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

Note (12/19/2020): This is a standalone story that takes place after the events "Nowhere To Run" and roughly during "Turning Point" since Danny's been living with Vlad for a while at this point. Anyway, I really wanted to make sure I finished this before Christmas and I was originally going to post it on Christmas Eve, but I figured everyone is probably going to be busy so basically, this is my gift to all of you lovely readers! That said, I also wanted to draw a cover for this too but unfortunately, that would take me much longer to finish so I hope you're ok with this one. Either way, I wish you all a very Happy Holiday! Enjoy!

Nowhere To Run (Oneshot): Spirit Of Christmas

Danny's POV

I still can't believe this is the first time in my life where I'm not absolutely dreading the holidays and acting like a total Scrooge. Well, at least not as much as I used to. As for Vlad, he's been pulling out all the stops to make sure our first Christmas as a family of two is amazing since this is the first time he's been able to truly enjoy the holiday himself since he was young and give gifts to someone he actually cares about and not just make a mass purchase of generic presents to reward some of his coworkers with as their Christmas bonus. Oh, but when I say 'generic' I don't mean they're cheap gifts, no, Vlad is still the richest man in the world so he gives people new cars like its nothing and big-screen televisions or first-class tickets to ride on a cruise ship like it's going out of style...

I do have one small confession to make though because it turns out old habits die hard so as soon as I saw the decorations Vlad was putting up around the castle, it made me feel the usual holiday dread which Vlad quickly caught onto so he sat me down and asked what was wrong. With a heavy sigh, I told Vlad the whole tragic story about how I was peed on by a dog when I was a year old while my parents were arguing about Santa, how they accidentally brought the turkey to life when it was reanimated by ecto-energy and it almost ate me and my sister, and how every year after that just like clockwork my parents would fight almost non-stop which made things at home even more unbearable. Because of that, I told him that's why I haven't been able to enjoy anything associated with Christmas for a long time either, at least not until I met Sam and Tucker and we'd spend it at one of their houses a bit early before they did the usual thing with their own families.

But you know, I still couldn't help but smile after seeing how absolutely thrilled Vlad was about spending the holiday with me even to the point of considering inviting my family to the ski resort with us after he told me he was busy planning that trip for us as part of his present to me. And not to be mean, but personally, I'm kinda glad my parents turned him down when Vlad asked them in the spur of the moment over the phone and I nearly choked on my drink when I overheard him ask them that the next morning. When he asked Jazz the same question she sadly had to tell him she already had plans too and ok I'll admit that part was a little disappointing.

I couldn't resist the temptation to tease her though about how she was going to be missing out on all the hot guys that were probably going to be there looking for a girlfriend to snuggle with by the campfire. In response, Vlad decided to tease me too about finding a nice girl while we're there to help Jazz out a bit and we all had a good laugh. On that same note, it looks like Sam, Tucker, and Valerie actually wanted to come but the timing didn't match up for any of them unfortunately which really sucks but it couldn't be helped...

At least I already got to spend a few days with them recently when we went to visit Amity Park for a sort of early Christmas with my parents and not gonna lie, I'm just surprised it went as well as it did given my parents usual tradition of fighting over the existence of Santa. Then again, maybe what happened last year finally put things in perspective for my parents and they realized how badly they've ruined the holiday for me and my sister every single year with their bickering. But they didn't fight even once while Vlad and I were there because they were just so happy to see us and we ended up playing a lot of fun Christmas games together, had a snowball fight, and ate a ton of great food.

One other thing I am happy about is that last year I discovered the whole Christmas Truce thing ghosts have so they don't mess with the human world at all that night, even if it was by accident, which reminded me that there's something I needed to do first before I could really try to enjoy the holiday this year. And that's to apologize to the Ghost Writer for what I did to his book of poems. But I didn't exactly want to tell Vlad about that because I already felt like enough of a Grinch after telling him how I usually act around the holidays...

When I told Vlad I wanted to make a short trip into the Ghost Zone to take care of something, he surprised me by asking if he could tag along since there's something he wanted to show me. When my curiosity got the better of me and overwrote whatever awkwardness I felt about going to visit the Ghost Writer I agreed and just like that we went on a short trip to the Ghost Zone together and I couldn't have imagined in my wildest dreams what Vlad would end up showing me. And oh boy, if my parents ever found out about this...my dad especially would flip his lid.

"You're joking," I gaped, staring at Vlad like gutted fish. "There's no way that's a thing! If it was I would have heard about it ages ago!"

"Believe it, Daniel," Vlad beamed brightly at me, his fangs glinting in the multicolored lights swirling around us that looked like northern lights as he landed with a soft crunch in the snow of a part of the Far Frozen's territory I've never been to.

Lifting his hand and spreading it in a graceful arc above his head while gesturing at the lights dancing in the fake sky above us, he continued, "Is it really so hard to believe there is a Spirit of Christmas after meeting the Spirit of Halloween himself? As you can imagine though, this ghost is much older not to mention far more benevolent so he takes great care to keep his home safely hidden from intruders. These lights you see here are part of the magic that keeps it hidden in plain sight, not even turning invisible will allow you to see it like most other hidden objects in the Ghost Zone. After all, magic and ghost powers are two entirely different things, little badger."

Nodding, I landed next to him and asked, "Are you sure it's ok for us to be here then? Isn't he, I dunno, busy making presents with his elves?"

Letting out a barking laugh in response to my question which only made me blush in embarrassment, Vlad ruffled my hair and replied, "Despite not being very fond of the holiday up until now you've certainly been watching too many cartoons, my boy! Saint Nicholas doesn't need workers when he has the power to create whatever you wish for most much like how the Fright Knight has the power to send you to a dimension crafted from your deepest fears. These two are almost completely opposite in their nature and it was actually thanks to Saint Nicholas that we have the Christmas Truce.

"It exists because he doesn't only give gifts to humans on Christmas eve, but also all of the ghosts here in the Ghost Zone as well so long as they keep their word not to harm anyone during that time which for a ghost is much harder than you think. He does this because, for one thing, ghosts can't buy presents for their loved ones -if they even have any- since the Ghost Zone doesn't work like that. There are no shops here, or at least nothing selling anything close to what you can get on Earth. If they want something, they have to either make it themselves or steal it from the human world. For him, it's a small gesture of kindness to many otherwise lonely ghosts and spirits who have never known it so even I have great respect for him."

Shooting me a sly wink Vlad added, "As for it being alright for us to visit, I imagine it is since he owes me a favor. You see, many years ago when his powers somehow went on the fritz I provided him with not only a solution to the problem but also many gifts from the human world to tide the ghosts here over before they could revolt when they thought Saint Nicholas broke his own Christmas Truce and wasn't going to give gifts anymore. And having the Spirit of Christmas owe you a favor is no small thing, Daniel. I just never had a reason to cash in on said favor before since I could buy any material possession I wanted-"

On a more somber note, Vlad turned to me and added softly, "Besides, he wasn't able to give me the one thing I truly wanted...until now."

"Vlad, you...are you talking about me?" I asked, pointing to myself.

Vlad nodded with a warm smile and answered, "That's right little badger. All I've ever wanted is a family, but he couldn't give me the one I wanted most because it isn't within his power to change the human heart. However, despite everything I've done wrong in my life I've always valued family and respected even Saint Nicholas's boundless love for all living and non-living things. So perhaps...in a way helping him is one of the few ACTUAL good deeds I've done in my life apart from saving you from your evil self Daniel."

Without thinking I lunged at Vlad, wrapping my arms tightly around him in a warm hug because I literally couldn't find the words to express how happy that made me feel. Of all the things Vlad could have brought me here for, could have said to me, I wasn't expecting him to tell me any of this. Honestly, I was so happy right now I literally wanted to cry but I stopped myself. Either way, I felt Vlad return my hug just as tightly and we stood there in the snow for several minutes without saying anything. We didn't have to.

Vlad's POV

Daniel's expression, once we crossed the magical barrier leading to Saint Nicholas's lair, was well worth the effort of keeping this a surprise as long as possible. When the opportunity presented itself to give Daniel the other major part of the gift I had in store came I leaped at the chance. Besides which I was curious about what spurred Daniel to ask me for permission to come here before our ski trip. As it turns out, he wished to make amends to a ghost he wronged named Ghost Writer who as you can imagine wasn't happy to see him at first but the moment he saw me, that changed since he already knew exactly who I was.

I had to visibly shake my head to prevent the Ghost Writer from spoiling my surprise since he likely already had an idea why I was here so close to such an important holiday. And not wanting to repeat what happened the year he met Daniel and trapped him and all of Amity Park in Christmas poem apparently, the Ghost Writer accepted Daniel's apology after saying he's glad he learned his lesson anyway, and in exchange, Daniel asked him if there were any books he might like to have since his library was full of them.

After that, the Ghost Writer happily boasted that he wrote many of the books in here before finally confessing there was at least one book he has always wanted since before he died but for whatever reason could never find. So to help Daniel smooth things over with him I offered to look into it myself and promised to have it sent to him as soon as possible. Shortly after, Daniel and I left and he seemed relieved to have gotten that over with.

It wasn't long before Daniel turned to me and finally asked, "So now that that's done, where is it that you wanted to go?"

Smiling at Daniel I replied, "It's not too far from here fortunately so this actually worked out perfectly. I suppose I could teleport us there but I think we should enjoy the relative peace and quiet while we can and fly there normally. After all, while this isn't normally the case even most of the lesser ghosts floating around here instinctively become much more docile around this time of year so we shouldn't have to worry too much about running into anything we have to fight."

"Really? Huh, that's good to know," Daniel nodded, scanning the area directly ahead of us, "So which way are we going?"

"You'll see," I smiled mischievously, turning in the direction of the Far Frozen's territory as Daniel curiously began to follow along behind me.

And that brings us back to where we are now, in the middle of Saint Nicholas's ice fortress or whatever you wish to call it which I could tell isn't what Daniel expected to see at all. I suppose the closest comparison I could make is that it was more like a cathedral made entirely of unmeltable ice with northern lights glowing both above it and at the base of the structure much like the heatless lights you'd find in an ice hotel. Even the trees had white bark with leaves that almost looked more like snowflakes upon closer inspection which were all decorated with lights of their own as the leaves changed colors along with silver ornaments.

The look of absolute wonder on Daniel's face was beyond anything I could have hoped for and we hadn't even gotten to the best part yet, meeting the Spirit of Christmas himself. "Vlad, this is incredible. I can't believe something like this has been here on the edge of Frostbite's home the entire time," Daniel began, floating up and taking a closer look at some of the intricate decorations on one of the trees.

"Ah yes, he is one of my oldest and dearest friends in fact," Nicholas smiled after teleporting directly to us, his eyes crinkling when he saw Daniel staring at him, likely wondering why his ghost sense didn't go off which it actually had but since it was already naturally cold here he likely failed to notice it. "I've been expecting you, Danny."

Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, Daniel landed in the snow again and muttered, "Sorry for messing with your decorations, I only wanted a closer look..."

After that Daniel slowly glanced up to get a closer look at how the real Saint Nicholas appears which likely wasn't what he expected either. If anything, he probably comes across more like Jack Frost than the jolly old Chris Cringle, which I might add is one of alias's along with the classic Santa Claus most people are familiar with. Just like he was when I first met him, Saint Nicholas was wearing a blue silk robe with white trim and intricate silver stitching and a ghostly snowy white owl with piercing glacial blue eyes perched on his shoulder and a similar white fox poked its head out from around the corner of one of the trees nearby, sniffing Daniel's boot curiously before bouncing around and barking at him playfully.

Daniel hardly even noticed the fox though until it bumped against his leg, yipping and demanding his attention before darting around him and bouncing in a circle while leaving behind what some call a foxfire trail which is really just an aurora like we've already seen floating all around the area. After that Daniel finally knelt down to let the fox nuzzle against him while Saint Nicholas spoke again.

"North seems to have taken a liking to you, Danny. Not that I'm surprised mind you, after all, you have such a good heart despite everything you've been through in your life and over the past year. Both of you have," he smiled, turning to me, "I'm glad you've finally found what you've been looking for as well, Vlad Masters. And I did tell you that day that it's something you would have to find for yourself, but once you did, that it would be well worth the wait and endure for as long as you put your heart into keeping it close."

"So you did," I nodded, placing a hand on Daniel's shoulder, both of us glancing up at the dancing lights once more as I continued warmly, "And yes, having Daniel at my side is truly the greatest gift I could ever ask for."