AN: well, here we go. Like I mentioned, these updates will begin taking longer because I'm writing the chapters from scratch, not revising my old chapters anymore. Please, please review. I need to know if I'm still keeping interest and if people still enjoy this story. Because if they don't...well, it would be easier obviously to just stop writing. Not that I want to, but I need at least some motivation. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint.

Thanks for all the favs, by the way!

Oh, I still don't own Danny Phantom or anyone in the series. Sadly.

"I don't think he was remorseful. This is Vlad we're talking about. He ran thousands of tests on numerous ghosts and killed people. There's no way he felt remorseful after killing me."

We had gone back through the entries, trying to find any other clues that would lead us to more conclusions. Phantom-no, Danny-had been thinking back to what he had heard through the phone. Which, by the way, was a lot. He has amazing hearing and vision. And probably all of his senses are heightened.

"I don't think so either. If he was remorseful he probably wouldn't be stuck in the purgatory state. Plus...I've seen what he can do. He had no problem nearly killing me." I winced as I remembered the familiar pain of the ectoplasmic energy slicing through my abdomen like it was butter. Danny had given me an odd look, obviously not remembering what had happened, but I looked away, trying to pass it off as something else. I was pretty sure he'd ask about that later.

"But I also don't think he would have just...died in battle. He was a weapon maker and too smart to be killed on the front." Danny was pacing now, trying to come to his own conclusions in spite of all the events that had already happened, and I had taken the chair in front of the computer. You know, it was kind of impressive that he wasn't passed out already from the exhaustion. I said kind of.

"So, what do you think killed him then? Why does it say he died in battle?"

"He's Vlad. He's a mastermind. He could have easily forged his own death certificate, and he could find a body that was so mutilated it was unrecognizable and just switch the uniforms." Again, he had a point, but I still wasn't following his train of thought.

"But why? Why would he fake his own death? And how does that explain the fact that he's a ghost now?"

"That's...what I'd like to know. Because he captured me almost instantaneously after I died. Which means...he was already dead?" Well at least now he understood he wasn't making sense. He was making faces in an attempt to figure out what was going on, and had the situation not been so serious, I would have laughed so hard at him.

"He was already dead...but he could blend in to society..." Those words. They were familiar. His voice was a bit spacey, like an echo. And I realized why.

It got me to thinking. If this was, in fact, the circumstance, then this was the missing link to figuring out what exactly he did to Danny. "So are we dealing with some sort of duality? A Jekyll and Hyde situation?"

He paused in his step, thinking for a moment. "Maybe something like that. But I think he's the same man, the same monster, no matter what he looks like."

I nodded in understanding, trying not to think about how much Plasmius had affected my life. And then it hit me. Almost like a 'duh' moment, mixed with the 'ah-ha!' victory. I immediately spun my computer chair around to face the screen and started tearing through the files, trying to find anything that was about him.

Danny seemed to notice I was highly preoccupied, and he walked next to me, watching. Before he could even ask I was already answering. "We've been going through files on other ghosts and the experiments. We haven't tried to find anything about him, maybe before these documents started." I could tell he was nodding, trying to understand, but at the same time I hadn't quite yet filled him in on the lead I thought I had.

It took a while to go through everything. He had done so many experiments on so many ghosts, some of which were obliterated into nothingness. I tried hard not to let that get to me as I continued looking for anything from a personal journal. Finally, I found things.

They were far and few, seeing as they were all written from the time when we thought he actually lived. Some were scans of journal pages, some he took the time to retype them later when he had access to a computer. The first one that had caught my eye had been a scanned copy of the book itself. The corner where the date had been written was faded too much, but the rest of the writing was legible.

Today is the day I have been anticipating for quite some time. Madeline, Jack, and myself will be attempting to run the portal we've created. I have no doubt it will work. And when it does, when the portal comes to life, Madeline will be so thrilled she won't be able to say no to my proposition to court her. And of course, eventually we will marry, Jack will be my Best Man, and we will have a lovely family. She will see. I am the superior choice for a husband. Well, I must be off. Like I said, big day.

-V. Masters

This entry caught me by surprised to say the least. I could tell Danny was a bit confused as well. "It's like...he's a totally different person. He doesn't have any grudge against Jack, like it seems he does later..." I found myself speaking as I continued to stare at the page, trying to figure out if this was just one well-played piece of sarcasm.

"Yeah, but he's still all over Madeline. There's got to be something that happened that changed it all." I knew Danny had to be right. And from the look of this document, he was still alive. So we were close, but not there yet.

Saying I was lucky is an understatement. It was the very next entry that was what we had been looking for. Again it was a scanned copy, and the date was missing, but I could tell it was a few days later.

I cannot believe this. It's completely unfathomable. I failed. I failed to win the heart of Madeline. The portal worked, but not in the way it was supposed to. I would bet money that the blasted Jack Fenton messed with the impurities that were supposed to bind the worlds together to create the portal. You see, as we turned it on, it first appeared as though it had worked, catch-free. But then the green mist began sparking and spitting raw energy in every direction. I tried to get to Madeline to save her, but I got caught in the crossfire. I ended up in a sanatorium of some sort for a few days, where I was allegedly in a coma. When I woke up, everything had changed. I learned that Jack had saved Madeline, and in turn courted her, which I surmise she only agreed to due to his 'heroic actions.' And as for myself-well, I must spend time researching what I am, but what I can say is the raw energy I was hit with changed me. Point blank, I believe it killed me. Halfway, at least. I will continue research and see what I can discover, even with a broken heart.

-V.M.

Again with the shock. Danny was the one who spoke first this time, but I could tell he was having a hard time downing all the information. "They made a working portal...that's...amazing."

"Yeah, but you read what happened. Something went wrong. How can you be half dead...?" I found myself asking, turning to Danny. I had noticed his face had paled a little bit, as if he was dreading what was to come.

"That's what I'm afraid of...are there any more pages from this time?" I scrolled through the files, before finding another one that looked to be similar in time frame. "This one looks like it might be close to when he wrote the others," I replied, pulling up the document. Again, no date, but I didn't really care. I was more interested to see if we could find anything about this research he was planning.

It took a while to run tests due to the need of advanced equipment which I had to design myself. What I have found is absolutely astounding. As I mentioned before, I believe that the portal's energy was too much for my human body to handle, thus killing me, but only half way. What I came to discover is the energy was comprised of ectoplasmic molecules, something associated with ghost energy. The concentration I was exposed to instantaneously absorbed into my body, integrating with my human molecules.

Rather than kill me completely, the paranormal energy killed half of me. I'm not too sure how or why, but while I am a ghost, I can force myself to develop a human body, the body I was born with. I am half human, half ghost. The first record of a hybrid to ever exist. I have noticed, too, that with the duality my ghost-like powers are stronger. While most entities cannot produce a figure of themselves in the human world, much less become a solid mass, I can do both quite easily. I can will my ghost form to be visible to the non-trained eye, or I can disappear into the shadows like the rest of them. My human body provides me with twice the energy most ghosts have, and twice the power. What ghosts can do only in their own world such as firing ectoplasm or honing their control over natural objects, I can do here on Earth.

There is a lot to be learned about my control and abilities, however I am most diligent and patient to learn. If I can break down my own molecular structure, I can engineer another like myself. And if I can create others like myself, I can have an unstoppable army at my fingertips. I can destroy the life Jack Fenton stole from me, I can take my Madeline back, I can rule the world.

-V. Plasmius

Had my heart stopped? I think. Maybe. I'm not sure. It definitely felt like it. I was staring at that screen for way too long, not moving a millimeter. Well, my mouth might have been opened, I can't really remember. It feels like...like it didn't happen. Like the memory is fuzzy.

"Half...human..." I could deftly hear Danny's voice echoing the words written on the old document. As for myself, I was trying to force the imaginary lump in my throat that was caused from all the shock.

"If that's really what he is..." I managed to get out, slowly turning to meet his green gaze.

"Then that's what he wanted to make me..." Danny finished, confusion settling in.

My brain was trying to remember some of the things we had read earlier. One piece of information stuck out in my mind, and I inhaled deeply.

"Danny-he said he succeeded..."