Ok so sorry it took so long but I had school, writers block, work and a short attention span messing with me and it absolutely killed me with how long it took me to post this! A lot happens in this chapter and it's a bit choppy but yano, the amount of time it took for me to write this made it so i just kinda go to the point where I wanted to get it done. Super sorry! Here it is!

Chapter 9:

The form of the white haired teen looked tiny compared to the long, thin pumpkin king that walked beside him. Their adventure's coming to an end and Jack had decided to give a few pointers to his adopted son along with asking him questions his wife would be proud of. Danny flew on his back when his feet got tired, keeping himself intangible so he wouldn't run into any trees.

Neither of them were fast enough to block the pink ray as it flew into the air and hit Jack's arm, causing it to fall to the ground. He gripped the broken bone and the two looked up to see Plasmius glaring at them before a sinister smile spread on his face.

"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.

Jack glared as his hand clenched into a fist but his face looked surprisingly calm.

"Jack Skellington. 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."

The ghost teen only watched as Vlad walked over to him and was about to set a hand on his shoulder before Jack pulled him away. (I've been reading Jaccup fanfics lately so the name 'Jack' is really messing with my head when I talk about the pumpkin king.)

"Perhaps an explanation is in order." The old half ghost chuckled. "Daniel is my son. I've been looking all over for him. And now that I finally found him, I'm here to take him home."

Danny froze. 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.

"Forgive me but I doubt you're Danny's father." 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. When he didn't, I assumed he'd gone to the ghost zone instead so I went to look for him there."

As Vlad talked, Danny's head was spinning, causing him to clutch it in order to try to steady himself. Vlad was his father? But he thought-

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

Danny groaned as his head throbbed, catching the attention of the other two.

"Danny? Are you ok?" Jack asked, setting a hand on his shoulder.

Vlad simply set a hand on the ghost teen's head, replacing his own and let his energy flow between them. Danny stiffened and Jack removed his hand as he watched neon green tears flow down his cheeks. When Vlad removed his hand, Danny looked emotionless.

"What did you do?" Jack asked, concerned for his adopted son, who was beginning to sway as his eyes closed. The pumpkin king reached forward to catch him only to be blocked by Vlad.

"I removed the bad memory and replaced it with a good one of mine. It seems Daniel has several mental problems. Were you aware of this?" Vlad asked, setting a gloved hand on Danny's forehead again.

"Yes but we didn't know we could just remove them."

"You can't. It's something only ghosts can do to each other. Daniel hasn't figured it out yet but I came across the power when I was searching for him." Vlad explained.

"Of course." Jack deadpanned. He still doubted this ghost around his son. Vlad gave him a bad feeling. "Well, he'll want to say goodbye to Sally if he decides to leave with you. I'll just take him back to the hotel so he can get some rest."

Vlad scoffed before crossing his arms.

"I suppose that would be appropriate. Fine, I'll be back in a few days to pick him up."

Jack nodded as the vampire ghost flew off before looking down at the white haired teen in his arms. There was something wrong with the ghosts claim. If he was Danny's father, wouldn't Danny be more cheerful to see him? Danny freaked out at any words relating to close family members so if they had done something bad to him and Vlad claimed to be his father, was it safe for Jack to let Danny go with him? Jack decided he'd see what Sally thought so they could talk to Danny when he woke up. In the meantime, he'd just enjoy the silent night walk.

...

Sally's cheerful face melted at the sight of her husband carrying her son. She rushed past the monster she had been talking to and instantly began questioning the pumpkin king, taking her son into her arms. Mavis was nowhere to be seen as her father came by to help them get the ghost boy to their rooms.

Later, Danny rolled around on his bed. A nightmare echoing in his mind.

"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!"

"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 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 by the boy after flushing the toilet. She set a cool hand on his cheek. "Are you ok? Do you need to talk?"

Danny took a deep breath and found himself calmed by the vampiress' voice. He leaned his head against her hand, looking up at her and staring at her bright blue eyes.

He had blue eyes.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just a nightmare." He pulled himself up, Mavis standing with him. "How long have I been out?"

"Just a few hours. Mr. Jack came back with you in his arms and you're aunt freaked out." Danny chuckled at this. "They called me when they had to go talk to my dad. They wanted me to watch you. Do you remember what happened?"

Danny shook his head.

"So you decided to sleep with me, huh? I'm that irresistible?" He asked, trying to lighten the mood.

A light red blush filled the girl's cheeks and she punched his arm, turning away.

"Shut up! You took too long, I fell asleep!" She exclaimed.

Danny could only laugh, glad the mood was changed so quickly. Before he could stop himself, he wrapped his arms around the girl and buried his face in her neck, feeling her freeze. He smiled as he felt her relax, temporarily noticing how her body seemed to fit so well against his.

"Thank you." He whispered before backing away and giving her a small smile, green tinting his cheeks.

Mavis gave him a shocked look before a bright smile spread across her face. Due to still being a little weak from his night, Danny had to break the eye contact before sitting on the bed and running a and through his hair while the vampiress sat next to him.

"If you're still tired, you should rest."

Danny nodded, leaning his head on her shoulder and closing his eyes.

"No, I don't want to go back there..." He muttered.

Mavis smiled and couldn't help running a hand through the boy's hair. Sally had talked about her protecting him so if it started with protection from nightmare, so be it.

"How about this? You sleep for a few more hours and I'll stay with you. I know it's probably the last thing you want to do but you need some more sleep. It's nearly 4 pm. Too early for you to be up yet. Sleep for a few more hours and then we'll go get some food, alright?"

Danny only nodded, his head still against her shoulder so it more felt like he was snuggling more against her neck, causing a blush to dust her cheeks for a few seconds. She stood and guided him back to laying down before a thought occurred to her.

"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.

Soft snores made the vampiress smile sleepily while she kept stroking the boy's white hair. He looked so peaceful but she had some kind of idea of what he had running in his head. If she were to leave him alone, he'd probably end up having a nightmare again. She simply stayed there, studying the boys face while he slept, feeling more like a mother than a stalker.

...

The next morning, Danny found himself alone in his room. His aunt explained that Mavis had had to leave when she got there since her dad had been worried. He was fine with it, going to get breakfast and then going to explore the hotel. His uncle had told him not to leave the hotel and knowing that the pumpkin king would be disappointed if he didn't listen, the ghost boy chose to find out more about the hotel in order to keep himself entertained while Mavis was busy. There wasn't much to do in the hotel so Danny found himself walking in circles several times before slumping against the wall and letting out a bored sigh. Looking up at the ceiling, he found himself thinking about the conversation he had had with the vampiress.

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

He imagined how her voice would sound. Thinking about the music his aunt would sing to him to help him sleep. His thoughts returned to the previous night and how Mavis stayed with him. Ignoring his stung male pride at being the comforted and not the comforter, he found himself thinking about what he remembered about her voice. It was almost as if she had been singing right now.

He blinked.

Wait a second.

That was her singing!

He floated to a standing position and went to find the source of the singing. Sure, he had been exploring the place the last few hours but he wouldn't deny the fact the it had been the only thing helping the ghost boy navigate through the halls until he got to a door he recognized as the one to the lounge. He pushed open the door and saw the source of the singing. Johnny and Mavis sat on the stage, a guitar in the redhead's lap while a stack of paper sat between them. He was hesitant on speaking up before realizing if he didn't, it'd be more awkward.

"What's going on in here?" Danny asked, fighting off a smug grin as Mavis flushed and jumped off the stage, running to him and trying to shove him out of the room.

"Y-You can't be in here! You'll spoil it!" She exclaimed, shutting the door, leaving the ghost in the hall.

Imagine her fright when Danny just stuck his head through the wall.

"Spoil what?" He asked, cluelessness taking over.

As Mavis sputtered, Johnny couldn't help but laugh, causing the two to give him confused looks. (Even though the vampiress was still bright red)

"You two are cute." He joked, getting a punch in the arm from the girl while Danny just chuckled, even though his face decided to match Mavis' with a bright green blush.

"Sh-Shut up!"

Danny watched the two as they argued before his eyes roamed to some music sheets sitting on the table. Holding them in his hands, he realized something... he had no idea what he was looking at. Of course, the following shove from the flustered vampire didn't help much as the papers were ripped out of his hands. The ghost boy was thankful for his aunt's gloves she had made for him in the fact that he'd probably have paper cuts from the sudden movement. A weird feeling of protectiveness spread through him as he noticed just how close Johnny was to Mavis. If he had reached out, he easily could've wrapped his arm around her waist.

Danny smiled as the two talked, he knew he shouldn't trust the Stein boy but Mavis trusted him and the ghost boy trusted Mavis. The two talked before Danny grabbed the vampiress' hand.

"Mind if I steal her for a little bit? Thanks." He said to Johnny before pulling the girl out of the room.

He tried to ignore the concerned look on her face as they walked, neither noticing how their hands were still intertwined.

"Danny, what's wrong?" Mavis asked, staring at the ghost teen's face.

"I don't trust him."

"Who? Johnny?"

"Yeah." Danny avoided the girl's eyes, knowing he'd only worry her more with the thoughts whirring around in his head he knew showed in his eyes.

As soon as the two got to her room, Danny floated up while Mavis sat on her bed.

"I still don't get it. Why are you so apprehensive around Johnny?" she asked, her arms crossed as she stared at the ghost boy who was now floating in the air, laying on his back with his hands behind his head as he stared at the ceiling.

"Something about him isn't right. I don't know what but he seems like he's hiding something. Call me paranoid but I'm not letting you anywhere near him if it means that you're in danger." Danny shifted his eyes to look at the vampiress. "Emotionally or physically."

Mavis blushed slightly. They'd only met a while ago but Danny acted as if they were practically married. (Not that that was what Mavis wanted from the ghost boy... cough cough.) He became super protective since that night in the sky with that ghost. How was she supposed to help Johnny with his music if Danny wouldn't let them be in the same room together. She needed to figure out how she could sneak away. Even though it was her birthday, she wanted to surprise the ghost boy.

"Here, I'm sure your aunt and uncle still wanna talk to you so I'm gonna go talk to my dad about how the hotel has been going. I'll see you later." Mavis said.

She was shocked on how easily she lied to the ghost boy. Her heart throbbed as he nodded and left with a smile and a 'see ya' before she went to find Johnny yet again.