Hello everyone! I'm back with another one-shot! :D This one is the alternate timeline from The Ultimate Enemy, in preparation for my chapter coming up soon in If Vlad Wasn't A Fruitloop.

Thanks to these people for the follows and favorites: NicNacK4U, Kimera20, CalypsoTheL0ver, Mistress Soul, KsfanKs, Armorheart, KakkoiiBaka, Soelle, DannyPhantomFandom, DB-KT, EmeraldTooth, Kaseytrue, Mistress1296, and Sugar500!

And thank you to those who left reviews: Invader Johnny, Sockenmonster01, DannyPhantomFandom, Guest, Brenne, Destinydragon, Kimera20, Guest, and AndiKaneUnderwood. You all probably don't remember what you had said after almost 8 months, so I won't bother replying. xD I read every review and I appreciate all of the support! Thank you so much! :D

There will be more chapters coming soon. Two more are in the works right now and I have many more ideas for the future! Now let's get to the chapter!

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters or the general plot in this chapter, as they belong to Butch Hartman.

TRIGGER WARNING: A bit of depression in this one, as well as general angst. It's not too bad, as I generally stay family friendly. xD

Silhouette

Flames shot up from the rubble, illuminating the dusky sky. Sirens could be heard from arriving fire trucks and emergency vehicles, and various news crews broadcasted the incredible damage from afar. Distressed citizens screamed and yelled and cried, the policemen holding them back from the destruction.

Just minutes before, it had been peaceful in the small town of Amity Park. School had recently gotten out, and almost all of the students were very relieved that the big C.A.T. test was finally over. To top it all off, a few ghosts appeared in the town and were fought off as usual. It was very much a normal day in the ghost capital of the world.

But so quickly, fate had been twisted and a tragedy had occurred. An overheated vat of signature sauce from the local burger joint, the Nasty Burger, had violently exploded before everyone could be evacuated from the restaurant.

A raven-haired boy had fallen in front of the rubble, ash and dirt staining his hands and clothes. Stormy blue eyes brokenly watched the scene, not once blinking as the fire roared on.

An older man crouched behind, silently comforting the teenager and wearing the same expression of hopelessness.

"You cheated on the test?!"

The lack of response and downcast gaze was a sufficient enough response.

Vlad was speechless. He remembered the C.A.T. test from his own high school some 30 years before, and he had not forgotten how important the particular exam was. Almost all colleges needed to receive a score in order to even consider admitting the student.

And apparently, the half-ghost teenager in front of him had gotten the answers somehow and knowingly used them to cheat.

The two halfas were seated in the main room in Vlad's mansion, the plasma TV blaring in the background. The younger had rushed straight there in an effort to avoid his parents and teacher while they had a conference discussing his behavior.

Danny sighed and buried his face in his hands. "I-I know... I knew it was wrong but I just couldn't stop myself... and now I'm in so much trouble, with the school, with my parents..." he took a shaky breath, "It was seriously a stupid decision. Please... what should I do? How can I fix this?"

The older halfa placed a gentle hand on the boy's shoulder. "Well, what's done is done. There's no changing it. But the best thing you can do is live up to it and acknowledge that you made a mistake."

Danny nodded, looking to the floor. "All right, thanks for the advice." He blew out a breath of air. "I just wish there was a way for me to undo this whole day, and return the stupid test answers."

"How did you even acquire them anyway?" Vlad questioned, knowing that the boy didn't actually steal them with a bad intention.

"I flew intangibly through Lancer's briefcase and took the envelope along with me somehow." He explained sadly. "Sam and Tuck tried to tell me the consequences of keeping them but I didn't listen. And now I'm in this mess..."

Vlad hmmed sympathetically, but a possible response was lost when an alert sounded from the TV.

"Breaking News: disaster hit Amity Park just minutes ago when the restaurant known as the Nasty Burger went up in flames, for reasons still being investigated. Few were safely evacuated and many perished in this catastrophe."

The news reporter droned on, giving more information and showing video footage of the demolished building.

Danny's breath caught in his throat, shock and horror the only things he could feel.

Mr. Lancer. His parents. His sister. His best friends.

They were all at the Nasty Burger.

"No..." He whispered, silently pleading for himself to be wrong. The conference could be over by this time, right? There could have been a mistake and it was postponed. There could have been a change of meeting place.

Deep in his heart, he doubted every explanation he thought up.

His eyes flickered over to see a shocked Vlad, peering at Danny in concern and a slight bit of panic.

"No!" The teenager said louder, tears breaking from his eyes as he jumped up off the couch.

In a powerful flash of green light, Danny found himself sinking to his knees in front of the burning building, close enough to feel the heat of the raging fire, rubble the only thing left of the restaurant.

It was all his fault.

Vlad was left in shock at the disappearance of his student in such a manner. Had the boy just... teleported? In human form?

He had a feeling of where to go, and only seconds later the room was left empty after a pink swirl of light.

After materializing in front of the fire, a familiar form was collapsed in front of him, tears mixing with the dirt.

They sat there for hours. No one bothered to tell them to move, not even as the fire was put out and the rubble was moved.

The orange sky was slowly darkening into night. Vlad cautiously looked over to the boy sitting next to him, who didn't react in the slightest.

"Danny...?"

No response.

The boy had just suffered through the loss of his family, friends and teacher at the same time. Vlad sighed dejectedly, not knowing how to handle the situation.

He looked over again to see that the raven-haired teenager had closed his eyes, leaning against the older half-ghost beside him.

Vlad watched for a few seconds before slowly changing position to cradle the boy against his chest.

No one was in sight, so the man allowed the pitch-black hoops to change him into his ghost form. He gently took off into the sky and teleported back to his mansion, praying it wouldn't disturb the sleeping boy in his arms.

Before long, Danny had been placed in the most comfortable bed to sleep. Vlad sat down in a nearby armchair and prepared to watch his student for the night.

It was the longest night of his life.

Danny Fenton breathed a contented sigh as he relaxed under his warm blankets. He didn't want to wake up yet; his alarm hadn't even gone off, and that meant it was too early.

He turned his head, and groaned as bright light seeped in under his eyelids. He blinked his eyes open to see a large window, the sun shining through. It was late morning already.

He shot up in bed and looked around. It wasn't his room.

Where was he?

After a few dazed seconds, he recognized the room. He was in Vlad's mansion. But he didn't remember staying the night there...

He slowly got out of bed and stretched. He had on his normal clothes, but they were filthy.

Danny frowned; what had happened?

He exited the room and went down the main stairway. The smell of eggs and sausage permeated the air.

He saw Vlad sitting in his armchair and reading a book. The man looked up at the movement and shot the boy a small smile.

"Hello Daniel. Are you feeling better?" The man asked tentatively, watching cautiously for a reaction of some sort.

"Uh, I guess." Danny answered, still a bit confused. "What happened? Why did I stay the night here?"

The man frowned and stood up from the chair, walking over to stand in front of the boy. "You don't remember?"

"Remember what...?" the boy began to ask when he froze. The scenes of destruction came back to his mind, as well as the grief and sorrow and shock from the previous day.

All at once, he felt tears building up in his eyes and sobs threatening to come out. His family and friends and teacher... were all dead.

Because of him.

Shaking, he buried his face in the billionaire's suit, wetting it with tears. He felt arms wrap around him as he began to sob uncontrollably.

He didn't want to act like this. But what mattered anymore, when almost everyone who loved him was gone?

He felt himself being led further into the room and lowered onto a soft couch, still wrapped in Vlad's arms.

"I'm so sorry." He heard the man whisper in his ear and hold him tighter. The raven-haired boy turned his head to the side so he could breathe. But a nagging feeling told him he didn't deserve it.

What kind of hero was he? He couldn't even save his own friends and family from destruction. In fact, he directly caused their deaths.

He didn't deserve to live, not if his parents and friends were gone because of his rash actions.

For what felt like hours, the two sat there on the couch in the silent house. Danny's hands still shook from the terrible memories he remembered, and never-ending tears soaked the suit of the man beside him.

"It's all my fault." The boy's voice shook with emotion.

"No it's not." Vlad said firmly. "There was no way of knowing that this could happen. It shouldn't have happened. It's not your fault Danny. I promise you."

But what good were promises? Danny Phantom had promised to protect his friends, his family, his town.

Promises were as easily broken as they were made.

"Please, Daniel, you have to eat."

"I'm not hungry"

"You have to be hungry, you're a growing teenage boy!" Vlad attempted to joke.

"I'm not hungry."

The man sighed dejectedly. It was a few days after the incident, and with each passing day the younger halfa's depressed state seemed to get even worse.

"You're as skinny as a twig. What do I have to do to get you to eat something?"

Danny shrugged, turning away from the table full of various food dishes.

"I don't deserve to eat."

"Of course you do!" Vlad said softly, sitting down beside the boy. "Stop talking nonsense and please eat something!"

Danny emotionlessly shook his head no.

"For me?"

The boy looked up sadly before sighing in defeat. "All right."

Soon the memorial service happened, and then the statues to remember those lost in the incident were put up. Days, then weeks went by, and soon a full month had passed.

Danny's condition did not improve, in fact it seemed to worsen as time went on. He refused to "go ghost" ever again, and he borderline stopped eating. Vlad got more and more worried with each passing day. He cared about the boy as family and hoped to get him out of his funk.

Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be working.

The man even worried that the boy would try to hurt himself or even worse. Every moment he watched over the younger half-ghost like a mother hen. He always made sure not to leave the boy alone for long.

He felt guilty for thinking that way, that he couldn't trust the boy to be alone for a substantial length of time, but he may have been right to be concerned.

A decade passed rather quickly for Vlad.

He had been turned from a relatively happy half-ghost to a lonely old hermit that was fully human, reduced to cowering in a cave just outside the Wisconsin border.

The day still haunted him. It was the day that Danny had asked, no, begged, pleaded for his human and ghost half to be ripped apart.

Vlad tried to explain that "no, it won't help you feel better, Danny," but his efforts were in vain.

Phantom had gone insane, like a lot of ghosts when their obsessions were lost. Vlad still remembered the gleeful screaming and cackling from the white-haired ghost.

It hadn't been long before Phantom had lashed back out, stealing the Gauntlets and giving the same fate to Masters and Plasmius. It was excruciating, the man remembered, and very different to be completely human again, with no powers or supernatural senses.

Phantom, being in the crazed state he was in, overshadowed Plasmius, who was also not in the best state because of the stressful times of trying to care for Danny, and the outcome had been horrifying. The two ghosts had somehow fused, creating one evil and insane ghost.

Vlad Masters still felt deep emotional pain from losing Fenton, the human half of Danny, because of Phantom's raging.

In the near decade it had been since then, the world had been ravaged by "Dark Dan" as many called him. Amity Park was one of the few cities left standing and protected from the powerful ghost.

So Vlad hid out in his new cave, the mansion abandoned and possibly even destroyed by then, but he was safe from the destruction of Dan for the time being. But he was wasting away on his own again, just like he had been doing after his accident in college.

But deep inside, he had a feeling that somehow, things weren't meant to be like they were, and he even sometimes wished that the Ghost of Time would intervene and the timeline would be restored to what it should have been.

An Ancient interfering with the lives of normal humans and ghosts? Impossible, and crazy to even consider.

But one can never be too sure.

I'm a silhouette, asking every now and then,

"Is it over yet? Will I ever feel again?"

I'm a silhouette, chasing rainbows on my own

But the more I try to move on, the more I feel alone

So I watch the summer stars to lead me home.

The song is Silhouette by Owl City. I don't own the lyrics.

Ahhh the angst... Don't worry, this leads up to the upcoming chapter in my main story, If Vlad Wasn't A Fruitloop, so it will definitely turn out better, as you know from TUE.

Also, I have a DeviantArt account, PhantomS14, where I recently made a comic about a scene in IVWAF! I will be making more in the future, from other scenes I like from both this story and that one. So feel free to check them out!

Thanks so much for reading and look out for more chapters, coming up soon! :)