A/N: Welcome to the third chapter of The Promise of An After Lifetime.

In this chapter, we would finally witness something bad. Yeah I know, spoilers, but I am not sure if this is going to be good or something.

This is also the last chapter I did 4 years ago before I 'abandoned this one'. The last story before Detective Conan sparks my interest...And when I got back my mojo, I went back to rewrite this one with my current writing skills.

This has a major rewrite of all the first three chapters I did years ago. I will explain to you how this rewrite differs from the original one on the end notes.

This will contain tragic themes, blood and angst. If you are sensitive to this, turn back now or skip to the next chapter... I warned you.

CHAPTER THREE:

Swirls of Red and Green

Date: March 12, 2007

Place: Manson Residence, Amity Park, Illinois, USA

Ring...ring...ring...

Samantha "Sam" Manson was peacefully sleeping in her room after another night of ghost patrol and endless crying, when her phone was ringing constantly, waiting for her to pick up. She groaned, cursing and saying incoherent words to herself, as she opened her still swollen amethyst eyes and looked at her phone in annoyance.

Tucker Foley is calling...

She groaned again, clutching her throbbing head in annoyance. "Why Tucker had called me in the middle of the night? Hope it was important or I will totally kill him and make him a ghost," she muttered, glaring daggers at the phone. She wanted to throw the phone in annoyance, but she is too tired to care. Her eyes was still swollen from crying all night, and she was a mess.

She decided to let her phone ringing, thinking that Tucker was pulling a prank on her again, that he will just gave up if she will just ignore the phone ringing and went back to sleep. She is tired after accompanying Danny and Tucker in patrolling the city, and her crying. She doesn't want to deal their pranks this time.

But she also felt something... Dread.

Like there's something wrong, but she couldn't explain why she felt it.

Ring...ring...ring...

She growled again, as she looked at the phone with annoyance. "Tucker will never give up, is he? I'm going to kill him if he doesn't have a good reason to call me at freaking 2 AM..." she thought to herself, as she couldn't shake the feeling that something's wrong. She hoped Tucker called her for a good reason.

"Hello..."

"Sam? Are you awake?"

Sam snorted as she rolled her eyes. Stupid Tucker, now she's awake because of him, and he just asked if he's awake. Is he kidding?

"Sorry, standard question," The African-American teen commented as he had heard Sam's snort from the other side.

"Give me a good reason why you called me at this freaking hour-" Sam said, glaring at the floor, imagining multiple ways to kill Tucker on the spot when they see each other again.

Suddenly she heard an explosion in the background and someone screaming. The Goth widened her eyes in surprise as she heard the explosion and a scream in the background.

"Wait, is that Jazz screaming?!" Sam screamed in shock, not caring if she is going to awaken everyone in the Manson household. She recognized the scream, it belongs to Danny's sister Jazz! Why is she there with Danny and Tucker at 2 AM in the morning?!

"Tucker, what's going on? And is that Jazz screaming? Tucker, tell me!" She shouted again, not totally caring that someone in her household will wake up because of her scream. She only cared about the safety of her friends, and that's all that matters. Especially Danny, he's always the target of the ghost attacks, since he's the hero.

Suddenly Jazz's panicking voice filled Sam's ears, her voice shook to the point it was incoherent. "Sam, you had to come here quick! We're in front of Casper High and Danny... he's in danger... Plasmius had been attacking him again... He now wants Danny dead... I think Danny is..."

Another explosion was heard again and the line went dead.

"Jazz? Jazz? What happened to Danny?! Tell me, Jazz! TELL ME!" She screamed again, holding the phone very hard her screen cracked under the pressure, before she threw it at the far corner at her room when she received no answer.

She sobbed loudly, as she stared at the broken phone in the far corner of her room, her shoulders shaking in fear and shock. "Oh Danny, I hope you're safe... Don't worry, I'll be there."

Without thinking twice, she went to her closet and grabbed her black jacket, not caring to change her pajamas for her normal attire. She also grabs the Fenton Thermos, which was probably left by Danny in her care accidentally. She wastes no time going to them, to him.

She slammed her door open, ran towards the entrance and outside the house as she ran away in the night, not caring that her now-awakened parents and servants had shouted for her to stay at the house and go back at her room.

All that matters to her was Danny's safety, for he was in now in danger, and knowing Vlad Plasmius (or Vlad Masters in his human form), he will make sure that Danny will gonna be his evil apprentice, and make Danny's mother, Maddie, his wife. He was a halfa like Danny, created due to a proto-portal accident years ago. He vowed revenge on Jack Fenton, Danny's father, and wanted to steal Danny and Maddie away. Of course, the stubborn teenager doesn't want that to happen.

She arrived in front of Casper High School in record time. There, she saw Tucker and Jazz, and a battle happening few meters away from where they were standing. Jasmine 'Jazz' Fenton, the ever beautiful brilliant girl with bright orange hair, turquoise eyes and cute smile, was crying hard, and she did not dare to watch the fight, especially to her brother. Tucker tried to comfort her, his hand patting Jazz's hand, but he was also trying to contain himself from crying, crystal tears were forming from his turquoise eyes. Broken weapons such as ectoguns are littered on the ground, pieces are spreading in the cold asphalt. The Fenton bazooka was also on the ground, discharged and ran out of battery.

As Sam's amethyst orbs started to focus on the fight in front of him, she couldn't contain the tears that were threatening to fall from her amethyst eyes. Danny Phantom was fighting Vlad Plasmius and by the looks of it, it seems that Plasmius was going to get that victory. Danny looks horrible and tired, his usually glowing ghostly green eyes that were always brimming with determination, and his ghostly aura had dimmed slightly, his silky snow white hair was raked with dirt and ectoplasm and blood, his black jumpsuit was ruined, and he has a lot of huge wounds, cuts and bruises littering in his battered teenage body.

"What happened to Danny? Why can't he easily defeat Vlad?" Sam's voice trembled, her eyes still focused on the fight and on her best friend.

Tucker explained that before Vlad decided to show up, Danny had to fight a least six ghosts, namely Box Ghost, Skulker, Technus, Ember, Bertrand, and Spectra... Without the Fenton thermos to help him. They used the Fenton Bazooka to send the ghosts back to the Ghost Zone, but before they could call it a successful night, Plasmius had decided to pester Danny after he was already exhausted from the fights, and Plasmius takes this to his advantage.

Thankfully, no one had heard the commotion, as Casper High was kinda far from the residential area of Amity Park,and considering the fact it was still in the wee hours of morning, everyone was asleep.

She felt pity for Danny, it was all her fault he suffered all of this. If she never convinced Danny to go inside in that Ghost Portal few months ago, this would not happen. Danny would be safe and sound, full human and will live a normal life with them. He wouldn't be afraid of his parents, and he would be carefree. It was all her fault that Danny had to suffer everything because of the ghost powers she had indirectly given to him, and she hated herself for it.

"So little badger, I will give you a last chance to save your life. Join me, Daniel, and I will teach you a lot of things. We will become a happy family, with dear Maddie as my wife, you as my son and apprentice and without that bumbling oaf of a father." Vlad said in an evil tone, looking at Danny with a creepy smile, his red eyes focusing on the injured halfa infront of him.

But being the stubborn one and having a huge hero complex the size of Antarctica, Danny just shook his head, his green eyes glowing with determination. "And I tell you again and again, Fruitloop, that I will never, EVER join you! I would rather die than to be with you! Can you just get a cat or enter a dating site like I suggested you too?" Danny barked as his hand glowed brighter than it had ever been. Tucker facepalmed, while Sam and Jazz glared at Danny in annoyance. He is still has the time to joke around and release his signature witty banter like he always does, even though he was the verge of danger. While bantering, he shot Vlad with his own ectoblasts, but Vlad avoided them and countered it with his own pink ones.

"I AM NOT GETTING A CAT!" Vlad threw a tantrum, while Danny smirked. Vlad glared at the younger halfa, as he spoke in a pissed-off tone, "Well, Daniel, I will still never give up trying to get you and your mother, no matter what. And I will make sure that I will get what I wanted."

Danny rolled his glowing green eyes as he was still throwing ectoblasts at the older halfa, speaking in a sarcastic voice, "Good luck with that, Fruitloop."

Danny and Vlad fought harshly, pink and green ectoblasts had been scattering in the place like a light show, and it nearly hit Tucker, missing him a few inches.

"Hey! Watch the head!" Tucker complained loudly, looking at the two in annoyance. The two ignored Tucker's complains and still fighting to the death.

Unfortunately, Danny lost focus on the fight due to exhaustion, so he never noticed that one of Vlad's stray ectoblasts went to his direction. It hit Danny's chest, causing him to be thrown towards a wall and hit it in impact, causing damage.

As Danny was thrown away, Vlad finally noticed the three of them.

"Oh, I guess your friends are here to see you being defeated, Little Badger. I wonder how they will help you fight me, since I could just disintegrate them to nothing... But I couldn't do that, my pawns are still important to my plans to get a checkmate and win the game," Vlad sneered, as his red eyes glared at the trio. Sam, Jazz and Tucker also glared at the evil halfa, as they tried to be strong and brave, but they couldn't hide the fact that their legs were trembling from fear.

Danny saw Vlad staring at his friends and sister, and he was utterly worried for them. He do not want them to get hurt by Vlad Plasmius.

"Leave them alone, Vlad! It is between you and me, don't you include them in this!" he weakly shouted at Vlad, and weakly stood up, his hand clutching the pained area where he was hit by Vlad.

"Really? Daniel, don't be such a party pooper. The party was just getting started." Vlad looked at the trio with scorn before grabbing a strange gun-like invention and pointing it at the trio. The gun was like something made by Danny's parents, although in a red color, which means it was made by Vlad or someone working for him.

On instinct, Sam went infront of Jazz and Tucker, protecting them from the gun, making her a target of the invention.

"SAM!" The three members of Team Phantom screamed. Danny widened his glowing green orbs in shock as Vlad was pointing a sophisticated looking ectoplasmic weapon at his best friend.

"Let us test out your hero complex shall we?" Vlad sneered again, as he stared at Danny with an evil smirk in his face.

"What's that?" Sam asked, focused at the invention with a worried look.

"This, Samantha, is what I called the Plasmius Ecto Blaster. Proudly made and payed for by me. This invention is so powerful that it could kill ghosts in just one shot," he said with a proud voice, cradling the invention like a baby before pointing it again at Sam," On the other hand, he could also harms humans, dear child. So goodbye, Samantha, and have a nice afterlife."

Sam's eyes widened, crystal tears started to flow from her amethyst orbs. Is this the end? The end of her life? Her life had flashed before her eyes, those memories and moments that she had experienced all her life. Her family and her friends. Her grandmother, her parents, Jazz, Tucker and Danny. She is going to leave them grieving for her, and she never wanted that to happen.

She closed her eyes, waiting for her end. She must be brave. If she's lucky, she might go back as a ghost, and she could still see them.

When Vlad decided to pull the trigger, Danny started to tackle the older halfa, trying to grab the invention out of Vlad's hands, they put up a good fight. They held the gun with determination, as they were trying to fight each other. Unfortunately, in their struggle, one of them suddenly pulled the trigger as the safety feature was off, and the gun went off, possibly hitting something or someone.

The gunshot sound was still ringing in Sam's ears. She's waiting for the pain to embrace her and claim her life, but it never came. She felt fine, and she felt no pain, and she sighed in relThat means the gun hit something that is not living, right?

Unfortunately, she was wrong.

She slowly opened her eyes and saw Vlad's shocked face, the gun still smoking from his hand. She looked at her body, and saw no wounds or blood in her. She was speechless and shaken, she froze for a moment, dazed and scared for her life.

"DANNY!" It was Tucker's and Jazz's worried voice, screaming, snapping her from her daze.

"Danny?"

With a feeling of dread on the deep corners of her soul, Sam finally focused on someone lying in front of her, and she gasped in shock as her amethyst eyes slowly filled with crystal tears.

Danny was lying down in front of her, was bleeding profusely, as a strange swirl of reds and greens surrounding him. By the looks of it, he was hit point-blank in the chest, slightly above where his core/heart was supposed to be located, and considering the fact that Danny was a halfa, or a half-ghost half-human hybrid, he was seriously injured and on the verge of death.

He was breathing hard, and he looks pale as a sheet, not a healthy tan in his ghost form. His beautiful glowing green eyes were slowly dimming while his usually bright ghostly aura flickers and dims.

Tucker and Jazz went to the distressed Sam, who was hyperventilating, asking if she was alright. She tried to calm down, nodded without a word, saying that Danny needs them the most. With a heavy heart, they were running to Danny, who was still trying to hold on to his half-life.

Vlad was shocked beyond belief. He did not intentionally wanted to kill the boy, all he wanted was for him to join Vlad and renounce his oaf of a father. Of all his 20 years of having ghost powers, he never killed anyone, and he wanted Jack to be the first, until today.

Instead of Jack, he killed Daniel. The only person who could relate his cursed existence. The person who likes to tease him to get a cat, the person worthy to fight him.

Now he's alone again.

As if by magic, Vlad finally realized what he did wrong. The boy was someone he never ever will be, someone who he wanted to be. Vladimir Masters grew up in a broken family, his parents had already remarried to someone and had a family of their own, leaving him alone to take care of himself.

All he wanted was someone to love him. When Jack and Maddie came to his life, he was happy, he was loved. Vlad treated Jack as a brother he never had, and he loved Maddie. He even helped them achieve their dreams, and they help him cope with the loneliness and longing for a family he never had.

Then the accident with the proto-portal happened.

He suddenly blamed Jack for everything after that. The oaf took Maddie from him, and he even never bothered to visit him as Vlad was stuck in a hospital bed for years, isolated and alone. Whenever he asked the doctors if someone visited him, the doctors and nurses would tell him no, while prodding at him. When his ghost powers show up one day, he felt that he was now utterly alone in the world, a freak that will never be accepted by everyone. The hurt and loneliness that dwelled inside of him bloomed into hatred and rage, and he had vowed revenge to the one who made him who he is, which is Jack Fenton.

When he found out that Jack married the beautiful Maddie and had two kids, he was utterly jealous. They had a family of their own, and Vlad was now alone. They had forgotten him and move on, and he was pissed. For years, he planned to kill Jack and steal his family to complete himself. To be loved. To be accepted.

Imagine the surprise on Vlad when he discovered that Jack and Maddie's beloved son, Daniel James, was a half-ghost like him. He was ecstatic and happy, as he is never alone anymore. So he decided to get Daniel for himself, with Maddie as his wife, so they could be a family. He is also willing to take Jazz if necessary, as Jazz was a mature and intelligent young woman, a little Maddie-to-be.

He wanted Daniel to learn about his powers using Vlad's 20 years of knowledge being a halfa. He wanted him to be the son he never had, to spoil and let his dreams come true.

Vladimir Masters just wants to be loved, but he did a mistake he surely regretted.

Now a life was sacrificed to pay for his mistakes.

At first, Sam was stumped and confused at what actually happened, staring at the injured ghost boy in front of her with a worried look. Then a painful realization came to her senses and Sam had realized what Danny did tonight.

He had sacrificed himself for her.

He protected Sam from being hit by Vlad by strangling Vlad and preventing the older halfa from firing a shot and hit her. Instead Danny was hit, taking the fatal blast in the chest.

She was utterly shocked and regretful. It was all her fault. It was all her fault Danny got to this mess.

And he was dying fully because of him.

Sam glared at the man beside her, who let the invention fall from his hands and flew to them in a regretful stare, as he spoke in a regretful tone, "Sorry, Daniel, I never intended to kill you."

The trio's glare deepened at the man who will be their friend's murderer. "Sorry?! Vlad, you did it, you murdered him... SORRY WON'T BE ABLE TO MAKE IT RIGHT! NOW MY BROTHER IS DYING, AND IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!" Jazz screamed, as she tried to run towards the man, but was stopped by Danny's trembling hand, "J-jazz, don't..."

"Apologizing and fighting wouldn't do good. We have to bring Danny in the hospital or something that will save his life," Tucker spoke in a calm voice, but they could sense the tremble in his voice, since he was trying to be strong for his best friend.

Danny widened his eyes as he coughed and winced in pain, pleading as he tried to cling on to life he had. "No, no-not the hos-hospital..."

"Little badger, I know that you wanted to hide your identity, but not this time. You need major medical attention, and this is serious, you will be taken to the hospital, whether you like it or not," Vlad spoke in a serious voice, trying to hide his regret and sadness.

"I hate to say it, but the Fruitloop is right. Danny, we have no choice," Jazz agreed, tears still flowing from her turquoise eyes.

Danny wanted to argue, but another pang of pain struck him, making him scream in pain. Sam cried again, Danny's painful scream is like a knife that stabbed her heart a thousand times, as Vlad slowly lifted the boy in his arms, staining his costume in green and red.

"I will take Daniel in Amity Park Hospital, since it's the nearest. Catch up with me there, as Daniel needs medical help," Vlad suggested, earning a distrusting look from Danny's peers and sister.

"How could we trust you, Vlad?" Sam growled, as her eyes blazed with hatred at the older halfa, who looked at the girl with a sad look, "I may be evil, but I am not heartless," Sam's eyes widened, "I don't want Daniel to die, and I will do whatever it takes to not be alone again."

Danny screamed in pain again, as Vlad speaks, "I have to go now, time is ticking and we have no time."

With a heavy heart, the trio agreed, as Vlad Plasmius took off with Danny Phantom in hand. Sam stared at the swirling mass of red and green, before catching up with Jazz and Tucker and unto their scooters.

They all hope that Danny would survive all of this one.

A/N: And finally, Chapter 3 was done.

This one was rewritten extensively, as I included some thoughts and expressions of different characters, especially Sam and Vlad.

In the original, Vlad had escaped after hitting Danny with the invention, leaving Danny and Team Phantom witness his dying moments.

After four years, I kinda realized that Vlad was kinda... Cruel in the original fanfic, leaving Danny injured, so I decided to put some perspective on him, my theories why he wanted Maddie and Danny. I feel that he just wanted someone to love all of him, and he wanted Danny to be his son because they are similar in some respect. He just wanted a family to call his own.

And I managed to cut something in here. Yes, if you have read the original, you could noticed that there is one major detail that I have removed in this chapter. I decided to cut it into two chapters, since this chapter became too long for my taste. Oh well.

TRIVIA ABOUT THIS STORY:The date this chapter was set is actually Koro-sensei's death date, March 12. Koro-sensei is from Assassination Classroom. In the original plot, it was set on August 28, which is my birthday, but changed to March 12 because I feel like it's too personal.

Don't forget to follow, review and favorite! I appreciate the love you have given to me. Love lots.

With glowing eyes and bright rings,

Alithea Korogane