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

Note: Thanks for the reviews guys! I really appreciate all of them! I'm looking forward to seeing how things progress from here now that we're in new territory since I based this chapter slightly off another snippet I wrote on my tumblr account about Daniel showing off his unique skills to Vlad. But I'll leave it at that to avoid spoilers. Hope you're looking forward to this next chapter too!

Chapter 12: Starstruck

Daniel's POV

When Father returned, he had a secretive smile on his face and only told me the truce had gone well. I could tell he was hiding something, but the way he was smiling seemed hopeful so I didn't pressure him to tell me what it was. Instead, I showed him the finished design for my new simulated home. Well actually, I wanted to show it to him in real time so I decided to do a little experiment of my own and turned on the projector so I could see Father in person.

Raising an eyebrow when I extended my hand to him, he asked. "Daniel, I'm afraid I don't quite understand what you're trying to do. Can't this wait until tomorrow?"

"Nope." I grinned impishly. "This is payback for leaving me all by my lonesome when you went to talk to Danny, and besides, you might be too busy tomorrow to spend much time with me so I want to show you this while I can. It won' take long I promise. And if this works the same way as before, then it might make it a bit easier for us to interact until I'm strong enough to be out here with you."

Nodding, Father reflexively transformed and took hold of my hand after turning intangible and before he could react, I pulled him towards the screen and he gasped when we flew through it and entered the system itself. I could hardly contain my excitement because I had a strong feeling Father had no idea we could do this, overshadow a computer I mean. My guess is it had never occurred to him to even try this since he usually just bypassed most hacking altogether by overshadowing someone else to get past security completely undetected to take what information he needed from them. Not that I agree with him doing any of that mind you.

But, the idea of being able to surprise Father with this seemed like a lot of fun to me so I couldn't resist the urge to try it.

As soon as Father opened his eyes, he finally saw the world as I once did as a black void with a strange smooth surface beneath our feet that seemed to stretch on forever. Where the only source of light coming from our own bodies. He seemed sad at first seeing what a lonely place this used to be, but then it suddenly occurred to him that neither of us were intangible anymore yet our hands were still touching.

That's one of the important things I wanted to show him. I wanted him to see that at least while we're inside this world, I'm considered a natural part of it which meant I had more of a presence in here than out there. At least, until I get stronger...

Smiling the moment I let go of his hand, I waved it in front of us to show him the star-like strings of code I've put together since I first came here to bring light to the darkness I was born from. It was almost like being outside, far from the city where the lights from the buildings couldn't blot out the brilliance of the stars glimmering above us. So basically, instead of seeing less starlight the darker it got, you could actually see more. But since we were inside a computer and not anywhere in the real world, it was more like we were floating out in space where all those stars seemed close enough to touch.

I wanted to save the grand reveal for last, but seeing the starstruck look on Father's face made me so happy, especially when he said with an awed expression. "This is beautiful, Daniel. Did you make all of this?"

I nodded and cupped my hand to show him a few shimmering lights, like fireflies, and explained. "Sort of. I mostly just worked with what was already there to begin with. When I was born, I was only pure consciousness. I didn't have a form at all, a voice, or eyes to see with so I had to extend my senses and manipulate the code around me to make this place seem a little less scary.

"It took me a while to really figure it out, but eventually I learned how to wrap code around myself and even create small lights like this to fill the darkness with since they don't take too much energy. Kind of poetic right? That's why it was such a relief when I met Danny the second time inside the game Doomed. It was so nice to feel like a part of something even if was only a game. But now I finally have what I really wanted-"

Spreading my arms out dramatically, I showed Father how I control these strings of code which was basically like the stars literally aligning, or in this case, those codes coming together for form a sort of mesh or digital skeleton and take shape. It didn't seem nearly as impressive when he watched me do this from the outside, but while he couldn't see the full process, this was exactly what I had been doing before. Simply put, I was writing code and using my power to form the shapes I wanted with it and then used the resources available to me through the simulation program he had given me access to I opened the file and 'rebuilt' my new home right in front of him.

I'll admit it doing it like this was pretty tiring, but I was proud of how realistic it looked in the end. Earlier I had even toyed with the idea of replicating Danny's bedroom but then I decided no, I had to remind myself that even though I was based off of Danny I'm my own person. Aside from our ghost DNA and some personality traits, we were two different people with different thoughts, feelings, and experiences. And now that I could freely think for myself and be honest with Father, I wanted to stay true to myself and work on not comparing myself to Danny as much, that meant learning how to not be afraid to share and explore my personal interests like videogames and star maps.

Speaking of which, since this world was a lot like being out in space anyway, I figured it would be cool to make my new home to look sort of like a futuristic space station floating in the sky. The overall shape of the room looked a lot like a planetarium since I had spent a lot of time while Father was busy talking to Danny about the truce looking through various interior designs. From the beginning I had decided I wanted my room to be a round one instead of square so I wouldn't feel trapped or literally boxed in, which seemed funny to me since Danny literally knows a Box Ghost according to his files. I even made a bed in here just to get used to the idea once I'm strong enough to live outside of this computer system.

Apart from that though, the rest was pretty bare at least for now until I got a few more ideas of what else to create digitally to fill the space. But this wasn't even the best part. While Father was exploring the newly created environment, I activated my new battle suit based on my avatar from Doomed and cleared my throat to get his attention and nervously coughed into my fist.

"I know you've had a long day, but I really wanted to show you all of this in person. You have no idea how grateful I am finally allowed to...to be myself." Turning around dramatically to show him my new outfit too, I smiled and asked shyly. "What do you think of the new look? It's based on my game avatar which I thought might help set me apart from Danny. I can't do anything else to change my appearance but this should help make it less confusing the next time we're in the same room."

"You look quite dashing my boy," Father smiled in return, sitting on the bed which he was shocked to find could sink down under the weight of his body thanks to the realistic physics in this digital world. "Fascinating, I never knew this is what the world could look like within a computer. In some ways it's similar to the Ghost Zone which can also be shaped to one's will to some extent which is how ghostly islands or domains are formed, and yet...in here your powers are capable of creating order out of chaos, as you just demonstrated. Seeing you create this place was truly marvelous to behold, and needless to say, I am very pleased to see that you used your time wisely while I was gone. Well done, Daniel."

My chest swelling with pride, I sat down on the bed too, hugged him from the side and said appreciatively. "Thank you for doing this for me Father. It feels good to have a place of my own where I don't have to hide anymore. I know it's not the same as being out there in the real world, but, I just..."

Choking up I hugged him tighter and continued, my voice thick with raw emotion. "I've waited for this for so long and I just want to make sure neither of us ever feel that lonely again, especially now that we have each other. And from now on, I want to make lots of new memories with you, happy ones so we can forget about all the sadness that led up to this point."

"I'm sure we will be just fine, son." Father whispered softly, gently wrapping his arms around me too. "And thank you for insisting on showing me this. I'm sure it will help with something rather special I have planned for us in the near future as well. But let's save that for another time, hmm? Creating this space must have been rather tiring so while I appreciate your enthusiasm, I don't want you to push yourself too hard.

"On that note, before we begin planning your training regiment, I'd like to leave you with a homework assignment if I may. That assignment is to create a ghost power profile for yourself with a list of skills and powers you believe you already have and later on we'll compare it to the data I obtained from the scan earlier which I'll need to go through manually own my own. Can I count on you, Daniel?"

Nodding, I smirked and playfully scoffed. "That shouldn't be too hard, but don't expect me to tell you all my secrets either!"

Laughing, Father replied fondly. "Oh how cruel! And here I thought we were making such great progress."

His eyes softening, Father rubbed my shoulder affectionately with one hand and continued on a more somber note. "Regardless, I'm glad giving you access to this program in order to build a new home has helped put you at ease about a few things just as I intended. And I sincerely hope, in time, I can mend the rift between us in every sense of the word. Be it a rift between this world and reality, or the rift I had unknowingly created between us by depriving you of the freedom to express yourself. Because I want to know you, my son, for who you are and not who you were based on."

"I love you, Father." I suddenly blurted out, ignoring how he flinched when I said it so bluntly before he answered in return.

"I love you too, Daniel. Now then, I'm afraid I have to go to bed for the night since it has been a rather exhausting day, but I believe you were right and visiting you in here rather than summoning you outside through your projector is an excellent idea. In fact, it may be a lot easier to train you here to gradually strengthen your ghost core. Of course, there's a lot of research I need to do about your unique genetic makeup, but I'm confident everything will be just fine since you have me now."

"I never doubted it for a second," I smiled, savoring the moment just a little bit longer before saying goodnight and settling into my new home after he teleported back out into the real world...feeling safer than I had in a long long time knowing I wouldn't be summoned against my will anymore for Father to shout at. And now, with any luck, Danny had one less enemy to worry about too with their truce in place. I just hope this meant things were about to get better for all of us and not just me.

Danny's POV

Honestly, after dropping Tucker and Sam off at home I decided I needed some air before heading back to tell my sister the news so I flew over to one of my favorite spots to just hang out by myself and float in midair to let my mind wander while stargazing. I wasn't really sure what to make of Vlad's proposal because on the one hand, he might only be offering to train me so he can observe me using my powers up close to look for some kind of weakness he could exploit later. But on the other hand...I'd already given up on the idea of him training me after he crossed the line by cloning me which made it pretty clear that he'd given up on me ever becoming his son. That's why I couldn't figure out Vlad's angle for offering to train me again after all this time...

Was it all some sort of trick? A clever ruse? Or was it a real peace offering?

I was still skeptical about it, but I've gotta admit, actually seeing him apologize to Sam for almost getting her killed was a step in the right direction and as weird as it may sound, it was kind of cool to hear he had that much confidence in my abilities. Ever since we became enemies Vlad has done nothing but belittle me, tell me I'll never be as good at controlling my powers as he is, that I was becoming like him whether I wanted to or not, and go out of his way to rub how much more experience he has in my face.

Since then, I've been doing everything in my power to prove him wrong. And I have, multiple times. I've defeated Vlad so many times now I've lost count, but, when I stopped to think about it...maybe the real reason it's been so easy to beat him lately is BECAUSE he had stopped trying as hard. The Vlad I knew used to always be ten steps ahead of me. And his true motives almost impossible to figure out unless he let me which was infuriating.

I can't remember exactly when it happened, but after a while, I just got used to Vlad's schemes being so predictable it was almost sad. They became way too simple compared to before when he would do something I thought was obvious at the time only to find out he had something else in the works behind the scenes. Like, for example, giving Valerie ghost hunting equipment. Until recently, I had no idea that even THAT all had something to do with his obsession with me becoming his son, or someone like me anyway. I always assumed he had gotten all his information about me from Skulker to do the whole cloning thing.

Speaking of which, while I was happy for Daniel I couldn't help but wonder...what about Dani? Doesn't she deserve to be happy too? Even though Vlad agreed to leave her alone that still meant she was still out there somewhere on her own with no one to watch her back either. I really should have thought about that when she first flew off into the sunset and stopped her but at the time I was still kind of shaken by Vlad outright torturing me, not gonna lie.

But now that I had time to think about it and compare it to Daniel's situation, did Dani even know how to take care of herself? She's half-human like me, but aside from that, how much did Vlad teach her apart from how to fight? Does Dani know how to find food and shelter without relying on stealing? And did she...ever see the other clones as siblings like Daniel did or were they just as disposable to her as she was to Vlad...?

I hated thinking like that, I really did.

After all, she had helped me in the end of her own free will, but I was just worried about the sort of effect Vlad's 'bad parenting' had had on her just as much as my sister was to be completely honest. I meant what I said though, right now, Daniel needs Vlad more because it's taken him this long to even consider himself a person, let alone a ghost. I can't imagine thinking so little of myself like that. Thinking I only existed as a mistake someone made that nobody wanted around or that was worth caring about. Maybe that's why I started thinking about the mistakes I've made since I never considered the idea that the other clones might have had feelings, because it was too late by then to feel bad about what I had done without knowing anything about who they really were until Dani came along.

I've been dreaming about them a lot lately actually since I've been subconsciously thinking about the fact that Daniel has the ectoplasm of several of them inside of him. Sadly, because of those dreams, I always woke up with a bitter taste in my mouth. It hadn't really hit me that I had...killed two innocent ghosts who didn't have a will of their own that had never been given the chance to be anything but tools to Vlad and enemies to me. Heck, Dani even helped me get rid of the big guy so she's just as guilty as I was of-of murder. So now I owe it to Dani and Daniel to make sure they don't suffer the same fate as the others, that they get to be happy and continue to live.

It won't change what happened, but I've already learned the hard way not to mess with how things are meant to be. And who knows, maybe this was all meant to happen so that Vlad COULD have a second chance to treat them better and become a better person himself. As weird as it was to think about, I was kinda looking forward to Vlad actually treating me like a person too instead of nothing but a pest like my parents do.

Not that I planned to lower my guard around him, oh no, but from the looks of it, one way or another our lives were about to change in a big way. Only time would tell how things will go from here. Or maybe not since Clockwork isn't one to gossip about the timeline. If I'm lucky though, maybe he can at least give me a hint that I haven't made a huge mistake putting my faith in Vlad Masters 'good intentions.'