Disclaimer: I do not own Danny Phantom. Butch Hartman does. I would never dream of making money off his work, this is but one fanatic's homage. So please don't sic the rabid lawyer hordes upon me, there's not much for them to sue out of me.

Author's Note: I swear, this chapter was probably the most difficult to write of any of them so far. Of course, I'm sure listening to really angsty Celtic music probably didn't help fend off the depression. But still. I needed lots of kleenex by the time I finished writing this chapter. Comments are as always appreciated.

Chapter 6: The Castle's Keeper

"And if you come, when all the flowers are dying

And I am dead, as dead I well may be

You'll come and find the place where I am lying

And kneel and say an "Ave" there for me."

-"Danny Boy"

The first day after the successful fight was spent largely in shock, the entire city gripped in a quiet disbelief, going through the empty motions of daily life. I spent the better part of that day in the hospital again, being tended for exhaustion, and internal bleeding I'm told. Rescue crews began the long process of looking for survivors, or more accurately, collecting the corpses. I'm glad I didn't see what little was left of the people who were killed in our last-ditch attempt to rid ourselves of the ghost- the descriptions I heard alone made me lose my lunch. All they ever managed to find of Dash was a small mass of unrecognizable ash and goo.

The cleanup efforts would ultimately take months, but I wasn't involved in that part of the aftermath. Once I was recovered enough from the battle to get out of bed, I was suddenly a celebrity, the hunter girl that saved Amity Park. I meekly brushed off the praise, tried to shift it to the brave people who had helped me fight and borne the brunt of the casualties, with limited success. There was only one thing I took advantage of my newfound fame for- guiding the town's decisions regarding future ghost attacks. As the resident expert in town, I was able to convince the mayor and most of the people that Danny would be back and that our victory was only temporary. After all, we were barely able to drive him away this time, and I knew he would only grow stronger. We had to be ready, or we wouldn't even have that slim chance at stopping him when he returned.

At my recommendation, FentonWorks was turned truly into a ghost-hunting command center, with my father and I in charge of it. It was depressing and humbling to know that the town so looked up to me to put me, then a fourteen year old girl, in charge of such a vital and dangerous task. Under my direction, Axion Labs was permitted to raid the basement lab for technologies to reverse-engineer. If I was in charge of a special anti-ghost task force, we needed proper equipment, and I hadn't heard from Mr. Masters in some time, so I couldn't simply ask him for lots more weapons. To be honest, I desperately wished to get ahold of the billionaire, and find out more from him about ghosts and ghost-hunting in general, since he seemed extremely knowledgeable on the subject. But I couldn't get through on the phone, and I had to help get the defense force set up, so I couldn't just pop off for a week to make the trip to Wisconsin.

I spent a great deal of that year training the recruits. I was again surprised to find many of the survivors from the battle signing on. With the Fenton Portal no longer working, things were actually very quiet insofar as the ghosts went, which was fine with me. The last thing I wanted were a bunch of ghosts coming through and attacking before the Ghost Patrol was ready.

When I wasn't training the recruits, I was taking care of my dad. It took him a long while to adjust to his handicap, and we would spend hours at length in the Fentons' lab discussing what had happened to us, to Danny, to everyone. Thankfully, he agreed that we should keep Danny's secret from the public- it seemed spiteful to ruin the reputation of Danny Phantom just because he had metamorphosed into a creature straight out of nightmare. And it would have made things incredibly difficult- people would be angry, or would have thought we were nuts. Looking back, those days were surprisingly pleasant, a bond had formed between my father and I, we had a greater understanding than any time before. I guess near-death experiences can have that effect on the survivors.

Still, the burden of leadership weighed heavy on me. My dad helped where he could, eventually taking over command of the patrol, but it was still difficult. I'd been raised onto a pedestal of sorts, but felt entirely unworthy of all the praise. After all, we never would have had to drive that demon into the Ghost Zone if I had kept my word to Danny and not gone nuts when he revealed his secret to me. But of course I couldn't tell anyone that without revealing that secret, which I absolutely refused to do.

That first year passed, the clumsy students and survivors becoming increasingly capable, almost resembling a proper paramilitary force after some eighteen months of practice. Axion was having some trouble in mass-producing the weapons and equipment, but things were proceeding well enough that I finally felt I could take off and get away from the adoration and get the ghost hunting advice I felt I direly needed.

"Be careful, sweetie." My dad gave me a tight hug. "I'll take care of things here."

He stepped back as I hopped onto my sled, pulling my jacket tight around me. It would be a long trip, even by flying to Wisconsin, and it would probably be cold this time of year. "I will. You guys call me if anything happens."

I waved to people I saw below as I took off, left eventually with only my thoughts and the wilderness for company. Without my old suit though, my hair was left whipping around wildly despite my tying it back for the trip. I considered having it cut to be more manageable, since my priorities had shifted dramatically in the past year. Ghost hunting was no longer my hobby, a fringe job while I tried to maintain my social life and work toward college. It had become my career, whether I wanted it to be or not.

I was surprised to see signs of destruction along my route- truck stops blasted to their foundations, roads pocked with craters, great grey swatches of torn-up farmland. It was eerily reminiscent of the destroyed parts of Amity Park. Had Danny come this way, I wondered? The damage didn't look recent at least, otherwise I would have been seriously worried that he was on the loose again. If all this was old damage... just where had Danny gone when he first ran away? I had a bad feeling as the random destruction continued to follow the route I was flying- a straight shot from Amity Park to Madison, Wisconsin.

My sinking feeling hit an all-new low when I got within sight of Mr. Masters' estate. I hadn't been given his address, but his castle-like estate had been featured in magazines and on shows like "Lifestyles of the Filthy Stinking Rich", so it wasn't exactly difficult to find. It wasn't, but not for the reasons you would think. I expected to see the photogenic castle from some distance off by air.

I found instead a blasted out ruin, grey in the morning sunlight, the far end of a line of destruction that began in Amity Park. Weeds had begun to overtake what was left of the structure, what had to have been well-kept gardens already overtaken by the wilderness.

"What on earth happened here-?" I asked the cool morning air as I landed outside the ruin, both awed by the impressive size of the place, and concerned by its ruined state. Small wonder I hadn't heard anything from Mr. Masters in over a year, I had no way to know then if he was even alive.

"Miss Valerie Grey?" A familiar voice inquired, sounding surprised and weary. "What brings you here to my... Oh."

I spun around to confront the voice, and gasped at what I saw. Vlad Masters was alive alright, but it looked almost as if the man had aged a decade in just over a year. His suit was worn out in places, his eyes had a hollow, weary look that reminded me disturbingly of Danny's expression the day I drove him away. "Mr. Masters? What happened here? What happened to you?"

He sighed heavily, glancing at the ruin around us, then he smiled without humor at me. "Yes, I suppose I owe you that much. Please, come in. I was frankly beginning to wonder if I would ever hear from you. I feared the worst, really." Vlad led me to a door into the ruin, hanging slightly askew off its hinges.

I followed him as he hobbled inside, using a simple wooden cane to help support his weight. The interior of the mansion was arguably worse than the exterior. Everything had a charred look to it, walls shattered, ceilings torn, furniture and decorations smashed to bits. It reminded me entirely too much of the wreckage I'd left behind in Amity Park.

"What happened here? I came to get advice and new equipment for ghost hunting, but..." I trailed off when the older man stopped and turned to face me.

"If you're here for that, then I imagine it's the same thing that's likely happened in Amity Park." Vlad's expression was ashamed. "I assume that Daniel returned to his home after he destroyed my castle?"

I was startled. "Wait, you know about Danny? And the part-ghost thing?"

He laughed then, a thin, humorless sound. "Yes, I probably know more about it than he ever did. Please, have a seat." He motioned to a battered but serviceable chair, easing his own thin frame into what was once probably a very comfortable upholstered lounge. "He told me about what happened, Valerie. That he revealed he was a hybrid to you, and that you took it rather badly."

"Danny came here?" I was surprised. I knew that the billionaire was friends with the Fentons, but I never realized how close they had to have been, if Danny had come to Vlad in the wake of the tragedy.

"Indeed. With his family and friends gone, and thinking you were determined to kill him, he came to me, as the only person left on the face of the planet that could even remotely understand him." Vlad explained, his expression downcast. "I took the boy in, of course. The least I could do to honor Maddie's memory was to take care of her son."

I frowned. "Wait, you knew Danny was the ghost-kid, but you still gave me weapons and encouraged me to go after him?"

"One of many mistakes I made." Vlad heaved a sigh, regarding an old photograph wistfully. "You see Valerie, young Daniel was not the only ghost hybrid, nor was he the first."

I narrowed my eyes warily. "Who was?"

Vlad smirked slightly at my wariness. "Unfortunately, I had the dubious honor of being the first hybrid accidentally created by one of Jack's devices."

"You WHAT!" I jumped to my feet, half expecting the man to change in front of me.

"Sit down, Valerie." Vlad didn't seem terribly surprised by my outburst. "Daniel and I were arch-rivals, you could say. Just two short years ago, I was plotting how to kill Jack for ruining my life, and stealing Maddie away for myself. As for young Daniel, I tried to either get out of my way, or to join my side." He looked over at me, his expression shamed. "To that end, I manipulated you and played off your hatred of ghosts to further my own ends."

I found myself angry now, but bit back the enraged response and a surprisingly strong desire to hit the billionaire. "So what'd you do to him when he came here?"

"I may have been the villain, Valerie, but even I'm not so cruel." Vlad rebuked my accusation. "The poor boy was terribly upset when he arrived. What more could I do to him? Jack was already dead, that was no longer something we could fight over, and we both grieved Maddie's death."

He loved Danny's mom, I realized, making a disgusted face at the thought. And he'd been out to kill Danny's dad for ruining his life... that was ironically familiar. I forced myself from those thoughts. "Well when he came back, he wasn't upset. He was on a rampage. What the heck happened?"

Vlad sighed again. "Daniel wanted to make the hurt go away, the boy was barely sane in his grief. He blamed himself for those deaths, you realize. He told me if he hadn't cheated on an exam, that no one would have been there when the Nasty Burger exploded."

I nodded slightly, still glaring. Danny had said it was his fault the day he revealed his secret to me.

"I had the thought then, though I regret it now. He wanted to be free of those awful human emotions, and I thought that perhaps I had a way to give him his wish." Vlad shook his head sadly. "If I could separate his ghost half out, then he no longer would feel he had to play the hero, perhaps it would lift his grief somewhat."

I cringed, the idea sounded painful. "How do you do something like that?"

Vlad found the scorched floor very interesting. "With some of my equipment. He was desperate to be free of the pain, Valerie, and he consented to my suggestion- I did not force the boy into it. So we went ahead with it, and I was successfully able to pull Daniel's ghost and human selves apart."

I cringed again, the thought of being ripped in half like that sounded terrible. "But what happened? What made him do all this?" I gestured at the ruin all around us.

Vlad shook his head slightly. "I made a dire mistake. Ghosts don't generally experience emotion the way the living do. They often fixate on a single thing, that they obsess over. Daniel's ghost self, freed of guilt and remorse, was extremely angry. Angry at himself for failing to save his friends and family, angry at me for all my schemes in the past..."

"Did you fight him?" I briefly wondered what Vlad must have looked like as a ghost.

"I didn't have the chance. I was knocked back into a wall before I could transform, and he took the special gloves I had used for the operation, the Ghost Gauntlets. Just as I'd done, he ripped my ghost half out as well." Vlad winced at the recollection. "Then he tried to overshadow my ghost self. That's when things went so horribly awry. After all, when you take two halves and put them together-"

"You get a whole." I finished for him, eyes wide with surprise. "So then... that monster isn't really Danny... that is a ghost... completely?"

Vlad shrugged. "If not completely, then very near to it. He screamed as my ghost half fused with his. Truly a terrifying sound, even I could only shudder in fear at the transformation."

I frowned, an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. "If that was Danny's ghost half... then what happened to his human half?" I had a terrible feeling that I already knew the answer to that question, but I had to know for certain.

Vlad cringed, clamping his eyes shut briefly against the memory. "It may be best if I show you." He got up and bade me follow him further into the ruined mansion. I followed, trying to hide my trepidation, already feeling the slight sting of tears pricking at my eyes. He led me to what might have once been a study, if the battered bookshelves were any indication, and showed me to a concealed passageway leading downward a ways before it opened on yet more of the ruin.

"This was my secret lab." Vlad explained, indicating the room, the trashed equipment, the ceiling of the underground chamber now blown wide open, revealing the cold blue sky overhead. "It was here that I attempted that operation. This very room was where that monster, as you so aptly put it, was created."

I looked around, disgusted and appalled. The room was literally a disaster area. "And Danny-?"

Vlad winced again and directed my gaze to the far wall of the chamber, sheltered from the elements slightly by an overhanging ledge formed of the ceiling. "That is where it ended." He stated lamely, his expression showing the memory of the horror he had witnessed. "I would like to say it was quick... but I don't wish to lie anymore. It was... truly awful, a brutal ending."

My gaze fell on a portion of the metal wall paneling, and I gasped, running over to study it, tears blurring my vision. I felt my stomach protest the sight as I traced one of the splashes of color with a fingertip, the tears falling unchecked as I pulled my hand back, my fingertip bringing several of the red-black flecks with it. Even after a year and a half of exposure to the elements, the wall was stained thick with the blackish-red substance. The blood. I'd known in my heart that one way or another, the Danny I had been so fond of was dead, but this... This was the proof, the irrevocable, final evidence that he was truly gone. I didn't want to believe it, staring at that wall, wondering just how terrible it was, to have painted the metal so heavily.

"No... Danny!" Grief I'd kept bottled up for the past year and a half found release at last as I fell to my hands and knees, whimpers escaping between rattling sobs, the sound of my cries echoing weakly through the ruined castle. "You can't be gone... Danny, I'm so sorry. I was so stupid! All because of me... you're... you're..." I couldn't bear to say it. Gone. Dead.

I felt Vlad's hand on my shoulder, the billionaire offering what little comfort he could as I bawled my eyes out. "He can't be gone! He can't! Danny, I'm so sorry, you didn't have to leave... not like this!"

Vlad had no words, he simply waited while I wailed my grief, mourning the death of my dear friend. My imagination conjured dozens of scenarios as to how Danny had died, each one more terrible than the last. It had to have been as Vlad said- brutal, to have painted that section of wall so thickly red. After several minutes that passed like an eternity, my sobbing faded to silence, my tears leaving a chaotic pattern of spots in the layer of dust covering the floor.

The billionaire broke the silence, helping me back to my feet and steadying me- my legs could barely hold me up, I was shivering so terribly. "Would you like to see him?" He offered quietly. "It isn't far, I'm sure you would like to give him a proper farewell."

I managed to nod slightly, wiping my eyes haphazardly on my sleeve. I was numb in a way, the enormity of what had happened was simply more than I could process all at once. In silence, Vlad turned and led the way outside. True to his word, the place wasn't far from the ruins, a few hundred feet away in the forest that surrounded the place, a small clearing with a large rock formation at one end. Sunlight poured into the clearing between the overhanging boughs, illuminating the grass, a scattering of wildflowers, and the rocks.

And the grave, a rough-hewn mound, carpeted now with fresh grass and bursts of tiny white and yellow flowers. Vlad stayed in the shade at the edge of the clearing, while I staggered forward slowly, eyes wide, wishing desperately to disbelieve what I was seeing. A pile of stones marked one end of the grave, a plain wooden cross rising from it. Tied at the junction of the wooden beams was a tattered white scrap of cloth sporting several deep red stains, the shredded ends flapping weakly in the light breeze. At the base of the cross was a slab of some sort of plastic, anchored to the stone, a slightly battered photograph protected by the clear resin. It was a picture of Danny, smiling happily with his friends and family, FentonWorks visible in the background, all of them without a care in the world, a moment of contentment frozen in time. This was it, the final resting place of Amity Park's resident hero; a quiet glade in the Wisconsin wilderness, far away from his friends and his family for eternity, all alone in a simple grave with none but a battered old man to tend it.

I knelt next to the earthen mound, staring quietly at the simple monument. I thought for certain I would break down in tears again, but it seemed I was beyond tears then, held steady by the sort of quiet shock that follows on the heels of hysterical grief. The sun slowly crept across the sky, gradually marking the passing of hours, but I couldn't bring myself to move from Danny's side, not yet. Vlad murmured he would be waiting in the mansion, quietly slipping away to leave me alone with my friend.

"I'm so sorry, Danny." I whispered to the breeze, feeling new tears coming at last. Not the flood like had happened in the ruined lab, but the steady trickle of a deep grief. "I doubt you can hear me now, but I'm so sorry. I was an idiot, I didn't mean to be so cruel, Danny. This is all my fault. I broke my promise, and you suffered because of it."

I wiped my eyes, one hand brushing lightly over the encased photograph. "Can you see me now, Danny? Pretty pathetic, huh? Without you around, things went down the toilet. But I guess at least you got what you wanted in the end. Wherever you are now, you're beyond all the pain, right? No more worries, no more fighting, no more hurting. You can see your family again, right? Maybe you and Sam can be together now. She loved you, Danny. She was a better friend than I could ever be. She would never have hurt you the way I did. It's going to be hard to go on now, but it's not your fault. You tried your very best."

The breeze flitted through the clearing, suddenly carrying the chill of winter, and I shivered, pulling my jacket tight around me as I hunched down against the cold. "I know you tried to save them, Danny, but I couldn't save you. I had my chance, we all did. And now I'll never see you again, I'll never be able to make amends for those awful things I said to you. You tried so hard, Danny, but I guess it was more than you could handle alone. But I won't let you down now. I'll protect everyone for you. You'd be heartbroken to see that monster... all that's left of you in this world. But I'll fight on as long as I can. For you, Danny."

I was out of words then, and I threw my arms around the cold stones at the base of the cross, letting the last of my tears fall and be lost in the crevices. I could almost imagine it was Danny I was embracing tightly as I gave him my farewell. I'm not sure how long I sat there in silence, the only sound that of the breeze flapping the ruined t-shirt hanging from the monument. The shadows stretched long over the grass by the time I finally rose to my feet and turned slowly to leave. I only paused briefly at the edge of the trees, turning to stare at the monument for a long moment, one final confession quietly mouthed to the wind.

"I hope you can finally be happy now." I bowed my head before I left. "I love you, Danny."