A/N: There aren't any names in here intentionally. It's up to the reader to decipher who's who (though it shouldn't be too hard XD.) I'm sure this scene has already been recreated, but I'm not one for fic research. :s

Number one in the one shot collection. My first tackling of some horror.. uh, yeah, you can tell it's my first. x3 Expanded off of "The Ultimate Enemy", in summary this is the scene of Dan Phantom's first moments as a single entity. It isn't one of my favorite scenes, but the fact that Vlad refused to tell Danny what happened to his human half has always intrigued me. I may go further on this and do a couple more glimpses into Dan's younger years and his "weaker" moments, but we'll see. :3

Hope you enjoy the madness! *evil cackle*

Ounce of My Humanity

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My emergence wasn't a pleasant one. I look back on it as one of the worst moments I was conscious of as a single entity. Not a point in time I like to dwell on, but there's not much else to think about but that and my inevitable revenge. I know I'll drive whatever sanity I have left out the top of this damned prison if I keep talking to myself in such a way.

Oh sure. I could think about all the fantastic times I terrorized humanity and the Ghost Zone. Though that simply circles back to why I'm here and what I want to do to who trapped me...

In genesis, there was nothing. My host and overshadow fused as any other lower powered ghosts would. It was the mutual anger that made both simply... snap.

My very first memory as a single being was white hot pain. And nothing but it. I felt my skull cracking, bones rearranging under the pressure of two minds becoming one. Scalding energy shot through my eyes, belying the turmoil inside. There was nothing to do but scream. It wasn't enough. No one could answer my cry for deliverance from that horrible agony called birth.

When the unpleasant experience finally lessened, I began to sense that I was and wasn't either of those minds anymore. The last passing thoughts of both were muddled together, mixing and running into each other. I shook my head away from the confusion, not wanting to sift through two lifetimes of memories.

I heard something clatter before I opened my eyes. Looking over the room I was in, the first living thing I saw was myself. Or... part of myself. It was the humanity I had left behind.

What happened next was nearly as disturbing as my birth. I was afraid. I was afraid of that little thing cowering in front of me. I'm not sure if it was the realization that my emotions were still very much present or the truth that part of me remained from my family's death. My human half, my guilt, and every heartbreaking emotion was still there. Of course, I was not about to let something like that continue on.

My fear led to anger, eventually morphing into rage. A near reptilian snarl I didn't know I was capable of escaped my mouth. My human half shook with fear.

Lunging forward, I was hit with the fact that I didn't really know how I was going to kill my human half. I'd never killed anything before. Memories and experiences from my host mind came to the surface. He hadn't done it very often, yet when he had to, my host mind had destroyed ghosts and greatly harmed humans. Strangely, he hadn't truly murdered anyone though. But the small experiences were enough to glean off of. I only needed to take it a step further.

Aiming for his throat, I missed when my humanity cringed out of the way, but not quick enough. I ended up grabbing his arm; and after getting a better grip, I stopped his squirming by dislocating his shoulder. There was a satisfying crunch of bone under my hand. I hadn't been able to do that in either of my lifetimes.

He cried out as expected, falling to the floor and clutching his misshapen arm. Tears fell down his face and he sobbed pitifully. Seeing him in pain wasn't enough for me. I wanted suffering. I wanted to make him pay.

Picking him up by the throat, I raised his face to my own. He was barely able to stay awake, the effect of his broken, dislocated arm bringing him close to unconsciousness. I gave him a good shake, wanting him to be aware of what would happen to him next. Eyes slightly unfocused, he managed to reach up with his good hand and futilely try to pry my grip off his neck.

I looked straight into his eyes as I turned my other forearm intangible. Without any hesitation, I reached into his chest and found his heart. Instead of solidifying my hand and ripping it clean out of his ribcage, I decided this deserved a little more creativity. Powering up a little ectoplasm, I encircled his heart with it. It beat wildly out of control, forcing him to hyperventilate. He became more coherent, but it seemed his body couldn't process the excess of blood traveling through it. A steady trickle of crimson made its way out of his nose, falling down his face and dropping on my arm. I increased the intensity of energy around his heart slowly, forcing him to stay alive as long as possible.

A voice broke the moment between me and my prey. It was my host mind's human half on the other side of the room. I looked at him sharply. How dare he interrupt this?

As soon as my gaze found him, he shrunk back quickly, hitting the wall behind him. He wasn't speaking very clearly, but most of what I heard was "Stop this, please!" repeated a few times.

Deciding to ignore him for the time being, I turned back to my imminent task. My true human half was struggling, attached internally to the very thing trying to kill him. The thought that I was very much like a poison inside him thrilled me. And like a poison, I only kept bringing him closer and closer to death.

My intensity of power increased again. Now being chocked by his own blood, my human half couldn't scream or breathe. Convulsing a few times, his body was more than ready to give up. I wouldn't let it. Manipulating my energy, I forced his heart to continue beating despite the lack of oxygen. To keep him conscious.

My host human shouted at me, pleading for me to stop. I paid him no heed.

My human half's eyes were now bloodshot and absolutely wracked with pain. I knew he was beyond intelligible thought now, but I could still see he wanted it to end.

In my last act of torture, I did what I had been waiting to do for so long. I solidified my hand and ripped the seat of our mutual pain clean out. He immediately stopped convulsing and slacked in my grasp. An eternally contorted look was etched on his face.

My very first kill. It's strange when I look at the after effects of it. I assumed I would eventually feel bad. But it fueled me. I felt whatever humanity was left in me being pushed away. The guilt and fear were lessened.

And it didn't stop there. There was an unnatural pleasure that came with it. My God, it felt good... it left me wanting more. The experience of a life being taken by my very hand was intoxicating.

Throwing the body of my human self behind me, I turned to see it impact on the wall and land on my host half. He pushed the body off of him then stared in horror at the gruesome sight.

Not particularly caring why the man was so devastated by his once enemy's death, I got his attention and summoned a ball of energy to my bloodied hand.

My host flinched at the sound of my voice and pure terror riddled his face. He had no way to defend himself, probably thinking I was going to do the same thing to him.

I had no such plans. I knew simply continuing to exist was torture enough for him, especially now that everything he'd lived for was gone. But being the wonderfully sadistic creature that I am, I wouldn't let him get out of this without a few internal injuries at least. I created a ball of energy, concentrating it until green became white and set it off. While intended to destroy the house we were in, it would be a sheer miracle if my host escaped it unharmed.

Blasting out of the explosion, I felt a sense of massive accomplishment. Only a few minutes of being aware of myself and I'd already accomplished so much. Now that my past had been taken care of, I couldn't wait to unleash my new powers on the unsuspecting world.

As I soared up into the night sky, I started a manic bout of laughing and couldn't stop...