Fang: I'm sorry it's taking so long, I'm fighting writer's block. *runs away and hides*

Velya: Please tell me if you see my writer, I've got to get her back for waking me so rudely. Since she seems incapable of doing it, I'll do the disclaimer... ShadowedFang and her splinter personalities do not own Danny Phantom or affiliated characters.

Maddie

Guilt. It claws at my chest relentlessly. My own son, gone, hurt, and at mine and Jack's hands no less. Two years it's been going on, according to his friends. My own daughter won't even look at me, much less talk to me. I slouch against the table to lower my chin to my crossed arms and stare sadly at the letter that we found when we returned from Wisconsin. Written in a fluid calligraphy on elegant stationary, it's obvious who it's from even though there was no name on it. The message is deceptively simple, though cryptic. The meaning is clear yet ambiguous at the same time.

Price was demanded, and Price was paid, for Daniel's sake I consider us even… for now.

When we came home the house was filled with smoke and the lab was completely destroyed, with only a dark hole and wreckage where the portal once resided. What remained of the computer banks were painstakingly wiped clean and filled with a virulent virus that foiled any attempts to retrieve the backup information. All of our work, the inventions, the portal, and all of our data are gone. And yet, the pain of losing my work cannot compare to the pain of losing my son.

My daughter comes down the stairs and leans against the doorway, watching me with a faraway and calculating look in her eyes. In losing my son I have also lost my daughter. She turns away and goes out the front door without a word, making another slice of pain go through my chest. She's simply gone cold towards us, and nothing I say or do will fix it. My husband is down in the lab amongst the shattered wreckage of our career, brooding in his own way.

The house is so silent now; usually it's filled with the chatter of Danny and his friends, as well as random explosions from the lab or kitchen. Why did things go so wrong? Why did Jack and I not stop and consider the facts rather than going with our assumptions? We were so eager to be proved right and develop new theories that we lost sight of what was important.

High-pitched maniacal laughter and explosions erupted outside. I tried, but I couldn't muster up enough will or enthusiasm to move. The laughter ended in a high shriek, as the distinctive sound of a ghost thermos firing up indicated the end of a fight. Depression's dark shroud around me muffles whatever semblance of care I might still be capable of. Amity doesn't really need us; there are other, more competent hunters.

Jazz

I finish helping Sam bring down yet another ghost with Tucker running tracking and technical support. The well oiled team, while missing a vital member, still works as it always did. An unspoken agreement with the Red Huntress helps a great deal. We occasionally cross paths in fighting the invasion of ghosts and provide mutual support to each other. My muscles burn and a bone-deep weariness pervades my body. Regardless, I follow Tucker's directions to the next disturbance and the process begins again.

Yet… a fierce and protective happiness burns through me despite the situation. Danny is alive, and is going to be alright. I don't trust Vlad for good reasons, but he wasn't lying about wanting what is best for my brother. That man is manipulative, vindictive, and entirely obsessive, but he was telling the truth. I'm still not certain that staying with Vlad is what is best for Danny, but at this point it's a better option than staying with our parents.

I thought at first that the situation could be salvaged, that perhaps I could pull together the shattered remnants of the family… That hope has been lost now. This situation has brought home all of the doubts that I ever felt about my parent's obsessions. Regardless of who it is, performing a vivisection on anything, animal, ghost, or human is wrong. I have a sinking suspicion that if it weren't Danny that they had under their knife, they wouldn't even regret it.

The snarling of a ghost tiger forcibly brings my mind back into the present, and I throw myself into battle with an equally savage expression of rage, confident in my own abilities and gothic girl beside me.

Sam

In the past three years, Danny, Tuck, and I have been inseparable. Now, in the midst of pitched battle with yet another ghost, I feel that loss more keenly than ever. It's not just the comforting presence of his power against the hostility of our opponents. It's not just the humor he brings into the most dangerous of situations. I'm not quite sure what it is, but it left a hole behind it.

A clawed paw swipes through the space I had just occupied, and I take advantage when Jazz blasts the ghost. With a flash of blue-white light another ghost gets sucked into the thermos. It's odd. We've been seeing more than the usual number of animal ghosts, but the normal rogue's gallery has been absent for some reason.

Perhaps Vlad has something to do with it, usually when something more odd than normal happens he's at the center of it. While he's a manipulative fruitloop, he has Danny's best interests at heart for the moment. I swear though, if he hurts Danny, what the Fentons did to him will look tame.

Tucker

I sigh as I lean back in my chair and rub my eyes. We've been at it for about three hours now. I shouldn't be cooped up here in my room. I should be out there with the rest of the team, running around and pretending to be a lot more winded than I really am to get Sam and Danny to laugh at me. I put my hands back on the keyboard. My parents would flip if they knew just how much equipment I have up here, about three quarters of it I built myself from salvaged materials.

Skulker has paid several times over for my stolen PDA, may she rest in peace. The sensor arrays and electronics from his many destroyed suits make it possible for me to get energy readings from all across Amity Park and a significant way beyond. The rest of the parts for my custom equipment has come from the various electronics that I've broken and subsequently pulled apart over the years. After one more scan I activate my speaker and send my teammates the good news that it was clear for now. I know better than anyone that the situation won't last, but we won't be able to do much more without rest. The thought causes me to sigh deeply; Danny often went without rest to make sure that everyone was safe. As annoyed and jealous as I often was with him, I always appreciated that fact. I think he inspired all of us to work harder, and generally to be better people. Most of the time he was oblivious to the fact, but there it is anyway.

The last three years have been tough, and the most recent events have been a tragedy, but I know if anyone can survive and thrive despite the circumstances, it's Danny.

Velya: Please reveiw, your comments help me greatly.