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

(Updated 4/18/2020): Holy crap this was difficult to re-read, I can't believe I released the chapter like that with so much clumped up dialogue. I am SO sorry about that my old and new readers! I'm going to try to fix this while working on random Danny Phantom stories of mine off and on before starting anything new. With the exception of new chapters for unfinished stories.

~Prologue~

How It All Began

"Pardon me, but who is that young man sitting over there?" Vlad asked the director of this small sad excuse for an orphanage he was visiting, nodding with an upturned brow in the teen's direction. "I don't recall seeing him before. And here I was under the impression that I had already met ALL of the orphans in your care. So either I neglected to notice him -which I find highly unlikely- or we were never 'properly' introduced."

Following Vlad's gaze towards the lone teenager sitting in the farthest corner of the room reading a book, the director nervously brushed off his accusatory stare and replied, "I-I'm terribly sorry Mr. Masters. I was certain that everyone was present and accounted for at the assembly. He must've slipped out at some point without my knowledge."

"That's Owen Ravenwood," the director continued apologetically, "Though I must say, I'm actually surprised that Owen went out of his way to avoid the assembly. It's unlike him to be this rebellious. He's usually so well-behaved despite his complicated past. True, sometimes he tends to be a bit reserved and overly wary of others at times, but I can't say I blame him considering what brought him to us. The poor lad..."

Vlad raised an eyebrow, "I see. Even so, if I have offended him in some way-"

Glancing briefly over at Owen then back to Vlad, he hastily motioned Vlad closer and blurted out in a low voice, "No no, I sincerely doubt it has anything to do with you. I'm not supposed to say anything about this, least of all to such an esteemed guest as yourself but, the truth is that Owen's parents actually tried to kill him so it caused a huge scandal back in his hometown. They nearly succeeded too. Perhaps that's the reason why he decided to isolate himself and get as far from the assembly as humanly possible."

"Oh? And what does my visit have to do with this...traumatic experience of his?" Vlad asked evenly.

Hoping to recover from the embarrassment of having one of the children in his care skip out, the director admitted, "Well, with all due respect Mr. Masters if I were to hazard a guess why he skipped out it's likely not you he's trying to avoid, but rather the attention you draw to yourself that largely involves news reporters and such."

The director's tone grew somber when he explained, "You see...Owen hasn't exactly had the best experience with either of them. Especially after being dragged out into the public eye after some something as horrible happened to him at the hands of his own parents. It obviously wasn't his fault and even the reporters think it was an attempt to commit a family suicide because they killed themselves shortly before the police arrived and found Owen barely conscious on the floor covered in blood. Evidently one of his parents stabbed him with a kitchen knife that came from the very same set they then used to kill themselves."

Vlad's eyes widened as he stared at Owen in total disbelief. He couldn't imagine that someone so outwardly calm could have endured such hardships at his age and strangely enough his heart went out to the boy so he quietly muttered, "That's absolutely barbaric..."

The director nodded and sighed heavily, crossing his arms as he looked over at Owen again. Then, as if the story couldn't have gotten any stranger, it did and only further piqued the billionaire's curiosity. "As if the experience itself wasn't traumatic enough, shortly after he was discharged from the hospital the reporters began hounding the poor boy relentlessly while asking for more details about the supposed 'ghosts' Owen claims forced his parents to do it. He was ranting and raving about his parents innocence when he first regained consciousness after his surgery.

"It eventually got so bad that Owen couldn't focus in school anymore or go anywhere without reporters popping up to degrade him for believing in such supernatural nonsense. His previous orphanage contacted me when they decided it would be better to transfer him out of state to a smaller orphanage like this one that would draw less attention. That's how he ended up here at Mistveil. Owen's been with us a little over two years now.

"We've tried everything we can think of to convince him that these imaginary ghosts were never to blame for that tragedy. And academically Owen has excelled thanks to the online classes we enrolled him in, but frankly, no matter what we do to reassure him he still doesn't feel 'safe,' even here, so Owen keeps everyone at arm's length despite showing a remarkable empathy for others when he thinks no one is looking.

"To be honest, I'm not sure what to do with him anymore. We can't put him in a foster home because everyone we've tried pairing him with ended up sending him back here before long. And the last several adoption attempts have fallen through at the last minute for seemingly unexplained reasons too. I just can't understand why...

"Owen may be a quiet and reserved young man because of what happened, but he's also a very bright, well-behaved boy with a good head on his shoulders, excellent grades, and a big heart. He just has trouble connecting to others and seems to have resigned himself to the role of a social outcast for the rest of his life. Owen can't go on living as though the dead walk the earth and are out to get him...it won't change what his parents attempted to do and deep down I think he knows that."

Ghosts hmm? Interesting. I wonder if there IS any truth to his claims, Vlad smirked inwardly when that small but important detail caught his attention.

Keeping his expression casual and business-like, Vlad asked confidently, "Mind if I have a word him? I have some time to spare before my next appointment and I should like to make an attempt to greet him properly. It'd be a shame to let him waste this rare opportunity due to a bit of discomfort only to regret it later."

Thinking about it for a minute, the elderly director finally nodded and replied, "Well...I suppose I don't see any harm in that. The reporters covering your visit should have all left by now so it should be safe for you to talk to him for a few minutes without attracting unwanted attention. If there were any more reporters in the building they would be far more interested in interviewing you. In the meantime I think I'll go make sure no one else decided to play hooky.

"Once you're done speaking to him I'll meet you in my office, Mr. Masters. It's the third door on the left just down the hall. If you get lost just call my cell phone or Owen can show you the way himself." Once he was sure Vlad was all set after he nodded curtly to the man, the director promptly left the main lobby and made his way down the hall in search of any other stragglers.

Personally Vlad seriously doubted any of the other orphans who lived here had skipped the assembly since they were preoccupied with enjoying their visit to a local arcade at the moment. All except for this one, which is what caught his eye in the first place as soon as they entered the room. Vlad expected the building to be empty aside from the remaining staff members who weren't keeping an eye on the rest of their charges. He reserved the whole place out specifically for today to keep the otherwise unruly youths busy so that his tour of the orphanage would go more smoothly...

Not to mention more quietly.

That's why Vlad was genuinely surprised to see that one of them had stayed behind. In fact, the teenager in question was currently sitting alone in the lobby reading a book instead of playing one of those hand-held gaming contraptions as one would expect. And honestly, what sort of teenager would willingly choose reading a book over playing mindless videogames in this day and age…? It struck Vlad as quite odd for a boy his age. Especially one that did not look like the intellectual type since he wore a very stereotypical 'punk' outfit.

Owen's overall appearance was quite striking and Vlad personally found it amusing that no one had mistaken him for the now nearly-world-famous Danny Phantom because much like the other half-ghost-hybrid in question most of Owen's hair was almost completely white except for the untidy mess of dark black hair that fell from the top of his ears to the base of his neck. His eyes were naturally blood-red too -which was unusual for a human- and from a distance, they first appeared brown to Vlad until he got a closer look at them despite Owen's down-turned gaze scanning the pages of the book resting in front of him.

Another thing the two unusual teens shared in common was that Owen was in all likelihood only about fifteen years old. Their choice of attire was similarly...boyish too, although the latter was clearly taking at least a little better care of his wardrobe so it wasn't in tatters like Danny's jeans and sneakers. Simple though it was.

Owen was wearing a very typical teenage-appropriate outfit that consisted of little more than a pair of slightly faded dark gray jeans, a reddish-black hoodie with white lining on the inside of the hood and matching pull strings, and a set of simple black lace-less Nike's. If the director hadn't told him otherwise, Vlad could have easily mistaken Owen for just another rebellious teenager instead of a somewhat level-headed young man with more than just cute girls and videogames on his mind at first glance.

It didn't escape Vlad's notice when the boy visibly tensed when he approached despite Owen's best efforts to pretend he hadn't noticed him either. So maybe there something more to his backstory after all and Vlad was set on validating if this supposed ghostly encounter the boy experienced actually took place. Vlad was guilty of many terrible things in his ghost form to be sure but even he could not condone attacking a helpless human boy who by all accounts had done nothing to deserve such hostility and or to suffer the brutality of this ghost attack that resulted in his parents untimely deaths.

Vlad couldn't turn a blind eye to such a violent and dangerous ghost anyway so he was more then willing to take it out, if only because might cause a problem for HIM later. Approaching Owen casually, Vlad put on a charming smile as he greeted the young boy with a light touch on the shoulder and asked, "Why hello there young man. Doing a bit of light reading?"

Owen failed to repress a startled jerk before he slowly turned and stared up at Vlad, looking conflicted for a moment. Then, he sighed in exasperation as if having decided something and after reluctantly closing his book, his expression turned surprisingly grim. Then Owen pointedly shrugged out from under Vlad's hand and stood up to face him with all the confidence he could muster, glaring harshly.

Once their eyes met something seemed to have clicked in his mind and Owen said coldly. "I knew it was only a matter of time before another one of you showed up here. You're here to finish the job, aren't you? Well, I'm ready for you this time."

"Pardon me?" Vlad blinked, taken aback by his rather ruthless response.

"You can drop the act now, I already know what you are. But if we're really going to do this, let's take this outside since I don't want anyone else to get hurt this time if I'm the only one you're after. Not that it would stop you," Without waiting for an answer, Owen walked past him, opened the back door, and then walked outside followed by a very confused Vlad.

There was no way this random teenager could possibly know that he was half-ghost. After all, Vlad had only just met him so he had to be bluffing. Besides which the only other person Vlad knew that could sense his ghostly presence was Danny but he was half-ghost too. Meanwhile, this boy was a hundred percent human; Of that Vlad was certain...

And yet, something about the fire in his eyes made Vlad believe he was serious about this. Crossing his arms once they were both outside and out of sight, Vlad looked at Owen quizzically and calmly asked him, "Alright. I give up. What's this all about?"

Owen rolled his eyes and shot him another glare as he snapped, "Cut the crap, I know a ghost when I see one! You can't fool me. And I don't know why you decided to overshadow Vlad Masters of all people, but taking over the body of a multi-billionaire is anything but subtle. So if you seriously think I'm going to just sit back and let you get away with hijacking someone else's body and forcing them to do your dirty work like last time then you're dead wrong! So do yourself a favor and leave Mr. Masters out of this. This is between you and me..."

"Son, I really don't know what on earth you're talking about," Vlad tried to reassure the clearly emotionally disturbed boy. "I understand what it's like to be treated like an outcast because of certain...unforeseen circumstances and wanting to be taken seriously, but isn't this taking it a little too far? I've heard you are a very intelligent young man so I believe we both know there is no such thing as ghosts. And even if they do exist in some form, you'll have to do more than make slanderous accusations towards a complete stranger. Now, why don't we go back inside and talk about this more rationally, hmm? It's not too late to-!"

Suddenly snatching Vlad's wrist and holding onto it tightly with surprising strength, Owen yanked it up into the air and to Vlad's shock, a familiar black ring began to form around his finger-tips and slowly glided down his arm. But that's-this was impossible! Was this boy…forcing him to transform?!

Alarmed by how quickly his transformation ring began to spread over the rest of his body, Vlad wrenched his arm free from Owen's grip in order to stop it and glared angrily at him. Meanwhile Owen simply stood across from him, looking eerily calm after confirming his suspicion though there was still a hint of fear in his eyes.

"The real Mr. Masters might not believe that ghosts exist, but the one inside of him is proof enough that they do and you're one of them. Now get out of his body and face me directly you coward! This time I'll give you a damn good reason to try and kill me! Because news flash, I have nothing left to lose! You took everything from me!" Owen snarled, his fists trembling. "This is for my parents you ghost freak!"

Right after that Owen raised his fist, intent on punching Vlad's lights out along with the supposed ghost controlling him that was in actuality his own ghost-half. This is bad, I can't be seen fist-fighting with some troubled teen out in the open like this! Vlad thought hastily to himself with a deep frown, It'll just cause a scandal that neither of us want to deal with. I had better make him stop this nonsensical behavior before the director starts to wonder what's taking me so long. It seems I have no choice, but to use the innocent-billionaire-possessed-by-ghost act to prove that he's at least half correct and that should placate him. After that, I'll just scare him into stopping this nonsense.

And so mere seconds before Owen's fist could make contact with his beautifully sculpted face, Vlad created a duplicate and sent it flying out of his body while he himself merely crumpled to the ground with a dull thud in a 'dead' faint. As predicted Owen wasn't expecting the ghost he was accusing to actually set his host free and unable to steady himself the boy fell face-first to the ground along with the real Vlad.

Before he could regain his balance again Owen suddenly felt a sharp tug on the back of his hoodie and was pulled up high into the air, dangling helplessly above the ground in Vlad's monstrous grip looking like a cat being held by the scruff of their neck...

Smiling wickedly as he watched the boy squirm, which like his partially white hair reminded him so much of Daniel, Vlad mused, "I thought you looked like a clever one, but I wasn't expecting anything like this! Most impressive my boy. Now tell me, how DID you sense my presence? And more importantly, how did you manage to force me to reveal myself like that, hmm? You clearly have some sort of innate gift, possibly of a magical sort, but the question is, how? You're obviously not a ghost or a psychic, so what are you...?"

Struggling to get free, Owen shouted angrily, "Let go of me!"

"Oh, I think not. I'm afraid you brought this upon yourself, my boy. Lest we forget who tried to throw the first punch," Narrowing his gaze, Vlad sighed, not really in the mood to beat up some helpless human brat who had no idea who he was picking a fight with.

With that in mind, Vlad admitted nonchalantly, "I hate to disappoint, but I haven't the faintest clue who you or your parents are. Attacking you was not even on my list of priorities. After hearing your sad story however, I'll admit it got me curious. That, and you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Frankly, you would have been better off following the example of your peers and going to the arcade like the other children.

"While I have no intention of killing you I can't have you revealing my secret to anyone either, now can I? So, unfortunately, that means it's time to say goodbye to your memories of this little encounter. I do commend your courage during this misguided attempt to expose me. Not many humans outside of the profession of ghost hunting would dare confront such a powerful ghost directly." After that he planned to perform a routine possession and memory wipe, nothing special since Vlad didn't have time to toy around with him.

But what happened next wasn't exactly what Vlad expected...

After Vlad dropped Owen and went intangible to possess him, but as soon as Vlad was only mere inches from entering his body a surge of excruciatingly painful red energy ripped through Vlad's body! It felt as though he'd flown face-first into a solid brick wall! And thanks to the sheer force of this strange energy Vlad was blasted back and barely managed to turn intangible before colliding with the opposite wall.

Once he recovered from the pain and shock that this sort of power had come from a normal human boy Vlad's duplicate floated towards him again and stared at Owen in disbelief. Forcing him to begin his transformation was one thing, but having powers that were capable of actually hurting him? It was remarkable so now Vlad knew for certain that there was far more to this teen boy than he could have possibly imagined in his wildest dreams.

Grunting after he crashed back onto the ground, Owen looked up at Plasmius, his troubled gaze looking just confused as he asked, "Hold on, you didn't seriously forget that I can't be overshadowed have you? That can't be right. Then you're really not one of 'them'…? You're not with the ghosts that murdered my parents?"

"As curious as I am about who you THOUGHT I was, I'm afraid we're out of time. Let's wrap this up, shall we? I am a very busy man," Plasmius retorted venomously, floating close enough to him to hover menacingly over Owen.

Glancing down at the real Vlad laying on the ground beside him then back at his ghostly double, Owen took a deep breath and surprised Vlad by apologizing in a dejected tone, "Fine, I'm sorry for assuming you were with the ghosts that killed my parents. Your aura is just...really dark so I just assumed you were sent after me. Look, I don't know why you're possessing Vlad Masters but if you're not after me then as long as you're not planning on hurting anyone, I don't care what you're up to here. That's your unfinished business. I don't want anything to do with ghosts anymore. And you're right, I did bring this on myself. I don't know what I was thinking picking a fight with some random ghost instead of keeping my big mouth shut and ignoring YOUR kind like I usually do!"

Clenching his fists, Owen growled, "It's always like this! I...I just want you damn ghosts to leave me the hell alone! I am so sick of pretending I can't see your kind everywhere and putting up with all these stupid adults like Vlad Masters who don't have a CLUE that ghosts really DO exist.

"They think I'm just paranoid but if they can't even protect themselves or the other kids from the dangerous ghosts like you, how're they supposed to make me feel safe?! Just like my parents, they have no idea what's really out there. But I never asked to be like this! Seriously you might as well go ahead and kill me now because I'm done, I can't keep living like this! Always surrounded by death when I don't even know what I'm living for anymore…"

Rolling his eyes at his little speech, Vlad's duplicate crossed his arms repeated exasperatedly, "I already told you, I don't want-! "

"G-Ghost!" Turning around sharply they both saw the director staring at them with wide fearful eyes, horrified to see the real Vlad laying helplessly on the ground. "S-so it IS true, there are real ghosts here! Owen, I'm so sorry I didn't believe you! And y-you! G-get away from him you-you monster!"

At the same time both Vlad and Owen groaned, "Oh crap…"