Disclaimer: I own nothing from Danny Phantom

Chapter 17: Shadows

Danielle's POV

Bolting upright in bed, I cried out after seeing the horrifying image of a strangely familiar man with a staff of some kind protruding from his chest. He was dead. But the worst part is the only color I could see in that nightmare about him was red; red like the crimson light that vanished from the shattered orb at the top of that bat-shaped staff he had been impaled with, and the fresh blood dripping onto the ground at his feet. The nightmare itself didn't last very long, but it was enough to leave me breathless, trembling, and covered in goosebumps.

I must have instinctively transformed into my ghost half too because the dimly lit room was now being softly illuminated by my aura and offered at least a little bit of comfort. Once I calmed down a bit more, I noticed that I felt lighter somehow, more aware of myself, which should have been a huge relief since that oppressive red fog clouding my mind was gone now, but it wasn't. Even though I felt more like myself than an empty shell of a person, I could only remember bits and pieces of my life. It wasn't a lot, but what I did remember was enough to tell me this wasn't my room. Somehow, I felt safe here though.

As for the rest of my memories, all I really had were these vague impressions of who I really was, blurred memories of familiar faces and places I couldn't quite recognize, but I knew they were important. At first, I tried to actively try to remember everything, but when it the memories came rushing back way too fast I stopped, suddenly remembering the reason why I didn't want to go back to my old life or being that person anymore. I remembered just how alone I used used to feel and like no one really understood me at all. They cared about me, sure, but none of them really understood or knew the real me except for one person...

A mysterious man in his 40's at least with long silvery hair tied back in an elegant pony tail, dark blue eyes, dressed in a black suit that smiled at me warmly like I was the most important person in the world and seeing that smile made me happy. For some reason, my memories of him were the clearest and deep down I knew I could trust that person with my life as well as my secret. Because at least with...whoever that was, I knew where I stood, and that I...I wasn't alone anymore. So I clung to those few memories of him I had like a lifeline because they were the only ones that didn't hurt as much as the others did.

I could be myself with him. I didn't have to hide who I was or lie about anything I was dealing with so nobody would get suspicious or worry too much about me. And the reason for that was...that person had faith in me, they believed in me when no one else did. That much I did remember.

Too bad that was ALL I could remember...

Setting aside the fact that I had no idea where I actually was or if that was just something else I had forgotten too, one thing I did notice about the room I was in is that it felt too big, too empty, almost like no one actually lived there but not in an abandoned house sort of way. The air was so lifeless, stale, but it was that new sort of smell, not an old one, sort of like a hotel room that had just been cleaned. So I briefly considered opening a window to let in some fresh air, but decided to wait and see if that ghost from before who rescued me had some answers for me.

Closing my eyes again, I frowned when I suddenly had the strange feeling that this actually wasn't the first time I had been in a situation like this. That's when I flinched when I saw flashes of another darker memory of being carried in that man's arms, my face covered in scratches and small scrapes and my hair disheveled. He smiled at me disturbingly possessive glint in his eyes which made a similar memory of the other man I saw in my nightmare appear before my eyes. The stranger was laughing to himself after walking in on a ghost with tattoos on every inch of her body wearing a long red cape pulling on my hair as she dug her boot into my back while viciously trying to rip off this ornate tiara that had gotten stuck there.

"Tsk tsk, now Lydia that's not very nice! And you wonder why you don't have any friends. Sorry about her my rose, she gets terribly jealous these days and it makes her especially violent towards lovely creatures like you." Glaring at Lydia though he gestured at her with his staff and warned. "See that this doesn't happen again, Lydia. I can't have you breaking this one too like you did with the last doll. Besides, if anyone is going to punish someone for their disobedience it is going to be me personally, not you. Never forget that I'M the one in charge now and I was the one who decided have her model so I could admire my sparkling new treasures. She wasn't exerting any free will so there's no need to bear your fangs just yet. Maybe if you two can learn to play nice, I'll see fit to reward you instead..."

I shuttered at the implied meaning and rubbed my arms, suddenly feeling my blood run cold at the thought of being anywhere near that lunatic, let alone letting him touch me. Floating out of bed, I let the blanket slide off of me and touched down in one of the far corners of the room, my back to the wall, and stared at my unfamiliar surroundings as I curled my knees close to my chest and sighed. I don't know how long I sat like that, my glowing white hair casting dancing shadows as it floated gently around my face, but I felt more comfortable in this form because my natural ghostly glow made the darkness seem less menacing and I didn't want to turn the lights on myself.

It's hard to explain but for some reason I felt much better knowing that it was my own light, my own power, pushing back the darkness that kept threatening to consume me without having to rely on anyone else. I might not have all of my memories back, but I knew I used to be something once, someone stronger than this, or at least someone much more confident. But since I was still having such a hard time remembering, it made me question if I was someone even worth saving. Especially when I was nothing but a broken, empty shell of the girl I used to be, someone who once had her own share of problems she wanted to run away from which was probably what got me into this mess in the first place...

Vlad's POV

While I suppose this was to be expected, as it turns out, enacting my vengeance on Freakshow did little to erase the anger I felt raging inside. I wanted to do something far worse to him than I did before landing the fetal blow, but considering how serious Danielle's situation had become due to her recent memory loss, I knew that ending that monster's crime spree once and for all would have to suffice. The most important thing I had to remember here was that I just removed a serious threat who was capable of making Danielle do horrendous things she would never do willingly under any circumstances.

As such, frankly it wouldn't have been long before Freakshow DID order her to maim or kill someone and it would have destroyed her if she remembered doing something so evil and unforgivable with her own two hands. Thankfully, since Danielle is half-ghost too she at least had SOME resilience to the staff's power like I do, which is most likely how her friends managed to break through to the real her at all. However, the damage Freakshow had done to her despite Danielle escaping its mesmerizing influence was obvious, and she already felt ashamed of the other things he had ordered her to do against her will. Because while some part of Danielle longed to drop the hero act and do as she pleased, it is against her nature to put others in harms way or treat their safety with such blatant disregard, so that part of her recent behavior while being mind controlled was all Freakshow's doing.

That's why I decided long ago that I would be the one who makes the hard decisions for her sake. She is the only person in this wretched world I have left to lose, so if I have to get blood on my hands in order to permanently remove anyone who poses a serious threat to Danielle's life, so be it. To be completely honest, I knew from the first moment I met Danielle that she was too good for this world, too innocent. As such, no matter how pure her intentions, the world's cruelty has a way of crushing even the kindest of souls. I should know, because I for one decided to embrace the darkness instead of letting that happen to me. That is, until Danielle brought a renewed sense of joy and purpose into my life again, as well a chance to find happiness with someone who could understand me.

Yes, I'll admit it started out as nothing more than a fixation when I discovered she is also half-ghost, but as we became closer it quickly grew into something far more grand and meaningful the moment I realized that Danielle was the one who needed to be saved, not me, and certainly not those ingrates who take her protection for granted in Amity Park. This time was no different. For years now I have not cared one bit about anyone else except for Maddie, and by extension during the reunion I eagerly wanted to get to know her children so I could love them as my own too but now, Danielle is the only one whose life truly matters to me anymore. The lengths I've gone to for her sake even take me aback at times, especially given how I just murdered a man in cold blood for reducing my little badger to such a sorry state.

Don't get me wrong, I've destroyed plenty of lives in one way or another over the years, but never in a literal sense. That is, not unless you count the ghosts who had it coming who had dared threaten me and thus made the mistake of becoming a sworn enemy of Vlad Plasmius. After making an example of several of them, most ghosts learned their lesson not to trifle with me and wisely spread that warning to the rest of the Ghost Zone. So aside from a few equally idiotic people in the business world who have tried worming their way to the top, hoping to knock me off my pedestal, I haven't faced anyone who posed a significant threat in a long time.

The only living that I have seriously considered killing many times over even just to help me sleep better at night is Jack Fenton, though as you can see I never went through with it even so. To me, it would have been far more satisfying to leave him alive knowing he'd lost everything and finally saw himself for the fool that he was once I stole Maddie and their children from him. But alas, it was not to be.

To my surprise though, after meeting Maddie again for the first time in years, after seeing the way she treated her own children my feelings for her quickly changed to somewhat of a...respectful indifference. Because while I still detested the man who stole her from me since he had destroyed my life, while I couldn't bring myself to love Maddie anymore as I once did, a part of me will always care for her and her family. However, it is Danielle's future that I truly care about now because I want to see her flourish regardless of how terrible her parents are so long as she has me on her side from now on.

I just hope that one day, Danielle will finally realize for herself they don't deserve her loyalty or her protection and should take responsibility for their actions for once since it's their fault Amity Park is overrun by wandering specters day in and day out because of their carelessness. I suppose Jason is an exception to the rule since he's very loyal to his little sister and also wants what's best for her, but according to him, the only reason he decided to stay another extra year in school as a super senior is mainly because he wanted to look after her anyway despite being just as eager to escape from under their parents shadow as Danielle herself.

As devoted as Jason is though, I highly doubt he's willing to kill someone in order to keep his sister safe, not like I am. I will admit though, I did find myself wondering maybe I went too far this time because rationally speaking I suppose I didn't necessarily have to kill that man. Not that Freakshow didn't deserve to suffer, he most certainly did, but maybe I should have left him alive so he could watch helplessly as I destroyed the ghost of his former girlfriend Lydia as payback for hurting my daughter-in-all-but-blood since she's the one who actually dared to blemish Danielle's skin after lashing out at her in a fit of jealousy after Freakshow adorned her with stolen jewels just to gloat about successfully capturing such a powerful and seemingly exotic ghost that almost looked human.

That said, it was far too late now to regret my actions -which frankly I didn't- but it did make me wonder if Danielle might see me differently after she learns what I have done. Not that I was planning on telling her about my part in Freakshow's death by any means, however, it was definitely something to consider. As I said to Freakshow shortly before his demise, I had the foresight to masterfully cover my tracks so that absolutely no trace of my presence as either a human or or ghostly was left at the crime scene...

I left no fingerprints and even if they happened to find a stray hair of mine, no normal DNA test would be able to decipher it or detect anything of an ectoplasmic nature so it wouldn't even appear human. I should know, I have run countless blood tests on myself over the years while setting up various medical treatments early on when my powers were still a bit difficult to control. The same applies to Lydia's cloak, which I purposefully left behind to imply that it was a lover's suicide and she killed him before evaporating herself so they could be together again in hell or whatever purgatory existence awaited them. Aside from that, even if they fled, those other ghosts would most likely be blamed for the murder since no one in their right mind would suspect some random ghost from Wisconsin who had no prior connection to the former ringleader of the crime.

So, I guess the point is, unless I told her otherwise, Danielle nor anyone else had any reason to suspect me of being the ghost who killed Freakshow. What's more, until I actually spoke to Danielle again, there was no way of knowing how much if any of her lost memories had returned or even would regarding the incident with that lowlife as a whole. From what I could tell she was currently overcompensating for the stressful situation by subconsciously blocking EVERYTHING out, not just what Freakshow himself did to her as a defense mechanism which goes to show just how badly life has been treating her as of late if she wanted to retreat from it all.

Either way, I wanted to see if Danielle was alright because even though she isn't physically in danger anymore, a small part of me was afraid of losing my little badger forever to the dark all-consuming shadows of forgetfulness. Needless to say, I would always be there for her regardless, but the thought of losing someone so dear to me again due to forces outside of my control...it terrified me. If Danielle never recovered from this, I would take it upon myself to protect Danielle because I would not risk losing her again...

I shutter to think that Freakshow nearly managed to successfully enslave her because I was so busy making other arrangements to bring myself closer to Danielle to the point of being blissfully unaware of his plans. I still can't believe I didn't have the foresight to look into the background of that blasted circus beforehand to make sure there wasn't any ghosts involved after all. In my experience, nothing is ever what it seems at first glance since this world is full of things beyond human understanding and most ghost stories and myths hold a small grain of truth to them, which as you can imagine includes haunted fair grounds and things of that nature.

That is why even if it meant I had to keep her in a guided cage, I was willing to go that far if I had to if there was no other way to safely reintroduce her to her friends and family without shattering Danielle's mind completely. I could only hope that it needn't come to that because I know Danielle is stronger than she realizes, certainly strong enough to reclaim her inner light that Freakshow nearly corrupted, turning her whole world red like the petals of the roses he had briefly ensnared her in; their thorns cutting into her skin and poisoning her mind...

And if not I would take her by the hand and lead her out of the shadows once again myself because I have lived in them myself for many years. Not to mention I had absolutely no intention of letting anyone take Danielle from me. I would sooner kill Freakshow a hundred times over before I let anything like happen to her again.