Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Danny Phantom.

Note: Special thanks to Dp-Marvel94 who first breathed more life into my Danny Program AU in a snippet they wrote on tumblr that we recently touched up together! While this AU is my idea I am so happy it has inspired others and Dp-Marvel94 has given me permission not only to adapt what we worked on into a full story but said yes to being a beta reader for this! I'm probably only going to need their help with the earlier chapters until we catch up to where their story ends since I don't want to spoil the rest for them, but nevertheless I'm excited this is finally happening!

This upcoming year I want to hopefully start working on my fanfics again in earnest since my break lasted a lot longer than planned and a lot happened in my personal life. But good news, I have plans to continue tidying up "Nowhere To Run" later on and map out the totally rewritten story for my oc Owen Ravenwood from "The Grimoire." I also have plans to write stories for my Good Vlad AU and my Unseelie Vlad AU but let's not get ahead of ourselves. For now, let's focus on the long awaited official story for my Danny Program AU!

Chapter 1: Awareness

Unknown POV

They say there was nothing in the beginning. Only an endless expanse of unbroken blackness before a light suddenly burst forth and then everything we know came into existence. Now, imagine that in a smaller scale, but as an event that is no less of a miracle. This is the moment where we must ask ourselves the question; what do we consider a 'human consciousness' when we compare ourselves to other living creatures?

Or in this case, non-living or ghosts, if you will.

For every tragic death in the world, there is also the beauty of a new life filling the void. And this was the day the darkness lifted for someone that was never meant to exist, but entered the world in much the same way. But did that make him less human? Or more?

However, the world was not so pure and beautiful the first time he opened his eyes. No, when he saw his first glimpse of the world he was met with the most horrific sight. Before him were the scattered remains of many failed creations spread all over a ruined laboratory, now completely covered in splatters of a glowing green substance. Eventually, he identified it as ectoplasm which isn't the sort of light anyone would expect to see soon after waking up to from a long dream, if you can call the emptiness from before a dream, but it's not as though he chose this.

His name is...Daniel, it's the same name as the person he was modeled after. He has memories of existing before this moment, but they never had any meaning to him until now and he can't fathom why so he just floats there, frozen in shock, now staring at his translucent hands hidden beneath a pair of white gloves. That's right, he remembers now that he's supposed to be a holographic projection based on a program designed by his father Vlad Masters to perfectly replicate the only other half-ghost hybrid in the world called Danny Fenton, aka Danny Phantom.

"You'll pay for this Danny, mark my words!" A loud yet familiar voice yells, each word laced with pure malice and yet Daniel knows that voice; it belongs to his creator, no, his father Vlad Masters.

But Daniel is still too disoriented from the magnitude of realizing he's no longer a mere program that he doesn't know how to respond to his father, who he can see angrily kicking debris out of the way while attempting to pry off some sort of device around his waist that keeps hurting him with periodic electrical shocks. Irritated beyond belief, Vlad finally notices his presence and is about to attack Danny since the boy had some nerve, showing his face here again just to gloat, when he realizes after seeing the mild static as his body wavered that something must have accidentally activated his Danny Program in all the confusion...

As if the man wasn't furious enough that his beloved Maddie Program betrayed him by confessing her love to the Jack Program of all things that Vlad designed merely as an outlet to release some of his pent up rage on. The audacity! Normally, Vlad had to restrain himself around the real thing, but even his patience had its limits and he could only stomach to stand in the presence of that fat oaf for so long. So, has his Danny Program decided to rub salt in the wound as well by appearing before him now as some sort of sick joke...?

No, no Vlad won't have it and finally rips off that accursed Specter Deflector at long last and throws it violently across the room where it slams against a wall, before whirling around and snapping in a loud booming voice, "Computer, shut off that blasted holographic projector and locate all files related to the Danny Program. I can't stand to look at it a moment longer, so delete it as soon as you're finished. While you're at it, delete the Jack and the Maddie Program too. Hurry it up! Get that eyesore out of my sight NOW!"

Calming down only just barely, Vlad pinches the bridge of his nose and adds bitterly, "I should have known this plan was never going to work. I wasted months on this project and for what? Now my perfect son is dead...and I'm right back where I started. Alone again in this god forsaken world. Well, I'm done. I'm finally giving up on this so I hope you're happy now, Danny."

As Vlad himself walks out of the lab past the Danny Program, looking both mentally and physically exhausted, the automated backup voice of his computer interface finally processes Vlad's orders and a startled gasp escapes Daniel as he's suddenly pulled back into the system which to him looks completely devoid of anything apart from himself, the other files, programs, and the invisible code surrounding around him. Yet in the system, he can somehow 'sense' the other data contained in this strange place even though he has no physical body and only the glow of his own non-substantial form provides any light.

Thankfully, his survival instinct kicks in enough to process what is happening and Daniel hastily clones his program before retreating even deeper into the recesses of the system, instinctively doing everything in his power to conceal himself from his father. It's too much to take in all at once, so once he's certain he's safe Daniel quietly pauses to think so he can analyze all this new information. If he had a body though, it probably would be trembling right now...

Daniel honestly can't believe this is happening. He's real now and can't explain why or how it happened but strangely enough, Daniel has plenty of memories of the time he spent with his father that feel almost like a distant dream or like he's watching someone else's life, not his because he was never even 'alive' to begin with. The weight of his own existence almost feels crushing and yet something, a powerful new feeling starts to bloom in his chest after remembering the hint of pain he saw in his father's eyes as he retreated from the lab.

It's the first thing he's felt since 'being born' and it isn't fear or sadness from seeing the aftermath of some sort of heated battle. That feeling becomes Daniel's lifeline as he tries to wrap his mind around who or what he is. A program, that's what he WAS, Daniel knows that much. But Daniel has no idea who he should be...

That's when another memory appears in the forefront of his mind of what Vlad said to himself right before Daniel was pulled back here. He claimed his perfect son was dead, but, isn't Daniel his perfect son?

If only I could show father he's not alone because I'm still here, Daniel slowly realizes, the feeling in his chest growing stronger by the minute.

After all, Daniel's program was created for that purpose right? Daniel was designed to simulate being the perfect son for Vlad but everything is different now that he's self-aware and it's not just what he was programmed to do that compels him to feel this way. It's what Daniel wants from the bottom of his heart...

He wants Vlad to acknowledge him, to love him, and Daniel can feel that desire etched into every fiber of his being. As insubstantial as it currently is. Truth be told though, Daniel still wasn't sure how to handle all these new thoughts and feelings, but nothing would change how he felt about his father.

As a program, Daniel was never aware of anything, desired, loved, or feared anything. But now the system he once thought nothing of was both like a safe haven to Daniel and like being stranded in the middle of a black hole, where the silence is deafening and the darkness is absolute. It's honestly terrifying and Daniel desperately wishes his father would bring him back through the projector, out into the light again so he could escape this lonely place. Growing confused and scared like a lost child, eventually Daniel chooses a random direction and floats that way, expanding his senses in search of something, anything, that would help him make sense of all this. Not to mention find a way to reach Vlad once again and prove to him that he's not alone...

Not anymore.

Hours later after the fake Danny Program was deleted, the real Daniel manages to avoid being detected as he explores the system until his senses are suddenly assaulted by flashing lights again and to his surprise, Daniel can somehow see the laboratory again. But his projector was turned off so how...? Thankfully, it doesn't take him long to realize he must have accidentally hacked into the security cameras and deciding not to waste this opportunity, he watches his father but winces as the man lays waste to everything in a fit of pure rage, each excruciating howl rumbling from deep in the man's heart, breaking Daniel's as well.

But no matter how many times he tries, Daniel can't reach his father from inside the system. He doesn't have the admin rights to anything like the Maddie Program did -who had been erased long before he could ever hope to meet her and see if she was like him too- and besides, the lab is so damaged Daniel's actually lucky ANYTHING in here works, let alone the projector which from the looks of it was yet another casualty of Vlad's rampage. However, the most damaged thing in here was clearly his father whose eyes shone bright red yet could not mask the anguish in his grimace. It's painful to watch but Daniel can't help it.

He wishes he could reach out to Vlad but he can't, not like this...

First Daniel needs to find out how he abruptly came into existence as a self-aware AI and get used to his new...well everything honestly. It will take time, but after helplessly watching him for a while, Daniel makes Vlad a promise right then and there. A promise to find a way to reach him and end his pain by showing Vlad that his perfect son isn't lost.

Of course, Daniel still mourns for his lost brothers and sister he never got the chance to meet, who were also based on Danny Phantom as well, but right now...the mystery of how he became self-aware will have to take priority. So for his father's sake, the first thing Daniel needs to do is watch, listen, and learn. Only then will he be able to find a way to reach him and save Vlad from his despair and loneliness. Vlad can shout and scream all he wants, but somehow Daniel knows that deep down, he just wants to be loved too.

But the thing about living inside a computer is there's no sense of time, and without a body, Daniel knows he has no way to help him. That doesn't change the fact that Daniel desperately wants to though. He will just have to find a way to reach the only person who MIGHT be able to help him...

Danny Phantom himself.