Disclaimer: I own nothing from Danny Phantom

Note: I noticed some weird grammar issues and typos so I went back to fix them.

Chapter 9: Reconcile

Vlad's POV

Thankfully I had the foresight to have Danielle's things sent to the chalet ahead of her because my private jet was supposed to actually land nearby. But now that this plan had been mucked up, there was something else I needed to take care of right away in order to clear up this misunderstanding quickly. For there was a certain ghost pilot who had a lot of explaining to do if he didn't want to be obliterated on the spot!

Danielle wasn't the only one who was livid at the moment, because I was beyond enraged that half-wit ruined my chances to start over with her after that little stunt he pulled. What's more, I had no idea that going to the Kennedy Space Center meant so much to her. We only vaguely talked about her dream to travel through the stars, but Danielle always seemed reserved about it so I foolishly assumed it was only a passing interest and not a true passion. Looking back now though, the reason why she probably refrained from sharing her interests was because they were always so thoroughly dismissed by her friends and family to the point that now it was a reflex.

And sadly, I missed the signs because this did make it any less important to Danielle...

Either way, because of that idiot employee of mine I was reduced to doing damage control since he made an absolute mockery of Danielle by forcing her out of the jet! As soon as I approached the ghost responsible for this disaster, who I might add was lazily floating outside of it waiting patiently for me and acting like nothing was wrong, I promptly reminded him of his place and made it clear that if he EVER disobeyed me like that again...there would be nothing left of him to reform even from the ectoplasmic residue I would reduce him to.

After that, I gathered the last of Danielle's belongings and told him to stay out of sight if he knew what was good for him because I didn't want Danielle running off back home just yet. If there was a way to fix this, I would exhaust every possible option before giving in and letting her leave once, this time even more doubtful of my good intentions.

With a sigh, I pulled out my cell phone and contacted her parents first and foremost to explain the situation. I told them this the trip turned out to be nothing but a clever ruse some random lowlife came up with that planned to kidnap Danielle and hold her for ransom. I basically only wove this elaborate lie to prevent them from blaming her for 'falling' for this trick, since to be fair, they all thought it was legitimate which was the whole point.

I only wanted to spend some quality time with Danielle somewhere that no one would bother us. And honestly, if I was just any run-of-the-mill billionaire, this sort of thing has been known to happen. Once criminals know there's someone close to you they can exploit, it's only a matter of time before they do so. Thankfully I've never had to deal with such things myself since I have...other means of preventing such things from taking place.

Either way, I profusely apologized for putting their daughter in danger, but I also told Maddie how I had caught wind of their plan just in time and used a brilliant strategy to redirect the jet to Colorado instead of Florida to catch them off guard. Then the would-be kidnappers were soon dealt with and arrested after landing, but when Danielle realized what had almost happened to her she was deeply unsettled by the whole ordeal so I offered to take her to my mountain chalet to make up for it since it we were already in the area.

"I knew there was something off about that contest, but I couldn't quite place it..." Maddie muttered irritably, but then she surprised me when she added sadly. "Danielle must have been devastated to find out that she hadn't won a trip to the Kennedy Space Center after all. I haven't seen her look so thrilled about something in a very long time. That's the only reason I agreed to this.

"She's been so down in the dumps lately I thought this might help her cheer up. So you know what? Since Danielle has been working so diligently lately to improve her grades thanks to you, she has our permission to stay there if she wants to. While I know what happened was partially your fault, it's also clear that she's in good hands since you stopped those terrible people from hurting her. We already called Casper High to request the time off for her so it'd be a shame to make Danielle come all the way back for nothing. So as long as my baby girl's safe, that's all that matters."

I resisted the urge to ask Maddie when the last time was she told her daughter those words and simply counted my blessings that I wove a convincing enough story for them to explain away what happened so they wouldn't blame Danielle for it. And thankfully, there wasn't a landline in the chalet so even if Danielle angrily tried to call home personally, she wouldn't be able to without MY phone or hers; which reminds me, I'd have to keep her carry-on hidden for now to avoid any further complications should she discover the jet was still close by. And yes, I know that sounds like a terrible thing to do, but I needed Danielle to at least hear me out first before doing anything rash.

Even though her visit didn't go as planned, I've been working on arranging this for quite some time now. Especially now that I had a better idea of what Danielle's preferences were thanks to the few conversations I've had with her and Jason. I truly thought she would be happy I wanted to surprise her like this. But even so, I had no idea being an astronaut was something Danielle seriously considered pursuing as a career. If not for her poor grades and ghost powers, I had no doubt Danielle would succeed at achieving her goal.

She's a very intelligent young woman, especially when I've given her the proper tools to help her succeed that her parents have so far neglected to provide themselves. And if there were complications with her...unusual medical history or problems in any other areas to get into the Space Program, I would fix them so she could have her dream. Although the truth is, she's actually overqualified since ghosts are much more durable than humans. All Danielle had to do was allow me to become a more important part of her life. Right now though, it's likely just another unobtainable dream in her eyes since it was all she had left to hope for for herself that had nothing to do with ghost hunting. And that made my mistake to not take that dream of hers seriously either all the more painfully obvious now...

With everything else taken care of, next came the hard part of actually speaking to Danielle about all of this. I expected to find Danielle in the nearest bedroom since I hadn't told her which one was hers yet, but instead I found her curled up on the sofa with a book in her lap, eyes unfocused so it was clear she was no longer reading the words and only wished to appear preoccupied. Still, I shook my head, took a deep breath and sat down beside her on the opposite end of the sofa, about to explain why I was absent for so long.

"You'll be happy to know that I've dealt with your parents and they don't blame you for...being deceived," I began but Danielle just snapped the book shut and stared blankly at it, likely deciding whether or not to fling it at my head.

"By that I assume you lied to them too, right? That's all you seem to be good at," she commented harshly, but I didn't let her barbed words phase me.

Unsurprised by her hostile response, I sighed heavily and continued, "Now don't be like that, Danielle. I know you're disappointed, however, I am doing what I can to fix that so you can still enjoy your time here. What more do you want?"

Snapping her head up at me angrily, Danielle growled and suddenly flung her book at me, but I simply turned intangible so it hit the opposite wall with a dull thud. After that she started yelling furiously, "I want the truth, Vlad, is that so hard?! After the bullshit you put me through last time what in god's name made you think 'surprising me' like this was a good idea?! I hate surprises! You know why? Because I have ghosts constantly attacking me whenever I least expect it! But if you had just been honest with me from the start, maybe then I wouldn't have been so...so..."

Narrowing my gaze, I pointed out bluntly, "Well, to be fair telling you the truth would have defeated the purpose of surprising you, Danielle. But you're right. We could have avoided all of this if I had been more clear with my instructions when I hired that ghost pilot to bring you here. I never dreamed he would throw you out of my private jet, otherwise I never would have hired him."

She hesitated for a moment before shaking her head, crossing her arms, and glaring pointedly at the floor, muttering. "I guess that makes sense, but that doesn't change the fact that you tricked me. Seriously, could you be any stupider? I should have known better than to trust a psychopath like you. Everything you do is just part of one big lie, like you actually caring about me at all!"

I knew Danielle was only saying such things because she was hurt by my supposed betrayal, but calling me a fool was uncalled for so without thinking, I closed the distance between us and roughly grabbed her chin, forcing Danielle to look at me as I warned darkly, "Don't you dare accuse me of not loving you, Danielle. I understand you are upset, however, that does not give you the right to disregard everything I've done for you and say it is all lies. Do you think I would go to such lengths to get to know you better like this if all I wanted you for was your ghost powers? Would I suffer through listening to the constant, intolerable, idiotic prattle of your father a moment longer just to have the chance to speak to you if I did not promise I would abandon my plans for revenge which I had planned for him long before you ever even born...?"

"L-let go of me!" Danielle demanded, her voice quivering slightly as she tried to escape my iron grip, but I held fast.

Making sure I still had her undivided attention, I finally let go of her, stood up, and frowned, "It has been a long and disappointing day for both of us so I suggest you go to your room and get some rest. You'll find most of your belongings there waiting for you. Goodnight Danielle." And then I walked away, unable to bear the thought of her truly despising me.

Danielle's POV

I had to get out of there. As soon as Vlad showed me his true colors, that's what I decided. So the second I knew Vlad was asleep and I was all alone for the night, I b-lined it to the front door and ran out into the darkness until I thought I was finally far enough away for him not to sense me when I transformed into my ghost form. Then I zoomed off in a random direction, hugging myself and trying not to freak myself out more than I already was.

After all this time apart from him, I had genuinely forgotten how utterly terrifying Vlad could be when he gets serious. It felt like if he had gripped my face any tighter before, my jaw would have broken earlier. And even though he didn't know I was half-ghost at the time, Vlad could have easily turned me full ghost at the reunion without even realizing it when he first attacked me.

I never stood a chance, and I probably still don't.

And if the guy is still that obsessed with me, who knows what else Vlad's capable of? That's why that off-handed comment about still barely tolerating my dad really got me worried. Because if he wanted to, I know for a fact Vlad is powerful enough to easily remove any obstacles in his way to get to me, which in this case were my parents. So if I wasn't careful...he might go after my family again and it'd be all my fault!

When tears started to blind me and made it hard to see, I landed next to a small ravine and curled up against the nearest tree, hugging my stomach and crying because I was so afraid of screwing up again and putting my friends and family in danger. I was afraid of what would happen when Vlad finally snapped and said to hell with playing nice and tried to keep me with him for good. I know I'm a lot stronger than I was before, but I was still no match for Vlad. That's why the idea of fighting him again tied my stomach into nervous knots.

Eventually, I calmed down and told myself I had to go back before Vlad realized I was gone since that would only make matters worse so I was about to fly back when I heard a sharp rustle in the bushes. It was probably just some kind of animal so I knew I could handle that at least without too much trouble so I just stood completely still, listening carefully for other signs of movement. Because after fighting ghosts for this long, I knew it was a bad idea to let my guard down too soon.

And I was right to stay alert too because that's when my ghost sense went off unexpectedly.

For a second I thought it was just Vlad coming to get me and stood my ground, but then all of a sudden this huge ghost monster came barreling towards me and tackled me to the ground. The blow stunned me, but I quickly tucked my legs in and kicked it as hard as I could to it flip over me. I just barely managed to scramble back up to my feet again before it swiped at me with its long claws and tore three long gashes down my forearm.

Cradling my wounded arm, I glared up at it and finally got my first good look at the ghost I was fighting. It looked like a grizzly bear of some kind with four arms instead of two and toxic green fur, which was as you can guess a dead give away that this was, in fact, a ghost. Not to mention it had these eerie glowing red eyes that reminded me of Vlad's, only these were shining with true malice. My arm was throbbing which made it hard to focus on it as it slowly circled around me, and that's when it roared and I heard even more rustling from all around me. Glancing from side to side I saw more ghost monstrosities appear, their red eyes locked on me and green drool dripping from their long snouts.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me! REALLY?! Could this day get any worse!?" I cursed at no one in particular while looking for an opening and then running in that direction since I was badly injured and outnumbered eight to one.

I've been getting better at fighting ghosts, but not that good and I was in no shape to fight that many enemies at once in the dark. And if it wasn't for the giant ghost-hawk or eagle or whatever dive-bombing me too, I would have tried to fly out of there instead of running from them on foot. Then again, I probably didn't want it knocking me out of the sky either.

Without any other options, I ran as fast as I could to get away from them, phasing through trees and jumping over rocks, but it wasn't until I crossed another small ravine that I lost my footing when I tripped over a root and fell. They were gaining on me fast so I panicked and weakly reached up for a nearby tree branch, hoping to at least be able to climb up to safety, when suddenly a familiar black-gloved hand pulled me up with it and used the other to shoot an ecto-energy blast at the nearest enemy before it could dig its fangs into my leg at the last second.

"V-Vlad!? But how did you-" I stuttered, but then he pulled me close to shield me better with his body and sent another blast up at the ghost bird, which like the bear had extra limbs in weird places on its body.

At first I thought I was just hallucinating because of the blood-loss when I saw three more Vlad's appear in the clearing, one of them leading what looked like some kind of...black wolf with four glowing green eyes on a leash acting like it was some kind of guard dog which he then set loose on the other ghosts. After that, it was an ectoplasmic blood bath so to speak as claws and teeth clashed and several of them vanished into oblivion under the duplicate Vlad's and his ghost wolf's deadly assault.

Meanwhile the fourth Vlad who was supporting me only attacked the strays who dared come close to us up in the tree. But honestly, I had no idea if this was the real Vlad or if it was only a duplicate since they all felt the same to me. Didn't matter much anyway since my vision kept getting blurry anyway and if it wasn't for him holding me upright, I probably would have fallen off the branch into a crumpled heap on the ground.

Before long, total silence fell around us except for the sound of Vlad's wolf snarling while diligently sniffing out for more potential enemies. When it sensed none, it strode up to the nearest version of Vlad and laid down obediently at his feet once he issued the command, wagging its tail and looking oddly pleased with itself for destroying so many enemies for its master. It was only after that that the Vlad beside me flew us both down that the one I assume was the original who then approached me, his expression unreadable.

"Danielle, what were you thinking wandering out here by yourself? It's the middle of the night and dangerous out here! Do you have ANY idea how worried I was?" Vlad scolded, his voice low and dangerous again but this time, I guess he did have a point...

Before I could say anything in my defense, Vlad looked over at his duplicate as if exchanging a silent telepathic message and then looked down at their hand which they had used to pull me up into the tree that was covered in ectoplasmic blood. And since he knew it wasn't his blood, it wasn't hard to figure out it was mine, so his eyes drifted over to my hand next where he saw a steady stream of the glowing substance slowly dripping down from my trembling fingertips. Honestly though, it didn't even hurt which is probably why I didn't notice I was bleeding until later.

At least, not until my vision started to darken around the edges again.

"I just...needed some air..." was all I managed to say to him before my legs suddenly gave out from under me and his duplicate barely caught me in time before I completely collapsed to the ground.

After that, all the other Vlad's merged back into one and he whistled for the ghost wolf to follow us. Then, before I could even begin to process what was happening, Vlad swished his cape around us with one elegant movement, obscuring my vision, and then I felt the ground beneath us drop away. The closest thing I can think of to describe how it felt, it was like that weird feeling you get in an elevator when it lurches regardless of whether you're going up or down at the time.

And when I opened my eyes again...we were right back inside the chalet.

"You have got to teach me how to do that..." I muttered dizzily, resting my head on his chest to stop everything from spinning so much just as the rings appeared around my waist and I changed back to human form.

Then I carelessly reached up to grip my head since it felt damp for some reason. I squinted when I felt something unnaturally cold drip down my face and before Vlad could stop me, I looked down at my hand and saw the mixture of red and green blood and stiffened. Huh, how did that happen? I wondered, trying to remember how I injured my head too when everything started spinning even faster as I looked up at Vlad's worried face which was so distorted now I couldn't make out the shape of him at all anymore.

I started to sway on my feet when Vlad gently gripped my hand in his, supporting me with the other, and then he spoke to me in a surprisingly calm and soothing voice, "Shh...shh it's going to be alright. You're safe now. That's all that matters. So take a deep breath and focus on nothing but my voice, alright?"

I tried to follow his instructions but, it was all too much so I gave in and let the darkness swallow my senses. Anything was better than the pain, the confusion. At least, that's what I told myself. But the truth is...I mostly felt relieved. When I really needed him, Vlad was there to protect me, and instead of making me feel bad he comforted me and supported me the way my parents haven't in a long time.

That's all I wanted, someone I could rely on, and up until now that's what Vlad's been to me. Even if it was only in small ways, Vlad has shown me he genuinely cares. He's paid attention to me, to my interests, to the dangers I face, to the problems in my life, so I couldn't keep accusing him of ignoring me like my parents do and only doing what they want. Because for once, what Vlad wants and what I want is the same-

I don't want to do this alone anymore.