Disclaimer: Don't own DP
Thanks to Invader Johnny, Gerren, Abel Lacie Kiryu, MushuFireLorde, ZoneRobotnik, Cookieplzandthnx, Crystalmoon39, Domination of the World, SweetestChick, Zanza Flux, Silverstone007, and Trish for reviewing last time! For those interested, an Aftermath Part 6 is currently in the making.
I'm not sure if I'm going to do a one-shot for every major American holiday (as that's my country of origin), but I figured hey, why not give it a try? Sorry for the somewhat late update. Real life Valentine's Day plans kind of got in the way.
Summary Shot 20: Valerie hates Valentine's Day for one major reason. Dan capitalizes off that reason to forever flip the chessboard in an unexpected way. Rating: Low T. Genre: Humor/Romance
Deliverance
Shot 20: Dan's Secret VALentine Plans
Valerie stared in horror. "Oh my god," she said. Her voice was strangled. "You've got to be kidding me."
Her long-time stalker from high school, Nathan, stood up from his kneeling position, eyes desperate. "Please," he begged her. He held out a delicately made card and a small, red box—both of which supposedly were symbols of his undying love. "I've been waiting a long time to ask you. Just one date. One night."
"You ask the same thing every year," she told him, voice hard with strangled terror. "Nathan, seriously. This is weird. You told me you'd stop."
"But you don't understand!" He looked as though he would cry. "I can't help it. I love you. I'd die for you. Please, Val: just this once! Please, just be my valentine this one time!"
Nathan had undergone many transformations during adolescence. Although he had tamed his wild, red afro into short locks, switched his coke bottle glasses for contacts, and shaped up through basic training, he was still quite socially awkward. And by socially awkward, Nathan primarily obsessed over nothing but Valerie, who had become even more of a heroine to him since she had obtained Military Commander status.
She backed away, feeling suffocated by his presence. "I don't want to be your valentine, or your girlfriend. Or your anything. I'm sick of this."
"Why won't you say yes?" he begged.
She backed away. "I'm not interested." She hardened her voice against him. "And if you keep asking me, I will get a restraining order on you."
The man looked terrified at the thought. "No, no. I can't be away. Don't do that—please."
"Then stop stalking me!" Valerie nearly begged. "Seriously. You creep me out more than Phantom does, and that's saying something."
Nathan stepped closer to her. Valerie stepped back. "I'm not stalking you." He raised his gifts to her again. "And I'm better than Phantom. Come on. We're getting older." He looked desperate. "We're almost twenty-five, and you're still alone, and I am too. How long do I have to wait? How many rings do I have to buy you before you say yes?"
Nathan had put a lot of time and money into his gifts, which made Valerie's horror and guilt even greater. The reminder of her own age and relationship status made her twice as skittish. "Please tell me that's not another wedding ring," she pleaded, staring down at the small jewelry box in his hand.
The man opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly, Valerie's Phantom Tracker on her suit began to bleep. She looked down, visible relief sliding off every line in her body. "Oh, thank God," she said. Then she caught herself, and she looked up at Nathan. "Er, I mean I have to go save Amity Park! Again!" She laughed nervously, face tight with fear. She didn't want to actually appear grateful for Phantom's well-timed appearance, but…she was horrible with emotions and even more horrible with confronting other people's emotions about her.
The red-head gazed at her, heartbroken even within his worship of her. "Valerie, please. Don't go. Tell me you'll say yes."
She mentally called forth her jet sled, and it configured under her feet as she jumped into the air.
Just gotta get away—!
And she left Nathan in the silence of the morning, his arms drooping to the ground, his valentine's card falling into the mud.
Within minutes, Valerie breathed in the open air of the Wastelands, free from the presence of Nathan. "Oh thank god," she called out. She was so relieved to get away, she hadn't even unholstered her blaster yet, and she'd left her helmet off. She floated in some aimless trajectory based upon Phantom's last location. "I was beginning to worry that you wouldn't show up at all."
Her Phantom Tracker bleeped out an increasing rhythm. He was nearby.
From beyond the wreckage that was once a large skyscraper, black mist appeared and configured itself into the sharp lines of Dan Phantom. The powerful ghost crossed his arms as he leaned against a rusting beam. "Why is it," he drawled slowly, eyebrow raised, "that every Valentine's Day you want me to fight you? Still trying to avoid your adoring fans?"
Valerie paused on her jet sled. She still looked distracted and relieved, despite the appearance of her worst enemy. "Just one in particular."
"Aww," he mocked in false sympathy. "But this is your holiday, after all. It's Valentine's Day. Valentine. Get it? You were destined to suffer per the cosmic irony."
"That is so not funny."
"Of course it is," he said lightly, his demonic voice reverberating through the air in echoes. "Any way that you suffer is funny to me. Especially when you preach to me about the power of love, only to victimize yourself by its principles."
As the woman pulled out her trusty blaster, she made a face. "This isn't love. You try being stalked by an obsessed dude for ten years and see how you like it."
He hummed. "I can't imagine it being much more different than having a crazy woman chase me on a jet sled six days a week."
"Uh, there's a big difference," she said shortly, glaring at him. "You keep coming back to my turf for more punishment out of your own free will. I try to avoid this guy, and he keeps finding me no matter where I hide."
Dan sniffed haughtily, as if to dismiss the sound logic of Valerie's response. But his ruby eyes measured her up with a calculation deeper than just nonchalance.
She looked truly more at ease with him than she had a minute ago, when every line of her body was still tense with her escape from Amity Park. And yet Dan had always been under the impression that he was the most terrifying being in her life. How strange that he felt multiple emotions rise, many of them dark with possession and anger, at the thought that he wasn't her greatest enemy.
He pushed off the rusted beam to stand tall with a rather selfless offer. His eyes glinted with darkness. "If it's still that Nathan kid doing all this, I'll slit his throat for you. Free of charge. My Valentine's Day gift to you."
Shock and surprise flickered across Valerie's dark features. He knew her stalker's name? But then she quickly recovered, glaring. "As much as I know you're really sacrificing yourself for my benefit," she said dryly, "I can handle Nathan on my own."
The powerful ghost grew quite delighted. "I don't think you can," he challenged. "You're too soft. "
"You're just looking for an excuse to kill people." She raised her blaster at him, eyebrow raised. "That's not gonna work, Phantom."
"Oh no?" he said, staring at her. "Why are you protecting him from me? Are you truly not aware of the depths of his own insanity?"
"I'm fully aware."
"And yet you brush off ten years of his stalking like it's nothing. Truly, I'd hate for your stalker to one day snap under the pressure and kill you." He looked mournful. "It would ruin all the wonderful deaths I have planned for you. Slitting Nathan's throat is entirely within your best interests."
"Nathan's not going to kill me in some...weird stalker way," she argued hotly, although the thought struck her uneasily. "And you can't kill me either."
His fingers began to spark with red energy. "Would you like to test that last theory?" he said casually.
In a blur, she raised her blaster and shot at him. He narrowly avoided the blast and flipped back, laughing. "Oh, Valerie," he called to her. "You're just itching for a fight, aren't you?"
"Itching for target practice, more like it." She shot at him again, and he retaliated by shooting back. Valerie easily avoided it.
But instead of irritation, he watched her movements with amusement. He called out, "So if you're here to fight with me on Valentine's Day, does that make me your valentine?"
"No." Her voice was flat as she tracked him with her blaster. "Absolutely not. It just makes you a good distraction from all the other crap in my life."
A wide and mischievous smile split his face. "Oh, I think it makes me your valentine." His eyes grew a bit half-lidded. "And a good distraction."
Her aim faltered.
She swallowed hard, backing away on her jet sled. That look in Phantom's eye was never a good thing for her sanity. "I'm not in the mood for these kinds of games today," she warned him.
"Then what kind of games are you in the mood for?" he asked impatiently. "Really, Valerie. It's Valentine's Day. Your options are going back to Amity Park to suffer from your groupies, or to stay here with me and suffer under my genius. I'm obviously the better option, in case you can't think this through."
"Of course I can think this through," she snapped, blushing in anger at his insult. "And if you can too, then you should know that the last thing I wanna do is have to put up with your flirting."
He appeared insulted. "After everything I do for you?" he wondered. His bared his fangs with a light snarl. "You're so ungrateful."
She put a hand on her hip. "And what have you ever done for me?"
Dan crossed his arms. "After ten years," he complained, "I would think you know that I always spend Thursdays in the Ghost Zone."
"Yeah?" she challenged. Of course she'd known about his Thursday escapades. "So what?"
"Today is Thursday," he pressed. His fingers and eyes sparked red, although his lips widened with a strange smile. "And yet here I am, breaking up the lovefest from your admirer instead of basking in the terror of my Ghost Zone victims. "
For a time, she still didn't quite get it. Her mind raced with the underlying meaning of his words (he was never quite clear about what he really intended to say). But she knew deep down that the ghost was suggesting he'd sacrificed something personal to save her from a day of hiding from Nathan, despite his previous claims about enjoying her love-based suffering.
It was then that she realized for the first time perhaps Phantom was not the only one who relied upon their fights for…something beyond just Amity Park. Whatever it was.
Meaning? Escape?
Such thinking was a dangerous path to go down. It would mean that Phantom had motives beyond selfish ones. Motives that involved her in an almost-positive way.
She couldn't hide her small blush. "You saying you came here to get me away from Nathan—on purpose?"
The pressure between them began to grow in the silence—the same type of pressure that had begun building its foundations in every second that Dan exhibited human behavior, those split sparks of genuine personality.
Dan's eyes roved over her. He said, avoiding her question, "You should know that sometimes, I really do see you as a deplorable nuisance in my life." He tilted his head. "And other times I don't."
Her fingers paused on her blaster.
In an unexpected flash of light and a powerful push, he suddenly flipped her off of her jet sled. She yelped and she crashed hard onto the ground, stunned by the move. (Had he really just attacked her after complimenting her?)
The force was enough to steal her breath for a second. Her own idiocy made her stall.
(What had she been expecting instead of an attack? A sudden declaration of love? A sappy, Valentine's Day moment where he would maybe surprise her with a kiss on the cheek and a whisper that he hated any man taking her attention away from him?)
And why did she even want that?
But her misguided fantasy and subsequent identity crisis was broken by Dan's body blocking the view of the winter clouds above her.
"Happy Valentine's Day," he said, smiling cheekily. He leaned over her a bit, leering. "Valentine."
In a daze, she gasped for air. Then on pure instinct, she grabbed for the edge of his cape and yanked hard. The collar around his neck cut deep into him, and his red eyes widened at the sudden suffocation, grabbing for the collar. His entire body wrenched sideways as she grabbed higher. Valerie coiled herself, using Dan's imbalanced body as a fulcrum to flip herself up, and he gasped at the hard weight that tore through his neck.
The instant her feet hit the dirt in a solid landing, she stood up tall and released his cape. And she tilted her head a bit, considering Phantom's last words. Happy Valentine's Day, huh?
"Why Phantom," she mocked in a false-coo of love, waving at the space between them as the ghost stared at her in awe. "A fight just for me? You didn't have to get me anything for Valentine's Day."
Phantom carefully readjusted the collar of his suit to ensure his cape would not fall off, still intrigued with how quickly she'd turned the tables in her favor. He occasionally forgot that she was a black belt with hand-to-hand combat experience. They usually didn't get close enough for that. He turned to her fully, his eyes glinting with too many conflicting emotions. Among them was some kind of respect and appreciation. He called forth his power, and between his fingers bubbled a large surge of blinding light. "Anything for you, sweetheart."
Sometime later that night, after Valerie had returned from the Wastelands with a few new bruises and a pleasant report that she'd beaten Dan back to the Zone, Nathan paced. He was outside the resistance building, contemplating ways to break into Valerie's room through her window. It was cold out, the winter air crisp. But he was truly debating if, what points he lost for property damage, he could make up for in originality.
There were only a few hours left of Valentine's Day. And if he let this day pass, then the magic of the whole day would be lost on Valerie, and he would not be able to capitalize off of her "hard to get" ploys.
Because that's all they were. Just some kind of feminine wiles, surely.
"Gotta get in somehow," he moaned, his mind blitzing with images of ValerieValerieValerie. He didn't know how much longer he could take it. The denial was too much. He just had to have her. Somehow. Her window was only a short walk away.
But as he paced along, his breath puffing in the night air, he realized there was a second presence. He looked up, and from out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a man appearing from the mists.
The man walked toward him, a friendly smile on his face. He had dark hair and striking blue eyes. His jeans were faded with the dirt of long travels. His pale skin was nearly a ghostly white, and he appeared relatively unaffected by the bitter cold despite only wearing a leather jacket over his civilian clothing.
"Hey," he called out, his voice a sharp baritone, "you're Nathan, right?"
"Yes?"
The man neared closer, and he smiled, as if to introduce himself. "Good." Then he pulled his fist back and punched Nathan hard in the face.
Nathan cried out, reeling and stumbling to the snowy ground, feeling bone and blood explode into a spray of red. His whole body seized under the steel power of the man's fist. "Agh," he moaned, voice strangling in a high whimper. He pulled his hands away, terrified at the blood running from his now-broken nose.
Without warning, the man grabbed Nathan's collar and hauled him up. He slammed him against the brick wall of the resistance building. "I've been meaning to have this chat with you."
Nathan winced, his entire body shaking with fear. "W-who are you?" he gasped. "Why would you—?"
"—I'm Valerie's boyfriend," he said pleasantly, a hissing note of fury buzzing beneath his voice. "And I don't share well." He nearly crushed Nathan's windpipe. The smaller man struggled for air beneath the almost-inhuman, steel grip. "I heard you keep giving her grief. Obviously, you pose no threat to me. You disgust Valerie. But she's too nice to put you out of your misery. So I will."
Nathan gasped. "N-no!" He weakly pulled at the man's fingers. "Please! I d-didn't know! I didn't know she had a boyfriend."
The man's blue eyes were like flint, nearly flashing red with their steely anger. "Of course you wouldn't," he said. "Because Valerie doesn't broadcast her love life to every worm like you to know. She's got bigger concerns than herself, which makes her kinda respectable." He snarled. "Unlike you."
Nathan was still seeing stars that were somewhat Valerie-shaped. It was becoming harder to think and focus on reality. His brain was starving for oxygen.
The man jerked him against the brick wall, as if to awaken him. "So here's how this is going to work," he said. "I'll be watching you from now on. If I catch you even looking at her the wrong way, I will hunt you down and kill you."
The lovesick boy nearly collapsed. "B-but…I love her! How can I deny that—?!"
"—You don't love her," the man retorted. Then he released Nathan, who collapsed against the wall. "If you did, you would have listened to her. Now stay out of Valerie's way and don't even think of touching one hair on her head. Got it, worm?"
Nathan weakly nodded. It was about all he could do.
Then the man sniffed haughtily, flicked his fingers to rid himself of Nathan's blood, and walked away.
Nathan lay there for some time, gasping, holding onto his red throat, trying to cry while breathing out blood. He turned his head sideways in paranoia to look at the man who had attacked him.
But the mysterious man was gone, the fog misting over the silent city block.
The next day, and the day after, and even the day after that, Nathan did not bother Valerie. Rather, he freaked into a shuddering horror at the sight of her, and then scuttled along into the shadows, looking over his shoulder. The change was pleasant, if not a bit disconcerting to Valerie. But she didn't question it. She assumed his swollen and broken nose and increasing interest in turtlenecks was because he had finally pissed off Dash, or some other guy. Nathan was most likely avoiding everyone until he came out of his fear-driven defenses.
It wasn't until days later that she realized what was actually wrong.
A little after 4:00 am, she stumbled into the women's washrooms, still in her pajamas, her hair in a frizz. She had to ready herself for another day of protecting Amity Park, before Phantom himself would come to threaten the Human World in his weekly rounds.
The washroom itself was uninhabited but for one other woman, Paulina, with whom Valerie had been slowly rebuilding a friendship. The Latina had become slightly more mature in her years of suffering from material deprivation and hardship—although she still prided herself on her appearance. Paulina leaned towards the large mirror before her as she combed her long, luxurious hair, "So, chica," she said point-blank, without even a greeting. "Time to spill. Who is he?"
Valerie was tired and dazed, and she leaned against the wall, still sore from her fights with Dan Phantom. "Who's who?" she yawned.
"Word's going around that your secret boyfriend beat up Nathan a few nights ago." The Latino woman turned to Valerie, her blue eyes dark with amused betrayal. "I didn't even know you had a secret boyfriend! What's this about, huh?"
Valerie blinked. "My…secret boyfriend?"
"Yeah," Paulina nodded, suspicious. "Dash beat it out of Mikey, who talked to Kwan, who said he patched Nathan up." She poked Valerie's arm with great accusation. "So tell me who this mystery guy is."
Again, Valerie felt nothing if not deep confusion and some kind of horror. "I don't have a secret boyfriend," she said slowly. "And I don't know who beat up Nathan, but it couldn't have been because of me."
Paulina was unconvinced. "Kwan said that Nathan was crying over how this guy threatened him to stay away from you. So don't try to wiggle out of this, chica."
The black woman paled a bit. "You're kidding. What did he look like? Is he part of the resistance? A new stalker or something?"
"Uh, black hair, blue eyes?" Paulina leaned in, eyes sparkling. "Really muscled." She poked Valerie's stomach. "So come on, tell me who he is already. He sounds hot. I wanna know who he is."
The description didn't really match up to anything in her mind. Valerie turned away to pull her ringlet hair back into a ponytail. "I have no idea who this guy is," she said, worried. "Seriously. You have to believe me. Did he give Nathan a name?"
Paulina shook her head. "Just said he was your boyfriend."
Someone began to pound on the door outside of the public washroom. "Valerie?" a man's muffled voice called out. It was her father, who usually woke up even earlier than she did. "Hey, you in there?"
Dammit, she thought with a mental groan. Then she called back, "Yeah? What's up?"
"We've got a visitor from outside the Shield. Says he's here to see you."
Her face twisted in surprise. "At this hour? If it's another resistance delegate, can't you handle it?"
"He says he doesn't represent any of the resistance factions. Just a drifter. He calls himself an old friend of yours, from back in the day. Whenever you're ready, we'll be waiting for you in my office."
Valerie looked to Paulina, who stared back with a raised brow.
"Is this your secret boyfriend, maybe?" Paulina asked, her accented voice tinged with gossipy potential.
"Dammit, Paulina. I don't have a boyfriend." Valerie quickly combed her frizzy hair back into a ponytail (just in case there really was someone she knew from her past). "It's probably just…I dunno. Somebody."
The vagueness of it all was starting to bother her. Who did she know from the other resistance circles on earth who would come by to visit her so urgently in the morning?
She quickly shed her pajamas and donned her military fatigues. "Maybe it's someone from the weapons advancement team in Russia," she wondered out loud. "I've been waiting on some schematics from them."
"Your papa said he wasn't representing a faction," Paulina pointed out dryly. "So no Russia."
Valerie made a face. "Well, he has to be from somewhere, right?"
The Latino woman just smiled. "Like your past?"
In short order, Valerie quickly raced through the resistance building. Her curiosity was mounting. Who was this strange visitor? Did he have anything to do with the attack on Nathan? Was everything just coincidence?
She approached her father's office, which was located not far from the main entrance. She pushed open the door, expecting the mystery man to be sitting opposite her father.
But no one aside from her father was there.
"Uh, Daddy?" she called out, eyebrows furrowing. "Where is he?"
"He stepped outside to smoke," Damon Gray said, not even looking up from his paperwork. "A bad habit for such a charming man."
At least her father did not seem too alarmed by this individual, if that were any indication. She asked, "You guys talked? What was his name?"
"He said his nickname was 'D.' Now go on, dear. You've kept him waiting long enough. He indicated that speaking with you was urgent."
The woman rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah." The name 'D' didn't sound familiar. She supposed that was both comforting and terrifying. Without further ado, she turned away from the office and towards the main entrance of the building, where the huge double doors led to the outside world.
She opened the doors, and a blast of cold air struck her. "Jesus," she gasped. Her military uniform was not thick enough to stave off the February weather. "Freaking cold out here!"
Valerie wrapped her arms around herself instinctively. She thought as she narrowed her eyes, How the hell can anyone stand to be out here?
And then she saw him.
A man in jeans, combat boots, and a dark leather jacket stood at the foot of the steps, turned towards her. A burning cigarette hung loosely between his fingers. And he looked almost like a human version of one Dan Phantom.
She froze.
He smiled, an all-too familiar smirk darkening his features. "…Hello, Valerie."
A/N: So happy late Valentine's Day, everyone! This was my attempt to write a simple holiday-based one-shot, but as I was writing Dan, he derailed it for his own purposes. (By the way, the nickname "D" is actually a reference to Vampire Hunter D.)
I'm not sure if this storyline deserves expansion, but I figured I hadn't really tackled this kind of plot before. This chapter, alongside some other one-shots like Lunch Time, assumes that Amity Park is not the only surviving city in the TUE universe. This chapter also assumes that Dan can mimic an adult human form (as in the actual TUE episode, he was able to shape-shift back into a human-looking 14 year old Danny) and somehow get through the Ghost Shield. At the least, I don't think it's too far of a stretch that he could use a human form/illusion to trick people into a false sense of security (and perhaps even letting him through the Shield?). Regardless, I do hope you enjoyed this mess of an update. :)
Please let me know your thoughts, questions, suggestions, and requests! Should I continue this particular storyline? Thanks!
