Aas promised, this chapter is going to be a long one so I'll just let you get right to it! I definitely added more to the Vlad and Jack meeting scene and the fact that I removed the Mavis lying to Danny/Mavis and Johnny kiss scene affected this chapter as well!

Chapter 9: A meeting of Fathers

The form of the white haired teen looked tiny compared to the long, thin pumpkin king that walked beside him. Their day's adventure was beginning to come to an end and the two were just casually strolling through the dark trees of the forest, talking about anything and everything. Jack had decided to give a few pointers to his adopted son about possible future projects the two could work together on to help the town, along with asking him questions from his studying his wife would be proud of. While the skeleton took long strides, Danny flew along on his back, making sure to not run into any trees along the way.

In their leisure, neither of them were fast enough to react as a flash of pink and a ray of energy shot through the air until it met with Jack's arm, shattering the bone and causing his arm to fall to the ground. The pumpkin king reached up with his still attached hand and gripped the broken bone, checking it over for a second before he looked up to see Vlad Plasmius floating in the hair above them, a sinister smile spread on his face. Danny watched, shock and horror on his face at the attack his uncle had just taken.

"Uncle Jack!"

"So you're the one who's been watching over Daniel. Pleasure to meet you, Vlad Plasmius." He said, flying over and holding out a hand to the pumpkin king, smiling as if he hadn't just blasted the other's arm off.

Holding out a hand to the white haired ghost as if telling him to stay back, Jack's face was surprisingly calm though the sockets of his eyes held an already forming hatred for the vampiric ghost in front of him. But the king was nothing without his manners.

"Jack Skellington." He said, not moving to shake the ghost's hand, the tone of his voice hardened. "You may refer to me as the Pumpkin King."

Vlad nodded, a knowing grin passing his face.

"It seems my boy is a prince. I'm very proud. As thanks for watching him, I'll let you live. Come along, Daniel."

"Wh-what?" Danny could only stutter and back away as the other ghost flew over to him.

"Perhaps an explanation is in order." The old half ghost chuckled, turning back to the waiting skeleton. "Daniel is my son. I've been worried sick, looking all over for him. But now I've found him again and I'm here to bring him home."

Danny froze. This didn't make sense. Vlad was his dad? But what about-

"Once they found out about what you were, they turned on you, causing you to come to me for help."

Jack crossed his arms (or at least tried to) and stared pointedly at Plasmius, clearly not believing the ghost's claim.

"I apologize but I don't believe you." He said. "Where have you been if you've been looking for him? We found him by his grave."

"Simply searching in the wrong places. I did wait for a few days for him to come out of his grave. You see, Daniel used to be a half ghost as am I. We both knew what would happen when we died so I simply waited for him to emerge fully ghost." The ghost lied through his teeth and clever smile. "When he didn't, I assumed he'd gone to the ghost zone instead so I went to look for him there."

Danny's head was spinning. Confusion on top of doubt with fear and horror bounced around his head. The bad memories seemed to return and he fought his hardest to keep them back. He couldn't let himself fall victim to his mind while his uncle had already lost an arm to this other ghost.

Please! Wait! I'm your son! You can't! Stop!

An eye closed in pain from the headache forming, Danny shook his head, trying to stop his ears from ringing. Meanwhile, Jack had noticed the struggle his adopted son was dealing with and decided to take over.

"And why exactly do you expect us to believe you, sir?" He asked.

"Well," Vlad's voice was smooth. "I expected my son to have been under the care of good, understanding people. Do you think I thought wrong?"

"No. I don't. It's because of the kind of people my wife and I are that I severely doubt that you're telling the truth." Jack stated, holding up his broken arm as if to prove a point. "Why would I allow you to take Danny back when you chose to just attack us out of nowhere?"

"My apologies." Vlad held a hand to his chest in a small bow to the pumpkin king. "I assumed you were a threat to my Daniel and acting prematurely. If I may, I can heal you."

"I think I'll pass. Sorry." Jack shook his head as he leaned down and took his detached arm from the dirt.

"Very well." Plasmius nodded. "I concede that you don't trust me. But rest assured, I'll rectify that before you even have to take the trip back home. For now, I'll allow Daniel to stay with you. He appears to need his rest anyway."

Something about how he said that made Jack uneasy.

Vlad gave a gesture towards Danny, showing that the ghost boy was currently standing on his own two feet now, showing to have lost the energy to float as he got through his mental battle. He was paler now and showed to be out of breath but it seemed the struggle was over and that he was fine.

A silent message crossed between Danny and Jack as they made eye contact that they just had to hold on just a bit longer. Get this ghost out of here and then they can get back to the safety of the hotel.

"Well, as you see, I need to repair my arm and Danny needs rest so we really should be going back to the hotel now." Jack explained, stepping forward.

"Of course. I'll leave you to it." Vlad nodded, giving a bow himself before he turned to leave. "I'll see you before you leave."

With those final words, the vampiric ghost disappeared into the darkness of the woods and the breath that it seemed that both Jack and Danny were holding was finally released.

"Uncle Jack, I-"

"Don't worry, Danny." Jack cut him off, the tone of his voice having returned to that of a father instead of a king. "We'll keep you safe from that man. We just need to get back to the hotel and Sally first, alright?"

The ghost boy nodded, a self hating look of guilt on his face as he followed his uncle back towards the hotel.

—

Sally's cheerful smile melted at the sight of the current state of her husband and son as they approached the castle. Excusing herself from the conversation she had been in with another monster resident of the hotel, she rushed over to Jack and Danny, asking them both questions as she wrapped an arm around her son and supported him as they made their way towards the stairs leading to their room. Jack seemed to be trying his best to diffuse the situation, saying that his currently disconnected arm was 'just a scratch' and that they just needed some rest.

Dracula had excused himself as well and joined the family, offering help and beginning to give orders to the suits of armor around them to grab supplies to help with Jack's arm.

After the family had returned to their room and Jack had fended Sally off from Danny so the ghost boy could escape to his room to rest, he found himself laying back on his bed in the darkness of the room, staring at the wall as the memories he had thought he held back came rushing back again.

"Danny!"

"Get away from him! He's ghost scum!"

"He's your son! You can't just do this! He trusted you to tell you his secret! You're his parents! You're supposed to love him no matter what!"

Slowly sleep began to overcome him, the events of the night finally taking their toll on him and pulling him into unconsciousness.

"We could never love scum like him!"

"Get away from him!"

A gunshot echoed in his head. Making his unconscious body flinch.

"Jazz! No!"

Danny shot up in his bed, covered in sweat, before running to the bathroom and emptying his stomach into the toilet. He didn't know how much time had passed and hadn't seen Mavis, who slept on her folded arms against the bed and was startled awake by his sudden movement. She stood and wearily walked over to the doorway. Danny sat back against the wall, still shaking from his nightmare.

Jazz had been his sister. The red haired girl was his older sister. She had been killed by them.

"Danny?" Mavis asked, kneeling down to set a cool hand on his forehead before moving to give him some space and sitting beside him on the floor. "How are you feeling?"

Danny took a deep breath, a wave of calm coming over him at the sound of the vampiress' voice. He leaned over and rested his head on her shoulder, his hair covering his eyes.

He had blue eyes.

"It's… I'm ok. Just a bad nightmare…" he muttered, his strength slowly returning to him. "How long have I been out?"

"It's only been a few hours. Mr. Jack mentioned something happened in the forest and that the two of you just needed rest. Mrs. Sally asked me to keep an eye on you." She explained, her voice soft as she reached over and took Danny's hand gently. "They're out in the main room with my dad. You should've seen the fit your aunt had when she saw your uncles broken bone but my dad had some Skelegro for it though and now it's just healing."

She paused for a moment, the small, tired laugh that came from the boy at the idea of his aunt having a fit seemed good. She took that as a good sign.

"Do you remember what happened?"

Danny only shook his head, lifting his head and leaning it back on the wall, a spark of deviousness shown in his eyes as he grinned at her.

"So you decided to sleep with me, huh? That's pretty scandalous." He teased in his sleepy attempt to lighten the mood.

At his words, a bright red blush spread over Mavis' cheeks. Turning to avoid eye contact, she pouted.

"You were taking too long to wake up…" She pouted before her lips spread in a smile at the lift of the weight in the room.

Danny could only laugh, glad that she wasn't as concerned anymore. He froze as she turned to him and wrapped her arms around her in a hug, her face buried in his neck. He reached forward and pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms around her waist. The two seemed to relax in each others presence as they sat and just enjoyed the silence.

"I'm glad you're ok." She whispered, nuzzling his neck gently.

"I'm glad you're here…" Danny whispered back, placing a kiss in her hair.

Pulling out of the hug slightly, Mavis moved to sit beside him, their hands still intertwined as Danny kept an arm around her waist. They sat in silence for a few moments before a large yawn broke through the ghost boy's lips.

"If you're still tired, you should rest." Mavis said softly.

Danny nodded, leaning his head back against the wall and closing his eyes.

"Don't want to go back there..." He muttered, sleep apparently already beginning to take over..

Mavis smiled as she watched his head begin to tilt to the side and rest on top of her head. Sally had talked about her protecting him so if it started with protection from nightmare, so be it.

"How about this then? The excitement from your and Mr. Jack's return woke me up too so I'd like to get some more sleep. You try to get a few more hours and I'll stay here with you. I think some more sleep would be good for you." A small noise of denial came from the ghost boy at her words but she only continued to coax him some more. "That way you can help me get some more sleep. It's nearly 4 pm. It's way too early for either of us to be up. Hang out here with me and try to get some sleep for a few more hours and then we'll go get some food, alright?"

Danny was silent for a few moments and it seemed that he had already fallen asleep until he gave a small nod of agreement. A victorious smile spreading across her lip, she stood, saying the bed would be much more comfortable than the bathroom floor as she guided him back to his bed, the two teens crawling in under the sheets. Mavis laid on her back, letting Danny use her chest and shoulder as a pillow, her fingers running through his hair. Noticing the ghost boy was still trying to keep himself from falling back to sleep, Mavis had an idea.

"How about a lullaby?" She asked.

A soft 'mmhmm' was her answer as she stroked her hand through his hair and sung the song her dad had used when she was a child.

Suffer, suffer, scream in pain.

Blood is spilling from your brain.

Zombies gnaw you like a plum.

Piercing cries and you succumb.

Suffer, suffer, scream in pain.

You will never breath again.

The sound of soft snoring told the vampiress that he had finally fallen asleep. Feeling the call of sleep for herself, she simply studied the ghost boy's face as she ran her fingers through his white hair. He looked so peaceful it almost seemed impossible that the things running through his mind that had caused him to jump up before with such fear as he ran to the bathroom couldn't be that bad. But she knew that if she were to leave him here alone, he'd probably end up having a nightmare again. Which was why she didn't bother to try to get up or stop the sleep that was overcoming her.

—-

The next morning, Danny found himself alone in his room when he woke up feeling more well rested than when he had to take that potion to sleep. He took his time getting up and getting dressed, wanting to enjoy the silence and the calm that was in his mind. When he had left his room and stepped into the main room of their hotel rooms, he had been greeted by his aunt, who had explained that Mavis had had to leave a few hours ago since her dad had said he needed her for some planning stuff. He didn't really feel bothered by it, this was still a hotel that Mavis partially worked at after all. Excusing himself, he left the room to get some breakfast, saying he wanted to stretch his legs and explore the hotel a bit.

Before he had been able to leave the room, his uncle had stepped out of their room, a fresh bandage wrapped around his arm, and had told him not to leave the hotel. Danny had nodded and tried to avoid looking at where the pumpkin king's arm had snapped off as he left.

As he floated along the halls, a bagel with scream cheese (A recommendation from Mavis, he figured he'd try it. Now if only the thing would stop screaming so he could take a bite.) He looked around the halls, trying to find something to keep himself entertained while Mavis was busy. As he flew, he found himself thinking about a conversation he had had with the vampiress.

"You know, you could be a singer if you wanted to."

He imagined how he pictured her voice would sound. He found himself thinking about the music his aunt would sing as she worked on her clothing back home and how he liked to sit and listen to her. Then, his thoughts returned to the previous night and how Mavis stayed with him and sung to him as well. Her voice had been soft and the lullaby had been strange but it had calmed him down. Without realizing it, he found himself thinking about what he remembered about her voice before sleep had overtaken him. It was soft and sweet. And it was like he could hear it now. Almost as if she had been singing right now.

He blinked, pausing for a moment as he was brought back to reality.

Wait a second….

That was her singing!

Listening in as if to try to locate where the singing was coming from, he floated to a standing position, turning to fly towards the source of the singing. Flying through the halls, he found himself back at the doors to the music lounge where he had been before. Deciding on trying out just using the doors this time around, he pushed them open and peeked through, stepping in and leaning against the now ajar door as a grin spread over his lips.

Mavis was standing on the stage with a microphone in her hand, singing out words she had been reading off a sheet of paper in her hand as Johnny sat on a stool beside her with a guitar in his lap. Danny simply watched, enjoying the performance from the vampiress.

It didn't seem long before Mavis had glanced up from the paper she had been reading and noticed the white haired ghost teen. A bright red blush spread over her cheeks as she panicked, shoving the microphone and the paper into Johnny's startled hands and jumping down off the stage. Rushing over to the ghost boy, she quickly noticed how much better he was looking in comparison to last night.

However the embarrassment of seeing her zing had been watching her sing was currently in control now.

"Danny! Y-You can't be in here! You'll spoil it!" She exclaimed, shoving the ghost boy into the hall and shutting the door.

Imagine her fright when Danny just stuck his head through the wall, his eyes holding an impish spark at how flustered the vampiress was.

"Spoil what?" He asked, tilting his head curiously.

As Mavis sputtered and caught her breath from the fright, Johnny couldn't help but laugh. This attracted the attention of the ghost boy and gave Mavis a moment to breathe and calm her burning cheeks.

"What are you laughing at?" Danny asked, smirking at the red head.

"You two are cute." He laughed only to let out a shout of surprise as his feet was swept from under him by a random burst of energy.

As he straightened, Johnny couldn't tell who exactly had caused that to happen.

"Sh-Shut up!" Mavis squeaked, embarrassment growing her cheeks back to their rosey redness. .

Danny laughed and stepped over to the red head and helped him stand. His eyes were drawn to the sheets of paper that had fallen to the floor during the excitement. Reaching down and picking them up, he looked over the sheets, reading the words but having no idea what exactly the other lines and notes meant.

Of course he didn't get long to decipher them as they were promptly taken from his hands by the vampiress who was scolding him about ruining the surprise.

The couple seemed too distracted by each other, Mavis scolding the ghost boy, who was laughing and joking that it wasn't like he could even read the papers anyway, and they didn't notice how the red head was watching them. He gave a half smile as he picked up his guitar and sat back down on his stool. Mavis was one of the most beautiful girls he had ever met and it felt like she walked with a very un-vampire-like sunny-ness that he never imagined a monster having. But she looked happier around the ghost boy.

Johnny had a feeling that the white haired teen knew the truth about him. He just hoped he had enough time to make Mavis' birthday party the best one she'd ever had before he was found out and kicked out.

Or worse…

The ghost boy glanced over at the red head, realizing he had been watching them. Danny knew 'Johnnystein' wasn't a monster. And because of that, he was worried about Mavis. The 'humans' they had run into before in that fake village had scared her. He almost didn't want to leave her there alone when he had left her. But he had to get back to his aunt and uncle.

Humans weren't terrible. He knew they weren't. He had been a human back before he died. And even though his uncle had told him the story of when he had tried to take over Christmas and had gotten shot out of the sky, Danny still refused to believe humans were monsters.

But he still didn't know anything about Johnny. Yeah, he knew Mavis could take care of herself and he wouldn't be able to do anything nearly as bad as her father would do if the red head hurt her in any way but the idea of leaving her alone with him caused a knot to form in the ghost boy's stomach.

"Hey, Johnnystein, you mind if I steal Mavis for a little bit?" A nod from the red head was all he needed. "Thanks."

Taking her hand, Danny turned and led her out of the lounge and into what looked like a backstage area where all the music equipment was kept. Turning, he was met with a concerned look from the vampiress, the blush from before finally fading from her cheeks.

"What's wrong?" Mavis asked, noticing the concerned look on the boy's face.

"There's something about 'Johnnystein' that I don't trust. I don't think he's who he says he is." Danny explained. "I'd hate it if you got hurt because you were alone with him and he showed his true self."

"Well, I can't take care-"

"I know. I know. I promise, I'm not saying you can't." He cut her off, feeling bad at the sight of shock that she gave him as he did so. "But if you got caught off guard and got hurt, I'd never forgive myself if there was something I could've done to prevent it."

"Danny, listen." Mavis said, stepping closer and taking both his hands in hers. "I promise that I'll be more careful around him but I asked Johnny to help with my song. And he's helping with my party, I can't just avoid him."

"But-"

"But nothing." Mavis shook her head. "I'll be careful but I'm a big girl. Ok?"

Danny studied her face for a few moments, his toxic green eyes burning into her very being. His protective nature seemed to be solely aimed toward her right now and Mavis' chest swelled with joy at the feeling of how much he had grown to care about her in the week they had known each other. That wasn't to say, of course, that she didn't feel the same amount of care towards him as well.

"Fine." The ghost boy submitted. "But just… if anything does happen, scream as loud as you can, ok? I'll keep an ear out for you and I'll come as quick as I can."

"I promise." Mavis nodded, holding up a pinky to him.

He locked his pinky with hers in a pinky promise.

"Now, have you eaten anything?" She asked, moving her hands to sit on her hips.

"Um…" Danny blanked, having completely forgotten about the bagel with scream cheese he had left on the table in the lounge. "I tried to? That scream cheese is hard to eat."

Mavis shook her head and smiled, taking his hand and leading him back out to the main lounge area where Johnny had apparently found said bagel and was knelt down to be eye level with the table it was left on, studying the screaming cheese spread. The vampiress led the ghost boy over to the table and picked up the bagel. Knowing that she had both of the boys' attention now, she held up the bagel to show them.

"The trick;" she explained before she paused and took a bite of the little screaming head. "is to bite the head off. It's easier to eat when it's not squirming around as much."

Johnny gaped at the girl while Danny nodded, seeming to understand as Mavis handed him back his bagel. Taking a bite and ignoring the almost disgusted look on the red head's face, Danny chewed as if pondering the taste. He gave a smile as he decided it was good.

Even though a part of him felt bad for the now quiet scream cheese that had to be eaten.

But that was just how monsters ate.

"You killed it." Johnny gaped, staring at the vampiress, who gave a fanged smile.

"Scream cheese is meant to be eaten. It doesn't exactly have a consciousness and all it does is scream." Mavis laughed, reaching out for another bite of Danny's bagel. "It's my favorite!"

She sent Danny a devious grin.

"Ok, Danny. I'll let you hang out here and watch me practice..." She said, a teasing tone in her voice. "But you have to go and get some more bagels with scream cheese for us."

The ghost boy laughed, finishing off his bagel and nodded.

"Alright alright. I'll pay the fee to watch the Marvelous Mavis sing. I'll be back soon, ok?" He said, floating up and phasing through the wall.

"Don't take too long!" The vampiress called, turning back towards where Johnny seemed to be calming himself down. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm fine…" Johnny nodded, grabbing his guitar. "Back to practice?"

"Definitely. I wanna get plenty more done before Danny comes back." Mavis nodded, rushing over and jumping up onto the stage, grabbing the mic and looking over her sheet again.

Holy cow this chapter was a long one! Also, another Harry Potter reference in this one! Lemme know if you caught it!