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Shot 3 Summary: Dan wants to know why Valerie has bruises he didn't cause. Genre: Romance/Drama. Rating: T.


Deliverance

Shot 3: Confession


One day, Valerie tracked Dan Phantom down to a ruined portion of the city. "It's your lucky day, Phantom," she called out to him from atop her jet sled. Her voice was hoarse. "I've got some serious energy to burn."

Phantom looked as though he was about to return the banter, but then his red eyes widened as Valerie flew in closer. For a second, he was speechless. A dark bruise stormed down the side of Valerie's face, marring her brown skin. Her lip was split with a scab barely healed over. His gaze narrowed immediately as he flew down to meet her. "What the hell is this?" he demanded, pointing at her face.

The lines of her body tightened defensively. "None of your business, ghost." She raised a small bazooka up. "You should be more worried about yourself."

But he barely gave her weapon a glance. "Who did this to you?" His voice carried with it a strange pattern that made Valerie hesitate on her jet sled, her fingers freezing on the bazooka's trigger.

"Does it matter?" She readjusted and narrowed her eyes, waiting for him to move. If she shot now, he would be expecting it.

Dan simply frowned and crossed his arms in suspicion. "You look like shit," he told her, watching for her reaction.

Her sculpted brows raised at the concerned insult, and she jutted her chin with her typical stubbornness. "If you think I look bad, you should see the other guy."

Phantom had little doubt about that; Valerie was nothing if not defensive. He still stared at her oddly, like a child watching his favorite toy get used by another. He asked, voice rough, "Who was he?"

The human woman gave him a strange look. She lowered the bazooka against her better judgment. "What the hell's wrong with you? Can't a girl get in a fight sometime?"

Valerie was not excessively vain about her appearance, but she was starting to feel very self-conscious under Phantom's gaze. He almost looked…worried, the same way her father had looked when he'd seen her earlier.

"You are only allowed to fight me," the ghost said. His voice was possessive and angered. "You are mine. No one else's. I will kill him, whoever he is."

Valerie began to back away and tried not to think about Phantom's words. "…There is something wrong with you. You sound concerned." She began looking around, which only made the harsh sunlight glint more off of her purple bruises. Her lip had cracked open and shined with fresh blood that she had to lick away with a grimace. "What is this, a trick? You hiding something?"

"You are the one hiding shit," he said. "Stop diverting."

She huffed out with a strangled voice, "Stop asking personal questions."

"No."

"I am officially creeped out by you right now."

"And I'm officially pissed off. Tell me who he is, or I'll find him without you and leave nothing to bury."

Valerie hesitated on her jet sled, realizing that Phantom was not going to fight her or budge from his fixation on her face until he learned the truth. "Can't you let this go?" she nearly begged.

"No."

The Red Hunter inhaled deeply, then groaned, looking up at the sky as if to question the universe. "Oh my god, alright. Fine."

He waited impatiently.

"It wasn't a he," she finally admitted. Her face flushed in shame. "It was freakin' Paulina, who flipped when I told her that she couldn't lead worth a damn."

Phantom blinked. Then his expression twisted, and his voice turned incredulous. "Paulina." His voice strangled into a laugh…and relief? "You are the only human to stand against me and survive, and Paulina—?"

"—It was early," Valerie tried to defend herself. "And I told you, I don't take shit lying down. You know that."

Phantom tilted his head. "Is she at least regretting her decision right now?"

Valerie shrugged. "I bitch-slapped her in the face with a wooden plank. Of course she is."

Phantom nodded in approval. "Of course." His lips twitched, but his smirk never reached his eyes as he took in the sight of Valerie's bruised cheek and puffed lip and the way it distorted the symmetry of her face. "I will still slice her in half."

"Uh, no." Valerie's bazooka whined up. Her moment of vulnerability was gone. "I'm not letting you kill anyone, including Paulina. She's a bitch, but she's not actually evil like you."

Dan raised a brow. "And here I thought I would be doing you a favor."

"Why do you even care if someone hits me?" she demanded, catching onto his strange tone. "Haven't you seen the scars you've given me?"

"None of them are on your face."

"And why does that matter?" Valerie huffed in irritation.

"Because." Phantom did not immediately answer, which threw off the timing of their banter. He looked her over once more. "I like your face."

For one second, Valerie just blinked. Say what?

But instead of a sneer or a glare, the ghost's blood-red eyes seared into hers with an emotion they did not usually have. Sincerity.


A/N: Ooh, an actual almost-romance one-shot, lol. I think their relationship would be a little too unhealthy to actually classify it as romance.

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Lightning Streak

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