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

Note: Hey guys, so just a heads up, in this chapter I'm pretty much just letting the dust settle a bit since revealing Daniel to Vlad was such a momentous occasion! I've got big plans for the future though and there were a couple things I needed to adjust in this AU so it'll make sense in a story format. You'll see what I mean in the last half of this chapter so I won't spoil it for you. Hope you like it!

Chapter 9: Reality

Vlad's POV

As fatigued as I was from recent events, I refused to let anything stop me from learning all I could about my newfound son. There was so much I didn't know about him, more importantly, about how my actions have effected him. Including what Danny mentioned about unstable his situation has been while being within the confines of my super computer. Even so, for now it was enough for me just to know that not only had my Daniel survived, but he had overcome many obstacles since his 'birth' and I was incredibly proud of him. His ghost powers may be weak, however, Daniel's strength of will and character was something I wanted to nurture from this moment on instead of ignore and neglect.

At any rate, even if it took me all day, my first order of business was undoing all the tampering I had done to his programming. Then, I wanted to make sure we had a secure way method of contact so that he would never feel alone again.

Thankfully, creating a secure channel was a simple matter because all I really had to do was authorize his connection to my wrist communicator, and after that, it was only a matter of testing the limits of it's range. As for the first issue, sadly since I was still in the dark about much of Daniel's unique genetic make up, I didn't want to risk causing any irreversible damage to either his ghost DNA nor his new complex programming. I simply...couldn't bear the thought of losing him again, not now that we can finally be-

"Father? Are you alright?" Daniel asked innocently, hovering close to me with concern written all over his face.

Smiling at Daniel, I waved my hand dismissively and assured him. "I'm fine, my boy. Just a bit lost in thought. As you can imagine this has given me quite a lot to think about and reevaluate."

"Yeah..." Daniel nodded, staring down at his shimmering white gloved hands in wonder. "I still can't believe it. I thought Danny only told me he believed I was real to make me feel better, but it turns out I actually am. There's so much I want to tell you. So much I've wanted to say to you from the very beginning. But I...I don't even know where to start."

"Yes, well, for the time being I think that's quite enough excitement for one day so I would like for both of us to take some time to process this unexpected development before continuing our discussion about where to go from here. Besides which, I still need to clean up the mess I made down here." Glancing at the ectoplasmic samples still scattered all over the ground, I clenched my fist and sighed heavily. "I am truly sorry, son. If I had known about you sooner, none of this would have-"

Smiling sadly at me, Daniel attempted to comfort me by pointing out, "Father, it's ok. Honestly, it's probably better that you didn't know about me right away because back then I wouldn't have been able to talk to you at all. Everything was so new to me and I was just 'there.' It's hard to explain, but the sudden weight of 'myself' nearly overwhelmed me until I suddenly remembered why I was created in the first place. That's why all I wanted to do...is save you."

"Save me? From what?" I asked incredulously, raising an eyebrow at him.

Glancing at me shyly, he replied in a hushed voice, "From your loneliness because its the first thing we had in common."

"I...see," I nodded, changing back to my human form. "At any rate, I think we should get some rest so, would it be better if I sent you back into the system myself or...?"

Tilting his head slightly in confusion, it finally dawned on Daniel what I was asking and he shook his head, beaming proudly. "Don't worry about me. I know what to do. Goodnight, Father."

And with that, he manually shut off the projector without touching it and retreated back within the system as if it was completely natural, almost like a child returning to their bedroom. It made me wonder just how much control he had over the technology around him. Obviously, he didn't have enough power to remove the changes I made to his programming up until now, however, the fact that Daniel has been able to almost effortlessly slip in and out of my computer for months in order to secretly meet up with Danny without alerting me to his presence was both oddly impressive, and yet deeply concerning.

Considering all of the emotional abuse I've subjected him to, it's anyone's guess why Daniel hasn't abandoned me yet for mistreating him so badly. And yet, instead of fleeing like Danielle did, he stayed. No, Daniel CHOSE to stay by my side despite of all of the mistakes I've made, and that's all that matters...

Regardless, I would definitely have to investigate the implications of those strong feelings towards me later on in order to better understand Daniel. But now that I know he exists as a brand new type of hybrid, there is absolutely no room for error on my part. And the reason for that is, as much as I hate to admit it, I actually don't know exactly what I'm dealing with here. Ghosts are one thing, but a self-aware AI that had become a ghost by absorbing the ectoplasm of several failed clones of a half-ghost teenager? Even I never dreamed such a thing was possible.

For all my genius, Daniel was something beyond my understanding, which made his existence infinitely more puzzling. But, Daniel's spontaneous creation, however strange it was, was a welcome one nevertheless. And no matter how long it took to make my dream a reality at last, from this moment on I would do my best to become the devoted, nurturing, and loving Father this boy so richly deserves...

That's the least I could do for him.

Danny's POV

When I finally got home, that's when it suddenly really hit me that Vlad Plasmius, my arch enemy, just agreed to a truce without so much as batting an eye. I still couldn't believe it. It didn't feel real to me. Then there's the fact that I was right and Daniel is not only a ghost but he's also another clone...of me.

I mean, I accepted him for who he is ages ago. It's just that I never expected Daniel to be THAT much like me. To be honest, I wasn't sure how to feel about that. And more importantly I was really worried about Vlad manipulating him at some point which I can handle, obviously, but I'm not sure he can. Daniel was so happy when Vlad finally accepted him and they could finally hug for real that I didn't want to ruin that for him, I still don't. At the same time though it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to that fruitloop.

Either way things were about to get way more complicated.

For one thing, I knew I was going to have to bite the bullet and tell Sam, Tucker, and my sister about Daniel. I wasn't sure how to tell them before just like Daniel and I didn't know when to approach Vlad, but now I didn't have much of a choice if this truce was actually going to be put in action. Vlad's a businessman too so was absolutely positive he was going to try to add in some loopholes to come out on top, which meant I needed to come up with my terms to this agreement too.

Translation, I was gonna need all the help I could get. But that didn't make what I had to do any easier so before things went south again since Daniel's disappearance before really had me worried before, I decided to gather the troops basically to figure this out before it became a problem again. Still, part of me wondered if I would have had to deal with this if the other clones had survived? I know I didn't see them as people before, but after meeting Dani and now Daniel, I wasn't so sure anymore if I did the right thing taking them out. Obviously I had the right to defend myself, but didn't they have the right to have a fighting chance to even exist...?

Shaking my head since I wanted to only deal with one dilemma at a time, I took a deep breath and went to my sister's room first. After that, I'd have to call Sam and Tucker so we could meet up somewhere since I didn't want anyone overhearing this. Besides, I had been meaning to tell them about Daniel anyway and we were planning to do a meet and greet later if we managed to work things out with Vlad. I'm still skeptical about this, for good reason, however, at least for now it looked like we had real chance to change things for the better.

"So, what's with all the cloak and dagger, dude? Are you sure you're ok? If I didn't already know you see them almost every day, I'd say you look like you've seen a ghost since you seem a bit pale," Tucker joked, but he could tell I was totally serious about whatever was going on.

Nodding, I rubbed the back of my neck nervously and chuckled, "Yeah, I guess you could say that. Actually, the truth is I've been seeing one for a while...inside my computer."

"Seeing a ghost? As in dating?!" Tucker gasped so I hastily blurted out-

"No! Geez, can you please get your mind off of girls for two seconds, Tucker? I'm being dead serious-" I began but stopped since that just sounded like another joke, so I groaned in exasperation and explained. "Look. I've actually been meaning to tell you about this for a while now, I just didn't know how to bring it up before. Even now I'm...still kinda waiting for someone to pinch me and tell me this is all a dream or something. In fact, you might want to sit down for this because trust me, it's as crazy as it sounds."

Exchanging weird looks, the three of them sat down on whatever was nearby and then I told them everything from start to finish. I told them about how I first met Daniel, how we've been playing Doomed together while trying to figure out how to talk to Vlad, and lastly about the truce Vlad just agreed to. As expected, everyone was shocked by the news. Especially Jazz since I didn't realize until after I finished that never told her about the cloning incident or about Dani at all since I was worried about how she'd react to Vlad crossing the line that much...

And clearly, I was right to worry about that, because as soon as I finished the whole story Jazz lept to her feet and yelled, "How can you be so calm about this?! That's child abuse, Danny! I can't believe you're even suggesting we leave him with someone like that. Don't you remember what Vlad did to us that time I pretended to run away from home? Vlad made me put on that robotic battle suit he stole from our parents and then forced me to fight you to 'prove my loyalty.' So what if he does the exact same to your clone someday...?"

Clenching her fists, Jazz continued tearfully, "I can't believe Vlad abandoned a little girl like that just for being reluctant to put her life at risk when the other clones melted before her eyes! And now she's out there all alone. Why didn't you tell me about any of this? I could have helped!"

"I didn't want you to get hurt, that's why," I replied, calmly putting a hand on her shoulder. "This whole thing is absolutely insane but, the only reason it happened is because I think Daniel's right and Vlad got desperate. At that point, he knew I was never going to join him after everything he's done to you, our dad, my friends, and to me. And I made it pretty clear to Vlad that I didn't want to be part of his sick fantasy of being the father of a perfect half-ghost son. That's just it though...right now Daniel needs him more than Dani does, as crazy as that sounds.

"Daniel was born into this world with absolutely nothing, not even Vlad's fake support like she had. He's never had any friends before to look out for him, heck, right now Daniel doesn't even have a real body since he's stuck intangible! Everything about him is based entirely off of me so it took him a long time to even see himself as a person, let alone hope Vlad could ever see him as his son. But after what I saw today, I want to at least try to believe he can help change Vlad for the better by showing that fruitloop what it actually MEANS to be a parent and to care about someone other than himself for once."

Now it was Sam's turn to speak up and she huffed. "You can't be serious Danny. How do you know this wasn't all part of his plan from the beginning to lure you into another trap just like he did with Dani?"

After letting my hand fall from my sister's shoulder, I actually smiled and replied confidently. "Because Daniel isn't Dani. He's me. I don't know how else to explain it but it's like...we're twins or something. Besides, you want to know what his first thoughts were when he became a ghost? From the very beginning, all Daniel wanted to do was to help someone he cares about. Plus, he wanted to help Dani too even though he's never met her because Daniel sees her as his sister just like I see her as a cousin. She's not just another clone to him, she's family. That's how I know we can trust him."

Sighing, Sam put a hand on her hip and said. "I guess that makes sense, but are you sure we can really trust Vlad not to screw this up? After all, he's the one who cloned Dani from you in the first place and designed Daniel's program to mimic his perfect you, so forgive me if I'm not as optimistic as you are a psycho like that can ever change his ways."

"You and me both," I sighed worriedly.

Then, after looking at each of them, I took another deep breath and told them seriously. "That's exactly why I asked you three to come here today. Because right now, I still don't trust Vlad as far as I can throw him. So I need your help coming up with some ground rules. And we've got to make sure we can protect Daniel from Vlad's usual underhanded schemed before he gets hurt then ends up on the run just like Dani or something even worse. Remember, he was originally a computer simulation and for the past few months he has been forced to take all that abuse without so much as lifting a finger to defend himself. That means he can't really fight back against Vlad even if his life depended on it."

Nodding, Tucker crossed his arms and pointed out thoughtfully. "Right, you said messing with his program was like mind control, didn't you? So who knows what else Vlad might force him to do? But that said, if Danny trusts him, then I don't have a problem with trying to help the poor guy out. Besides, I give him props for not dragging Dani into all of this and wanting to keep her safe. That was a good call."

"So do I." My sister added, whipping out her notebook while still looking a bit concerned about all of this. "As for the rest, like I said before, I think we'll just have to wait and see if Vlad is capable of changing his ways at this point. I also agree with Danny on the whole truce thing; we should probably go ahead and prepare for the worse just in case and do our best to make sure Vlad can't rig it so the truce only benefits him."

"Right, this IS Vlad Master's we're talking about here. So if we're really going to go through with this truce, then we're going to have to be smart about it. And if he tries to pull any of his usual shady business...then I've got a Fenton Peeler with his name on it." Sam smirked, turning to Tucker and asking him, "What about you? What do you think?"

With a shrug, Tucker replied honestly. "Well, I'm still not sure how to feel about there being an surviving clone of Danny that's been living inside a super computer, but it's not like we know anything about self-aware AI's ever becoming ghosts either so we're in the same boat as Vlad there at least. I just wish you had told us about this sooner, not gonna lie."

"I know. And I'm really sorry." I apologized, my shoulders drooping. "It wasn't like I was trying to keep him a secret or anything. It was just...kinda nice to have someone else to talk about my ghost powers who really gets it, you know what I mean? He's like a twin brother to me. That's why I hope this all works out for him. I really do. But if it doesn't, I want him to know he's not alone anymore, and neither is Dani if she ever needs my help again because that's what it means to be part of a family."

After that, we got right into coming up with the new ground rules to give Vlad once we finalized the truce. I could tell Tucker and Sam were still kind of upset I didn't tell them about Daniel, but like I said, this felt really personal and like something I had to take care of on my own. But now that Vlad knows about him, which was part of our plan all along, I wanted to do my part to make sure Daniel would actually be taken care of from now on.

Don't get me wrong. I had every intention of making sure Vlad owned up to his mistakes, including ditching Dani when she needed him too, but for now there wasn't anything I could do for her until she showed up in Amity Park again; which let's face it, wasn't going to happen any time soon. So now that I had caught everyone else up to speed on the situation, it was up to us to make sure we keep that fruitloop in check...