a/n: omg I know it's been a while, but you guys will love this chapter… I hope.

"There are no heroes...in life, the monsters win."

George R. R. Martin

Chapter 7: Heart of a Dragon

Overlooker's pov

"Fenton! Manson! Get your asses in here," called Petey as he poked his red-faced head out of his office. Danny and Sam hurriedly rushed towards Petey's to see what their boss wanted. Once inside and Danny closed the door behind them, Petey began to tell his top investigative reporters what he wanted.

"I think there's a big story behind Dora Mattingly. She claims to be a billionaire philanthropist but, why have we never heard anything from her until now? it's like the woman just popped up overnight, and I want to know what hole she crawled out of and what her intentions really are!" Petey said, getting both reporter's attention.

Sam, of course, being her opinionated self, had objections. "Petey, with all due respect, what about Vlad. I mean, we're so close to uncovering what he's really-" Petey knew where this was going. It had been Sam's mission to uncover the truth about Vlad for years, but people expected a story every day, and if she had nothing new on Vlad, so it was just going to have to wait.

"Sam, you're one of the most stubborn people I've ever met in my life. It's what makes you such a damn good reporter, but this is a paper I'm running here! So until I have a solid story about the creep, you have to focus on other things." Petey said Sam had opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Petey pinched the bridge of his nose and began to speak again this time a bit calmer.

"I know you'll get him, but please, Sam, just this once go with the flow and do what I ask." Finished the editor in chief. Sam sighed but knew she had no rebuttal.

"fine," Sam said through somewhat gritted teeth though she tried to hide her frustration a little. Without another word, she grabbed Danny by the hand and all but drug him out of the office.

A couple minutes later found the couple in Sam's car on their way to Aragon Industries. They were currently at a red light, and Sam tapped her fingers on her wheel to the beat of the music.

The light changed as Danny spoke. "so what's the plan for how we're going to talk to Mattingly?" Sam turned down her music and gave off a hearty laugh. "Oh yeah, Danny, we're just going to waltz right in there and play good cop, bad cop with her."

The woman deadpanned. She couldn't believe her partner was serious. "oh my simple naïve friend, we're not going to talk to her. We're going to break into her office and let her computer do the talking." Sam said with a mischievous smirk. Danny's eyes grew wide as dinner plates. "Sam, that's illegal!"

Sam laughed harder this time again. "I don't know how they do things in nowheresville U.S.A., but here in the big apple, we do things a little differently." Danny couldn't help but be slightly intrigued but still profoundly unsettled by the idea. "you must think I'm some small-minded farm boy, huh?" Danny said sheepishly as he turned to blush, embarrassed.

Sam gave him a small smile as she parked her car. "no, I think you're the most Clark Kent like person I've ever meant. I mean, you're so law and order. The only thing you need is to have a dual identity." Sam said jokingly as Danny became extremely nervous.

Sensing his fear, Sam grabbed his hand in comfort. "hey, relax, okay. We'll be in and out." Sam said as she let go of his hand and hopped out of the car. Danny followed suit, somehow knowing that there was no way things could go so smoothly. Nothing in his life had ever been easy, why should it start now?

"Follow my lead," Sam said as they neared the building entrance, where two members of the janitorial staff were taking a smoke break. Sam waltzed over to them.

" I'll give a thousand dollars apiece if I can get your uniforms and staff passes for an hour." Said Sam, as Danny stood there, shell shocked, and the two workers mulled over the idea. Both the workers looked at each other and shrugged, then of them said, "make it 2,000 apiece, and you got yourself a deal." Without even thinking, Sam pulled out her checkbook and wrote the two checks two of the men after acquiring their names.

"the hour starts in five minutes after we've had time to change," Sam said, running behind the building to change. Danny couldn't help but follow. He had finally found his words.

"Okay, where did you get 4,000 dollars to spare like that?" Danny said, still in partial shock. "did I forget to mention that my parents are filthy rich? They send me 100,000 dollars every month. I only use it for stuff like this." Sam said nonchalantly as she applied a smirk to her face. She couldn't help it. She enjoyed getting a rise out of her partner.

"Okay, I have so many questions." Said Danny finally allowing himself to smile. Just when he thought he knew everything about her there, she went and shocked him.

"another time, right now, turn back to back, and let's change… and no peeking." Sam finished her smirk even more prominent now. Needless to say, Danny was blushing up and storm as he changed, and it took every ounce of self-control not to take a peek. More and more, he was resenting his burden.

If she kept this up, he was bound to throw away everything he stood for and give in.

A couple minutes later found the partners successfully in Dora's office. Tucker had given Sam a device that she could connect to the computer, and it would hack into it. Tucker was always inventing things that could be useful to Sam, and she often wondered why he was working as a rookie photographer when he could be a successful entrepreneur. Of course, selfishly, she was glad he worked at the times.

He was the closest thing she had to a best friend. Shaking her head of these thoughts, Sam refocused on the computer and began going through Dora's files.

Danny, who was supposed to be watching the door, was distracted by the turmoil in his mind. He couldn't stop thinking about that dream. He and Sam were happy he wasn't alone anymore. Could he really have that?

Suddenly the halfa was burst out of his thoughts by the door opening, and the light is turned on. The pair had no time to hide. They were for lack of a better term well… fucked.

The face of Dora Mattingly herself stared in rage at the two of them. "wait a go nowheresville," Sam mumbled under her breath as she cut her eyes at her partner. Danny hung his head. He had failed now Sam, and he was in a world of trouble.

"my brother, he sent the two of you, didn't he?" came the British rage-filled voice of Dora. Sam quickly took note of the fear in her eyes at the mention of her brother. What was she so afraid of? She had caught them in her office. They should be the ones afraid.

Yet still, it was Dora who held fear in her eyes. It was more than that though it was the look of a caged animal, or rather the look of a caged animal who had gained freedom and was in fear of losing that freedom.

There was a story there, and Sam knew it. Sam put her hands up in surrender. "wait your brother didn't send us, we're reporters we-" Sam began, but Dora wouldn't allow her to finish. The look in Dora's eyes grew mad. "lies!" she bellowed.

Her amulet began to glow, and her pupils changed into snake-like eyes, her skin changed into a terrifying blue. Then her arms and legs began to transform. Soon enough, there stood before them bursting through the ceiling was a dragon.

The only semblance of Dora left behind was the necklace that the dragon was wearing. The amulet had somehow transformed the philanthropist into a dragon. Before Danny and Sam, could mull this over the dragon grabbed Sam and flew through the hole in the ceiling and out into the night sky.

The people on the ground screamed in terror of the horrible beast as Danny quickly changed into his phantom form and flew to rescue Sam.

"break into the office, she said, it will be easy, she said." Danny deadpanned as he flew after the women he never could stop chasing, much like a dog chasing his own tail. He would always be running after something he could never attain. And even if he did reach it, it wouldn't be something he could keep.

He'd either get her killed, or he'd lose her just as he'd lost Valerie. That was his burden. He had all the power in the world, but it couldn't bring him the one thing that kept eluding him: happiness. Yes, the most powerful man on planet earth was powerless when it came to conquering the persistent villain of his own overshadowing loneliness.

The comics he read as a kid were lies. The hero doesn't get the girl, and sometimes the monsters win, but 'not tonight' thought Danny as he flew at full speed to save his would-be girl.

Meanwhile, in the arms of the beast, Sam remembered the fear she saw before her transformation. Dora wasn't the beast she appeared to be. She was scared, and she needed help. Ghost or not, Sam knew what she had to do.

"Dora, listen to me. I know you're in there, and I know you're scared. You don't have to live in fear; I can help." Sam said, still perched in the claws of the dragon. Dora's eyes softened as if she were ready to calm down and listen, but before she had the chance, a powerful ghost ray hit her back.

"hey scaly, why don't you put the nice reporter down and explain yourself!" still reeling from the blast to her back, Dora's anger quickly returned. "YOU WILL NOT TAKE ME TO ARAGON!" the dragon bellowed in an otherworldly yet still British voice. She squeezed Sam tighter, some of her claws digging into Sam's side. Sam let out a whimper but bit the pain away.

She had to stop Phantom from further angering her. The last thing she needed was for the two of them to needlessly fight, especially while she was in Dora's claw.

"Phantom, she doesn't want to fight. She's scared.!" Sam screamed so Phantom could hear her over the screams below. But the stubborn ghost shook his head.

"Sam, this is my area of expertise, I fight ghost. It's what I do." Danny said back even though he was making no move to continue in the fight and neither did Dora. Her and Phantom just stared each other down as Sam spoke.

"there's another way. Before she transformed, I looked in her eyes, and I saw fear. She's not like the other's she, not some inhuman monster. She a girl who is running from one." Sam said, staring up at Danny before her, and Danny's eye's softened, and so did Dora's her body slowly began reverting to the human-looking Dora, as both she and Sam began to fall from the sky. Flying his fastest Danny rushed and saved Sam then went for Dora.

Once having both girls in his arms, he opted for flying the back into Aragon industries. He may not be fighting Dora, and maybe Sam's right; perhaps she was on the up and up, but that didn't mean he didn't owe them both an explanation.

He sat the now human-looking Dora in her office desk chair and set Sam gently on the floor. Phantom stared down Dora for a moment before speaking. In all the rush before turning into a dragon, this was the first time he noticed her human appearance. To his surprise, she looked human. She didn't have discolored skin or hair, or even eyes like some malevolent ghost did.

Instead, she had beautiful blond hair and pretty blue eyes much like his own in human form, and her skin was a beautiful peachy tone she wasn't pale, but she wasn't tan either. Under different circumstances, Danny might refer to her as quite attractive.

This whole ordeal didn't make any sense. Never had he meant a ghost-like Dora Mattingly if that was even her real name. "I'm not going to send you back to the ghost zone like the others, at least not yet, but I need answers to my questions." The fear was back in Dora's eyes but for a different reason.

She may not have heard of Danny Fenton New York Times' top investigative reporter, but she surely knew of Danny Phantom, the ghost who took it upon himself to take other spirits and send them back from whence they came.

Now she was afraid of him. She was fearful of losing her newfound freedom and life that she had built for herself on earth. She knew running was futile. He was a hunter and hunters always got their prey. Her only chance was to answer all of his questions and hope he would let her keep her life.

Her eyes grew sad; after all these years, her life was under the control of yet another man. She only gave off a nod in response to Phantom's request. All the strength she had found suddenly was drained out of her, and she was that same terrified little girl from a life she knew long ago.

"First, how do you look human." Dora pointed to an unmistakable sizeable green ring on her delicate finger. "it's an image inducer. It affects the human retina; it makes me look human to humans. that begs the question why it works on you." Dora said the last bit with a little smirk on her face at her attempt at a red herring. Phantom got nervous. Dora knew what he was. She knew he was part human. But she couldn't let her get the better of him. If there was one thing he learned from Sam. it was to never let anyone distract from getting a story.

"I'm asking the questions here," Phantom said sternly. Dora suddenly found her power. She wasn't going to be intimated by this child before her. He may not be a child anymore, but he was to her. She remembered the day his parents put him in the ship that sent him to earth.

She knew more about his past than even he did. Right now, his past wasn't her concern; her future was. She hoped she could make an ally out of Phantom Tempus because if she couldn't, her fate was sealed.

"you want to know who I am and where I come from and what I'm doing here, well fine. Much like you, I come from the dead world of Zona Temporis. As you know, the King Clockwork Tempus and Queen Elisabeth Tempus Ruled our land. However, as you may not know, there were other houses of nobility. My house was Called the house of Aragon, and I was princess Dorathea of Aragon." Dora said as Phantom took a moment to take it in. For a second, he realized there was a whole civilization of people now more or less reduced to soulless monsters.

He briefly wondered what it had been like there. What it would have been like to not be the sole alien in a world full of humans, but a prince to a thriving kingdom, instead of a mild-mannered reporter? Would happiness have been so elusive in this other world? Would he have been friends with some of the ghosts he fought?

There was a whole nother world, a whole nother life he knew nothing about. There was a whole nother life he would never know anything about.

He snapped his mind back to the present. He couldn't afford to think about such trivial things. He wasn't in that other world or life. This was the hand that fate had dealt him, and he had to play it.

"Why aren't you like the other's?" Danny asked, and Dora paused for a moment as if mulling over her answer. Finally, she spoke. "that I cannot answer. I can tell you this: my brother, the prince, raised me after our parents' death, much to his chagrin. I don't know what made him so rotten or for lack of a better term evil, but he was as long and as I knew him and as long as I can remember. I was a princess, yes, but in that tower, with a brother who hated me, I might as well have been a prisoner. I couldn't do anything or go anywhere. I was ruled under the thumb of my tyrant brother. When the planet died, Aragon and I were separated I don't even know if he passed or still roams. If I had to guess I'd say the reason I'm not like the others is that, after my death, I got a real chance at life. A life without Aragon, a life where I had a chance at happiness." Dora finished.

As both Danny and Sam's heart broke for Dora. Before Danny had a chance to reply, Sam finally said something. "why are you still afraid if you don't even know if Aragon is around anymore? If he hasn't come for you in the 25 years since your planet died, chances are he probably won't even if he is still around. It seems like to me, you're a prisoner to your past in this life just as you were a prisoner of Aragon's in your old life. How many more years are you going to let Aragon take from you?" Sam finished leaving Dora deep in thought.

Something waved over Dora's face as if they were the exact words she needed to hear to let go of Aragon and finally find peace.

She wasn't ready for peace. She wanted to live a little longer first. "You're right; it's about time I stopped looking over my shoulder for a monster that's never going to come." Dora started she took a deep breath as she removed her necklace for the first time in her entire life. The weight it held going with it.

For the first time in her life, she felt free. Tears of relief left her eyes. She handed the necklace to Phantom before she began to speak once more.

"I always wore this amulet back then because whenever my brother was in a mood, he'd take every bit of his anger out on me. It would hurt less when I was in my dragon form. I kept it on all these years in case he ever came back, so I'd be able to defend myself. It's time I let myself accept the truth that Aragon is gone, and I am finally free." The girl finished as more tears flowed freely from her eyes.

Danny was happy for her but slightly confused. "why give me the amulet?" Dora simply said, "I don't need it anymore. And I fear if I kept it, it might fall into the wrong hands, and I know you will prevent that." Dora explained, and Danny nodded.

"I will protect this amulet, I promise. And if you ever need anything. You have a friend in me." Said Danny as Sam chimed in. "and me," said Sam as Dora smiled and pulled both her newfound friends into a hug much to Sam's chagrin though she allowed it.

Breaking free from the hug, Sam finally realized that Danny was missing. Her eyes grew wide with worry. "don't worry, Sam, who do you think told me to come to save you. Danny left the building to call me and couldn't get back in, so he's waiting for you outside." Sam looked at Phantom suspiciously but decided not to press. Waving Phantom off, Sam turning to Dora and said, "Listen, I want you to know, that no one has to know you're a ghost. I'll write a puff piece about how you're a great philanthropist." Said Sam shocking all present company.

"you'd do that for me?" Dora asked Sam, nodded, and said, "everyone is entitled to their secrets as long as they're not hurting anyone. If today taught me anything, it's that." Sam finished as she gave Phantom a wink before he decided to fly the coup.

"We should hang out sometime." Said Sam as she turned to leave the office, go find Danny. Dora smiled and said, " I'll pencil you in." just as Sam left the office.

Sure enough, just as Phantom said, Danny was waiting outside and had already returned the janitor's costume. A couple of minutes later found Sam and Danny in the car both back in their own clothes.

"I don't know if your buddy phantom got the word to you, but I've decided to stop fishing for whatever secret it Is the two of you have," Sam said, breaking the silence as she drove through the traffic-filled street.

Danny gave her a look of curiosity. "why the change of heart?" Danny pondered aloud though he knew he shouldn't be looking a gift horse in the mouth he had to know. "well today taught me that there are reasons why people keep secrets, and I know if I keep prying I'm just gonna run you off, and that's the last thing I wanna do. You're important to me." Sam said as she blushed extremely hard.

"for what it's worth your important to me too, and you could never run me off." Said Danny as he grabbed her hand. He knew he shouldn't he knew he wasn't supposed to, but why the hell did her hand in his have to feel so right?

Hours later, back in Dora's off, a knock at her door sounded. Assuming it was her secretary, she leaned back in her chair and said, "what is it, Tina?" after the day she'd had, she really didn't want to be disturbed. She wanted to go home, have a drink, and maybe join a dating website.

The door slowly crept open. The hallway was dark so she couldn't see who was coming in, there was an eerie feeling she got as the door got further and further open.

She heard the voice before she truly saw who was emerging from the shadow's for a second, her heart sped up. It couldn't be, not after all this time. There was no way it was.

"Mrs. Mattingly, how lovely to see you here so late." Said Vlad as he announced himself. Her eyes widened. Never had she met Vlad, but she had heard tale of the type of man he was and wondered what he could want from her, especially at this hour.

Something was off about him. There was something sinister in his eyes, and this time she had no amulet to protect herself. She had nothing to defend herself. She was utterly at the mercy of Vlad masters and whatever nefarious things he had planned for her.

"what do you want?" she asked through gritted teeth as she tried to think of a plan of action. Maybe she could signal phantom to come back, or perhaps the police?

"I'll let my associate go first." Said Vlad as he smiled wickedly as Aragon waltzed through the door. It all happened so fast one minute Aragon was coming through the door the next he shot her ring with accurate precision revealing her true face, the next Vlad injected some mysterious red liquid in her neck that causes her excruciating pain.

She let out hollers and moans of pain, and she was able to grit out "why….now?" as she looked hatefully at her brother. He took delight in his oh so cliché villain speech.

"You see, my dear sweet sister…" Aragon began as he teasingly caressed her writhing sweating pain-filled body. "… when our world was destroyed, so was my amulet, but soon discovered through my observations yours was not. So, I had to bide my time until you took the necklace off as you lured yourself into the very false sense of security that I would no longer come for you" Aragon continued arrogance radiating from his being as he gleefully watched his only sister writhe about in unimaginable pain.

Soon Vlad came with the antidote to what he had first injected her with, now weakened and truly defenseless Dora slumped over in her chair. Her now green skin slick with sweat, and her red pupiled eyes hung with defeat.

Aragon turned to Vlad in anger, "why… why did you stop it? After all these years, I was to finally be rid of the thing that ruined my life. I had everything before she killed mother in childbirth and father hung himself after, I found him. I had to bury both our parents because of this devil's spawn. For 25 years, I've roamed this limbo. If she's dead, then I can find peace." Said Aragon in a rage.

Vlad waved him off as if he were a mild nuisance. "she's of no use to me dead. I said I'd help you find her and give you the means to her defeat. There she is defeated I've honored our deal. Your peace or lack thereof means nothing to me. This ghost girl gets me one step closer to my endgame, and that is the only thing that matters." Said Vlad matter of factly. Aragon knew that he was powerless without his amulet and that Vlad had his henchmen right outside the door and fell to the floor in defeat.

Tears slipped from his eyes. "I hope you rot in hell you cursed child!" screamed Aragon as Vlad grabbed her broken body by the arms and began to drag her out of her building. Dora rummaged through every ounce of fight she had in her body.

Now she knew why her brother hated her. She briefly thought maybe he was right to. Maybe her brother was once a sweet boy, and the trauma of what happened to their parents left him with only hate and blame in his heart, both directed at her.

Her birth had ruined both of their lives, but still, she had lived in hell her whole life because of Aragon, so whatever pity she felt for him was null and void, she gritted her teeth and used the last of her strength to tell Aragon the last thing she hoped she ever had to say to him. "I'll see you there, brother." The girl said the faintest of a smirk graced her lips, and she took comfort in knowing that even though she had so lost, so had he.

Perhaps that was the fate of the two siblings, maybe they were more cursed than the amulets ever were. Perhaps both of them were monsters, and yet neither of them were. Perhaps both their hearts held darkness and pain, and they were two sides of the same fucked up coin.

A/n: well, that was Heart of Dragon. I don't know how many of you predicted the ending. I hope it wasn't too predictable, and I hope I through you guys for a loop with everything at least a little. Most chapters won't be this long, so don't get used to this. It was just a lot to unpack with this chapter. I think it moved the plot along with Danny and Sam's relationship and Vlad's mysterious endgame goal.