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

Note: This chapter is loosely based based off the Danny Program AU oneshot I wrote called "RESET" you can find here on FFN. Also, for the sake of my sanity since the earlier chapters are already adapted from Dp-Marvel94's snippet we fixed together, since this is based off of some of my own work I'm going to keep it short and sweet in this version of events when Vlad tries to undo some of the harm he's done to Daniel so we can move onto the brand new story content. Lastly, I kinda stayed up late working on this, but this one really hit me in the feels which means we're making good progress! Keep up the good work Vladdy!

P.S. I missed a few grammar problems so I went back and fixed them.

Chapter 10: Clarity

Daniel's POV

The moment I left Father's side, I looked up and stared blankly up at the constellation-like strings of code floating above me while trying to process all this shocking new information about myself. It hadn't quite sunk in yet that not only had Father and I finally embraced in the real world, but I'm...actually real. I'm a ghost that came into being by absorbing the ectoplasm of two of my brothers which animated my original program and gave me consciousness. When I heard that I felt, well, it just felt wrong that they never got the same chance I did to experience Father's love so I felt bad for them. That said, this would explain the strange visions I had been having the past few months...

I never told Danny about them since we had enough to worry about at the time and it was hard enough trying to decide how to approach Father about me. Still, I couldn't help but wonder, did I...end up telepathically absorbing the final memories of my brothers somehow too when their ectoplasm became a part of me? That's the only explanation I could come up with about why I've been dreaming of their 'deaths' so vividly that it honestly frightened me.

In the first vision I saw...my skeleton brother completely obliterated by Danny in a huge energy blast in a miniature golf course. Then I saw what I guess you could call my little-big brother fighting Danny and my sister, who he calls Dani-with-an-i, before they shot a hole through his chest in front of Fenton Works. Next I saw my weakest brother, the one who barely had enough energy to maintain a stable form at all unless he condensed his energy into a smaller one, briefly become more like the original Danny before that sudden influx of power overwhelmed him and he melted. And then finally, I saw my last brother, the prime, clone melt in Father's arms moments after first opening his eyes...

..or did he?

Something about all of this still didn't make sense to me. I wasn't there when my first two brothers died, I was only there when the last two did so it had to only be their ectoplasm inside of me, right? But then why could I remember what happened to the others in my dreams? And why couldn't I see any dreams about my little sister? That's when I started to wonder what if, somehow, I was the prime clone or at least connected to him?

After all, that would make the most sense, wouldn't it? It was mainly his ectoplasm my projector was drenched in that brought me to 'life' so to speak. Not only that, but we both 'woke up' at the exact same time which meant that maybe, just maybe, in order to survive the two of us became one.

Of course, this was only a theory and I might be completely wrong.

At any rate, while our plan to talk to Father didn't go exactly as planned, I'm glad it it all worked out in the end so for the time being the rest could wait. He knows I'm here now, which means we can finally try to build a new future together as a family. And maybe by doing that I'll eventually get the chance to reach out to my little sister Dani too so she can find a place to belong just like I did. She deserves it as much as I do if not more since she's actually part human unlike the rest of my brothers were.

Taking a deep breath, I decided to take Father's advice and rest for a while since I needed a serious break from all these complex what-if scenarios swirling in my head. Shaking my head at the thought, I snickered. "I guess this is one of the drawbacks of being a program first and a ghost last, it's so easy for me to overthink everything. But I have to remember I'm not in this alone anymore and if there's anything I'm not sure about I can always ask Father."

Smiling, I floated up and closed my eyes, letting the relief of knowing he would be waiting for me when I woke up next wash over me. I still had my worries and doubts, but we did it. I'm not alone anymore. And more importantly, just as I'd hoped, he agreed to a truce with Danny which will hopefully make his life a little easier too...

It all starts here. I thought before finally drifting off to sleep, the happy memory of finally being able to hug Father and Danny in the real world replaying in my mind so that hopefully I would never forget this feeling.

...niel

…Dan...iel...

Daniel, are you awake?

Blearily opening my eyes, it took me a second to realize Father was calling for me. It didn't seem real at first until I felt his presence and hastily tried to call back, "Y-Yes Father. I'm awake!"

Frowning though, I quickly realized he still couldn't hear me unless I used the projector to meet with him directly, which thankfully it looked like he had given me full access to. Nodding to myself, I activated it and after transferring myself, I blinked as my vision slowly came into focus and I saw Father watching me thoughtfully. Glancing around the room, I noticed he had just finished cleaning up the lab too which I wish I could have helped him with but to be fair, I wasn't tangible enough to pick up anything just yet but hopefully I would be soon enough.

Shifting a bit uneasily under the heat of his gaze since I still had to get used to the fact that Father could really see me now as something more than just a passive hologram to hurl attacks and insults at, I smiled and asked him curiously. "Did you sleep well, Father?"

"I'm afraid I couldn't bring myself to lay down after all, but that's quite alright my boy," Father answered calmly after casually resting his hands behind his back. "I did take some time to relax and have some breakfast, however, I just couldn't stop thinking about everything we've discovered about one another as well as what we have yet to discover. Now that I understand how you came to be, I want to know absolutely everything about you."

Cutting himself off, Father smiled and motioned for me to come closer with a slight tilt of his head, which I did, and then after turning to the nearest screen he briefly explained. "With that in mind, what I would like to do before we do anything else is run a full diagnostic scan of your current state so that I can safely undo the modifications I made to your program. That's the least I can do for you. Now then, I'm going to have to keep your program active while I do this so if you would be so kind as to float under the scanner then we can get started."

Nodding, I mustered my courage and floated over to him. It still seemed so unreal that Father was actually talking directly to me now unlike before when he only spoke in my general direction, but those words were always harsh ones aimed at Jack Fenton or Danny. This is all I ever wanted. I've waited for this day to come for so long that part of me wasn't ready to believe it. It all seemed too good to be true and as if I'd wake up at any moment only to find myself right back at square one...

Father must have noticed the uneasy look on my face because as soon as I positioned myself so I was floating above the examination table, since I wasn't tangible enough to actually lay on top, he reached out after turning his hand intangible so we could occupy the same space as before and laid it on top of mine. And when I looked up at him, he seemed just as unsure as I was which surprised me. But more than that, I could see the longing in his eyes that told me he wanted me to stay by his side just as badly as I wanted to be by his side.

While still holding my hand, Father assured me softly. "There's nothing to be afraid of, my boy. I'm not going to hurt you. All I want to do is make sure to restore the default settings of your program so you are no longer left defenseless and give you back the freedom to protect yourself from harm in the future. I owe you that much."

"I'm sorry, I don't know why I'm acting like this." I muttered guiltily, closing my fingers around his hand and giving it an affectionate squeeze. "It's not that I don't trust you, Father. I'm just nervous that's all. There's still so much I don't understand about myself, and honestly, that scares me more than anything since it took me so long to see myself as my own person and not just another copy of Danny. I thought I knew myself and I had accepted that I would never be more than an AI, but now...it's like I don't know myself at all anymore."

"That's what we're here to find out," Father smiled, turning his other hand intangible up to the elbow to gently brush back my hair. "Don't worry, I'll make sure this procedure goes as quickly and painlessly as possible."

Nodding, I closed my eyes and reflexively took a deep breath before answering. "Alright. I trust you, Father."

Even though I really meant it, deep down I also knew that Father had a long way to go before he would really start to change for the better. That's why I felt bad for lying to him about something I had already done as an added safety precaution. I had hidden an important part of myself inside Danny's computer where I was sure Father wouldn't think to look. The truth is, I had actually started working on this...secret back up file right after Danny and I started planning out our eventual intervention with Father...

But after what almost happened to me the night I was born, I thought it would be a good idea to keep a back up copy of my memories and core files in a safe place where they couldn't be deleted or modified so easily. After all, even Father would never think to check Danny's computer for such a heavily encrypted file like that, especially on such an old model that normally didn't have that kind of processing power. That's how I ended up testing out some of my other tech-based abilities in small ways to gradually upgrade Danny's computer system to help it run smoother. Mostly I thought of this as a small way to thank him, but on a slightly more selfish note, I also made those adjustments to make my time there a bit more comfortable.

I never realized it before, but I guess living inside such an advanced super computer did kinda spoil me a little bit since everything around me was so advanced and the codes easy to work with. But almost every time I visited Danny's computer it almost felt...suffocating, like there wasn't enough room for me in there. That's the real reason why I started removing viruses and junk files that were only slowing it down which I hoped Danny wouldn't mind.

I was pretty proud of myself afterwards too because while I might not be strong enough to put up a fight out in the real world, at least inside this digital world, I have powers he doesn't that I can use to my advantage and help him that way. Speaking of strength, I was a bit startled when I suddenly began to feel extremely drowsy. It was almost as if I had been heavily sedated. But then I realized Father was only manually putting me in sleep mode for the examination and stopped fighting it.

After that, it wasn't long before I stopped thinking altogether. But this time, I was confident Father would not let the darkness swallow me. And if it ever tried to, he would bring me back because he loves me...

Because we're family.

Vlad's POV

I cannot even begin to describe how utterly panic-stricken I was that something had gone wrong as soon as Daniel began speaking in that monotone voice once I finished my work. His voice was lifeless and cold, devoid of any and all human emotion as he automatically informed me of how much longer it would take his systems to reset to their default state. Truth be told, when I first started examining Daniel more closely I had to resist the urge to upgrade anything because there was still so much about his unique status as a new type of hybrid that eluded me.

And seeing the fear in his eyes only served as a reminder of what Danny had quite harshly told me before phasing down into my laboratory. Since the moment of his birth, Daniel has been struggling to even grasp who or what he is. He had to rely entirely on his new sense of self-preservation to save him from a sudden and cruel demise at my hand when I couldn't stand the sight of him before Daniel could realize his possible worth and potential.

Yet, I had also tormented him for months with those same hands. And I did that while completely unaware that by doing so I was emotionally scarring an innocent boy who had done absolutely nothing wrong that only wanted to be accepted and loved. That's why the simple fact that Daniel could find comfort in holding my hand, the hand that had inflicted so much pain on him, spoke volumes to me. So every time I was reminded of what I had done to him, it took every ounce of self-control I had not to burst into tears and beg this sweet, affectionate, loving boy for forgiveness all over again.

I...had never known such a selfless love from anyone until I met Daniel. Nor did I deserve it, not after all of the terrible things I've said and done to him. But even so, that did not stop me from wanting to keep him by my side from now on with every fiber of my being.

My previous obsession with Maddie and Danny paled in comparison to what I felt towards Daniel. From the moment I realized the true depths of Daniel's affection it genuinely made me want to become a father worthy of such a pure love. A love that had given him the will-power to keep fighting despite all the odds stacked against him from day one and the many uncertainties and hardships he has no doubt faced leading up to this moment. I suppose that's why it hurt so much to see Daniel doubt himself to such an extent...

He does not even fathom a fraction of his value to me because Daniel is, in every sense of the word, a miracle child. Yet, that's also why I was so deeply concerned about his well-being throughout the entire examination process. I couldn't help but worry I might accidentally inflict more pain on him by making another careless mistake since there's so much about Daniel that I don't quite understand yet. After all, it was a mistake that first brought him into the world, but, it could also be one mistake that cost me this once in a lifetime opportunity to finally be a father to the perfect son.

Once the diagnostic scan was complete and I had painstakingly gone through each and every one of his core files to make absolutely sure everything was back exactly the way they were when I found him, I held my breath as I patiently waited for Daniel to regain his senses again once I rebooted the system. As I said, he had personally informed me of the current percentage of the reboot process, but that did little to put my mind at ease since he wasn't acting like himself.

I needed to hear him call out to me once more, to call me Father, with his own voice. At least, so to speak since it was programmed to perfectly mimic Danny's. Either way, I had to know that my son was going to be alright after waking up from what I could only call a rather...specialized type of digital surgery. Now that I know he's mine, the thought of losing Daniel almost made me wish I had never uncovered his existence to spare me from the potential heartbreak all over again. I knew the feeling would pass, in time, but for that to happen I had to do my part to make this new dream of ours a reality.

Several minutes passed before Daniel slowly began to respond to my voice calling to him. But it wasn't until Daniel actually sat up on his own without being prompted that I finally exhaled in relief and rushed forward to tightly embrace him. The boy seemed understandably disoriented at first, but then he quickly returned the favor and wrapped his arms around me just as gently yet securely. That's all I needed to know he was alright and finally put my fears to rest that I had somehow damaged him by tampering with his core files again, a real human reaction from him.

"Thank god..." I muttered breathlessly, cradling Daniel's head close to me. "I was worried something had gone wrong when you began acting strangely when I finished my work. But I'm glad it was just a side effect of rebooting your system. Please don't scare me like that again, my boy."

Blinking in confusion, Daniel rested his head on my shoulder and sighed contently. "I'll try not to. But it worked though, right...? I can feel it. There's something's...different about me. It's like there's...a heaviness weighing on my chest that wasn't there before, but at the same time, I almost feel lighter too. Does that make any sense?"

"It certainly does." I nodded, smiling at him as I whispered softly. "Welcome back, son."