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

Note: Well, it's the moment of truth. Welcome to the first rewritten chapter of my first Danny Phantom oc, Owen Ravenwood's story. Nevermore. It's been 5 years since I officially entered the phandom because of his creation and re-watched the show from start to finish for the first time since High School. A lot has happened since then, both good and bad, but I've come a long way regardless and that makes me really happy!

That said, the core elements of this story aren't really going to change much since the main focus is Vlad adopting Owen after they become closer and he realizes how badly this kid needs his help, especially after uncovering the truth about his strange powers. Owen has waited long enough for his tale to come full circle so I sincerely hope you enjoy this new journey he's about to take!

P.S. Oh, and feel free to read the old stories "The Grimoire" and "Ravenheart" too if you'd like a basic overview of what's going on or so you can compare it to this new and improved version! Just a heads up though, I'm keeping a few of the darker themes ahead so brace yourselves for lots of angst!

Chapter 1: The Boy Who Cried Ghost

Vlad's POV

It was a rare occurrence indeed that I had to play the role of a magnanimous public figure, and yet there I was visiting a group home for orphans and the like known as Mistveil. An odd name to be sure, but I paid it no mind. After all, this was but one of many I planned to donate to to boost my rating and since it was the least conspicuous I saw no harm in visiting this one in person. They would need proof after all that I'm a man of my word and truly did visit these children.

Thankfully, I was prepared for the onslaught of questions they gave me since I knew most of the children there were still quite young. There was a handful of teenagers too of course, but one in particular stood out from the rest for a number of reasons. For one thing, during the assembly when the director introduced me to all of them I immediately noticed a boy sitting in the back with a head of white hair, which as you can probably already guess reminded me a great deal of Daniel.

Of course, my first assumption was that it was just some teenager who had dyed his hair white as some sort of absurd fashion statement. Either that, or perhaps he was a fan of Danny Phantom and wanted to emulate him. As it turns out though, neither of those were true. After the assembly was over and everyone was led outside by their caretakers to visit the local arcade I had rented out especially for them so they wouldn't be underfoot while I completed the rest of the arrangements for the upcoming charity, I learned that the boy's hair was not in fact dyed at all but the result of partial albinism which he was born with...

His name, was Owen Ravenwood. And as I said, it was mainly his strange outward appearance that caught my eye at first. He wore a simple dark red hoodie inlaid with white with a pair of dark gray pants and black shoes and most of his hair was stark white, like freshly fallen snow, while the rest was a deep black. His eyes though, which at first glance seemed brown were actually a bright crimson due to the fact that they had no color pigment in them.

We were walking past the lounge area which we had already visited earlier during the first part of the tour when I happened to see the same boy sitting at a table reading a book with an uncharacteristically contemplative expression on his face. I couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that a teenager his age would willingly choose to read a book over playing videogames with his friends. Or perhaps he was one of those goth types, like Daniel's friend Samantha.

Curious, I stopped the director and asked who he was. Obviously the man was furious he had slipped away from the rest of the group, but since he didn't want to make a bad impression on me the older gentleman answered with a heavy sigh, pushing up his glasses. "That's Owen Ravenwood. I'm surprised though, Owen's usually so well-behaved that I can't believe he actually had the audacity to sneak out of the assembly like this. I'll go talk to him and ask Owen to wait in his room so he won't get in the way. I'll have to decide on his punishment later."

Raising my hand dismissively as he moved to enter the room I scoffed. "There's no need for that. All teenagers go through a similar rebellious stage, especially at his age which I happen to have a lot of experience with believe it or not. He's, what? Thirteen? Fourteen?"

"Fifteen actually. He'll be turning sixteen in a few weeks which only makes everything harder for both of us." The director answered without thinking, his gaze turning somber. "We've tried to place him so many times but things just never worked out. I don't know why to be perfectly honest since Owen is very mature for his age. Almost too much if you ask me. Considering what happened to him, he's overcome a lot of hardships I can scarcely begin to imagine..."

"Such as...?" I asked, my curiosity piqued.

Shaking his head, the director told me grimly. "It's not my place to say this but...when he was younger Owen blamed his parents deaths on ghosts of all things. He just couldn't accept the truth, that they had gone insane and attempted a family suicide. I'm afraid that's all I can tell you."

My eyes flew wide with shock. Of all the answers I expected to hear of the boy's tragic past, that was not it in the slightest. There was no way to verify if this claim was true since it happened a long time ago by the sounds of it, but I just happen to know that ghosts do in fact exist...

After all, I am half of one.

And since I would likely never see this unusual young man again, keeping my tone casual and business-like I asked politely. "If it's not too much trouble would you mind if I have a word him? I have some time to spare before my next appointment and this would be a good opportunity to ask him a little more about this place before we conclude the rest of our tour. As you may recall, the other children were a bit too excitable with their questions so it would be nice to get a clearer answer."

Thinking about it for a minute, the director finally nodded and replied. "Well...I suppose I don't see the harm in that. In the meantime I think I'll go make sure no one else decided to play hooky. I'll be back shortly or if you'd prefer you can just have Owen lead you back to my office. Please excuse me."

Grumbling something under his breath about telling the kids to be on their best behavior today of all days as he left, I watched the director make his exit before turning my attention back to Owen. To my surprise, I noticed the boy visibly tense the moment I approached him. Perhaps he heard us talking and knew he had been caught but tried to pretend he was still engrossed in his book.

Placing my hand on his shoulder and smiling, I chuckled. "Doing a bit of light reading are we?"

I felt him involuntarily flinch beneath my touch before Owen pointedly shrugged out from my grasp, sighing in exasperation as he placed a bookmark between the pages and shut the book. Glancing up at me irritably, Owen asked bluntly. "What do you want?"

"I just want to talk, that's all. Why so defensive? If it's because you were caught ditching don't worry, I already asked the director to let it slide just this once. The assembly must have been quite boring which is precisely why I arranged for you and the other children to visit the arcade afterwards. Whatever you're reading must be good if you couldn't put it down like this." I answered, ignoring his curt response since I was used to such things after all my dealings with Daniel.

Shooting me a sharp glare, to my astonishment Owen shot up from his chair and snapped. "You do realize there were other ways you could have done that, right? I don't know why you decided to overshadow Vlad Masters of all people, but taking over the body of a multi-billionaire is anything but subtle. So do yourself a favor and leave him out of this. I can't help you either way so you're just wasting your time."

Ah that's right, Owen already believes in ghosts. Either that or he's actively pretending to see them to get attention. How naive. I chuckled to myself, mildly amused by the irony. Well two can play at that game.

Deciding to play along with his delusion I reassured him. "My boy, I really don't have the faintest clue what you're talking about. I understand what it's like to be treated like an outcast at your age and wanting to do all you can to be taken seriously, but isn't this taking it a little too far? I've heard you are a very intelligent young man so I believe we both know there is no such thing as ghosts. And even if they do exist in some form, you'll have to do more than make slanderous accusations towards a complete stranger to prove it."

"You want proof? Fine." Owen replied, sounding annoyed once again and for a moment I thought I had successfully disproven his lies about actually quote 'seeing ghosts' he suddenly snatched my wrist with surprising strength and I felt an odd and unexpected tingle ripple up my arm.

In a matter of seconds, a transformation ring appeared at my fingertips and began sliding across the rest of my arm to reveal the black glove from my ghost form. But this-this is impossible! Is he…forcing me to transform?! I gaped, wrenching my arm away from the boy which immediately returned to normal.

Staring at Owen with a dumbfounded express since I've never encountered anyone like him before who could do such a thing, I listened as he continued angrily. "The real Mr. Masters might not believe that ghosts exist, but this is proof enough that they do since you're one of them. Now, are you going to tell me what you want or not? I keep telling you guys I don't want anything to do with ghosts anymore but you just won't listen! What else do I have to do to get you to LEAVE ME ALONE?!"

Worried that he might cause a ruckus if the director heard Owen yelling like this, I decided to rely on one of my oldest tricks by creating a duplicate I flew out of just as the 'real' Vlad collapsed, who was in actually the duplicate but in human form. Surprised, Owen attempted to catch me as I fell but since he couldn't support my weight we both landed on the ground with a dull thud. He wasn't there for long though since I pulled him up by the back of his hoodie, similar to grabbing the scruff of a cat...

Smiling wickedly at him as I watched the boy squirm, I mused thoughtfully. "Now isn't this interesting? Most impressive my boy. So tell me, how DID you sense my presence? And more importantly, how did you manage to force me to reveal myself like that? You clearly have some sort of innate gift, possibly of a magical sort, but the question is what? You're obviously not a ghost yourself or a psychic, so what are you...?"

"Like you don't already know! Now let go of me you creep!" Owen growled, still struggling to escape my grip which only made me smile wider since it reminded me so much of my first encounter with Daniel when he was just as hopelessly outmatched.

"Oh, I think not. I'm afraid you brought this upon yourself, my boy." I pointed out since it really would have been in his best interest to pretend he hadn't noticed anything strange about me, in which case I wouldn't have discovered Owen had supernatural powers of some kind. I've heard of such things in the past in my studies of the paranormal, such as talk of witches and spiritual mediums that weren't just pretending to have powers either, but to stumble across the genuine article is something else entirely.

Still, it was only a matter of time before the director returned so since I had no more time for games I admitted nonchalantly. "I hate to disappoint you, but I haven't the faintest clue who you are. After hearing your sad story however, I'll admit it got me curious. That, and you happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Frankly, you would have been better off behaving yourself and going to the arcade like the other children. Maybe then I wouldn't have noticed you to begin with."

Glancing at the door and listening for the sound of approaching footsteps, I continued. "Unfortunately, since I can't have you revealing my secret to anyone and causing a scene we're going to have to take a little trip down memory lane so you forget this chance meeting ever happened. That said, I do commend your courage confronting me like that. Not many people outside of the profession of ghost hunting would dare expose a ghost without the means to defend themselves so try not to take this too personally."

After that the plan was simple. Overshadow Owen long enough to blur his memories just enough that he wouldn't remember our conversation and then wait for the director to return. No harm no foul and I could look into his background more in my own time. However, no sooner had I dropped him, turned intangible, and flew forward to possess him when I was struck by some invisible force which threw me back into the opposite wall.

It took me a moment to recover because whatever that was, it was incredibly painful! Not even that blasted Specter Deflector of Daniel's compared to this unfamiliar stinging sensation, almost like an allergic reaction to something. Staring at the Owen once again in awe and disbelief I thought. Forcing me to transform is one thing, but having powers that are capable of actually hurting me? Just who on earth is this boy?!

Grunting after recovering the impact as well, Owen looked over at me with a furrowed brow, his troubled gaze looking just confused as I was before he said. "Hold on, you didn't seriously forget that I can't be overshadowed did you? That can't be right. Did the others not tell you about that? Then you're really not another one of those ghosts that's been asking me non-stop to show them the way to the light or whatever?"

"As curious as I am about who you THOUGHT I was, I'm afraid we're out of time. Let's wrap this up, shall we? I am a very busy man," I retorted venomously, floating close enough to him to hover menacingly over Owen since I was no longer in a playful mood in the slightest.

Glancing down at the fake Vlad laying on the ground beside him then back at me, Owen took a deep breath and surprised me by apologizing in a dejected tone. "You know what? It doesn't really matter anyway. If you've got some sort of deal going on with this rich guy that's really none of my business. I'm sorry I hurt you, but as long as you're not here to bother me or hurt anyone here then I don't mind pretending this never happened either. I just wanted to finish reading my book while this place was quiet for once. Just to be clear though, I really don't want anything to do with ghosts anymore..."

Clenching his fists and averting his gaze, Owen continued bitterly. "I never wanted to be like this. I just want to be able to live a normal life but I can't. No matter where I go, ghosts like you always follow me and I don't understand why! Why me!?"

Rolling his eyes at his little speech, I crossed my arms and repeated my earlier statement, "I already told you, I don't even know who are. So why would I be following you? Furthermore-"

"G-Ghost!" Turning around sharply we both saw the director staring at me with wide fearful eyes, horrified to see the duplicate version of me laying helplessly on the ground next to Owen. "S-so it IS true, there are real ghosts here! Owen, I'm so sorry I didn't believe you! And y-you! G-get away from him you-you monster!" At the same time both Owen and I groaned since this whole mess couldn't possibly get any more needlessly complicated.