A/N: Hello everyone! Welcome to my newest story set in an alternate reality of the Danny Phantom universe. This is technically my second attempt at the story, but after losing the three completed but unpublished chapters since writing them, here I am starting from scratch. Inspiration for this story comes partially from the Jazz Succubus series I have been reading as of late and thought: I could use the idea of demons existing to really push the Danny Phantom universe into a new era of possibilities. However, with my writing style it's Phantasm not Phantom and therefore Danny is not here because my stories are my own full take on a universe within the universe already created. Before anyone says anything to me about it I do know Sephiroth may seem just ridiculous but it was the name the villain had from my original draft and honestly he's the most badass and popular FF villain in history as of yet so yeah I'll include the One-Winged Angel (just not in that overly copywritten context). Enjoy, I'm going to try harder than ever to at least get one more chapter of this put this week, depending on how much free time I get while at work which is where I've been writing any and all of my stories as of late.

Prologue

The Halfa Life

Hello there. You probably don't know me. Hell, I don't even know why I'm even saying this. Maybe it's just the stress I've built up the last two, almost three years, and I'm not talking about school. No, my problems stem from another plane altogether. My name is Nick Negron, but most people in my hometown of Crystal Heights know me by a different name: Phantasm.

It all started with the day I lost the love of my life. We were both only fifteen, but we had a connection that had people thinking we would be married by graduation. Maybe that was my plan, I don't know anymore. Anyway, me and my girlfriend Ruca Faye had been driving back home from our latest date: a concert held at the old fairgrounds just outside town.

I think we had been laughing at something, a stupid joke or maybe some bullshit about one of our classmates, the day messed me up so I don't exactly remember. What I do remember is the tractor-trailer ramming into my side of the car, a glimpse of grass and sky as the car rolled off into the roadside ditch usually only needed when the heavier rains came to town. Then there was darkness.. Until my sight was engulfed in a bright white light. Next thing I knew, I was lying in a hospital bed, battered but not broken. I was thankful I had survived, but then where was Ruca?

As I became more oriented to my position in the hospital bed, I saw the bedside table absolutely covered in cards and those ridiculous teddy bears and shit you find in Hospital shops. I realized something was off, however, when I noticed how many of the cards weren't 'get well' cards. No, they were 'sorry for your loss' cards. Needless to say, Ruca was gone forever.

That night, having regained enough energy to get up and move around in an attempt to stave off the pain I felt over losing Ruca, I wandered into the bathroom. Looking back on events, my grief and anger probably all caused my ghostly abilities to manifest, my hair turning platinum silver and my eyes a hauntingly vivid purple. I phased through the wall and scared myself back into my room, the ghostly form shifting to my normal appearance without a thought.

After I was released, I had two days to get ready for Ruca's upcoming funeral. The night after the funeral was the worst my depression could get, but it didn't prepare me for the ghost of Ruca appearing to me. She told me she was sorry, that she tried to stay with me but the light wouldn't let her.

Skip ahead a few months, I had been seeing Ruca's spirit ever since that night, but our roles evolved as time went on from then. I began training my ghostly powers, finding I had to due to the increasing numbers of hostile ghost attacks happening around Crystal Heights. No one knows why the attacks started or even how, as Ruca had told me that any ghost had to pass through the veil with the help of a portal, one which tended to be as indecisive as a toddler and the living world's exit was unknown as far as Ruca could tell me. None of the phantom adversaries I fought could tell me anything useful either, so I hit a dead end once again.

Soon after, Ruca brought an omnipotent ghost with her to see me. Her name was Eona, and her powers were based with time and space itself. Eona taught me more about my new post-accident existence. According to her, I had become a rare entity known only as a Halfa, neither truly completely alive or dead, and it fell upon a Halfa to fight the evil that continuously corrupted and evolved in the shadows of the world. I didn't want the responsibility, I was too confused as to why I was chosen to accept this fate, even as forced as it was. Then I got a probably horrible, balance-destroying idea. I asked Eona if there was a way I could bring Ruca back, even in the capacity that she would be in the same vein of existence as I now belonged.

Eona told me there might be a way, but no one in the Spectral World knew of a way to intentionally create a Halfa. They had no want to, the power and responsibility shown to bring even the most qualified ghosts to the corruption of evil. I thought that was the last of that idea, until my godfather Grant Zephyr moved to town and became the mayor. It seemed suspicious to me at the time, but I had bigger things on my plate than the strangely immediate takeover of town that Grant issued. At least, I thought it was.

Not a week after my godfather moved to town, I encountered a powerful ghost known only as Sephiroth. I of course made a few quips about the old Final Fantasy character while we fought, but that wasn't helpful much. That first time, I couldn't win. I knew it almost as soon as the battle had begun, but it was my honor as Crystal Heights' protector to fight. Ruca came and somehow managed to save me, but Sephiroth looked at her like he had a plan up his sleeve.

Soon after Sephiroth appeared, Ruca disappeared entirely. I looked all over town in the spots I knew her spirit would frequent, but she never showed back up. I knew she had probably just moved on, and by this time I had two of my closest friends helping me with the ghost fighting, but it still hurt. Tim Avery was a technical genius and helped design some outside tech to fight ghosts with and even a capturing device while my more physical friend Elliot Tate took to the streets with me in my fight, armed with a modified metal baseball bat that allowed contact with spirits.

I never thought to ask Sephiroth if had anything to do with Ruca disappearing, or even if he would tell me. He seemed to have some form of obsession with me, and I eventually found out that he was the last Halfa created before I had been given my powers. This came as a shock as well as the fact he wanted to groom me to be his heir, whatever that meant.

These days, the biggest threat I have to face is Sephiroth, who loves to mess with me and does so often enough. Sure, there's still plenty of small-time spirits to brawl with, but Sephy is my nemesis. Thankfully, school has been going well enough where my ghostbusting isn't affecting my grades as much. Silver lining, right?

Anyway, enough about my past. That's the boring bit, to be honest. Especially with my greatest foe to date coming from an unexpected source, and an even more twisted scheme..

Location Unknown..

The girl opened her eyes, but to no avail. She was still in the same empty, black space she had woken to for as long as she could trouble herself to remember. "Good, you're awake." Came the voice of the only person she seemed to know.

"Yes, master." replied the girl emotionlessly, robotically.

"I have a task for you, my dear. I want you to make your debut to the local hero, Phantasm. Fight him. I want to see your new capabilities."

The black space around her opened up as the girl sat up, locking eyes with those of Sephiroth. "Yes, master." She stated with a nod as she fully stood.

The silver-haired villain smirked as a pair of purple batlike wings erupted from the area around the girl's shoulder blades, bronze-colored horns sprouting from her head and a long purple tail tipped with the signature arrowhead associated with the devil or demons. "Good. Very good." Let's see how you handle her, Nick.

Crystal Heights High School..

"You think Eona's right? That ghosts aren't the only thing we need to worry about anymore?" Asked Elliot as he, Tim and Nick sat in the back corner of their homeroom, waiting for dismissal.

"I would hope not. What else could I need to fight other than ghosts? Would my powers even really be that effective against something of another origin?"

"Well, we can ask these questions all day, but until we see the proof of her words, all we can do is speculate." Chimed in Tim.

"Yeah, but about what? You think demons or some shit's about to start attacking?"

"That may be most logical, really. Nick's powers, for what we know, affect spectral enemies the most, but he can damage anyone in reality. If the trend of corruption and darkness that shapes itself onto our enemies is any indication, then demons would be the next biggest cause of such negativity."

"Let's not talk about this. I don't want to worry about it until it happens." And why do I sense.. Her? Nick thought as he stared out the window as the bell for dismissal rang.

As the trio made their way to the buses, a strong wind blew around them as a shape appeared in the sky. At the distance the creature was flying, Nick thought it just a bat judging by the wings, but knew better once the entity made its way closer.

The figure was an obvious she, and something about her was familiar to Nick. Almost too familiar, he figured as she stopped several feet away, smirking with the tips of two sharp fangs peeking from her lips. Other than the wings, horns and tail, the creature looked human, even most likely similar in age to Nick's seventeen, physically. She reached out and grabbed Nick's collar, pulling him closer with the telltale sound of sniffing. "Phan.. Tasm.."

Nick made the front of his shirt intangible momentarily, the woman's claws phasing through the material before he returned it to solid form. "What the-" Nick's voice caught in his throat as he could recognize her voice, like something from a long-dormant dream or memory. "Who are you?" He asked the woman, looking around to find the other students had all run off from the sudden attack, most likely fearing it was another ghost. He looked at the creature critically, trying to ascertain why he knew- deep down- that he knew this creature.

"Nick, there are no ghosts with forms like that, but I know what does." Nick looked at Tim as he jumped back to avoid the female grabbing him again. "Demons."

"You had to say it, didn't you? This is your fault for mentioning them in class. Now cover me before I can't get away from her hands."

Tim and Elliot blocked the creature from reaching Nick as he took a breath with his eyes closed. When he opened them, they were the cosmic purple of his ghost half. "Phantasm Arisen!" He shouted as a ring of light formed around Nick's waist, extending to create a curtain of light before retreating back to reveal him in his ghostly form, a negative-filtered copy of the outfit he had been wearing the day of the accident forming automatically on his form.

"Phantasm.." Said the girl again, her voice sounding controlled or robotic, almost like a computer would speak. "Defeat Phantasm.. For master." She said before rushing towards Nick.

Using his flight ability, Nick hovered over the ground with a ball of purple plasma forming around his fist. "I'll ask you this once. Who are you and who sent you?" He asked, the ball aimed directly at the demonic-looking creature.

The creature regarded him for a moment before answering. "Sephiroth.. Master.. I.. Have no name."

Well that only helps so much. Thought Nick as he fired his Plasma Ray at the creature, who was hit straight on with the attack as she staggered back.

The demon(?) stood back up and snapped her fingers, a wave of fire forming a shrinking circle around where Nick stood. Nick used his Cryonic Breath power to put out the flames, feeling even more familiarity from the almost spectral fire. I know this heat.. Why can't I figure out who this is? He thought as he was sent to the ground by a lightning fast kick.

"Ugh. Fuck, that actually hurt. Alright, so you're good." He had to put his arms up to block a flurry of attacks that ignited a memory within Nick. Old martial arts classes, an important brown-skinned girl laughing before unleashing the same attacks then as the ones this demonic woman sent his way. Blocking each strike, Nick pinned one of her feet to the ground and really looked at her. Then it all clicked into place as he noticed the creature's face was the same as the one in his memory. The same face as..

"Ruca?" Nick asked in a whisper after what seemed like an eternity staring at something, someone unknown but still so familiar. "Ruca, is that you?" He asked again, louder as Tim and Elliot looked at each other from the place they stood away from the fight.

"Wait, he just said Ruca, right?" Tim asked Elliot, who nodded with a pale face. "How?"

The girl stopped trying to force her way out of the hold Nick had her in, her eyes shining red before her face became immensely more expressive. "Nick.. What's going.. Defeat Phantasm.." Ruca's real voice was overshadowed by the robotic tone once again as she proceeded to trip Nick by putting all her strength into lifting her pinned foot, sweeping Nick's now only grounded leg with the same leg he had just had pinned.

"Tim, Elliot! We need to capture her. And then we're going to see my godfather." He said, referring to Grant Zephyr. Being Nick's godfather was one such title, others being the mayor of Crystal Heights and yes, even Sephiroth, the older evil Halfa that constantly messed with Nick's life. "He has some fucking explaining to do." Nick got back up and unleashed a flurry of his own upon the now all-but confirmed transformed Ruca.

"If we can somehow get her into her regular spiritual form, we can capture her." Tim said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"What if this is some new type of corruption?" Elliot said. "Nick, siphonbthe corruption!"

Nick nodded. He didn't want to use the siphoning ability he possessed, the corruption absorbed causing him to get all manners of sick depending on how much corruption existed. The real issue was that this version of his now ghostly girlfriend was constantly leaking corruption from it, like it wasn't created in the natural way and thus was behaving erratically At least, as erratically as a portion of immeasurable negativity coalesced into a spirit's own form, causing a dark corruption of the ghost. It had been about a year since Nick had begun needing to use his power like that, but it was a small price to pay to uphold the balance of the world and safety of Crystal Heights.

Here goes nothing.. He thought as the purple glow around both of his hands turned a vibrant green as it spread from his hands into Ruca's, the purple aura of corruption absorbing into his green cleansing energy. Nick had to focus to keep his hold on Ruca, who visibly struggled as the source of at least some of this situation was drained out of her bit by bit. The aura hadn't dissipated at all but Nick could feel the power behind Ruca's struggles weaken more and more as he pushed back against her.

The emotion returned to her face as the horns on her head disappeared. "Nick.. Stop him. Sephiroth.. Is only the beginning of.. All this. Ahhhh!" She shrieked as her wings faded away as well, followed shortly by the tail. Once Ruca at least looked fully human in form again, Nick called. "Tim! Now! I don't know how much longer I can keep draining her. She has too much!"

Tim rushed over and pointed what looked like a parabolic microphone attached to a boombox-like item resembling a normal bluetooth speaker. Pressing the trigger, a ray of tractor beam-like rings surrounded Nick and Ruca, Nick pushing himself away as Ruca gave a sad smile before her form faded into whisps that were then absorbed into the containment device. "Ruca, captured. Wow, never thought I'd have to say that."

"Me neither. Now, we have to go see the mayor about his apparent experiments." Nodding, the three teenagers began making their way towards Grant Zephyr's mansion, the buses having evacuated the other students in the chaos. Hopefully, Sephiroth himself wouldn't deny Nick some answers behind the fury he could feel bubbling in his mind.

Spectral World, Fortress of Ages..

Eona looked on at the events going on in the living world and frowned at the sight she saw. "Love put to the field of battle as enemies.. Tragic, yet fitting. How did the corruption turn a ghost into a demon, I wonder? However this happened, this can only get worse from here, young Nick. I pray you can handle the new truths of our realities with these events."