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

Note: Ugh, having the wifi out for so long really sucked! But good news is I had plenty of things to work on in the meantime to upload once I got it back! Such as this chapter and several drawings. Currently I'm going through older art projects to free up space on my laptop but, it's been really nice to see how far I've come and plan out which one's I'd still like to redo in the future.

I know that's a bit unrelated to this story but in a way, Daniel's story started off as a random idea but when the phandom inspired me he became something more too. And I hope he'll continue to do so which is why I reworked this chapter to show him stepping up a bit to deal with his own problems again instead of relying on Vlad too much.

Chapter 16: Precarious

Daniel's POV

"ARGH!" I shouted after angrily taking out another enemy in the game, unleashing a lightning bolt at them which apparently was a thing I could do now.

Thankfully, Father had installed the latest version of Doomed just for me to play in my free time and so as soon as I woke up after that whole disaster I caused earlier that totally wiped me out, I really needed to go somewhere else to safely let off some steam. I was beyond frustrated with how much I still didn't understand about myself, my powers, my connection to the other clones, and my lack of a connection to my sister, Dani.

Every time I thought my life was getting better and that we were on the right track, I screwed it up somehow. And Father...that look on his face when I reflexively shielded myself from an attack when he got angry, that pained expression, it was tearing me apart. I never meant to hurt him and rationally I knew he wasn't angry at me, but, I couldn't stop myself from reacting that way. I was confused and overwhelmed and it had taken all of my self control to lay there so Father could perform a brain scan to figure out why Danny and I had developed this new telepathic connection with each other...

But the truth is, it wasn't that new at all.

In fact, I've felt connected to Danny from the very beginning and when we met 'in person' for the first time, that connection grew stronger and I knew that somehow...he had become just as much a part of me as my DNA was once a part of him. Well, my clone DNA which I didn't realize at the time was the source of that bond. And ever since then, I knew it wasn't just because our personalities were so similar that I understood Danny's feelings just as much as he understood mine. It went a lot deeper than that. It's hard to explain beyond actually being like twins with the uncanny ability to sort of pick up on each other's feelings whether they're emotional or physical.

Ironically, you could almost call it 'phantom pains' which is a term about how someone who has lost a limb or something can still 'feel' something that isn't there anymore. If you go into it deeper, what they're actually feeling is their own spirit or soul that's still whole. I found a file about that in Father's research actually. Apparently, ghosts feel it too when they've lost a part of their body they can't regenerate. As for why they can't regenerate it sort of depends on the ghost, but you get the point.

So basically these 'phantom pains' I kept feeling were a combination of my guilt and Danny's about my brother's death's. I don't know how, but it's like all of them apart from Dani had left a lingering imprint on me, an echo of their feelings which at the time were made up of two things. One was their desire to serve Father and obey his orders unconditionally, the other was that they were all designed to love him like a parent too. Just like me, we all wanted Father's love, but they had been denied it. I had the only thing they wanted for themselves, the only thing they understood; to be loved, to be accepted, and I hated myself for being the only one who got that chance when my birth was nothing but an accident!

Father created my program for one purpose, to simulate the love of the perfect half-ghost son, but he knew that love could never be real! Just like he knew my brother's love, my sister's love, all of it was a lie. At least, that's what he told himself. Father told himself that if he couldn't have the real Danny's love and loyalty, he'd make someone else who could to replace him. That's why it hurt so much knowing that even though it's not true that my siblings were incapable of truly loving him as much as I do, especially Dani who was given more self-awareness than the others, in the end I'm nothing but a replacement too.

And if...if it's true that I'm actually the prime clone reborn somehow then who am I? Does anything I've done up until now really matter? Did I do any of this of my own free will? Or was I only hardwired to love Father just like the rest of my brothers? And Dani, could the reason be I couldn't feel the same bond with her because Father had rejected her entirely? Did she hate him? Was she hurt? Scared? I wanted to know because...no matter what Father says she's still family. Dani's the only sibling I had left and I wanted to save her like Danny had saved me by helping me show Father that I'm real.

I'm real.

So my feelings have to be real too, right?

I'm not imagining my brothers trying to reach out to Father too through me because in some small way, they're not gone. I embody them all. I might not have their DNA apart from the same DNA we share with Danny, but if I've become this deeply attached to him then wouldn't it make sense that their feelings live on inside of me too? I just...couldn't bring myself to believe they didn't have souls of their own from the moment Father created them. I might have started out as a program, but I have a soul now, therefore my brothers and my sister had to have souls too because they actually had their own bodies that were fully formed if unstable.

That's probably what made me feel even worse about all of this. I wasn't strong enough to maintain a tangible form yet outside of the the computer for very long, and I hated it. I wanted to feel like I belong with Father too, like I deserved to be by his side. I wanted to fulfill their wish to be loved, and that included my sister's. And if...Father couldn't love her, then I would do it instead. I would be the best brother I could be to Dani just as much as I wanted to be with Danny, but first I had to stop beating myself up about the things I couldn't control and remind myself that I do have the right to exist even though I've barely accomplished anything yet.

"I have to get stronger. Strong enough to protect the people I care about." I nodded to myself, clenching my fists. "If I can do that, then I won't lose another family member again..."

Determined to do just that even if it was only in the game, I advanced to the next level and threw everything I had at my enemies. A few other players saw me and asked if I was ok since I seemed pissed off about something, but I ignored them. I had a job to do and I was dead-set on reaching my goal to max out my level without relying on my usual ghost powered advantages. Because I wanted to prove to myself, to Father, Danny, and all of them that I'm not helpless...

Not anymore.

Vlad's POV

After Jasmine left I immediately set to work implementing some of her suggestions in order to give Daniel more freedom to travel through the mansion with the assistance of an airborne holographic projector he could control. I had a small one in my wrist watch of course, but I highly doubted Daniel wanted to feel or be quite so small compared to me while we interacted outside of the lab. He already felt small and insignificant when in truth, I was actually quite shocked by the intensity of the power he unleashed earlier in a moment of deep emotional distress, although I shouldn't be surprised he was developing an electric core similar to my own.

As a trade off though, the poor boy was completely exhausted by the time I managed to channel that energy surge into myself to alleviate the stress he was putting on his core. When it was all over, I tried to rouse him once I returned Daniel to his virtual bedroom but he did not respond, not even when I reached out and gently brushed back his hair, ashamed of myself for startling him so badly with the harsh tone I had spoken in earlier.

I suppose this whole mess was just another reminder that while Daniel is based off of Danny in many ways, he does not possess the same experiences. He does not have a childhood so to speak, his memories were entirely based on our interactions when he was nothing more than a computer simulation. In that regard, despite mentally being the same age as Danny, Daniel was by all rights still only a child much like Dani had been.

I frowned at the thought of that little brat. Even now, Dani was ruining everything for me and she wasn't even here! Did they really expect me to just let bygones be bygones and welcome her back into my life again with open arms when she's the reason my perfect son died? His ectoplasmic blood was on her hands, perhaps no literally, but Dani's betrayal had cost him his life. So really, if anyone should feel guilty about his death, it's her, not Daniel.

He had absolutely nothing to do with the other clones demise. Daniel was innocent of any crime and from the beginning has only had my best interests at heart and loved me despite knowing about all the terrible things I've done which frankly I still don't think I deserve. That doesn't mean I don't want it. Oh yes, I want to be worthy of that pure and selfless love quite badly in fact, so if making peace with that failure of a daughter was the price I had to pay for Daniel's love then so be it...

I could do that much for her for old times sake since Dani did play her part quite well up until Danny managed to turn her against me and I understandably snapped when she threatened to ruin everything I had worked so hard for by refusing to obey a simple order to overshadow Danny one more time. Even now, a part of me still wonders if that hadn't happened, if she hadn't betrayed me in that critical moment, could I have come to truly see her as a daughter after all instead of nothing but a means to an end?

Dani's POV

Several months ago...

I really hated this part, the stealing I mean just to get by. I felt bad every time I had to do it and tried extra hard to help people to make up for it which was exhausting. Sometimes I got lucky and found some money someone had dropped, but most of the time I had to get creative to feed myself. That was the biggest downside of being half-human like Danny...I just didn't realize how hard this was going to be when I first flew off into the sunset.

At first, I genuinely tried to do the whole hero thing like Danny but it turns out ghost attacks aren't exactly common in the rest of the world. Most of the time, they just wanted to be left alone and had been hanging around for a long time, just minding their own business and haunting an old house or something. I got lucky once and the ghost of this old granny let me stay with her for a few weeks and took care of me when I had a nasty cold. Honestly, I was pretty scared that I was actually dying but she comforted me and said that's just what colds were like sometimes which is completely normal.

Not that anything about me is 'normal'...

When I explained to her I had never been sick before, at first she assumed I meant that I was usually pretty healthy for my age, but honestly I just couldn't bring myself to tell her I'm actually a clone. It was hard enough to admit to her I'm only half-ghost to explain why I turned human all of a sudden in front of her. In fact the whole time I was sick, I had to stay human as much as possible to save my strength while I was running such a high fever. Like I said, I really was lucky that time to run into such a nice ghost who took care of me.

I probably would have stayed there longer if it wasn't for the fact Vlad was still looking for me and I didn't want to put her in danger. Before I left she did give me a few things to help like a change of clothes, a blanket, and a bag to put them in. She said they belonged to her granddaughter who ran away from home once and left those here before patching things up with her parents. I felt a lump form in my throat at the thought of something like that since I knew Vlad would never forgive me, but I smiled and hugged her before leaving once I got over my cold.

Things started looking up at least for a little while since I managed to save up enough money off the streets to pay for a hotel room. I mean, I had to overshadow someone to get the room since I found out the hard way they wouldn't just hand the keys to a twelve year old but I've gotta admit, it was kinda fun messing with the guy after I walked out and came back in with someone pretending to be my mom who told me to pay for our room. I kinda channeled my inner Vlad acting all insulted and such and threatening to take my business elsewhere, but in the end I got the room and let the poor confused lady go back to whatever she had been doing before...

I paid the price for overusing my powers though because I felt weak and shaky after that, but even if it was just for one night, I was looking forward to sleeping in a real bed and taking a bath. I guess I should count myself lucky that Vlad taught me all the basics of acting like a normal girl before sending me to Amity Park to meet Danny for the first time. If if wasn't for that, I probably wouldn't have known how to do any of this on my own.

That night, after finishing taking a bath and changing into the clothes that sweet old granny ghost gave me, I was busy drying my hair when I jerked in surprise seeing Vlad's face pop up on the TV. Instinct took over and I snapped into battle mode until it hit me that no, wait, Vlad couldn't be there, I would have sensed him if he was so it was just a picture. Relaxing a bit and changing back to my human form again, I sat down and listened to the news report about Vlad's castle being reduced to a pile of rubble by the Guys in White.

He warned me about them as more of a just in case sort of thing after explaining that I have a similar ghost signature to Danny's, but honestly I was kinda shocked when I heard they managed to get the jump on Vlad somehow as a normal person at least. Didn't he have security cameras and all that? Still, while I wasn't entirely sure what happened I couldn't help but think it served him right to know what it's like to lose his home...

The only home I had ever known was that mountain chalet in the Rockies. We spent a little time at the castle, but not long enough for me to remember much. And besides, all we really did there was train and study before he sent me to trick Danny into trusting me.

Smiling, I turned off the TV when the news broadcast was over and fell backwards onto the bed, feeling oddly relieved. "Well, at least this means I can relax for a little while since Vlad has better things to do instead of hunt me. I wonder if Danny had anything to do with this? If he did, that's a great prank. It's about time Vlad got a taste of his own medicine for once."

Taking a deep breath, I was about to sit up again when I felt an odd tickle in my throat and suddenly started coughing. Confused, I wondered if my cold had come back and propped myself up, coughing even harder. Collapsing onto my side, I covered my mouth with both hands as I heaved, trying to catch my breath and starting to actually get worried now. By the time it my coughing fit was finally over, I was laying there panting and didn't notice until I opened my eyes that there was a few specks of ectoplasm there, glowing dimly like little glow in the dark stars...

That's when I knew something was seriously wrong.