Yay new chapter! I ended up changing a bit more in this chapter than the pre rewritten version. I will say, spoiler alert; I've been working on the end of the story and it is completely different. I changed a lot for the ending so hopefully you guys like it when it's posted. I may have to add a few more chapters to the end with how much I have planned.
SilverExcel115: I completely agree. I definitely think Ellie is a better name for Dani for the same reasons. Rewatching the original Danny Phantom cartoon, the thought that she'd get tired of introducing herself as Dani with an I was a part of my decision to change her name to Ellie.
Chapter 4: Teenagers
Danny sat at the edge of a patch of land that ran along the water, his fingers tangled in his hair, pulling the white strands so tight that they threatened to break. But he ignored the pain and gritted his teeth as he fought back waves of painful memories of those painful hours before his death. He could always remember the pain but never any of the more specific details. It was always just flashes of several images as they flashed through his head. An experimentation table. A large orange beast and a thin blue monster. Both with shining red eyes and large sharp teeth. They'd use their razor sharp claws to cut him open and tear him apart. His blood, a mixture of red and green, would splatter everywhere but try as hard as he could, he could never fight back or break free.
He could never convince them to stop despite how much he screamed and pleaded.
Abruptly shaking his head in an effort to force the memories to go away, he tried to do more of his breathing exercises. Slowly, he took deep breaths just like his aunt had taught him back home. As the sharp pains in his head faded to minor throbs of dull pressure, his eyes fell to look over the lake and its waves coming to crash on the few rocks that would dissuade those curious humans that ever managed to get through the forest.
'Maybe a nice dip in the water would help clear my head.' He thought as he stepped forward and let himself fall into the cold waters.
As he sank through the water, he finally felt a brief flash of release. In the chilly water his low body temperature wasn't affected as much due to his ice core. The cool water seemed to wrap around him as he let himself sink to the bottom and lay on the bottom of the lake. He thought he had those memories under control. He thought he had finally managed to tuck those memories away to where they couldn't affect him as much anymore.
Those memories. The feeling of the metal table and the straps around his wrists and ankles. The inability to run. The soreness of his throat from overuse. They rushed through his mind still making his head throb despite the cooling feeling of the water.
He didn't know what else he could do to stop them.
So he had to experience them.
All he could do was let them in. Reliving the memories that were forever etched into his mind. Reliving each scream and bone chilling laugh that echoed in his ears.
Those memories were always brought back by the mention of parents. After having sat and thought about it for a bit, he had developed the theory that it was related to how he died. He guessed that he had been murdered by his own parents but he couldn't figure out why. It had always hurt to know that and not understand why it had to happen.
Or if he had had the ability to stop it.
Unfortunately, whether he was able to put them in the back of his mind or not, those images were always there. Those memories would always haunt him.
Danny let out a sigh, watching as the bubbles from his mouth floated up through the water to the surface, quickly closing his mouth in order to keep the murky water out of his mouth. He took a mental breath, knowing better than to let the dirty water into his body despite the fact that he didn't need air to breath.
His aunt would be upset by the carelessness if he got sick.
Staring up at the surface of the water, his eyes caught on what looked like a dark figure above the water. Guessing that it was probably his aunt or uncle looking for him, he took a moment to make sure that his head was clear and the memories were tucked away before letting himself float up to the surface. But it wasn't his aunt or uncle like he thought, it was the girl from before and she seemed to be looking for him.
"Danny?" She called, looking around and freezing when she saw his wet mop of white hair covering his glowing eyes as he stared at her, only his head showing.
Her eyes widened, thinking he was a creature of the water, and she took a hesitant step back before she realized that it was the ghost boy. Kneeling down, she rested her hands on her knees, meeting his gaze.
"You scared me." Mavis explained, her tone lighthearted as if to show she wasn't upset.
Danny gave a chuckle as he floated out of the water, turning intangible and letting the water fall off him and back into the lake. Floating over to her, he sat on the dirt ground next to the vampiress.
"I tend to do that, being a ghost prince and all." Danny said, pushing now dry hair out of his face, all signs of his earlier panic attack gone. "My uncle would be proud I'm doing my job. Scaring is part of being a monster, after all."
"Ghost prince?" the girl asked, her bright blue eyes reflecting the moonlight, making them look like stars in the darkness of the night around them.
"Well, yeah. You know my uncle is the pumpkin king, right?" The ghost boy asked, grinning. "He usually proclaims it whenever he introduces himself."
Mavis laughed, raising a hand to cover her mouth as she did. Danny found himself mesmerized by the sound, a lightness forming in his chest. For some reason, this girl held an air about her that just felt light and positive and it was affecting the ghost boy.
"You know, you could probably be a singer if you wanted to." he said, his voice reflecting the airiness in his chest.
Surprised by the compliment, the girl's cheeks took on a soft pinkness of a blush, just dark enough for it to show on her pale skin but not as dark as one that would show on a normal human. Catching herself staring at the clueless boy, she averted her gaze, turning to look down at the water below them and watching as it splashed on the shore. The silence, while surprisingly comfortable between the two of them, still held an aura of awkwardness from the teens. Breaking the silence, Danny coughed.
"So uh… I never got your name."
Grasping the new conversation, the girl gave a dry laugh, the impassive look in her eyes reminding him of the looks his aunt and uncle would share when he got carried away with helping in Halloween town.
"That's because you keep leaving before I can introduce myself." she teased, bumping his shoulder with hers.
Danny's cheeks burned a bright green at the realization. Rubbing the back of his neck shyly, he tried to brush away the embarrassment from getting so careless. He knew his aunt would scold him for his poor manners if she knew.
"Yeah, I'm sorry about that. I'm running off of five hours of sleep and twenty seven hours in the carriage. I'm a bit scatterbrained right now." he explained.
"You can't sleep in a moving car?" She asked, her brows furrowing in concern and curiosity.
"Well it's more so the case of my studying. My aunt is my teacher and she brought a bunch of books for me to read on the drive." Danny began to ramble. "I'm homeschooled and having your teacher living in the same house isn't fun. Aunt Sally doesn't really like it if I take too much time off from studying. She thinks I'll forget everything. I can recite Shakespearean quotation almost as well as my uncle but she still has me reread the book. I'm actually surprised she hasn't mentioned anything about me continuing my lessons while we're here. I don't doubt my uncle probably had something to do with it."
The bright bell-like laughter caught his attention, causing him to pause and finally realize that he had been rambling. A bright green tinge of a blush returned to his cheeks in his embarrassment.
"Oh… um… sorry, it's weird to talk to another teenager. A lot of the monsters back in Halloween town are usually more monster shaped than teenager shaped." He explained, his stomach forming knots. "So… your name?"
The girl smiled at him, her bright blue eyes meeting his as she tucked a short strand of silky black hair behind her ear.
"It's ok. I get it. I'm homeschooled too." she explained and Danny felt the knots loosen in his stomach but not before being replaced by butterflies. "My name's Mavis. Mavis Dracula."
"And the owner is your dad? What's his name? Dracula?" A nod. "Then is his full name Dracula Dracula? That's new."
Mavis giggled and stood, stretching her limbs.
"Nope. It's just Dracula. No last name." She said, looking over the forest as Danny stood. "Wanna go for a walk? I wanna check out that town."
"A walk through the forest is fine but I don't think the town is a good idea. When I went back, it was completely gone. Must've burnt to the ground." Danny explained.
The vampiress seemed to deflate slightly at the mention of the village burning down. Looking over her disappointed face, Danny gave a small grin and stepped forward.
"How about a flight instead of a walk?" He asked, waiting for permission.
Mavis gave a small nod, still disappointed but gave a small gasp of shock as he wrapped an arm around her waist and took off, letting out a laugh and spun in the air, causing her to pull him closer out of nervousness.
"You can't fly without being in bat form, can you?" he asked.
"I haven't been able to figure out that part yet." Mavis said, her fingers digging into his shirt. "You're pretty reckless of a flyer though."
Danny grinned at her teasing.
"Don't need to be careful when I can just phase through everything."
Mavis nodded, giving a small laugh as she watched the ground below them as it zoomed past. A comfortable silence came over them as they just listened to the sound of wind as it rushed around them.
"So," Mavis said as they landed on a high branch and sat down. "How old are you?"
"Oh, that's kinda more complicated for ghosts. I was 19 when I died but I've been dead for a few decades. Ghosts are sort of reborn when they die." Danny explained, then turned to her curiously. "Why do you ask?"
"I was curious. You look around my age."
"Don't vampires age really slowly? Or don't age at all after they hit a certain age?"
"Yeah, we age slowly. What about ghosts? How do you age?" Mavis asked, nudging the ghost boys arm.
Danny chuckled.
"We don't." he explained. "When we die, we stay like that for the rest of time until we get a new body. The humans seem to refer to it as reincarnation. I just call it getting a life."
Mavis laughed, her voice echoing through the forest and Danny couldn't help but find himself staring. She was so familiar, yet so different. For some reason this girl was able to silence the raging wave of horrible memories that constantly fought to torture him. Her presence seemed to trigger feeling of nostalgia.
During this short amount of time he had spent with her, just talking on the branch of this tall tree, good memories of people just seemed to break through the waves of the bad memories. Sam. Tucker. A boy with black hair and blue eyes. A girl with long red hair and a blue headband.
This girl would help him. She could awaken those memories. Danny knew it.
But why? What was it about this girl that caused memories to reawaken? What was she able to do that others couldn't?
"-ny...-anny...Danny!" Mavis called, shocking the halfa out of his thoughts, making him almost fall out of the tree.
Floating slightly in order to regain his balance, Danny rubbed his eyes.
"Sorry, I kinda zoned out. That drive must've taken more out of me than I thought it did."
Mavis only smiled and stood up, balancing easily on the branch as she reached a hand to him.
"Come on." she said as Danny stood, floating slightly over the branch. "Let's head back to the hotel so you can get some rest."
"Are you sure? I wouldn't want to leave you alone." Danny said, rubbing the back of his neck with an apologetic look.
Stupid hero complex.
"My dad told me you'll be here for the next two weeks." She said, setting a hand on her hip. "We'll have plenty of time to hang out while you're here."
Danny only nodded as he wrapped an arm around the vampiress' waist and held her close as he flew back to the hotel. After she directed him to where her room was, he set her down and left her standing on the window sill as he floated back slightly. His eyes were still worried, as if not fully ready to let go of the idea that he was leaving her alone again.
"Are you sure?" he asked again.
"It's fine. Get some rest. See you tomorrow." Mavis grinned as she stepped off the window sill and sent him a small shoo-ing motion before she closed the window.
Danny smiled, sending her a wave in reply before he turned and flew back to his. Turning to float on his back, he let himself fall and land on his bed. He sighed at the feeling of being wide awake. He knew he should listen to Mavis' advice and try to sleep but she didn't know what his dreams were like. What they showed him when he let himself fall into those dreams.
A soft knock on the door caught his attention and caused him to sit up and turn to the door where his aunt had peeked in and smiled at him. (Not like the smile wasn't always there)
"Hey Aunt Sally..." Danny said, sitting up.
"You look like you're feeling better. Did you enjoy your time with Mavis?"
"Yeah, it's nice to talk to someone my age." He paused. "Or at least in vampire-ghost terms."
Sally laughed silently and sat on the edge of the bed, the ghost boy scooting to sit next to her. She pulled out some cloth and unwrapped a bottle filled with black liquid.
"I brought something to help you sleep. Made with deadly nightshade from the graveyard back home." she said, handing it to him.
Danny smiled at his aunt and took the bottle. Sally stood and walked to the door.
"Make sure you change into your pjs before you drink that. It'll knock you right out."
"Thank you. I will. Goodnight Aunt Sally." Danny said before changing and drinking the liquid.
Laying back into the soft sheets, Danny fell into a dreamless sleep. He was forever grateful for his aunt. He let his thoughts roam as he drifted into unconsciousness accompanied by thoughts of a familiar vampiress and the large hotel.
"Oh Daniel, you shouldn't have left that little town. Now you're out in the open. You should've let me train you when you had the chance. Now you're mine, little badger..." A voice said in the darkness of the forest, a pair of white fangs sparkled and were accompanied by glowing red eyes in the darkness.