Disclaimer: I own nothing from Danny Phantom


Chapter 29: Serious Repercussions

(Chapter inspired by Found by Citizen Soldier)


Danielle's POV

Once we made it safely back to the castle a lot changed since Vlad told me he's going to make absolutely sure that no one will be able to sneak past his security system again like Nocturne did. So one of the first things he did is install a special ghost shield in my room specifically that only authorized ghosts can pass through just like the castle's outer ghost shield and the lock Vlad keeps on his ghost portal. He also perfected that new medicine too which I've started to call anti-noct so there's a version of it that works for ghosts, half-ghosts like us, and normal people.

Speaking of 'normal' people, when we finally told Jace I had been kidnapped he really gave us an earful about being more careful from now on and not making more enemies. Vlad and I both decided to keep the whole ominous future thing to ourselves because the last thing we wanted to do is make my brother just as paranoid as I am and dread the idea that something horrible is going to happen soon. Too bad Jace already has plans to go on a road trip over the summer with his friends before classes start, but at least he made sure to set aside the last week of summer to stay at the castle again with me and Vlad. Maybe then I could finally sit down and talk to him about this without Vlad breathing down my neck.

I'm just glad it feels like everything is slowly going back to normal again for the most part even though I know I have a lot of big decisions to make in the near future not only for my sake but for Vlad's and everyone else's. I've been having a hard time sleeping though but thankfully Vlad's anti-noct medicine seems to be working so if nothing else I know my dreams are just dreams this time and not some sort of dark premonition of the future again. And I'm sure once I get my head back on straight I won't have them as often. That said, I still can't shake the feeling that there's still something weird going on in the back of my mind. I can't explain what this feeling is exactly, and I don't want Vlad to worry since it's probably nothing but my frazzled nerves putting me on edge, however, I should keep my guard up regardless to avoid a repeat of what happened with Nocturne.

Anyway, when we came home thankfully Leo seemed to be acting a little more like a normal cat again and started following me absolutely everywhere whenever I was in my room, including the bathroom if I didn't shut the door. And the first time I looked at myself in the mirror since this whole nightmare started, I frowned at the dark circles under my eyes. I was so tired of feeling tired because I've been either unable to go to sleep at night in the first place or I suddenly wake up insanely early and can't get back to sleep at all. There's something else too. When I looked at myself in the mirror, I saw a flash of someone else with long glowing white hair that made me recoil slightly and that's when I decided something had to change before I lost my fucking mind again.

Since I wanted to feel like I'm in control of at least a couple of things in my life I transformed and flew down to the lab to see Vlad since said he'd be in there all day making sure we have a good supply of anti-noct on hand to bring with us during our trip. I felt bad for bothering him while he looked so busy but after taking a deep breath I finally just asked Vlad if it would be alright to get my hair cut soon since I've been thinking about it for a while now. I know it's a stupid thing to feel self-conscious asking about but like I said I was tired of feeling like my life is getting away from me again and so I thought maybe getting a hair cut would help me feel like a new person so I can get over it and move on. I can't keep letting every major drawback make me doubt myself and my choices so just like when I broke free of Nocturne's dream world I need to shatter these walls that keep threatening to close me off again from the people I care about because I'm afraid of hurting them and being hurt in return.

Setting aside his work to look at me thoughtfully Vlad nodded and smiled, "I think that's a splendid idea, my dear. You'd be surprised how much a change of image can help improve your confidence so I'll make an appointment with my stylist first thing tomorrow morning before your friends arrive at the castle. Speaking of which, have you decided where you would like to bring them for our vacation? Remember Danielle, you're going to be very busy once they return home so don't hesitate to choose something extravagant to do with them since you may not get the chance to treat them to such luxuries later on."

Rubbing the back of my neck with a slight blush on my cheeks I explained, "Well...after our sort of day trip on your yacht that made me consider the cruise option a lot more seriously. I mean, the chances of running into any ghosts on the open sea are pretty small, right? And there's a ton of stuff we could do on a cruise ship that I think everyone would enjoy-"

Raising his hand to stop me and looking pretty unhappy with what I just said, Vlad interjected sternly, "While it's true the chances of meeting any ghosts is small I don't want you to base your choice on avoiding potential dangers, Danielle. I know I failed to foresee the remote possibility of a ghost such as Nocturne utilizing the power to overshadow people, creatures, or objects to slip past my defenses, but I assure you nothing like that is going to happen again. Besides which even if we do happen to run into any ghosts you and I will be more than a match for them. So I will not tolerate you letting what happened to you control your decisions moving forward. This isn't about which option is safer, it's about going where YOU want to."

Getting a bit irritated at Vlad's equally grumpy attitude, my eyes flashed a brighter green and I frowned, "Well, if you don't like it then why don't you decide for me, huh? That seems to be a trend around here when it comes to me. And I mean you know better than I do since it seems all I do is make the wrong choices anyway. But hey, what else is new? As usual, I can't do anything right without causing a problem."

"Danielle, that's not what I-" Vlad began, giving me a hard look but I shook my head, sat on the edge of his workbench, and began angrily venting all of my frustrations out on him.

"No Vlad, you just don't get it! Do you have any idea what it feels like knowing you're going to screw up the future and hurt the people you love someday but not knowing how to stop it from happening so you agonize over every little decision wondering if that's the one that causes it? I'm trying really hard not to let that vision get to me so much when I know it hasn't come true yet, but...I saw the aftermath of one of my biggest mistakes with my own two eyes!"

Gripping the edges of the counter I looked away from him and blurted out defensively, "I saw so many people frozen to death in that vision, including my parents, but how many other people did I lose in the future? Did I lose you too? My brother? My friends? I have no idea which is why all I'm trying to do is make sure I'm more careful from now on and keep my guard up which it looks like I never should have let down in the first place because ghosts are always going to end up screwing with my life no matter what I do. And besides, I thought you said you'd be happy as long as you're with me no matter where we go! But whatever looks like my decision isn't good enough for the high and mighty Vlad Masters after all..."

Instead of responding right away, Vlad stood up from his workbench and placed one hand on my shoulder while he lifted my chin with the other, and while looking into my eyes and explained firmly, "Little badger, you know that is not what I meant. I understand your frustration more than you know about not feeling in control and why you are being cautious. All I'm saying is that you need to have more faith in yourself because it is beneath you to allow this one experience to invalidate the progress you've made to reach this point because I know you're stronger than this. You shouldn't choose to take the easy route out of fear of not being able to protect the people you love anymore because you CAN and HAVE already done it dozens of times before."

I opened my mouth to argue that I beg to differ when moved his other hand to cup my cheek, his thumb brushing across one of the dark circles under my eyes, and when I saw his warm yet sad expression I felt bad for snapping at Vlad like this, as per usual. I know it's not fair for me to take out my anger on him when he's done so much for me, I'm just so tired, confused, afraid to fail, afraid to lose the people I love and worried that if I let my guard down again I'll lose everything all over again because of more ghost-related bullshit. Either way, after Vlad let go of my shoulder and my cheek and leaned back, he put his hands behind his back and told me to try and get some sleep, and if this is my final decision about where I wanted to take my friends he would make all of the necessary reservations and travel arrangements.

I dreaded the idea of going to bed at all like I have for the past two weeks, but regardless I nodded and turned to leave when I heard Vlad mutter something under his breath about how things can't go on like this and I felt a sharp pang in my chest. I shouldn't have said anything and bothered Vlad about my feelings so it almost made me wish I had kept my mouth shut. He has enough to worry about and right now I'm being nothing but a burden to him. I'm no hero...I'm just a villain waiting to happen that only knows how to hurt others and push away the people who care about me the most...


Vlad's POV

As soon as Danielle left I resolved myself to do whatever it takes to help her overcome this even if I had to resort to something drastic because I hate seeing her consumed by so much fear and self-doubt. That bastard Nocturne will pay for this dearly! She did not deserve to shoulder such a heavy burden of being responsible for the fate of the world and knowing about any part of this dark future. For all he knows he's actually brought that future closer to coming true after backing Danielle into a corner to the point where she's second-guessing every decision, praying that the next one won't end in the untimely death of those she loves just like in that vision.

Opening the tome of ancient ghost lore on my workbench which I've been referencing while developing what Danielle now refers to as anti-noct, I scanned the pages in search of anything revolving around the manipulation of memories in the hope that if nothing else I could help her forget what she saw in that vision. After all, she was never meant to see it to begin with according to Nocturne so showing it to her was the result of his own foolish mistake of unraveling her dreams and memories to grasp that thread so he could try to understand more of what he had foreseen. I don't have to remove the memories of everything that happened, just block the memory of that vision so it will stop haunting Danielle's every waking moment...

I can tell she's still struggling to hold herself together and if I'm not careful Danielle will snap and reflexively try to fix everything herself when she's in no condition to face her parents or Nocturne again. And I suppose she's not wrong to assume that another ghost could come after her now that Nocturne's actions may have put her on the radar of the Observants who legends say are a sort of high council in the Ghost Zone who are sworn to watch over and protect both worlds, but they cannot interfere directly at all which is why these seven guardian ghosts were chosen by the ancients or possibly even WERE the same ancients who defeated the Ghost King, Pariah Dark.

That is my theory anyway since the creation of the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep sounds very much like something Nocturne would have assisted in the making of to seal away a ghost too powerful for any of them to defeat that attempted to conquer the Ghost Zone and the Earth long ago. It's astonishing to think they may consider Danielle an equally powerful threat which I'll admit does make me curious about this future version of herself she dreads becoming so much. Ultimately though the present Danielle is the only one I care about. It's her safety and future on the line so anyone who threatens that will suffer my wrath. Of course, I say that but I left Nocturne only unconscious because I didn't want to risk losing her faith in me by destroying his core before her very eyes...

Oh but how tempted I was to do it anyway so many times and if she hadn't stopped me I would have done so after teleporting from the mountain chalet to here. There may come a day when I won't ask for her forgiveness after doing what's best for Danielle. Because unlike her parents I actually give a damn about giving her the freedom to live as she pleases. I made it possible for Danielle to stop being the sole protector of Amity Park. And I removed her from the toxic environment she was living in, and I mean that literally when those Blood Blossoms made her deathly ill. I've given her a roof over her head, plenty of food to eat, clothing to wear, and most of all my unwavering trust, loyalty, and love.

Those last three things are not something I give to someone so easily, not since Maddie abandoned me as well and proved to me what a terrible mother she's become. I already knew Jack was a fool to begin with, so who those two ended up with two such wonderful children I will never know but again they never deserved someone like Danielle. But I've done everything to prove that I DO deserve her and I can tell Danielle is having serious doubts about whether or not she made the right choice to live with me and...well I must admit that does sting a little. I understand her feelings of doubt are born out of a deep-seated fear and it's not that she doesn't trust me, it's just that she's become so concerned about doing what's right for everyone that she's willing to throw away her own happiness and peace of mind and I refuse to let that happen.

"I've come too far to lose Danielle now," I said to myself, closing the book and transforming into my ghost half. "And you know what they say, 'better to ask for forgiveness than permission.'"

After activating the castle's outer shield and injecting myself with the stronger form of that anti-noct serum, I ordered Cedric and Isla to keep a close eye on Danielle and to make up an excuse as to why she can't find me but for now, there's someone who owes me some answers. And once I have them...I will remove at least one threat to my little badger's future. I can always claim Nocturne just wasn't able to recover after his battle with Danielle since he needs dream energy rather than simple ecto-energy to regenerate himself. True, Danielle may feel guilty about his demise but I'll be there to assure her he was in fact our enemy. If Nocturne truly had her best interests at heart he wouldn't have subjected her to such psychological torment and he never would have let Danielle carry the burden of seeing a vision of a possible future where she indirectly murders her own parents and countless others by mistake to protect herself from something terrible they attempted to do to her.

It was clearly self-defense, so Danielle never actively chose to freeze the people of Amity Park and by extension the world so why on earth Nocturne thought he could get away with kidnapping her is beyond me. If he truly knew her at all he would have simply tried to reason with her and offer a warning to help her avoid whatever event acts as the catalyst to this future. And the worst part is, Nocturne may have actually set her on that path by mistake while trying to avoid it because now she wants to go back to Amity Park to try and reason with those two hypocrites that said they'd love her no matter what. I have my doubts that it's even possible at this point for her to reconcile with Jack and Maddie, but if that's what she wants there is no way I'm going to let Danielle face them alone.

She has me now, so Danielle will NEVER be alone again. If she ever chooses to run away because of some idiotic notion that she's protecting, I will hunt her down and bring her home no matter how many times it takes. Because this is her home now! We're a family and I'm not going to lose anyone else! I have finally been given the chance to be a father and I'll be damned if some ghost takes that away from me! I'll destroy anyone who stands in my way because I'm not going to play nice anymore. Playing nice is what allowed Nocturne to kidnap Danielle in the first place so his demise will serve as the only warning I'm going to give that the next ghost, ancient or not, that comes after my little badger will not survive to make another attempt to cause her harm.

I'm going to personally make sure of that.


I was thankfully actually when I immediately confirmed that Wulf had ventured away from Nocturne's castle spire to go hunting so my timing was perfect. After all, I would hate for him to deprive me of the satisfaction of being the one who causes Nocturne the most agony. I may have to battle the Fates if those three decide to rise up to defend him, however, as thankful as I am for the warning they gave me and the fact that they didn't interfere before by no means makes us friends. If they take his side on this and decide to protect Nocturne from my wrath, then they are also my enemies...

This time, I did not even bother sneaking in through the caverns below the castle spire, I teleported straight to the top of the tower where Danielle fought for her freedom before and smirked upon seeing it still hadn't been repaired since we last came here. As for Nocturne, he sat idly on a throne that was carved out of the same black marble the rest of the castle was lined with on the interior and as soon as his sleepy eyes fell upon me he stood up, although I could almost sense how weak he still was, and only went as far as the bottom of the steps before stopping under a single shaft of moonlight.

"I have been expecting you, Vladimir," Nocturne began calmly, sounding resigned. "While I have been unable to visit your dreams nor that of the child, an old friend told me you would come. But beyond that, I can only guess your intention is to destroy me once and for all."

"Glad to know that the new drug works properly and you cannot spy on our dreams anymore, Nocturne. Let that be your final lesson not to underestimate me like you did with Danielle," I began cruelly, charging my hand with ecto-energy. "And you assume correctly. Danielle may have spared you unintentionally when her strength couldn't hold out while using that strange new vocal power of hers, but the irreversible damage you've done to her spirit is something I cannot forgive so easily. You held her hostage and told me you'd make her suffer if I made any false moves, promising to remove her memories of your encounter so that she wouldn't suffer as long as I stayed away which you knew wasn't about to happen, but then you made Danielle suffer greatly regardless. Because of you, she is now deathly afraid of what the future has in store when it hasn't even happened yet and that is why I can't risk letting you remain a threat to her when it's only a matter of time before you try to worm your way into her dreams again. Before I do destroy you though, I'm going to let you share your final thoughts with me even though nothing you say can undo what you've done."

With a soft chuckle, Nocturne mused, "You are correct, I can only alter memories but I cannot change events that have already taken place. That power falls to Clockwork and unlike me, it would seem he's the only one who knows better than to interfere directly with mortals unless instructed otherwise by the Observants. I have already been punished for my mistake since they have stripped me of my role as a guardian. Now, I am nothing but an old spirit left with nothing but his regrets. But know this-"

Looking up at the false moon above us through the gaping hole in the ceiling, Nocturne continued, "-my intention to help her is genuine because as I told Dani Phantom I have foreseen two similar paths leading to that future which is why I sought out a way to help the ghost child escape her fate without sacrificing all that she holds dear, such as her special bond with you. You mean a great deal to her, Vladimir, but I know you are a creature of habit, and seeking vengeance is all you know. Should she learn that you came here to destroy me, the ghost child will lose her faith in both you and herself because she will blame herself for your decision.

"Soon after, the child will attempt to save you from returning to your evil ways by leaving you behind to resolve matters with her parents to prevent you from 'removing them' as a threat to her future entirely out of fear of losing her which will also lead to the loss of her humanity. Hold onto her too tightly or attempt to cage Dani Phantom for her own protection, and the child will escape and run back to Fenton Works feeling she has already lost you and has nowhere else to return to. Either way, the result is the same..."

Placing a clawed hand over his heart, or core rather, Nocturne sighed and confessed, "Humans are such complicated creatures, and for all the centuries I have watched the dreams of your kind unfold it would seem I have learned very little about how you see the world because I have never come across anyone quite as radiant as that young hybrid. You halfa's truly are unique even among humans because your power and strength of will is unlike anything I've seen before. I was wrong to have ever doubted her strength since she managed to not only escape my most powerful sleeping spell, but she also resisted my attempts to make her temporarily forget about you and her previous life in Amity Park to make guiding Dani Phantom through her abandoned dreams and old faded memories simpler while seeking an answer to how to give that child hope that she can overcome that dark future, but it would seem the answer was right in front of me all along. I was just too blind to see it."

"Are you done stalling?" I asked coldly, charging my other hand with ecto-energy as well and slowly advancing on him, "Even if any of that is true, you know I can't let your actions go unpunished whether I destroy you or not. If I don't show everyone in the Ghost Zone that we're not to be trifled with, others will attempt to test their luck against Danielle's strength again either for their own selfish reasons or in the name of supposedly saving a world I would much rather see burn than let her shed another tear over those who don't deserve to be saved. And I'm sure she'll forgive me for at least taking you down a peg or two myself as a warning to others.

"As for the rest, well, you already know what will happen if I catch you prying into our affairs again even without any other premonitions. And truthfully it is ONLY because of Danielle that I'm giving you a second warning because very few of my enemies even receive a first before I crush them either literally or metaphorically. After this, there will not be a third and I WILL end your miserable existence. But before we begin, I have one question."

"Ask what you will of me then and I will answer truthfully," Nocturne replied, sounding slightly disappointed by my response because he must have been hoping this fateful encounter wouldn't come to blows since he clearly hasn't fully recovered his strength.

Smirking knowingly I began, "Apart from you and Clockwork I know there are seven ancient guardians total who banded together to defeat Pariah Dark. I want to know who they are so that I know who else might threaten Danielle because of this absurd fear of a future that encases the world in ice. So tell me, Nocturne, now that you're not a guardian, who are the others? And that includes who might be replacing you if there must always be a seventh since I know there is sometimes ancient magic attributed to such things."

Narrowing his sleepy eyes at me Nocturne asked in return, "And what will you do once you know?"

Splitting myself into seven Plasmius's total with my duplicates to make a point, we replied together, "Whatever is necessary to keep Danielle safe even if I have to take you all out one by one. So long as they don't interfere with our lives again then I have no qualms with these other guardians. If they do intend to turn their attention onto Danielle, then I'll wage war against them that will make Pariah seem like a much smaller threat in comparison. But you, Nocturne, are still my enemy which means you've already crossed that line and made yourself an enemy of Vlad Plasmius. And that my shadowy friend, was a grave mistake."