A/N:

Hey peoples! Technically, it is before February 10th...of 2016! Hahahaha...ha. Okay, here's the chapter to make it up to you guys. It's kind of rushed, I know. But I want to speed up the story line a bit so the JL and TT can come in. I'm working on like 5 other fics about DP, too. So, by the time I'm done with this fic, I'll have at least half of them and more to upload! This time I am asking for an outside beta. Night is a really good friend and I don't want to hinder her much with my bothersomeness :P. So please PM me if you're interested and I'll keep you in mind. All who have already PM'd me about this are my first pics if their available.

Disclaimer: I don't own Danny Phantom. (It's not on, is it?) I don't Teen Titans. (Teen Titans Go! exists, doesn't it?) I also don't own anything that was referenced briefly in this fic...unfortunately. So enjoy! And don't send drones to kill me for not updating sooner!

Chapter 4

Vlad?

"Little Badger."

At the mention of one of his lesser liked nicknames, Danny's hackles rose and he tensed again, harshly moving his shoulder away from Vlad's hand. A flicker of anger and disappointment flashed across Vlad's face which Danny caught.

"What do you want, Vlad?" Danny scowled, steeling himself for the Fruitloop's newest scheme.

Crossing his arms over his chest, Vlad replied, "Daniel, just because I am here does not imply that I want something." He leisurely leaned back on the heels of his dress shoes, taking his time before continuing. "If you must know, I am here as part of my mayoral duties. 'Influence today's youth' and 'steer them in the right direction' as they say." Vlad smirked at what Danny thought was an inside joke, one to which he was not privy.

The smirk only grew as Vlad's eyes traveled down Danny's body from his only slightly messy hair to his yet scuffed converse. Danny shifted, uncomfortable with the new attention while Vlad said, "I see some things have changed, though, since we last met." He looked at the young halfa predatorily. "This is an improvement, Daniel. What brought on this decision?"

Now, for all that Vlad was a seriously crazed-up Fruitloop, he had never been this creepy. It set Danny on so precarious an edge that his heart started racing and he could hardly focus on getting the information he wanted from the old man. "It's none of your—"

"And, from what I heard this morning, your outfit is not the only change to have occurred," Vlad interrupted, his smirk switching to a slight frown.

Forget a racing heart. Danny's plummeted at that instant, knowing what other changes to which Vlad was implying. At seeing Danny's crestfallen expression, Vlad became solemn himself. The change in Vlad's demeanor reminded Danny that Vlad's past was marred too with a love-triangle that he did not see coming and still does not believe to be true.

Just another thing that connects us, Danny thought before shaking his head. No! I am nothing like this creep!

"Just a little fight between friends, Vlad," Danny affirmed. "Nothing for you to worry about." He never wanted to have anything more in common with Vlad than their ghost powers, a belief he tried to cement in the billionaire's head over and over again.

While Vlad's eyes were reddening at the veiled threat and dismissal, a thought popped up in Danny's mind and he asked, "So what have you been doing the past few months? I mean, there's been no invasions, no kidnappings, no murder attempts, nothing." Danny smirked at the man. "Have you finally taken my advice and gotten a girlfriend or a cat—oh, wait. You already have a cat. Maddie, right?"

"While I have...missed this banter and your 'ribbing' at me, Little Badger," Vlad huffed indignantly, "I do not appreciate your gibes. Nevertheless, I am grateful that you were worried about me."

Before Danny could rebut, Vlad continued, "And, if you have forgotten, I am the founder and CEO of two billion dollar enterprises—Vlad Co. and DALV Industries. Moreover, I am a scientist at heart and have many experiments that do not include ghosts that I am running...I am a busy man, Daniel, and have, now, little time to play a child's game."

The last statement irked Danny to no degree. "I am not a child, Vlad! And I know about the businesses, idiot. You used a lot of them as covers for your plans," Danny seethed, losing his temper, eyes flashing a bright, neon green.

"Ooohh," Vlad mocked, waving his hands in a sign of fake fear, "not the scary eyes!" He gave Danny time to calm himself down before he continued. "Honestly, Daniel, all I am here to do is give a small presentation during your lunch period over the importance of education, familial relationships, and friendships on the budding adolescent." The man looked down—only slightly though since Danny had considerably grown since the last time they met—to make sure Danny was paying close attention to the next sentence. "I am not hear to endanger you nor your little...'friends'. I am doing my job and nothing more."

The honesty with which Vlad spoke threw Danny for a loop. Danny knew better than to let his guard completely down around the billionaire but he knew Vlad was not going to do any harm—well, any serious harm—today.

BRRRRIIINNNGGGG!

"Fine, Vlad," Danny relented, passing the man to go to class. "Just make sure it stays that way." As Danny walked away he thought he heard Vlad say something else but, when he turned around, the older man was already turning the corner towards the main office. Shaking off the weirdness, Danny swiveled back and prepared himself for the mini-lecture he was to receive for being late for his first period class.

The bathroom, his classrooms, offices, the library, the cafeteria, the gym—nowhere Danny went could he escape the looks from everyone in the school.

Word spreads way too quickly, he thought as he skulked around the school for a quiet place to spend the rest of the half hour of his study hall before lunch.

In his first class, instead of a lecture, Mrs. Harding glared at him for interrupting the first few minutes of class but softened considerably and gave him a pitying, "Just make sure it doesn't happen later, Danny," and told him to sit down. Lines were already drawn through the class: half giving him the cold shoulder as to not catch his misfortune with Sam, Tucker, and Valerie; another almost half giving him sympathetic looks much like yesterday when everyone found out he knew about Sam and Tuck; the others sneering at him, snickering behind their hands at the "Loser Freak" who was too much of a freak even for his loser friends to stick around with anymore.

When he left the class to join the hallway traffic of students heading to their second period classes, the sea of people almost immediately parted for him, most staying as far away as possible in the tight corridor as to not catch whatever "friend-losing" disease Danny had caught. He was about to scream at them to leave him alone and stop looking at him when Mikey and his group, though smaller than yesterday, appeared.

The little redhead looked up at Danny and the halfa braced himself for the nerd's rant. But he was significantly surprised when all Mikey did was say, "Sorry," turn around, and leave. His ragtag group of band geeks, mathletes, and tech nerds trailed behind him, giving him sad glances over their shoulders. While Danny was glad Mikey and the rest didn't berate him, he felt a little dejected that they clearly hadn't taken a side.

After that, Danny headed quickly to his study hall that had only five people in it. Just them can't be that bad...right? He turned the knob and, instead of being greeted by the silent, quick glances up by two or three of the regulars, was stared holes through by twenty...no...thirty students occupying the room. While Danny's head froze, the teacher supervising the study hall explained that, because of the mayor's presentation during lunch, one of the Biology classes would be joining the study hall that day.

Joy, Danny grumped. He raised his hand and asked Mr. Mani if he could go to the library instead of staying in the crowded classroom before any more of the students could show up and block his way out. Mani addressed Danny with a sad smile and replied, "If you need some alone time, Mr. Fenton, go ahead and take it." The calming effect Mr. Mani was trying to give Danny just made the boy blush in embarrassment, especially when the rest of the class that had not looked up perked when they heard his name and started to whisper.

Thirty people in a small classroom whispering so close together could soon escalate into a roar, particularly when they weren't exactly trying to whisper. So Danny could hear almost everything they were saying.

"Did you see how hard Valerie smacked him?!" "Sam and Tucker went too far with disowning him like that." "He so deserved the back-hand from Valerie." "Yeah, I heard..." "Poor dude." "He got what was coming to him...the freak!" "I feel so bad for the little weirdo." "The dress is white and gold!"

Sick and tired of the derision and fake sympathy, Danny stormed out of the classroom, preventing him from hearing a chair scoot back as someone began to follow him. He quickly turned through the corridors, navigating through the maze that was Casper High. Inadvertently losing his stalker, Danny chose to go into a random, empty classroom. And this is where he sat, stewing in a growing discomfort-anger-sadness-annoyance mix that not even he could separate into individual causes or emotions, for about an hour.

His inner reflection was interrupted by the classroom door slamming open, a dark-skinned girl heavily panting and tightly gripping the metal handle. Catching her breath, Valerie gave Danny a half-hearted glare and closed the door, slowly walking towards him.

"Since when," she breathed out, "could you move so fast, Fenton?" He had no answer so she just continued. "You left the room so quick I couldn't even get a word in!"

Danny was wary of why she was there so he just let her speak until she calmed down. After she got her breathing in order, Val approached Danny again. He braced himself for another slap that would have rivalled this morning's but was, instead, pleasantly surprised by the warm embrace she gave him.

After a few seconds, his blush grew to cover his face and he timidly asked, "Va-valerie? What are you doing?"

She gasped and pushed him away, looking away from him in embarrassment before turning back and responding, "I-I'm hugging you...idiot. What's it look like I'm doing?"

"No, I can see that," Danny replied, running his hand through his hair. "I meant why? A-...after this morning, I didn't think you ever—"

He was silenced by her hand in his face. "Yeah," she chuckled. "You remember I have anger issues, right? Star used to say that my fuse was shorter than Dash's attention span!" Eyebrow raising, Danny stared at her, confused still about her motives. "Yeah, so," she started, "I—ugh!—I'm trying to apologize, Danny! I was just really upset and I thought you used me and you told me we were friends and I thought you lied and...I'm rambling, aren't I?"

They shared a look before silently chuckling which grew until they were both laughing so hard Danny's hand was over his stomach and Valerie had tears coming from her eyes. And every time their eyes met, their laughter just restarted. It actually took them a few minutes to get on more serious faces and finally stop.

Danny started off this time, "You really don't have to apologize, Valerie. It's my fault."

"No, Danny," Val rebutted. "I really messed up this time. I should have told you—well, they should have been the ones to tell you—but, you get what I mean." She stopped, searching for any signs of discomfort. When she didn't find any, she explained, "When you found out...well, afterwards, I should've known you needed to sort out your feelings on your own but I was like, 'let's all hang out after this traumatizing event!'...I was out of line, Danny." She was close to tears at the moment but she kept talking. "But I'm glad you're okay...I mean with us...being friends and all I mean...yeah," she finished lamely, an extremely faint blush causing her to look away.

Well, at least I know that one person doesn't hate me, Danny thought, smiling at his newly reaffirmed friend.

"So, Fenton, now that we're cool again, never, and I mean never, use me for some side excuse," she said, lightly cuffing his arm. "Just know that I'm always there to talk...or listen."

Her sincerity reminded him of why he chose to hang out with and date her for a while. "Sure, Val. I'll be sure to remember next time." He flashed her his signature smile, unknowingly making Val's heart flutter.

She was about to say something else but was interrupted by the schoolwide intercom.

"Good afternoon, students, faculty, and staff," came the main office secretary's voice through the static. "Instead of a free lunch period, we are having a presentation from our mayor, Vlad Masters, in the gymnasium. Students are expected to be seated by grade in the bleachers in ten minutes' time." The system crackled, waiting for the woman to get done with her message. "That will be all. Thank you."

"We better head out, yeah?" Danny asked, clueless of whatever Valerie wanted to say before the announcement.

He grabbed her hand, exuberant, and ignored her cries of indignation. She laughed wholeheartedly at the full-out stares they received while running through the halls. Danny just ignored the people commenting and pulled his friend to the gym saying, "Come on, Val. We don't want to miss the Fruitloop's all-important speech now, do we?"

"Ha!" Valerie agreed, "Whatever you say, Fenton. Whatever you say!"

Being two of the first there, Danny and Val got good seats at the very top of their class's section in the bleachers. They watched the rest of the student body trickle in in companionable silence. I'm glad Valerie likes Fenton-me. Too bad about Phantom-me. Danny sighed, trying to expel the negative thoughts which alerted Val of his distress.

"Danny," Val said, grabbing and slightly squeezing his hand, "it'll be alright…okay?" She faced him and made sure he was fully facing her before she said, "Just…I'm here for you, dude, and don't let anything or anyone make you forget that."

"Thanks, Val. It's...a lot of things aren't what I thought they were. Like, I knew my status quo like a script…but not anymore," he trailed off, unsure how to tell her the truth without telling her the truth.

Valerie gave Danny a wan smile and patted his right hand. "I understand, Danny. Now," she exclaimed, "let's get away from all of this stupid mopey-ness and talk loudly about how much of a 'Fruitloop' Vlad is while he's making his speech."

Danny would have laughed boisterously at this; but, at that moment, the bleachers were full, Vlad was about to take the podium and the two people Danny wanted to avoid for the rest of his life…or at least until the bell rang at the end of the day…Samantha Manson and Tucker Foley, walked in with the rest of the stragglers.

When Danny saw them, he immediately tensed making Valerie quickly scope him out and then look in the direction he was looking to see why he didn't laugh at her joke. Tucker saw Valerie when she looked over and was about to wave until he saw who she was sitting next to. Sam saw too and turned five shades darker than her mood normally was during these forced school events. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for the lovers of tension in the school, the only two seats left in their grade's section were right to the left of everyone's favorite halfa.

Even while they were being herded to the seats, Sam and Tuck wouldn't look at either Val or Danny. And when they sat down, they greeted Valerie, ignored the "stain" on their lives, and turned towards the podium, waiting for Vlad's speech. Valerie didn't bother answer, bristling at their treatment of Danny while the person in question just tried to calm his fidgeting hands in his lap.

"Good day, students, faculty and staff, and administrators of Casper High," Vlad spoke with the microphone giving minor feedback. "This year has heralded numerous changes which have affected us all academically, personally, and professionally. Just two years ago, the fate of Amity Park changed drastically with the sudden increase of otherworldly spirits which had tormented us near endlessly. Now, they have gone...returned to their Zone and left us behind, free of their diurnal plaguing us with their dastardly schemes." Vlad paused, watching haughtily as all—well, most—in attendance were hooked on every word he said. "Now, we can thrive. Now, we can leave our homes and go through our lives without fear of another 'attack' or 'invasion' or 'rampant ghost' to destroy all that is around us. And we look to you, the youth, our future, to rise to the occasion now that nothing stands in your way of greatness."

Applause rang out through the blind sheep that were the student and faculty body of Casper High with only a few—i.e. Danny, Val, Jazz, and surprisingly the janitor nicknamed Scruffy—were silent. Vlad beamed at the attention, chest puffed out and chin held high, letting the excitement fade before continuing.

"You young people are our hopes our dreams...All of our work ultimately is done for your benefit. Even if you do not see it now, all we do is for you. In a way, we are like your guardians, your adopted mothers and fathers who try to direct you, train you, even against your knowledge, and mold you into a better you." He droned on and on about the importance of the adult figures in an adolescent's development but a few of the students, namely Danny, just drifted off mentally, daydreaming about flying over Amity with his little green dog that had also not been in the Human World since early Spring. So he faded out, and let Vlad speak, subconsciously listening to every single word the older man said.

"—and he is such a creep. 'We do it for your good, even against your will.' What kind of crap was he spouting?!" The voice screamed in Danny's ear, bringing him back to the ground.

"Wha—?" His astute mind had been functioning at a breakneck speed and was thus distracted by Valerie's rant. In other words, he hadn't paid a lick of attention from the beginning of the speech to the time she hauled him out of the gymnasium.

"You are such a space cadet, Danny," Valerie scoffed, hands resting on her hips. "You haven't been on Earth for the past hour, have you?"

The blank, bemused look he gave her was all the answer she needed as she sighed and started walking off. He quickly bounded after her, still kind of out of it.

"Sorry, Val," he started. "You know I tend to zone out in assemblies...especially when Vlad's around." When Val became part of the group, she became privy to some of the secrets the Freak Trio had. They knew she was the Red Huntress and that she knew Vlad was a half ghost but she didn't know they knew. In fact, she was confused as to why they hated Vlad as much as they did when he was Danny's godfather and supposed close friend to both Maddie and Jack. And when they explained to her that he was just some creepy old dude who had a wacko crush on Danny's mom, she totally understood and was just disgusted by him more.

"Yeah, I get it," she said after slowing down for him. "But you better get your head in the game...lunch is over and we have a test last period with Lancer...and a five page paper due over "A Midsummer Night's Dream"."

"I know. I know," he admitted, having studied extensively and written the paper last week. "I have everything right up here." He tapped his finger to his head while chuckling at Val's surprised expression. "What?" he asked innocently. "Can the spectacular Danny Fenton not study every once in a while?"

She cuffed him for the smart remark and shooed him off to his next class, heading off to her own. But he really was in no rush, even though the class was on the other side of the school. Mrs. Ahmed was lenient anyway; and, knowing her, she wouldn't start class until fifteen after.

When he finally got to class, he was unsurprisingly met by Mrs. Ahmed lounging in her chair and sipping Diet Coke (even though she said she was going to quit) and the rest of the class jovially conversing with each other. With the assembly, it seemed that he wasn't the major spotlight of the day so he semi-easily slid between the desk rows to his own chair and took out his notes, waiting for the teacher to start. This, Environmental Science, was one of the last classes he never thought he would have taken, but signed up for it after Tucker and Sam showed interest. Even when they changed their schedules, he stuck with the class because he surprisingly like it. It made sense to him and...for once, outside of astronomy and ghost fighting...he really really liked it. He avidly paid attention and actively took part in class discussions since the beginning of the school year much to the amazement of his classmates and the amusement of his teacher who always knew the boy was smart. He just needed the right academic outlet to convey it.

Mrs. Ahmed was about to start the class with a brief vocabulary quiz over the biodiversity chapter when a sharp knock rapped on the door, disturbing the class flow. Before she could offer admittance, the door opened with a pleased Mr. Lancer and an even more pleased Vladimir Masters behind him. Danny's eyes comically widened as the pencil in his hand deftly snapped, slightly garnering the attention of his science teacher.

"Mr. Lancer, Mayor Masters, we're just about to have a quiz. To what do I owe this pleasure?" Ahmed asked, slightly taken back by their, mostly Vlad's, presence.

"Sorry for the interruption," Lancer apologized. "Mr. Masters just wanted to sit in on a class and we chose this one." He was almost bouncing on his feet, his rotund muffin top jiggling in his barely contained excitement.

"Yes," Vlad drawled. "I wanted to see first-hand the brilliance of our young scientists and this class has, as I've heard, very heated debates in the field." He paused, soaking in the complete attention the class was giving him. "I was hoping to see one such discussion about our local environment..."

While, usually, demanding something of Mrs. Ahmed during her class time was asking for her full wrath, asking for an intellectual discussion that normally turns to a heated debate and culminates into a rulers-for-swords, pencil-rubber-band-guns-for-arrows, books-for-shields war was completely welcome and encouraged. It was almost like the woman relished in the faux bloodshed of her students which, while slightly creepy, was a welcome break from the normal humdrum of school life.

"Of course," Ahmed trilled, already looking forward to the inevitable lines drawn between the class. "We just need to define the subject and parameters of our...debate."

Vlad hummed to himself, making a show of rubbing his goatee and thinking this out while flashing his eyes over the class. When his and Danny's eyes met, Vlad stopped and slowly grinned, setting Danny on edge once more. He was already bemoaning the topic he knew Vlad was going to choose and could barely hold back an exhausted groan when he heard—

"Ghosts."

The word was met with silence. None of the students knew where to start, Lancer seemed surprised and slightly scared of the subject like just saying the word would herald the beings here, and Ahmed froze wondering how she could turn this topic into a revolutionary learning experience that may end in multiple rubber-band bruise-like casualties.

"Ghosts aaand?" Ahmed asked.

"Truth," he simply answered. "More specifically, your beliefs." He glanced around the class, half-heartedly searching for understanding which he of course only found fully in his desired son's slightly glaring eyes. "Because there is much unknown about ghosts, we can only gather knowledge from reputable sources such as the Fentons or the GIW." Of course, when his parents were mentioned, all eyes turned to Danny who wished nothing more than to just sink through his chair. Vlad commanded the attention back to him when he continued, "Or, we could hypothesize our own truths from personal observations." With this, he positioned himself in the vacant front row of the class, languidly placed on a chair where all could see him and he could see all.

Breaking out of the power-based stupor, Ahmed quickly exclaimed, "Alright, guys and gals! You heard the man! It's the Fentons and GIW versus self-truth. Left side for established and right for hypotheses!"

The students in the class slowly chose their sides with twelve in the "Established" group and three in the "Hypotheses" group. Danny was already seated on the right side so he didn't move. He was waiting for the debate to begin but stilled when he looked up and saw all eyes of the class, including Ahmed's happy ones, Lancer's still worried ones, and Vlad's proud ones, glued to him. He faintly wondered if there was something odd about his appearance before turning to talk to the other two people on his side, Vic, a norm in the school, and Ashley, one of the girls he vaguely remembered running in the beauty pageant their freshman year who still harbored resentment for the boy.

"C'mon and move already, Fenton," Ashley impatiently groaned.

When all he did was raise an eyebrow, Vic said, "You know your parents' work like breathing. You should be over there."

Just because they're my parents doesn't mean I have to agree with everything they say, Danny thought, especially when I know them to be wrong.

"Now, now," admonished Vlad, "it seems like young Daniel has chosen his side...have you not?"

"Yeah," Danny nodded, still wary of Vlad's gilded civility. "I know where I stand."

"But, dude," a guy from the other side called, "your parents are basically experts on this field that, like, no one has ever had tangible experience with. How can you go against everything they say?"

Danny tried to keep his calm while not really answering their questions completely. "I never said they were wrong...completely. Just, there's stuff that's happened, stuff we've all seen that clearly goes against everything my parents and the GIW have told us."

"Like what?" Star, who was on the "Established" side, scoffed. "You're just trying to save face after not paying attention to the Mayor and Mrs. Ahmed!"

His eyes flashed in annoyance. "That's not true. And you know what I'm talking about." He looked around to get confirmation from others but only caught the smug look on Vlad's face. "With all the ghost fights that happen around the school, the Nasty Burger, the Mall, we've made observations against the so-called facts mom, dad, and the GIW spout."

"He's right," Vic warmed up, trying to get Ashley fully on their side and away from her dislike of Danny.

Danny peeped up in surprise of the sudden comradery but only coughed it up to Vic trying to assuage Ashley rather than agree with him. As a result, when someone from the opposite side demanded the slightest piece of proof, just a little itty-bitty example, Vic cowered and quickly backed down. Some on the other side looked pleased, thinking they had won but their unfounded victory was ruined by an interruption from the youngest Fenton.

"Except for their inventions with weaponry and the portal, my parents' beliefs about ghosts are seriously flawed."

This bold statement just made Vlad more smug. It seemed that Danny was finally speaking his mind and that made Vlad immensely happy which highly creeped out Danny. Ahmed and a few others were curious as to what he meant while the rest just thought he was crazy for saying it.

Danny sighed, trying to approach the subject carefully without waving a giant target that said "I Heart Ghosts". "What is the one thing we learn, the first thing we learn, in every science class?" He asked the slowly blanking faces of his classmates.

"Oh," Connor exclaimed, "unit conversions!" Subsequently, he was smacked by the girl next to him, Annalise. "No, idiot. It was scientific notation and significant figures." They all turned back to Danny to see what any of those had to do with his parents' knowledge.

"Close, but no," he corrected. "The scientific method." No light bulbs popped up above their heads so he just kept talking. "We are told to observe first-hand a phenomenon, then make hypotheses about it, and then experiment. And if our hypotheses are incorrect, we should repeat the process until accurate results are discovered."

Understanding started to dawn on some of the students, slowly conforming their faces from angry, disbelieving teenagers to contemplating scholars.

Feeling encouraged, Danny continued. "The GIW never even came close to doing this. Just shooting down the first ghost they saw without anything but prejudice. And my parents never followed the method that half of their entire lives is based on. They got their observations from old legends, made-up stories and occult texts. And even when real-life ghosts appeared, they stuck with their outdated and flawed theories instead of taking the time to form new theories from their own observations. They had foregone one of the cardinal rules of scientific investigation and every other Amity Parker either didn't care enough or were too afraid of ghosts to point this out." Or, he thought, they were ignored or quieted by the GIW.

"So what you're saying is," interrupted a girl from the other side, "your parents' ghostly discoveries should be completely disregarded in favor of this one little mistake they made in their formulation of their hypotheses?"

"No," Danny relented.

She came in again. "Then what, Danny? What could you possibly know about ghosts when you're the absolute first person to run during any of the attacks?!"

"Yeah, man," Connor affirmed. "And even after an attack ends, you won't be seen for a good ten minutes and when you do get back you're all jittery and stuff like you were ready to run if another showed up!" At this, the class erupted with stories of cool ghost attacks and the weird bathroom breaks Danny always had to take—"The Freak!"—and they completely overlooked the growing annoyance that seemed to surround Danny like a shroud. Even Vic and Ashley, who were supposed to be on his side, laughed at his misfortune and "cowardliness".

Yeah, and what about when our parents were abducted by Ember and Youngblood?

"What if I told you I was observing from afar?" Came the quiet voice of the slightly angered Danny. When the class quieted down, he continued. "What if I told you I always was there for the attacks, just that I didn't stand too close to the fray like an idiot literally volunteering to get hit by an ecto-ray or a falling building outcropping?" A few of the students shifted in their seats, knowing that they had caught themselves in at least one predicament like he just described. "What if I told you that I observed the ghosts, actually listened to them, and not just thought about how 'cool' Phantom looked or how 'badass' the metal ghost's Mohawk was or how 'amazing' the fights where? What if I told you that I've heard the concerns of the ghosts, why they're fighting, and their pain…their lives?"

By this point, all of the students felt oddly ashamed at their actions. Ahmed was amazed by Danny's approach to the ghosts' inhabiting Amity. Vlad was lounging in his chair, amused by Daniel's attempts to educate the ignorant humans without relinquishing his secret. It wasn't as smooth as he would have done it, but Vlad could see that Daniel had come a long way from the bumbling, haughty halfa he first met in his Wisconsin mansion. Lancer, well...Lancer—

"Great Gatsby, Mr. Fenton! You've been interacting with ghosts!" Mr. Lancer bellowed, throwing all caution and care to the wind. "What were you thinking?"

This ill-timed outcry nearly demolished Danny's credibility as some of the students started muttering about how talking to the ghosts in person was just like asking to be taken, attacked, or, worse, killed. Lancer was prepared to admonish his charge again when he was met with the steely gaze of a once gangly, clumsy boy.

"What I was thinking, Mr. Lancer," Danny calmly answered, "was that I could relate to these cast-offs, these scapegoats, loners of our society who just happen to have one little difference from the rest of us...They're dead."

"That's a pretty big difference," Ashley scoffed. Another kid agreed, saying their death came with superpowers too.

"Yeah," Danny admitted. "But why does that have to make them evil?" He paused, trying to calm his slightly agitated breathing. "What about dying makes you different from who you were, your character, from when you were alive? Why are ghosts slapped with the inherent trait of evil while there are humans who, while alive, have committed atrocities much worse than anything most of the ghosts in Amity have done?!" Danny huffed, his rant leaving his nerves frazzled.

The room was silent, most of its inhabitants feeling guilty about their persecution of all ghosts. Some were still wary of the observations of their classmate and a few were still stuck on exactly how Danny could relate to a ghost more than he could a human being. Vlad took this all in stride, knowing that Daniel was feeling exactly what he felt about the labeling of ghosts...even though his actions since he'd been endowed with powers had not been vanilla per se. Lancer was surprised, hearing the exclamation from the boy, not expecting his assertions to be so well believed. Ahmed, on the other hand, was immensely proud of Danny. She still held reserves about him being around dangerous entities, but for the advancement of science, she was ecstatic.

"So, Danny," Ahmed said, breaking the static silence in the room, "care to educate us on your discoveries?" Her eyes twinkled as a group of students started to agree with her, slowly warming up to the idea that if a respected adult believed him, then maybe Danny was telling the truth about knowing so much about ghosts.

"I don't know..." Danny blushed, rubbing his hand on the back of his head, a movement Ashley begrudgingly found a bit adorable, loosening her up.

"Yeah, Danny," Ashley goaded. "How else do you expect us to learn if we don't have someone knowledgeable and unbiased to teach us?" She batted her eyelashes at him, but even his cluelessness couldn't help his blush from growing even further, causing some of his classmates—cough, Vic, cough—to guffaw and slap his back.

"Fine," Danny conceded, much to the joy of all but Mr. Lancer who still looked like he thought that talking about the ghosts was like inviting them back.

"First of all, ghosts are made up of ectoplasm," the youngest Fenton started, trying to organize his thoughts. "That is a substance completely alien and opposite to everything in our world, or the Human World, but native to their world, the Ghost Zone..." And for the next hour, the seventeen individuals got a personal lesson from Danny Fenton that none of them would ever forget. In fact, the things Danny told them about the ghosts, excluding Phantom and the Wisconsin Ghost who Danny seemed to steer clear from, were so detailed and interesting that they thought it best to share with their friends in their next class and after school. Danny was even harassed during Lancer's test which Lancer quickly stopped. Of course, these people and some teachers talked about it with their friends, coworkers and families. This overgrown game of telephone quickly escalated past the school body. And, with Amity Park being such a close-knit community, it didn't take long until a good half of the city was raving about how the Fentons truly were crackpot ghost hunters and not real scientists, that their youngest child debunked their scientific integrity all by his lonesome, and that young Danny was consorting with spirits.

Vlad, around 5 o'clock, was at the receiving end of one of these messages and couldn't help but to laugh at his good fortune. It seemed that rumors of his Little Badger's intel had even spread to the GIW and their superior branches resulting in the threat of major internal investigations in the organization, limiting their interference in his schemes. Valerie, on the other side of town in the park with Danny, was peeved about what she heard Danny had said but hadn't confronted him on it yet. She knew he needed a break from everything that was school so she let it slide...for today. Or at least she tried for a good hour.

"How could you say that?! They ruined my life! Especially that waste of space, Phantom!"

"He's not a waste of space! He's saved your life over and over again and if your life now is worse than your life with those fake A-listers, then all of this hate has made you lose your mind!"

Several other screams, some even laced with profanity, echoed throughout the park. Mothers clamped their hands over children's ears. The elderly gasped at the vehemence of the teenagers. Everyone else just steered clear of that area until they saw a highly ticked Valerie Grey stomping away from a lesser angry and slightly forlorn Danny Fenton. They stared until he glared at them and started walking in the direction of his house, hoping to have a quiet and uneventful night.

Unfortunately, Danny seemed to have jinxed himself. When he opened the door, instead of seeing the quiet and calm living room of Fenton Works' brownstone, he was greeted by the fierce glares of his parents.

Now what did I do wrong? He inwardly sighed, putting up a brave front as he tried to say, "Hi mo—"

"So we're not real scientists?!" Maddie screamed.

"Our theories are majorly flawed at best?!" Jack yelled.

"What right have you, young man, that you mock our livelihood?"

"Where do you get off talking to ghosts and interacting with them more than humans?!"

"No wonder Samantha and Tucker left you behind with your half-assed assumptions and your clouded judgment!"

"What is your problem, Daniel?"

He stood in the doorway, listening to his parents yell at him, curse at him, slander him, build up their aberrant credibility, and tear down his few remaining walls for what seemed like an eternity. The few thoughts cycling round and round in his head were, Why are they mad? Don't let them see me cry. Why would they call me that? Don't let them see me cry. Why can't they understand? Don't let me cry. Who would...what kind of parents?

Jack broke his derailed train of thought, saying, "And we thought you couldn't be a bigger failure than you already were."

"You are our greatest mistake," Maddie affirmed, turning around with Jack as they headed to the lab, ignoring their son who had turned fifty shades paler and whose eyes were glassier. Don't...

"Nice job, Danny," he heard his sister say behind him. Danny turned around, hoping to speak to Jazz but was shot down by her seething look. "If your goal was to make us the laughing stock of the town again, congratulations." Her day had been pissy after Danny told everyone in his science class his knowledge and she came to the conclusion that it was all Danny's fault. She had tried to be the good big sister and help her little bro through hard times but her patience was wearing too thin. "I really have done my best for the past year and I'm way past my limit. I'm rescinding my offer. Find your own solution." She harshly brushed past him and went deeper into the house.

Like a lost puppy, Danny stared at the entryway, his body disconnected to his nearly nonexistent thoughts.

Don'tcry.

His hands gripped his bag tighter, securing it, as his body turned to the stairs.

Don'tcrydon'tcry.

His vision wavered but his feet knew the path through the living room and up the stairs to his room.

Don'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcry.

His hand deftly opened and closed his bedroom door. His feet dragged him to the edge of the bed at which his hands relinquished his backpack to the floor.

Don'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcry.

His knees bent and gave out, letting his body collide with his soft comforter.

Don'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcrydon'tcry. This mantra followed him as he drifted into unconsciousness, his defiantly free-flowing tears soaking the cloth below him.

It wasn't until night that Danny opened his eyes to the blue ceiling above him, dark without the sun to light it. His watch read 9:45 PM. About 2 hours, he numbly thought, swinging his body off of his bed and getting his homework out in a feeble attempt of salvaging any brain power for the night.

For fifteen minutes, he dumbly stared at the math worksheet in his lap seriously wondering when he would actually be using these graphing techniques after school. Danny was about to give up when a familiar chill ran down his spine. He disregarded it because his window was open, the light blue curtain flowing—no, there was no breeze and his window was closed shut...and latched.

Eyebrow raised questioningly, he placed his homework carefully back into his backpack and stood to check the window's integrity. Satisfied after feeling the edges and finding no cracks for wind to blow through, he turned back around to go to sleep. He couldn't react fast enough when his vision was caught by red.

Bright, blood red. Red—

A/N:

And there you have it! Spring Break starts after my next midterm ends tomorrow. So, I'll be working extra hard to pump out the next few chapters of this and the other fics! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Replies to Reviews:

Good With of Babble: OH. MY. GLOB. Let those theories grow! And you're close...very close to the direction I want this story to take...but not quite there. I guess you'll just have to read to find out! And I am highly awaiting this fic of yours! And I seriously hate Danny's treatment from his parents and his so-called friends. But the story has to progress somehow!

Ninuhuju: Neither have mine. And, being in college, I know it's hard to keep close relationships long distance. Not seeing some of my friends everyday almost makes me put them in the back of my mind. But you don't have to let this happen to you~~Email! Text! Tweet! Facebook! Instagram! Snap them! And to answer any questions you may be wondering about...Vlad is one major loopy dude. Not M (XXX) rated loopy but R maybe torture rated loopy...depends if my stomach can handle me writing it. SPOILERS!

Crimson Leo: Thanks so much! And Night loves it when people agree with her...it feeds her ego...:P

UltimateTouken: Tha-that did sound wrong. But don't worry...no PompousPep here nor BadgerCereal. And oh god yes; the snap will be coming and. It. Will. Be. GLORIOUS! And I never understood Lancer's role in the show. First he's berating Danny unfairly (not even the admonishing you to learn from your mistakes). Then he gives Danny second chances. And then he's gleefully giving Danny totally undeserved detentions! But Danny's a tough nut to crack. He won't go down easily.

Expergiscimini: I try~~I try ^v^

Poohbearmorris: Well...He's planning to turn Danny into a cat...and then Fruit Loops...and then a badger! *crickets* No? Okay *sigh*. I guess you're just going to have to find out! And here's the "red" cliffhanger again! It'll happen a lot...A. Lot.

ColorlessRainbow42: PM I shall! And update I did! Cool? As a kumquat! (I don't like cucumbers that much...but pickles are a personal fave!) I love ponies and waffles! Wouldn't be fun to lead a mini-army of ponies through a main thoroughfare in a town while eating and offering waffles to the confused populous?

Guest of Honor (1): I understand and sorry for making you cry! But the feels needed to be felt! I hope I didn't make you wait too long for this update. The next'll come shortly. I'm almost halfway done!

Guest of Honor (2): Not suicide...never that. I don't do character death and suicide's a touchy subject. But Val'll come around in the end...eventually...maybe years in the future.

Totalfangirl01: Aliens...Revenge...Hamburgers? Duuuuuude. Put the brownies down! And yes...only a Fruitloop! Here you are (chapter-wise...not you being a Fruitloop)! ;P

bibbledoo: Sorry for the wait :( . But, as you command!

Karyn Phantom: Oh, God. Night loves you so much. You two are scary alike *shudder*. Secretly, I will completely endorse any and all side Sam, Tuck, Jack, Maddie, and Vlad murders...I hate them all in this story. And can I have some popcorn too while we watch?

Funkatron: Here. You. Go. And to answer your assumptions in order: maybe, not really, kind of, and yes, it's completely devious! And definitely! For most of the series over half of the town (dipsticks!) hated Phantom! They called him Inviso-Bill...that's not a name you call someone you like.

Thanks soooooooooo much for all that took the risk and trusted me by following and those super special people who favorited! I'll be updating around twice a month and I'm almost halfway down with the next chapter and have started on the other stories. So...stay tuned and I'll be right back!

This is JennaUtena signing off! Deuces!