. I even told her I'd go with her personally if it came to that but for now, as I told her many times before, the future is not set in stone and I had every intention of proving it by searching for the legendary Infimap together. But first, after consoling Danielle I asked her to give herself more time to recover before attempting anything drastic to try and prevent this terrible future from taking place and to focus on the present.
Thankfully, assuring Danielle that I had no intention of canceling the visit with her friends despite the fact that she hasn't been speaking for the past week finally brought a real smile back to her face and Danielle thanked me for being so understanding and patient with her and then quietly whispered three words in my ear that brought joyful tears to my eyes because it was the first time she expressed those feelings from the bottom of her heart out loud to me. All she said was 'I love you' which may seem like nothing special, but those words meant everything to me. Those words are why I've been doing all of this in order to keep Danielle by my side. I want her to love me like a father as much as I love her like a daughter, and while there's no rush, someday I hope she'll learn to love me MORE than her parents so she'll no longer feel this obligation to worry about those two who even in the future appear to cause my little badger nothing but heartache.
Danielle's POV
Telling Vlad at least most of the truth turned out to be just what I needed to finally pull myself out from the dark place I've been in ever since we got here. I still felt this horrible dread in the back of my mind, but thankfully it wasn't as intense anymore once I finally told him what I've been dealing with. It made me realize all over again that even though I still feel alone sometimes I'm actually not. Vlad's on my side and he's not going anywhere and soon I'll be able to talk to my friends and hopefully, Sam and Trish will be able to help me figure out what to do about this whole mess.
It won't be long now before we head back to Wisconsin on Vlad's jet since he decided against teleporting us and figured it would save us time and energy doing that instead of flying either. But at least now I can finally enjoy the sights and sounds of the beautiful wilderness we were in now that I didn't feel like shutting myself in my room anymore staring out the window like a zombie while my mind wanders. I could tell Vlad was relieved about that too and he stopped looking at me with concern and pity like before when I was all depressed and such. I mean, I still felt pretty crappy and spent the next day or so getting used to using my voice again, but when I did Vlad and I talked about all sorts of non-ghost-related things...
So for starters, Vlad told me how his parents used to take him camping here when he was younger but sadly the campsite they went to closed down years ago. After he gained his first millions though Vlad bought the land and donated part of it to a local nature preserve to improve his image to the public which sounds just like him. And when Vlad told me he had a yacht on the lake he even offered to take me for a ride before we left the Rockies so I decided to take him up on that offer since I could use some fresh air. Not that we didn't have that in the woods too but being on an open lake beats feeling closed in by all these trees. I still don't like feeling trapped after all, especially after what I've been through.
Thankfully Vlad's ghost pilot was still here on standby since he flew here on the jet but unlike Cedric and Isla, this guy wasn't easy to talk to at all. He only cared about his job and was polite and all but yeah, he's definitely not the friendly type of ghost. Oh well, at least he knows his way around a helicopter which we rode into the yacht and Vlad told me we were going to spend our last day here before heading back home and would be leaving in the morning. That was fine by me though since I was finally starting to feel a bit better now about everything. Besides, despite everything that's happened I really missed Leo and was excited to show him off to Sam, Trish, and Vallen.
Coming here also gave me a couple of ideas of where we might want to go for our vacation since Vlad gave me several different options originally. One option was similar to this where we would go on a cruise together or stay on one of Vlad's private islands. Another option was to go to a ski resort in the mountains but...well...I'm not as keen on that idea anymore after seeing the world frozen over. The third option was more like this where we'd stay in a fancy mountain resort and do things like ride horses and all sorts of fancy outdoorsy stuff. And lastly, Vlad even offered to take us on a sort of road trip to visit a number of places based on our interests which honestly doesn't sound like a bad idea.
Vlad definitely did his research since the plan there would be to go to Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida, The Comic Book, Sci-fi and Fantasy Expo in San Diego, Gothapalooza in Nevada, and finally, a trip to New York to basically see all the major sights, including a tour of one of his largest businesses called Dalv Corp. We were definitely going to have a hard time deciding but to me, the most important thing would be getting the chance to see my friends in person for the first time since they testified against my parents during the whole custody battle. I've been checking in and talking to them as often as possible online but I've only been able to ask Trish and Sam privately how Vallen is doing as far as the ghost hunting end of things. Vlad doesn't know this, but I've been debating telling Vallen the truth about me since we were never actually enemies when I was still going around fighting ghosts as Dani Phantom. I know it's a risk, but I hate having to keep him out of the loop on certain topics-
"There you are my dear, I've been looking for you everywhere," Vlad smiled as he leaned against the railing and looked at me, "I was worried for a moment that you had gotten yourself lost."
Smiling weakly in return I admitted thoughtfully, "Nope, I'm only lost in thought at the moment..."
Giving me an odd look Vlad sighed and after putting a hand on my shoulder he asked, "You seem troubled little badger. Are you sure there's nothing else you'd like to talk to me about? It might help."
Shaking my head I sighed too and replied, "I just...still have a lot on my mind that's all. But don't worry, it's not about you-know-what. I'm just trying to decide where we should go once summer vacation starts for real and I'm not used to being able to talk again. I was...in a pretty dark place, Vlad. I haven't felt that awful since the Spectra thing and when Walker turned almost everyone in Amity Park against me. And part of me still wonders if they're right and I really was nothing but a menace to the town..."
"Danielle, if you were a menace to anyone they probably deserved it," Vlad frowned and let his hand fall before straightening himself up and brushing some imaginary dust off his shoulder. "But I digress. Our rooms have been prepared and I wanted to show you yours before we have dinner. The weather is supposed to be quite pleasant tonight too so perhaps you'll join me for a swim later this evening?"
"Sure," I answered offhandedly, my mind drifting a bit again as I listened to the waves crashing against the side of the yacht. In response, Vlad placed his hand on the small of my back to guide me back inside and tried to hide how worried he was. Not that I blame him, I still have a long way to go before I can put this all behind me...
I'm just glad I'm not alone.
My mood definitely improved after we ate dinner and I wound up asking Vlad for his honest advice about choosing where to go on vacation with my friends. And while we were on the subject Vlad reminded me that he still wants to begin my training after they leave so we started talking about that too and how he's already performed a few of the medical exams he planned to do before I got kidnapped. According to him, my powers actually recovered much faster than he expected even after I drained myself so much by using that new attack twice in a row in the real world. Also, turns out the damage to my throat wasn't as serious as we originally thought since my condition was mostly a psychological one as far as the whole not-being-able-to-talk thing over the past week.
In fact, Vlad told me even with the boost in my regenerative powers thanks to that ointment he makes with his special hybrid Blood Blossoms, my base powers seem to have grown a lot stronger lately on their own without either of us noticing which is kind of insane actually. And after Vlad told me how impressed he was after seeing the way I held my ground against a ghost as ancient and powerful as Nocturne I can't tell you how encouraging it was to hear that I had impressed someone who has had his powers much longer than I have. It made me feel a lot better about myself honestly since I've been so worried lately that I've gone soft just because I haven't had to fight ghosts anymore day in and day out.
Once we finished talking and went outside to enjoy the outdoor pool and Jacuzzi after getting changed into our swimsuits and...oh god I think I'm going to be scarred for life after seeing Vlad in those swim trunks only models usually wear that fit snugly against the skin. I think they're called jammers? Not really sure. I've gotta admit though, Vlad has definitely been keeping in shape since he has a visible eight-pack and swims like an Olympic athlete.
As for me, personally, I can't stand bikini's so that's why when we went cloth shopping before I made sure to only get one-piece swimsuits to wear. I felt a bit self-conscious at first when I came out to join Vlad but I quickly got over it when Vlad suddenly pushed me into the water via duplicate with a playful glint in his eye and in response I threw a snowball at him from behind using my ice powers that froze his ponytail. After that, we both had a good laugh and even played a friendly game of water volleyball after he activated the net which swung over the pool. It felt nice doing something more engaging again instead of just flying around, though for obvious reasons we agreed not to use our powers to keep things interesting to see if I could beat Vlad in a normal game.
Unfortunately, I'm a bit out of practice and not as fit in my human form so Vlad wiped the floor with me, but I still had a lot of fun and it helped me keep my mind off of everything for a little while. After we dried off by phasing the water off our bodies we ended up grabbing some dessert and sat down to watch a movie together in his private theater since this yacht had one too. We wound up watching that one Sherlock Holmes movie and...yeah it was fun watching Vlad's reaction to some of those scenes because he kind of reminds me of that Blackwood guy in a couple of ways because of the way it's always like he's three or more steps ahead of me and knows how to play the sly villain when he needs to. The only reason that doesn't freak me out anymore is because I know Vlad's on my side and I can trust him.
We both have our secrets, but in the end, like he said we're family and I want to do what's best for both of us. That's why as soon as I can I want to see my parents whether it's with Vlad or someone else. Because the sooner I can make sure my parents won't do what I assume they're planning to do to and like...try to trick Vlad into letting them see me which let's face it won't be easy and pulling off some harebrained scheme because they think my ghost half has brainwashed him and my brother the better. For now though, I promised Vlad I'd stay focused on the present so that's what I'm going to do. The rest can wait a little longer so we still have time to figure this out.
At least, I hope so.
Clockwork's POV
Even though I knew this would happen, seeing my old friend in such a pitiful state after facing the young halfa saddened me because I already warned him not to interfere with her dreams directly since his brash decision would have dire consequences after he came to me in search of answers about the vision he had seen. Nocturne knows all too well that I cannot answer such questions point-blank, but obviously that did not stop him from trying. My appointed task as the Master of Time is to watch the currents of time as they divert down different paths based entirely on the choices of those caught in its flow to the future. I can also reflect upon the past which is as calm and still as a pool of water one might find in a cavern that no longer has a current because it is stagnant unless someone interferes and throws a stone to create more ripples once again.
As ghosts, those of us who exist in the Ghost Zone are already removed from the constraints of time because we are immortal beings that have either never died or were never alive to begin with. We cannot 'die' unless something destroys our core or completely drains us of the energy we need to recharge. That said, in this regard, it is almost as if Nocturne is on the verge of death because he needs dream energy specifically to recover his strength. And so, for old time's sake, I brought a version of Nocturne from the past to lend his current self some strength and told him simply to have more faith in the inner strength of humans because while they don't have powers, that by no means makes them weak.
Shortly after, I sent Nocturne's past self back to his own time and waited patiently for Nocturne to awaken, idly adjusting the mechanism of my time staff. It's true I could have fast-forwarded time to just before he awakened, but on occasion even I like to enjoy the silence of this place rather than the constant ticking I'm used to in my tower. In the meantime, I was able to speak to the Fate's who told me that they did indeed meet the elder halfa as predicted and gave him the warning I sent them through a vision of my own. In comparison, the Fates and I go much further back than they do with Nocturne who in many ways seems like a child at times grasping at straws and still learning how to accomplish his task while retaining his neutrality...
We are as old as time itself and will exist long enough to see its end most likely, and Nocturne, while still ancient in his own right is like the new void born after the death of a star consumed by a black hole. He has filled that void with his knowledge and power over dreams, however, it will be a while yet before Nocturne fully learns to not let his love of humanity blind him to the point of subjecting such a young girl to the horrors of knowing what one possible future lies in store. I've seen many humans over the centuries with the telepathic power to see the future go mad because of such knowledge and end their lives for fear of it coming true. Very few have that gift in this day and age thankfully but it has been known to still surface in some humans from time to time which is why I take great care to aid those humans so they don't make the same mistake when the future has not been decided yet.
As for the young halfa, that girl is very special even among humans. And she has already been blessed with many powers that are rare even among ghosts which makes her a force to be reckoned with. Even so, like Nocturne I have faith that she'll choose a brighter future than the one that creature was created into. There may come a time when Dani Phantom will have to face this creature and her greatest fears to prove that she is stronger than she believes she is at present. The elder halfa can help his younger counterpart with that so long as he doesn't make the mistake of becoming so resolute to protect that girl from her dark thoughts that he removes her freedom to choose by removing her memories of these events which would end in disaster.
If she is caught unprepared for the visions which are sure to haunt her now that she has seen a future not meant for her to see, Dani Phantom will surely grow angry enough with him to run away from him in search of the truth he sealed away. As for Plasmius's current endeavor, perhaps seeking the Infimap will help them both see that the path ahead is not so hopeless so long as they remain honest with one another. So long as they work together, there is no enemy they cannot defeat, not even the dark being the young halfa has become at least twice in similar timelines.
Now it comes down to them to make sure that one of those two timelines never come to pass, and from the bottom of my heart, I wish them the best of luck because this journey will not be an easy one for either of them. And I do mean that literally because you see, I now have a test of my own in store for them to see whether or not Vlad Plasmius will use the Infimap correctly once he realizes that the map doesn't always take the user where you want to go, but where they need to go. And as I said, the young halfa may soon have to confront her possible future again much sooner than she realizes...
