AUTHOR'S NOTE:
Short chapter before I update the next two chapters (Which are actually both connected, full of angst, have an original premise that I may use for a full-length fic, involve future!Vlad, and are both much longer than this one).
In response to Bree's review:
Please make an account if you don't already have one, that way I can respond to you via PM. Your review was very encouraging, and I'm glad you enjoyed the last three chapters, and don't worry, there's a lot more where they came from, as this is easily my favorite story arc from the series.
And review, people! They make me happier and more eager to write.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Danny Phantom, but strongly wish that I did; it would have been a whole lot darker if I did own it, that's for sure.
WARNINGS: Mild language.
She is hunting, always hunting.
Constantly moving, endlessly on the prowl, she seeks retribution.
And every day she crawls closer to that line that must eventually be crossed, the inevitable moment where one of them must die so that the other can live out the remainder of their lives.
Who knows, she wonders halfheartedly, perhaps both of them will go out together, two self-made monsters created for the same purpose; to destroy.
It feels as if she's had her eyes wide open for the last fifteen years, never sleeping, always hunting for that heartbreaking, elusive prey.
She is so damn tired; tired of fighting, tired of killing...
Ultimately, she is tired of living in a future where there is only one destiny that lies ahead, one that ends in bleeding wounds and dying lovers.
But tonight, she puts the gun away, takes off the helmet, and sits slumped against the alleyway wall that has slowly become her home. She closes her eyes, and sleeps for the first time in what seems like a century.
But it will only be a for a few short minutes, she understands this well enough.
After all, there is no reprieve for those who are doomed to hunt the very thing that makes their heart keep on beating.
P.S.
I don't remember how long in the future Dark Dan and Valerie's future takes place, so I just said around fifteen years for this, because Dan looks about thirty-ish to me, so it just made sense at the time I was writing this. Did the show ever really say? I watched TUE a while back, but I can't recall any specifics, except for that future!Vlad looks like a hobo. So if any of you know, feel more than free to correct me, so I can change this.